It is on some such principles that the majority of the people of England, far from thinking a religious national establishment unlawful, hardly think it lawful to be without one. In France you are wholly mistaken if you do not believe us above all other things attached to it, and beyond all other nations; and when this people has acted unwisely and unjustifiably in its favour (as in some instances they have done most certainly) in their very errors you will at least discover their zeal. This principle runs through the whole system of their polity. They do not consider their church establishment as convenient, but as essential to their state; not as a thing heterogeneous and inseparable; something added for accommodation; what they may either keep or lay aside, according to their temporary ideas of convenience. They consider it as the foundation of their whole constitution, with which, and with every part of which, it holds an indissoluble union. Church and state are ideas inseparable in their minds, and scarcely is the one ever mentioned without mentioning the other. (In preparing these pages for publication, the selector has discovered how unconsciously he was indebted to the intellectual inspiration of Burke, in the following extract:-- "Founded in Christ, and by Apostles form'd, Glory of England! oh, my Mother Church, Hoary with time, but all untouched in creed, Firm to thy Master, by as fond a grasp Of faith as Luther, with his free-born mind Clung to Emmanuel,--doth thy soul remain. But yet around Thee scowls a fierce array Of Foes and Falsehoods; must'ring each their powers, Triumphantly. And well may thoughtful Hearts Heave with foreboding swell and heavy fears, To mark, how mad opinion doth infect Thy children; how thine apostolic claims And love maternal are regarded now, By creedless Vanity, or careless Vice. For time there was, when peerless Hooker wrote, And deep-soul'd Bacon taught the world to think, When thou wert paramount,--thy cause sublime! And in THY life, all Polity and Powers The throne securing, or in law enshrined, With all estates our balanced Realm contains, In thee supreme, a master-virtue own'd And honour'd. Church and State could then co-work, Like soul and body in one breathing Form Distinct, but undivided; each with rule Essential to the kingdom's healthful frame, Yet BOTH, in unity august and good Together, under Christ their living Head, A hallow'd commonwealth of powers achieved. But now, in evil times, sectarian Will Would split the Body, and to sects reduce Our sainted Mother of th'imperial Isles, Which have for ages from Her bosom drank Those truths immortal, Life and Conscience need. But never may the rude assault of hearts Self-blinded, or the autocratic pride Of Reason, by no hallowing faith subdued,