The Beacon August 2012 - Beacon Parish of Ditchling, Streat ...

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Feast Days Prayer for the world church & Prayer for this diocese 28 Augustine of Hippo, 430 Fort Worth Iford with Kingston & Rodmell 29 Beheading of John the Baptist Fredericton (Canada) Laughton with Ripe & Chalvington 30 John Bunyan, 1688 Freetown (Sierra Leone) Lewes, St Anne & St Michael & St Thomas at Cliffe with All Saints 31 Aidan, 651 Gahini (Rwanda) Lewes, St John-sub-Castro & South Malling, St Michael the Archangel Bible Notes How should we approach the big questions being debated in our country and throughout the world today? What is right, which is wrong? Which line should we follow etc? A common and very general remark is “Only God knows”, so true, what a wonderful and personal God we have to give such a clear guide in the Bible. As we in the New Testament age have the Bible to guide us, so the Israelites had the Ark of the Covenant. In Numbers 10:33 “The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord went before them…. to search out a resting place for them.” An explanation by the Rev Hopkins: “Instead of Israel seeking to find a resting place for God, it is God finding a resting place for them. The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord went before them in order to show them the path of His will. They were not left to choose their own way or to use their own wisdom in discovering God’s way. So it is with all God’s children today, He who died to redeem now lives to lead and direct. He seeks for us continually not merely places of safety, but of ‘rest’. He is concerned in the welfare of His people and delights in their comfort and joy.” Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways follow Him and He will make your paths straight” Jill Veness 16
Edward Denton 1581-1589 The parish of Ditchling was never a rich living and it clearly did not provide enough for Edward Denton who was Vicar in 1588 (Spanish Armada year). Debt took him to the Fleet Prison in London where those who could not pay up were liable to find themselves. On January 3rd 1589 he wrote his letter of resignation from Ditchling and thereby ended an association of some fourteen years. Edward Denton came from a well established landed family in Cumberland. His father, Thomas Denton, built a country house, Warnel Denton, and was able to send his son to be a scholar at Queen’s College, Oxford. There, Edward obtained a degree and a fellowship. Back in Cumberland in 1573 and, at the age of 25, he was ordained deacon by the Bishop of Carlisle. Two years later he was here in Ditchling where our parish registers record that he married Rebecca Stamford. The registers go on to record a fast growing family - Edward 1576, Dorothie (sic) 1581, Constance 1584, Thomas 1586 and Richard 1588. It seems likely that Edward Denton was the curate here until 1581 when he succeeded Thomas Bridgman as Vicar. Whether he was ever correctly presented to the living is in doubt because in 1585 a Henry Pye was also pronounced as Vicar of Ditchling, but there is no evidence that this priest was ever in the parish whereas we have evidence of Denton’s continued residence here. If the beginning of Denton’s incumbency was unorthodox the ending in the Fleet Prison was even more unusual. From January to April 1589 services were provided by Ralph Englishe, curate of Pyecombe, until normality returned with the arrival as Vicar of Hugh Rawood. Somehow, Edward Denton’s debts must have been paid and he was able to resume his career in holy orders back in his homeland of Cumberland. He became Rector of Lazonby, a village a few miles north-east of Penrith where he died on October 8th 1614. And so we know of Edward Denton’s family, his education, his finances and of his downfall. Of his ministry here we know so little. And we can only imagine that he would have been at the grand funeral of Henry Poole on March 28th 1580 when the son-in-law of Lord Abergavenny was buried and whose splendid memorial tablet adorns the north wall of the Abergavenny Chapel to this day! Richard Allen 17
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Page 20 and 21: What’s On in August 2012 2 Thu Di
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Page 27 and 28: We congratulate Shirley Salem, our
Page 29 and 30: Ditchling Fair Village News I would
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