Here
the mandates of the authorities in Church and State were read to him;
here he was admonished of his duty to contribute to, or to perform,
the burdens of parish administration and warned of the penalties for
neglect; here he met with his fellows to settle parish affairs and
audit parish accounts, or to choose parish officers under the auspices
of the ordinary, being himself compelled, if necessary, by that
official to serve when his own turn for office came round. As
churchwarden it was his duty to collect the rents from parish lands
and tenements, and to see that parish offerings were gathered and the
parish rates assessed and paid, or recovered by means of the
ecclesiastical courts. If the church was ruinous; if bread and wine
were lacking for the communion; if any of the books, furniture,
utensils or ornaments enjoined by the diocesan's articles or by the
canons were missing; if the curate did not follow the Rubric, or
retained "superstitious" rites; if the yearly perambulation was
omitted; if faults of the minister or of the parishioners were not
presented: he and his fellow-warden were held responsible by the
official.
The machinery which the canon and the civil law placed at the disposal
of the ordinary for his judicial administration of the parish was
extraordinarily flexible.
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