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Untitled Article
drones that eat the honey . But into this fact we shall presently enter more at large ; at present we shall only sav > the people might to a certain extent console themselves for the loss , did they see the fruit of their labours enjoyed by men who were prompt to labour for their welfare as faithful ministers of Christ , warning them of evil , leading them to good , teaching their offspring
the way of righteousness , themselves by holiness of life leading onward to the mansions of peace . But such is not the fact . In general the tithetaker is not the labourer of Christ , and he that receives most of the people ' s wealth is , in the Church of England , the very person who does the least . In worldly matters it is not unusual to see remuneration allotted in proportion to labour done ; the reverse of this obtains in spiritual affairs : throughout the scale of clerical emoluments , as the labour decreases so the remuneration
is augmented . "We have already said that the history of Church property is the history of fraud , and this we said on no light grounds . The precise time when tithes were first introduced into this country it is not easy to ascertain . Manifest traces of them , however , are observable in a very early period of our history $ and from these traces we learn some facts which do not greatly redound to the credit of the hierarchy . Tithes were at first voluntary
offerings , the free gift of the donor to his spiritual guide , compelled by no law but that of gratitude . Soon , however , by the management of the priesthood , tithes changed their character . The gift of gratitude , however undiscerning and void of forethought , was and must be an object of respect , and the more blamable were those who converted a free-will offering into a compulsory tax . Such was their proceeding . The benefaction became , under the
influence of the priest , the innocent occasion of a permanent tax on the benefactor . The legislature was appealed to ; at first it contented itself with advising and enjoining the payment of tithes ; but at last , substituting commands for recommendations , it ordered the people to make their free-will offerings a permanent contribution . From this there was no appeal ; might gave right , and the law of the strongest prevailed .
Notwithstanding this compulsory exaction , each individual was at liberty to pay his tithes to what priests he pleased . Pay them to some one he must , but the law left the choice of the receiver to himself . Each then supported his own spiritual adviser , and gave his contributions to those whom he might judge most sound in doctrine or exemplary in practice . Thus , though by the change of a voluntary into a compulsory allotment , an important check on the lives and conduct of the clergy had been removed ,
still there remained in the portion of freedom yet retained by the people , a salutary and efficient controul over the priesthood . But this controul in the hands of the people was incompatible with that entire dominion over the mind which the priesthood have in all ages sought : and on this account they promptly took their measures for its removal . Again the arm of power w hs invoked ; and by the influence of the local barons , or the general enactments
of the legislature , the tithes of each parish were allotted to its own particular and legally appointed minister . Thus were the rights of the people completely destroyed , the act of kindness was converted into an act of compulsion , the amount of payment was denned , and the right taken away of making that payment to the most deserving . But it must not be imagined that all this time the clergy had for their own share the whole of the titheable increase of the land . There were other objects contemplated in the payment < f tithes besides the support of the clergy , liistorians variously relate that tithes were originally diviaed into three or
Untitled Article
300 History and Mystery of Church Property *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1831, page 300, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2597/page/12/
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