■ ■ ■ ■ Columbia ^intbers^itp intijeCitpofi^etu^orfe LIBRARY ^y^f^y'/'/e^y i^' ^Z'/^-^^''/"^^-^^' ^/[^-^ ^^a^7^ ^l^^^^' iM-.^^aaM^ 5% THE BASIS OF NATIONAL WELFARE: CONSIDERED IN REFERENCE CHIfrFLY TO THE PROSPERITY OF BRITAIN, AND SAFETY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND : WITH AN EXAMINATION OF Cf)e Parliamentary iaeportiaf ON EDUCATION, THE POLICE, THE POPULATION OF PARISHES, AND THE CAPACITY OF CHURCHES AND CHAPELS: And a further Illustration of the Chief Facts noticed in "THE CHURCH IN DANGER:" IN A SECOND LETTER TO The Right Hon, the Ejrl of Liferpool^ K. G. By the Rev. RICHARD YATES, B.D. F.S.A. CHAPLAIN TO HIS MAJESTY'S ROYAL HOSPITAL, CHELSEA ; RECTOR OF ASHEN ; AND ALTERNATE PREACHER TO THE PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETY. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. St. John xiii. 17. The only subjects Worth a wise man's serious notice are Religion and Government. _ Warburton. LONDON: Printed by Nichols, Son, and Bentley, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street : FOR F. C. AND J. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL's CHURCH YARD} J. HATCHARD, PICCADILLY} AND E. LLOYD, HAULEY STREET. 1817. CONTENTS. Page § 1. Prefatory Observations^ - - 1 ^2. Outline of the argument, - - 10 ^ 3. Recapitulatory heads of former letter, 21 Established Church — its administration — Legislative defect — Induction of facts — Inferences — Bible societies — Metho- dism — Society for Christian knowledge — National schools — Residence acts — One parochial church — Requisite legislative enactment. ^ 4. Points for further elucidation, - 27 Necessity of established Religion — Paro- chial public worship — Pastoral offices — Danger of neglected surplus population — National habits- — Parliamentary enqui- ries — Statement of facts — Induction of particulars — Legislative assistance — Re- medial measure — Existing laws — Diffi- culties — Communications — Published opinions — Object of present tract. 1 i Qi O*--? J.. ± KJ ± O'J IV Page ^ 5. Religion necessary to well-being of Civil Society, - - - - - 32 Hooker — Bolingbroke — Warburton — Dissolution of governments — Admission of opponents — Modern opposition — its consequences — Danger of neglect — Means of prevention. § 6. Necessity of Public Worship, - 45 Antiquity — Christian assemblies — Foun- der of Christianity — Basis of national churches, ^ 7. Parochial administration of Religion, 49 Constitutional necessity — Toleration act — Increase and change of population — Constitutional provisions. § 8. Danger of a neglected superabundant parochial population, - - - 54 Opinion that establishment unnecessary — Causes — Undivided parishes — Obsolete privileges — Chapel system— Neglect of pastoral offices — Injurious consequences — Circulating of profane Books and dan- gerous principles — Remedy. ^ 9. National Habits in opposition to ac- knowledged truths, - - - 67 Page Disuse of piiblic worship — The poor — ■ The wealthy — Loss of pastoral character — Neglect of Sacraments — Impossibility of duly administering the Lord's Supper — Means of grace — Public manners — Par- liamentary reports — Examination of ma- gistrates — Oblivion of importance of Pub- lic worship. — Public morals — Palliative remedies — Enquiries in Parliament — Po- lice — Shaftesbury — Prisons — Mendicity — Spirituous liquors — Manufactures and agriculture — Poor laws — Curates- — Non- residence — Schools and education — Their importance — Not alone sufficient — Argument from Scotland corrected — Supposed causes of defect — Real cause — Instance and proof-^Legislative, literary, and clerical attention not sufficiently di- rected to this cause. ^ 10. Examination of Parliamentary docu- ments on Population, Parishes, Bene- fices, Capacity of Churches, &c. 120 Necessity of ascertaining facts — General average — defectively explained in former letter — Proportion adopted by Queen Anne's parliament — for present adoption — Means of further examination — Speech of the Earl of Harrowby. Vl Page ^11. Restatement and Revision of Facts in the Parishes of the Metropohs dis- trict, ----- 131 §12. Comparative statement of foregoing Facts, from the account printed by order of the Mouse of Lords, - 141 §13. Result of comparison, - - I47 § 14. Further means of elucidation, - 149 §15. Abstract notice of all Parishes in En- gland and Wales of 2000 Inhabit- ants and upwards, - - - 154 § iC. Coincidence with general view and re- sult, ----- 158 §17. Legislative assistance requisite, - 16I Private and parochial inefficiency — New and stupendous power in Parliament — Application to present subject — Instance of efficacy on another difficult subject — Similar result expected — Anticipated sources of opposition — Necessity of Church Polity — Probable causes of co- operation — True Glory of effecting this national benefit. vu Page ^18. Outline of proposed measure^ - 183 General heads of a bill — Precedent de- cimo Annas. § 19. Difficulties examined, - - I99 Supreme authority — Parochial privileges — Subdivision of parishes — Constitutional advantages — Right of patronage — Pri- vate patronage — Tenure of benefices — Incumbents protected for public not pri- vate benent«— Ecclesiastical payments — Difficulty — General purpose of tithes— Dr. Bentley's defence of English clergy — Maintenance of ministers — Royal mes- sage Geo. I. — MSS. in archives of the House of Commons — Report of commis- sioners — Personal tithes — Pound rate — City of London how charged — Pew rents of chapels — Expected acquiescence in new law. ^ 20. Expence, - - - - - 235 Pubhc opinion — Important National be- nefit — Expence comparatively small- Cases of inferior moment — Beneficial consequences — argument from authority. -^21. Acknowledgements for private commu- nications and assistance, - - 243 Vlll Page ^ 22. Public statements of opinion, - 246 British Review, 246 — Critical Review, 253 — Gentleman's Magazine, 263 — Christian Observer, 265 — Augustan Re- view, 277 — Monthly Review, 315 — Ser- mon by Dr. Knox, 319 — Speech of the Earl of Harrowby, 323 — Quarterly Re- view, 329 — British Critic, 337 — Edin- burgh Review, 338 — Letter to John Coker, Esq. 345 — Review by Robert Wood, 349 — Visitation Sermon by Rev. G.Mathew, 351 — Statement, &c. of Man- chester, Rev. C. D. Wray, 352— Dr. Middleton, Bishop of Calcutta, 357 — Bri- tish Review, 365 — Bishop Porteus, 371. BASIS OF NATIONAL WELFARE. My Lord, In an age when the Humart Mind is thought to have attained a degree of improvement never exceeded, if ever equalled; — when Science in all its branches is sup- posed, hy a rapid progress, to be calling into action the utmost range of human in- tellect ; — when the most profound and dif- ficult subjects are become the topics of daily discussion ; — when the Construction and Conduct of Society, — ^the theoretical, inde- finite, and abstruse doctrines of Political Economy, — the excellencies and defects of Legislation, — the sources of National Power, and the means of National Wealth, — the investigations necessary to ascertain the Rights, support the Liberties, and confirm B the Prosperity of Nations, — are no longer confined to the studies of the learned or to the assembled wisdom of senates ; — but have descended to the circles of social converse, are become the companions of the breakfast table, and equally the associates of affluent ease and industrious occupation : — in such an age and under such circumstances, it will not, I trust, be thought that the generally diffused information upon these subjects, renders it ' presumptuous or unnecessary to entreat your Lordship's attention to a tract on the Basis of National Welfare. More particularly as it is not intended to enter upon any recondite and abstruse researches, to submit any novel and uncertain theories, nor even to discuss the various principles and materials that have been largely treated of as the component parts of National Secu- rity and Prosperity ; but only to propose to public recollection some of those plain and practical dictates of experience, which are too often overlooked and neglected in the more dazzling, through frequently injurious, splendour of National Warfare, Polemic Discussion, and Political Contest. The complicated and difficult questions in which these subjects abound, are so variously treated, and apprehended, even by the most celebrated enquirers, in so contradictory a manner, that Abstract Reasoning upon such points must still be unsatisfactory; and prac- tice, founded upon its conclusions alone, must be liable to unexpected dangers. The most rational Politicians and judicious States- men allow, that the Reformations and the Improvements of Society, to be safe and effectual, must, like the real improvements in physical science, be deduced from the observation of Facts, and conform to the lessons and guidance of Experience. Much attention and discussion have been employed to ascertain how far the Prosperity and Stability of Nations, may arise from and be dependant on — various and dissimilar Forms of Government, — on a widely ex- tended Dominion, — on a numerous Popu- lation, — on National Wealth and Revenue, — on the influence of the Fine Arts, and a more general diffusion of Literature and Science, — on Commercial Industry and En- terprize, — on Military Strength and Glory, B 2 4 - — and in the prosecution of these aud si- milar abstruse investigations of Political Economy, Legislation, and Reform, san- guine expectations of amelioration, improve- ment, and happiness have been indulged. But Experience hath given ample and de- cisive proof, that no advantages resulting from any of these subjects of enquiry, or from all of them united, are of themselves sufficient to the Permanence of National Welfare. Splendid and plausible Theories upon these points may draw off the Public atten- tion from more useful, plain, and practical Truths : and not only the visions of Philo- sophy, but also the more solid structures of Laws, Armies, Wealth, Finance, and Com- merce, may, and indeed must, all sink under the baneful and destructive influence of the Want of Relio;Ious and Moral Character. The purpose of the present tract will therefore be confined to the consideration of that One Great and Essential Point, — generally admitted indeed in Theory and Argument, but too generally disregarded in Practice^ — that Sine qua no7i in the stability and perlectlon of the Social Compact, with-, out attention to which all the other branches and constituents of National Prosperity, all the other grounds and sources of National Safety, must and will be found ultimately inefficient, wholly unable to preserve the Body Politic from degradation, dismember- ment, and dissolution. Those who are most conversant with the manners and habits of mankind in Active Life cannot but perceive, — that the benefits of obvious truths are too often lost in a ge- neral and unheeded acknowledgement, — that the practical consequences of evident and in- disputable facts are frequently neglected in the pursuit of speculative and theoretical reasonings ; — that objects of the deepest im- portance obtain much less time and attention than are in many instances bestowed upon those of comparatively trifling import ; — and that these observations are not less justly applicable to the affairs of States than to the concerns of individuals. Tf upon a candid and impartial examination it should appear that National Welfare and Prosperity are founded in, and arise from, attention to a 6 few plain and generally acknowledged truths ; and that such truths are Indeed readily admitted and even willingly defended in theory, while, to all useful purposes, they are neglected, and remain without any due and sufficient practical regard : to repeat those Truths, and to call the Puhlic Atten- tion to them, may, it is hoped, be a useful and patriotic employment, although it should, by some, be considered as urging that which is already well known. In the Religious and Moral concerns of States and Governments as well as of indivi- duals, all Knowledge is only useful so far as it is reduced to Practice : yet there seems to be an inherent tendency in our present imperfec- tion, to overlook that which is evident and to neglect that which is known ; and that exalted Teacher who best understood human nature, who '^ knew what was in man," hath left us this impressive admonition, — *' if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them/' If therefore the observations now presented to your Lordship, with the hope of recalling in some degree the Public Attention to the instructive results of experience, should ap- pear to be founded in Truths and Facts of the highest utility and importance, no further apology will, I trust, be thought requisite for the endeavour, however imperfectly executed, to place them in a practical and beneficial point of view. This hath indeed appeared in the mani- festation of Public Opinion, by which this manner of treating the subject, in a former letter addressed to your Lordship under the title of " The Church in Danger," is so far sanctioned as to render it probable, that an additional illustration and enforcement of the most essential points discussed in that work, might be in some degree conducive to the National Safety both in Church and State ; and that the object of the publication, in calHno; the attention of the Friends of Social Order and British Prosperity to con- siderations deeply affecting both, might be promoted by a Second Letter, drawn up with reference to those parts of the former which have been thought to require further expansion and elucidation. In conformity to the plan therefore Vv^hich 8 has been thus marked with pubHc approval, the considerations now presented to your Lordship will not embrace any Theoretical Enquiries in Politics, or any Doctrinal Rea- sonings in Divinity ; nor contain any exa- mination of those visionary and untried plans of Reformation, and of those metaphysical distinctions upon the Origin and Construction of Civil Society, the discussions of which have so little contributed to the Public Wel- fare. It is now proposed to consider Society under the circumstances in which it is at present found to exist : and in reviewing certain indubitable Facts, to refer chiefly to the dictates of Experience, and the arguments to be drawn from a rational and unpresumlng appeal to Authority in the Works and Opi- nions of wise, learned, judicious, and practical Legislators, Divines, and Statesmen. In attempting this in the present address to your Lordship, I shall have now also the opportunity, in corroborating the general rea- soning by the powerful and often prevailing argument from Authority, to give this argu- ment some additional support from an inti- 9 inatlon of the Testimonies afforded by the highly respectable communications that have been made to the author ; and also from a collection of such Public Observations, con- sequent upon the circulation of the tract be- fore named, as have fallen under his notice ; together with some of the incidental allusions to the subject that had previously been made by other writers. Such an accumulation of opinions and ob- servations, presenting various views of the subject, and originating in minds of different sentiments and dissimilar habits, may per- haps be thought, like the argument from authority and precedent in the formation and administration of the laws, to possess a o:reater weioht and influence than can ever be attained by the unsupported statement of any individual : and may therefore, I trust, be presented with peculiar propriety to your Lordship, when the purpose is to establish the necessity and advantage of an important and difficult Legislative Enactment. 10 § 2. — Outline of the Argument. A British Parliament having incorporated with the Laws of the Nation an Act (9 An, Reg. Cap. 22.) explicitly declaring that " the Commons of Great Britain were zea- "^ lous to provide supplies to increase the '^ numher of Churches for the better instruc- " tion of all persons inhabiting, or who shall ** inhabit, in the several Parishes wherein the " same shall be built, in the true Christian " Religion, as it is now professed in the '^ Church of England, and established by '^ the Laws of this Realm:'* — and in the following Session added another (10 An. Reg. Cap. 11.) expressly framed, *^ To the *' end that a work so much for the Honour of " God, the Spiritual welfare of her Majesty's *^ subjects, the interest of the Established " Church, and the Glory of her Majesty's *' reign, may be carried on and perfected :'* • — A subsequent Monarch having also in an Official Message to the House of Commons, (11 Geo. 10 Feb. 1724) distinctly stated, that " His Majesty was truly sensible of the 11 ii great necessity there is of Neiv Churches " and of Neiv Divisions of Parishes ; and " also firmly persuaded that nothing will " more effectually engage Almighty God to " send down his blessings upon his Crown " and People, than a due zeal for the " Honour and Service of Religion :" — ^ We have thus the highest possible authority to consider the sentiments so expressed, as an accurate and impressive constitutional ac- knowledgment,— that it is of the utmost im- portance to the safety of the State, that Religious and Moral Habits should pervade the general body of the People ; that the Public Worship and Parochial Services and Superintendence of the Established Church, are the legal and Constitutional medium of affording the Instruction that forms those Habits ; — and that it must also be considered as one of the most indispensable Duties of the Government to provide the means of producing that End and Purpose, which is thus declared to be essential to the well-being of the Community. It is consonant to the most profound and truly philosophic perception of the principles 12 which regulate human conduct, that our admirable Constitution hath thus combined, in one well -compacted frame, the Religious Instruction of the people with the more directly Political Duties of the Legislature : and hath indicated in many specific enact- ments, as well as In the general Prescriptive Custom of Ancient Practice, the utility and necessity of providing for the due discharge of those Parochial and Pastoral Of- fices, which are thus acknowledged as the Legal Basis of the National Welfare and of the Established Church, and the only efficient channels by which the Religious Instruction necessary to the security and stability both of Church and State, can be conveyed to the great body of the People. If the national Church be weakened in this its very Basis and Foundation, not onlv its powers of conducing to the General Welfare must be impaired, but its very existence may be also endangered : and in the British Con-^ stitutlon the Church and State are so indis- solubly united, that if the just and legiti- mate efficiency of the Church, in forming the Principles of the People, be not ade-» 13 quately supported, the State must suffer a severe if not a fatal injury. From a concurrence of circumstances, un- foreseen and unprovided against at the form- ation of the existing: Ecclesiastical arrange- ments, the Estahlished Church, upon a due examination, will he fouud to be, in its pre- sent condition, incapable of impressing the re- straining and directing influence of Christian Principles upon the minds and consciences of a considerable proportion of the population. Should this radical defect be permitted to remain in its present power and operation, the most injurious and destructive effects must soon become, if they be not already, very apparent. While its Doctrines are defended with zeal and ability, and its Communion maintained, in a nominal profession at least, the Church seems to have lost much of its Practical and Effective Ability to form the opinions and direct the manners of large classes of its professing members. This Ability being the result of a due administration and adequate observance of its Public Services, it must be considered as 14 an alarming symptom when a Neglect and l^isuse of those public services are found to prevail in any considerable degree. To this cause may be traced much of that Declension of Religious impression, so con- spicuous in many of the higher classes, and the consequent ascendency of those shallow and dangerous opinions in Philosophy, Mo- rals, and Politics, which, though sometimes disclaimed in words, are, by a strange and culpable inconsistency, permitted in practice and conduct, to banish every consideration of Future Existence and Future Retri- bution, and to suffer every faculty of mind and body to be absorbed in pursuits and avocations, circumscribed within the narrow boundary of this life alone. To the same defective administration of the Public Worship of the Church may be attributed also, the generally allowed and lamented fact, — assigned indeed by observers of differing habits and characters to various and dissimilar causes, but still admitted as an undeniable fact, — that during the last half century a great and alarming deterioration of Moral Character hath taken place in the 15 lower and most numerous classes of the population in this Counti-y. In tracing this national misfortune to the want of Parochial Religious Instruction as its Primary Cause, it is not intended to deny the necessity of attending to other assisting causes. Almost ail that have heen assio-ned are included in, or derived from, two, which particularly force themselves upon notice. In towns, — the very numerous and condensed population which the Manufacturing system crowds into comparatively small spaces, at present without any due provision for Paro- chial Public Worship : in such situations virtuous principle is speedily blighted, and irrehgion and vice readily propagated. — In villages, — . the excessive and injurious accu- mulation of land in large farms, by which, without any adequate advantage either to the state or to the proprietors, large por- tions of the peasantry are driven from the villages already provided with Churches, to towns without a sufficient number, — and the character of the remaining village population is entirely and dangerously changed. Tlie united operation of these secondary causes, 16 gives an incalculably injurious effect to the want of Public Worship and Parochial super- iiitendance ; and to their united and reci- procal operation must be attributed the present degradation of the Moral character of the poor. This alarming increase of immorality is^ indeed, marked with something of a peculiar character. It partakes of a certain portion of what may be turned the tinge of Civiliza- tion : it is less ^Atrocious than formerly ; the Crimes are not generally of so brutal a de- scription. But the Extent of Irreligion is much greater, and is now combined with am increasing organized hostility to Subordina- tion and Good Order. This Fact must, therefore, \n the present condition of the British People, be considered by the enlightened Statesman, and the judi- cious Legislator, in connection, not only with the natural effects of Moral Depravity, but also with the numerous and powerful facili- ties, that recent circumstances, and modern manners have occasioned, of engrafting upon that depravity, Principles in the highest de- - Police Report., p. -29. 143. 185. 17 gree hostile and dangerous to the EstabUshed Order of Society and Government. Considerable masses of population under such circumstances, and influenced by such Principles, if no corrective expedient be ap- plied, must be rapidly accumulating the ma- terials of a dangerous, and perhaps ruinous, assault upon the enviable possessions of those now distinguished by wealth and power ; and upon all the social and domestic comforts, resulting from the personal and individual security, afforded alike to the fruits of in- dustry, and to paternal inheritance, by the ascendancy of Law and Order, Some Religion, and some Government, may indeed survive, or arise out of, the convul- sive derangement and disorganization, neces- sarily resulting from a profligate disregard of Futurity, when stimulated into a rash and desperate desire of present indulgence, by a daily increasing insubordination ; but It will not, it cannot, be the mild, rational, tole- rant, liberal, and practical system — venerar ble by age, and consecrated by experience — of the present British Constitution in Church and State. 18 All, therefore, who think, that the Con-* stitutional blessings and advantages we at present enjoy, are most worthy of our utmost endeavours to preserve, — that the Power and Wealth of the community, if torn from its present possessors, might not be employed more to the general benefit, — and that the present order of society caimot be long sus- tained without the more general diffusion of those Religious and Moral Impressions, which the Established Church is intended to form ; — all who thus think, will also think it a most important and imperious Duty of Self-Preservation in the Legislature, to Re- store TO, or to Confer on, the Established Church, those powers and facilities of in- structing the people, without which its Doc- trinal Excellencies may be of no avail, and its beneficial and protecting influence may be lost to the Body Politic. To all persons under the power of such sentiments, — all Christian Patriots, and all zealously attached Members of the Church of England, — it will appear as a natural and necessary consequence of their convictions, that what may be called the Ecclesiastical 19 Duties of the Government, — a prompt and eiFective consideration of the means by which the Established Church affords its support to the State, and a sufficient provision for the Expenditure requisite to give those means their due effect, — have a claim upon the at- tention of the Legislature no less powerful, and no less essential to the protection and preservation of the peace, the order, and the well being of the community, than those that are merely Political, Financial, Commercial^ and Military. Considerations founded on these latter to- pics are of daily and hourly occurrence j they float on the surface of social and civic concerns, compose too exclusively the mate- rials of public business, and are presented to your Lordship's notice in a great variety of forms. Of far less general observation, and less general interest, although of the deepest pos- sible importance, is the more abstract and difficult subject of restraining, guiding, and propelling to more momentous objects, the human passions, — of giving activity and ef- fect to those Moral and Religious Principles c 2 20 which are the only certain and permanent source of happiness and stabiUty to society. This is the duty and office of the National Religion ; and the peculiar and admirable adaptation for this purpose, and to this end, is the great Constitutional Excellence of the Church of England as by Law Established : — that tolerant, liberal, and truly Apostolic Church, which is equally the Parent of social peace, of rational contemplation, and of sub- lime hope; whose benign influence, even when employed in the concerns of Time, extends into Eternity ; in guiding the affairs of Earth, elevates the heart to Heaven ; ^and in teach- ing us to praise the Lord with joyful lips for all the blessings of This Life, continually ad- monishes us, that our gratitude is due, above all, for the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of Grace, and for the hope of Future and Everlasting Glory. Thus teaching that rational and truly chris- tian USE OF THIS World, which is not in- consistent with an increasing and all influen- cing regard to the World to come : a Use, equally removed from the gloomy and almost 21 ungrateful austerity of the mystic and enthu- siast; and from that sole aud undivided atten- tion to the concerns of Time, which banishes Eternity from the minds of too many men of business and men of pleasure : a Use of this world, employed in gratitude to God and benevolence to Man ; and establishing, upon the hope of Future Reward, and the fear of Future Punishment, that Moral and Religi- ous Character, which leads to the highest improvement of the intellectual faculties, and is the only Basis of permanent Social Order, of Political Liberty, and of National Welfare and Prosperity. § 3. Recapitulary heads of former letter. With an anxious desire of contributing in some degree to the furtherance of these most Important purposes, it was proposed, in a former Letter that I had the honour of ad- dressing to your Lordship, to examine the grounds of a prevalent apprehension that the Church of England is at present in a state of Danger. — 22 In doing this some illustrative observations were offered on " 1st. The *Mode in which the Benefits of the Established Church are educed and com- municated : — and the Provisions appropri- ated for that purpose. " The advantages of an Established Church, the Instruction beneficial to Indi^ viduals, and the Restraints conducive to the welfare of Society, can only be effectually communicated to the General Body of its Members, by the medium and instrumen- tality of Public Worship. " To give Public Worship its full and be- neficial effect, the necessary Duty devolves upon the State, of providing for a proper Division of the Country into Parishes, a re- gular Ministry, appointed and supported by Law, and the Erection of sufficient and con- venient Structures for the celebration of Di- vine Service. *' 2dly."}* The Legislative Defect which is supposed to have occasioned the present Danger of the Church. * Church in Danger, pp. 18^ and ?l. t Ibid. pp. 18, «9, 3«. 23 *' No Law was enacted to secure the Divi- sion of Parishes when the Inhabitants should become too numerous for the spiritual super- intendance and assistance of one Minister : and to provide for the building of Churches sufficiently numerous to afford the instruc- tions of our admirable Liturgy, and the be- neficial impressions of Public Worship to all Classes of the Community, In places where the changing stream of Population might force itself into channels not before provided with such Structures. "An increase of Habitations, and an aug- mentation of Population, have been gradually accumulating around the Metropolis, and in many other Districts, without any corre- spondent arrangements to secure for the Es- tablished Church the due administration of its offices. — The Parishes immediately sur- rounding the City of London, long subse- quently to their original boundaries being given to them, though of considerable ex- tent, contained only a Village Population of one or two hundred souls, with a Village Church of sufficient capacity to accommodate the whole, under the care of a Rector or 24 Vicar, whose personal knowledge of his flock rendered the discharge of his Official Duties advantageous both to them and to the State, his instructions beneficial, and his re- sidence a blessing. " These Parishes remaining for the most part the same in supei'ficial extent, have in- creased in population to the enormous amount of thirty, forty, fifty, and in one instance upwards of Seventy Thousand Souls, and no concomitant alteration has been made to provide for the instruction and superintend- ance of the Established Church. *' In these enormous and unwieldy Masses of Population such a variety of discordant and contending interests are generated, that many of the Civil advantages, and Moral Restraints, and almost all the Ecclesiastical benefits of the Established Church, are neces- sarily annihilated. An immense numerical majority of the Inhabitants are excluded from all instructive participation in the prayers and praises of their Parish Church. — The due discharge of the salutary Duties of a Resi- dent Parochial Minister is become absolutely impossible. The advantage which individual 25 knowledge aud notice gives to instruction, and the preventive effect which that know- ledge and notice has upon the vices of the Lower Classes, are absolutely and wholly lost. " 3rdly. *The injurious effects, in an in- duction of particulars from the Parliamentary Reports, which appear to have resulted from that Defect. *' This induction of particulars appears to have established the Melancholy Truth, that within a circuit of about eight Miles around the City of London, by the pre- sent distribution and circumstances of the Parishes, qftei' alloiviiig to each Church a proportion more than siifficient to Jill it, and fully, if not 7nore than equal to the parochial Qare of the Clergy at present al- lotted to the charge, there is found to remain a Surplus population of '' NINE HUNDRED AND FIFTY- THREE THOUSAND excluded from the benefits and advantages of participating in the Instructive Public Worship and Pastoral Superlntendance of the Established Church. " 4thly. The Inferences from this State- ment of Facts, — tending to prove * Church in Dageni, pp. IS and 71. 26 " *That Bible Societies not being the cause of injury, their restraint or suppression would not remove the Danger. '* That the increase of Sectarian Method- ism-^ is not the cause, but the consequence, of the present state of the Church. " JThat the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, and the Society for the Esta- blishment of National Schools, though ad- mirable auxiliaries, are not, and cannot of themselves, be equal to the task of averting the threatenino; Dano-er. " §That the recent Acts relating to the Re- sidence of the Clergy, and the employment of Curates, have not removed or even touched upon the chief source and cause of Danger. *' That the proposal for erecting one large II Parochial Church in the present Parishes must be found a very inadequate remedy. ** And that a Legislative Enactment pro- viding for a Distribution of the Population into appropriate Divisions, — supplying the means of Public Worship, — and providing for the useful and efficient discharge of the * Church in Danger, pp. 91. 92 f ^^bid. p. 95. t Ibid. p. 106. \ Ibid. p. 118. || Ibid. p. 508. 27 Pastoral Offices, in districts not hitherto so provided, — is the most certain and only pro- bable means of securing the stability and prosperity of the Established Church." § 4. — Points for further Elucidation, The critical remarks and assistances that have been communicated to me, conveying the sentiments of various readers upon the several heads discussed in that Letter, and the doubts and difficulties that occurred to their minds, as requiring further elucidation, will, I hope, be all comprized and considered ]under the following points or general heads. Further pbservations on the Necessity AND Utility of an Established Religion ; — its Parochial Administration ; — and its Pas- toj-al Offices. Additional Illustration of the Dan2:ers of a Neglected and Superabundant Parochial Po- pulation. A notice, somewhat in detail, of some Na- tional Habits, in opposition to acknowledged Truths. 28 A few observations on some recent Par- liamentary Examinations. The probable occasion of the former state- ment being thought an exaggeration. A Restatement of the facts, and a further Induction of particulars, respecting the Pa- rishes and Population around the Metropolis. The necessity of further Legislative assist- ance. Outline of the proposed remedial measure; with some observations on the state of the existing Laws, and the difficulties that may be expected to obstruct its progress. A grateful notice of the communications that have been received ; and a collection of the published opinions that have been given upon the subject treated of in this tract. It is in reference to the Doubts and Fears that have presented themselves to some ob- servant minds in regard to the degree of CONSIDERATION which Rehgion appears to obtain in the Public Discussions and General Business of the State, that the Title of the present little work was adopted, and the ob- servations founded on it presented to your Lordship. If it be admitted, or proved, that Religion, 29 influencing the general Habits, Principles, and Motives of conduct, be the only sure and permanent Basis of National Wel- fare ; if it be also admitted, or proved, that the Parochial administration of Public Wor- ship, and Pastoral Offices, forms the Legal AND Constitutional Basis of the Na- tional Church, and alFords the only ef- fectual means of conveying Religious Impres- sions to the General Body of the Peo- ple ; it will follow as a necessarv conse- quence — that upon the degree of support given by the Legislature to secure the Effi- ciency AND DUE Administration of the Parochial Worship, the Safety both of Church and State must ultimately depend : — and if it should also be further proved bv a most impressive and much to be lamented statement of Facts, in an induction of parti- culars from the most authentic sources, — that a VAST proportion of the people are EXCLUDED from all participation in the Pa- rochial and Effective Instructions of the Na- tional Religion ; — it will then be most evident and undeniable that such Legislative atten- tion, assistance, and support, is now most urgently and imperiously required. 30 To those, therefore, who cannot conteni- plate many prevailing sentiments and prac- tices of the present age without a tendency to despond, it is a source of consolation and hope, to consider that the exalted Authority I have adduced in the commencement of this Letter is in full accordance with your Lord- ship's opinions, as evidenced in the example of your Lordship's attention to the Puhlic Duties of the Estahllshed Church. This affords much sincere gratification to those British and Christian Patriots, who look for the Peace of their FamiUes and the Prosperity of their Country, not in the Splen* dour of Conquest or the Power of Wealth, but in the prevalence of those Principles and Habits which the Public Worship and In- structive Services of the Church of England are so well calculated to teach and to im- press. — As a discussion respecting the Estahllshed Religion, particularly when pointing to any Legislative measure, may be likely to engage the attention, not only of those who think superficially and slightly upon the sub- ject, and are therefore negligent of the terms 31 in which it is conveyed ; but also of those who are sincerely attached to the cause, and yet sometimes permit their zeal to warp their better judgement, and lead them to cavil at the terms, rather than attend to the drift and meaning of the statement, it is within the verge of possibility that the intended appli- cation of the words Basis of the Established Church, may be mistaken or misapplied. To guard against such accidental or wil- ful misapprehension, it is only necessary to observe, that the object of this Tract relat- ing primarily to the influence of Religion as connected with the State, the application of these words is intended to refer to the Po- litical, and not to the Theological Basis. While it is assumed as a position capable of being invincibly defended and maintained, from the evidence of Scripture, and a general conformity with the authority of the first ages of Christianity, — that in a Theological aud Doctrinal point of view, the Church of England is founded upon " the Apostles and " Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the " chief corner stone :" so also it is hoped that it may be proved in a manner equally 32 satisfactory and conclusive, if It were neces- sary to enter more at large upon such proof, that Parochial Pul)llc Worship, — the Paro- chial Division of the Country, — and the Es- tablishment of a Legal and accredited Paro- chial Ministry — ^form together, the Constitu- tional Basis and Foundation of the National Established Church of England ; and are the best and most efficient means of Impressing and maintaining that sense of Religion which is essential to the National Welfare. § 5. Religion necessary to the well-being- erf' Civil Society, The benefit and absolute Necessity 6f Re- ligious Principles, impressing a sense of Future Rewards and Pmiishments, to the construction and support of that Order form- ing Civil Society, and to the conduct and permanence of all well- constituted Govern- ment, have been so frequently and largely enforced by rational, skilful, and philosophic Statesmen ; by judicious Legislators and learned Historians no less distinctly and ex- plicitly, than by patriotic, benevolent, and 33 pious Divines, that in addressing your Lord- ship in a former letter upon the present con- dition of the Church, I did not enter upon any detailed repetition of arguments so often and so powerfully urged, but ventured to take it for granted, — " *That the ends and purposes of the Social Union are promoted, — obedience to human Laws enforced, — and the consequent domestic peace, har- mony, and prosperity of the State secured by an Established Religion. And that by your Lordship, and all who admire respect and venerate the British Constitution, it will also be readily admitted that the Es- tablished Church of England is admirably adapted to attain all these important pur- poses. That its pious, doctrinal, and Scrip- tural Liturgy, is second to no merely human composition. And that its tolerant prin- ciples, as developed in the practical adminis- tration of its policy during the last two hun- dred years, are the best demonstration of the friendly aspect it bears towards the just liberties and rational happiness of man- kind." * Church in Danger^ p. 9 and 10. 34 But in consequence of some of the highly respectahle communications I have since re- ceived, and in deference to those opinions which apprehend that, in the present times, the Utihty of Rehgion to the State is not so justly appreciated as its friends are willing to suppose ; I trust it will satisfy any doubtful reader, or at least lead to further enquiry and examination, and be therefore sufficient for the present purpose of introducing a very concise review of the subject, if I adduce the authority of two most distinguished and emi- nent Friends of Religion, Hooker and War- burton, whose judgement, acumen, penetra- tion and learning, it were as impossible to deny as it is difficult to equal. And also that of another writer of splendid abilities and high reputation, the extracts from whose works must, however, be considered as ad- missions to the invincible power of truth, rather than as the opinions of a willing ad- vocate. The venerable and judicious Hooker thus states his opinion ; *' Pure and unstained Religion ought to be the highest of all cares appertaining to 35 Public Regiment, as well in regard of that aid and protection which they who faith- fully serve God confess they receive at his merciful hands, as also for the force which Religion hath to qualifie all sorts of Men, and to make them in Public Affairs the more serviceable*. '* The safety of all Estates dependeth upon Religion. Religion unfeignedly loved, perfecteth Men's Abilities unto all kinds of virtuous services in the commonwealth. All true virtues are to honour true Religion as their Parent, and all well-ordered Com- monweals to love her as their Chiefest Stay-|^." " Men fearing God are thereby a great deal more effectually, than by positive Laws, restrained from doing evil ; inasmuch as those Laws have no farther power than over outward actions only ; whereas unto men's inward cogitations, unto the privy intents and motions of their hearts, Re- ligion serveth for a bridle. What more savage, wild, and cruel, than Man, if he see himself able, either by fraud to overreach, * Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, B. 5, p. 189. t Ibid. B. 5. p. 191. d2 38 or by power to overbear, the Laws where- unto he should be subject ? Wherefore, in so great boldness to offend, it behoveth that the world should be held in awe, not by a vain surmise, but a true apprehension of somewhat which no man may think himself able to withstand. This is the Politick use of Religion*." The authority of Bolingbroke as a Philo- sophic Statesman and Legislator, may, per- haps, have upon some minds an influence superior to that of many other writers, whose opinions might be adduced. The following are his Lordship's declarations, selected from his Philosophical Works : '^ Civil government cannot subsist well without Religion." vol. i. p. 326. ** The good effects of maintaining, and the bad effects of neglecting, religion, had been extremely visible in the whole course of the Roman Government." vol.iii. p. 6J. " To make goverinnent effectual to all the good purposes of it, there must be a Reli- gion ; this religion must be national ; and * Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polityj B. 5. p, 193. 37 the national religion must be maintained in reputation and reverence." vol. iii. p. 330. '* Reason will not deny that there is to be a future state ; and the doctrine of re-- wards and punishments in it, has so great a tendency to enforce civil laws, and to re- strain the vices of men, that reason will not decide against it on principles of good po- licy." vol. IV. p. 311. " No religion ever appeared in the world, whose natural tendency was so much di- rected to promote the peace and happiness of mankind, as the Christian." vol. il. p. 286. " The system of Religion which Christ published, and his Evangelists recorded, is a compleat system of true religion, natural and revealed." vol. ii. p. 329. '* It is the word of God : it requires, there- fore, our veneration, and a strict conformity to it." vol. II. p. 331. " The gospel of Christ is one continued lesson of the strictest morality, of justice, of benevolence, and of universal charity." vol. IV. p. 144. 38 ^' Future rewards and punishments are sanctions of the evangelical law." vol. v. p. 151 * The acute and powerful, the copious and elaborate Warburton, has also directed the force of his various and profound erudition, by accumulating an unprecedented body of evi- dence from the ancient Poets, Historians, and Legislators, to the proof and elucidation of the fact, — That none of the Governments of Heathen Antiquity were conducted with- out calling in the aid of Religious Fear ; by giving the Sanctions of Religion to the Laws, and by superadding to the authorityf the Magistrate the more influential dread of a tribunal beyond the termination of the pre- sent life. He says, " that the protection of Religion is indispensibly necessary to all Go- vernments ; and for his warrant he offers the following volume (1st Vol. Divine Lega- tion), which endeavours to shew the ne- cessity of Religion in general, and of the doctrine of a Future State in particular, to Civil Society from the Nature of things, * The Philosophical Works of the late Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, 5 volumes^ octavo. 39 and from the Universal consent of man- '' kind* " Had his mind been directed to account for the DissoKition and Destruction of the Governments he reviewed, he might pro- bably with equal truth have traced their overthrow to the imperfect manner in which this Assistance to the Laws was developed ; — to the mysterious and unintelligible jargon under which the Philosophers veiled their disregard of the popular Religion ;— and to the sensual, gross, detestible, and impious practices, which, as the several nations ad- vanced in power, wealth, and luxury, ra- pidly extinguished the feeble glimmering lio^ht of Futurity. The Governments and their Laws, thus left to their own unaided powers, were speedily and effectually overwhelmed by an irresis- tible torrent of unbridled degenerate selfish passions, impelled to the most intemperate and profligate violence by the sordid and sole regard of Present Indulgence. And with peculiar reference to the modern prevalent habit of thinking and acting in * Vide also the Alliance of Church and State, b. i. ch.3. 40 Political concerns without regard to Religion, it may be useful to observe,^ — that many of its distinguished enemies and opponents, being sensible of the great and evident use of Religion in the sustentation of Law and Social Order, have thought fit to designate it as merely a Political Engine, framed and employed to ensure that obedience which Law and Force, without such assistance, could never obtain. Thus, by the irresistible power of Truth and Fact, even its adversaries have been compelled to bear their unwilling testimony to the Utility of Religion, by the very ef- forts they were making to undermine its influence, and degrade its authority. This admission having been drawn into an argument by some of the defenders of Revealed Religion, the Philosophic Unbe- lievers of modern times, adopting In a more de- cided manner the method sometimes practised by their predecessors, of passing by without notice arguments not easily answered, have in a great measure abandoned the arms of •reasoning, and have relied chiefly upon those of ridicule, calumny, and contempt, to degrade 41 and lower in the estimation of the unthinking part of mankind the Offices and Ministers of Religion. They have accordingly proceeded upon a system of excluding as much as possible all Religious considerations, all impressions of and regard to Future Existence, from Public Business and Public Habits. In this attempt they have, unhappily for mankind, been too much assisted by peculiar circumstances in the Religious Establish- ments in Christendom. To one of these in our own Established Church, which hath given a great and highly injurious facility to the influx and circulation of their dangerous opinions, and still more dangerous Habits of Irreligion, it is the purpose of this tract to call the Public At- tention. Those in Roman Catholic Establishments are too obvious to need any illustration to a Protestant and enlightened Statesman. It was, indeed, reserved for the present age to witness the Practical Effects of these so highly vaunted speculations of Infidel Philo- sophy, when elevated to the direction of the 42 affairs of a State, and invested with the Authority, the Power, and the Resources of the Body Pohtic. We have hved to see a Government form- ing its measures upon the destruction and overthrow of all the Public Appurtenances of Religion, and proceeding in its functions upon the express and Public Disavowal of all Expectation beyond the Present Life. This tremendous experiment has been, it might reasonably be supposed, sufficiently horrible and terrific to satisfy the doubtful, and silence the incredulous, on the subject of the utility and necessity of Religious Esta- blishments : and to confirm, beyond the pos- sibility of reproach, the benign influence of those Religious Principles, which impress Moral Habits and Legal Restraints with the avd'ul sanctions of Future Retribution. But while the indubitable authority of Experience is thus brought in aid and con- firmation of the previous reasonings and con- clusions of the truly wise Politician, and the truly Christian Philosopher, it must also be allowed, and ought to obtain the most se- rious and prompt attention of all the friends 43 of due subordination, domestic peace, social order, and good government, — that this suc- cessful attack of the Many upon the Few, — of Animal and Numerical Strength upon the restraints of Mind and Opinion, — and the consequent rapid and rapacious transfer of Wealth and Power from their ancient posses- sors to hands before unused to them, — have made a deep impression upon the Lower Classes of society in this countrv: and that the means and instruments of delusion have now greater faclHties, and greater influence upon them, than at any former period. Every street of every city and populous district, the Metropolis more especially, is supplied with associated clubs and organized communities, or rather bands, of Mechanics, Manufacturers, Labourers, and Servants, — * in which all the doctrines of dissatisfaction and disaffection, and all the recent instances of successful violence, are commented upon and diffused, with a power and effect incre^ dlble to those who look not beyond the sur- face of social and political concerns. The destructive Influence of these delete- rious principles, could never have attained 44 its present extent, if the People had not lost the Habit of consecrating the Sabbath tp the Public Duties of Religion. And the only cflPectual means of stemming the torrent must be, the adopting of prompt decisive measures to supply the counteracting Ban'ier of Christian Principles, and to re-establish the benignant and healing Dominion of Re- ligion. For, if Religion be the only efficient Re- straint on the violence of human Passions ; — the only power able to repress the selfish desperation that, in pursuit of any favourite object, disregards all Human Controul ; — the only principle of sufficient force to secure that obedience and conformity to Law, with- out which Civil Society and Political Insti- tutions must sink into ruins : — if, In addition to arguments thus drawn from the reason and nature of things, we find the Necessity of Religion hath been generally acknow- ledged by the Common Consent of Man- kind ; — that its indispensible aid in the Go- vernment of Men hath been demonstrated by Friends, admitted by Enemies, and vindi- cated and enforced by Experience; — then 46 most indubitably we must recur to Religion as the only certain and permanent Basis of our National Welfare. We must seek Poli- tical Reformation and Political Security where they only can be found, — in fixing deeply upon the minds of the people the awful con- viction, that Man is made for Eternity, and will most certainly be judged by an Om- nipotent " God, unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid." This is to provide the only Antidote that can expel the deadly Poison, which has al- ready deeply penetrated, and threatens dis- tortion and injury, if not entire dissolution, to the present constitutional system of highly-favoured Britain. § 6. Necessity of Public TVorship. The Experience and the Usage of all na- tions and of all ages sanction the opinion, that Public Worship in stated Assemblies, is the only effectual means of impressing the lower classes of society, and indeed the ffe- 46 neral Body oi the People, with the Know- ledge and Practice of any Rehgion. The Temples and the Public Religious Services of the Jews, and of all Heathen An- tiquity, are too obvious a Fact to need any further enforcement. Whatever portion of Religious Fear the body of the people pos- sessed was thus impressed upon them. The object and purposes of the Public As- semblies of the Christian Church are, indeed, of a much more exalted and sublime charac- ter, combining Political Welfare with Chris- tian Hope, and founding the Safety of the State upon the individual improvement and individual happiness of its component mem- bers. For, as it is observed by the benevolent and accurate Hooker, whose various and profound learning gives the highest authority to his opinion, — " No Religion, except the Chris- tian, united Popular Instruction with their religious assemblies." In respect to Christianity, it is an unde- niable fact, that the Founder of that dispen- sation of Mercy, — of present comfort and and of future exaltation and happiness to 47 man, — affords us the illustrious authority of his own personal Example in favour of Pub- lic Worship. He himself attended the ser- vices of the Temple and the Synagogue; and read and expounded the Sacred Scriptures in those Public Religions Assemblies. And in commanding Prayers to be offered, — Sacra- ments to be administered, — and the Gospel to be preached to every creature, hath sanc- tioned and ordained those Public Assemblies, without which these services cannot be per- formed ; and upon which he hath conferred a Dignity and Worth, transcendantly superior to all mortal reasonings, in the peculiarly gracious assurance that, — " where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." It is evident also that Public Worship, ad- ministered by an authorized and appointed Ministry, hath been, from the first promul- gation of the Gospel, the Basis and Foun- dation upon which all National Churches were formed, and the whole superstructure of National Religion established. All other means of promoting and aug- menting religious Knowledge, seem to have 48 been considered as of secondary importance^ — as accessories to the Public Prayers and Praises, and the Public Reading and Preach- ing of the Word. Studying the Scriptures in private, — Ca- techetical instruction either of adults or of youth, — and domestic and individual admo- nition and exhortation, — were doubtless all recommended, employed, and found highly useful; but then these additional means were applied in subordination to the Service of the Public Assemblies. The importance attached in the early ages of Christianity to Public Worship, is most interestingly and fullv proved by the well at- tested fact, tliat no interdiction of hostile power, — not the severest punishments, — not confiscation, torture, and death, — could deter the first Christians from assembling for the purpose of Public Worship, — Public Prayer and Praise, and the Public Reading and Expounding of the Sacred Scriptures. A most undeniable evidence this, that They considered the Assemblies of the Church as the very foundation and basis, absolutely essential and vitally necessary to the Existence of their Religion. 49 § 7- PfivocJtial administration of Heligion. If Public Worship he thus essential to the existence of Relia:ion in o:eneral, its Paro- chial administration is (if possible) more so to the existence of the Church of Englaod in particular, as now by Law Established : forming a vital member, an integral part, wrought into the very frame of the British Constitution, and pervading by its influence every part of the Fabric; contributing a large share to the National Intelligence; and chiefly inducing that submission to the su- preme authority of Law, which is the pri- mary ingredient of the National Liberty and National Security. That it was so considered by the venerable and pious Founders of our Church, is evident from the numerous la\A's and customs they framed and authorized, all implying that the Whole Population were expected to assemble in the Parish Churches ; and from the legal precautions and defences which they adopted, to prevent the infraction of the established Parochial Regulations by the introduction of E 50 any religious instruction, other than that conveyed by the instrumentaHty of the Parish Church and the Parish Minister. We, their descendants, have long had cause to lament that their foresig^ht did not con- template, and therefore did not provide against, some incidental consequences arising from Two most important circumstances that have taken place since the formation of the original legal arrangements of the Esta- blished Church: the Necessity of the Tole- ration Act ; and the Increase of the Population. The first, — That Diversity and Disunion in regard to Doctrinal Interpretation, which rendered necessary the Toleration Act. A measure of undoubted wisdom and justice, pouring the assuaslve oil of peace and charity on the waves of turbulent contention, and suffering the gusts of pertinacious opinions to spend themselves in harmless diffusion ; which, if resisted by the barriers of restraint and compulsion, those most injurious ene- mies of true Religion, might have acquired an opposing force, highly dangerous to the Fabric of our Liberties both in Church and State. Yet, as this remedial and preventive 51 measure made a Radical Change in the Paro- chial Laws of the Church, by annulling in a considerable degree the purpose for which the Restrictive part of them had been adopt- ed, some concomitant measure should have been at the same time enacted to secure to the Members of the Church, the same facility of receiving instruction in Religious Assemblies, and advantages in this respect at least equal to those then granted to per- sons who Dissented from the doctrines or discipline of the EstabHshment. Such a precautionary measure not having been adopted by the first framers of our Eccle- siastical Laws, nor by those who made this subsequent and radical change in them, the Necessity of supplying this injurious Defect is now become of tenfold urgency ; as ren- dered apparent by experience in The second circumstance to be noticed, — that Increase and Change of situation in the Population, by which the Number of inha- bitants in some parishes is augmented far be- yond the originally allotted provision for Pub- lic Worship. And no correspondent regula- tion having been made, to explain and en- E 2 52 force the ancient practice of Subdividing sucli Parishes, and supplying them with Parish Churches, Parish Ministers, and Parish Ofr ficers, in proportion to the Increase in the numbers of the inhabitants, the benefits of the Estabhshed Church, — its instructive and restraining influences, — are necessarily lost to a very large portion of this superabundant Parochial Population ; and both Church and State are exposed to proportionable injury in the very Basis and Foundation of their Wel- fare and Existence. By the formation and radical Constitution of the Established Church, — that intimate and indissoluble Union with the Civil and Political system, which gives and enforces the Laws for its Maintenance and Govern- ment, — it is virtually declared and implied, that All its Members are to receive Religious Instruction in a Parish Church, and from a Parish Minister ; who, when he enters upon this highly important Trust, is charged by the Law with the " Cure of Souls" in the Parish so confided to his zeal and attention ; implying both Public Instruction, Admoni- tion, and Exhortation'; in the use of the ap- 53 pointed Liturgy, and due administration of the Sacraments ; together with that personal knowledge and intercourse necessary to the fijfihnent of the Pastoral Care. The benefits of this Charge the Law cer- tainly intends should be participated in by All the Inhabitants of the several Parishes, through the Parochial administration and Duties of a legally appointed and responsible Parish Ministry. To accomplish this most important Con- stitutional Object, — The surface of the country is divided into Parochial Districts, to give effect to their Ministration. A portion of the National produce is sepa- rated and allotted for their Maintenance. The Universities are primarily and chiefly endowed and supported to supply a properly qualified succession. Episcopacy is instituted for their regulation and government. The Laws for all these purposes will be invalidated, and a disposition to abrogate and annul them will arise, if an opinion be- comes prevalent that the Benefits of Rell- 54 gion to the State can be obtained by Any Other Means so effectually, as by the Paro- chial Administration of the Church of Eng- land. Whatever therefore tends to induce and to spread such an opinion, tends in an equal degree to the injury of the National Religion, and to the subversion of the Constitution both in Church and State. § 8. — Danger of a 7ieglected superabundant Parochial Population. If by want of Legislative revision a large proportion of the Parochial Population be permitted to remain without the aids of Reli- gion, — or if the Government of thei Country, and the leading members and guardians of the Church, pursue a line of conduct which may be perverted to sanction the idea that Chapels and Schools are, of thefnselves, suf- ficient for the instruction of the people, — then the people will naturally be led to conclude that m\\ further Establishment must be an unnecessary, and, consequently, a bur- thensome incumbrance. A conclusion, so prolific in danger to the 55 Established Church and to the Welfare of the State, is spreading very rapidly, and has already gained possession of the lower and uninstructed classes, to a much more alarming degree than will easily be credited by those who do not inform themselves by personal investigation, and who therefore suffer their minds to be fully occupied with a view of the subject totally different. This sentiment has been in a manner forced upon a very large proportion of the people, by the enormous and unprecedented Chanij'es that the last two centuries have produced in the Parochial Circumstances of the country, without any correspondent re- gulations and enactments having been made by the Legislature. The augmented Population of undivided Parishes, — the continuance of immunities anciently granted to places not then inhabited, — ^^and the adoption of the modern Chapel system, — are instances of this description. The want of subdivision and of Parish Churches in many enormously over-popu- lated Parishes, has brought on a Habit of Neglect and Disuse of the Public Duties of 56 Religion, to an extent which, if conthiued, cannot but be followed by direful conse- quences : and in some cases also, this increa- sing population is found combining in ope- ration with obsolete but unremoved exemp- tions, granted for purposes and under cir- cumstances absolutely and wholly different from those on which they now operate, and producing effects never in the contemplation or intention either of the Grantor or of the Recipient. — These antique privileges, not having been regulated by the Legislature according to the change of circumstances, and in accordance v. 1th the ancient and pre- scriptive Legal practice, are permitted to exclude several hundred thousand of our Fel- low-subjects from a full communion with the Church as by Law established.— The com- paratively small part of these excluded mem- bers of the Establishment who use the Liturgy at all, use it in Chapels not under Parochial direction and many of them not under Epis- copal Jurisdiction. Tlie Ministers officiating in these Chapels are not permitted by the Law, as it is now understood, to assume the Pastoral Character, 57 and to perform the useful and impressive services of Baptism, Burial, and Visitation of the Sick : their congregations are ahuost entirely strangers to them, they have no local knowledge of their hearers, no professional authority and influence : they have none of the peculiar and legal characteristics of that highly venerable and useful member of so- ciety, a resident, active, conscientious Parish Priest, — the parental friend, adviser, guide, protector, Shepherd of his flock. The same inconsistency of the Linw which has permitted the Chapel System to gain such ground in the Metropolis, absolutely prohibits (according to its present interpreta- tion) the Ministers of Cliapels from perform- ing all the Pastoral Offices under the penalty of Ecclesiastical Censure and Punishment. The Cure of Souls, and the Pastoral Offices thereunto appended, are in many overgrown Parishes still committed to one individual, in the same manner as when they did not contain a twentieth, and in some instances a fiftieth, part of their present inhabitants. Such a Charge is of course only a Nominal one. For an Individual to perform its Duties is an evi- dent, positive, and physical impossibility. 58 But though the congregations attending Chapels are thus deprived of the Parochial advantages of the Established Church, they pay to the Proprietors of the Buildings a considerable annual Tax, dissimilar, distinct from, and additional to, the payments sanc- tioned and authorized by the Laws. Those who live under such circumstances, whenever they are led to think at all upon the subject, naturally think that a Parish Church, a Parish Priest, and Episcopal au- thority, are very useless things ; — they have been long habituated to live without them, and are therefore so far prepared to join in any efforts to remove and overthrow that Es- tablishment, which, according to their rea- soning, gives them no protection, and affords them no benefit. From these considerations it therefore seems evident that, — if the present prevailing Negligence and Disuse of Public Worship be suffered to increase ; — if no additional facilities be given by the Legislature to its correction ; — if the Friends and Guardians of the Church confine their attention and exer- tions more to the discussion of Doctrinal 59 Differences, than to the removal of those Habits, which equally disregard All the Doctrines of Scripture, and all thoughts of an Existence beyond the Grave; — if the opinion be once suffered to gain ground, that it is possible, by any Other mode of instruction, to , supply the Want of Public Parochial Worship ; ev^en if this opinion be disavowed in words, but tacitlv allowed, or rather im- plied, by the practice of supporting Chapels in preference to Parish Churches ; and of directing the public Zeal and attention ex- clusively, or even chiefly, to Education in Schools ; while it appears to be taken for granted, that our ancestors have made such sufficient provision for the Public Services of the Church, that no additional care or charge on our part is requisite ; notwithstanding that neither the Children in the Schools, nor their Parents out of them, receive any benefit from the impressive solemnities of Public Worship in the Parish Church ; accommo- dation in most instances of populous parishes not being provided for a fiftieth part of the poor : if these circumstances be permitted to continue, the consequences necessarily to be 60 appreliendecl are, that those who never enter the Parish Church, and are wholly unknown to the Parish Minister; those who receive no benefit, — no instruction, — no consolation, — from the Established Church, will not only feel no respect and attachment to it ; but will also soon proceed to consider it as a useless, and then an oppressive burthen. When large and preponderating masses of the population, who are supposed to be Members of the Established Church, and who might, if sufficient means were provided, be associated in its Worship, and attached, by benefits conferred, to its support and de- fence, are, on the contrary, shut out from all the advantages it confers, and virtually ex- cluded from its communion, they will neces- sarily become powerful and dangerous mate- rials for the agents of revolutionary change to work upon. The task cannot be difficult to persuade ignorance and disaffection, that an Establish- ment which confers no benefit deserves no support. Such language, addressed to those who have no other perception of benefit than their own direct personal participation, and 61 who find that participation denied to them, must have a powerful influence in exciting their passions of cupidity, and rendering them wilHng to assist in overturning an Estabhshed order of things which they have fouud by ex- perience to be useless to them, and are taught to look upon as a productive, and accessible object of Plunder. Those who possess nothing readily attend to arguments that point out the road to com- parative riches. Liberty and Equality, — Agrarian Laws, — <■ Spence's Plan, — No Masters, — Work when you like, — and simikir topics, have been ong popular with those who have Nothing to lose. Those who have Every Tldng to lose should therefore reflect before it be too late, and while it may be possible to avert the danger, — that the circumstances of the times in which we live have given an unprecedented extent and force to those delusions, and that no Laws, — no Civil Pohce, — no Military Power, — no Political Wisdom can be sufficient for the defence of existing possessions and authorities, if unaided and unsupported by the Sanctions of Relision. 62 It is not only from the absence of Religious Instruction that the Danger to our existing institutions is to be estimated ; we must also take into consideration the positive introduc- tion of liceritious, irreligious, and blasphemous principles ; which are promulgated, and, as there are no Religious Impressions to coun- teract them, are received, to a much greater degree than seems at all to be supposed by many who are living in elegance and plenty, on an apparently peaceful surface ; unheeding the gathering elements of commotion, which might be discovered, and perhaps dissipated, by a timely examination of the Basis on which their enjoyments rest ; and the danger of which must be augmented by confining their attention in fancied security to the amusements of science and literature, or to the somewhat more serious avocations of doctrinal discussions, and palliative legisla- tion; — while the Social Foundation is under- mined, and the materials of Volcanic Vio- lence are accumulating beneath them. An accurate idea of the full extent of these dan- gjers can only be ascertained by a personal intercourse with the lower classes. 63. One instance may be adduced, and which I can state as the result of a personal and minute enquiry : it indicates the extent of circulation given to papers and pamphlets injurious to Morals, and of an infamous, loose, and irre- ligious character. There are many printers and publishers of such works : one of whom alone employs from ten to twenty persoE? (Men and Women) to traverse the town and country with packages : to find their way into the Kitchens and Stables of the hio-her classes ; and into the Shops, Manufactories^ Public-houses, and all the resorts of the nu- merous Servants, Artizans, Mechanics, and Labourers, the greater part of whom in all the large Parishes are left totally destitute of the care of the National Religion ; wholly without any participation in the instructions of a Parish Minister, or in the benefits of the Established Church How successfully these Sheep without a Shepherd are sought after by the destructive zeal of the Enemv, may appear from the Fact, that each of these emissaries of Vice maintain themselves by a profit of from ten to forty shillings each per week, after their employers have received an 64 ample gain upon the printing and publishing : each of these Venders of Good JBooJcs (as they term themselves on their cataloo^ues and packages) brings a sum seldom less than five pounds in ready money, or a sufficient secu- rity for a like sum, and receives books to that amount at the wholesale price ; living upon the retail and ready-money profit, and when all are sold returning with the capital for a fresh supply. A circulation almost be- yond credibility is thus given to the silent and insidious vehicles of licentiousness, dis- affection, and every description of vice : and, if even, "when the good seed is sown, the Enemy intermixes his tares ; how abundant must be the growth of Evil when the uncul- tivated soil is left entirely to him. These dangerous principles can only be effaced w^here they have made an impression ; and be prevented in their operation where they threaten to commence a ruinous and fa- tal progress ; by giving the lower classes of the People a participation in the Hopes and Fears of Religion ; — by placing them under the guidance of that Benign Influence, which alone hath the power of restraining 6S the passions and the propensities of a Weak and Degenerate Nature ; — the dread of the all-seeing Eye of an Omnipotent Judge, — the awful certainty of a tribunal beyond the grave, — the heartfelt belief that Vice is not only the parent of misery Here, but also of inevitable punishment Hereafter, — and that " Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that Now Is, and of that which Is to Come."* These Truths, the Guardians of Social Or- der, — the Basis of National Welfare and Pros- perity, may be investigated and adopted by the Philosopher in his study ; but their bene^ ficial and practical influence can only be com- municated to the most numerous part of the population, by the Solemnities of Public Worship. It is, therefore, not only a Patriotic and Christian Duty, but it is also a most urgent Claim of Self- Preservation, — that the Learn- ed and the W^ealthy should devote a liberal portion of their time, their attention, and their substance, to extend to the Poor and * 1 Timothy, Chap. IV. v. 8. F 66 Ignorant the Instruction intended for them by the Piety and Wisdom of the British Con- stitution, in the Parochial Ministrations of the Estabhshed Church : providing for them Parish Churches, and Parish Ministers, — forming each Parochial District upon such an Extent of Population, that the appointed Shepherd may he able, as well as vvilHng, to give All his Flock the benefits of Religious Hope and Religious Fear ; teaching them to know and to feel the necessary and evident advantages of grateful Piety and contented Industry, — leading them to value the inesti- mable blessings of Scriptural Knowledge, — and awakening In them an increasing regard to the Truths ofjj the Gospel ; by regularly hearing God's Holy Word, and joining in the Prayers and Praises of our admirable and instructive Liturgy ; and, by this participa- tion of personal and individual benefit, secu- ring their attachment to the Church, and their Obedience to the Government ; which, they will thus be made sensible by experi- ence, are of so much value and importance to their present Welfare and future Happi- ness. 67 § 9. National Habits in opposition to acknowledged Iritths. o Notwithstanding the verbal acknow- ledgement that these obvious and generally Admitted Truths may obtain, there has been, for many years, a strong tendency to neglect and overlook tliem in Legislation and Prac- tice. Widely extended Habits in direct Oppo- sition to them have arisen, from the long continued derangement of the Parochial Administrations of the Church Establish- ment ; which, in addition to its own power- ful and necessary operation, hath increased, in a most injurious degree, the natural effect of some other causes to induce and strengthen such Habits. An attentive and practical regard to the Necessity of Public Parochial Worship, and its importance to the internal peace and secu- rity of the State, appears, during the last century, to have been rapidly declining. Whenever the subject happens to be men- f2 68 tioned in conversation, or incidentally noticed from the press, few are found to deny its Uti- lity ; and its Importance is generally allowed as a trite and obvious Truth which nobody doubts. But has this admission been at all acted upon ? What must we be compelled to believe from the irresistible and undeniable Evidence of Fact ? Certainly, that to all useful purposes, — to all purposes of Stability to the Church and Protection to the State, — the deep Impor- tance of the Parochial Administrations of the Established Church seems to have fallen into absolute Oblivion. By the want of Legislative provision, a vast proportion of the lower classes, several hundred thousands in the Metropolis alone, are totally uninfluenced by the National Re- ligion : they form no part of its Public As- semblies, they receive from it no instruction, no restraint, no consolation, no hope ; being thus, in fact, excluded from its communion, and denied any participation in its benefits, they must be estranged from any attachment 69 or regard to it. That they have been long permitted so to remain — without any pastoral guidance or protection — Sheep without a Shepherd — exposed to any and every delusion — does not bespeak any deep practical con- viction in the Public Mind of the Importance of the Parochial services of the Established Church. In the more informed and elevated ranks of life, the ancient and laudable custom of appearing twice on a Sunday in the Pub- lic Duties of the Church, is now very ge- nerally discontinued : and the prevalence of such an Habit must have a powerful in- fluence to weaken a sense of the importance of Religion, and of the high and estimable privilege of appearing before the Throne of Grace, and offering public homage and adoration to the Author of Nature and the Saviour of Man ; but the injurious effect of this Habit extends far beyond the indivi^ duals themselves ; it leads to employments and occupations of the remaining part of the Sabbath, which so fully engage the time of the domestics, attendants, and servants, that they are wholly denied the possibility of attending, 70 during any part of the day, the PuhHc Duties of the Church. And as in the lower classes more particularly, those who live without the instructions of the Church, live without any Religious Principles whatever, the ne- cessary consequence is, that the large num- bers thus circumstanced remain in a state of heathenish ignorance and disregard of Futurity ; and in many cases sink into a pro- fligate depravity, not more injurious to them- selves than dangerous to their employers. To the surprize and astonishment also of those whose minds are deeply imbued with a sense of the present and future benefits of Religion, proposals for building Churches have been circulated, and Churches have been actually built, upon the plan of avowedly receiving in the afternoon a Congregation entirely different from that of the morning. Upon the consideration that small and im- perfect assistance is better than ^one, this proceeding may be defended ; but as tending to the confirmation of such a Habit, on a ge- neral principle, the practice must be depre- cated by every true friend of Religion and of the Countrv. 71 The irreligious and dangerous tendency of prevailing Habits may also be further illus- trated, by some notice of the state in which we find some other branches of Communion with the Established Church. The highly useful and respectable office of Parish Priest has almost entirely lost its peculiar and pastoral character. The Mi- nister and the Congregation are in a great measure strangers to each other. The reci- procal knowledge between Pastor and Flock cannot exist in an overgrown Parish of re- dundant Population. The benevolent and interesting offices of admonitory and persua- sive converse in Health, and of consolatory advice and visitation in Sickness, are in those Parishes, to any extent beneficial to the public, totally impossible. How contrary this is to the regulations and intentions of the Church may be easily understood from the language of the services, as well as the directions of the canons and rubrics : and how exceedingly detrimental it is to the cause of true Religion, can only be estimated by those who have attended and witnessed, in their due discharge, the effects of these impressive Duties. 72 The dignity and worth of the Pastoral Charge, and its beneficial influence on Public Manners, are fully appreciated — by those who have seen the respected and beloved Parochial Minister associated in domestic converse with the several Families of the Parish committed to his care ; profaneness and impiety are silenced by his presence ; the hours of inno- cent conviviality are improved, by the judi- cious adaptation of a word in season ; and by the incidental intercourse of an habitually kind, candid, and pious conversation, when out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh; — by those who have seen him also conveying the aspirations of hope and comfort into the abodes of suffering and sorrow ; attending the bed of sickness with the sacred Memorials of the Saviour's Inter- cession, and the instructive and deeply affect- ing commemoration of " the innumerable benefits which by his precious blood-shedding he hath obtained to us ;" when the Love of Christ constraineth the humbled and peni- tent worshipper to a grateful and pious amendment of life ; or calms the terror of a dying hour with the Gospel Hope of " great and endless comfort." 73 Those who have witnessed scenes thus instructive and interesting, know that their benefit is not confined to the individual oc- casioning them; the two or three weeping attendants receive impressions most du- rable and heart-correcting : when we see the parting agony of a parent, a child, a friend, and hear the last sigh of one beloved as our own soul, the heart is softened and the eye o'erflows ; but when we feel the pang of separation consoled by the pledges of a Saviour's Love, the words of Prayer and Praise sink deep into the memory, and send us back into the world with awakened con- sciences, and minds zealously intent on se- curing " a hope full of Immortality." How great, therefore, must be the injury to Religion when these Pastoral, Instructive, Correcting Duties, cannot be, in any ade- quate degree, duly performed : when indeed, by the gradual intervention of obstructing circumstances, they are, to the deep concern of the friends of Social Order and true Reli- gion, so much fallen into Disuse, and Habits of Neglect are grown so inveterate, as appa- rently to indicate an almost general Forget- fulness of the subject. 74, Two painful evidences of such a Habit have lately presented themselves. The Parish of St. Mary-le-bone has by degrees accumulated a population of seventy FIVE THOUSAND pcrsons, with one small Parish Church and one Parish Minister^ — intrusted alone by the Law (as at present in- terpreted) with the Cure of Souls : it is evi- dent that to fulfil the Pastoral Duties of this Charge, as required and intended by the Law, is an absolute impossibility. The Parish recently obtained an Act of Parliament, and erected a New Church, in which two or three thousand persons may, perhaps, hear the Minister's voice, and receive benefit from the celebration of our instructive Liturgy ; but no additional provision whatever has been made to give the inhabitants of this enormous Parish, (itself more populous than most English cities) any further participation in the beneficial duties of the Pastoral Office. The appointment of Lecturers and Assistant Preachers is provided for in the Act ; but as neither these Ministers, nor any of the *Chapel Ministers, are permitted by the Law to ex- * Vide p. 57. 76 erclse the functions of a Parish Priest, the Cure of Souls, in a parish of 7^,000, is still charged on one individual ; and of course the beneficent influence intended by the Church of England to be conveyed to the people, through the office and character of Parochial Ministers, is here absolutely lost. A similar Oblivion of the Benefit accruing to the State from the Pastoral Office, is evident also in the more recent Act of the last Ses- sion, for the Parish of St. Pancras: under the authority of this Act a Church is about to be erected, which is intended to accommodate a congregation of two or three thousand in the Public Worsliip of the Church of England ; but NO PROVISION whatever has been made to EXTEND the benefits of the Pastoral Office in a parish which returned a population of 46,333. Some addition to the number of Chapels is indeed directed ; but as no Chapel Minister is permitted by the Law to have the authority and influence of a Parish Priest, the Cure of Souls and the important duties implied in that Trust, remain, even after a recent Parliamentary enactment, still wholly charged by the Law on one individual, in a 76 parish containing nearly 50,000 inhabitants. It is impossible to adduce any instance of the prevalent and much to be lamented Habit in regard to this subject, more remarkable than that two such Acts, for two parishes of such excessive population, should pass through both Houses of ParHament without any notice of the Benefits to the State, no less than to individuals, of the Pastoral Office, and of the character and duties of a legally authorized Parish Minister : the sense of these benefits seems indeed, as to all prac- tical and useful purposes, to have passed en- tirely from Pubhc Remembrance. And as to the administration of the Sacra- ments, that of Baptism is indeed generally required : by many from the necessity of ob- taining a Parochial Registration ; and by many as a remnant of nursery faith still ad- hering to public manners. But how far the present mode and circumstances of its admi- nistration, in parishes consisting of fifty or sixty thousand inhabitants, are likely to im- press a deep and awful sense of its Religious Importance, I am unwilling to enquire. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, // considered by our Church as the most solemn and sacred of all her services, is so frequently neglected in the higher ranks of society, and so totally disregarded and disused by the lower classes, that the contemplation of this fact must be a subject most afflicting and heart-rending, to all those who feel so much love for their Country, as to wish and pray for the increase and permanence of its domestic peace, liberties and prosperity ; and so much love for their Saviour as to witness with regret and pain, the contemptuous ne- glect of his dying command, and of the pious and grateful remembrance of that Death and Passion whereby alone Man is rescued from the consequences of Sin, and restored to Life and Immortality. Tliis Is one of the most evident and most alarming Consequences, of the present state of the immense and overwhelming population of many parishes that require sub-division. In their present state it is an absolute Im- possibility to administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, according to the order and regulations of the Established Church. The 21st Canon enjoins that — " In every 78 Parish Church and Chapel where Sacraments are to be administered within this realm, the Holy Communion shall be ministered so often and at such times as Every Parishioner may communicate at least thrice in a year." The 28th Canon also enjoins that, — *' The Churchwardens and Questmen or their Assistants shall mark, as well as the minister, whether all and every of the pa- rishioners come so often every year to the Holy Communion, as the Laws and our Con- stitutions do require : and if any strangers from other parishes should come, they are to remit such home to their own parish Church and Minister there to receive with the rest of their own neighbours.'* The Rubric therefore directs that every member of the Church of England arrived at years of discretion, should receive this Sacra- ment at the least three times in the year. To examine how far it is possible in the pre- sent condition of the Church to obey these injunctions, it is necessary to consider that the administration to one hundred communi- cants occupies nearly an hour ; and congre- gations, after having attended the Morning 79 Prayers and Sermon, are in general unwill- ing to b^ detained much beyond an addi- tional hour; if therefore this service were celebrated in each Parish Church Every Sun- day in the year, and a Different Coiigrega- tion of two hundred attended each of those days, not more than Eleven thousand persons would perform this duty in such Church even once in the year. This number is not more than one third, one fourth, or one fifth of several of the pre- sent Parishes; it is therefore indisputably evident that in those Parishes two thirds, three fourths, four fifths, and in some even a greater proportion, of the Inhabitants are absolutely Precluded and Shut out from the possibility of performing this Christian Duty in their Parish Church, and of giving this proof of obedience to their Saviour's com- mand, and of their Communion with the Church of England, in the peculiar service which the Law hath selected as a designa- tion of Communion. But even this small and most lamentable proportion of Communicants, is considerably more than can be substantiated by a reference to Fact, so In most of the Parish Churches, and in all the Chapels, so far from a weekly admi- nistration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, it will be found that the Holy Com- munion is generally celebrated only once a Month, consequently, upon the painful sup- position that if the Monthly attendance even amounted to the number before specified — two hundred different persons every month, instead of every week, in the year — the Real Proportion of Communicants cannot be much more than One fourth of the above estima- tion for each of those parishes. This lamentable dearth of Christian Obe- dience and Communion with the Established Church undeniably proves the necessity of subdividing the superabundant population of many parishes, and by that means of augment- ing the very insufficient Maintenance at pre- sent allotted to laborious Parochial Ministers, which force upon them a responsibility and a course of duties far beyond any human powers to discharge ; while in the same parish perhaps four or five Chapels, without being permitted by the law to take any part in the parochial duties, draw, each of t/iany a revenue from 81 the parishioners equal to four or five times (and In some Instances to ten times) the amount received by the Parochial Curates. The due discliarge, by a Rector and a Curate or two, of the Pastoral and Parochial Duties required by a population of forty, fifty, or sixty thousand souls, is so evident an impossibility, that the fact of such a con- dition of the Church of England remaining so long almost unnoticed, and altogether un- corrected, is indeed a most painful and alarm- ing consideration : to impress upon the Pub- lic Mind, an idea of its Full Extent, a public enquiry and examination may be necessary ; no individual who has the means of personal investigation, would venture to subject him- self to the probable imputation of calumny, by publishing facts that may be within his knowledge : the point under consideration may be in some degree illustrated, without the possibility of misapplication to the in- jury of any individual, by stating M'hat oc- curred to myself some years since on taking for a friend one Sunday* s Duty. I attended at the church at nine o'Clock, on account of expected Marriages, the G 82 service was once performed : then the full Morning service, the Rector preaching the sermon : after the departure of the congre- gation, the service for Churching of Women, twice performed : afternoon full service, prayers, and Sermon : after which seventeen children baptized : then seven Funerals per- formed, the hurial service read over five times : — concluding between seven and eight o'clock in the evening : the whole of which, except the morning sermon, I performed as the duty of the Curate ; and as this was understood to be no more than the average Sunday employment, it plainly evinces, in addition to other injurious effects, and other obstructing circumstances, how impossible it is for the present Parochial Clergy to administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Sup- per to any considerable number of communi- cants, in the existing state of many parishes. Thus it appears, that the Want of Parish Churches and Parish Ministers occasioning other difficulties, — asthelenp-th of time for the service, distance from the place of celebration, and other kindred causes of neglect, — in ad- dition to the deficiency of space, hath for 83 "many years past absolutely Excluded an im^ mense Mnjorlty, — nineteen twentieths at least, — in most of our populous districts, from a possibility of participation in the du- ties of the Lord's Supper; and hath been the means of inducino; a Habit of Neglecting THIS SERVICE SO inveterate, that an accurate examination might substantiate the melan- choly fact, that not more than one in ten of the attending Congregations, and not more than one in ninety of the general population, are communicants; and it is much to be feared this Holy Sacrament is not even thought of, by the far greater part of the Professing Members of the Church of England, in all the most numerously inhabited parishes. A consideration this most distressing to the Sincere Christian, and sufficient to fill with agonizing apprehension every heart duly sensible of the value and importance of the Ordinances and Sacraments of our Venerable Church, and of their absolute Necessity to the formation and permanence of a National Religious Character. It will not, I trust, be supposed, that the earnestness of thus asserting and enforcing g2 84 the Necessity of Public Worship, and the Administration of the Sacraments, hath any tendency presumptuously to circumscribe the ineffable Benignity of Divine Mercy ; or to intimate that these services must be, in all cases and under all circumstances, indis- pensable to present Religion and future Sal- vation. It is intended to state, in accordance with bur Holy Church, that They are Highly Expedient and Generally Necessai*^- to Salva- tion . They are the instituted Means of Grace: and we are not authorised by Reason and Ex- perience, any more than by Revelation, to expect to attain the End, without the Use and application of the Means. Cultivation of the soil may not be abso- lutely necessary to preserve the Life of Man, he may obtain a precarious sustenance with- out it ; but still cultivation is Generally Necessary, under the present order of things, to prevent famine. And it is the same spe- cies of Wisdom to neglect the declared and authorized Means of Religion, in expectation of obtaining Salvation without them, as it 85 would be to neglect cultivation, and hope to preserve life by the spontaneous productions of the earth. The condition of the Church of England, which we have now been noticing, has had an influence far more extensive and injurious than that produced on the individual mem- bers excluded from its services. It has com- bined with and given an increased effect to other Demoralizing and Destructive Causes, and produced that character of Public Man- ners, and those Public Habits of Irreligion, which all serious minds behold with so much concern. The extensively prevailing Disuse and Disregard of the Public Duties and Services of the Church, must have, and, in Fact, have had, a most decided and evident influence on the Public Sentimertts and Pub- lic Morals. The natural and necessary result of such conduct has been, not only to produce that Deterioration of Moral Character which is the source of so much justly founded alarm, but also to occasion an Insensibility to the power oF its only possible Remedy, by ba- nishing in a great measure from the Public 86 Mind, all Practical Attention to the generally admitted Truth — that Rerigioii, as taught and impressed in the Solemniiies of Public Wor- ship, is the only effectual Guardian of Na- tional Morals and Social Well-being. A striking Evidence of tbis result may be adduced in the Remarkable Fact, — that in the recent Parliamentary Examination into the condition, power, and effects of the Po- lice of the Metropolis — All the Magistrates, and most of the other persons examined, were severally questioned, as to their opinion respecting the Cause of the present evident and alarming Deterioration of Morals and Manners In the lower classes. Not one of them ascribed it to the Defec- tive State of Public Worship, and the conse- quent Want of Religious Instruction. A few instances may be adduced. Police Report, page 30. Sir N. Conant. — Question. " If the In- crease of Crimes, which Is allowed to exist, is to be traced to the poverty and vice, which have not Increased, how can you account for the additional number of crimes, which is al- lowed on all hands to have taken place in thf Metropolis ?." 87 Answer. *^ I know of No Way of account- ing for that, unless some of it is imputal)]e to the exposure above-mentioned, and the neg- lect of those to whose care property is in- trusted ; and, perhaps, some of it may be im- putable to the greater vigilance of Police in the Parishes as well as Offices, in the appre- hending of offenders ; and I rather think that the number of crimes has not so much in- creased, in fact, as the number of offenders discovered." Question. '* Do you not think it is partly attributable to the increased size of the town, and the increased population ?." Answer. " I do : the population probably has increased within the last 5 or 6 years^ In the former ten years, I believe there was an increase of 150, 000 persons between the returns of population in the Metropolis of the years 1801 and 1811." It is surely not a little remarkable, that Neither the Committee, nor the Magistrate, should have been led to notice, that such an increase of numbers had been attended with N^o Increased Means of Public IVorship ; and that such a total Want of Religiousf 88 Instruction must be the fruitful Parent of Demoralization and Crime. Page 33, and p. 50. — P. Colquhoun, Esq, states — ** the positive Remedies for the pre- vention of Crimes appear to me to be, a revi- sion of criminal law, — checks and regulations recommended by select Committee of 1798, -—improve laws relative to vagrants, render poor laws more applicable to present state of society, — promote emigration of surplus population/' *' Increase of population from vaccination and other causes, introduced into society a vast number of infants, orphans, destitute Sec Sec. I can account for the great increase of infantine profligacy in iVo o/^er tvai/" *' Do you think the number of offen- ces have increased, &;c. &c.?" " I cannot attribute their increase to u47ii/ Other than the causes 1 have already stated. With re- gard to the lowest ranks of society, I think there has been a progressive retrogade from the commencement of the revolutionary French war, particularly in all large towns/* *' Then in that view of the subject, you would be led to conclude, that there has been a positive increase of the number of crimes, 89 arising from the Morals and Habits of the lower orders having become worse.'* " The increase of crimes is partly to be traced to that source." The Public Parochial Worship of the Church of England, not having been stated among the Preventive Remedies of crime, the Impossibility of the lower classes receiv- ving any benefit from its present defectiv^e state, is not assigned as a Cause of the in- crease of Crime. When the increase of crime was traced to the " source of the Worse Morals and Habits of the lower orders,'* it might have been thought a natural course to have examined into the Origin of that Source itself: — it might certainly have been easily traced to the Want of Religious Instruction, and Parochial Superintendance. Page 41, 42. Mr. John Stafford. " The principal reason that strikes me, is, I am sorry to say, a general laxity of Morals among the lower orders of people : they are not so attentive to their religious and moral duties as they used to be." " Has it fallen within your observation, to ascertain whether 90 the number of schools which have been esta- bllsiied has had any effect in preventing a greater increase than the state of pvibHc morals, such as you have described, would have led any one to consider to be the case.?" " I liave not observed any material altera- tion lately." '^ Do you think that the non- observance of the Sunday has any effect upon the public morals among the lower classes of society?" *' No doubt of it. 1 think if they were taught regularly to observe the Sunday, that would have a great eff'ect upon them ; but instead of that, they are suffered to go and play about in the courts and alleys, and in the fields, and get into bad coippany in- stead of going to Church." This is certainly approaching the most important part of the subject ; but here the enquiry stops, without noticing that neither Children nor Parents have any Parish Church capable of receiving them, — nor any Parish Minister to instruct and take Pastoral Charge of them. Page 56. — R. Raynsford Esq. " Can you give the Committee any reason for that increase.?" " I think the pressure 91 of the times, — the inchgence of parents, — no means of obtaining Uvehhood, go out into the streets, — voung minds open to be corrupted, — get among common thieves, — they make young Children the instruments of their de- predations." Page 63. — T. Evance Esq. " What, according to your opinion, is the reason for this alarming increase.?" " There are several reasons may be assigned ; children deserted by parents, — many brought before us appear orphans, without any friends ; — others, parents not capable of providing for them ; — Parishes will not keep them, urging they are big enough to earn their bread," — ^' Do you consider that the public schools established in the Borouo'h have lessened the number of children that commit crimes..^ " " I am afraid not, because we have had more children brought to the office latterly than I ever knew or ever heard of before." Page 65. J. T. B. Beaumont, Esq. " In my opinion there is too little exertion used in preventing the propagation and growth of crimes, and too much exertion used in punishing them when they arrive at jnaturity." 92 Page 77' R- Baker, Esq. " Can you state any reason why the num- ber of juvenile depredators should have in- creased? I am not aware of ani/ reason why it should, except from the population in ge- neral having increased." Page 87. J. Gifford, Esq. *' Do you think that the Morals of the lower orders are ameliorated, are stationary, or are on the decline ?" " Woefully on the decline." *' Has the number of juvenile depredators increased of late Years ?" — Certainly ; I am speaking as far as my own observation and experience go." *' Can you state to the Committee any Cause for that circumstance ?" *' The increased profligacy of the lower classes of the people." Page 126-12/. W. Fielding, Esq. '* I really think that from the increasing wickedness of the times, from the increasing gin-drinking, from the dirt and overpowering multitude of children that are in every part of the town, without our being able to clear the streets of a thousandth part of them, that there must be a vast increase of immorality 93 most assuredly." "Do you then, consider that the increase of crime, which, accordino- to the different returns that have heen laid he- fore Parliament, seems at present to he an established fact, proceeds from a positive di- minution of public morals, or from an increase of population ?" " Most assnredly, from the profanenessof the times, and from the Increase of a very profligate population, which has met with no impediment, nothing to correct it. It is going on now as it was hefore, notwithstanding all our vigilance and parti- cular care, &c. &c/* It is somewhat surprizing that the Ori- gin, the Source, the Cause, of this in- creased Profligacy, as noticed by these Intel- ligent and active Magistrates, should not have (as it appears from this report) pre- sented itself to their minds, or to the atten- tion of the Committee. We find no allusion to the Defective State of Parochial Public Worship, of that Instruction by the solemn and impressive Services of the Church of En- gland, which is in fact, denied to the greater part of the people, and of those Pastoral labours of the Parochial Clergy, which can- .94 not extend to a fiftieth part of the Flock in trusted hy the Law to their charge. This last named Magistrate, indeed, observes, page 130, " I have heard, although it has not come within my ovv^n observation, that there is a great deal more decency amongst tlie lowest orders of the people than there used to be, in their respect for churches and placed of worship. It used to be the habit of the lowest blackguards to attend about the doors of those places, — that practice has not al- together yet ceased, we have used everv exer- tion in our power to suppress it*" This " great deal more decency," appears to relate to a less propensity for disturbing^ rather than to any habit of attending and receiving instruction from Public Worship. Perhaps this supposed '* decency" in an ad- mitted " profligate population," may arise from a habit of neglect so inveterate, that they may have quite forgotten, and totally disregarded, every thing relating to Public Worship. Page 151 — 156. The Rev, J, King, Rec-- tor of the Parish of Bethnal Green. — " Do you principally reside there?" '*Yes, I do, and 95 tiischar^e all the duties myself. It consists of a population of about Forty Thousand, ge- nerally of the lowest description of people." " You have felt it your duty to make yourself acquainted with the state and condition of the Police, What is that?" *' I am sorry to say, that it is most deplorable ; every Sunday morning during the time of Divine Service several hundred persons assemble in a field adjoining the Church-yard, where they fight dogS) hunt ducks, gamble, enter into sub- scriptions to fee drovers for a bullock, &c. &c. " What is the moral condition of the inhabi- tants of your Parish ?" *' Not at all improved nor likely to be, in consequence of the want of education ; for, although we have such an enormous population, we are only educating 120 Children under the Establishment, and we have only One parish Church capable of containing about 1,200 for the accommoda- tion of all." Can any instance more awfully depict the calamitous and deficient state of the Church of England ? only one Parish Minister, one Parish Church, capable of holding twelve HUNDRED persons, and one hundred and 96 twenty children educated under the Esta- blishment, in a Parish containing Forty THOUSAND Inhabitants. How truly astonishing it is, that this in- stance drew forth no remark on that most fruitful PARENT OF Crime, and source of all possible political Evil, the deplorable and neg- lected condition of the National Relioion. This most conclusive and irresistible evi- dence of the state of Oblivion into which the Importance of Public Parochial Wor- ship is fallen, receives augmented weight and impression from the still more re- markable Fact, that in the course of the la- borious and (as far as it goes) the useful examination before referred to ; and in the two other cognate enquiries, that on Men- dicity and that on Education, it does not appear from the three voluminous reports, that the Members of the Honourable Com- mittees proposed any questions as to the State of the Public Worship, and the Paro- chial Pastoral Offices of the Church of Eng- land, which most undoubtedly have a ne- cessary and inseparable connection with the subjects of inquiry, as well as the most con- 97 . siderable and important effects upon the Manners and Morals of the people. Another striking proof this, that the Pub- lic Attention has been hitherto fixed upon the Branches, and not the Root of the evil. If imperfect and palliative measures are alone resorted to, and relied upon, — if these Branches, which indeed shed a poisonous in- fluence on all around them, be only pruned and reduced in their capacity of injury, they will again shoot out in unceasing succession and increasing vigour, so long as the produc- tive Stem and Root shall be permitted to remain in its present state of baneful opera- tion. The present condition of Public Morals having by its alarming atrocity attracted Public Attention, the regard of the Legisla- ture has been in consequence directed to the consideration of several of the supposed Causes of this apparently increasing evil, — to the state of the Police, — to the detection and punishment of Crime, — ^to the state of the Prisons, — to Vagrancy and Mendicity, — ■ to the increased and intemperate use of Spi- rituous Liquors, and Houses for vending H 98 them, — to the rapid changes in the Popula- tion employed both in Manufactures and in Agriculture, — to the state of the Poor Laws, — to the condition of Curates, — to the non- residence of the Clergy, — to the defective establishment of Schools, — and to the defi- ciency of Education. These are, indeed, subjects all highly de- serving of minute investigation, but Most of them will be found to partake more largely in the nature of Consequences than of Causes, and jfill of them to receive much of their dangerous influence and effect from a Pri- mary and most important Cause, that has not yet been sufficiently examined. If the state of Parochial Public Wor- ship had been previously enquired Into, or if it should now be carefully investigated (and its deep importance certainly demands im- mediate attention), the Root, the Source, the Productive Cause of the alarming Deteriora- tion of Morals, and of most of these conse- quent Evils would have been, or would soon be, ascertained and disclosed. These Evils, if they do not All originate in, are at least very much augmented by that 09 injurious Dearth and Absence of Religious Principle, which has spread widely in con- sequence of the very Defective Means of ce- lebrating the Public Parochial Worship and Services of the Church of England. The Palliative Remedies that may be re- sorted to in each of these several cases, can produce but a very partial alleviation upon the particular Evil, and conduce but very lit- tle to the improvement and security of the Community, unless they are applied in Con- junction with Wise and Efficacious Measures to give the Means of Public Worship, and the benefit of Parochial Communion with the Es- tablished Church, to the Vast Masses of the Population that are at present absolutely ex- cluded from them. The Police may, in the technical applica- cation of the word, be rendered Stronger. But the Vindictive Police of Detection and Punishment, will still be found inadequate to the protection and defence of Public Or- der, without what may be termed the Pre- ventive and Corrective Police of the Paro- chial and Constitutional Administrations of H 2 100 the Church of England, — a Parish Church, a Parish Minister, and a due succession of Parish Officers, giving efficacy and impres- sion to the National Rehgion, and affording that aid to the Magistracy, upon which its efficiency must chiefly depend. Without the restraint of Rehgious Prin- ciple, Human Laws are unequal to the task of stemming the torrent of turbulent and selfish passions. Even the polished and philosophic Shaftes- bury*, as a Politician, has observed, that " a Devil and a Hell may prevail, where a Jail and a Gallows are thought insufficient/' It is also not unworthy of notice, that an acute and discriminating observer of the early agents and progress of the French Revolu- tion, in writing upon the subject of Police -|^, has stated it as the result of his personal observation, that " the People being wholly employed in evading or deceiving the Police, the Parisians became, by means of the Police, the most unprincipled, and most refinedly wicked, of all mankind." * Characteristics, Vol. III. p. 177. Ed. 1773. t Regulations of Parochial Police, pp. 34. 35. 4. Ed. 1S03. 101 In vain, therefore, will an Argus-eyed Police penetrate into every recess of domestic privacy. In vain will a more vigorous Execu- tion of the Laws consign to Punishment and Death, increased numbers of unhappy, igno- rant, profligate plunderers and ruffians, if the Reproductive Source of the Evil be per- mitted to remain in its present full operation : — if the absence of all Religious Worship, and the consequent absence of all Religious Principle, — all dread of Future Retribution, all belief of a Tribunal beyond the Grave, — be continually throwing upon Society, and jfilling our Streets and Prisons with, a con- stant Succession of uninstructed, unthinking, remorseless villains, unrestrained by any Fear of Futurity, and uninfluenced by any Motive but the rash and selfish gratification of the present predominant passion. In like manner all regulations to restrain Intemperance, and reduce the number of riotous nocturnal assemblies, can only be rendered effective to the amelioration and improvement of Public Morals, by making them auxiliary to those more prevailing re- straints of Religion,which bind the Conscience 102 and bend the Will, and carry Industry, Eco- nomy, and a Love of Home, into the cottage of the poor. So, also, if the inhabitants of populous Manufacturing Districts were provided with the Means and Facilities of attending Public Worship, — if they were placed, by a proper sub-division of the Parishes, under the direct notice and cognizance of their Parish Minis- ters and Parish Officers, and thus led to vene- rate the Services of the Establishment, by a proper accomnK)dation in the Parish Church, and by the personal knowledge, guidance, and assistance of their Parochial Pastor, the change from the thin and scattered popula- tion of Agricultural life, to the more con- densed, and, therefore, the more irritable, in- flammable, and dangerous, state of popu- lation which the Manufacturing System occasions, would be divested of many of its present Evils. Then other assisting and corroborative applications might be employed with increased effect. Schools for the young, and Deposits of Economy for the adult, would then produce their full benefit to the individuals, and to Society. If, in addition to the benefits of Religious 103 Instruction tlms applied to the numerous population of Manufacturing Districts, the Agricultural Societies, and what is termed the Landed Interest, should be prevailed upon to take measures for the Improvement of the Character and Conduct of the Peasantry, with the same zeal that they have hitherto attended to the improvements (as they are termed) in the production of Corn or Cattle, the long desired and most necessary task of introducing a less onerous and more bene- ficent administration of the Laws for the Relief of the Poor, would be divested of much of its present difficulty, as it relates both to the Agricultural and Manufacturing Dis- tricts. — As far as regards the Agricultural population, this is made evident in the Letter of Arthur Young, Esq. 2d Sept. 1816, in which he states the *' highly beneficial ef- fects of granting small portions of land to Cottagers ; — in the Counties of Rutland and Lincoln the Poor's Rates are next to nothing, wdien compared to Parishes where this ad- mirable system is not established. '* And with respect to the regulations that have lately engaged the attention of Parlia- 104 ment, in regard to the Stipends of Curates, and the Residence of the Beneficed Clergy, — though pointing to objects of great impor- tance to the Rehgious Habits of the country, — yet these Regulations, as now proposed, if enforced with the utmost rigour of Penal Law, can have Little or No Effect in dimi- nishing the present Dangers of the Church and State. Because they act chiefly Upon those thinly populated Parishes, where the people are not compelled to a neglect of the Church service by an absolute want of all the means of its performance : but those regula- tions can have no beneficial operation what- ever, in those Parishes where the changing and increasing stream of Population hath as- sembled such Enormous Masses, that not a fiftieth part can be received into the One Parish Church, or be known to the One Pa- rish Minister, if Resident according to I^aw. In these Parishes the Letter of the La^v, in the Residence Acts, may be strictly execu- ted, but the Spirit and Benefit of it are totally lost; as evidenced by the report of Parliament itself ; from which it appears, that the asto- nishing and appalling number of Four Mil- 105 LIONS of the People receive little, if any, spi- ritual instruction in Communion with the Church of England ; not from any negligence of the Clergy, but from that number of per- sons being left Without Either Church OR Minister, by a defective Legislation in respect to the Sub-division of Parishes. The Clergy appertaining to the present Large Parishes may conform to the Legal Residence; but whilst Parishes containing forty, fifty, sixty, and even seventy thousand inhabitants, are each supplied with Only One Parish Church, and only One Parochial Minister subject to the provisions of the Residence Acts, and alone charged and entrusted by the Law with the Cure of Souls, it needs no laboured argument to prove that such charge must bo merely nominal, as to the necessary and useful purposes of Religious Listruction and Pastoral Care ; and that the Law itself must be totally and absolutely inefficient to the production of those Religious Impressions, and Religious Habits, which are equally es- sential to the stability and character of the Established Church, and to the welfare and security of the State. 106 The Residence Acts, and the discussions consequent upon their proposal, appear, there- fore, not only to be inadequate to the benefi- cial effect intended ; but have, it is to be feared, proved (indirectly indeed} injurious to the cause of Religion, and the welfare both of Church and State, by employing the Public attention on inefficient points, and thus, of course, withdrawing it from that Great and I^eading Subject, the present condition of the Parochial Public Worship : to which, if the enquiries of Parliament had been directed, in an effectual manner, the important benefits of a Resident Parochial ^Ministry might have been conferred on a considerable part, at least, of those immense numbers that are now wholly excluded from those advantages. And with rea:ard to the formation of Schools, and the introduction of improved methods for the Education of the Poor, too much zeal and attention cannot be employed iq)on them. Their daily increase and aug- mented effect will gladden the heart, awaken the generosity, animate the gratitude, and enliven the piety of every faithful Christian, and every true Patriot. 107 But their admitted value and importance should not lead us to expect from them more than, impartial reason and demonstrative experience teach us, they are capable of ef- fecting. Without the aid of Public Worship they are unequal to the task of duly impressing Religious Principles, and forming Religious Habits. And without a Personal and Individual Participation in the instructive and interesting administrations of a Parish Church, and a Parish Minister, children never can be taught effectually to understand the benefits of the Establishment, and to love, to venerate, and to defend the Church of England. WitlioLit these absolutely necessary and essential adjuncts. Education in Schools may Jose much of its beneficial influence ; and may, like the Sabbath and other valuable blessings, be perverted into the means of more refined wickedness, and more injurious jirofligacy. It has of late years been the practice of almost every advocate of Charity Schools, to urge the superior Moral Character of the 108 lower classes in Scotland, as a decisive proof of the efficacy of such Sciiool Education. But this argument appears to have heen in- correctly stated. The Schools have, doubtless, been attended with manv beneficial conse- quences ; but the Full Effect on the Morals of the people has been produced, not by the Schools alone, but by them, in conjunction with a Habit of regular and attentive weekly celebration of the duties of the Sabbath, in the Public Parochial Worship. To ascribe to Schools alone that benefit which has re- sulted from them, in conjunction with a much more powerful and efficacious agent, the Public Worship of the National Religion, is as if a medicine of great and evident Utility, when administered in composition with ano- ther of equal if not superior powers, should be expected to produce results equally bene- ficial when applied uncompounded and alone. Those Philosophic Legislators, therefore, whose zeal and ardour expect so much from Schools, while they neglect and disregard the Public Worship of the National Religion, may, perhaps, correct their opinions by a refereiice to the present condition of Scotland. 109 In the villages where the Parish Clmrch and the Parish Minister are equal to their duties, and the Hahit of attending the Puhlic Wor- ship prevails, there, as formerly, decorum and moral character ahound. But in *Edln~ hurgh and other Cities of Scotland, where the population, as in the neiglihourhood of London, is increased far beyond the capacity of the existing Churches, there an evident and lamentable deterioration of Morals in the lower classes is found to have taken place; and the juvenile offenders are, in proportion to the population, as numerous and as pro- fligate as those of the English Metropolis. Painful and bitter experience assures us that such lii'norance as Schools are calculated to correct is not the Only Parent of crime. * This awful consequence of the neglect of Public Worship seems to be fully confii-med by a reference to the interesting and impressive observations of a learned and eloquent resident in Edinburgh. Vide Sermons by the Rev. Archibald Alison, Vol. II. Sermon 14. page 271, preached on the Sunday after the melancholy and unexampled occurrence of the execution of three young men (all of them under the age of t.venty) for robbery and murder on the night of the 1st January, 1812, part of an associated gang of 60 or 80 thieves, most of them under the age of twenty, and all of them educated in the usual way, and engaged in different trade?, by wbieh they might have jg;ained a creditable subsistence. no If the most splendid advantages of Edu» cation are lost, in a Religious point of vieWy upon too many of the accomplished and elevated members of society, who dis- regard the Means of Grace, and exclude themselves from the Public Worship and Services of the Church ; why should we sup- pose that the humbler acquirements of a Charity School will, of themselves, be effective to counteract those more pressing temptations to vice, attendant upon a con- dition of poverty. It is not unreasonable to enquire, if School Education be the proper remedy of those evils that threaten and disturb Social Order, how can it be accounted for, that, — in the course of the last half century, whilst Edu- cation in Schools hath increased and been extended beyond all former precedent, — an evident degradation of Moral Character hath taken place in all the lower classes of the Community. By some, of the modern Philosophic turn of opinion, it is urged, — that no sufficient trial has yet been made, — that more time is required, — that the atrocity of crime is re- ill (luced, — and that teaching must hecome ge- neral to produce any considerable effect on Public Morals. By many, who are zealously attached to the Church, the lamentable de- cline of Moral Principle hath been assigned to the inefficiency of the Laws, — to the in- crease of sectarian zeal, — to the omission of teaching in the Schools the formularies of the Church, — to the influence of democratic principles^ — to " the *general diffusion of wealth, the increased population of Manu- facturing^ towns and villages, and, above all, the want of Education to check and restrain the propensity to vice." But if we leave our Studies and our Books, and descend from Theoretical Reasoning's to Practical Observation and Experience, we shall be led to believe, that the Neo-lect and Disuse of the Public Worslnp and Pastoral Offices of the National Rellg-Ion, arisinir from the Want of Parish Churches and Pa- rish Ministers, is the only reason that can be assigned sufficient to account for this alarming Deterioration of Morals, while School Education hath so much increased. *■ Quarterly Review, No 54, Jan. 1S15 p. 427. 112 When ourForefathers — the Majority of the Population — were in the Hahit of attending the Public Prayers and Praises of the Church, and the Public Reading and Explanation of the Sacred Scriptures twice every Lord's Day : — When, in this regular and habitual hearing of the Scriptures themselves, and of our Scriptural and instructive Liturgy, a use- ful and practical knowledge of Gospel Truths was easily and necessarily acquired by all (even if they could not read) who thus frequented the path of instruction : — When the inhabitants of each parish consisted of such Moderate Numbers as to be generally and personally known to their Pastor, so that on observing any vacant place in the accustomed congrega- tion, he thought it his duty to enquire the next day into the cause of absence, thus conveying and enforcing Religious Instruction, with the bland, the courteous, the truly Chris- tian assuasives of friendly attention ; — when the impressive and instructive Services of Baptism, — of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, — and the deeply interesting Solem- nities of the Burial of the Dead, were at- tended by numbers, who necessarily returned 113 home from each of these services, with aw- ful and affecting sentiments of regard to Future Existence : — When a portion of the youth and ignorant persons of ev^ry Parish, were, in obedience to the injunc- tions of the 59th Canon of the Church, *' every Sunday and Holy day before Even- ing Prayer, for half an hour or more exa- mined and instructed in the ten Command- ments, the articles of the Belief, and in the Lord's prayer, and taught the Catechism set forth in the Book of Common Prayer ;" — When ALL the Ordinances of the Esta- blished Church, in the regular and habitual use of them, had thus their intended bene- ficial influence on the general manners, a much greater degree of Religious Knowledge, Religious Hope, and Religious Restraint pervaded the lower classes of the people. But when the progress of the Manufacturing system, and the Consolidation of Farms in what have been termed the Improvements of Agriculture, both combined their opera- tion to withdraw the population from vil- lages and ancient towns fully supplied with Parochial Ministers, and Parish Churches (now in many instances left half empty) to I 114 concentrate it, with the increasing popula- tion of a century, in New Districts unpro- vided with either Parish Churches or Parish Ministers; and to which the Wise, Pious, and Patriotic Practice of former ages in sub- dividing such Parishes, and furnishing them with additional Parish Churches and Minis- ters, according to the number of inhabitants, has not yet been applied ; then the injurious and dangerous consequences of this Defect in our Laws, or rather perhaps, the defective application of the Ancient Prescriptive Law of the Land, began to appear. Three or four generations of a large proportion of all the lower classes have successively been ex- cluded from all participation in the Services of the National Religion, — from all attend- ance in a Parish Church, — and from all the instructive care of a Parish Minister; and the Sabbath itself, that most gracious and merciful Institution, hath been by them ha- bitually perverted into an occasion of degra- dation and evil ; instead of a day of improve- ment, or even of occupation, becoming a day of idleness, intemperance, profligacy, and profaneness : and the natural consequences 115 have been, the production and growth of that Ignorance of Gospel Truth, — Loss of ReHgious Principle, — Disregard of Futuritv, — and general Demoralization, — which turn so threatening an aspect upon the peace and welfare of the community. The teaching of a comparatively few chil- dren in Charity Schools hath proved no suffi- cient counterbalance to the loss of former pa- rochial Instruction ; and the augmenting of School Education, or the adoption of any pal- liative measure, without employing the AID OF Public Parochial Worship, must be unable to counteract the ruinous progress of obdurate and unrelenting profligacy. Should the Public Opinion continue to be directed, and Parliamentary attention conti- nue to be bestowed, in the first place, and almost exclusively, upon objects of Secondary Importance ; while the Primary Object of Safety, Stability and Prosperity, both to Church and State, in the Public Worship and Administrations of the National Reli- gion, is suffered to decline and lose its effec- tive energy upon half the Population, the Consequences must be highly injurious, and I 2 116 may be fatal to the present Established Order of Government. This alarming condition of the Church, and of the Pubhc Mind, does not appear to have obtained the notice which its importance demands, or to have been pressed upon the attention of the Leg^islature with the earnest- ness and importunity, which a consideration of such vital interest to the Safety of the Community might be expected to awaken. If the Church of England be reduced to such a condition that a very large proportion of its professing members — one Third at the least — are absolutely excluded, and denied the possibihty of joining in its most instructive and impressive services, this important Fact must steadily point to the danger of the Habit that has long prevailed among the Literary defenders and advocates of the Church — that of confining too exclusively their attention to the explanation and en- forcement of particular doctrines, and be- stowing no sufficient regard upon that still more injurious Absence of all Religious sentiment, and that total disregard to Future Existence, which have spread so 117 widely, and are the precursors of every pos- sible calamity that can assail both Church and State. The prevalence of this most dangerous and destructive principle of disregard to Fu- turity, undeniably proves, that defences of the interpretation of particular Doctrines, Rites, and Sacraments; and censures of those who impugn or neglect them ; are not, and cannot, alone, be an adequate protection to the Church in its present circumstances. The brightest effulgence of truth in its Doctrines cannot convey their beneficial effect to the people, while the Legislature conti- nues to permit the existence of an order of things, that renders conformity to its ordi- nances an entire and evident impossibility. By far the larger portion of Political Discus- sions are conducted without any reference to the National Rehgion, and the effects it pro- duces, or might produce, upon the State. And even the greater part of the advocates of the Established Church, and the writers in its behalf, appear to take their view of dan- ger from other points, either vindicating particular doctrines, or deprecating a separa- 118 tion from its communion, seeming to trace Cause and Effect more in the productions of the press, than in the actual existing cir- cumstances of Society. When stating their apprehensions, in re- gard to the EstabUshed Church, from the in- jurious effects of Schism, and the inroads of what is termed Methodism, they appear to proceed upon the principle of taking it for granted, — that the constitutional and legis- lative intentions of the Law, are so carried into effect in their practical arrangements, as in Fact to render the ^Instructions of the Church accessible to All, — that every reason- able facility has been employed to engage the influence of early Habit in favour of the Es- * A zealous advocate of the Church of England has re- cently thus expressed himself,-^" her members cannot be grossly or dangerously ignorant except by their own fault. The Scriptures are daily read in our assemblies, &c. &c, that we can never either forget or overlook them without the grossest negligence." Vide British Critic, No, 32. August 1816. p. 139, 140. It is here taken for granted that the members of the Church have sufficient places to assemble in — and this is certainly the case in Oxford and Cambridge, but around the Metropolis several hundred thousands are without either Parish Minister or Parish Church, — it is therefore their misfortune and not their fault that they are ignorant. 119 tabllshment, and that the numbers associated under Sectarian and Methodistlc teachers are WITHDRAWN from attendance in their Pa- rish Church, from the instruction of the Li- turgy, and from the Pastoral Care of their Legal and EstabHshed Minister. But are not the Facts of the case directly contrary to these Assumptions? Is It not evident, or may it not easily be proved from the Parliamentary Documents, that at least One Third of the whole popu- lation, and Four Fifths in the MetropoHs district, are without Parish Churches to re- ceive them, and without Parish Ministers to take charge of them ? Is it not therefore a necessary consequence of such circumstances, that if all the Secta- rian and Methodistlc Separatists were now desirous of Conforming to the Church, they could not possibly be received, while so large a proportion of our Oivn Members are, in Fact, excluded from all Parochial and bene- ficial Communion ? If enquiry be found to establish this view of the subject, will it not be equally evident that the principles just now alluded to as 120 taken for granted, are not in reality sup- ported by Fact ; and must not therefore the Defences and Exhortations, founded on such assumptions, be wholly inadequate, of them- selves, to the support and protection of the Church under its present circumstances ? In some degree to supply an answer to these most important questions, with the hope of engaging the attention of the Public and of the I^egislature to the further investi- gation of this subject, was the purpose of my former address to your Lordship ; and of the somewhat more distinct and explicit examina- tion which I now venture to present to your Lordship's notice. § 10. — Examination of Parliamentary Documents on Population, Parishes, Benefices, Capacity of Churches, Sfc. in- cluding the four following sections. To those Politicians and Philosophers who. circumscribe all their views within the boun- dary of time, — who profess to govern and to reform men by the coercions and influence of temporal agents only, — Facts respecting the 121 National Religion and the state of Parochial Worship may he thought of little value. But by those of more just and profound views of human nature, and of the mode and mate- rials of constructing Civil Institutions, in such a manner as to produce and maiiitain the ut- most aggregate of security and happiness to the community, — the Means and Instruments of forming and supporting Religious and Moral Character will ever be deemed worthy of the very first consideration ; and the ut- most attention will be thought well employed to obtain respecting them full, distinct, ex- plicit and accurate information. In furtherance of this most desirable ob- ject, it having been represented to me by some zealous friends of our Constitutional Government both in Church and State — that the statement I have presented has been thought overcharged, and my representation of the case suppposed to be an Exaggeration of the Facts ; and as such an opinion neces- sarily tends to weaken the impression of importance which the truth itself is calculated to make — I have been peculiarly anxious to review the materials there collected, and to 122 supply such further illustration as subsequent enquiry and communications have afforded, towards giving a view of tlie subject suffi- ciently full, explicit, and practical, to satisfy the judgment of candid, dispassionate, and impartial enquirers. And in this regard it is peculiarly incumbent on me to express my grateful acknowledgments, for the very obliging manner in which your Lordship favoured me with the Parliamentary Docu- ments necessary to illustrate, and, as far as possible, to verify and ascertain the real Facts and Circumstances of the case. By a detailed examination* of the present Parochial Population of the City of London, and of the eighteen adjoining Counties, ex- tending over a district forming a circle of about one hundred miles semidiameter around the Metropolis, it appeared that about 110 Houses and 640 Inhabitants might be taken as the Gener^al j^verage allotted by our Ancestors to One Parish Church, One Pa- rish Minister, and One set of Parish Officers: from this it was intended to infer the Con- stitutional Necessity, which their practice * Church in Danger, p. 36 to 45, 123 inculcated, of sub-dividing the Parishes and providing additional Parochial Churches and Ministers, whenever they were required by an increasing Population. But it is probable that the idea of exagge- ration may have been excited by a want of sufficient expllcitness in explaining the pur- pose and intended application of the General Average. From this defect, that which was presented only as an illustration, has, it appears in some instances, been understood as a rule and recommendation now to be acted upon. The statement and application of the num- bers, ascertained by a comprehensive general average, to have been placed with one Parish Church under one Parish Minister, by the former arrangements of the Church of Eng- land, were offered, not as a rule or propor- tion adviseable to be adopted in any new regulations ; but as an illustration and en- forcement of the urgent necessity which claimed the attention of the Legislature to this subject in preference to others of less vital, and consequently of less pressing im- portance. ]24 A cumparisoii of this General Average with the present state of many of our Pa- rishes, afforded the strongest possible proof how much the practice adopted In former times, differed from that which hath obtained durlnii; the last centurv. And if long continued and extensive Ge- neral Practice might be considered as a Con- stitutional Criterion of the proper Interpreta- tion of the unwritten Law of the Land, this ancient practice seemed to assume and de- clare, that the Prescriptive Law not only au- thorized but required the sub-dl vision of Parishes, as the Population Increased In any district ; thus Indicating in a decisive manner the opinion of our forefathers, — that the best Security of the Church of England consisted in the due Parochial Administration of its Liturgy and Services ; — and that the Security of the State also was in the best manner provided for, by giving the whole Population a participation in what may be termed the Education afforded by the National Religion, — the Instruction and Advantages of its Paro- chial Worship and Pastoral Offices. — And this could only be effected by distributing 125 the Population into such Divisions, that each Parish should consist of such a numher of inhabitants only, as might conveniently and certainly be admitted into the Parish Church, and also fall under the restraining and corrective personal knowledge and super- intendance of their Parish Ministers, and Parish Officers. But in thus stating the Fact and offering this comparison, it was not intended to ad- duce that General Average as a Standard Proportion of numbers necessary to be adopted under the present circumstances. So far otherwise, that it was suggested in another part of the work* that great advantages might probably now result, in many cases of re- duced parochial population in villages and some of the ancient towns, from placing two adjoining parishes under the care of the same Minister. And in treating of the mode of proceeding and enactments necessary to provide a remedy to the existing Evil, the proportion adopted by the Parliament under Queen Anne was considered as that which might probably be recommended at the present time. * Church in Danger, p. 1^4. 126 That proportion, and the computation upon which it was founded, as given in the Par- liamentary* proceedings, allotted 4^50 In- habitants to one Parish Church. And, per- haps, for the sake of avoiding fractions, 5000 persons may be assumed as a proper number for one Parish, when the Population is compact and consolidated into a small space, as in the close-built districts; and half that number in situations where the habitations are more widely scattered. In this computation a reasonable allowance appears to be made for the various descriptions of Dissenters in each Parish ; and also for the infant, the aged, and the infirm parts of the population, who may not be able to attend divine service at the Church ; but then it should never be forgotten that they have, for that very reason, a stronger claim upon the time and attention of their Paro- chial Minister in the more private duties of the Pastoral Office, — in consolatory and admonitory conference. The inhabitants of each Parish may by such a sub-division par- ticipate in the advantages of the personal * Church in Danger, p. IGO. 127 Knowledge of their Parochial Minister ancL Parochial Officers, and may be expected to derive important and lasting benefits, from the efficient discharo:e of Pastoral Offices and the possibihty of the Sacraments being duly administered to all the Parishioners*. The numbers also usually attending the Public Worship, will thus be brought within the scope and power of the general range of the human voice, and of course may receive instructive admonition and Improvement from such attendance. For it should ever be remembered, that as the Benefits of our Reformed and Protestant Church Services are conveyed by Oral Instruction, it Is ne- cessary that these services, to be advan- tageous, should be heard. In those In- stances therefore where the Churches are so spacious, that considerable parts of the congregation are without the extent of the Ministers voice, their primary and most Im- portant purpose is defeated. The most elo- quent and Impressive Sermon, to those who hear not a sentence of it, is totally useless. And the awful admonitions of the Sacred * Vide page 79, 80, 81. 128 Scriptures, and the interesting piety of our admirable Liturgy, are equally without effect upon those poor and uninstructed members of our congregations, who may perhaps see the Minister, but are so placed as to be in- capable of hearing a word that falls from his lips. People so circumstanced, finding by repeated experience that they cannot be accommodated In such a manner as to hear and join in the service, soon discontinue their at- tendance at the Cimrch; and thus become, like those who have no Church to attend, alienated from the Establishment, and the liirge and splendid Church is in a great mea- sure useless. But as in carrying into effect any measurt; remedial of these evils, the progress must aecessarily be very gradual and slow, it does not appear to be at all essential, that any fixed and undevlating proportion of numbers to each Parish should be previously deter- mined upon and established. Something of a general outline to guide the judgment may be useful, while the peculiarities of local and individual cases may be safely left to be ar- ranged, according to the peculiar circum- stances, by the Commissioners to whom the 129 execution of such an Act of Paiiuiment would be intrusted. Commencing with a Subdivision or two, in each of the Parishes requiring such an operation, must be produc- tive of much advantage. And the System once in action, may be expected to proceed with increasing facility and increasing be- nefit. To impress the Necessity of such com-' mencement, it appears requisite to consider the Evil in its Real and Fall Magnitude. To present such a view of the subject was the purpose of the statement, which has been thought to be an Exaggeration, This pur- pose may perhaps be now aided and enforced, and the idea of an overcharged representation in some degree removed, by giving a review of the Facts in a more condensed form ; but instead of repeating the Comparison with a general average, to Illustrate and confirm the statement, by taking a detailed review also of the same materials, as collected in the most Indubitable, interesting, and alarming " Account of the Population of Benefices, and the Capacity of their respective Churches and Chapels, according to the Diocesan Re- K 130 turns or other authentic documents laid be- fore Parliament." This account is printed by order of the House of Lords, upon the motion of the Rijrht Honourable the Earl of Harrowbv, when his Lordship impressively observed, *' * that if their Lordships intended that the Establishment of the Church of England should CONTINUE TO EXIST, it v^^as neces- sary that, by their Legislative exertions and munificence, the means should be provided for the residence of the Clergy in their Pa- rishes, and that Churches should be pro- vided capable of containing the population of these parishes/' " -j^ These returns when produced would bring before Parliament and the Public, a case so strong, that the necessity would be seen of its affording some Pecuniary as well as Legislative assistance, in order to bring these Churches and Accom- modations, near that state in which it was every way proper and necessary they should be placed." * Times Newspaper, 27 June, 1816, t Morning Post, 27 June, 1816. 131 § 11. — Re-statement and Revision of Facts in the Parishes of the Metropolis District. The parishes considered as forming the Metropolis District by Mr. Rickman in his elaborate and judicious arrangement of the returns of Population laid before Parliament, were examined, in the former* tract addres- sed to your Lordship, as forming two con- centric circles around the walls of the City of London ; the more distant or exterior circle containing the less compressed village popu- lation ; and the interior circle, including the dense population of the Parishes immediately contiguous and surrounding the boundaries of the City. But as each parish was then compared with the previously ascertained General Average, without expressing the numerical excess of population in each ; the number of persons without any means of Pa- rochial Instruction from, or Communion with, the Church of England being stated in one gross amount ; it is now purposed to re- * Church in Danger, p. 52 to p. 75. k2 132 state these materials in a more condensed and tabular form. The first column to exhibit the full population ; — the second, the estimated numbers that may possibly be accommodated in the Parish Church ; and the third, the Surplus Population in each Parish. The un- provided, or excluded members, being thus se- parately noticed in the several individual in- stances, in addition to the total amount, may perhaps, present a more distinct and impres- sive view of the Evil, than when the same numbers were collected into one aggregate statement alone. "The present number of Churches and Parishes within the walls of the City of Lon- don, has been evidently formed upon a much more numerous population than the present ; But although the changing stream of popu- lation hath forced itself into new Channels, the former Structures and divisions remain, and cannot benefit the Population that has left them." The City of London, therefore, containing within its Walls Ninety-one Pa- rish Churches for a population of 55,484 persons, is not noticed or included in the following estimation. 133 The Exterior Circle. Parishes. Total Churches SuTdIuS Popula- supposed to i j j KENT. tion. contain. CXcluded. Deptford, St. Nicholas 7^085 2000 5,085 St. Paul 12,748 2000 10,748 Greenwich 1^,947 2000 14,94/ Woolwich 17j054 2000 15,054 ESSEX. West Ham, including Plaistow and Stratford 8,136 1500 6,636 Layton 3,1^2 150O 1,662 Walthamstow .... 3J77 1500 2,2/7 Barking 5,543 1500 4,043 SURREY. Clapham 5,083 1500 3,583 Streatham 2,729 1500 1,229 Tooting 1,626 1500 126 Battersea 4,409 1500 2,909 Wandsworth 5,644 I500 4,144 Putney 2,88l 1500 1,381 Mortlake 2,021 15OO 521 Wimbledon 1,914 1500 414 rKingston and Ham 4,925 150O 3,425 iRichmond .... 5,219 1500 3,719 * United under one Minister. 134 Parishes. Total Popula- tion. MIDDLESEX. Stratford le Bow . . . 2,259 Stoke Newington . . . 2,149 Hornsey 3,349 Tottenham 4 Wards 4,571 Edmonton 4 Wards 6,824 Enfield 4 Quarters . . 6,636 St. John Hampstead 5,483 Hendon 2,589 Ealing 5,361 HestonvvithHounslow 2,251 Islevvorth 4,66l Twickenham 35757 Chiswick 3,892 l^^u^ham 5,903 Hammersmith .... 7,393 Liferior Circle. St. Luke, Old Street 32,545 St. James, Clerkenwell30,537 St. Sepulchre or St. John 4,224 Islington 15,065 Liberties, extra paro- chial 2,890 Churches supposed to contain. Surplus excluded 1500 759 1500 649 1500 1,849 1500 3,071 1500 5,324 1500 5,136 1500 3,983 1500 1,089 1500 3,861 1500 751 1500 3,161 1500 2,257 1500 2,392 1500 4,403 1500 5,893 2000 30,545 2000 28,537 2000 2,224 2000 13,065 2,890 135 Total Churche. SuFdIus Panshts. Popula- supposed to , ^, , tion. contain. eXCluded. Hackney 1^,771 2000 14,771 Shoreditch 43,930 2000 41,930 Whitechapel 27,578 2000 25,578 Bethnal Green , . . .S3,6l9 2000 31,619 Spittlefields 16,200 2000 14,200 Stepney 35,199 2000 33,199 St. George in the East 26,9 17 2000 24,917 Wapping 3,313 2000 1,313 Bromley 3,581 2000 1,581 Liinehouse 7,3(^8 2000 5,368 *Shadwell 9,855 in ruins 9,855 * It is not unworthy of observation that the kind purchased by Queen Ann's Commissioners for the site of a Church, although paid for by the Pubhc, has never yet been applied to that purpose. The recent discovery of this proves the utility of Registering in Chancery. The following letter is from the eminent Solicitor who conducts the business for the Parish : " My Dear Sir, 13 June, 1816. '' I send you herewith an abstract of the deed of the Shad- well Church Land purchased in I714, and never yet applied to its proper destination. I am now endeavouring to find out the survivor of the Commissioners recorded in the deed, in order to take legal measures, if requisite, to get the property into the hands of the parish. " We are all indebted to your valuable book for the pro- gress hitherto made; and I shall have real satisfaction in being able hereafter, to inform you that we have succeeded. " I remain^ my dear Sir, very sincerely yours, J. I. Burn." 136 Total Parishes. Popula- ! tion. St. Catherine, Tower 2,706 Precincts extra paro- chial 2,908 St. Botolph, Aldii^ate with East Smithfield. 13,562 St. Botolph, Bishops- gate 0,184 St. Giles, Cripplegate 1 1,704 St.Botolph,Aldersgate 4,135 St. Bartholomew . . . 2,769 St. Dunstan, West . . 3,239 St. Bride, Fleet Street 7,003 St, Sepulchre, Newgate 8,724 Extra parochial . . . . 3,l84? Rotherhithe 12,114 Berniondsey 19,530 St. George, South war k 27,967 Horseleydown .... 8,370 St. Olave 7,919 St. Saviour 15,349 Christ Church . . . .11^050 Cavnberwell, including Dulwicli andPeckham 1 1 ,309 Churches lupposed to contain. Surplus excluded 2000 7O6 2,908 2000 11,562 2000 7,184 2000 9,704 2000 2,135 2000 769 2000 1,239 2000 5,003 2000 6,724 3,184 2000 10,114 2000 17,530 2000 25,967 2000 6,370 2000 5,919 2000 13,349 2000 9,050 2000 9,309 137 Total Churches Parishes. Popula- supposed to tion, contain. Newington with Wal- worth 23,853 2000 Lambeth, with Brix-') tonCause\vay,Ken- j nington, Stock- )> 4 1,^44 2000 well, Vauxhall, | and South Lambeth J Kensington 10,886 2000 Paddington 4,609 2000 Chelsea 1 8,2^2 2000 St.John Westminster 10,615 2000 St. Margaret's . . . .lS,68o 2000 Extra Parochials . . . 1,284 St. Martin's in the Fields 26,585 2000 St. Paul Covent Garden 5,304 2000 St. Clement, Danes, .13,706 2000 St. Ann's, Soho . . .12,282 2000 St. James's 34,039 2000 St. George's Hanover Square 41,687 2000 Surplus excluded. 21,853 39,644 8,886 2,609 16,262 8,615 16,680 1,284 24,585 3,304 11,706 10,282 32,039 39,687 138 Total Churches Slirplus Parishes, Popula- supposed to , " , tioii. contain. eXCludecl. St. Andrew and St."^ George Queen Squ. | r 2000 ") with Hatton Gar- >37,195 \ fcZ 33,195 den, Ely Rents, | ^ ^°^" J and Saffron Hill. J Extra Parochials . . . 3,350 3,350 St.GeorgeBloomsburyl3,8()4 2000 11,864 St. Giles 34,672 2000 32,672 St. Pancras 4^,333 2000 44,333 St. Mary le Bone . . .75,624 2000 7^,624 The supposed Congregations of Chapels, were estimated at 30,000 The clergy of the Chapels are not per- mitted to contribute at all to the discharge of the Pastoral duties and offices, and there- fore this Estimation was not distributed to the several Parishes, to mark more dis- tinctly the very inconsiderable assistance, that is given by the Chapel system to the National Religion, although most of these Chapels extract from their Congregations a higher contribution, under the name of Pew Rents, than would support each of them as a Parish Church with an authorized Paro- chial Minister. 139 This re-statement of the materials collected in the former tract, with the slight correc- tions that have occurred, gives the following aggregate results ; Total Population of this Dis- trict, not including the City of London 1,144,773 The Numbers supposed to be ac- commodated in the Churches and Chapels, upon a vague Estimation, but in many of the instances much beyond what the Churches and Chapels can contain 181,500 Leaving the Number necessarily Excluded in this district alone from all useful participation in the Public Worship — the Ad- ministration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and the Pastoral Offices of the Church 963,273 140 To examine further whether this collection of Facts thus presented to pubUc notice can be justly liable to the charge of Exaggeration — it may be satisfactory to give a statement of the same District, and the same Parishes, selected from the recent Parliamentary re- port, as printed by the order of the House of Lords. In this document the Parishes are Classed in the order of the several Dioceses ; but as that arrangement places adjoining Parishes under distant and different heads, it does not exhibit, in one connected view, the very great surplus population compressed into a comparatively small space around the Me- tropolis ; the several particulars are, there- fore, here collected into the same form and order as the foregoing statement, by which also the comparison of the two statements may be more readily made. 141 § 12. Compai^ative Statement of the fore' going Facts, from the Account printed hy order of the House of Lords. Places: Total Nuaiher the Kkccss above P"pula- Chun-lies and the cajjacity ,.j,f,T ^'""- Cli.ipels will of Churches '^""'^"'- and Chapels. Deptford, St. Nicholas 7,085 1400 5,685 St. Paul ..12,784 1200 11,548 Greenwich lf>,947 4100 12,84/ Woolwich 16,700 3S00 12,900 ESSEX. West Ham, Plaistow, and Stratford .... 8,136 1500 Qfi^Q Layton 3,162 550 2,612 Walthamstow .... 2,^00 1050 1,450 ^ai't^ing 5,543 li^OO 4,343 SURREY. Clapham 5,084 1400 3,684 Streatham . . . . . . 2,729 1000 1,729 looting . . omitted, not returning two thousand. Battersea 4,400 600 3,800 Wandsworth 5,621 600 5,021 Putney 2,882 850 2,032 142 Total Number the Excessabove Popula- Churches and the Capacity Places. tion. Chapels will of Churches comain. andChapels. Mortlake 2,021 730 1,291 Wimbledon not returning two thousand. Kingston and Ham,"j with Richmond, I $,393 1900 6,493 Chapel of ease J MIDDLESEX. Stratford le Bow . . . 2,S8l 550 2,331 Stoke Newington . . . 2,149 600 1,549 Hornsea 3,349 ijoo 2,249 Tottenham 4,000 50 3,950 Edmonton 6,284 2000 4,284 Enfield 5,500 1000 4,500 Hampstead 5,483 1450 4,033 Hendon 2,000 300 1,700 Eahng 5,700 iSoo 3,900 HestonwithHounslow 2,250 700 1 550 Isleworth 4,780 2000 2,780 Twickenham omitted. Chisvvick 3,892 750 3^142 Fulham and Ham- 1 ^ ^ mersmith j 13,29(J 3158 10,138 143 Total Numb.'!' tl'fi Excess above Popula- Clnirclies and the Capacity f'Rccs, ^^""- ^-hapels will of Churches comain. and Chapels. St. Luke Old Street . .36,000 1200 34,800 St. James Clerken\veli30,537 1400 29,137 St. Sepulchre or St. John 6,SlS 700 6,118 Islington 15,065 2C00 12,456 Liberties Extra Paro- chial omitted. Hackney 16,771 5400 11,371 Shoreditch 43.448 2300 41,188 Whitechapel 28,000 2600 25,400 Bethnal Green . . . .33,000 1200 31,800 Spittlefields l6,200 3250 12,950 Stepney 35,199 4000 31,199 St. George in the East 26,9 1 7 800 26,1 17 Wapping 3,313 1200 2,113 Bromley 3,500 300 3,200 Limehouse 10,500 1500 9,000 Shadwell 10,000 lOOO 9,000 Church , in ruins. St. Catherine Tower . 2,700 90O 1,800 Precincts Extra Paro- ^"^^^ omitted. " 1 St. Botolph Aldgate with East Smithfield 13,562 1050 12,512 144 Total Numbers the Popula- Churches and Places. tion. Chapels will contain. St. Botolph Bishops- gate 10,000 2000 St. Giles Cripplegate 11,784 1500 St. Botolph Aldersgate 5,478 900 St. Bartholomew . . . 2,769 600 St. Dunstan West . . 6,645 1200 St. Bride 7J75 13OO St. Sepulchre Nevvgatel2,148 2500 Extra Parochials . . . omitted. Rotherhithe 12,114 2000 Bermondsey 19^530 3000 St. George Southwark 27,000 4000 Horsleydown 8,370 II50 St. Olave 7,917 1300 St. Saviour 15,59^ 15OO Christ Church . . . .12,000 1000 Camberwell, with Dul- wich and Peckham .12,000 1800 Newington, with Wal- worth 23,853 900 Lambeth, with Brix-1 tonCauseway,Ken- j nington. Stock- )> 45,000 600O well, Vauxhall | and South Lam beth J Excess above the capacity of Churches and Chapels. 8,000 10,284 4,578 2,169 5,445 6,475 9,648 10,114 16,530 23,000 7,220 6,617 14,096 11,000 10,200 22,953 39,000 145 Total Popula- Places. tion. Kensington 11,000 Paddington 4,609 Chelsea 1 8,262 Westminster, St. John 1 0,6l 5 St. Margaret's . . . .18,680 Extra Parochials. . . . omitted, St.Martins in theFields26,583 St.Paul,CoventGarden 5,304 St. Mary le Strand . . 2,021 St. Clements, Danes 10,000 St. Ann, Soho . . . .12,288 St. James's ..... .30,000 St. George's, Hanover Square 41 ,687 St. George, Martyr . . 7,179 St. Andrew, Hoi born 23,972 Extra Parochials . . .omitted. St. George's, Blooms- bury 13,000 St. Giles in the Fields 34,672 St. Pancras ..... ,47,000 St. Mary le Bone . . .75,624 I. Number tie Excessabovc Churches and the capacity Chapels will of ChurciieS contain. andChapels. 2300 8,700 500 4,109 1000 17,262 2000 8,615 1500 17,180 4000 22,583 928 4,376 320 1,701 3500 6,500 1000 11,288 6000 24,000 8200 33,487 1200 5,979 2500 21,472 1500 11,500 2500 32,172 2600 44,400 8700 66,924 146 In this Enumeration the.several particulars when collected into total sums give the fol- lowing aggregate results : The total Population of the Dis- trict, as before, excluding the City of London 1,129,451 The numbers returned as accom- modated in Churches and Chapels. 151,536 The Excess of Population above the Capacity of Churches and Chapels, and, of course, ex- cluded from useful Commu- nion with the Established Church 977,915 Being, notwithstanding some omissions, 14,600 Souls more than the statement which has been deemed an Exaggeration. h: § 13. — Resuli of Compariso7i. It is indeed with no small degree of doubt, hesitation, and unwillingness, that any seri- ous and reflecting observer, sensible of the necessary and tremendous consequences that must follow the continuance of such a state of things, can admit the Existence of so enormous a political and soci.il Evil in the very cctitre of a Country calling itself Chris- tian, Reformed; and Protestant, — and boast- ing of the superior Wisdom of its Laws and Institutions. In the district now surveyed, containing by one estimation a population of 1,144,779, and by another 1,129,451, the astonishing truth is most incontrovertiblv established, that only Eighty-one Parish Churches, and Eighty-one Parochial Mi- nisters entrusted by the law with the Cure of Souls, are provided by the Church of Eng- land for a Population of upwards of ELEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND souls. The indubitable Authority of Parliament hath in- deed demonstrated that, within the Compa- L 2 148 ratlvely small Circle of about ten Mile& around the Metropolis of Britain, the splen- did seat of Science, Literature, Commerce, Legislation, Philosophy, and (as is supposed) Religion, no less a number than NINE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY SEVEN THOUSAND Souls are shut out from the common Pastoral Offices of the National Reli- gion — are without any beneficial Communion with the Established Church — receive no instruction from a Parish Minister, and are totally excluded from the inestimable advan- tages of the Parochial Public Worship. This enormous number is greater by fifteen thousand than the entire population of the Ten Counties, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buck- inghamshire, Berkshire, Dorsetshire, Oxford- shire, Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Rutlandshire, and Cambridgeshire, as returned to Parliament in the last enumeration, spread over an area of six thousand five hundred and ninety-one Square Miles, and furnished with seventeen hundred Parish Churches ; — while a Surplus Population more numerous, more dense, and therefore the more dange- rous, has been shewn to exist in the Metro- 149 polls District in effect without Public Wor- ship, without a Church, without a Minister; — A difference so apparently beyond all beUef could only be rendered credible by the irresis- tible and indubitable evidence of Fact : — and such a Fact speaks to a truly Christian, a truly Patriotic, a truly British heart, in Language so strong and so terrific, as to require no additional enforcement of the painful impression. § 14. Further means of Elucidation. But if these Statements should be thought not to be sufficiently explicit for the ground of Parliamentary Enactment — an Investigation by a Committee of the Honourable House of Commons, might bring the subject in a more distinct and technical form before the Legis- lature : and the real Facts and Circum- stances of this most distressing and alarming condition of the Church of England, might be more fully and explicitly developed, by a personal Examination of the several Parochial Ministers and Parish Officers included in this 150 district of about ten miles around the Metro- polis. The true state of the Case would become apparent, if the Parochial Minister and Pa- rish Officers of each of the Parishes in this district were required to answer a few shoit Questions somewhat similar to the following : What is your Parish and the Estimated Population ? How many persons do you suppose your Church will contain ? What do you think to be the average number attending divine service every Sunday Morning ? What number in the Afternoon or Evening ? How often is the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Administered ? What do you suppose has been the average number of Communicants at each celebration during the last three years ? Are the Communicants generally the same individuals, or different persons at each cele- bration in the same year ? What provision is made in your Church for the accommodation of the lower classes, — and how many usually attend divine service ? 151 Are there any other places of Worship in your Parish belonging to the Established Church ? Do the Clergy officiating in the Chapels take any Pastoral Charge of the Congre- gation ? At what time and place is the Sacrament of Baptism usually administered, and what number of persons upon an average attend each service ? How often has the service of the Visitation of the Sick been performed in each week, upon an Average for the last year ? Is not a Personal Knowledge of the Parish- ioners necessary to the due discharge of the Pastoral office ? — What number do you sup- pose may be personally known to yourself, and upon terms of social and friendly con- verse and intercourse ? What number of interments have taken place weekly upon an average for the last year ? How many persons have usually attended each Funeral solemnity ? What number have been carried into the Church ? 152 What number have only had the Church^ Yard service performed ? What is the reason of the difference ? To what number of the poor is the * 59th Canon observed, either literally as to Catechi- sing in the Church, or in effect by examining them in Sunday or Day Schools ? How often do the Church Wardens in execution of the -f 28th Canon enquire into the attendants at the Sacraments ? Are the personal habits and occupations of the poor receiving parochial relief generally known to the Overseers of the Parish ? Answers to these, or Questions similar in import and tendency, if arranged under each parish, might be easily gone through, and present a Mass of information of the most in- teresting, though perhaps of an appalling. Nature to the serious and patriotic Mind.-^- Such at least as would fully ascertain how far the alarming" statements already made are founded in Exaggeration — how far every real Friend of the Church of England — every real Friend of British Prosperity, and every * Vide page 113. t Page 78. 153 real Friend of Humanity, have just grounds of apprehension and alarm ; and how impe- riously the Legislature is called upon, by every Sentiment of Duty and Self Preserva- tion, to take speedy and eflfectual Measures to remedy the Defects of former Legislation ; — and to afford those additional means to the National Religion, without which it is im- possible to impress Moral and Religious Principles, and Moral and Religious Habits, upon the Vast Masses of neglected and injured population, now Excluded from Church Com- munion and Church Instruction, and aban- doned to a worse than Heathen ignorance, and to all the dangers of unrestrained depra- vity, and the seductive artifices of plundering Anarchy and organized Rebellion, — in the delusive arts of the discontented and design- ing, operating through the medium of Public- House Politicians, corresponding Clubs call- ing themselves Benefit Societies, and other daily increasing sources of contamination; the dangerous tendency and ruinous consequences of which no palliative expedients can repress, unless they are founded upon, and aided and assisted by, a more general diffusion of the 154 Hopes and Fears of Religion, only adequately conveyed to the general body of the People in the instructive Services of Public Parochial Worship. § 15. Ahst7'act notice of all Parishes in England and IVales, of 2000 Inhabi- tants and npivai^ds. The foregoing collection of Facts relating chiefly to the Metropolis district, have been selected under that restriction, as presenting a source of more imminent danger, and requir- ing therefore earlier and more immediate at- tention, than a scattered and distant popula- tion otherwise under similar circumstance? of deprivation. The manners and habits of the vast masses of people, compressed into a comparatively small space, whicli surround the seat of the Government, — the verv heart of iho. commu- nity, — must necessarily have a powerful in- fluence upon every other part of the Countrv; — and a dense population being more ex- posed, than a thin one of equal numbers, to be stimulated into dangerous action, it is of 155 the utmost importance that the District sur- rounding the Metropohs should be the first object of consideration. But as any remedial measure adopted by the Wisdom of Parliament in regard to this district, may be gradually extended to all other parts of the Country requiring similar attention, it may add something to the im- pression of the necessity by which such a measure is demanded, if, together with the foregoing awful and afflictive Facts, we take into consideration an abstract review of the present state of the several Dioceses, as represented in the Parliamentary docu- ment already quoted ; and which presents a most painful and tremendous subject of re- flection, to all who duly appreciate the im- portance of Religious Principles to the Well- being of the State, and who are not insen- sible to the ultimate and inevitable disorder, misery, and ruin, that must result from a continued disregard of that influence, which only is sufficiently powerful to give security and permanence to Law and Order. 156 " An Abstract of the totals in each Diocese of England and Wales, of all those Parishes each of which contain two thousand inhabi- tants and upwards, and the Churches and Chapels will not contain one half," and in many instances not one fourth ** of the Popu- lation/' Dioceses. Nrnn- Total ber of Popu- Parishes. lation. Number the Excess of Churches Population and Chapels above the Capa- will contain. . „^, f City of Churches and Chapels. Asaph, St. Bangor Bath and Wells Bristol Canterbury Carlisle Chester Chichester David's, St. Durham Ely Exeter Gloucester Hereford LandafF 1^ ^1,537 7 22,588 15 77,S90 15 68,306 22 112,659 10 39,304 157 1,286,702 11 37.907 6 25,775 45 226,06 5 18,680 49 221,162 15 53,202 9 32,417 10 37,580 13,770 7 420 18,020 14,104 25,720 8,200 228,696 11,270 4,050 41,7^9 7,040 53,011 15,930 11,500 6,900 47,767 15,168 59,870 54,202 86,939 31,104 1,040,006 26,637 21,725 184,292 11,640 168,151 37,272 20,917 30,680 157 Nuniher tlie Excess of Num- Total ^h"|-'^he Population Diocesei. bcB of Popu- and Chapels , \i <-, Parishes, lation. wiil contain, aoove tlie Capa- city of Churches and Chapels. Litchfield & Coventry 73 532,733 108,532 424,201 Lincoln 31 118,909 37,250 81,659 London 80 930,337 132,387 7-^7,950 Norwich 10 52,042 15,388 36,654 Oxford 4 9,^91 4,000 5,691 Peterboro. 3 11,271 2,650 8,621 Rochester 16 102,984 24,100 7^j884 SaUsbury 23 77,6] 4 22,030 55,584 Winchester 37 325,209 5.9,503 265,706 Worcester 13 80,428 20,300 60,078 York 96 720,091 139,163 580,928 778 5,265,079 1,032,753 4,232,326 This investigation affords the astonishlns: result, that Four Million two hundred AND THIRTY TWO THOUSAND of the Inhabi- tants of England and Wales, have no means of joining in the Parochial Services of the Established Church, and of course derive no instructive, restraining, and consolatory influence from the National Religion. 156 § 16. Coincidence ivith general view, and residt. The induction of particulars now reviewed coincides, in a remarkable manner, with the conclusion that appears from the following general view of the subject. From Mr. Rick man's very valuable ob- servations, and table of the increase of popu- lation, — it appears that in A. D. 17^0, the Population of England and Wales amounted to 5,475,000, and that in A. D. 1811 it had increased to 10,488,000 ; so that during the century it had nearly doubled itself. This interesting and important Fact has been noticed by Politica,! Economists, but it does not appear that any observations have been made upon it in reference to the Reli- gious Instruction conveyed by the Public Worship of the Cimrch of England. The Legislature, after a judicious exa- mination about the commencement of the last century, declared that fifty additional Parish Churches were even then requisite for the security of the Established Religion, 159 and the Instruction of the Inhabitants of the MetropoHs District alone : — but as owing to the expensive Architecture adopted by the Commissioners, and to some other unforeseen circumstances, only one fifth of the intended number were then erected, the Evil continued to increase, and the subject itself seems, to all useful purposes at least, to have passed en- tirelv into Oblivion ; — until under your Lordship's administration, — the recently quoted '* Account of Population of Benefices, and the Capacity of Churches and Chapels," was printed by order of the House of Lords. During this long period of rapid increase no measure was adopted, or even brought forward, for providing the additional Popu- lation with additional Churches, additional Parishes, and additional Parochial Minis- ters and Parish Officers. If the accommodation in Parish Churches was insufficient to the Instruction of the peo- ple a century ago, at which time only ten new Parishes were formed ; how is it possible to view without astonishment and terror the po- pulation nearly doubled, and No further Additional means employed to convey the 160 benefits of the Established Religion to the Minds and Habits of nearly the Additional Half of the Inhabitants ? A general view and an induction of par- ticulars thus mutually supporting and con- firming each other, leave no doubt but that they present a Statement of this tremendous Moral, Religious, and Political Evil, suffi- ciently accurate for the practical purpose of directing to it the attention of the Legislature. — It might indeed be thought an exaggera- tion, if it were proposed to Double the Number of Churches and Parishes ; — but surely nothing can be more evident and more undeniable, than that if the Established Reli- gion be a valuable, an essential part of the British Constitution, — and if Parish Churches and Parish Ministers be absolutely necessary to the Existence of the Established Religion, and the present number not more than suffi- cient to the Instruction of a Population of only half the present extent, — the best in- terest of the Community, the Safety and Welfare of the Nation, demand that they should be augmented in number when the Population is Doubled. I6i § 17. Legislative assistance requisite. ' The experience of two centuries hath de- monstrated, that private benefaction and local contribution cannot be expected to supply, in the several districts requiring assistance, that augmentation of the number of Parish Churches and Parochial Ministers, which is absolutely necessary to the celebration of the Public Worship and Sacraments of the Church of England. The important National Benefit, of thus providing for the Instruction and Reforma- tion of the hitherto neglected masses of popu- lation, can only be effected by the wisdom and authority of Parliament. And no part of the high and important duties of the Legislature can be more worthv of immediate consideration, than that which can be alone depended upon for affording security, and permanently beneficial effect, to all its other determinations; and which will be found the most direct, and only cer- tain, means of preserving unimpaired the M 162 constitutional liberties and prosperity of the Nation. For although the Established Church be adapted with peculiar wisdom to produce and convey these advantages to the State, in the Relij^ious and Moral Instruction of the people ; it is in the due Administration of its Liturgy and Offices that its benefits are conferred ; on the State therefore must rest the responsibihty of providing for the Church these means of efficiency. The changing circumstances and progresive fluc- tuations of human affiiirs mav render, and in this instance have rendered, additional Le- gislation necessary to correct those occasional derangements, which, if suffered to continue and increase, may prove fatal to the National Fabric. A case of strong and imperious necessity, in the present condition of the Church, hath been shewn to claim now the attention of the Legislature. And here the attention of the Legislature may be highly beneficial, not only in the actual and direct exercise of its authority; but also in preparing the Public Mind, and 163 forming the Public opinion, upon the ne- cessity and importance of the measure. The transactions of Parliament having received, in modern times, a Character and Quality totally distinct and dissimilar from those of the private deliberations of a Body of Legis- lators, known to the Public only in the Laws emanating from them. Whatever is stated and enforced in Parliament, is now diffused and disseminated through every part of the country, by the potent, and now all-influen- cing, instrumentality of the Public Prints. Through their agency, a new and heretofore inconceivable power, is afforded to Parlia- ment. The stupendous power of forming the Public opinion and guiding the Public will, by intellectual applications, reaching, in a continued and vigorous circulation, the utmost extremity of the Body Politic. From the Parliament the people may now not only receive Laws to controul the conduct, but also instruction to inform the understanding and guide the will. The opinions and sentiments now delivered in Parliament penetrate into every part of the realm. They are read and studied bv all M 2 164 ail ages, ranks, and conditions: in the palace, the mansion, the shop, and the cottage ; by the prince and the peasant, by the rich and the poor, by the learned and unlearned ; and those who cannot themselves read, hear them read by others : every child that is taught to lisp the alphabet, may be compelled now to read the catechism, but will much more certainly, hereafter, read the Debates in Parliament, They might, therefore, be made the vehicle of impressing upon the Public Mind, with more certainty and with more effect than by any other means, the Political, the Moral, and even the Religious truths necessary to social w^ell-being. When- ever these topics are expatiated upon in Par- liament, they find their way into thousands of hands and hearts, that are absolutely im- penetrable to the most finished eloquence of Sermons, Charges, Treatises, and every other production of the press, except that Modern engine of abundant good or overwhelming evil, — a Newspaper. It must rejoice every true friend of the British Constitution, to learn that the means ©f giving augmented and due extent to the 165 beneficial Influence of the Established Church, in forming the Moral Principles of the most numerous classes of the community, are likely soon to receive a discussion in Parliament, and to engage the full energies of your Lord- ship's benevolent and discriminating mind. Of the results likely to ensue, on your Lordship's personal and direct application to this subject, we have the most gratifying grounds of anticipation, in the effect produced on the Public Opinion by your Lordship's Parliamentary exertions ; and particularly, by the comprehensive, dispassionate, and lu- minous statement, upon a subject surrounded with peculiar difficulties, which recently oc- casioned much agitation in the Public Mind. This subject, though not of such deep and permanent importance as the Basis of Moral Habits, is yet an instance peculiarly illustrative of the present observations ; because, as one of immediate, evident, and tangible interest, directly aflFecting the first necessities of life, it excited the highest degree of public atten- tion ; and absorbed every minor consideration, and every party difference, in an overwhelm- ing emotion of individual and general anxiety. 166 Upon subjects embracing such a variety of contradictory and opposing interests, much discrepancy of opinion must be expected : in such cases passion, prejudice, and misappre- hension can be surmounted, only, by an en- lightened, judicious, and persevering can- dour, which thinketh no evil, and scattereth no censure; but in allowing that freedom of opinion to others which it claims for itself, disdains to brand with asperity and con- tumely, where it may not be able to convince by reason and argument. This exalted encomium, even from those who still could not fully coincide in its con- clusions, was allowed to your Lordship's speech upon the complex and difficult subject of the Corn Laws : which by embracing all the material points on both sides of the question, disentangling the intricacies of par- tial and interested arguments, and illumining theoretical and philosophic considerations with the light of a judicious and candid ex- perience, was received with general admira- tion and gratitude, and afforded a rational and intelligible ground of acquiescence in the measure it was intended to sustain. 167 It may therefore reasonably be supposed, that a similar application of the same talent and judgement must ultimately surmount all those acknowledged difficulties, that at present appear to embarrass any attempt to invigorate the practical instructive powers of the Church of England. Upon subjects of such great and obvious utility, difficulties are not suffered, by the rational Philosoplier, the judicious Statesman, and the zealous Christian, to suspend exertion ; but are made the occasion of callino- into action a more determined and effectual concentration of intellect. While the weak and degenerate condition of human nature is, as at present, very imper- fectly controuled and directed by a sense of Christian Duty and Christian Hope, we must indeed expect that the administra- tion of the affairs of the State, in regard to " the Meat which perisheth," may awaken a more widely extended interest than the concerns relating to that " Meat which endureth unto everlasting life." Yet the perverse and dangerous misconceptions which unceasingly prefer Time to Eternity, cannot 168 impeach the power and dignity of Truth ; nor invalidate the deductions of real political wis- dom and rational philosophy, supported by the impressive lessons of History and Ex- perience ; all combining their evidence to shew that the Moral Habits and Religious Principles of the People must be the only solid and permanent foundation of safety to, the State. When to these considerations of Political expediency, the awful sanctions[of the Gospel are super^^dded, the Duties of intelligent Statesmen and Christian Legislators will be no longer doubtful. The execution of those Duties may be im- peded — by the efforts of insidious misrepresen- tation, — by sordid and mistaken views of pre- sent gain, — by the speculations of profligate selfishness, — and by the sophisms of Philoso- phic " Science falsely so called." Such oppo- sition is indeed one of the most undoubted, and much to be lamented, evidences of that Oblivion of the absolute necessity and im- portance of Religion to the Well-being of the State, — that Absence of Religious Sentiment and Religious feeling, — resulting in a neces- 169 aary consequence from the Desuetude and Discontinuance of the practice of attending Public Worship, which has long marked the present condition of the Established Church. That such opposition should arise and be persisted in, can only be accounted for, from its being a part of that ^* contest subsisting between the Redeemer and the Destroyer of Mankind \^ a review of which, setting " be- fore us incontrovertible Evidence, that the Faithful have an Enemy to resist of no less subtilty than malignity, and whom they can only hope to overcome, by being strong in the Lord and the power of his might," is admirably given by a Learned and Excellent * Writer, the placing of whom in a conspi- cuous and important post of Christian Duty, does equal honour to your Lordship's discri-^ minating Judgement, and to the zealous^ judicious, and invincible defence of that Gos- pel against which, — though long assauked upon a " Systematic plan of hostility," in every varied mode of open violence and se- cret delusion, — the gates of Hell shall not ultimately prevail. * Vide Dr. Van Mildert on Infidslitv, 170 A Legislative Measure founded upon the candid and enlightened policy of instructing and reforming, without force and without coercion, by the calm, persuasive, and ef- fectual power of Christian Principles, incul- cated and enforced in the habitual use of the moral, the pious, the practical, the scrip- tural Liturgy and Services of the Church of England, might have to encounter many anticipated, and, perhaps, some unforeseen obstructions. Such difficulties may, however, be the more easily surmounted, as the proposed measure cannot be expected to awaken hos- tility by tending to any restraint upon the rights and liberty of conscience, or any in- fringement upon that wise and equitable toleration which is the best friend of true Religion ; and under which, the fancies, the follies, and the absurdities, of Superstition and Enthusiasm lose all their dangerous qualities in regard to the State. The Church of England as now esta- blished, while it claims, and is founded upon, the privilege of thinking and judging for itself, does not deny this privilege to others. 171 Every member of the British Ct>mmunity is constitutionally protected in the right of worshipping God according to the dictates of his own conscience. Under this security, therefore, judicious and liberal Dissenters cannot but approve of the arrangements that may be neces- sary to i>ive due effect to the administra- tions of the Establishment, in the exercise of those duties which afford security and peace equally to the whole community. A zealous advocate of the Establisliment Indeed, observes, *' We entertain a sanguine persuasion that frequently, sects would dis- appear in the suppression of their Ignorant and malevolent organs — and probably many a conscientious wanderer would return to the Communion of the Church ; in this case he would probably be reclaimed from the unso- cial humours of discontent, to the wholesome habits of civil submission, and from hvpocrisv and blasphemous fanaticism, to a fervent and unaffected Christianity *." Should this be admitted true in theory, the preseiit state of the laws do not permit * Quarterly Review, Jan. 1815, p. 444. 172 it to be carried into practical effect. — Such *' ignorant and malevolent organs" cannot be forcibly suppressed : — and wanderers even willing; to return to Communion with the Church cannot be received. They have nominally, indeed, a Parish Church and a Parish Minister ; — but how are they to ob- tain a seat in the Church, or instruction from their Minister? both these are to them absolutely impossible. To expatiate upon the folly and crime of separation is therefore useless ; but the dangers of it cannot be too strongly stated to awaken attention to the only Remedy. The absolute necessity of a Church Polity and Government ; the horrible evils of a violent and total abruption of its necessary restraint, — even to the agents themselves of such violence ; — and by comparison, the in- estimable benefits to the Community at large, — and the imperious duty of the Legislature to support, consolidate, and extend, the in- fluence of an Establishment producing the tolerant and peaceful effects, of which this nation hath long been in the enjoyment ; — may perhaps be rendered more strikingly ap~ 173 ' parent, by contrasting our present state with the description given by those very men, who liad been themselves instrumental in effecting the only subversion ever sustained by our Constitution in Church and State. " When we look upon the present rueful, deplorable, and deformed face of the Affairs of Religion, as they stand at this day, our spirits are amazed, our hearts are over- whelmed; our words are swallowed up. How shall we speak ? How shall we hold our peace ? And yet where shall we pour out our complaint? — Instead of an Establishment of Faith and Truth, we swarm with noisome Errors, Heresies, and Blasphemies : instead of unity and uniformity in Matters of Reli- gion, we are torn in pieces with destructive Schisms, Separations, Divisions, and Sub- divisions : instead of true Piety and the Power of Godliness, we have opened the very flood-gates to all Impiety and Pro- phaneness ; instead of submitting to the Government of Christ, we walk in a Christ- less looseness and licentiousness ; instead of a Reformation, we may say with sighs, ■what our enemies heretofore said of us with scorn, we have a Deformation in Rehgion.'** To guard against the recurrence of similar Evils in our Ecclesiastical concerns, and equally fatal misfortunes in regard to our civil and political safety, the proposed Legis- lative assistance is now required, to give the Established Church a Power of Assembling and Instructing its Members in Public Wor- ship, similar to that enjoyed by every descrip- tion of Dissenters. There are indeed too many Statesmen and Legislators of modern times, whose opinions of Moral and Political Science lead them to look so little beyond the surface, as to sup- pose, equally against the evidence of history and of experience, that the Duty of liCgisla- tors and the Safetv of the State consist pri- marily, if not wholly, in forming and wield- ing Armies, — conducting Financial Ope- rations, — establishing Commercial regula- * A Testimony to the TnUh of Jesus Christ, and to our Solemn League and Covenant ; as also against the Errors, Heresies, and Blasphemies of these times, and theTolei*ation of them, Subscribed by the Ministers of Christ within the Province of London, Dec. 14, 1647. 175 tlons, — and arranging and executing mea- sures of Police and Legislation, all terminating in Time, and founded in that Wisdom,Under- standing, and Knowledge, which looketh not beyond the continuance of the present life : — but the real Philosopher — the sound Politi- cian — knows that the "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom ;" — that they only have " a good Understanding who do thereafter," because the benefit and praise of such knowledge are not circumscribed by Time, are not limited to the short period of human life, but " endure for ever : — " such Legislators therefore look, in the first in- stance, to the formation of Moral Character, and to the giving its full energy and efficacy to the National Religion. A temperate, judicious, and liberal exami- nation of the present condition of the Esta- blished Cburch would doubtless call to your Lordship's aid and support — all those who entertain profound and comprehensive views of Political Wisdom and Christian Benevo- lence, — all who anxiously desire to promote the present welfare and the rational and per- manent prosperity of their Country, — all who ife have witnessed with admiration and gratitude the unparalleled and triumphant results of British Perseverance, which history will transmit, conjoined with your Lordship's name, to the latest posterity ; but which have still left so many fragments of the com- bustible and inflammatory materials of recent dangers, that unremitted circumspection and fortitude are requisite to counteract their baneful tendencies :— all who thus judge and thus feel, — while they rejoice in the splen- dour and security afforded by British Valour, — the commercial powers of British Industry, — the impartiality of British Laws, — and the protecting shield of British Liberty, — will yet be ready to allow that these are but Secondary Objects ; — and that they cannot ensure a permanent existence for themselves, unless it becomes a Primary Object of Le- gislative attention to place them upon the so- lid Rock of Moral and Religious Conduct, — the only immoveable Basis of internal Security and Peace, afforded by a more general diffu- sion and establishment of Christian Prin- ciples. To commence this Labour of benevolence 177 and love will be the most splendid honour, the most brilliant distinction, of your Lord- ship's administration. Your Lordship's Character will be asso- ciated on the j)age of History w ith the Glory of Britisli Perseverance, Generosity, and distinguished Military atchievement. But a still brighter, more truly honourable, and more truly glorious career awaits your Lord- ship ; inasmuch as the Glory founded upon human suffering and the waste of human life must be less rational, and less valuable, than that arisinp; from the noble, the divine employment of extending and refining human happiness, — strengthening and expanding the most exalted faculties of our nature, — invigorating the benevolent affections, — and animating the sublimest hopes of man. This Glory will attend and follow your Lordship's exertions in giving renewed energy to the National Religion, in repress- ing the inroads of vice and misery, and en- abling the Church of England to take under its instructive protection those thousands and tens of thousands, who are still wander- ing in the dreary domains of ignorance, N 178 wretchedness, and brutal sensuality : In a condition, degrading to the name of man, and derogatory to the dignity of reason and phi- losophy, — the opprobrium of Political Wis- dom, and the disgrace of a country calling itself Christian. A work, calculated by its character and circulation to have a considerable influence in forming the Public opinion, hath indeed recently stated that, — " since man has ceased to exist in the patriarchal state, he has no where, nor at any period, existed in so fa- vourable a condition as in England at this present time." * This observation may be correct in regard to the elevated and to the middling classes of society in Britain; but the assertion would certainly have been much qualified if, instead of studying the condition of his country in the elegant and literary ease of a college, or in the gaiety and splendour of a drawing- room, the writer had descended into the regions of ignorance, penury, deprivation, disease, and misery, in the crowded abodes (by literature and science too much un- * Quarterly Review, No. 29. Ajjril 1816. p. ISy. 179 heeded) of the labouring poor of the Metro- pohs and other populous districts. If learning and legislation had not been directed by these partial views of the subject, such a long and injurious continuance of uninstructed ignorance, and daily increasing profligacy, could not have been permitted to accumulate its present mass of danger. Those possessing the two great divisions of Wealth, — the Landed Interest, and the Commercial Interest, — appear to have been long unmindful (practically at least) tliat their most certain profit, and their permanent security, can only consist with a due regard to the Moral and Religious character of the laborious classes ; and that if those classes are left in a state of ignorance, intellectual degra- dation, and personal suffering, their employers must ultimately fitid themselves in a condition of serious difficulty. Modern arrangements in Agriculture have almost annihilated the former independent peasantry, and lowered the character of those that still exist as labourers and servants. The tendency of the Commercial and Ma- mifacturing System to the rapid increase of N 2 180 gain, by denying a proper attention to Moral improvement, has degraded the Artificers and Workmen into a condition, that almost ex- tinguishes the rational faculties, and debases and curtails the animal powers and enjoy- ments. If these errors of a mistaken Self-interest^ had been in any tolerable degree redeemed, by securing for the poor a sufficient particij^a- tion in the Duties of the National Religion, the present ignorance and debasement of the lower orders must have been in a great mea- sure prevented ; and the injurious conse- quences that have obtained so alarming an extent, can only be counteracted by impress- ing upon these hitherto neglected members of a Christian Community, the correcting and awakening influence of Gospel Principles ; — by giving them a due share in the instructive and healing administrations of the Church of England. To reclaim and elevate to a rational esti^ mation of the blessings of contented indus- try, social order, and religious hope, those, who thus walk in darkness and the shadow of death, must shed a glory on the Christian 181 JLegislator that would beam with increasing brilliancy when the exploits of Military- Glory, divested by a few ages of the glare of contemporary passion and prejudice, shall have'sunk into merited contempt and oblivion. The most heroic atchievements, even in re- pelling unjust aggression, have in them so much indication of a fallen and degenerate nature, — partake so largely in the character of punishment, — and are so productive of ex- tensive agonizing sorrow, that the dire ne- cessity even of Defensive War can never be contemplated by Reason, Philosophy, and Religion, without the deepest humiliation ; while the heart turns with grateful emotion to those Christian Principles, which only can bid " Wars to cease through all the world." Legislation to disseminate these remedial and correcting principles, to form and extend Moral and Religious impressions, and found the National Prosperity on the Basis of the National Religion, must place the Legisla- tors in the first rank among; the Benefactors of their Country and of Mankind. In these works of Benignity, of Mercy, and of true Political Wisdom, — ^in diffusing - ' 182 a knowledge of the ameliorating, reforming, consolatory, aud immortalizing truths of the Gospel, your Lordship would participate in the unfading honour of promoting, in the most essential manner, the uniform improve- ment and permanent prosperity of the Nation intrusted to your charge. By calling Into action the full power and invigorated agency of the Church of England, your Lordship will give energy and efficiency to all other legislative measures — for the removal of Ignorance and Error, — for the repression of Crime, — for the encouragement of Indus- try, — for the protection of Wealth, — and for the establishment of a well assured ascen- dency of Order and Law : thus placing the Reformation, the Liberties, the Possessions, the Strength, and the Stability of the com- munity, under the guidance and protection of intellectual supremacy ; in those Moral and Religious Principles, which supply the only possible means of stemming the torrent of discontent, disaffection and Revolutionary violence, — the natural and tremendous con- sequences by which Moral Evil is permitted, under the just dispensations of Providence, to 183 be its own punishment in that National '* overflowing of ungodliness" which ought to '* make us afraid." § 18. — Outline of proposed measure. The chief purpose of this tract being an endeavour to state, and to impress upon the Pubhc Mind, the Necessity and importance of giving further Legislative and Constitutional Assistance to the National Religion as bylaw established : it \» not intended now to enter upon any circumstantial details of the requi- site measure, but merely to indicate some- what of its outline and tendency, and to offer a iQ\Y additional observations on some of the more prominent difficulties. It the General Principle meets with appro- bation and adoption^ the Legislature, by in- trusting the execution of it to a body of well- ehosen, disinterested, and zealous Commis- sioners, will provide in the best manner, for attention and regard to the various and minute details of business as they arise in individual cases. 184 The leading points of the General Prin- ciple, incorporated into a Bill, would seem to be comprehended under these heads — to enact that it " may be lawful to, and for. His Majesty to nominate, constitute, and ap- point Commissioners " to execute the pur- poses of the Act; — to make a prospective Grant for the expenditure ; — to authorize the Sub-division of Parishes and the formation of new ones where necessary ; — to provide for the purchase of eligible sites for Churches in the most Central situations, under the award of a Jury, if required ; — to direct the erec- tion of Parish Churches with appropriate ac- commodations for the Poor as well as the Wealthy classes ; — to legalize the appoint- ment of Parochial Resident Ministers with suitable habitations and maintenances ; — to order the specification of Purchases and Boun- daries to be enrolled in Chancery; — and that each particular case should be brought by the Commissioners in a separate Bill under the cognizance of Parliament. In originating and carrying into effect a measure of so much importance, it may be thought necessary, according to the usual 185 mode of Legislation and Parliamentary pro- ceedings, that reference should be made to former Precedent. Under this impression the information which the Journals of the Honourable House of Commons afforded, as selected in my former letter * to your Lord- ship, has been noticed as peculiarly useful ; and the Act of the 10th of Queen Anne, has been thought to afford an excellent model, and be well calculated to answer the intended purpose, if re-enacted with such trivial alter- ations as the change of circumstances renders necessary ; — but as I had before given only the heads of this Act, — it has been thought desirable to afford the more general oppor- tunity of perusing and considering its several clauses, by reprinting it at length ; with the omission only of those passages which relate to a different subject. * Church in Danger, p, 149 to 206. 186 Anno Decimo ANN^, Cap. 11. An Act for enlarging the time given to the Commissioner's appointed by her Majesty^ pur- suant to an Act for granting to her Majesty several duties on coals, for building jifty new Churches in and about the Cities of London and Westminster, and Suburbs thereof and other purposes therein mentioned ; and also for giving the said, Commissioners farther powers for better effecting the same. 9Ann.c.22. Whereas by an Act of Parliament in the ninth year of her Majesty's reign, intituled. An Act for granting to her Ma- jesty several duties upon coals, for building fifty new Churches in and about the Cities of London and M estmimter, and suburbs thereof, and other purposes therein mentioned, it is, amongst other things, enacted, ' That it shtmld and might ' be lawful to and for her Majesty, by letters patent under the ' great seal of Great Britain, to nominate, constitute, and ' appoint such persons as her Majesty should think fit, to be ' Commissioners to enquire and inform themselves in what ' Parishes the said new Churches (except one for Greenwich) ' were most necessary to be built ; and of proper places for the * sites of the said respective new Churches; and also a cemetery ' or church yard for each of the said Churches ; also which of ' the said Chapels within the said parishes are fit to be made ' Parish Churches ; and that they should ascertain the several ' house?, lands, tenements, and hereditaments, and the *■ bounds and limits which in their judgment or opinion might * be fit to be made distinct parisljcsj and should also inform ' themselves, by the best means they could, of the value of ' the houses, lands, teneiuents, and hereditaments, and of ' the respective estates and interests therein, which the said * Corcmissioners should think necessary to be purchased for ' the said sites and cemeteries, and for houses for the habita- ' tionsof the respective Ministers : and that the said Commis- ' sioners should, on or before the twenty-fourth day of Decem- ' ber, one thousand seven hundred and eleven, report or certify * to hej- Majesty in writing, under their hands and seals, such ' matters and things, as should appear to them upon their ' enquiries aforesaid, with their opinions thereupon, to the ' end such further directions might be given thereupon, as 187 • might be pursuant to her Majesty's pious intentions in the ' pieuiis&es 5 in iiursuance wheieol", her Majesty, by letters ' patent under the great seal of Great Britain, did nominate, ' constitute, and apjioint, several Commissioners for the ' purposes in the said Act mentioned, with such powers aiid au- ' thorities as in the said recited Act are expressed : and whereas * the said Conmnssioneis did ajijiiy themselves to the execution ' of the powers therein mentioned, but could not perfect * within the time limited, what was by the said Act intended ; • which they humbly rejjresented to her Majesty, under their ' hands and seals, on the eighteenth day of December ]?LSt past:' to the end therefore, that a work *o much for the honour of God, the spiritual ii:elfare of her Majeatifx subjects, the in- terest of the Established Church, and the glory of her Ma- jesty s reion, may be carried on and perfected; be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and j^j^sion^g™' Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authorised authority of tl. > same, That notwithstanding the time limited to meet, by the s ud letters patent is expired, it shall and may be tho' the lawful to and for the said Commissioners, so appointed by the *"ne hmit- said letters patent, or any Hve or more of them, and they ^^'j^^' * are herebv authorized and lequired to meet, from time to ^^^^ time, as often as there shall be occasion, either with or with- out adjomnments, and to enquire and inform themselves of all and every the matters and things therein conmiitted to theiu, or any five or more of them, and do and perforto all and every the matters and things in or by the said former or this present Act intended to be by them performed, until they shall have compleated and finished the same. II. And be it further enacted bv the authority aforesaid. The Com- That it shall and may be lawful' to and for the said Com- missioners missioners, or any five or more of them, and they are hereby ^^^^^ f^^ authorized and impowered to contract, agree for, and pur- and pur-' chase all such messuages, lands, tenements, hereditaments, chase rights, and interests, as they shall think proper for the said lands, &c. nesv Churches, church-yards, or cemeteries for tlie burial of the dead, and for houses for habitations of the respective Ministers of the respective new Parish Churches, intended to be erected or made. III. And it is hereby enacted and declared. That such The lands lands, tenements, rights, and interests, so to be purchased *|* ^"r.j,aii in pursuance of this Act, shall be conveyed unto the said ^^^ convey- Commissioners, or any five or more of them, and their heirs, ed to the for the respective purposes aforesaid j and the said Commis- Commis- •ioners, or any five or more of them, are hereby authorized Bioners,&e. who 188 who shall and impowered to cause such Churches to be built upon such cause the sites so by them to be purchased, as aforesaid; and also urc les cause such Chapels already erected, as they, or any five or to be built, ^ ^, , 11 , . , ' , , ^ •; ^j. more ot them, shall tinnk proper to be made tit and conve- nient for Parish Chiu'ches, and to provide such houses for the habitations of the respective Ministers of the said intended parishes, and to cause such church-yards and cemeteries to be made and inclosed for such new parishes, as by the said former or this present Act are intended. They may i\ j\f,d be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, meterie^^' '^^^^ ^''^ ^^^"^ Commissioners, or any five or more of them, g^f, ' (where they shall see occasion) shall provide more cemeteries than one for any of the said intended new parishes respec- tively ; and wherever they shall purchase ground for ceme- teries for any of the said intended new parishes, without the bounds and limits of such new parishes, the ground so pur- chased for that use, shall for ever after the purchasing and consecrating thereof, be deemed and taken to be part of the parish for the use of which it shall be so purchased and con- secrated, and shall be for ever discharged from any rates or taxes to the other parish out of which it shall be so taken. V. The Treasury may direct the officers of the Exchequer to receive by way of loan such sums of money as five of the Conmissioners shall think necessary, &c. &c. VI. The sums due for interest before 15 May, 1716, to be satisfied from time to time, &c. The Trea- ^^^- -^"d be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, sury to is- That it shall and may be lawful to and for the Lord High sue money Treasurer now being, and the Lord High Treasurer, or fortbepur- Commissioners of the Treasuiv, for the time beinar, and thev CD3^6 or ' CD ' J lands &c ^^^ hereby directed and authorized, (without any further or other warrant or authority to be sued for, had, or obtained in that behalf) from time to time, to issue and pay, or cause to be issued and paid, out of any the monies to arise by way of loan, or otherwise, by vii-tue of this or the said former Act, (such money as is to be applied for repayment of prin- cipal, and satisfaction of the interest of the loans to be made, as aforesaid, only and always excepted) such sum and sums of money as shall be thought necessary by the said Commis- sioners, or any five or more of them, for the purchasing such and for lands, tenements, rights, and interests for the purposes converting aforesaid, and for building such new Churches, and convert- into paro- ^"^S ^bapels into parochial Churches, and for providing houses chial for the habitations of the respective Ministers, and for making Churches, and inclosing cemeteries or church-yards for such new in- 189 tended parishes, or any other purposes by the said former or this present Act presoibed or allowed, and for recompensing and for the and rewarding sucli person and persons a^ have been or shall reward of be necessarily employed under them, for their labour and P^'^""^» pains, in such manner and pioportion as the said Commis- sioners, or any five or more of them, shall think tit ; winch . , monies so to be issued, as aforesaid, shall be paid unto such j°tifey^ea. person and ])ersons, not being of the number of the said surer, &c. Commissiimers, for the ends and purposes ahn'esaid, as her appointed Majesty, her heirs and succesgojs, -hall from time to time l\v the direct and appoint to be tlie Treasurer or Treasurers in this ^"''|^",'"ir behalf; and shall be received by him or them by way of im- prest, and accoimted for only by such Treasurer or i'lea- surers ; and shall be disbursed, expended, and applied by such Treasui'ei- and Treasurers respectively, accoiding to such orders and warrants as he or they shall receive, from time to time, from the said Commissioners, or any five or more of them, for all or any the uses or services by this or the said former Act prescribed or allowed in that behalf, and not otherwise, or to any other use, intent, or puipose whatsoever ; ^ ^^ ^^' •which said Treasurer and Treasurers respectively shall be beaccount- accountable in the Exchequer for the same, and shall give able in the such sufficient security as shall l)e approved of by the Lord Exche- Treasurer, or the Commissioners of the Treasury for the iiuer,andto time being, before he or they enter upon his or their office, ^.'^'^ *^^'"' for making such account. VJII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, '' ''^ Com- That it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Commis- missio.iers ,. ■' r. .1 1 .to ascer- sioners, or any hve or more or them, by one or more mstru- ^^^j^^ ^^^^ ment or instruments in writing on parchment under their bounds of hands and seals, to be enrolled in her Majesty's High Court each new of Chancery, to describe and ascertain the true limits and Church, bounds of the site of and belonging to each such new Church **'^- and house for the habitation of the IVlinister of such new Church, and for such church-yards or cemeteries for each respective parish, and also the district and division of each parish that shall be appointed for every Chui ch to be erected or constituted, pursuant to this Act, or the said former Act ; and every such district or division so set out, ascertained, such dis- and appointed, as aforesaid, for a new parish, shall, from ^"""^^ *" ^^ and for ever after the inrolment of such instrument, and the ,^t'"'^. ^ „ , ^, , 1 • / 1 , ,. distinct pa- consecration of such new Church appomted or mtended tor ^^^^ ^^^ such district or division, be, and be deemed and taken to be of itself a distinct parish, to all intents and purposes what- soever, except as touching church rates, the relief of the 190 poor, and rates for the highways, as is herein after provided p and the inhabitants within the distinct limits of every sucb new parish, shall from thenceforth be the jjarishioners thereof^ and subject and liable to such taxes, assessments, rates for the poor, cleansing the streets, and other duties within the said new parish, in like manner as inhal)itants in the parish from which such new parish, or the greater part theieof, was divided and taken, are subject or chargeable to the same ; and shall within the space of one month next after thecon- . secration of such new churcli, in eveiy such new intended em t 1" ^^' P^'^^^ respectively, be divided and exemj)t from such parish the Parish °^ parishes from which the same shall he so taken, and from from bearing any such offices or charges, and from all dependen- whence ces and contributions for or in respect thereof, except as is taken. hereby otherwise enacted or provided. The Com- IX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, r.iissioners That it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Conmiis- maytakea &ioners, or any five or more of them (if they shall think it f '^'^'^K ""^ lequisite), by one or more instrument or instruments under parish "^"'^ their hands and seals, to be inrolled in the High Court of where any Chancery, to separate, divide, and take a particular distijict new or part out of any of the large parishes in and about the church cities of London and IVestminster , or the suburbs thei-eof, shall be vvhere any new Cliurcii or Churches shall be erected or marie, add it to a ^"*^ ^^^' ^""°^' ^^^ unite the same ro any other lesser parish Jesser pa- next adjoining thereto, wherein a Church is already erected ; rish adjoin- and in such case the same shall afterwaids, to all intents and ing- purposes (except as is herein otherwise enacted or provided), vvhichsball deemed and taken as part of the parish to which the same be deemed shall be SO added or annexed ; and that the several inhabit- as part of ants within such particular district, so divided and added to the parish another parish, shall from thenct^forth be liable in like man- to which it ner to bear all parochial offices within the y)arish to whicli IS so a e , jj^p same shall be added j and such inhabitants shall, from and after Tuesday in Easter week next after such instrument shall be made and inrolled, be in like manner discharged and exempted from bearing any oifices in the former parisls to which they did belong. There shall X. And it is hereby enacted by the authority aforesaid, be a Rector That there shall be a Rector of every new Church and parish ineveryiiew to be made or constituted, pursuant to this Act, and a ])er- Church,&c. petual succession of Rectors there, to have cure of the souls and a per- ^^j- ^j^^ inhabitants of such new parish ; and where there cess"ion*of'^ now is a certain morning preacher in any Chapel which shall Rectors. be converted into a parochial Church, who shall have usually 191 officiated there for the space of one month next before the x\,e mopn- consecration thereof, such Minister, from and immediately ing preach- after such consecration, shall be and is hereby declared to be cr «» any tlie first Rector of such new Church and Parish, without any t;ha()e\con- admission, institution, or induction to the same ; but shall ^^"^"^ nevertheless be and continue complete Hector thereof in the chiiroh same and as ample manner as if he had been instituted and shall bethe inducted thereunto ; and in every other new Chinch and firstRector. parish, to be erected or constituted pursuant to this Act, In every the first Rector shall be nominated and appointed by her other new M'.yesty of and in such new Church and parish ; and every Churchtlie such new Rector hereby declared, or to be nominated, as y''^*;"* /^ . . , ... ■ II I 1 II- iioiiunate aforesaid, and his successors shall be and are hereby mcor- ^^^^, ^jp^j. porated, and shall be named and called the Rector of such Rector. new Chuich respectively, by the name which shall be given Slepney is to such Church respectively in the Act or Instrument of con- excepted by secration thereof ; and shall be, and are hei'eby enabled to '2 Annae, sue and be sued in all courts and places of this realm ; and ^ ^' ' ' the freehold and inheritance of the lands and hereditaments „ . to be purchased for such new Church, church-yards, or ce- injid^iiallbe nietery or cemeteries, and such mansion or dwelling-house in him, and of such Rector, shall be vested, by virtue of this Act, in such he maj pur- Rector of each such new parish, and his successors respec- cli.ase, &c. tively ; and he and they sliall be seized thereof, as in his and li*""'*tothe their demesne as of fee, in right of the Church, in such oq^^ manner as other Rectors be now seized of their respective annum. Churches and Glebe ; and every such new Rector and his successors icspectively, shall be and are hereby enabled to purchase and take any other lands, tenements, and heredita- ments to such Rector, for the time being, and his successors. Rectors of the same Church, not exceeding together the clear yearly value of two hundred pounds ]}er annum, for each such Church respectively. XI. And be it further enacted , by the authority aforesaid, Tlie Com- That it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Commis- "''^sioners r f ^i. 1 .1 1 . impowered sioners, or any nve or more ot them, and they are hereby ^^^ enquire authorized and impowered to enquire and inform themselves, ot the right by all lawful ways and means, of the right of advovvson, <>f patron- patronage, and noiTunation, of or to the present Church in ^S*-'* ^^■ every parish, from which any part or district shall be divided or taken by virtue or in pursuance of this Act ; and in what person or per.sons, b(jdies politick or corporate, the same, or any estate or interest therein, is, or at the time of such en- , quiry, shall be, and to treat and agree with all such persons ^^^^ ^^■^^ having any right or interest in such advowson, patronage, who 192 who tath OJ* nomination, for the more effectual dividing and separating the right such present parish, and the tithes, oblations, dues, and re- fer the ef- venues belonging to the present Church, and the charges and ■ ?-^^^^ '^' dependences thereof, and apportioning the same, to take the parish P'^^^ ^""^ effect from and immediately after the first avoidance &c. ' of such present Church respectively, in any parish from which any part oi- district shall be divided or taken, and for ascer- certaiiiiri"-" Gaining and settling for ever the right of patronage of every theri'^ht of "^^ Church or Chapel made parochial, to which such district patronage, or part so divided shall be appointed or annexed ; and all &c. and all agreements and settlements, which shall be so made, for agree- such further division, witli the assent of the respective ordi- ments, &c. i i- • c ^v i • i ^ i- * to be bind '^ ^^' oi'^J'^^^^'i^s, or ror setthng such right or patronage, ;„„. by any instrument or instruments in uriting on parchment, under the hands and seals of such Commissioners, or any five or more of them, and under the seals of the parties having any right or interest in such patronages, or of any person or persons by such j)arties respectively authcrized ancl iniolied in the said High Court of Chancery, shall fiom thenceforth be binding and conclusive, as well to her Ma,iesty, her heirs, and successors, as to and against all otlier persons for ever. Any per- ^H- And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, son, &c. That it shall and may be lawful to and for all bodies politick may con- and corporate, guardians to infants under age, committees tract with of lunaticks and idiots, executors, administrators, and the Com- trustees, and they are hereby enabled and impowered to con- nussioners ^ 4. -^i .1 • i /^ ■ • n <• for any tract With the said Commissioners, or any nve or more or lands &c. them, for any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, and to sell and convey the same, and the respective estates or in- terests in them respectively vested of and in the same, and d for set- ^^ agree with the said Commissioners, or any five or more of tlin'^the them, for the limiting and settling the right of patronage right of pa- and presentation of the succeeding Rectors of such new in- tronage, tended parish Churches ; and such sale, conveyance, and &c. and settlements shall be valid and effectual to all intents and such sa e, puj-pyges^ and so deemed and allowed in all courts of law or goodinlaw, equity; and elsewhere, to bind all such corporations, infants, to bind all lunaticks, idiots, and the cestui que trusts ; and all such corpora- guardians, committees, executors, administrators, and trus- tions, &c. tees, are hereby indemnified for so doing. Proviso XIII. Provided that such bargains and contracts be upon a such bar- petition to be preferred by or on behalf of such respective gains, &c corporation, infant, lunatick, idiot, or cestui que trust, in- to be upon terested therein, examined, and approved by the High Court a petition ^^ Chancery ; which court shall also order and direct how pre- "^ ' 193 the monies arising by such sale shall be appHed or employed ^" '"jf^p- for the benefit of such corporation, infant, idiot, lunatick, or proved by cestui que trust respectively. the Chan- XIV. Provided always, and it is hereby enacted and declared, eery, who by the authority aforesaid. That it shall and may be lawful to shall order and for her Majesty, her heii-s and successors, in every such »PPl'cation . , 1 •. ^ J u • -I • of the mo- new parish, to be erected or constituted by virtue or m pur- j^j^^ ^^ suance of this Act, in the mean time, and until such agree- ' ^^^ ment and settlement can be made concerning the patronage ^j^^^ g. thereof respectively, to name, from time to time, the Rector, sent till of such new Churches to succeed therein. suchsettle- XV. And it is hereby enacted and declared by the au- ment of the Ihority aforesaid, That as well the first Rector, as all other "S'lt of pa- succeeding Rectors of every sucii new parish Church (except " the present preaching Ministers of such Chapels as aforesaid) '^^^ ^"^ shall be presented and instituted, or collated, and also in- ceeding' ducted, as other Rectors and Vicars are and ought to be, and Rectors, shall observe and perform all other matters and things for (e.Kceptthe the qualifying or entitling themselves thereto, as other Rec- present tors ought to do ; and the new Churches, which shall be Preacherm erected or made in |)ursuance of this Act, and the lespective "^^ prerent- Rectors thereof, with the church-wardens belonging to the ed, &c. as same, shall be under and subject to the jurisdiction of the other Rec- respective ordinary, within whose diocese or district such new torsare,and Church respectively is situated, and shall be visited by such thechurch- ordinary respectively, in such manner as other Churches, si^m^gsui,- Rectors, and Church-wardens, within their respective juris- ^^.(.i t^ the dictions, have been, or may be visited. ordinary. XVI. Provided always, and it is hereby declared. That this xhis Act Act, or any thing herein contained, shall not extend, or be shall not construed to extend to deprive the successors of the present deprive the Rectors, Vicars, and other ecclesiastical persons having cure succeeding of souls, of or in the present parish Churches, out of which «^/ oranv any part or district shall be divided or taken, of any tithes, ti,hes &c. dues, or profits belonging to any of them respectively, until till such such agreements or settlements, for the more effectual di- agree- viding and separating any such parish respectively, to be "'ents, &e. made and inrolled, and take effect, as aforesaid, with relation ^ .™* ^ 1 . 1 1 > I !> 1 <^''d in- to such successors respectively, but that the successors ot the ^Med. present incumbents, till such agreements and settlements be made and take effect, shall and may have, hold, and enjoy the said respective Rectories, Vicarages, and Curacies, and the tithes, dues, and profits thereof, in as ample manner as if this Act had not been made, and as the present Rectors, and other ecclesiastical persons, who are to hold and enjoy O 194 This Act shall not prejudice any pro- prietor of a Chapel, or his interest in any pews, &c, If any pro- prietor ohallsellhis interest in any pew, it shall be soldto a pa- rishioner. The first church- wardens, &c. sliaUbe elected by 5 oftheCom- missioners, and they shall have the like powers, &c. as the lii\e officers in London, &c. Andallsuc- ceedin^ church- wardens, &c.sh lll)e chosen an- nually. The Com- missioners maynaniea vestry, who shall have the same powers as the vestry- men the same, during their respective incumbencies, are of right to hold and enjoy the baiiie. XVII. Provided also. That nothing in this Act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to prejudice or alter the property or interest of any proprietor or proprietors of, in, or to any of the Chapels which shall be made or appointed jiarish Churches, in pursuance of this Act, or of or in any of the pews within the same, without the consent of such respective i)roj)rietoi- or proprietors lirst had and obtained in writing under his and their respective hands and seals } but that they and their heirs, executors, and administrators, shall hold and enjoy the same, in such and the same manner, as if this Act had not been made. XVIII. Provided nevertheless. That if any of the said pro- prietors shall be minded to sell or disi)Ose of their said pro- perties in any of the pews in any of the said Chapels, the same shall be sold and disposed of only to such inhabitants of the respective parishes for which such Chapels shall be so made or appointed parish Churches, and to no other person or persons whatsoever. XIX. And it is heicby enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the first church-wardens and overseers for the poor, scavengers, and surveyois for the high-ways, and other parish officeis, for every such new paiish, shall, by the said Commissioners, or any five or more of them, be nominated and elected out of the inhabitants of such new parish respec- tively, within the space of one month after the consecration of such Church ; and the said officers so elected, shall be invested with the like powers and authorities, and subject to the laws now in force in that behalf, as any other like officers in any other parish within the cities o{ London and H'estmins- ter, orthesubuibs thereof; and all the succeeding church- wardens, overseers for the poor, scavengers, and surveyors of the highways, and other parish officers, shall be nomi- nated, chosen, and appointed, sworn, constituted, and ad- mitted annually within every such parish, according to the laws now in force. XX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Commis- sioners, or any five or more of them, with the consent of the bishop or ordinary of the place, by instrument under their hands and seals, to be inroUed in the High Couit of Chancery, to name a convenient number of sufficient inhabitants in each such new parish respectively, to be the vestjymen of such new parish, who shall have and exercise the like poweri 195 and authorities for ordering and regulating the affairs of ™enofthe such new parish, as the vestrymen of the present parish, out ^f ^^'^iiich of which such new parish, or the greater part thereof shall such new be taken, now have or exercise ; and if there be no select parishshall vestry in such present parish, then as the vestrymen of the tie taken, parish of Saint Martin in the Fields, within the liberty of the =*"'^ "P^'Jj^ city of Westminster in the county of Middlesex, now have or ^^. ^j. exercise ; and from time to time, upon the death, removal, vestry- or other voidance of any such vestryman, the rest or the man, the majority of them may elect a fit person, being an inhabitant majority and householder in the said parish, to supply the same. shall chuse XXI. Provided always, and it is hereby enacted and de- ^"^ ^'^^' clared. That all parochial customs, usages, by-laws, privi- ^M P^"""' leges, as are now in force or use within any present parish ^^" which shall be divided by virtue or in pursuance of this Act, s;,aii' cou- shall and may at all times after, and notwithstanding such tinue in division, continue and be in force, as well in and for every Ijoth ^>a- new parish, of which the whole or the greater part shall be rishes. taken out of such present parish, as in and for such parish as shall remain to the present parochial Church, arid be used, enjoyed, and observed by the inhabitants thereof respectively, so far as the same shall not be repugnant to, or inconsistent witli the laws of this reahi), and the intent of this pi'escnt Act. XXII. And be it fuither enacted by the authority aforesaid, ^ . . Co™" That it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Connnis- « " sinners, or any five or more of them, with the consent of the ^^^h con- respective Rectors, Vicars, or Ministers, Church-wardens, sent of the and Overseers of the poor, and of the vestry, or twenty of present the principal inhabitants of any present parish in which there Hector.s, shall be no select vestry, from uhich any part or district ''^- '^''y 1 II I • 1 • <■ 1 • »' ^ 1 I 1 niakea uer- snall, by vjrtue and m pursuance or this Act, betaken, and petualdivi- of such parish or parishes to which any such district or di- sionoi such vision so taken, shall be appointed or belong, or else to or parishes, for such respective Rectors, Vicars, Ministers, Church-war- ^*^- ^^ ^" dens. Overseers of the poor, and Vestrymen, or principal ^ "^^i inhabitants, with consent of tlieir respective ordinary or ' ordinaries, at any time or times hereafter, by instrument in writing under their hands and seals to be inrolled in the High Court of Chancery, to make an effectual and perpetual division of such parislies or districts so divided, as to the Church rates, relief of the poor, and rates for the highways, and other parish rates within the same respectively, and to limit and settle any certain annual sum or consideration for or in respect thereof, or for equality of such division, where o 5 196 and such there shall be occasion ; and such division and settlement so division, made, shn.!] be for ever after binding, effectual, and conclu- h*^h fT^ '^'^^' ^^* ''■'^ peisons, intf nts and pur))Oses whatsoever. '"8- XXIII. Provided always, and be it enacted and declared Till such by the authority aforesaid, That in the mean time, and until ff ^ru''^"u s"^'' "gieement for such rates lespectively shall be made ap.d rates &c ^^^^ place, the churcli rates, poor rates, and rates for the shall be higinvays, and other ])arish rates, shall be assessed and levied levied within and through all parts and districts which do now be- throu 197 stich part and district respective!)', as the same shall be di- vide(i separately and apart, for the relief of the poor, and repair of the highways, and other parish rates within such pait or district, and for the rep?iir of the respective Church to wh'ch such part or district shall remain or belong, with regard to the wants and ocrasions of each such part or dis- trict, for the uses and purj^oies aforesaid respectively ; and all such proportions so to be distributed, shall be employed and applied to the proper uses and purposes for which the same was assessed, and shall be distinctly accounted for by the officers of the respective parish to which such distiict shall remain or belong. XXV. Provided always. That in all such cases when and J J ^^^^" so often as such annual or other agreements shall not be had '^.^ ^^ or made for the apportioning and distributing such rates, it .rreementi shall and may be lawful to and for the church -wardt-ns of the &c. the pr present parish Church, and the overseers of the poor, and rish officei surveyors of the highways for the parish or dwtiict then re- ';'* ^. l^ mainino" to such present Church, to assess, collect, and levy ,. u „ '~ p t • 1 1 • • 1 • 11 1 1 !• • *'i'"i asses ot the inhabitants withui and throughout the present lunits ^U rates of suih parish, for the relief of the poor, and repair of the &e. highways, within the piesent limits of such parish, and the repair of the present Church, all such rates and taxes, as the church-wardens, overseers of the poor, and surveyors of the highways of such pari?h might have done before any division made J anything in this Act to the contrary not- withstanding. XXVI. Provided always, and be it enacted and declared , f. by the authority aforesaid, I'hat neithei- this Act, nor any i„vaiidatt thing herein contained, shall extend to invalidate or avoid anyeccle any ecclesiastical law or constitution of tlie Church of Eng- astical la latid, or to destroy any of the rights or powers belonging to ^^'- ^^'^ ^ the Bishop of London, and his successors, or any other local '>■'"">' the ordiuHiy, or to any .\rclideacon. Chancellor, or Official. tht Bish XXVII. A.id it is hereby enacted and declared. That he oiL adc and they respectively may at all time's hereafter visit, institute, Sc. and exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction in all parishes to be Tb^- ^ad erected or divided by virtue and in pursurtnce of this Act, .t-,;ihop,& or in any pait or place within the same, as amply fs they "'-y/*^'* or any of them mav now do therein, and in such manner as ^''V '" ' in any other parishes or places within his or ihcir diocese or narishes jurisdiction respectively ; the admission and institurion of &c. such present preaching Ministers in such Chapels as bhaii be consecrated and converted into parochial Churches, only excepted. 198 new XXVIII. Provided always, and be it enacted by the au- Churches thority aforesaid. That one of the said fifty new Churches shall !)e shall be erected in East Greenwich m the county of Kent, as r"''*^ '**• u "^ ^^^ ^^^^ former Act is directed. ^' ■ XXIX. Provided always, and be it enacted by the autho- SevT^'v' '^^y aforesaid. That it shall and may be lawful to and for her tlie Queen' ^^ajesty, her heirs and successors, at any time before the &c.inaya[)- twenty-ninth day of December, one thousand seven hundred point Com and twelve, by letters patent under the great seal of Greai missioners Britain, to nominate, constitute, and appoint such persons ii's^k^t^^ to be Commissioners to execute all and every the powers in the said recited Act, and in this Act mentioned, as her Ma- jesty shall think fit ; and from such appointment so made, the powers hereby granted to the Commissioners, in the said former letters patent, shall determine. All monipB XXX. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid. That to be issued all the monies to be issued by or in pursuance of this or the withoutfee. g^^j^ former Act for building the said Churches, and other the uses therein mentioned, shall be issued and paid without fee or charge to be demanded or taken for the same. Noburialto XXXI. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid. That be in any oi ^ ^ the new "^ burial shall, at any time hereafter, be in or under any of Churches, the Churches by this Act intended to be erected, and that it and the shall and may be lawful to and for the said Commissioners, Commis- qj. ^ny five or more of them, to ascertain the sum of money sionersmay ^^^^ ^j^^^jj j^^ -^ ^^ ^j^^ Rgctor, and each officer belonging what shall *^ ^^ch. Church, for every burial in any of the cemeteries or be paid for church-yards, by this Act intended to be purchased. burying in thechurch- yard(. 199 §. 19. — Difficulties examined. It has been suggested as probably useful, concisely to notice some doubts and diffi- culties, that have presented themselves to the minds of zealous friends of the Church and of the Community, in regard to the Law as it now stands, or is supposed to stand, re- specting Parochial Privileges, — the Rights of Patronage, — the Tenure of Benefices, — Ec- clesiastical Payments, — and the Maintenance of Parochial Ministers. Such doubts may perhaps be effectually answered and surmounted only by referring to the power and Authority of Parliament, which is, or may be, in all these Cases, Su- preme. In instances of very inferior impor- tance, this Authority removes all the petty obstacles of antiquated Claims, obsolete Pri- vileges, and Customs subversive of local con- venience and public benefit. Why should not therefore this all powerful agent be in- terposed when purposes of the deepest na- tional importance, and of the greatest possible national benefit, are intercepted by obscure and uncertain rights, claims, privileges, and 200 even Prejudices, uhich would not for a mo- ment be suffered to obstruct any purpose of revenue, commerce, ornament, pleasure, or profit, — collecting a Tax, — cutting a Canal, improving a Road, — paving a Town, — build- ing a Bridge, — forming an Inclosure, and the numberless similar instances, in which the Sanction of Parliamentary Authority is sought and obtained. — In all cases, however, relat- ing to the present subject, it will facilitate the object of public benefit, as well as be the part of wisdom and justice, that the utmost possible attention should be given to the rights, properties, feelings, and interests of individuals : — -and in the several points of the important measure hereunder discussion, it may not be impossible by Attention, Can- dour, Assiduity, and Intelligence in the Commissioners, to carry into eflPect this Great National Benefit, — not only without injury, but also with personal advantage to the va- rious Individuals whose Interests may appear, at first sight, to be compromised in its se- veral operations. The first operation, the Sub-dividing of the Parishes, — may be found in some instances 201 to infringe upon some present Parochial Privileges ; — but if the arrangement be con- ducted with temper and judgment, — it may in most, if not all, cases be made an Ex- change, and not a deprivation. This is in- deed a most essential and most important branch of the subject, and ought not to be im- peded by slight obstacles. — A very great part of the present Constitutional Dangers of the Country, — the increasing profligacy, crime, and disaffection, — may be traced to the overgrown and unwieldy condition of many parishes ; and to the consequent impossi- bility, in such enormously populated pa- rishes, of affording Parochial Superintend- ance, and of duly performing the Parochial Offices and Duties. The profound wisdom, and some of the most obvious practical advantages, of the British Constitution have been considered, by competent judges, to consist in the sub- divisions of its local authorities : by which numerous individuals are as it were com- pelled to take an active part in the various administrations conducive to the Public Safety : — and from which a vigorous and 202 widely diffused interest in the general Wel- fare is excited and circulated through the Body Politic. " Public Spirit acquires new force, and attaches itself to general interests more strongly, in proportion as it is exercised in the consideration and allowed to participate in the management of those interests which are local and particular." In this respect the system of Parochial Sub- divisions, though probably first instituted for Ecclesiastical purposes, hath been found, in regard to the purposes of Civil Duties also, to be one of the chief instruments and main bulwarks of the British Constitution : it sup- plies that organization and distribution of power, which, by maintaining an orderly sub- mission to law and dispensing Religious In- struction, provides most effectually for domes- tic security, and constitutes the Strength and Prosperity of the Nation. These advantages can only be secured by forming the Parishes upon such a Moderate Number of Inhabitants, that most of the Householders may be called in rotation to the assistance of the Parish Minister, and the discharge of Parochial Of- fices ; by which a general concern and inte- 203 rest is excited in the Parish, and the man- ners, habits, and principles of the poor and laborious classes become known to the chief, inhabitants: the detection of artifice and the prevention of crime is thus in the best man- ner provided for, and the greatest influence is given to the instructions of the Church. The difficulties in regard to the Right of Patronage have been thought of great weight; considerable difference of opinion obtains, and many apprehensions are afloat : particu- larly in regard to the infringement of what is supposed to be private property on the one hand ; and on the other the expected possi- bility of increasing the influence of the Crown: but surely such fears will be found on due examination, to be in a great measure vi- sionary. Progressive changes in the circum- stances of the country, have totally changed the nature of this Abstract Right. It ap- pears to have been originally vested wholly in the Crown ; and to have partaken more of the character of a Duty, than a privilege or right, on being by the Crown intrusted to the Bishops, in order to the due selection 204 and appointment of religious Instructors for the people. This general Duty or Right became by degrees further mods tied, as the population Increased and regard to Religion became more prevalent. When any Manorial Lord or Proprietor of Land was willing to build a Church, and endow It with Glebe for the Maintenance of a Minister, the recom- mendation or presentation of that Minister to the Bishop for Institution, was allowed to the benefactor; — constituting, in addition to spe- cific grants in some instances from the Crown, what is now termed private Patronage. Private Patronage thus originating in (and for the purpose of) Public Benefit, a line seems to be defined sufficient to mark its ex- tent; which extent seems, by the reason of the thing, limited to the instructive powers of one Minister, and the Capacity of one Church, to which the Right was granted, and to which the Minister was presented and instituted in the exercise of that right. — In any of the Parishes now requiring Subdivision, if the Patronage or Right of Presentation is at present vested in the Crown ; — in the Bishop ; — or in any Colle- 205 giateBody; no difficulty can occur; as the new Parishes may he supplied with Ministers by the Authority in which the Right or Duty of appointing is now vested. With respect to private patronage, the Right, as claimed in some instances, is of a much more ambi- guous and doubtful Nature : if the original purpose be referred to, it is not private but public benefit, in the Instruction of the Peo- ple ; and if the right of nomination was granted upon the building of a Church, the grant seems not intended to extend beyond the capacity of that one Church, and its endow- ment of one Minister. — When the Popula- tion became too numerous for one Church and one Minister, the evidence of fact in all our Ancient Cities and Towns, proves that other Churches were built and endowed; per- haps by the liberality of other Individuals, and the Patronage of the new Church con- ferred in a similar way upon the founder of that Church, or reserved to the Bishop, or the Crown, as the case might be : but as it is to be feared the pious (or even the political) liberality of the present times cannot be ex- pected to build and endow many Churches 206 ill this manner, even if the principle were sanctioned by express enactment ; and as this mode of treating the subject may lead into the intricacies of deranging apparently vested interests ; it mav probably be less difficult to look to a liberal and candid allotment of com- pensation under the authority of Parliament: which may either continue the divided pa- rishes under the Patronage of its present pos- sessors, or make any compensation and ar- rangement of a portion of the new appoint- ments, subject to the award and decision of a Jury, as in all similar cases of doubtful and unascertained rights and privileges : the steady and impartial interference of the Le- gislature firmly obviating all obstructions to the Public Benefit that may be interposed by unreasonable and injurious prejudice. The prevalent opinions respecting the Te- nure of Benefices, and the Law, as at pre- sent interpreted, in regard to the supposed rights of Incumbents, are thought to pre- sent great obstacles to the improvement of the existing condition of the National Church. It is by some asserted, that the instituted In- 207 cumbenthasaFreeholdRightiiihisberiefice, — that no alteration can be made without his con- sent, — and that such consent maybe withheld without anv assignable reason. But without entering upon a legal disquisition, it may tend to give a just view of this point, if it be ob- served — that in Fact, as evidenced by the cir- cumstances of all ancienttowns, Benefices have been reduced in extent; Parishes have been subdivided, and new ones formed, with Pa- rish Chiu'ches and Parish Ministers, as the population increased : this operation was ef- fected from time to time, of course, accord- ing to Law; and therefore the Fact itself proves that the Law allowed the existence of a Right or a Duty, vested perhaps in the Episcopal Diocesan Authority, aided and sanctioned by the Civil Power, of providing for the people tlie instructions and consola- tions of the National Religion, by Subdividing the parishes when necessary, to give all the inhabitants a personal participation in the Parochial Administrations of the Church of England. It may also be considered that the Benefice was founded, and the Incumbent placed in it, — Not as a private benefit, — Not for the sake or profit of the Individual, but 208 for the benefit of the State in the Instruction of the People ; to the Duties of which office, that the Incumbent may apply his time and attention, a sufficient maintenance is afforded (or is intended by the Law to be afforded) in the possession of the Benefice : it is there- fore a trust implying (and dependant in a cer- tain degree upon) the discharge of allotted duties, and not an unconditional freehold : in the possession of this Trust the Law pro- tects the Incumbent, to secure the Public Benefit, not to promote the mere aggran- disement of the individual. The Law there- fore intends the Public Benefit, but cannot intend a contradiction : it ought not then to be so explained as to commit a Public Injury for the private advantage of an individual : which must be the case in all those instances where the population has grown to a number exceeding the Capacity of one Church and the instructive powers of one Minister, and that minister refuses his consent to any additional means of instruction, and pleads the protec- tion of the Law for this injurious refusal. As there is no general Statute Law upon this subject, reference must be had to the un- 209 written, prescriptive Law ; and this appears, from Fact, to be, or to have been formerly, in favour of the Subdivision of Parishes, and the erection of Additional Churches and Be- nefices, wherever the population required them, as is evident from the present condi- tion of all our ancient Cities and Towns. This ancient Law indeed even then sur- rounded the Incumbent with protection to prevent any Unaidhorised Teacher from in- truding upon the parish ; hut a lamentable inconsistency has since involved itself in this subject : the very purpose for which these restrictive protections were afforded by the Common Law to the Incumbent, hath been abrogated and done away by the Statute Law of the Toleration Act; which upon the easiest possible terms admits teachers of all and every description to enter the parish, if they dissent from the Established Church ; but by a remarkable oversight and defect, no provision whatever was made to secure the means of instruction for the increasing mem- bers of the Estabhshment, if the population should become too numerous to be accommo- dated in the old Parish Church. The barrier 210 being thus opened to all that the Common Law intended to exclude, that Law is now so interpreted as to form an injurious ohstruction to those it intended to benefit; as by sup- posing its exclusive provisions to be executed by the individual for his own profit, instead of the Instruction of all the parishioners, such an interpretation of the Law, in effect, shuts out from instruction and leaves exposed to Ignorance, Heathenism, and Infidelity, in all numerously populated parishes, a large proportion of those Members of the Church of Eno-land, whose continuance in the true faith those exclusive provisions were intended to protect: or if a serious thought inspires any of them with a wish to join in Public Worship, having no Parish Church to receive them, they are necessarily compelled to look to the Meeting House, where they are readily pro- vided with a seat. When therefore Sir John Nicholl* stated so forcibly the " fundamental Constitution of the Church of England," to be " those Guards with which the Law had from time ••^ Vide Report in the Times Newspaper of the Case in the Arches Court — Carr v. Marsh. 211 immemorial wisely protected the Mights of the Incumbent ;^^ it is natural to enquire whether these Guards and Rights were not granted for the benefit of the State, and (o secure the due instruction of the people, rather than for the profit and personal advan- tage of the Incumbent ; and if it should ap- pear that the same Law, by the same imme- morial custom, had in fact, limited these Guards and Rights to the instructive powers of one Incumbent and the Capacity of one Parish Church, by Subdividing the Parish whenever the population increased to a num- ber beyond the superintending care of one Incumbent ; it might have been useful in dispelling doubts upon this point, if the learned Judge had taken an opportunity of stating also this limitation of the Incumbent's Right; that in protecting the Parish from in- trusive and unauthorized Teachers, the Law did not intend, by securing the Rights of the Incumbent, to consign either to Heathenism, or to dissenting separation, four fifths of the Parishioners. The same Law that invests, by the Episcopal Authority, the Incumbent with the sole Cure of Souls in the parish to V 2 212 whicli he is instituted, appears by ancient practice to have reserved to itself, probably in the same in the Episcopal Authority, the right of Subdividing the parish and placing other Ministers, in equal charge, when the number of souls become too great to partake in the instructive labours of one man. This defective attention, at the time of pas- sing the Toleration Act, to the safety of the Established Church, and the Instruction of its Members, may be certainly and easily re- medied by giving the Law a distinct expres- sion and definite operation for the future : and as the alteration will be effected by the Legislature, for the benefit of the Commu- nity at large, very ready means will present themselves of liberally remunerating (as most assuredly ought to be done) the pre- sent Incumbents of Parishes requiring Sub- division, for any loss of Income they may sustain from such operation. A due exa- mination would probably make it apparent that many of them received no adequate pecuniary compensation from their Parish for the employment of their time and abi- lity: an increase ratiier than a diminution 213 would in most cases be conducive to the Pub- lic Good, and might by judicious arrange- ment be without much difficulty effected. Payments for Ecclesiastical purposes- — the Support and Maintenance of an Established Ministry, — must ever be subjects of difficulty while Religious Principles retain but slight influence on the Minds of a considerable pro- portion of the people : a deficiency of these principles must ever occasion an augmented unwillingness to pay for their Support: thus these opinions act upon each other in a reci- procally injurious manner; and when the Maintenance of Religion is most wanted, the People are most unwilling to afford that ne- cessary supply : this may increase the diffi- culties of an expedient arrangement ; but if Truth is to prevail over Error, and safety to be maintained against Anarchy, these diffi- culties must be met and overcome ; and here every step in advance will facilitate further progress ; and the more the benefits of a Na- tional Religion are felt and acknowledged, the more readily the means of its maintenance and support will be offered. 214 The existing laws upon this subject are somewhat complex, and uncertain in their ap- phcation : those immediately relating to the Agricultural part of the community appear to be more distinct and definite, than those applicable to Commercial Wealth and the Inhabitants of Towns and Cities. The former need be no further brought under present consideration, than as it may be useful frequently to observe, that when- ever this widely misunderstood and grossly misrepresented subject is reviewed in regard to Legislation, it must be considered, that the great Political Desideratum of forming a Religious and Moral character in the general body of the People, is the purpose and intent of all Ecclesiastical Payments. The Grant of Tithes, originally charged, for the Public Good, upon the property of the whole country, — to promote the bene- fit and security of tlie whole, — is intended by the Law to sustain a general and efficient Ecclesiastical Establishment. It is not be- cause a small Village pays more in Tithes than a considerable Town, that the Village should for that reason have more Clerical 215 Attention, — the Duties of the Parish may be well discharged by a Curate wiio receives ])ut a small part of the Tithes or Value pro- duced by the parish ; — and it is no just im- putation upon the legal arrangements of the Country that it should be so; — because the portion of produce was originally given by the State, not in consideration of the benefitof an Individual, or of a single parish ; but as a part of the Maintenance and Support of an entire National Establishment : — as the Taxes are collected from each Parish for the support of Civil and Military Establishments which pro- tect the whole Country ; without bestowing, or rather confining, attention to the particu- lar parts where the levy is made in the largest proportions. Some other Errors of a mistaken self-in- terest on this subject were recently placed in a striking and beneficial point of view, by a few judicious observations of an enlightened and liberal Statesman. The Speech of Frankland Lewis, Esq. as circulated through the country by the Pubhc Prints, has been productive of great National Benefit, by al- laying in a considerable degree the ferment, 216 which the inconclusive reasoning, and poli- tical (as well as even professional) ignorance of agricultural reporters, had a strong ten- dency to excite. The Honourable Member is stated to have observed*, " There were many persons sufficiently willing to cla- mour against tithes, and perhaps they had a secret feeling or wish that such a species ot remuneration should be done away with al- together : but he apprehended that, what- ever might be the uisbes of particular per- sons, none would venture to suggest any al- teration of the system, except on the prin- ciple of a fair exchange. It was well known the value of the tithe was very different to the holder and to the receiver. He had no doubt that every farmer in the Kini»;dom would rather abide by the tithing system, than pay a compensation which should be founded on an estimate of the real value of the tithed articles." -j- '-' If an universal commutation was ef- fected, the landholders would be losers, be- cause at present the tithe holder received a very small share of what he was bylaw entitled to.'* * Times, 29 March, 1S16. t Morniog Chronicle, 29 March, 1816, 217 These observations are most worthy the at- tention of the possessors of property, to whom it must be Important that the foundation of its peaceable possession should not be shaken : — and the promulgation of truths tending to correct misapprehension, and to prevent the violation of the principle of its security, must be highly conducive to the Public Benefit. Notwithstanding some obvious improve- ments which the lapse of ages and the pro- gress of Society have rendered necessary, it may not be inexpedient, in reference to some prevalent modern opinions, to shew what lit- tle just cause of complaint, in regard to the charge of its Maintenance, when compared with the Political and Constitutional benefits it confers, can be m'ged against the Clmrch of England : and this cannot be better done than by a short extract from the admi- rable but scarce work of the learned Dr. Richard Bentley in reply to a Free-thinker. The objector '* complains of the ' great charge of maintaining such nu7nbers of Ecclesiastics^ as a great evil to Society, and a burden never felt on any other occasion.^ Now how shall I accost him ? as a grand 218 Historian, or a shrewd Politician? Fori know he 's above the low considerations of Divine Worship, Truth, Piety, Salvation, and Immortality. But what news does he tell us ? that the supporting of Priests is a burden unknown before Christianitv ? Had he read over even those authors alone, with whose twice borrowed scraps he has filled his margin, he would have learnt, that both in Greece and Italy, before our Saviour's birth, the Heathen Priests were more in Number, higher in Dignity, and better pro- vided with Endowments, Salaries, and Im- munities than now you are in England. The like was before in Egypt, and in every other Country where Humanity and Letters had any footing. " But what an Adversary am I writing against, wholly ignorant of common history? and his Politics are as low too, that would extirpate the whole Order of your Clergy, and so bring your Country to the ignorance of the Savages, to a vi^orse condition than your old ancestors were in while they had their Bards and their Druids. For it ever was and ever will be true, in all Nations, 219 under all Manners and Customs, — No Priest- hood, — no Letters, no Humanity ; and re- ciprocally again, — Society, Laws, Govern- ment, Learning, — a Priesthood. He can never conceive or wish a Priesthood either quieter for him, or cheaper, than the present Church of England. Of your quietness himself is a convincing proof, who has writ this outrageous book, and has met with no punishment nor prosecution. And for the cheapness, that appeared lately in one of your Parliaments; when the Acts exhibited show'd, that 6000 of your Clergy, the greater part of Your whole number, had at a middle rate one with another not 50/. a year.* A poor emolument for so long, so laborious, so ex- pensive an education, as must qualify them for Holy Orders. While I resided at Oxford and saw such a conflux of youth to their an- nual admissions, I have often studied and admired, why their parents would under such mean encouragements design their sons for the Church ; and those the most towardly and capable and select genius's among their * Returns made to Parliament on the establishment of Queen Anne's Bounty. 220 children, who must needs have emerged in a secular Hfe. 1 congratulated indeed the feli- city of your Establishment which attracted the choice youth of your Nation for such very low pay ; but my wonder was at the parents, who generally have Interest, Maintenance, and Wealth, the first thing in their view; till at last it ceased my astonishment, a few shining Dignities in your Church, Pre- bends, Deaneries, Bishopricks, induce and decoy the parents to risk their child's fortune in it. Every one hopes his own will get some great prize in the Church, and never reflects on the thousands of blanks in poor Country Livings. And if a Foreigner may tell you his mind from what he sees at home, 'tis this part of your Establishment that makes your Clergy excel ours. Do but once level all your preferments, and you'll soon be as level in your Learning. For instead of the flower of the English youth, you'll only have the refuse sent to your Academies, and those too cramped and crippled in their stu- dies for want of aim and emulation."* * Remarks upon a late discourse of Free-thinking, in a letter to F. H. D. D. by Phileleutherus Lipsiensis. Part the second, Ed. 1713. pp. 14, 15, 16', 17. 221 But to return to the point more imme- diately under consideration, — the difficulties likely to occur in providing maintenance for additional Parochial Clergy, in the populous parishes that require suh-division. This part of the suhject underwent Parliamentary Ex- amination at the beginning of the last cen- tury *. Journals, vol. XX. p. 406. Mercurii, 10^ die Feb. an. 11 Geo. \'J24. *' Mr. Comptroller acquainted the House, That he had a Message from his Majesty to this House, signed by jiis Majesty ; and he delivered the same to Mr. Speaker, who read the same to the House; and the said Message is as follows, viz. " George R. " The Commissioners for building Fifty new Churches in and about the Cities of London and Westminster, and the Suburbs thereof, having represented to his Majesty, That, in pursuance of several Acts of Parlia- ment already made for that purpose, one Church hath been for some time finished and consecrated, and three Chapels have been * Vide Church in Danger, p, 197. 222 converted into Parish Churches, and also con- secrated ; and that seven other Churches are built or building, and near finished ; for which eleven Churches convenient Districts have been also laid out, and appointed to be the Parishes respectively belonging to the same ; and his Majesty, heing truly sen- sible of the great necessity there is of New Churches, and of New Divisions of Pa- rishes, in and about the said Cities and Su- burbs ; and very desirous to provide for the Spiritual as well as Temporal welfare of all his Subjects ; and being also jirinh) per- suaded, tJiat nothing will tnore effectually engage Almighty God to send doiun his Blessing upon his Croiv7K and People, than a due Zeal for the Honour and Service of Meligion ; has thought fit to recommend to the House of Commons, in an especial man- ner, the providing a suitable maintenance for the Ministers who shall be appointed to perform Divine Service in the eleven Churches aforesaid, by such ways as may effectually answer the ends aforesaid, according to his Majesty's Royal Purpose and Desire. " Ordered, nemine conti-adicente. That 223 leave be given to bring in a Bill for the better effecting the pious intention of building fifty new Churches, or so many of them as shall be built by the Funds already granted ; and for settling the right of Patronage thereof; and separating the Parishes belong- ing to the same, and the Revenues thereof ; and preserving the right of the present In- cumbents of old Churches ; and for the en- dowment of eleven new Churches therein mentioned, part of the said fifty Churches, out of part of the Fund appropriated by ParHament to that use, and by a Pound Rate ; and for regulating the choice of Lec- turers ; and for making the Parish Clerks of the New Churches Members of the Corpo- ration of Parish Clerks already erected ; and that Mr. Pulteney, Mr. Onslow, Sir John Rushout, Mr. Clayton, and Mr. Gore, do prepare and bring in the same." Tliis Act, owing to some circumstances not stated in the Journals, was not passed ; but the Copy with the other Documents re- maining in the Archives of the House of Commons may afford a useful reference ; — those that are not printed in the Journals, I 224 was permitted to inspect, in consequence of the favour of your Lordship's recommenda- tion, and of a most obliging Letter from the Right Honourable the Speaker. The MS papers are as follows, and in case of further examination it may be convenient that I sub- join the ^Official references to them. Journals, vol. 18. p. 412. 24 March, 1715. " Duplicate of Report, bound up with other papers of this Session." Pr. 5. 56. N. 45. This report contains the following articles : 1st. a List of the intended New Churches, forty-nine in number, as allotted to each of the then existing Parishes; and three Chapels to be converted into Parish Churches. — * My grateful acknowledgements are due to the Official Gentlemen to whom I was under the necessity of occasioning trouble upon this occasion, and by all of whom I was received with the utmost civility and attention. I beg leave there- fore to present my thanks to R. Willimot, Esq. private Se- cretary to the Right Honourable the Earl of Liverpool : — to J. Rickman, Esq. and E. Philips, Esq. Secretaries to the Right Honourable the Speaker ;— to G. Whittam, Esq. of the Journal Office, who has the charge of the MS papers : — and also to E. Parratt, Esq. and to W. C. Payne, Esq. of the Parliament Office. 225 Articles 2(3, 3d, and 4th, the same as those printed in the Journals, and quoted in detail at pp. 181, 182, 183, and 184, of The Church in Danger. Journals, Vol. 19, p. 68, &c. 23 Jan. 17 18. 5 G. R. " Papers so delivered in are bound up with the other Papers of this Ses- sion." Pr. 6. B. 1. Nos. 72, 73, and 74. Journals, Vol. 22. 6 G. 2d. p. 53. 20 Feb. 1732, " The said Account is bound up with the other papers of this Session." Pr. 7- 64. No. 35. Journals, Vol. 20. p. 488. 15 April 1725. " Report bound up with the other papers of the Session." Pr. 6. B. 55. N. 57. This Report in particular may probably be referred to and examined, in case of any fur- ther Parliamentary proceedings on the sub- ject; — it is so directly applicable to the point under consideration, that after a careful pe- rusal I have endeavoured to recollect the chief points. It states, in considerable detail, the rea- soning and opinions of the Commissioners Q 226 respecting the providing and settling a Maintenance for the Ministers of the New- Churches : that according to the intended division of parishes, the New Parishes would each of them contain near six thousand inhabi- tants : that such a number of Parishioners would necessarily require the services of two Minis- ters, a Rector and his Curate, to perform the several Pastoral and Parochial Offices ; the duties of the Church, of Burials, of Bap- tisms, of visiting the Sick, &c. that the Rector's Maintenance should not be estimated at less than three hundred pounds per annum, and that some of the parishes would require more : that this Maintenance may arise from a por- tion of the present Ecclesiastical Payments, the Rate in lieu of Oblations, the Easter Offerings, the Surplice Fees, — from the Rent or Interest arising from an allotment of Money to be allowed by Parliament to be laid out in suitable purchases, — and from a pound rate to be raised in the several pa- rishes : 227 that probably a rate of sixpence in the pound, in addition to the other payments, might be found sufficient : that several of the printed papers circulated with objections to these proposed enact- ments, appear to reason upon unfounded or erroneous data, — particularly that circulated respecting Bloomsbury parish, in the state- ment of the amount of Ecclesiastical Fees is more than double the actual receipt : that the original and constitutional princi- ple of each parish, providing for the Mainte- nance of its own Ministers, should be as much as possible adhered to ; that the assistance given to the parishes of wealthy inhabitants might be less than that afforded to those whose parishioners were chiefly poor : the report refers to former Acts of Parlia- ment by which the precedent of a parochial pound rate is established. 3/ Hen. 8. Ch. 12. 22 and 23 Ch. 2.— 30 Ch. 2. St. Ann's.— 12 Ch. 2. — Covent Garden, a private act. — 19 Ch. 2. Shadwell a private act. This concise abstract of the elaborate Re- Q 2 228 port of the Commissioners, shews that they adopted, as a general Principle, the Legal and Constitutional Rule, that every Parish should, as nearly as possible, provide for the Maintenance of a Parochial Minister. In Towns and Cities this provision arises from * Personal Tithe merged for the most part in the Easter offering, — from the Surplice Fees, from the Rents of Pews in the Church, — and from a Rate or charge upon the Rent or Valuations of Houses and Property of the Parish, in lieu of, or in commutation for, oblations founded on immemorial custom. This last is the payment upon which the chief difference of opinion hath arisen; — though it is that, which in all cases affords the most equitable and certain support to the National Religion ; — and if once established in a distinct and definite Law, would be the most effectual and unobjectionable mode of aiding the other sources of support : that it * By the Canon Law every one who uses Buying and Sel- ling, &c. is required to pay for a personal Tithe, a Tenth pait of all his clear gains, deducting his charges and expences. And it seems that this was the general custom at the time of making the Stat. 9 Ed. 2. Vide also on this point, 27 Hen. 8. c. 20.— 32 Hen. 8. c. 7.-2 and 3 Ed. 6. c. 13.— 7 and 8 W. 3,0. 6.— 1 G. 1. c. 6. 229 is the most constitutional is evident, because it can now only be levied by the Represen- tatives of the People: — it is also equally evident that, however doubts and ambi- guities mav attach to the ancient and com- mon prescriptive law, founded like other parts of the Common Law in Ecclesiastical concerns, upon the Canon Law, — it is in this respect supported by the Precedent of several enactments of the Statute Law, referred to at the end of the Commissioners report. And in regard to Cities a precedent is afforded by the manner in which the City of London was formerly, and some part of it is still, charged to the support of the National Religion, by sta- tutes enacting a rateable charge, or pound rate, on the several rentals. *A Constitution of Niger Bishop of London, 13 Hen. 3. con- firms the then ancient custoin of an offering of one halfpenny every Sunday and Eight Saint's Days for a Rent of twenty shillings, jand one farthing for a rent of iOs. amount- ing to the proportion of 2^. and 6d. per pound: — 13 Rich. 2. this was increased to 3^. * Bohun's Law of Tithes, ch. 11. p. 438 et seq. — vide also the Rev. John Moore's Case respecting the Maintenance of the London Clergy, third edition. 230 5d. : — afterwards reduced by Decree in Chan- cery to 2^. 9d. : — and so confirmed by Act of Parliament 37 Hen. 8. c. 12. as to the City and Liberties of the same. The Act of 22 and 23 Ch. 2. c. 15. made after the Fire of London, may be noticed as an instance of the incompetent and injurious mode of enacting a maintenance by a specific annual Sum, which not varying with the changes in the value of Money, bears no analogy to the common law for the maintenance of the Clergy, and may in time become very insufficient for the purposes of the enactment and the intention of the Law; as the intended proportion of payment can only be preserved by a rent charge or rateable assessment ; and although it is understood that Houses, as such, are not general titheable, the possessor or occu- pier being, by law, subject to the payment of Personal Tithe, arising from his h'ade, industry, and profit; yet ancient Cities and Boroughs have always paid their Clergy by Oblations, or a composition or commutation for them; in addition to which they have also, for the most part, a custom de modo decimandi for their houses towards the Maintenance of their Clergy. 231 The mode of Legislation which has some- times been carried into effect, by views of the subject injurious to the Public Benefit, in fixing the Maintenance of Parochial Minis- ters of ReUgion at a specific sum, instead of a rateable charge, must, if continued, in- flict a severe wound on the National Welfare, by its necessary tendency to deprive the peo- ple of Religious Instruction. At the time the specific sum is fixed it may probably be a moderate maintenance ; but painful expe- rience in many instances hath proved that it may become in a few years totally inadequate. It is an error therefore that ultimately falls heavily upon the public ; for the general consequence is, that the parish upon which such a law operates, is either left without a Resident Minister, or he is compelled to devote his time and attention to other means than his parochial duties to supply his defi- cient maintenance. But another charge, unknown to the Laws, hath arisen in late years, and ac- tually extracts more money from the inhabit- ants of the large Parishes, under the name of rents for pews in Chapels, than all the other 232 usual Ecclesiastical Payments amount to ; and these large sums, in the present condi- tion of the Church, are objects of secular speculation and profit to individuals, and af- ford little or no support to the Established Church; as the Ministers officiating in these Chapels are totally unconnected with the congregations, and are not permitted, by the Law, as it is at present interpreted, to per- form any of the Pastoral Offices. In placing these Congregations in full Communion with the Establishment, by con- verting tliese Chapels into Parish Churches, and furnishing them with Parish Officers and Parish Ministers, no considerable difficulty would arise in providing a Legal Mainte- nance for such new Parochial Ministers, if payments similar in amount to those now paid by the congregation, were legally and rateably charged according to the ancientLaw, explained, confirmed, and enforced by the authority and regulations of an Act of the Legislature : and it is a fact certainly de- serving of particular notice, that, in some of the large parishes, as at present circum- stanced, several of the Chapels produce, each 233 to its speculative and trading proprietor, a revenue greater in amount than the Eccle- siastical Income derived by the Authorized and Legal Minister for the whole Parish. If a Legislative determination gives to the Established Church the means of bringing all its members into parochial communion and participation in the instructions of its Liturgy and offices, in their own Parish Church, and under their own Parish Minister, there can be no doubt but that the inhabit- ants, so benefited, would cheerfully ac- quiesce in any equitable and uniform system of payment that the Wisdom of Parliament might sanction. There are indeed in every parish some, not partaking in the advantages of the National Religion otherwise than in the general safety which it affords to the country, and others whose course of reasoning has not led them to allow the utility and necessity of an Esta- blished Church ; both of which classes may be expected to view, with a certain degree of hostility, any proceedings tending to the security of the State, through the additional and increased instrumentality of the Eccle- 234 siastical Establishment. But that a measure for this purpose, if candid and hberal in its provisions and execution, as true PoHtical Wisdom, and the real character of Gospel Truth require it to be, would have little cause to apprehend any obstruction from such hostility, is made evident from the following wise and liberal statement, under an autho- rity that may, perhaps, with many readers, be more readily admitted, and have more weight and influence than any other that could be adduced: '* * We grant that it is proper for the Legislature, in its paternal care for the people, to provide for them the benefits of religious instruction and Public Worship, by the establishment of a National Church ; and that an ample provision ought to be made for the Clergy who devote them- selves to this important service. But if any persons, after having contributed the share which the Law requires from them for the support of the Established Clergy, chose to provide other Ministers for themselves. Government has no interest to prevent or molest them." * Edinburgh Review, No. 51. Feb. 1816, p. 64, 235 § 20. Expence. Ill the apprehension of many who have maturely reflected upon this subject, all minor obstacles are considered of little import and of easy removal in comparison with the great and obvious difficulty, in the present times, of appropriating a part of the National Re- venue to this purpose, not only without ex- citing dissatisfaction, but with the full con" currence and approbation of Public Opinion. This is certainly a difficulty that nothing can so effectually remove as informing the Public Mind upon the true nature and ur- gency of the occasion ; and pressing upon the Public attention the real and alarming Facts in regard to the present condition of the National Church : representing in its true magnitude the inadequacy of its present powers to give the Instructive and restrain- ing, the reforming and improving truths of our Holy Religion, their due influence upon the Habits, Sentiments, and Manners of the general population. If the Public Mind were duly impressed with the certain and indubitable operation of the National Religion in giving support 236 and effect to the Laws, — in securing the possessions and the liberties, — the social and domestic welfare of the community ; and also with the equally certain and indubitable increase of crime, disaffection, violence, and profligate desperation, that must result from a continuance of the weakened and inefficient powers of the Established Church : if these awful truths were fully understood, and practically acknowledged, by the powerful, the wealthy, and the industrious, — by all who wish to retain in peace their inherited or their acquired possessions, — the necessary means would soon be provided to give the beneficent operations of the National Reli- gion their full effect upon the enormous masses of population now left without those advantages. This would then be acknow- ledged as the most certain and most distin- guished of all National Benefits, and there- fore the application of an adequate portion of the Public Revenue to that purpose would then appear to be, not only the most justi- fiable, but also the most wise, most patriotic, most praise-worthy employment of the Pub- lic Purse. 237 The information necessary to produce this state of Public Opinion, can in no way be so effectually diffused, as by frequently repeated statements from the zealous, enlightened, and patriotic friends of the Church and the Country, in * Parliamentary discussions of the subject. The course of such discussions may make manifest, not only the necessity and import- ance of the object; but also that the Expence at which it may be effected, must be con- sidered comparatively small, when estimated according to the National Benefit conferred. A large and alarming total amount need not in the first instance be appropriated. The expence must necessarily be incurred in a gradual manner. A large sum need not therefore be drawn from the Revenue at any one time. The grant may indeed be pro- spective, but the payments will only be re- quired annually, or in any other periods in succession. Large Churches are not calculated to give due effect to -l^ Protestant Worship. * Vide page 163. t Vide page \27, 128. 238 ' Splendid and expensive edifices are not necessary. * The urgent claims of Duty to God, to the State, and to Individual refor- mation, may be satisfied under a compara- tively humble roof; the useful instructions of our admirable Liturgy, and the awful sanctions of the Gospel, may be impressed on the heart without any costly decorations. When the principles of religion shall l^ecome more diffused, and their effects more conspi- cuous, in a zeal to honour the Public Wor- ship of God, and a willingness to employ our temporal possessions in adding to its exter- nal splendour, then decorative and magnifi- cent architecture may be superadded to the structures of wisdom, benevolence, and piety. And another interesting considei'ation, which must have great weight in every part of the discussion, is that the indirect and secondary advantages, of such an appropriation of part of the Public Treasure, will be very consi- derable in affording employment and support to numerous Artizans and Labourers, whose suffering and unemployed condition is no less embarrassing to the Government than in- jurious to the community. 239 Such intimations, and many of a similar nature, when expanded into arguments, can- not be without their effect. But if the dif- ficulties were of a much more formidable character than they appear to possess, — if the charges upon the Public Revenue were much greater than appear to be requisite, — let but the Importance of the Object be duly appreciated, and the requisite Expence would be submitted to with the utmost rea- diness and chearful acquiescence. . If our Commerce be impeded or our Na- tional Feeling insulted, nay even on the slightest indications of such injuries, Public indignation is roused, the Public voice is heard. Armaments are prepared, and ex- pences promptly and w illingly incurred, to an amount far exceeding that now required for a transcendently superior National and Con- stitutional object. Moral and Religious Principles, and Moral and Religious Habits, are in Theory and ar- gument readily allowed their due estimation. When therefore the Practical Consequences of such admission and acknowledgment, are deduced, stated, defended, and ought to be 240 allowed also ; and not only allowed, but acted upon and carried into effect; it is most devoutly to be hoped, that doubts and diffi- culties may not be permitted unnecessarily to perplex the discussion; — that injurious, ob- solete, and insignificant privileges, and fears of Expence, which in cases of far inferior moment would not be permitted to occasion the least obstruction, should not now be suf- fered to nullify and defeat, or even to im- pede, the execution of the most necessary, judicious, and important arrangements for the Public Good. These are arrangements earnestly called for by Duty, Humanity, and Patriotism, to avert impending dangers of the most dire and ter- rific character ; and to change the dark and tempestuous gloom of approaching National Punishment, into the bright and glorious dawn of National Reformation : when our Holy Religion arising in renovated powers " with healing in its wings," shall not only dissipate the clouds of discontent, delusion, and error ; but by the instruction of igno- rance, — the awakening of piety, — and the invigorating of benevolence, — shall intro- 241 di^ce that more general amelioration of man- ners, that gradual political improvement and certain reformation, which though loudly called for from other sources, by mistaken patriotism, and designing artifice, can only })e attained by founding it upon an increased regard and attention to the National Church; and giving an improved Moral and Religious Character to the great body of the people : from which arise, in natural and necessary consequence, — increased enjoyment to the poor, — increased reward to industry, — in- creased authority to the Laws, — and increased security to the possessions, the liberties, and the rights of the whole community, — under the renewed and augmented energy of the British Constitution in Church and State. In support of the reasonings which tend to fix our hopes, our wishes, our anticipa- tions, in these brightening prospects, it may perhaps have a beneficial effect to appeal, something further and more distinctly, to the argument from authority ; and to collect as it were into one focus the scattered liffht of those opinions upon the points at issue, which have been either expressly communicated, or K 242 given, some directly, and others incidentally, in various publications. § 21. Acknoiuledgementsf 07' private com- munications and assistances. This will also give me the opportunity of expressing my Obligations to those Noble- men and Gentlemen, who, by their zeal and attachment to the British Constitutior^ in Church and State, have been led to take a more than common interest in a sincere and earnest, however humble, endeavour to pro- mote the safety and stability of both ; and who, by the communication of their opi- nions, have conferred on me an honour which I am bound ever gratefully to acknowledge. And, as I have already intimated, my first debt of gratitude is due to Your Lordship for the high favour of permission to make use of your Lordship's library, and for those Parliamentary Documents upon which the authenticity of my statements has been founded : for the inspection of the MS. part 243 of which I have also gratefully to acknow- ledge the very polite letter and order of the Right Honourable the Speaker of the House of Commons. For the Communications of Encourage- ment, — of Criticism, — and of Assistance, with which I have been honoured, I am in- debted to His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester; whose Christian and patriotic attachment to the Es- tabUshed Church has long been so conspicuous, that no Eulogium from me could add to the respect felt for His Royal Highness's character by all Friends of the British Constitution. The Right Hon. the Earl of Bristol ; to whom I am under particular obligation, not only for a written communication, but also for a perso- nal discussion of the leading points of the subject. The Right Hon. the Earl of Lonsdale. The Right Hon. the Earl of Chichester. The Right Hon. and Right. Rev. the Lord Bishop of London, who very obligingly promised me the use of those diocesan returns which were subsequently printed by order of the House of Lords. R 2 244 The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Chester, whose exemplary and judicious zeal in behalf of the Church of England has been particularly di- rected to the subject of increasing the means of Public Worship ; and under whose liberal and en- lightened attention, several Churches have been recently built and consecrated, in the very po- pulous Diocese at present under His Lorships di- rection. The Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Bristol. Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, Bart. The distinguished and learned Principal of Oriel College, Dr. Edward Co- PELSTONE. The Rev. Dr. Lawrence Gardner. The Rev. Dr. James Satterthwaite. The Rev. Philip Dodd. The Rev. Dr. Richard Mant. The Rev. Bewick Bridge. The Rev. Archibald Alison. Jasper Atkinson, Esq. John Bowdler, Esq. 245 To all to whom I beg permission to express my high sense of obligation, and to present my best Thanks: I trust they will find that the critical suggestions with which I have been favoured, have all received due atten- tion ; although I could not, unauthorized, venture to print their communications. As no similar forbearance is requisite in regard to opinions already printed and pub- lished ; such of them, relating immediately to the subject discussed in this tract, as have fallen under the Author's notice, are selected and here brought together in one view; to give, as already mentioned*, the preceding reasoning and statements, in some degree, the additional advantage and influence of the Argument from Authority. * Vide page 9. 246 § 22. Public statements of opinion, British Review, No. 12. November 1815. Art. 12. p. 276. " Art. XII. — The Church in Danger : a Statement of the Cause and of the pro- bable Means of averting that Danger, attempted in a Letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Liverpool, K. G. By the Rev. Richard Yates, B. D. F. S. A. &c. " We should feel ourselves coming very short of the object of this article, which is that of placing before our readers what we conceive to be the real dangers of the Church, if we omitted to bring most distinctly to their consideration the very masterly, but afflicting picture of a sort of physical evil in the state of the Church, drawn with as much feeling as truth by the chaplain of Chelsea College. We have still in our minds the painful re- memberance of the fate of the proposition of Dr. Middleton, the late vicar of St. Pancras, for building a new Church in that parish, a 247 parish with a population of 50,000 souls, and a church incapable of holding above 300 persons. We remember with sorrow that the efforts of that accomplished clergy- man, and of some of the parishioners, fell to the ground, under the weight of a majority which, as it owed its existence to the want of church room in the parish, was therefore in itself a practical argument against its own unhallowed opposition. " The legislature was deaf to the cries of the Church, and so it has remained. It would be consolatory, indeed, to hope that Mr. Yates's publication may have so pointed out this most critical danger to the Church, arising from want of church room, as to unite every heart and hand within the pale of the Establishment, in an endeavour to save it from this manifest and immediate peril. We will extract a page or two from the pamphlet now before us, in which Mr. Yates has shown the extent of this evil, in the district generally included under the term metropolis. (Extract, p. 48 to 52). " Mr. Yates then takes a detailed view of the case, and clearly establishes his general 248 statement, by sliowing the number of inha- bitants and extent of Church accommodation in each parish within the circuit of wliich he has been speaking ; and then proceeds thus. (Extract pp. TJ , ']%?) " Such is the picture which Mr. Yates holds to our astonished view, of the forlorn state of the Church of England. A few bright spots of verdure, like oases, present themselves in the plains over which the establishment of the Church of England nominally extends ; but the weary traveller faints before he can reach them. If he arrives he finds no place where there is room for him to rest his head, and is turned out again, into a dry and thirsty land where no water is. Under such diffi- culties, to emigrate is better than to starve ; better to seek a domicile among strangers than to live like an alien in the land of one's ancestors. "Nothing can be imagined more worthy of the attention of the statesman to whom they are addressed, than the observations that follow. (Extract from p. 95 to 104.) " These facts and these observations are intensely true; and under such great and 249 exigent circumstances, nothing can be more contemptibly absurd than for the Legislature of the United Kingdom to refrain from acting, till they are called upon by the par- ticular parishes where this sad deficiency is found, but where probably every low intrigue and vulgar jealousy, every narrow prejudice and sordid principle, oppose themselv^es to the demands of God and the soul. If they must first know who calls before they will answer, we venture to tell them, that the excommunicated half of the nation calls : that if their wishes do not speak, their wants speak only the more strongly. Long absence will extinguish love, but there is a tongue in this indifference that speaks more strongly than a thousand petitions. The people cannot be expected to be much interested in behalf of a Church which has so long shut its doors against them. But this want of interest is the consequence, not the cause : it is not * the cause of defection, but the consequence of exclusion.' If, therefore, this state of indifference in a parish, whether there shall be a church or not, is urged as an argument against the interference of the Legislature, 250 we can only say, that we never heard a better example of what, in logic, is termed ex- ceptio ejusdem rei cujus petitur dissolutio. A few pages more from Mr. Yates will show the great measure proposed by him, in a light of practicability well worthy of the at- tention of the State. fJEocWact fi'om p. 126 to 130.) '' It was not to be expected that Mr. Yates would, in a treatise consisting of little more than 200 pages, enter minutely into the manner of accomplishing this great object. It would have been inconsistent with his ex- cellent sense so to have done. The multi- plicity of such a detail, involving consequen- ces certainly very wide in extent, affecting in some degree our poor laws, the rights of property, and the patronage and jurisdiction of the Church, would only have tended to fritter away the consideration of the grand indispensible object which he has placed be- fore the eye of the Legislature ; and which, unless it is felt as equal in magnitude to any of the great constituents of our civil polity, will have but small chance of success. Lit- tle men, or men with little views, will be 251 sure to make much of little difficulties ; and every petty argument of inconvenience will be stretched to its utmost dimensions, in opposition to a measure which proposes an untangible good, and which menaces the sanctuary of the pocket. The Government has enemies, the Church more, real spiritual Christianity most : all these will be in array against a measure far more conducive than any that, in this time of peril, can be de- vised to secure the high and palmy state to which this nation has arrived, from ' all sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion ; from all false doctrine, heresy, and schism ; from hardness of heart, and contempt of God's word and commandment/ " Mr. Yates has adverted slightly to some of the topics which are necessarily involved in the consideration of the measure. And as, in his manner of treating this part of his subject, he appears to us to have shown great sobriety and discernment, we will again present him to our readers. (^Extract from p. 130 to 137.) " We must now, for the present at least, take leave of this awfully interesting subject, 252 oppressed by its magnitude, and exhausted by the solicitude which has accompanied us through the course of our hasty composition. It is most probable that we shall feel ourselves called upon to resume it. In the mean time we indulge the expectation, that Mr. Yates's production will appear to have made the ge- neral impression which it is so well calculated to produce. Since the commencement of the British Review, a pamphlet of greater intel- ligence and importance has not attracted its attention. Now that he has put his hand to the plough, we entreat him not to withdraw it. The subject is, in a great measure, his own. The fervent eflfectual labours of a pious man will avail much. It is by single efforts that the great deciding impulse has been gi- ven to all undertakings of eminent utility and goodness. It is thus that the abolition of the slave trade has been accomplished. One man stood betw^een the living and the dead, and so that plague was stayed. Let Mr. Yates persevere; his prudence will secure him from excess, his sincerity will support his zeal, his intelligence will arm his wishes. While others are cumbered about much ser- 253 ving with respect to the Church, he will be busy about that which Is essentially needful. The city of God with its rising glories will in part own him for its founder : and if any shall hereafter among its new-born structures inquire for his monument, the proper an- swer will be, CIRCUMSPICE." Critical Review, No. 2. August 1815. Art. 3. p. 129. " Art. III. — The Church in Danger: a Statement of' the Cause^ S^c. Sfc. " When we first glanced at the title-page of this work, we are free to confess that cer- tain ideas arose in our mind, not very favour- able to the views of the author. We ima- gined we were condemned to wade through a sickening detail of horrors, to be anticipated in the event of Catholic emancipation ; and that it would be our irksome task to peruse the empty ebullitions of bigotry, or the sel- fish invectives of intolerance. On scanning a very few pages, however, this presenti- ment was speedily dissipated. We found the * 254 writer, intent only on the preservation, or rather restoration, of the constitutional in- fluence of the National Church, abstaining from the language of reproach, and alto- gether exempt from feelings unbecoming a man of sense and a liberal Christian*. We found him advocating the genuine plan and comprehensive utility of our system of wor- ship, — investigating with calmness and assi- duity the various causes of its rapid decline, — and shewing that, unless some check be interposed, some legislative measures quickly adopted, to counteract the growing discou- ragement to a zealous attachment to its form and spirit, it will soon appear, that the pre- sent imperfect state of its administration is the forerunner of its dissolution. " The latter point constitutes the main theme of discussion. Mr. Yates very properly rejects the opinions — that Bible and Lancas- * It afforded us pleasure to meet with the following en- lightened declaration. " To endeavour to found our own opinions upon the basis of examination and tiiith, and then to maintain them with a mild and dignified firmness, with- out impeaching the intentions, or reproaching what we con- ceive to be the mistakes or even the faults of others, is the perfection of Christian toleration."— Church in Danger, p. 10. 25^ teriavi Institutions are the causes of the mis-- chief; and, likewise, the notion so strenu- ously maintained by others — that it is chiefly attributable to the persevering exertions of the sectaries, and the wide-spreading pro- gress of Methodism. These he considers as consequences of the present state of the Church. He ascribes the principmm of the evil to the existing condition of our eccle- siastical polity, which he asserts to be utterly incompetent to preserve the links by which alone the laity can be attached to its inte- rests, and pregnant with the seeds of Its own destruction. He contends, that, though the Societies for promoting Christian Know- ledge, and the Establishment of National Schools — the recent Acts relating to the resi- dence of the clergy, and the employment of curates — and the proposal for erecting one large parochial church in each of the present parishes, may be highly valuable as auxilia- ries, they are far from radical and funda- mental remedies, — aiming at the symptoms, not at the seat of the disease ; and " that a legislative enactment prescribing a distribu- tion of the population into appropriate divi- ^56 sioiis, — supplying the means of public wor- ship, — aiid providing for the useful and effi- cient discharge of the pastoral offices, in dis- tricts not hitherto so provided, — is the most certain and only probable means of securing the stability and prosperity of the Esta- blished Church. In prosecuting the inquiry, or (if we may be allowed the legal phrase) in stating the case, Mr. Yates adopts the method of logicians : he first establishes the existence of the danger, — he secondly de- monstrates its source, — and lastly specifies the antidote. In this course we shall follow him ; giving a synopsis of his facts and arguments, with such remarks as may natu- rally spring from their consideration. The two first points may be viewed together, — the latter requires separate examination. The non-increase of religious structures in districts where population is daily aug- menting, and the consequent defect of pub- lic instruction in our excellent Liturgy, are the alleged causes of the alarming declension of the influence of the Church. Passing over, with a few observations, the question 257 as it relates to the large and populous pro-^ vincial towns, Mr. Yates directs his atten- tion only to the operation of these causes within the boundaries of what is denominated the Metropolis. (^Extract p. 49 to 76.) ^^ The picture maybe somewhat brightened, however, if we suppose that different con- gregations attend the morning and evening service ; that those who hear the one are altogether distinct from the auditors of the other ; and that the alternation is invariable. This would increase the communicants with the Church, (within the limits already pre- scribed,) from an hundred and ninety-nine thousand to three hundred and ninety-eight thousand. But even then there would be ample matter for regret : — a mass of popu- lation of not less than seven hundred and fifty-four thousand being still precluded from the possibility of joining in the national wor- ship ! The hypothesis (the most favourable which the subject will admit) does not, how- ever, seem founded on truth ; many persons attending constantly the service both of morning and evening, to the inevitable ex- 258 elusion of an equal number of their parochial brethren. " These facts speak so powerfully to the point in question, that it is scarcely neces- sary for us to ask, whether the safety of the Church be not threatened ? While they continue, can any salutary consequences be expected ? Will irreligion cease to advance ? Will vice retract its steps ? Will impiety be arrested in its progress ? Will fanaticism lose its activity ? — Surely no. In such a state of things, nothing can be reasonably looked for but the further decay of that wholesome influence which an established religion is intended to produce, and ulti- mately of that respect for the municipal laws which is the proximate guardian of public security. The Church, as she is at present regulated, we are bold to say, is the Mo- ther and Propagatrix of alienation. She cannot protect those who would seek nou- rishment in her bosom ; she encourages a dis- taste for the practice she enjoins ; and must be considered as the grand promotress of sec- tarian principles. For, driven from the pale 259 of the Establishment, men are compelled ei- ther to wholly abandon the duties of piety, or to go in quest of spiritual comfort to new and dissimilar systems of worship ; the law prohibiting * except under certain difficult regulations, the building and opening of any places of public* devotion ' for the use of the Liturgy of the Church of England/ And while * structures for every mode of sectarian ' worship may be erected and opened, by any person so inclined, upon the easy condition of obtaining a licence from the magistrates, granted by the law upon a very inconsider- able pecuniary payment,' no correspondent energy is displayed by the Legislature in be- half of the National Church, or in sustain- ing that respectability which ought ever to attach to an integral part of the Constitu- tion. " The remedy suggested by the reverend author for these growing evils, we shall state in his own words. (Extract p. 127, 128.) *' This, we think, is a judicious plan. We particularly approve of the provisions for the ample and better accommodation of the poor. s 2 260 The present churches are miserably deficient in this respect: the poor are unprovided with a sufficient number of seats, and are, in ge- neral, stationed too remotely from the minis- ter. Nothing is of greater importance than the comfort and convenience of this class of society. Forming, as they do, a very large portion of the population, and being, almost of necessity, peculiarly exposed to fanatical delusion, it is a matter both of duty and pru- dence, to secure to them all possible accom- modation when attending divine worship ; — a contrary policy, besides being manifestly unjust, may and must have the eifect of in- ducing them to frequent other places of de- votion, where no distinction of persons is made, and therefore of weakening the sta- bility of the National Church. *' Mr. Yates anticipates some objections to his scheme, which he states, and replies to. (Extract p. 130.) " We cannot subscribe to this. We are blind to the necessity of clogging the plan with an apparatus of parish officers. The expenses would be considerably enhanced : 261 and we are far from thinking that description of gentlemen wonderfully calculated to im- part * a Christian character/ All that is requisite may be well furnished without such additional assistance ; and we by no means perceive, why the division of population and the multiplication of churches should neces- sarily work a change in the civil regimen of the present parishes. *' On the subject of lay patronage, which would be materially affected by this law, the following observations are worthy of notice. (^Extract p. 140.) *' By far the most serious obstacle is to be found in the present state of our finances. Taxation seems screwed up to the utmost pitch, — manufactures and commerce are daily languishing, — and the pecuniaryabilityof the country presents no very cheering prospect. We much doubt whether this difficulty be at - all surmountable. At any rate-,- we may confidently assert, that should the realiza- tion of the design be attempted at the pre- sent time, or while the nation is in its pre- sent condition, its progress must be ex- 262 tremely slow, and the strictest economy be adhered to. " After all, however, there is something besides augmenting the number of churches necessary to revive an attachment to our form of worship. The miserable stipends allotted to the mass of officiating clergymen, and the odious mode of their collection, are highly baneful to the interests of the Esta- blishment. It is quite impossible for a mem- ber of an honourable profession to exert him- self with that spirit and assiduity which alone can make him useful, while he knows that his only reward will scarcely maintain him above beggary. A curate with sixty or an hundred pounds a year cannot be diligent in the discharge of his duty, — he cannot dis- pense instruction with alacrity, — he cannot fulfil any one of his functions with content- ment to himself, or usefulness to his flock. The reflection must always intrude itself, that, though respectable in rank, he is de- graded by poverty. " These sores upon' the body-spiritual must therefore be cured, before we can ex- 263 pect any considerable reformation. The clergy must be put upon a respectable foot- ing, ere the EstabUshment can increase in the number of its adherents. Without this, churches may be built ad iiifinitum, and stocked with incumbents, — but the only results will be, an immense weight of debt, and very partial improvement. With it, the proposed law may effect every end for which it is designed, and accomplish the great work of giving permanence and stability to the tottering fabric of the National Church." Gentleman's Magazine, Juli/ 1815, VbL 85. pp. 44, 45 ; and August 1815, VoL 85. pp. 143 to 147. " The Church in Danger : a Statement of the Causey^' Sfc. Sfc. Sfc, " With the most benevolent spirit of Tole- ration to every species of Christian Dissen- ters, Mr. Yates here evinces himself to be a faithful and zealous advocate for the real prosperity of the Established Church, as 264 intimately blended with that of our incompa- rable Civil Constitution. The Danger of the Churchy he demonstrates, by irrefragable arguments, and by documents of the most unquestionable authority, to arise, not from Sectarian opposition, or from various other causes to which it is commonly but erro- neously attributed, but simply to the want of a proper number of Parochial Churches to receive the immensely increased population of that part of the kingdom which surrounds an overgrown metropolis. The evidence on which the reasonings of Mr.Yates are founded is deduced principally from a document of allowed and indisputable authority — the last Parochial Returns of Population, as laid be- fore the House of Commons, and published by the order of Parliament. (^Quoted p. 17 to 19, and 3^ to 49.) " Most gladly, did our limits permit, should we follow this luminous writer through his long and laborious investigations ; which are worthy the most serious consideration of the Legislature ; but we must content our- selves with Mr. Yates's Interesting remarks 265 on some of the larger Parishes, (Quoted p. 64 to 73, mid 75 to 122.) " Many valuable historical facts are brought forward, respecting the New Churches built at the beginning of the Eighteenth Century ; and many useful suggestions towards pur- suing the same good work to a far greater extent. The education of the Children of the Poor is also most candidly and very ably discussed." (Quoted]}. 223 to 225.) Christian Observer, November 1815, No. 11. Vol. 14, p. 475. " The Church in Danger ; a Statement of the Cause, §-c. ^c. SfC. " But after all the cries of danger originated and re-echoed from every quarter, how apt are the generality of reformists and theorists to overlook tbe most plain and palpable mis- chief of all : more particularly if that mis- chief shall seem to require but little inge- nuity to discover, and when discovered shall point rather to simple practical expedients 266 for its removal, than to loud and liigh sound- ing declamation, without any good purpose whatsoever ! Such is eminently, we helleve, the state of the case with regard to the danger of the Church, as it stands really demon- strated in the very ahle, manly, and tempe- rate work of Mr. Yates, placed at the head of this article. " The danger, it is true, is of a purely me- chanical, let us call it organic, but there- fore most serious, nature ; and we think, might well outweigh in importance every other that can he produced. It arises from such an enormous want of parish and other episcopal churches in and about the metro- polls, as, with all our vast conceptions of the same evil through the whole country, we could never have imagined to have existed to such an extent in any community calling it- self Christian, and much less In the very focus of Christian illumination, the metropolis of Great Britain. We shall not detain our readers by carrying them through the Inge- nious and comprehensive calculations with which Mr. Yates has arrived at the appalling conclusions, which his work contains. We 267 shall content ourselves with alluding to the principle of his calculations, and their final result. The principle on which he calculates the due proportion of churches to inhabitants, is taken from an extensive survey of all the counties within an hundred miles round London. These, including the City of Lon- don itself, taken together, yield a general average of about 110 houses, and 640 per- sons, to one parish church. Accordingly, Mr. Yates assumes such to be the due allot- ment of population to parishe?, each con- taining one parish church, according to the wise and pious views of our forefathers when such distribution was made. This average, indeed, Mr. Yates admits to be considerably less than is absolutely necessary for the pur- poses of parochial instruction : and he re- commends, in cases of some small neigh- bouring populations, the junction of parishes. Assuming, however, this average as his guide, which we think he should have exchanged, as being defective, for an imaginary one, more within the possibility of present attain- ment, he proceeds to consider the state of the several parishes, within eight miles dis- 268 tance from St. Paul's Cathedral. These he divides into two concentric circles, an ex- terior and an interior one. The more distant and exterior circle comprizes 38 parishes, and the interior one 55 ; none of them in- cluded in the general county average, and consequently not including the parishes in the City of London. He then proceeds to give in gross and in detail their entire popu- lation, together with the means of public worship under the Establishment possessed respectively by each. The 93 Churches at- tached to these parishes he estimates roughly, and somewhat largely, as capable in the average of accommodating 2000 persons each. And finally, he assumes the number accom- modated in the several regular chapels in and round the metropolis, at 30,000. " From these principles he then draws the following * results, in numbers so enormous, in probable consequences so terrific, as per- fectly to appall the imagination.' 1. That in the exterior circle, containing 38 parishes and 181,882 inhabitants, only 59,000 persons are accommodated with the means of public worship : and in the interior circle, contain- 269 ing 55 parishes and 9/0,668 inhabitants, only 110,000 persons receive the same ac- commodation. 2. Consequently that in the former circle there remains a surplus of 122,882 persons, and, in the latter, the enormous one of 860,668 persons, wholly unaccommodated with the means of public worship in regular parochial churches. Or, 3. That subtracting the 30,000 assumed to be accommodated in the several episcopal chapels, there remain nine hundred and FIFTY-THREE THOUSAND witliout the possi- bility of partaking the advantages of paro- chial worship, and consequently without that regard and attachment to the Church of England, which can only be formed by a .sense of benefits conferred and received. To make this alarming statement still more terrific, Mr. Yates has recourse to his former Countv Averages ; according to which he is enabled to state, that the whole number of persons unaccommodated may be considered as ex- ceeding the entire population of nine coun- ties, which he names, containing 1652 pa- rish churches. And the practical evil of such a deficiency, he points out as * equal 2/0 not only to an infraction of the Residence Acts in other parts of the kingdom, hy 1650 non-resident incumbents, hut to the still greater evil of that number of parishes left totally without any pastors, either rector or curate, and by which several hundred thou- sand supposed members of the Church of England are left without parochial commu- nion, without Divine service, without any benefit from our admirable liturgy ; without any Gospel-instruction ; without any sense of religion.' * Such a mine of heathenism,' Mr. Yates properly and forcibly exclaims, in p. 51, ' and consequent profligacy and dan- ger, under the very meridian (as it is supposed) of Christian illumination, and accumulated around the very centre and heart of British prosperity, liberty, and civilization, cannot be contemplated without terror by any real and rational friend of our established govern- ment, in church and state : and is surely sufficient to awaken the anxious attention of every true patriot, every enlightened states- man, every sincere advocate of suffering hu- manity, and every intelligent and faithful Christian.' Whether we take the parochial 271 averao-e at the stated number of 640 in the county calculation, or at an hnaglnary one of 2000 (the esthnated contents of each parish church, in and round the metropolis), which last makes the deficit of parish churches on the whole, about 4/7 vvithin the two circles : whether or not we deduct the quantum of population supposed to quit the metropolis on the Sabbath day, which, however, seldom quits the limits of the exterior circle ; or whether, finally, we speculate on the number invited and enabled to attend the several dissenting places of worship within the same districts ; the result will still indicate the urgent necessity there is for the speedy con- sideration of this most enormous evil, and of the serious danger to the best interests of the Establishment, so long as it shall remain unattended to. Space does not remain for us to interest the lovers of round numbers, by specifying some of the gigantic details contained in this work of Mr. Yates, and which speak of parishes containing upwards of 40,000, and one 7^,624 inhabitants. Neither can we do more than allude to the hints given of similar deficiencies in the re- 2/2 moter parts of the kingdom, and which we knew in divers instances to be crying griev- ances. Much less can we now enter upon the various important discussions to which the consideration of remedies leads so inqui- rins: and thous:htful a mind as that of Mr. Yates. We must satisfy ourselves with stating his strong censure of the law of the land, as is at present is supposed to stand, which throws every difficulty in the way of opening episcopal chapels, and alFords every facility to dissenting estahlishments: together with the general basis of his remedial pro- posals, viz. a re-division of the several over- grown masses of population into practicable parishes, and a manly and effectual investi- gation in Parliament of the best means of raising funds for the erection of competent churches, and the endowment of a suitable regular ministry for their supply. This is accompanied with a minute detail of the pro- ceedings which took place in the several reigns of Queen Anne, George I. and George 11. relative to the well-known plan for build- ing 50 new churches, in and about the me- tropolis; followed with some very judicious 273 observations on the very large and lament- able failure in the execution of that plan. Wg should not feel disposed, even if we had time to develope more of Mr. Yates's valua- ble statements and proposals, from the strong desire we feel, that the work itself should be e?ctensively possessed and most attentively considered by our readers themselves. The probable consequences upon society, and the best interests of our country, from letting things remain as they are, appear with a ibrce in Mr. Yates's pages, which we could not otherwise convey than by transcribing his own words. Full of the real and ter- rific dangers accruing to the Establishment, both in Church and State, from the necessary influx and increase of every evil principle, M'hcre no means exist for the cultivaticni of good ones, Mr, Yates has neither time nor inclination for the lesser "warfare against the different modes of Christianity, which too many modern controversialists make the whole of their own mode of professing it." (Extract p. 102.) " And in comparing the present source of danger with certain others to which we have T 274 alluded in this article, we are particularly glad to quote the words of Mr. Yates, as those of one certainly not prejudiced in favour of the Institution to \vhich our two first heads had respect, if not possessed of some degree of disestccm for its signal operations.'* f£!a:- tract pp. 91 to 93.) " To conclude — Whilst Mr. Yates's pages breathe in every line the zealous and unof- fending spirit of a true Church -of-England activity ; we can do no better than earnestly express our hope that such a spirit may be- come more diffusively felt and acted upon by the whole body of the English Clergy. Standing upon the high vantage ground of their o^vii superior education, and the un- doubted and unrivalled favour of public opinion, wherever they conscientiously dis- charge their duty : we have no fears what- ever for the Church they represent, ' set, as it may be, in the midst of so many and great dangers ;' whilst impressed with a becoming sense of the source whence these dangers arise, they ' walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called.' We are bold to affirm, that no sound apostolical church, like 275 our own, can ever fall by any other means than by means of its own fault, and the ne- gligent or improper conduct of its appointed ministry. Every exclamation on its dangers, from whatever quarter, is, to our ears, but a satire on its own body ; and with what con- sistency, therefore, in our view, its own mi- nisters can reiterate that cry, let our readers judge. Let only the Church obtain the same legal facilities with the Dissenters, and we should not fear even the danger justly ap- prehended by Mr. Yates, otherwise than from the inactivstv of the Established Clerg-y; persuaded, as we are, that places would abundantly spring up for the exercise of their ministry, wherever that ministry pro- mised its proper fruits. The thronged con- gregations of some churches abundantly con- firm the maxim on one side ; and would that the situation oF others did not fatally prove the converse ! In fine, not to acknowledge the Church to be in danger, would be not to fall in with a very popular cry, or to lay ourselves open to the charge, perhaps, of sinister mo- tives. On the other hand, as the investiga- tion of that danger, if any, with its causes, T 2 276 mast, even in our minds, ultimately bear hard upon the conduct of her ministers, even under existing disadvantages, it is plain we must feel ourselves standing upon tender ground. But, indeed, * we are persuaded better things, and things which accompany salvation.' We would not be unrighteous to forget the work of faith and labour of love' which characterize so large a portion of the establisbed ministry of this country, both within and beyond the limits of the metro- polis. We believe with the respectable Mr. Yates, that, guided by * a candid and liberal spirit of examination, we shall find no class of the community, equally numerous, to produce a more excellent standard of character than the Clergy of the Church of England ; founded on a serious and conscientious reg^ard to the honour of God and the best interests of mankind ; and displayed in enlightened piety, sound learning, and active benevo- lence.' p. 125. In exact proportion as this testimony shall be found, on extensive ob- servation, substantially true, do we firmly believe the Church of England to stand on a rock that nothing can shake." 277 Augustan Review. No. 8. Decemher ISn.andNo. 10. Februcu'i/ 18\6. p. 132 to 144. Art. III. — The Church in Danger, a state- 7nent of the cause, &fc. Sfc. ^'c. ^^ The work which we are ahout to notice, possesses a peculiar claim to tlse attention of the public. We have perused it with a mix- ture of pleasure and regret, — -pleasure at see- ing an excellent remedy proposed for a great evil, and regret at j^erceiving the extent of that evil. Mr. Yates's exposition of it is one for which we were not fully prepared. We had, indeed, heen accustomed to apprehend some danger to our establishment, and from the quarters to which our attention is di- rected, but we certainly had not felt that the danger was so overwhelming as it is now represented ; that the assailants were so nearly at our doors ; and that the call for re- sistance had become so loud and urgent. Re- spectable characters had occasionally desired us to beware of this or that Society — of this or that Sect — as inimical to our religious in- stitutions. But none of them, it seems, em- braced the whole of the question; in their eagerness to expose one source of danger, they 278 overlooked that which is the greatest of all. " This important publication is an address to the Earl of Liverpool, enforcing the ne- cessity of an immediate interference on the part of the Legislature in favor of the Church established in this country, which Mr. Yates states to be in great and imminent danger; and showing the means through which such interference may be rendered practicable and effectual. It bears the title of The Church in i)aw^'er,forthetriteness and suspicious nature of which the author thinks it necessary to offer an apology. He confesses that the cry — The Church is in Danger — has often been set up by interested men to serve the purpose of a political party and to * conceal the real tendency of proceedings inimical to the pub- lic welfare :' yet he insists that it is possible a patriotic or useful purpose may be developed in an address under that title. Of his pur- pose we hasten to observe, that nothing but patriotism and philanthropy of the purest kind could either have dictated it, or have guided him in the execution of it. His apo- logy is continued thus : ' That I have upon tjiis occasion ventured to make use of a 279 phrase which has borne a dubious import, and been employed for sinister purposes, ori- ginates solely in a strong conviction of its li- teral truth and deep importance, in the ap- plication intended to be given to it in the fol- lowing pages/ p. 1. No subject indeed can be more important, or more interesting to every lover of his country, to every friend of virtue and religion, than the one thus brought under consideration. It is not to the feelings of Churchmen alone that the author appeals. The facts recorded in his statement are calculated to interest every good and benevolent man, whatever be his religious opinions. The object in view is not to assert the cause of the Church of England, as distinguished from, or op- posed to, any other religious society, but to assert the cause of morality and reli- gion, as they may be affected by the pros- perity or decay of that Church. And it is obvious, that if the assertion, that the in- terests of religion and morality are so con- nected with those of the national Church that they must prosper or suffer together, can be made out ; every friend of religion and morality would be interested in uphold- 280 ing the Church. Mr. Yates's endeavour being to state the necessity of a Legislative — not to propose a Doctrinal Defence of the Church of England, he has carefully ab- stained from all those disputed points not im- mediately and necessarily connected with his subject." {Extract p. 9 to 13.) " The alarm respecting the safety of the establishment which has so generally pre- vailed, has been kept up by the writings of well-meaning men, by whom various causes of danger have been assigned. The chief of these are Bible Societies, Lancasterian Schools, the active exertions of Sectaries, and the increase of Methodism ; and, in con- sequence of these, the daily defection from the Establishment. Let us state at once, in aa abridged form, what the author shall presently express at length, that he does not believe, either that any, or all of these taken together, are the cause of the growing evil, or that the suppression of them all would re- move it." (Extract p. 17 to 19.) " The means by which the benefits of the Established Church are to be communicated are, religious instruction^ which must be 281 received by the mass of the People chiefly through the medium of Public Worship. But ^ to give' PubUc Worship its full and beneficial effect, the necessary Duty devolves upon the State, of providing for a proper Division of the Country into Parishes, a re- gular Ministry appointed and supported by Law, and the erection of sufficient and con- venient Structures for the celebration of Di- vine Service/* A ministry appointed and €uppo7^ted by law. What does this mean ? Mr. Yates's usual perspicuity seems here to have failed him. The English clergy are ap- pointed according to law — not bi/ law. But the expression supported by law, is still more ambiguous. Does it not mean pro^ec/ec? rather than maintained? If the former, the new clergy will be precisely on a fdoting with the ministers of private Chapels : if the latter, they must be beneficed ; and who can afford to do this } The consideration of this alter- native leads to another consideration, which is of supreme importance, and to which we shall direct our attention before we close this article. It is this : Supposing a great ac- cession to be made to the number of the offi • 282 dating clergy, will it be advantageous to the cause of sound religion that they should sub- sist on permanent incomes granted by the state, rather than on such as may annually be derived from those who compose their au- ditories ? — We go on w ith our author, whose general object, and whose personal worth, give him a claim to a full hearing." (JEa:- tract p. 29 to 31.) *' This last paragraph contains a truth every way worthy the attention of the legis- lature. And here we think that we see much of the cause of that danger which has been ascribed to so many other causes, and of which so many partial and insufficient re- medies have been proposed. To obviate some part of the inconvenience arising from the want of churches, which had long been felt and complained of in almost every popu- lous neighbourhood, the chapel system was introduced. This system is shown to be in some respects injurious to the established church, and in no respect an efficient remedy of the existing evil. (^Extract p. 35 to S/.) *' An account of each county would occupy too much space; but as a specimen of Mr. 283 Yates's method of calculation, and espe- cially as it is necessary to the understanding of what follows, we shall transcribe what he says respecting the county of Middlesex, and then give his recapitulation of the average numbers to one church in each of eighteen counties/' (Extract p. 42 to 44.) " The next thing is, to show how nearly the average numbers to one church in those districts, where the population has so enor- mously increased, corresponds with the ave- rage he has thus arrived at." (Extract p. 48. to 56.) " The author next considers the interior circle, containing the more compressed popu- lation that immediately surrounds the City of London. And here the same method of cal- culation is observed as in the preceding in- tance ; but we can give to our readers only the results. The state of the population in each particular parish is first ascertained from the same authentic sources as before, and each parish church being supposed to con- tain 2,000 persons, the difference between this and the number of the inhabitants in the parish is assumed as the number of persons 284 %Yho cannot be accommodated. We need not insist upon the correctness of these cal- culations in order to coiivince any one of the magnitude of the evil complained of. Al- lowing an error of many thousands to have been made, there will still remain enough to answer every purpose the author has in view. In the following recapitulation of the interior circle, it is understood to consist of 55 pa- rishes, which are distributed among seven large divisions." (Extract p. 'J4 to 7^-) " The next paragraph is so striking and conclusive that we cannot forbear inserting it." (Extract p. 77.) ** No Christian will deny that it was the will of the founder of our relig-ion that his Gospel should be preached universally, and especialii/ to the poor ; or assert that this is now done, to a sufficient extent, bv the es- tablished Church. Every intelligent person must agree, that on the morality of the lower classes depends, in a great measure, the prosperity and stability of the state. In their good conduct every individual is person- ally concerned ; since every man, whatever be his rank or character, whatever be his 285 own practices, would wisli that his neigh- bours in inferior conditions should be sober, honest, and industrious. It is an absurdity peculiar to modern times, to assert, that the good conduct of any class of men is not most efFectually secured, by exciting in them a se- rious religious spirit. We may confidently appeal to the experience of other countries, if not of our own, in attestation of the fact, that where there is no reliq-ion, there is no virtue, no philanthropy, no patriotism. To observe the signs of the times is often the employment of the pious and reflecting mind. It is an useful, though sometimes a melan- choly task, to watch the finger of providence directing the progress of events so as to make all things subservient to the great designs of his mercy and justice. It has been our lot to perceive those designs advancing to their completion amidst the rage and havoc of war, and amidst the tears of a world groaning un- der severe trials and afflictions. The storm has subsided into peace ; but all is not tran- quil here or elsewhere. Whatever be the cause, the licentiousness of the lower classes has risen to such a height in many of the 286 more populous districts of this country, as frequently to have set at defiance all the usual means of restraint. Some powerful, practicable corrective is evidently wanted ; and it is worth the while of those who are in possession of power and influence to incpiire, whether that which Mr. Yates has pointed out be not of that description. If a period should arrive, when the populace shall have begun not only to disregard, but to deride the restraints both of religion and morality, what a deluge of crimes will hurst in upon us! It is high time for the Legislature to consider, whether it is prepared with means adequate to the stemming of such a torrent. It can- not hereafter plead the want of information on the subject as an excuse for not applying a suitable remedy. But is not our establish- ment in Church and State equally in danger from the immorality of the rich, as from that of the poor? We do not positively know. Immorality is very dangerous to so- ciety, in what class and under what form soever it appear. But the effects arising from the misconduct of the rich are widely different from those produced by the miscon- 287 duct of the poor. The immoralities of the great alFect the state chiefly by means of the corruption which their example produces. The rich are under no temptation to commit many of the crimes by which the safety of individuals, and the public tranquillity, are frequently endangered. They have no in- terest in disturbing the existing order of things; in introducing innovations into ei- ther the legislature or the laws. On the contrary, a change in the established system would tend to abridge their enjoyments, and to weaken the tenure by which they hold their means of enjoyment. Here and there a man may be found among them weak or wicked enough to think of building his greatness on his country's ruin ; but such a man must find many abettors in the lower classes, or his machinations will be futile and unavailing. But with an abandoned licen- tious populace the case is different. They have nothing to lose by a reverse of fortune but their lives, of which they are usually pro- digal enough ; and if they succeed they have every thing to gain. When once a man — especially a poor man, has lost his character, 288 and with It that esteem of himself upon which it was founded, he also loses all his affection for that state of things, and that government, which countenance and protect men only while they lead quiet, inoffensive, honest lives. ' The world is not his friend nor the world's law.' To what order in so- ciety do those chiefly helong whose lives are the most frequently forfeited to the laws, or those whom our places of confinement are not large enough to hold, or those of whom it is so often necessary to rid the land by trans- portation ? By whom are those robberies and murders committed, which seem to elevate to a disgraceful pre-emnience in Vvickedness the present period — by whom, but by those for -whom the legislature has neglected to pro- vide the benefits of religious instruction ? To the class of the neglected poor they obviously belong — as also do those 800 youthful depre- dators whose case is particularly noticed by Mr. Yates. An investigation into the con- dition of the poor, in several of the populous parishes in the metropolis, has been the means of ascertaining that, * besides an in- credible number of idle, vagabond, unin- 289 structed children, there are at the present time in three or four of those districts not less than eight hundred, between the ages of nine and fourteen, in regular train- ing as thieves, to assist their parents in plun- dering the community : fifteen of these un- fortunate premature criminals are (at the time of writing these words) in the prison of Newgate, and three of them under sentence of death/ p. 85. There is a circumstance too which at a time like this is fraua:ht with too much peril to be overlooked. Many of the inferior classes, owing to the pressure of the times, are unemployed, and in distress, and consequently exposed to feel the full force of those temptations which the friends of anarchy and irreligion will not fail to throw in their way ; and the number of them is in- creased by a multitude of disbanded soldiers and seamen, who have to seek for employ- ment which really is not to be found in a sufficient measure. And have no symptoms of violence shown themselves great enough to awaken public apprehension ? — A fear- ful danger overhangs us ; and it would surelv be much wiser to meet it, than to wait u 290 till the calamity approach. We grant that these observations seem to apply rather to the State than to the Chmch : but it should be recollected that, though it has been disputed whether the downfall of the Church would involve the downfall of the state, it has never been doubted that the de- sti'uction of our civil constitution would prove that of our religious establishment. The re- medy of present grievances, and the antidote to future evils, plainly are, to provide reli- gious instruction for those persons from whom danger can be apprehended. No one, who has perused the preceding ample ex- tracts from Mr. Yates's Letter, can doubt the fact, that no sufficient provision for that pur- pose has yet been made. An immense ma- jority of the poor cannot go to Church were they so inclined. They are unwelcome guests in our Churches as well as our Cha- pels. Into our Chapels indeed, it is wholly impossible, while the present system is acted upon, tha,t they should gain admission. In all populous places continual encroachments are made on those parts of the building which were formerly appropriated to the 291 poor, in order that those who are looked upon as entitled to a larger share of respect and consideration, may be accommodated with pews. In some Churches, not more than one-third the original space is con- tinued to them : and in others as well as Chapels of ease, where (though the an- cient parochial system is generally adhered to), the seats are let, this abuse is carried to a most reprehensible extent. In them the system of exclusion is pursued almost as rigorously as in the Chapels which owe their existence to private speculation. We have seen persons, who (though in to- lerable circumstances) could not afford the high rental of a pew; overlooked in the most galling manner by the officers of the Church, and exposed to the most mortifying inconveniences. Let us now consider for a moment what is the probable consequence of thus forcing a great multitude to desert the service of the Church, and to desert it too with a feeling of indignation towards the society which authorizes and permits such exclusion. They must either seek from sectarists that religious instruction which the u ^2 292 Church denies them ; or habitually spend in disreputable places, that time which ought to be devoted to pious purposes. ' The vi- sible and tremendous effects [to use the strong language of Mr. Yates] of such powerful demoralizing causes have been in our times (and are likely to continue to be) so severely felt that the mind shrinks from the contemplation of such a concentrated mass of exclusion, separation, and necessary disaffection to the Established Church; (Extract p. S\, 52.) Nor are the mischiefs, arising from the want of accommodation in religious edifices in some populous neighbourhoods, felt only by the poor. Many, even of those who can and would gladly pay the price of a seat, after repeated applications to the pro- per persons, are told that next half year they may, or may not be accommodated. Among our Christian countrymen who are not of the Church, no want of structures for reli- gious purposes is discoverable. They have accommodation for all w^ho want it. Their ancient buildings are enlarged, or new ones 293 erected, as if bv a species of magic, without any apparent difficulty, whenever occasion calls for them — often long before it does. Let us now hear Mr. Yates's epitome of the means of rectifying these abuses, and of ' cleansing the fountains of this baneful stream of vice.' For this purpose he recommends the restoration of ' the wise and judicious parochial organization established by our ancestors, and necessary to produce the be- neficial effects of the national Church'." (Extract p. 87, 88.) " Our readers will recollect that, in our ob- servations on the former part of this work, we gave it as our opinion, that something ought to be done without delay, for the amelioration of the state of the national Church. Mr. Yates had proved the neces- sity of taking some immediate step, and had pointed out the means the most likely to prove effectual. — We now resume our ob- servations on that part of the work in which he goes on to shew, that the danger to the es- tablishment can proceed from no other cause than that which he has assigned : and that no measures but those which he has proposed, 294 or some similar to them^ can be adequate to its removal. He will not allow, that the Associations formed for the distribution of the Bible, are the principal cause or among the principal causes of the assumed danger, and we readily agree with him, that * repres- sing the exertions of those Societies cannot possibly preserve the Church from the dan- ger that Impends over it through the ne- glected Ignorance, the unawed profligacy, the gross intemperance, and the habitual impiety of several hundred thousands, who are considered to be its members, and ought to be its supporters and protectors. — So far otherwise, that those who can be prevailed on to read the Bible must certainly be less dangerous and less inveterate enemies than those in whom all the evil propensities of Human Nature are suff'ered to retain their influence, fostered and strengthened by ha- bitual and vicious Indulgence ; who are left in total ignorance of a God and a future state, and who equally disregard all laws human or divine/ It is granted, that the Established Church can suff'er no injury from the most extended use of the Bible; it is 295 also granted that it can suffer but little from the practice of distributing the Bible without the Prayer Book, unless the Prayer Book come to be more neglected and more disused in consequence of such distribution. But are not the neglect and disuse of the Prayer Book much more likely to be brought about, by excluding the poor, who are already in possession of it, from that place in which it is chiefly designed to be used ; than by omit- ting to give it to those who have it not ? It is of no use to give either the Prayer Book, or the Bible, to those who cannot or will not read and meditate ; and it would seem, that, to procure for the Poor the advantage of hearing both read publicly at Church, is the best possible method of exciting and keeping alive in them, a regard and reve- rence for the books, and an inclination to read and study them in private. We feel assured, that, if the poor could be well ac- commodated In the House of God, we should have no cause to complain of the Prayer Book being neglected or disused among them, or to dread the progress of any description of Societies whatever. Mr. Yates next main- 296 tains, that the increase of Methodism and Sectarian disunion, which is supposed by many zealous and able Churchmen to be the cause of the present state of the Church, (whatever that state be) ought to be con- sidered as a CONSEQUENCE rather than a CAUSE of it ; since ' it appears that, around the Metropolis, a very large proportion of the nominal Members of the Church are totally excluded from Parochial Instruction, and know nothing of our excellent Liturgy/ It is not to be denied, that the success of the Methodists, and of some other Sectaries, is to be ascribed, not so much to their own zeal and dihgence (which are in themselves highly commendable), or to the supineness and negligence of the Established Clergy (which are highly blameable) ; as to certain defects and errors in the laws, the intrusion o£ which it was not in the power of the Clergy, but only of the Legislature, to pre- vent. Let any one peruse the following passage, and then say whether or not there exists a necessity for the immediate inter- position of the legislature. (^Extract j). 96, .970 ' 297 " We are surprized, that the attention of the Legislature has not long since been di" rected to defects in the law so notorious and so mischievous. Instances of their operation in different parts of the country, as well as in the metropolis, to the prejudice of the Church, are almost without number. Of those which Mr. Yates has selected, one is so very remarkable, and throws so much light upon the cause of Danger, that we shall beg our readers' attention to it. (^Ex- tract p. 98.) " With commendable indignation, he re- probates the conduct of those defenders of our Church, whose eager and extravagant crimination of those who differ from them, serves onlv ' to injure the cause of the Gos- pel, by lacerating and inflaming the wound of separation.' As he observes, * our great- est danger cannot, in the present age, a^ise from any doctrinal errors of religion ; — but from a total abandonment of the luhole Christian Dispensation, — an utter disregard and dereliction cif all religious principles.' Those friends of the Established Church, who have apprehended danger to its pros- 298 perity from Bible Societies and Sectarian Schools, have proposed, as a means of avert- ing that danger, ' to extend the influence and augment the powers of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and by the formation of another institution to promote the establishment of National Schools, to instruct the children of the poor, in large numbers, by the new methods of education in connexion \a ith, and upon the principles of the Established Church.' But Mr. Yates affirms, that these Institutions, however laudable and beneficial in themselves, cannot possibly remedy the grand evil of which he complains. He argues, that the beneficial influence of both can be much felt only in those parishes where the smallness of the population admits of their exertions being seconded and animated by the personal super- intendance and eff^orts of the Parish Priest. (Extract p. 109, HI.) " Those who have witnessed the annual as- semblage of the Charity Children of the Metropolis in St. Paul's Cathedral, and whose feelings have borne testimony to the munificent spirit which seems, on every oc- 299 casion, to animate, in a peculiar manner the breasts of that portion of our countrymen, will be surprized when they are thus told, that the inhabitants of London have con- tributed much less than their just share towards the education of the children of the poor. The statement here given is supported by many examples, the most striking of which obviously is that of the parish of St. Mary le Bone. In short, without impeach- ing in the least the pious intention and bene- ficial tendency of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, and that for the esta- blishment of National Schools, the author gives it as his opinion, that they cannot go far towards protecting the Established Church from the danger which threatens it, unless measures be taken by the Legislature to supply means by which their exertions may acquire force and efficacy. * The Dereliction of Duty, and Non-residence of the Clergy, have also been assigned as chief causes of danger to the Church.' The discussion of this subject leads to a warm and manly at- tempt to rescue that body of men from the general and undeserved censure, which has 300 been brought upon the whole by the indis- cretions of a few. The matter is taken up as it should be. We all know, that, in the minds of the vulgar, the misconduct of an individual is apt to fix a stigma upon the whole body to which he belongs, and that the Clergy, more than any other order of men, are liable to this indiscriminate uncha- ritable mode of condemnation. But even Senators — Senators wlio are chargeable with this species of injustice — should have felt more liberally than, in a solemn public Act, to confound the tares with the wheat; and to implicate in one sweeping sentence the deserving many and the guilty few. (^Extract p. 120 to 128.) " Such is the outline of the plan, which Mr. Yates wishes to be presented to the Legislature, for rescuing the Established Religion of his country from an encreasing danger; and which, in the volume before us, he submits ' to the public inspection.' That the plan will have no opposition to encounter seems hardly to be expected. The enemies of the Church will naturally object to any measure whose object is to encrease and 301 extend her influence ; and many even of her friends will be alarmed at the difficulties at- tending the execution of that which is here so strongly recommended. The utility, how- ever, of the plan is obvious; and we assert, that no plan can he devised, as at all likely to attain the end proposed, unless this be in some way or other combined with it. And if the measure recommended really is essen- tial to the public welfare, * great and ac- knowledged difficulties must not be permitted to deter the comprehensive mind of the judi- cious and energetic Statesman (to whom the plan is submitted) from undertaking it.' To w^hat we have already said, ii .vill be neces- sary to add but little respecting the general merits of Mr. Yates's proposal. Let us for a moment suppose the measure he proposes carried into execution ; let us suppose that a sufficient immber of Churches have been built for the accommodation of all (whether rich or poor) who are desirous, cr not unfi- ling to frequent them ; that proper Ministers have been provided for the celebration of Divine Service ; and that the proposed divi- sion of overgrown parishes, into others 302 smaller and better adapted to the purposes both of God and man, has been effected. Who will say, that we should not, in that case, enjoy in a much greater degree than we now do, the order, the peace, the comfort, the consolations, and the ineffable blessinos which naturally spring from religious instruc- tion and divine knowledge ? Is it credible, that as soon as an opportunity of attending the public worship of the Almighty with comfort and convenience is afforded, the in- clination to profit by that opportunity should vanish ? Or can we suppose, that religious instruction, will now, for the first time, cease to have its proper influence on the public morals and welfare ? An increased number of Churches, with increased attention to the convenience of congregations, would put the Establishment, in a material point, on a footing with its adversaries ; and, at the same time, strengthen the attachment of its friends, by removing a subject of just and serious complaint. — ' The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.' And to this deplorable, though sacred truth, every dy vout member of the Church, but above all, 303 every conscientious member of parliament, will, Me trust, readily assent, and following the advice contained in the remaining part of the text, — * Pray the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.' Lord Liverpool has much in his power. But there are difficulties to be sur- mounted. The author, however, denies that they are by any means insurmountable. For instance, it may be found rather difficult to make such a division of the overgrown pa- rishes, as not to interfere with the present method of relieving the poor ; or with the real or supposed interests of individuals ; to provide at once, a maintenance for the ministers to be appointed to the new Churches, and a compensation to those who must lose a part of their income by the division of their parishes; to provide for the expence of erect- ing Churches ; and lastly, to settle the right of presentation to the new livings. The dissatisfaction of individuals on the score of property, it is hoped, would be but small. Their conviction of the utility of the measure would do much; a wise exertion of the au- thority of Parliament, in tlie manner usual 304 ill such cases, would do all the rest. With respect to the division of Parishes, and the provision for the support of the new clergy, we have a few observations to offer. But we must first quote a remark of our Author's on the former of these subjects, which we think w^ell worthy of consideration. (Extract p. 130, 131.) " This would be an important advantage indeed i an advantage, which if no other good were to result from the measures pro- posed, would be sufficient to entitle them to an attentive examination. There is in truth no greater proof of the degeneracy of the poor of this country, than the readiness with which they submit to the degradation of ap- plying to the parish for relief. That spirit of independence, which formerly could not brook being indebted to the assistance of others for that which honest industry could procure ; which made even those who were worn down with years and infirmities, en- dure ' the bitterest gripes of smarting po- verty' rather than apply for ' charitable suc- cour,' seems now to have pretty nearly to have quitted the land — especially in those places 305 where they are most in want of religious in^ struction. They now without regret and sometimes without necessity, demand as a right that, which to be compelled to sue for, ^vas once considered the greatest wrong which fortune could inflict. It is not im- possible, in several populous Parishes, to find instances of families, who have never, for a whole century, ceased to be a burthen upon the public. Thus those funds which were intended for the benevolent purpose of relieving the wants of those who might be in distress, have, in many instances, served to encourage the evil propensities of persons who are content to eat the bread of idleness, and subsist on the labour of others. And where are these unprofitable servants usually found at those times (we speak of great Pa- rishes in great towns) which are set apart for the worship of their Maker? Not always in the courts of the house of their God. Thither they could not often repair without learning, that it is the duty of us all ' to labour truly to get our own living ;' nor could they often hear this precept inculcated without feehng some incHnation to put it in 306 practice. The ordinary consequences of an habitual attendance on Divine service, are decency in outward appearance and beha- viour ; a more regular discharge of moral duties, and an increase of industry and fru- gality. And if an enquiry were instituted into the characters of those who are accus- tomed to throw themselves upon their pa- rishes, it would be found that of those who without bodily infirmity, or anv real necessitv, are wicked enough to sue for charitable relief, very few had ever received that religious in- struction, which it is the duty of the Esta- blished Church to provide for all. — But, the present enormous extent and population of many of the Parishes, renders it impossible for the parish officers to institute an enquiry into the nature of every individual case, or to see that their bounty be not abused ; and the same cause prevents the minister from effecting the moral improvement of all the poor in his district, either by public instruc- tion or private exhortation. We have, on the whole, good grounds for agreeing with Mr. Yates that, if the proposed division were to take place, the result would be a consi- 307 derable diminution of the poor's rates ; and that the difficulties attending the execution of this part of his plan, would be amply re- paid by the advantages it would produce. The providing of a respectable maintenance for the new ministers, and a compensation to those whose incomes must suffer by a di- vision of their parishes, is next considered. (Extract p. 135, 136.) " The peiv 7'ent is an unobjectionable re- source ; and so will the charge in proportion to rents of houses be considered, whenever householders shall come to feel somewhat as Mr. Yates does, that their particular interests will be promoted, by enlarging the sphere of general religious knowledge. But the di- verting of ecclesiastical dignities into a chan- nel altogether new, is not likely to be much relished by the present body of dignitaries, whether ecclesiastical or civil. The Bishops will think they cannot afford to dispense with any of their patronage ; Ministers of State, who are the lawgivers in such cases, will take care to decide, that the interests of the nation require that they should keep all thev have. Both will object to the idea of the X 2 SOB House of Commons recommending the new clergy to stalls — as they do their own Chap- lains ; but both, we cannot douht, will allow that the subsidiary Clergy ought to have a share of those dignities proportioned to their numbers. This will be enough : it will be no small inducement to men distinguished for talents and erudition to sue for the in- cumbency of the new churches, and to dis- charge their sacred duties with conscientious zeal. Preferment given to a whole class of the Clergy, solely because they are in the habit of preaching well, will be a new thing of which all will approve. Paley's maxim about popular preachers was a very good college joke, but nothing more. A man who stands up and holds forth by the side of the high-way will be popular, if he please the ignorant who interrupt their vulgar cal- lings for a moment to listen to him. But he who addresses an assembly of devout Chris- tians, possessed of taste and knowledge, can render himself popular, only by manifesting a degree of taste and sacred wisdom consi- derably greater than their own. He must; win the heart, he must inform the under- 309 standing. But he who can do this is not an ordinary character. He is, however, what we call a popular preacher — a designation necessarily importing high desert. Puhlic speakers, who do not possess and display qualities somewhat similar, are not preachers. The expense of building the churches, and of endowing them (if they must be en- -dowed), ought to fall upon the nation at large, not upon the parishes in which they are built. The obvious means of diminishing the expense of building, is plainness in the construction and fitting up of the edifice. It is not essential that churches be highly wrought architectural ornaments of the streets in which they stand ; or that they vie in gran- deur with those which serve as monuments of the magnificence of our pious ancestors. If they afford suitable accommodation to every class of hearers, it is all that is required. But would it tend to the general interests if, the new churches being unendowed, the minister were left to depend upon his congregatioi) tor support ? In this, as in almost every other question, * much may be said on both sides.' On an impartial examination of the 310 question, we are convinced, that It would be difficult to conceive a less objectionable way t)f disposing of it, than that presented to our readers in the above extract ; according to which, the Minister is made neither wholly dependent, nor wholly independent, on his congregation. A Clergyman may, and per- haps ought, to be dependent on his audience, to a certain degree. A sense of his depend- ence may stimulate his exertions, let the natural — the general frame of his mind be what it may ; and the hope that his reward will be proportionate to his labours, will at all times enable him to go on his way re- joicing Divines do not subsist like divinities. Here a question occurs, upon the answer to which will depend the fate of an objection which will be brought against the proposal for augmenting the number of churches. yVhat is the reason why so many churches in London are so nearly abandoned on the Lord's Dav ? — The want of exertion and of ardour — the appalling dread of the impu- tation of methodlsm, furnishes, in some in- stances, an explanation of the sad phenome- non ; and the freedom of remark upon the 311 preacher's manner and matter explains it in other instances. It is now a fashion, which was unknown to our serious forefathers, for Individuals to travel from one place of worship to another, just as they happen to be allured by curiosity and the love of novelty. Instead of going to church for substantial edification, they meet to sit in judgment upon the preacher, who is applauded or condemned on principles not founded in either reason or scripture. The mode in which the Minis- ter's income is to be raised, has already been mentioned. The pew rents will form but a fluctuating provision. The number of churches being increased, the demand for pews v/ill be diminished, and a reduction take place in the price of them. One great purpose, also, of the new erections being to accommodate the poor, it would defeat that purpose, if all, or even the greater part of the building were let to the wealthy parishioners. The rental, however, of the seats, which it would be proper to let, though probably insufficient of themselves for the due maintenance of the incumbent, would prove no contemptible addition to an endowment obtained in the 312 way already pointed out. Some small en- dowment win be found indispensably requi- site. For if there were no endowment, and if the rents did not furnish a comfortable sub- sistence, the Minister would be compelled to have recourse either to other pursuits, which would withdraw much of his time from his pastoral duties, or to the voluntary contributions of his flock. If he prefer the former expedient, some of those advantages would be lost which the new churches and ministers were intended to produce ; if the latter, he must suffer in point of useful per- sonal dignity. Subscriptions can safely be resorted to only by very popular preachers — and who can fix himself so firmlv in the hearts of others as to insure the continuance of his popularity ? But if a man happen not to be pojndar, that is, well liked by those who never yet profited without bein<^ pleased, he must submit to the hard alter- native of either humouring the prejudices of his audience, or of starving under the ope- ration of their displeasure. A conscientiogs man cannot do the one, a prudent man will not do the other. We are far from meaning 313 that a Clergyman of the Church of England ought not to he much influenced hy the opi- nions of his hearers. It is his duty, as well as his interest, to make concessions even to their prejudices; but he ought to know where to stop. He has the authority and example of an apostle in becoming * all things to all men' for a good purpose ; but he is under no obligation to concede any thing contrary to reason and his conscience. (^Extract p. 215, 216.) *^ Supposing now that other difficulties are surmounted, how is the right of presentation to the new livings to be settled ? The only case considered by Mr. Yates, is that which will interfere with the privileges and immu- nities of certain individuals. Such claims would, no doubt, sometimes occupy the at- tention oF those to whom the manao-ement of the business would be entrusted ; but, in most instances, they might be settled with- out difficulty, by the offer of an equivalent. But, after all such claims were determined, there would remain several new rectories, of which the patronage would be to be disposed of. To whom should the Legislature give 314 the right'of presentation ? to the Crown, or to the Bishops ? No additional augmentation of the influence of the Crown is at all necessary at present. Professional merit is not always the principal recommendation to those eccle- siastical dignities, of which the minister has the disposal ; and, as it is a matter of high im- portance that none hut competent persons be appointed to such situations, no unworthy considerations should be allowed to influence the selection. The Bishops are, without any doubt, the only persons competent to choose proper ministers ; and they are the least likely to suffer their choice to be governed by improper motives.— ^The people might, it is true, be left to choose their own pastors ; but this is an expedient, which could seldom answer any good purpose; while it would certainly produce, on most occasions, a great deal of mischief. Nonconformists, whose suff'rages. could not be rejected, would gain an ascendancy : dissentions w ould be pro- duced among neighbours ; and illiterate men might, through dexterous management, be put in charge of congregations. Besides it is notorious, that the people do not always con- 315 ilnue satisfied with the person on whom their cliolce has fallen. The preceding sketch will convey an idea both of Mr. Yates's plan, and of his proposed mode of carrying it into execution. Never, perhaps, did any measure of such importance and magnitude present fewer obstacles. Even in its economical views, it is worthy the most serious attention of the Legislature, which will do honor to Itself by considering it in a manner suited to its high national utility. The favourable opinion we entertain of the project, is so clearly expressed in the course of our observations, that further com- mendation of it would be absurd.' Monthly Review, August 1816. No. 4. Vol. 80. New Series, Art. 11, p. 434 to 436. *' Art. XI. — TJie Church in Danger: a Statement of the Cause, Sfc. 8fc. " Mr. Yates is already known to the pub- lie as the author of the History and Antiqui- ties of the Town and Abbey of St. Edmund's Bury, and we think that the present tract is sir; not likely to derogate from Ills leputatioru His object is to shew in what consists any real clano;er to the ecclesiasticai establishment of the kingdom, and to suggest those means which appear to him the most effectual in averting that danger. (^Eoctrnct p. 18, 19.) '' He begins, therefore, by shewing how disproportionate is the size of the churches to the population of the parishes, and how many persons are consequently excluded from public worship and parochial communion. On this ])rinciple, he takes a view of the means which are provided for public worship in the metropolis, where chapels have of late years been built to remedy the want of ac- commodation in the parish-churches : but these Cliapels, he justly observes, * though they supply the means of public worship to many of the wealthy members of the com- munity, yet certainly contribute a large pro- portion of injury to the established church.' It is a disgraceful thing that they should be conducted, as they are, like so many com- mercial speculations. — ' The tirst object of the proprietors is to obtain the highest pos- sible rent for the pews ; those who can pay liljerallv are accommotlated, tbe poor are uhi- \ ersally and wlioUy excluded :' — while the o[Bciatlng ministers are hired, tried, kept, or dismissed, like menials, at the caprice of their employer?, liaving no parochial connec- tion with their congregation, and no power of appeal to the higher authorities of the esta- hlishment. — The average proportion of num- hers, which, at tlie original division of pa- rishes our ancestors intended to allot to one churcli and one minister, is endeavoured to he obtained by taking the average number allotted to each minister in the several coun- ties for ml no* a circle of about 100 miles semi- diameter around the metropolis ; and this general average is computed to be about 110 houses, and 640 persons to one parish church. By comparing, therefore, this allotment with the present state of the churches and popula- tion of the several parishes of the kingdom, the inadequacy of provision, which the legis- lature has hitherto made for public worship, is manifestly apparent. The town of Brigh- ton is a strong case in point; which, when merely a small fishing -place, was furnished with one church and one minister : it is now 318 increased to a resident population of more than 12,000 ; ' and the law/ says Mr. Yates, * still continues that number in one parish, under the care of one minister, and the same one church ; which upon the largest com- putation cannot supply the benefit of the li- turgical instruction of the church of England to more than 3,000, leaving a surplus popu- lation of 9,000 without parochial communion with the church of England. Tiie same ob- servations are applied to many other pa- rishes; in which, from different circum- stances, the population has increased to a size never contemplated by the original framers of our ecclesiastical laws, and which, in consequence, require farther provision from the present legislative body. This tract is well written, the arguments are ably drawn up, and the case is made out in a lu- minous and statistical manner.^' 319 Sermon at the oj)ening of the Chapel of the Philanthropic Soviet ij hy VicESiaius Knox, D. D. pages T , 8, 9, 10. " Whatever the indifferent or the dis- affected to the church may allege in oppo- sition, I venture to affirm that the uneoiuil size of parishes, and the change of local po- pulation, render the erection of new places of worship, on the establishment ^ in various parts of this kingdom, a grand desideratum in the present state of our ecclesiastical po- lity. It is natural to inquire in this place, from what cause originated the inequality of parochial districts. Let us look hack then to the age of Augustine, when he landed on the shores of Kent, and imported, not indeed the rich cargoes of East or West In- dian produce, the only riches, which, in the opinion of narrow worldlings, are devoutly to be wished for ; but the unperishing treasures of the gospel. He came and fixed his chair in the centre of his province, tlie kingdom of Ethelbert, where it still stands, in all the dignity and beauty of holiness, a magnificent cathedral. From this seat of ecclesiastical authority he sent forth itinerant preachers to all the towns and villages of his province. 320 But the great proprietors of land soon found the inconvenience of a ministry so precarious and distant, intolerable; and therefore erected churches on their own estates, and obtained for each a resident pastor, either rectorial or vicarial, either an incunibent or a substitute. Thus all the churches in the land were ori- ginalhj but chapels, auxiliary to their several mother churclies, the cathedrals of each dio- cese. But the piety of those times was great ; religion, the chief purpose and bu- siness of life, and the lords of the manors soon vied with each other in endowing the churches, from their own possessions with glebes ; and rendered the parishes, however they differed in population, commensurate with their own manerial desmesnes. And as their manors, of course, varied in ex- tent, so also varied the parishes, in their boundaries ; and so, to this hour, they continue to vary ; and, for this reason, it is most desirable that there should be an addition to the auxiliary chapels, all over the kingdom. If the spirit of piety can be kept up by zeal in ministers, it admits of no doubt but that places of worship should be multiplied, and accommodated, in every 321 district, to the local convenience of a faithful and devout people. What avails it that they have a parish church, if the time and labour requisite to resort to it, and return from it, are more than, in the nature of things, they can possibly spare ? Tens of thousands are in this situation ; condemned, amidst all the lights of Christianity, to live and die in the darkness of Heathenism. The consequence of possessing only a single church, and often a very small church, at the extremity of a large parish, extending ten, twenty, oreven thirty miles in length, can easily be con- ceived : and where this is the case, many pious persons, from the cradle to the grave, have never entered their own lawful place of worship, except at their baptism and thier burial : and even at these times, not without expence, labour, and difficulty. It is truly a pilgrimage, in such situations, to resort to the parish church, often situated, to add to the hardship, on a lofty eminence. The aged and the infirm, who stand most In need of religious consolation, are often prevented, for many years of declining life, from enter- ing the sanctuary, and partaking of the holy sacrament, though they thirst after it, like Y 322 as the hart jya^'^iteth for the waterbrooks. How far the rapid increase of places of wor- ship, UNFRIENDLY to the cstahUshed church, is occasioned by a paucity of national churches, disproportioned to an augmented population ; and how far it operates to the injury of the established church, and whe- ther it does not render expedient an addition to the number of churches and chapels on the establishment, I leave to the official guardians of our ecclesiastical state, with a respectful deference to the wisdom of those, whose immediate duty it is, to take cabe THAT THE CHURCH SHALL NOT BE IN DAN- GER. Upon the whole it appears, at least to me^ that from the apathy of worldly men to all but pleasure, pomp, or riches ; from the infidelity of conceited sciolists, who wish to appear wiser than their neighbours ; and from the enthusiasm of the more serious part of the lower orders : there is danger, lest the church, which flatters neither worldly propensities, intellectual vanity, nor fanatical extravagance, should be partially deserted. Is not the service of the church actually de- serted in the afternoon, at least by the 323 higher oixlers, in almost every part of the metropolis and kingdom ? It is particu- larly desirable, in my opinion, to multiply churches and chapels on the establishment, if it were only for the sake of counteracting the mischiefs of popular error ; and of 7eviving, throughout all orders, a spirit of sober, yet fervent ; of rational, yet scrip- tural, 7'eligio7i." Speech of the Earl of Harrowby on a IMll for the better support and mainte- nance of Stipendiary Curates. 18 nlune 1812. P. 6, 7 " No man is more dis- posed than myself to consider the property of the Church as equally sacred with our pro- perty in our own freehold estates ; but there is this difference between them — our pro- perty in our freehold estates is absolute, that of the Church is conditional. Even the right of a Patron in his advowson, which courts of law have thought proper to con- sider as a lay fee, is subject in its exercise to the condition of appointing, within a limited time, a proper person to the benefice. If he Y 2 324 appoints an improper person, the Bishop may refuse to institute him, and upon suffi- cient cause shewn, will be supported in his refusal by the courts of common law. If he neglects to make any appointment within a specified time, the presentation lapses to the Bishop ; and after further neglect on the part of the Bishop, to the Crown. The pro- perty of the Incumbent is equally conditional. If he neglects the discharge of the duties for the remuneration of which the profits of his living are given to him, he may, by various processes, under the direct authority both of ecclesiastical and statute law, be totally di- vested of that property. " If Parliament were to repeal the Acts of Henry the Eighth, by which pluralities and non-residence are permitted in specified cases, and the Act of the 43d of the King, by which legal non -residence has been so much extended, no Patron could present to any li- ving an Incumbent who would not reside, or who was already in possession of another living. Would it be possible to contend that such a re])eal would be a violation of the pri- vate property of the patron ? 325 P. 15, 16, 17 "I am far from supposing that respectability of character, exemplary discharge of duty, or a competent share of learning, are necessarily connected, or even connected at all, with the amount of the salary received. The most exalted virtues may he found in the humble cottage of the Cu- rate, as well as in the ample parsonage of the richly beneficed Incumbent. But human ar- rangements must be calculated upon the ordi- nary course of human affairs : we are not to look for apostolical virtues in the Curate, merely because we reduce him to apostolical poverty. How can we expect, considering the Church only as a profession, that men who have neces- sarily received a liberal education, and who ought to be men of liberal views, will con- tinue to enter into a profession, in which the blanks bear so large a proportion to the prizes ? How can we expect that persons, whose incomes hardly afford the means of subsistence, will be able to keep up that de- cent appearance which is almost indispen- sably necessary to ensure the respect of their parishioners ? Much less can we expect that they should be able to conciliate their affec- 326 tion, by administering to the wants of those who are only in a sh^-ht degree poorer than themselves. Want of respect for the persons who discharge ecclesiastical duties, will soon he transferred to the duties themselves. Men are too apt to measure the respect they owe to persons, or to offices, by the respect which they see paid to them by the authorities to which they look up. What must they think of the value which is set by the Legislature upon the persons or the office of those to whose care the religion of the people is en- trusted, when thev see at how low a rate their services are estimated ? How can we be surprised at the rapid progress of every species of sectaries (^who are far from allow- ing the ministers of their congregations to fall in point of income to a level with the Curates of the Established Church), when so large a proportion of the ministers of that church are left in a state of abject po- verty ; when they are left in that state, not only in cases where the church is poor and the duty light, but where the church is rich and the duty most laborious ? P. 32, 33, 34 " My chief an^ 327 xiety is, to draw to this subject the attention of your Lordships, to convince you that the call for that attention is the call of duty, as you regard the preservation of that Esta- blished Church which is the boast and sup- port of our country. It is assailed fronj within and from without. Some of its an- cient outvi'orks are, in the opinion of many of its warmest friends, no longer applicable to the circumstances of the times in which we live ; but its citadel is strong ; if repaired upon its own principles, it may resist every attack ; let it not be betrayed by want of discipline, or by starving its garrison. While the licences for the erection of dissent- ing places of worship are increasing From the average of 90 per annum during the first 14 years of the present reign, to an average of 518 during the last 14 years; and the li- cences for dissenting preachers in a still larger proportion; while there are 1881 parishes, containing a population of nearly five milUions of persons, in which the churches and chapels are 2553, capable of containing only 1,856,000 persons, and the places of dissenting worship are 3438; do 328 not let us shut our eves to the dangers of our situation ; do not let us imagine, that by de- nying their existence, we can secure our- selves against their progress. " In the most populous parishes, places of worship, according to the Church of Eng- land, are notoriously deficient. Tiie peo- ple have no option but the entire neglect of all divine uorship, or tlie attendance upon a w^orshlp which makes them dissentei's from the establishment. While the chapels of every sect are rising round them day by day, and inviting congregations by every species of accommodation, and by the repetition of their services at different hours, the parish church is open perhaps only once on the Sunday ; is insufficient to accommodate the rich ; and in too many places is almost shut against the poor. " If any part of this picture is overcharged I shall most sincerely rejoice in being con- victed of my error, because every mistake which may be pointed out will be j97'o tanto a diminution of the dangers which I appre- hend. Much indeed might be deducted from them, and yet enough would l)e left to ex- 329 cite alarm, and to demand attention ; if that attention is given, the result must be bene^ ficial. If this measure is rejected, something better will he adopted. It is imjDossible for things to remain as they are. For myself, I owe many apologies to your Lordships for having so long detained you ; I owe some, perhaps, for having presumed to bring forward a subject which ought to have l)een placed in better hands. But I trust that the circumstances which 1 have already stated have vindicated me from the charge of voluntary presumption. It is the duty of every man to throw his mite into your treasury." " Quarterly Review, Vol. 10. No. 19. October 1813. p. 54 /o 5^. " Earl of Harrowby's Speech on the Bill for the better support and maintenance of Stipendiary Ciwates. " We hope that it is only the beginning of those healing measures which the condition of our Church loudly calls for. Some of the evils and dangers to which it is exposed he 330 has himself sketched out towards the con- chisioii of his speech. They are truly alarming." (^Quotation from the Speech^ p. 32.) '* In many of the most populous parishes the people have no option but the entire neg- lect of all divine worship, or the attendance upon a worship which makes them dissenters from the Establishment. *^ What are the expedients ordinarily em- ployed to counteract these evils ? ^' The Bishop reads a charge pointing out and lamenting the rapid increase of enthu- siasm and defection from the Church through- out the Country. The Clergy admire this charge ; it is printed at their request, and some of them inculcate and enlarge upon the same topics in their sermons. All they say say is probably very just ; but as far as \t professes to check the evil, it is only a so- lemn trifling. In large towns the Churches are literally shut against the majority of the poor inhabitants. Our population has more than doubled within a Century, and yet no measures have been adopted for meeting this increase by building or enlarging Churches 331 m proportion. Even where Chapels have been opened they have almost invariably been appropriated to those who can afford to rent a Pew. We know of one most honour- able exception in the case of a Church at Bath, and of another equally meritorious at Bir- mingham : but for the rest, although a larger number of the midllng and upper classes are accommodated with the means of attending divine worship, the bulk of the common peo- ple are disregarded. The absolute increase of that Class far exceeds the increase of the upper classes : yet what steps have been taken for their religious instruction in the church ? To blame them for attendlno; me- thodlst and other meetings is worse than folly ; it is cruel mockery. Under such an alternative as lies before them, they rather deserve to be commended, unless it can be shewn that Methodism is worse than no re- ligion. '* We are far from imputing blame to in- dividuals, because these things are not better managed in their respective parishes. In most cases we know It is out of the power of individuals to correct them. The law must do 332 it, if it be done at ail. But on this very ac- count vvc have reason to look lor aid from those whose seats in the legislature give tliem the means, as they impose the duty, of watch- ing over the interests of the Church. A va- riety of petty rights and privileges are suf- fered to exist undisturbed, which thwart every zealous attempt to comprehend the poor of a parish within the congregation. The Interior of the Church is already allotted in proportions, suitable enough three centu- ries ago, to the several classes of inhabitants. These have in the mean time shifted, and are often quite inverted -. yet the same prepos- terous distribution of space continues. A manor seat, often empty, or occupied by a siniiie servant, covers an area sufficient to accommodate 20 or 30 willing hearers who are now excluded. A dissenter may be owner of a pew, and out of pure spite to the church, keep it empty every Sunday but one, when he sends a servant to save his privilege. A few passages and corners capable of con- taining, perhaps, a tenth of the poor, are graciously conceded to them, where they stand or sit as they can, in immediate con- 333 tact with that forbidden <>'i'ound which Is often wliolly vacant. Thousands and Mil- lions there certainly are in the kinj^dom, who liave no admission to a place in their parish Church: and if the obvious expedient be proposed of opening some additional building for pubhc worship, the patron interferes, and without his licence nothlno: can be done. This patron may be a Dissenter, — he may be a profligate, — a notorious despiser of all reli- gion; — or if a Churchman, every one knows how obstinately men cling to their privileges, in spite of all that can be urged in the name of equity, propriety, and public good. Ought then, we ask, these things to remain as thev are ? If one tenth part of the inconvenience had been felt in the accommodation for a mar- ket town, it would long ago have been reme- died by law. Unsightly projections are re- moved, streets are widened, houses set fur- ther back, and market places enlarged, in proportion to the growing wants of a neigh- i)ourhood; the Church alone, with all its an- tiquated arrangements, must remain the same. Against any attempt at improvement for the public benefit, private rights are here 334 allowed to be insurmountable ; insomuch that it is a notorious fact that while a meeting;- house of any denomination may be opened any where without the slightest difficulty, possessing all the sanction and security of law, hardly any efforts will avail towards the erection of a Church of England Edifice in some of the most populous parishes of the kingdom. " We do not presume to say what steps the legislature ought to take for the redress of this great evil; but that something should be done, and that quickly, no considerate friend to the Church will deny. If a local jurisdiction were created invested with sum- mary power in all cases of Church sittings, authorized to allot the space as they might think most conducive to general utility, much good might be effected. But even then the grand object will remain to be accomplished, that of appropriating more buildings to Church Worship, with an especial regard to the accommodation of the poor. Till this is done, we abandon that most numerous class, who have no other means of religious instruc- tion, to the practices of every ignorant and 335 ranting enthusiast, or to the condition of a heathen, to whom the Gospel is not preached." [In this part of the Article is inserted an Extract from a diocesan return of Popula- tion, Churches, and Chapels, given in the appendix to Lord Harrowhy's Speech, hut it is here omitted as a more recent one is printed in the former part of this tract at pp. 156, 157.] " Here we have a list of about 1000 Pa- rishes, containing a population of nearly 3 i Millions^ in which the buildings appropriated to the service of the Church will contain lit- tle more than *One Million ; that is, about one ^seventh of the whole. If we consider further, that by far the greatest part, or ra- ther the whole, of the excluded population, in great and wealthy towns, consists of the lower orders, it is hardly possible to conceive a case which calls more loudly for the imme- diate attention of the Legislature. " We rejoice therefore in the success of Lord Harrowhy's measure, because it has * jQu. is not this a mistake ? 336 taken away one ground of reproach iiom our Church EstabUshmcnt. But we rejoice still more in the hope wliich it affords of future benefits. It might perhaps be more satis- factory to see these important services under- taken by the heads of the church themselves. And we cannot frame to ourselves a line of conduct more worthy of a Christian bishop than such an undertakins;. But we are aware at the same time of the difficulties he would meet with, and of the feeble influence which a single Prelate, or even the whole or(!er of Prelates, would possess compared with that of a member of the Cabinet. It is well for us that the Cabinet contains some men sincerely attached to the EstaWishment, not merely as an Engine of State, but as a pillar of Christianity. And while we admire the firm- ness and decision, which has been displayed bv Lord Harrowby in prosecuting the late measure, we are inclined also to augur well of any future efforts, from the discretion, temper, and moderation which are not less conspicuous in the whole proceeding." 337 British Critic, January 1815. Case of the Free Chajiel at JBrighton. P. 92 " That it may have the desired effect of more speedily calling parlia- mentary attention to the subject, the sub- ject we mean of the very inadequate provision which at present exists in all the populous parishes of the kingdom for the public wor- ship of the inhabitants, though it places in so striking a point of view the manifold evils which Proprietary Chapels and Lay Elderships engender, that it will lead, we trust, to a very different result to that which he contemplates, and will ensure, as far as circumstances will admit, the division of those large masses of population, which many of our parishes at present contain, into separate cures, provided each with its own Church and its own Pastor canonically appointed, and to- gethei' with this too-long-neglected redress of the greatest national grievance which now pre- vails will ensure also the repairing so effectu- ally the broken-down fences of Pastoral juris- diction, that the intrusive entrance of any z 338 clergyman into another's labours, may in fu- ture be prevented." Edinburgh Review, Vol. 17, Feb. 1811, p. 397 to 399. "Instead of making the dissenting churches less popular, why not make the English Church more popular, and raise the English Clergy to the privileges of the Dissenters ? — In any parish of England, any layman or clergyman, by paying sixpence, can open a place of worship, provided it he not the Tf^orshiji of the Church of England. If he wishes to attack the doctrines of the bishop or the incumbent, he is not compelled to ask the consent of any person ; but if, by any evil chance, he should be persuaded of the truth of those doctrines, and build a chapel, or mount a pulpit to support them, he is in- stantly put into the Spiritual Court : for the regular incumbent, who has a legal monopoly of this doctrine, does not chuse to suffer any interloper ; and without his consent, it is illegal to preach the doctrines of the Church within his precincts. 339 " It might be supposed that the general interests of the Church would outweigh the particular interests of the rector; and that any clergyman would be glad to see places of worship opened within his parish for the doctrines of the Established Church. The fact, however, is directly the reverse. It is scarcely possible to obtain permission from the established clergyman of the parish to open a chapel there ; and when it is granted, it is granted upon very hard and interested conditions. The parishes of St.Georgc — of St. James — of Mary le bone — and of St. Ann's in London, — may, in the parish churches, cha- pels of ease, and mercenary chapels, contain perhaps one hundredth part of their epis- copalian inhabitants. Let the rectors, lay and clerical, meet together, and give notice that any clergyman of the Church of Eng- land, approved by the Bishop, may preach there, and we will venture to say that places of worship, capable of containing 20,000 persons, would be built within ten years ; — but in these cases the interest of the rector and of the Establishment are not the same. A chapel belonging to the Sweden- z 2 340 borglans, or Methodists of" the New Jeru- salem, was offered two or three years since in London to a clergyman of the Establish- ment. The proprietor was tired of his irra- tional tenants, and wished for better doctrine. The rector (since a dignitary) with every possible compliment to the fitness of the person in question, positively refused the application, and the church remains in the hands of the Methodists. No particular blame is intended, by this anecdote, against the individual rector. He acted as many have done before and since ; but the incum- bent clergyman ought to possess no such power. It is his interest, but not the interest of the Establishment. " Now this appears to us a great and ma- nifest absurdity, and a disadvantage against the Established Church which very few esta- blishments could bear. The persons who preach, and who build chapels, or for whom chapels are built among the Dissenters, are active, clever persons, with considerable talents for that kind of employment. These talents have, with them, their free and un- bounded scope; whilst in the English Church o 41 they are wholly extinguished and destroyed. Till this evil is corrected, the Church con- tends with fearful odds against its opponents. On the one side, any man who can command the attention of a congregation — to whom nature has o-iven the animal and intellectual qualifications of a preacher, — such a man is the member of every corporation, — all impe- diments are removed ; — there is not a single position in Great Britain which he may not take ; — provided he is hostile to the Esta- blished Church. In the other case, if the Established Church were to breed up a Masillon or a Bourdaloue, he finds every place occupied ; and every where a regular and respectable clergyman ready to put him in the Spiritual Court, if he attracts within his precincts any attention to the doctrines and worship of the Established Church. The necessity of having the bishop's consent, would prevent any improper person from preaching. That consent should be with- held, not capriciously, but for good and lawful cause to be assigned. " The profits of an incumbent proceed from fixed or voluntary contributions. The fixed 342 could not be affected ; and tlie voluntary ought to vary according to the exertions of the incumbent, and the good will of the Parishioners; but if this be wrong, pecuniary compensation might be made (at the discre- tion of the ordinary) from the supernumerary to the regular clergyman. Such a plan, it is true, would make the Church of England more popular in its nature ; and it ought to be made more popular, or it will not endure for another half century. There are two methods ; the Church must be made more popular, or the Dissenters less so. To effect the latter object by force and restrictions is unjust and impossible. The only remedy seems to be, to grant to the Church the same privileges which are enjoyed by the Dissenters, and to excite in one party that competition of talent which is of such pal- pable advantage to the other. " A remedy suggested by some well-wishers to the Church, is the appointment of men to benefices who have talents for advancing the interests of religion ; but till each parti- cular patron can be persuaded to care more for the general good of the Church than for 343 the particular good of the person whom he patronizes, little expectation of improvement can be derived from this quarter. ** The competition between the Established Clergy, to which this method would give birth, would throw the incumbent in the back ground, only when he was unfit to stand forward, immoral, negligent, or stupid. His income would still remain ; and if his influence were superseded by a man of better qualities and attainments, the general good of the Establishment would be consulted by the change. The beneficed clergyman would always come to the contest with great ad- vantages ; and his deficiencies must be very great indeed, if he lost the esteem of his parishioners. But the contes.t would rarely or ever take place, where the friends of the Establishment were not numerous enough for all. At present the selfish incurr<^ent, who cannot accommodate the fiftieth part of his parishioners, is determined that no one else shall do it for him. It is in pMch situa- tions that the benefit to the Esiablishment would be greatest, and the injury to the appointed minister none at all. 344 " We beg of men of sense to reflect, that the question is not, whether they wish the Enghsh Church to stand as it now is ; but, whether the English Church can stand as it now is ; and whether the moderate activity here recommended, is not the minimum of exertion necessary for its preservation. At the same time, we hope nobody will rate our sagacity so very low, as to imagine we have much hope that any measure of the kind will ever be adopted. All establish- ments die of dignity. They are too proud to think themselves ill, and to take a little physic. P. 394. ...... " What is the meaning of religious toleration ? " That a man should hold, without pain or penalty, any religious opinions, — and choose for his instruction, in the business of salvation, any guide whoin he pleases; — c«re being taken, that tJie teacher, and the doc- trine, injure neither the 'policy or the mo- rals of the country. P. 402 " To a well-supported national Establishment, effectually discharg- ing its duties, we are very sincere friends. If 345 any man, after he has paid his contribution to this great securiti/ for the existence of religion in any shape, chuses to adopt a religion of his own, that man should be per- mitted to do so without let, molestation, or disqualification for any of the offices of life. We apologise to men of sense for sentiments so trite ; and patiently endure the anger which they will excite among those with whom they will pass for original." A Letter to John Coker Escp of New Col- lege Oxford, Sfc. Sfc. By Edward COPLESTON, D. D. Oriel College, 5 Feb. 1810. P. 16 " Upon this subject of the Security of the Church, to which many among us are so tenderly alive, it w^ould be well in my opinion if some fresh interference of the Legislature were to take place — some farther invasion of private rights for the sake of public good. ^'There anewithin the Church private rights and privileges, which, according to their sphere of operation, militate much more di- 346 rectly against its true interests, than the pohtlcal franchise of which we deprive the Dissenters ever could. There are rights of JLaymen which may he exereised, and which have heen exercised, in opposition to every sacred principle and duty for which the Church was established. '* Meeting houses of every description . may spring up w ithout molestation ; but whatever be the increase of population in the parish, no building can be opened for a congregation of the Established Church with- out a Licence from this Lay liector, and applications for such a licence have been re- peatedly refused. But whether Lay Rectors or Ecclesiastical Rectors, it makes but little difference to the main argument. It is a violation of all Church discipline to vest such a power any where hut in the hands of Bishops. This is not a single anomaly; there are abundance of the same kind through- out the kingdom. And in every parish al- most does a private right exist injurious to the Church — the right, I mean, of occupying a space in the church disproportionate to the number who claim it, while hundreds of the 347 poorer inhabitants are absolutely excluded for want of room. What wonder is it that they repair to irregular and fanatical meetings for religious instruction, if thev cannot have it where the Church ought to afford it? Almost any religion is better than no reli- gion ; and till some provision is made for ac- commodating such persons in a regular place of worship, they ought to be praised rather than blamed for what they do. f ^The Friends of the Church may talk loudly and eloquently about their attachment to the Establishment, and their abhorrence of me- thodists ; but it is not Penal Laws that will put them down. Let truth and sound argu- ment have their fair chance, before harsher expedients are tried. " We know by one example, in which the ^eal of an individual has been verified in deed as well as in word, how gladly the common people will flock to hear the sober and pure doctrines of the church. The author of this plan has indeed set a noble and bright ex- ample to all his brethren : and nothing has disgusted me more than to hear him made the object of reprehension among Sv^me of 348 his own order for this truly disinterested and pious work. " And yet I doubt not if such a project were entertained by the Legislature as that of new modellina: the interior of churches with a view to meet the increased population of certain districts, we shall find many of our pamphlet-writing yWe^K/^ expressing the utmost horror at the sacrilege — talking of the sacredness of private property and local privileges — and making a loud bluster about the rights of Englishmen and Independence. — Many of those who would view with the utmost complacency a large portion of their fellow subjects for ever deprived of civil rights for the Security of the Church, would in such a case, I fear, clamorously plead /AezV right, tkei7'fiee/ioldf their inheritance, and declare themselves aggrieved, because their partial fand perhaps mistaken) interests are sacri- ficed to the general cause of Religion. That such would be the case with many we can- not doubt, when we find that a Nobleman of high rank and station, not only in the State, but in this University, acted upon that principle. 349 " But in the present age I trust sucli claims would be wholly disregarded by the Legisla- ture ; or if they are respected, I own I am at a loss to understand with what face we can continue the test laws against the Dissenters. " The regulation of these matters, it is true, must be left to other hands. Yet no Englishman can be blamed for expressing his opinion upon this or any other sul)ject with submission to the Legislature ; and in that sense every thing I have already said will certainly be understood. '^ Review of Dr. Moore s Sermon, hy Robert Wood of Hammersmith , in six Letters. 1815. Let. 3rd, p. 1/ '' They (the Methodists) have no wish to attempt an alter- ation, either of the external or internal con- stitution of the Establishment; nor to seduce its members from their attachment to, and union with, that Establishment. But per- ceiving the inadequacy of all the Churches and parochial Chapels in the kingdom to the number of its population — the amazing dis- 350 proportion betwixt the accommodations they are capable of affording and the inhabitant? they are designed to accommodate — calcula- ting that if all the places of public worship established by Law were crowded, not more than one quarter (perhaps I might have said not more than one tenth) of their countrymen could possibly gain admission — satisfied that if all the regularly ordained clergy in the land were conscientious in the discharge of their duty — still were no other means devised, multitudes must inevitably ' perish through lack of knowledge;' and deeply lamenting the deplorable moral condition of the great majo- rity of their fellow subjects; their spirits have been moved within them, and they have felt, and still do feel, induced to embrace that liberty of conscience, opinion, and practice, which the mild, tolerant and most excellent laws of their country allow: In order upon the best plans in their power, most extensively to diffuse, and most permanently to establish throughout all generations, that peace and happiness, trutli and justice, religion and piety, for which the established church so fervently and devoutly prays/' 351 Visitation Sermon hy the Rev. George Mathew, Vicar of Greemvich. May 9, 1815. P. 28. " But, when the cause of so great a sin, as Schism in the Church of Christ is declared to be, is attributed to us, whose especial duty it is, to promote peace, unity, and concord, it is needful that we come to facts, and examine the real nature and the state of things. When, therefore, it is proved, that neither an irreproachable life, nor the highest qualifications, in the established officiating minister, nor his ac- knowledged preaching of the true faith, nor an acceptance of our articles and creeds by the seceders themselves, prevents fonnation of separate religious meetings; and when, independently of all really serious and con- scientious secession, (to which I again dis- claim the slightest disrespect and offence) we think on the numberless causes which con- fessedly operate for sectarism, and remember, besides, the woeful want of Churches suf- ficient for the population, by which thou- sands, who would belong to the established 352 communion, are kept from it; — we may rea- sonably remonstrate upon the heaviness of the charge against us, which is undoubtedly as unjust, as it is indiscriminate." A. Statement of Facts, respecting the Po- pulation of the Parish of Manchester^ shelving the great want of a JVeiv Free Church. By the Rev. Cecil Daniel, Wray, a. M., of the Collegiate and Parish Church of Manchester. " The rapid increase in the population of the parish of Manchester, and the yearly erection of places of worship not in unison with the ecclesiastical establishment, have led many persons to turn their thoughts to the consideration of those means which would be most likely (under God's blessing) to counteract the dangers with which the Church of England is threatened. Though the in- crease of Methodists and of other religious sects is owing in some degree to the spirit of the times ; yet '■' this is rather a consequence than a cause'' of the great number of dissen- ters : the principal reason will be found in 353 the want of accommodation in our Churches. As a proof of the eagerness of the lower classes to aHitend the service of the Church of England, it is a fact which I have often wit- nessed, that several persons come to the Col- legiate Church on Sunday mornings a con- siderahle while before the service commences, some as early as nine o'clock, solely for the purpose of securing to themselves good seats: — and I have been informed on good autho- rity, that many bring their dinners, in order that they may be ready to occupy good seats against the afternoon service begins. " Indeed so apparent is the danger with which the Church is threatened, that some of the Bishops and Archdeacons in their charges, and several friends of the Establish- ment, as well laity as clergy, have already sounded the alarm, and endeavoured to call the attention of Government to the pressing evils with which we are surrounded. One clergyman in particular, the Rev. Richard Yates, B. D., Chaplain to His Majesty's Royal Hospital, Chelsea, &c., has taken a comprehensive view of this subject:" and in a letter addressed to the Right Honourable the A A 354 Earl of Liverpool, has brought before the public, such a statement of facts, respecting the population of London and Its vicinity, and the disproportionate number of Churches to receive that population, as must create the most serious alarm in every reflecting mind. {Extract ji. 76 to 78, and 96, 97.) " Many more valuable remarks are to be found in this letter respecting the absolute necessity which exists for the erection of New Churches in the large and populous towns ; but we must novv leave them to give a state- ment respecting the population and the want of public places of worship in our own imme- diate neighbourhood. " As it may not be known to every one Into whose hands this statement may fall, It may be desirable, in order to form a just estimate of the subject, to observe that Manchester Is one immense parish, comprising within Its limits thirty towiiships : that according to tlie return of population in 1811, the two townships of Manchester and Salford alone, comprised a population of 98,573 souls, and that the total numbers In the parish of Man- chester, were 136,370. Certainly this is bi/ 355 J^ar the most populous parish in England, though Mr. Yates, in his letter to Lord Li- verpool, has supposed St. Mary le Bone to be the most populous parish. " The duty also performed in the Parish Church, is also, perhaps, the most laborious in the kingdom. For besides prayers twice every day throughout the year, the Litany is read and a Sermon preached every morning at six o'clock on Sundays, from the 1st of March to the last Sunday in September. There are upon an averaoe from fortv to fifty christenings every Sunday afternoon, besides christenings on the week days ; and on some of the great festivals, as Christmas day, Easter day, and Whitsunday, there are ge- nerally from 120 to 140. On the first dav of the present year, I myself christened ninety-three children. Nor is it uncommon to have fifteen or twenty marriages at one time in the Parish Church. On the 6th of February of the present year, there were twenty-nine couples married. Throughout the whole of the present year, the banns of marriage published each Sunday morning for the first, second, and third time A A 2 356 of asking, have seldom been less than 120 in number ; on one occasion they were 1 56.* This is a prodigious number; especially when it is stated that there are two other churches in Manchester, St. Mary's and St. John's, wherein banns are published and marriages solemnized, and must afford a tolerable idea of the population of this immense parish. " Having been early led to consider this amazing population, as well as to deplore the great want of accommodation in our Churches for the lower orders, and indeed the total in- adequacy of the Churches to contain a tenth of the number of those, who ought, and have a right, to hear the Liturgy of the Church of England read every Sabbath day, I deter- mined, as far as I was able, to call the atten- tion of those parishioners to the subject, whom I considered most able and willing to contri- bute their assistance towards remedying the evil. With this view the reasons and plan of a new free church were laid before the public through the medium of a newspaper of exten- sive circulation, having been previously sub- mitted to the inspection of theBishop of Ches- ter ; who, with a zeal worthy of his rank in * 5 Nov. last, 157 Publications. 357 the Church, declared his readiness to forward so necessary an undertaking with all the power and Influence which he could command. P. 9 *' There are in the whole parish, twenty-three places of worship under the Estahhshment, capahle of holding certainly not more than 18,583 persons. ** It hence follows, that out of the whole population, supposing every Church and Chapel to be crouded to excess, there still remains in the single parish of Manchester, the astonishing number of One Hundred AND Thirty-one Thousand Four Hun- dred AND Seventeen Souls, who are en- tirely excluded from any place of worship where the service of the Church of England is performed, and supposing the dissenting meeting houses capable of holding 30,000, (which they cannot do) still 100,000 and upwards would be excluded from any place of worship in the single parish of Manchester.'* An Address, ^c. hy T. F. Middjleton, D. D. now Lord Bishop of Calcutta. P. 8 " Of Proprietary Chapels, what- ever praise may be due to the zeal and talents 358 of the Clergy, who officiate in them, I do not profess myself to be friendly to the principle. Wherever they exist, they have arisen out of the deficiency of our Parochial Establish- ments ; for which, hovvever, they aiford but a very inadequate substitute, while they con- tribute to perpetuate the evil : they cannot but render the more opulent Parishioners in many instances indifferent about wants, which they themselves no longer feel. The principle, to which they owe their origin, is no other than that of commercial adventure. P. 11 " From the nature of them, it is not to be supposed that they aff'ord any consi- derable convenience to the Poor : it is not rea- sonable to expect that Individuals should gra- tuitously do much to mitigate an evil, which whole Parishes are backward to remove on ac- count of the expence. Neither do Free Cha- pels, though undoubtedly suggested by the purest Benevolence, seem to answer all the ends of Public Worship: whatever tends to se- parate the Rich from the Poor in the presence of Him, who is the Maker of both, is so far exceptionable : let them, at least on one day in the week, '^ meet together:" to the Rich 359 it teaches Humility, while it inspires the Poor with Confidence; and it serves to unite both in the bonds of mutual dependence and esteem. '^ In truth, the objects proposed are at- tainable in all their variety and in their full extent, onli/ in a Parish Church. It makes Religion visible : it invests the service of God with dignity and veneration ; it connects the Pastor with his Parishioners, and the Pa- rishioners with each other; and it helps to stimulate the exertions of all, in what it has made a Common Cause : it excites an inte- rest in that, to which in independent Con- gregations the attention can be but rarely di- rected ; I mean, the concerns of a Parish ; in its Order and good Government ; in its regu- lation and Improvement; in the support of its Charities, where it has such as might be ex- pected, and in the Foundation of them, where they are wanted : in short, the practical and civil results of Christianity must be looked for in the influence of the Parish Church. I press this point the more earnestly, from ob- serving a prevailing prejudice in favour of Chapels : it is commonly alleged, that two Chapels would afford the accommodation of 360 a large Church : but accommodation is not all which is desired: you want much more: you have as yet no Parochial character, no pervading sentiment, no common feeling di- rected to a given end : you require not so much to be divided and distributed, as to be brought together. Christians are to be viewed not merely as Worshippers of their Maker, but as Members of Society : and in Society the lowest Civil Subdivision is a Pa- rish. P. 23 " But though I have thought it my duty to offer some observations on the ge- neral character and mischiefs of Division, 1 am ready to acknowledge that in this Parish little or no blame attaches to the Seceders : they may plead that they have no alternative ; are they to live without the public exercise of Religion, and to bring up their families in Heathen ig- norance, because it is their lot to reside in a Parish, which has not provided for the reli- gious wants of the Members of the Establish- ment ? They are clearly required to sacrifice the weaker scruple to the stronger. It is the duty of every Christian to make public pro- fession of his Faith in the Redeemer ; and 361 if he cannot do this according to the method, which his conscience prefers, and in the so- ciety of persons, with whom he agrees in all essential points of doctrine and dlscipUne, he is permitted and even bound to join that Con- gregation, to whose tenets and practice his conscience Is least repugnant. P. 24 " To Toleration, understood in any practicable sense, I am as much a friend as any man ; but Toleration supposes an Es- tablishment, as the exception supposes the Rule : and in what manner are the poorer members of the Established Church treated in thisParlsh? Not content with tolerating those, who differ from us, we persecute those who agree with us ; unless the withholding from them the mode of Worship, which they ac- tually prefer, and compelling them either to embrace another, or else to live without any, deserve a milder appellation. It does not lessen the disgrace of this proceeding, that it is peculiar to the members of the Establish- ment. It was stated at a late Meeting, that the Sectaries of various denominations with- in this Parish have rather more than twice the accommodation in their places of Wor- 362 ship, that vve have in our Church and Cha- pels: I believe the statement to be much within the truth : but who would ever have anticipated the inference, that therefore we have little need of a Parish Church ? Has not this disproportion arisen in great measure from the want of provision for Parochial Worship, and especially of seats for the Poor ? *' I need not urge the necessity of incul- cating Religious principles in early life: I would, however, suggest, that it avails but little to inculcate such principles in private, vmless they be matured into a habit ; and that in a creature so constituted as man, re- ligious habits, even if they be acquired, will not long be retained without the aid of pub- lic example: the lessons of the nursery must derive their efficacy from the Service of the Church. But of the children of the Poor it is impossible to hope, that many of them are educated in the principles of the National Religion. P. 27 " Of the remaining Poor Chil- dren of my Parish, who amount to some Thou- sands, I neither know, nor can know any thing : many of them, I would hope, attend 363 the Service of the Dissenting Congregations ; but many more, I fear, have never been ac- customed to attach any idea of sanctity to the Seventh Day, but pass it in idleness, if not in vice and profaneness. It is with the vievi^ of affording a remedy to evils like these that the National Society is endeavouring to give efficacy to the admirable system of Dr. Bell: but unhappily that system can- not be introduced among us in the present state of this Parish, to any considerable ex- tent : it is the object of that great Instructor, not merely to teach the elements of useful knowledge, but to inculcate the principles of Piety and Order ; not merely to enable the Children of the Poor to become more skilful mechanics or more intelligent servants, but to make them the sons and daughters of their Countr'y, and to attach them to Its ve- nerable Institutions by the force of early as- sociation: that they may " hear and hold fast the form of sound words," he does not com- mit them to Chance, or to what is little more to be depended upon, the Care of ignorant or irreligious Parents ; but he sends them to the Parish Church, wherever there is one, in which they can be assembled, and places 364 them, where our Canons suppose them to be placed, under the eye of their Parochial Pas- tor, that they may be catechized, instructed, and confirmed in their Christian Faith. P. 31 " The condition of this Parish is capable of almost incalculable improvement; and the foundation of that improvement must be laid, if any where, in the Act for building a *Parish Church. This will make you Members of a new Communitv: — it will ex- •I cite a feelino; for the common grood: — the ri- sing generation will be early trained to habits of Piety: — the Rich and the Poor will assemble together before the Universal Parent: — you will acquire an interest in the honour and dignity of your Parish : — -Parochial Charities win start into existence; — and the Tablets, which shall record your Virtues, preserved to your Descendants in the Sanctuary of the Most High, will teach them lessons of Piety and Benevolence through the force of Here- ditary Example." * These advantages being conferred by One Church on no more than about 4000 inhabitants, the remainder of the 40,000 would still be in fact without a Parish Church, if a further sub-division be not made. 365 British Review, No. 8, 3Iay 1813, Art. 21, p. 371. . *' Having long considered the parish of St. Pancras as exhibiting a melancholy spe- cimen of the weak state of our church esta- blishment; having long looked with a mourn- ful presage at its parochial church, capable only of containing 200 out of 40,000 inha- bitants, we have always hitherto somewhat consoled ourselves with the assurance that whenever a clear exposition of the case should be made to the inhabitants at large, the utmost zeal would display itself in pro- viding a remedy for the evil ; and that this zeal would be crowned with the sanction of parliament, and the blessings of all Christians of the Church of England. The strenuous opposition from the inhabitants, which the measure lately on foot for building a new and spacious Church in the centre of the parochial population, though not in the centre of the parish, to be capable of accommodating 2000 persons, having half its seats left open, and a certain number reserved for the use of the dif- ferent schools, was a sad disappointment of the hopes we had formed. But the grounds 366 on which the bill was successfully opposed* in parliament were such as to make us sicken at the religious apathy among the natural protectors of our venerable church establish- ment. That there were plenty of chapels of one sort or another, and that the great ma- jority of the parishioners felt no want of ac- commodation, notwithstanding what we have stated as to the number and condition of ex- isting places of worship, for members of the national church, would with us have been the strongest imaginable motive to the sup- port of the measure in question. If those whom the want of room, reception, or ac- commodation in our church, have driven into other communions, have, when the church has turned her mendicant arms towards them for assistance, shut their ears to her wants, this, surely, ought to be the strongest argu- ment for seekin"; to secure the affections of those who still retain their attachment to the church of England by affording them the * Qu. Were not these merely pretences ? Did not the op- position really arise from requiring 40,000 to contribute to the building of one church only, ^^ hich must necessarily leave 38,000 without that accommodation for which they were re- quired to pay ? — R. Y, 367 means of attending her worship. x\re meetlno-s in oj3en vestries assemhied, with their popular haranguers in the howhng-greens or skettle- grounds of puhlic houses, to determine ques- tions of this sort hy acclamation ? And is parliament to hecome the registry of their plehlsclta ? Is it thus that it is to he deter- mined whether God shall be worshipped or not in a temple worthy of himself? P '' It is indeed affecting, when we view the metropolis from some neighbour- ing eminence, to observe that portion of it in- habited by the greatest number of legislators, the greatest number of the wealthy and the well-educated, that part which is inhabited by those who hold the hio:hest offices in church and state, wearing the appearance of a quarter appropriated to persons under sentence of ex- communication : the city rich in ecclesiastical structures; the west end of the town present- ing a tiresome length of street, with scarcely a single edifice appropriated to religion as- cending from amidst the vast mass of inha- bitation. ' But have we not chapels in abundance ?' There again you wound the faithful adherent to our national Church. The chapel system (as generally conducted) 368 is our reproach ; as all paltry substitutes are in the eyes of those who have grave, and wise, and catholic ends in their view. P "The numbers who have joined the dissenters would be almost lost in the cal- culation, were we to ascertain the whole amount of absentees from the worsbip of the church of England. It is not to dissenting places of worship that we must go in search of them. Those structures are too small, and too few, to contain the thousands that are missi7w\ So that the vast numbers unprovided with the means of worshipping God according to the forms of the established church, are not to be considered as so manv added to the stock of dissent; but to that of atheism. There can be no doubt, that in many parts of Lon- don, and other crowded towns, there are entire streets of immortal beings living in the sullen neglect of public worship, and scarcely cognizant of the being of a God. What a frightful consideration is this, at a period in which the principles and morals of the la- bouring classes of the community are known to be such as to indicate an advanced state of disaffection ; while all the vehicles of in- formation to which they usually resort are 369 constantly feeding that disaffected state of mind with such materials as have a tendency to produce an explosion! It is a heart-break- ing truth, that the mass of our artisans and manufacturers are gone from our rehgious assemblies. They indeed still congregate on a Sunday; nor are they without their minis- ters. But the public-house is their place of assembly; and the editors of our Sunday newspapers their ministers : ministers, it is to be feared, whose doctrines find a more willing reception where they are disseminated than takes place where those of a higher ori- gin are taught. It may not, however, be too late for the adoption of measures tending to recover these deluded, and therefore dan- gerous beings. But no half measures, in so advanced a state of the evil, must satisfy us. We think with our author, that a parish church is the only effectual supply to the want created by an increased population. This brings along with it a system of moral police, the inspection of schools, the cate- chising of youth, and many other great en- gines of moral improvement, unknown to the modern chapel system. 370 " Before we dismiss this momentous sub- ject, we will take the liberty of suggesting to those who are desirous of serving their country in its religious concerns, not to lose sight of a measure formerly in use, but which does not seem to have sufficient prominence in our modern plans of reform, — we mean the division of a large parish into smaller ones, when the population is overgrown. There is a certain limit to which the parish boundary ought to be confined, in order to make the force of its ministry, and of its police, felt at the circumference, as well as at the centre of its inhabitancy. " That the force of example may not be wanting here, we will mention the instances which former times iiave left us for our imi- tation in like circumstances. Out of the pa- rish of St. Martin in the Fields, three other parishes have at successive periods been taken, viz. St. Paul, Covent Garden ; St. James, Westminster ; and St George, Hanover- square. Out of the Parish of St. Dunstan, Stepney, were taken the four parishes of Christ-church, Spitalfields ; St. Matthew, Bethnal Green ; St. George in the East ; 371 and St. Ann, Llmehouse. The parish of St. George, Bloomsbury, was taken out of that of St. Giles in the Fields. The parish of St. Luke, Old-street, was taken out of that of St. Giles, Cripplegate. St. John, Horslydown, is a parish taken out of that of St. Olave, Tooley Street. The parish of St. George the Martyr, Queen-square, was taken out of the parish of St. Andrew, flol- born : its present church was formerly a cha- pel of ease to St. Andrew's, Holborn ; but was constituted a parish church when tlie parish was formed. These precedents, we trust, will be followed, whenever an over- grown population requires the extension of those means of instruction, on the adminis- tration of which, the stability of nations, and the comfort of the individuals who con;ipose them, materially depend.'' Lectures bi/ the Right Reverend Beilby Porte us, D. D. Lord Bishop of London. Vol. 1, ji. 205. ** There cannot be a stronger indication both of love to mankind and love towards 372 God, than erecting places of worship where they are wanted. Without buildings to as- semble in, there can be no public worship. Without public worship there can be no religion : and what kind of creatures men become without religion ; into what excesses of barbarity, ferocity, impiety, and every species of profligacy they quickly plunge, we have too plainly seen ; God grant that w^e may never feel," His Lordship then adds in a note " There is a most dread- ful want of this nature in the western part of this great metropolis. From St. Martin's- in-the-Fields to Mary bone church inchisive, a space containing perhaps 200,000 souls, there are only five parish Churches, St. Martin's, St, Ann's Soho, St. James's, St. George's Hanover Square, and the very small church of Marybone. There are, it is true, a few chapels interspersed in this place ; but what they contain is a mere trifle, compared to the whole number of inhabitants in those parts, and the lowest classes are almost en- tirely excluded from them. The only mea- sure that can be of any essential service is the 373 erection of several spacious parish churches, capable of receiving very large congregations, and affording decent accommodation for the lower and inferior, as well as the higher orders of the people. In the reign of Queen Anne, a considerable sum of money was voted by Parliament for fifty new churches. It is most devoutly to l)e wished that the present Parliament would, to a certain ex- tent at least, follow so honourable an ex- ample. It is, I am sure, in every point of view, political, moral, and religious, well worthy the attention of the British Legisla- ture. A sufficient number of new parish churches, erected both in the capital and in other parts of the Kingdom where they are wanted, for the use of the members of the Church of England of all conditions, would very essentially conduce to the inte- rests of religion, and the security and wel- fare of the Established Church." Although his Lordship's notice of the subject offers only an imperfect view of its real magnitude, his pious and enlightened 374 mind could not but duly appreciate its Na- tional Importance : with the authority of this much respected and venerable Prelate I there- fore conclude. And earnestly praying, in the energetic language of Parliament, " that a work so much for the Honour of God, the Spiritual Welfare of his Majesty's Subjects, the Inte- rest of the Established Church, and the Glory of his Majesty's reign may be carried on and perfected," I have the honour to be, with great respect, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient servant, Richard Yates. Chelsea College, January 28, 1817- Lately Published, THE CHURCH IN DANGER : A STATEMENT of the Cause, and of the probable Means 6f averting that Danger attempted ; in a Letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Liverpool, &c. &c. &c. By the Rev. RICHARD YATES, B. D. & F. S. A. THE WORK OF AN EVANGELIST : A SERMON Preached at the Visitation of the Rev. GEORGE OWEN CAMBRIDGE, M. A. Archdeacon of Middlesex. By the Rev. RICHARD YATES, B. D. & F. S. A, Published at the request of the Reverend the Archdeacon and the Clergy of the Deanery of Hedingham, An Illustration of the Monastic History and Antiquities of the Town and Abbey of ST. EDMUND'S BURY. By the Rev. RICHARD YATES, B.D. & F.S.A. — Parti. Quarto, Price \l. IG*. Printed by Nichols, Son, and Bentlev, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, London. ^K This book is due two -weeks from the last date stamped below, and if not returned or renewed at or before that time a fine of five cents a dav will be incurred. K0V2e m m : 'mz^M • i ^■'>^ r^ \# r-4J 1 . MAy'i '"' RECD ,«»>.r;,S%*r""' ,|w W\'VS854708 . Y 2_ BR^TTLEDOnOT * AR - z ,j^. 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