Memoir of the Chisholm

200 ADDRESS TO CONSTITUENTS.
difficulty which opposes itself equally to men
in their individual capacity ; it is the con-
dition of debased and blinded humanity : but
this difficulty can never annihilate truth, nor
alter its nature ; it cannot make void the real-
ity of its existence, nor do away with the ob-
ligation which is binding on men, in every re-
lation of life, public or private, in every variety
of corporate, as well as individual, capacity, to
make themselves sure of what it is, and by
every exercise of legitimate authority and
power to teach and promote it. And if this
be so, it will necessarily follow, that, in carry-
ing the scheme into practice, there must be
adopted and enforced, as well a formula of doc-
trine, as a fixed and definite system of exter-
nal discipline and government.
" This will, of necessity, exclude from na-
tional endowment and support the ministry of
every sect, who shall feel indisposed, whether
professors of true or corrupt Christianity, to
conform to the precise mould of the National
Establishment. But if any one, admitting
that, in a Christian country, the government,
as such, should be Christian, shall affirm that,
in a national Church Establishment, there is
oppression, I say that that man is either a very