Chapter VIII
Reading edition
CHAPTER VIII.
CHURCH ABUSES.
(J.H. Overton.)
Fair prospect at the beginning of the eighteenth century 279
Contrast between promise and performance 279
Shortcomings of the Church exaggerated on many sides 280
General causes of the low tone of the Church:— (1) Her outward prosperity 280 (2) Influence and policy of Sir R. Walpole 281 (3) The controversies of her own and previous generations 282 (4) Political complications 282 (5) Want of synodal action 282-4
Pluralities and non-residence 284-6
Neglect of parochial duties 286-7
Clerical poverty 287-9
Clerical dependents 289
Abuse of Church patronage 290-2
Evidence in the autobiography of Bishop T. Newton 292-3
" " " Bishop Watson 293-6
" " " Bishop Hurd 296-7
Clergy too much mixed up with politics 297-8
Want of parochial machinery 298-300
Sermons of period too sweepingly censured 300
But marked by a morbid dread of extremes 301
Political sermons 302
Low state of morals 303
Clergy superior to their contemporaries 304
The nation passed through a crisis in the eighteenth century 306
A period of transition in the Church 307
Torpor extended to all forms of Christianity 308
Decay of Church discipline 309-310
England better than her neighbours 311
Good influences in the later part of the century 311-2