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for the religious instruction of the people , a large proportion of them are wholly unprovided for , while , on another portion , its goodness is showered to redundancy . And should the former class think it necessary to have a second church in the same parish , they can have no clergyman to perform
the services therein without an increase of their ecclesiastical burdens , notwithstanding they may already raise 3000 L per annum , for the purpose of an adequate supply of religious instruction . That income is the freehold . of the rector , and any other instruction than what he can afford in a church not large enough to contain one-tenth part of the inhabitants , at a distance of iive or six miles from many of their homes , must be paid for by a separate imposition .
" This anomalous distribution of the livings gives rise to a parallel apportioning of the tithes . We can see no reason why there should exist among the clergy , the two extremes of superfluous provision and actual poverty , or why one parochial clergyman should receive a compensation for his services twenty times the value of that of his neighbour . The amount of revenue attached to a living , is governed by the number of acres which the parish contains , and the larger the parish , the greater the pay . This at first sight
may appear a plausible mode of distribution ; but a little reflection will discover it to be altogether unjust . The rector who enjoys bis 2000 / . per annum , and the vicar that receives but 400 / ., and the curate whose stipend does not exceed 100 / ., are alike separated from other avocations ; they alike profess to be engaged solely in the work of religious instruction , and neither class can boast superior piety or attainments , by which to lay claim to a
superior reward ; but this mode supports the inference , that the services of the three classes are in the proportions of 20 . 4 . 1 ., or in other words , that the services of a single rector are worth as much as those of five vicars or twenty curates , though he may be some fashionable sprite , who has scarcely attained majority , and figured among the ol iroWol of the universities , while they may be men of years , devotion , piety , and learning .
* ' On the lowest computation , there are 4000 perpetual and other curates , who , on an average , do not receive more than 100 / . each per annum , and who perform the entire duties of the livings to which they are attached ; the total income of this body then is 400 , 000 / . Now , availing ourselves of our previous mode of calculation , the annual value of the incomes of these livings is ,
each ^ mprising } 2697 cultivated acre » - 16 , 162 , 000 , at 6 * . , 848 , 600 488 waste ditto 2 , 928 , 000 , at Sd . 97 , 600 4 , 946 , 200 Deduct Salaries 400 , 000 £ 4 , 546 , 200 * ' Thus , there are four and a half millions of money entirely mfsappropriated , and that to the most scandalous purposes , viz . to encourage non-residence , pluralities , laziness , luxury , and avarice . If we were to refer to the large incomes of the bishops , we should be told , that they are necessity to
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The Churcty Establishment founded in Error . Q 2 \
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vol . v . 2 p
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1831, page 521, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2600/page/17/
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