XXXIV.

ON THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

"My kingdom is not of this world."

JOHN Xviii. 36.

My dear friends and brethren, I have already laid before you certain general considerations relative to the Church of England. The place it holds in the eye of the Christian world, our relation to it as a Church, professing substantially the same doctrine, and using the same mode of worship, the immense effect which every change in it must produce not only upon the cause of the gospel in England, but throughout the earth, justify me in asking your attention again to the subject, though it has not that immediate bearing on personal religion at which pulpit addresses should usually aim. But I could not allow so favorable an opportunity to make you acquainted with other important branches of the Christian Church to pass unimproved. I have alluded to the great dangers which have threatened the downfall of the English Church from its established position, and expressed my heart-felt hope, that, by the progress of thorough reform of past abuses, and the increase of active exertions in the Church, they might be averted. There was a period, you are doubtless

aware, when the Church of England was believed by all its friends to be in great and imminent peril; when she was assailed with equal fury, though with far differing motives, by a strange combination of honest and dishonest men, of religious and irreligious men, of those who had proved their conscientious objections to her doctrines by suffering the loss of their earthly goods, and, on the other hand, of those who would have made the plunder of Church property only the apology and precursor, as in the awful Revolution in France, for the plunder of all other property, the demolition of the ancient fabric of the Church, the first step to the ruin of the civil and social institutions of the land. I intend on the present occasion to make these dangers, which still in some degree cause alarm, the subject of my remarks.

1. It must be allowed that the dangers which have impended over the English Church have had their origin, and certainly have derived their main strength, from the actual position and character of the Church itself. It is, you are aware, closely connected with the civil government; and this position has involved it in constant danger. Though there are points of view which afford powerful arguments in favor of sustaining the Church by the arm of the civil power, or the civil power by that of the Church, yet the connection necessarily leads to great peril. The Church is, or always should be, a spiritual body. Its weapons of warfare should be spiritual; and when it consents to

wield those which are carnal, the blow is liable to rebound and fall heavily upon itself. This has always been the besetting danger of those churches which have been closely connected in polity with the powers of this world. The first wide and deep corruption in the universal Church of Christ followed its establishment under Constantine; and in the Church of England in every age, and at the present day, it has likewise been great. It is easy to see its origin and cause. Under the influence of the English ecclesiastical system, there is a strong tendency to give a secular tone to the Church. The monarch is its temporal head, and as such has the prerogative of nominating and virtually appointing its bishops. Though in theory the power of final choice lies in the Cathedrals, still that choice can never be put into effect unless it accords with the previously expressed will of the sovereign. Of course, the mind of the sovereign must be in a great degree influenced, if not altogether governed in its nomination to Episcopal offices by the State ministry. Now, though public opinion and sound policy will exert a wholesome restraint on this power in the crown or ministry, yet it is plain that it must endanger the spiritual tone and high moral independence of the Church. If the monarch and his ministers were always imbued with the spirit of the gospel,- if the civil government were in truth, as in theory, a practically Christian government, - then this power might be safely exercised; though, under even these cir

cumstances, there would seem to be an unjustifiable surrender, on the part of the Church, of a power and duty which belong to her exclusively. Until the spirit of this world is thoroughly changed, it is apparent that political considerations, rather than spiritual, will guide the conduct of civil governments. Though sometimes, as seems to be the case at present in England, the obvious temporal policy of the civil power is to raise in every possible way the spiritual character of the Church, still the prevailing tendency of the connection is to secularize it. Whether the monarch be religious or not, he is its temporal head; whether the State ministry be pious men or not, their influence over the Church must be deeply felt. Party politics will often inevitably actuate them in their nomination to spiritual offices. They will not always look to piety or high attainments in religion or learning, or even to a general power of usefulness, as the only proper qualifications for of fice in the Church. They must sometimes calculate upon the strength to be added to their party position by one or another individual whose merits are weighed with a view to promotion. And it cannot be denied, also, that the more prominent among the clergy are likely to suffer from this position of things. Those who are aspiring men will be tempted to trim their sails to the breeze that is blowing, to come down from that high spiritual stand in which their office places them, and mingle too much with worldly politics. They will be

tempted to stand well with the powers that be, whether godly or ungodly; to look closely to the main chance of promotion, and be careful lest they risk it. This obviously tends to secularize the Church. Whether the danger is greater than that which results from the popular system prevailing with us, is not the question. That it is very great is apparent from all our experience of the universal motives which sway the actions of men. At present it is greatly counteracted by the deep conviction which pervades the English mind, from the throne to the humblest worshipper at the altar, that the temporal salvation of the Church depends upon having men at its head who shall command, by their high religious character, the deep respect of the people. Whether, when the alarm passes entirely away, the same secular spirit will not again press into the Church, is the problem to be solved in years to come.

2. And the same tendency is greatly increased by the fact that the bishops of the Church are, by their office, permanent members of the civil government, compelled to devote a considerable portion of their time and thoughts to civil cares and duties. As peers of the realm, they must, for several months in the year, be absent from their charge, in the exercise of their duties as members of Parliament. Surrounded in the metropolis by all the worldly influences of an earthly court, their high spiritual character must be in danger. Their position as lords of the land must render them