e its exercise. But the same difficulty has been
experienced in effecting this union which has been experienced in
forming a second chamber--either the spiritual power has usurped
upon the civil, and established a sacerdotal society, or the civil
power has invaded successfully the rights of the spiritual, and the
ministers of religion have been degraded into stipendiaries of the
state and instruments of the government. In England we accomplish
this great result by an alliance between Church and State, between
two originally independent powers. I will not go into the history of
that alliance, which is rather a question for those archaeological
societies which occasionally amuse and instruct the people of this
city. Enough for me that this union was made and has contributed for
centuries to the civilization of this country. Gentlemen, there is
the same assault against the Church of England and the union between
the State and the Church as there is against the monarchy and
against the House of Lords. It is said that the existence of
nonconformity proves that the Church is a failure. I draw from these
premises an exactly contrary conclusion; and I maintain that to have
secured a national profession of faith with the unlimited enjoyment
of private judgment in matters spiritual, is the solution of the
most difficult problem, and one of the triumphs of civilization.

It is said that the existence of parties in the Church also proves
its incompetence. On that matter, too, I entertain a contrary
opinion. Parties have always existed in the Church; and some have
appealed to them as arguments in favor of its divine institution,
because, in the services and doctrines of the Church have been found
representatives of every mood in the human mind. Those who are
influenced by ceremonies find consolation in forms which secure to
them the beauty of holiness. Those who are not satisfied except
with enthusiasm find in its ministrations the exaltation they
require, while others who believe that the "anchor of faith" can
never be safely moored except in the dry sands of reason find a
religion within the pale of the Church which can boast of its
irrefragable logic and its irresistible evidence.

Gentlemen, I am inclined sometimes to believe that those who
advocate the abolition of the union between Church and State have
not carefully considered the consequences of such a course. The
Church is a powerful corporation of many millio