622 



OThriscoVa Views of Ireland. 



The British govern- All this is well known to (hose wlio 

 have paid any attention to this subject ; 



of persecution 



nient in Ireland destroyed the woollen 

 manufacture of that country, to appease 

 the jealousies of English trade; but its 

 utmost eflorts failed against the religion 

 of Rome: the rage of an excessive and 

 inhuman frenzy, served but to attach 

 the people more strongly to the faith of 

 their fathers. 



ESTABLISHED CHURCH. 



No church in the world is so singu- 

 larly placed as the Protestant Esta- 

 blished Ciuirch of Ireland : a priest- 

 hood, but in many parts of the country 

 no hearers ; churches built or building 

 in numerous places, in which there is 

 to be, perhaps, sometimes service, but 

 never congregations ; and where it has 

 happened that a military force has been 

 occasionally necessary to protect the 

 builders from the assaults of the flock. 

 Meek Hock ! Happy shepherds ! 



Tithe was a Jewish ordinance, and 

 was expressly given to the tribe of 

 Levi, as compensation for their tenth 

 portion of the land, which they gave 

 up and threw into the common stock of 

 the country, in order that they might 

 devote themselves more entirely to the 

 service of the temple. This tribe were, 

 therefore, purchasers for full considera- 

 tion of their tithe. The tithe, in their 

 case, was not merely a remuneration for 

 ecclesiastical services; they had a right 

 to it independently of any service of 

 this nature, upon the ground of their 

 having given to their nation a full equi- 

 valent and satisfaction in land. We 

 must, therefore, consider this tribe as 

 having a claim to tithe upon quite ano- 

 ther ground than any which can be 

 mentioned in our day, by any Christian 

 clergy in Europe. 



We know of no clergy which have 

 given to their nation an equivalent of 

 this sort; nor have we h -ard of any 

 individual churchman, however largo 

 his revenue from tithe, making a ces- 

 sion of his private property in favour 

 of the public ; though many, holding 

 rich livings, are also in possession of 

 great private fortunes. 



The church of Ireland, on the con- 

 trary, holds not only the tithe, but 

 immense estates in land also ; to the 

 amount, it is said, of. several hundreds 

 of thousands annually. The tribe of 

 Levi were not properly the priesthood, 

 these were the descendants of Aaron 

 exclusively ; and these received, not 

 tithes in remuneration for their burden- 

 some services at the temple, but hun- 

 dredths; (hat is, tenths of the tithe. 



and we have but adverted to it as it 

 lay in our way. 



The public of this generous age give 

 the whole tithe to the clergy, and take 

 upon themselves also to build and 

 repair their churches, and to feed their 

 poor ; and yet that age, and that church 

 in which tithe was first introduced, is 

 called superstitious, and their devotion 

 to the clergy is held up to scorn and 

 derision as excessive and absurd ! 



This tax was imposed originally as a 

 maintenance for the poor, as a fund 

 fur building and repairing churches, 

 and as a remuneration for certain ser- 

 vices to bo performed ; such as public 

 worship and religious instruction. Now, 

 have not the people of Ireland a right 

 to demand the repeal of this tax, whtm 

 it is notorious that not one of these 

 objects are attended to or attained? 

 Where is for them the religious in- 

 struction or the public worship 2 It has 

 been said, sometimes, that the church 

 is open and the sermon is preached ; 

 but this observation is too contemptible 

 to deserve an answer. 



Tithe is a tax of the very worst 

 kind and character ; in its nature it is 

 more vexatious and oppressive thai» 

 any other tax whatever; it is unfixed, 

 and requires to be ascertained anew 

 every year ; it is a tax levied for the 

 profit of private persons, and the tax- 

 gatherers are the owners of the tax; 

 it is impossible to imagine a more 

 grinding and objectionable machinery. 

 The clergy are sometimes looked upon 

 as in the nature of state pensioners, 

 turned over by the government to 

 collect their pensions themselves from 

 the people. If government must have 

 a favourite priesthood, it were well that 

 it should, itself, collect the tax, and 

 pay with its own hand its own-favoured 

 dependants. No pensioner ought to 

 be permitted to levy his own pension 

 on the public; in a well-regulated 

 commonwealth, the state should be 

 the only collector of taxes; the powers 

 of government should he intrusted tu 

 no private hands for private purposes. 



The tendency of the tithe-system is 

 to injure the establishment, by bringing 

 into the church persons wholly unfit 

 for the ministry, and whose only ob- 

 jects are the ease, the idleness, and the 

 wealth, it affords. All establishments 

 are full of such persons ; and this evil 

 might have been endured in past times, 

 when power might have laughed at 

 principle. 



