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DECLARATION OF THE KING, IN FAVOUR OF THE CHURCH.

With a sense of exultation and gratitude which we cannot describe, but in which millions of our fellow-subjects will participate, we lay before our readers the following account of the interview between his Majesty and the prelates of the United Church, which took place yesterday. It will be seen by our court news that the Archbishops and Bishops, preceded by the Archbishops of Canterbury and Armagh, waited upon the Sovereign with a dutiful and affectionate birth-day address of congratulation, which was delivered in the royal closet by the most Reverend Primate of England. For what follows, we pledge whatever of character for veracity and caution this journal has earned. We believe that we give the very words of our beloved Monarch; we are sure that we give the substance of his reply with the strictest fidelity.

After a short conversation, in which his Majesty said, amongst other things, “I now remember you have a right to require of me to be resolute in defence of the Church,” the King proceeded:—

“I have been, by the circumstances of my life and by conviction, led to support toleration to the utmost extent of which it is justly capable—but toleration must not be suffered to go into licentiousness—it has its bounds, which it is my duty and which I am resolved to maintain. I am, from the deepest conviction, attached to the pure Protestant faith which this Church, of which I am the temporal head, is the human means of diffusing and preserving in this land. I cannot forget what was the course of events that placed my family on the throne which I now fill. These events were consummated in a revolution which was rendered necessary, and was effected, not, as has sometimes been most erroneously stated, merely for the sake of the temporal liberties of the people, but for the preservation of their religion. It was for the defence of the religion of the country that the settlement of the crown was made, which has placed me in the situation that I now fill; and that religion, and the Church of England and Ireland [Ireland with peculiar emphasis,] the prelates of which are now before me, it is my fixed purpose, determination, and resolution, to maintain.

“The present Bishops, I am quite satisfied (and I am rejoiced to hear, from them and from all, the same of the clergy in general under their governance,) have never been excelled at any period of the history of our Church, by any of their predecessors, in learning, piety, or zeal in the discharge of their high duties. If there are any of the inferior arrangements in the discipline of the Church, which, however, I greatly doubt, [the expression of doubt was again delivered by his Majesty with great emphasis,] that require amendment, I have no distrust of the readiness and ability of the prelates now before me to correct such things; and in you, I trust, they will be left to correct, with your authority unimpaired and unshackled.

“I trust it will not be supposed that I am speaking to you a speech which I have got by heart; no, I am declaring to you my real and genuine sentiments. I have almost completed my 69th year, and though blessed by God with a very rare measure of health, not having known what sickness is for some years, yet I do not blind myself to the plain and evident truth, that increase of years must tell largely upon me when sickness shall come. I cannot, therefore, expect that I shall be very long in this world. It is under this impression that I tell you, that while I know that the law of the land considers it impossible that I should do wrong,—that while I know there is no earthly power which can call me to account, this only makes me the more deeply sensible of the responsibility under which I stand to that Almighty Being before whom we must all one day appear. When that day shall come, you will know whether I am sincere in the declaration which I now make, of firm attachment to the church, and resolution to maintain it.

“I have spoken more strongly than usual, because of unhappy circumstances that have forced themselves upon the observation of all. The threats of those who are enemies of the Church make it the more necessary for those who feel their duty to that Church to speak out. The words which you hear from me are, indeed, spoken by my mouth, but they flow from my heart.”

His Majesty was affected to tears during the delivery of this declaration; and concluded the interview by inviting the prelates to partake of the Holy Communion with him at the Chapel Royal on Tuesday, the 22nd of June. Thanks to the King of Kings, we have a Sovereign worthy to succeed to Geo. III,—a prince, who may be well loved as the brother of Frederick Duke of York. Will his people prove worthy of such a monarch, and will they adopt his just and noble sentiment, “that the threats of the Church's enemies make it necessary for those who feel their duty to that Church to speak out?” We cannot doubt that they will,—we will not believe that those who would defend whatever ought to be most dear to man, will not rally round their sovereign when he summons them, in language so eloquent and affecting, to aid in the sacred duty We know what was the extraordinary effect of the King's name in forcing the Reform Bill—although the well-informed could not but be aware, that His, Majesty's concurrence in that measure was hesitating, if not reluctant Shall it then be said, that the friends of our most holy institutions are more lukewarm than the emissaries of innovation? No, we will not distrust the Christian people of this Christian empire. This is “the accepted time”—this is the moment for action; and thanks again to the Giver of all good gifts, in this crisis of our fate, we have our natural and lawful leader, heart and soul, ready to conduct and guide us in the great struggle. Let not a moment be lost—let addresses of gratitude and devotion be at once presented to our patriot Christian King. Let not the glorious and saving self-sacrifice of “the faithful found amongst the faithless,”—Let not the high claims of Mr. Stanley, Sir James Graham, the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of Ripon, and the others who, we trust, before many hours, will follow their bright example, pass unregarded. Let them learn that they have devoted themselves for a grateful, no less than for a Christian people. Perish all other considerations. Events have now arrived at that point to which we have long looked forward as to the day of England's regeneration. The question is now narrowed to this—is the British empire to remain a Christian empire, or is it not? for by the extinction of the church, a Christian empire it would cease to be. Considerations of vast importance crowd in upon us—but we would hold our own attention, as we would have our readers hold theirs, to this single point. By the extinction of the church, Christianity would cease to be more than a tolerated faith. Will they resist such a degradation of the Gospel? Will they sin by conniving at it? As we have before said, it is matter for the deepest attention of every man, woman, and child, in the empire. Let none, then, of whatever rank, or sex, or age, forego the double joy of paying our gratitude to our human benefactors, and discharging, as we may by the same act, however imperfectly, our duty to the Most High.

Standard Office, London, May 29th, 1834.

HADDOCKS, PRINTERS, WARRINGTON.