I will not dwell on these dangers and drawbacks, except with the firm conviction that we are well able, with common prudence and energy, to prevent them all.

RIDLEY.

In what do you consider the great advantages of the alliance between Church and state to consist?

ᎻᎬᎡᏴᎬᎡᎢ,

We

Chiefly in the provision made for the diffusion of the pure religion of Christ in every district of the land. I have so strong a feeling on this subject, that I believe the parochial system to be almost as essential as the diocesan. have the germ of it in the Scriptures. We find that Titus, when appointed bishop, was directed to "ordain elders in every city," and very anciently-as soon, perhaps, as it was possible-we find traces of parochial districts throughout the Church. It does not appear to me that the Church can ever be truly Catholic or universal without them. The voluntary system may gather into Christ's fold a few members in each community, as it does in America; but it can never christianize the whole. Therefore I maintain that the parochial system is essential to the full development of the Church of Christ. If

the diocesan system is necessary to its very existence, the parochial system is necessary to its completion. Churchmen, in general, do not uphold the parochial system on sufficiently high grounds. It should not be considered as a question of mere expediency, but of essential necessity; nay, almost of divine authority.

RIDLEY.

Cannot the parochial system exist without an alliance between the Chursh and state?

HERBERT.

It constitutes, in my mind, the main feature. of the alliance. You might concede every other point, but if you give up this, the alliance is dissolved. However, I can never believe the state will be so ill-advised, as to dissolve an alliance which is even more beneficial to itself than to the Church. It is impossible to overrate its advantages. In the first place, it stamps the nation with a Christian character, making it holy unto the Lord: it secures to us, as a nation, the certainty of God's favour. We may consider it as an axiom, or as a matter of faith, that the state allied with the Church cannot but prosper; for since God has pledged his sacred

word to protect his Church, the state which is joined with it, must share its promised blessings: -a fact which, however infidels and worldly men may scoff at the assertion, at once accounts for all the prosperity, which as a nation, we have so long enjoyed. Should the state separate itself, or perhaps persecute the Church, it would be deserted by the palladium of its prosperity, and become a prey to all the miseries which spring from uncontrolled sinfulness. We ought to view the Establishment therefore with the eye of patriots, as well as Christians. As Christians, we should rejoice that, by its union with the state, the Church is enabled to fulfil, with greater efficiency, its work of winning souls to Christ; and, as patriots, we should regard with gratitude, the powerful aid for improving the condition of the people and checking the seeds of crime, which the state derives from its union with the Church.

Take only the one obvious fact, that there are more than ten thousand stations in the land, from which is proclaimed aloud every seventh day, that there is a God above, a Providence, a judgment, a heaven, a hell. It is mainly through this constant iteration, that there is a settled impression on men's minds that these things are true. They may disregard or attempt to stifle

it, but there the belief is fixed; and is more efficient to prevent crime than the most vigilant system of human law. But how much more is that moral influence increased, when we consider the peculiar doctrines of the cross; when we remember that, week after week and day after day, God's ministers are employed in inculcating the great truths of the Gospel,-telling men of the purity of God, who marks not only our deeds, but our very words and thoughts,-setting forth to awakened consciences the true nature and sure consequences of sin,-and promising in God's name, that if "the wicked man will turn from his sin he shall save his soul alive,"-shall have pardon for the past through a crucified Saviour, and grace to lead a new life in godliness and honesty. Consider that there is, in every district in the land, a minister of religion commissioned by God, and authorized by the state to proclaim these truths. His human authority is of course infinitely inferior in value to that which he receives from God; still, practically and with reference to its effect on human nature, it is of great importance. He and he alone is authorized to administer the sacraments of the Church; publicly on the Lord's day, and privately every day, to preach to the people the

doctrines and duties of Christ's religion; to admit children to the Christian Church; instruct the ignorant, reprove the ungodly, console the afflicted, bless and sanctify the marriage vow, and consign the dead with decent honour to the grave;-in short, to invest all the incidents of life with the sacred garb of religion.

With

out an Establishment, more than half of the country would be destitute of these advantages; parish churches would fall to ruin; no divine worship would be offered in them; no marriages solemnized, no infants baptized; the dead would be buried in ditches with barbarous irreverence. Surely such a change would fling us back into worse than Druidical barbarism. Almost any religion is better than none; what then must be the inestimable value of God's own truth?

RIDLEY.

I quite agree with you in the high estimate which you form of the value of the Establishment. You, as a clergyman, look principally to the religious advantages; which are of course, beyond comparison, the greatest. To me it has often appeared that the civilization of our people results, in a great measure, from the constant residence amongst them of educated men, who

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