wait for you to be our guide. I said, Come along, for the gate was open (now the gate was as big as the whole world); but when we approached, an angel came and locked it; the lock was as large as the whole town of Mezbesh. I tried to open the lock, but was not able. I then ran to my Rabbi, the author of the book Toldoth Jakob Joseph, and said to him, Israel is now in great trouble, and I am not permitted to enter: at another time I should not insist upon entering, but now it is necessary. My Rabbi said, I will go with you, and, if it be possible, they will certainly open the gate. But when he came, he could do nothing with the lock. I began to weep and cry before the Rabbi, and to say, Will you forsake me in the time of trouble? He said, I can do nothing more; but come, let us go to the sanctuary of Messiah, perhaps we shall find help there. When Messiah Righteousness saw me yet afar off, he said, Cry not, and gave me two letters, with which I went back to the gate, and, by the help of God, it opened. I then introduced all the prayers; and as soon as ever the prayers entered, the accuser held his peace, the decree was changed, and nothing but a note of it remained. There was, however, a great commotion in the world. Many had sent away their books to the province of Wallachia; for the accuser was of the sect of Sabbathi Tsevi, (may their name be blotted out!) and the Bishop of Kaminietz had burnt two copies of the Talmud, one of which he had taken from a Jew by force, and laid upon the fire. This bishop did not go unpunished: he was so injured by the fire, that he died on the road home. Afterwards there was a public disputation in Lemberg, before the bishop there, but he was struck with terror, and did not condemn the law. On the contrary, the whole of the wicked sect were shmadded+ (baptized), for the bishop commanded them to shave off half their hair and beard, to shew that they were neither Jews nor aliens. To avoid this disgrace, they consented to be shmadded. Thus may all the wicked of the earth perish !"

This last story is highly characteristic of the Chasidim. To this day they are still engaged with the world of spirits, either bringing down blessings or averting judgments. It also illustrates the general character of their miracles, which mostly rest upon the testimony of him who works them, and are not submitted to the scrutiny of the senses. The ground-work of the above story is found in the history of the celebrated Frank, a cotemporary of Israel Baal Shem, and the pretended prophet of Sabbathi Tsevi, who settled in Podolia about the year 1757. He was really a man of great cabbalistic learning; and, as he professed faith in

Cabbalistic letters of the Alphabet.

+ Shamad is a Hebrew word, signifying to destroy, which the Jews use for baptism, as they look upon baptism and destruction as synonymous.

the Trinity, and drew up a creed in many points agreeing with Christianity, he obtained the patronage of the Roman catholic Bishop of Kaminietz, whose attempt to destroy the Talmud is ascribed to his influence. The death of his patron, and the intrigues of the hostile Jews, led to the public disputation in Lemberg, of which a most marvellous account is given in another Chasid book, entitled, "The Book of the Dreadful History." The opposers of Frank triumphed; and Frank and his followers were really baptized, and formed a sort of judaizing Christian sect, still known by the denomination of Frankists. The Chasidim ascribe the death of the bishop and the baptism of Frank to the prayers of Baal Shem. Their own sect, however, is now also on the wane. Within the last ten years several of their greatest Rabbies have died, and the survivors, it is said, have lost much of their influence, as they promised to reverse a decree, relative to military service, which the Russian government issued six years ago, but were utterly unsuccessful. The decree was executed, and the Tsaddikim lost their credit. It is, however, much to be feared that the transition from fanaticism will be to infidelity, unless proper means be used to lead them to the truth.

PARISH CHURCHES.

NO. XIX.-BURLINGTON CHURCH, YORKSHIRE.

[With an Engraving.]

THIS church belongs to a class, by no means common, which has not hitherto received the attention or illustration they well deserve from the lovers of ecclesiastical architecture. The greater part of them are mere fragments of larger buildings formerly appropriated to the rich monasteries which were dissolved in this kingdom at the period of the Reformation. For very few indeed remain entire which are not included in the number of the collegiate churches. But parts of several of these noble structures, which rivalled our cathedrals in grandeur of design and delicacy of workmanship, were at that time converted into parochial chapels. Sometimes the choir, sometimes the nave of the Abbey church, with or without the tower and transepts, has been spared by the hand of the destroyer, and preserved for sacred uses.+

* St. Alban's, Herts; Beverley Minster, York; Selby, Yorks.; Tewksbury, Gloucester; Christchurch, Twynam, Hamps.; Romsey, Hamps.; Shrewsbury Abbey Church; Great Malvern, Worcester.

+ The following list is extracted from the churches named in Rickman's Gothic Architecture:-Malmesbury, Wilts.; Dunstable, Beds.; Thorney, Camb.; Lanercost, Cumb.; Melbourne, Derb.; Waltham, Essex; Sempringham, Lincoln; Crowland, Lincoln; Tutbury, Stafford; New Shoreham, Sussex; Winchelsea, Sussex; Pershore, Worcester; Bolton, Yorks.; Howden, Yorks.; Old Malton,

Yorks.

Many causes have contributed to prevent such parish churches from becoming objects of public admiration. As fragments of larger edifices, they cannot be expected to present to the eye of the inexperienced observer so attractive and well-proportioned an exterior, as many of smaller dimensions and architecture much inferior which possess the advantage of constituting an entire whole; besides, both the exterior and interior of such churches have, in most instances, suffered material injury from the inadequate and injudicious attempts of churchwardens and other guardians of the building to accommodate it to its present use.

In almost all such parishes, the livings belong to the number of perpetual curacies, as they are called; the great number of which throughout the country seems to have long been one of the main sources of the evils which impede the efficiency of our national church; nothing having given such frequent occasion to pluralities and non-residence as the sacrilegious spoliation of tithes committed in Henry VIII.'s time, by which act these perpetual curacies were created. For, while the monastic estates and rectorial tithes were swept away together into the hands of the laity, the impoverished minister was left to perform, without needful assistance, the duties of a rector, in large and laborious parishes, and, with no parsonage house, and no more than a curate's stipend, to meet the calls of charity, and to maintain the respectability of his arduous station.

It is almost incredible how inadequate the provision for the support of the minister of Burlington has continued for three centuries, in spite of the operation of Queen Anne's Bounty. In Queen Elizabeth's grant of the rectorial tithes, no more than eight pounds per annum is reserved to be paid by the impropriator as "the salary of a curate or priest who should perform divine service and have the charge of souls ;" and this appears to have been actually the whole amout of the stipend for more than 150 years after the dissolution of the monastery.* Since the beginning of the last century, the living has been augmented several times by Queen Anne's Bounty, so as to be now valued in the Parliamentary Returns at 837. 10s. per annum; and this, in a parish with a population of more than 5000 souls, is the endowment of the only place of worship belonging to the national church!

Surely it would have been a most righteous application of the public money, long ago, by means of national grants, to have accelerated the augmentation of the poorer benefices. The question of the propriety and necessity of national establishments of religion seems to be generally admitted, notwithstanding no little clamour

Speed makes the annual revenue of the dissolved monastery in 1537, 6827. 13s. 9d.; and Dugdale, 5471. 6s. 111⁄2d. The rectory of Burlington was then valued at 361. 6s. 8d. In Queen Elizabeth's time, it was let for 401. per annum, and in Charles I.'s, for 1801. per annum.