high places. The wisest of men has said, | differs from theirs. I do not believe that 'For everything there is a season;' and the in this age or in this country the civil nineteenth century appears to me a season power would ever submit to a superior when the church should confute error, and authority, or even brook a rival. I foresee, not punish it.* if that were to take place, controversy and contest between church and state as to their reciprocal rights and duties; possible struggle, probable spoliation. I for one am not prepared to run such hazards. I should grieve to see this great Church of England, this centre of light, learning, and liberty, sink into a position, relative to the nation, similar to that now filled by the Episcopal Church of Scotland, or possibly even subside into a fastidious, not to say finical, "Having touched upon the causes of perplexity and distrust, I will now say a word upon the third cause of the want of union among churchmen-the feeling of discontent. That is a feeling which prevails among a certain body of our brethren, who entertain what are deemed by some exalted notions respecting ecclesiastical affairs. I know that recent appointments to high places in the church,† and other public circumstances, in their opinion equally congregation. opposed to the spread and spirit of sound church principles, have made some look without any enthusiasm on the connection between church and state, and even contemplate without alarm the possible disruption of that union. It is impossible to speak of those who hold these opinions without respect, and I would say even affection, for we all of us to a great degree must share in the sentiments of those who entertain these opinions, though we may not be able to sanction their practical conclusions. But I think myself that these opinions rest on a fallacy; and that fallacy consists in assuming that if the dissolution of the tie between church and state took place, the church would occupy that somewhat mediaval position which, no doubt, in its time was highly advantageous to Europe, and to no country more than to England. My own opinion *In the Lower House of Convocation, Dr Jelf (Feb. 26, 1861) brought up the question of "Essays and Reviews" by moving an address to the Upper House, asking it to take synodical action upon a book full of erroneous views, and applied by atheists and Socinians to further their ends. After some discussion, the motion was withdrawn in favour of an amendment by Dr. Wordsworth, the present bishop of Lincoln: "That the clergy of the Lower House of Convocation of the province of Canterbury, having regard to the unanimous censure which has been already pronounced and published by the archbishops and bishops of both provinces on certain opinions contained in a certain book called 'Essays and Reviews," entertain an earnest hope that, under the Divine blessing, the faithful zeal of the Christian church may be enabled to counteract the pernicious influence of the erroneous opinions contained in the said volume." † An allusion to the appointment of Canon Stanley to the Deanery of Westminster. "I hold that the connection between church and state is one which is to be upheld and vindicated on principles entirely in unison with the spirit of the age, with the circumstances with which we have to deal, and with the soundest principles of political philosophy. The most powerful principle which governs man is the religious principle. It is eternal and indestructible, for it takes its rise in the nature of human intelligence, which will never be content till it penetrates the origin of things and ascertains its relations to the Creator-a knowledge to which all who are here present well know that, unaided and alone, human intelligence can never attain. A wise government, then, would seek to include such an element in its means of influencing man; otherwise it would leave in society a principle stronger than itself, which in due season may assert its supremacy, and even perhaps in a destructive manner. A wise government, allying itself with religion, would, as it were, consecrate Society and sanctify the state. But how is this to be done? It is the problem of modern politics which has always most embarrassed statesmen. No solution of the difficulty can be found in salaried priesthoods and in complicated concordats. by the side of the state of England there has gradually arisen a majestic corporation -wealthy, powerful, independent—with But |