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men . See what that monstrous anomaly of lay patronage leads to . Ever since the Reformation we have had a scandalous system of lay simony sanctioned by the lawyers , if not by the law . The cure of souls has been one of the best commodities in the market ; exposed to the vicissitudes of commerce ; selling for what it was worth , like land or consols , or bartered for political support , or corrupt and immoral conduct ; advertised in the papers , and cried up with the eloquence of a Robins . For more than one hundred years ,
clergymen have been forbidden to buy and sell benefices ; but the laymen , who were shocked at the shameful system in the clergy , have not only continued to commit the same crime themselves , but have themselves given it the sanction of law . Before an incumbent dies , the layman who owns what is called the presentation , makes a bargain with another layman who has a son or a nephew to plant in the church , and sells , for a
corrupt consideration , the next presentation . That is , really , one man buys of another the spiritual control over some hundreds of thousands of men . Eternal life depends , we are told , onbelief ; and the enforcement of belief depends on the priest ; but here is an arrangement which saddles the flock with an incompetent , possibly an immoral shepherd ; and the spiritual vocation is reduced to a bargain . The cure of souls is a profitable investment : and the church is like the
temple at Jerusalem—the abode of moneychangers . If this great state establishment were not a political institution , garrisoned by a political party , it is obvious these things could not be . If the laity were as sincere and as logical as they believe themselves to be , they never could buy and sell benefices , with an absence of
concealment which shows they are so callous as to regard simony as no sin . - _ This week Mr . Robert Phillimore has applied the test of sincerity rather roughly . He proposes to make the sale of benefices as much simony in the laymen , as in the clergy . And how is he met ? By outcries from the staunchest defenders of an Erastian establishment that it
is an attack on the rights of property ! Rights of property forsooth ! What ! Christians falling down , like the Jews of old when they conquered Canaan , before strange gods—worshipping Mammon and Plutus , and forgetting the duties of religion—forgetting Christ ! You inflict heavy penalties on the seller of a Government office ; you would shriek with horror if the next presentation to the bench , were an article of sale ; you profess a holy indignation at the purchase matters
of a vote ; in all these temporal you pretend , at least , to eschew corruption . But in things eternal , in the choice of guides to salvation , you not only tolerate corrupt influence , you glory in it . The Church has her Snorter ' scourt , and her Capel-courfc , like the . City—Church in danger , does not mean that the orthodox religion is in peril ; it simply means that simony scents its own probable extinction afar When Mr . George Butt and Mr . William Bankos opposed the bill of Mr . Phillimoro with
the cry , Tou would destroy the rights ot property , wo arc strongly tempted to retort on them the question , —Where , gentlemen , is your sincerity ? „ ., But , virtually , tho laity arc the Crosars ol the Church ; while she servos them they will sustain her when she successfully strives to bo mdopendont they will let hex drop . But this is only tho legitimate development of tho theory ot a fltato church , dominant in a country whoro it is eurroundod by congregations of froo dissent .
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THE WANDERING SHEPHERD . Thk Times makes merry with " tho clerical zoophytes" who aro planted in tho old parish churches of the City of London , and who would draw to their embrace tho flocks straying into tho suburbs . It is tho object of Lord Harro * - bv e Bill to endow thoBo reverend fixtures with tho power of locomotion-to unroot the flhephord from tho soil , and permit him to follow his flock . Tho Btato of tho case is this :-At one time tho City of London was densely peopled with a popuwdn Widinir therefor purposes of Wo as well ol the
as business . Of lato years tho population City so called , has decreased , and the truly resident population has decreased in a larger degree oven than tho census would show ; since oon-Bidorable numbers who spend not only tho work-Zd » ys , but tho nights of those days , in the
City , pass their Sunday existence , including the night on either side of that day , in the suburbs . These mi gratory classes possess the most paying , piety , and can afford to « keep pew in church or chapel . The churches , therefore , are abandoned by their congregations , and there are many which are all but empty on the Sunday . On the other hand , there are whole districts left to the Dissenter or the Secularist , or to no influence in particular , but that of the tea-garden and the ordinary propensities of mankind at leisure . The Church of England looks upon these stray sheep , who are usually reckoned by statistics amongst its members , with a curious mixture of regret and faintheartedness . The church Has abundance
of property ; it has a strong and laudable desire to recover the stray sheep ; but at head quarters there is a still stronger idea as to the necessity of keeping up the dignity of the establishment . It is all very well to swell the purses of poor curates beyond starvation proportions , and Christians are called upon to do so ; but who save a hard-hearted sceptic would propose to abate the sleek rotundity of a bishop , in order to expand the attenuated curate ? Certainly the proposition would not come from the Bishop
himself . There is a strong sense that it would be desirable to collect the sheep , but a much stronger sense that the shepherd ought to be amply provided , lavishly endowed ; and in justification , there is a vague idea that if the shepherd be sufficiently adorned he will act as a kind of decoy to the sheep . It has not proved so , and of late years a new idea has been started , that perhaps if the flock will not come to the shepherd he might as well walk abroad after the flock . The Christian Mahomet will go to the mountain—the church of the City will go to the suburb .
We award the due meed of praise to the practical sincerity of Lord Harrowby ; he is a member of the church of England , and it is not only right in . him to take the measure that he is taking in order to render the machinery of that church efficient , but it is a disgrace to others of the same faith , that they have left it so long undone . If , however , they would follow the public , they will need to do something more than to of officers
remove tho edifice , or even the staff . It is not only from city to suburb that the public has removed without being followed by the clergy . Tho public has removed yet further away on the field of opinion and of science . There is not a church in the land that is not disturbed by new views of doctrine ; and tho multitude of those who think about religion at all , are thinking much more of the primal truths , of the essentials , than of those doctrines that now constitute tho
standards and individuality of sects . In the regard of its own public of the better order , the church is exactly in tho position of the Pharisee , looking to forms and mysticisms , deprecating tho seai'ch after truth , binding the pupil to the letter instead of the spirit , and teaching men rather to hate each other than to depart from thoir sect . There is not one sect of the Christian church that docs not do its best to discredit all other sects ; so that if you talco tho character of Christianity in turn from the scctionB of its own mass , you will find it something meaner than
Mahometamsm . Tho effect on tho public mind is , either to create a contempt for tho craft and mystery which tho bonzos of our country make to consist chielly in mystical forms , or else to regard those bonzes as being themselvos inferior to men of other vocations . It may bo said that no moan portion of tho public has boon converted to Christianity in the spirit of Christ , and that it loaves tho narrow sectarian Christianity to dwell amongst tho buildod antiquities in a deserted city . Tho prinof its oflicors
ciple of tho church is still , by many , proclaimed to bo incompatible with the truth as it appears in tho very works of God ; . and men aro told that thoy might dangerously learn from science that which would refute tho authonticatcd religion . Thoy arc told that the truths of tho universe can only bo learned on tho seventh day , within buildings inado by man , and must not bo studied abroad amongst tho works of God . There aro indeed some ministers , even , of tho Christian sect , who have risen with tho opporthe
tunities of tho day , and can understand immortal truth which is embodied in the Christian faith as it is in others ; who know that tho truth of scionco cannot possibly bo inconsistent with tho truth of religion , and who aro prepared
to teach their flocks how to avoid the judgments of a justice inexorable because it is perfect , by obeying " the laws of nature , and of the God of nature "—laws which must be studied in situ , in their , working . Men such as these are following the public , to lead it ; and instead of being rendered powerless because they are fain to follow their flock from the pulpit to the field , they can find in the open elements new testimony of eternal truths . But such men are no " Sabbathobservers" in the sectarian sense . They will find the materials for a sermon in the field , on the common , in the vivarium of zoological gardens , in the most ordinary path , as well as in a pulpit or book : and they will recognise the fact , that
if the pupil finds his faculties awakened by spectacles of art or nature , which do not visit his eyes in the daily path of toil , in that place the sermons of reverend wisdom can reach him best . It is this kind of intellectual following , far more than the material move , which the Church of England needs . If some peer or honourable member , if Lord Harrowby or Lord Blandford , would bring in a bill to enable ministers of the Church of England to gird up their loins and run after their flocks in this sense , the Church of England might become a living and a national church , instead of being , like the coat of arms , an archtcological symbol , a badge of fashion and hereditary distinction .
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THE NEW SHORT TIME MOVEMENT . Aftee all , are the Arabian tales so fabulous as , in the simple days of childhood , we were led to believe ? Were our nurses right in checking our young fancies hy gentle hints that Sinbad was a myth , that streets were never paved with gold , jfchat fairies never interfered to help those who would not help themselves ? We are half inclined to doubt it . Certainly , if we were in want of images in which to clothe our impressions of Australian wealth , we should not hesitate to search among the tales of Eastern fancy ,
and boldl y to transfer to this nineteenth century of ours the stories of Alraschid's court . The last accounts from the Australian colonies are as marvellous as those which went before . Gold yields as readily to the digger ; the digger is as prosperous and happy . A large society is in process of formation , pregnant with new developments . At present there is Titanic strength and Titanic chaos . Plutus reigns supreme . Shortly there will be order , but tho order will bo a combination and arrangement of the new elements . But we will not dwell on that side of the
question . In England avo are at tho opposite extreme . Our labourers are in many cases ill paid , hard worked , and , in consequence , disaffected . In other cases they are in no distress , but they demand something more than a more negation of want . They have risen above the condition of their fathers , and feast upon a prospect as wide and boundless as ever opened upon the
eyes of young ambition . Law and government i Theso aro noblo things , and our artisans and labourers would have some share in thoir construction . But then there are several obstacles in their way , and tho Parliamentary proceedings of last week have called our attention to some of the most remarkable . Foremost in the rank comes the short time question . Mr . Cobbetthas obtained leave to introduce a bill " to limit tho
hours of labour of women , young persons , and children , in tho factories of tho United Kingdom , and to provide for a more perfect inspection of tho factories . " But , as we learn from tho concluding portion of his speech , Mr . Cobbett proposes to go far beyond all previous legislation , by imposing fresh limits on tho period during which the mills may be kept at work . This reopening of tho factory question is likely to load to very important results . Wo arc quite ready to acknowledge tho difficulties which surround any attempt at bold and efficient legislation ; but tho time is surol when tho
y come opposite course is fraught with dangers still moro serious . Tho whole of Europe lias boon convulsed with revolutions , and tho sins of rulers against thoir subjects have recoiled with tenfold vohomenco upon themselves . Propped rip by a strong military force , and resting on tho fears rather than on tho lovo of their subjects , tho Continental Powers aro in no enviable position . Tho merest accident may nuflieo to send n fresh batch of emperors and nobles to seek for refuge and njsyhim in tho land of liberty . If wo follow their example wo shall aharo thoir fate ; unless our
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July 9 , 1853 . 1 THE LEADER , 661
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 9, 1853, page 661, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1994/page/13/
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