Let us suppose a statesman to believe, and have the belief impressed on him as the leading principle of action, that the swarming multitudes of his countrymen, over whom God has given him a great influence, are all endowed with immortal, imperishable souls,-that as they drop off one by one from this visible world, they pass to heaven or hell,—and that their eternal condition depends in no small degree on the external circumstances under which they are here placed ;—suppose a statesman truly impressed with this belief; and feeling that God has placed him in a situation in which he is responsible, not only for his own soul, but for the souls of many others :-must not the thought be continually ringing in his ears, "What shall I do to save my perishing brethen? How shall I acquit myself before God of the burden of my responsibility? Must not his daily and nightly prayer be in accordance with that of Solomon; "O Lord my God, give thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people 1?" And to such questions as these, surely, there can be but one

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11 Kings iii. 9.

answer:-the same means of salvation whereby he hopes that his own soul will be saved, the same must he endeavour to afford to them. I conceive it to be quite absurd and paradoxical to suppose, that any one, who really believes that one religion was revealed from heaven as the way of salvation, should be indifferent as to whether those over whom he had influence adopted this or any other. For instance, how is it possible for a true Protestant to be indifferent as to the establishment, or even the encouragement, of popery, in any part of the British empire? If he considers Protestantism and Popery to be equally good,―rival forms only of one common faith, then the argument is placed on a different footing, and I am prepared to prove that his principles verge on infidelity; or, at least, amount to the absurd paradox that God has revealed two separate and contradictory schemes, whereby men may be saved. But if he believes English Protestantism to be the true and ancient faith of the Apostles, and Popery to be repugnant and contradictory to it, then I say, it is impossible that he should do otherwise than exert his utmost power for the encouragement and wide diffusion of that faith, whereby he himself hopes to be saved.

Here, perhaps, I shall be met by such objections as these. "What! is the statesman to make all men conform to the pattern of his own creed? Is he to allow no man to go to heaven, but according to his own way? Surely this were to go back to the reign of Henry the Eighth.” I cannot think that such objections as these are made with serious and honest purpose. At any rate they are entirely beside the question. There is not, I suppose, a man alive in England who would maintain that government should exercise the slightest compulsion or restraint over the consciences of men. No government could exist for a day except on the principle of perfect toleration and liberty of conscience. But surely this is quite compatible with the encouragement and establishment of true religion. Providing instruction in true religion for all the people is very different from forcing it upon them against their will. It is one thing to compel every man to go to church, and another to build a church and encourage him to go there. If a large majority in Parliament believe the Bible to be the word of God, and the doctrines of the Church of England to be the doctrines of revealed religion, then ought they to provide that, throughout the length and breadth of the

land, the doctrines of that Church should be taught. They cannot suppress the teaching of false and heretical doctrines; but it is their bounden duty to take care that sound scriptural instruction should be every where provided.

It is heart-sickening to hear the false Papist demand, with cool and calculated audacity, what right the English Churchman has to assume that his own religion is the only true one? and of six hundred Protestant gentlemen, not one shall dare honestly to tell him, that truth is one and unchangeable; and that, if English Protestantism is true and beneficial, popery must of necessity be false and mischievous. Is it personal cowardice which prevents the open avowal of the plain truth? The English were not wont to be cowards. No, it is the servile homage paid to the idol of liberalism. The nation is spellbound by a fond delusion. It is time to break the spell, and assert our freedom.

Religious instruction is the birthright of the people of England. If there be any right which the people have more plainly than another, by nature, by law, by prescription, or inheritance, -or, if there be any which a Churchman in Parliament should be most eager to defend, it is, that every English subject should have the

benefit of pastoral superintendence, and access to the sacraments and ordinances of the Church.

What a Christian legislator should set his mind on, and never rest till he has accomplished,—both in consideration of the sacred right of the people, and acquittal of his own conscience,―is, to place the whole nation under a systematic religious discipline. There should be a body of Christian clergymen, sufficient to minister to the wants of our increased population. Our enormous parishes should be subdivided, and a clergyman appointed to the care of every two, or, at most, three thousand souls; schools should be attached in each parish to the Church. In short, a systematic religious education should be afforded. Then might we hope to see brighter days. But, if this be not done, and speedily, heathenism and infidelity will spread over the land, and the National Church will exist but in history.

In order to accomplish this grand object there must be a cordial union of all Churchmen in Parliament. If Churchmen did but insist on the extension of the Church, no government could refuse them. They should act plainly and avowedly on Church of England principles: should say decidedly, We believe religious instruction to be the right of the people: we believe the