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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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. T / iielligence . —Par 7 iamentarv : New Churched Bill . £ &l
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con tinually up , so as to forward the commendable , and praiseworthy , and disinterested objects of their association in raising these subscriptions . These had gone on already long enough ; but , with his consent , they should go on no longer . — It had been said , why did not t ) ie members of the Church of England
build Churches where they were required ? He Would answer , that it had never been their custom to do so ; it was always part of the duty of Government to provide religious instruction for this class and also places of worship . They were prepared for no such demand ; nor could they possibly provide funds for it
from their meagre means , being in most cases very poor districts ; and to attempt the erection of places of worship in this way would be attempting a complete change in the custom of society and the Jaw of the land . — The situations ; of
clergymen to the new Churches , he was of opinion , ought to be filled up in the usual way , granting a discretion to the Ordinary ; but he was decidedly against the proposed mode of choosing ministers by election . He Was aware of the
inconveniences and faultiuess of that system from having been once engaged professionally in an election cause for the situation of clergyman to a congregation iu the City , which was carried on with all the formalities of a county election , with scrutineers appointed and other observances , and the contest consumed five
entire days . He had no opinion of the preaching before a congregation to insure an election , accompanied with all the arts and artifices of canvas . When all these had been resorted to successfully , he very much questioned whether the
clergyman who was likely to be most acceptable to the congregation had secured his election . The popular sort of preachers were too generally disposed to send their hearers to the town side of this world without scruple , and he could not imagine it possible but that those
were more likely to be most acceptable to their parishioners , who , in compliance with their oath upon ordination , abode conscientiousl y by the strict performance » f the known duties of their situation , it was said that , according to a late estimate , above three million of souls were , from want of accommodation , prevented fro
m attending divine service . Suppose j-he House should agree to a resolution by which one-fifth only of those persons JHight be accommodated in new Churches , much would be done ; for though it was not possible at once to do alf that was eligible or desirable , still that was no good argumen t that nothing at all should w attempted . An allusion had been Wide to a uevy Chapel greeted iu West-
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minster , which no doubt was a very good Chapel for those to attend who had money in their pockets ^ but not for the poor and middling sort of people , for whom this Chapel did not afford any
accommodation , it being allowed to be the most expensive of any in all Westminster . Hence it could not be fairly inferred , that any thing effectual had been done to alleviate the inconveniences felt in this
respect in Westminster . For himself , he was forced to pay for his family and his servants , and he did it without repining , because it was his duty ; but he would ask , How was it possible that a man , who only obtained 14 * . a week by his labour , could contribute any thing
towards defraying the expense of a seat for either himself , his wife , or children ? He was persuaded there were thousands within a mile of that very House , who would find an almost insuperable difficulty in obtaining room to hear a sermon in their several parish Churches * It had
been said , that 150 Churches would be requisite ; for his own part he regretted that the estimate for this object had been made so high ; nor did he despair of its being considerably reduced , if l > e could bring the House to think with him , that we were not now in a situation to
fix the proper taste for Church building . The Gothic had been tried in the country , and the Grecian selected as most appropriate to town . These were both expensive , and he should have preferred as a basis of expense , that there should have been an arrangement for providing a free seat for every £ 5 expended . —The Honourable Member here alluded to - , \
report of a Committee formerly charged with a similar appropriation of public money , which had recommended a plan whereby an accommodation would be provided for 63 , 000 thousand persons , at an expense of between eighty and ninety thousand pounds . It would be well that
the House should keep this precedent in their recollection , for it proposed to do nearly as much for this sum in the way of accommodating the poor , as would be done now by an expenditure of above a million sterling . One rule with respect
to these new Churches he very much approved of , which was , that no new Church should be tenable together with the old Mother Church by any Clergyman ; but this hi his mind was not sufficient , because the incumbent of an old Church
was still empowered to hold another new Church four or five miles off , which would defeat the Bill and sanction a plurality to the prejudice of stipendiary Curates . He should suggest an amendment in this respect , rendering a neiv Church under this Act untenable with any other Church ; for if the salary of
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1824, page 501, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2527/page/53/
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