Note 158-* — CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

It is much to be regretted that of late years many ancient fonts have been cast out of our churches, and earthenware and pewter basins substituted in their stead for the administration of the holy sacrament of baptism: a practice not authorized by the Anglican church, but rather condemned; for in the canons set forth by authority, A. D. 1571, it is provided that “Curabunt (Œditui) ut in singulis ecclesiis sit sacer fons, non pelvis, in quo baptismus ministretur, isque ut decenter et munde conservetur.” And in the canons of 1603, after alluding to the foregoing constitution, and observing that it was too much neglected in many places, it is appointed “That there shall be a font of stone in every church and chapel where baptism is to be ministered; the same to be set in the ancient usual places.” In the orders and directions given by Bishop Wren, A. D. 1636, to be observed in his diocese of Norwich, we find it enjoined, “That the font at baptism be filled with clear water, and no dishes, pails, or basins be used in it or instead of it.”