The Established Church of England--Its Revenues--Its Ecclesiastical
Abuses--Its Sway over Political Parties--Rev. Dr. Phillpotts--Rev.
Dr. Pusey--Rev. Mr. Noel--Anti-State Church Movement.
The Established Church of England is one of the foulest sores on the
body politic of the kingdom. I shall examine it mainly in its political
bearings.
The King is the "Supreme Head of the Church," and appoints, through the
chapters, the bishops, besides a great number of lesser dignitaries. The
bishops license and ordain the inferior clergy. The owners of estates
charged with the payment of the salaries of pastors, have the right to
nominate or "present" them to the parishes. There are some 12,000
parochial churches under the control of the Establishment. Of these the
crown presents to 952; the bishops to 1248; the deans and chapters to
787; other ecclesiastical dignitaries to 1851; the Universities of
Oxford and Cambridge to 721; the nobility and gentry to 5096; and the
residue are disposed of by others.
The annual revenue of the whole body of the clergy is more than
$42,000,000; a sum greater than is received by the Established Clergy of
all the world besides. The income of the twenty-eight bishops amounts to
about $800,000. The Archbishop of Canterbury receives $75,000, and of
York $50,000. The Bishop of London $50,000, of Durham $40,000, of
Winchester $35,000, and so on. Previous to the act of 1837, the income
of the sees mentioned was much larger. Said the late Rowland Hill,
himself a clergyman of the Establishment, at a missionary meeting in
Exeter Hall, a few years ago: "Would, my lord, that I had the bishops of
this realm tied up by the heels to that chandelier, and could direct the
stewards to hold the plates under their pockets and catch the falling
guineas; what a collection we should raise!" One of the worst features
of this institution is the gross inequality in the distribution of its
favors. Of its clergy, fifteen hundred receive an average annual income
of about $5000 each; while another fifteen hundred (and they are the
working and valuable portion) receive only an average of about $400; and
many of these last do not get $200. Sydney Smith has aptly asked, "Why
is the Church of England nothing but a collection of beggars and
bishops? the right reverend Dives in the palace, and Lazarus in orders
at the gate, doctored by dogs and comforted by crumbs?"
The revenues of the Establishment are mostly drawn from tithes. But
large sums are realized from other sources. And in addition to these,
the clergy (whose numbers far exceed those of the parochial churches)
hold all the professorships, tutorships, masterships, and fellowships,
of the universities and public state schools; all the chaplainships in
the embassies, army and navy, and corporate and commercial companies;
worm their way into nearly all the profitable offices in educational and
charitable institutions, as librarians, secretaries, treasurers, and
trustees; are constant waiters upon Divine Providence and the Public
Treasury; standing candidates for all places of light work and heavy
pay; and show their zeal for the Crown and the Miter by promptly
furnishing recruits for the great army of sinecurists in the realm.[9]
[9] A commission instituted some years ago by the House of Commons, to
inquire into the abuses of charitable trusts, found a clergyman at the
head of a school, with a salary of L900 a year, and _one_ pupil. Another
received L500, had not a single scholar, and rented the school-room for
a saw-pit.
It is not my purpose to speak particularly of the religious character
and influence of the Establishment. But, a few facts in this department
may be given to show that Paul the tent-maker, and Peter the fisherman,
are not very closely copied by some of their English successors. It is a
notorious fact that a large body of the clergy do not compose their own
sermons, but purchase them in manuscript at depots in London, and other
large towns, as they do their stationery and wines. There is no very
serious objection to this, provided the sermons are better than they
could write themselves. A good purchased sermon is preferable to a bad
home-made one. But, it is equally notorious that they are often written
as marketable commodities by grossly irreligious men. Here is an
advertisement from a newspaper, which will serve as a specimen of its
class. "MANUSCRIPT SERMONS. To clergymen who, from ill health, or other
causes, are prevented from composing their own sermons, the advertiser
offers his services on moderate terms. Original sermons composed on any
given texts or subjects. N. B. A specimen sent if required. Address L.
S. W., Post-Office, Winchester."
The Church "livings" being property, they are, of course, marketable
articles. English newspapers frequently contain advertisements offering
them for sale. In describing their desirable qualities it is often
stated that "the income is large and the duties light," or, that "the
present incumbent is very aged," or, "in very feeble health;" and I have
seen them represented as being in the midst of a fine sporting country,
surrounded by a most agreeable society of nobility and gentry, &c. I
select an advertisement from a number lying before me. "ADVOWSON.
Perpetual Patronage and Right of Presentation to be disposed of, subject
to the life of an incumbent, now sixty-eight years old. The benefice
consists of an excellent rectory-house, lately built at a considerable
expense; abounding with conveniencies, and capitally fitted, good
out-offices, pleasure-grounds, garden, &c., farm-yard, and forty acres
of glebe. The tithes are commuted. Annual value upward of 600_l._ per
annum, independent of surplice fees, and is well situated in a pleasant
and luxuriant country, four miles from a large town, to which there is
railway conveyance."
Now, all this simply means, that Lord John Broadacres, being hard pushed
by his gambling debts, will sell to anybody, Turk or Mormon, and his
heirs forever, the right to quarter a dapper young student from Oxford
on this parish, to occupy this comfortable and elegant house and
grounds, and collect L600 per annum out of Episcopalians, Baptists,
Methodists, Independents, and Quakers, in return for reading to a
handful of people fifty or sixty sermons a year, purchased at a
book-stall in London.
It needs no "Black Book" to tell us, that $40,000,000, extorted annually
from the people by such an institution, and to a large extent from those
who dissent from its ritual, and never listen to its clergy, is a
prolific source of vexation and oppression, and tends powerfully to
debauch the morals and corrupt the politics of the kingdom. The
Established Church exercises unbounded sway over the politics of the
country, holding in vassalage great masses of the Tory and Whig parties.
The nobility and gentry find the Establishment a profitable and
dignified retreat for such younger branches of their families, as are
too dull for the learned secular professions, and too cowardly and puny
for cutting their way to promotion in the army and navy. They send to
this snug asylum their indolent and imbecile offspring, where they may
receive emoluments and pensions without burning the barrister's midnight
lamp, or treading the thorny road of politics, or encountering malignant
fevers while filling civic stations in tropical colonies, or braving
death on the deck of a line-of-battle ship in the Mediterranean, or in
the spouting breach of a fortress in Hindostan. The owners of advowsons
and livings, wielding a capital whose yearly income is $40,000,000, keep
constantly under pay, all over the kingdom, 16 000 clergy, who, with
many noble exceptions, are the ordained and licensed enemies of
political progress and ecclesiastical reform.
I by no means intend to say, that there are not a large number of most
worthy, pious, and faithful ministers, in the English Establishment, and
especially among the poorer clergy. Nor, that its doctrines are not
Biblical, and its service beautifully impressive. But, in its political
tendencies, the institution stands arrayed against progress and reform.
Among the most conspicuous champions of the Established Church, and who
has recently distinguished himself as the persecutor of Rev. Mr. Shore,
is DR. PHILLPOTTS, THE BISHOP OF EXETER. Entering the House of Lords,
the eye of a stranger is instantly arrested by the bench of bishops,
whose white robes and flowing wigs give them such an old-womanish
appearance, that he conjectures they must be "peeresses in their own
right," and by some one of the convenient fictions of the common law are
entitled to seats with the male barons. Sitting gravely among them, with
rigid muscle, compressed lip, and knit brow, is Dr. Phillpotts, who
conceals under his ample lawn an amount of intellectual acumen and power
which are able and ready to grapple with the pamphlet of any schismatic
in the diocese of Exeter, or the speech of any lord in the House of
Peers. A spectator can hardly believe that those pale, icy features,
cover a mental volcano. The tones of his voice give point to words that
pierce to the marrow of the subject under discussion, while his cool,
crafty, and dexterous style of argument shows that a trained master of
debate is on the floor. Delighting equally in exposing the fallacies of
his opponent, and placing him in a false position, his assaults are to
be shunned rather than provoked. One of the most adroit and keen
logicians in the House, he is skillful in making nice distinctions, and
in setting the arguments of his adversary to devouring each other. The
cold suavity with which he flays his victim, and the sweet malignity
with which he sugars over his bitterest denunciations, and the apparent
candor and sincerity which sit serenely on his visage when uttering the
most repulsive opinions, only make him the more provokingly intolerable.
This crafty prelate countenanced the Oxford Tractarians, till their open
advocacy of Popish doctrines and rites alarmed his more timid brethren,
when he veered off in a graceful curve, and has since made haste to
divert suspicion as to his orthodoxy, by persecuting the evangelical
clergymen of his diocese.
Spite the efforts of the bench of bishops, a violent intestine war has
been waged within the walls of the venerable Establishment for many
years. Two parties have sprung up, one of which would make the Church
essentially Roman Catholic, while the other would make it more
thoroughly Protestant and Evangelical. DR. PUSEY may be regarded as the
head of the Catholic, MR. NOEL of the Evangelical party. Both are the
immediate descendants of noble families, both possess superior
attainments, are accomplished preachers, and able controversialists. The
style of each in the pulpit is calm, logical, persuasive, and one cannot
listen to either without imbibing the conviction that he is uttering the
honest impulses of his understanding and heart. Dr. Pusey is one of the
founders of the association at Oxford which issued the celebrated
"Tracts for the Times." Mr. Noel has recently published a volume on "the
Union of Church and State," remarkable for its research, meditative
tone, and Christian spirit. It must exert a powerful influence upon the
ultimate overthrow of this institution. Dr. Pusey's writings have driven
several of his disciples over to Romanism; among the most distinguished
of whom was Mr. Newman; and he himself came very near accompanying his
associate. He still remains in the Establishment. Mr. Noel, having
thrown his able testimonial into the bosom of the Church, has withdrawn
from it, and united with the Baptist denomination.
The nature of the union of the Church with the State, and its influence
upon the religious and political interests of the country, have been
frequent topics of discussion ever since the Commonwealth of Cromwell.
The repeal of the corporation and test acts, the emancipation of the
Catholics, and the disruption of the Church of Scotland, have given
increased intensity to these discussions in our own times. The
persecution of the amiable and heroic Mr. Shore, by the Bishop of
Exeter, the publication of Mr. Noel's work, his rigorous treatment by
the Bishop of London, the acknowledged purity of his motives, and the
dignity and excellence of his character, have kindled into a flame the
agitation for the separation of the Church from the State. At no period
within a century has the anti-state-church party been as strong in
England as now. It counts in its ranks some of the ablest debaters, and
keenest controversialists in the kingdom. Mr. Burnet leads the
Independents, Dr. Cox the Baptists, Mr. Sturge the Quakers, Dr. Wardlaw
the Scotch Congregationalists, Dr. Ritchie the Secession Church of
Scotland, and Dr. Candlish the Free Church of Scotland. Behind them
rally the whole body of the Dissenters, the great majority of the Irish
Catholics, the main strength of the radical reformers, while no
inconsiderable portion of the liberal laity of the Establishment
sympathizes with them. These elements will continue to increase in
volume and power, till they sever a union offensive to God and
oppressive to man.