in past days, and therein of the best and wisest servants of Jesus Christ.

I enter upon this subject unwillingly; as I should upon any other that seemed to withdraw me from the preaching of the simple message of salvation. You will bear me witness, that this pulpit has never been desecrated by political allusions: neither has it been my delight to dwell upon the points on which real Christians differ; and by which the unity of charity has been so often broken, by those who have held, with like tenacity, the unity of faith. It has been my constant prayer, for myself and all who bear the commission of Christ, that, let the din of party discord rage ever so fiercely without, its unseemly spirit and unsanctified brawls may be excluded from the place of holy rest: and that the value of the gospel, to souls passing hourly into eternity, may be impressed too deeply on our hearts, " to allow us (in the words of a dissenter eminent for candour and piety) thus to abuse the sacred moments which we spend immediately in the divine presence: thus to pervert the great design of Christian ordinances; making them the vehicle of malignant passions, and calling the flock of Christ together to poison them, under pretence of feeding them." But, as occasions will arise, when the advocate of truth has to guard his fold against the inroads of unbelief, by stating the evidences of revelation; so there are periods also when he is required to defend the outworks of the temple-" to walk about Zion, and go round about her, and tell the towers thereof; to mark well her bulwarks, and set up her palaces," that both her strength and beauty may be seen.-Neither can displeasure be felt, if, in kindness and sobriety, we en

* Dr. Doddridge's Sermon on Christian Candour. For obvious reasons, I refer to nonconforming authorities, and those the most distinguished.

deavour to repel the harsh attacks made upon us ; and to shew that we have yet with us some arguments not altogether despicable; some few names not of light account; and that, in a contest of this nature, we may fairly seek for a temper more moderate, and an opposition more sanctified, than that with which we have at present to contend.

It would be gratifying to hope, that churchmen were so well grounded in the elements of their profession as not to need an especial statement of them : for, in truth, the arguments are so trite as to leave little room for exercise of imagination: and the difficulty consists in selecting and compressing the most obvious. I have studied the question closely, and, I trust, impartially. I have met in conversation with some who neither want talent nor decision to give force to the opposite view but I must say, that the result has ever been a conviction of its utter inconclusiveness. It has appeared to me, that whilst the arguments for an Establishment are those of scriptural evidence and duty, the arguments against it are arguments of theory; or that, whilst the one rests upon the use and advantage of the thing, the other relies upon the abuse and perversion of it.

The sum of the objection may, perhaps, be compressed in these propositions:-Civil states and religious communities are essentially distinct. Human kingdoms are of this world, Christ's kingdom is not of this world. Governments, therefore, cannot interfere with Christianity without polluting it: and, in fact, all history shews that they have done so.

Now, as the dispute is one of those which are to be decided by scriptural authority alone, we are not called upon to reply to abstract propositions, however it were to do so. In defence of such sweeping assertions, which appear to place rulers and legislators out of the pale of divine influence, and to forget that the gospel is committed to human agency,

easy

we may fitly ask for some declaration of holy writ, which has escaped the notice of the Christian world for so many centuries, and eluded the acute research of those whose life was occupied in meditating upon and elucidating the sacred volume, and whose eye was as single as perhaps the eye of man can be, having neither predilection nor interest to bias it.

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We are indeed reminded, that our Lord said to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world." But is it not a free exposition of the Redeemer's language to apply it to such a topic as this? These words were addressed to the Roman governor ; before whom he was arraigned on a charge of treason, in setting up a kingly claim adverse to that of Cæsar. Pilate demands of him, " Art thou a king? Christ admits that he is a king, but not a temporal one; else would his subjects fight to rescue him. Thus it is paraphrased by Doddridge, "My kingdom is not of this world; nor is it my design or business to erect a temporal dominion, or to establish any claim which should interfere with that of Cæsar, or of which any prince has reason to be jealous."-Do establishments set up a temporal dominion in opposition to the civil power? Surely the accusation against them is one of a contrary kind. They are not charged with opposition, but with too much submission, to secular authority. The passage, indeed, may well apply to the Church of Rome, which has set up and exercised, in the name of Christ, a temporal dominion against Cæsar, trampling earthly powers beneath her feet. But the relation of it to the question whether Christian governments are to exert Christian influence in establishing the Gospel, is not very evident; and the introduction of it may be thought to manifest a paucity of scriptural support.

Unable to discover any declaration that will disprove the principle of Establishments, I proceed to shew that none such can exist; inasmuch as it may

be defended from Scripture, which is never inconsistent with itself.

I. Placing ourselves at the close of the New Testament, it is apparent, that this blessed volume can give us no historical view of the state of the Church when acknowledged by the rulers of the world; because, at that time, the kings of the earth were altogether its virulent persecutors. But Prophecy is History; not in all its details, but in those grand features which are especially to be looked at in controversies of this kind. Prophecy gives us sufficient light to perceive the outline of the Church in her future and purest state; and to vindicate the lawfulness of secular Establishments of religion. Referring to prophetical emblems, we find, in the mysterious vision of Ezekiel's temple (which is unquestionably predictive of the glory of the latter days), the prince, or civil government, prominently introduced, as acting the part which is now reprobated, viz. settling the affairs of the Church, and allotting to its Ministers a stated subsistence from the land. Now, I hold it in the highest degree improbable, that the Almighty should represent the purest age of Christianity by the model of a system which is radically unlawful, and contrary to its principles. Nor can I think that a venerable dissenting commentator perverted the passage, when he drew from it this inference, which I would to God were written upon the breast of every king and legislature. the duty of rulers to take care of religion; and to see that the duties of it be regularly and carefully performed by those under their charge; and that nothing be wanting that is requisite thereto. The magistrate is the keeper of both tables; and it is a happy thing when those that are above others in power and dignity, go before them in the service of God.*"

* Matthew Henry on Ezekiel xlv.

"It is

But if we interpret prophetic emblems by prophetic declarations, we find that the inspired teachers, speaking of the same blessed period, which rests in the believer's faith and hope, introduce monarchs ́(the general epithet of governments) as exercising an influence in religion; not merely by countenance and patronage, but by direct interference in supplying to it aid, sustenance, and support; and in promoting it to the utmost. The chapter in which the text occurs, contrasts the active agency of rulers in persecuting the infant Church, with their activity in fostering it hereafter. "Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers. Scripture does not use terms of lofty bearing to announce trivial things. What must be the import of expresions which imply the tenderest diligence and nurture, with interposition the most zealous and uninterrupted? echoed, as it is, by other passages of similar tendency: as when fallen Jerusalem is bid to arise and hail the overflowing of the Gentile world, it is promised" their Kings shall minister unto thee, and thou shalt suck the breasts of Kings," phrases which, if they have any meaning, assert that civil governors shall aid in building the walls of the universal Church, and in administering sustenance to its necessities; and, in the words which follow the text, this is spoken of as a manifest evidence of the presiding power of Jehovah.

The inference is obvious. If the general effusion of the Spirit, at the era thus announced, be to direct all Christians to their proper duties, it follows that this cannot be unlawful now which shall be the characteristic of religion in its triumphant days. That which will then be glory cannot now be shame; and Christian rulers may safely take the most perfect pattern for their guide.

II. Having seen this principle in the victorious age of Christianity, we will ascend to the cradle of