righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies.' In a word, not only the awakened, burdened, conscience finds relief in venting its confessions to God in the language of our liturgy,- here the rejoicing Christian pours forth, in the most appropriate language, his adoring praise:-here, he whose heart the love of Christ has softened, and opened to the love of the whole human family, offers up his earnest supplications, intercessions, and thanksgivings, for all men :— here the church has provided for all the special occasions of a Christian family, from the cradle to the grave, a series of services, which for solemn and impressive matter, for rich evangelical sentiment, for piety, and pathos, stand unrivalled. O, that our hearts might always ascend with our words in the confessions, prayers, praises, and thanksgivings, which we profess to offer; then should we, indeed, feel the privilege of worshipping God in the language which humbled and gladdened the hearts of our fathers. Those who framed this holy, this simple, this affecting service, seem to have caught the very spirit and manner of the Bible: their minds must, surely, have been cast in no ordinary mould. How important, then, is it to bring up the children of her communion in warm attachment to, and in intelligent acquaintance with, the doctrines and services of that church whose basis we believe to be the rock of ages, and its superstructure the temple of truth. Fixed into the soil, wrought into the frame and substance of our laws, majestic in its form, mild in its ordinances, tolerant in its spirit, pastoral in its care, she joins humility with inquiry, and tempers freedom with obedience. If we of her household desire to protect her from harm, and to vindicate her glory, we should remember that the character and conduct of her members is the best mirror of her

perfection. Let us tread her courts in peaceful unanimity; and, instead of unfurling a flag of defiance, let us erect her standard in the face of the world, emblazoned with her victories of patience, her triumphs of zeal, and her trophies of faith. We must show her in her true majestic comeliness—her primitive attire; such as she was seen by those who proclaimed her in the midst of the flames, loved her through imprisonment and torture, and placed the Bible in her hands as the charter of her constitution, and the trophy of their triumphant sufferings. From happy and providential circumstances, the precious truths of our church were once entwined into the whole framework of the British constitution; they were the golden ligature which bound it around the heart. Protestantism was declared to be the foundation stone; and with a continual reference to it, the social edifice was systematically maintained; and to it Britain owes more of her moral superiority and national greatness than her statesmen are willing to allow. The equity and mildness of its principles have found their way into the spirit of her laws; and to the sure, though unobserved, influence and unostentatious agency of scriptural morality, we are indebted for the high-toned integrity which so eminently distinguishes those tribunals from which the laws are administered. Yes! the Bible contains all the springs of our moral energies, it proclaims the noblest principle that ever inspired a patriot's heart or graced a patriot's creed-"We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." is true patriotism-the patriotism of the heart. The nation, during the last fifty years, having begun to leave this centre, the rapidity with which it is diverging from it, is truly astonishing and alarming. The state has ceased to see any difference between truth and error

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-has avowed that " every one is to do that which is right in his own eyes; that she will not aid the one more than the other-that she "careth for none of these things"-she has refused to aid the church in the Canadas-in Australia she preferred Romish error to truth;-while twenty millions were voted to abolish slavery in the West Indies (which no Christian man grudges) it is proposed to abolish church rates at home, as if man's bodily freedom were higher and worthier object than the emancipation and enlightenment of the human mind. Thus, in this country, in her system of national education, she affords every facility for the inculcation of the dogmas of popery-as dangerous to the independence of the state, as they are false, erroneous, and unscriptural—a system, which, in my conscience, I am persuaded has inflicted on the land a greater injury to the cause of pure religion than any measure of the last 150 years-a system calculated to stereotype popery in the country, whereby is surrendered what was the glory of our church and people -the free unrestricted use of the Holy Scriptures; and thus, attempts to disinherit our poor countrymen of their eternal birthrightsteals from them the charter of salvation, and disfranchises them of that liberty wherewith Christ makes his people free;—and while she endows a college for the education of its priesthood, she withdraws all assistance from schools where scriptural instruction had been imparted for years to the young; and while liberty of conscience is justly granted to the Roman Catholic soldier, who is exempted from attending Protestant worship, Protestant military officers have been cashiered for hesitating to take part in the idolatries of Rome; nay, and while crippling the energies of our Protestant establishment at home,

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she actually countenances, and even concurs in and supports Hindoo abominations! Will it be credited, that the impure and degrading services of the pagodas are carried on under the supervision of British Christian officers, under the government in India-the priests attached to them receive from the British collector of the district a monthly stipend for their attendance, with such other allowances as may be requisite to keep up the establishment of the temple-worship; not even the priestesses, who are prostitutes, can be employed or discharged without the official concurrence and orders of the principal European, and therefore, Christian officer of the government. processions are, in some instances, so shockingly detestable, that every pure-minded person closes his windows as they pass, to save his family from the view of such unutterable impurities. And yet, Protestant officers and soldiers are obliged to give compulsory attendance at these festivals. The idol is brought out mostly on the Christian Sabbath, our troops in review order have to escort, and render honour to, the idol; and, by this, attach greater importance these wretched superstitions in the eyes of the assembled thousands of natives. Oh! how can a government calling itself Christian, thus needlessly reduce its officers and privates to the alternative, either of disobedience to orders, and consequent dismissal from the service, or of violating the command of God! Is this toleration? is this religious liberty?

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Is it, then, the modern maxim, that the many are to be conciliated at all risk, and that truth and righteousness are of no moment? Can all this be tolerated by Protestant Britain, whose Church is the favourite child of the Reformation? Is this the result of the boasted illumination of the age in which we live? Who will not adopt the

Prophet's language, and say, "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" Jer. ix. 1. Who is on the Lord's side? Is, then, Christianity changed within the last fifty years? No. Is Popery changed? No. Then what is changed? We. We have lost the simplicity of the gospel of Christ; ensnared by the encroachments of a refined and fashionable philosophy, an intellectual paganism is usurping the place of Christian principles; man's rights and liberties are the object of almost. idolatrous worship, and the authority and commands of Almighty God almost overlooked. Thus, in our enlightened day, man and his privileges are every thing God and his claims nothing. These are the views which command 'the applause of listening senates'this the latitudinarianism, which looks with an equal eye of approbation on the devotee of Bramah, the denier of the divinity of our adorable Jesus, and the worshipper of the Virgin Mary. But some of our great men say, 'that the points of difference between the Churches of Rome and England, are so few and slight, that it is not for them to decide on matters of theological nicety'!! Now, this is just as absurd as to say, that they see no difference between the two theories of astronomy, of which the one places the earth in the centre, the other the sun. O for a voice to reach their ears, and for the Holy Spirit to carry to each of their hearts, "Know thou the God of thy father!" O that Protestants would now-and I trust that many do, in some measuresee that the negligence or indifference of the state bestows a privilege upon them-the high honour of providing for the spiritual wants of the poor, and teaching them to know the only true

I solicit your liberal support and patronage this day to the schools of this parish. I present before you seventy children; I bring them to you to shelter them from the contagion of the streets, and to instruct them in what they ought to believe, and what they ought to do. Knowing that the germs of our most lasting attachments, and the grounds of our most adhesive habits, are formed in the ductile and impressible season of youth; these children are trained up in a system adapted to the principles of the Church to which they belong -in a firm and enlightened attachment to the great doctrines of redemption, as contained in her formularies. These schools consist of sixteen girls, chiefly orphans, who are dieted, lodged, and educated; and sixty boys, who are educated, sixteen of whom are clothed, and daily receive a comfortable breakfast. All of these children, when duly qualified, are apprenticed to Protestant tradesmen, or obtain situations as servants in Protestant families. Of positive good effected, we could produce abundant evidence, affording one of the best inducements for perseverance and enlarged exertion. Some of the children may be traced into life, with orderly well-regulated habits, as trust-worthy servants, skilful mechanics, and respectable tradesmen-several of whom attend on these occasions, to contribute, according to their ability, to the fund from which themselves formerly derived education and support.

It would be injustice to this excellent institution, as well as to very meritorious individuals, if I withheld a tribute of acknowledgment to the appropriate qualifications and conscientious assiduity of the master and mistress of these schools. Surely you will not forsake a work which has been so

long fostered by you. Is it much to ask such a parish as this worthily to support such an institution? I would be ashamed to use importunity to such a congregation, on such a subject. It disdains the use of eloquence-it relies, under God, on the truth and justice of its claims. Its grand but simple object is to teach these children the precious truths of God's Word, which alone have power to lighten the pressure of poverty-to raise the tone of morals -to purify the springs of domestic happiness-and to bind in harmony the various members of the embodied state. Be assured, that no scheme of education for the poor can succeed, unless the Bible, in the length and breadth of it, is the source of its health and its strength. For the poor there is but one sort of literature, the literature of duty and peace; but one sort of wisdom, the wisdom that shines forth in the beauty of regulated affections. Thousands may be learning to read, but it is the Christian's duty to give the reading a correct turn-to inculcate with it, and by it, Christian truths, principles, and motives. Some, indeed, tell us, that to teach the morals of the New Testament will be sufficient! From the morals of the New Testament, merely as such, no greater influence is to be expected, than from those of Seneca or Epictetus, if motives more powerful and larger aids cannot also be offered. Man's hopes and fears are the sinews of his virtues; man wants power as much as direction; and, even when his mind is instructed, he is motionless to what is right, while without the animating principle of love. The heart of the whole system of Christian morals is the love of Christ: this is the spring of obedience this is the fountain-head of morality. To take the morals of the New Testament, and discard its faith, is to sever the tree from the root, while it is yet in bloom.

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The hues may be admired, and the fragrance be for a time as the field which the Lord hath blessed;" but "their blossom shall go up as the dust, because they have cast away the law of the Lord of Hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel." We have already, in this country, abundance of the education of letters, and yet, what is its state at this day, after nearly seven hundred years' connection with the greatest empire, and most enlightened nation in the world; enjoying a free constitution, yet with the aspect and turbulence of slaves; though under the proximate superintendence of a Protestant government, yet, in respect of real scriptural religion, she remains a dark spot in the midst of an illuminated sky, under the almost undisturbed dominion of ignorance, priestcraft, and superstition; presenting a spectacle calculated to wring with anguish the heart of a patriot, philanthropist, and Christian?

Do we not see, throughout much of the land, the highest of all religious obligations (that of an oath) recklessly violated and abused? the deepest of all crimes (murder) meditated with cool satisfaction, perpetrated often in open day, without remorse, and sanctioned with popular approbation? And do not British subjects stand trembling in the jury-box, under the terror of a power more awful than the law, and giving to the threats of unseen conspirators more weight than to the plighted faith of British justice? The wretched peasantry-wretched because vicious, vicious because irreligious, irreligious because untaught the truths of pure Christianity-while peremptorily forbidden to read the word of God, have free unrestricted access to the garbage provided by a flagitious press, and thus become the dupes of inflammatory falsehoods, and filled with discontent and bitter animosity. Amongst

those who are raised to a grade above them, I would ask, what have Mechanics' Institutes, Penny Magazines, Useful Knowledge Societies, and the whole apparatus of godless science, effected? The tree of knowledge has not been shaken in vain. The fruit has fallen plentifully-it has been devoured greedily. It is painful to an educated man to utter a sentiment against plans of general education and intelligence: but really, when I see schemes in progress, on principles virtually depreciating whatever is specifically Christian, and thereby dishonouring God's word, I do feel alarmed in no ordinary degree by all the concern I ever felt for the eternal well-being of my fellow-countrymen. I would tell you, with all the solemn earnestness of which I am capable, that the work of educating man involves a tremendous responsibility-and may be perverted to his utter undoing, unless it be guided by enlightened discretion. Such is the inveterate disease of man's nature that it often perverts while it attracts, and poisons while it appropriates the best intellectual aliment, and converts it into the means of malignant resistance to the glorious Gospel. Man being morally depraved, if a species of knowledge be thrown into his mind, which incorporates with, instead of neutralizing that depra vity, his power of sinning is thereby increased. To talk of education, as a safeguard to society, apart from the power of scriptu

ral truth and Christian godliness, is at once impious and absurd. If education be not decidedly Christian, it will not be regenerative; the exterior of life may be improved, but its fountain not purified-it is the dispositions, not the manners, which must be renewed, in order to consolidate a people's loyalty and happiness.

It is on this ground that I would present before you the schools of St. Werburgh's parish. Here are seventy children hanging upon your bounty-who, if deprived of the blessing of Christian instruction, may grow up in vicious ignorance, live without God, and die without hope. Remember, each of these children has immortality written upon it: the inscription is indelible, traced by the finger of God. Each of them, then, shall be either a happy spirit before the throne of God, or a hopeless outcast from his heaven. The Lord works by means; if you then can be instrumental in any degree in stamping happiness on that immortalityOh! can I call forth your aid by any more powerful motive? To be the honoured instrument of ministering to the eternal felicity of a spirit which shall never lose its being or its consciousness-if this fail to interest, I have no excellency of speech to win you.

If these little ones want an advocate, unto thee, my God, I commit them; for thine is the power to move the heart-and so be thine the glory for ever and ever. Amen.