SOURCE: John MacCunn, "Religion and Politics," in The Political Philosophy of Burke, Edward Arnold, 1913, pp. 122-43.

In the essay below, MacCunn outlines Burke's belief in a divinely-ordered society and the inseparability of church and state.

Burke's political religion has its roots deep in three convictions. The first is that civil society rests on spiritual foundations, being indeed nothing less than a product of Divine will; the second, that this is a fact of significance so profound that the recognition of it is of vital moment, both for the corporate life of the State and for the lives of each and all of its members; and the third, that whilst all forms of religion within the nation may play their part in bearing witness to religion, this is peculiarly the function of an Established Church, in which the 'consecration of the State' finds its appropriate symbol, expression, and support...