THE WEALTH OF NATIONS.

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narchies, the exigencies of the state must be ultimately sup-plied. The more of this fund that is given to the church, theless, it is evident, can be spared to the state. It may be laiddown as a certain maxim, that, all other things being supposedequal, the richer the church, the poorer must necessarily be,either the sovereign on the one hand, or the people on theother; and, in all cases, the less able must the state be todefend itself. In several protestant countries, particularly inall the protestant cantons of Switzerland , the revenue whichanciently belonged to the Roman catholic church , the tithesand church lands, has been found a fund sufficient, not onlyto afford competent salaries to the established clergy, but todefray, with little or no addition, all the other expenses ofthe state. The magistrates of the powerful canton of Berne,in particular, have accumulated out of the savings from thisfund a very large sum, supposed to amount to several millions,part of which is deposited in a public treasure, and part isplaced at interest in what are called the public funds of thedifferent indebted nations of Europe ; chielly in those ofFrance and Great Britain . What may be the amount of thewhole expense which the church , either of Berne, or of anyother protestant canton, costs the state, I do not pretend toknow. By a very exact account it appears, that, in 1755, thewhole revenue of the clergy of the church of Scotland , in-cluding their glebe or church lands, and the rent of theirmanses or dwelling-houses, estimated according to a reasonablevaluation, amounted only to 68,514/. l,y. 5 T ^(I. This very mo-derate revenue affords a decent subsistence to nine hundredand forty-four ministers. The whole expense of the church,including what is occasionally laid out for the building andreparation of churches, and of the manses of ministers, can-not well be supposed to exceed eighty or eighty-five thousandpounds a year. The mostopulent church in Christendom doesnot maintain better the uniformity of faith, the fervour of de-votion, the spirit of order, regularity, and austere morals inthe great body of the people, than this very poorly endowedchurch ot Scotland . All the good effects, both civil and re-ligious, which an established church can be supposed to pro-duce, are produced by it as completely as by any other. Thegreater part of the protestant churches of Switzerland , whichht general are not better endowed than the church of Scot-land, produce those effects in a still higher degree In thegreater part of the protestant cantons, there is not a single