POLITICAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHURCH 211
when heresy and unbelief, Roman law, and heathen philosophy, had not obscured the idea of the Christian State. These remains are to be found, in various stages of decay, in every State,-with the exception, perhaps, of France,-that gre\v out of the mediæval civilisation. Above all they \vill be found in the country which, in the midst of its apostasy, and in spite of so much guilt towards religion, has preserved the Catholic forms in its Church establishment more than any other Protestant nation, and the Catholic spirit in her political institutions more than any Catholic nation. To renew the memory of the times in which this spirit prevailed in Europe, and to preserve the remains of it, to promote the knowledge of what is lost, and the desire of what is most urgently needed,-is an important service and an important duty which it behoves us to perform. Weare greatly mistaken if these are not reflections which force themselves on everyone who carefully observes the political history of the Church in modern Europe.
