Letters on England [10]
they would
willingly disturb. With regard to the bishops, who are twenty-six
in all, they still have seats in the House of Lords in spite of the
Whigs, because the ancient abuse of considering them as barons
subsists to this day. There is a clause, however, in the oath which
the Government requires from these gentlemen, that puts their
Christian patience to a very great trial, viz., that they shall be
of the Church of England as by law established. There are few
bishops, deans, or other dignitaries, but imagine they are so jure
divino; it is consequently a great mortification to them to be
obliged to confess that they owe their dignity to a pitiful law
enacted by a set of profane laymen. A learned monk (Father
Courayer) wrote a book lately to prove the validity and succession
of English ordinations. This book was forbid in France, but do you
believe that the English Ministry were pleased with it? Far from
it. Those wicked Whigs don't care a straw whether the episcopal
succession among them hath been interrupted or not, or whether
Bishop Parker was consecrated (as it is pretended) in a tavern or a
church; for these Whigs are much better pleased that the Bishops
should derive their authority from the Parliament than from the
Apostles. The Lord Bolingbroke observed that this notion of divine
right would only make so many tyrants in lawn sleeves, but that the
laws made so many citizens.
With regard to the morals of the English clergy, they are more
regular than those of France, and for this reason. All the clergy
(a very few excepted) are educated in the Universities of Oxford or
Cambridge, far from the depravity and corruption which reign in the
capital. They are not called to dignities till very late, at a time
of life when men are sensible of no other passion but avarice, that
is, when their ambition craves a supply. Employments are here
bestowed both in the Church and the army, as a reward for long
services; and we never see youngsters made bishops or colonels
immediately upon their laying aside the academical gown; and besides
most of the clergy are married. The stiff and awkward air
contracted by them at the University, and the little familiarity the
men of this country have with the ladies, commonly oblige a bishop
to confine himself to, and rest contented with, his own. Clergymen
sometimes take a glass at the tavern, custom giving them a sanction
on this occasion; and if they fuddle themselves it is in a very
serious manner, and without giving the least scandal.
That fable-mixed kind of mortal (not to be defined), who is neither
of the clergy nor of the laity; in a word, the thing called Abbe in
France; is a species quite unknown in England. All the clergy here
are very much upon the reserve, and most of them pedants. When
these are told that in France young fellows famous for their
dissoluteness, and raised to the highest dignities of the Church by
female intrigues, address the fair publicly in an amorous way, amuse
themselves in writing tender love songs, entertain their friends
very splendidly every night at their own houses, and after the
banquet is ended withdraw to invoke the assistance of the Holy
Ghost, and call themselves boldly the successors of the Apostles,
they bless God for their being Protestants. But these are shameless
heretics, who deserve to be blown hence through the flames to old
Nick, as Rabelais says, and for this reason I do not trouble myself
about them.
LETTER VI.--ON THE PRESBYTERIANS
The Church of England is confined almost to the kingdom whence it
received its name, and to Ireland, for Presbyterianism is the
established religion in Scotland. This Presbyterianism is directly
the same with Calvinism, as it was established in France, and is now
professed at Geneva. As the priests of this sect receive but very
inconsiderable stipends from their churches, and consequently
willingly disturb. With regard to the bishops, who are twenty-six
in all, they still have seats in the House of Lords in spite of the
Whigs, because the ancient abuse of considering them as barons
subsists to this day. There is a clause, however, in the oath which
the Government requires from these gentlemen, that puts their
Christian patience to a very great trial, viz., that they shall be
of the Church of England as by law established. There are few
bishops, deans, or other dignitaries, but imagine they are so jure
divino; it is consequently a great mortification to them to be
obliged to confess that they owe their dignity to a pitiful law
enacted by a set of profane laymen. A learned monk (Father
Courayer) wrote a book lately to prove the validity and succession
of English ordinations. This book was forbid in France, but do you
believe that the English Ministry were pleased with it? Far from
it. Those wicked Whigs don't care a straw whether the episcopal
succession among them hath been interrupted or not, or whether
Bishop Parker was consecrated (as it is pretended) in a tavern or a
church; for these Whigs are much better pleased that the Bishops
should derive their authority from the Parliament than from the
Apostles. The Lord Bolingbroke observed that this notion of divine
right would only make so many tyrants in lawn sleeves, but that the
laws made so many citizens.
With regard to the morals of the English clergy, they are more
regular than those of France, and for this reason. All the clergy
(a very few excepted) are educated in the Universities of Oxford or
Cambridge, far from the depravity and corruption which reign in the
capital. They are not called to dignities till very late, at a time
of life when men are sensible of no other passion but avarice, that
is, when their ambition craves a supply. Employments are here
bestowed both in the Church and the army, as a reward for long
services; and we never see youngsters made bishops or colonels
immediately upon their laying aside the academical gown; and besides
most of the clergy are married. The stiff and awkward air
contracted by them at the University, and the little familiarity the
men of this country have with the ladies, commonly oblige a bishop
to confine himself to, and rest contented with, his own. Clergymen
sometimes take a glass at the tavern, custom giving them a sanction
on this occasion; and if they fuddle themselves it is in a very
serious manner, and without giving the least scandal.
That fable-mixed kind of mortal (not to be defined), who is neither
of the clergy nor of the laity; in a word, the thing called Abbe in
France; is a species quite unknown in England. All the clergy here
are very much upon the reserve, and most of them pedants. When
these are told that in France young fellows famous for their
dissoluteness, and raised to the highest dignities of the Church by
female intrigues, address the fair publicly in an amorous way, amuse
themselves in writing tender love songs, entertain their friends
very splendidly every night at their own houses, and after the
banquet is ended withdraw to invoke the assistance of the Holy
Ghost, and call themselves boldly the successors of the Apostles,
they bless God for their being Protestants. But these are shameless
heretics, who deserve to be blown hence through the flames to old
Nick, as Rabelais says, and for this reason I do not trouble myself
about them.
LETTER VI.--ON THE PRESBYTERIANS
The Church of England is confined almost to the kingdom whence it
received its name, and to Ireland, for Presbyterianism is the
established religion in Scotland. This Presbyterianism is directly
the same with Calvinism, as it was established in France, and is now
professed at Geneva. As the priests of this sect receive but very
inconsiderable stipends from their churches, and consequently