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Untitled Article
ances , the Parish Priest proposes to his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury to bring into Parliament a bill to give to all curates the stipeixfe awarded by the Act , whether the incumbents have been instituted before 1813 or not , and whether they be resident or not . Ift contending for the propriety of this measure , he is led to enunciate a tr « th which we wish all his brethren would recognize : " On the ground of equity the measure is defensible , since the clergy can have no vested rights but strch as are for the welfare of the Church and the good of the people "
But this is not the only remedial measure which he deems necessary ; for even where the stipends allotted to curates are just and adequate , and where the exceptions of the late Clergy Act do not interfere , its provisions are in numberless instances evaded , and its designs defeated , by the cupidity and dishonesty of unworth y incumbents . This , is a notorious fact ; and " — to enumerate all the paltry evasions , the scandalous misrepresentat ions , the crafty subterfuges , the shuffling expedients , the mean tricks , and
the direct lies , by which the plain and benevolent intentions of the- Legislature have been defeated , would be disgusting to any candid mind , and would furnish ample materials for another volume of Mrs- Opie's ' Illustrations of Lying in all its branches /"— " Your Grace , " continues our author , " is aware that amongst the ministers of truth , evasions which would fix indelible disgrace on men of any rank in society , however low , are not uncommon ; that giving ' a Title for Orders , * is seized on as a common pretext for considerably abridging tbe rightful stipend to the curate ; that a rent is often exaeted by non-resident hiettnabeats for the curate ' s occupation of the parsonage-house , to which he lias a legal claim ; and that notes of hand , to repay a part of the sum promised , are often required from * the curate , before or after his nomination , to secure the incumbent , in case payment of the full sum diw
to the curate should ever be demanded . "— " But your Grace will , perhaps , inquire how this crying evil is to be remedied , and will ask what measure cau be adopted entirely to prevent these shameful evasions of the provisions of the Act . My Lord , if men will not be honest of their own accord , we must endeavour to mafce them so ;• if Christian ministers , some of them plurarrsts and ? dignitaries , will not he actuated by Christian principles , will n ^ t freely and 6 f their own accord allow such salaries to Iheir curates as are sufficient and rea ^ sonahle , they must be compelled to do so ; and , however painful is the reflection that legislative enactanentB should be required to naake the clergy asfc honestly by each other , yet we must enact them , if it can l > e proved that they are needful . "
The authoi * then propounds his plan for the rectification of the shameful abuses which he points out ( of which we have only given a specimen ) . The plan consists in requiring of every curate , on his being licensed to any parish , a solemn declaration , under severe penalties , that he has not in any way agreed , nor will he in any way agree , to rake less than the sum assigned : to him by Act of Parliament . Every curate , we are assured , would be glad to sign such a declaration ; for though they are parties to private bargains with their incumbents , their necessities , and not their wills , have consented to it , and they have reluctantly yielded to the conviction ** that half a loaf id better than no bread . * ' In this way , and in this way alone , have the weakest gone to the wall . This plan the author deems competent to the removal of the evils of which-he justly complains * It would , he also thinks , take away the reproach of selfishness , which is constantly cast upon the beneficed clergy by Roman Catholics and Dissenters ; and east , it should seem , from the state meivts m this pamphlet , with some show of reason , fife thinkfe ^
Untitled Article
Slate of the Curates of the Church of England . 331
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1829, page 231, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2571/page/7/
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