Hook, Walter Farquhar
On The Church and the Establishment.
London, 1834

l^EfVEB^J

YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

ON

THB^^HlLit^^r

A1>fl> ,

THE ESTABLISHMENT.

TWO PLAIN SERMONS,

BY

THE REV. WALTER FARQUHAR HOOK, M.A.
VICAR OF TRINITY PARISH, COVENTRY,
AND
Ci^flplatn ill ©rttiuaij) to t^t IS11T3.

LONDON:
JOHN TURRILL, 250, REGENT STREET.
1834.

LONDON :
H. SHOBERL, JUN., 4, LEICESTER STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE.

TO
THE WARDENS,
THE VESTRY, AND
THE CONGREGATION, OF
Cn'nitp Cfturd^, Cobentrp,
THESE SERMONS,
DELIVERED AT THEIR WEDNESDAY EVENING LECTURE,
^vt xtgputlulls Bnict^ea
BY THEIR GRATEFUL FRIEND
AND
AFFECTIONATE PASTOR.

TWO PLAIN SERMONS

THE CHURCH

THE ESTABLISHMENT.

SERMON I.

The Church was like a garden, in which things rank and gross
in nature were running to seed : but they did not possess it wholly ;
it still produced beautiful flowers and wholesome herbs and fruit.
At the Reformation, wise men would have weeded the garden, but
rash ones were for going to work with the plough and the harrow.
SoUTHEY.

ON THE CHURCH

THE ESTABLISHMENT.

SERMON I.

The Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of tha
Truth.— I Tim. iii, 15.
By the Church is here meant that community
of Christians, existing in its various branches,
which was instituted by our Saviour, Jesus
Christ himself, and by him placed under the
superintendence of the Apostles and their suc
cessors. Ofthe commission of all the Apostles, except
St. Paul, we read in the Gospels. There we
see that, as the Father sent the Lord Jesus
in his character of the Messiah, so did the Lord

8
Jesus in that character send his Apostles*.
To them he appointed a kingdom, even as the
Father had appointed a kingdom to himf.
And, having previously commissioned them
to consecrate the Sacrament of his body and
blood, and to celebrate that ordinance in re
membrance of him, he left them, as his last
injunction — just before he went up on high to
receive good gifts for mea — he left them this
command: — " Oo ye, therefore, and disciple
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you %."
Our Saviour at the same time added : ¦ —
" And, lo ! I am with you alway, even unto the
end of the world. Amen!" — that is to say,
he would be with them in these their minis-
* John, XX. 21. t Luke, xxii. 29.
\ Matthew, xxvui. 19, 20.

9
trations, co-operating with them by his Spirit.
But this he could not be, if his promise were
intended only to include the eleven persons to
whom he immediately spake. For these per
sons, instead of abiding till the end of the
world, in due course, went the way of all flesh.
Our Lord must, therefore, have meant, what
the Church has always understood him to
mean, that he would be present with that body
of men, whom he thus incorporated and com
missioned to act as his ministers and as the
rulers of the Church. Individuals were to pass
away, but, by a constant succession of mem
bers, the commissioned body was to continue,
and, so continuing, to be blessed with his
spiritual presence.
That the eleven who were first commis^
sioned by our Lord thus understood their com
mission is clear, since the very first thing they
did was to exercise the privilege, which their

10
commission implied, of adding to their number.
They determined to make up their number to
twelve (the apostate Judas having forfeited
his Bishopric) ; and for this purpose they se
lected Joseph, called Barsabas, and Matthias.
And God sanctioned their proceeding by in
terfering by miracle, on their supplication, to
point out which of the two should be conse
crated. The fact to which I have alluded, and which
is recorded in the first chapter of the Acts,
is important on two considerations ; first, it
shows that the Apostles understood our Lord's
commission not to be confined to those to
whom it was immediately addressed, but to
embrace also their successors ; and, secondly,
since they performed, this act before the
miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost on the
day of Pentecost, it is obvious that they made
a distinction between that commission, which

11
they received only in common with the other
Bishops of the Church, and that miraculous
power which was conferred upon them to ena
ble them to execute their commission under
circumstances of peculiar difficulty.
To the number of commissioned ministers
of Christ, our Lord himself added the great
Apostle of the Gentiles, St. Paul. The divine
Head of the Church, the blessed Jesus, has a
right to send on an extraordinary mission
whom he will ; and we should never reject
any one who should come among us so com
missioned. Only as when St. Paul was com
missioned, out of due course, the commission
was notified by miracle — so should we say to
any one who pretended that he had received a
command from on high to minister in sacred
things, and that he was thus exempted from
the usual form of ordination conferred by the
successors of the Apostles : — "It may be as

12
you say, but, before we admit your pretensions,
let a miracle be performed, to convince us that
God himself has sanctioned so great an ex
ception to the general rule which he has him
self laid down."
Of the early growth and progress of the
Church, (that community of Christians placed
by our Lord under the superintendence of the
Apostles and their successors) we read in the
Acts of the Apostles, and in the apostolic
Epistles. The Apostles went into all nations, as they
were commanded, and preached Christ cruci
fied ; but not only this : wheresoever they went
they at the same time established the kingdom
of Christ by organizing the Church. The con
duct of the Son of God was, in no respect,
more distinguished from that of the celebrated
heathen philosophers than in this — that they,
when they had broached their tenets, took no

13
steps for the promulgation of them ; whereas,
he, by instituting his Sacraments, and ordain
ing a body of men whose business to the end
of time will be to administer them, has secured
for ever, even by human means, the promul
gation of the two great truths of his religion,
a belief in the atonement and in the necessity
of grace. Thus the Apostles, in every place
to which they went, not only preached the
Gospel, but ordained an order of men, with
powers inferior to their own, and without
permission to add to their numbers, whose
office it was and still is to preach the Gospel,
to offer the prayers of the people, to bless
in God's name, and to administer both the
Sacraments. These men were called Presby
ters (contracted into Priests), and sometimes
Bishops — not meaning by that title what
we now mean, but simply a superintendent
of a single congregation. To assist these.

14
with more limited powers, they also appointed
Deacons. Hence we find the early churches
thus constituted : there was a baptized people,
to minister among whom Presbyters and
Deacons were appointed, while over the whole
body the Apostle who first founded the Church
presided as what we should now call the
Bishop. He visited this Church (as our
Bishops in these days visit the Churches under
them) as circumstances required ; and, if
detained from them long, he was accustomed
to send to them his directions by letter. Thus
the Epistles of St. Paul are, most of them,
letters addressed by the inspired writer, in his
character of Apostle or Bishop, to the Churches
under his superintendence.
Some persons seem to think that the govern
ment of the Church was essentially different
in the days of the Apostles from what it is
now, because they do not find the names and

15
titles of the ecclesiastical officers precisely the
same. For instance, as I have just said, he
whom we now call a Presbyter or Priest was
frequently styled in the New Testament a
Bishop. But it is not for names that we con
tend. We ask what was the fact, and the
fact was this ; that the officer whom we now
call a Bishop was at first called an Apostle,
although afterwards it was thought better to
confine the title of Apostle to those who had
seen the Lord Jesus, while their successors,
exercising the same rights and authority,
though unendowed with miraculous powers,
contented themselves with the designation of
Bishops. After this, the title was never given
to the second order of the ministry. In the
New Testament we find each Church (as I
have just said, and now, on account of the
importance of the subject, repeat) thus con
stituted : — there was an Apostle to superin-

16
tend it — Presbyters and Deacons under him,
and the company of Believers ; the only differ
ence is that, instead of calling him that pre
sides over any particular branch ofthe Church
an Apostle, we now call him a Bishop. And
such rulers, descending from the Apostles,
the true Church has ever possessed from the
ascension of our blessed Saviour to the present
hour ; for the earliest uninspired writer we
have — a disciple of St. John himself — states it
as an acknowledged rule in his day, that
nothing was to be done without the sanction
of the Bishop.
In this manner was the Church originally
formed. It extended itself into several branches.
and each branch, continuing not only in the
Apostles' doctrine but in their fellowship, was
called a distinct Church. We read of the
Church at Jerusalem, the Church of the Thessa
lonians, the Church of Ephesus, and Smyrna,

17
and Pergamos, and Thyatira, and Sardis,
and Philadelphia, and Laodicea. In one sense,
they were separate Churches, as each was
complete in itself under its Bishop (called
by St. John its Angel) ; in another sense,
the Church was one, inasmuch as in all its
branches the same doctrines were professed,
the same episcopal discipline observed : — There
was one body and one spirit, even as they were
called in one hope of their calling, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one Ood and Father
of all, who is above all, and through all, and in
them all.
The Church, so constituted by our Lord,
and governed by the Apostles and those Bi
shops, their successors, to whom our Lord's
commission applied equally with the Apostles
themselves — the Church so constituted was
open universally to all persons of all nations,
and was not confined, as was the Jewish
B

18
Church, to a single people. It was, therefore,
called Catholic, or universal. But, against
the doctrine or discipline of this Apostolic
Church, numerous sects professing to believe in
Christ soon arose. These sects were generally
distinguished by the names of their founders,
whereas the true Church rejected any desig
nation that seemed to confine it exclusively
to one party or place. But, as some desig
nation was necessary, it was usually known
by the name of the Catholic Church of such
or such a place. And consequently the word
Catholic, in process of time, came to signify,
not universal, but true. The ancient eccle
siastical writers almost invariably use it in
this sense — namely, to denote the Church,
which, in any place, by the succession of its
Bishops, has come down in regular descent
from the first Apostles, as contradistinguished
from all other sects. Those persons are con-

19
sequently in error who would use the term
Catholic to denote an amalgamation of all sects
— for the term was in the first ages always
used to distinguish the true Church from
sectarian congregations; and those are still
more in error who speak of the Papists as
Catholics. If you call the Romish sect in this
country the Catholic Church, you as much as
say that it is the true Church. The Catholic
Church means the true Church of Christ,
holding the Apostolic doctrine, and governed
by Bishops descending regularly from the
Apostles — and a Catholic Church means a
branch of that true Church.
These Churches descending from the Apos
tles have continued to the present day. They
are to be found in the east and in the west,
and against them, forming the one Church of
Christ, we know that the gates of hell will
not prevail. But among these Churches great
b2

20
errors have prevailed, and in some of them
they still exist. These great errors, which
call out for reformation, do not prevent such
Churches from being true Churches, for he is
still a true man whose face is besmeared with
dirt, and the diamond is still a diamond though
covered with dust. Against the Churches,
to which St. John, in the Apocalypse, was
directed to address himself, the Divine had
many things to write ; but, while he threatened
punishment, he did not pronounce them to be
no true Churches.
In this country — and it is with our own
country that we are concerned — a true branch
of the Catholic Church has existed from the
remotest antiquity. Bishops from Britain sat
in some of the earliest councils; and the
prelates, who at this present time rule the
Churches of these realms, were validly ordained
by others, who, by means of an unbroken

21
spiritual descent of ordination, derived their
mission from the Apostles and from our Lord.
" This continual descent is evident to every one
who chooses to investigate it. Let him read
the catalogues of our Bishops ascending up to
the most remote period. Our ordinations de
scend in a direct unbroken line from Peter and
Paul, the Apostles ofthe Circumcision and the
Gentiles. These great Apostles successively
ordained Linus, Cletus, and Clement, Bishops
of Rome ; and the Apostolic succession was
regularly continued from them to Celestine,
Gregory, and Vi tali anus, who ordained Pa
trick Bishop for the Irish, and Augustine
and Theodore for the English. And from
those times, an uninterrupted series of valid
ordinations has carried down the Apostolical
succession in our Churches to the present
day. There is not a Bishop, Priest, or Deacon,
among us, who cannot, if he please, trace his

22
own spiritual descent from St. Peter or St.
Paul.*" That in the Church of England purity of
doctrine was not always retained is readily
admitted. In the dark ages, when all around
was dark, the Church itself suffered from the
universal gloom ; this neither our love of truth
nor our wishes will permit us to deny. About
the seventh century, the Pope of Rome began
to establish an influence and interest in our
Church. The interference of the Prelate of
that great See, before he laid claim to any do
minion of right, was at first quite justifiable,
and did not exceed the just bounds, while
it contributed much to the propagation of the
Gospel. That the Bishop of Rome was jus
tified in endeavouring to aid the cause of
Christianity here in England, when England
was a colony of the Roman empire, will not
* Palmer's Origines Lilurgirrp, vol. ii, p. 249.

23
be disputed by those who recognize the same
right in the Archbishop of Canterbury with
respect to our own colonies. But, in after
ages, what was at first a justifiable interference
was so increased as to become an intolerable
usurpation. This authority was an usurpa
tion, because it was expressly contrary to the
decisions of a general council of the Church,
and such as the Scripture condemns, in that
the Scripture places all Bishops on an equa
lity, and so they ought to continue to be,
except where, for the sake of order, they vo
luntarily consent to the appointment of a
President or Archbishop, who is nothing more
than a primus inter pares. This usurpation
for a time continued, and with it were intro
duced various corruptions, in doctrine as well
as in discipline.
At length, in the reign of Henry VIII, the
Bishops and Clergy accorded with the Laity

24
and Government of England, and threw ofT
the yoke of the usurping Pope of Rome. They,
at the same time, corrected and reformed all
the errors of doctrine and most of the errors
of discipline which had crept into our Church
during the reign of intellectual darkness. They
condemned the monstrous doctrine of transub-
stantiation, the worship of saints and images,
communion in one kind, and the constrained
celibacy ofthe Clergy, having first ascertained
that these and similar errors were obtruded
into the Church in the middle ages. Thus re
storing the Church to its ancient state of purity
and perfection, they left it to us, their children,
as we now find it — a glorious Church, without
spot or wrinkle or any such thing. They did
not attempt to make new, their object was to
re/brm, the Church. They stripped their vener
able mother of the meretricious gear in which
Superstition had arrayed her, and left her in

25
that plain and decorous attire with which, in
the simple dignity of a matron, she had been
adorned by Apostolic hands.
Thus, then, you see ours is the old Church
of England, tracing its origin not to Cranmer,
and Latimer, and Ridley, who only reformed
it — but the only Church of England, which
traces its origin up through the Apostles, to
our Saviour himself. To adopt the words of
the most learned and pious writer to whom I
have before referred : " The orthodox and
undoubted Bishops of Great Britain and Ire
land are the only persons who in any manner,
whether by ordination or possession, can prove
their descent from the ancient Saints and
Bishops of these Isles. It is a positive fact,
that they, and they alone, can trace their
ordinations from Peter and Paul, through
Patrick, Augustine, Theodore, Colman, Co-
lumba, David, Cuthbert, Chad, Anselm, Os-

26
mund, and all the other worthies of our
Church."* " It is true that there are some
schismatical Romish Bishops in these realms,
but they are of a recent origin, and cannot
show the prescription and possession that we
can. Some of these teachers do not profess
to be Bishops of our Churches, but are titular
Bishops of places we know not. Others
usurp the titles of various Churches in these
Islands, but are neither in possession them
selves, nor can prove that their predecessors
ever occupied them. The Sect (the sect of
English Papists or Roman Catholics) arose
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when certain
persons, unhappily and blindly devoted to the
See of Rome, refused to obey and communi
cate with their lawful pastors, who, in accord
ance with the law of God and the canons,
asserted the ancient independence of the
* Origines Lit ti.rgiccB , vol. ii. p. 2.52.

27
British and Irish Church ; and the Roman
Patriarch then ordained a few Bishops to Sees
in Ireland, which were already occupied by
legitimate pastors. In England, this ministry
is of later origin ; for the first Bishop of that
communion was a titular Bishop of Chalcedon
in the seventeenth century."*
You see, then — and in these days it is
particularly necessary to bear the fact in
mind — that ours is the old Catholic Church of
England ; a Church which traces its origin to
the Apostles and our Lord ; a Church which
in the dark ages laboured under abuses and
corruptions, which were removed under the
Episcopates of Archbishop Cranmer and
Archbishop Parker. Nothing can be more
* Origines LiturgiccE, vol. II. p. 251. The reader is referred to
this most interesting and satisfactory work, if he wish to see the
statements here made established and proved. See also Rose's
admirable Discourses on the Commission and Consequent Duties of
the Clergy ; and Discourse 7. vol. i. of the Practical Theology of
the truly apostolical Bishop Jebb — m h aj/ioi;.

28
mistaken than to speak of these great men as
the founders of our Church. One only is our
founder, and that is Christ. And as well
might we say of a man when he has washed
his face that he is not the same man as he
was before his ablution, as to say of the
Church of England that she is a different
Church since the Reformation from what she
was before.
You will observe how important all this is,
which I have now laid before you. Unless
Christ be spiritually present with the ministers
of religion in their services, those services will
be vain. But the only ministrations to which
he has promised his presence is to those of the
Bishops who are successors ofthe first commis
sioned Apostles, and the other clergy acting
under their sanction and by their authority.
I know the outcry which is raised against
this — the doctrine of the Christian Church

29
for 1800 years — I know the outcry that is
raised against it by those sects which can
trace their origin no higher than to some cele
brated preacher at the Reformation. But I
disregard it, because I shall, by God's help,
continue to do, what I have done ever since I
came among you — namely, declare the whole
counsel of God, without regard to conse
quences, or respect of persons, and, at the
same time, as far as in me lies, live peaceably
with all men.
But, after all, the outcry is most unjust.
We seek not to condemn others, though we
maintain that ours is the only right path.
There is no precept of the Gospel more im
portant than this — Judge not that ye may
not be judged. If a man err through igno
rance, ignorance such as he has had no means
to remedy, we may surely suppose that this
ignorance will be pardoned, and that God,

30
though he have not promised to be so, may yet
be with him. Or, again, the same may be
supposed when necessity is laid on us, when
a man, for instance, lives where no true Church
exists, or where the true Church is so corrupted
as to render communion with it impossible.*
In this respect, as in every other, we may
look for our guidance to the conduct of our
* Although with foreign reformers we, of the Church of England,
have no immediate concern, it is important to know that, where
episcopacy was not retained, the reformers pleaded not principle but
necessity. " How Calvin stood affected in the said point of episco
pacy, and how gladly he and other heads of the reformed Churches
would have received it, is evident enough from his writings and
epistles. In his Book of tlie Necessity of Reforming tlie Church
he hath these words : Talem nobis liierarchiam exhibeant, &c. ' Let
them give us such an hierarchy, in which Bishops may be so above
the rest as they refu.-se not to be under Christ, and depend upon him
as their only head, that they maintain a brotherly society, &c. If
there be any that do not behave themselves with all reverence and
obedience towards them, there is no anathema, but I confess them
worthy of it.' But especially his opinion of episcopacy is manifest
from a letter he, and BuUinger, and others, learned men of that sort,
wrote, anno 1549, to King Edward VI., offering to make him their
Defender, and to have Bishops in their Churches for the better
unity and concord among them ; as may be seen in Archbishop
Cranmer's memorials, and likewise by a writing of Archbishop

31
blessed Lord himself. When conversing with
the woman of Samaria, he did not compromise
the truth, at a time when the Jewish mode
of worship was divinely appointed and esta-
Abbott found among the MSS. of Archbishop Usher, which, for the
remarkableness of it, and the mention of Archbishop Parker's papers,
I shall here set down. ' Perusing .some papers of our predecessor,
Matthew Parker, we find that John Calvin, and others of the Pro
testant Churches of Germany and elsewhere, would have had epis
copacy, if permitted ; but could not on several accounts, partly
fearing the Princes of the RomaiT Catholic faith would have joined
with the Emperor and the rest ofthe popish Bishops to have depressed
the same ; partly being newly-reformed and not settled, they had
not suflScient wealth to support episcopacy, by reason of their daily
persecutions. Another and a main cause was they would not have
any popish hands laid over their Clergy. And whereas John Calvin
had sent a letter, in King Edward the VI.'s time, to have conferred
with the Clergy of England about some things to this effect, two
Bishops, viz. Gardiner and Bonner, intercepted the same : whereby
Mr. Calvin's overture perished. And he received an answer, as if
it had been from the reformed divines of those times, wherein they
checked him, and slighted his proposals ; from which time John
Calvin and the Church of England were at variance on several
points, which otherwise, through God's mercy, had been qualified,
if those papers of his proposals had been discovered unto the Queen's
Majesty during John Calvin's life. But, being not discovered until
or about the sixth year of her Majesty's reign, her Majesty much
lamented they were not found sooner." — Strype's Life of Archbishop
Parker.

32
blished, by letting her suppose that it was a
thing indifferent whether men worshipped at
Mount Gerizim or on Mount Moriah. But,
when implying that men, at that period, ought
to have worshipped at Jerusalem, he, never
theless, did not treat as a heathen one who
acknowledged Jehovah for her God, or censure
as a schismatic one who continued to worship,
through want of better information, where her
fathers had worshipped before her. And thus
it is possible for us to maintain that the Church
is the onlv Christian community in these realms
which can prove that it possesses the promise
of Christ's presence in her services and Sacra
ments, and vet we may hope and believe that
the blessing of his presence, though unpro-
mised, may still be vouchsafed to all those who
devoutly worship hun in sincerity, though
they hold not, as we conceive, the whole truth,
as it is in Jesus. It is in Sion onlv that God

33
appears in perfect beauty, though we admit
he may manifest himself elsewhere. Ours is
the only path that can be proved to be the right
one ; but there may be many by-paths, through
which, though with greater difficulty, the tra
veller may arrive at the same destination,
where, blessed be the name of our Lord, Jesus
Christ, we shall all speak the same thing, and,
there being no divisions among us, we shall be
perfectly joined together, in the same mind and
the same judgment.*
There is, indeed, such a sin as schism. Yet,
as the Church has never attached the notion
of heresy to error, not factiously and pertina
ciously maintained, so we may believe that the
conscientious Dissenter is not guilty of schism
when he does not act with a schismatic intent.
But, although it seemed well to me to offer
these explanations, I wish to remind you that
* I Corinthians, i. 10.

34
with the judging of others we have nothing
to do. God is their judge, not we. Our busi
ness is, as regards ourselves, to prove all
things, and to cleave to that which is good.
At a period when the principles of toleration
M^ere little understood, and when the Puritan
condemned the Papist, in language not less
strong than that which the Papist employed
when dealing out his anathemas against the
Protestant, it was asked of a distinguished
individual " whether a Papist could be saved."
And very wise was his answer : — " You may
be saved without knowing that — look to your
self!"* What is that to thee? says our Saviour ;
follow thou ?nef.
And if to ourselves, my Brethren, we do
look, let us consider seriously and solemnly
the increased responsibility which results from
* Sir Henry ^^'otton. Wordsworth's Biog. p. 43.
t John, .xxi, 22.

35
our greater advantages in being members of
a true reformed Catholic Church. Whatever
may be the case with others, if we neglect so
great salvation, (on the principle that from
him to whom much is given much will be de
manded,) as we shall be without excuse, so
will our condemnation be the more severe.
But let us dwell not on the terrors but on the
consolations of our Sion. To us pertaineth
the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants,
and the service of God, and the promises, and
the Sacraments, and among us, beyond all
reasonable doubt, Christ dwells, who is God
blessed for ever. Delightful thought, with
which to enter the sanctuary and to approach
the pulpit, the altar, or the font! — Delightful
thought, with which to worship in the beauty
of holiness, and to pour forth the soul in those
self-same prayers through which, for at least
fifteen centuries, the hearts of saints have
c2

36
winged their way to heaven ! — Delightful
thought, while with psalms, and hymns, and
spiritual songs, we unite with the Church tri
umphant in ascribing to God, the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, blessing, and
honour, and glory, and power !

TWO PLAIN SERMONS
ON
THE CHURCH AND
THE ESTABLISHMENT.

SERMON II.

Whoever attentively considers the subject will find that troubles
in Church and State usually come to a crisis at the same time.
Either originating in the same cause, or the immediate consequence
the one of the other, sometimes the calamities of the Church lead
the way to commotions in the State, while at other times it is just
the reverse. So that I cannot imagine that this interchangeable
course of things is the effect of mere accident ; but I apprehend
rather that these troubles are to be traced to our iniquities, of which
they may be considered as the punishment. Socrates Scholasticus, A. D., 439.

ON THE CHURCH

THE ESTABLISHMENT.

SERMON II.

And kings «hall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thj
nursing mothers. — ^Isaiah, xlix, 23.
On a former occasion we traced the history
of the Church, through the succession of its
Bishops, up to its origin in the commission
given by our Lord to the Apostles and their
successors. Now, that branch of the Church
which exists in this country has always been
connected with, and closely allied to, the State.
Although we know little of its history before
the conversion of the Saxons, there are good
grounds for supposing such to have been the

40
case, even with respect to the British Church ;
while nothing can be more certain than that
the conversion of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors
was a national one.
When the Anglo-Saxons conquered the
Britons, they were heathens, and, persecuting
the Church, either drove the professors of
Christianity to the mountains of Wales or
reduced them to a state of slavery. By that
moral alchemy, through which divine Pro
vidence converts evil into good, the latter
circumstance prepared the way for the con
version of the conquerors, who, seeing the
pious and regular deportment of their slaves,
soon learned to respect their religion. We
may gather this fact from a letter written
by Gregory, the Bishop of Rome, in the sixth
century, to two of the kings of France, in
which he states that the English nation was
desirous of becoming Christian, and in which

41
he, at the same time, complains to those mo
narchs of the remissness of their Clergy in not
seeking the conversion of their neighbours.
And hence it was that Gregory, with that
piety and zeal for which he was pre-eminently
distinguished, sent over Augustine and about
forty other missionaries to England, to labour
in this good work. The success of these mis
sionaries, the way having thus been paved
before them, was most satisfactory. They
converted Ethelbert, who was not only king
of Kent, but Braetwalda, or chief of the Saxon
monarchs. His example was soon followed
by the kings of Essex and East Anglia, and
gradually by the other sovereigns of England.
The successful Augustine then went over
to Aries, in France, where he was consecrated
by the prelate of that See ; and, returning,
became the first Archbishop of Canterbury,
the patriarch and metropolitan of the Church

42
of England. His See was immediately en
dowed with large revenues by king Ethelbert,
who likewise established, at the instance of
the Archbishop, the dioceses of Rochester and
London. The other kings of the heptarchy
erected Bishoprics equal to the size of their
kingdoms. And the example was followed by
their nobles, who converted their estates into
parishes, erecting fit places of worship, and
endowing them with tithes *. This fact ac
counts for the unequal size of our dioceses
*¦ The property of the Church remains with those who have
descended in an unbroken line from the Clergy to whom it was
originally granted. Tf our title be disputed, it devolves upon the
adversary to establish a prior claim. This the Protestant Dissenter
does not attempt to do; and, with respect to Roman Catholic Dis
senters, we know that, instead of being descended from the original
grantees, their line of succession began at Rome scarcely more than
two centuries ago. Nor can they claim on the ground of gi-eater
similarity of doctrine. For transubstantiation, the worship of saints
and images, half communion, constrained celibacy, &c., the doctrines
and practices which distinguish the modern Romish sect were un
known to the Anglo-Saxon Church. Admitting, then, |;hat we may
differ in some particulars of practice from our ancestors, yet certainly
we do not differ from them so much as the modern Romanist.

43
and parishes : the first were (though subse
quently subdivided) of the same extent as the
dominions of their respective kings ; the second
corresponded with the estate of the patron.
Nor was the regard of those by whom the
Church was established and endowed confined
to the spiritual edification of the poor ; no,
they knew that righteousness exalteth a nation,
and, estimating properly the advantages of
infusing a Christian spirit into the legislature,
they summoned the higher order of the Clergy
to take part in the national councils.
Thus was the Church established and the
State consecrated. For many years, there
appears to have continued a good understand
ing between the civil and ecclesiastical autho
rities, the powers of which were, in most re
spects, as in these days, blended. But, after
the moral world had been subdued, and papal
tyranny had been established, by the marvel-

44
lous energies of Hildebrand, his crafty suc
cessors, the Popes of Rome, soon perceived
that, in order to secure their dominion, it was
important, as far as possible, to sever the
alliance which had hitherto subsisted between
the Church and the State. Representing the
Church as independent, they regarded the
King as the head of the State, and the Pope
as supreme of the Church. No sectarian of
the present day can be more hostile to an
alliance between Church and State than were
those divines who, in the middle ages, were
devoted to the Popedom. Although the Pope,
however, had, here in England as elsewhere,
many creatures and advocates, yet many and
manful were the repulses he met with from
our Clergy, our Kings, and the People. His
authority, indeed, was in this realm a mere
assumption, for he was never elected by any
synod of our Church as its head. Still, as-

45
suming rights to which he could lay no lawful
claim, his usurpations were continued until,
in the reign of Henry VIII, the Clergy, the
Monarch, and the People, could bear the
tyranny no longer, but, throwing off the yoke,
declared that the Pope was not the head of
the Church of England, but that, in these
realms, the King is, as in times past he was,
over all persons, and in all causes, ecclesias
tical as well as civil, in these his dominions,
supreme. This was the first step towards a reforma
tion. Various other abuses were then cor
rected, as we pointed out on Wednesday last ;
and our doctrines, as well as our services, were
brought back to that primitive simplicity and
solemnity in which we now find them. The
Church (not made new, but canonically re
formed) still continued to be allied with the
State, and has remained from that day to this

46
— except for a short period during the Re
bellion — established.
Such is the fact, and the history of the fact.
The Church in this country has come down to
us, established and endowed. And the first
question to be asked is, whether in this alliance
between Church and State there be any thing
unscriptural and unholy. If there be, let the
text of Scripture be cited which prohibits this
connection. Where is it ? Observe, we do
not say that the Church must be established,
so that unless it were established it would
cease to be a Church. God forbid ! We only
say that it may be established — that there is
nothing in Scripture to forbid its establish
ment, where its establishment can be accom
plished. In the United States of America a
branch of the reformed Catholic Church is
existing, and, I am happy to say, flourishing
under the government of many orthodox

47
Bishops. Now this Church is not recognized
by the State. It is not established. But we
do not object to it on that account. We
acknowledge it to be a true and most pure
branch of the Church of Christ, and we watch
with fraternal affection its pre-eminence and
its progress. We do not, therefore, say that
the Church must be established — the only
question, I repeat, is, whether, where we find
it allied, as in this country it is, with the
State, there is any thing unlawful in such
alliance. And again I say that the onus pro-
bandi lies with the adversary. Where, I ask,
is there any thing that condemns the esta
blishment of the Church of Christ as the
national religion ? I am, of course, aware that
reference is sometimes made to the eighteenth
chapter of St. John's Gospel, where our Lord
declares. My kingdom is not of this world ;
but that, I conceive, is always done for the

48
sake more of popular declamation than of solid
argument. For it is clear, from the context,
that this passage cannot be made to say any
thing, either one way or the other, with respect
to a national establishment. It had been re
presented to Pontius Pilate that the Lord
Jesus, by claiming to be a king, was an enemy
to Caesar. In order to ascertain the truth
of this accusation, the Roman governor de
manded of our Lord, Art thou the King of the
Jews ? In answering in the affirmative, the
blessed Jesus, to guard against misconception,
adds : — My kijigdom is not of this world ; if
my kingdom were of this world, then would my
servants fight, that I should not be delivered to
the Jews ; but now my kingdom is not from
hence.* It is difficult to force any other
meaning from this passage, considered as an
answer to Pilate's question, than this : " I am
* John, xviii. 36.

49
a king, but not such a king as Csesar need to
fear ; in proof that I do not wish to dethrone
him or to interfere with the Powers that be,
I refer to the fact that I have not commanded
my servants to fight for me."
If to establish — ay, or to M«-establish —
the Church we were to have recourse to
weapons of carnal warfare and to seek a re
volution, as the Presbyterians did in the reign
of Charles the First, I can then understand
how we might violate the principle implied in
this text ; but it is impossible to conceive
how, by any process of sophistry, it can be
interpreted as condemning the civil magistrate
when he offers, or the ecclesiastical magistrate
when he accepts, an alliance between Church
and State for the purpose of benefiting those
who are the subjects of both. At all events,
it is not from one text of very doubtful meaning
that a wise man will start such an objection
D

50
as this ; he will rather feel surprise, if the
establishing of the Church as a national
religion be so heinous an offence as some
persons would represent, that our Lord did
not condemn it in the very strongest t«rms.
For we know that, among the Jews, the State
and the Church were closely united ; that the
Jewish Church was as much established in
Palestine as the Christian Church is in En
gland ; and that, moreover, this union between
Church and State was instituted by God him
self. The Apostles, therefore, could not have
considered an established religion as a thing,
in itself, unlawful. That they themselves made
no attempt to establish Christianity is most
true ; but then it is to be remembered that no
nations were, at that period, converted. What
would have been their conduct had an oppor
tunity offered of grafting Christianity upon
the civil institutions of the heathen world

51
neither we nor our opponents can decide. Their
example, therefore, can be urged by neither
party, since they had no opportunity of acting.
And now, having seen that there is nothing
to be urged from Scripture by the religionist
against a union with the civil power, it only
remains to consider what are the advantages
of the union. Whatever may be the theories
of the political economist of the present day,
the ancient lawgivers considered religion to
be of such importance, as bearing even on
the temporal v/elfare of society, that they
actually preferred a false religion to none. It
was the remark of a celebrated historian, that
Rome was indebted for her glory to the pre
valence, in her best days, of Superstition —
meaning by superstition a feeling of religion,
though directed to a wrong object.* But
* Polybius, 1. 6, p. 497. The whole passage is curious : — " The
greatest advantage," says he, "which the Roman government
d2

52
Superstition is like a statue too massive for the
pedestal on which it is placed ; and, as civili
zation advances, it soon falls into ruin. Its
absurdities are detected, and the conclusion
is hastily drawn that because one system of
seems to have over other states, is in the opinion publicly entertained
by them about the Gods ; and that very thing which is decried by
other mortals sustained the Republic of Rome — I mean, Supersti
tion : for this was carried by them to such a height, and introduced
so effectually both into the private lives of the citizens and the public
affairs of the city, that one cannot help being surprised at it." "It
was not without great prudence and foresight that the ancients took
care to instil into them these notions of the Gods and infernal pun
ishments, which the moderns on the other hand are now rashly and
absurdly endeavouring to extirpate." How would this historian have
felt had he known of a religion adapted equally to the wants of the
most learned philosopher and the most unlettered peasant, in which
a Newton and a cottager may find subjects for study, in which, to
use the expression of one of the Fathers, while there ave shallows
which a lamb may ford, there are depths where an elephant must
swim ! Christianity, so far as religion is concerned, has utterly
abolished the doctrine of expediency, and in its stead established
truth as the sole object which the religionist is to have in view. This
is a blessed and a glorious fact. But it seems krational to fall into
the opposite extreme ; and, because the heathen philosophers
supported a false religion through expediency, not to observe the
tendency of the true religion, while affording grace for the renova
tion of the hearts of individuals, to confer at the same time, indirectly,
tlie most important temporal benefits on society.

53
religion is proved to be false, no system of
religion can be proved to be true. Among the
heathens, therefore, a religious feeling never
existed, for any great length of time, as an
influential principle. And the consequence
was that, in the heathen world, that greatest
of all earthly blessings, civil liberty, was
utterly unknown. For real freedom we are
indebted to Christianity, which alone could
make religion to be not an idle theory but an
abiding conviction. By an armed oligarchy,.
the greater part of the operatives in the
heathen world were kept in a state of slavery,
the abolition of which was a subject on which
the most benevolent of philosophers could
scarcely dare to dream. How impossible it
is for a society of men, with equal rights, to
exist without the restraints of religion, may be
seen in what took place in France during the
first revolution. Religion being regarded as

54
a thing of naught, the wild passions of men
burst forth in all their ferocity ; the land was
full of blood, and the city was full of perverse
ness : and, the experiment having been made,
even Infidels bore testimony to the blessings —
I mean the temporal blessings — of Christianity,
by re-establishing its institutions, though,
judicially blind themselves, they embraced not
its doctrines. And the reason of this is obvi
ous : the statesman can only legislate for
society in the mass ; it is the minister of re
ligion who applies to individual cases those
principles upon which all sound legislation is
founded ; while the former looks to the bare
fact, the latter is probing the motive; while
the human lawgiver can only say. Thou shalt
not steal, it is the divine lawgiver who adds.
Thou shalt not covet ; the law of the land can
only guard against the effects of passion ; to
subdue the passions themselves belongs to

55
divine grace ; the civil magistrate can do little
more than become a terror to the evil doer ;
the rewards of the humble and the righteous
are administered by that faith which realizes
the joys of eternity, and secures, at the time
present, the peace which passeth all under
standing ; laws of perfect obligation fall
under the province of the legislature ; those
higher laws of imperfect obligation are en
forced by the Church ; the civil authorities
may govern man, as a selfish, money-getting,
ambitious, creature ; it is Christianity alone
which can foster and bring to maturity the
generous principles of courtesy, benevolence,
and charity, which can elevate us to all that
is high and honourable in sentiment, all that
is disinterested in conduct, and amiable in
feeling. It is true that, to a certain extent, much of
this might be accomplished even though the

66
Church were not established. Religion would
still have its influence. 1 will go even further,
and add that, so far as regards those who are
Churchmen in deed and in truth, the Church
itself would be benefited by a separation
from the State: for she would regain those
undoubted rights from which, for the sake of
harmony, she now recedes — the right, for
instance, of legislating for herself on all occa
sions, and of electing Bishops without the
interference of the civil power. The question
with the legislator, is not whether the Church
would do rnuch good, though unconnected
with the State, but whether, by an alliance
therewith, she cannot do more good ; and the
question with the churchman is, whether, for
placing in abeyance some of its spiritual
rights, the Church does not receive compensa
tion by the indirect influence it is enabled to
exert. The Church may be less free, but is it

57
not more efficient ? — The Church may be un
duly controlled in the exercise of its authority
over its own members, but does it not possess
greater means of purifying society ? — and, to
purify society, to act as the salt of the earth,
is one of the purposes for which the Church
was instituted. It is not, indeed, as church
men but as patriots that we deprecate the
desecration of the State ; that is to say, we
deprecate it for the sake, not of those that are
within the pale, but of those that are without ;
we deprecate it, not because the Church would
be a less efficient minister of grace to the
faithful, if, driven from her glorious cathedrals,
she summoned her children around her in the
upper room of a hired house, or the caves of
the desert ; but because she would be a less
effectual preacher of morality to the unen
lightened and the unbeliever. Her voice would
still be the voice of the charmer when heard.

58
but it would not reach so far. When men are
once awakened to a vital sense of religion,
when its blessings, its holy consolations, and
heavenly joys, have been kindled in the heart,
they need not an establishment, for they will
never be without the ordinances and sacra
ments of the Church from whence those bles
sings flow ; but, were there no establishment,
how would it fare with those, who, not knowing
its consolations, are naturally averse from its
restraints ? The strong would have their
meat ; but how would the babes be supplied
with milk ? To those who truly believe,
beautiful will be the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of
good things ; but, concerning others we may
ask, how shall they call on hhn in whom they
have not believed ? — And how shall they be
lieve in him of whom they have not heard ? —
And how shall they hear without a preacher ? —

59
And how shall they preach except they be sent?
Will individual zeal suffice ? — Alas ! the zeal
of individuals soon waxes cold when all cause
of opposition is removed. It is, at all events,
hard to conceive why the case should be
different with us from what it is in the United
States of America. There, in the towns and
cities, where religion is regarded as a luxury.
Churches and Chapels abound. But, in the
rural districts, the population is either utterly
destitute of pastoral supervision, or depends,
for the sacraments and for spiritual edification,
on the visits, few and far between, of some
chance missionary. And so it was in the
primitive ages before the Church obtained the
countenance and support of the civil govern
ment ; religion flourished in the towns, but in
the villages the inhabitants continued to be
Heathens, and hence an Infidel and a Pagan
became convertible terms. In short, where

60
there is no national establishment, they who
require instruction least receive it most, and
they who require it most have it not at all.
And, therefore, whether we look at the fact
with the eye of the legislator or of the Chris
tian, the circumstance of stationing a man
of education, respectability, and religion, in
each parish, where the inhabitants are too poor
to support, or too ignorant to desire, an in
structor, is an advantage to the country,
which will only then be properly appreciated
when it is lost.
On the other hand, the position of our
higher ecclesiastics as the compeers of the
royal and the great, if it effect not all the good
we could desire, certainly gives to English
society that moral tone which is the glory of
our country. By intercourse with the good,
the irreligious learn to respect virtue, and
become less immoral than they would other-

61
wise be; for it is impossible to be in the midst
of odours without bearing away some portion
of their fragrance. Meantime, their children
are brought up not only without feehngs of
hostility to religion, but even with a due
regard for its decencies if not for its duties.
Thus the way is prepared before the preacher
by our national institutions, which bring re
ligion under the notice of many who would
not otherwise have bestowed a single thought
on the subject. Religion is thrust, as it were,
into every one's face ; and he must be per
tinaciously negligent and wilfully blind who
does not examine into its claims.
It is to the circumstance that we have in
this country an established Church, which,
without requiring implicit faith in its dogmas,
demands investigation from all its subjects —
an establishment which forces men to inquiry,
while inquiry leads to conviction — it is to this

62
circumstance that we may attribute the grati
fying fact that many and most of those illus
trious men, who, for intellectual acquirements,
are the ornaments of their native land, are
ever the foremost to bow the knee at the name
of Jesus, and to vindicate the ways of God to
Man. But, whatever may be thought of these
considerations — important ones in the estima
tion of a Christian — the question, at the pre
sent time and in this country, is not as to the
establishing of the Church, but as to the un-
establishing of it. And they, who have before
their eyes either the fear of God or the love of
Man, will tremble at the responsibility they
incur in helping to break up the old paths,
lest of those they turn adrift into the high
way there should be some — and doubtless
there would be many — who, from the tendency
of human nature to rush into opposite ex
tremes, would plunge headlong into the abyss

63
of Infidelity and Atheism, and thus involve
the nation in all the curses denounced upon
an apostate people. To dissolve the religious
establishment of this country would be, as it
were, to tear the sun from the centre of our
social system.
It is, I know, the custom of the adversary
to attribute to the existence of an establish
ment the evils of sectarianism. But to argue
thus is to argue from hypothesis and not from
fact. For the fact is, that, in America, where
no establishment is recognized by the State,
sectarianism rages with a far more bitter
spirit than it does in England*. Sectarianism
* There are some very sensible remarks on this subject — remarks
the more valuable from being made by a man of the world  at the
conclusion of Mr. Hamilton's interesting volumes on "Men and
Manners in America." Having stated that in the towns there is no
apparent deficiency of religion, the author observes :—" In the
country, however, this is not the case. These differences of religious
opinions rend the country into shreds and patches, varying in every
thing of colour, form, and texture. In a village, the population of
which is barely suflScient to fill one church and support one clergy-

64
ever has existed, and, till a mighty change
come over the spirit of the world, it ever wifl
exist. And, therefore, the wise man will not
engage in any chimerical project for concili
ating all sects ; his endeavour will be to mode
rate the rancour of the sectarian spirit. By
an establishment one grand cause of dispute
man, the inhabitants are either forced to want rehgious ministration
altogether or the followers of different sects must agree upon some
compromise, by which each yields up some portion of his creed to
satisfy the objections of his neighbour. This breeds argument, dis
pute, and bitterness of feeling. The Socinian will not object to an
Arian clergyman, but declines to have any thing to do with a sup
porter of the Trinity. The Calvinist will consent to tolerate the
doctrine of free agency, if combined with that of absolute and co-re
spective decrees. The Baptist may give up the assertion of some
favourite dogmas, but clings to adult baptism as a sine qua non.
And thus with other sects. But who is to inculcate such a jumble
of discrepant and irreconcileable doctrine ? No man can shape his
doctrine according to the anomalous and piebald creed prescribed
by such a congregation, and the practical result is that some one
sect becomes victorious for a time ; jealousies deepen into antipathies ;
and what is called an opposition Church probably springs up in the
village. Still, harmony is not restored. The rival clergymen attack
each other from the pulpit ; newspapers are enlisted on either side,
and religious warfare is waged with the bitterness, if not the learn
ing, which has distinguished the controversies of abler polemics."

65
is removed. In every parish the first place is
pre-occupied ; and this renders one party
desirous of peace. It is very seldom that the
clergyman of the parish feels it to be worth
his while to enter into controversy with the
dissenting teacher. He knows his superiority,
and that he has nothing to gain by the contest.
Consequently, while local controversies in
America are many, and fierce, and prolonged,
in England they are few, and soon subside.
In an establishment there is less of that kind
of zeal whicii the ignorant admire, but which
is, in truth, only party spirit ; but there is
more of
Pure Religion breathing household laws *.
The very fact of the ministry being provided
for, and having no pecuniary interest in making
proselytes, tends to peace. One influential
party is withdrawn from the scene of combat ;
* W^ordsworth. E

66
and even the dissenting sects enjoy the sun
shine which the establishment diffuses, though,
like the blind, they distinguish not the light
from which it flows. For, having a common
interest in preventing the establishment from
exceeding the powers to which it is legally
entitled, their hostility to one another, which,
in the United States, is often disgraceful to
the very name of Christianity, is modified.
Another advantage of an establishment is
that, although it may be impossible to make
all men think alike, yet it indirectly leads if
not to uniformity yet to similarity of doctrine.
The doctrines and practices of the establish
ment are fixed ; and thus it stands a warning
against the excesses of rival sects, while it
affords a model according to which those sects,
when correcting their abuses, will, to a certain
extent, shape themselves. Every one must
have observed that, in manner, in dress, even

67
in the title he assumes, the dissenting teacher
wishes to appear like the clergyman ; and this
he would not do unless he were accustomed
in weightier matters to look up to the Church
with a degree of respect, which he will not,
perhaps, acknowledge even to himself. The
consequence of this is, that, although we have
sects of every sort and grade in this country,
yet the extremes of " Unitarianism," and Fa
naticism in its wildest state, are far less pre
valent here than in the United States. Our
sects come much nearer to the golden mean ;
for the establishment, to which all eyes are
turned, is always indirectlyinfusingsome slight
portion of caloric into the cold system of the
" Unitarian," while she tempers the fiery zeal
of the Fanatic. The operation, also, of dis
senting sects upon the establishment is not
without benefit, since it prevents the religious
atmosphere from stagnating. Sectarianism e2

68
is not, therefore, an unmixed evil ; or, if
it be, I repeat, it is not an evil to be cured by
human means. To expect to model an esta
blishment, so as to please all parties, is to in
dulge in an amiable but chimerical theory.
The object ofthe practical man will be, not to
attempt the extirpation of sectarianism, but
simply to remedy its evils. He will not seek
to add to our numbers by concession of prin
ciples ; he will not seek to conciliate a few
wavering nonconformists by disgusting the
conformist ; but his object will be to preserve
concord within the sanctuary, and, by exhi
biting her services in all the fair beauty of
holiness, to make men enamoured of the
Church. To what I have said of the tendency of an
establishment to preserve peace among reli
gionists, the acrimonious spirit evinced against
the Church at the present time is no contra-

69
diction. The violence of the sectarian is to
be attributed to very peculiar political cir
cumstances, on which it does not become me
to dilate in this place. And what, let me ask,
what would be the state of the country, at the
present moment, if the combined attack of
Dissenters and Infidels — unhallowed combi
nation ! — were met with the spirit in which
it is made ? — What would be the state of the
country, if the Clergy of England, instead of
acting with the temper of Christians and the,
deportment of gentlemen, had been habituated
to those arts of personal altercation and con
troversy, which are too often found to prevail
where no establishment exists ?
It is, indeed, with complacency that I regard
the conduct of the vast majority of that sacred
order to which I have the happiness to belong,
under a system of misrepresentation, calumny,
and moral persecution, more hard to bear than

70
tortures or death. And while we look for a
recompense elsewhere, through the merits of
a crucified Saviour, it is surely a pardonable
weakness to feel some satisfaction in the
thought that, when, in a future age, the his
torian is recounting the acts of the present
generation, he will tell of a Clergy who, if
they were, like the Apostles from whom they
claim to descend, misrepresented as the filth
of the earth and the offscouring of all things,
yet so far trod in their Master's footsteps that,
being reviled, they learned to bless ; being
persecuted, they learned to suffer ; being de
famed, they learned to entreat.
Before I conclude, I must just advert to the
system adopted in some of the States of Ame
rica, where every person is obliged to contri
bute towards the support of religion, while it
is left to his choice to decide upon the sect on
which his bounty shall be conferred. And

71
what is the consequence ? The prevalence in
those States of what is called "Unitarianism."
He who must support some sect, and yet is
indifferent alike to all religion, chuses that
form, of course, which is nearest to no religion,
and remains for ever ice-bound under that
petrifying system of theology — - that apology
for Christianity — which can teach — what he
knew before — that honesty is the best policy,
but can never warm the imagination or amend
the heart. For advancement, for growth in
grace, no opportunity is afforded. If I wished
to prove the excellency of the contrary system
— if I wished to prove the advantage not only
of a national religious establishment but of
establishing the true Church— it is not to
argument that I would resort — I should ap
peal to the experience of those whom I address.
Some there are — the happiest of their kind —
who, under any circumstances, would have

72
belonged to the Church of their God. But,
of the hundreds — I may say the thousands —
who worship in this sanctuary, let me ask
what first brought the generality within con
secrated walls ? They came because, through
the influence of an establishment a religious
atmosphere being created around, it is respect
able to attend a place of worship ; and because
such being the case, and not being controver
sialists, they preferred to any other the place
provided for them by the institutions of their
country. Unworthy motives ! And yet, my
brethren, what has been the consequence ? If
there had been no establishment, half of those
whom I see before me would have remained
indifferent to the high privileges and blessings
of Christianity; but now — though brought
here first, perhaps, from insufficient motives —
you have gradually advanced from being occa
sional visiters until you have become regular

73
worshippers ; gradually, from being mere for
malists, you have brought the principles of
religion to bear on your general conduct ;
gradually, from considering prayer to be a
disagreeable though a necessary duty, you
have learned to feel that communion with the
Father of your Spirits is a great, a glorious,
a holy, a delightful privilege ; gradually, you
have been led from your kneelings in the pew
to the rails of the altar, and there, in the sa
crament of your Saviour's body and blood,
you have become partakers of the benefits
of his passion. To you, then, my beloved
brethren, to you I need no longer speak of
the advantages of such an establishment as
that, which, by the piety of your ancestors
and the wisdom of the Constitution, still con
secrates your native land — your hearts have
already thanked your God for that you were
born in a country not only where religion is

74
established but where the system established
is that which was originally instituted by the
Apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
corner-stone — that which you can prove to be
the Church of the living God, the pillar and
ground of the truth.
May we, then, my brethren, be prepared,
as patriots, to uphold the establishment of the
Church in this country ; while, as churchmen,
we are resolute to endure all things rather
than sacrifice to any notions of expediency
her Catholic doctrines or her essential disci
pline in the threefold order of the ministry.
Let our ark be supported, but — warned by the
blood of Uzzah — not by unhallowed means —
not by unsanctioned concessions. Better to
sacrifice an establishment at once than to
compromise the Church. For the Church let
us be prepared to suffer any thing and every
thing which the malice of Devil may suggest.

75
or the ingenuity of Man invent. At the same
time, let us bear in mind that he will never
die the death of a martyr who does not strive
to live the life of a saint, for the patience of
the one and the resolution of the other both
proceed from one and the self-same spirit.

LONDON :
F. SHOBEKL, JON., 4, LEICESTER STREET, LEICESTER SlJII.llU;.

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