Gents Mag 1831 part 1 p.6
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Gentleman's Magazine 1831 part 1 p.6
"they were founded by his progenitors, and the nobles and others of the realm, for the service of God, alms, and hospitality." When the Pope through his legates, &c. had applied the property given to the Church to a purpose foreign to the intention of the donors, the statute 26 Henry VIII. deprived him of his power, and apointed the King as sole guardian of ecclesiastical affairs; and it was enacted, that the King our Sovereign Lord, his heirs and successors, Kings of the realm, shall be taken, accepted, and reputed the only supreme head on earth of the Church of England ... And shall have power from time to time to visit, repress, redress, reform, order, correct, restrain, and amend, all such errors, heresies, abuses, offences, contempts, and enormities, whatsoever they be, which by any manner of spiritual authority or jurisdiction may lawfully be reformed, repressed, redressed, corrected, restrained, or amended, most to the pleasure of Almighty God, to the increase of virtue in Christ's religion, and for the conservation of the peace, unity, and tranquillity of the realm; any usage, custom, foreign laws, foreign authority, prescription, or any other thing to the contrary, notwithstanding." And the Clergy, in convocation, acknowledged his Majesty as the only protector and supreme lord, and as far as accords with Christ's law the supreme head of the Church (ecclesiae et clerci Anglicani, cujus singularem protectorem at supremum dominum, et, quantum per Christi legem licet, etiam supremum caput ipsius majestatem recognoscimus). This prerogative was exercised, though often improperly, by each of Henry's successors, until the glorious Revolution of 1688; when the supremacy was limited, and it was decreed as illegal for the King alone to enact any law, &c. "without the advice and assent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons in Parliament assembled, and by authority of the same." From that time to the present, the King, Lords and Commons, combined, have been guardians over the rights, &c. of the Established Church, "to preserve (according to the Coronation oath) unto the Bishops and Clergy committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain unto them or any of them," and (according to the oath of the Union with Scotland) "to maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established;" and they have exercised their authority as guardians, consistently, in enacting divers laws and regulations. Finally, by 39 and 40 Geo. III. the Churches of England and Ireland, as now by law established, were united into one Protestant and Episcopal Church, called "the United Church of England and Ireland." From the preceeding statements it appears that the Government, as constituted of King, Lords, and Commons, is guardian over the Established Church of England and Ireland; with power to visit, repress, redress, reform, order, &c. most to the pleasure of Almighty God, the increase of virtue in Christ's religion, &c. but that it cannot alienate its revenues, or take away its rights and privileges, without being guilty of robbery, sacrilege, and perjury. Doubtless the present system of taking Tithes acts as a prohibition on the less fertile soils, often occasions strife between masters and their flocks, gives arbitrary and litigious men a power to harass and perplex others; and causes the deserving Clergy, for the sake of peace, to be deprived of half their incomes. If, according to the principle of his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury's Bill, it were enacted that two commissioners, one chosen by each party, should fix a rate of composition every 21 years, subject to regulation every seven years by the price of the produce of land, and that the Clergyman's churchwarden or other deputy, should collect the same yearly for the minister, by a summary process similarly to other parochial rates, it would remove all cause of contention, and be a benefit; and it ought to satisfy both the receiver and payer of Tithes. But an eternal lease, as recommended by the writer of the article "on the Commutation of Tithes," is impracticable; and it would be unjust toward both parties; because the farm, which is now in the highest state of cultivation, may by overcropping or neglect become so unproductive in fifty years time, that it would scarcely produce |
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