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    evtn a small portioh tjf thht army of the faith in Scotland , \ Vhich is directly hacked by the laws aed by the army of the Government in Scotland . Instead , therefore , of preaching up the doctrine , that an Established Church ,

    that is , a class of religious instructors , known and distinguished by certain religious tests , and receiving a fixed allowance from Government , or from persons whom Government compels to pay it , is , and always has been the greatest bane of the Christian

    religion ; I shall only advert very shortly to the appearance which Scotland now presents , in reference to what may he called the " statistics of religious tsecls , " and eondude with some statements and observations on the

    Spring-Meeting of that body of Dissenters , ( or , more properly speaking , Seceders , ) in Scotland , which is by far the most numerous and respectable of the non-established churches on this

    side the Tweed . In the few details I am about to lay before my readers , I wish it to be understood , that I have taken the trouble of counting off , with the aid

    of a sharp-pointed pencil , from authentic documents , less than a year old , the numbers of parishes , congregations , and clergymen , that I have occasion to refer to .

    There are in Scotland nine hundred ahd three parish churches , and nine hundred and seventy-two ministers performing- religious service in these parish churches . All of these clergymen are entitled to a house , offices , and a portion of glebe-land , both

    equal in value , on an average * to about 40 / . a-year ; and to receive , either faom the tithes of the parish or from the Exchequer of the country , at least 150 / . a-year ; some have considerably more : those who reside in Royal Burghs are not entitled to houses and glebes . A . very small number , indeed ,

    receive , chiefly from ground-rents of houses , which have been built on their tf lebes , a sum not much short of a thousand a-year ; but it maybe properly enough stated , that the average income

    of the clergymen of the Clmrch of Scotland is not above 210 / ., exclusive of their houses and glebes , which * nave valued above at 401- a-year ; * n all 260 / . an inooiflfe tvhifeh the country does not at all grudge to l « ctt > , especially when they eitt $ < &n

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    performing tkefr religions duties st > well , as , uj > 6 n th £ tviiole , they affe performed by the Established Clergy of Scotland . Bat besides these 900 parish churches and 970 clergymen , there are *

    connected with the Establishment , Cb&-pels of Ease in populous parishes , where the clergymen are usually elected by the heads of families * and pakl by the rents of seats , Marly in ihe same manner as they are among Dissenters . The income thus arising ta

    the clergymen of these chapels is usually from 130 £ . to two or three hundred a-year , and in some cases even more . These Chapels of Ease are chiefly used as stepping-stones tD parish churches ; and since the magistrates of Edinburgh and Glasgow , and

    some other large towns , have given admission tt > so much liberality as , instead of pushing forward their own numskull nephews , and sons-in-law , and cousins , whom , nobody would hear , to present to valuable towrt-Uting *

    only those clergymen whose acceptable qualities would ensure the filling of the pews of the church and the purse of the town , the young meti who display any talent in these Chapels of Ease are sure to be soon translated

    to a better and more secure living-. Unfortunately there are only fifty-five of these chapels , and about the same number of pastors in them . There are , moreover , in connexion with the church , thirty-eight chapels , ahd

    nearly the same number of clergymen who are styled Missionaries , in various remote districts of the Highlands . These persons are very scantily supported by an annual allowance of 2000 / . from the Crown . The

    80-ciety for propagating Christian Knowledge has upon its list seven chapels , and the same number of preachers . Forty new chapels are about to be erected by means of the Parliamentary

    grant of 100 , 000 ? . which was tnad £ some time ago ; and in these chapels it is intended that the pfeacher shall receive 120 / . a-yt i ar , * and , 1 believe , a house , and small piece of lttnd . In connexion with the Church of

    Serjt-Jand there are between forty and fifty congregations arid clergymen in England , six in Canada * four in Imliu , aiWt about ix do £ en inoi'fc in othefc places abroad . J shall throw these foreign kirks out of my calculation ,

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    Eitbbtwheii und Diluting CfiuPchM fa StittlUhil . 341

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1825, page 341, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2537/page/21/