The Sun.
London, England, 1834-01-28 00:00:00

hers of the community, must of course receive
with satisfaction what will be an evident im-
provement in our institutions. We do not see,
however, that any harm can be done, by a
statement of what the Dissenters seek with
regard to the union of Church and State. The
question is in some degree involved in the refusal
to pay church rates ; for if this taxation be
repealed, one link of the chain which connects
Church and State is broken. We suspect the
establishment has not gained much by the
trickery resorted to, to make the number of the
Dissenters smaller than it actually is. " The
Tory press (said Mr. Howett) had represented
the Dissenters as a very small body. The matter
had been put to the test of exact inquiry by a
churchman at Nottingham, as stated in the me-
morial ; and the result was, that the Dissenters
were found to be more than double the church-
goers." Lord Grey having said, that might be
in one place, Mr. Howett rejoined, " that he
would put it fearlessly to a national proof." We
perceive that the Dissenters in several districts
are setting seriously about such an enumeration
as will show the exact proportion which they and
the Episcopalians bear to each other. In the
Monmouthshire Merlin of January the 18th,
an account is published from two parishes of
Monmouthshire. Similar returns are in prepa-
ration from the other parishes in that county;
and it would not surprise us if the example were
generally followed. We may here state briefly,
that the accounts given are from two of the most
populous parishes—Bedwellty and Mynyddysl-
wyn. The population of the former is 10,638,
that of the latter 6,000. In 1765 there was
only one meeting-house in either parish, in 1806
one more was built, from 1809 to 1821, there
was an increase of six, from 1825 to 1828
eleven, and in 1829 and 1830 four more were
added, making a total of 23 chapels. In the
first named parish, with a population of 10,638,
there is room in the chapels for 12,484 persons ;
and in the other parish, with a population of
6,000, there is room in the chapels for nearly
5,000 persons. The chapels have been built,
and the ministers are maintained by voluntary
subscriptions. In Parliament an inference is to
be drawn, from the readiness with which the
spiritual wants of a rapidly•increasin; popu-
lation have everywhere been supplied, that
the people may be safely trusted with this con-
cern. We have before us an address from the
Rev. Mr. James, of Birmingham, on the prin-
ciples of Dissent and the duties of the Dissenters,
which is very ably written, and throws a valuable
light on the important question, how far the
Establishment can supply spiritual instruction
to the population of this country. It is too
readily assumed that the Established Church is at
present equal to the wants of the population,
or can be made so, without entailing an insup-
portable burden on the people. Speaking on
the point whether the Establishment can and
does provide for the people adequate and appro-
priate religious instruction, Mr. James asks—

" But do they ? Examine. In our own town (Bir-
mingham) there is a population of nearly 140,000 souls,
of which the churches will accommodate not more than
25,000; perhaps not so many. If we refer to the metro-
polis, we shall find about 1,700,000 within a circumference
measuring eight miles from Sr. Paul's as a centre, and
church room for about 300,000, leaving nearly a million
and a half unprovided for. This is but an average of the
state of the country generally. lam aware it is said, in
reply to this, that such a statement proves nothing but the
guilty remissness of the State, not its incapacity. This is
all that is necessary for my present argument to prove.
But 1 may go further, and contend that the Legislature,
constituted as it is, and as it is likely to be, never can be
expected to make much addition to the present state pro.
vision for the national worship, as it is tailed, much less
provide an adequate supply. Front any House of Com-
mons that we are ever lik'-ly to have again, is another
million likely to be obtained for building new churches?
And yet ten millions would be insufficient to meet the
case."

By way of showing the greater efficiency of
he voluntary principle, Mr. James says—

. .
" Turn your attention now to your own island. The
romantic valleys of Wales have been peopled by the ope-
ration of the voluntary principle with a dissenting popu-
lation, who have retired from the humble churches of the
Principality to the still lowlier meeting-houses. It has
converted a moiety of the Kirk of Scotland to Dissenter-
ism ; while of those who attend the public ordinances of
religion in England, a majority, it is believed, will be
found in the places of worship belonging to the different
denominaticns of non-conformists. In the metropolis and
its vicinity there are about 194 places in the Establish-
ment, and 265 among the Dissenters. In the town of
Nottingham there are five churches, containing about
5,800 sittings, and twenty Dissenting places, containing
12 000 sittings ; and there are 330 communicants who join
in the communion of the Church of England, while th. re
are 4,634 in full membership amongst the Dissenters; this
is stated in the Nottingham Review. In this town there
are, I believe, thirteen churches, and more than thirty Dis-
senting places of different kinds ; and it has been said—
how truly I cannot tell—that there are two Dissenting
communities here, which alone contain as many cotnmuni-
cants as go to the Sacrament in all the Episcopal places
in the town. The Bishop of London, who is more ea.l
lightened on such matters than many, has stated several
times in Parliament that the Dissenters compose one-
fourth of the people; and the expectation has been, that
the mind would pass to the conclusion that the remaining
three-fourths were churchmen. But such a conclusion is
inadmissible. It appears by other evidence from the same
quarter, that in the returns from one diocese, which may
be taken as an average, there were 110,000 persons
composing the population, and that out of these only
19,069 were attendants at church, and only 4,134 at-
tendants at the Communion. This gives only one seventh
as going to church, and about one in 38 as taking the
Sacrament. This would give them for the nation at
' large scarcely 360,000 persons as in communion with the
Church of England ; and taking the proportion of attend.
ants at church, not at one-seventh but at one-sixth, it
would give in a population of 12,000,000 only 2,000,000;
while by the Bishop's own low estimate (which we are far
from allowing to be correct) the proportion of Dissenters
is 3,000,000. It must be here recollected, that the Dis-
senters' members are reckoned exclusively by those who
attend public worship ; and hence it will be seen, that
the voluntary principle takes, if this statement be correct,
more to the [louse of God than are there by the power
and influence of the State Church."

We refer to a communication in another co-
lumn, on the subject of the Returns for Lan-
cashire, for further information on this subject.
It would be doing great injustice to the Episco-
palian Church to suppose that its members are
generally hostile to the views of the Dissenters.
So far from this, it is well known that a very
large proportion of its members are as adverse to
the union between Church and State as the Dis-
senters. Indeed, it may almost be laid down
that the most religious part of the Churchmen
are as favourable to the voluntary principle as
the Dissenters are. It is that union which clogs
the Church, and gives the Dissenters such an
advantage over it. The spiritual labour comes
to be considered as subordinate to temporal
rights; and hence the Establishment is utterly
without the elastic principle necessary to suit the
wants of a constantly changing population. We
find in the City of London sixty churches for
60,000 people, and only room for 300,000
individuals in all the churches for 1,700,000
inhabitants. However, this is a matter which
requires further elucidation; and we are glad to
see that the Dissenters, who are both active and
powerful, %sill go through with the work. The
nation has hitherto been shamefully neglected in
all that regards the instruction of the people.
But the times are changed. Lord Grey will
yield so much now ; and the Dissenters will act