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Untitled Article
perty in trust ; and , says Blackstone , " it is to these inventions that our practisers are indebted for the introduction of uses and trusts , the foundation of modern conveyancing . " By these and other equally disgraceful means the clergy had acquired possession of one-third of the gross property of this kingdom .
Nor let it be supposed that these mal-practices were going on only during the reign of Papacy in this kingdom . Our Church-of-England clergy have proved themselves legitimate descendants of their worthy predecessors . When Henry VIII . had made himself the head of the English Church , the first-fruits , i . e . the revenues of each benefice for one year , and the tenths , that is , a yearly rent of one-tenth of the proceeds of all preferments , which had previously been paid to the Pope , were now taken possession of by the
King . These revenues were appropriated to the use of the Crown till the reign of Anne , who gave them in trust to a corporation , for the augmentation of small livings . But the poor clergy reaped little of the Queen's bounty , and her Majesty was over-reached by her cunning priests . The clergy contrived so as to have to pay their contributions , not according to the actual value of their livings , but according to a valuation made as far back as the reign of Henry VIII . Still something remained after this trick for the
increase of the livings of the lower orders of clergy ; and by far the greater part of what was thus left , was distributed by lot . After this it is superfluous to say any thing of the regard paid to the greater or less urgency of claims , the greater or less amount of duty , the greater or less number of hearers . It is a fact , however , that in many cases the money fell where it was least wanted . It would be folly to expect that the dignified clergy who distributed the bounty , and with whom the principle of the less work the
more pay had become not a speculative but a practical axiom , should so far forget the doctrine in which they had been so long trained , and which for them , at least , worked so well , as to think of allotting remuneration in proportion to the amount of duty . Accordingly we find that this most equitable mode of distribution by lot , has , in the diocese of Chester , given to the rectory of Hurdham , which , in 1811 , contained eighty-nine people , six
augmentations , or £ 1200 ; to the vicarage of Sellington , with forty-eight people , six augmentations , or £ 1200 . In the diocese of Salisbury , one place containing fourteen people , another of twelve , received each an augmentation of £ 200 . Take these instances as specimens of what was done for the assistance of the working clergy by the well-intentioned but shamefully perverted bounty of Queen Anne .
Semper ens pauper , si pauper es , vEmiliane ; Dantur opes nulli nuuc , nisi divitibus . Of the Protestant Church , in Ireland we might , if time permitted , relate instances similar in iniquity . We , therefore , despair that our author's plan will prove effectual . In the first place , the higher clergy will not consent , if they can avoid it , to yield the prevailing and gainful system of grinding down the journeymen parsons , as they are called in derision . If they appear to consent , experience teaches , we should the more suspect them .
Quidquid id cst , timco Danaos et dona ferentes . The chances are , that instead of giving they will take ; leaving undiminished the difficulties of their inferiors , and augmenting their own power and affluence . The power is in their hands , and they have shewn the will , of making all things subservient to their own aggrandizement . Legislative enactments may be tried—they have been tried—and yet the clergy have
Untitled Article
State of the Curates of the Church of England , 233
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1829, page 233, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2571/page/9/
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