The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-29 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDA Y, AUGUST 29, 1838.

THE NATIONAL CHURCH.

TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD BROUGHAM.
MY LORD—The position which your Lordship occupies in
the public mind, and the extraordinary talents which you pos-
sess, has induced me to select you as the medium of giving
publicity to my sentiments on matters of great iminrtance,
affs.cting passing events, and things in which }our Lordship
takes a peculiar interest. Your Lordship possesses an awful
influence over the people of the United Kingdom—an in.
which rosy he exerted either for good or evil, just is
that proporth,n io you are led to adopt a right cr wrong
course. It may seem the height of presumption in rue, un
obscure individual in hunrble life, to attempt to direct a mind
so mighty as yours int) the adoption of right principles of
action; but, as in religion so in morals, the race is not always
to the swift nor the battle to the strong, it may be that an in
ferior mind may teach lessons of truth and justice; and he is
truly great who can condescend to receive instruction front the
weak and lowly.
The times are, my Lord, the most extraordinary intrina-
ble; the kind Providence of God has at length brought' us
to the world's great period, when the principles of truth and
justice must prevail, and happy in the eyes of posterity will be
esteemed that spirit that shall take the lead in so glorious an
en'erprise. Above all things it is now important that the
human mind should be fully instructed in what those vital
principles consist which will finally rule the destinies of society.
Suffer me, my Lord, to suggest my opinions upon a matter of
all others the most important at this crisis of our nation's his-
tory--the principles of religious liberty as they appear in the
Gospel. 0, my Lord, this is a matter of tremendious im-
portance at this juncture, and I conjure your Lordship, as
you value your accountability to your Maker, and your duty to
your Royal Mistress, whose councillor you are, that you let no
consideration divert you from an honest and honourable line
of conduct in this weighty matter. The genius of Christianity,
my Lord, will not admit of a national appropriation of its prin-
ciples; it is essentially anti-national in its character and object,
and must necessarily be abused by any earthly admixture,
being exclusively spiritual. Nothing, my Lord, but a special
revelation of the mind and will of God in the matter could
justify the creature in the adoption of a system that must ne-
cessarily interfere with religious freedom ; and of any such
• revealed will the New Testament Scriptures are happily
silent. A monopolizing Church, my Lord, is an evil of great
magnitude, because it interferes with that to which the human
mind attaches—and very properly so—the greatest impor-
tance; and that, and liberty of conscience, cannot coexist.
The present conflict of principle, my Lord, on this question,
will in its consequences shake the throne on which your Royal
Mistress sits to its foundation; indeed nothing short of a
separation of the unchristian and adultrous union of Church
and State, can prevent a terrible collision of parties. Her Ma-
jesty, as the head of a particular Church, and as the champion
of a sect, wears her crown contingent upon the fortunes of
that Church and sect ; and the same interest which in the
plenitude of its power called to the throne of these realms a
member of the House of Brunswick, may in its adversity be
found too feeble to retain them ; and I pray, my Lord, that
you may be led to see the full force of this argument.
I am, my Lord, your very humble servant,
A FRIEND TO TRUTH AND JUSTICE
Chatham, August 28.