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virtue , into the elevation and aggrandizement of Sklf . Thus serving the creature more than the Creator , they have cut off the streams of Divine illumination from themselves , and have left the whole world in darkness . ' ( p . 15 ) That such a body is * the power that is appointed to regenerate the kingdoms of men' is a position of which we cannot feel quite so confident as the Author . We must wait to witness their own regeneration first . Still we love the simple fervour of his pious enthusiasm . Whatever become of his prophecy , we believe his history to be correct ; and as affecting as it is true . Witness the following description :
* Another subject , against which the national appeal is made , and concerning which tears run down the people ' s cheeks , is the treatment which is awarded by the Establishment to a body that has won itself the honourable appellation of the working clergy / ' Of all denominations of men , not excepting the Irish peasantry , there is not a more unbefriended and ill-used race of beings upon , earth than the curates . Reared in the pleasures and
luxuries of an university , raised during their academical residence above their future conditions , they are prepared by the refinements of feeling acquired there—for what ? to bury in their heart ' s core a degree of poverty at which the heart sickens and the senses swim ! Oh ! my Lord , how deeply , and how fatally , the wretched curate learns the lesson of concealment , can only be known by those who have felt it . Home to him has no charms—• there is poverty in every corner ; excursions abroad no enjoyments—there is exposure at every step ; friendship no balm—it poui * s oil into wounds he would rather should destroy life than be perceived . The curate stands in his parish like a desolate tree , withering and deserted ; save by a few wretched sucklings at his root , to whom he has given unfortunate existence . To pierce the concealment of a curate , you must go , my Lord , to his kitchen . His parlour will not do ; there he effectually deceives you . Studied- neatness distinguishes his parlour , his children , arid the partner of his trials . For this the mournful minister of peace has debarred himself the gratification of the senses , and reduced his wants and health to mere attenuation—exhaustion—nothing . To his kitchen must you go to peruse the tale of a curate ' s
misfortunes . See , my Lord , as I open the door , in silence ; you behold the lonely couple preparing , with their offspring , to partake of their accustomed meal . A little bacon , a few potatoes , a morsel of bread , and a cup of cold water , comprise tbe sum of all they shall taste this day . Heartbroken father ! careworn mother ! dear hungry innocents ! a rich man ' s servant would reject your humble fare . But hark , my Lord , he reads the rich man ' s self a lesson ; he does infinite honour to those poor elements ; he asks a blessing , where , alas ! one is too plainly wanted . But it is enough , my Lord , let us close the door of your fellow-labourer and brother in Christ ! 4
Continual drippings will wear away a block of granite . Such events destroy a curate ' s usefulness—his energy , with his health , give way—he is grey-headed at thirty-five—few and evil having been the number of his days , he sinks into the grave , to receive in the bosom of his God , those comforts which the Church denied him on earth / And such are some of the workings of a plan which professes to he the best in the world for teaching the people religion ! There must he a gross fallacy somewhere ; but the public have little chance of its detection lvhile the attention to this subject , both of Churchmen and Statesmen , is chiefly directed to the pecuniary interests which it involves .
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144 Critical Notices .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1835, page 144, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2642/page/64/
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