Claims of the Gospel Ministry to an Adequate Support [pp. 180-201]

Claims of the Gospel Mlinistry
they can sustain themselves, or rather that they will be sustained by their divine author, not only without the aid, but
in despite of all the opposition of the world. The experiment, though somewhat differently modified in the present
case, is not new. The church for three hundred years, so far
from being supported, was opposed and persecuted by the
state. Yet it not only lived, but spread more rapidly and
extensively than (luring any equal period from that time to
this. The Catholic church in Ireland has sustained itself for
nearly three centuries, in despite of the frowns of the government, and in the presence of a rival and established institution. The Dissenters in England, though in many instances burdened with the payment of church rates, and of
tithes for the support of the establishment, have yet lived
and multiplied until they constitute a large proportion of the
people. In our country, with regard to most denominations,
from the beginning, and with regard to all, of late years, the
same thing may be said. They have continued and exten(led themselves with ever increasing vigour. It is a matter
for devout gratitude, that while the church has had to make
provision not merely for her own increasing children, but
for the hundreds of thousands who are constantly arriving
from foreign countries, she has in a good measure come up
to the greatness of her task. The unportioned church of
America has made as competent provision for the population
of this country, at least where the settlements are thirty years
ol(l, as the church of England, with all her vast endowments,
has made for the people of England. There is as much
complaint there, as here, of the want of church accommodation, and religious instruction. There is therefore no ground
for despondency. The promise of God stands sure. His
church shall not die. It is the salt and light of the world.
That salt will not lose its savour; nor that light its brightness,
until the whole world is imbued with the grace, and illumined with the glory of the Lord.
Though there is every reason to entertain this confi(lence in the continuance and increasing influence of the
church of God, it is not to be concealed or forgotten that our
enjoyment of its blessings, and the transmission of them to
our descendants depends, under God, upon our own exertions. Scripture and history abundantly teach us that though
the church be imperishable, the church privileges and blessings of a particular people are suspended on their fidelity.
The church did not cease to exist, when the Jews, for their
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