the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send unto him wan 'derers that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his ' vessels and break his bottles.' (Jer. xlviii. 12.) But, still, must we behold more of the abominations of Babylon? Hear, now, what the book of Revelations says of her fall. 'The Kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, 'when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off 'for the fear of her torment, saying alas, alas, the great city ' Babylon! and the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, for no man buyeth their merchandise any more; the 'merchandise of gold and silver ... and slaves and 'souls of men.' (xviii.) The beginning and ending of the large catalogue of Babylon's merchandise is here given as exactly describing the items of the Whore's market in England: but that we may more thoroughly comprehend her cursed traffic in the souls of men, I here re-publish the following scale of charges put forth by an agent who keeps an office for the trans action of clerical business. MR. submits to the notice of the Clergy, a Scale of Charges for business intrusted to his care; he also takes this opportunity to express his acknowledgments for the very extensive patronage he has had during the last ten years, and to assure the Clergy that every Commission confided to his care will continue to be executed with fidelity and promptitude. TERMS: INTRODUCTORY FEE, ONE GUINEA, } To be considered as part payment of the first Commission exceeding that amount. For the Sale of an Advowson If the Purchase money does not exceed For the Purchase of an Advowson.. £4000, 2 per cent. For the Sale of the next Presentation to a Living For the Purchase of the next Presentation to a Living For the Sale of a Chapel For the Purchase of a Chapel For Procuring a Foreign Chaplaincy For Procuring for a Client in Orders, a For Procuring an Exchange of a Living or a Curacy If the Purchase money is above £4000, If the Purchase money is above £7000, 5 Per cent. on the amount of One Year's Emoluments. Every description of Clerical Business transacted; Livings valued, &c. &c. Mr. begs very respectfully to inform Clergymen who may, on account of absence or indisposition, desire to have their professional duty performed for them, that he has always the names of several highly respectable Clergymen on his books, ready to take occasional duty; and that, at two or three days' notice, he can undertake to provide for any duty that may be required, either in or out of Town, Mr. is also happy to add, that from his extensive connexion with the Clergy, he has not unfrequently (on being satisfied that the applicants are truly respectable, and likely to pass an examination) been enabled to obtain for a client a title for Holy Orders, with a Curacy, where required. Fees in this case regulated according to circumstances, F Mr. has generally on his books, an extensive list of Livings for Sale, Curacies vacant, and also Livings, Chaplaincies, and Curacies for exchange. An Inspection of the Letters of Orders, and testimonials of Clergymen, is always requested, previously to recommendation to any Curacy or Duty. Mr. -begs to state that all instructions received and information given by him, relating to clerical affairs, are to be considered as strictly confidential. Mr. has respectfully to request that, after the first communication of particulars, all letters which he may be required to write may be considered as subject to the above charge, excepting when a sale of Property is ultimately effected, in which case, the charge for correspondence is included in the commission, and to give time for negotiation, no application is made during the first six months for any letters written. Mr. begs further to state, that after the payment of his introductory fee, the party having done so, will be entitled to CONFIDENTIAL Information for twelve months, respecting all or any of the Livings, Curacies, &c. on his books, for disposal or otherwise. The letters only containing the leading particulars being charged on the terms stated above. But in all cases where a purchase or exchange is effected, the commission only, as per above scale, is charged, and from such amount the Introductory Fee is deducted. When Mr. is requested to leave Town for the purpose of valuing, or to inspect any Church Property, for sale or otherwise, a written agreement is always entered into respecting the charges for so doing, and generally those costs are included in his commission. To persons connected with the Clerical or Scholastic profession, who may have occasion to advertise, but are averse to the personal publicity which it involves, as well as the inconvenience of answering applications, Mr. offers his services on the following terms: viz. For preparing an advertisement, causing the same to be inserted in a London or Country Newspaper, and receiving the personal or written answers at his Offices, 5s. for each advertisement, in addition to the Newspaper charge. PUPILS. For procuring a Private Pupil; if by an advertisement referring to Mr. particulars, 5 per cent. on the amount of the terms for One Year. If without any advertisement, and through Mr. amount of the terms for One Year. for own interest, 10 per cent. on the Accounts invariably to be considered as due, and to be paid, on delivery. ALL LETTERS MUST BE FREE OF POSTAGE. Mr. begs to state, that for the first eight or nine years of the period during which he has had the honor of being concerned for the Clergy, no Introductory Fee was ever charged, but in consequence of the great number of Clergymen for whom he has been engaged, (upwards of 5000) a large portion of his time has been occupied, and he has been put to much trouble and expense, from motives of mere curiosity; therefore, in justice to himself, he has been compelled to adopt such a course, and he trusts, when Gentlemen perceive it is not either intended, or wished to make a charge, without affording an opportunity of receiving an equivalent for the said Fee, that his plan of conducting Clerical business will meet with GENERAL, as it has already met with very extensive, approbation; for it is an admitted fact, with those who are conversant in such matters, that they ought not to be conducted as common business usually is, and also that no arrangement relating to Church Property can be satisfactorily entered into unless the parties concerned have confidence in each other. Who, after reading this foul document, is not constrained to say that the Church of England is indeed the true Anti-Christ? Can any monstrous insult upon the Christian Religion be possibly more monstrous than that the sale of livings, the purchasing of chapels, and the cure of souls, should be regularly published as commodities to be bought and sold, as we would buy sheep and geese at a market? Is not the House of the Lord a den of thieves indeed in this land, and ought not these iniquitous hucksters to be driven out of the temple, not with a scourge of cords only, but a scourge of scorpions? In vain is it, after knowing these things, to talk of our venerable Prelates, our pious Dignitaries," and our respectable Clergy; they are neither venerable, pious, nor respectable; they know these things, nay, they not only know them, but they partake in them; but instead of thundering against them from the pulpit, instead of urging their abolition in the House of Lords, those dumb dogs lie down to slumber whilst wolves invade the sheep-folds of Christ. The sale of the cure of souls is as notorious as the rising of the sun; every day this traffic of Hell is going on, and there is not an avaricious Prelate or Priest in the land who would hesitate for a moment to purchase a living, if the items were advantageous. The cure of souls, the solemnity of the office, the awful responsibility, the call of the Holy Ghost, the sanctification by the Spirit of Christ, and the faithful ministry of the Gospel, are never for a moment considered: tithes, and glebe, and the state of the parsonage-house, are the main objects. 'I have a son,' says the Priest to himself, he is one year old; 'he shall go into the Church-the present incumbent of the 'parish is seventy-six years old, and very gouty, he must soon 'go to his place the terms are advantageous-it will be a good bargain-I will write to my man of business to-morrow, to make 'the purchase.' Now this is a common every day occurrence; nobody can deny it-the cure of souls is a marketable commodity in the land, but to all concerned in this merchandise of the great Whore, we say, in the words of Peter, thy money perish ' with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may 'be purchased with money.' V. The Church of England is the same woman that slew the Prophets. If any thing were wanting to prove the total depravity of the human heart, it would be the aspect of the Church of England in its infant state. When we consider that the Protestant Clergy, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, had but just escaped from the dungeon, or dread of the faggot, when we remember that the very day before the Queen came to the throne they were in hourly jeopardy of being burnt alive-yet behold them, the moment they were liberated from this terror, themselves turning tormentors and persecutors. Surely,' we exclaim, 'there is 'no creature so cruel and depraved as man.' Archbishop Parker, the second Protestant Primate of our Church (Cranmer, the first, had been burnt alive,) began his reign with a furious persecution against the Non-conformists, a congregation of most pious and grave Divines, who, from scruples about wearing the pontifical dresses, were constrained to separate from the Church of England, though they differed not the least in doctrine. These poor men were most roughly handled, they were thrown into gaol by the Archbishop throughout all his diocese, whilst the other Prelates of the courtly party followed his example. The gaols were soon filled with them, and that at a time too when sound policy required a most cordial union in all the Protestant party. But a Priest is the last person to care for the safety of the State when his authority is resisted; and no representations of the ill effect of this persecution, even from the Privy Council, weighed at all with the Archbishop, who, having the Queen's private support, laughed at every combination to prevent his tyrannical measures. The whole of this Prelate's reign is nothing but a record of severity against the Puritans, whom at last he tormented into a powerful and formidable sect, able to destroy both Church and State. But it may be observed of all Christian Priests since the Reformation, that however terrible they may be as rulers, they are wonderfully short-sighted and ignorant of the operations of the human mind; their only notion of government is severity and violence, and to this day they believe that they never should have failed in any of their plans, if they had carried tyranny far enough. Archbishop Laud could not perceive the approaching ruin of the monarchy, caused entirely by his foolish bigotry-the Priests of James II. could not understand the dangerous predicament in which they placed their master, till King William landed-and the Clergy of Charles X. of France, were this day twelvemonth convinced that by help of the bayonet they should be able to enslave the French people, and rule in that great kingdom without opposition. Having tried the experiment they totally failed, and we are now assured by the Quarterly Review, by all the high church party in England, and all the Tories, that the experiment failed for want of more soldiers, and a more cruel General to command them! Long may such blindness last! the day may be coming when a similar party in England may have the opportunity of trying a similar experiment. Parker was succeeded in the Primacy by Archbishop Grindal, a man of very different character from his predecessor: he was a learned and venerable Prelate, of studious habits, great piety, and gentle disposition; though at the same time he had courage enough in the cause of the Gospel, which above all things he wished to spread in the kingdom, by encouraging pious preachers in all parts of his diocese. He had a great aversion to persecution, and never would exercise any severity against the Nonconformists, unless he was goaded on to it by the Queen or Archbishop Parker, who kept a sharp look-out on his proceedings, knowing how he hated the odious work. When he was translated to the see of Canterbury, he put in practice measures which were sure to bring on him the wrath of the priestly faction, for the high church party cannot bear to see the smallest deviation from the printed forms and ceremonies of their Prayer Books and Canons, so that whoever offends in this point is sure to be considered a heretic and an offender against God and man. The good Archbishop perceiving the ignorance of the Clergy, and the great need there was of more frequent preaching, for the instruction of the people in the grounds and truth of religion, encouraged a practice that was very popular in many places, and had been tolerated by many Bishops in their dioceses. The custom was, that the ministers of a certain district, as had been previously agreed on, met together at a set time in some Church of a large parish, and there each in order explained, according to their ability, some particular portion of Scripture allotted to them beforehand; and after all had done, a Moderator, being a Clergyman, considered of the greatest weight amongst them, made observations upon what the rest had said, and determined the true sense of any difficult text. These meetings began and ended with prayer, and were of course in every respect calculated to be highly interesting and instructive; consequently they were attended by vast multitudes of people eager to hear the word of God expounded to the comfort of their souls.* These meetings were called prophecyings, and as they became wonderfully popular wherever they were adopted, they greatly alarmed all the old formalists and high church drones, who are shocked beyond measure whenever the old routine of mechanical devotion is deserted for any thing spiritual and instructive. Such persons can doat on the frivolous and tedious superstitions of the Cathedral service, but turn away with horror from a prayer meeting or expounding of Scripture. The Queen, who was completely in the interests of the high church party, listened to their representations, and sharply rebuked the Archbishop for allowing these prophecyings in his diocese. She also sent her commands to stop their proceeding any further, and also desired that there might be less preaching in the Churches, it being her policy to confine the people more to the ceremonies of religion. Grindal answered her Majesty in an admirable letter, in which he displayed not only great learning of ecclesiastical matters, but extraordinary boldness of rebuke in addressing so redoubtable and imperious a Sovereign. He plainly intimated that he would not obey her commands, because he knew that the expounding of Scripture, and the frequent preaching of godly ministers, were the best means for teaching the Gospel to the people, who stood in need of every sort of religious instruction. For this pertinacity he was suspended from the functions of his see; his authority was put in commission, and he continued in a state of sequestration till the day of his death. His successor, Archbishop Whitgift, * See Strype's Life of Grindall, page 219. † See this letter in Strype's Documents. Book ii. No. 9, |