登陆注册
5589700000013

第13章 POLITICAL CONDITIONS(8)

Nonconformity was not by itself punishable though it exposed a man to certain disqualifications.The state,therefore,recognised that many of its members might legally belong to other churches,although it had,as Warburton argued,formed an 'alliance'with the dominant church.The spirit of toleration was spreading throughout the century.The old penal laws,due to the struggles of the seventeenth century,were becoming obsolete in practice and were gradually being repealed.The Gordon riots of 1780showed that a fanatical spirit might still be aroused in a mob which wanted an excuse for plunder;but the laws were not explicitly defended by reasonable persons and were being gradually removed by legislation towards the end of the century.Although,therefore,parliament was kept free from papists,it could hardly regard church and state as identical,or consider itself as entitled to act as the representative body of the church.No other body,indeed,could change the laws of the church;but parliament recognised its own incompetence to deal with them.Towards the end of the century,various attempts were made to relax the terms of subion.It was proposed,for example,to substitute a profession of belief in the Bible for a subion to the Thirty-Nine Articles.But the House of Commons sensibly refused to expose itself by venturing upon any theological innovations.A body more ludicrously incompetent could hardly have been invented.

Hence we must say that the church had either no supreme body which could speak in its name and modify its creed,its ritual,its discipline,or the details of its organisation;or else,that the only body which had in theory a right to interfere was doomed,by sufficient considerations,to absolute inaction.The church,from a secular point of view,was not so much a department of the state as an aggregate of offices,the functions of which were prescribed by unalterable tradition.It consisted of a number of bishops,deans and chapters,rectors,vicars,curates,and so forth,many of whom had certain proprietary rights in their position,and who were bound by law to discharge certain functions.But the church,considered as a whole,could hardly be called an organism at all,or,if an organism,it was an organism with its central organ in a permanent state of paralysis.The church,again,in this state was essentially dependent upon the ruling classes.A glance at the position of the clergy shows their professional position.At their head were the bishops,some of them enjoying princely revenues,while others were so poor as to require that their incomes should be eked out by deaneries or livings held in commendam.The great sees,such as Canterbury,Durham,Ely,and Winchester,were valued at between £20,000and £30,000a year;while the smaller,Llandaff,Bangor,Bristol,and Gloucester,were worth less than £2000.The bishops had patronage which enabled them to provide for relatives or for deserving clergymen.The average incomes of the parochial clergy,meanwhile,were small.In 1809they were calculated to be worth £255,while nearly four thousand livings were worth under £150;and there were four or five thousand curates with very small pay.The profession,therefore,offered a great many blanks with a few enormous prizes.How were those prizes generally obtained?When the reformers published the Black Book in 1820,they gave a list of the bishops holding sees in the last year of George III;and,as most of these gentlemen were on their promotion at the end of the previous century.I give the list in a note.(18)There were twenty-seven bishoprics including Sodor and Man.Of these eleven were held by members of noble families;fourteen were held by men who had been tutors in,or in other ways personally connected with the royal family or the families of ministers and great men;and of the remaining two,one rested his claim upon political writing in defence of Pitt,while the other seems to have had the support of a great city company.The system of translation enabled the government to keep a hand upon the bishops.Their elevation to the more valuable places or leave to hold subsidiary preferments depended upon their votes in the House of Lords.So far,then,as secular motives operated,the tendency of the system was clear.If Providence had assigned to you a duke for a father or an uncle,preferment would fall to you as of right.A man of rank who takes orders should be rewarded for his condescension.

If that qualification be not secured,You should aim at being tutor in a great family,accompany a lad on the grand tour,or write some pamphlet on a great man's behalf.Paley gained credit for independence at Cambridge,and spoke with contempt of the practice of 'rooting,'the cant phrase for patronage hunting.The text which he facetiously suggested for a sermon when Pitt visited Cambridge,'There is a young man here who has six loaves and two fishes,but what are they among so many?'hit off the spirit in which a minister was regarded at the universities.The memoirs of Bishop Watson illustrate the same sentiment.He lived in his pleasant country house at Windermere,never visiting his diocese,and according to De Quincey,talking Socinianism at his table.He felt himself to be a deeply injured man,because ministers had never found an opportunity for translating him to a richer diocese,although he had written against Paine and Gibbon.If they would not reward their friends,he argued,why should he take up their cause by defending Christianity?

同类推荐
  • 医经原旨

    医经原旨

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • King John

    King John

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 六十种曲精忠记

    六十种曲精忠记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说四泥犁经

    佛说四泥犁经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 道中有感

    道中有感

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 天下为公:孙中山思想家剪影

    天下为公:孙中山思想家剪影

    本书对孙中山思想形成的历史背景、思想资源、知识构成以及孙中山为实现其思想所进行的学术探索和革命实践,做了全面的论述,勾勒了孙中山伟大的革命先行者的形象,其中的挖掘了海外文献以及档案材料,提出了创新性的学术见解。作者认为,孙中山思想来源于中国传统文化的精华,同时充分吸收了西方文化尤其是西方近代以来的思想、科学等资源,形成了以三民主义为核心的“天下为公”思想,彰显了博爱的精神。
  • 原来我们都是爱着的

    原来我们都是爱着的

    如果那一年父母没有离婚,阮童不会和陆舟走在一起,也许她嫁的人会是陈振。生活也和现在截然不同。可这个世界没有如果,阮童最终嫁给了陆舟,婚姻在三年的时光中激荡摇摆,到了如今,原本的坚固变得脆弱,竟也要瓦解了……只是秋天已秋,碎梦已碎,一切能否从头来过。
  • 其实我们一直活在春秋战国3

    其实我们一直活在春秋战国3

    公元前770年到公元前221年,在这段被后人称之为春秋战国的550年间,那些空前绝后的伟大人物和传世经典井喷似的涌现:孔子述《论语》、孟子写《孟子》、老子写《道德经》、墨子写《墨子》、孙子写《孙子兵法》、鬼谷子写《鬼谷子》、韩非写《韩非子》……百家争鸣奠定了中华文明的基石,四书五经铸造了后世中国人的价值观,春秋五霸开创了谋略计策的典范,战国七雄构建了现今中国版图的框架。
  • 何为1

    何为1

    欢迎加入《何为恶魔》小说群,群聊号码:785489942
  • 月下杜鹃三临

    月下杜鹃三临

    我本神女像上的一只石狐,下凡只为了圆他一世姻缘,却两次看到他生命的终结。这一次,我只想远远的祝福着他,不想冷月如霜的他却问,他是不是表现的还不够明显?
  • 微型小说一千零一夜(第七卷)

    微型小说一千零一夜(第七卷)

    本书中的每一篇小说都是一个贴近生活的精彩故事,反映着当代生活的广阔图景。它们不仅能教会你如何理解生活,更能教会你如何热爱生活。开阔读者的视野、启迪读者的心智、使读者得到精神享受,是编者编选此书的最大愿望。
  • 城管局长哪儿去了

    城管局长哪儿去了

    早晨出来就心情不顺,这主要是姐夫闹的。姐夫没有工作,整天呆在家中看什么都不顺眼,王点娃在他家住,就免不了要受他的气。姐姐王见娃告诉王点娃,别听他死爹哭妈的,就那揍性,早死早利索。可是王点娃不能不往心里去,她毕竟占了他们家一席位置,吃饭要占他们的桌子,睡觉要占他们的床,洗衣服要占他们家的洗衣机,连去卫生间也要和他们抢蹲位。这让王点娃比谁都在意姐夫。偏偏姐夫不管王点娃的感受,总是抽风似的摔脸子,不管啥时都摔,连吃饭时都不闲着,不是嫌菜淡了,就是嫌饭焖稀了,弄得王点娃进也不是,退也不是。本是指望找个好对象,嫁出去就好了,可是对象却没有房子,比她经济还拮据,就越发让王点娃对未来看不到希望。
  • 蒸条龙,别加葱!

    蒸条龙,别加葱!

    鹫之是最讨厌妖的龙太子,妙儿是只刚成精的猫。某天龙太子落难,掉到砧板上,结果就遇到了这只猫。妙儿一直想吃看起来像鱼的龙,而鹫之一直嫌弃这妖行不够、连人话都不会说的猫,凭什么整天想着要把他吃掉?
  • 艾在,爱在

    艾在,爱在

    无限好书尽在阅文。
  • 罗德兰的灰烬薪王

    罗德兰的灰烬薪王

    这是一篇关于火焰的故事,是记载下一抔灰烬与上古诸王的史诗。在光与暗,冰与火,生与死的间隙当中。深渊已至,火焰将熄,唯有不死的诅咒生生轮回。不朽的神圣亦将作古,最伟大的太阳也被玷污。而你,传承于无名的第四王者后裔,究竟是选择把将熄的世界再次点燃,亦或是走向黑暗的彼岸?“咱上一辈子说不准也是老薪王了,就凭你还想让我疯狂受苦?”名为灰的我,在又一次活尸剑圣的夹攻之下,那伟岸高大的身躯终于倒下,丧失掉最后一丝人性。