The Sun.
London, England, 1840-03-25 00:00:00

CHURCH ESTABLISHMENTS.

The Rev. H. M'Neile dehTered his last lecture on this
subject yesterday, at the Hanover-square Rooms. His
Roy al Highness the Duke of Cambridge, as on previous
occasions, was present, with many Members of Parliament,
among whom we saw Sir R Inglis, Sir G. Sinclair, Mr.
Plumptre, and others. The Rev. Lecturer devoted the
first portion of his discourse to an enumeration of those
defects in the working of the Church which obstructed its
efficiency. He mentioned the careless manner in which
the ordinance of Baptism was administered ; and the re-
medy for this and other evils he said was a subdivision of
parishes. He also mentioned the existence of several pas-
sages in the Church service which were calculated to give
a handle to the objections of opponents. and offended the
consciences of sincere Churchmen ; and he reccmmended
that, without incurring the danger of violating the inte-
grity of the Liturgy, those passages should be put between
brackets, to be read or not at the discretion of the clergy-
man. He next adverted to the want of an adequate
training for the Ministry ; hn said the Collegiate
course of instruction was sufficient for the acqui-
sition of knowledge ; but that there was not
enough care taken to bring out the powers for conveying
instruction, in the varied situations in which a Clergyman
was placed. He then referred to the neglect of a suffi-
ciently high standard of personal character and deportment
in Clergymen : be remarked with great force, that the
strongest objections against the Church among the lower
and middling classes, ,arose from the improper conduct of
card-playing, ball-attending, race. course-frequenting Cler-
gymen—( Hear, hear)—and ho hinted at the expediency
of some Epise tpal regulations against them.—( Hear,
hear.) He further commented on the exceedingly indi-
gent provision made for many of the Clergy, both Inenm-
bents and Curates. Of 10.718 benefices, 297 were under
501. a year; 620 under 1001.; and 490 under 3001.
( Hear, hear.) There were 5,250 Curates ; and these
added to the Incumbents amounted to 15,948 Clergymen.
Now the whole income of the benefices amounted to
3,055,4571 ; so that divided equally between all, it would
not give 2001. a year to each.—(Hear, hear.) The re-
medy was to be found only in large additional State en-
dowmeas.—( Hear, hear.) In the next place he stated i
that the mode of electing the Bishops was very objection-
able, as it was a perfect farce to call the Dean and
Chapter together under a conge d'elire, when they
were compelled, under the penalties of a praniunire,
to elect the nominee of tne Crown—better far leave it
wholly to the Crown. It might, ho was aware, be said,
" What I leave the choice of Bishops to the Prime Mi-
nister, who may be an enemy to the Church?"—(Tre-
mendous cheering.) To that be would reply, that dangers
were comparative, and he feared much more the insidious
advances of a high Church independence, of which he saw
significant warnings had already been given, which would
be fatal to civil liberty, and he marvelled that the Dissen-
ters should be so anxious to sweep away the Church,
which was their only shield against ecclesiastical tyranny.
Besides, there yet remained the Coronation Oath—
the Sovereign must (with the Chancellor) be members of
the Church ; and this, though it must be reprobated by
Dissenters honest enough to be consistent, as an infrac.
tion of what he called liberty—he
)hailTedheaßev Ggeenr
as a lingering
homage to forsaken truth.—(Cheers.
man proceeded to argue that the Church was the only
safeguard against infidelity or insubordination, and that it
was the bulwark of our national prosperity. He finished
amidst great cheering.
[We shall give a full Report of
_the Lecture to he deli.
vered this day at the Freemasons Hall, on behalf of the
Voluntary Principle, by Dr. Redford, of Worcester, in
reply to these Lectures of Dr. M'Neile.
We shall give our Sketch of Mr. M'Neile on
Thursday.]

It has been stated that three prisoners, convicted
of a rape at the recent assizes at Winchester, were reprieved,
and that Isaac Barter, a fourth prisoner in the same case, is
left for execution. We are infoi med that sentence of death
was passed upon the four prisoners, that three were reprieved
by the Judge, and that Barter, who was left for execution, was
( ten (lays ago ; so that there
reprieved by Lord Normanby shell
will be no execution, but all the four prisoners will be tralis-
ported for life.