we have to decide is, not whether the opinions of Mr. Gorham are theologically sound or unsound, . . but whether those opinions are repugnant to the doctrines which the Church of England (by its Articles, Formularies, and Rubrics) requires to be held by its ministers.' (Brodrick, Privy Council Judgments, p. 89.) In other words, it is the canon law' of the Church of England which is made the measure of the accused person's alleged delinquency; and that canon law is not of course made by the Court, but simply applied to the case in question, as a pure matter of legal business. (2) It seems equally impossible for some people to comprehend, that the great principles of law must needs apply to all things that have the nature of law, whether 'canon law,' ' mercantile law,' or any other sort of law. And hence it is that they overlook the express and repeated declarations of the Privy Council itself. The question must be decided by the Articles and Liturgy; and we must apply to the construction of those books the same rules which have been long established, and which are by law applicable to all written instruments. We must endeavour to attain for ourselves the true meaning of the language employed, assisted only by the consideration of such external or historical facts, as we may find necessary to enable us to understand the subject-matter. and the meaning of the words employed." (Ibid. p. 90.) It is not therefore the judicial system of the Church that requires any alteration, beyond mere improvements in detail. It is her legislative organs that urgently require reformation. It is her Convocations that need adapting to the altered circumstances of the age; and that require the recovery of such bonâ fide representative weight as shall compel attention to the crying needs of the English Church; such as (a) a sub-division of dioceses, (B) a new and simpler code of 'disciplinary canons,' (y) a thorough reform of the cathedrals, (8) an authoritative extension of the Catechism, by an appendix, ‘On the nature and functions of the Church.'—And if, in addition to this, an annual 'Diocesan Synod' and 'Conference' could be established in each diocese, and the lines could also be laid out for occasional assemblies, on a still larger scale, of representative bishops and clergy from America, the Colonies, and perhaps Germany,—it is not probable that the men of our race would seek elsewhere for an organization suited to their circumstances and in accordance with their character. The imagination of that numerous class of people, whose minds cannot grasp a confused mass of details and whose hearts cannot love what has neither feature nor expression, would be satisfied. And the frowning array of Roman superstition on the one hand, and of a withering infidelity on the other, would at last find an organized and powerful foe ready to do battle against them under the banner of the Cross, and capable—with or without the auxiliary forces of Dissent-of 'filling the earth with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.' APPENDIX N. The Endowments of the English Church. The Endowments of the Church in this country are of three kinds: (1) Lands and buildings,-for the most part, gifts of very ancient date: (2) Money, invested for Church-purposes,—for the most part, gifts of quite modern times: (3) Tithes of the produce of the land,— ‚—now commuted into fixed payments in money, as a permanent rent-charge upon the land. A considerable proportion of this rent-charge is now (since the suppression of the monasteries) owned by laymen. The remainder forms the principal support of the clergy; and it produces a yearly revenue which, if equally distributed, would give each clergyman an average income of less than 2001. But what then is this 'Tithe'?-In seeking for a true answer to this question we are first of all met by the unexpected discovery, that it does not originally rest, either on the vis legislativa, nor even on the vis exemplaris, of the Levitical Law. Its history must be traced down two separate and (for a time) divergent channels, each of which, however, springs originally from the fountain-head of a primeval Semitic custom. And for the sake of clearness, a name may be here at once mentioned, which will put this whole matter in its true light. MELCHIZEDEK, the Canaanite, 'priest of the most high God,' who received the tithes of Abraham's military spoil-quite as if it were a long established custom, among those races, so to do-may stand as the first recorded instance of that, which perhaps had as long an unknown history before his time, as it has had a known history since. From this point then, we may trace the custom of paying tithes along two channels, as follows: (A) a sacred channel. From Abraham the Jews, his descendants, derived the custom; which was afterwards consecrated and regulated for them, in the Mosaic Law. And when, through the study of the Old Testament, that Law began to exercise a powerful influence in moulding the external features of the Christian Church, then 'tithe' began once more to take rank as a religious duty, directly sanctioned by the Most High. As such, it was preached-in all good faith-by the clergy. And thus, religion (from the fifth century onwards) reinforced, and imposed a distinctly ecclesiastical direction upon, that which previously had existed as a merely secular custom. (B) a secular channel.-For 'tithe' has also a profane, as well as a sacred, history of its own: (1) From the Canaanites, as was natural, their colony at Carthage inherited the custom of devoting a tenth of the spoils taken in war to their great deity, whom the classical writers call 'Hercules,' but whom perhaps we must call Baal or Moloch. This appears in their sending a tithe of their Sicilian spoils to the mother-temple at Tyre1. A similar custom existed among the Arabians 2; and it has perhaps passed from them to the modern Mahometans. From this Carthaginian custom, on the one hand,— and from a similar tithing' custom brought by the Etruscans from Asia Minor, on the other,—the Romans, no doubt, learnt their habit of tithing spoils of war to Hercules, (or, as he was called among the Sabines, Semo Sancus1.) And then afterwards,- -as was likely to happen,-not only spoils of war, but other windfalls or pieces of good luck were tithed to Hercules, Mercury, or Fortune ". And at last, rich men came to charge their permanent estates with a standing 'tithe,'-devoting it especially to providing sacrifices, temples, feasts, &c. to Hercules. Meantime, a similar custom is found to have existed also among the Greeks. But in their case, Ephesus (instead of Carthage) formed the intermediate link of connection with the more distant and purely Semitic East. Hence Artemis (the Greek form of Astarte) was the first deity to receive tithes then Phoebus, and other gods, were honoured in the same way: till at length, a custom arose of frequently charging lands, otherwise free, with a tenth of the produce in support of some neighbouring temple7. (2) And here we reach an important point of transition. The habit, which had thus become general, of withholding the hand (as it were) from the enjoyment of the tenth part—often, no doubt, a very roughly calculated tenth part 8. of every man's possessions, was in early times taken notice of by legislators and statesmen. And ere long,-when waste lands came to be parcelled out among 'possessors' (or, to use an Australian term, 'squatters'), and when conquered lands were restored, under conditions of yearly tribute, to their former owners,-the reserved charge which it seemed most natural to put upon them, and most easy to collect, was that of a 'tithe' of the produce9. And so it came to pass that, long before Christianity had any influence upon the Roman Empire, this conception of tithes, as a reserve-fund set aside for other purposes than those of individual enjoyment, became thoroughly established in the Western world. And especially would this be the case in Gaul, Spain, and Britain,—which, as 1 Justin, lib. xviii. (ap. Selden, On Tithes, chap. iii.) 2 Pliny, N. H. xii. 14, (ibid.) 3 Smith, Dict. Ant., s. v. 'ager.' 4 Gruter, Inscrip. (ap. Selden, loc. cit.) 5 Ibid. 7 Cf. Xenophon, Anab. v. 3. 11, (ap. Dict. Antiq., s. v. ' decumœ.') 8 Seld. x. I. 9 Cf. Thuc. vi. 54, and Appian i. 7, (ibid. 'decuma' and 'agrariæ leges.') The whole subject may be illustrated from modern Indian customs. (Cf. 6 Cf. Cicero, Plautus, Plutarch, &c. Maine, Village Communities, especially (ap. Selden, 1. c.) Lecture VI.) conquered provinces, could claim no jus Italicum; and whose soil therefore could never be held in full ownership by anybody1o. Here this idea must have taken the profoundest root, and must have appeared to every provincial as almost the order of nature itself". Meanwhile, language contributed as is its wont-to deepen, and also to modify, the idea. A district of free 'allodial' Germany, seized by Rome and subjected to all the state-charges of the Empire, was called the Decumates Agri. In every Roman camp, the financial quarter, the paymaster's lodgings, the place (no doubt) for 'requisitions' and for many a cruel exaction of the 'sinews of war,' was called the Porta Decumana12. In every provincial town, the hated publican who farmed the annual imposts was called, in early times, a Decumanus. The notion, therefore, of 'Decumæ' (tithes), must have become as familiar as a household-word throughout the West; and no one, probably, conceived of such a thing as private-property without this charge attaching to it, by immemorial custom and by unquestionable right. (3) Hence, when the Goths and Germans burst into the Roman Empire, and every petty chieftain became a sort of local emperor 13' to the terrified provincials, he found himself everywhere confronted with the notion of a 'tithe' which had never belonged, and never ought to belong, to any individual owner 1. And the clergy at the same time,-not indeed by laying claim to tithe as of right 15, but by urging frequently the duty of giving such firstfruits to the Lord, and by drawing their argumentative analogies from Leviticus, no doubt contributed to bring about the important result; that 'Tithe' was, by ever widening custom, assigned for the maintenance of the Church 16. Thus, so early as A.D. 586, in a Council held at Mâcon, all the Frankish landholders of those parts appear as paying tithes already by old custom. (4) But at this point, a curious fact comes to light. It seems that the German or English landowner, until about A.D. 1200, held himself—although in ever decreasing measure, as time went on, and the Church became more powerfully organized-at liberty to assign his 'tithes' very much as he pleased ". He sometimes therefore gave part to the Church, and (having thus soothed his conscience) kept the rest for himself or his kindred 18. He 10 Niebuhr, (ap. Dict. Antiq., p. 42): Seld. iv. 2. 11 Cf Becker and Marquardt, Handbuch der Röm. Alterth., part iii. 1, pp. 180, 263. 12 OrQuæstoria,' Dict. Antiq., p. 206. 13 Waitz, Deutsche Verfassungsgesch. ii. 554: Holland, Land Tenures, p. 106. 14 Waitz, ii. 564, 581: Selden, iv. 2; v. 2: Holland, p. 102. 15 Selden, iv. 4. 16 Waitz, ii. 570, 572. 17 Selden, xi. 3: Waitz, ii. 576. sometimes assigned it to the Church which he had built on his estate; sometimes to the Church where he himself habitually worshipped; sometimes he bestowed it on his own chaplain, sometimes on a monastery, or on several monasteries in turn,-just as pique or fancy moved him 1. The consequence was, that this half-fixed, half-voluntary, tithe became a source of endless trouble and anxiety to the clergy; until they became strong enough, in the twelfth century, to organize the matter more firmly 20. Besides which, a trust-fund of so very floating and arbitrary a character would always be in peril of a partial, or even complete, reversion into lay hands (infeudation),—where it would lose its sacred character, and become subject to ordinary feudal conditions 21. Hence, no doubt, arose two phenomena which we meet with at every step during this whole period, down to about A.D. 1200; and which have often been singularly misunderstood. The first is, that Councils, Witenagemots, and other mixed assemblies, at this epoch, are found to be perpetually binding themselves afresh, and binding all those over whom they have influence, to a better fulfilment of their acknowledged duties in this matter. It is not that they are passing 'laws,' and (as it were) 'Acts of Parliament,' on the subject 22. It is not 'the State,' which is here imposing new taxes. Else, why repeat the matter over and over again, through long centuries? But it is individual landholders, who have long recognised and long-in a confused and irregular way-fulfilled the duty of assigning their 'tithes' to sacred uses, now solemnly and publicly binding themselves to its regular fulfilment. It is an emperor, like Charlemagne, enjoining his lieges' attention to an acknowledged duty; 'unusquisque suam decimam donet 23: ' or it is a prince, like Ethelwolf, freeing from all regal exactions and service, the 'tithe' which he had already given, either to the Church or to his own theigns; 'ut decimam partem terrarum per regnum nostrum non solùm sanctis ecclesiis darem, verum etiam et ministris nostris [my theigns] in eodem constitutis, in perpetuam libertatem habere concessimus,ita ut talis donatio.. permaneat ab omni regali servitio et omnium sæcularium absoluta servitute... Ista autem est libertas, quam Ethelwolfus Rex suo ministro Hunsige.. concessit, in loco qui dicitur Worthi' (Haddan and Stubbs, Documents, &c. iii. 638.) And that this 'freedom' was a concession of some value, appears from a similar grant only thirty-eight years before, from Kenulf King of Mercia to the Bishop of Worcester: 'liberam quoque istam terram conscripsi ab omnibus aliis .. servitutibus, præter tantùm his tribus causis (1) arcis, (2) pontis constructione, (3) et expeditione [the well-known 19 Selden, xi. I. 20 Ibid. x. 2; p. 289. ii. 28. 22 Miall, Title-Deeds, passim. 21 Ibid. xiii. 1. Adelung, Glossarium, 23 Ap. Selden, vii. 2. |