PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

I
424 Of Religi~lIs E;foblisiJllltnti,
fed and kept alive in the neighbourhood; with \\1ha~
llnconquerable aversion the teacher and his religion
would be received by tbe defeated party, may be
foreseen by those who reflect with how much passim:
every dispute is carried 9n, in which the name of re·
ligion can be made to mix itself; much more where
the cause itself is conc.emed so immediately as it
would be in this. Or, thirdly, if tbe state appoint
the ministers of religion, this constitution will diRer
little from the establishment of a national religion; for
the state will, undoubtedl)T, appoint those, and thos~
alone, whose religious opinion~ or rather whose religious
denomination agrees \vith it~ own; unless it
be thought that any thing would be gained to religious
liberty by transferring the ch'lice cf ahe national
religion from the legislature of the country, to the
magistrate who adlPinisters the executive government.
The only plan \\Yhich seenlS to render the legal
maintenance of a clergy pr-clcticable, \vithout the-
, It~gal pref~rence of one sect of Christians to others, is
that of an experiment which is sa-id to be attempted
V'"' f~or designed in some of the new states of North Amer-
1 t ica. The nature of the pian is thus described. A
tax is levied upon the inhabitants for the genera! ~upport
of religion; the conector of the tax goes round
with a register in his hand, in which are inserted, at
the head- of ~o many distinct colu-nlns, the names ofthe
~everal religious sects~ that are profL~sed in the
country. The person, \\-110 is eallcd "POD for the as­
~essment, as soon as he ha~ paid his E1\1(Jta, S\lBscribc=s
his naU1.e and the rum in which of the colunlns h€
pleases; and the amount of what is C6t1ecte-d in each
( column is paid over to the' 111illistcr' of that denomina­
\ tion. In this ~cheme it is not left to the option of
the subjeat, whether he will contribute, or how much
he shall contribute to tile tnaintenance of a Christiaf.}
Dlinistry; it is only referred to his choice to deter-
. mine by what sect his contribution ~hall be received.
"The above arrangement is, undoubtedly, the best that
has been proposed upon this principle: it bE:ars th~
appearance of liberality and ju:-tice; it may contain