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Untitled Article
summed np his calculation by saying , c Good ! two geese for me / They went a little further and met a sow with a litter of pigs , the clergyman counted them also , and concluded by saying , * Ha ! a pig for me . ' " ** The custom of selling the next presentation to livings is practised daily . This alone is calculated to bring the Church into disrepute , as it opens the door to persons who are particularly unfit for the discharge of the sacred
functions . Whoever has money may enter the clerical profession without delay , as bis father can appoint him by virtue of his purse to any living , though the transaction would amount to simony if a bishop were a party . " In 1810 , there were 3694 curates , of whom only 455 received more than £ 50 per annum . An improvement has taken place , but few receive that to which th < ey are entitled by law , and some as little as £ 25 per annum . Many curates have been obliged to become , what is called journeyman
parsons and attend a house of call , where those who wish to hire may find a supply . " With respect to residents , some reside without performing any duty , others do worse . Others again devote their whole time to secular employments , and others engage in such transactions as bring their names into the Gazette . The bankruptcy of the Rev . R . Gregg , deafer and chapman , is mentioned , and among the effects to be sold are furniture , hay , wine , and whiskey . It is repugnant to the canons of the Church that clergymen
should engage in field-sports , but " I know an archdeacon who keeps one of the best packs of fox-hounds in the county . Another clergyman has also an excellent pack of fox-hounds which he regularly hunts , and I have heard of a clergyman who , after his duties in the church were performed , used to meet his brother huntsmen at the communion table on the Sunday , and arrange with them where the hounds were to start from next day . I might state many instances of abuses similar to those I have mentioned , and
many of a much more serious nature . If your Lordships knew the many facts of this nature which have come to my knowledge within the last six months , you would feel astonished . " The Secretary of State and the head of the Government have both said that " the Church must be defended by its own purity . " When then , we ask , will the elements of its defence be found seeing abuses so " numerous , " so " scandalous , " asserted by its friends to be found connected with it ?
The manner in which the Earl of M . ' s motion was met in the House is no little curious . Not a word was said in reply . A plain proof that no plausible defence could be urged , and that the bishops and their adherents wished to prevent the matter from being noticed by the nation , by getting it over without a debate . Nor did his Lordship's motion for an address to
the King fare better than his speech . One vote only was given in favour of it . No matter ; the day of reformation must come . All the finesse of bishops cannot prevent it , nor all the apathy of the nobility * Public nuisances will be , if not removed , yet ere long abated , and among the greatest is the Church Establishment .
Untitled Article
Irish Church Establishment , 697
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1830, page 697, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2589/page/41/
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