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Untitled Article
generally avail when adults are to be the subject of instruction , is completely vitiated by the influence of other portions of the established system . Dissenting congregations choose their ministers in a decorous , peaceful , and rational manner , and thereby lay the foundation of mutual confidence and sympathy , through the whole of the connexion . But few elections exhibit scenes more
disgraceful and disgusting than those which often occur when the parishioners have the right of nominating their own clergyman . Such an election is to them like any other election . They have not been qualified by previous instruction for the use of their suffrage , the majority of them probably belong to a different sect , or to no sect at all , and they enter into a contest with feelings and
views of the same description as those which have been produced by the faction and corruption of political contests . By such freedom of choice little is gained . Generally , their instructor is selected for them , and imposed upon them . Rather more than half the livings in the country , that is to say , 6453 out of 10 , 872 , are the property of private individuals , who maybe either Jews , Turks ,
heretics , or infidels , or what is quite as disqualifying , may be only influenced by the desire of turning their authority to the greatest account , either in the way of pecuniary compensation , or of influence and patronage . Such is no doubt the motive of the appointment in the great majority of this class of livings . A very few instances there may be in which the patron only thinks of
bringing into a parish the individual who is best qualified to instruct its inhabitants . Such cases are extremely rare . When they occur , it does not follow that the object is gained . The information or ^ the judgment of the patron will sometimes be at fault . In the rest ,, it is only an affair of sale , barter , or family emolument , a convenient provision for illegitimate children , younger sons , or dependents . The remaining livings are about equally divided amongst the government , the bishops , the chapters , and the universities , and other corporate bodies . The government , that is the Ministry for the time being , also disposes of the higher dignities of the church . The university livings are chiefly
monopolized by the fellows of colleges , who have the choice of them in rotation . Interest , personal , family , or party interest , is as a golden chain running through the whole . Every class , if not every individual of every class , must be under strong inducements to employ his power for some other purpose than simply that of nominating the best qualified and best disposed person to promote
the intellectual and moral improvement of the people over whom he is to be placed . What worse contrivance has the world ever seen for bringing together pupils and a teacher whom they must respect and love in order to profit by his instructions ? And as the greatest unfitness and uncongeniality does not prevent , so neither is it allowed to dissolve the connexion . To the right of voluntary choice , the Dissenters find it needful to add , though they rarely
Untitled Article
794 Churchcraft
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1833, page 794, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2626/page/62/
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