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A UTHOR: 
 
 LYALL, WILLIAM ROWE 
 
 TITLE: 
 
 THE NATURE AND THE 
 TRUE VALUE OF... 
 
 FLA CE: 
 
 LONDON 
 
 DA TE: 
 
 1831 
 
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 Lyall, William Rowe, 1788-1857. 
 
 The nature and true value of church property 
 examined, in a charge delivered to the clergy 
 of the archdeaconry of Colchester, in June, 
 MDCCCXXXI. London, Printed for C. J. G. & F. 
 Rivington, 1831. 
 
 35 p. 23cm. 
 
 Volume of pairiphlets. 
 
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 THE NATURE AND TRUE VALUE OF CHURCH PROPERTY 
 
 EXAMINED, 
 
 k II 
 
 IN A 
 
 CHARGE 
 
 DELIVERED TO THE 
 
 CLERGY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ARCHDEACONRY OF COLCHESTER, 
 
 IN JUNE, MDCCCXXXL 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM ROWE LYALL, A.M. 
 
 ARCHDEACON OF COLCHESTER ; 
 RECTOR OF FAIRSTED AND WEELEY, IN THE COUNTY OF ESSEX. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR C. J. G. & F. RIVINGTON, 
 
 ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD, 
 AND WATERLOO-PLACE, PALL-MALL. 
 
 1831. 
 
 -zl 
 
TO THE CLERGY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ARCHDEACONRY OF COLCHESTER, 
 
 THIS CHARGE, 
 
 DELIVKRED BEFORE THEM, AND PRINTED AT THEIR REQUEST, 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 
 
 BY 
 
 Til El U AFFECTIONATE BROTHER, 
 
 W. R. LYALL. 
 
 Fnirsh'd li'cloii/, 
 Jfou'2\, UVM. 
 
 M 
 
CHARGE, 
 
 8fC. 
 
 Reverend Brethren, 
 
 As we are assembled together to-day, in compliance 
 with an order of the Church to which w^e belong, 
 I am unwilling that we should separate, without a 
 few words on my part, conveying to you my thanks 
 for your attendance ; and, at the same time, availing 
 myself of the opportunity it affords me, of offering 
 some remarks on one or two points, about which it 
 may be presumed that we feel a common interest. 
 
 It is now three years since I held my last general 
 visitation. Our customary assembly was prevented 
 last year by the visitation of the Diocesan, as it 
 was superseded the year before by the parochial 
 visitation which I then made, for the second time 
 since my appointment to the office of your Arch- 
 deacon. And I cannot advert to this last, with- 
 out indulging my own feelings, by expressing the 
 gratification which I derived from the neatness and 
 
8 
 
 good order in which I found the several churches. 
 The comphance with the directions which I had 
 left at my former parochial visitation, four years 
 before, had been so full, as well as so general, that 
 I had Mttle other duty to perform, except that most 
 pleasing duty of thanking the churchwardens for 
 the attention which they had paid to theirs ; and I 
 am rejoiced to have it in my power to renew those 
 thanks to the churchwardens collectively, and in 
 this more public manner. There was, indeed, one 
 parish, in the Tendring Hundred, which declined to 
 acknowledge my authority ; and after every means 
 of persuasion and expostulation had been tried by 
 me in vain, I was compelled, at length, to insti- 
 tute proceedings at law. The consequence has 
 been, that, after an expenditure of many hundred 
 pounds on their part, and which I fear has fallen 
 principally upon individuals, and some considerable 
 expense on mine, the parish has been obliged to 
 make an unqualified submission. It has been a 
 subject of some vexation both to them and to me ; 
 but I trust that all angry feelings will now be buried 
 in oblivion ; and only so much of what has past be 
 remembered, as may serve to prevent a recurrence 
 of any similar unpleasantness. 
 
 There was another point to which my attention 
 was strongly drawn, during my last parochial visi- 
 tation ; and that was the numerous indications of 
 a desire for increased church room, often in the 
 towns, but more frequently still in the agricultural 
 
 9 
 
 districts. This effect was encouraged, no doubt, 
 by the increased comfort of most of the churches, 
 subsequent to my first parochial visitation ; but the 
 true cause, unquestionably, is to be sought in the 
 zeal and increasing exertions of the clergy, whose 
 attention to their duties, and whose general effici- 
 ency in this part of the diocese, it would be most 
 grateful to my feelings to enlarge upon, except that 
 they are too well known by all who hear me, to 
 need any testimony on my part. 
 
 And here, before I quit this subject, I must be 
 allowed to discharge the duty which I feel, of pub- 
 licly expressing the obligations which many parishes 
 of this archdeaconry are under to the " Society in 
 London for enlarging and rebuilding Churches," for 
 the liberal assistance which was afforded by it, to- 
 wards the object I am alluding to, — an obligation 
 which was, in every instance, enhanced by the 
 prompt and ready manner in which the aid solicited 
 was granted. It is a society, indeed, which has 
 peculiar claims upon the gratitude of this part of 
 the diocese. The amount of assistance which this 
 archdeaconry alone has drawn from its funds, even 
 within the limited period of my connection with it, 
 already exceeds many hundred pounds; and the 
 instances are numerous, in which it would have 
 been impossible for the churchwardens and parish- 
 loners to have carried their designs into effect, 
 except for the timely support which was thus sup- 
 plied. 
 
f 
 
 10 
 
 I am not, at the present moment, aware of any 
 other pomts connected with our local interests, in 
 which we, of this archdeaconry, may be supposed 
 to be particularly concerned. As far as my know- 
 ledge extends, the condition of the several churches, 
 the^onduct of the clergy, the extension of schools, 
 both for daily and weekly instruction, the harmony 
 and good feeling which prevail among ourselves, are 
 all as they ought to be, and as the friends of religion 
 would wish to see them. Indeed, I beUeve, that 
 we might extend the remark to the present state of 
 the Church in general. I do not beheve that, since 
 the Reformation, there ever was a period in this 
 country, when the Church of England was more 
 at peace and unity within herself, or possessed 
 stronger claims upon the regard and affections of 
 her members. Never was there a period when 
 there was more learning and talent, more activity 
 and propriety of conduct among her ministers ; nor 
 when the great truths of the Gospel were laid more 
 fully before the people, or more zealously enforced. 
 And if the claims of the Church are as great at the 
 present, as they have ever been at any former 
 period, upon the respect and attachment of her 
 own members, her claims to forbearance, at least, 
 and to the absence of all acrimonious opposition, 
 from those who dissent from her doctrine or dis- 
 ciphne, are not less evident; for the toleration 
 which they enjoy is at present complete and en- 
 tire. And yet, with all these grounds on which we 
 might reasonably build the hope of peace, both from 
 
 11 
 
 within and from without, it cannot be dissembled 
 that there has not been, for many years past, a 
 period when the Church of England had more rea- 
 son for disquietude. 
 
 It is not, as in former times, the doctrines which 
 the Church teaches, nor the piety of her discipline, 
 which are called in question :— it is the revenues 
 she possesses, and the fancied riches of the clergy, 
 which is now the subject of contention. A sorry 
 controversy this for Christians to be engaged in ! 
 where the oppression of individuals is the victory to 
 be contended for ; and in which wrong and violence 
 stand in the place of learning and argument. But 
 the debate is not of our choosing ; and though it 
 would ill become us '' to return raihng for raihng ;" 
 yet neither would it become us to shrink from the 
 defence of the temporal interests of the Church, 
 whose ministers we are ; nor to acquiesce, by our 
 silence, in the truth of those representations, by 
 which the pubhc mind is so strangely misled. 
 
 With respect to those who professedly are the 
 enemies of the clergy, only because they are the 
 enemies of religion ; and who avowedly look only 
 to the sordid advantages that might be obtained by 
 the appropriation of their property, it would, I fear, 
 be attended with but little advantage were I to 
 endeavour to point out the injustice of such views, 
 the mischief or the sinfulness of the objects they 
 propose ;— for such topics are excluded by the very 
 
Hi 
 
 12 
 
 terms of the argument. If ever the time should arrive, 
 when persons who think and feel in this manner, 
 shall form the most powerful party in the State ; 
 that is to say, when the country in which we live 
 shall be no longer that England which is now the 
 object of our pride and affection,— the revenues of 
 the Church, I suppose, will fall a prey to rapacity. 
 But when that time comes, other property will have 
 to look round for protection besides ecclesiastical ; 
 and the property of the Church will have the pre- 
 cedency, simply because its possessors may be more 
 easily oppressed than the holders of other property, 
 not because the rights on which it is founded are 
 more doubtful. 
 
 There are, no doubt, a large number of persons 
 who join in this most unworthy warfare which 
 is waged against the Church, who would yet dis- 
 claim any participation in such motives as I am 
 here speaking of : — persons who justify their desire 
 to suppress the legal establishment of religion, 
 under the pretence that such estabhshments are in- 
 jurious to the true interests of Christianity. But 
 unwilling as I am to attribute to any persons opi- 
 nions and motives which they disavow, yet it is cer- 
 tainly difficult to believe that such persons, if they 
 be serious, can at the same time be sincere. For 
 to say nothing of the unholy alliance which they 
 have entered into, with those who professedly pro- 
 secute the common object with very different views 
 and feelings ; yet that object itself is one which I 
 
 13 
 
 cannot persuade myself any religious man would pur- 
 sue, whose religion was not rather the name of the 
 political party to which he belonged, than of his 
 Christian denomination. 
 
 The legal establishment of Christianity may not 
 be necessary to the maintenance of religion in a 
 country : but to say that it is not useful, still more 
 to say that it is injurious, would seem to be a pro- 
 position easily hazarded, no doubt, by a bold man, 
 but which has as little support from reason as it has 
 from experience. It would lead me too far away 
 from the immediate subject, which I propose to my- 
 self in my present address, I mean the revenues of 
 the Church of England, were I to enter at large 
 upon the consideration of this point ; but so far I 
 may venture to assert as a thing quite certain : that 
 whatever might be the case in large towns, where 
 a ministry might perhaps be supported, by the re- 
 spective congregations, in sufficient number for the 
 spiritual wants of the people ; yet that the mainte- 
 nance of a parochial clergy, by such means, would 
 be altogether impossible. Viewing the country at 
 large, particular spots might continue to enjoy the 
 advantages of Christian cultivation ; but such spots 
 would be rare and occasional, few and far between. 
 And instead of that uniform and equally diffused 
 ministration of the word and ordinances which is now 
 amongst the greatest blessings of this favoured land; 
 we should behold long and dreary tracts, where 
 the sound of a Sabbath-bell had been never heard; 
 
1 
 
 li 
 
 and where not only no religious instruction had 
 ever penetrated, but where the occasional mission- 
 ary would not find so much as even the desire for 
 it, on the part of an uninformed and half-heathen 
 population. 
 
 In answer to this, however, we shall be reminded 
 of the United States of America. There is no 
 Established Church in that country, we are told ; 
 and yet the knowledge of Christianity is still pre- 
 served among her people. It is very true that 
 there is no Estabhshed Church in that country; 
 but neither have the Americans a king, nor an 
 hereditary nobility ; and why, without further 
 enquiry, we are to seek examples from them in 
 matters of religion, more than in matters of civil 
 government, I am yet to learn. But they who 
 speak with so httle doubt or hesitation of the ad- 
 vantages which America derives from the absence of 
 any established form of religion, forget to tell us 
 what is the actual state of religion among her popu- 
 lation ; although this, in point of fact, is the whole 
 subject in question. No one pretends that Christ- 
 ianity cannot exist, except where there is an Esta- 
 blished Church; the doubt is, as to the state in 
 which it will be found, under such circumstances, 
 among the people at large. Let us then hear the 
 language in which their own writers express them- 
 selves on this subject, as they may be supposed to 
 reason with better knowledge of the facts, than 
 the writers of mere party pamphlets are likely to 
 
 15 
 
 possess. It would be easy to accumulate extracts 
 on this head, but I shall content myself with two, 
 as specimens of a much larger number which 
 might easily be produced. The first from Mr. 
 Bristed, the author of the work called America and 
 her Resources ; the other from Dr. Mason's P/m /or 
 Catholic Communion : both of them writers of unim- 
 peachable credit, and warmly attached to the coun- 
 try of their birth. " Full three millions of our people, "" 
 says the first-mentioned writer, that is, more than 
 one-third of the then population of the United States, 
 " are altogether destitute of Christian ordinances ; and 
 as the population of this country increases with a 
 rapidity hitherto unexampled in the history of nations, 
 unless some effectual means be adopted to spread the 
 light of the Gospel over those sections of the union 
 which now lie prostrate in all the darkness of unre- 
 generated depravity, before half a century shall have 
 elapsed, our federative republic will number xmthin 
 its bosom more than twenty millions of unbaptized 
 infidels" You see then what are the effects of 
 leaving the support of religion to the free bounty 
 of the people, as it respects the ministration of the 
 word and ordinances of the Gospel ; I shall next 
 present you with an extract to shew what are the 
 consequences of this state of things, as regards the 
 religious condition of the community. '' Sanctuary," 
 says Dr. Mason, speaking of the western portion of 
 the union, '' they have none; they lose by degrees 
 their anxiety for the institutions of Christ ; their 
 feeble substitutes, the small social meetings, without 
 
16 
 
 the m'mister of grace, soon die away ; their Sabbatlis 
 are Pagan ; their children grow up in ignorance, vice, 
 and nnbelief ; their land, which smiles around them 
 like a garden of Eden, presents one unbroken scene 
 of spiritual desolation. In the course of one or txvo 
 generations the knowledge of God is almost obli- 
 .terated; the name of Jesus is a foreign sound; his 
 
 salvation an occult science We have 
 
 already a population of some inilUons of our ozvn 
 colour, flesh and blood, nearly as destitute of evati- 
 gelical mercies, as the savage who yells on the banks 
 of the Missouri." 
 
 It is a notorious fact that, with the exception of 
 that large and rapidly increasing body of religionists 
 in America, who have retained the doctrines and 
 the liturgy of the English Episcopal Church, the 
 number of Orthodox Christians in the United 
 States, instead of increasing, is becoming every day 
 less ; the Presbyterian and Independent congrega- 
 tions falling off into open Socinianism, and the other 
 denominations being chiefly distinguished by the dif- 
 ferent shapes in which the extravagance of their 
 opinions displays itself. But I am not, at present, 
 considering the usefulness of an Established Church, 
 as the means of keeping alive a pure and orthodox 
 faith ; I am speaking of it simply as that, without 
 which the knowledge of religion, if preserved at all, 
 can only be diffused partially among the people ; 
 and the extracts which I have produced are suffi- 
 cient to shew, that the conclusion which I meant to 
 
 17 
 
 draw, instead of being disproved by the example of 
 America, receives from thence, according to the 
 evidence of American writers themselves, its most 
 striking confirmation. 
 
 But it may perhaps be said, (and I hope truly), 
 that the opinion of those, who desire to suppress 
 the existence of an Established Church altogether, 
 is confined to a few persons ; that which is the 
 subject of a general complaint, is the unnecessary 
 wealth of the clergy, the enormous expense of the 
 present establishment. 
 
 The enormous expense of the present esta- 
 blishment ! Now, supposing it to be as great as 
 is generally stated, yet expense to whom I would 
 ask. Not to the poor ; that is not pretended. 
 Not to the householders in our large towns; for 
 they contribute nothing to the support of the clergy, 
 except in the shape of fees for services actually 
 performed. Not to the farmer ; for he is quite 
 aware that what he pays in tithes is subtracted 
 from his rent, and would be added to it were there 
 no Church to be maintained. Not to the land- 
 owner ; for if the tithes were done away to-morrow, 
 he cannot be so ignorant as to suppose that they 
 would be made a present of to him. Not to the 
 State ; for the tithes never belonged to the State, 
 The documents are innumerable which still exist, 
 with the very names of the individuals by whom 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 N 
 
 19 
 
 they were allotted to the Church \ many hundred 
 years, for the most part, before the land from which 
 they accrue, came into the possession of the ances- 
 tors of any persons now ahve. As well might we 
 talk of the expense which the State is at, in our 
 universities and public schools, in our hospitals and 
 alms-houses; all of which, like the Church, are 
 institutions for the public use, but which are sup- 
 ported by property that belonged to individuals. 
 As well, indeed, might we talk of the expense to the 
 State of supporting an hereditary nobility, or a class 
 of private gentlemen. 
 
 The difference between the property of a clergy- 
 
 * If the reader wishes to satisfy himself on this point, he may 
 consult Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum, and Selden on Tithes, 
 . ch. xi. The following are a few instances of parishes within this 
 archdeaconry to be found in Newcourt's Repertorium. Audley, 
 endowed by Robert de Ram in the reign of King Stephen. 
 Ashdon was endowed in the reign of William I. by Ganfredus 
 and Radulphus Baynard. Great Badfield, in 1090, by Gilbert de 
 Clare. Great Bentley, about the same time, by Alberic de Vere. 
 Great Clacton, by Richard de Beauvys or de Belmeis. Cogges- 
 hall, by Earl Godwin (with the tithes of Stisted) in the time 
 of Edward the Confessor. Elsenham, by Beatrix de Say, in 
 1200. White Notley, by Roger Bigod, in the reign of William I. 
 Black Notley, by Walter de Mandeville, in 1218. Rickling, 
 by GeofFry de Say, in the reign of Henry II. Weeley, by 
 Edgiva, a noble Saxon lady, in the time of Edward the Confessor. 
 It would be easy to extend the number of examples ; and even 
 to produce the very words of the endowments, many of which 
 are given at length by Newcourt. 
 
 14 
 
 man and that of a private gentleman, is not, that 
 the one belongs to the State, and that the other is 
 a man's own ; for more than two-thirds ^ of all the 
 benefices in England are the property of individuals, 
 and part of their estate ; and as the remainder are 
 enjoyed under the sanctity of laws, which acknow- 
 ledge no such distinction, the tithes belong to the 
 clergyman by precisely the same right as the rent 
 does to the landlord. The difference is this ; the 
 private gentleman has no clauses in his lease com- 
 pelling him to the performance of any duties ; he 
 enjoys his estate gratis ; the clergyman is obliged 
 to preach the word and to administer the ordinances 
 of the Gospel, and is expected, moreover, to set an 
 example in his own person of those duties which 
 he teaches others. The private gentleman may 
 spend his estate not only how he pleases, but where 
 he pleases — in London, at Paris, or in Rome; the 
 clergyman must spend his at home and upon the 
 spot. The private gentleman obtains his property 
 merely by the accidental circumstance of his birth ; 
 but the property of the Church is a property to be 
 obtained not by inheritance, but by learning, and 
 talents, and virtue. And if there are cases where 
 other claims besides these are attended to, this is 
 not the fault of the Church, but of the civil govern- 
 
 * The following is given by Dr. Yates as the distribution of 
 the patronage of the Church: the Crown presents to 1041 
 benefices; the Bishops to 1303; Deans and Chapters to 1037 ; 
 the Universities to 683 ; private individuals, to 7936. 
 
 b2 
 
20 
 
 ment ; and of those into whose hands the law of 
 the land has entrusted the distribution of ecclesias- 
 tical patronage ; a fault which the Church has no 
 interest in encouraging, but which she would most 
 gladly see amended and restrained. 
 
 But after all that can be said on this last subject, 
 how large a share of the emoluments of the Church 
 and of its highest dignities have been held, and are 
 at this moment held, by those who had no other 
 claim, except that of merit ? How many bishoprics 
 are at this moment held by persons whose fathers 
 were in very humble stations of life ; and, if we go 
 back a few years, even by persons who were born 
 in the class of dissenters, and whose fathers brought 
 them up to the Church rather than to the ministry 
 among their own people, as thinking that it offered 
 a fairer field for their talents ? This surely would 
 account for persons in the middle ranks of life, 
 whether farmers, or tradesmen, or merchants, being 
 more than reasonably tenacious of a property like 
 this, which, in fact, belongs to the people of Eng- 
 land at large : — for according to the viev/ here taken, 
 the dignities of the Church are so many paths 
 between the lower and upper classes of society, and 
 by means of which the son of the humblest man 
 may rise to take his seat among the nobility of the 
 land: — but to call this a popular grievance, to 
 assign the jealousy of such dignities as a reason for 
 wishing to do away with this description of pro- 
 perty, and to merge it in the hereditary property 
 
 21 
 
 of the land, is only a proof, if proof were wanting, 
 of the extreme blindness of party spirit. For one 
 should suppose that it required but little common 
 sense, to see that every man is interested in op- 
 posing all attempts to destroy an institution such 
 as I am here speaking of, by means of which, some 
 fixed portion of the rental of the soil is kept free, 
 and set apart to be disposed of, not as all other 
 property is, according to a rule, which shuts out 
 all except the children of its present possessor : 
 but according to a rule, which admits the claims of 
 learning, and talents, and character, in however 
 humble a station they may be found ; — a rule, as we 
 have seen, by which no description of persons is or 
 can be injured, while many hundred individuals in 
 every generation are raised by it, to stations of 
 comfort and respectability, and not a few, to some 
 of the highest dignities which the constitution ac- 
 knowledges. 
 
 In every numerous body of men, however upright 
 and honourable as a whole, there will always be 
 found individuals, with whom the prospect of private 
 advantage predominates over the sense of justice ; 
 and whose views of what is right and expedient are 
 always limited by the opinion of their own personal 
 interest. It is therefore easy at least to understand, 
 by what process of reasoning a great landowner 
 might desire to abolish tithes and to substitute some 
 mode of paying the clergy, which would throw the 
 charge upon the community at large ; for that the 
 
22 
 
 landowner should seek to increase the value of his 
 property by exonerating it from a burthensome 
 clause in his lease, is perfectly intelligible, even if 
 it be not very honest. But it is by no means so 
 easy to understand by what process of reasoning 
 the community at large, that is to say, those who 
 possess no land, and who therefore pay nothing to 
 the Church, should join in promoting such an object : 
 the immediate consequence of which would be, to 
 charge themselves with an expense from which, 
 both in law and justice, they are now exempt ; and 
 the ultimate effect, to shut the door against their 
 own children from one path of advancement in life, 
 which is now open to them and to all. 
 
 My wish in the preceding remarks has been 
 merely to shew, that whether the revenues of the 
 clergy be of great or small amount, in no respect 
 would the people of England at large be benefited 
 by transferring them to other hands. The clergy- 
 man spends his income on any supposition, even 
 if we suppose the case where he is neglectful of his 
 duties, as much to the advantage of the neighbour- 
 hood where he resides, and where he is obliged to 
 reside, as the layman ; and although the tenure, by 
 which he holds his property, be not the same in all 
 respects as that under which the property of the 
 landowner is held, yet the difference, as I have 
 shewn, is one by which the community is benefited, 
 and not injured. There is no other way in which 
 tithes could be injurious to the community, except 
 
 23 
 
 by preventing the land from being properly cul- 
 tivated. But I imagine that the most experienced 
 eye would find it difficult, while travelling through 
 the country, or examining any particular parish, to 
 distinguish those lands which were tithe-free by 
 any criterion of that kind. Such lands do not find 
 more ready occupants, nor even more ready pur- 
 chasers. So far is it from being true, that the 
 operation of tithes has been injurious in this respect, 
 by preventing the cultivation of inferior lands, that 
 the number of such lands which were forced into 
 cultivation during the period of high prices, is al- 
 ways stated as one of the main causes of the distress 
 under which the agricultural interests have lately 
 laboured. The complaint most commonly made, 
 being, that there have been too many inclosures, 
 not too few— that, in spite of tithes, the tempta- 
 tion to agricultural speculation in this country has 
 been too great, not too little. 
 
 But, however imperfectly the true character and 
 operation of Church property may seem to be un- 
 derstood by a large number of persons, the exag- 
 gerated statements of its real value which are put 
 forth daily, and extensively believed, are deserving of 
 still stronger reprehension ; because, there is reason 
 to think that these mis-statements are wilful : — the 
 very discrepancies which are to be found among 
 them shew that they have not been made on 
 any principle of calculation, but are hazarded at 
 random, and merely for temporary purposes ; and 
 
24 
 
 that, by persons whose stations in Hfe ought to 
 impose a duty upon them either to be silent on the 
 subject, or to be better informed. 
 
 I shall endeavour to lay before you some ap- 
 proximation to the truth, founded, not upon the 
 guesses of public orators, but upon the authority of 
 public documents, and the investigation of men 
 who have devoted their time to the inquiry. 
 
 The most elaborate work with which I am ac- 
 quainted on the subject of Church property is that 
 of Dr. Morgan Cove, which was published originally 
 in 1798 ; and a third edition of which, adapted to the 
 changes which had then taken place in the value of 
 property, was published in 1816. His first calcu- 
 lations were founded on actual returns from up- 
 wards of 3000 livings, between the years 1787 and 
 1797 ; and from these returns he states the average 
 value of parochial benefices in England and Wales 
 to be 141/. per ann. Combining this average with 
 another taken from the actual value of a consider- 
 able number of livings in two particular counties, 
 the one inland, and the other maritime, and both 
 highly cultivated, the annual value appeared to be 
 154/. per ann. And the gross value of parochial 
 livings in England Dr. Cove stated to be 
 1,350,000/. ' 
 
 f 
 
 'i 
 
 4 
 
 e's 
 
 ^ As I am not in possession of the first edition of Dr. Cov 
 book, these statements (which do not appear in the edition of 
 
 7 
 
 25 
 
 This was the value of parochial benefices in the 
 year 1798, at which time the price of wheat, per 
 quarter, was nearly what it is at present, or about 
 64 shillings. But subsequent to this period a 
 great rise took place in the value of agricultural 
 produce, and, of course, a proportionate increase in 
 the value both of rents and tithes. Dr. Cove, 
 therefore, published a third edition of his work, 
 giving an account of the approximated value of a 
 very extensive number of livings, in the seven years 
 preceding 1816, when the average price of a quarter 
 of wheat was 108 shillings. From the result of this 
 last calculation, it appeared that the value of pa- 
 rochial benefices in England and Wales, as arising 
 out of tithes, had then advanced to 2,031,000/., 
 being an increase, since 1798, of 650,000/. in the 
 gross amount; while the average value of the livings 
 themselves had increased to 175/. per ann., sup- 
 posing the number of them to be 12,000 — which 
 is considerably beneath the number of the clergy 
 maintained out of the property of the Church, though 
 somewhat larger than the number of benefices. 
 
 Now these calculations were founded upon actual 
 returns from a large number of livings ; and how 
 very nearly his estimate approached the actual fact 
 we have the means of knowing from a public docu- 
 
 1816) are adopted, on the authority of a very valuable and able 
 httle tract, published by the Rev. Augustus Campbell, at 
 Liverpool, in 1822. 
 
 j!l!ffll*Mi 
 
26 
 
 ment of unimpeachable authority, namely, the par- 
 liamentary returns of the property-tax. By looking 
 to these, we shall find that in 1806 the amount of 
 tithes, lay and ecclesiastical, for England and Wales, 
 amounted to 2,012,064/.; in 1808 to 2,139,956/.; 
 in 1810 to 2,353,263/. ; in 1812 to 2,583,263/. ; in 
 1814 to 2,732,898/. ; giving an average for the ten 
 years preceding 1814 of 2,292,287/., or somewhat 
 less than 2,300,000/. : and as the price of wheat 
 during the whole of this period was higher than 
 has ever been known in this country, I suppose 
 we may safely assume that neither the value of 
 tithes, nor of any other description of landed pro- 
 perty, is greater at present than at that time. 
 
 Besides nearly 1500 chapels and chapel ries of 
 various sorts, there are in England about 10,650 
 benefices ; viz. 5098 rectories ; 3687 vicarages, in 
 which only small tithes are paid ; and 1864 dona- 
 tives and perpetual curacies, which receive no 
 tithes of any kind, but where the land is tithe-free. 
 According to the property-tax returns, it appears 
 that full one-fourth of all the land in England is 
 either tithe-free, or which is nearly the same thing, 
 free upon the payment of a modus. Of the re- 
 mainmg three-fourths of the land about two-fifths 
 are impropriated livings, in the possession either of 
 corporate bodies or of laymen. But as many of 
 the vicarages are endowed, and as others have re- 
 ceived augmentations from Queen Ann's bounty to 
 the amount of about 100,000/. per ann., we will 
 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 ^ 
 
 27 
 
 subtract one-fourth of the whole amount of the 
 tithes, as constituting that portion of them which is 
 in lay hands. This will leave 1,750,000/. as the 
 gross amount of the value of the parochial livings 
 in England and Wales, as arising from tithes only, 
 and exclusive of glebes. At a high valuation, the 
 glebes and the surpHce fees (which last constitute 
 the whole income of those livings in London which 
 are not within the city,) have been estimated at 
 426,000/. ; which, added to 1,750,000/., will give 
 2,176,000/. as the total amount of income enjoyed 
 by the clergy of England and Wales. Dr. Cove 
 considered that there were 16,000 clergy in Eng- 
 land, but this is very much overstated. There is 
 no reason to believe that they greatly exceed 
 12,000 ; and taking this number as our divisor, we 
 shall have a result of 181/., as the average amount 
 of the payment which each parochial clergyman 
 receives : the difference between that sum, and their 
 actual expenditure arising not from the Church but 
 from private sources of income. 
 
 With respect to the calculation that Dr. Cove has 
 made of the incomes of the bishops, as I have no 
 means of verifying his conclusions (such as the pro- 
 perty-tax returns afforded in the case of tithes) I 
 cannot of course state my opinion with equal con- 
 fidence. But as he appears to have over-rated the 
 true amount of the value of ecclesiastical tithes, 
 there is no reason to suppose that he has under-rated 
 the amount of the revenues which the bishops 
 
\1 I 
 
 28 
 
 enjoy. As he wrote at a time when the subject 
 was not, as at present, a matter of popular excite- 
 ment, he had no temptation to deviate from the 
 truth, and I have no doubt of the dependence that 
 may be placed upon his conclusions. His work was 
 the result of the labour of many years — and it has 
 every mark both of fairness and of dihgence. Accord- 
 ing to Dr. Cove, then, the gross revenues of the arch- 
 bishops and bishops amounted in 1816 to 130,000/. 
 per annum ; which, divided by twenty-six, will give 
 5,000/. per annum to each bishop. But he states 
 that from this sum must be deducted the payment 
 of diocesan officers, the repairs of episcopal resi- 
 dences, and other outgoings, which he thinks may 
 probably reduce the net revenues of the bishops to 
 aboutl05,000/., or nearly to 4,000/. per ann. for each 
 see. The revenues of the deans and chapters he 
 states at 275,000/., which, if added to the incomes 
 of the parochial clergy, would contribute about 25/. 
 per ann. to their incomes ; still leaving the whole 
 amount of Church property (exclusive of the reve- 
 nues of the bishops) at a sum, which, if divided 
 equally among the parochial clergy, both beneficed 
 and unbeneficed,would not give two hundred guineas 
 per ann. to each ; and this calculated upon the 
 period when prices were highest. 
 
 The proportion of the clergy in Scotland to the 
 whole amount of the population is less than in 
 England ; and for this reason the gross revenue of 
 the Scottish Church bears a smaller proportion to 
 
 1 
 
 29 
 
 the whole rental of the land. But there is no living 
 in that country under 180/. per annum ; and the 
 average of the income which the clergy severally 
 enjoy, exclusive of their glebes, is 278/. per annum— 
 the number of the clergy being 936, and the whole 
 revenue of the church to which they belong, being 
 made up by parhament to 260,000/. In the year 
 1703, there were in England 5597 hvings, returned 
 to parliament as under 50/. per annum. From 
 that period to 1815, the governors of Queen Ann's 
 bounty had made augmentations (out of a fund 
 arising directly from within the Church herself,) of 
 1,464,500/. But so late as 1799, in the county of 
 Lincoln alone, 660 livings were returned at only 
 70/. per annum ; and even in 1823, Dr. Yates tells 
 us that there were still 3,067 benefices not exceed- 
 ing 98/. per annum, of which 422 were from 10/. to 
 30/. ; 1207 from 30/. to 60/. ; 645 from 60/. to 
 75/. ; and 793 from 75/. to 98/. 
 
 The great inequahty which is exhibited in the 
 value of the different benefices has, no doubt, its 
 inconveniences ; but these inconveniences affect 
 principally the clergy themselves, who are compe- 
 tent judges of their own interest ; and so long as 
 no appeals are heard from them to the compas- 
 sion of the legislature, the symp^hy of those whom 
 it does not properly concern, is premature, to say 
 the least : especially, considering the quarters from 
 which the expression of it chiefly proceeds. The 
 only interest which the laity can legitimately feel 
 
 ^s^ 
 
30 
 
 81 
 
 in the question of the proper distribution of the 
 property of the Church, is, that it should be such a 
 distribution as will most effectually engage young 
 men of talents and learning, and respectability, to 
 enlist themselves in the ministry. This is the end 
 which the endowments of the Church were intended 
 to answer ; and so long as the present distribution 
 of them effectually secures this great object, the 
 laity, at least, can have no reason for complaint. 
 The testimony of one, who is himself a minister of 
 the Church of England, would perhaps weigh but 
 httle to this point ; and it is therefore with pleasure 
 that I record the attestation of a living writer, whose 
 evidence must be, at least, disinterested and im- 
 partial. " There are manijl' says Dr. Chalmers, of 
 Edinburgh, with a liberality worthy of his piety and 
 high attainments, " there are many who look with an 
 evil eye to the endowments of the Eiiglish Church ; 
 but to that Church the theological literature of our 
 nation stands indebted, for her best acquisitions ; and 
 we hold it a refreshing spectacle at any time that 
 meagre Socinianism pours forth a new supply of 
 flippancy and errors, when we behold, as we have 
 often done, an armed champion come forth, in full 
 equipment, from some high and lettered retreat of that 
 noble hierarchy ; nor can we grudge her the wealth 
 of her endowments, when we think how well, under 
 her venerable auspices, the battles of orthodoxy have 
 been fought— that in this holy warfare they are her 
 sons and her scholars, who are foremost in the field — 
 ready at all times to face the threatening mischief 
 
 i 
 
 ■'A 
 
 4 
 
 and, by the might of their ponderous erudition, to over- 
 bear it'" Such is the language, and such the feel- 
 in^^s, with which a minister of the sister establish- 
 ment in Scotland— himself the brightest ornament 
 of that establishment— has spoken of the English 
 hierarchy, and of those endowments which have 
 lately been made a topic of so much ignorant mis- 
 representation. No doubt if the revenues of the 
 Church were divided equally among the clergy, it 
 would afford a considerably larger provision to each 
 than many individuals of the body now possess. But 
 it would not afford such a provision, if so divided, 
 as would secure to the Church a constant succes- 
 sion of candidates for the ministry, of the same 
 high attainments and liberal education, as is now 
 obtained : certainly not such a provision as parents 
 and guardians of the upper classes of society would be 
 satisfied to look to as a prospect for their children. 
 And this is a point of great importance; for 
 though God forbid it should be thought that high 
 birth and wealthy connections are necessary qualifi- 
 cations for the ministry of Christ ; yet neither are 
 they hindrances to the due discharge of the minis- 
 terial duties ; and, surely, it is not desirable, at a 
 time when every other profession and walk in life 
 is filled with the children of our gentry, that none 
 should be found to minister in holy things except 
 persons taken from the body of the people. The 
 admixture of so many persons belonging to the 
 upper classes of society through all the ranks of the 
 Church, raises the whole body of the clergy in the 
 
I 
 
 32 
 
 estimation of the community, and in so doing im- 
 parts dignity and splendour to religion itself :— for 
 as was said by IVIr. Burke, " the people of England do 
 not choose to banish religion, like something we are 
 ashamed to shew, to obscure inunicipaUties and rustic 
 villages : no, we will have her exalt her mitred front 
 in courts and parliaments, we zaill have her mixed 
 throughout the whole mass of life, and blended with 
 all classes of society'' Now it is by means of our 
 bishoprics and deaneries, and those prizes which 
 the very inequality of our Church preferments 
 create, that this effect, which Mr. Burke speaks of, 
 is accomplished. " Do but level these preferments, 
 and your clergy" as Bentley says, *' will soon be- 
 come as level in their learning, and i?istead of the 
 flozver of your English youths, you will soon have 
 only the refuse sent to your academies, A fexv shining 
 prizes in the Church, being,'' as he calls them, " the 
 pious frauds that induce and decoy their parents to 
 risk their chiMs fortune in its service," 
 
 As I am here addressing an assembly consisting 
 not only of my brethren in the ministry, but likewise 
 of the lay officers of the Church, I have thought that 
 these remarks, hastily as they have been put together, 
 might not prove unacceptable at the present time, 
 when misstatements of every kind, respecting the 
 Church and clergy, are so industriously propagated. 
 At the same time I am not so sanguine as to believe, 
 that any thing which I have said, even admitting 
 it to be just and true, will change the feehng with 
 which the authors of those misstatements are evi- 
 
 33 
 
 dently actuated. " They hated me before they hated 
 you," said Christ to his apostles. It is not because 
 a Church Establishment is useless to religion, that 
 it has now so many active enemies, but because it 
 is the main support of religion in this country ; it 
 is not the indolence, or ignorance, or vicious Uves 
 of churchmen, which excite that malevolence by 
 which our order is assailed ; that which is disliked 
 is the activity, the learning, the zeal, and piety 
 which distinguish both the heads of the Church in 
 the present day, as well as the great majority of the 
 parochial clergy ; and the influence of which, more 
 than any other obstacle, stands between a certain 
 class of politicians in this country, and the designs 
 at which they evidently aim. But the persecution 
 of those who think and feel in this manner, is an 
 evil which we must be content to bear with, until 
 it shall please God to change their hearts. The 
 present state of the public mind is not one which 
 can be permanent : all excesses of opinion, arising 
 out of temporary excitement, must necessarily be 
 short-lived. In the mean time there can be no 
 doubt as to the part which it becomes us to take. 
 The Church has no interest in upholding abuses 
 that are clearly proved to be such ; but there are 
 few subjects on which the voice of mere public 
 opinion can be less safely depended upon, or in 
 which innovation, merely as such, ought more 
 to be resisted. I trust, then, that no blind 
 apprehension of consequences, of which we are 
 most fallible judges, that no temptation of fear, 
 
 c 
 
 ■sswu^w?^ 
 
N 
 
 34 
 
 35 
 
 f 
 
 the worst of counsellors in times of danger, will be 
 made a reason for changes of any kind, not other- 
 wise desirable ; and, above all, that the clergy will 
 not set an example of attempting to disarm the 
 hostility of their adversaries by any mean com- 
 pliances, or any compromise of the principles which 
 they sincerely entertain. Those principles are well 
 known ; they have carried the Church through as 
 fierce trials in former times, as any we are at pre- 
 sent likely to encounter ; and let us feel assured, 
 that to abandon them now, will not conciliate the 
 support of any party ; but, on the contrary, will 
 only justify the prejudices of those who wish us ill, 
 and supply arguments which they will not fail to 
 use against us. 
 
 But while we are careful not to yield upon any 
 point which concerns our private integrity as 
 churchmen, let us remember that we are not called 
 to be statesmen and politicians, but to be overseers 
 of the flock of Christ. And the more strictly we 
 limit our active exertions to this our prescribed 
 sphere of duty, the more effectually shall we con- 
 tribute to that good cause which we are all anxious 
 to uphold. Let us know nothing, so far as regards 
 our ministerial functions, save Jesus Christ, and him 
 crucified ; and in all our exhortations, let it plainly 
 appear that we have no temporal interest to serve 
 in seeking the respect and confidence of our 
 people, but that the main desire and prayer of 
 our heart to God in their behalf is, that they 
 might be saved. In this way of well doing we 
 
 7 
 
 shall put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, 
 when other arguments, perhaps, might fail ; and, 
 at all events, come what may, our hearts and 
 minds will be at peace. " The earth is the Lord's, 
 he the people never so wiquiet ;" and we may be 
 well assured that he will not abandon his Church, 
 nor allow the hearts of our people to be alienated 
 from her ministers, so long as they place their 
 reliance on his protectioil, and do what depends 
 upon them, to deserve it. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON : 
 GILBEUT & RIVINGTON, TRINTERS, 
 ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.