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Untitled Article
begin the dissolution of the union of Church and State by breaking the golden link of the chain . Now what would be the effect upon the Church of England of the application , by the Legislature , of these funds to other purposes ? We mean the Church properly so called ; the members , the laity ; and not merely the clergy . They would not lose all that the nation gains ; for they would , gain their portion of the public
benefit . According to the Bishop of London ' s estimate , the Dissenters are only one-fourth of the population . This , he intends us to understand , leaves nine millions of souls for the Church . We will not hold him to this calculation . Suppose the Church to have only five millions of members . The Bishop estimates the tithe at a little more than two millions of pounds sterling . We
will not hold him to thi 3 calculation either . We will double it , and say five millions . The condition of the members of the Church , in the event of its disunion from the State , would be this : to support all the splendours of their hierarchy , as they now exist , would require contributions equivalent to a poll tax of twenty shillings per head . A man with a wife and four children would have six pounds per annum to pay for his religion . That would be his loss . But there is a credit side to the account . His four children
cost him five pounds a year each , for a common day-school education . The tithe education fund brings better instruction , gratuitously , to his door . He keeps the twenty pounds in his pocket , and saves fourteen pounds by the separation of Church and State . Or if the tithe went to the reduction of taxation , still his bargain would be a very good one . It would be difficult even for Lord Althorp to take off five millions of taxation , so that our
churchman with his family would not , directly and indirectly , reap a larger benefit than six pounds per annum , and find a balance in hand at the year ' s end . By the supposition , the direct return to the members of the Church would be upwards of two millions sterling . Their Hierarchy , as at present paid and constituted , would only cost them a poll tax of twelve shillings . But if they
reduced that Hierarchy , even retaining the same scale of expenditure , in proportion , to their numbers , this twelve shillings might be saved . Tney could support the whole from the direct saving in taxation ; and . all the indirect saving would go into their pocket 6 . We reckon for nothing the retrenchments which they might and ought to make . We reckon for nothing the control over clerical doings and character which they would obtain , the chance ef
getting a good clergyman gratis , instead of suffering under a Bad one . We reckon for nothing the gratification of looking th * ir dissenting neighbours pleasantly in the face . We take only the pounds , shillings , and pence account . The Church of England ; the real Church , that is , the members ; would get money or money ' s worth , by the separation . Let them not be deltidtd whea thft clergy clamour about spoliation , robbery , and tdundtr .
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On the Separation of Church and StaU . 315
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1834, page 315, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2633/page/3/
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