Considerations on the basis and the means of the permanent security of the Established Church of England

Front matter

PRINCETON, N. J.

Considerations on the basis Shee and the means of the

LL LT a I SE TT a

Book 2

E 2 the combatants have been excited by that intense degree of party virulence and animosity, which prevails when measures of more than ordinary interest are discussed, without feeling that it 1s — an arena where the Ministers of a religion of love and good-will to man, can scarcely with propriety be spectators. But if, as is sometimes the case, and most fatally for the interests of Christianity, they descend from the tone of plain and simple exposition of their sentiments, and become themselves the gladiators in the strife of bitterness and personality, a hateful spectacle of some of the worst passions of our nature is presented, and a scandal is given in the most conspicuous assembly in the realm.

And as nothing has a more certain effect in secularizing the Church, than the introduction of Politics into it, so nothing has a greater tendency to lower it in the estimation of the people. One reason why our Judges are so justly popular, is their very general separation from all party violence and political litigation. The admixture of the Ministers of Religion in politics, is bad every way. If, as is the natural inclination of religious men, of men looking beyond this present scene, and caring for nothing while they continue in it, but the maintenance of good government and order; they keep aloof from the transitory squabbles of party, and support the Administration of the day, they incur the charge of servility, and perhaps of tergiversation. If, on the other hand, they embark in a systematic course of opposition, they seem to be violating those commands which inculcate submission to the powers that be, and which declare resistance to such powers, to be resistance to the ordinance of God. If they find it their duty to withstand the loud and earnest de sires of the great mass of the people, they are pur sued by a “ hunt of obloquy,” which is of infinite evil, in all respects, and which turns into persecutors and revilers, those, who ought to “ esteem them very highly in love for their works’ sake.”

If, therefore, the Parliamentary Peerage of the Prelates be prejudicial to the cause of Religion, the next inquiry will be, whether a sufficient substitute for it can be provided by an Ecclesiastical Synod or Church Assembly. And, as approving our endeavours for this purpose, we have the great authority of Hooker, who recommends that the abuses, which had taken place in such assemblies, ‘“ should rather cause men to study how so gracious a thing may again be reduced to that first perfection.” ‘A thing,” he observes, “‘ whereof God’s own blessed Spirit was the Author, a thing practised by the Holy Apostles themselves, a thing never otherwise than most highly esteemed of, till pride, ambition, and tyranny began by factions and vile endeavours to abuse that divine invention, unto the furtherance of wicked purposes.’’*

«. And, to the same effect, it is observed by Warburton “ to be a great error to imagine such assemblies, when legally convened, to be either useless or mischievous. For all societies being administered by human means, it must needs happen that religious societies, as well as civil, will have frequent occasion to be new regulated and put in order. Now, though by the alliance between Church and State, no new regulations can be made for Church Government but by the state’s authority; yet still there is reason that the Church should be previously consulted, which we must suppose well skilled (as in her proper business) to form and digest such new regulations, before they come before the consideration of the Civil Legislature.” ,

' And in another place he observes, “ As for the mischief arising from Synodical Assemblies by their heats, quarrels and divisions, it is owned they are great, so as to have occasioned the civil magistrate to suspend them for a long time together. But then we must consider that these quarrels have all arisen from not having had their original and ending, under an Establishment, precisely determined, as appears from the constant subject of their quarrels, which have always been about the power and extent of their privileges and jurisdiction. And, we may venture to affirm; that synods convened and meeting on the principles here laid down, cannot possibly be

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pernicious to the State or fruitless to the Church.” *

But even supposing that the Advocates for the Parliamentary Peerage of the Prelates could show that the Convocation, however modelled, would not compensate, in direct influence, to the Church, for the loss of so many votes in the House of Lords; yet it would still be easy to prove, that so far from being weaker, she would be much the stronger, by the severing of this unnatural Alliance between the Kingdom of Christ and the Kingdom of the World.

The real influence of the Church in the counsels of the nation, and the security of her endowments, do not depend on the votes or the speeches of a small number of Representatives or ‘‘ Guardians’ in Parliament; but on the habits and affections of the people, strengthened and confirmed by her own growing desire to work out her purity and efficiency, and by her faithfulness in the discharge of the great trust which is committed to her hands. These are the arms by which, under the protection of God, she will repel the attacks of all enemies, and secure the support not only of every religious, but of every peaceful, sober, moral, and temperate man in the kingdom. ‘With these she may rely with confidence on Parliament, and permit her Hierarchy, unpolluted by Politics, to apply its undivided energies to that

* Alliance, &c, Book 2.

Ci OBe 9 sacred object to which it should be exclusively devoted.

There is one remaining point, which, though not made the subject of any specific proposal in the following Plan, is yet so deeply connected with the purity of the Church, that it would be improper to omit all notice of it, though the time is not yet arrived when we can hope for any Legislative Enactment respecting it. It relates to the mode of disposing of the Crown Patronage. The corruption of the present system has been most forcibly pointed out by two very able writers in some recent periodical works. The one is in a letter to the Lord Chancellor, contained in Blackwood’s Magazine for February, 1832; the other in an Article on Church Reform, in the British Critic or Quarterly Theological Review for January, 1832. Both these publications, as is well known, are conducted on the soundest principles both of loyalty and of attachment to the Church, and the latter of them is understood to represent the opinions of a very large and influential body of the Clergy. Neither of them can be accused of being actuated by. any rash or vehement spirit of innovation. They both, however, speak with indignant but well- -deserved reprobation of the mode in which the Crown Patronage has been usually disposed of, and justly consider it as a great scandal and corruption, which it is highly expedient to remove.

The former, after dwelling at some length.upon these evils, very truly observes, ‘‘ while the case continues to be so, nothing effectual can be done for the better government of the Church. As long as its high places are filled by those, whose promotion has been the result of Ministerial favouritism or Parliamentary intrigue, so long will its affairs be administered with a view to temporal rather than spiritual interests.”

In the same spirit, the latter of these writers asks “ what probability is there in the nature of things, or from the results of experience, that the Crown will generally and wisely consult the real interests of Religion? Looking to the almost universal practice of mankind, we see that patronage of every description is used more as an instrument of power or of gratification, than under any overruling sense of duty. And recarding the manner in which Church Patronage has been exercised from the Revolution to the present day, what hope can we entertain of seeing it made effectual for the promotion of Religion ?”’

In other professions, the selection of persons to whom great and important trusts are delegated, is usually made with due attention to their merits and their capacity; and those who have to decide upon their claims have commonly a deep interest in providing the fittest persons, or have at least a minute acquaintance with the details of the sub-

( ‘58. 9 ject matter. But the appointment to the highest offices in the Church is widely different. ‘These, as is well known, are in the nomination of the Prime Minister, a person who is necessarily intensely occupied with worldly pursuits, distracted by an immense multiplicity of urgent and important concerns, and liable to be agitated by the passions, and the prejudices which party and politics engender. He is deeply interested to promote the benefit of a few; he has to reward the services, to stimulate the exertions, and to keep alive the hopes of his adherents; and he is oppressed on every vacancy with the importunate demands of the powerful and influential, urging upon him the claims of kinsmen and dependants. A person so situated, and surrounded by such temptations. (whatever may be his individual excellence,) is not likely to come to a right exercise, of this most momentous of all trusts. He has too great a temptation to overlook the interests of religion, in the pretensions of his party or his kindred. Nothing sets this in a more striking hight than the credit which Lord Liverpool obtained for a few disinterested appointments, in which, disregarding the claims of the powerful, he elevated unpretending merit and excellence to high places in the Church. This conduct was, no doubt, highly laudable in the individual Minister; but the mere fact of its having attracted any attenae tion, is sufficient evidence of the corruption of the system.

In truth, according to the strong and appropriate language which has been already quoted, all parties have joined in considering Church Patronage as so much oil for greasing the wheels of Government. A. proposed coalition between two powerful parties in the state, was once supposed to have failed, merely because they could not agree who should have the disposal of the Church Patronage. Not that the negociators either supposed or alleged that either party would bring improper servants into the sanctuary. The cause of Religion was indeed not at all under consideration. But the conflicting interests happened to be so nicely balanced, that the possession of that great-state engine of parliamentary and. political influence would, it was thought, secure an undue preponderance to the one party or to the other. 7

The remedy for this evil, proposed by the former of these writers, and scarcely disapproved of by the latter, is to vest the Crown Patronage in Ten unpaid Commissioners, Members of the Church of England, and chosen for their known devotion to it: and the writer refers, as a precedent, to an expedient adopted after the Revolution, when William IT]., on coming to the throne, felt that, as a stranger, he was not qualified to make a proper use of his power of appointing - to

(OD bishopricks, without the aid of a committee, composed of discreet individuals, well affected towards the Church of England, by whom his choice might be guided. Such a Committee was accordingly appointed, and, with the exception of their natural prejudices against such as were suspected of Jacobitism, they were wise and discriminating in their selections, to which the names of Burnet, Hoadly and Tillotson, bear testimony.

It is not, however, to be denied, that there are weighty objections to the plan. It is an evil inseparable from all Boards of Commissioners, that from the responsibility being so much divided, the check of public opinion has less influence upon them than upon insulated individuals, as the praise of disinterested measures, or the discredit of corrupt ones, is to be shared amongst so many: and it is the fashion to accuse them of a proneness to jobbing.

As long, however, as human nature continues what it is, Patronage must be confided to frail and fallible, and sometimes to corrupt hands. It is, therefore, at least one great recommendation of the proposal, that it secures the total exclusion of the greatest of all the causes of corruption—the Influence of Politics, that fertile source of jobbing, ambition, secularity, and scandal. It is hardly to be supposed, that any very improper appointment will emanate from a Board, constituted of five such Ecclesiastics as the Archbishops, and the Bishops

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of London, Durham, and Winchester, associated with five Laymen, chosen for their high moral worth, for the candour and impartiality of their sentiments, and for their tried attachment to the Church. If the very highest degrees of excellence should sometimes be neglected, in those rare cases where an exalted standard of faith and practice may attach to its possessor the ungrounded suspicion of fanaticism; yet, upon the whole, the appointments will be good, and, at all events, there will be none scandalous, under the control of an observant Public, a vigilant Parliament, and a free Press. And, as is acutely observed by the same writer, supposing the Commissioners to be actuated by the lowest motives, namely, the desire of appointing some relative or friend, these motives could only operate with one-tenth of the force which would belong to them, if the nomination rested, as at present, with a single individual.

We have thus gone through the more prominent objects which call for Reformation in the Church. The subject of Commutation of Tithes cannot, with propriety, be designated a measure of Church Reform, being an equitable adjustment of a most lawful, but, to the feelings of many, an irritating and vexatious demand. But even, had the author considered it as coming within the scope of the present publication, he would have found himself, in a great measure, anticipated by the arguments already addressed to the public in support of a commutation fora Corn Rent, and more particularly in the plan suggested by the Rev. J. Miller, in his letter to Earl Grey, which, though somewhat cumbrous and objectionable in its machinery, appears to be perfectly equitable in principle, and, if adopted, would probably do much to put an end to all the unjust and uncharitable feelings which this unfortunate subject excites. .

The Alterations here proposed are, it is submitted, neither violent, nor uncalled for, nor contrary to the spirit of those Institutions which they profess to affect. They will no otherwise change our ancient and venerable Establishment “ than,” to use the apt illustration of Hooker, ‘ a path is changed by altering only the uppermost face thereof; which, be it laid with gravel, or set with grass, or paved with stones, remaineth still the same path.” If we first take due caution “ that against Scripture nothing be admitted into the Church,” it is our next duty to provide “ lest that part which ought always to be kept even, do come to be overgrown with brambles and thorns.” *

In conclusion, let us refer to the standard which we originally set up for our guide, that only “lantern to our fect, and light unto our paths.” If any one thinks, and can show, that the Non- Residence of the Clergy; the holding of Pluralities and Commendams; the permitting such

_* Kee. Pol. Book ii. 3. 3, |

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numbers of parishes in the country, and such masses of population in towns, to be without Resident Ministers or the means of grace, while such ample revenues are at the same time bestowed on Sinecures; that the Translation of the Prelates, and their admixture with Politics; and, finally, that the abuse of Government Patronage to obtain Parliamentary Influence; are consistent with the will of the Great Founder of the Church; such a person may honestly and. conscientiously, if not safely, neglect, or resist the approaching demand for Church Reform. But, if that Will contains a condemnation of these evils, and pronounces them to be Corruptions, there is an end for ever to the question, whether they should be retained, or whether they should be abolished. The sentence is passed against them, the accursed thing must be put away; one plain line of conduct is pointed out —‘ This is the way, walk ye in it.” To be led by fear to elude or to delay the performance of so clear.a duty, is to violate the grand principle of Christian obligation, which forbids us to do evil, that good may come.

fear is indeed felt by many that the Church of England is in danger; fear that the spirit of Innovation and of Change, the spirit of Insubordination, the contempt of Ancient Institutions, the machinations of powerful enemies, and the lukewarmness of weak friends are bringing down ruin upon her. But these dangers will be viewed by the eye of Wisdom and of Piety as warnings of approaching chastisements, which a timely repentance and salutary reformation may avert. It is true that many fair and flourishing Churches have been removed and their light has been quenched; and the same desolating judgments may, perhaps, be awaiting our own. But He who walks in the midst of them, as he has used these and similar instruments in wrath for their downfal, so may he in mercy use them for our trial and sanctification. Only let us turn and be humbled in time: let us not place our trust in any arm of flesh; but crying to the Strong for strength, apply in his own appointed way for that help, which never will be refused to those who seek for it in simplicity and in truth. Let the influence of all who possess influence, and the zeal and the holiness and the talents of all who are endowed with those graces and gifts, be united to render her in constitution, in temporalities, in government, and in practice, what she has long been in profession, in doctrine and in faith, an ApvostoticAL Cuurcu. Having thus acted, we may fix our hopes in a dutiful and calm reliance on the Divine promises of support; not in indolence and security, but exerting all lawful and all righteous means, in the strenuous defence of our renovated Establishment.

May He, who is all love and goodness and wisdom, who has purchased unto himself an Universal Church by the precious blood of his dear Son, send down his heavenly benediction upon our Church! May he assist the endeavours of those who seek, by the aid of his Holy Spirit, to purify her from the Corruptions which, doubtless for the wise and salutary purpose of humbling and of proving us, have been permitted to arise in her, and to defile her! May he pour the graces of the same Spirit upon his Servants, her Ministers, purging them from avarice, ambition, sloth, and worldly-mindedness;—making them a chosen generation, a holy nation. a peculiar people;— a priesthood wholly devoted to his service, crucified to the’ world, and the world crucified to them:

- Ministers

Detached from pleasure, to the love of gain

Superior, insusceptible of pride,

And by ambitious longings undisturbed ! May our beloved Church evince that surest proof of the influence of genuine Religion, a gradual progression in true holiness; a passing on from grace to grace, from purity to purity, and, therefore, from strength to strength! May her last works, like those of the Church of Thyatira, be more abundant and more excellent than her first ; that so, under the blessing of God, she may, if possible, be presented unto him, through Jesus Christ, “a glorious Church,” without blemish, and without spot!

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THE PLAN.

‘ aol ne of

1 HE ne

Contents

Sect. 1.—Present Bishops and other Ecclesiastical persons not to be affected by the Act. . . . page 5

2.—Establishment of a Corporation for Management of Cathedral Property ie See OR ee UI HICIaL VE CTCL PA's rc ae ys tise bs oem 4,.—Members with Salaries . 3 5.—Duties of Salaried Commissioners 6.—Accountant-General . SA Ae 7.—Commission to make the Convocation more efficient and to inquire into a Mode of dispensing with the Attendance of Bishops in Parliament 8.—Episcopal Property to vest in the Corporation on the death, &c. of the present Bishops 9.—Property of Chapters, &c. to vest in the Corporaae ee Be . 10.—Interest of the on ation ce till tit Dest of the existing Members 11.—Provision as to the renewal of Leases 12.—Power to the Commissioners to buy out surviving Members of Chapters . 13.—Sinecures to vest in the Corporation 14,.—First Fruits and Tenths, in what cases aaa 15.— What Payments to be made by the Commissioners 16.—Surplus Revenue to be applied in Augmentation and Endowment of Benefices . ae 17.—Powers of Commissioners to raise Money until erie: Wetatesrvesti im ther (i ir. mir, oie te tk te

_ 18.—Powers of Management of Estates

III

That the Corporation consist of the following Official Members, who shall not receive any salary—The two Archbishops, the Lord Chancellor,

Official Members.

Salaried Members.

Duties of them.

Accountant- General.

Ciba the First Lord of the Treasury, the Bishops of London, Durham, and Winchester, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the three Chief Justices, the Master of the Rolls, the Prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocation, the Deans of Westminster and St. Paul’s, and the Archdeacon of London.

IV

That, besides such Official Members, there be appointed by the Crown certain other Commissioners, who shall be Laymen, and shall receive salaries, to be fixed by the Act. That at first there shall be Zhree such Commissioners, but with power in the Crown, as the Estates vest in the Corporation, to increase them to any number not exceeding Might.

v.

That such paid Commissioners shall devote their time exclusively to the management and control of the Ecclesiastical Property, and to the application of its Revenues in manner pointed out by the Act; and in all questions which shall arise before the Corporation, they shall have the like right of voting and the same powers as the Official Commissioners.

VI

That there be an Accountant-General to the said Corporation, with such number of Clerks as

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the Commissioners shall certify from time to time to be necessary, and all sums receivable under this Act shall be paid into the Bank of England to the credit of the Corporation, adopting as far as possible the practice of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Court of Chancery; and that all payments be made by the Accountant- General upon the order of the Commissioners.

VII

That a Commission be appointed to inquire into the best Means of giving Efficiency to the Convocation, and to devise a Mode whereby the Attendance of the Bishops in Parliament may be dispensed with, without Danger to the Rights, Liberties and Privileges of the Church of England.

VUI.

That upon the death of any such Archbishop, or Bishop, or on any other vacancy of his See, all the temporalities and property thereof shall vest in the Corporation, subject to the trusts of the Act.

IX

That when the existing Members of the Chapters, &c., mentioned in Sect. 29, shall cease to be such Members by death, or otherwise, the Corporation shall succeed from time to time to all the share and interest in such property which was possessed by every such Member or Mem-

Convocation

Mode of vesting.

Same in Chapters.

Provision tili property vested.

The like as to Renewals.

bers; and when all the existing Members shall have so ceased to be Members of such Chapter, the whole of such property shall vest in the Corporation, subject to the trusts of the Act; but their successors, in such Chapters, as hereby appointed, shall continue to be Ecclesiastical Corporations, and entitled to all rights, powers, and interests which the present Chapters are entitled to, except as otherwise provided by this Act.

x

That until all the existing Members of any Chapter shall have ceased to be Members thereof, in all questions which shall arise in the Chapter, the Commissioners shall have votes equivalent in number to, the amount of shares so vested in them.

XI

That when the Corporation shall, by the death or removal of Members, have obtained a preponderance in any Chapter, upon all applications for Leases or Renewals thereof, the. surviving Members shall be entitled to have all such Leases granted or renewed upon the terms and with such fines as have theretofore been most usually taken by the practice of such Chapter: and in case there shall have been no precise usage in respect thereof, then according to a scale to be fixed by the Act.

XIE.

That when more than one Moiety of the exist- power to buy ing Members of any Chapter shall have been A hg removed by death or otherwise, the Corporations shall have power to contract with any or all of the remaining Members for the purchase of their interests, upon payment of an Annual Sum equal to the average value of such interests, which shall thereupon vest in the Corporation ; but such annual payment shall cease in case the party shall obtain any other Preferment.

XIII

That all Sinecures in the presentation of B1- sinecures. shops and Chapters be abolished, and that the property attached to them be vested in the Corporation; but that the property of such as belonged to Bishops be specifically applied to the augmentation of Benefices in the presentation of the See.

XIV

That the payment of First Fruits and Tenths First Fruits. be abolished as to all Ecclesiastical Persons whose Stipends are hereby provided, and as to all persons appointed to Benefices under £1000 per ann., and that the Corporation shall have power to discharge all other Livings therefrom, upon such terms and under such agreements with the Patrons thereof, as shall be provided by the Act.

Payments.

Surplus Revenue.

Power to borrow.

Powers to manege Estates.

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XV

That the following Payments be made by the Corporation out of the Funds so vested in them: viz. the Stipends of the several Ecclesiastical Persons as fixed by the Act; the Salaries of the Commissioners and other Officers, and the Expenses of carrying the Act into Execution, as specially directed by it; the Repair of Cathedrals, and of those Churches, of which the property is hereby vested in the Corporation; the Expenses of Choirs and other charges attendant on Divine Service; and also the Repairs of the Palaces and Residences of such Ecclesiastical persons.

XVI. That after such payments, the Revenues be

applied by the Corporation to the Augmentation

of small Benefices and to the Endowment of

Churches or Chapels in populous districts of Ikngland and Wales.

XVII

That in case the Revenues and other Funds be at first inadequate to the various payments fixed by the Act, the Corporation may borrow Money upon Bills in the nature of Exchequer

Bills, bearing Interest.