In the

Universities, and the vast progressive increase of the democratic element in society,-are not events that have been calculated to allay either the hopes or the fears of the two great religious parties which divide the nation; and the Church and the Dissenters stand now at as great a distance from each other as ever. The old Puritan contest with the hierarchy is still undecided. middle of the nineteenth century we find ourselves yet implicated in some of the deepest questions of the cause for which our forefathers made such noble sacrifices and heroic efforts. Change in the outward show of things should not blind us to the identity of principles continually re-appearing in new forms. We owe, indeed, much to the progress of civilisation. It has converted the weapons of annoyance wielded by the hierarchy, from the badge, the dungeon, and the stake, into the compulsory demand of a church-rate, and the claim of exclusive education. But in its assumption of superiority, its disdain of equal intercourse, its virtual denial of Christian brotherhood, the spirit of the hierarchy has undergone no change. It cannot be uninteresting to investigate the principle, the effects, and the apparent tendency of this grand English controversy. Fully to comprehend the present, we must survey its relations with the past. To attempt this, will be the object of the following chapters.

CHAPTER II.

THE CHURCH.

SECT. I.

DIFFICULTY OF DEFINING A CHURCH.

FEW things are more difficult to define than a Church. What constitutes a Church? In the heterogeneous mass of human beings who continue through changing generations to bear its name and observe its usages, how shall we discover the common property, which makes it a moral unity and invests it with a distinctive character? Where shall we look for the genius of a Church ?-In the opinions and feelings that may for the time be predominant in it?-or in its recognized creed, ritual and discipline?-in its invisible soul?—or in its material organization?-These difficulties are increased in the case of a Church established by law; because every establishment possesses a vast power, as such, to attract to itself out of other communions, men of the most opposite views, each of whom finds something in it, to justify his attachment to the religion of the State. Still, every religion that is taken into alliance with the government must possess certain principles of its own, which belong to it independently of that con

nection, and which modify its operation as an establishment. Very different forms of Christianity have been established in England, in Scotland, and in Prussia, though they all partake more or less of the common spirit of establishments. Some persons conform on principle to the established Christianity, whatever it may be; and would be Episcopalians in England, Presbyterians in Scotland, and members of the Evangelical Church in Prussia. Others, again, have so decided a predilection for Episcopacy, that they adhere to it in Scotland, where it is simply tolerated, and in America, where it stands on the broad footing of religious equality with other sects.

Two things must, therefore, be considered, in examining the character and operation of the Church of England:-first, what it is in itself, regarded as a particular religious community, held together by certain Articles and Canons, and by the use of a Common Liturgy and Discipline; and secondly, how these its constituent principles are qualified by its civil establishment. The Church of England is kept under great control by the State; and this external constraint unavoidably impedes the free and natural development of its inherent tendencies. We see it working in the fetters of its

political subordination. To detect its genuine character, we must watch its operation in those periods of its history, where it has been left most

to itself, and enjoyed the greatest freedom of action, or where its latent principles have been most strongly called out in the conflict with hostile agencies.

And here a question meets us on the threshold of our inquiry:-what are we to assume, as the primary element-the determining principle of the English hierarchy? Its Articles and Homilies, or its Liturgy, Canons and Government? For it will not be denied, that a different spirit pervades these two parts of its constitution.-Writers on comparative grammar assert that the characteristic features of a language are more discernible in its structure than in its vocabulary,—that the genius of the informing mind is more clearly shown in the organism which acts, than in the subject-matter which is acted upon; for the former endures, while the latter is exposed to constant change. We may apply the analogy to the constitution of the Church of England. Its structural arrangements-its organism -must be sought in its Prayer-book, Canons and Episcopal discipline; whereas its Articles and Homilies partake more of the nature of a foreign substance, grafted, as it were, on the original stock which has done its best to assimilate them to its own constitution, and has certainly caused them to be received by a large majority of those who profess adherence to them-in a spirit very different from that in which they were at first introduced. The

Liturgy and Government of the Church, and certain deep feelings of reverence and attachment cherished by them, have subsisted with little or no alteration for nearly three centuries; but, though the spirit of the Articles and Homilies is Calvinistic, there have been long periods in which the predominant belief of those who have subscribed to them, has been notoriously Arminian; and the sense in which they should be interpreted is still a matter of eager controversy between the two great parties of the Church.

SECT. II.

PREPARATORY CHANGES UNDER HENRY VIII.

In the reign of Henry VIII. little change was made in the constitution of the Church, but what resulted necessarily from dissolving the connection with Rome, and transferring the ecclesiastical supremacy to the Crown. Cranmer, though decidedly Protestant in his heart, (1) pursued his ends cautiously and indirectly, by always avoiding extreme measures, and keeping on terms with his royal master,—a subserviency which procured him from his enemies the opprobrious title of a Henrician.a In 1533, on the death of Warham, • Strype's Life of Cranmer.

a