“What a strange thing human nature is! and how very strange that
two persons who, I sincerely believe, both look for the truth of things, and nothing
else, should come to such opposite conclusions as you and I! Why should not the Bishops
have carriages and horses, as well as any Christian gentleman of the same income? And
why should deep learning, like that of the Bishop of Lincoln, or Lichfield, or
Peterborough, or Ely, or of the late and present Archbishops of Canterbury, be denied a
rate of income in the Church which it would have commanded at the Bar or in Medicine? I
cannot see any reason. And I can see many strong reasons why it should be so rewarded,
particularly the reason of old Bishop Jewel,
which is (I forget the exact words), ‘that men who dedicate themselves to the
Ministry don’t require such inducements, but they are wanting to induce parents to
educate their sons for the Ministry.’ Christianity has nothing to do, according to
my views of the
114 | LETTER ON CHURCH ENDOWMENTS. |
LETTER ON CHURCH ENDOWMENTS. | 115 |
“As to the sale of livings; those only are sold which are private property, and generally the private property of laymen.
And whatever notional objections may lie against the practice, I can see none in theory
or in expediency; but just the reverse. If a young man, who has spent several thousands
of pounds on his education, purchases a living of £180 a year (like that mentioned,
in your advertisement), from which he will not derive perhaps above £8 per cent per
annum on the purchase money, it is a guarantee that he has an independent income, and
that a gentleman is going to reside in, and take the duty of, a remote agricultural
parish, who will be employing, and spending money among the population, as well as
attending to their spiritual instruction. As a dissenter, you have no notion of the
immense amount of private property which is thus brought into the Church and scattered
over the country by persons who love their profession and are careless of its
emoluments. I had, the day
116 | LETTER ON CHURCH ENDOWMENTS. |
“I am ashamed to have bored you with this long letter; but, as the French philosopher says, ‘I have not time to write a short one;’ and I did not like you to remain unanswered.
“We shall, clearly, never agree on these Church matters; but
there is one matter on which we are perfectly agreed: Mrs.
Barbauld’s prose is, I think, much better than her poetry. But she
lived in a good age of prose writers, and at the end of a good,
CONCILIATORY VIEWS. | 117 |