Then follow five lots of yellow and mottled soap!
Whether the body of the clergy, who have for so many ages been supported by these and by other means scarcely less obnoxious, come nearer to the description of the primitive apostles and pastors for independence, disinterestedness and benevolence, or to that description predicted by one of them of those who should come after him,—grievous wolves not sparing the flock, I leave to the reader to determine.
Dr. Gaskin, I was informed, ranks amongst the clergy who have arrogated to themselves the epithet evangelical; but I have since been informed otherwise; and I am inclined to believe, as those do who best know him, that he is not an evangelical clergyman!
I cannot help expressing my surprise that my countrymen will not, on this subject, take a hint from that great and liberal minded statesman, the late Lord Chatham, at the commencement of the American war, when our debt and taxes were not one fifth of what they are at present. His lordship in a speech in the House of Lords, turning to the right reverend bench, exclaimed,—"Let the bishops beware of war; for should the people be pressed for money, they know where to look for it!" It is a pity that amidst so much nonsense, with which the nation is pestered at our agricultural meetings, and in agricultural reports, and so much injustice as is proposed for relieving the public, by Mr. Webb Hall on the one side, Mr. Cobbett and others on the other, such as new corn laws, and breaking public faith, &c. ruining thousands by the reduction of interest of the national debt, our real resources should not be even hinted at. Is there no patriot to be found in either House of the Legislature, following the excellent example of Mr. Hume respecting state abuses, who will recommend, "An inquiry into the nature and amount of our church revenues?" Would christianity suffer if a Bishop of Winchester, or a Bishop of Durham, had not 30 to £40,000 a year! or if our overgrown church revenues in England, and more especially in that still more oppressed country, Ireland, where the bishoprics are in general richer, and many thousands are wrung from a long oppressed and impoverished people, not unfrequently in places where little or no duty is performed, were inquired into? Let Britain look at the church reformation which has taken place in France, and is now going forward in Spain and Portugal, the abolition of tythes, and the resumption of the useless and hurtful revenues of the church, and blush at her bat and mole-like stupidity!—B. Fowler.
[71] That I may not be misunderstood, I beg leave to remark, that I intend no reflection on those who may have been educated solely with a view to the ministry, and of whose habits we cannot expect an alteration. It is an evil attending the present system, that while men of very moderate talents, and judging by their conduct, who have made no great advancement in the christian life, who possess a few superficial qualifications which captivate the ignorant and unthinking, are living in luxury, there are men of fine talents, and transcendent virtues, who are living in comparative poverty. The grand error is the mechanical transformation of youths into ministers at seminaries, instead of their being brought up to some trade or profession in which their independence might rest on themselves.
I have, on this subject, expressed myself more at large in the MEMOIRS OF ROBERT ROBINSON, prefixed to his Works. See also an excellent Sermon in his incomparable VILLAGE DISCOURSES, entitled, "Any one who understands Christianity may teach it." And another in the Posthumous volume of his works, entitled, "The Corruptions of Christianity."—B. Flower.
[72] Flower's Letters from the Illinois, 1819, p. 32.—B. Flower.
[73] Cobbett's Register, July 7, 1821. Birkbeck's Letters, printed for Ridgway, 1819, second edition.—B. Flower.
[74] In my Mr. C.'s treatment of Sir Francis Burdett, INGRATITUDE seems the crowning vice. The benevolent and patriotic baronet, deceived by him as many others have been, lent him a large sum of money, which just as he was setting out for America he declined paying, under the pretext that as government had by their oppressive measures injured him, he did not consider himself bound to discharge his debts till it suited his convenience! Sir Francis, alluding to this letter, remarked, that he did not know whether such a principle had ever before been acted upon, but he believed it was the first time it had ever been openly professed! As those letters are I find, very imperfectly recollected by many of Mr. C.'s readers, if he will reprint them in his Weekly Register, they will consider it as a favour.
Mr. C. commenced his notice of the worthy baronet by reviling him, and all men of his principles; in his usual style he afterwards veered about to the opposite point of the compass, and panegyrised him in the highest terms; but although he had partly gained his ends, finding that he could not completely transform Sir Francis into one of his tools, and by his means, accomplish his darling, but uniformly defeated project, of procuring a seat in the House of Commons, he in his rage, and under that prophetic impulse with which "The angel he so long has served," not unfrequently inspires him, pledged himself that in the course of a few months he would so expose the baronet, as to hurry him to his fate:—That of committing suicide, and of being buried in a cross road, with a stake driven through his body! If Dr. Young's sentiment—"He that's ungrateful has no crimes but ONE" be correct, Mr. C.'s character appears to have reached its climax.—B. Flower.