n 1840 there were five clergymen
in Western Australia, and on the 1st of January, 1841, the foundation
stone of a church at Perth to contain 600 persons was laid by the
governor; its estimated cost was 4000_l._ There are churches also at
Guildford, at the Middle Swan, the Upper Swan, and at York, and a new
church erecting at Albany, near King George's Sound. Some humble little
churches have also been built of mud, and thatched with rushes, in this
colony. And although, where it can be done, we think that noble churches
are most becoming to the service of the King of kings, yet we doubt not,
in the cases where these lowly buildings are unavoidable, that since
"the chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels," so
these ministering spirits are sent forth into the wilderness to minister
unto them that are heirs of salvation: we confidently trust that "the
Lord is among them," even "as in the holy place of Sinai." Wesleyan
meeting-houses are to be found at Perth and Fremantle. The governor
and executive council were authorized to "grant aid towards ministers'
stipends, and towards buildings, _without any distinction of
sect_."[164] This precious system, which would make no "distinction of
sect," between the doctrine of the beloved apostle St. John, and that of
the Nicolaitans, "which God hates,"[165] is almost a dead letter in
Western Australia, owing to the scattered state of the population, and
the great majority of them being members of the Church of England. The
duty of government to _tolerate_ separatists, (while they continue
obedient to the laws of the country,) is now denied by no one; and
toleration, one might have supposed, would have been all that those who
dislike a state church would have accepted; but the duty of government
to _encourage_ and _foster_ separation in places where it does not at
present exist, is inculcated neither by reason, policy, nor Scripture;
neither can dissenters consistently accept of aid from the state in
Australia, and exclaim against it in England.

[164] See Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. 1, p. 28.

[165] See Rev. ii. 15.

One more commencement of colonization in the island of New Holland must
be mentioned in order to complete the circle. An attempt to form a
settlement on the northern coast was made as early as 1824, at Melville
Island, rather more than five degrees to the west of the Gulph of
Carpentaria; but this establishment was moved in 1827 to