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A Homily upon feeding ministers.

dispose of all we have in the world; and, since it has appeared that He has appointed an order of men to attend continually on His worship and service, we cannot doubt that He requires so much of our worldly substance, to be set apart for their support, as may enable them to discharge the duties of their function, without being interrupted by their own private affairs.

"And since the worship of God must be celebrated, in such a manner, as may at once express our reverence and devotion to Him, and invite others to join with us; whence it was that, both among the Jews and heathens, the places of public worship were built and adorned in the most splendid manner, and nothing was offered to God which was not the best and most perfect in its kind; it follows that the maintenance of God's Priests must be plentiful and liberal, and such as may express the just respect which is borne to their office and character. For it would be most unreasonable that the temples of God should be rich and magnificent, and His altars loaded with constant sacrifice, whilst His priests are exposed to poverty and contempt. And, therefore, all nations, barbarous as well as civil, have treated their priests with great respect, have paid their maintenance cheerfully, and accounted their persons and whatever belonged to them sacred and inviolable. It were easy to show this from the history of all countries."

Archbishop Potter must have been unacquainted with Radical gentlemen and worldly noblemen, who take tithes, and their treatment of clergymen, when he wrote the above; for these hate the position of ministers lest it should humble their own, or lest the

Contempt for poor Clergymen.

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vicar's office should cause them to incur odium for retaining tithes. Or, perhaps, he had the interest of Church Dignitaries, or of the heads of Colleges, at heart, who take the tithes from poor vicars. He quotes Scripture to prove that Christ Himself was ministered unto by women, and by others, and that the apostles were maintained in their travels and rambles. He gives very strong and sound reasons why ministers should ask their livelihood, and why others should supply it. He closes with the following words :

"The ministers of Christ cannot attend to their duty of preaching unless they have a competent maintenance to support them; and, therefore, to deny them these things, is in effect to destroy the institution of Christ. It is necessary, and has been so judged in all ages, that the clergy should have a plentiful maintenance. Without this it is scarce possible for them to secure themselves from the contempt of the people, who seldom have pity or consideration enough to distinguish their office and character from their outward condition in the world. And the contempt of the clergy will soon lead men to a contempt of religion, which always participates both of the good and bad fortune of those who are set up for the defence of it. And, therefore, the enemies of religion have, in all ages, made their first attempts upon the Priesthood; plainly foreseeing that if the priests, once taken out of the way, or, which is all one, brought under general contempt, the people would soon become an easy prey to them.”

Very sensible and true, O! good Archbishop Potter; and you must have visited Flitcham to enable you to

174

The result of Church Plunder.

make money by writing this account. As the age of miracles has passed away, writing about what should be done, without doing it, may lead to vice, as you knew well. So I will not invoke thee to see the horrible state of affairs in parishes now, with vicars starving and souls going to hell, as people left poor clergymen in your good, pious, and well-meaning hands.

Archbishop Potter wished people to feed poor vicars at no cost or trouble to himself. He means above that Bishops as well as people fall an easy prey to the vicars' enemies. So he begs veneration and propping-up for bishops, and he lets the poor vicars starve without doing anything for them.

When I came to this church I found its one bell cracked and exposed to the weather, hanging on sticks, near the windows of the roofless south transept, between the falling nave and the fallen chancel. The people here remember the time when the former vicars would ask nothing from churchmen elsewhere for this church, and when the farmers or the parishioners would not provide a bell-rope for them. So to make the bell toll, the past vicars had to strike it with the pickaxe which was used for making the graves. I myself have often struck it with stones to satisfy the law to make it toll before Divine service, there being no rope, and the good parish clerk being at the time thinking of his own Primitive Methodist chapel, before getting ready to come to help me in my church. The Registers of this church date from the year 1755. The people here wanted no registers, for they married themselves, by mutual consent, after the Scotch fashion, to save time and the parson's fee.

The morals of a plundered Parish.

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The ministers came here but seldom, and the process of marrying by banns, which, therefore, took months to publish, was rather slow for these earnest and warm lovers. But often their mutual-consent marriage became dissolved. The registers show yearly three cases of illegitimate births among 500 souls; and some are baptized in the chapel, while others seem fated to die at birth or very soon afterwards

Some of the good ministers of this church lived all over England, and as far away even as Wales. When they came here occasionally, their unexpected arrival caused them to go away again without a congregation, after they had used the public-house for refreshment. When the stipend was increased by Queen Anne's Bounty they came as close as ten miles to the church.

In olden times the very farmers acted as they pleased in every respect; for in poorly endowed parishes the vicars, not having sufficient food, are obliged to praise even those faulty characters from whom they expect something. In by-gone days all classes here lived without check or restraint; for the dependents were afraid and too crushed to reprove any one, and superiors did not trouble themselves how matters went on so long as they got all they wanted. If Lot with his righteous soul had been here, instead of being "vexed" he would be broken-hearted, or else he would be persecuted and ruined by the ungodly for his holy efforts to reform them. The good bishops avoid coming near this church and parish, as it would be no feather in their cap.

The custom here has been to baptize infants twice in Church, privately and publicly, during divine service.

CHAPTER XXV.

The natural qualification for Mission work-The system of the Education Department affecting poor Vicars and church work-The Holy Orders of Matrimony more respected than those of Ordination in choosing Curates-Poor Vicars and Curates the cast-off unlawful Ishmaels-The logic of the supporters of the Society for Preventing Cruelty to Animals in allowing Vicars to be starved-The Church saying the Lord's Prayer frequently to feed us, or the wants of our animal nature-All Divines and Presbyterians overlooking Natural Religion-Quakers the most practical theologians-All errors traceable to ignorance of the doctrine of the Trinity.

A

LTHOUGH the first natural qualification of a minister of religion, or of a missionary, is to be rough and bold enough to face even the devil and his crew, at any port, or on the wild ocean in any storm, and to see strange faces; yet, I had not the courage to travel the country from house to house for my church, for I shrank from this ordeal. Very few have courage to be like Christ and His Apostles, who, as missionaries, went from house to house, when forming the first Primitive Church, receiving their food while begging of sinners to repent and to be saved. But, providentially, I was soon trained and fitted for this mission.

I received a letter one morning requiring me to go begging from house to house to get people to approve of giving £120 a-year to a schoolmaster for my