that Establishment, and the evils, which unhappily do not yet deter from dissent, would be seen in the universal spread of fanaticism, and of every prevailing departure from the one only true faith. No; the principle needed to be at work, amidst contending delusion, rebuke, and blasphemy, is the principle that shall continue to the Clergy the moral influence which they have hitherto most advantageously maintained in society. But, whether pluralities continue, or whether they are to be altogether disallowed, one thing is essential to a wholesome principle of discipline in the Church; that is, that there be (when the proper remuneration shall be provided) in every parish in the kingdom, independently of any command from the Bishop, by legislative enactment, a resident Clergyman, performing full morning and afternoon service, and delivering a sermon at each period of the Sunday service. This enactment must be of the most positive description, not to be relaxed by any discretion: for, if it be allowed to be relaxed at any discretion, then, either the unwholesomeness of the spot, or the delicacy of the individual, or the paucity of inhabitants, or desirable absence for the sake of the children of the Incumbent, or some other ground, will be frequently offered; and, from most kind motives, perhaps, the parish will be found to be without any resident Clergyman. Thus, private consideration will have the ascendancy over the public good. Let it rather be known, before the incumbency is accepted, that the condition of a resident Clergyman is indispensable. If this be done, the writer, at whatever risk of blame or unpopularity, asserts his opinion, that it may, then, with the best prospect of public benefit, be properly left to the discretion of the Incumbent, whether he will personally reside, or provide a constant resident, to be approved by the Bishop, when he is not himself resident. Such a provision, universally and unconditionally acted on, would, without any injurious opinion of the episcopal prerogative, but in a humble wish rather to relieve it of a most unpleasant responsibility, do more to secure a resident Clergy than all discretionary power left with the Bishop or any other officer; and the liberty thus desired for the Incumbent, while it was based on a principle never to be departed from, of securing to the parish a resident Clergyman, would be that wholesome discipline which, on the whole, would best promote the essential interests of the Establishment. The writer would add a word more against interference with the incomes of the richer preferments, having already observed that they are serviceable as lures of fit persons into the sacred ministry. Requiring the security of those incomes, let us not, therefore, hear charges of the unchristian principle of persons going into the Church for the sake of its riches. Few, very few, comparatively, it is really believed, go into the Church for the sake of its preferments. They enter it to discharge the important duties of the sacred office; and it is contrary to every feeling that a wise Providence hath implanted within us, that probable reward for faithful services should not be a considerable stimulus to Christ's faithful ministers in the discharge of their duties; or that a competent maintenance in prospect, should not, in many cases, influence the parents in directing the future courses of their children. They who will still dwell on the vulgar imputation of persons going into the Church for the sake of its riches, are as little valuable for their wisdom as estimable for that charity which hopeth all things, or thinketh no evil. (To be continued.) SECTARIAN VERACITY! TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER. MR. EDITOR,-A member of the Society of Friends lately presented to my notice the" Plea for Nonconformists," an old pamphlet, reprinted and published at Chelmsford: in the modern Appendix to which, entitled, "The Church of England in 1834," I found most incredible circumstances so positively stated as facts, concerning seven parishes in the diocese of Winchester, that I considered it my duty to forward those statements to the Bishop. I now invite the attention of your readers to them, and to the Bishop's reply. I will place extracts from the Appendix on the one side, and the Bishop's letter on the other. I will make no observations upon either, but will leave both to the candid consideration of your readers, some of whom may have been imposed upon by assertions so boldly made, and yet so grossly false and flagrant. Extracts. I am, Sir, I have, above, called upon the reader to get upon a hill, view the steeples, and imagine the state of the parishes and the strength of the Church, with a resident Clergy, gathering their tithes in kind. But, in standing upon a hill now, and surveying the steeple, what is he now to imagine? Let him get upon the top of the keep, for instance, of the ancient castle, which stands at the back of the palace of the Bishop of Winchester, at Farnham, in Surrey. We will not leave him to imagination here, but describe the reality. Just beneath him, he sees the parish church; he surveys a large and beautiful parish, rich in corn fields, beautiful meadows, and the fine and far-celebrated hop gardens. He sees the rectorial tithes taken away by a lay impropriator; he sees the vicarial tithes taken away by a non-resident vicar; he sees tithes, to the amount of two thousand pounds a year, and upwards, taken far away Your obedient Servant, JAMES SALISBURY DUNN. Farnham Castle, Rev. Sir-I thank you for your letter, and its enclosure, which, as you rightly conjecture, contains many false statements. The facts are as follows, taking the case of each parish mentioned, and in the order in which they occur in the printed paper. FARNHAM.-An endowed vicarage, value 4481. per annum. The rectorial tithes belong to the archdeaconry of Surrey. Vicar, non-resident, by exemption, being resident on the living of Ashington, Sussex. Four curates, all resident, and with stipends amounting, in the whole, to 400l. Population, 5838. and spent by these two persons; and he sees a curate performing the duties of this immensely productive parish, for one hundred pounds a year: that is to say, about three times the wages of a middling labouring man, who digs in the hop-gardens; not twice the wages of a journeyman-carpenter or bricklayer; not so much as the wages of a good journeyman-locksmith in London; and this, observe, in, I believe, the very finest parish, all taken together, in the whole kingdom. Lifting his eyes from this parish church, standing on the verge of the meadows on the side of the river, he looks over the hill on the other side of the valley, and there he sees the large agricultural parish of Frensham, yielding tithes to the amount of five hundred pounds a year; he sees a miserable curate there, with a stipend of forty pounds a year. Shocked at that sight, he turns away his eyes a little to the left; but there they are met by the parish of Elstead, with tithes again amounting to five hundred a year, and with a still more wretched curate; for this one has only twenty pounds a year! "This is too bad! exclaims the zealous churchman; and, turning his eyes in disgust from the south, and looking to the west, as it were, towards Winchester, silently beseeching the Right Rev. the Bishop, the overseer of the shepherds, to come and bring them back to their abandoned flocks, there his eyes, the moment they get over the confines of the parish of Farnham, are met by the fine and productive parish of Bentley, where he finds tithes amounting_to eight hundred pounds a year, and a wretched curate, living upon a stipend of twenty-eight pounds a year. Exclaiming, Oh, God of justice and mercy!' he hastily turns his eyes from the west towards the east, and the first spot on which they alight, are the two parishes of Seale and Tongham, with tithes amounting to three hundred and fifty pounds a year, and with one miserable curate between them, with a stipend of five and twenty pounds a year. Shocked and disgusted beyond measure, but still hoping to find in the north some little thing to apologize for the south, and the west, and the east, FRENSHAM.-Anciently a chapelry belonging to Farnham, now a perpetual curacy. Annual value, 106/. The rectorial tithes form part of the corps of the archdeaconry. Perpetual curate resident. Population, 1388. ELSTEAD.-Anciently a chapelry belonging to Farnham, now a perpetual curacy. Annual value, 787. Great tithes as before. Perpetual curate same as P.C. of Frensham. Stipendiary curate, resident. Stipend, 801. Population, 711. BENTLEY.- Anciently a chapelry belonging to Farnham, now a perpetual curacy. Annual value, 116/. Great tithes, as before. Perpetual curate, resident. Population, 728. SEALE. Including the hamlet Tongham, one church; anciently a chapelry of Farnham, now a perpetual curacy. Annual value, 461. Great tithes, as before. No house; curate, resident at Farnham, distant three miles. Population, 366. and for the spot where he stands, he turns about; and, again, on the confines of the parish of Farnham, the first thing that his eyes alight on is the parish of Aldershot. "Thank God!" says he to himself, "this is in the churchloving county of Hants!" The cathedral of Winchester and the Bishop's see will certainly secure something here for the cure of souls." Upon looking closer, he starts back, and exclaims, "What! tithes amounting to six hundred and fifty pounds sterling a year; a miserable curate allowed fifteen pounds a year; and the tithes carried away by a clerical corporation, of which the Earl of Guildford is the head, and while that Earl of Guildford has four livings, or the tithes of four parishes, in that same diocese of Winchester, over and above his large share of the tithes of the parish of Aldershot!" After this survey of the reality-after this survey of seven contiguous parishes, in which he sees not one resident rector or vicar; in which he sees no clergyman able to keep a servant of any description; in which he sees seven men, called parsons, each of them with no more influence than a journeyman-carpenter or bricklayer; from which seven parishes he sees taken, to be spent far away, tithes to the amount of five thousand pounds a year, and in which he sees seven clergymen living, altogether, upon two hundred and twenty-eight pounds a year; after beholding and contemplating this spectacle, he, though lamenting the conclusion, comes to the conclusion, that it is impossible that this Church can stand. ALDERSHOT.-A perpetual curacy. Annual value, 641. Rectorial tithes, belonging to the Hospital of St. Cross. Perpetual curate, resident. Population, 665. It appears, therefore, that the aggregate income of the officiating clergymen of these six parishes (not seven, as stated in the printed paper) amounts to 812/. instead of 2287., being nearly four times as much as inserted in your inclosure. The sums set down as the stipends of the clergy, are the payments reserved in the leases of the rectorial tithes. These are the facts. I pledge myself for their accuracy; and you are at liberty to make any use of them you think proper. I should have added, that I have no means of ascertaining accurately the annual amount of the great tithes. There is no doubt that it is nothing near the sum stated, 5000l. a year; they are let on leases of three lives. I am, Rev. Sir, Your faithful servant, C. WINTON. very To the Rev. J. S. Dunn, ON GOOD WORKS A CONDITION OF SALVATION. MR. EDITOR,-I have heard and read objections to the expression that good works are a condition of salvation, but the expression appears to me to be agreeable to the language of Scripture. What is a condition, but something upon the doing or not doing of which a benefit is gained or lost? And do not the Scriptures represent good works as generally necessary to salvation? It is said salvation is obtained through the atonement and righteousness of Christ-this is unquestionably true; but this being granted, the question still remains, Who will be saved through the atonement and VOL. XVI. NO. IX. 4 D righteousness of Christ? Are they not those who do good works? Are not they, whom alone Christ makes mention of as welcoming to heaven, called by him the righteous, they who do what is lawful and right? Will not all be judged by their works? and will not God render to every man according as his works have been? If such be the representations in the Scriptures, are not good works therein represented as necessary to the salvation which is through the atonement of Christ? If so, they are, in the proper meaning of the word, a condition of salvation. It is answered, that repentance and faith are the condition of acceptance through Christ. But repentance, if real, will shew forth the works meet for repentance; and what are they but doing the will of God-doing righteousness or good works? And if repentance be not real, no one will contend for any efficacy being attached to it. And so in respect of faith; if it do not influence the believer to works meet for faith-to the obedience of faith-to the righteousness of life which faith should produce-if it work not by love, it profiteth nothing. And if it work as it must work, in order to profit the believer, it will bring forth good works. Good works then, in this view of the subject, as evidencing the reality of faith and repentance, are still a condition of salvation, inasmuch as faith, not productive of good works, is allowed by all parties to be an unavailing faith, and repentance not bringing forth works meet for repentance, to be an unavailing sorrow. In every view then, whether considered in themselves as acts of righteousness, or as evidencing faith and repentance, good works seem to be rightly expressed as a condition of salvation. They are so in every case to which our Lord's words apply, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven;" and to such cases only, I think I may venture to say, is the affirmation or expresion, that good works are a condition of salvation, ever intended to be applied. As to cases which may be excepted from the application of our Lord's words just quoted, they are also excepted from the affirmation, or expression referred to. U. Y. ON THE RECOVERY OF A FRIEND FROM ILLNESS. As erst the sacred Israelitish band Were basely taunted in a foreign land, Silent, through grief and recklessness of song, And health's bright bloom is once again display'd. |