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 than any which our forefathers have known. England is the only nation of Europe which, during the course of that war, escaped the ravages of invading armies; London the only capital which was occupied by no hostile force: and shall we, in return for these mercies, leave London any longer an half heathen city, and abandon without a struggle whole districts of England to the great enemy of God and man? then might we indeed fear that the term of our national prosperity, nay, of our very existence, was near, and that, having been long spared, often chastened, and often delivered, our country was after all but a vessel of wrath fitted for destruction.

And still more pressing is the obligation of the people and government of England to provide, at their own cost, for the worship and honour of their God; for there lies upon us the weight of a national sin, for which no restitution has been made, and it is only by restitution that we can cut off the curse entailed on us by the deeds of our fathers. The legislature of England has sacrilegiously deprived the Church of more than half her endowments. From the loss of those endowments alone proceed all our difficulties. We need not then to inquire whether a nation be bound to provide funds for the service of God, clear as the duty is. Individual churchmen have already done all, and more than all that is needed, of their own spontaneous piety,