stand upon the pillar of truth! hold out the right hand, and say, the throne we honour is the people's choice; the laws we reverence, our brave fore-fathers' legacy; the faith we follow, teaches us to live in bonds of charity with all mankind, and die with hopes of life beyond the grave.

With these sentiments we shall take leave of our readers. We have done all that we pledged ourselves to do; exposed the crimes of the vicious part of the clergy, and exalted the reputation of the Established Church. Whether it may have any good effect, time alone can develope. We relinquish the publication of this work at a period when it is called for in every part of the United Kingdoms; and when we have communications that would fill volumes; but we never wielded the scourge in malice, nor has revenge any place in our mind. We have suffered deeply from church oppression; or, rather we might say, from clerical rancour, and our person has been thrown into a dungeon. However, when these gentlemen see that we have the mercy to forgive them, they should know we have also the power to chastise them whenever we please.

It was our intention to give a list of Pluralists; the list would occupy too much space, and can give no satisfaction to any of our readers. Suffice it, that there are on the church establishments of England eleven hundred men, who hold above four benefices each; and three thousand, who hold two and more. The duty these men do must, ad

mitting they attempt to do their duty, be confined to one parish church; but nine out of ten employ vulgar and ignorant curates to run over the service, and satisfy the parishioners.

In the closing remarks we are about to offer on the church establishments, we do not intend meddling with the national religion; there are perhaps a hundred different sects of Christians in this coun try, and it would be presumptive in us to attempt to decide which mode of worship is the most consonant with scripture. We have been obliged to expose men, who ought not, from their situation and profession in life to be afraid of exposure; and we trust that the time may come, when the church will neither merit censure, or be indebted to praise and power for its existence.

Many immoral practices have lately been exposed in the Members of the Protestant Church; aware of those facts, we look upon them with horror, and we spurn them with indignation; but we do not think the worse of a religion for the unworthiness of its ministers. A purer, a more sublime faith, is not to be found than that of primitive Christianity; whether we consider Jesus as a man upon an equality with ourselves, or whether we consider him as a divine being, is not in our opinion (though we have a settled one) of very much importance, if we follow his maxims and tread in his steps; were we Infidels, born in the utmost extremes of Tartary, and transplanted to Europe, we think we would, after reading the

New Testament, place our hands upon it and say,

by the moral lessons contained in this book, will we regulate our conduct in life, and in a conviction of its religious truths, we will die."

Such are our opinions; and when we lash the Church, it is only the vile part of it; the ministers who have erred and strayed like lost sheep, and who would stamp disgrace even on the Mosques of Mahomet; in pointing out a few of the evils attendant upon our Established Church, and wishing, not hoping, for their remedy, we do no more than justice; and the Ministers of Religion should be the last to shrink from a trial in the crucible of virtue.

In closing this work we have to bid a kind farewell to our numerous readers; and at the same time to say, we hope we have done good. We published it with a pure intention, and as it floats along the stream of Time, we are content to share in its disgrace, or to pursue the triumph, and partake the gale. We neither fear for the future, or lament the past; and the tablet, which is emblazoned with "The Crimes of the Clergy," is overshadowed by the immortal and ever green laurels that spring from the root of Faith, and which never will decay while common sense and moral virtue exists in a Briton's bosom.

As a proper Appendix to "The Crimes of the Clergy," we subjoin "The Scourge of Ireland;" shewing the cause of all the miseries of that unhappy country; and it also may be applied to our

own.

It is admitted now that Church Property is Public Property; no one contends that Tithe is of Divine authority; even Bishop Beresford has given up the position. There never was a religion, either Jew or Gentile, that could legally claim a tenth of the yearly produce of land labour. For the clergy to be entitled to a tenth, they ought to form one-tenth of the population; but there never was a mode of worship which required one-tenth of the population to be teachers and ministers.

"Be

Christianity contains less authority for tithe than Judaism. Christ and his Apostles unceasingly taught poverty and humility to their followers, and contempt of worldly goods. Hear their exhortations: "Carry neither scrip nor shoes; into whatever house ye enter, say, Peace." "Take no care what ye shall eat, nor what ye shall drink, nor for your bodies what ye shall put on." ware of covetousness; seek not what ye shall eat, but seek the kingdom of God." "Give alms; provide yourselves with bags that wax not old, a treasure in Heaven that faileth not." Again, "Distribute unto the poor, and seek treasures in Heaven." And, again, "Take care that your hearts be not charged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life."

In all this there is no authority for tithing, and the fathers of the Church were equally hostile to this species of extortion. The council at Antioch, in the fourth century, allowed the bishops to distribute the goods of the Church, but to have no

part to themselves. Have food and raiment, be there with content," says the canon. It was only as real Christianity declined that tithing began. When the simple worship of Christ was corrupted by the adoption of Jewish and Pagan ceremonies; when the Saints and Martyrs were put in the room of the Heathen Deities; when the altars, the bishops, prebends, and other corruptions were in ̧ ̧ troduced; then tithes commenced to support the innovations on the primitive faith. They were first, demanded as charity, and held as a trust for the poor. They were introduced into England by murder; Offa, king of Mercia, granted the tithe of his subjects' goods to expiate the murder of Ethelbert, king of the East Angles. In France, in England, and probably in all Christian countries, they were divided into four portions; one for the bishop, one for the poor, one for the repair of the Church, and one for the priest.

They have always been considered the property of the State, as well as other branches of ecclesiastical revenue. This position clearly appears from the proceedings at the reformation of the Church, in the reign of Henry VIII. At that period a commission was appointed to investigate the abuses of the Church; a return was made of the value of all monasteries and religious houses, of parochial livings, episcopal and cathedral dignitaries, and every other species of ecclesiastical revenue, and the whole entered in a book called Liber Regalis, or the King's Book. It is the only authentic sur