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 L I E) RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UN 1VLR5ITY 
 
 or ILLI NOIS
 
 SIMONY 
 
 IN THE 
 
 CHURCH OF ENGLAND, 
 
 a letter 
 
 ? THE RIGHT REVEREND THE 
 
 LORD BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. EDWARD STUART, M.A., 
 
 VICAR OF 
 
 s. MARY Magdalene's, 
 
 MUNSTER SQUARE. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 J. MASTERS AND CO., 78, NEW BOND STREET. 
 
 fn're One Penny.
 
 A /so by the same Author. 
 
 DO AWAY WITH DEANS. 
 
 A Pamphlet. 
 
 Price id. 
 
 J. Masters & Co., 78, New Bond Street. 
 
 u,uc;
 
 SIMONY 
 
 IN THE 
 
 CHURCH OF ENGLAND, 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 You have begun at the wrong end. You have 
 begun with repression instead of encouragement. In- 
 stead of pointing out to young clergymen, or to young 
 men desirous of becoming clergymen, some honest, 
 public source of preferment in the Church, you ask for 
 an Act of Parliament enabling the Bishops to ' forbid' 
 this, and 'forbid' that, and 'forbid' the other; but 
 the ' fons et origo mali,' the want of any reasonable 
 prospect of preferment from a public source, this you 
 do not touch. 
 
 You will not get rid of Simony in this way : i.e., of 
 what is technically called Simony ; for Simony in the 
 Scriptural sense of that word, it certainly is not. You 
 may throw out as acute an angle as you please into 
 the road, but you will find others quite as acute as
 
 4 
 
 yourself. They will slip round your barrier, or leap over 
 it, or dive under it, one way or another, if they are de- 
 termined to do so. Don't waste time in trying to 
 block up their road ; open a better road to them, and so 
 draw them off in the opposite direction. 
 
 For what is it that a clergyman really wants, when 
 (through his friends) he buys a living ? He wants a 
 permanent, and comparatively independent position, 
 where he may safely give his time, and mind, and money 
 to his parish, without the fear of being turned adrift 
 at six months' notice. Would any man in his senses, 
 would you, yourself, my Lord, give £,\oo or ;£iooo 
 to your Church, or Schools, or Parish, when you might 
 receive 'notice to quit' next day? Point out some 
 open, honest, honourable source of preferment, and 
 Simony will die out of itself. 
 
 And this can be done easily enough. Unite the 
 patronage of the Bishop with that of the Dean and 
 Chapter in each Diocese. They are both public, eccle- 
 siastical bodies. And then, when any living z>z their 
 patronage is vacant, let the parishioners, communicants 
 of the Church of England, present to the Bishop and 
 Chapter the names of three clergymen, one of whom at 
 least must be a curate in the Diocese, and let the Bishop 
 and Chapter, comprising, for this purpose, the Arch-
 
 5 
 
 deacons and Rural Deans, elect by a majority of 
 votes, one out of the three ; reserving to the Bishop 
 his superior authority, by giving him an absolute * veto' 
 on one of them. 
 
 And then do two things more. First; make the 
 sale of next presentations, and of Advowsons, (except- 
 ing only the sale of Advowsons to the Bishop and 
 Chapter of the Diocese) illegal, absolutely null and void 
 in law. And, secondly ; let facilities be given by the 
 Ecclesiastical Commissioners to Bishops and Chapters 
 for the purchase of Advowsons, reserving to the present 
 patron the next one, or two, or three presentations. 
 Such purchases would come cheap, and be effectual in 
 the end : and patrons would be well pleased, I dare say, 
 to have a lump sum paid down to them at once, over 
 and above the two or three next presentations, in lieu 
 of future patronage, to be exercised at a date to which 
 no living being could reasonably look fonvard. Poor 
 livings too would probably be made over to the Bishop 
 and Chapter, or sold to them for the merest trifle ; as 
 they would have a better chance of augmentation and 
 of help from a public. Diocesan body, than from a 
 private and perhaps a needy patron. 
 
 The Incumbent thus appointed would at once have 
 a permanent position ; which, however, would not ex-
 
 elude him from further preferment ; — and in point of 
 money he would be more independent ; — for, instead 
 of sinking his ;£'5,ooo in the purchase of a living, and 
 being hampered by many ties of residence, duty, &c., 
 before he can receive the interest of his own money, he 
 would have his ;£"2oo or ;£'3oo or ;£^4oo a year and 
 his house, in return for his work; ("the labourer is 
 worthy of his hire :") and he would have his ;^5,ooo, 
 interest and capital unfettered, in his pocket as 
 well. Who would hesitate for a moment between the 
 two? 
 
 And then as to conscience and honour. Though 
 the purchase of a living is Simony only in the technical 
 legal sense, and not in the Scriptural sense of that 
 word, still it does, no doubt, tempt a clergyman 
 to cultivate an ' electioneering' conscience ; it ex- 
 poses him to ill-natured, and often, I dare say, unfair 
 remarks, from all which he would be free in the other 
 case. 
 
 Don't try to ' repress' and * forbid' and ' put down,' 
 when the thing can be so much better done the other 
 way. The real cause of (so called) Simony is the want 
 of any intelligible, trustworthy system of preferment in 
 the Church. Remove the cause, by establishing such 
 a system, and the disease will die out. Once set up
 
 a public, trustworthy, dependable system of preferment 
 in each Diocese, and patronage, large and small, will 
 flow into it from all sides ; — 
 
 " Plures adnabunt tunni et cetaria crescent." 
 
 I remain, my Lord, 
 
 With all respect, 
 ' Your obedient servant, 
 
 \ EDWARD STUART. 
 
 \ 
 [ 
 
 ^ P. S. One word more. Why shouldn't Bishops 
 give up their seats in Parliament, and live at their 
 Cathedrals ? 
 
 J. Masters & Co., Printers, Albion Buildings, Bartholomew Close.
 
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