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found a way of escape . The last act framed expressly for the benefit of the curate , we have seen , they have most effectually evaded , and our impression is , that such will be the fate of every similar attempt .
Qno teneam vultus rnutantem Protea nodo Quid Pauper ? What are we to say then ? The evils complained of exist in the Church beyond a question . They do . For the sake of those who suffer under them we regret the fact . We pity the curate most sincerely ; but our pity for him only augments our hatred of the system under which he suffers . In respect of i \ vt Church , we are not sorry , we are glad , that things are as they are . They give us hope that the Church is truly in danger ; they are most effective co-operators with us in the great work of dissolving the connexion between Church and State , But what , in the mean time , are the curates to do ? Let them quit a connexion which gives them abundance in haFd labour
only—which owes mamly to them its welfare , and yet grudges them the means even of a scanty maintenance . Let them leave the Church , we repeat . There is no other remedy . We object to another farthing of the public revenue going towards the increase of the consumption of the clergy . That consumption , is already enormous . Its extent almost surpasses credibility . It is , indeed , no easy thing to arrive at a just estimate of ks amount , and the various accounts that have been published may eitheF exceed or fall below the actual consumption ; yet , doubtless , the income of the clergy is enormous . The author of Remarks on the Consumption of Public Wealth by the Clergy of every Crwistian Nation , states that the expenditure on the clergy of England and Ireland amounts to £ 8 , 896 , 000 . This his chief opponent , Rev . A . Campbell , denies , without , however , substituting any satisfactory sum in its place . Supposing the actual amount
is not more than half of this — a supposition far , we are persuaded , below the truth—then four millions of money is annually expended for the spiritual instruction of about six , millions of hearers : whereas , it has * been computed that the clergy of all other denominations in England do not receive for the instruction of fourteen millions of hearers two millions of
money . What a shameful disproportion do these statements shew I—illustrating what we have before said , that the maxim of the Church is , the less work the greater pay . If , however , we wish to see this maxim in all its latitude of absurd application we must look to Ireland * There we behold the astouading spectacle of twenty-two archbishops and bishops presiding over some eight or nine hundred inferiors , with flocks not amounting to more than 400 , 000 souls ; dividing amongst them , though their hearers amount not to a tithe of the population , the tithe of the land , independently of glebes amazingly large .
But under this intolerable burden our minds might be somewhat quieted did we know that the expenditure was requisite for the good education of the people . This cannot be pretended . What had the Church of England done for those who most needed spiritual aid and guidance when John Wesley laid the foundations , among the ignorant and the profligate , of the now lordly and ambitious sect of Methodists ? Nay , to speak generally , the success of Dissenters has been as much owing to the negligence of the Church , as to the intrinsic rectitude of their principles . The Church has been over-fed , and , therefore , it has not worked . Riches have introduced a spirit of worldly-mi ndedness , which has crushed the early * intentk > iis of maoy an ingenuous mind , and turned the heart from the love of souls to the love of lucre . But surely , it will be said , the Church has not been wholJy
Untitled Article
234 State of the Curates of the Church of England .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1829, page 234, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2571/page/10/
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