mity of the case; for this rich man's goods were his own. The church of England turned the poor out of doors, and took possession of their houses and their goods; and whilst revelling in the enjoyment of these ill-gotten gains, myriads of paupers, lying at her gate, are suffering the extremities of sickness, nakedness, and want. If they ever reach Abraham's bosom, it will not be from any instruction or help given them by the establishment. But whether they do or not, who can doubt that it will be less tolerable for that church in the next world than for the rich man who neglected Lazarus?) When the truth first flashed on Zaccheus, the tax-gatherer of Judea, he broke out instantly, and said to Christ, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." If this be the rule of restitution for a wrongful taking, it will not be hard to fix the sum 148 THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH OF ENGLAND. which is due to the poor of England from the English church. If our tone seems harsh towards the church of England, it is merely because the facts justify it. We believe no sect, as such, can vindicate all its acts. It is the more just to select that church for remark, in such an essay as this, because it imbodies what is regarded as the flower of Protestantism. The members of that church are distinguished throughout the world for wealth, liberality, learning, and many high qualities. It is fair to take them as a favourable sample of the fruits of the Reformation. We cannot say how far individuals or multitudes are responsible for the sins of the church with which they are connected; but we know that very many, in all ages of Christianity, have distinguished themselves far above the errors of their respective churches. No church has more to boast in this respect than that of England. It is well that the eternal welfare of the members does not depend on the character of the church to which they may belong. If so, what church or sect could save its members? Not one!-but least of all, perhaps, the church of England. poor A natural result of this wicked neglect of the in England by the church, has been, that the poor in that country are regarded differently, and treated differently, from what they are in any other nation. What is not deemed the duty of the church has ceased to be regarded as the duty of individuals. The poor are restrained to the limits of their own parishes, under penalty of starvation or being carried back by the authorities to their own limits. They are not permitted to ask alms. They are turned off the land in England, and obliged to take refuge in the cities, working at wages which barely sustain life, to swell the products of the manufactories. They are, without judge or jury, convicted of poverty, sent to the poor-house, where husband and wife and children are separated and put to hard labour. The severity of this sentence is fully as great as that which awaits criminals 150 THE PRACTICES WORKED INTO A THEORY. under the present improved system of prison discipline. The poor are regarded as a burden upon society, to be diminished or got rid of by any course short of murder. They are not deemed to have any claims as fellow-men or fellow-christians, in a Christian land. England has a blessed constitution. She has long enjoyed the most wise and vigorous administration in the world, under all the advantages of a mild climate and productive soil, and yet paupers not only exist, but have greatly increased. It is plain they are an inevitable evil: nothing more can be done but by all proper means to prevent the increase of those who are only born to be burdens upon the community. This is the English feeling in regard to the poor. It was reserved for a clergyman of the established church to work up this feeling and these views into a system of philosophy. The sum of the Rev. Mr. Malthus's work on population is thus given in his own words:"A man who is born into a world already possessed, if he cannot get subsistence from his parents, on whom he has a just demand, and if the society does not want his labour, has no claim of right to the smallest portion of food, and, in fact, has no business to be where he is. At nature's mighty feast there is no cover for him. She tells him to be gone, and will quickly execute her own orders, if he do not work upon the compassion of some of her guests. If these guests get up and make room for him, other intruders immediately appear, demanding the same favour. The report of a provision for all that come fills the hall with numerous claimants. order and harmony of the feast is disturbed: the plenty that before reigned is changed into scarcity and the happiness of the guests is destroyed by the spectacle of misery and dependence in every part of the hall, and by the clamorous importunity of those who are justly enraged at not finding the provision they had been taught to expect. The guests learn too late their error in counteracting those strict The |