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Untitled Article
Manchester , and 1048 livings . The Lord Chancellor presents to all the livings under the value of £ 20 in jthe King ' s book , which are about 780 ; he also presents to the six prebendal stalls m Bristol Cathedral , and to five in each of the Cathedrals of Gloucester , Norwich , and Rochester ; the Ministers present to the remaining patronage of the Crown . Upwards of 1600 places of preferment are in the gift of the bishops ; more than 600 in the
presentation of the two Universities ; 57 in the Colleges of Eton and Winchester ; about 1000 in the gift of cathedrals and collegiate establishments , and the remainder in the gift of the aristocracy and gentry . " With many of the latter the cure of souls is as venal as was Rome of old in the eyes of Cataline . They think not who is sound in the faith , but who has the longest purse ; not who will best feed the flock , but who will best supply their needs .
Not a call , but a golden key opens the doors of the Church . Offices exist in this city for the sale of preferment as for the transfer of funds or the construction of rail-roads . 4 C Not unfrequently a cure of souls is brought under the hammer of an auctioneer , " and a Jew who denies Christ acquires the right of choosing his minister .
To some of the atrocities connected with the Church we have now alluded . To what end ? Their removal . But , says the corruption-monger , you have no right to touch a blade of our glebes , nor a stiver of our bags . J ^ ot a right to touch what craft got out of imbecility ! Look at the history of the accumulation ! Who gave the power of acquiring ? The legislature . Who , when needful , restricted the amount acquired ? The legislature . Who took the ill-gotten mass from the Catholic ? The legislature . Who gave it
to the Protestant ? The legislature . Who has made laws regulating the disposal of Church property in the sale and exchange of parsonage-houses and glebe-lands , mortgages in case of buildings and repairs ? The legislature . Who has made laws authorizing the division of parishes , glebes , and tithes ? The legislature . Who has forbidden the sale of Church property ? The legislature . Who has ordered the clergyman to reside on his cure ? The legislature . Well , then , cannot the legislature do with Church property
as it sees fit ? It can , for it has done so . What an Act of Parliament can do , an Act of Parliament can undo . It gave , and it can take away . If it cannot take away , how could it give ? If it was wrong to take from the Catholic , it could not be right to give to the Protestant . And if right to take once , it must be twice , and any number of times . What title have laymen to Church property but an Act of Parliament ? Have they a good title ? If not , let them disgorge . If they have , Church property may be rightfully applied to secular purposes . The various acts of the legislature in reference to
Church property shew that it has always looked on it not as private but public right . Does it order Earl Grey to live on his estate ? Does it forbid him to alienate his property ? Does it make the descent of it depend on a third party ? Does it take from his son and give it to a stranger ? The Church is a church establishment : that is , it is a Parliamentary Church . It lives in and by acts of the legislature , and by them can it be lawfully put to death . Surely the physicianr that has a right , if he sees needful , to destroy
his patient , may subject him to a bleeding to the extent his maladies may require . Either the Church was foully dealt by in the statutes of Mortmain , or the legislature may still prevent the further accumulation of wealth by the further improvements in land and increase of value in property , and as surely can it interfere retrospectively ; taking away part or all of the immense augmentations which the last century has made in the wealth of the hierarchy . Deny that the legislature has the controul of the wealth of the Church ,
Untitled Article
304 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 304, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2597/page/16/
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