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Gentleman's Magazine 1849 part 2 p.587
covered on the outside with lead. Some years since it
narrowly escaped being altogether concealed from view; as a
wealthy individual, desirous to render the church snugger,
and more in accordance with modern ideas of comfort,
proposed to shut out this dark-looking roof, by putting up a
smooth lathe-and-plaster ceiling at his own expense. The
tasteless attempt however was fortunately frustrated by the
zealous care of one of the churchwardens, to whom the
antique appearance and keeping of the sacred edifice was an
object of reverential regard.
In the church is kept, it cannot be said preserved, chained
to a seat underneath the reading-pew, a copy of Erasmus's
"Paraphrase on the New Testament," which Cranmer caused to
be introduced into all the parish churches in England, and
which book was one of the first of those successive
publications by whose aid he restored and built up the
Reformed faith of his country. There is also a copy of
Jewels' "Defence of the Apologie of the Church of England,"
which in Queen Elizabeth's reign was likewise ordered to be
similary placed. These books are in bad condition, as some
of the leaves have been loosened, the title pages of both
partly torn out, and deprived of their clasps and bindings;
they are tossed together upon a seat, as things altogether
disregarded and abandoned to the pleasure of every spoiler.
Through similar want of care the Coverdale Bible, printed in
1535, a copy of which was in Henry the Eighth's reign, A.D.
1538, enjoined by Cromwell, the King's Vicar-general, to be
deposited in the choir or chancel of all the Reformed
churches in England, for every one to read at his leisure,
has been removed and lost.
The chest for alms, which at one time was so general an
article of church furniture, fixed on a stone or pillar in
some convenient situation at the west end of the nave, near
the entrance, is now likewise thrown by in the vestry.
Pity it is, that those to whom the church and its appendages
are by the law yearly entrusted should so little appreciate
these old and faithful remembrances of the pious anxiety of
the Fathers of our Reformation, that -
"The book of life, and the principles which guided them in
reforming the church, should be largely and publicly
distributed, for the use and enlightenment of the people in
times of great ignorance of true religious information, in
order that those who, by reason of their poverty or other
causes, were not able to purchase such books themselves,
should have the Word of God, made free of access to them in
their own mother tongue."
Time was, after the first placing of such books in churches,
that multitudes, "long thirsty for the Word, rushed to the
waters of life and drank freely;" and what a sight, full of
the deepest interest and reflection, it must have been to
see those hallowed structures - our parish churches - which
in the elder days were always kept open, crowded with the
laity, to whom the Bible had hitherto been as a sealed
volume, flocking in - not alone at the stated hours of
public prayers, but at other times, to read or hear read, by
some one of themselves more literate than his fellows, that
divine word which maketh wise unto salvation. How sublime a
subject for the utmost reach of the artist's creative skill.
The pride of our church is, or rather was, the gorgeous east
window, which yet retains abundant though sorely mutilated
remains of the stained glass with which it was superbly
filled. It is said that this interesting specimen of ancient
decoration formerly belonged to the abbey of Saint Mary in
Furness, and that after the destruction of that celebrated
institution in A.D. 1537 it was purchased by the
parishioners of Windermere, and removed hither. In 1775,
when Mr West wrote, this noble window was much more perfect,
as the following description, taken from his "Antiquities of
Furness," will testify:-
"The east window of the church of Furness Abbey has been
noble; some of the painted glass that once adorned it is
preserved in a window in Windermere church. The window in
that church consists of seven compartments, or partitions.
In the third, fourth, and fifth are depicted in full
proportion the Crucifixion, with the Virgin Mary on the
right, and the beloved disciple St. John the Evangelist on
the left side of the cross. Angels are expressed receiving
the sacred blood from the five precious wounds. Below the
cross are a group of monks in the proper habits, with the
abbot in a vestment. Their names are written on labels
issuing from their mouths. The abbot's name is defaced,
which would have given a date to the
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