power and influence of all evil was one very important object of the Saviour's death. And how beautiful the picture exhibited by those who are happily become partakers of the What can be more grace of salvation! amiable and lovely than to have all our actions in harmony with the word of God, and all the affections of our soul warmed and animated by the love of God? It is a moral scene which the angels, the bright immortal spirits of heaven, might well stoop from their thrones of glory to contemplate with holy rapture and delight. The salvation of the The salvation of the redeemed is a great, because an everlasting, salvation the blessings associated with it are not limited to this present time, but extend to brighter worlds beyond the grave: it will be a happiness without any alloy of pain, a glory whose splendour is without one darkening spot, yea, a fulness of joy in God's presence and pleasures at his right hand for evermore."

APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION*.

THE question whether the apostolical succession is essential, manifestly affects the state of others rather than our own; yet I venture to call it a practical question, because it is intimately blended with our duty towards others-and towards how many millions of our brethren at home and abroad? Doubtless, if we have good grounds for believing that foreign churches or our dissenting brethren are in imminent peril, we are bound to lift up our voices, and loudly and earnestly proclaim their danger. But, if we rather suspect than know the danger, if we only repeat the opinions of others, and have no settled belief of our own upon the subject, then let us consider carefully whether it falls within our province to condemn our brethren upon grounds which we have not ourselves ascertained. But this by the way; for, awful and mysterious as it will be, if indeed so many millions of men, so many national churches, are without a ministry and without sacraments, still we are surrounded with awful mysteries; and their condition, however perilous, will not disprove the truth of the most rigid doctrine of the apostolical succession. Nor again will the doctrine be disproved by its being utterly powerless to produce its supposed effect. If no one can be secure that he receives the eucharist, except at the hands of a priest episcopally ordained, and the commission must have been transmitted without

any defect in the chain from the apostles themselves to this individual presbyter, who is there, after all, in any church of Christ who can attain to this security? It is no act of Christian faith to believe a point of ecclesiastical history which cannot be proved. How many are there in England who have heard the traditionary rumour of an objection to the succession of the bishops in this reformed church, who know not, and cannot know, any thing of its refutation? And if, many centuries hence, the tradition of the objec

From "The Apostolical Succession: a Sermon preached in the Chapel of Lambeth Palace, on Sunday, February 27, 1842, at the consecration of the right rev. Ashurst Turner, lord bishop of Chichester. By Edward Hawkins, D.D., provost of Oriel college, and canon of Rochester. Printed at the command of

is disproved? The very circumstance, indeed, that

the security of Christians in the efficacy of the Christ

ian sacraments must needs be continually diminished as time advances, is no inconsiderable presumption against the doctrine that a strict apostolical succes

sion is essential.

But with us a much stronger presumption against it, although still only a presumption, ought to be the silence of the church of England. Declaring in the clearest terms what she judged right for herself, she carefully abstains from asserting that the apostolical order which she preserved is essential to the being of dination are complete, and not ungodly; that all her ministers ordained accordingly are rightly ordered and consecrated, she maintains modestly, but without reserve. That none but those who are thus ordered, or who have formerly had episcopal consecration or ordination, shall be accounted lawful ministers in the church of England, she explicitly declares. She is distinct and precise as to the method to be pursued, both "that these orders may be continued," and that

a church. That her services of consecration and or

they "may be reverently used and esteemed in the

church of England." And all this definite and unreserved declaration of what she accounted right for herself, renders the contrast so much the more marked, when her statements concerning "the church,” and concerning "ministering in the congregation," and "the unworthiness of ministers," are so framed and cautiously guarded, that, excluding indeed the ministry of self-appointed teachers (which would be destructive of all order, and overthrow the very nature of a Christian society), they apply to any church, and the ministry of any church-nay, might even apply to congregations of separatists who had conscientious grounds for their separation. And this we are wont to ascribe, perhaps, to the great charity and moderation of the church of England. Yet would it really deserve these excellent names had the great and good men to whom we owe her articles and her polity, been indeed convinced that her orders were essential to Christianity, and episcopacy necessary to the very efficacy of the blessed sacraments? Rather let us say, that they did not declare this doctrine, because they did not believe it to be true; or, at the least, that they could not declare this doctrine, because they had no scriptural warrant for asserting its truth. "Christ's gospel is not a ceremonial law;" that was a position clearly before the minds of our reformers. But, even had the gospel been a law of ceremonies, or so far as it has any ritual or ceremonial, or any other positive institution, still, before we may assert that any positive institution is essential, we must have some clear warrant of revelation for our assertion. This appears to be the true reason why the necessity of any apostolical succession cannot be maintained. If it be admitted that the whole doctrine of the succession relates not to an eternal truth, but to a positive institution, in its own nature alterable, nothing less than the clearly declared will of its founder can make it unalterable and essential. But we look in vain to holy writ for any clear warrant for this doctrine. Father hath sent me, even so send I you." "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Were the doctrine clearly warranted by the inspired scriptures, would divines rely upon texts like these to prove it? As if, because our Lord undoubtedly sent forth his apostles as the Father had sent him, therefore he gave them a commission altogether like his own, and a similar transmission, and no other, of the same authority must be continued for ever; or as if, because it is justly argued that the abiding presence of Christ is not promised only to his apostles, but to the church through them, therefore it is promised only

66 As my

street.

some authority from holy writ shall be produced, far more express and clear, not merely to prove the use or the need of a Christian ministry (which is not the present question), but declaring that an episcopal succession is essential to a true Christian ministry, and a ministry essential to the efficacy of the blessed sacraments, it is not for us, I apprehend, to be more peremptory in our assertions than the scriptures themselves, nor must we call that essential or unalterable which has not been declared to be so by our Lord or his apostles.

We lament, accordingly, that any diversity of judgment, or any necessity, real or supposed, should have occurred to mar the symmetry of Christian churches and interrupt their unity. What was good and right under the apostles, nay, as all must admit, was best for the then condition of the church, must be good and right still, unless altered circumstances demand a change. Therefore theirs is no light responsibility who introduce a change: the burden of proof that such a change was requisite must rest with them. But this is widely different from denying the validity of their orders, or doubting the efficacy of their sacraments. Nay, as to the efficacy of the Christian sacraments, although no reasonable person questions the propriety, I had almost said the necessity, of restricting their administration to persons duly appointed; yet we have no warrant to ascribe their efficacy in any way to the office of the administrator. The church of England has, indeed, been sometimes supposed to hold a different language. But, whilst she has said, and reasonably said," that we may use the ministry" even of unworthy ministers, "both in hearing the word of God, and in receiving of the sacraments," because they minister "not in their own name, but in Christ's," and "by his commission and authority," nevertheless she has not ascribed "the effect of Christ's ordinance" to their commission, but has stated expressly that the sacraments are "effectual because of Christ's institution and promise," though ministered by evil men.

The church of England, in a word, has not ruled a point of faith beyond the scriptures; and the scriptures maintain upon the subject an expressive and instructive silence.

RELIGION IN OTHER LANDS.

No. I. RUSSIA*.

THE Russians firmly maintain that Christianity was introduced among them by St. Andrew, whom they style the great martyr (pervozanii), and not the least important scenes of whose ministry were around the Black Sea. They believe that the apostle, leaving Greece, sailed up the river Borysthenes (now the Dnieper) to Novogorod, where he preached the gospel. It would really appear that it was not until nearly the close of the ninth century that Christianity was established among them. The record of the gospel had become entirely lost, if it had ever been made known in Russia. Having entered into a treaty with Basilius the Macedonian, who ascended the imperial throne of the Greeks A.D. 867, they were engaged, by various presents and premises, to embrace the gospel ; in consequence of which they received not only the Christian ministers that were appointed to instruct them, but also an archbishop, whom the Grecian patriarch had sent among them to perfect their conversion and establish their church. "Photius of Constantinople,"

The compiler of this paper desires to acknowledge that for many of the facts contained therein, he is indebted to Mosheim Alexander's Travels to the Seat of War in the East," an Essay on the subject in an early number of the "British Magazine," &c.

says Gibbon, "a patriarch whose ambition was equal to his curiosity, congratulated himself and the Greek church on the conversion of the Russians. Those fierce and bloody barbarians had been persuaded by the voice of reason and religion to acknowledge Jesus for their God, the Christian missionaries for their teachers, and the Romans for their friends and brethren. His triumph was transient and premature. In the various fortunes of their piratical adventures some Russian chiefs might allow themselves to be sprinkled with the waters of baptism; and a Greek bishop, with the name of metropolitan, might administer the sacraments in the church of Kiow, to a congregation of slaves and natives; but the seed of the gospel was sown on a barren soil: many were the apostates, the converts were few, and the baptism of Olga may be fixed as the era of Russian Christianity. A female, perhaps of the basest origin, who could revenge the death, and assume the sceptre of her husband Igor, must have been endowed with those active virtues which command the fear and obedience of barbarians. In a moment of foreign and domestic peace, she sailed from Kiow to Constantinople; and the emperor, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, has described, with minute diligence, the ceremonial of her reception in his capital and palace. The steps, the titles, the salutations, the banquets, the presents, were exquisitely adjusted, to gratify the vanity of the stranger, with due reverence to the superior majesty of the purple. In the sacrament of baptism she received the venerable name of the empress Helena; and her conversion might be preceded or followed by her uncle, two interpreters, sixteen damsels of an higher and eighteen of a lower rank, twenty-two domestics or ministers, and forty-four Russian merchants, who composed the retinue of the great princess Olga. After her return to Kiow and Novogorod, she firmly persisted in her new religion; but her labours in the propagation of the gospel were not crowned with success; and both her family and nation adhered with obstinacy or indifference to the gods of their fathers. Her son Swatoslaus was apprehensive of the scorn and ridicule of his companions; and her grandson Wolodomir devoted his youthful zeal to multiply and decorate the monuments of ancient worship. The savage deities of the north were still propitiated with human sacrifices. In choice of the victim, a citizen was preferred to a stranger, a Christian to an idolater; and the father who defended his son from the sacerdotal knife was involved in the same doom by the rage of a fanatic tumult. Yet the lessons and example of the pious Olga had made a deep though secret impression on the minds of the prince and people. The Greek missionaries continued to preach, to dispute, and to baptize; and the ambassadors or merchants of Russia compared the idolatry of the woods with the elegant superstition of Constantinople. They had gazed with admiration on the dome of St. Sophia, the lively pictures of saints and martyrs, the riches of the altar, the number and vestments of the priests, the pomps and order of the ceremonies; they were edified by the alternate succession of devout silence and harmonious song: nor was it difficult to persuade them that a choir of angels descended each day from heaven to join in the devotion of the Christians. But the conversion of Wolodomir was determined or hastened by his desire of a Roman bride. At the same time, and in the city of Cherson, the rites of baptism and marriage were celebrated by the Christian pontiff: the city he restored to the emperor Basil, the brother of his spouse; but the brazen gates were transported, as it is said, to Novogorod, and erected before the first church as a trophy of his victory and faith. At his despotie command, Peroun the god of thunder, whom he had so long adored, was dragged through the streets of Kiow; and twelve sturdy barbarians battered with clubs the misshapen image,

Another account of the conversion is, that a Christian of the Greek church, being in Russia, presented before the great duke Wolodomir or Uladumir, a picture representing the last day, with its tremendous scenery, exhibited so far as the imagination of the painter could represent them. Terrified by the ghastly crowd of shivering, guilty souls, he shrunk and averted his eyes.

"Where would you wish to be ?" said the Christian who displayed the piece.

"By the side of that venerable and amiable figure," replied the barbarian, pointing to the eternal Judge. "Embrace the laws of Christ, and you may be placed there," was the reply.

The Russian assented, and his subjects followed his example *.

There is also another legend handed down, on the authority of John Curopolata, who wrote a part of the Byzantine history, in the eleventh century; as also of Cedrenus and Zonaras, who wrote subsequently, that the conversion of the Russians was to be attributed to a miracle performed by a bishop sent thither by the patriarch of Constantinople to enlighten the people. The Russians asked, if God by a miracle preserved the three children in the fiery furnace of Babylon, why might not he preserve the bible from being consumed by fire? The bishop immediately threw a copy of the scriptures into the fire, which was miraculously preserved.

The head of the Greek church is the patriarch of Constantinople. The Russians, however, do not acknowledge his jurisdiction or authority: he formerly indeed possessed supremacy t. But of this he was deprived towards the close of the sixteenth century. Jeremiah, patriarch of Constantinople, went to Muscovy to levy pecuniary succours against his rival Metrophanes, and to drive him, by the force of money, from the patriarchal throne. The Muscovite monks, in compliance, no doubt, with the secret orders of the grand duke Theodore, son of John Basilides, employed all the influence both of threatenings and supplications to engage Jeremiah to place at the head of the Muscovite nation an independent patriarch. The patriarch of Constantinople, unable to resist such powerful solicitations, yielded; so that in a council at Moscow, A.D. 1589, he nominated and proclaimed Job, archbishop of Rostow, first patriarch of the Muscovites. This was done, however, on con

"The Providence of God Illustrated," by the author of "History in all Ages."

It was by the patriarch of Constantinople that Michael, first metropolitan, was appointed. Almost all his successors were sent from Byzantium, and it was not nntil A.D., 1145, that a Russian was placed in the metropolitan chair. When the fall of Constantinople led to the final separation of the two churches, the metropolitan was from that period elected by a council of the national bishops, until the death of Adrian, in 1702; when the Czar, Peter the Great, finding that the patriarch possessed more influence in his dominions than was consistent with his own authority and absolute power, and actuated by somewhat of the same spirit which induced Henry VIII. to throw off the trammels of the see of Rome, declared himself the head of the Russian church. Peter published a supplementary act, which he added to the canon law, or nomocanon, and delegated his authority in 1721 to a council of bishops, which he established at Moscow, and to which he gave the name of the most holy directin synod.

demand the consent and suffrage of the patriarch of Constantinople, and pay, at certain periods fixed for that purpose, five hundred gold ducats. The transactions of this Muscovite council were afterwards ratified in one assembled by Jeremiah at Constantinople, A.D. 1593, to which the Turkish emperor gave his solemn consent. But the privileges and immunities of the patriarch of Moscow were still farther extended about the middle of the following age, when the four eastern patriarchs, under the pontificate of Dionysius, patriarch of Constantinople, exempted him, at the renewed solicitation of the grand duke of Muscovy, from the double obligation of paying tribute, and of depending for the confirmation of his elec tion and installation on a foreign jurisdiction.

The church of Rome, ever jealous of a rival, and ever on the alert to extend her dominions, could ill brook the notion that such a vast kingdom or empire as that of Russia should not acknowledge her authority. Frequent deliberations were consequently held at Rome, as to the means to be adopted for the subjection of the Russian church. John Basilides, grand duke of the Russians, seemed rather desirous for a union with Rome by sending an embassy to Gregory XIII., A.D. 1580, to exhort him to enter into some arrangements on the subject. The proposal was too important to be neglected. In the year following Antony Possevin, a jesuit, well versed in the wily craft and cunning of his order, was despatched to Muscovy, to effect the plan of the grand duke; but the mission was ineffective. "But this dexterous missionary," says Mosheim, "though he spared no pains to obtain the purposes of his ambitious court, found by experience that all his efforts were unequal to the task he had undertaken; nor did the Russian ambassadors, who arrived at Rome soon after, bring any thing to the ardent wishes of the pontiff but empty promises, conceived in dubious and general terms, on which little dependance could be made. And indeed the event abundantly showed that Basilides had no other view in all these negociations than to flatter the pope, and obtain his assistance in order to bring to an advantageous conclusion the unsuccessful war which he had carried on against Poland." Jesuitical influence had long been at work in Russia. Their number, when banished by the emperor in 1829, for attempting to make proselytes, was about 800, of whom 300 were in Siberia and Kamtschatka. Their colleges generally contained from 20 to 30 members; that of Moscow, the most considerable, having 140. On the borders of Poland, however, many converts were made to the popish faith, who formed themselves into a community called the united; while these who adhered to the doctrine and discipline of the patriarch of Constantinople were denominated the non-united.

"It is likewise farther worthy of observation," adds Mosheim, "that there has been established at Kiovia, since the fourteenth century, a congregation of Russians, subject to the jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff and ruled by its own metropolitans, who are entirely distinct from the Russian bishops that reside in that city."

When Peter was at Paris in 1717, some doctors of the Sorbonne, or faculty of the university, delivered to him a project in Latin, of uniting the two churches of Rome and Russia by making concessions on both sides; but the impossibility of the plan's succeeding might have been obvious. It was not at all probable that the Czar, having once proclaimed himself the head of the Russian church, would submit to the authority of the pope; or that he would countenance an union with a power which would never rest satisfied until it gained the pre-eminence. The feelings of the Czar, in fact, were far more in unison with those of the protestant churches; and he was far too clearsighted not to discover the ultimate designs of the

Roman pontiff. He permitted protestants to build churches and schools for their own service, and gave full permission to his subjects to become protestants, if they conscientiously wished to do so-a liberty not likely to render him very popular among the bigotted mass of his countrymen.

The following extract from the "Evening Post," from May 2 to May 4, 1721, may here be well inserted, as bearing upon the subject:-" By letters from Petersburg of April 11th, 1721, our senate have received letters from the metropolitan Theodorus, dated at Tobolsky, the capital of Siberia, importing that above 40,000 Tartars have abjured paganism, and been baptised by him and others of the clergy. That moreover they have pulled down their own temples, broke down their idols, and built upwards of twenty churches, in which divine service is performed by Russian priests. Upon these our advices, our consistory have appointed a bishop to go and assist in confirming these new converts, and endeavour to make more proselytes."

It may be recollected, that, in the same year in which overtures of union were made by the church of Rome with the Russian, archbishop Wake formed a scheme which proved unsuccessful for uniting the Anglican and Gallican churches, and entered into a secret correspondence on the subject with Dupin, De Noailles, and others, through the medium of Beauvoir, chaplain to the British ambassador at Paris. The plan had been approved by the Sorbonne, when a clamour arose against Noailles and his friends, for wishing to enter into compact with heretics. The whole of the correspondence was sent by the French government to the pope, who is said to have approved of the mildness of the archbishop's sentiments-sentiments, however, which exposed him to much obloquy. Such an union would indeed be desirable; but it must be with Rome cleansed from her abominations-Rome regenerated and washed-Rome brought out of the furnace of purification, freed from her abominable and filthy dross.

The Greek church at the present time extends through Russia, Greece, the Grecian Isles, Wallachia, Moldavia, with several provinces of the Turkish empire in Europe and Asia-Egypt, Nubia, Lybia, part of Arabia, Cilicia, Palestine, Syria, and many adjacent parts.

The four ancient provinces are still the divisions of the Greek church in the east. Over these are placed, as in ancient times, four patriarchs, namely, of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem; aud of these the patriarch of Constantinople is chief, and acknowledged head of the Greek church. To the patriarch of Constantinople the church is subject in points of doctrine, as well as in matters of discipline; so that his authority is very extensive. The Russian Greek church, however, as we have seen, has entirely thrown off allegiance to the patriarch.

MY SCOTTISH TOUR.

No. XIV.

T.

THE POORER CLASSES-THEIR SPIRITUAL STATE.

THE time was when Scotland was regarded, and not without good reason, as affording the perfect pattern of a religious country; and there was indeed good ground for the supposition: but that, it is to be feared, is the tale of times long gone by. The introduction of manufactures, the increase of population, above all, the dissemination of ungodly principles, have had a very baneful influence on the people. There is something very delightful and romantic in the notion of the herd-boy reading his bible on the banks of the Yarrow,

or singing the plaintive sweet tune of martyrdom, or some old ditty on the braes of Balquidder. The "Cotter's Saturday Night" of Burns-poor Burns!and the "Sabbath" of Graham, have all led to the supposition that the Scottish as a nation were decidedly religious; and in past days this was the case: there was no flight of fancy on the part of the poet. A friend had been long resident in Ireland at a time when the country was on the very eve of rebellion, and when papistical ascendency was the grand object and aim of the deluded people, told me he could never forget the sensation he experienced when passing a cottage at Ballantrae, on his way from Portpatrick, he heard the voice of praise and prayer: he could scarcely believe it. There was no priest carousing with his flock-on strong, deep, whisky potations: there was the solemn paternal voice leading the suppliant family to the throne of grace.

Let a stranger walk along Princes-street, in Edinburgh-the east end of which is the great station for coach-offices-on a Sunday morning, and contrast it with the regions of the White Horse Cellar, or the Elephant and Castle, and he could not fail to pronounce that the Scottish was a far more religious nation than the English; and he would be led to the same conclusion were he to contrast the quiet reigning at the Bromielaw in Glasgow, from which the numerous steam-boats start, on what are called lawful days, with the shouting and swearing and bustle at London-bridge. And yet it is to be feared that it is the stringency of the Scottish law with respect to Sunday travelling-one of the greatest breaches of God's requirements-which in some measure accounts for this. I much regret to hear that trains travel on the Edinburgh and Glasgow railroad on the Sunday: it may open the door to other flagrant breaches of God's commandment. Much opposition was made to this, and most properly so; but made in vain. It would appear that the numbers who travelled on the first Sunday far exceeded the expectation of the directors. Immense numbers of people have determined, nay, pledged themselves, not to benefit by railroad conveyance while the trains are permitted to run on the Lord's-day. How far this is right or not, they must be left to decide for themselves. Certainly it is the duty of every man, by kindly advice and consistency of conduct, to testify his determined and fixed resolutionhowever in a few cases he may be personally inconvenienced-not to encroach on the sanctity of the sabbath. Had steam-boats been permitted to ply on that day, what fearful scenes of drunkenness, revelry, and confusion would have been the result! This may fairly be inferred from the multitudes who crowd these vessels on the day of a parochial fast. And yet it is deeply to be lamented that there is a vast deal of sabbath desecration in the towns of Scotland, of which the more respectable inhabitants know absolutely nothing. Confining my remarks at present to the Scottish metropolis, I may illustrate this; though the police reports of other towns present statements no less appalling.

At a meeting of the town council of Edinburgh, held Dec. 14th last, where the speaker evidently makes his statement from personal knowledge of the facts, and where it is next to impossible to believe that he could have any sinister motives in stating these facts, and any false statement could have been immediately refuted, bailie Johnston's motion on the sabbath day was read:-"That it be remitted to the lord provost's committee to consider and devise the best means of counteracting the demoralizing practice of selling spirits and other intoxicating drinks on the sabbath day throughout the city; to correspond with the sheriff of the county and the commissioners of police on the subject, and report."

Bailie Johnston rose and said "I hope I need make

175

no apology for bringing this motion before the council, being persuaded that, as representatives of the public and guardians of the moral as well as civil interests of the community, every one will be ready to encourage and co-operate with those who attempt to stem the current of vice and immorality of every kind. To prove that there exists the most urgent necessity for some stringent measures in regard to sabbath desecration, the appalling amount of which goes very far to counteract all the invaluable exertions of our city missions and other valuable societies, I have caused the following returns to be prepared, through the sistance of captain Stuart, and other officers of the police establishment; and the facts I have drawn from them, I have no doubt, will be found sufficiently startling :-Shops open and transacting business within the seven police districts on sabbath the 28th November, 1841-In Portsburgh district, 66; Main Office, embracing High-street, Cowgate, and closes, 200; St. Leonard's, 101; Canongate, 137; St. James's, 107; New Town, 57; Stockbridge, 54; in all, 722, exclusive of about 40 hotels and inns for travellers. Whilst a large proportion gave a nominal reverence to the sabbath day, by closing their shop-doors during the four hours of public worship, 104 of them knew no difference whatever, save the extra trade they enjoyed at the expense, in some measure, of their more decorous though no less sinful neighbours. Of the 722 open shops, 457 sold intoxicating liquors; 219 were provision shops, green grocers, and the like; and 46 were the very lowest order of pawnbrokers, or small unlicensed pawns (chiefly resorted to on the sabbath), where the poor are plundered at the rate of about 400 per cent. per annum for temporary accommodation, and where, in three cases out of every seven, they part for ever with their miserable pledges. Taking the usual average of five persons to each family, 3610 individuals were thus participating in the unlawful gains of sabbath trading; and, assuming each shop to have had only twenty customers through the twenty-four hours of the sabbath-day, 14,440 must be added to that number, making a fearful total of 18,500 habitual sabbath-breakers, by traffic alone, within the city. As the necessary consequence of the many temptations held out by the publicans and others for sabbath profanation (which must yearly ruin the best interests of thousands), we have crowded criminal courts and jails, crowded hospitals of disease, and charitable and pauper institutions of every kind, with all their train of suffering and sorrow. I find also, from the police records, as another consequence, that about double the number of crimes of various kinds, and nearly three times the number of charges for drunkenness, occur within the twenty-four hours from Saturday at four afternoon till sabbath at the same hour, than occur within the same period of time on other days of the week. There can be no doubt, to multiply public-houses is infallibly to multiply the number of drunkards, and to widen all the evils of intemperance and disease; for persons have been known to become drunkards merely from the circumstance that an acquaintance, whom they wished to encourage, had opened a public-house; others have been led to the same course from the opening of a public-house at the foot of their stair." To this statement I can add the fearful representations made to me of the prevalence of vice in its most alluring, no less than its most disgusting forms, communicated to me by a friend, who is one of the most active members of those many valuable institutions with which the Scottish metropolis abounds."

Now this is a fact which was probably unknown to three-fourths of the inhabitants of Edinburgh, more especially to those who live in the new town. There, indeed, to use the language of Crabbe, may reign quiet that is in itself devout." They had heard of the sabbath desecration of London, of Liverpool, of

a

Manchester, and other large towns of England, and, doubtless, as they ought and would, if right-minded, heard it with grief, and perhaps some had referred it to the lax discipline of the church of England; but, meanwhile, they had no notion whatever that the most fearful desecration was at their own doors. They forgot that such desecration was not dependent on, or connected with, presbytery or episcopacy, but arose from the natural alienation of the heart from God. They knew indeed that many who ought to have set a better example, from their rank and station, lounged away the whole of the sabbath morning in reading the newspapers, in desultory conversation at some club, or perhaps dedicated it to the card-table or other gambling speculations; and in the eyes of many all this was very pardonable, for Mr. So-and-so never went to public worship; he had not been at church for years. But they did not know that, in the wynds or alleys of the old town, the sabbath was by thousands entirely set at nought. A friend informed me that one Sunday evening he was compelled, by a violent storm of thunder and lightning, to take shelter in a public-house about two miles from Edinburgh, near a military station, where he was compelled to witness scenes of drunkenness which he could not conceive existed, and could not be exceeded in the vilest neighbourhood of the English metropolis, and to hear language most grossly repulsive. He found there children of twelve years calling for ale and whisky, whose grandfathers, at the same age, were probably spending their sabbath evenings in learning their questions, i.c., catechism, or in listening to the solemn admonitions of parental authority. And this is pretty much the case elsewhere in manufacturing towns it is much more likely to be so; and, in fact, it is so. The time was when in Scotland the sabbath was reverentially observed: the churches were crowded; the ministers exercised a most beneficial influence over the people; the voice of family prayer and praise was then heard from many a dwelling; the father gathered his children around him to impart religious instruction; and when it was the aim and pride of the young to be able to say their catechism. All this, or nearly all of it, it is to be feared, has passed away: the grey-headed ministers with a tear will confess it: they call to remembrance the days that are gone. That such is the case is a point beyond all question or controversy. to the subject of family-prayer-a most important one-I am of opinion that, while there has been a decided increase of this observance in England, there has been a decrease in Scotland among all ranks. I am far from saying that the custom of having family devotion is a sure sign of the existence of true religion in that family; for I have known it conducted in a spirit of self-righteous phariseeism, or slurred over in a slovenly and careless manner, a few minutes only spent in the rapid rehearsal of a prayer; but, feeling that the non-existence of family devotion is a sign of a want of any thing approaching to vitality, I am compelled to think that the estimate of the power of religion in Scotland is made too high: glad, truly, shall I be to find I am mistaken.

With respect

The remarks made in a former paper, relative to the non-attendance of too many of the gentry at church, I fear-nay, I know it-has led to the accusation that I was writing in a spirit of hostility to the established church. Nothing can be more the reverse: conscientiously differing in my views of ecclesiastical polity, I can bear my most decided testimony, notwithstanding what appear to me to be the semi-Socinian views of some of her ministers, and much as I deprecate the present conduct of many of her leaders, to the efficiency of the Scottish church establishment. I wrote not merely from my own observation-which I admit must have been limited-but on the testimony of others, on whose veracity I could place the most im