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 Tlie undersigned fake the liberty to present 
 the accompanying Address, and resp)ectfidly 
 commend it to the serious consideration of 
 those to whom it is forwa^rded. 
 
 JOSIAH FORSTEE. 
 
 J. B. Braithwaite. 
 Joseph Coopee. 
 
 ROBEET AlSOP. 
 
 Stafforb Allen. 
 
 London, 1M of 9th Month, 1S68.
 
 THE CHURCH 
 
 IN 
 
 ITS EELATION TO THE STATE. 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE EELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF ' FRIENDS 
 
 TO 
 
 THEIR FELLOW-COUNTEYMEK 
 
 " Speaking tlie truth in love, (that we) may grow np into him in all 
 things, which is the Head, even Christ." — Ephesians iv. 15. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 EDWAED MAESH, 12, BISHOPSGATE STEEET WITHOUT. 
 
 1868.
 
 Issued hy the representative hody of the Religious 
 Society of Friends. 
 
 12, Bishopsgate St, Without, London, 
 
 28 th of Eighth Month, 1868.
 
 THE CHURCH 
 
 IN ITS EELATION TO THE STATE. 
 
 Questions of grave import in connection with this great 
 subject are once more agitating the public mind. The pro- 
 priety of a '* Church Establishment" is called in question. 
 What it involves, what would be the result of a separation 
 between the Church and the State — these are inquiries which 
 are now urging themselves upon our attention. Let us 
 approach them in a spirit of religious seriousness, yet with 
 calmness and trust. There may be periods to which the 
 language may be applicable, ''Yet once more I shake not 
 the earth only, but also heaven." But the Christian knows 
 that the foundation stands sure, and that whilst that which 
 is transitory may be shaken, it is in order that that which 
 cannot be shaken may alone remain.* 
 
 It is admitted on all hands that the Church of Christ rests 
 upon no earthly establishment. Planted by the Son of God 
 himself, it grew up, not only without the support, but in spite 
 of the opposition of the State ; and still lives, in ever-renewed 
 youth, to wage its conflict with the world, after the lapse of 
 more than thirteen centuries since the final ruin, in the west, 
 of the mighty empire that once sought its destruction. 
 
 Before appealing to considerations more immediately affect- 
 
 * Heb. xii. 26, 27.
 
 ing the question before us, we would offer a few observations 
 on the argument in favour of '' Church Establishments," 
 usually drawn from the Mosaic Institutions. 
 
 I. — Mosaic Institutions. 
 
 The Lord had not left himself "without witness" in the 
 heathen world, even whilst suffering the nations " to walk in 
 their own ways";* but it was to Israel that the high privi- 
 lege of a Theocratic Government was especially granted. The 
 Most High revealed himself to that Nation both as its 
 Deliverer and its King. He was at once the Object of wor- 
 ship and the Fountain of law. Had that age been prepared 
 to realise the high conception proposed in the Theocracy, 
 the Church and the State would have been co-extensive 
 and correlative expressions of a most glorious and blessed 
 fact. In the words, "Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of 
 priests and an holy nation" (Exodus xix. 6), we recognise the 
 high calling of Israel. 
 
 But it was soon apparent that the nation was not "a 
 kingdom of priests." The people disclaimed the glorious 
 privilege of immediate access to their Heavenly Kiug, and, 
 by their acts of open treason and rebellion against Him, 
 proved themselves unworthy and incapable of the privileges 
 to wdiich He had called them. Long was the course of 
 training through which Israel passed preparatory to the full 
 manifestation of the kingdom of God. The discipline of the 
 law was needed ; but it was as a "schoolmaster to bring unto 
 Christ." t 
 
 * Acts xiv. 16, 17. 
 
 t Compare Exod. sx. 19, 20 ; xxxii.— xxxiv. Ezek. xx. 25, 26. 2 Cor. 
 iii. 7—9. Gal. iii. 24. 
 
 
 c/
 
 It is not the place here to enlarge upon the sacred 
 meaning which, according to the inspired teaching of the New 
 Testament, was veiled under the sacrifices and service of the 
 tabernacle and the temple. In so far as it was ceremonial 
 and typical, it was a temporary system, furnishing no pre- 
 cedent for the imitation of the Church after the type has 
 served its purpose, and has been displaced by the substance 
 which it prefigured. And yet there are marks in this 
 preparatory dispensation that command our attention. 
 
 First. — The Divine provision under the law was for the 
 whole people. There was but one priesthood and one wor- 
 ship. No Israelite was called upon to contribute to a Church 
 to which he was conscientiously opposed. The worship was 
 for all. In it the whole people were represented. The 
 Pharisee, the Sadducee, even the Essene,* the congregations 
 of Israel, wheresoever scattered throughout the world, re- 
 cognised the worship of the temple, and freely contributed 
 the token of that recognition. The Jewish Church was con- 
 sistently national, because it could produce its Divine charter 
 of incorporation, proving its exclusive claim to the people's 
 acceptance. The Toleration Acts of our own Parliament are 
 now on all hands acknowledged as the too long delayed 
 triumph of Christian principle. But in sanctioning the 
 existence of entire communities of Christians, which disclaim 
 allegiance to the so-called National Church, that Church 
 has ceased to be national. The Act of Uniformity is based 
 upon principles diametrically opposed to the Acts of Toleration. 
 If, as is now admitted, liberty of conscience be a fundamental 
 portion of Christian polity and ethics, no Church can now 
 claim to be national upon principles and analogies derived 
 from the Mosaic dispensation, because no Church can produce 
 
 * Joseph. Antiq. xviii. c. 1. § 5.
 
 its charter of incorporation, granting an exclusive title to the 
 sympathy and veneration of an entire people. 
 
 Secondly. — In reviewing the history of Israel, vve must 
 observe the limitations placed on the action of the State in 
 relation to the Church. The whole land of Canaan was 
 allotted to the tribes and people of Israel, under the 
 authority of God himself, as a free donation from Him. 
 Hence the Tithe is emphatically declared to be His,* and is 
 treated as a reservation set apart for his peculiar service. It 
 was appropriated to those members of the nation who, having 
 Him for their inheritance, were excluded from otherwise 
 sharing in the allotment of the land.f But let it be observed 
 that there is in the Old Testament a remavTcahle absence of 
 any distinct provision for the compulsory enforcement of the 
 payment of tithes hy process of laiv. All appears to have 
 rested on the conscience of the Tithe-payer. J The great 
 principle that the service of man to his Maker should be free 
 and uncompelled, with which the State must not interfere, ap- 
 pears yet more strikingly on the occasions of the rearing of the 
 tabernacle and of the temple. On each of these solemnities the 
 offerings from the tribes were " free-will" offerings. § The idea 
 of a compulsory tax seems not to have entered into the mind 
 either of David or of Solomon, far less into that of Moses. 
 Under that dispensation, it was not imagined, even in an 
 Oriental court, that forced payments, or legally exacted sacri- 
 fices, befitted the service of Him who looked for the worship 
 of the heart. '' The people rejoiced for that they offered 
 willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly 
 unto the Lord, and David the king also rejoiced with great 
 joy." (1 Chron. xxix. 9.) 
 
 * Levit. xxvii. 30. f Numb, xviii. 20—24. 
 
 % See Dent. xxvi. 12 — 15. 
 
 ^ Exod. xxxvi. 3 — 6. 1 Cliron. xxix. 5 — 9.
 
 Thirdly. — The relation of the Jewish Church to the State 
 was not a relation of subjection. It was the free acceptance 
 bj the nation of a Divine institution. The Church rested, 
 not upon national, but upon Divine authority. Its worship 
 was not ordained or interfered with by human legislation. 
 The conduct of David was no mere exertion of royal pre- 
 rogative. He was himself a prophet,* a witness to the pre- 
 sence of the Spirit outside of the priestly order ; and both in 
 that which he did, and in that which he abstained from doing 
 in relation to the building and service of the Tem23le, he is 
 pointedly stated to have acted in conformity with the special 
 instructions of the Most High;| and the Temple, when 
 finished, received its solemn consecration immediately from 
 Heaven. J With one memorable exception, which consum- 
 mated the long-predicted ruin of the house of Eli, the High 
 Priests succeeded one another in regular order, without 
 interference even from the kings. § Such an interference was, 
 reserved for the Heathen Prince || who vainly attempted to 
 subvert the worship of the Temple, and was afterwards con- 
 tinued by the dynasty of Herod, in accordance with maxims 
 of State-policy derived from heathen Eome. In the best ages 
 of the Jewish Commonwealth, the Church was enthroned in 
 the hearts and affections of the people. Eeposing on its 
 own Divine institution, it claimed no forced allegiance, but 
 left the nation free. 
 
 Fourthly. — The organisation of the Jewish Church bore 
 evidence of its Divine and intrinsically spiritual nature, 
 by admitting alongside of the priesthood a free development 
 of the prophetical order. This was, doubtless, an essential 
 
 * Acts ii, 30. 
 
 t 2 Sam. vii. 1 Chron. xtu. 4; xxii. 7, 8; xxviii. 19. 
 
 X 2 Chron. vii. 1, 2. § 1 Kings ii. 26, 27. 
 
 II Antioclius Epiphanes; see Josepli. Antiq. xv. c. S, § 1.
 
 8 
 
 part of the Divine arrangements. The great ntterance of 
 Moses to Joshua remains a standing reproof to all who 
 would limit the freeness of the Spirit's work. " Enviest 
 thou for my sake ? Would God that all the Lord's people 
 were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon 
 them ! " * Like the Judges, but in a yet higher degree, the 
 Prophets bore witness to the immediate presence of the Spirit 
 of God in the Church. They were limited to no particular 
 tribe, family, or sex. If Samuel, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, were 
 of the tribe of Levi, the great prophets Elijah, Isaiah, Daniel, 
 Hosea, and Amos, proclaim the working of the same free 
 Spirit amongst other tribes, of whom no mention is made as 
 regards the Priesthood. Whilst Miriam, Hannah, Deborah, 
 and Huldah, bear an emphatic testimony to the oneness of 
 man's spiritual nature, and that the Most High freely vouch- 
 safes the gifts of his Spirit to the handmaid as well as to 
 the servant. 
 
 It was through the prophets in an especial manner that 
 a continued testimony w^as maintained in the Jewish Church 
 against idolatry, worldliness, and corruption. Through them 
 the deep things of the Law, the significance of the types, and 
 the spiritual blessings of His kingdom who was to suffer in 
 order that He might reign, were more and more revealed, 
 and the Christian who now reads the Old Testament in the 
 light of the New may clearly trace the true course of Divine 
 progress in these things — a progress, not from the substance 
 to the shadow, but a continued and ever glorious advance 
 from the type to the antitype, from the carnal to the spiritual, 
 from earth to heaven. 
 
 * miml\ si. 29.
 
 II. — Foundi7ig of the Christian Church. 
 
 Witli these views of tlie preparatory dispensation, shall we, 
 as Christians, imagine that the great purpose of the Son of 
 God, in fulfilling and ending the types of the Law, was to 
 keep men for ever in a state of dependence upon external 
 services and ceremonies, or to throw them back into a yet 
 earlier and less privileged stage of development ? His words 
 to Nathanael have surely a significance beyond the occasion 
 on which they were uttered, commanding a higher standard 
 of expectation and desire — " Thou shalt see greater things 
 than these." 
 
 Not only had the Christian Church in its origin no con- 
 nection with the State, but such a connection is expressly 
 disclaimed by its Divine founder. '' My kingdom," are his 
 emphatic words, ''is not of this world." * To the same effect, 
 He declares to his immediate followers, " Ye know that the 
 princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they 
 that are great exercise authority upon them ; but it shall not 
 be so among you." j- As the King in whom the righteous- 
 ness of the Law was fulfilled, He set aside the ancient polity 
 and worship of the Jews, but not for the purpose of establish- 
 ing any new national polity or national religion. Men, indeed, 
 were to come under his yoke, but as a spiritual yoke. The 
 religion of Jesus was not limited to the Jew or the Gentile, 
 but was, from the very first, designed to embrace the world. 
 
 For three hundred years, in that critical period of its 
 existence, in which, if at all, external support might seem most 
 necessary, the Christian Church was not only without any 
 
 * John sviii. 36. + Matt. xx. 25, 26.
 
 10 
 
 national existence, but was empliatically opposed to an exclusive 
 national spirit, a witness to a cold and hostile world, of tlie 
 spiritual presence and sustaining love of Him who died not 
 for one nation only, but for all. By His power alone Chris- 
 tianity, unfettered by alliances with the Governments of this 
 world, struck its roots so deeply, and spread them so widely, 
 as to acquire an imperishable hold upon the nations of the 
 earth. It was then that the noble words were uttered, '' Unam 
 omnium rempublicam agnoscimus — mundum." * 
 
 The early Christians of the first three centuries had no 
 conception that their. Divine Master designed them to be his 
 agents in the founding of a national Church. With them 
 Caesar ruled in another sphere, and had no authority, as 
 Csesar, in the kingdom of Christ. Christianity was, from 
 its origin, a spiritual dispensation — a religion of the heart, 
 unrestricted by the boundaries or the prejudices of race 
 or nation, and needing no support from earthly power and 
 penalties. 
 
 Again, both in the foundation and in the development of 
 the Church and polity of Israel, we find abundant evidence 
 of the Divine Presence and Government. The great acts that 
 mark the progress of the Hebrew Church are the Divinely 
 regulated acts of spiritual men. But how little is this feature 
 apparent in the acts and character of those who have been the 
 principal abettors of State interference in the Christian Church. 
 We turn to the Emperor Constantine as the first who gave a 
 practical illustration of such an interference. But what is 
 there to sanction the innovation upon the principles of the 
 New Testament in the character of the successful soldier, the 
 half-heathen, half- Christian despot, the murderer of his son, 
 
 * Tertnlliani Apolog. c. 38.
 
 11 
 
 and, perhaps, of his wife, wlio, after summoning and presiding 
 over an assembly of bishops in the council of Mcaea, post- 
 poned, from motives either of policy or superstition, his final 
 adoption of the Christian profession to the last moments of 
 his life ? '' Great," as he may be called, if measured simply 
 by the energy of purpose which, after a lapse of fourteen cen- 
 turies, has still left its impress upon the external condition 
 of the Church, he was a man in whom, like the empire which 
 he ruled, the singular admixture of the "iron" with the 
 "miry clay" has rendered him what he will probably ever 
 remain, one of the unsolved enigmas of history.* 
 
 III. — Introduction of " Church Establishments.'''' 
 
 The character of the age in which the professing Church 
 accepted an alliance with the State does not increase our 
 confidence. 
 
 1. — More than three centuries of despotism had accustomed 
 the Roman world to look upon the functions of sovereign 
 pontiff with which, since the time of Augustus, the emperors 
 
 * See Gibb. cli. 18 and 20; and the Sixth Lecture of Dean Stanley on 
 the "Eastern Church." Niebuhr, in his lectures on the History of Eome, 
 thus sums up the character of Constantine : — " His motives in establish- 
 ing the Christian religion were something very strange indeed. The 
 religion there was in his head must have been a rare jumble. On his 
 coins he has ' Soli Invicto'j he worships pagan deities, consults the Tiaru- 
 spices, holds heathen superstitions ; and yet he shuts up the temples and 
 builds churches. As the President of the Nicene Council, we can only look 
 upon him with disgust : he was himself no Chiistian at aU, and he would 
 only be baptised in Artictdo mortis. He had taken up the Christian 
 faith as a superstition, which he mingled with all his other Guperstitions. 
 When, therefore. Eastern writers speak of him as an l<TaT:6aToKos, they 
 know not what they are saying ; and to call him a saint is a profanation 
 of the word." — Niebuhr's Lect. iii. 303. Bohn's ed.
 
 12 
 
 had been regularly invested, as inseparable from tlie imperial 
 prerogative. These functions included, as is well known, the 
 supreme control of the religion of the State. They had been 
 assumed by Constantine as a matter of course ; and, notwith- 
 standing the profession of Christianity, the title was continued 
 by at least six of his immediate successors.* Thus both princes 
 and people had become habituated to State interference in 
 religious things ; and even Christians, yielding to the seduc- 
 tive influences around them, were ready to accept it, in their 
 own favour — too little reflecting that such an interference was 
 essentially heathenish, and altogether at variance with the 
 true spirit of the Gospel. But this was not the only feature 
 that marked the growing degeneracy of the Church. 
 
 2. — The simple piety of Apostolic Christianity had hallowed 
 and ennobled the plain duties of domestic and ordinary life. 
 Marriage, and all the holy relations which spring from it, had 
 received a fresh consecration. But in the age of Constantine 
 and Theodosius a vitiated doctrinal system presumed to dis- 
 credit that which God had sanctified. The blessed relations of 
 husband, of wife, of parent, were looked down upon with pity 
 or contempt by multitudes who were taught to prefer the so- 
 called " angelic " virtues of the monk or the nun. Religious 
 excitement expended itself upon monastic seclusion and un- 
 commanded austerities. Men vainly sought the victory over 
 self by fleeing from the appointed conflict with the world. A 
 false standard of holiness was set up, and, as a natural con- 
 sequence, the pursuit of imaginary virtues threw into the 
 shade the practice of ordinary duties. Veneration for the 
 relics of martyrs quickly led the way to an estimate of 
 their character and of the efficacy of their intercession, 
 altogether opposed to the testimony of Holy Scripture. 
 
 * Gibb. cli. sxi. sub fiu. vol. iii. p. 409, ed. 1802.
 
 13 
 
 Ceremonies multiplied apace ; insomucli that even Augus- 
 tine, oyerflowing as he was with that love that *' endureth 
 all things," was constrained to write to his friend Janua- 
 rius, as quoted by Bishop Jewell : " "With servile burdens 
 they so oppresse our very religion, which God of his 
 mercy would have to be free under very few and most 
 manifest sacraments of Divine service, that the state of the 
 Jews is much more tolerable [than the state of the Church 
 of Christ]."* If, according to a late eminent writer, who 
 has collected a mass of evidence upon the subject, the pre- 
 vailing infatuation in favour of celibacy and asceticism be 
 enough to fix '^ the Brand of Apostasy" upon the Church of 
 the fourth century, how, it may be asked, shall we be safe in 
 keeping up, without question, an ecclesiastical system based 
 to so large an extent upon corrupt maxims then current ?f 
 How, indeed, can we accept that as a model Church, of which 
 Chrysostom indignantly complains — contrasting it with the 
 simplicity of the apostolic age ' ' in which the Spirit of God 
 ordered all things " — "But now," he proceeds to say, "we 
 have scarcely the steps and tokens of these things. The 
 Church now may be likened to a woman that hath lost her old 
 modesty, and that beareth only certain badges and tokens of 
 her former felicity ; and that, being utterly bereft of the 
 
 * Augustini Epistol.119. Opera, vol. ii. fol. 576. Ed. Erasm. See 
 JeweU's "Defence of tlie Apology," p. 292. Ed. 1611. 
 
 t " I appeal to serious and candid minds, competently informed in 
 Churcli History, and ask whetlier tlie Brand oe Apostasy be not herein 
 fixed by tlie Apostolic band upon the Nicene Church." — Isaac Taylor, 
 " Ancient Christianity," vol. i. p. 310. The capitals are those of the 
 author. His allusion is of course to 1 Tim. iv. 1-4. Neander, in his 
 chapter on Monasticism (Church History, vol. iii. p. 322 seq.), does 
 ample justice to the Christian leaven which worked in the midst of 
 asceticism, in spite of the fearful evils incident to the system.
 
 u 
 
 treasures, keepetli only the cases and boxes of the precious 
 things she had before. To such a woman the Church this 
 day may be likened."* 
 
 The Apostle Paul early foresaw that '' some should depart 
 from the faith": he assures the primitive believers that '^ the 
 mystery of iniquity was already working," and warns the 
 elders at Ephesus that from among their own selves should 
 men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples 
 after them.f In the face of these solemn intimations we are 
 not to be surprised at the appearance, very early, of the 
 tares amongst the wheat ; nor can we accept as Divine 
 any testimony, how venerable soever, from succeeding ages 
 which fails to harmonise with the plain teaching of the New 
 Testament — the great and abiding record of immutable 
 Christian truth. Upon the practical application of this 
 truth to the hearts of men, and upon the acting out of its 
 requirements in a holy life, under the operation of the Spirit 
 of God, must ever depend the vitality of the Church. From 
 age to age it has pleased the Lord in his mercy to raise up 
 witnesses to its living power. And it is consolatory as well 
 as instructive, amidst prevailing corruption, to mark this 
 truth still triumphantly vindicating its Divine character and 
 its exclusive claim to our allegiance, as we note the evidence 
 continually accumulating that all decay and deadness in the 
 Church, with their attendant evils, have been the results not 
 of a humble, self-denying walk in accordance with its dic- 
 tates, but of a departure from it. Tried by the standard of 
 the New Testament, we are surely not mistaken in pointing 
 
 * Clirysost. Homil. 36 iu 1 Cor. We are again indebted to Bishop 
 Jewell for the translation. The words seem to have made a deep im- 
 pression upon him, as he quotes them more than once ; " Defence of the 
 Apology," pp. 31 and 399. 
 
 t 1 Tim. iv. 1—3. 2 Thess. ii. 7. Acts xx. 30.
 
 15 
 
 to tlie era of ecclesiastical establishments in the age of Con- 
 stantine and Theodosius as an era of grievous and increasing 
 departure. And "if," to use the words of Jewell, ''the 
 fprm. of the Church were so much altered in Chrysostom's 
 (lays, what may we then think of the times of darkness that 
 have followed." * 
 
 , lY. — Contrast between Primitive Christianity and the Age 
 of Church ^^ Establishments.^^ 
 
 It would be impossible, within the limits of these pages, to 
 do more than briefly hint at a few points — 
 
 1st. According to the teaching of the New Testament the 
 Lord Jesus Christ is the one Sacrifice for sin, the one Mediator 
 between Grod and man. Through Him all believers have the 
 same privilege of free access by one Spirit unto the Father ; 
 and all are made to partake of the one Spirit. None can 
 offer up his brother's heart ; neither can any man or order of 
 men worship or mediate for the rest. Hence the words 
 applied in the New Testament to Christian ministers have no 
 reference either to sacrifice or to priestly mediation. Except 
 in its obvious use as regards the sacrificing priests of the 
 Jews or the heathen, the term '' priest " is there exclusively 
 appropriated either in the highest sense to Christ himself, or in 
 a figurative sense to his people prepared by his redeeming love 
 to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Him. 
 It is never used of the Christian minister as such. Beautiful 
 is the idea of the Christian congregation presented to us in 
 the New Testament, in epistles, let it be remembered, 
 addressed by the Apostle Paul to four of the most important 
 
 * '•' Defence of the Apology," p. 31.
 
 16 
 
 primitive Churclies — at Corinth, at EpJiesus, at Thessalomcaj 
 and at Rome. The whole congregation is, according to the 
 apostle, ''the body of Christ," "drinking into one Spirit," 
 and, through that Spirit, enjoying union and fellowship with 
 Christ " the Head." The gifts of the Spirit are, in his view, 
 a pledge of the presence and love of the risen Lord. They 
 were " diverse," and no one member monopolised either the 
 participation, or the exercise of them. The "prophetic 
 gift," which is defined as the ability conferred by the Spirit 
 " to speak to men to edification and exhortation and com- 
 fort," is commended by the apostle as a gift to be especially 
 desired.* He expressly declares that "all might prophecy 
 one by one," that all might "learn, and that all might be 
 comforted." This hallowed liberty is, in his mind, in no 
 wise inconsistent with the " decency and order " which he, at 
 the same time, inculcates. Whilst every gift was to be 
 "proved," the SjDirit was not to be quenched, nor "pro- 
 phesying" despised. t Now it must be admitted that, in 
 order fully to realise the above conception, the congregation, 
 or, at least, the spiritual members of it, including in an 
 especial manner the ministers, must be preserved in a true 
 dependence upon Christ alone. In proportion as this is lack- 
 ing, the harmony and "order" will be disturbed. Justin 
 Martyr, in the middle of the second century, is an important 
 witness to the recognition in the Church, up to his own day, 
 of spiritual gifts " both in men and women." He speaks 
 
 * 1 Cor. xiv. 1, 3. 
 t For tliG above statement see 1 Cor. xii. — xiv. ; Epli, iv, 4 — 12 ; 
 1 Thess. V. 19 — 21 ; Eom. xii. 1 — 8, with the concurring testimony of 
 the Apostle Peter, 1 Pet. iv. 10, 11. In the Church at Antioch there 
 were both " prophets " and teachers. Ac. xiii. 1. Judas and Silas were 
 " prophets." Ac. xv. 32. The Apostle Paul was a guest at Csesarea in 
 a house where the "four daughters " all "prophesied." Ac. xxi. 8, 9. 
 
 TT
 
 17 
 
 of the continued possession by the Church of the '' prophetic 
 gift " as a standing testimony to the fulfilment of the ancient 
 evangelical promises, and an evidence of the abiding presence 
 of the Spirit that inspired them.^ A similar view is expressed 
 by a still later writer, quoted by Eusebius.j Intimations of 'Hhe 
 liberty of prophesying," appear in the works of Iren^us, and 
 of several other writers down to the beginning of the third cen- 
 tury ; J from which period the traces of its existence became 
 more and more indistinct ; and it has been generally assumed, 
 (but with what " warrant of Holy Scripture" still remains 
 to be proved,) that the prophetic gift, as exercised under the 
 direct sanction of the Apostles, has been superseded by the 
 *' ordinary" exercises of study or learning. § But has the 
 effect upon the Church of the practical suppression or disuse 
 of so important a gift been sufficiently considered ? Noiseless 
 as may have been the change produced, it cannot have 
 been the less certain. From week to week the congrega- 
 tions assembled. Services, of which, as must be confessed, 
 there are few, if any, distinct traces in the New Testament, 
 but which have been ascribed, with an appearance of pro- 
 bability, to an imitation of the usages of the Jewish 
 Synagogue, and which are distinctly referred to by writers 
 of the second and third centuries, || appear to have assumed 
 more and more of a regular form. The preaching of the 
 Gospel, originally powerful in its simplicity through the 
 
 * Justin Martyr, Dial, with Trypli. §§ 83, 87, and 88, where he saysj 
 " It is plain to be seen that there are amongst ns loth men and women 
 who have received gifts from the Spirit of God." 
 
 t Eccles. Hist. lib. v. c. 17- 
 
 + See Irense. Adv. Hseres. lib. II. c. 32, § 4. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 
 Hb. iii. c. 27, lib. V. c. 17, 18. 
 
 § See Mosheim de rebus Christianis ante Constant, pp. 130, 131. 
 
 II Justin Martyr, Apol. i. c. 67 ; TertuU, Apolog. c. 39.
 
 IS 
 
 '' demonstration of tlie Spirit," seems to liave become more 
 and more confined to tlie stated utterances of the Bishop or 
 Presbyter; v/hich in their turn gradually became more 
 rhetorical in their character, and more and more depen- 
 dent upon the exercise of human learning or skill. * Can 
 we be mistaken in believing that under these altered cir- 
 cumstances the dependence of the people upon their 
 risen and living Lord became, imperceptibly, it may be, yet 
 surely, exchanged for a dependence upon those who were 
 placed over them as ministers ? If no direct evidence of this 
 can be adduced, it is, at least, a striking fact that the age in 
 which the ^^ prophetic gift'" is supposed to have ceased, is 
 the age in ivliich the Bishops and Freshyters hegan to 
 assume that new relation to the congregation which ere long 
 raised them from the humble iwsition of ^'■servants'''' 
 or '■^ pastors,''^ to that of ^^jmests'^ and " mediatorsy'\ The 
 change must not be ascribed to them alone. The people also 
 had their part in it. In proportion as the dependence of the 
 
 * Origen (Comment, in Eoman : lib. ix. c. 2, vol. 7, p. 292, ed. Lom- 
 matzsch) has some striking observations npon tlio contrast between the 
 exercises of human wisdom then becoming common, heard with " great 
 "applause," but with little fruit of conviction or faith; and the simple 
 and unpremeditated utterances of those who spoke " according to the 
 grace given them," which were often made powerful to the conversion 
 of unbelievers and the arousing of the careless. So greatly had the prac- 
 tise of going to hear, rather than to worship, increased in Chrj^sostom's 
 time, that we j&nd him often sharply reproving the tumultuous clapping of 
 hands and other tokens of applause that interrupted his preaching. See 
 Neander's Life of Chrys. pp. 255 — 257. 
 
 t The expression " Priest " is frequently used by Tertullian and sub- 
 sequent writers. How far the sacerdotal ideas were carried a little later 
 maybe seen in the work called the "Apostolical Constitutions," :25assi)». 
 See, for example, lib. ii. c. 26, where the bishop is styled " Mediator 
 with God," an " Earthly God after God," &c.
 
 19 
 
 congregation failed to be placed npon Christ alone, they 
 lost, through unfaithfulness, that life in which alone they 
 could have dominion over the world, and abdicated the functions 
 of the heavenly priesthood to which each was called. Those 
 functions became more and more centralised and limited to 
 a select circle ; so that in the third century the very word 
 which had been applied by the Apostle Peter to the whole 
 congregation, as " the heritage"* of the Lord, became exclu- 
 sively appropriated to those engaged in the public work 
 of the ministry. Just as in a later period, as the idea 
 gained ground of the peculiar sacredness of the ascetic life, 
 the very "clergy" themselves were divided between the 
 "secular" and the "religious." The phrase "entering the 
 Priestly order ' ' began to be appropriated to the assumption of 
 the clerical function. The people were more and more excluded 
 from their part in the work and government of the Church. 
 That which even Cyprian, in the middle of the third century, 
 speaks of as a matter of course, the presence of the people, 
 either "assisting" or "consenting" in all important deli- 
 berations, gradually ceased ; though for centuries no bishop 
 was chosen without the popular voice, and no bishop, after he 
 was chosen, could do anything of importance without the 
 consent of his presbytery. 
 
 2. — In words of Divine majesty the Son of God proclaims 
 Spirituality and Truth the essential characteristics of the 
 worship of the New Covenant, " The hour cometh when ye 
 shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship 
 the Father. — God is a Spirit : and they that worship Him must 
 worship Him in spirit and in truth, "f "Without altars, 
 without templeS; without images ;" — such were the features 
 which the religious assemblies of the early Church presented 
 
 * 1 Pet. V. 3. t Jolin iv. 21, 24.
 
 20 
 
 to the world around them.* Some of the noblest remains of 
 Christian eloquence are vindications of this simplicity against 
 the scoffs of the heathen. Origen, in a memorable passage 
 of his treatise against Celsus, rises above himself as he 
 contrasts the gaudy pomp of untruth in the idol temple, with 
 the humble, sincere, and as yet unadorned worship of the 
 Church ; the lifeless and perishing images of Phidias and 
 Polycletus, with the living and enduring realities of the 
 new creation, wrought in believers by the Spirit of God. | 
 As Sacerdotal ideas entered in, this ancient simplicity 
 disappeared. The common meal in which the early be- 
 lievers had united in commemorating the Saviour's love 
 became a sacrifice, though for ages only a spiritual sacri- 
 fice — the table became an altar — the ministers, iiriests — the 
 simple meeting-house, or " upper room," a stately temple. 
 The accession of Constantine gave a fatal stimulus to these 
 tendencies. In glaring contrast with the Saviour's words, 
 who, in consecrating the worship of the heart, had for ever 
 abolished the special sanctity of place — the first Christian 
 Emperor erected, with great magnificence, a Christian 
 *' temple," on the supposed site of the Lord's sepulchre. 
 Under the auspices of himself and of his aged mother 
 Helena, the imperial sanction was given to the search after 
 relics, by the supposed discovery of the cross of wood 
 on which it was pretended that Christ had died. J This 
 quickly led to an almost incredible multiplication of similar 
 incidents, and ultimately to a veneration for the dead, and 
 for images, which it belongs to the Omniscient Judge alone 
 
 * Minucii Felicis, Octavius, §§ 10, 32, pp. 61, 160, ed. Davis, 
 t Origen contra Celsum, p. 389, ed. Spenc. 
 
 X See the authorities in the Second volume of Isaac Taylor's 
 " Ancient Christianity," p. 277, seqq.
 
 21 
 
 to distingiiish from actual worship. How true and suggestive 
 is Jerome's description of the Church which he saw around 
 him ! '' Greater in power and wealth, but with less of yirtue 
 since it came under the influence of Christian princes."* 
 Here we might pass on, did not the tendencies of our own 
 day suggest another obseryation. Under the influences that 
 were every day becoming more prevalent, it need not be 
 surprising that the primitive singing " with the Spirit" — 
 the true " melody of the heart," sanctified for praise, should, 
 about the middle of the third century, give place to the 
 regular choir; and still later, to the stately chaunt of 
 Ambrose, or of Gregory. But it is very remarkable how 
 long the ideas of a purer age maintained the protest of the 
 Apostolic Church against mingling the sounds of dead instru- 
 ments with the worship of the living God. It is a fact to which 
 we would invite the serious attention of our fellow- Christians 
 around us, that for more than tioelve hundred years this 
 primitive testimony precluded the use of organs in public 
 worship. Thus speaks Thomas Aquinas, writing about the 
 year 1250, as quoted by the accurate Bingham: — "The 
 Church does not use musical instruments, as harps and 
 psalteries, to praise God withal, that she may not seem to 
 Judaize." f 
 
 * Yita Malclii, Opera, vol. i. 116, ed. PlantiB, 1579. 
 
 ■}- Bingliain's Antiq. 314. Compare the testimony of William Thorpe 
 (about the year 1407), in 1 Wordsworth's Eccles. Biography, 169 — 
 172, and what the late Dr. Wordsworth there quotes as said " very 
 beautifully " by WyclifFe on worldly singing in public worship : " And 
 if they seyn that Angels praise God by song in Heaven ; seye that we 
 ktinnen (know) not that song ; but they ben in full victory of 
 their enemies, and we ben in perilous battle, and in the valley 
 of weeping and mourning ; and our song letteth us fro better 
 occupation, and stirreth us to many great sins, and to forget ourselves." 
 — 1 Wordsworth's Eccles. Biog. p. 171.
 
 22 
 
 It is onr privilege to recognise all who in every age have 
 by their fruits proved themselves members of the universal 
 Church — how much soever they may have been under bon- 
 dage to false systems. But whilst the servants are to be 
 honoured in their places, they are not to be set up above their 
 Lord. And we cannot close our eyes to the fact that from 
 the third century downwards we have to trace in the growth 
 of sacerdotal assumption, in the increasing pomp of ceremony, 
 in the multiplication of rites, in the exaggerated estimate 
 of the outward and ceremonial, and of the efficacy of self- 
 imposed services, the retrograde tendency of man's fallen 
 nature, the divine salt of the truth mingling with the earth 
 and losing its savour, the Church in name obtaining an 
 ascendancy, but really leavened, and, in so far as it was 
 leavened, enfeebled and corrupted by the spirit of the world. 
 Slow, yet continued, was the decline of the heavenly life, and 
 with this decline no less certain the backward movement from 
 the antitype to the type, from the spiritual to the ritual, 
 from Christ to man. 
 
 o. — How suggestive is the fact that the expression 
 ^^ i^eading prayer s,^^ to which modern usage has familiarised 
 so many, is not to be found in Holy Scripture, with all 
 its wealth of words to convey religious thought. Prayer — 
 that act which, of all others, ought to be the free commu- 
 nion of man with his Maker, the expression at once of the 
 feeblest cry for life, and of the deepest wants of the soul 
 — was, in the early ages of the Church, unrestricted, even in 
 the congregation, to any form of words. The language of 
 Tertullian in the beginning of the third century is express, 
 "We pray ivithuut a ■pi'ompter^ because from the heart."* 
 
 * " Denique sine monitore, quia de pectore oramus." — Tertulliani 
 Apologet. c. 30. So Justiu Martyr, fifty years earlier, describes tlie 
 presiding minister of the congregation as praying " according to his
 
 . 23 
 
 The origin of public liturgies is involved in great obscurity, 
 but it is agreed on all hands that their introduction was 
 very gradual ; and it was long before, even in districts 
 where usage had settled into uniformity in the use of the 
 same liturgy, all public extemporary prayer was excluded. 
 Even then a certain latitude was allowed at the discretion 
 of the "ordinary." And so far as this country was con- 
 cerned, it was not until the reigns of Edward the Sixth 
 and Queen Elizabeth that an absolute uniformity in public 
 prayer was adopted. ''The use of York," "the use of 
 Sarum," " the uses of Hereford and Bangor," long attested 
 the primitive liberty which, ages after liturgies had been 
 introduced, the bishops themselves enjoyed in their particular 
 jurisdictions. * 
 
 4. — The Apostle Paul from his own example, and from the 
 words of the Lord Jesus, urged upon the bishops or presbyters 
 of the Church atEphesus the importance of providing from their 
 own labour for the wants of themselves and of " the weak" 
 
 ability." "Octj Svvafiis hvTi^. — Justin Martyr, Apol. i. c. 68, p. 270. 
 Ed. Otto. See Lord Chancellor King's Observations, " Primitive 
 Chnrch," part ii. pp. 34-37. Compare Eom. viii. 26, 27 ,- 1 Pet. iv. 11. 
 Lord King largely proves that " the primitive Christians had no stinted 
 Liturgies, or imposed forms of prayer" — p. 33. See also 4 Bunsen's 
 Hippolytus, 152, and 221—225. 
 
 * Augustine, in an instructive epistle (Epist. 118, Opera, vol. ii. 
 fol. 556, Ed. Erasmi), suflB.ciently indicates the absence of uniformity 
 in his day. "Every Church," says Bingham, "was at liberty to 
 make choice for herself, in what method and form of words she would 
 perform these things; and it was no breach of unity for diflFerent 
 Churches to have different modes, and circumstances, and ceremonies." 
 Antiq. book xvi. ch. i. § 5, par. 2, p. 864, Ed, Bohn. "The rites 
 of the Churches throughout the British Empire were not hy amj means 
 uniform at the middle of the sixteenth century." — Palmer's Origines 
 Liturgicse, vol. i. p. 189.
 
 24 
 
 around them.* Instances occur even in the fourth and fifth 
 centuries of bishops being engaged in trade, j* and ages passed 
 away before it was supposed that occupations which had been 
 consecrated by the example of the Lord and his apostles were 
 incompatible with the duties or the character of the Christian 
 minister. Justin Martyr in the second century, and Ter- 
 tullian in the beginning of the third, if speak of the offerings 
 of the faithful, and of their application to the wants of the sick 
 and the destitute, the widows and the orphans, and the 
 Christians in prison or in exile. But neither of these writers 
 speak of any allowances to the ministers. It is true that 
 about fifty years later, in the age of Cyprian, who had given 
 up liis own patrimony to the poor of the Church, we find 
 traces of such an allowance. But even then and for centuries 
 later all was free. The words of Tertullian speak the voice 
 of the Universal Church in the West until at least the sixth 
 or the seventh century, and in the East down to our own 
 day: "Nemo compellitur ; sed sponte confert." — " No one is 
 compelled to give ; but each contributes freely." § 
 
 * Acts XX. 33-35. The observations of Baumgarten on tliis important 
 passage deserve onr thoughtful attention : — " The Church of Christ in the 
 midst of the world of the Gentiles will only fulfil its appointed task by 
 remaining faithful to this fundamental law of their Apostle of giving 
 without receiving. By this alone can it attain to a firm and independent 
 existence from which it will be enabled to chastise, to move, to heal, and 
 to improve the world." Baumgarten's Apostolic History, vol. ii. 
 p. 380. 
 
 t Bing. Antiq. Christian Church. Book vi. c. 4, § 13, p. 227. 
 
 % Justin Martyr, Apolog. I. c. 67 ; Tertulliani, Apolog. c. 39. 
 
 § TertuU. Apologet. c. 39. Comp. Irenseus Adv. Hseres. ii. c. 32, § 4. 
 Lactantius, Div. Inst. iii. c. 26. Tatian ad Graecos, § 50. 1 Lingard's 
 Anglo-Saxon Church, 181-183. See the very curious letter of 
 Apollonius (A.D. 180-190) quoted by Eusebius Eccles. Hist. lib. v.
 
 V. — Present Aspect of the Question. 
 
 "With regard to tlie bearing of the foregoing on the position 
 of the United Church of England and Ireland, as by law 
 established, we may conclude with a few observations. 
 
 We accept, with thanksgiving unto God, all that glorious 
 result, which in his great mercy and goodness was brought 
 about at the period known as the Eeformation — the 
 translation of the Holy Scriptures into the vulgar tongue, 
 the presenting of them to the free perusal and reverent 
 acceptance of the people, the awakening of multitudes to the 
 reception of many of the most important doctrines of the 
 Gospel, more especially of the exclusive and all-availing 
 efficacy of the sufferings and death upon the cross of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and of his sole mediation and intercession 
 with the Father. We bless the Lord for the light that 
 broke forth in that day, and, in so far as the Church of 
 England has been a witness with others to these great truths 
 against the corruptions and errors of the Church of Kome, 
 we rejoice and give thanks. 
 
 c. 18, in "which, he proposes the following as a Test whereby to dis- 
 tinguish the false from the true prophet — " Does it not appear to 
 thee that tlie Scripture forbids any prophet to receive gifts and money ? 
 When, therefore, I see a prophetess receiving both gold and silver and 
 precious garments, how can I fail to reject her ? " Andj again, towards 
 the end — " If they deny that their prophets took presents, let them at 
 least acknowledge, that if they should he proved to have received them, 
 they are no prophets.'' As regards the Eastern Church, see Paolo Sarpi, 
 Ecclesiastical Benefices, c. 11, p. 38, and Dean Stanley's "Eastern 
 Clmrch," pp. 44 and 366, 367.
 
 26 
 
 We desire no change in the interests of Party ; but in 
 the high and sacred interests of spiritual, primitive Chris- 
 tianity, we would invite our fellow countrymen to consider 
 whether the time has not come for the termination, in a 
 manner accordant vrith the requirements of Justice and 
 Christian wisdom, of arrangements made under circum- 
 stances of great political pressure, and at the time confessed 
 to be incomplete, by which an antiquated ecclesiastical 
 system in connection with the State was kept on foot, for 
 which it is impossible fairly to plead either Divine institu- 
 tion or Apostolic practice or allowance. 
 
 We freely recognise the blessing which has doubtless been 
 granted in the over-ruling providence of God to multitudes 
 under the administrations of the " Established" Church. But 
 let it be remembered that such a blessing is no conclusive 
 evidence of their conformity to His will. The genius of 
 Pascal, the sanctity of Fenelon, the zeal of Xavier, give no 
 sanction to the corruptions of Rome. Nor does the learning 
 of Usher, the piety and talents of Taylor and Bramhall, or 
 the holiness of Bedell and Berkeley, set the seal of Divine 
 approbation upon the Protestant Church as it is established 
 in Ireland. 
 
 We would respectfully invite attention to the following 
 considerations : — 
 
 First. — It is confessed on all hands that the United Church 
 of England and Ireland is founded on compromise. In this 
 respect, it stands upon grounds altogether opposed to those 
 of the National Church of the Old Testament. 
 
 Secondly. — The National Church of the Old Testament, as 
 we have already seen, was a Church for the whole people, in 
 which the whole nation, wherever scattered, had an interest. 
 This is a sense in which the united Church of England and 
 Ireland cannot claim to be national. Millions of those who 
 
 ' ji . J IIP"*
 
 27 
 
 have equal rights with its professed members, as fellow 
 subjects of the same commonwealth, conscientiously dissent 
 from it, and their right to dissent is recognised bj the same 
 law as that under which the Church exists. 
 
 Thirdly. — A portion, in many places a very large portion, 
 of those who are fellow subjects have been causelessly ex- 
 cluded from privileges and positions freely open to others who 
 have no better claim to them ; whilst the members of the 
 national establishment are trained up under the impression 
 that they have a kind of exclusive inheritance in the Chris- 
 tianity of the State, and are, perhaps unconsciously, taught to 
 look down upon their Dissenting fellow subjects as in some 
 sort aliens as regards the public privileges which the profession 
 of Christianity secures. 
 
 Thus an established Church is placed, by the fact of its 
 estabhshment, in a position the very opposite of that which 
 is favourable to the development of Christian life, either in 
 its own members or in their fellow Christians. On the one 
 side, it is apt to produce arrogance, self-conceit, an absence 
 of loving sympathy ; and on the other, that irritation which 
 petty jealousies and annoyances rarely fail to engender; 
 whilst on each is created a spirit of mutual exclusiveness 
 which tends to separate rather than unite those whom the 
 same Lord and Saviour has joined together in his own love. 
 
 Fourthly. — The interference of the State has tended to 
 isolate the Church as established in this country. In marked 
 contrast with the Catholicity of the New Testament, the acts 
 of uniformity have fostered a spirit of narrow " Anglicanism," 
 which would exclude from the privileges of Church fellowship 
 our Protestant fellow subjects in Scotland, and our brethren 
 upon the Continents of both hemispheres, who honour the 
 memory of Luther and of Calvin, of Zwingle and of Wesley. 
 
 Fifthly.— Whilst the influence of the Church of the Old
 
 28 
 
 Testament ever tended to the holiness of the nation, can it 
 be denied that the inflnence of the union between the Church 
 and the State, in this country, has been to secularise the 
 Church, investing its bishops with worldly dignity, rank, and 
 power; giving the force of law to a system of compulsory 
 payments, and of Church benefices, with all the abuses con- 
 nected with the rights of patronage ; placing ministers over 
 congregations, without any reference to their consent or con- 
 currence — a system for which a long- continued usage in the 
 most corrupt ages is all that can be pleaded ; destitute of 
 the least warrant in Holy Scripture, and altogether opposed 
 to the spirit both of the old and of the new covenant ? 
 
 Sixthly. — In the United Church of England and Ireland, 
 the functions of the congregation are to a large extent 
 monopolised by the clergy to the great prejudice both of 
 themselves and of the people. The system has a direct 
 tendency to keep the people in a state of spiritual pupillage 
 and dependence, and to suppress the exercise of the gifts 
 of the Holy Spirit, which, according to the plain teaching 
 of Scripture, was to be one of the special privileges of the 
 New Covenant. But it is not the people only who are thus 
 restrained. Under the Acts of Uniformity, no minister of 
 the Church by law established is at liberty, whatever be his 
 position or Christian experience, or how pressing soever the 
 emergency, to pour out his heart freely in public con- 
 gregational prayer. He must pray according to the book or 
 not at all. 
 
 Whatever weight may attach to the foregoing observations 
 as they affect the Church Establishment in England, they 
 must surely apply with greatly augmented force to that por- 
 tion of the Establishment which exists in Ireland. It is 
 there, confessedly, in a small minority, not national in any sense 
 in which the word can be appropriate to a free or a Christian
 
 29 
 
 nation. If we look at results — one of the professed objects of 
 maintaining the Protestant Church in Ireland, has been the 
 conversion of the Eoman Catholics. But, so far from this 
 having been accomplished, it now appears that the proportion 
 of Eoman Catholics to Protestants is greater at the pre- 
 sent time than it was a century ago. Is it, then, for the 
 purpose of preserving a Protestant ascendancy that the 
 Irish Church system is to be maintained ? What is 
 Protestant ascendancy? We have here at once an illus- 
 tration of the danger and difficulty resulting from the union 
 of the State with the Church. The State may lawfully exer- 
 cise authority to maintain its own ascendancy and to enforce 
 civil obedience. But what is the ascendancy of a Christian 
 Church ? Is it the ascendancy of earthly dignity and power, 
 or is it not rather that of faith and holiness, of zeal and love ? 
 Of old the Church overcame not by carnal but by spiritual 
 weapons, and by the same weapons must it overcome now. It 
 is by these weapons that Protestant — that is to say, scrip- 
 tural Truth, for we plead for no other, — must maintain its 
 ascendancy. And by these we are persuaded it will be far 
 more effectually protected, and commended to the minds and 
 consciences of our Eoman Catholic fellow subjects, than by 
 all the weapons which the armoury of the State can furnish. 
 
 We feel the gravity of the present crisis. We would urge 
 nothing in the spirit of contention, or from the love of change. 
 We know well how much of wisdom is needed in every 
 attempt to correct old institutions ; and, especially in all that 
 relates to Christianity, how necessary it is that the ground 
 shall be cleared in the hearts of men, before either the 
 foundation or the superstructure can be safely laid. Hence the 
 necessity for patience, forbearance, and mutual charity, no less 
 than for earnestness and zeal. As each is willing to be taught, 
 all may find that they have much both to unlearn and to learn.
 
 30 
 
 Yet, let us not be deterred from facing the emergency by the 
 magnitude of tlie issue, or the extent or importance of the 
 consequences involved. We would especially call upon our 
 fellow Christians to have more faith in their risen and exalted 
 Lord. "He loved his Church, and gave Himself for it"; 
 and still lives to mediate and reign, that He may present it 
 to Himself a glorious Church. Let us not doubt his continued 
 love and power, or think any other means now necessary 
 for the support of His truth, or for the preservation of His 
 Church in spiritual life and vigour, than those which are 
 warranted by the great charter of His love in the New 
 Testament ; and which, from age to age, have given so many 
 evidences of their divine efficacy in overcoming the world. 
 
 But the great c|uestion that underlies every other in rela- 
 tion to the present subject, and compared with which every 
 other must shrink into insignificance, is that which appeals to 
 every heart and in which all are alike interested. Are the 
 Christian jjeople of this land, in right earnest, to accept the 
 responsibilities and to take their legitimate share in the duties 
 and privileges of the children of God ? Are all to be priests, 
 putting on the garment of salvation and the robe of righteous- 
 ness, enjoying and exemplifying, in a holy life and conver- 
 sation, the blessedness of the citizenship of heaven? The 
 welfare of millions, for time and for eternity, is involved 
 in the practical response to be given to this momentous 
 question. The affirmative answer of the nation's heart and 
 life would be the establishment of the Church indeed. 
 How much, alas ! on the other hand, is there in the United 
 Church of England and Ireland as by law established, with 
 its system of worldly compromise and assumption, and in its 
 exclusively clerical government, framed after the models of an 
 age steeped in Byzantine despotism, which not only does not 
 favour, but is a positive obstruction, to the full realisation
 
 31 
 
 of tlie New Testament idea of the kingdom of God. Do any 
 really imagine tliat, in removing the existing legal ' ' Establish- 
 ment," the State would cease to be Christian ? Can there be a 
 greater fallacy ? It is not the State that makes the Christian ; 
 it is rather the Christian that moulds the character of the 
 State. So far as the people themselves are brought under 
 the power of the Gospel, Christianity will rule supreme in 
 the national Councils, and influence the administration of 
 the law. Were this truly the case with every professor 
 of the Christian name in this land, how much cause would 
 there be for hope that the Churches of England, no longer 
 severed by State interference, but united in a true sense of 
 their high calling in Christ Jesus, might become faithful 
 witnesses of His power and redeeming love to the world 
 around them, and illustrate, more than they have ever yet 
 done, the truth and blessedness of the promise, "All thy 
 children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the 
 peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be 
 
 ESTABLISHED." * 
 
 * Isaiali liv. 13, 34. 
 
 London ; E. Bareett & Sons, Printers, 13, Mark Lane.