Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

18 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

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[ TESTIMONIALS, &c., IN MOUNTAIN…

WELSH DISESTABLISHMENT.

"CHURCHMAN" AND THE ORIGIN…

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

"CHURCHMAN" AND THE ORIGIN OF TITHES. Sir,—I expected to see in your last issue some attempt on the part of your correspondent, "Anthropos," to shake the evidence I produced to prove that the State has never endowed the Church. But he carefully avoids the issue, and allows your readers to infer that it is un- answerable. A word of thanks to Mr. Godfrey would have bean a gracious act for so kindly putting him right on the quotation from Dr. Freeman. It is well in controversy to be hon- est and accurate. I am still in the dark as to the reason why the appointment of Queen Anne's Bounty should be the dividing line be- tween "ancient" and "modem" endowments, especially as in his last contribution, "Anthro- pos" advances another "explanation" based presumably on the origin of tithes. It would be interesting to learn on which he rests his contention. I ask again for chapter and Terse to show that the State has ever given her en- dowments to the Church, or, rather, to the many Church corporations that own Church property. In dealing with his treatment of the tithe question I shall be as brief as possible. The statements are so wide of the truth that my task is easy. In paragraph I. of his letter he states, "It is indisputable that the law of tithes is a Roman institution, made in imitation of the Jewish law or custom. So the law of tithes is a papal law, and a relic of tho Church in its connection with Rome." In the first place per- haps our fried will explain how it came to pass that there was a "papal law" before the papal claims came into existence, and how also there were outside the Roman patriarchate cases where the payment of tithe was enjoined, e.g., Egypt. Clemens Alex. (190-203) taught that the Mosaic law of tithes was binding on Christians (Promata ii., p. 397, Paris edn., 1692). Origen is emphatic on the point (Second Homily on Numbers xviii.). Isodore of Pelusium, and Cassian, Chrysostom's pupil, teach the same (Diet. of Chr. Autig., ii., p. 1964). To these we can add, amongst others, Cyprian and St. Au- gustine of Hippo. Europe: Isidore of Seville (601) insists upon the duty shortly after Gregory the Great had called the title "Uni- versal Bishop" anti-Christian. In Gaul Irenaeus inculcated the same doctrine as early as A.D. 177. Hilary, of Poictiers, in his Com. on Mat. xxiiL, insists upon the duty of paying tithes (A.D. 350). The records of the Eastern Church tell exactly the same story, but I cannot tres- pass further on your space. What absolute 'non- sense it is to say that tithes is a Roman in- stitution Further, he makes the definite state- ment that Augustine brought the custom to Britain at the instance of Pope Gregory. As- suming that that was so, it gives the Church a prescriptive right of thirteen hundred years to this property which, I presume, is good enough. But in order to nail the inaccuracy of "An- thropos" to the counter let me submit the testi- money of a first-class author on this point. It will be found in Easterley's learned work on the "Law of Tithes," p. 7, "To Augustine the early lawyers are wont to refer the introduction of the custom of tithe-paying, chiefly on ac- count of one of the answers sent by Pope Gre- gory the Great to him but there is no mention of tithes they were of a late growth." It is impossible for "Anthropos" to have studied this matter for himself at first hand, or he would have been incapable of mak- ing such an allegation. He proceeds, "The evi- dence is overwhelming that tithes would not be paid if left to voluntary methods." (Oh! that blessed word "voluntary.") I agree with the words, "Would not be paid." The point, bow- ever, is not the paying of tithes, but the giv- ing of them. I affirm that the giving was vol- untary, but the carrying out of their obligation by those who followed had oftentimes to be en- I forced by law. Next, "Anthropos" makes a learned reference to the Legatine injunction of 857, and speaks of Ethelwulfs Charter passed in the Witan- gemot, or Parliament, of his Kingdom, A.D. 644. It is a difficult matter to restrain one's pen-I when dealing with an opponent who talks of a Parliament in 844. There was no Parliament until 1265, and no scheme of representation un- til 1295. And the "laws," which he makes these injunctions to be, were only laws in form, in practical effect they were admonitions resting' on spiritual means for their enforcement. It is false to a degree to use modern terms with modern associations to describe a state of things totally different to ours of to-day. I would have thought that every Liberationist would have by this abandoned for good and all the poor; old charter of Ethelwulf. It did duty for many a day, but like many another argument of the disendowment school it has been quietly drop- ped. The case must be indeed desperate that rests on such a foundation as this document. Yet forty-one linea of your space have been used by your Rip Van Winkle in trying to substan- tiate his case by the aid of this relic of antiquity. The Liberation Society itself has said of Ethel- wulf's Charter, "There has always been some doubt, however, as to Ethe'wulf'a Charter, and the best authorities now agree that it ha.3 no 1 RM .t..a.IL A.& } V/ 1/ t 1JI I.W.I MI wmmmmmmmm L. Stubbs has stated, "The famous donation of Ethelwulf has nothing to do with tithes." On this "Anthropos" bases his case of the "State origin" of the tithe. I ask your readers to form an unbiased judgment on the value of his ar- gument. The reference to the glebelands of the Church is equally a distortion of the truth. The bulk of the land belonging to the Church in Wales is modern, as has been recently prov- ed, and your correspondent by associating the glebe property of the Welsh Church with the discredited and rejected charter of Ethelwulf shows that he is absolutely ignorant of the "A B C" of the great question under review. The argument deduced from the consumption of eggs, butter, and other edibles proves too much. Not only does it prove that we all pay a portion of the tithe, but that we also pay a portion of the rent. And if "Anthropos" will apply this extraordinary method of reasoning to the whole of the social economy, he will ar- rive at the simple truth that we are all inter- dependent on each other, and that the whole frame work of our social order rests upon the divine principle, "Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and unto God the things that be God's." "Can Mr. Godfrey or 'Churchman' refer to any Jaw compelling the members of the Church of England to contribute perpetually against their own conscience towards the propagation of doctrines and church government which they do not believe in?" This is the question that closes his wonderful inquisition on tithes. In answer, I say firstly, no one who pays tithe is paying for the "propagation of doctrines, etc. contrary to his conscience. He is paying the tenth part of the rent of tne land which he holds. This tenth has been given to the Church and it makes no difference to the holder of the property who gets the one-tenth or the nine. tenths. He contracted to pay the whole when he took the farm. "Anthropos" has forgotten that a great deal of tithe is paid to lay impro- priators and schools and colleges. And he also forgets that farms and lands belonging to Non- conformist bodies are held by many who do not believe in the tenets of the sec- owning the pro- perty—yet they pay. It is not a matter of con- IIciocce-but of contract. Thus our friend's "crux" goes by the board. Let me close by giv- ing your readers the true view of the origin of tithes. I am quoting the words of Mr. W J. Waterhouse in dealing lately with this question: "Only interested persons, not intelligent advo- cates, wo are told, put forward the private origin of tithes. Dr. Martineau's fame is known to the world. Martineau wrote: 'The noble Earl (Selborne) has made it clear by his- torical evidence that the Church's endowment, including tithes, arose as much as any rent- charge bequeathed last year, by voluntary gift, and preceded all law required for its protection; so that it stands on the same footing with dis- senting trusts. If her position in these lat- ter days had no more reasonable assailants to meet than the Liberationists, we might well say that we had made her secure, for their attack is decisively repelled. (Cont Rev., March, 1897.) Your oolumns, sir, for many a long day could be filled with such evidence Indeed every his- torian, jurist, statesman of note bears frank and free testimony to the fact that our Church was never endowed by the State. Nearly 60 years of persecution has failed to establish the contrary, and your correspondent never can.— i Yours, etc., CHURCHMAN 1

-J THE VICAR OF ABERCYNON…

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ROME AND REVOLUTION.!

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