COBBETT'S LEGACY TO PARSONS. 1817 ARTES LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN VERITAS 3. PLURIOUS UNUM TUEBOR SI-QUÆRIS-PENINSULAM AMŒNAM CIRCUMSPICE PAJAJAJA SCIENTIA OF THE THITE 'min'! VACA BAMEIN THE GIFT OF Mr. S. C. Pietraszewski (BAN) PARCS !! i ? ܐ Картет, то обов вак COBBETT'S LEGACY TO PARSONS; OR, Jave the Clergy of the Established Church an equi- table right to the Tithes, or to any other thing called Church Property, greater than the Dissenters have to the same? And ought there, or ought there not, to be a separation of the Church from the State? IN SIX LETTERS, Addressed to the Church-Parsons in general, including the Cathedral and College Clergy and the Bishops. WITH A DEDICATION TO BLOMFIELD, BISHOP OF LONDON. BY WILLIAM COBBETT, M.P. FOR OLDHAM. SECOND EDITION. LONDON: PUBLISHED AT 11, BOLT-COURT, FLEET-STREET. MDCCCXXXV. Price 1s. 6d., handsomely bound in leather. 1 O 彤 ​*** **** C ↑ บ ****** ↓ London: Printed by Mills and Son, Gough-square, Fleet-strect. TheList . 3.2 Petrregeski 3 ہنے کے مجھے 9-22-1930 LETTER. CONTENTS. 1. How came there to be an Established Church? 2. How came there to be people called Dis- senters ? 3. What is the foundation of the domination of the former over the latter? 4. Does the Establishment conduce to reli- gious instruction? 5. What is the state of the Establishment? and, is it possible to reform it? 6. What is that compound thing, called Church and State? and what would be the effects of a separation of them? Sem omn A 2 DEDICATION. TO JAMES BLOMFIELD, BISHOP OF LONDON. Normandy Farm, 9. March, 1835. BISHOP, : About six-and-twenty years ago, you drank tea at my house at BOTLEY, when you were a curate of some place in Norfolk; or a teacher to the offspring of some hereditary legislator. How rugged has my course been since that time how thickly has my path been strewed with thorns! How smooth, how flowery, how pleasant, your career! Yet, here we are; you with a mitre on your head, indeed, and a crosier in your holy hands; I, at the end of my rugged and thorny path in a situa- tion to have a right, in the name of the mil- lions of this nation, to inquire, not only into your conduct, but into the utility of the very office that you fill. It is now become a question, seriously, publicly, and practically entertained, whether 6 DEDICATION. you and your brethren of the Established Church should be legally deprived of all your enormous temporal possessions; and also, whether your whole order should not, as a thing supported by the law, be put an end to for ever. These questions must now be dis- cussed. They are not to be shuffled off by Commissions of Inquiry, or any other Com- missions: the people demand a discussion of these questions, and a decision upon them: the Parliament must discuss them; and, this little book, which I now dedicate to you, is written for the purpose of aiding us all in the discussion; so that we may come at last to a just decision. I select you to dedicate my book to: first because you were a zealous defender of the DEAD-BODY BILL, which consigns the corpses of the most unfortunate of the poor to be cut up by surgeons, instead of being consigned, with double and treble solicitude, to the care of a really Christian clergy, and provided with all the means and circumstances of the most respectful Christian burial. Another reason is, that you were a poor- law commissioncr; one of the authors of that book, which was slyly laid upon the table of the House of Commons, by the Whigs, in 1833; and one of the authors of that volumi- nous report and appendix, laid upon the table of the same House last year; on which re- DEDICATION. i port and appendix the coarser-food bill was passed; and in which report and appendix, you have communicated to the House of Commons the most infamous libels against me by name. Another reason is, that you are a Church- reform commissioner, under the present set of Ministers; and that I find, that, while you were Bishop of CHESTER, you made a G. B. BLOMFIELD, a prebendary of CHESTER, and that he now has, in addition to that prebend, two great church livings; namely, the rectory of CADDINGTON, and the rectory of TATTEN- HALL, each worth, probably, from a thousand to fifteen hundred pounds a year. Now, Bishop, this is a very solid reason for ad- dressing my little book to you; for, if you can talk of "Church-reform," and about seek- ing for the means of providing for the cure of souls, while this BLOMFIELD has a prebend and two great rectories, it is pretty clear that you want a great deal of enlightening on the subject. If you do not, however, many other people do; and therefore it is, that I write and publish this little book, which is my LEGACY TO PARSONS, and which I most ear- nestly hope will very soon be amongst the most valuable of their remaining temporal possessions. You will find the little book go to the VERY BOTTOM of the matter; that it will unveil all the mystery that has hung K 8 DEDICATION. about this Church for so many years; that it will leave the people nothing more to ask about the matter; and put them in a situa- tion to determine reasonably, at once, either to submit to the most crying abuses that ever existed upon the face of the earth; or to put themselves in motion for the purpose of le- gally, but resolutely, effectually, and for ever, putting an end to this abuse. WM. COBBETT. 7 LETTER I. HOW CAME THERE TO BE AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH? PARSONS, This question ought to be clearly an- swered; because on it must turn the great practical question now at issue; namely, has the Parliament the rightful power to assume, to take possession of, and to dispose of, the tithes and all other property, commonly called Church-property, in whatever manner it may think proper? You and your partisans con- tend that it has not this rightful power: I contend that it has. As to the justice and the expediency, we shall have to consider these further on: we have first to settle the question of right; and this question will be settled, at once, when we have seen how this Church came to be. The following facts are undeniable; namely, that the Roman Catholic religion was 10 [Letter COBBETT'S the religion of all Christian countries and governments until about the year 1520, when HENRY the Eighth was King of England; that the Roman Catholics contended that their Church was established by CHRIST and the APOSTLES; that they ordained that there should be one flock, one fold, and one shep- herd; that the Church was built on a rock, the name of St. PETER being synonymous with that of stone, or rock; that St. PETER was appointed by this Divine authority to be the first head of the Church, after Christ himself; that the Popes have been, and are the true successors of St. PETER, by Divine appointment; that the Pope is the one shep- herd, to whom all Christians owe spiritual obedience. The religion was called the Ro- MAN CATHOLIC religion; because the see (that is to say, sea) of St. PETER was at ROME, and because his authority was uni- versal, that being the meaning of the word Catholic. No matter as to the truth or error of these opinions and assertions: they prevailed; with here and there an exception, all Chris- tians held these opinions; and, when the Christian religion was introduced into Eng- land, which was effectually done about six hundred years after the death of Christ, these opinions prevailed in England as well as in other Christian countries. The Pope I.] 11 LEGACY TO PARSONS. was the HEAD OF THE CHURCH here as well as elsewhere; his spiritual authority he ex- ercised without any co-partnership with, or dependence upon, the state; the tithes and oblations were claimed by him and the clergy as things belonging to God, and held by them solely by Divine authority. Whatever was given to the Church by any body; whatever endowment, of any description; was held to belong to the Church, independent of all temporal or secular power. The Church claimed to hold its possessions independent of all written laws; they claimed a prescrip- tive right to all their possessions; they al- lowed no time to work injury to their rights: in short, they claimed to hold their posses- sions immediately from God himself, as a man claims the right to the possession of his life and his limbs; and, of course, they de- nied that any legislator, or any body of legis- lators, possessed, or could possibly possess, the rightful power to take from them, or to interfere with the management of, any part of those possessions. As I said before, no matter as to the soundness or unsoundness of the doctrines on which these pretensions were founded: such were the doctrines, and such the pretensions; and, during their pre- valence in England, arose our churches, our parishes (or priestships), our cathedrals, and bishops' sees; all those monasteries which 12 [Letter COBBETT'S have since been suppressed and destroyed; and, along with the rest, our universities and their colleges. For a Parliament to meddle with a Church like this; to question the rightful power of a Parliament, consisting of laymen, to med- dle with the possessions of a Church like this, having its HEAD totally separate from the temporal sovereignty of the country; to question the rightful power of a body of lay- men to meddle with the property of a Church like this, whose Divine origin, and Divine mission and authority, had been uni- versally acknowledged for about twelve hun- dred years; to question the rightful power of a Parliament, in such a case, was not a thing so very unreasonable; but, on the con- trary, the questioners had reason on their side, especially as these doctrines had pre- vailed during so long a period; and as the country had been so free, and so happy, dur- ing the greater part of that period. But, Parsons, has YOUR CHURCH any such pretensions? I have a high opinion of that quality in you, which is usually denomi- nated "bruss"; but, do you pretend that this Establishment was founded by JESUS CHRIST and his APOSTLES? Do you pre- tend to hold your possessions immediately by a grant from God; and that they are as much yours as my life and my limbs. I.] LEGACY TO PARSONS. 13 are mine? Why, yes, you are, at this time (very curious to relate), endeavouring to set up a something savouring of these preten- sions; and are positively asserting that you hold your possessions, and to the exclusion too of all other Christian sects, by a right of prescription; that is to say, a right which ex- isted before all written laws. This was dis- tinctly stated by Sir ROBERT PEEL, during the discussion of the question relative to the admission of Dissenters to take degrees in the Universities. Quite enough had been writ- ten and published by me, long before, to show that it was rapine, on the part of those who took the Church-property from Catho- lics and gave it to Protestants; that that was an act of rapine, and not an act of rightful power, on the part of the Parliament of that day, unless the present Parliament had the rightful power to take the property from the present possessors and dispose of it at its pleasure. Perceiving the irresistible force of this argument, Sir ROBERT PEEL, forgetting all about the lay-impropriations, discovered that the Catholic Church had a prescriptive right to its possessions ; and that the Parlia- ment had never meddled with that prescriptive right; that the Established Church was still, in fact, the Catholic Church, and was merely reformed; and that it was in the possession 14 COBBETT'S [Letter ་ > of all the prescriptive rights which had ever belonged to "Holy Church"! If this were so; if you were merely a re- formed Catholic Church, and the regular successors of the bishops and priests of the Roman Catholic religion; then all the lay- estates, in tithes, or in lands, which were formerly possessed by your predecessors, are wholly destitute of a title; and the owners may, any day, be legally ejected by the King's Attorney-General; and the King may order the estates to be returned to you. However, we are now going to look at the reality; we are now going to see, that, to tithes, to oblations, to bishops' lands, to col- lege lands, to any thing that you possess, as clergy of the Church, you have no prescrip- tive right, any more than the Duke of WEL- LINGTON has to his estate of STRATHFIELD- SAYE, which he possesses in virtue of an Act of Parliament, and solely in virtue of that Act of Parliament. Indeed, what are the names, style, and title of your Church? Why "The Protestant Church of England, as by law established"; not as by CHRIST esta- blished; not as established by the Apostles. The King's coronation oath binds him to support the Protestant Church "as by law established" and this description was in- vented, too, for the express purpose of dis- • - I.] 15' LEGACY TO PARSONS. tinguishing the tenure of your Church from that of the Roman Catholic Church; the tenure of which was by prescription, inde- pendent of all written law. In short, yours is a Church ſounded solely on Acts of the Parliament, sitting at Westminster; and we are now going to see what those Acts of Par- liament were; under what circumstances they were passed; and the sort of men by whom they were passed; together with the manifest motives and objects of those men. The Roman Catholic Church had begun to have its authority disputed, in some parts of Christendom, about the year 1520. At this time HENRY the Eighth, for the purpose of gratifying his own wicked passions, joined those who had begun to deny the authority of the Pope as head of the Church, though he had before written a book in defence of that authority, for which he had received the title of "Defender of the Faith," which our kings retain to this day, though by their coronation-oath they solemnly protest against that very faith, of which IIENRY the Eighth was the Defender! This monster of cruelty proclaimed himself to be the supreme head of Christ's Church in England; and he put to death hundreds of most virtuous and ex- cellent persons, because they would not take an oath recognising his spiritual supremacy Finding his most strenuous opponents to be 16 [Letter COBBETT'S in the monasteries, and, at the same time, eager to get hold of the possessions of those monasteries, as the means of bribing over to his side the most powerful men in the coun- try, he suppressed; that is to say, he confis- cated, and took possession of, all the monas- teries and all their immense estates. This was not done without Acts of Parliament. Two Acts were passed: one in the 27th year of his reign, and in the year 1535; the other in the 31st year of his reign, and in the year 1539. These Acts of the Parlia- ment granted to him all this great mass of possessions; and granted to him, also, a very considerable part of the great tithes of the parishes; because the monasteries had, in many cases, become both the patrons and the incumbents of the benefices of the parishes. Thus, more than a third part of the whole of the real property of the king- dom was granted to him by the Parliament, with power to him to give it away to whom he pleased; to sell it, or to exchange it. Those who passed these Acts knew very well that they should have the chief share of the spoil. He was compelled to divide this spoil amongst the noblemen, gentlemen, and all persons of great power and influence in the country; in order to bind them up in the same girdle with himself. This he did, with- out loss of time, and we are now going to G 43 1.] 17 LEGACY TO PARSONS. see the prodigious effect of this division of the spoil; and especially we are going to see its great effect in the producing of this pre- sent Church of England, "as by law esta- blished." Amidst such assaults as these, it was im- possible that the Roman Catholic Church should remain unshaken. When men saw these monstrous acts of what had hitherto been deemed sacrilege, committed, not only with impunity, but under the sanction of law; when they saw a mere layman assume the spiritual supremacy of the Church of Christ; when they saw innumerable persons put to death for refusing to swear, that they believed that which they had always been taught to disbelieve; when they heard this new head of the Church proclaiming one sort of creed one day, and another sort of creed another day; when they saw him burn- ing Protestants and Catholics at the same stake; and still heard him call himself a Catholic king, and a spiritual head of the Church at the same time: amidst all these things, it was impossible that men could retain anything like an unity of faith: it was impossible that the nation should not be split up into a diversity of sects; that each man should not claim a right to think and decide for himself in religious matters; and this actually was the state of England, in this B 18 COBBETT'S [Letter respect, at the time of the death of this mer- ciless tyrant, which took place in the year 1547,when he expired, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and in the thirty-eighth of his reign, the most unjust, hard-hearted, meanest, and most sanguinary tyrant, that the world had ever beheld, whether Christian or Heathen. As long as this tyrant existed, the holders of confiscated Church-property, which was also the patrimony of the poor at the same time, were safe in their possessions, under his sort of mongrel Catholic Church; but, when his son, EDWARD the Sixth (a mere boy), suc- ceeded him, and the government was to be carried on by guardians and trustees, there was great danger that the people would re- sume their rights, at any rate; that the Pope would, in a short time, resume his power in England, where the parish-priests were still Catholic; and, if he resumed his power, the sharers in the plunder were in a perilous state, as far as related to that plunder. Therefore, in order to obviate this danger, it was necessary to abrogate, to put down by Act of Parliament, to efface, for ever, if pos- sible, the Catholic religion in England. And, Parsons, look at the thing well; for here you will find the first, the great, the all-powerful, motive for making the Protestant Church, << as by law established." If men had been left without any law to compel them to submit 1.] 19 LEGACY TO PARsons. to any particular church, they who had never had an idea of tithes, oblations, or Church- land rents, payable to mere laymen, never could have long submitted to such payment. Nothing but the axes and the halters, and the fires of HENRY the Eighth, could have induced them to submit to this. It was, therefore, necessary to make another Church; and to give to that Church all the powers, all the exclusive benefits, all the protection, and all the advantages, necessary to make it a valuable thing to those who would neces- sarily have its patronage exclusively in their hands. With these motives in their minds, and these objects before them, the nobility, the powerful gentry, to name them by one word, the ARISTOCRACY, having got rid of the old tyrant, and his mongrel Catholic religion, resolved to make a new Church, by law, and a Protestant Church, in order that the Pope might never come and instigate the people to make them restore the landed estates and the tithes, which they had got into their pos- session by grants from the barbarous old tyrant. In their execution of this design, this nation witnessed scenes never before witnessed in the world; such insincerity; such barefaced apostacy; such greediness; such injustice; such defiance of every sen-- timent of morality, and every sentiment of B 2 20 COBBETT'S [Letter religion; such prostration of character; as cannot be described by tongue, or pen, ex- cept in faithfully relating the facts; and it would be wise in you, Parsons, never to di- rect our eyes back to TIE ORIGIN of this Church, as by law established. The Catho- lics assert that their Church originated with CHRIST and his Apostles: yours originated with the aristocracy of England, whose con- duct, in the making of this Church, we have now to survey; we have now to look at it, in its true colours, be the effects on our minds what they may. The motives for making the Church I have described; and now we have to see some- thing of the manner of making it. The first step was by Act of Parliament, 1st year of EDWARD the Sixth, chapter 1; and in the year 1547. This is an Act to punish people for speaking irreverently against the sacrament, taken in both kinds, which was contrary to the practice of the Catholic Church. The preamble of the Act tells us, that this new practice had been ridiculed by the people, "in dialogues, rhymes, songs, plays, and jests." The sharers of the spoil of the Church and the poor were by no means dis- posed to suffer songs and jests upon the subject. They, therefore, enacted, that these rhymsters and singers should suffer "im- prisonment of their bodies, and fines, at 66 - - LEGACY TO PARSONS. I.] 21 "the king's will and pleasure." Though this was wholly a new thing; quite contrary to the faith and practice of the people and of their forefathers for nine hundred years; a new invention, oversetting the main pillar of their faith. This monstrous severity was fol- lowed by an enactment, giving a new inter- pretation to the Holy Scriptures, and con- taining an assertion, laid down by mere lay- men, that both the bread and the wine were necessary to be taken. But, this was only a little beginning; this was only a foretaste of that which was to come: it was a preparing of the way for the making of this Church, the fate of which is now to be decided. In the second year of the reign of this boy- king (who was now only cleven years old), who was, at once, supreme spiritual head of the Church, and secular sovereign of the State, this Protestant Church and religion were established. The Roman Catholic religion having been abrogated; having been protested against, and declared to be idola- trous and damnable, all men were let loose to choose for themselves, each having the Bible in his hands. One sect had as much right to the churches and the tithes as another sect; but this would never have done for the aristocracy. The remaining tithes, the oblations, the bishops' lands, the college lands: these were too valuable to 22 [Letter COBBETT'S be suffered to be scrambled for; and though the aristocracy had protested against that Church, to which they had belonged, and for the support of which they had been given, still they had no quarrel with the things themselves: they had not protested against the tithes, and the lands, and the oblations; they had only protested against their being in hands other than their own. The Catholic religion was idolatrous and damnable; but they saw nothing either idolatrous or damna- ble, in the lands, the tithes, and the oblations. These, therefore, they resolved to keep; but to keep them, they must have another Church; and to that Church all must yield tithes and oblations, however contrary its creeds might be to the faith which the Scrip- tures taught them to adopt, or which they had leen taught by their fathers from ge- neration to generation. The preamble of the Act of Parliament (1st and 2nd Edward the Sixth) tells us, that "the king, in his great goodness, has appointed the Arch- bishop of CANTERBURY (CRANMER), and "others, to draw, and make, one meet order, "rite, and fashion, of COMMON AND OPEN "PRAYER, and Administration of Sacra- t 66 ments, to be had, and used, in his Majesty's "realm of England and Wales; the which, "at this time, BY AID OF THE HOLY GHOST, "with one uniform agreement is of them 66 I.] LEGACY TO PARSONS. 23 "( "concluded, set forth, and delivered to his Highness" (eleven years of age), "to his great comfort and quietness of mind, "intituled, The Book of Common Prayer and “Administration of the Sacraments, and other "Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, after "the use of the Church of England. Where- "fore, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in "this present Parliament assembled, consi- dering as well the most godly travel of the "king's highness" (eleven years of age), "of the Lord Protector, and of other his "Highness's council, in gathering and collect- ing the said Archbishop and learned men "together, as the godly Prayers, Rites and "Ceremonies, in the said book mentioned; "and the considerations of altering those things which he altered, and retaining those "things which he retained in the said book, "but also the honour of God and great quietness, which, by the grace of God, "shall ensue, do give his Highness most "hearty and lowly thanks for the same." 66 Bearing in mind this assertion about the aid of the Holy Ghost, in this work, let us now come to the enactments. You, Parsons, found the Church's prescriptive rights upon the assertion, that there never was any Act of Par- liament for taking the benefices away from the Catholics, and giving them to Protestants; that the Catholic parish-priests were never ousted 66 LEGACY TO PARSONS. 159 LETTER VI. WHAT IS THAT COMPOUND THING CALLED CHURCH AND STATE? AND WHAT WOULD BE THE EFFECTS OF A SEPARATION OF THEM, ONE FROM THE OTHER? PARSONS, I shall, in the latter part of this letter, state what would be the effects of a separa- tion of Church from State. As to the former question, we now know pretty well what a Church is, and what this Church in particular ; and now let us see what a State is. A State is not a king and a ministry; a State is a Commonwealth; a people formed into a community, and freely forming a govern- ment, by which they agree to be ruled. That is a STATE, in the large sense of the word. In a somewhat narrower sense, it means the government of such a community, or commonwealth; and every thing which belongs to, or is upheld by, the whole go- vernment, legislative as well as executive, may be said to be connected with the State. 160 [Letter COBBETT'S In this manner the Church is connected with the State, and it calls itself, and the king, at his coronation, swears that it is a church es- tablished BY LAW; that is to say, by the law of man. The head of the government is also the head of the Church. The Church, as established by CHRIST and his Apostles, had no such head; it knew nothing of any government protection; it appealed not to the laws of man. It asked for no laws, and it had no laws, to compel people to give their money or their goods for its support. It inculcated the duty of Christians giving their money or their goods, if they could afford it, to defray the expenses of the altar, and to feed and clothe those who served at the altar; but it resorted to no force; to no penalties, much less to imprisonment and death, to compel men to conform, and to give their money or their goods. The Church, as established by CHRIST and his Apostles, was, in this respect, what the Churches of the Dissenters are now. It depended, for its support, on the voluntary offerings, ob- lations, and contributions of the people. Therefore it is, that the Dissenters represent the established Church as unchristian in its nature; and, feeling that it loads them with heavy burdens, they justly and reasonably call for a separation of the Church from the State. VI.j LEGACY TO PARSONS. 161 Now, let us hear the objections to the granting of this prayer of the Dissenters; for it would be hard, indeed, if those who possess from six to eight millions a year of property belonging to the commonwealth ; hard, indeed, if they could find out no ob- jection to the taking of that immense sum away from them. Their first objection is, that such a change would be contrary to all the settled notions of mankind, according to which, it is the bounden duty of every government to pro- vide for the religious instruction of the people. I have before answered this ob- jection completely; but if it be the duty of a government to provide for the religious instruction of the people, does it provide for it by the means of this Church, when we find, that, out of 16,000 parishes and town- ships there were resident only 5,397 incum- bents; and when we find 1,496 parishes in the hands of 332 incumbents; when we fur- ther find, that there are in England and Wales 254 parishes without any churches; 1,729 parishes, which have no parsonage- houses; and 1,422 parishes, which, in spite of the law, the parsons themselves represent as unfit to live in; and, be it observed, too, that this refers to the benefices, and not to the parishes; for then there are about five thou- sand more parishes and townships that have L 162 COBBETT'S [Letter no parsonage-house, notwithstanding the provisions of the law, to compel the uphold- ing of the parsonages? Does the Church, then, exhibit to us the means of religious instruction for the people? In a very large part of England and Wales the teaching of religion would be utterly unknown to the people, were it not for the Dissenters of various descriptions. Many reports from the missionaries of the Dissenters have stated that they have found whole parishes totally destitute of all knowledge of religion. And why are we not to believe the fact, when we see 1,496 parishes with their revenues in the hands of 332 incumbents? But it is said, that these swallowers; these noble, honourable, and gentle, incumbents em- ployCURATES in their parishes; that is to say, that they hire men to do their duty. In the first place, they do not hire one man for every parish; and nothing is more common, in some parts of England, than one curate serv- ing three parishes; and in some cases four; nothing so common as two. But, how stands this matter? The curate is paid so poorly, that it is utterly impossible that he should perform the duties of a teacher of religion in the manner that he ought to do. He is a poor man, with hardly the means of living better than a mechanic, or a labourer. His poverty is known, and seen; and, as he sets VI.] 163 LEGACY TO PARSONS. up for a gentleman, he excites no compassion in his beholders; but is sure to excite their contempt; and, this being the case, is it likely, that he should do much in the way of giving religious instruction? Was it ever yet known in the world, that men sucked in instruction from those whom they despised? However, it is certain that the incumbent gives the curate but a small part of the revenue of the parish, and that he puts the rest into his own pocket; and here is the unpleasant dilemma for the parsons. Doubt- less, the Earl of GUILDFORD has curates at OLDALRESFORD, NEWALRESFORD, MEDSTED, ST. MARY SOUTHAMPTON, and SOUTH STONE- HAM, and also in the parish of ST. FAITH : doubtless he has curates; for he hardly does the duty himself, while he is living at WALDERSHARE in Kent, or sitting in the House of Lords. Doubtless he may have three curates, one at the ALRESFORDS and MEDSTED, one at ST. FAITH and ST. Cross, and one at SOUTHAMPTON; and, doubtless, he gives them stipends not under eighty pounds a year (in cases like these), according to the Act 53rd GEORGE III. chapter 149, which Act was made to compel the rich incumbents lo pay their hirelings at a certain rate! But, here is the dilemma: here is the nasty dilemma for SIR ROBERT PEEL to touch in his Church-reform: either these miserable L 2 164 [Letter COBBETT'S stipends are sufficient; are adequate to the payment of men to have the care of souls; or, they are not sufficient for that purpose. If they be not sufficient, then here is the State neglecting to provide for the religious instruction of the people; and if they be sufficient, why give Lord GUILDFORD anything more for these parishes, than the amount of the stipend paid to the hireling? Upon one or other of the horns of this dilemma Sir ROBERT PEEL must be hooked; and let him get off as he can; that is to say, he must be hooked, unless he be prepared, as I hope he may, to enact a separation of the Church from the State. Another objection is, that, if the voluntary principle were adopted, religion would suffer by the dependent state of the Ministers, who would then be the mere hirelings of their flocks. What are these miserable curates then? They do not receive, on an average, one half of what the average of Dissenting Ministers receive. And, as to dependence; the Dissenting Ministers are dependent on the caprice of nobody; not even a part of their congregation; while the miserable curate is in the most abject state of depend- ence; and that, too, on the will, on the caprice, it may be, of one single man; for the incumbent has the power of discharging the curate whenever he pleases; in spite of VI.] LEGACY TO PARSONS. 165 all the pretences of the Act 53rd GEO. III. chap. 149 to give protection to these poor creatures. Besides which, the curate, if he do or say anything to displease the bishop of the diocese, he can prevent him from being employed in any other diocese; for no other bishop will suffer him to be employed, unless he bring testimonials from his last bishop; and these testimonials may be re- fused, without cause assigned; so that the poor creature's mouth is actually locked up : he is doomed to certain ruin or to absolute submission to the will of his master-parson. There is no footman so completely dependent as one of these miserable men; and these are the men which this Established Church gives us for our religious instructors: these are the men, with whom the State furnishes us to keep us all in the fold, and to protect us against adopting strange and erroneous doctrines! Another objection is, that if there were not men set apart by the State to teach re- ligion, and supplied with incomes by the State for that purpose, the teaching of re- ligion would fall into low hands; that the ministers of CHRIST would become a mere mundane race of men, hankering after "the world and the flesh"; and, Sir WILLIAM SCOTT, in his impudent speech, when he, as member for the University of OXFORD, 166 [Letter COBBETT'S moved the passing of the before-mentioned Act of GEORGE the Third, 43rd year of his reign, chapter 84, which, as we observed be- fore, let the parsons loose, insisted that it was proper that the clergy should go to places of fashionable resort, and of pleasure, with their families, seeing that, "by the Reformation, they hud been invited to marry." I must stop here to observe, that Sir JAMES GRAHAM, in his speech on Lord JoHN RUSSELL'S motion regarding the IRISH TITHES, took occasion to utter an invective against the celibacy of the Roman Catholic clergy, and observed, that our Church denominated unmarried priests unholy priests.” Now, then, let us see how the "REFORMATION" invited them to niarry: now let us see whether our Church holds un- married priests to be unholy priests. After the Reformation had been made; after the new Church and the Prayer-Book had been enacted, an Act (2nd and 3rd EDWARD the Sixth, chapter 21) was passed to "take away "all positive laws made against the marriage "of priests"; and upon what grounds was this Act passed, and what did it say in its preamble? Why, this is what it said. "Al- << though it were not only better for the esti- "mation of priests, and other ministers in "the Church of God, to live chaste, sole, "and separate from the company of women, "and the bond of marriage, but also thereby "C G VI.J LEGACY TO PARSONS. 167 CC "they might the better intend to the admi- "nistration of the Gospel, and be less intri- "cated and troubled with the charge of "household, being free and unburdened with care and cost of finding wife and children, "and that it were most to be wished, that they would willingly, and of themselves, "endeavour themselves to a perpetual chas- tity and abstinence from the use of women: yet, forasmuch as the contrary hath rather "been seen, &c. &c;" and then the Act proceeds to exempt them from pains and pe- nalties, if they do marry! And this is what Sir WILLIAM SCorr called “inviting them to marry"; and this is what the learned doctor in divinity, Sir JAMES GRAHAM, calls the principle of our Church, that "an unmarried priest is an unholy priest." "L I have before noticed the arrogance and insolence of the clergy, at the time of the passing of the Act of 43rd George III. c. 84, which put an end to the informations against them, and which let them loose to ramble about as they liked, and to farm and to traffic. I have before observed on the ad- vantage which they took of the violences committed in France. Aud SCOTT (now STOWELL), when he moved for this Bill, ut- tered these memorable words: "Whilst we "have seen, in other countries, CHRISTI- "ANITY SUFFERING in the persons of (6 168 [Letter COBBETT'S "the oppressed clergy, it imposes a peculiar "obligation upon us, to treat our own with "kindness and respect, and to beware of de- grading religion by an apparent degrada- "tion of its ministers"! What an impudent speech! They had deserted their flocks: they had abandoned their parishes; they had broken their solemn vows, and their solemn oaths; they had abandoned the people com- mitted to their charge, after having solemnly declared that they believed themselves to have been inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon them the office, "to serve God "for the promoting of his glory, and the "edifying of his people"; they had set the law of the land at defiance, in the most daring manner; and it was called "degrading re- ligion," to attempt to bring them back to their duty! But, such was the hoodwinked, frightened, and cowed-down state of the na- tion at that time; that this impudent speech passed without censure from anybody! Ex- cellent, too, that Christianity had suffered in France, in the persons of the clergy of that country; excellent and most impudent, to tell us that the Roman Catholic religion being put down caused Christianity to suffer, though the University, of which this Scorr was the representative, and for whom he was talking, had, for three hundred years, taught us that that religion was idolatrous and damnable! (6 VI.] 169 LEGACY TO FARSONS. To return to the objection, that the teach- ing of religion would fall into low hands; which objection we will take in the words of SCOTT; that, if there was an equalization of the Church-incomes, (C we should run the "risk of having a body of clergy resembling "only the lower orders of society in their “conversation, in their manners, and their "habits; and it were well if they were not "affected by a popular fondness for some of "the species of a gross and factious religion." But, how could they well be lower than these miserable curates, if small incomes would make them low? And these miserable cu- rates we have in the 16,000 parishes, where there are any ministers at all, excepting 5,379 parishes. How then could the voluntary principle make them lower? And, appealing to the fact, are the Dissenting ministers lower now? Every one who knows any thing of the matter, will say that they are not; and, that, as to respect and reverence, every one knows, that all the settled Dissenting ministers have fifty times as much of these as falls to the lot of the parsons. The Dissenting ministers are sometimes traders, at the same time; they are farmers, and dealers. And what are the parsons? Why, they were indeed most positively for- bidden, by law, to be farmers and dealers; they were informed against for being such; 170 [Letter COBBETT'S there was the just law to punish them for it: they set that law at defiance: the borough- monger parliament repealed the law; quashed the informations against them; passed an- other law to allow them to farm and to deal. As cattle-jobbers; as dealers in cattle, sheep, hogs, and horses; as buyers and sellers of these, they are amongst the most eminent and the most busy in the country. Scarcely was that Act passed (43rd GEORGE III. chap. 84) to protect then against informations, and to allow them to farm and to job, when the BOTLEY-PARSON took, on lease, a consider- able farm in his parish, called BRACKSALLS; though the glebe that surrounded his parson- age-house consisted of five fields and a meadow of very good land; and though his living was worth from five to six hundred pounds a year. jo But, why need we waste our time in any statement to show, that this would necessa- rily be the case, when the public papers in- formed us of a bishop standing, as a partner, behind a banker's counter, at CAMBRIDGE, at the time of the panic, to pay the pressing customers, and to give his countenance in favour of the solvency of the house? In the London Gazette of Friday, 30. January, 1835, was the following, under the head of bankrupts: "The Reverend THOMAS FISHER, "Kingston-upon-Hull; the Reverend JOHN VI.] 171 LEGACY TO PARSONS. "FISHER, Higham-upon-the-Hill, Leicester- "shire; and MARY SIMMONDS, of Ashby- "de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, BANKERS." These men have each of them a rectory in the Church; and they both most solemnly vowed at the altar, that they would constantly attend to the people committed to their charge; that they would lay aside the study of the world and the flesh; and that they verily believed themselves to be inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost; whereupon they solemnly ratified the same, by partaking of the Holy Communion! If a banker is not a trafficker I should like to know what is. Ilis business is that of money-changing, indeed. Very proper business for other men to carry on, provided they carry it on within the limits prescribed by the law; but how are the people to have respect for a man who has made the vows that these men made, re- lative to the world and the flesh; and who are seen afterwards carrying on a business, the sole object of which is that of making money? These two men have large livings in the Church; so that they have not been tempted by their poverty to break their vows. One more instance of this sort will be quite enough. I find in the London Gazette of the 24. of March, 1835, a list of BANK- RUPTS, with regard to whose estates divi- dends are to be made on the 16. of April; 172 [Letter COBBETT'S and, amongst these bankrupts is the follow- ing. "The Reverend S. W. Perkins, "STOCKTON, Warwickshire, clerk, BROKER; (6 at twelve, at the George Inn, Warwick." Now, this holy broker is the rector of STOCK- TON, in the diocese of LICHFIELD and Co- VENTRY, and his rectory is a large living; and need there be more said on this part of the subject; can any Dissenting minister be lower than being a broker in the very town where his congregation resides; and within a stone's throw of the Church, to enter which, as a minister, he has professed that he believed he was inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost; in that very parish where he had promised to lay aside the study of the world and of the flesh, and to live as a wholesome example and spectacle to the flock of CHRIST! And this man a broker a buyer and seller, purely for gain's sake; for no other purpose whatsoever but to get money! And yet Scorr had the audacity to say, that the Act (43rd GEORGE III. chap. 84) was necessary to prevent men in the Church from resembling the lower orders of society! ; However, there is something a great deal worse than this; namely, the receiving of military and naval pay; or, rather, half-pay, and being in the Church at the same time. At the end of the war, great numbers of the VI.] 173 LEGACY TO PARSONS. aristocracy, their relations, and dependants, went into the Church. Every man of them professed at the altar, and took the com- munion, as a ratification of his profession, that he verily believed that he was inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost, to take upon him this new calling, though so different from his last! Every one thus solemnly pledged himself to lay aside the study of the world and the flesh. In spite of this, every one of them took the half-pay, as being still naval and military officers! And, now mark the conduct of them, and of the government; the half-pay is a RETAINING FEE FOR FUTURE SERVICES. I beg you to mark this; and this half-pay is very frequently taken away, merely by the king saying to the officer, that he has no longer any need of his services. If called upon to serve, and they refuse to come out to serve, their half- pay is taken away. It is the same with non- commissioned officers and private soldiers; and I have just sent two memorials to the paymaster-general, in behalf of two private soldiers, who had their pensions taken away a good while ago. It is, therefore, you will observe, not a reward for past services, but a retaining fee for future services. What a fla- gitious act, then, to give these soldier-parsons half-pay, after they had got livings in the Church! Mr. HUME complained of this, and 174 [Letter COBBETT'S I made a weekly exposition of the shameful transaction for a whole year, or thereabouts. At last the half-pay to these men was stopped; but, now, do mark; do mark, if you have a mind to know this government, and this Church. A certain time was to be given be- fore the half-pay was to be stopped; and (hear it, if you have ears!) before the day of stopping arrived, notice was given, that any officer might SELL his half-pay, out and out! and yet Sir JAMES GRAHAM tells us that the tithes do not belong to the people, but that they belong to God; and he would tell us, I dare say, that these half-pay people were appointed by God, to receive them for him! One of these military heroes, who felt him- self inwardly moved as aforesaid, was the Honourable Mr. NEVILLE, now LORD VIS- COUNT NEVILLE, who was receiving, for about twelve years, tithes as a parson, and half-pay as a captain of horse; and he is now vicar of BYRLING, rector of HOLVESTON, rector of BURGII APTON, and rector of OTLEY. And is he to have all these livings still? and is the Lord Viscount to keep the military half-pay that he got during the twelve years? If he be, I care not if England be sunk to the bottom of the sea. What is any one to apprehend as the con- sequence of putting an end to a church like this? Can anything arise more barefaced? VI.] LEGACY TO PARSONS. 175 Can anything arise more offensive to the people? The LAW; these fellows always talk to us about the law; the law requires that the parsonage-houses, and the buildings belonging to them, shall be kept in good and sufficient repair; and that, if any incum- bent suffer the parsonage-house to fall out of repair, he, if he quit that living for an- other, shall pay for dilapidations; that is to say, put the house in repair; and that if he die, his property shall be liable for the same; and the law expressly provides that the money which he or his heirs pay for dilapidations shall be expended upon the house. To what a scandalous extent this law has been set at defiance appears from a return which the bishops had the face to make to the king in council, in 1818, from which return it appears, that even out of the 10,421 benefices (almost every benefice con- taining more than one parish) there were 1,729 benefices without any parsonagc-house at all, and 1,422 parishes, in which the par- sonage-houses were unfit to live in! And the bishops, knowing the law, as they must, had the face to make this report to the king in council! The reasons which the several parsons give for the unfitness of the parson- age-houses are of themselves quite sufficient to authorize the Parliament to abate this church by law. So much insolence, so much 176 [Letter COBBETT'S (6 ، ، inconve- brazen effrontery, never was before shown by mortal men. One says, that "the parson- age-house is too small"; another, not large enough for the accommodation of a gentleman's family"; another says, 66 in- commodious"; another says, nient"; and they had the impudence to say this when they had obtained a letting loose from the law which bound them to re- side in their parsonage-houses. The greater part of them, however, are represented as being in a ruinous state and irreparable; and the bishops tell us, that nearly two thousand of them have been suffered to fall down and disappear. The parsons have pocketed the tithes and other revenues of the parishes, and have suffered this great mass of national property to be annihilated; and if the Waterloo-delusion could have continued, if the great Captain's picture could have continued on the sign-posts, it would not have been at all wonderful if a second Scorr had come to propose to the Parliament a grant of money to rebuild these houses. However, let us congratulate our- selves on the fact that these audacious men will never make another return like this: the effects of their Waterloo-war have overtaken them at last. Like a stag at bay, they are got up into a corner, looking from side to side but seeing no means of escape. VI.] 177 LEGACY TO PARSONS. Amongst the evils of this church is that evil described by Lord BACON, who says, "A numerous married clergy, giving life to great numbers of idlers, or persons never "to work, is very dangerous to a State, by (C creating mouths without creating a suit- "able portion of labour at the same time." Now go to the Navy-list, go to the Army-list, go to the Taxing-offices, go to the Govern- ment-offices, go to the military and naval Academies, go to the Pension-list, go to the great schools and the colleges, go to any of these swarms of idle devourers, and you will find that not much less than a full third part of the whole have either sprung from par- sons, or married parsons' daughters; and whence the parsons themselves have come, let it be reserved for me to tell when I am in a place differing a good deal from a farm- house. Well, then, what short of a total repeal of all the laws which create the revenue and powers of this mass of monstrous abuse can possibly be of any avail? What, short of adopting the voluntary principle: what, short of a separating of the Church from the State, can give satisfaction to the people, and peace to the country? RELIGION! How is reli- gion to suffer; how is the religion of the Bible, how is the religion of JESUS CHRIST and his Apostles to suffer, by putting down M 178 [Letter CORBETT'S The 1 these monstrous abuses, which exist by a misapplication of its sacred name? Can notoriously broken vows and broken oaths ; can an open abandonment of the flock, after a vow made to watch constantly over it, and that too ratified by receiving the sacrament; can 1,496 parishes in the hands of 332 men; can these tend to the promotion of morality and religion; and can it be the duty of any government to give even the slightest coun- tenance to a thing like this? If there were danger of strange doctrines rising up, could a thing like this prevent it? If there were danger of heats and animosities, arising from differences of opinion about religion, could a thing like this produce reconciliation and harmony amongst the parties? If the people were prone to infidelity; if conceited Deism, or gloomy and half-mad Atheism, were likely to get a hold upon this at all times religious people, would a thing like this have a tend- ency to make it loosen its hold? Would the Deist, or the Atheist, be reduced to silence, by having pointed out to him the bankrupt bankers, the bankrupt broker, the retaining-fee-receiving soldier; all of them having at their ordination made a vow to lay aside the world and the flesh! Would the Deist, or Atheist, be silenced by seeing 332 men with 1,496 parishes in their hands; by seeing tithes paid where there was no church; VI.] 179 LEGACY TO PARSONS. by seeing the parsonage-houses tumble down into ruins; and lastly, by seeing bishops sit- ting in a commission to discover the means of providing for the cure of souls, while each of those bishops has given a plurality of livings to relations of his own ! On the other hand, look at the Dissenters; see with what strictness and what decorum they perform their duties to their flocks. Look at the effect upon those flocks; look at the personal attention of the ministers to in- dividuals standing in need of their peculiar care. Look at their exertions; look at their labours; look at their unexceptionable moral habits and manners; look at the respect that is paid to them; look at the real affection for them; turn then, and look at the clergy of the established Church, and at the feeling of the people towards them; and then say if you can, that RELIGION would not be benefited; that it would not be, in its effect, much greater than now, if the voluntary principle prevailed, and if this Church were separated from the State. But there is the great AMERICAN NATION, where it is se- parated from the State, and where we are presented with successful experience to guide us. Oh! say they, you must not go to Ame- rica; and they told us in the House of Commons, that we must go to France, M 2 180 [Letter COBBETT'S Prussia, Austria, and Belgium! Belgium, where the king is our pensioner, who takes care to keep a house well aired at ESHER in Surrey. But why not to America? The people there sprang from Englishmen. The people that settled New Hampshire went from old lampshire; and they called the place of their landing, PORTSMOUTH, and there they built a town, which goes by that name to this day; and there is a Norfolk, a Suffolk, a Kent, a Sussex, and all the counties and all the towns of England and Wales. There are the laws of England; the manners of England; the language of Eng- land; the Winchester bushel; the statute acre there is the learning and literature of England. There are all our books; and this book that I am writing now, will only appear six weeks later in NEW YORK than it will appear in Loudon. This, then, is the country to go to for a test of the effect of the voluntary principle. There the law knows nothing at all about religions, one sort or another; and it never did know any- thing about religion, except in that part of the States called New England. There was a law there, somewhat resembling the law of England in the early period of the institu- tion of tithes. This law compelled every man to yield tithes, but to yield them to whatever priest he chose. So, in New Eng- land, every man might pay towards the support of what sect and what place of worship he liked; but he was compelled by law to pay to some one. In 1816, however, all these laws were repealed in New England; VI.] LEGACY TO PARSONS. 181 and since that, in that country, the law has known nothing of religion, any more than it has known of the conduct of the birds and the bats. Yet in this whole world was there ever a country, in which such complete peace and harmony prevailed! Never is such a thing heard of, as a quarrel of one religious sect against another. In social intercourse in the courts of law; in the choosing of officers, political or municipal; in legisla- tive assemblies; in the senate; on the bench; in the army; in the navy; church- man, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Bap- tist, Methodist, Unitarian, Independent, all mix together, without a suspicion in any man's mind, that his cause, in the case of any dispute, is safer in the hands of persons of his own sect, than in those of the persons of any other sect. Here, then, is the pre- cedent upon which for us to stand here is solid ground for us to move upon; and let no statesman in England imagine that this example can be exhibited to our eyes for many years longer, without goading us on to imitation. The surprising progress in wealth, power, arts, arms, science, and prosperity of the United States, is silently producing an effect on all the nations of Europe; but particu- larly on England. It is another England, at only twenty days distance; and it is im- possible: not only morally, but almost physically, impossible, that this England should view the state of that other England, for any length of time, without resolving to be its rival in freedom and in happiness, 18.2 [Letter COBBETT'S and particularly on the score of freedom as to religion. Our aristocracy (never deficient in low cunning, and in spite) saw, at the close of the French war, the final effect of the example of the United States upon Eng- land. This was the real ground of that war which JACKSON ended at NEW ORLEANS, and which heroic and bullet-proof WATER- Loo took care not to have a hand in; that war, which added seventy millions to our debt, and which first told us the unwelcome secret, that we had found out somebody to beat us at last; and beat us they will, in every- thing, unless we resolve to imitate them in cheapness of government, aud in a religion unknown to the laws; and, if there were no other motive for resorting to these, we shall be compelled to resort to them in self- defence. Having now shown what this thing called "CHURCH AND STATE" is; and having proved, I trust, most satisfactorily, that a separation of the one from the other is not less necessary to the inculcation of true re- ligion, than it is to the freedom, the peace, and the well-being of the Commonwealth, I should here lay done my pen; but I must, in conclusion, just notice the curi- ous principle, which I hear many men, to my great surprise, accede to without diffi- culty; namely, that though it is just and expedient to put an end to the monstrous abuses of which I have been speaking, existing interests" are not to be touched; that is to say, that all those who are wal- lowing in the fruits of the abuses, are therein 66 Auto A LEGACY TO PARSONS. VI.] 183 to wallow to the end of their lives. So that, while "pluralities are to be put an end to,” and a residence is to be insisted on, the young llows (and there are scores upon scores of them), each of whom has four or five parishes now; these scores and other scores, and hundreds, who are now non-residing, are to continue to possess their parishes, and to non-reside, to the end of their lives, leaving to the nation a pretty fair chance of seeing something like a reform effected in about three-score years from this day! Oh, no! let us, in this respect, take a leaf out of the book of the Church itself: let the law do by these parsons as it did by the Catholic priests; that is to say, as to method; but not in degree. They were left to wander over the face of the earth, miser- able mendicants, with the mere mockery of a pension: let us be merciful; and make suitable provision for such as shall think proper to refuse to perform the duties in the churches on the voluntary principle: and, I have long thought that this would be the end; and the conviction in my mind is now more firmly fixed than ever. Parsons, thus I conclude: I call upon you to answer this book. That you will not attempt to do; but the minds of my readers will be made up, and the just conclusion will be, that you are unable to answer. 184 COBBETT'S THE ACT OF PARLIAMENT BY WHICH THE CHURCH WAS MADE, 2. AND 3. EDWARD THE SIXTH, CHAPTER 1. An Act for the Uniformity of Service and Administration of the Sacraments through- out the Realm. Whereas, of long time, there hath been had in this realm of England, and in Wales, divers Forms of Common Prayer, commonly called the Service of the Church, that is to say, the use of Sarum, of York, of Bangor, and of Lincoln; and besides the same, now of late much more divers and sundry forms and fashions have been used in the cathedral and parish churches of England and Wales, as well concerning the Mattens or Morning Prayer and the Evensong, as also concerning the Holy Communion, commonly called the Mass, with divers and sundry rites and ceremonies concerning the same, and in the administra- tion of other Sacraments of the Church: And as the doers and executors of the said rites and ceremonies, in other form than of late years they have been used, were pleased therewith: So other not using the same rites and ceremonies were thereby greatly offended: And Albeit the King's Majesty, with the ad- vice of his most entirely beloved uncle, the Lord Protector, and other of his Highness Council, hath heretofore divers times assayed to stay innovations or new rights concerning the premisses; yet the same hath not had such good success as his Highness required in that behalf; whereupon his Highness, by the most prudent advice aforesaid, being pleased to bear with the frailty and weakness of his LEGACY TO PARSONS. 185 ** subjects in that behalf, of his great clemency hath not been only content to abstain from punishment of those that have offended in that behalf, for that his Highness taketh that they did it of a good zeal, but also to the in- tent a uniform quiet and godly order should be had concerning the premisses, hath ap- pointed the Archbishop of Canterbury, and certain of the most learned and discreet bishops, and other learned men of this realm, to consider and ponder the premisses; and thereupon having as well eye and respect to the most sincere and pure Christian religion taught by the Scripture, as to the usages in the primitive Church, should draw and make one convenient and meet Order, Rite and Fashion of Common and open Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, to be had and used in his Majesty's realm of England and in Wales; the which at this time, by the aid of the Holy Ghost, with one uniform agreement is of them concluded, set forth and delivered to his Highness, to his great com- fort and quietness of mind, in a book intituled, The Book of the Common Prayer and Admi- nistration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, after the Use of the Church of England. Wherefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, consider- ing as well the most godly travel of the King's Highness, of the Lord Protector, and of other his Highness Council, in gathering and col- lecting the said Archbishop, Bishops, and learned men together, as the godly Prayers, Orders, Rites, and Ceremonies in the said book mentioned, and the considerations of altering those things which he altered, and retaining those things which he retained in 186 COBBETT'S the said book, but also the honour of God and great quietness, which, by the grace of God, shall ensue upon the one and uniform Rite and Order in such Common Prayer and Rites and external Ceremonies to be used through- out England and in Wales, at Calice and the Marches of the same, do give to his Highness most hearty and lowly thanks for the same. And humbly prayen that it may be ordained and enacted by His Majesty, with the assent of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that all and singular person and persons that have offended concerning the premisses, other than such person and per- sons as now be and remain in the Tower of London, or in the Fleet, may be pardoned thereof; and that all and singular ministers in any Cathedral or Parish Church, or other place within this realm of England, Wales, Calice, and the Marches of the same, or other the Kings dominions, shall, from and after the Feast of Pentecost next coming, be bounden to say and use the Mattens, Evensong, Celebration of the Lord's Supper, commonly called the Mass, and Administration of each of the Sacraments, and all their common and open Prayer, in such order and form as is mentioned in the same book, and none other or otherwise. And albeit that the same be so godly and good, that they give Occasion to every honest and conformable man most will- ingly to embrace them, yet, lest any obsti nate person, who willingly would disturb so godly order and quiet in this realm should not go unpunished, that it may also be ordained and enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That if any manner of Parson, Vicar, or other what- soever Minister, that ought or should sing or LEGACY TO PARSONS. 187 say Common Prayer mentioned in the said book, or minister the Sacraments, shall, after the said Feast of Pentecost next coming, refuse to use the said Common Prayers, or to mi- nister the Sacraments in such Cathedral or Parish Church, or other places as he should use or minister the same, in such order and form as they be mentioned and set forth in the said book; or shall use, wilfully and ob- stinately standing in the same, any other Rite, Ceremony, Order, Form, or manner of Mass, openly or privily, or Mattens, Even- song, Administration of the Sacrainents, or other Open Prayer than is mentioned and set forth in the said book (Open Prayer in and throughout this Act, is meant that Prayer which is for other to come unto or hear, either in common Churches or private Cha- pels or oratories, commonly called the Service of the Church); or shall preach, declare, or speak any thing in the derogation or deprav- ing of the said book, or any thing therein contained, or of any part thereof; and shall be thereof lawfully convicted according to the laws of this realm, by verdict of twelve men, or by his own confession, or by the notorious evidence of the fact, shall lose and forfeit to the King's Highness, his Heirs and Succes- sors, for the first offence, the profit of such one of his spiritual benefices or promotions as it shall please the Kings Highness to as- sign or appoint, coming and arising in one whole year next after his conviction: And also that the same person so convicted shall, for the same offence, suffer imprisonment by the space of six months, without bail or main- prise: And if any such person once convict of any such offence concerning the premisses, shall, after his first conviction, eftsoons offend 188 COBBETT'S and be thereof in form aforesaid lawfully con- vict, that then the same person shall for his second offence suffer imprisonment by the space of one whole year; and also shall therefore be deprived ipso facto of all his spi- ritual promotions; and that it shall be lawful to all patrons, donors, and grantees, of all and singular the same spiritual promotions, to present to the same any other able clerk, in like manner and form as though the party so offending were dead: And that if any such person or persons, after he shall be twice convicted in form aforesaid, shall offend against any of the premisses the third time, and shall be thereof in form aforesaid law- fully convicted, that then the person so of- fending and convicted the third time, shall suffer imprisonment during his life. And if the person that shall offend and be convict in form aforesaid concerning any of the pre- misses, shall not be beneficed nor have any spiritual promotion, that then the same per- son so offending and convict shall, for the first offence, suffer imprisonment during six months, without bail or mainprise: And if any such person not having any spiritual pro- motion, after his first conviction, shall eft- soons offend in any thing concerning the premisses, and shall in form aforesaid be thereof lawfully convicted, that then the same person shall, for his second offence, suffer im- prisonment during his life. And it is ordained and enacted by the au- thority aforesaid, that if any person or persons whatsoever, after the said Feast of Pentecost next coming, shall, in any enterludes, plays, songs, rhimes, or by other open words, declare or speak any thing in the derogation, deprav. ing or despising of the same book or of any LEGACY TO PARSONS. 189 thing therein contained, or any part thereof; or shall by open fact, deed, or by open threat- enings, compel, or cause, or otherwise pro- cure or maintain, any Parson, Vicar, or other Minister in any Cathedral or Parish Church, or in any Chapel or other place, to singor say any common and open prayer, or to mi- nister any Sacrament otherwise or in any other manner or form than is mentioned in the said book; or that, by any of the said means, shall unlawfully interrupt, or let any Parson, Vicar, or other Ministers, in any Ca- thedral or Parish Church, Chapel, or any other place, to sing or say common and open Prayer, or to minister the Sacraments, or any of them, in any such manner and form as is mentioned in the said book: That then every person being thereof lawfully convicted in form abovesaid, shall forfeit to the King, our Sovereign Lord, his Heirs and Succes- sors, for the first offence ten pounds. And if any person or persons, being once convicted of any such offence, eftsoons offend against any of the premisses, and shall in form afore- said be thereof lawfully convict, that then the same persons so offending and convict, shall for the second offence, forfeit to the King, our Sovereign Lord, his Heirs and Successors, twenty pounds: And if any person, after he in form aforesaid shall have been twice con- vict of any offence concerning and of the premisses, shall offend the third time, and be thereof in form abovesaid lawfully convict, that then every person so offending and con- vict shall for his third offence forfeit to our Sovereign Lord the King all his goods and chattels, and shall suffer imprisonment during his life. And if any person or persons, that for his first offence concerning the premisses 190 COBBETT'S LEGACY TO PARSONS. shall be convict in form aforesaid, do not pay the sum to be paid by vertue of his convic- tion, in such manner and form as the same ought to be paid, within six weeks next after his conviction; that then every person so convict, and so not paying the same, shall, for the first offence, instead of the said ten pound, suffer imprisonment by the space of three months without bail or mainprise. And if any person or persons, that for his second offence concerning the premisses shall be convict in form aforesaid, do not pay the sum to be paid by vertue of his conviction, in such manner and form as the same ought to be paid within six weeks next after his said second conviction; that then every person so convicted, and not so paying the same, shall, for the same second offence, in the stead of the said twenty pounds, suffer imprisonment during six months, without bail or mainprise. N.B.-The rest of the Act consists of the tech- nical matters as to the execution thereof. THE END, London: Printed by Mills and Co., Bolt court, Fleet-street. BOOKS PUBLISHED BY MR. COBBETT, AT No. 11, Bolt-court, Fleet-street. A GRAMMAR of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE; with Six Lessons to prevent Statesmen from using False Grammar. By WM. COBBETT. Price 3s. A FRENCH GRAMMAR. By the same. 5s. COTTAGE ECONOMY. By the same. 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