(Extract from the writings of Dr. James Begg.)
VITAL questions are inseparably bound up with the maintenance of the Establishment principle. Voluntaryism being a denial of the moral nature and obligation of states, leads directly to national atheism. It confounds the state with “the world,” forgetting that civil government is a Divine ordinance, and that the civil magistrate is a “minister of God” unto the people for good. It is questionable whether Popery itself more directly robs Christ of His glory—the glory of having “all power in heaven and on earth.” It sets aside the true theory of free and scriptural government. Upon pretence of great spirituality, it will have nothing to do with the state, and yet it will enter into the most unworthy alliances, and adopt the most unscrupulous means to accomplish its ends. It is a most revolutionary principle, and would set aside all that is sacred in our present national arrangements—for example, the Protestantism of the Throne—the opening of Parliament with prayer—the maintenance of the purity of the text of Scripture—the sacredness of the Sabbath, and the laws of marriage—oaths in courts of justice—and, above all, the Scriptural education of the young. If the Establishment principle is given up—or short of this, if we are to make light of the obligations of national religion, the most serious consequences would undoubtedly follow. In this point of view, instead of its being a small question with which we are dealing, or one of little importance, it is probably the largest question that can be raised, and enters more deeply than any other into all the relations of social life. This is not a mere theory.