state of the religious communities among us. Before we proceed to some general remarks founded on the review we have taken, we proceed to extract from the Estimates for 1844, the probable expenses of the Church Establishments, forming a charge on the territory of New South Wales. £460 each, one at £350, seven at £250, twenty-eight at £200, seven at £150, and four at £100 per annum each. Allowance in lieu of forage for one horse each to eight clergymen, at 2s. 6d. per day, each Allowance for the maintenance of two boatmen on the River Hawkesbury. Travelling expenses for clergymen on duty Allowance for house rent to six clergymen. Five at £60 each, and one at £50 per annum. 178 CHURCH ESTIMATES. PORT PHILLIP. Three clergymen, at £200, £150, Special grant for St. James's PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. SYDNEY. Six ministers. Three at £200 each, and three at £150 each per an. £1,050 0 0 PORT PHILLIP. One minister at £200 per annum. £200 0 0 CHURCH OF ROME. SYDNEY. The Most Reverend the Vicar Apostolic The Very Reverend the Vicar General Twenty-one clergymen. Fifteen at £200 each, three at £150 each, and three at £100 each Allowances for travelling expenses. PORT PHILLIP. Two clergymen at £200, and one at £150 per annum To meet the expense of inspecting churches and ministers' dwellings To meet unforeseen demands to which the government is pledged under the Church Act, including the building of churches of all denominations, and salaries of clergymen who may arrive in the colony with permission of the Secretary of State . Total 350 0 0 £5,000 00 250 00 12,000 0 0 £36,220 10 0 180 ANOMALOUS LEGISLATION. £ s. d. Deduct amount provided for by This account calls for no remark, unless it be the large sum of £5,000, which a Protestant government pays for, what is believed to be, a false faith. Surely there needs some consideration here. Are not the principles of the Roman Catholic Church what they always were? And shall a government, calling itself Protestant and Christian, lavish such sums on the dissemination of these principles? We must speak out. Truth and consistency require it at our hands. The suspicion of bigotry and uncharitableness must not blind our eyes to the anomalous legislation which supports alike truth and error. If it be bigotry to protest against such an appropriation of public money, bigoted we are contented to be; but while we feel, and would readily display all Christian Charity towards those from whom we differ, principle must not be sacrificed: the points of difference between us are too great, too vital, to admit of compromise, or justify concession. "Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet waters and bitter?" Shall a government, with one hand, support the Ministers of God's Holy word, and with the other, cherish and uphold a system which seals that same book, and garbles its most precious truths? If our Protestantism be worth any thing, it is worth every thing. The tendency and disposition of the Church against which we set ourselves, is to encroach, and when we know that the encroachment, if commenced, would tend to the upturning of our dearest and most cherished principles, we tremble at that which might, by possibility, lead to such a result. Let our government cease to call itself Protestant, or let it cease to contradict its name by its Colonial policy. On these high points we must be consistent, if we would prosper. The government in our colony offers, in the event of a Church being required in any parish, to grant a sum equal to that raised by private contribution, provided it do not exceed a certain amount. Many churches have lately been built in this manner in thickly-peopled districts of the interior, and soon we may hope to see many more. We must not close, without referring to the establishment of two bishoprics in the Southern Hemisphere, one in New Zealand; the other in Van Diemen's Land. His Lordship, the Bishop of New Zealand, stayed for a short time among us on his way to his Diocese in April, 1841. His heart seemed fully impressed with the importance of his work, and he is evidently ready to "spend and be spent" in his master's service. Accounts reach us in Sydney of his zealous labours, as well as of the |