Dr. Vaughan on Sunday delivered a remarkable sermon in Doncaster
upon the English Establishment. He doubted if the Establishment would last, and told his hearers that Dr. Jeune was accustomed to say, "If I live ten years I shall be the last Bishop of Peterborough." For himself, he was far from regarding that prospect with alarm or dismay, for he thought the Church was founded upon a rock, but he feared something for the State when it ceased to have a religion. "I fear something for the average tone of religion in our cottages and in our palaces when there is no longer one form of worship which has upon it the stamp of with every man, and with every family, 'Whither shall I go this day for God's worship—whither, or whether any whither?'—I fear there will be more and more in many houses of a cold, indifferent scepticism—a Christless education, and a godless life." We entertain the same fear, and think the probability a strong .argument for establishments, but surely Dr. Vaughan contradicts himself? If the people are injured, how can the Church be uninjured ? Can one pulverize the bricks, yet leave the building as strong as ever? What is the Church, if it is not the expression of the religious nature of the people who compose it? and if that nature is chilled, how is the Church to remain as fervent ?
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