vey of the revenues of the Church; and the result was an entire new disposition of ecclesiastical property. Large masses of it were given to courtiers and noblemen; a portion of it was retained in the hands of the king; and the remainder appropriated to the maintenance of the reformed religion. It is calculated one-fourth of the titles and abbey-lands passed into the hands of laymen. No claim appears to have been set up that the property was sacred, and in every succeeding period it has been treated in a similar manner.

1

The rights and constitution of the Established Clergy resembles those of the Army; they have their own laws, and may be tried by their own courts. A regular subordination exists from the lowest to the highest; from the curates, who are privates in the ecclesiastical corps, to the rectors and vicars, who are regimental officers; from thence to the bishops and archbishops, who are generals and field-marshals: there are, also, district generals, inspectors, and quarter-masters, under the names of archdeacons, deans, and prebends. The bishops have their regular staff of commissaries, chaplains, secretaries, and apothecaries. No clergyman can be absent without leave, and is liable to be broke or cashiered for neglect of duty. The king is the supreme head of the Church and the Army, and appoints to all the principal commissions. Supplies are voted by the Lower House for both branches of service; either may be augmented or diminished, or en

tirely discontinued, as circumstances require. Lastly, the military have the same property in their muskets, barracks, and accoutrements, that the clergy have in their pulpits, tithes, and cathedrals: both, we suspect, may be sold like old stores, when the good of the state requires it.

By a display of the enormous temporalities attached to the Irish Church, we proceed to shew how well the Clergy are paid for being good and virtuous; instead of wicked, lazy, and horrible as many of them have been shewn in the preceding pages.

Estimates of the Revenues and Property of the Established Church in England and Wales.

Annual value of the gross produce of

THE

CRIMES OF THE CLERGY.

"Since first man's reason own'd a saving power
And Mercy's beams flash'd through the darken'd hour,

Our Gospel Ministers have mostly been

True sons of Belial, advocates for sin;

Preaching religion, still they practise evil :

And make God's word subservient to the devil."

SIR RICHARD BLACKMORE.

WERE we to adopt the prevailing opinion amongst the multitude, not a word of preface would be necessary to a work bearing our ti'le; but we will not "follow the multitude to do evil," nor can we ever assent to a sweeping condemnation of a whole for the crimes of a few. Men whose extension of thought reaches not beyond the time of their own being, view things in a narrow compass; and in a Civil, as well as Religious point of view, applaud or condemn from the objects passing in array before them; and because there are Ministers of the Gospel in the present day who are a disgrace "to any cause," would soon condemn the primary Apostles; and disbelieve that doctrine which was once preached in its purity from an unpolluted source, and has been corrupted by the various channels through which it has flowed; and where, even a Divine essence could not have passed without contagion.

Were we to adopt the principles of men gifted with talent, and favoured with rank and fortune, we should be no better than Atheists or at best Sceptics, who, whilst deliberating which way to turn for safety, are lost in the wide-spreading torrent of infidelity.

We adopt neither the opinions of the ignorant or the learned; but we pursue a course pointed out by sound reason, and long reflection. We presume to judge, 66 aware that we shall be

judged ourselves, and we proceed to shew that the only true religion has fallen into disrepute, has sunk in the estimation of many learned and unlearned, not from the feebleness of its doctrines, the want of solidity in its foundation," or the beauty of its hopes; ("nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his; and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity ;"*) but from a want of real moral integrity, and the common honesty of a disciple of Jesus Christ; "then are ye my disciples, indeed, when ye do the things that I say." The character of a Minister, appointed to inculcate the blessed principles of the Gospel into the minds of men, has been very properly delineated by St. Paul.

Clergymen often assume to themselves a character nearly apostolical; wrapt in the garb of sanctity, they appear pure without, but many of them are like the painted sepulchre, "full of rottenness within ;" remove the veil from them, and they will appear in their real characters-wolves in sheep's cloathing, and are sevenfold more the children of the Devil than they who make no profession of having been called.

In this work, the Clergy will be considered merely as men, divested of all the sacredness of character which superstition throws round her unhallowed idols; great has been the benefits these Select Men have derived from the people, and they have ill repaid the benevolence lavished upon them.

To point out characters that are eminent in crime is a duty we owe to our neighbour: and to tear the false covering from hypocrisy is doing a service to the rising generation, acceptable in the eyes of God, and which the common charity of all mankind will receive with approbation.

Our selection is not made with much labour; there are SO many materials scattered in the way, that, if they were picked up with religious assiduity, to use the words of Revelation, "the world could not contain the books that might be written upon them." The demoralizing and persecuting disposition of the

*2 Tim. ii Chap. v. 19.

Clergy has done more to shake the pillars of religions in the estimation of many, than all the reasoning of a Hume, a Gibbon, a Priestly, or a Paine, ever spoke or wrote. We have political, puritanical, proud, gambling, drunken, boxing, and fox-hunting Parsons in abundance, who blazon their deeds to the world; but how few are the really devout ministers, who act upon the doctrines laid down by our blessed Redeemer. The task of setting an example by word and by deed; to tread in the steps of Jesus; to be blameless, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient; not a brawler, nor covetous, one that takes care of the Church of God; to labour and to suffer reproach, trusting in the living God; according to Paul's description of a minister, (see 1 Timothy, Chaps. ii. and iii.) is, in the estimation of many, too hard to be practised by them, in what they would have us to believe, is their high calling.

It will be our painful task to record many, who are "lovers of themselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having the form of godliness, but denying the power; led away with divers lusts, men of corrupt minds, and reprobates concerning the faith; but who, nevertheless, are priests after the order of Melchisedeck, in their own estimation, and really do exercise the divine right to take tithes of all we possess.

Upon them all the precepts of the New Testament are lavished in vain. They know not "what manner of men they should be:" they content themselves with talking of subjects of the day, which make no impression when the day is gone by. A clergyman should not only recapitulate the past, but be a monitor for the future: a pilot who is capable of guiding the labouring vessel through contending elements; and a beacon whose distinguished light should appear over the storm, and point her way to the haven of safety. Many of them are even too indolent to open their mouths. The church is filled with those "dumb dogs" spoken of by the Prophet Isaiah, who will not even bark to save the vineyard, that yields them support from being over-run. "His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping,