SOCIETY LONDON: FOR THE LIBERATION OF RELIGION AND ARTHUR MIALL, 18, BOUVERIE STREET, FLEET STREET. PREFACE. THE following Essays, re-printed from the works of some of the most eminent writers on the relations of the Church to the State, are published at the present time in consequence of the importance which this question is now likely to assume. It has been thought desirable that, while public attention is being increasingly directed to the subject, the arguments of those who believe that the patronage and support of the Church by the State is equally unscriptural and unjust, and productive of the worst consequences both to the religious and the social well-being of the people, should be presented in a manner calculated to command respect and to produce conviction. This, it is believed, is done by the writers of these Essays. It will be observed that the Essays are confined, for the most part, to the statement and the defence of principles. They do not deal with the historical and practical aspects of the question, such as the origin and progress of StateChurchism, the nature of Church property, the administration of ecclesiastical resources, the legal disabilities of Dis senters, and the question of public education. This has been done in other publications, and will again be done as necessity may require. It is hoped that the friends of the Free Churches will give to this work such a circulation as will justify its issue. They will find in it the foundation principles of their existence laid down with unsurpassed power of reasoning and felicity of illustration. They will find in it an armoury weapons wherewith the most able and plausible defences of Church Establishments may be successfully assailed. Most of the writers are now dead. Their works were of eminent service to their own generation, and, as now republished, will, it is believed, be of still greater service to those who have inherited the fruit of their labours. of It may be desirable to state that any of these Essays can be had separately. 2, Serjeants' Inn, October, 1867. CONTENTS. 1. CIVIL ESTABLISHMENTS OF CHRISTIANITY TRIED BY THEIR ONLY AUTHORITATIVE TEST, THE WORD OF GOD. By 2. CIVIL ESTABLISHMENTS OF RELIGION IMPEACH THE INTRINSIC POWER OF THE GOSPEL. By the Rev. J. H. Hinton, M.A. 3. THE LAW OF CHRIST WITH RESPECT TO CIVIL OBEDIENCE. By John Brown, D.D., Edinburgh. 4. THE DUTY OF THE MAGISTRATE IN RESPECT TO THE CHRIS- TIAN RELIGION. By J. Pye Smith, D.D. 5. DISSENT NOT SCHISM. By Rev. Thomas Binney. 6. THE LAW OF CHRIST FOR MAINTAINING HIS CHURCH. By 7. INFLUENCE OF THE UNION OF THE CHURCH WITH THE STATE UPON CHRISTIAN UNION AND THE PROGRESS OF RELIGION. By the Hon. and Rev. Baptist W. Noel. 8. THE ORIGIN AND EFFECTS OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH OF 9. THE CONSCIENCE OF THE STATE. By Alexander Vinet. 10. THE PRINCIPLES OF DISSENT, AND THE DUTIES OF DIS- SENTERS. By the Rev. John Angell James. 11. CHURCH ESTABLISHMENTS INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE RIGHTS |