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Untitled Article
ioners , as a compensation for service done to them ; bnt as tke > legal holder for the time of a certain portion of the national funds : due from them , and given to hita by the nation upon certain con- ' ditions , which he has not violated . The remarks as to the ancient
division of tithes are totally irrelevant as an objection to the claims ' of the present clergyman * The facts are important in the history of tithes * and are important against the claim of divine right , or « of an unalienable property belonging to the church as a corporation ; but they furnish no argument against the only tenable claim
of the Protestant clergy , their being put in the enjoyment of a . certain portion of national funds by the will of the nation , declared by act of parliament . The revenues of the church , then , ought to be withdrawn , by allowing no single claim upon tithe , or title to any church lands to be conferred after a certain day , and then allowing the present claims to die out .
To abolish tithes would be an act of madness , as it would be to make a present of a great national property to one portion of the community- —the landholders—to the direct loss of all the other portions , Let them be cornnjuted into a form of property , which will not be a restraint on . improvement , and will not invite tQ oppression in its collection ; but let them be carefully guarded for
national purposes . Dr . Hincks argues clearly and powerfully to show that nothing less than entirely depriving ( prospectively at least ) the church of its revenues will restore peace to the country ; that it is vain to deny the power of parliament to do this ; that in doing it the rights of incumbents must in justice be respected ; and that what is taken from the church must be otherwise
emp loyed for the public benefit , —not suffered to fall into the hands of the landlords . What we regret in the pamphlet is the bitterness with which the Catholics are everywhere spoken of . Towards them the author manifests neither candour nor charity . Their errors he describes as soul-destroying ; their priests he seems to suppose to be always actuated by fraud and malignity . This is very bad . Such bigotry would anywhere deserve severe
censure ; but we cannot help particularly regretting that it should deform , and perhaps lessen the influence of , a work so important in the present crisis as that of Dr . Hiucks ' s . We hope the Catholics will have the sense to perceive that , though he speaks of them harshly and unjustly , the author proposes the very measure which is really most for their advantage : and one good will at least result from what is objectionable in his language ,, that no
repealed by the legislature , or its proceeds differently applied , whenever the interests of the community so require . Such at least is the doctrine of our ablest political economists ; and their arguments are before the public . As to the incumbent , though in the event of any change his situation ought to bu liberally considered , he is still onl y a hired servant ; he may be cashiered for misconduct ; more work may be required of him - , and bis employer ( the nation ) may at any time , due regard being had to the claims of humanity , re-model his household , and apportion , on a different principle both tyork and wages , - - . ¦ •• ¦• -
Untitled Article
TM Irteh Tithe Question . ^ 2 Q&
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1832, page 203, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1808/page/59/
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