ON THE

DUTIES OF PARSONS,

AND ON THE

INSTITUTION AND OBJECT OF TITHES.

"Woe to the idle Shepherd that leaveth the flock!" ZECHARIAH, Ch. XI. V. 17

"Woe be to the Shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! "Should not the Shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, "and ye clothe you with the woot, ye kill them that are fed: "but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strength“ened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither "have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye "brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye "sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty "have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because "there is no shepherd." EZEKIEL, Ch. 34. V. 2-5.

BLASPHEMY is the outcry of the day. To blas pheme is to revile God. But, according to the modern interpretation of the word, blasphemy means the ea pressing of a disbelief in the doctrines of the Christian

Religion. Now, does it not become us to consider a little how it can be that this disbelief, sometimes called infidelity, can possibly exist in this country? It may be observed, here, by the way, that Jews are notorious infidels; that they profess to ridicule the Christian Religion and boastingly call its founder an impostor. Yet, we see that the Jews are not denominated blasphemers. The Jews are not prosecuted. The Jews are, as we well know, a most cherished sect; and are possessed of influence that can hardly be described.

It is not my object, however, to defend, or to apologize for, the entertaining, and much less the promulgating, of principles of infidelity; but, to inquire how it can have happened, that such a continual interference of the secular arm should have been necessary to check the progress of this unbelief. We believe the Christian faith to be true; we believe it to have been the work of God himself; we believe, that by inspiration from Him came the Book of that faith. Now, truth, even without any such support; clear truth is a thing so strong in itself, that we always firmly rely on its prevailing in the end. How comes it, then, that a truth so important as this, and supported by such authority,.. should stand in need of the puny assistance of fine and imprisonment? This would naturally surprise us, even if the Christian Religion were left unprovided with a priesthood established by human laws; what, then must our surprise be, when we reflect, that we have a priest-+-hood, appointed for the sole purpose of upholding this

religion, and that that priesthood receive, generally, speaking, a tenth part of all the produce of the earth; when we reflect, that the whole of our country is divided into small districts; that each of these contain a living for a priest; that, in each of these districts the priest has a church to pray and preach in; and that his office gives him great direct power and greater influence in secular as well as spiritual matters?

Surely an establishment like this ought to be adequate to the supporting of truth; and of truth, too, that has the sanction of the word of God himself! Surely we ought to hear of no necessity for the interference of lawyers, juries, judges, and gaolers to uphold a belief in this truth! Yet, we do hear of such interference and, indeed, we hear of little else; for the cry of blasphemy resounds in the senate as well as in the courts, and, if we give credit to all we hear, we must believe, that blasphemers actually overspread the land.

Let us, then, see, whether this inundation of infi delity may not possibly be ascribable to the want of a full performance of duties on the part of this same priesthood. To assist us in this inquiry, let us first see what those duties are; and this we shall best ascertain by going back into the history of the remuneration provided for those duties; in other words, into the history of those tithes, which now amount to such an enormous sum. Inverting the order in which they here stand,

1

these are the three topics which I mean to discuss in this discourse.

I. I read in a Tract, called the "Husbandman s Manual," published by the Parsons' Booksellers, F. & C. Rivington, for the "Society for promoting Christian Knowledge," sold for twopence, and said to be "written by a Minister in the Country for the use "of his parishioners," the following words, put into the mouth of the Husbandman when he is "setting forth his tithe;" and I have here to beg the reader to observe, that these words are put into the Husbandman's mouth by his Parson." Now I am setting forth God's portion; "and, as it were, offering to Him the fruits of my in"crease: and truly, it would be an ungrateful thing in me to deny Him a tenth part, from whom I receive "the whole. But why do I talk of denying it Him? "It is in truth robbing Him, to withhold but the least

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part of this, which the piety of our ancestors hath "dedicated to Him. Alas! it is what I never had a "right to and when I set forth the tithe, I give him "that which never was mine. I never bought it in any purchase, nor do I pay for it any rent. . What then?

Shall our ancestors engross the whole reward of this "piety? No, I am resolved to partake with them; "for what they piously gave, I will religiously pay; and "I in my heart so far approve of what they have done, "that were it left to myself, to set apart what portion "I myself should think fit, for the maintenance of God's

66 ministers, I should take care that he, by whom I re"ceive spiritual things, should want nothing of my "temporal."

We will not, upon an occasion like this, give utterance to those thoughts which are naturally awakened by the reading of such a passage, written, as the title asserts, to "advance the Glory of God!". We will restrain ourselves, in this case, and suppress that indignation an expression of which this insult to our understandings would fully warrant; but, when blasphemy is the outcry of the day, we may appeal to juries and judges, whether a greater, more impudent mockery of the name of God than this, was ever printed or uttered by mortal man! Not content with this, however, the impious man, whose writings the "Society for promoting Christian Knowledge" sends forth, proceeds thus, in a species of prayer that he also puts into the Husbandman's mouth : "Do thou therefore, O my God,

accept of this tribute which Lowe Thee for all thy "mercies. It is, I confess, thine own, but, do thou

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accept of me in rendering thee thine own; for thou, "who searchest the hearts, knowest that I do it cheerfully, freely, and willingly. And I beseech thee to keep me in the frame of mind, that I may never covet 86 any man's gonds, much less that which is thine. Set

a watch, O Lord, over mine eyes and hands, let them never be defiled with rapine and sacrilege; that so "the dreadful curse which followeth the thief may