ime of King George III.;
but the very chance that they will not makes it a practical concern for
every churchman to prepare himself for a change, and a practical
question for the clergy, by what instruments the authority of Religion
is to be supported, should the protection and patronage of the
Government be withdrawn. Truth, indeed, will always support itself in
the world by its native vigour; it will never die while heaven and earth
last, but be handed down from saint to saint until the end of all
things. But this was the case before our Lord came, and is still the
case, as we may humbly trust, in heathen countries. My question concerns
_the Church_, that peculiar institution which Christ set up as a
visible home and memorial of Truth; and which, as being in this world,
must be manifested by means of this world. I know it is common to make
light of this solicitude about the Church, under the notion that the
Gospel may be propagated without it,--or that men are about the same
under every Dispensation, their hearts being in fault, and not their
circumstances,--or for other reasons, better or worse as it may be; to
all which I am accustomed to answer (and I do not see how I can be in
error), that, if Christ had not meant His Church to answer a purpose, He
would not have set it up, and that our business is not to speculate
about possible Dispensations of Religion, but to resign and devote
ourselves to that in which we are actually placed.

Hitherto the English Church has depended on the State, _i. e._ on the
ruling powers in the country--the king and the aristocracy; and this is
so natural and religious a position of things when viewed in the
abstract, and in its actual working has been productive of such
excellent fruits in the Church, such quietness, such sobriety, such
external propriety of conduct, and such freedom from doctrinal excesses,
that we must ever look back upon the period of ecclesiastical history so
characterized with affectionate thoughts; particularly on the reigns of
our blessed martyr St. Charles, and King George the Good. But these
recollections of the past must not engross our minds, or hinder us from
looking at things as they are, and as they will be soon, and from
inquiring what is intended by Providence to take the place of the
time-honoured instrument, which He has broken (if it be yet broken), the
regal and aristocratical power. I shall offend many men when I say, we
must _look to the people_; b