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BETHUNE, RECTOR OF COBOBRG, AND CHAPLAIN TO THE LORD llSHOP OP QUEBEC. _ COBDURG: R. D. CHATTERTOK, PRINTER 1536. i . 'r,i, p. Vi'J. f I'nuko's Letter on the I'ri'iith Uevolulion. J~ 1 !; I^li discerned tlieir benefit, to have thus universally adopted them ; and this benefit must have been admitted by the divine wisdom, when they gained His express sanction in the case of the Jews. — This position I may repeat in the words of the excellent Wilberforce ; " The tendency of reli- gion to promote the temporal well-being of po- litical communities is a fact which depends on such obvious and undeniable principles, and which is so forcibly inculcated by the history of all ages, that there can be no necessity for entering into a formal proof of it. It has indeed been maintain- ed not merely by schoolmen and divines, but by the most celebrated philosophers and moralists and politicians of every age."* Wollaston, in his Religion of Nature, demo/i- strates that wero it not for that sense of virtue which is principally preserved, as far as it is pre- served, hy national forms and habits of religion, *' men would soonlose it all,, run wild, prey upon one another, and do what else the worst of sa- vages do." This discernment of the advanta- ges of religion to a State, and of the deplora- ble effects of its absence would at once have dic- tated, as by the voi€e of nature, its connection with the civil institutions. It is the argument of the philosophic Warburton,t which reason better supports than somi; other of the theories of his 2figantic mind, that as the care of the civil so- tiiety, abstractedly considered, has reference only to the affairs of the body, and the care of the religious society only to those of the sou^ ; the civil power, to obtain the more direct benefit of the influence of religion, would naturally seek an union or alliance with the ecclesiastical. But * Practical View, cliap. 6. f Divine Legation of Moses. 13 as, abstractedly, they have separate provinces^, it does not seem that there can be any combined action between them or any mutual influence produced unless by association. The advantages of the alliance of religion to a State are apparent, in strengthening, by its na- tural influence, the sanctions of law and of pro- moting a spirit of general subordination ; whilj a disadvantage, as the consequence of their se- paration, is equally apparent from the collisions which, in that event, would sometimes neces- sarily arise. As the influence of religion touch- es the mind at all points, it becomes an influence which, if the State cannot gain to its side, it will assuredly view with jealousy. This would ne- cessarily awaken and bring into collision two powerful antagonist principles; and the opera- tion of the contest must inevitablv be to weaken or corrupt on the one hand, or to produce insubor- dination on the other. It has been clearly es- tablished by a writer already quoted,* that the effect of this separation and mutual jealousy be- tween the ecclesiastical and civil government of the Jews in the time of our Saviour, when the subjugation of the country by the Romans did not allow the proper operation of the alliance be- tween them, was the source of most of the reli- gious corruption as well as of the popular tu- mults of which those unhappy times were so rife. The conclusion from this argument I cannot bet- ter express than in the words of the same writer,t that " a well adjusted Church and State polity recommends itself in this special respect — as an arrangement which provides against ordinary oc- casions of concussion, and as immensely better I! \'' ^ • I ; '11, ill' -i ii .9 * See Spirit. Despotism, p. 88 tibid, p. 178. 14 ■Ml hi; than the leaving iwu potent principles open to every casualty that may throw them rudely one upon the other." It may be added that the pro- tection of religion by the State, on the principle of a national Establishment, serves to guard the great defences of Christianity from external vio- lence, while at the same time it helps to break the force of, by diminishing the motives to, inter- nal dissention. hi! } pf]^ But to return to the more direct and positive advantages of this alliance of the spiritual with the civil power ; — an Establishment of religion provides the only certain means of conferring upon a nation the benefits of religion at all, at least of rendering them generally accessible or extensively permanent. Without the provision for its maintainance furnished by the State, a vast majority of a nation must be deprived of any certain or regular religious instruction ; — the re- mote and sequestered population, without the means as it were of purchasing these advanta- ges, would never be adequately or permanently furnished with them by the operations of a spon- taneous zeal. Admitting, what may safely be assumed, that Christianity eannot be upheld or propagated with- ou*: a standing ministry ; and that a ministry who shall possess all the diversified acquirements es- sential, as a general rule, to the successful dis- semination as well as defence of Christianity, must possess a leisure and opportunity for study and action, with which no secular occupation would be compatible ; it seems plainly demon- strable that voluntary confributiojis can never supply the means of maintaining and perpetua- ting a body of men of this order. " To the scheme of voluntary contribution there exists this insur- 15 mountable objection," pays Paloy, '* that few would ultimately contribute any thing at all. — However the zeal of a sect, or the novelty of a change, might support such an experiment for a while, no reliance could be placed upon it as a general and permanent provision. If by de- clining to frequent religious assemblies, men could save their money, at the same time that they in- dulged their indolence, and their disinclination to exercises of seriousness and reflection ; or if, by dissenting from the national religion, they could be excused from contributing to the support of the ministers of religion, it is to be feared that many would take advantage of the option which was thus imprudently left open to them, and that this liberty might finally operate to the decay of virtue, and an irrecoverable forgetfulness of all religion in the country. Is there not too much reason to fear, that if it were referred to the dis- cretion of each neighbourhood, whether they would maintain amongst them a teacher of re- ligion or not, many districts would remain unpro- vided with any 1 That, with the difficulties which encumber every measure requiring the co-opera- tion of numbers, and where each individual of the number has an interest secretly pleading against the success of the measure itself, associ- ations for the support of christian worship and in- struction would neither be numerous nor long- continued 1 The devout and pious might lament in vain the want or the distance of a religious as- sembly ; they could not form or maintain one, without the concurrence of neighbours who felt neither their zeal nor their liberality."* |.ii : ii * ! ■ 1^ \\ 1 ' ; Jii What immediately follows from this able wri- ter is so extremely in point, that 1 cannot refrain * Moral Philosophy, Book 6. Chap. 10. f, ;-»" IC it i I from further quotation : " From the difficulty with which congregations would be established and upheld on the voluntary plan, let us carry our thoughts to the condition of those who are to officiate in them. Preaching, in time, would become a mode of begging. VVith what since- rity, or with what dignity, can a preacher dis- pense the truths of Christianity, whose thoughts are perpetually solicited to the reflection how he may increase his subscription \ His eloquence, if he possess any, resembles rather the exhibi- tion of a player who is computing the profits of his theatre, than the simplicity of a man who, feeling himself the awful expectations of religion, is seeking to bring others to such a sense and understanding of their duty as may save their souls. Moreover, a little experience of the dis- position of the common people will in every country inform us, that it is one thing to edify them in Christian knowledge, and another to gratify their taste for vehement, impassioned ora- tory ; that he, not only whose success, but whose subsistence depends upon collecting and plea- sing a crowd, must resort to other arts than the acquirement and communication of sober and profitable instruction. For a preacher to be thus at the mercy of his audience ; to be obliged to adapt his doctrines to the pleasure of a ca- pricious multitude ; to be continually affecting 8. style and manner neither natural to him, nor agreeable to his judgment ; to live in constant bondage to tyrannical and insolent directors ; are circumstances so mortifying not only to the pride of the human heart, but to the virtuous love of independency, that they are rarely submitted to without a sacrifice of principle, and a depra- vation of character ; — at least it may be pronoun- ced, that a ministry so degraded would soon fall into the lowest hands ; for it would be found 17 impossible to engage men of worth and ability in so precarious and humiliating a profession." The answer that may be r^iven to those obser- vations that ,1 hiirh standard both of learning and piety, in ministers and people, prevails amongst many of those who dissent from ihe Established Church, is met by the consideration that the learn- ing thus acquired is owing, primarily and essen- tially, to the existence of such an establishment, and the piety that subsists to the religious taste which has been fostered and maintained through the same influence. A national establishment produces the condition of things which gives suc- cess to the ministrations of dissenters ; — it con- stitutes, as it were, a standing fund from which dissenters, for pu'*poses of literature or of the more internal interests of the common cause, can always draw. JSuch an objection cannot therefore be admitted as valid in countries where religious establishments exist ; — no, not even in the United States of x\merica, which, altho' they have no national church supported by law, arc in the condition of a body enjoying the benefits of the Established Churches of Great Britain. — Sprung from the same source, speaking the same language, and having access, by constant inter- course, to all the advantages which, through the instrumentality of those establishments, have been provided, they may fiiirly be said to be com- prised within the compass of that influence which the national churches of Great Britain naturally exert. Should it be aflSrmed that the voluntary con- tributions of the rich and pious, when thrown into the hands of some religious association un- controlled by the State, would suflSce for the sup- ply of the spiritually destitute in their respective •I i if 1*1 hH >■! ! ili 18 countries, wo reply that, while the .siiccific pro- vision which the t^tate allbrds is undoubtedly pre- ferable to contributions which must necessarily be so mutable and precarious us those;, the means of religious ministrations thus furnished leave to the pious and benevolent another important field for tliG operations of their bounty which does not come so directly wilhin the province of a govern- ment, — the difiLision of true religion amongst the unconverted heatiion. Besides, the very exis- tence of sucii associations, whether for foreign or domestic purposes, furnishes an obvious ar- gument in favor of the principle of Establish- ments ; — at least they concede the full force of the argument advanced by the advocates of es- tablishments that direct voluntary contributions will not suffice for the religious instruction of a people ; and they certainly yield to them the ad- mission that an extraneous provision, one which the population benefited have no share in fur- nishing, is not as a general principle to be repu- diated. in I I shall conclude this branch of our argument in the forcible language of Dr. Chalmers : "It is perhaps the best among all our more general ar- guments for a Religious Establishment in a coun- try, that the spontaneous demand of human be- ings for religion is far short of the actual inter- est which they have in it. This is not so with their demand for food or raiment or any article which ministers to the necessities of our physi- cal nature. The more destitute we are of those articles, the greater is our desire after them. But the case is widely different when the appetite for any good is short of that degree in which that good is useful or necessary : and above all, when just in proportion to our want of it, is the decay of our appetite towards it. Now^ this is, gene- 19 rally sponkiniT, the cnso with religious instnic- lion ; the less we liave oi'it, the less we desire it. It is iiol with the aliment oT the soul as it it is with th(? jiliment of the hotly. — The latter will be sought after ; the Ibrinor must be oU'ered to a people whose spiritual api)eLite is iu a state of dormancy, and with whom it is just as necessary to create a hunger as it is to minister a positive supply. In these circumst.uices, it were vain to wait for any original movement on the i)art of the receivers : it must be made on the })art of the dispensers. Nor does it follow that because Government may wisely abandon to tfie princi- ple of demand and supply all those interests where the desires of our nature and the necessities of our nature are adequate the one to the other, she ought therefore to abandon all care of our interest, when the desire on the part of our spe- cies is but rare and feeble and inoperative ; while the necessity is of such a deep and awful character that there is not one of the concerns of earthli- ness which ought for a moment to be compared with it." II. I now proceed to the consideration, as pro- posed, of various popular objections entertained against Religious Establishments. The objections to Religious Establishments — and it is certainly an advantage which their as- sailants, like those who assume the side of op- position in general, possess — are usually accom- panied with those professions of moderation and liberality which so much favour the native pro- pensity of mankind to liberty and indulgence. — Here, however, it should not be forgotten by those who may be imposed upon by such a disguise that the same method has ever been adopted, and that it has always proved the one most si I I: f 20 siiocessliilly oiii[>IoycHl by tlic enemies of Divine Jlovelation itself. TIjc grand objection to Rebgious Estabbsh- nicnts is founded upon tlie charge of tbo corrup- tions in Christian iuith and practice which such establishments are said to have induced. Were we to admit the truth of this accusation, and j)ush the objection to establishments of religion which, on that ground, is assumed, we shouhl find our- selves obliged to arraign the wisdom even of certain Divine appointments : for such an objec- tion would be applicable, in all its condemnatory eflect, as much to the Jewish Church established by God himself, as to any other constituted after the same model. The Church of Judea, we as- certain from history, was by no means free from some corruptions and defects, induced by the de- generacy of the people ; — these, undoubtedly, the Divine Wisdom foresaw\ and many cautions were, at various times, given against the very^ depravations which arose ; — yet had it been fore- seen or certain that an establishment of religion was peculiarly or necessarily productive of that effect, the Jewish Church, we -must believe, would never have been placed in a condition which involved its own corruption and overthrow. The causes, therefore, of corruption and in par- ticular instances of decay, are no more in the Christian Church than in the Jewish to be ascri- bed to the natural or necessary operations of an establishment. Where such corruptions arise, we must refer them, not to the injurious work- ing of that principle, but either to internal causes involved in the frailty or bad passions of man, or to external circumstances wholly separated from any necessary influence which an establishment exerts. " It must needs be that ofiences come," is a declaration from infallible lips which, — re- 21 'ijarrlpg to its proper cause, iho corruption of I lie human licnt — will bettor account for the crror.s and (locays of Churches than any of the moth^rn accusations against estahlishinents which have neither the support of philosophic argument, nor the testimony of practical experience. It has been said, with the same specious man- ner of reasoning which so often captivates and deludes the unthinking, that God ever watches over and protects his cinirch, and that, witli such a guarantee for its security and maintenance, it needs not the adventitious defences which an es- tablishment provides. To this we reply that, al- though every thing we j)ossess is dependent, pri- marily, upon the providence of God, we are not only not precluded from the exercise of the ob- vious means of their attainment, but are even commanded industriously to apply those eftbrts which, with the Divine blessing, will produce such results. Altljough the husbandman, with- out the showers and sunshine of heaven, cannot hope for the abundance of harvest, his depen- dence upon an unseen power for that result ne- ver, surelv, diminishes his own diligence in cul- tivating the land ; nor does he deem it less ne- cessary to enclose his growing crop from the de- predations of neighboring cattle. While, therc- fbre, we look to the divine blessing as indispen- sable for the prosperity of religion, we must our- selves labour, by the best and most efficacious means, for its dissemination and maintenance ; as well as guard it from external violence or the destroying influence of internal dissention by every bulwark which, consistently with divine re- velation, human skill can employ. The propa- gation of religion, if not to be adequately efl'ec- ted by the operations of a spontaneous zeal, must he ensured by the more powerful means of a Stnte I m I ! 22 Iff provision, and tlu^ unilbrrnity and purity of reli- gion inaintiiirKMl by those; .sat'e<:fuar«lM wliich an Orilablifciljiiient most cUbctually provides. But to return to the specific charife of corrup- tion as in(hFC(Hl by establishments, and that espe- cially the corruption of the Christian Church commenced with its establishment by Constantino, — wo cnn safely combat the fact, and unhesita- tingly (h^clare that this is one of the common er- rors which the present age at least is likely to expl()d(!. ''No allegation," says the author of Spiritual l)esj)otism, ''can stand more fully con- tradicted by the records of anticpiity than does this ; nor can anything be more easy than to dis- prove the assertion. We must, in charity, im- pute extreme ignorance to those who have pro- fessed to think that the political establishment of Christianity was the cause of its corruption."* Ecclesiastical history furn.shes us with sufficient evidence that the corruption charged upon the ChrifUian Religion as the particular eflect of its establishment by Constantino, had commenced long before, and that even the Apostolic age was not free from many heresies against which we iind the first preachers of Christianity most se- dulous in guarding their converts. It can indeed be safely asserted that such was the vast influ- ence of the surrounding irreligion and idolatry, united with the internal dissensions and heresies in the Church itself, in the days of Constantino, that, without the benefit of his imperial protec- tion, the corruption that existed would rather have been augmented than diminished. " There would certainly," snys Milner, " have been this remark- able diilbrence, namely, that half of the Ro- man world, without the aid of the magistrate, *P. 15-1. „',■. ..-,•-,: ■" ..:* ,--? .. = ; 33 woiilil havi; iXMnaincd ilcsslitute of oven tho foi.. of ClirUtianity."* In contradiction to the opinion somotinies also advanced that, so iiw from there bcin<:]^any advan- tage to vital religion from the fostering' j)rotec- tion of the State, a condition of snllering and persecution is, as a general rule, more conge- nial to its spiritual advancement, we may cite the declaration in the Acts regarding the Aposto- lic Chur'jhcs, that "they ha(l rest juid were (di- ficd, and walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were innliiplicd.^'f It may be remarked as an historical fact hear- ing uj)on the question, that the revenues of the Church, antecedent to the days of Constantino when no Jr^tatc provision was ailbrded, were far greater in amount and value, through the pious donations of the wealthy, ihan would have in- duced the clergy to accept of any compromise tVom tlic imj)orial government which would have secured to them a definite maintenance. Altho' this was a state of things peculiar to the times and not to ho expected as a general rule applying to all conditions of the church in every age, it is sufficient to say that the court patronage at that period, if productive of any corruption at all, was not so through the means so universally al- leged, — by what has usu^Hy been termed the pe- cuniary bribe of a State provision. An author, already frequently quoted, declares, in contra- diction to a commonly received opinion upon this point, that " it may on the most substantial grounds be affirmed that it was the want of a well-devised Church and State ay stem, -the want II fi I ,; Ir M :!-; * Church History, vol. .2, p. 219. f Acts ix. 31. Tr 24 of an establishment, which made the revolution at court in the tirno of Constantine, '\\\ favor of Christianity, extenslveiy and lastingly injurious to the CJiurch."^- In the times which followed, when a cloud of gloom overshadowed the literary world and gave to several successive centuries the expressive appeliation of the "dark ages," if it be asked, says an eloquent writer, " by what causes it hap- pened that a few sparks of ancient learning sur- vived through this long winter, we can only as- cribe their preservation to the EstaMuhmcnt of Chridianiti/.^^ ■[ And setting aside the condi- tioa of the unconverted woild, there are facts to prove that in thj case of those Churches which did not possess the advantage of legal protc^c- tion and where the direct benefits of an estab- lishment did not extend, Christianity did not bear up against the gathering darkness ; and that it was only in those which enjoyed that advantJige tliat " religion made a bridge, as it were, across the chaos, and linked the two pe- riods of ancient and modern civilization." J To the often asserted objection that the alli- ance between Church and »State is unnatural, it might be sufficient to reply that this has never been proved. But adopting that o})inion, we must necessarily regard the State, in its abstract position, either as anti-christian, or as posses- sing nothing within itself consentoneous to the natural operations of Christianity. If this hos- tility to amalgamation necessarily exist between the civil and ecclesiastical polity, it would not be * Spirit. Despolism, p. 198. -j- Hallnm : IMiddle Ago^, Vol. 3, p. 333. t Hallam, ibid. , ^ / 25 too nmch lo aisscrl tli;it ihoro cuiiid be no proper congruity between the work of religion and tlie ordinary business of life; that the private, as much as the nuigisterial, cnpacity of any man must, upon this principh?, be inconsistent with the al- lied inlluence of religion. I'he nece:ne — I shall proceed to offer briefly some su,»Too.stions as to the best manner of conferring uj)on the Church of England in this Province tiie 'benefits of that ecclesiastical })rovision vvliich our Consti- tutional Act supplies. And here I shall not in- trude one observation upon the hi^ni lit ff of ibo claim which the Church of England prefers, con- vinced that it rests upon a basis which no argu- ment of mine could strengthen ; nor shall I, by alluding to any other channels for the appropria- tion of this property, trespass upon that delicate ground of expediency, upon which the present generation, in violation especially of any estab- lished principle or vested right, are I conceive scarcely justified in undertaking the responsibi- lity of deciding. Viewing the present demands, and contem- plating the future religious wants of this rising Province, it is not too much to assume that each Township-embracing as it does about 100 square miles and capable of sustaining a population of at least 10,000 souls — would at no very distant period employ the active services of at least two clergymen of the Church of England. There is scarcely a settled township in the Province where the ministrations of one would not, at the pre- sent moment, be gladly welcomed ;* so that there is no extravagance in the anticipation that two would, in the course of a few years, be employed in the same sphere with equal acceptance and uti- lity. ■lit *l ■i-i * Of this fact the Bishop of Quebec, if called upon, could af- ford the most convincing testimony. T ^U) For the more j)orina:i(Mit and secure inaiiiten- ancc of the elergy lluis {i|)j)oiiite(l, I would i^ug- gest, as an obvious diclale of prudence, an Ina- lienable allutlnient of land to each respectively ; — IVom two hnndi'ed to six hundred acr(!S accord- ing to the value of the land as ail'ccted by local circumstances. Until the revenue from these landed endowments became ad(;quate to the main- tenance ol' such clergymen, respectively, an an- nual stipend of not less than £100 should be al- lotted to each, payable from the general fund de- rived from the interest of monies vested from sales and from the annual rents of lands not set apart as specific endowments : — this annual sti- pend to be subject to partial reductions at cer- tain intervals, proportionate to the augmentation of income accruing from the landed appropria- tion. And in order to remove all chance of the deprecated evil of inordinate wealth in the future clergy, a provision might be established by which the surplus of any income exceeding, we may say for example, £500 per annum and derived from the landed endowment, should be paid over to the general fund, to be appropriated to the maintenance of a third rectory in the township, or otherwise as circumstances at the time might require. But as the constitution of the Church of En- gland implies the necessity of clerical supervi- sion, a provision should, at the same time, be es- tablished for the maintenance of the episcopal office. For this purpose I would suggest the spe- cial appropriation of 10,000 acres ; upon the prin- ciple that, hereafter, one Bishop would no more be sufficient for the Province of Upper Canada than a single clergyman for one extensive and po- pulous township. Until the above allotlment be- came sufficiently productive, an adequate appro- MS^Wi Si c priation IVoni the general fund already alluded to ought annually to be assigned for this object ; — and to guard against the i)().-^;^il)ility of extrava- gant wealth in the future iiolders of the episco- pal office, it might be enacted that all surplus re- venue above .€1500 per annum to an individual Bishop, from this source, should be paid into the general fund, to be appropriated to the support of a second or third Bishop, as the circumstan- ces of the country might recpiire. It will be seen that the remarks I have oflered pre-suppose the sale of a very considerable por- tion of the Clergy Reserves. For immediate ef- ficiency rather than for prospective benefit is such a step to be recommended ; but with tlie belief that, upon the former ground, this would be ad- visable, I would suggest the expediency of cau- sing a special sale, perhaps of 20 or 30,0' )0 acres, to be made for the specific purpose of forming a fund to aid in the erection of Parsonage or Glebe- Houses. The possession of such is absolutely essential to the ordinary comfort of cjvery incum- bent ; and the annexation to a mission or parish of a commodious abode will liereaftor, as it does often now, compensate for many of the inconve- niences consequent upon a straitened income. This, Sir, constitutes the outline of the plan which, as the result of my knowledge of the coun- try and of its spiritual necessities, I feel induced to offer for public consideration. I trust it will possess the merit at least of simplicity; with the means of bringing the plan itself into operation, should it be approved. I do not feel that I need trespass upon your attention by offering any re- marks. I shall confine myself to one further ob- servation, that the plan proposed is not charge- able with the imputation of unreasonable demand. It requires not the appropriation to one object '.i2 i of such a quuiitity of the properly iti qucsdon a.5 wouhl preclude the exercise of that more exten- ded bounty which the constituted guardians of our rights and privileges, civil and religious, may feel themselves called upoii to apportion ; while the supply of Clergy of the ("hurch of England which the plan suggested would provide for, would still leave open a wide field for the reli- gious ministrations of other preachers of Chris- tianity. In conclusion I must observe — what the can- did and impartial cannot fail to concede — that in this manner of supplying religious instruciion to the people of this Province to all future genera- tions, there does not exist the possibility of its proving grievous or oppressive to any class of people. While it places the means of affording and perpetuating that most important instruction upon a foundatiort not to be affected by the mu- tabilities of the popular will, the civil and religious rights of all are, in their fullest integrity, respec- ted and preserved. The operations of a system thus constituted, with that vigilant supervision which the system itself involves, cannot fail, with the blessing of the great Head of the Church, to produce that result which should be the object of the prayers and efforts of every Christian, " Glory to God in thk Highkst, and on earth pkace, good-will towards men." .oi: )\ I have the honor to be, Sir, Your faithful humble servant, A. N. BETHUNE. Rectory, Cobourg, Nov, 24th, 1833. .w ;