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52

Low Church views raise the position of people.

pass through you, in the Lord's Supper and in Baptism, as His channel of grace to me. It is true that it passes back again from me, through Christ's heart, to you; but, still, you were first channels of grace to me. This must be so, for I cannot administer the sacraments at all without three of you, or get any thing for myself. You see, then, that the people are the channels of grace, and not the Bishop and Priest.

I hope in future you will be all church people; and that you will never enter the Primitive Methodist chapel; for you can never get such liberal treatment, or such real religious equality as this in my good parish clerk's place of worship. So here ends my sermon, until you shew me that your religion is more

liberal than mine.

There was then great excitement in the congregation. So much so that I thought some of my hearers belonged to the Pope in disguise. I then stopped, for as I had 51 more sermons to preach to the parish to give it the value of the £20 a-year of my stipend, which comes from it, I thought if the quality of the sermon was not the best, the quantity unpaid-for made up for it. The commotion in the congregation led me to think that some of those dissenters, who came in late to hear the sermon, but who dislike the church prayers, and who study not to come to church in time to hear the Bible lessons, had brought word that some one lost his life, or that a cottage, or the chapel itself, was on fire. It struck me also that some one became converted to join Christ's Union. But it appears that all this arose through fear that the Primitive

Dissent having ascendency in a robbed parish. 53

Methodist Chapel would be forsaken; and that less money would be, therefore, coming into it. Now it has come to pass that not one of my parishioners is at present in the Labourers' Unions. So this sermon did the farmers some good.

I extract the following remarks from the Lynn Advertiser (Dec. 2nd, 1876), contrasting the care bestowed on the church and chapel :

"Flitcham,

November 29th, 1876.

"Dear Sir,-In your report last week from the Manchester Examiner, I am accused of being the owner, and attending the Primitive Methodist Chapel. Now, Sir, I could not help my father leaving me a moiety of the aforesaid chapel. I wish he had left me the whole of it. And as for attending it, what am I to do? I don't want to walk about the fields. I see enough of them in the week; and the public houses are closed. And another thing, Sir, in chapel they sing. We have had no music in church for many a month, and I like church music, though I have to go to chapel for it. And the chapel is warm. In the church there is no fire in the winter. So, you see, Sir, the church is rather dull. In church you cannot see the sun shine through the windows, for the cobwebs. They wash the chapel windows very often. I am, Sir,

Yours truly,

THE PARISH CLERK OF FLITCHAM.

BUT WOULD LIKE THIS LETTER SIGNED 'AMEN.'"

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CHAPTER VIII.

The proceedings of Henry VIII.-Poor vicars' claims defended-The King's reply to poor vicars―Their treatment when ignored by big men-Vicars required to be as wise as Solomon-"Churlish Nabal."

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NLIKE the Jews, Henry VIII. would have linsey-woolsey dresses for his religion. held that fasting and praying for the vicar, no temporal relief for the poor, utter barbarism for the whole parish, and luxury and grandeur for one individual layman, who is to oppose the vicar, must be the best way to keep the Pope out of England. Henry VIII. set up a layman, in this church, to be a sort of an idle clergyman, in order to keep under his Majesty many big families, their relations, connexions, dependents, and followers, and to degrade the church under the civil power. The king made and gave titles to be set up for State worship, like Nebuchadnezzar's image; and by such means he caused the masses to be slaves to himself, and to his chiefs.

The bishops, are practically political officers under the King; and they use religion more to back up the system of strong men than to put wrong right for poor vicars. If their lordships had a spark of benevolence, goodness, or piety, with all their pretension to advocate the revival of religion, they would have found a livelihood for the vicar. It is said that the

Vicars defended for taking poor Churches.

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vicar need not have taken the church, or that he can resign it. This is a crafty, and, indeed, what must be called a villainous excuse, for it implies that all others are right in allowing wrong things to exist, since it throws all the blame on the vicar. We can, with equal fairness, say that the king, bishop, landlord, lay-clergyman-rector, farmer, tradesman, and labourer, need not have taken their respective position or connexion with the church, or that they all can resign it and the parish. The church belonged to our forefathers first, who gave it and its property to the vicar and to his successors for ever. Every vicar takes a

church with some claim of which he is deprived before he seeks help of others. If he serves such a poor church for some seven years, he is entitled to a better living, or to an increase of pay, in government service. His claim is proved if double duty is enforced upon him, or if his livelihood be taken away, or if any circumstance is altered under which he took the poor church. If his family has increased he has a claim; for the nature of a clergyman's office is that he must be maintained by others.

The crafty, and, indeed, what must be called villainous course pursued toward vicars is to say, we don't like them, and there is a personal reason or objection against them." By this a wilful lie is told, for a solemn declaration is pretended or implied to be made, by the accusers, that the vicar complained of, in each case, is the first clergyman that was ever in the disendowed church in question. When nothing has been done for such churches on these grounds, then it is fair to say that, according to the accusers

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The tactics pursued by Vicars' enemies.

all the past vicars must have been faulty. But their poverty, or their asking a livelihood, is the cause of their being unacceptable. The remedy for their faults is to give them sufficient food. The tactics pursued, to prevent vicars from endowing a church, are to put them wrong with the public by slander, or to brandish the name and influence of some man against them. The devil tried hard to take away Christ's goodness and reason, by displaying something for the imagination.-Matt. iv. 8. Somehow the devil succeeds to turn all men against poor vicars, or else he makes all poor vicars to be bad men.

The following was the reply which the vicar got when he asked his rights, or his wants, and compensation for his treatment:

"We, by the Grace of God, King of England, France, and poor, quarrelsome, unmanageable, tricky, old Ireland, Defender of the Faith and of the Church, and the Fountain of justice and mercy, send these presents greeting-Whereas thou askest sufficient food and decent clothes from us; we tell thee, for the good of thy soul, that fasting and praying are our new mercies for Church clergymen, and luxuries, pomps, and vanities for our lay-clergymen-rectors, of whom we have set up one in thy room. We confess that we employed thee to work for Flitcham, and to have the stipend which the monks paid to thee, for we endorsed the contract in appointing thee Vicar in our Church. We have now, in opposition to the foreign and unalterable laws of Medes, Persians, and church-people, changed our good mind, by depriving thee of all rights that ordination and appointment to this Church conferred

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