204 Tithes versus Rent. [FEB. 



to society. If there be any one truth in politics beyond rational contra- 

 diction, it is this that " very few, if any, of the institutions of this 

 country can be destroyed, absolutely destroyed, without great and last- 

 ing injury to the very lowest orders of the community ." Reform, more 

 or less, all of them require ; most of them so thorough a reform as 

 to be aptly styled radical ; but absolutely to destroy these institutions, 

 would be to perpetrate the most malignant, cruel, devastating, enslaving 

 act of political criminality that the mind of man could devise, or his vio- 

 lence accomplish. The writer considers the reservation of a tenth from 

 private property in land, for purposes of religious and moral public im- 

 provement, to be one of those institutions which must only be reformed, 

 not abolished. Rent he considers to be tolerable as long as it can be 

 afforded, but not a moment longer. He considers it to be clearly one of 

 those social privileges which have the least of natural justice for their 

 foundation ; one of those cumbrous items in the lading of the state- 

 vessel, which must be first thrown overboard in order to enable her to 

 ride out the tempest. 



Humanity and reason alike demand, that the intentions of those who 

 have bequeathed property for benevolent purposes should be adhered 

 to, as much as present interests may allow. It is inhuman to cut off 

 from a dying man the satisfaction of doing good to his country, by a 

 virtuous and wise disposal of his property. Yet this must be the case, 

 unless he can feel assured that the public will not wantonly set aside his 

 provisions, but, though the inevitable changes of human affairs must, of 

 course, render it, sooner or later, necessary to modify his bequest, w r ill 

 religiously adhere to the spirit of it ; until, as is still farther possible, the 

 very spirit of it shall be no longer compatible with public interests. 

 The unreasonableness of wanton interference with bequests is obvious ; 

 it would, by destroying the confidence of testators in the public, cut off 

 from it the benefits of such confidence. 



To apply this reasoning to the question of tithe : 



This reservation from the property of individuals grew out of the 

 pious and, at the time, wise intention of providing for the permanent 

 support of Christianity. It never occurred to the good souls, the tes- 

 tators (how should it? the world was then its infancy of civil and 

 political knowledge) that there ever would be a better way of main- 

 taining gospel truth than public preaching and praying. It never 

 occurred to them that printing and mechanism would put the Scrip- 

 tures and Common Prayer (that degrading title ! preciously common in- 

 deed has prayer become ! too common, by half, to be efficacious. Just 

 as common, and just as indicative of spiritual aspiration, as Sunday 

 clothes, and church bells, and pew openings and shuttings, and a thou- 

 sand other common things) in the hands of every reading Christian. 

 Nay more, that pious tracts, with such enticing titles as " Crumbs of 

 Comfort," would be comeatable for a halfpenny, or the mere asking the 

 nearest good and charitable lady of the village. The good testators had 

 themselves been edified by priest, and book, and bell ; how should they 

 dream of its being ever possible to do without them ? We have, that is 

 all the men amongst us, long ago found out that there is nothing more 

 for the mere priest to do for us. Every man is aware now-a-days that 

 a priest is as much in the dark about all real difficulties in religion as 

 himself; that a real bona fide mystery is a mystery to the priest as well 

 as the simplest clown in the land. Still the good testators, our ancestors, 

 knew nothing of this ; nor do we owe them the less consideration on 



