VOLUNTARY AND COMPULSORY SUPPORT OF RELIGION.
"In pursuance of the King's letter, collections were on Sunday last made in most of the London churches, in aid of the funds of the Society for Building and Enlarging Places of Divine Worship ; but, owing to want of due notice on the part of many of the clergy, the benefactions are said to have fallen very far short of what they would other wise have been."— Globe.
We fear that the experience of Sunday last will not mitigate the hostility of the Heads of the Church to the voluntary prin- ciple. It is rather too bad, though, in these worthy pluralists to declaim from the pulpit and in the House of Peers in favour of the Establishment, while at the same time they are practising the very methods which Dissenters are obliged to resort to in order to erect their places of worship. Fortunately for the clergy of the Establishment, they are not compelled to rely upon the affection or piety of their flocks for their support, or the decent maintenance of their churches. The same paper from which we have taken the account of the abortive efforts of Sunday last to extract voluntary contributions front the, pockets of' the church-goers, furnishes the following paragraph among its Police intelligence.
"Mr. Laing, at Hatton Garden, was occupied a considerable period in hear- ing summonses fur the church-rate of St. Pancras parish, when about five hun- dred persons attended who had been summoned. Great discontent was mani- fested, and many Dissenters were loud in their complaints at being called upon to pay the rate. They, however, were ordered to pay the arrears in seven days, or distress warrants would be issued against them."
What a commentary on the paragraph which we first quoted! Is it not disgusting to find such indecent proceedings resorted to for the support of the worship of God? But it is felt that this will not be borne much longer—" force will not long remain with the law." Therefore it must be altered; and the same thing which is hateful when openly done, will, it is supposed, be palatable when done under cover. All, in future, will indirectly contribute to the support of the Church ; for if any were excused on the ground of conscientious dislike of the Church, as Lord ALTHORP says, the ranks of such Dissenters would be swelled enormously. The Establishment therefore rests upon the strong arm of the law, not the love of the people.
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