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considerations , however , there are indications of a change for the better in various quarters . Improvement is talked of ; the necessity of it is admitted by many , deplored by a few , and debated by all . Even to a noble and valorous Earl the word Reform has not only lost all its wonted terror , but gathered associations of a most pleasing character . Amongst various projects of reform his Lordship is stated to have placed the following : " There is , I say , another reform which I wish to see in the constitution of that Right Reverend Bench , and that is , that no translation shatt take place
from one bishopric to another , and that the incomes of the prelates shall be equalized or proportioned to the ditties with which they are charged . I wish also to see another change still more important , namely , that no minister of the crown shall have the power of appointing to bishoprics , but that the elergy shall choose from their own body three or four individuals , whose names shall be submitted to the throne . I should , moreover , wish to see no removal , except to Archbishoprics and the See of London . There is still one more article of reform that I should like to see carried into effect , and that is , that the members of the Right Reverend Bench should hold seats no longer in this house . "
The power of the clergy , as an integral part of the Legislature , has been for centuries on the wane . Prior to the Reformation , under Henry VIIL , the representatives of the lower clergy sat in the Lower House . This privilege , however , has long since been lost . The Convocation is now little more than a name ; and , 6 nally , a nobleman , renowned for his attachment to things as they have been , ventures to propose a most comprehensive and sweeping proscription of clerical privileges . So complete is the Reform
suggested , that how desirable soever we have regarded it , we have never thought of giving utterance to our wishes . Let but the Earl of Winchilsea ' s proposal be carried into effect- —the bishops excluded from the House of Lords , the patronage of the church be taken from the hands of the ministers of the crown ; let the salaries of reverend prelates be equalized or proportioned to the value of their services ; and let no rich reversions feempt the dignitaries of the church to hold conscience and duty in light esteem ;—and some of the worst effects of the connexion between church and state will be
precluded , and religion will regain her lost empire over the mwds of her ministers , and through the renovation of their heartB confer ample blessings on the people . Others have also spoken of church reform , though the Earl of Winchilsea has far outstripped them all . On this subject several works have latel y issued from the press , and more than one of them are the productions of the clergy of the establishment . For a series of years even the bishops in their Charges have either declared or intimated the existence in the church of
serious errors which require rectification . Thus the Bishop of Lincoln , in his Charge , delivered in September last , says , " It cannot be dissembled that there is still ample room for improvement ; that there are deficiencies to be supplied ; that there are abuses to be reformed . " Respecting residence , his Lordship observes , " If a person , acquainted with the nature
of the ministerial functions , but unacquainted with the aotual state of the Established Church , should read this query , his first feeling would probably be that of extreme surprise . For how can a shepherd tend a flock from which he absents himself ? In the instrument by which institution is conferred , the incumbent is told that the care and government of the souls of the parishioners is committed to him . But how can they ( mV duties hence
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The Watchman " * 387
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1829, page 387, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2573/page/19/
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