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    csive auch occasional « i * pplies of 3 &-« tructioQ as their own nfeans , ojv the ^ posi tion of their res pectiv e church ^ €$ tu $ tj 5 ,- ( mn afford to them : some sects have no clergyman . and

    „ Thfise . si ^ hundred twenty Dis-# fntiji £ clergymen enjoy incomes from their respective congregations , oji ao average , I believe , of about 130 / . or 135 / . a-year , including in this the estimated yearly value of a house and garden usually provided by the

    congregation , which maybe worth 15 / . or 20 / . yearly , making the actually paid money-stipend about 110 / . or 115 / . ayear . But in towns containing- above 1 Q , OOQ inhabitants , the incomes are much larger- —in some instances amounting to three or four hundred a-

    year . Some congregations of the Scottish Episcopal Communion receive much support from a number of the oldest and most wealthy families in this country , as well as from

    rich pnglish families , who are now emigratini ;* into Scotland in considerable numbers every year ; and the income of a part of their clergy , derived from voluntary contributions , is more than double that of the average sum

    received by the clergy of the Established Church frpm a compulsory assessment . Notwithstanding these instances , however , I do not think I err much in fixing the average

    income of the 620 Dissenting ministers of Scotland at 130 / . a-year each . This vvill give a little more than 80 , 000 / . a-year , voluntarily paid by the people of Scotland for religious instruction , in addition to the 250 , 000 / .

    which they are forced by law to pay to the Established Church ; a sacrifice scarcely any part of which would they have been called upon by their consciences to make , had it not been for the disgraceful re-enactment of the law establishing the right of patronage , in 1712 . The Dissenters in . Scotland span to

    be extremely inattentive to thp statistics of thejr various . churches . A good lesson in this respect might be derived by them from their brethren , the Methodisti , m-Ertgland . At the Annual Conferences of these- Methodists , the

    Clergymen from every congregation in their connexion , c arry or send up the $ &acit nunrber belonging to each con-% f » M ^ ott ti ^ d ufohfeni tljat fca ? ( r died , or fmve 'jmneH ' Siv their comniufriwn .

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    and various " ^ her ^ Betaik : ^; extreme importance , if propferfy considered , to the prosperity of their association . By tables of the kind , which rnay be easily drawn up from such returns , the state of a whole church , or of any

    particular portion of it may be seen at a glance . One great end would be served by demanding such an annual return from every clergyman in the communion of the Scottish Dis - senters—> they would all be stimulated to the utmost to do their duty faithfully and zealously , not only as in the

    sight of their God , but in the sight of every member of their own church , and in the sight of the world . Such statistical details , and full reports of all the proceedings of their church courts , should be regularly printed and distributed among their own flocks , and in the world at large . This conduct is what the state of national

    opinion now demands . But in t ? he absence of such tables , which I trust the Dissenters need not be ashamed to produce , I shall state what are their numbers , with as close an

    approximation to truth as my present data and inductions will permit . ' t have found that the whole congregations amount to 720 . It has been seen that-above one hundred of these

    are without pastors , because they cannot fully support them . Now I conceive that none of these hundred congregations can contain above two of three hundred individuals , and indeed that , if I am right in my statement , that 130 / . is the average income of a Dissenting clergyman , I am of

    opinion that it may fairly be deduced from this fact , that the average number in each of the 720 congregations is 500 souls , or 100 families of five persons each . The persons who compose the great majority of Dissenting congregations belong to the lower grades of life ; and when I say that each of the five hundred individuals ,

    young and old , who compose a congregation , can only afford to pay about 5 s . a-year for the support of A clergyman , -besides 2 , ? . a-year for the support of the poor , by a weekly contribution of a halfpenny at the dfror of the church , which I know to be the

    practice and the pride in these congregations of the pb 6 r £ M maft * rt thdW ; < r st # l Goitre ! vfe > Y near ^ hat I TOn&dcrfeil to > Wkh& . aVert # e atil *^

    Untitled Article

    i 944 Etfablishtid m $ Dissenting Church ®* in Scotland .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1825, page 344, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2537/page/24/