MAm R NO 92-81106 J ^■E^^^JMBB 8 } yfT/^ ROHLMED 1993 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YC as part of the "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project" Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWlvmNT FOR THE HUMANITIES R notions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Titie 17, United Stpfps Code - concerns the makina of ohotocoDies or othe" *vc= orfu^^if^n-^'i ^'^^^ ■ ■.., ^--iuiilec material. yiii 1*4 %# t- i iT !^ M, Under certain conditions specified i archives are authorized to furnish a repr ^^^ MHk .^|H&. « pno P '% ♦'% i3 ^-'^ .gat-a #**! !«>'* i ^ g3| I I ^^^ V I. %j VI y he law, libraries and not to be '*used for any s^ ^J*^< W ^!*^^^^ A* I f I i i '^'^iK"**-" photocopy or reproduction for pur use/' that user may be liable for :apy •"Siitl** #», g -^^ K^ .-~. «.«. * iaiei uses, a *ringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a C^/I^y O i O fc? I i I • ifi i l^ j ij \J ^ ^1 1 I'd I Ib I U 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Id ! I ^/ 1 II IC? \/l \Jd t * lll##%l I I ^€ I ^^ » J^% i « j^2| 1 J i ^^ i #^ ti the CO IS. . !?*•!» 4; ^"« law. S i# AUTH LEEKE, REV. WILLIAM TITLE: FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR INCRESING... PLACE: ">^RBY DA TE : 1838 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT Master Negative # BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET Restrictions on Use: Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record fc 93?.42.Leeke Ra.v, ^ I iCi 'P J ,1 • ! t"^ ^0^ sujgastioris tor incre%in^ •tha nncornes of manu of the smaller liv- mjs... addrassad U Iha mawibara oP bolh Houses oF ParliamenI: . UarbLj 1838. 0./ ) |3 p. I Jf^' ^ ^f^ vol, of pamphlets, ' 1 FILM SIZE:_.Ji;m2^ TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA REDUCTION RATIO:__/0^_. IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA OIA) IB IIB DATE FILMED:_^::^^j^_ INITIALS__j^ FILMED BY: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS. INC WOODBRIDGE. CT »%. >^ ^ v^.. % o c Association for information and image {Management 1100 Wayne Avenue. Suite 1100 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter 1 2 3 inmniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiln VTJ Inches 1 La 5 6 7 8 9 10 iiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliii li iiiliii TTT 1.0 1.25 11 12 13 iiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiilii 1^ 2.8 ■ 5.0 " ^■^ Hill « « 12.5 If 1^ 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.4 1.6 I I I 14 15 mm iiliiiilinil T MflNUFnCTURED TO fillM STRNDfiRDS BY nPPLIED IMAGE, INC. Jio.6. A FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR INCREASING THE INCOMES OF MANY OF THE SMALLER LIVINGS, FOR THE ALMOST TOTAL ABOLITION OF PLURALITIES, AND FOR PROMOTING THE ft RESIDENCE OF MINISTERS IN THE SEVERAL PARISHES ; MORE PARTICULARLY ADDRESSED TO THE MEMBERS OF BOTH HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT. B7 TUB REV. WILLIAM LEEKE, M.A. DERBY: FaiKTED BY WILLIAM BEMROSE, AND SOLD BY HATCHAKD NISBET, AND SEELEY, LONDON. 1S38. ''T'y, T Although the real friends of our venerable Establish- ment have naturally shewn themselves disinclined to leave the matter of reforming the Church to those who are the avowed enemies of an Established religion, yet are they most anxious that every real abuse should be abolished, and that every effort and sacrifice should be made to render the Church of England as efficient as possible. It is acknowledged on all hands that, in order to this efficiency, there should be a resident Minister in every parish or district, and two full senices in every place of worshij) belonging to the Establishment. It is also uni- versally acknowledged, that the system of holding sinecure incumbencies, or, in other words, the receiving money set apart for the payment of those who labour in the Gospel, without performing any part of that labour, is calculated, to say the least, to bring discredit not only on many of the pluralists themselves, but also on the Church, which continues to tolerate such an imworthy practice. The want of suitable parsonage houses, and the smallness of the incomes of many of the parishes, have always been considered as the chief, if not the onlv obstacles to the aboli- tion of pluralities, and to the securing a resident Clergy- man to every parish or district. There are no less than 4861 parishes in England and Wales with incomes under i,**200, and 4606 parishes either without any parsonage house, or with one totally unfit for the residence of a Clergyman. The raising the incomes of the smaller livings to such a sum (say £200) as would be considered by numbers of the Clergy a sufficient pennanent provision for them, and the building and enlarging of parsonage houses would 1 evidently render the plurality system unnecessary, and consequently indefensible, except in the comparatively rare cases of parishes having a population not amounting to 100 persons. To raise the incomes of the smaller livings to £200, an annual sum of £407,275 would be required; and there is no probability of obtaining such a sum from any other source than from the incomes of the larger livings: — the proposed surj^lus fund from the Cathedi*al establishments will be quite inadequate for the purpose. The fair arrangement of the Patronage has always been considered an insuperable obstacle to any thing at all ap- proaching to an equalizing of the incomes of Parishes, but it is earnestly hoped, that the following suggestions and remarks may, by the blessing of God, assist in obviating this supposed difficulty, and of leading all the true friends of the Church to desire, and labour for, the adoption of this and other ])lans calculated to remove from it perhaps its very greatest blemish, to make it a more efficient instrument of good, and at the same time to advance it in the affections of the people. SUGGESTIONS. Let a clause be inserted in the Benefice Plurality Bill, permitting or requiring Patrons of more than one living, to take from (he income of the larger living or livings a sum to be made over to the smaller living or livings, with a view to raise the incomes of the smaller livings to £200 each, but not requiring the income of any living, "except in the case of a small population, to be reduced below a certain sum, say £400. Let the incomes be raised and reduced in ])roportion to the population of the several parishes ; for instance, where the population amounts to more than 2000, the income might be raised to £'300, or upwards, or be recUiced only to £500 ; where it amounts to 4000, it might be increased to £400, or be reduced only to £G00. But then the Incumbents of parishes with a population of -2000 or upwards, should be required to keep one or more Cu- rates, the number to be regulated by the population, so as to allow one Minister to every 1000 or 1500 persons. The Patrons of such livings should be allowed also in the event of new CluuThes being built in these parishes, ta make over to such Churches a portion of th.eir income, which might be met by an annual grant from the Cathedral fund, and a sum for building a parsonage house in the new. district. This plan of raising the incomes of the smaller benefices, by taking from the larger ones, might be most easily carried into eflect with regard to vast numbers of livings in the Patronage of the Crown, the Bishoj)s, the Chapters, the Colleges, other public bodies, and of individuals who may be the Patrons of more than one living, as the livings become vacant, or, at once, with the consent of the Incumbents. If after reducing the larger livings belonging to any Patron or body of Patrons, there should not be a suflicient surplus to allo\v of the smaller incomes being raised to the desired sum, the deficiency might be made u]) from the spare fund from the Cathedral r^t nMishment, or from any other fund in the hands of tiie Ccmnnissioners. — Where the Patron of a living with a large income attached, or any other persons can agree with the Patron of a smaller living or of several smaller livings, in the same neighbourhood, to adopt the above-mentioned plan, he should have the second, or second and third tunis of presentation to the smaller living or livings, according to the income made over. When a person increases the income of a li\ ing, not in his ovna. Patronage, during the life of the present Incum- bent, the Jirst instead of the second presentation to such living might be made over to him. It would of course be left to the parties themselves to agree on the number of turns of presentation to be made over to the person who augments the smaller living. Tliere are 294 parishes with incomes under £50 a year, 1(321 of £50 and under 100, 1501 .... 100 150, 1855 .... 150 200, There are 4801 livings under £200 per annum. Tliere are 3281 livings, the incomes of which are between £200 and £400, and which might remain as they are, unless there should be a large population. There are 830 livings above £400 and under £500 ayear, 504 500 600, 337 600 700, 217 700 800, 129 800 900, 91 900 1000, 137 1000 1500, 31 1500 2000, 18 2000 7306,* There are 2294 livings capable of affording relief to the smaller ones. The following table shews that the yearly sum of £407,275 would be recpiired to make up the incomes of the 4861 smaller livings to £200, Livings. Average Htm uviuted. £ £ 294 multiplied by 175 equal 51450 1621 125 202625 1591 75 119325 1355 25 33875 407275 The net income of Doddington, in Cambridgeshire, is £7306, The following table shews that the yearly sum oi i:579,700 might be afforded from the incomes of livings exceeding £100 per annum. Livings. Average spare income. 830 multijdied by 504 337 217 129 91 137 31 18 £ £ 50 equal 41500 150 75600 250 84250 350 75950 450 58050 550 50050 850 116450 1350 41850 2000 36000 £579700 If it should be tliought desirable not to reduce the incomes of the larger livings below the sum of £500, the yearly siu-plus sum would still be £538,200. By the retunis of 1831, it appears that there were 952 livings in the patronage of the Crown, Archbishops and Bishops, Deans and Chapters, other Dignitaries, Hectors, and A'icars, Universities, Colleges, and Hospitals, ' Private Persons, Corporations, Patronage not mentioned. In the district forming the late Diocese of Lichfield and Corentry, there are, according to the same returns 47 Benefices in the gift of the Crown ; 10 of these require the sum of £995 to make up their incomes to £200 each • and 5 of them can afford a suri)lus income amounting to (Note. J In calculating the surplus incomes of the larger livings in the Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, it has been supposed that there the popula- uon was below 000, 800, and 400, they might be reduced to £300, £25o'and x200 respectively. ' ' 1248 787 1851 721 5096 53 264 8 i:i408. But an additional sum would still be required for several of these livings owing to the extent of their population. In the same Diocese, before its reduction, there were in the g.ft of the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry- 1^ Benefices or Chapelries ; 6 of them are deficient, and would require £498 to raise them each to £200, whilst there is only a surplus from 4 of them, which amounts to «f25r In this case assistance would be necessary from another source ; although, without it, 4 small livings, averaging £00 a year each, might be raised to the required sum The Duke of Devonshire is Patron of 20 Benefices or Chapelnes xn the same district: of 12 of these the income IS under £200 : it would require £1344 to raise them to that ««m : and there are 3 livings which (allowing for their poindafon) could afford a surplus income amounting to =t604: this would augment 7 of them to the desired extent :-the others, being all Vicarages, Perpetual Cura- cies, or Donatives, might be increased according to the plan hereafter mentioned. In the Diocese of Winchester there are 32 Cro«-n livings, of which the income of 11 is below =£-200 The sum required to augment them, making allowance for the large population of some of them, is £1513 ; 10 lar-^er livings can afford a surplus of £l 744. No additional in come has been calculated in the above statement, for St Oeorge's, Southwark, which contains 40,000 inhabitants' and has an income of £730. ' In the Diocese of Winchester, the Bishop is Patron of 66 Benefices and Chapelries; 13 of these, making aUowance for the population of one large place, require £l646 to raise them each to the proposed income, whilst there may be derived very ample funds to raise them to a still higher sum, from the surplus income of about 20 of the larger livings. These calculations, in a tew cases taken quite at hazard, will suffice to shew that the proposed plan, al- 9 10 Ihougli of course attended with di/Ticulties, is far from being ini|nu.LUcable. The Church Conunissioners with the assistance of the Archbishops and Bishops, in their several dioceses, and lia\ ing the power to arrange the incomes of the livings iii the patronage of the Crown ; and having also the disposal of the sur])lus fund from tlic Catliedral estab- lishment, would be enabled to accomplisli nuich, if not all that is proposed. Ita])pears that a very large ])ro])orti()n of the Benefices, with incomes below £-200, are \ icarages, Per])etual Cura- cies, or Donatives, and that consecpiently the great tithes are ui the hands of Improi)riators :* where these are also the Patrons, they migljt be invited, in case they have no other means of raising the income to d2(H), to make over a certain yeaily sum in ])roportion to the increased value of the advowson, the remainder of the sum neces- sary to raise the income to £'2i)0 or more, being made up from the funds at the disposal of the Commissioners. In more than one half the cases the same person is both Pa- tron and Impropriator ; but this arrangement miglit be also made when tlie Patronn-.'-e aud lmpro])riation are not in tlie hands of the same pLi.^un, iiiu luiprojmator being allowed a share of the Patronage in return for the income made over. Sonu; such eciuitabk; plan as this, by wliicli a por- tion of the income in the possession of the Improjmator could be nuule avaiUible for promoting tlie greater eflici- ency of the Chiu'ch, without subjecting him to any loss thereby, wouhl not only give nuu'h satisfaction to tlie nation at large, but, if acted upon to a considerable extent in the case of Patrons either not having any or not liaving a sufTi- cient surplus from tlie incomes of other livings, it would most materially lessen the difTiculties lo be encountered in the attem])t to augment all the small Hvings to the pro- posed extent.f • In one Diocese there are only 20 Rectories under .i'200 a year, but there are upwards of 300 Vicarages, &c. with incomes below that sum. •f- That no adequate Provision should have been made for the Clergy In some cases the patronage of small livings in tlie gift of the Crown, Bishojis, and others, might be sold or per- haps given to benevolent individuals who would engage to raise the income to a certain sum to be determined by the Commissioners, or others. In no case, should a parish in w^hich the population exceeds 100 ])ersons, be allowed to be annexed to another parish ; there will always be found Ministers who, being engaged in tuition, or from infirm health, or other circum- stances, would gladly become the Minister of a parish containing a small poj)ulation. Pill rain ies may he abolished a I once, the present Incum- bents receiving for life an annual sum to be determined by Parliament, or by the Church Commissioners, the succeed- ing Incumbent receiving i)ro ter,i|)ore the reduced income: many of the \2'Z\ Curates now em])loyed where there are no resident Incumbents, on an average salary of £79 a year, would be very glad in take livings under these cir- cumstances. There is no jiermission given by the 1st and 2nd of William Ith to Patrons, or even to the Archbishops and other dignitaries, to take from the incomes of large livings in their Patrona