( 105 ) CHAPTER X. A NEW SCHEME OF ECCLESIASTICAL ENDOWMENT PROPOSED AND CONSIDERED, ESPECIALLY IN THE FACE OF PREDICTED DISASTERS TO THE CHURCH. 66 I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end."-LUKE Xxii. 37. WE have shewn, as we hope definitely, that it is the bounden duty of every Christian family throughout the world to furnish one or more of its members who shall take a special part in duly executing the sacred ministry, and that this moreover is proved by the analogy of what actually existed under the Old Dispensation, and that therefore the Lord's people in the present dispensation are not exempt from a similar obligation, but that it behoves them to manifest greater zeal for the Lord's service, insomuch as they are freed from the bondage of the letter of the Law, and, out of a pure spirit of gratitude and fervent devotion born of that liberty, should strain every fibre of their being so as to ensure that the worship of the Lord should not suffer by their neglect and indifference, but that His worship should be performed certainly not in a less, but if possible in a greater, degree of undiminished glory, and in the beauty of holiness. Having arrived at this point, it next becomes a matter for serious thought and deliberation how and by what manner of means a fit and suitable endowment should be secured for the maintenance of all these ministers of the sanctuary. And here, at the outset of our deliberation, there meet us grave and formidable dangers, threatening the overthrow of the best schemes in the near or distant future. And yet these dangers may be more or less imaginary; but in the consideration of any scheme of this sort we can by no means afford to discard them. But still they need have no real terror for the children of God, who by night and by day, through periods of cloud and sunshine, keep marching on to the Promised Land, with the Lord of Sabaoth on their right hand and on their left to protect them. Nevertheless the dangers threaten us, and in these latter days have proved themselves so real and formidable as to disconcert the rulers of the Church, and to discomfit apparently the safest and surest methods of Church endowment, with the greatest ease imaginable. To formulate, then, a scheme which shall, on the one hand, succeed in escaping the dangers arising from violent civil commotion, as well as in avoiding the many pitfalls and snares which may lie in wait for it from the machinations of evil individuals in a period of comparative peace-to do this requires, it must be confessed, clever ingenuity, and much technical skill in handling matters of this sort. Only to attempt this, and no more, is the object of the writer in the following pages, and to furnish roughly the Coming Dangers. 107 outlines of some such scheme. The fine elaboration necessary for its complete and successful accomplishment must be left to wiser heads. To begin with, we must anticipate a revolution affecting ecclesiastical endowments, and Church property generally, at the hands of a body of men inimical to its best interests, by initiating a revolution in the method of endowment to be effected by the Church's own members and best friends at a time when she is comparatively free from direct harassment. We would take advantage of the present appeal that is made to our Parliament to redeem the tithes and Church property, and capitalize such property, and henceforth make endowments for Church purposes personal and not local or territorial. By this we mean that we should endow the individual priest, and not the Diocese, Church, Chapel, or other cure which he may happen to serve. He would thus be equally independent of his flock, and not so liable to be robbed of his maintenance by any plot of the Government of the day which may be opposed to and desirous of tyrannizing over the Church. To effect this we must make the endowment absolute, so that it may for all intents and purposes up to a certain degree be the priest's own private property, and be safeguarded only by certain conditions binding on the priest in foro conscientiæ on the honour of his priesthood. Here it will be argued we surround ourselves with a circle of unknown dangers. It will be for us to seek them out and to combat them successfully, trusting in the righteousness of our cause, and relying on the protection of the Almighty, ever present with His Church. In the first place, the endowment for a priest |