Amidst the successive changes of ministers and congregations, defective and even totally erroneous doctrines may be introduced into the pulpits, with a cold, formal, and lukewarm worship; extending, perhaps, to a large portion of the community. But while the system remains, there is a standing record against them there is the best human security, in the administration of the regular and prescribed services of an Established Church, sound in its doctrines and scriptural in its Liturgy, for the continued public declaration of sound doctrine, and the offering of suitable prayers to the throne of grace: whatever be the defects of a Minister, there we have the profession of a true faith, and the language of true devotion: whatever be his errors in doctrine or practice, he is brought into continual contact with those services which administer a weekly reproof and correction. With the continuance of pure doctrine in the formularies of such a Church, there remains an influence, which, though for a time it may seem to lie dormant, is often found to be again roused into powerful and most beneficial exercise.* If, then, we admit, from these and other considerations, that national religious Establishments are in their tendency beneficial; and, at the same time, bear in mind, that they are sanctioned by the testimony

* See Note K.

and practice of ancient times; and moreover, that their principle is consistent with the principles of the word of God; we shall have no difficulty in coming to the conclusion, that they are

HIGHLY EXPEDIENT-expedient, both as it regards the welfare of civil society, in diffusing through the land the knowledge of religion, by which only sin can be effectually restrained, and that righteousness promoted and increased, which exalteth a nation: and more especially expedient, in providing for every individual ready opportunities of Christian worship and religious instruction, by which he may attain, through divine grace, the hope of everlasting salvation. But the expediency of a religious Establishment will further appear, if we reflect on the lamentable fact, that there is in the heart of man a natural aversion to religion: and the more he is destitute of religious knowledge, and therefore the more he has need of its salutary influences, the less will he be disposed to seek it, and the more disposed to resist its approaches. If we allow the inestimable value of that gracious revelation which God has made to mankind: it's vast, it's incalculable importance to the best, even the eternal, interests of man: if we allow, that his duty to God is his first and great duty, and that the due performance of this duty affords the best, nay the only, security for the right performance of his duty towards his

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neighbour and, further, that the salvation of the soul is his paramount interest-the "one thing," above all others, most "needful"; and if, at the same time, we consider the corruption of the human heart, his natural depravity, and spiritual blindness, his insensibility and indifference, amidst the temptations and pollutions of the world, to spiritual and eternal things: shall we not readily allow, that it is most highly expedient, that the means of acquiring this most necessary and invaluable knowledge, and opportunities for the due celebration of divine worship, should, as far as it may be practicable or possible, be brought within the reach of every man: continually presented to his notice, and frequently urged upon his attention. If man, in his natural state, is perishing for lack of that knowledge, which is necessary to the salvation of his soul; and multitudes are daily passing from time to eternity, is it not expedient, that provision for the supply of his spiritual wants should be made, if it can be made, without delay; and that, as far as it may be attainable by human means, applied in dependence on the divine blessing, such provision may be not uncertain and fluctuating, but sure and permanent? Human agency, at the best, however it may be applied, can only give the outward means; to God alone we must look, in prayer and dependence, for his blessing in the efficacy of the means. Now,

in what way the outward means of grace and salvation can be supplied to the population of a country so readily, so extensively, and, I may add, so effectually, as when a Christian Government secures to every small district of the land a Christian temple, and a stated Christian Minister, it is difficult to conceive. Shall we think it desirable, that a Christian State should look with indifference on their spiritual condition, (which in reality is closely connected with their present well-being, and far more important than their temporal condition,) and leave their spiritual wants unsupplied, or to be supplied by the uncertain, casual, and fluctuating ministrations of such voluntary teachers, as their own sense of destitution may seek, or the piety of individuals may furnish? We presume not to expect (for we find no warrant in scripture for expecting), that the Almighty would, either miraculously, or in the ordinary course of his Providence, raise up a sufficient supply of faithful and zealous Ministers for the spiritual necessities of that nation, which, as a nation, renounces all obligation to exert the powers with which it is invested, for the support and preservation of the faith and worship of God. However plausible it may appear to the advocates of favourite political theories, to deal with religion as with any article of human traffic, unfettered by any particular encouragement or restriction, to

find its way according to the demand of those who may need it, or the zeal and activity of those who may wish to supply it: this wretched and cold-hearted policy seems to have its origin, either in an indifference to the spiritual and eternal interests of men, and a low estimate of their value; or in an ignorance or forgetfulness of that corruption of human nature, through which man has no relish for spiritual knowledge, and is, in himself, indisposed either to bestow money or trouble for it's attainment. We derive a strong, and, I may add, an unanswerable argument in favour of a religious Establishment, from a consideration of the actual state of man's spiritual appetite with reference to that spiritual food, on the due reception of which his real happiness, present and eternal, depends. That argument has been most ably and forcibly stated by a distinguished writer of the present day, a Minister of the Scotch Church, I mean Dr. Chalmers. "It is not," says he, "with the aliment of the soul, as it is with the aliment of the body. The latter will be sought after; the former must be offered to a people whose spiritual appetite is in a state of dormancy, and with whom it is just as necessary to create a hunger, as it is to minister a positive supply. In these circumstances, it were vain to wait for any original movement on the part of the receivers. It must be made on the part of the dispensers. Nor does it follow, that,