THE ENGLISH CHURCH QUESTION CONSIDERED. 



He enforces this by the very just obversation, that " as they 

 can gain nothing but loss, in a temporal point of view, by such se- 

 cession, I feel bound to admit the purity of their motives." 



It is to be hoped that that party, or rather all those parties, will 

 take advantage of this kind and serviceable offer, especially since he 

 states (p. 15) " These brief hints are intended to be the precursor 

 of a work of a more extended nature, if, as I have before said, mem- 

 bers of the different dissenting bodies will come forward and state 

 plainly, without reserve, what are their grievances and what their 

 wishes." 



But whatever influence the masses of society may be expected to 

 exert in the final adjustment of the Church question, it is certain that 

 numbers do not at present deserve a place in the discussion. Some 

 utilitarians may, perhaps, deem religion a palpable and demonstrative 

 matter, as capable of scientific dissection and exposition, as a subject 

 of anatomy. Such persons might, with consistency, defer to an in- 

 telligent mechanic on a religious point, as well as on any other. But, 

 for ourselves, assuming religion to be fundamentally a metaphysical 

 subject, we must assume still further, that the cultivated intellects of 

 society are alone able to judge of the religious wants of the masses. 

 Giving the masses credit, as we sincerely do, for genuine and praise- 

 worthy religious feelings, we must, notwithstanding, maintain the z- 

 tellectual part of the subject to be at present more than they can grap- 

 ple with ; and that, consequently, the opinions of numbers are not 

 worth much on a great many important religious topics. 



We earnestly deprecate the suspicion of being inclined to exult in 

 this incapability of the multitude. We could, if it were of use so to 

 do, heartily lament, that the whole of the religious question is not as 

 level with the popular mind, as many others are. But though we 

 cannot repress occasional longings for a constitution of society dif- 

 ferent from the actual one, it will not do to treat man, as we could 

 wish he might be, rather than, as we are obliged to judge, he must 

 be treated. Simply, therefore, because we are real, not pseudo-utilita- 

 rians ; because we really aim at the greatest good of the greatest 

 number, we maintain the necessity of canvassing, upon the church 

 question, only that portion of the community which is, in some de- 

 gree, at least, qualify to discuss it. 



We can fancy that, at a remote future period, when the character 

 of society shall have been much ameliorated by a systematic national 

 education, the question of the church and its reserved property may 

 be of a very different complexion from what it is at present. As 

 the case now stands, however, were church property diverted from 

 its application to the maintenance of a clergy, one of two alternatives 

 must everywhere ensue. Either there would be no religious func- 

 tionary ; or he would resemble the present dissenting minister, not 

 the clergyman. Only here and there would the subscription minister 

 be of the same calibre as the present minister of the establishment. 

 The mass of the unrefined classes do not demand intellectual acquir- 

 ment in their ministers ; and, as they can have them therefore all the 

 cheaper, there can be no doubt but that the subscription system would 

 bring a very unintellectual class of functionaries into general employ. 



M.M. No. 1. L 



