'trinoda necessitas."] . . Propter hanc libertatem, episcopus et ejus familia mihi tradiderunt xiv maneria.' (Ibid. p. 585.) Yet it is from such grants as these, that modern writers have argued that tithe is a 'tax,' imposed by the State; and not a 'rent-charge,' of primæval antiquity, consecrated frequently by private liberality to Church purposes. Although Selden himself, from whom all their facts are taken, explains the matter thus: "this freedom of that time, you must (it seems) so interpret, that every man henceforth was to be valued in all subsidies and taxes according only to the nine parts of his lands and profits: and the profits of the tenth, being due to the Church, were both in his and their hands discharged from all payment and taxes whatsoever.' (Selden, on Tithes, viii. 4, p. 208, ed. 1618.) The second phenomenon which meets us, at this early period, before A.D. 1200, is the constant and reiterated effort of the clergy to transfer tithegiving from its true basis of a human and voluntary assignment—often accompanied by a collateral assignment of precisely similar 'tithes' to secular persons and purposes 24,-to what seemed a safer basis; viz. that of a divine obligation founded on the Old Testament. It was very natural that they should do so. And amid the universal ignorance of those times, both on historical and on theological questions, the argument was (no doubt) advanced and accepted in perfect good faith. And so-after a divergence of some two thousand years—the two streams of the history of Tithe, the heathen or secular and the Jewish or sacred, flow into the same channel once more. The strong hand of Innocent III, and the enthusiastic feelings engendered by the religious revival of the thirteenth century, combine towards the same result. And Tithe becomes, at last, a settled, sacred, and customary rent-charge upon property; and ecclesiastical tenures take their place among the other beneficia (or fee-ods) of the feodal system of which they are to this day, to borrow a convenient word, a 'survival 26,’ -the last remains of property held in conditional, not absolute, possession; and enjoyed as 'fee' for service done to the community. 25 (5) But this settlement did not remain very long unchallenged. The heated feelings of the thirteenth century soon gave rise to the mendicant orders. And the friars, loudly vaunting their new voluntary system,' severely shook the orderly parochial arrangements, and began to whisper the highly suggestive question, whether the established assignment of 'tithe' were, after all, a final one. (Selden, Tithes, viii. 4.) Ere long, the same question was repeated, above a whisper, by Wicliffe and the Lollards. 24 Selden, Review, p. 478 (on chap. of Revenues, p. 129. vii.) 25 Guizot, Civiliz. iii. 25: Paul, Hist. 26 Tylor, Prim. Culture, i. 64. (Lechler, Wiclif, p. 419.) And at length, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was spoken quite openly; and the too stiffly organized parochial system gave way under the increasing pressure. A period of absolute confusion followed. And at the Restoration, in 1660, the old system was established once more; and was supported by the whole power of the State. Within the present century, the important and beneficial measure of tithecommutation' was passed by Parliament, in 1836. And now at last, in 1871, it is proposed to throw recklessly away this precious heritage of a remote antiquity; to secularize what, when devotion grew firmer, and most lay-men of fair estate desired the country residence of some chaplains . . for Christian instruction among them, their families, and adjoining tenants' ..'passed from the patron by his gift, not otherwise than freehold by his deed and livery;' (Selden, Tithe, pp. 259, 373 :) and to sink into the indistinguishable and already excessive mass of mere' private property' and' capital,' this last relic of the second and deeply interesting stage in the history of property27, when it had ceased to be held in common,' and was held 'in fee,' -with conditions of service attached. 27 Paul, Hist. of Revenues, pp. 16, 22. The following clearly arranged ' BALANCE-SHEET OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND' has lately been issued by the Yorkshire Union of Church Institutes." AVERAGE ANNUAL RECEIPTS. AVERAGE ANNUAL EXPENDITURE. d. MAINTENANCE OF THE CLERGY. Net Salaries of 30 Deans, 127 £ S. d. £ s. d. 138,556 O . 2,251,051OO 4,200,255 14 O 201,605 0 508,599 o O Taxes, &c. on the Endowments of Church Institutions other than Relief of the Poor, from Church Total . £10,154,152 14 0 INDEX. Age of Prose, p. xi, 255. Arabic Canons of Nicæa, 157. Art, function of, in the Church, 315, Articles, true use of, 309, 310 n., 394. Tenets of, 212, 242. Bible, its true use, 262, 271, 273 n., 293, 301, 324 n. Bigotry and Faith, 331 n. Buddhism, xiii, 303. Calvinism, 218, 230, 253, 261, 265, 374. Census of 1851 fallacious, 112. - - Scripture account of, 14, 365. - English, advantages of, 239, 387, - faults of, xviii, xix, 200, 223, 230, of the Commonwealth, a failure, Class-meetings, 388 n. Clementines,' the, 172. Clergy, true function of, 259. Congregational Union, origin of, 40 n. 395. Eighteenth century, 289, 343. of Dissent, 101, 377, 394. Episcopacy, history of, 27, 167, 406. Final Court of Appeal, 412, 419, 438. Free Churches want Freedom,' 99. General Council, appeal to, 189, 201, Gratry, Père, 161. Grostête, Bishop, 181, 199. Heresy, what it is, 142 n., 321. Lay-agency, 42, 352. Monastic system, 85, 349, 356 n. Mysticism, danger of, 367, 421. Old-Catholics, xvi, 160, 387, 424. Oxford, 318 n., 354, 403. mischief of, 32, 141 n., 231. Primacy of St. James, 165. of Rome, 177. 188, 415, 424. Puritans, tenets of, xiii, 46, 54, 63, Quakers, tenets of, 252, 258, 280. worship of, 272, 278. Rationalism, danger of, 302, 304 n., - hysteria, 369. to Dissenters, 91 n. Ritual, utility of, 330 n., 404, 430. Romanism, political precautions a- Royal Supremacy, meaning of, 59 n., Salters' Hall controversy, 226, 296. Sects, mutual hostility of, xii, 50, 67 n., Theology, its permanent and variable Tithes are not 'taxes,' 440, 445. Union-workhouses, grand scale of, III n. Unitarian Prayer-Book, 130, 310. Variations in Dissent, 66 n., 384 n. evils of, IOI n., 118, 413, 415. Working classes and the Church, 19, Worship, united, 430. |