The Sun.
London, England, 1838-04-27 00:00:00

HURCH EXTENSION.-THIS DAY.

Th 2. Rev. Dr. CIIALNIERS this day delivered his second
Lecture upon the establishment and extension of National
Churches as aff,mling the only adequate machinery for the
moral and Christian instruction of the people. The subject
of the second Lecture was the vindication of a national religious
establishment in opposition to the reasonings and views of the
economists. Long before the hour fixed for commencing the
lecture (two o'clocl) the Great Hall of the H moverssquare
Rooms was crowded in every part. Among the distin-
guished persons present were the Duke of Cambridge, the
Earl or Roseherry, the Earl of Harrowby, Marquis Chola
reondeley, the Earl of Jersey, the Earl of Wicklow, Lord
Ashley, Lord Sandon, the Bishop of Landaff, the
Earl of Cawdor, Lord Workhouse, Lord Bexley,
Sir G. Richardson, Lord Teignmouth, Colonel Ver-
ner, et ie., Honourable William Duncombe, M. P., Sir
James Graham, M. P., Sir Stratford Canning, M. P., Sir R.
Inglis, M. P, Sir George Sinclair, M. P., W. E. Gladstone,
M.P., James Grattan, M. P., Charles Lushington, M. P.,
Henry Johnson, M. P., Mr. Ingham, M. P., &c.
in consequence of the crowded state of the room, some
confusion took place previous to the commencement of the
lecture. Order having been restored,
The Rev. Lecturer, who was loudly cheered on taking
his seat proceeded.—Before entering on the persuasive
find direct argument in favor of a national established refi-
tslee, he had endeavoured, in his last lecture, to do away with
the initiss objections or prejudices which existed against it, as
if the connection between the Church and State implied a
secularisation of Christianity by which it was incapacitated
either from withstaeding or maintaining the gospel
all over the world, In those days of fierce partisanship
they could not expect much of cool or clear discrimination.
?den %ere borne along hi woes, gs If by a gregarious im-
PUlse in favour of the popular prevailing cry. He recollected
In Edinburgh a few years ago, vvlitti lectures were delivered, by
is
an -"Pinati clergyman of the Presbyterian denomination, but
the connection tse.:7.en Church and State was no sooner
—*
spoken of than a flame %vs._ 0 lighted up all over the
neeting -Al at hearing from
i„ 0, and every one was enraptui `Le itlett of
Le 'ins of an American clergymen, that
sti
anY such connection was held in perfect abomination e
over America. He had afterwards ventured to make
the whole lecture the subject of a conversation, and
the first question was whether if a Christian philanthropist,
actuated by a strong affection for a district in Maryland,
should bequeath 10,0001. for the erection of Churches, and
for the maintenance of Clergymen, providing that their
Clergymen should be of his own denomination, and that
they should be under the controul of his own ecclesias-
tical system—whether such an endowment would be rejected by
their deenmination, and designated unscriptural, or whether
it would be Accepted by them as a means of extending their
usefulness—there could be but one answer to that question ;
that an endowment thus destined and thus placed under the
guardianship of that which he deemed to be a scriptural
Church, still adhering pp
to the supposition that the clergyl
seen under this endowment would be placed not in subordina-il
tion to the State, but only to their ecclesiastical superiors,
to the Presbyterian Synods, and General Assemblies ofAme-
il b
ea, such an arrangement was admitted by him to e de-
sirable. An if,si if so, would it not be equally desirable l-
nstead of confining It to one small district, the character and
efficacy of this systetn
5;,,.eu1d be spread over the whole of i ary_
lead.
To this he most reedily admitted that just as one
me
benefit muappleor
multiplied by 750 would not make 750 oranges—noin
750
would one religious multiplied 750 timessdesirable
ivils—( Applause and laughter),—
in 7o most en
religious benefits.—(Renewed applause.) After this, the
transition was not difficult, from the one single state
,of Maryland, to the whole United States of America,
and the only adjustment between them which remained to be
made was, whether such an endowment which would have so
delighted their hearts coming from a few generous individuals
Would have been less desirable if it had originated in the
state so many hundred years ago as a separate proprietary.
The rejoinder was memorable—if this was all which was in-
cluded in an establishment—if it only meant maintenance on the
part of the State and uncontaminated theology on the part of the
Church, such an arrangement might unquestionablybe desirable.
The thing which they deprecated was the authority:of the Civil
Magistrate in matters of religion, but they would be thankful
to him or to any body else to give them what the Trans-At.
lantic Clergyman called an organized provision for the
Clergy.—( Hear, hear, hear.) That was all he (Doctor
Chalmers) contended for—in other words, a legal provision
for a Christian clergy, which could be gone to without
infringing-upon the prerogative of the Church, or interference
with her Ministry.—( Hear.) In fact his American friend had
not made the proper distinction between the maintenance of the
clergy, and a control over the administration of religion. When
an orator denounced the connection between Church and State,
the effect was instantaneous upon the minds of all those who
did not reason logically, and who were borne away by the noise,
and plaudits of a popular assembly, in which the small still armee
of truth was overborne.—( Great applause.) With respect to
the Established Church of Scotland, there was to each of its
Members a free and independent voice within, and from. without
therewas no interference. The Church of Scotland
recoiled from all communication with the State except to be
maintained by it, after which its Ministers were left to execute
their great Commission with all the independence of the
missionary abroad.—( Hear, hear.) 'There was nothing to
interfere with the independence and sanctity of their epos-
tolical character, if they themselves made no sur-
render of it. In things ecclesiastical they did all, in some
of these they might be wrong, but then these were the act of
the majority.--( Fiear hear.) They acknowledged no head but
Jesus Christ--they acted in his name, and by his authority.
There was not a clerical appointment which could take place
in any parish till they had assented to it. Even the Law of
Patronage, with all its great interests, is not able to effect it.
The power of the State upon die authority of the Church had
no other basis than their majorities to rest upon. It
should not be forgotten that in things Ecclesiastical
the highest power of the Church was not subject to
mortal man ; it could raise or depress at pleasure any eccle-
siastical affairs, and it could make a Minister of the Church of
Scotland, or unmake him. There was nothing the State
could do to the Church but strip it of its temporalities. Not-
withstanding all the State could do, it would still remain a
Church, and stand as ever in all things except the moral in-
jury that had been inflicted by the Acts of the State.
iShe would be as mighty a Church in her days of suffering, as
aas ;tier
`lays of trinmph, although she would be looked upon
,
Q n outcast, and had only the light of the sun, and the windsM.
' 'leaven to cherish and support her.—(Cheers.) Her a-
esty, re,
atillbe ,6111 herself take her protection from her, but she would
hirnseiftoe same unfettered mistress of herself. The King might
Chatham bject to her proceedings, but the statement of Lord
so En 4 who said that every man's house was his own castle
might gbi'ond, applied equally to the Church. The storm
s
might „fir, the rains might enter every crevice, the win
(Great cheering,) .argou)nd them, but the King dare not enter.—
ther u o erne-. s
n nwe.hat more
lie was not able to expatiate far-
lecture') properly belonged to the last
the present would now proceed to the subject of
establis' was a vindication of a national religious
the econon'e4 whitPpositn to the reasonings and views of
commercenlits.--( Cheers. ) By thu system of free trade and
of demand operation
andramisfincpaptiloyn.s are left to the power and
partieulWhen the demand for
Tree
tradar commodities increased, it will be the interest of the
.uced are
to increase the supply, and when the demand was
rnadr. e the
supply should be reduced also, in order that the
,et might not be overstocked by any particular article. It
• td a the clearest demonstration, that it was unwise in
commerce to interfere with that law of action or re-action, or
%might he termed, the action of economy. The supply
wase or
the duty of
fell according as the demand rose or fell; and it
a Government not to interfere with it.
01)1r prepares us to understand what is meant by a system
reli ee trade in Christianity, which would leave the article of
g"
2 instruction to the operation of the same laws as an
bee of ordinary commerce; in other words, leave it to
e 'egulatcd by the Hanle laws as commerce, and to be limited
Y thn extent of the demand in the market. If such opinions
.?it"re prevalent and were to be acted upon, then of course
; Must av in commerce, be made to suit the taste of the cuss
ull/er--it would fluctuate—it would be taken to those places
fvv-4';re there was what was called an effective demand
t°r 't--( Cheers )—that is, where there is money enough
hoe, “I'Ltre its success. A free trade in commerce only
a ks in those places where there is such a . demandr
ensure it a proper and remunerating
e-
-4,esit leaves those places where from the smallness ofd,t
he
fra.nd the trade becomes a losing one. By a free trade in.
rrealigen is meant of course the following up the samba plan. ,
inetgml°ol'.., instruction would Cease in those places when.t ere was
cea,e te.l enough to pay for it—the lessons of religion would
ea -) be taught in places whore they were most wanted, be-
ie.Z here could he no supply, however great the demand. Let
gi" aWhip°icilicY be pursued towards the Church, and that reli-
rally 1 was ordered to be preached to the poor will natu-
teaeerave those places where it is most wanted, and the
their of that religion who, after the example of
avouldilgreat Founder, were to preach to the poor
der the° longer be in a situation to do so—they would be un-
fro necessit m their sl yof ceasing to
pest mire
of LiWtnber those who were
make any attempt to waken
spiritual death. That brief
eye statornentere on the portals of sunk the deepest
demo ristianity wa%cs.ould lead them co suppose that
was
giat a free trade in
enough con-
t._a SYStern perfectly impossible—i.t
along , Which seemed to carry s
ens,
of cllw.itti. it. lint they ought to understand the differ-
," signal refute-
ider a ristianity and commerce—while the one prospers
other sestein of free trade, and flourishes and blooms, the
iiirneashnder the same systeni would shrink into narrower
of the lens, and would be limited to a small fraction
Smith Pe°Ple. When those two masters, Turgot and
to t,is."n his Wealth of Nations. and others, proposed
both inillate the one to the other, so as to leave them
if
them - and demand,
Thosth was erre). in the propositio of these economists, they
ether aye been misless' by the light'of some false analogy ; in
of he,words, there must be some intelligible principle capable
,),zt_ nig propounded and put into language, end in which the
eeni of
.free trade so applicable to the one case was not
exp• ghtnapplicable to the other case also. Following then this
setti.t. (generally speaking there was by the free con-
seriu lon of our nature a sufficient intensity of desire, and con-
JrindtlY of demand, for the articles which commerce dealt
a sus° ale to call forth an adequate supply of those articles,
y notcommensurae to all the exigencies of human
rnscsesic„tY_; but there wee such intensity of desire or of de- for the article of Christian instruction. When it was
thst• n'tchd in regard to the
fiat might with all safety be left t
goseS'e of ordinary merchandise
to the operation of cle-
ment 'llPnly, it was always pressuppossSfl of the One Cu,.
the otheriat it was Sufficiently strong to stimulate and call forth
paess_; arid so it usually was. The longer a man tine in
"L 01 food, the greater his hunger became, till at lengthe

would give any price or make any sacrifice in order to attain
it. So it was of other ssnsations which impell man
to seek after the other necessaries of existence, as the cold,
which made it indispensable to his comfort that he should be
clothed and lodged as well as fed. Even when the neces-
saries of life were refined into exquisite and high wrought
luxuries, there was a sufficiently spontaneous and wide-
spread desire after these to insure a demand. In
the physical sense of taste and the vanity of man
or his natural love of distinction—the one disposing him to the
gratifications of the table, the other at the expence of all he
can give away to the decoration of his person, and equipage,
and household establishment, many natural liking for these
things, afforded a powerful guarantee for that part of his labour
which he was willing to put forth, or for that part of his
wealth which he was willing to give up, in order to acquire
them. Between the love of gain on the one hand, and the
love ofenjoyment on the other, there was no danger but that the
wheels of commerce would move with velocity enough,
and in the very direction to that which was most suited
both for the wants of customers and the prosperity of dealers.
It sought no other aid or protection at the hands of the Legis-
lature than the enforcement of justice between man and man.
The very reverse of all this held of Christianity, or rather of
Christian instruction, viewed as an article which was bene-
ficial to man, and which, therefore, might he distributed to the
extent desirable to mankind throughout the mass of Society.
It was not with man in his moral as it was with his criminal
nature although it be true that the longer he was without food
the greater and more urgent was his desire of food. The
more ignorant a man was, the greater, generally speaking,
was nut his desire of knowledge. The moral and ani nal
wants of man were directly at variance. The more a man
was immersed in vice and voluptuousness, not certainly the
greater but the less was his desire of virtue and holi-
ness. ( Great cheering.) There was no natural lin-
gering er thirsting after righteousness in man--( Hear)—and
before Man's moral wartts were supplied the appetite must
first be treated. The less a Man had of religion or of
righttoestiess the less he desires, and the less he Cares for
them —( Cheers.) Thas nature did not go forth in quest oh'
Christianity, but Christianity Must go forth in quest of naturei
—(Applause.) On the one hands it was the strength of
physical appetancy, and on the other hand the desire
Of spiritual or moral food, which made all the dif-
ference. Tha Motel law operated contrary to the
physical law of man. rads, were iii inverse proportion, for the
less our love of morality or religion, the less we oared foe them.
The strength of man's natural appetite guaranted a sufficient
demand for food, and rather than want, he would go to the
most distant market ; but although they might trust to the natural
longing of man for food, which would guarantee his going to the
maret, there was no such natural hunger for the good to be
obtained in churches, colleges, or schools, and never was there
a more unfortunate generalization than that of the economists
when they placed upon the same footing articles of
trade and commerce with those of Christian and moral
education. In the former case bounties were administered
although in his opinion very unnecessarily ; but no induce-
ments were offered for the other, as being in their opinion
alike mischievous and unnecessary. So far back as the year
1817, he had had occasion to publish a sermon preached by
him .on the lamented death of the Princess Char-
lotte, when he adverted to the want of Churches,
and the appendix subjoined contained his first exposition of his
present argument, which he would take the liberty of read-
ing :—The Reverend Gentleman here proceeded to
read a passage from the sermon in question, to the
effect that Dr. Adam Smith, in his treatise on the
wealth of nations had argued against the building of
churches by this nation on the ground that they should be left
to the pure operation of demand and supply, like any
other article of commerce, but that he seemed to have
overlooked one point of difference which was that the
natures and propensities of the people would always
secure a demand commensurate with the powers
of production, but that the appetite for religious instruction,
was not so strong. Had the people been left to them-
selves there would have been large tracts of places without
houses of worship ; but the Legislature had met the people
half way, and had provided Churches and Pastors in
every direction, and had thus secured an efficient and
adequate supply. In point of' fact, a great many more came
to church now, than if they had been left to themselves.
There was' a more abundant supply, and it was that
excess of moral and religious good which formed
the only argument in favour of a National Establishment
which he would now insist upon. The argument of Dr.
Smith went to demonstrate the fitness of a natioml
establishment of milkmen or butchers, but the peculiarity
he bad already alluded to rendered it totally inade-
quate on the subject of a National Church. This
ar-
gument he (Dr. Chalmers) had been constantly re-
peating; but it strikingly marked the slow progress which a
principle before unheard of made in the public mind, that for
fifteen years it was as the " voice of one crying in the wilder-
ness,"till it was adopted in the House of Peers a year or two ago,
almost in the very words he (Dr. Chalmers) had now used—
and then the argument, which before had lain hid in
paragraphs of obscure authorship, went forth with far greater
influence, as the Lord Chancellor's argument."—(Laughter
and applause.) Now it was contended that, in early ages,
the establishment of Christianity was conducted on a system
of free trade. In fact, the converse appeared to be the fact.
In all ages the lessons of the Gospel must have been
paid for by some one, as the teachers of the Gospel be-
hoved to be paid; the question hinged upon this,—who
paid for those lessons ? The system of free trade was when
the purchasers only paid the price of the article. It was an
equal violation of that system, whether the aiding bounty came
from the state or from associated philanthropists.---( Hear,
hear.) On the system of free trade, the demand and supply
were left to make their own adjustment—to act and re-act
upon themselves, and thus create a self-going mechanism.
In other words, the economists contended for the esta-
blishment of a perfect freedom in trade, as conducing t )
the best interests of commercial affairs. Now, let that asser-
tion be fully considered. In what way were mankind to be
supplied with Christianity in the way best adapted to their
moral and religious improvement How had Christianity been
introduced ? It was not by a movement from earth to heaver,
but from heaven to earth.—(Applause.) The expenses cer-
tainly were not paid by those by whom the benefit was to be
received,—( Hear, hear.) Christianity, in its infancy, was
maintained by a few for the good of the many. Christ himself
was supported by individuals, and so it was with the Apos-
tles, who, when they touched at any city, went to the house
of some individual upon whose hospitality they subs;sted during
their stay, for the good of the whole population. Those
Christian worthies when they heard the men of God holding
out the broad of life, without money and without price, to the
multitude, took the Apostles into their houses. It was not the
pee* to whom the Gospel was preached that bore those ex-
penses, neither was it the case that the receivers of the benefit
were the payers when the greatest of the Apostles was main.
tained by the labour of his own hands—when the hands of
Paul, the tent-maker, provided bread for Paul the Apostle.—
( Applause.) It was not the case when that apostle received
from all the other churches that the church of Corinth might

not be a cost to any. The expense of the preaching of the gospel
was not paid in the shape of price by those who received the
benefit, but as a bounty by those who dispensed it.—( Hear,
hear, hear.) The expense was borne in every case by one
party for the good of another, not as in the ordinary exchange
of commodities. while the receiver was the purchaser. They
to whom Christianity was preached received not a thing by
them bought, but a thing to them given.—( Applause.) It
was not true that when Constantine endowed the Church

he made the first infringement of the free trade in religion.
On the contrary, from the outset it had been departed from ;
and when Constantine caine forward with his Imperial grant,
he only did that on a large scale which thousands had
done on a smaller scale before him—each for the

little district in which he presided, or for the
maintenance of one to which he was attached.—(l-Icar.)
But in his national endowments he followed the track of

private endowments. Sometimes they were made perpetual,
sometimes temporary ; but by these means the benefits of the
Church were extended where they had not been known before.
It was trtv_! that in the villages there were many who were
unconverted. Paganism in those days was synouimous with
heathenism, but universal endowment provided for every
little section in a territory, and to a whole host, who
had hitherto been unable to hear the blessings of
religion. Instead, however, of looking to the dusky
past—and, perhaps, be might be pardoned for introducing
the subject of free-trade which might not be considered rele-
vant to the subject, but he held that he wko argued for free
trade in commerce was inconsistent unless ha argued for
_ .

free-trade in the Church—instead of looking to the dusky

past, the same conclusion might be dra-wn from the
present or modern times. The introduction of Christianity

into the land was different from the introduction of merchanl

dise. The adventurer in merchandise looked for remuneration

in the profits he might make ; but the Missionary adventurer
looked to the body that employed him in his enterprize of cha-
rity. Who undertook to support him effectually in his great work,
and who defrayed the expences and costs of the distant voyage
he had to make? Who paid for the outfit of the first Missionary
vessel that was wafted to the distant region of Otaheite ?
Not the natives themselves, who would have wanted the bless-
ings of Christianity for ever, if we had waited until there had
been an effective deniand.—( Cheers.) The undertaking ori-
ginated with us, and was defrayed to the last farthing out of a
fund raised by the benevolent—all missionaries were paid and
provided for, not by the receivers of the blessings, but by its
dispensers. We did not offer to sell them the Gospel, but
offered it to them as a free offerin,—we did not ask
a certain price for it, but had recourse to that great bugbear
of the economists—a bounty. We put a bounty upon it by
offering it without any cost. Some might say that under
the system of free trade, religion might maintain itself in a
country where it had been already established, but few would
have the hardihood to say that in the first instance it
could be settled in any effective way under such a
systemn.o—ta(iti
sCottontuheed
method by
was ) Properly the question
which Christianity was
to be introduced, but how it was to be maintained.
It might be quite true that the demand must first be
created in places where this article was unknown. It
was even thus that commerce sometimes obtained a
footing for itself in foreign countries. Before the na-
tives article, it must first be shewn to them,
and they
must have a treat of it—even so must it be with reli
n th
gion. In the first instance it must be offered them at the hazard
and expence of not the customer, but of the party intend-
ing to set up the trade. There must be a commencement
of a trade, otherwise there would be no continuance of it; the ro-
ple having got a relish for any particular article, would not
in future be able to want it, and they would even send for it
both at their own hazard and their own cost. Even so must
Christianity be spread in the same manner. In order to be
it must first be spread, and be paid for,
able it; maintain itse.q.
not by those who the 'L;-neftt, but by those who give it.
'-
ft might be very true,
titat measures, at
bidding of