Books and other items printed in Gaelic from 1801 to 1840 > Sacred lessons and exercises, English and Gaelic

S3
endowment is from Heaven. James i. 17. and iii. 17 * And the
character of his religion is that it is wisdom from above—It is
only wisdom, and appears in being first pure, then peaceable ;
gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy, and good fruits,
without partiality, and without hypocrisy: Its fruits are righte¬
ousness, and sown in peace of them that make peace.
Let true Christians of every denomination, who acknowledge
the divine Revelation as the common standard of perfection, and
the divine will as the unerring, rule of rectitude and duty, be
careful to conform unto it. Imploring the divine Spirit of Je¬
sus to enlighten their minds, to purify theif affections, to direct
their choice, and regulate their conduct: Let them, strength¬
ened by his aid, follow his directions, yield to his dictates, o-
bey his injunctions, and fulfil his good pleasure.
Let the learned assiduously promote the study and knowledge
e of
* As to the external maintenance of religion and virtue, it were good that
those who preside over learning and religion, and civil arrangements, indi¬
vidually, and conjoined, vigilantly and carefully, accomplished the duties of
their various departments; and that the funds of legal provisions and pious
donations, were uprightly applied. If voluntary charity, or legal security,
appropriate l-5th, 1-IOth, or any proportion for public benefits, still inte¬
grity and prudence is to be employed in the most convenient mode of applica¬
tion. The laws of Scotland, make l-5th of free rent the tithe : and yet by
old valuation, it is not the same with that proportion as found when a civil
valuation takes place for the taxation. The event shows now the truth of
this fact. See Sir H. Spelman, on Tithes and pious Donations. Gen. xlvii.
22. 26. Ezra vii. 24. Small stipends and the universities have been lately
?ided by government.
Tho’ the necessities of the State and warfare have encreased the exactions on
the Church of Scotland for a time by imposition, and improper application of
the income and property tax, by express Statute, glebes and manses were
exempted as pious donations, and even the officers of the Crown admitted it.
Deductions in reason ought to be allowed for communion elements, the wi¬
dows fund already a legal tax, which seems thrice charged, first as part of
the living, then from the fund, and then from the widow. It is fair to ad¬
mit deductions for travelling expences at visitations and attending church
courts, and the saddle and horse tax. Sacred history represents Pharaoh as
leaving the land of the priests untouched by the famine of Egypt, and Ezra
records the exemption granted by Artaxerxes to fhe Jewish church and
te&ple.K School bur=aries and exhibitions would be useful.
*
VVW . > . r '■
• *