Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

22 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

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NEWPORT CATTLE MARKET—WEDNESDAY,…

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--f PONTYPOOL. I-

MONMOUTH.

CARDIFF.

M E R T II Y It.

NEWPORT TOWN HALL, MONDAY,…

DIVISION OF NEWPORT.—SATURDAY,…

CHRISTCHUCH DIVISION.-8ÁKB…

CARDIFF POLICE COURT.—MONDAY,…

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I ANTf-CORN-LAW MONSTER MEETING…

THE BRITISH NAVY-DESTRUCTION…

CHURCH RATES.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

CHURCH RATES. To the Editor of t!,s HoiwunUhshirg Merlin SII!Jn )onr paper of last wetk, is a serond letter from '"A Church R.iie PayeiVmore puerile, if such a thing be possible, than the first. For the reasons stated in my former teller, how- ever, I take up a point or two in this. "Tho origin of lithes"-1 quote your correspondent—"io th s country is soratwhat obscure (! !) They seem to hne been co-existent with the fiist occupation of the land, or, at least, to have been given oy OUI remote ancestors (or the support of a Church, which they deemed Apostolic • » and have successively descended to the present clergy." Were our "re- mote ancestors" and the first occupiers of the land" one and the same party ? and if so, how did these first occupiers," who must have existed ages prior to Christianity, know anything of an "Apostolic Church V Perhaps they were Scotchmen, and possessed second sight—they certainly must have been very far sighted! How did these tiihes, so "obscure" in their ori- gin, descend to the present possessors? In a direct line, or by some collateral branch—straight, or in a zigzag direction ? Is this descepla partof that mysticism called "Apostolic succes- sion." Surely, surely, this is gross foOery From this very remote starting point, which your corres- pondent says is obscure"—he, without a shadow of doubt or obscurity, deduces the right of the present clergy to a tenth of the lands of Great liiitain,—and, from these premises, he works out the notable conclusion that the pcor have the gospel preached tit them gratuitously. Having established this most notable fact to his own entire satisfaction, he deduces further, by way of corollary,that the Disseniers, by some spirituallegerdemain,com- pel the poor to pay towards the support of their cause—and he exultingiy asks, Why do not rich Dissenters support their minis- lela, and relieve the poor of the burden ? It is evident that he thinks his own church virtuous, and the Dissenters vicious, upon this head. Let us look a little into this matter. All is not gold that glitters, and we are told that Satan himself, sometimes, as- sume. the garb of an" Angel of Light." IftbeChurchpos- sesses the tenth part of the fee simple of the land, she must be immensely rich—this point cannot he disputed. The leuth of the fee simple of Trevethin—to come home to the present case, is not trine. But this is no.t.4¡e only wealth of the church in that locality. The Lord-LieuT&nant has large possessions there —there reside the possessors and managers of two or three large Iron Woiks—^ihere are the propiietors of some very remu- neiating Truck Shops—there are, also, several clerical and lay magistrates these all, with their property, which is no trifle, liuk themselves to the Church. What abundant wealth, then, the Church in Tievethin h<s at its command. How, then, is this church supported 1 Is its worship carried on at tbe erst of the rich alone, and are the poor exonerated ? We williee. There is something now collecting, in the parish of Trevethin, called a Church-rate this rate is not collected from the rich only-but it is also collected by the police, in tables and other furni. ture, from the houses of poor Disser.ting ministers and others and if it be honestly enforced, must be paid in truck candles, iruck tobacco, and other tiuck goods, from poor men-aye, very poor men, who get TRUCK as a day's wage for a day's work." It is said, also, that the new house, buihting for the parson, is paid for, to the tune of several hundred pounds, from public money! With all this, as well-known to A Rate P*yer," as it is to me, what am I—what are your teadera,to think of him in urging such an argument, or in forming such a compa. risoo ? Can impudenl effrontery-can human depravlly- go beyond this ? And the Dissenters are to be twitted, forsooth, because they take confutations from the poor. Is the rate-payers' gurge so ravenous as to swa||0w all that the poor man bus is 11 like the grave. '• thai never cues enough?" 1 know of but one case that can be compared 10 the one undsr dis- cussion. I »i|| give it you in the words of the beautiful naira- live in which it is recorded. '■Then Jesus, six days before the 4j\TrY CA,ne 10 Bethany. There they made him a supper and Matlha servedI; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at meat with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spike- nard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with herf>air: and the house was filled with tbe odour of the ointment. Then, saith on" of his disciples Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?' This, he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein." The comparison must be obvious to your renders, and needs no comment from me But your correspondent evidently deems it criminal that Dissenters should do what his own chuich doel-Iake from the poor for Ihe support of religion. The only difference in the two cases is-lhe Dissenters tHkevoroctsrycontributioM ihe Church forced levies, which, as at present, in Trevethin, are taken by the police. But we will go upon the fact—it is criminal to take from the poor: for this is the gist of the matter. I will give you another narrative. And Jesus sat overagainstthetrea. sury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury. And many that were rich cast in much. And there came a cer. tain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a far- thing. And He called unto him his disciples, and sailti unto 4!laem, Verily I say unlo you, that this poor widow bath. Calt more in than they all which have cast into tbe treasury for all they did cast in of their abundance but she of her want,did cast in all that she had, even all hei living." Here the Founder of Christianity calls the attention of his disciples to the conduct of a poor widow-Dot to condemn it, but to hold it up to admiration. Your correspondent calls the attention of your readera to pre- cisely the same fact, as now practised amongat Dissenters and he calls their attention to ft. in order to condemn it. It is self- evident that the Founder of Christianity and A Church Rate Payer" are not of one mind." They take directly opposite views of the motives for action, and the one admires what the other condemns. Heie we have Christianity and Priestianity io most beautiful eontrast-the woridliness of the one, and the spiritua- lity of the other. The Gospel narrative tells us most plaioly, that it was the POOl" that had tht gospet preached to them— and that nat many mighty" meu formed 1he raiiks of tte Pri. mitive Christians. If, then, the poor formed the Christian Churdi, and that Church wss supported at all, it must have been supported by the poor; for 1 presume, even your corres- pondent, in the exuberance of his imagination, can hardly figure to himself Paul collecting tithes, and Peter, with a police con. atable, levying a church-rate. In those days a preacher (cler- gyman ?) was not ashamed to confess that he woiked" with hi. II owo hands," tbat he mighl not become cbargeab1e" to the Saints But I am forgettting myself—this was in the time of the Apostles, not in the time of the The Successors of the Apostles," and this makes a very material difference. I have reasoned upon your correspondent's assumptions. I make no endeavour to confute them. The priestly arrogance of these assumptions, with regard to the prnpeity in tithe and church rates, would have done honour to a Becket or a Wolsey. Suck absurdities might have passed current in the 12th or 15th centuries, but surely such gothic cobwebs of the dark ages cannot require serious refutation in tbe 19th centuiy. It would be in- sulting to the inlellect of your readers to suppose that there can be more than one n.M who pnls any faith io such profane and old wives' fables." I have endeavoured to place in a strong light, his wickedness in endeavouring to attach criminality to the Dissenters for doing what his own Church does allO; they do it with a difference, certainly. The Dissenter takes the widow's mile as tbe "free will offering" of an "obedient mind," voluntarily rendered for the support of principles which she be- lieves to be of God." The other party takes the ltma mite (with expenses added,) as she cannot conscientiously contribute it voluntarily, by the power of the police, for the support of that which she holds to be anti-chriitian and immoral. I cannot dis- miss this subject better, I think, than in the nervous and ener- getic words of the Saviour— Thtm Hypocrite first cast the beam out of thine own eye and then shah thou see clearly to cut the mote out of thy brother's eye." NO CHURCHMAN- December J, 1845.

CHURCH RAT £$.

1'0 tfle Editol' vf the Monmouthshire…

To the Editor of the Monmouthshire…

PUBLIC COMPLAINTS.

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Family Notices

NOTHING DONE TO PREVENT NATIONAL…