Note 101 — Chapter IV · CHURCH AND THEOCRACY

This idea is, among other speeches, worked out in that delivered at Amersham, December 4, 1860, where he says: “The parish is one of the strongest securities for local government, and on local government mainly depends our political liberty.” He points out that the Church is not oligarchical, and does not claim those exclusive privileges which the Nonconformists often do. It is national in its comprehensive ties with the country and its inclusiveness. The abolition of the parish system would alone prove a national and social upheaval.