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Untitled Article
involuntary negative which must here so often be the response . But Ireland , for whose all-diffusive wretchedness the Church is so largely responsible , sends forth thither her propagators of
misery , a nucleus for what there is of indigenous want to gather around ; and the angels of those unendowed churches visit their hovels , and raise them into humanity and religion . May a similar spirit be excited here ; and not fierce fanatics , or blind enthusiasts , but men richly gifted in head and heart , such as they send forth , be deputed on a like errand of mercy to the far darker and more loathsome regions which our Establishment has left unconquered , unexplored , untouched , unthought of I But even when this is done , and there will be no little difficulty in its accomplishment , it will still become us to remember that this good seed was only imported ; and that it was first raised by that voluntary principle which has been ever most efficient in gladdening the wilderness , and making the desert to blossom as the rose . The fact is , that the Episcopal Church is itself in a far more
thriving condition in the United States than in the mother country . Anterior to the Revolution , all America was in the diocese of London ; a circumstance which may account for the warmth of Dr . Blomfield's interest in this subject , but which should have ensured rather more accuracy . At the Revolution
the collection of tithes stopped ; and the preaching of the parsons stopped at the same time . The flocks were abandoned ; others stepped into the deserted places ; episcopacy had to be reconstructed , on the plan of equal rights and voluntary support . It has now seventeen dioceses and 922 churches . We quote the published sermon of one of her bishops ' ( Dr . Hobart ) delivered in
1825 on his return from this country . The American Episcopal Church has cause of congratulation that , having received through the Church of England the faith as it was once delivered to the saints , the ministry as it was constituted by the apostles of our Lord , and a worship conformable to that of the first Christian a ges , she professes and maintains them in their primitive integrity , without being clogged and controlled by that secular influence and power which sadly obstruct the progress of the Church of Emjland , and alloy her apostolic and spiritual character . Often have I taken pride and pleasure in exciting the astonishment of those ( query , was not Dr . Blomfield one ?) who
supposed and contended that the voluntary act of the people would not adequately provide for the clergy , by stating , in my own case , the continuance of my salary , the provision for rny parochial duty , and the ample funds by which I was enabled to leave my congregation and my diocese . ( Perhaps here was more matter of astonishment than the honest Bishop dreamed of . ) We want
not 3 therefore , the wealth , the honours , or establishment of the Church of England . With the union of Church and State commenced the corruptions of Christianity ; and so firmly persuaded
Untitled Article
Defence of the Church Establishment . 257
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1834, page 257, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2632/page/25/
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