The Sun.
London, England, 1838-04-26 00:00:00

CHURCH EXTENSION.

(From our Second Edition of last night.)
(The following, we are bound to state, is an imperfect re-
v ort of Dr. Chalmers' long and interesting lecture. We
card the Rev. Gentleman very indistinctly; he read his
ire with great rapidity ; and the peculiarities of his pronun-
ci !talon are very great. We state this in our justification, be-
it awe it seems probable that the Rev. Gentleman will give
is 'manuscript to the Press.
'This was the day appointed for Dr. Chalmers to deliver the
kst of a series of lectures on the above subject. By half-past
cne o'clock the great room in Hanover-square was nearly

When the Rev. Doctor entered, the room was crowded by
a most respectable audience, amongst whom was the Duke of
Cambridge, Sir R. H. Inglis, Sir J. Graham, Lord Teign-
mouth, Lord Bexley, and several Bishops.
A prayer having been offered up by the Rev. Mr. Wilke,
Dr. dueemsas Paid the subject of the first lecture was a
:statement of the question respecting a National Establishment
ad Christianity, and the exposure of the misconceptions re-
:erecting it, There was a misconception on the part of cer-
tain religtnists, with respect to the necessity of an Establish-
ment, a'ed that because it appeared to them as a mere piece
of mP.chinery. It appeared to them as only a machine,
<lifff_rent in its effects, according as it was worked on from
al%ove—they considered that it was unnecessary to have human
• -aid, human agency in the extension of the truths of religion,
because that He who ruled all had all in his own power. Such
was the homage of a strong, but mistaken piety. In the
fervency of their dependence on Him they would do
nothing themselves,—but more especially with regard
to His Church, they thought that human strength and
human activity were alike uncalled for. To meet such opi-
nions it would be enough to shew that if acted upon or carried
into effect., it would be at variance with all the analogies of
nature atid prudence. In agriculture, in seamanship, and
in all other human affairs—were they to do nothing them-
selves, but leave all to nature? There would then scarcely
be f'Jund food enough for the beasts of the field, and probe-
TV °, a few savages—were they to do nothing but to depend upon
tae Ruler of all for the shower which gave the produce—were
they not to assist nature, or the Ruler of nature—were
they to cease to labour, there would be no produce.
It was with the potent working of man and unscrut-
-able working of nature, or of the Ruler of the Universe,
who was nature's God—it was these all working harmoniously
together that the produce was found to be good for the
food of man. That law held true also in the work of
religious instruction. They were no doubt to put
their entire dependence upon the ruling power of
G 4d, who giveth the increase ; but that was not to
supersede their own efforts in the good work. Every Minister
was bound, notwithstanding his faith, to work diligently in his
allotted part of the vineyard ; and all who felt the importance
of religion were equally bound to use every endeavour in their
power towards the spread of the eternal Gospel. There
was a region in South America where the soil was of
7 the best possible nature—it was capable of yielding the
best of the earth—but from the want of rain, no human labour
which could be put upon it would make it profitable to the
party. There was the presence of all that was essential for
the production of every thing that was wanted, but the
negation of the blessed shower from heaven—if some
physical change were to come over that land—
if rain were to fall in that country as it does in
others—then and then only could there be a motive for the ap-
plication of human activity and skill. Even so was it in the
work of spiritual cultivation ; for the prosperity of that work,
there must be a descent of the living waters from the God
above ; but upon that account they were not to
cease their labour ; on the contrary it ought
etet'aer to stimulate them to further exertions. The
part which God took in the operation did not abrogate
the part which man ought to take. It was not enough that
e'irere was a descent—there must be a distribution also,
an order that the inestimable blessings of Divine knowledge
'might be conveyed to all houses and families. While they
acknowledged a celestial descent of grace from above, they
must not neglect the terrestial distribution. That there was
co-operation between these was evident from the single
expression of men being fellow-workers with God.
The principle rested not on single or incidental testimony.
It pervaded the whole system of divine administration. A
machinery was not the less essential on earth because
the spirit which guided and animated its movements was from
:heaven. There was nothing in that to disparage or
,do away with the paramount necessity of a spiritual influence
whatever the apprehension might be of a mistaken—.
he would even say, of a drivelling though a sincere
piety—which greatly under-rated the importance of
a visible economy in things ecclesiastical, and which set it
aside as a mere system of earthly experience. Such an ecoe
unmy might, nevertheless, in the order of cause and
effect, be an essential stepping-stone to the attain-
ment of the grand object. The husbandman after fiaving
tilled his field looked for rain, without which the
cuitured territory would be a dry waste. The
Christian Governor after having laid down his parishes
and planted his churches thereon, looked for a descent of the
blesshegs from above, without which the country would be a
Tni?l,--A wilderness. It should be remembered that when the
21r.rit did enlighten or impress a human soul it was generally
totrough the meJium of the weed of God—the Bible formed
it material pathway for its communication. This doctrine on-
Anuiced the importance of multiplying the Scriptures. The
,soundness of this argument became more obvious, when it was
recollected, that at the commencement, and throughout the
successive ages of Christianity, although the Spirit had been the
great agent in conversions, yet it made choice of its own vehicles.
By means of one proceeding, the whole system of Chris-
tianity could have been carried to the heart of man.
But instead of that, two were adopted—one supernatural,
the other human. Peter was warned to go to Cornelius,
and Cornelius was warned that Peter would come to him.
The Gospel was not preached by beings of a higher
order to a lower, but by men to men. It was
a message borne to the ears of men by human
tongues. In other words it was by the truth distributed
by human means, and expounded by human discourse. It
was for us to see that the instrumentality was going on—that
the Bible was; in every house—for the furtherance and distri-
bution of Christianity upon earth ; which nevertheless, with-
zut interference from above, could not have existence. It was
for us to strike nut the channels of conveyance—but for
God to fill them. It was for us to do the work
of the husbandman, to prepare the soil, and to
lieu,; in the seed which heaven supplied—but it was
for God alone to give it fruit, in ways inscrutable to human
intellect. There was nothing in the doctrine of the Spirit to
reduce, but very much to enhance the importance of the present
question. How was the gospel best to be disseminated by human
means—how were we to secure its being preached to the people?
But with all our care the preaching of tha Gospel fell far short of
more than one half of the people. How then were we to secure
that the Gospel should be brought home to every door ? That
of itself formed a strong ground of preference of an Esta-
blished Church to the voluntary system. On that gr,und
it was the object of himself and his coadjutors to
show that the certain dissemination of the Gospel could
only be effected by a national Church, and that it
caa never he done by the voluntary system, or by what was
called the free-trade in Christianity.—( Hear, hear, hear. )
They s',ould assume as to the basis of their definition of a Church
Establi diment, that it was " a sure and settled means
of providing for the administration of Christianity." His sin-
gle attempt at that moment, was not the settlement
of his belief, but the fixing of his language.—( Hear,
hear.) lie should not, at present, contend whether
a Church Establishment was a good thing or not ; but what
should he understood by the term Establishment? Where-
'ever there was a legal provision for the preaching of
the Gospel, there was an Established Church. The
ides of an Establishment might or might not ime
ply what wee commonly understood by the connexion be-
tween the Church and State. If, indeed, the Church was
directly maintained by the State, either by a fixed endow-
ment, or by an annual grant, then there was undoubtedly
such a connexion. But on the other hand it might be
a national Church, if the fixed means of its support
were derived from private endowments. It was not
less an Establishment on that account, it was enough
that there should be a fund to support it. If the Church
was indorsed to the rich, it could not be said that it
belonged to the State ; all that the State had to do Was to make
good the original foundation ; it was upon this ground that the
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge were national Esta-
blishments.—(Cheers.) It was not on account of their an-
tiquity that they were Establishments ; it was not on account
of the origin of their property, but its application; although
the Church should be wholly supported by the State in things
temporal. there was no connexion between them, for it followed
not that the connexion should proceed any further. There might
be an entire dependance on the state of things temporal, with.
out there being any dependance on things ecclesiastical.
The Church received from the State the maintenance of its
Clergy, and the Clergy in return gave education, the
Church reserving to itself what that education should be.
The State might support that Ecclesiastical Establishment,
still leaving the Church to provide for its own orders and
regulations. By a system of endowed schools, education was
spread among districts which but for such a system would be
left in ignorance. An endowment did not detract from
education, but added to it. The Church might so far
submit itself to the State as to receive maintenance from it,
but notwithstanding that it might have no connection with it ;
in an ecclesiastical point of view.—( Hear, hear, hear.) It
was only by the establishment of Church and
State that the waters of life would flow in the proper
Channel. The whole effect of this was to bring the Gospel
to thousands of immortal creatures that otherwise would not
have the benefit of it. The State, it was true, kept the Church,
but the Church in return for that paid the State tenfold.—
(Cheers.) The best preservation of nations was universal
Christian education, and that was to be accomplished by the en-
dowment of national establishments. The State paid the Church
but the Church might maintain the integrity of her worship.
She was the sane hallowed Church as when the fires
of martyrdom were raised.—(Cheering.) An Establish-
ment, and an Establishment alone, was the only power
by which religion could be perpetuated. In the time
of Constantine there were great corruptions in the
Church, but that was not attributable to an Esta-
blishment, for the cause of the corruption being
in the ascendancy of superstition, which had vested the
ecclesiastics with powers which they applied to the ag-
grandisement of things temporal. —( Hear, and loud cheers.)
Thpu
__enormous wealth of the ecclesiastics was the fruit of
"urari~fisilt and the effect of an Establishment re-
. 44. -:- . es. Such was the state of the Church of
/ st. e,,-, *-4 .0 _wXuld ask whether that Church or
'lrn/Otrits
CifillKiilen,uro ‘lly'lrVend impeached the doctrines of the
i.:l:irte-44.. -I; . lortilinite that the Reformers, not those of
.. .
4 • . .A3SiOnt.;:ilef4ig ughtar)—knew how to make dis-
---::::: 4:-/r..../
''' tv---7-1- '"•:" */- NI
al a s