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NOTE A.

In the absence of debates upon this important subject, may I hope that my readers will carefully ponder over the contents of a petition?

To the Right Honourable THE LORDS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL in Parliament assembled.

THE HUMBLE PETITION OF Charles Miller, M.A., CLERK, Sheweth,

1. That your Petitioner is Incumbent of the living of Harlow, in the Diocese of London.

2. That your Petitioner desires to call the attention of your Right Honourable House to an Act called "An Act for the Commutation of Tithes in England and Wales," 6 and 7 William IV. c. 71.

3. That your Petitioner regards the provisions of this Act as injurious to the best interests of the Church and the country. 4. That Bishop Andrews has observed, that "two Patriarchs, as many Prophets, CHRIST,- His Apostles, the whole Church, Fathers,-Councils,-history,-both laws civil and canon,—Reason,—the imperfect pieces and fragments of the heathen, and finally, experience itself, have brought in their evidence for Tithes." (De Decimis, 1629.)

5. That in accordance with these authorities, your Petitioner believes the payment of Tithes to be obligatory upon all, as an essential part of Christian worship, and as the appropriate practical thanksgiving for that Divine blessing through which "the earth brings forth her increase."

6. That Lord Coke, in commenting upon the provision of Magna Charta, observes, "When anything is granted for God, it is deemed in law to be granted to God; and whatsoever is granted to His Church, for His honour and the maintenance of His religion, is granted for and to God." Quod datum est Ecclesiæ, datum est Deo. But tithes have in this country been given to His Church, and therefore are due on grounds doubly sacred.

7. That the present rights of the Clergy to the Tithes have been secured almost from time immemorial by successive Acts of Parliament.

8. That our ancient statutes prohibit all permanent commutation of Tithe, and that the wisdom of this prohibition may be seen from the disastrous effects of commutations effected in certain parishes under local Acts.

9. That there is no precedent in the history of the country for any commutation of Tithes, (much less for any commutation upon the terms provided for in the Tithe Act,) without the free consent of the Bishop of the Diocese, the Incumbent, and the Patron of the Living.

10. That your Petitioner cannot enter into any such voluntary agreement as is provided for in the Tithe Act; that a compulsory agreement is a contradiction in terms; and that your Petitioner, being deeply impressed with the sacred principles of the Tithe system, could not, without much distress of mind, and perplexity of conscience, avail himself of any award made by the Commissioners.

11. That to subject your Petitioner to an Act of Parliament opposed both in letter and spirit to all the ancient statutes of this realm relating to Tithes, and also directly at variance with principles esteemed sacred by the highest authorities, ecclesiastical and civil, is, in the judgment of your Petitioner, to deprive him of his constitutional privileges, and especially of the rights secured to him and his Church in the oath of the Sovereign.

Your Petitioner therefore most earnestly intreats your Right Honourable House to take these grievances into your serious consideration, and either by the repeal of the Tithe Act, by the discontinuance of the Tithe Commission, or by such other way as may seem advisable to your Right Honourable House, to afford him that redress to which, in his judgment, he has a most sacred, equitable, and constitutional claim.

*

And your Petitioner will ever pray.

Presented to the House of Lords by the Lord Bishop of
London, on Tuesday, June 28, 1842.

THE END.

GILBERT & RIVINGTON, Printers, St. John's Square, London.

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'Having made (Tithes) His whose they are, let us be warned by other men's example what it is to wash or clip that coin which hath on it the mark of God." HOOKER, ECC. POL. Book v. 79.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR J. G. F. & J. RIVINGTON,

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL;

AND SOLD BY

BURNS, 17, PORTMAN STREET; PARKER, OXFORD.

1842.

LONDON:

GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,

ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.

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