1. IN proceeding to discuss the causes of that enormous abuse of Church Patronage, to which we have alluded; it is proper to begin with that which is the source of all iniquitous conduct-the corruption of human nature -which, like a worm at the root, eats away the core and excellence of the best conceived designs, perverts the good intentions of religious men, and sows the seeds of confusion and disappointment in every plan and purpose of benevolence.

These effects of human depravity are, of course, not confined to any particular form of Church government, nor dependent upon the union of Church and State, nor peculiar to Established Churches; although we freely admit that the corrupting influence of secular interests, and the force of worldly motives, and worldly principles of action, are here, as might be expected, more openly and flagrantly manifest. Man is, indeed, equally corrupt by nature, wherever he is placed. But some situations and circumstances are more favourable for the development of this corruption than others; as wealth is more ensnaring than poverty, power than weakness, prosperity than adversity. As the law of God was the means of throwing into stronger relief the virulence of sin, and aggravating into fiercer intensity the guilt of concupiscence; so do those very means, which have been wisely and liberally devised for the establishment and propagation of the truth, become, in the hands of ungodly men, the mischievous instruments of a more shameless, hardened, and incorrigible profane

ness.

We must not err so widely as to blame the weapons with which the madman threatents to destroy himself and others; we only endeavour to wrest them out of his grasp. The knife, which is used by the sane to prepare his food, in the hands of the

*Romans vii. 8.

insane becomes a fearful instrument of violence and death. Even so do those endowments which, when rightly and religiously administered, are such valuable auxiliaries to the Gospel, prove, when regarded in the light of common property, the plague-spots of the nation, the spreading sources of moral contamination, and universal corruption.

We are far from imitating the folly and ignorant prejudice of those rash empiricks, who would argue from the abuse of a thing, in itself good, against its proper and legitimate use. There are those who would condemn all union of Church and State, because gross evils have prevailed under such connection, and even seemed to derive some power and ascendancy in consequence. Our design, on the contrary, is rather to reform than to destroy; to guard against those evils which cannot be entirely prevented, and to check that corruption, which, if unrestrained, would go on spreading its infection through the whole mass of society, till Church and State fell victims, not less to their own inveterate decay, than to the universal disgust and abhorrence of mankind.

2. From the corruption of our nature, as the root of evil, have sprung a number of branches bearing sin and death, which have all had their influence in perverting the beneficial design of a well-conceived system of ecclesiastical patronage. From this has arisen an overwhelming and allabsorbing attachment to this present world. Covetousness has been designated as "the sin of the Christian Church,"*-i. e., not the only sin, but that which prevails, at the present day, the most extensively, and with the most injurious and withering effect. We live in an age and country of great commercial activity; when war is comparatively an unfashionable, as it is an awful pastime; when the mania of ambition has given way

*"Mammon," by Dr. Harris.

to the fever of avarice, which is excited to unusual intensity by the struggles of enterprising speculation, and the rapid accumulation of overgrown wealth; where the rights and interests of the many are in danger of being grossly and wantonly sacrificed to the selfish and grasping covetousness of the few. Witness the overwrought competition of trade; the recently exposed horrors of the mine and the manufactory-a species of domestic slavery, laying waste the energies of the human frame, crippling the immortal mind, cramping the freedom of the soul, debasing the character of the species, demoralizing vast masses of our brethren of mankind, and transforming these busy hives of swarming population into dens of brutal and semi-barbarous savages.

Witness, again, the impetuous progress of railway speculation, with heedless indifference running down the rights of individuals, and the religious instincts and happiness of the mass of the people; trampling upon, and tearing to pieces, as it were, the law of the Sabbath-"God's gracious present to a working world,"- -"the savings' bank of human existence,"* —where the thrifty economist of life husbands up and secures with interest and usury the blessings of a good old age. All this unspeakable gift, "the grand restorative for wearied minds and bodies," so rich in present advantage and eternal hope, does the course of railway speculation, and innovation, as it is now hurried on, threaten to deprive us of and destroy; thus robbing the worn-out labourer of his weekly rest, that most needful preservative of working energy, and healthy mental activity here, and still more needful preparation for eternal happiness hereafter.

In such times as these, what wonder if religious endowments are often abused for purposes of private and family interest; if Church Patronage is seized upon with sacrilegious hands, and Simoniacally doled out for pecuniary considerations; if the care of souls is undervalued and disregarded, and livings are estimated by what

*North British Review, April 1848.

they can bring in the market, and at the sale-room, not by the spiritual interests at stake, or the spiritual responsibility which they involve?

3. For, from this covetous grasping after wealth directly proceeds a fearful indifference to the souls of men. We do not maintain that our age presents no examples of intense and earnest regard to spiritual things. The contrary, thank God, is manifest to all. Nor do we deny that the times in which we live are favourably distinguished from those which preceded them in this particular. There has been, of late years, a growing sense of religious responsibility, a deepening conviction of eternal things, a reference to spiritual truth, as a matter of intrinsic and supreme importance, even by those who have not consistently followed its dictates, which, on the whole, augurs well for the destinies of our age and country. But, after all, must we not allow that we are still, as a nation, woefully behind even some much less enlightened times, in our self-denying, practical regard to the salvation of men's souls? How, for instance, (to take an illustration cognate to our subject,) can we bear the comparison and contrast with the first love of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers; when England, in her day of poverty and weakness, made such large and liberal donations to the cause of Christ and the Gospel?

In this degeneracy we have, no doubt, inherited the sins of our immediate progenitors, who lived in an age of boasted light, but lamentably little love to Christ and precious souls-the age when Wesley and Whitfield were driven out of the pale of the Church for being "righteous over much," too forward and irregular in their religious zeal;-when our country doubled its population and its wealth,* without having made any material addition to the public

*This general statement will be found much below the truth, (if we look to the last century.) Mr. Porter calculates that population has doubled itself in about 70 years, from 1742 to 1812; and property in 44 years, from 1798 to 1842.-" Progress of Nation."

provision for the spiritual wants of its children.

4. In short, the love of self is the leading, characteristic feature of the natural man. What is it to him that thousands of his fellow-creatures are perishing in ignorance and sin, as long as Mammon may be served, and money won? What is it to him, whose wealth is told by hundreds of thousands, that the instruments of his bloated avarice are living like slaves, and dying like beasts of the field? He has no idea of caring for his fellow-creatures, except so far as his own selfish schemes, his comfort and convenience may require.

To such an one Church Patronage, if it should happen to fall in his way, is sure to be a dainty morsel, which he will swallow down greedily, to whet his appetite for gain; unconcerned about the precious souls whom he is coolly consigning to the tender mercies of a "hireling, who careth not for the sheep." Hardened in selfish indifference and insensibility, he is ready to put up for sale the spiritual patronage which his more religious ancestors have bequeathed to him, heedless into whose hands it may fall, and without any compunction, or sense of responsibility respecting the result. Like the adulterous woman described in the Proverbs, he "eateth, and wipeth his mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness."*

5. And here it may be proper to pause awhile, and enquire seriously, whether he has done no wickedness? Is it no sin, we ask, to regard as common property the spiritual trust confided to an ecclesiastical patron? Is it no sin to traffic in spiritual interests, and make a gain of the souls of men? Is it no sin to lead men to look upon a parish, a flock, as so much property, which cost the patron or the possessor so much money, and which may, therefore, be dealt with as any other source of gain; by letting it out, if that will serve his selfish ends, to an under-hireling, thus feeding upon, rather than feeding, the flock of Christ?

*Proverbs xxx. 20.

Whatever be the extent of criminality in the present case, it is obvious, one would think, that he who first set the precedent for such a mercenary transfer of spiritual influence, was guilty of no ordinary offence. Much allowance may justly be made for the vendor or purchaser of livings under the present legalized system. But let us take heed that we be not "partakers of other men's sins."* No doubt many excellent persons have become purchasers of religious endowments from the very best and highest motives. All honour be to the blessed memory of one saintly name, which will ever live in the hearts of pious Christians, for his noble and self-denying devotedness to the welfare of immortal souls! But, looking at the subject in a general way, must we not regret that the practice is so common, and excites so little conviction of responsibility? Simony is, indeed, a crime punishable by ecclesiastical law; but the commission of such offences is now rarely inquired into, and still more rarely visited with condign punishment.t Why is this; but because the governors of the Church are apprehen

*1 Tim. v. 22.

"To

Any direct purchase of an appointment to a spiritual office is accounted Simony, and cannot be committed without perjury, and a liability to severe punishment, if the offence can be proved. The 40th canon thus defines the sin of Simony, and guards against it. avoid the detestable sin of Simony, because buying and selling of spiritual and ecclesiastical functions, offices, promotions, dignities, and livings is execrable before God," an oath is appointed to be taken by every person, appointed to any such preferment, which commences in the following manner: "I, N. M., do swear, that I have made no Simoniacal payment, contract, or promise, directly or indirectly, by myself or by any other, to my knowledge, or with my consent, to any person or persons whatsoever, for or concerning the procuring, &c., nor will at any time hereafter perform or satisfy any such payment, contract, or promise, made by any other without my knowledge or consent." When, some years ago, a glaring case of Simony, in a dignitary of the Church, was exposed and visited with deposition by his ecclesiastical superior, the civil court interposed, and promptly reversed the sentence.

sive that, as matters now stand, such an administration of discipline cannot be effectually carried out? Therefore men are left to their own consciences, to explain away, or evade moral obligations, if they are so minded, as well as they can.

We must return to the original view of Church Patronage as a spiritual trust, if we would strike a blow at the root of its enormous and suicidal abuse.

It is a species of property which ought, in no case, to be sold. Once admit that spiritual patronage is similarly circumstanced with other property, which the owner may dispose of by sale, and exchange for money; and, who does not see that a lowered view of this most sacred trust will be engendered in the mind; as well as a ready opportunity afforded to any worldly-minded individual who is possessed of sufficient wealth, of making a purchase in favour of some unworthy relative, it may be, some one wholly unfit for such a chargeand thus a door opened for all those terrible evils which usually flow from such a heartless merchandise of souls? Yet there is no legal enactment to hinder such a proceeding. Provided the individual, who offers the living for sale, holds his patronage not as a trust, but as private property, he may lawfully transfer his right of nomination to the highest bidder; who may as lawfully take possession of it, and use it, within certain limits, according to his own will and pleasure.

It is true that the ecclesiastical powers of the bishops, and the Church courts, may, to a certain extent, interfere with this spiritual traffic, and retrench some of its more odious features. But there are numerous instances in which no such interference can be contemplated, where, nevertheless, many of the evil consequences of this unholy merchandise really exist. Such is the case of a worldly-minded man, of unimpeachable moral character, and amiable manners, thus placed over a people, possibly, indifferent to spiritual religion. Whether this latter point be verified or not, the case is virtually the same in principle, though

the consequences will be different. In the latter case, the Church will be deserted, and the Establishment weakened by the luxuriant growth of a parasitical Dissent. In the former, the flock will languish in spiritual ignorance and insensibility, and probably will go down to the grave in nominal Christianity, and practical heathenism. This is, alas, no hypothetical case. Nor is it to be met by the assertion that, when the patron is an unconverted man, the result would be the same, even though no sales of Church Patronage were allowed. We reply that the fact of Church Patronage being liable to sale has a direct tendency to multiply such cases, and harden men's minds in worldly and unscriptural views of this solemn subject. When once it has become a mere matter of pounds, shillings, and pence, you will hardly persuade them to regard it in the light of a religious trust, for which they must give account to God at the day of judgment.

Do we not herein see fulfilled the fearfully graphic language of the Prophet, respecting the "flock of slaughter," devoted to the knife,

whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord; for I am rich and their own shepherds pity them not" ?*

Nor will it do to say that, in the sale of a living, the temporalities only are exchanged for money; the spiritual gifts being still in the Bishop's hands, reserved for future assignation. This may be theoretically correct, and yet we believe it to be practically untrue. For if the temporalities only were sold, nothing more would be involved in the purchase, and the incumbent might claim the benefit of his living without performing any spiritual duties.

We

know it is not so. Some extreme cases being excepted, the holder of a presentation, at least if in holy orders, has the right to the fruits of his living; and is also bound to provide for the spiritual wants of the people committed to his charge. Whether

* Zechariah xi. 4, 5.