ing the time of service. The day was hot, and the precentor, as usual, in the centre of the front gallery, opposite to the minister, officiated, not only without a gown, but without a coat upon his back. There was some sort of instrumental music-hautboys and bassoons, I think, against which there are no prejudices in this country. The clergyman, a very unaffected, sincere-looking person, delivered a plain sensible discourse, in which he introduced the names of Dr. Erskine and Dr. Chalmers, which sounded strange to us, considering where we were, on the western side of the Atlantic, not very far from the falls of Niagara. At the close of his sermon, he addressed his hearers in some such terms as these,-'My friends, the sacrament of the Lord's supper is to be dispensed here this evening. This is a free church, open to all-Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, and all other denominations of Chris tians. This is according to our belief. All are invited; the risk is theirs.' Such liberality is, we find on inquiry, not unusual among the clergymen and congregations of different sects, with the exception in general of Unitarians. I observe an example recorded in Hosack's Life of Clinton; and as it relates to the great Father of the United States, and is of unquestionable authority, I think it of sufficient interest for insertion. While the American army, under the command of Washington, lay encamped in the vicinity of Morristown, New-Jersey, it occurred that the service of the communion (then observed semi-annually only) was to be administered to the Presbyterian church in that village. In a morning of the previous week, the General, after his accustomed inspection of the camp, visited the house of the Rev. Dr. Jones, then pastor of that church, and, after the usual preliminaries, thus accosted him: -Doctor, I understand that the Lord's supper is to be celebrated with you next Sunday. I would learn, if it accords with the canons of your church to admit communicants of another denomination.' The Doctor rejoined, 'Most certainly. Ours is not the Presbyterian table, General, but the Lord's table, and we hence give the Lord's invitation to all his followers, of whatever name.' The General replied, 'I am glad of it; that is as it ought to be, but as I was not quite sure of the fact, I thought I would ascertain it from yourself, as I propose to join with you on that occasion. Though a member of the church of England, I have no exclusive partialities.' The Doctor reassured him of a cordial welcome, and the General was found seated with the communicants the next Sabbath.

"During my residence in the United States, subsequent to this period, I was frequently witness to the good understanding which generally prevails among clergymen professing different opinions on church forms and doctrinal points, in this country; and I occasionally observed nctices in the newspapers to the same purport,

The two following I have preserved :- The corner-stone of a new Baptist church was laid at Savannah in Georgia, and the ceremonial services were performed by clergymen of the Methodist, German, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Baptist churches.' The sacrament of the Lord's supper was administered in the Rev. Mr. Post's church (Presbyterian church at Washington) and, as usual, all members of other churches in regular standing were invited to unite with the members of that church, in testifying their faith in, and love to, their Lord and Saviour. The invited guests assembled around the table; and it so happened that Mr. Grundy, a senator from Tennessee, and two Cherokee Indians, were seated side by side.' Nothing is more astounding in the stage-coach intercourse with the people of this country, as well as in the bar-rooms where travellers meet, than the freedom and apparent sincerity of their remarks, and the perfect feeling of equality with which the conversation is maintained, especially on religious matters. I have heard the most opposite creeds maintained, without any thing like acrimonious discussion or sarcastic remark, by persons in the same stage, professing themselves undisguisedly, Calvinists, Episcopalians, Methodists, and Unitarians," &c.

If such are the liberal views entertained in America on religious subjects, and if such dispositions are more congenial to the spirit of the Christian system, than the fiery and uuhallowed zeal and unholy jealousies which many religionists display-why are they not more frequently manifested in our own country? For, the difference of localities and customs cannot alter the nature and obligation of moral principles and actions. What a striking contrast to the scenes now exhibited are such facts as the following;"The Rev. J. T. Campbell, rector of Tilston, in the diocese of Chester, has been suspended from his clerical function, for twelve months, with a sequestration of his benefice, for that time, for preaching in a methodist meeting-house in Nantwich, and in other similar places within the diocese." "The Rev. Dr. Rice, curate of St. Lukes, London, who made himself conspicuous the other day, at Mr. Wakely's dinner, and who, in consequence of the liberal sentiments he then expressed on the subject of Church Reform, has fallen under the censure of his diocesan." Both these notices appeared in most of the newspapers in January 1833, and were never contradicted! If such conduct in the rulers of the church were warranted by the doctrines or precepts of the New Testament, Christianity would be unworthy of any man's attention or support. If the principles and persecuting spirit involved in such decisions, were coun tenanced and supported by the laws of the state, we should soon be subjected to all the burnings, hangings, maimings, tortures, and horrid cruel

ties, which distinguished the dark ages of Popery, and the proceedings of the Star Chamber. How long will it be ere professed Christians display a Christian spirit! and what is the utility of Christianity to the world, unless candour, forbearance, love, meekness, and other Christian virtues, be the characteristics of its professed votaries! We dare any person to bring forward a single instance of a man's being converted to the faith of our holy religion, by the display of unhallowed zeal, furious bigotry, sectarian contentions, or the manifestation of a domineering and persecuting spirit. But, thousands of instances could be produced of such dispositions being the means of recruiting the ranks of infidelity and licentiousness. The following statement, sent to the Editor of the Liverpool Mercury, Feb. 14th, 1833, displays the liberality of certain British clergymen, in the thirty-third year of the nineteenth century. "I have been recently called on by death to part with one of my children. I waited upon the Rev. of

church (where I buried a child a short time ago,) to arrange with him about its interment near the other. But, to what place of worship do you go?' inquired most seriously the Reverend divine. 'The Methodists, Sir, of the New Connexion,' I replied. As you do not attend my church, I cannot, therefore, bury your child.-Where was your child baptized?' was his second inquiry. At the church of which I am a member,' I answered. 'How can you think,' exclaimed the liberal and pious, but indignant minister,' that I shall bury your child, which has been baptized by a Dissenter? Take your child to be buried where it was baptized.' 'But, Sir, we have no burial-ground connected with our chapel.' 'No matter; the churchwardens of my church have determined not to bury any that do not belong to the church. Go,' said the minister,' to , and arrange with him.'-So saying, he turned his back and left me. R. Emery."

The Duke of Newcastle-so notorious for doing what he pleases with his own—has the following clause introduced into certain leases in the neighbourhood of Nottingham :-" That in none of the houses to be built, shall be held prayer-meetings, or any conventicles for the diffusion of sentiments contrary to the doctrines of the Church of England." A fine specimen, truly, of Christian liberality in the nineteenth century! If his Grace the Duke of Newcastle attended to his prayers as frequently and fervently as the Liturgy enjoins, he would be disposed to display a little more candour in reference to the "prayer-meetings" of his dissenting brethren. With regard to the leading doctrines of the Church of England, there are few dissenters disposed to find much fault with them. But what will his Grace say of the indolence and avaricious conduct of many of the ministers of that church, which have been

the cause of the rapid increase of Dissenters? The Vicar of Pevensey in Sussex (as appears from a petition of the parishioners, dated February 1, 1833) derives an income from the parish of about 1200l. a-year, and yet has never once performed divine service, since his induction, about seventeen years ago. He has another living at Guestling, about fifteen miles distant, from which he derives a revenue of 400l. per annum. Whether he does duty there is not known; but it is not absurd to suppose, that a parson who will not so much as read prayers for 12001. is not very likely to preach for 400.-R. Hodgson, Dean of Carlisle, is also Vicar of Burg-on-Sands, Rector of St. Georges in Hanover Square, Vicar of Hellington, and yet at none of these places is he found officiating. The tithes received by the Dean and Chapter for Heshet, amount to 10007. or 1500l. a-year; they pay the curate that does the duty 181. 58., or at the rate of one shilling a-day-the wages of a bricklayer's labourer. In Wetheral and Warwick, the Dean and Chapter draw about 1000l. a-year for tithes, and 10007. a-year from the church lands, and they pay the working minister the sum of 501. a-year. The tithes of the parish of St. Cuthberts and St. Ma ry amount to about 1500l. a-year; and the two curates, who do the duty, receive each the sum of 21. 13s. 4d. a-year!! Three brothers of the name of Goodenough, monopolize thirteen pieces of church preferment. One of them is Prebend of Carlisle, Westminister and York, Vicar of Wath All-Saints on Dearn, chaplain of Adwick, and chaplain of Brampton Bierlow. Those preferments produce, of course, several thousands, for which the incumbents perform absolutely nothing. And yet, one of the persons above alluded to, had lately the effrontery to come to Carlisle and preach up "the Church is in danger," because these shocking enormities are now exposed to public reprobation. See Times newspaper for March 7, 8, 1833. It would be no great breach of charity to suppose, that it is such doctrines and practices as those now stated, that the Duke of Newcastle is determined to support with such a degree of persecuting zeal-and that pure Christianity, detached from its connexions with the state, is the object of his hatred and contempt.

As a corroboration of Mr. Stuart's statements respecting the liberality of Religious Sectaries in America, the following extract of a letter, dated 18th February 1833, which the author received from the Rev. Dr. S, a learned and pious Presbyterian minister in the State of New York, may be here inserted—

"I deeply regret to hear that so much of the spirit of sectarianism prevails among the different religious denominations of your country. We, too, have enough of it; but it is here manifestly on the decline. You may possibly think it an unreasonable stretch of liberality when I tell

you, that within a few weeks, I suffered an Episcopalian to preach in my pulpit, and to use his own forins of prayer. But such is the state of feeling in my congregation, that, though such a thing had never before occurred among them, yet it met with their universal and unqualified approbation. On the other hand, I expect, in the course of a week or two, to preach a charity sermon here in one of our Episcopal churches, and to perform the whole service in my own way. This, it must be confessed, is a little uncommon even in this country; but every thing indicates, that such expressions of good will, even between Presbyterians and Episcopalians, will soon become frequent. Independents and Presbyterians here occupy nearly the same ground. They are indeed distinct denominations, but are represented in each other's public bodies." The author has perused an excellent sermon of the clergyman now alluded to, which was preached in an Independent church when introducing an Independent minister to his charge immediately after ordination, which shows that we have still much to learn from our transatlantic brethren, in relation to a friendly and affectionate intercourse with Christians of different denominations.

gambling houses-rendezvouses the more seductive to youth, as being free from some of those dangers which would alarm timidity in places of avowedly scandalous resort. In the Sallon des Etrangers, the most celebrated haunt of this Dom-Daniel, which I had the curiosity to visit, the scene was decent and silent to a degree of solemnity. An immense hall was filled with gamesters and spectators. Those who kept the bank, and managed the affairs of the establishment, were distinguished by the green shades which they wore to preserve their eyes; by their silent and grave demeanour, and by the paleness of their countenances, exhausted by their constant vigils. There was no distinction of persons, nor any passport required for entrance, save that of a decent exterior; and, on the long tables, which were covered with gold, an artisan was at liberty to hazard his week's wages, or a noble his whole estate. Youth and age were equally welcome, and any one who chose to play within the limits of a trifling sum, had only to accuse his own weakness, if he was drawn into deeper or more dangerous hazard. Every thing appeared to be conducted with perfect fairness. The only advantage possessed by the bank (which is however, enormous) is the extent of

With the view of corroborating and illustrating more fully the statements made in the pages referred to, the following facts may be stated in relation to the moral character of the inhabitants of France, particularly those of Paris.

In the first place, the vice of gambling prevails in the capital of France to an extent unknown in almost any other country. The Palais Royale is the grand focus of this species of iniquity, which is the fertile source of licentious ness, and of almost every crime. Mr. J. Scott, who visited Paris in 1814, thus describes this sink of moral pollution. "The Palais Royale presents the most characteristic feature of Paris; it is dissolute, gay, wretched, elegant, paltry, busy, and idle-it suggests recollections of atrocity, and supplies sights of fascination-it displays virtue and vice living on easy terms, and in immediate neighbourhood of each other. Excitements, indulgences, and privations—art and vulgarity-science and ignorance-artful conspiracies and careless debaucheries-all mingle here, forming an atmosphere of various exhalations, a whirl of the most lively images-a stimulating melange of what is most heating, intoxicating, and subduing." Sir W. Scott, who visited Paris in 1815, gives the following description of this infamous establishment. "The Palais Royale, in whose saloons and porticoes vice has established a public and open school for gambling and licentiousness, should be levelled to the ground with all its accursed brothels and

reverse of fortune; whereas, most of the individuals who play against the bank, are in circumstances to be ruined by the first succession of ill luck; so that, ultimately, the small ventures merge in the stock of the principal adventurers, as rivers run into the sea. The profits of the establishment must, indeed, be very large, to support its expenses. Besides a variety of attendants, who distribute refreshments to the players gratis, there is an elegant entertainment, with expensive wines, regularly prepared, about three o'clock in the morning, for those who choose to partake of it. With such temptations around him, and where the hazarding an insignificant sum seems at first venial or innocent, it is no wonder that thousands feel themselves gradu ally involved in the vortex, whose verge is so little distinguishable, until they are swallowed up, with their time, talents, fortune, and frequently also both body and soul.

"This is vice with her fairest vizard; but the same unhallowed precinct contains many a secret cell for the most hideous and unheard of debaucheries; many an open rendezvous of infamy, and many a den of usury and treason; the whole mixed with a Vanity Fair of shops for jewels, trinkets, and baubles; that bashfulness may not need a decent pretext for adventuring into the haunts of infamy. It was here that the preachers of revolution found, amidst gamblers, despe radoes, and prostitutes, ready auditors of their doctrines, and active hands to labour in their vineyard. It was here that the plots of the Buonapartists were adjusted; and from hence

the seduced soldiers, inflamed with many a bumper to the health of the exile of Elba, under the mystic names of Jean de l'Epee, and Corporal Violet, were dismissed to spread the news of his approaching return. In short, from this central pit of Acheron, in which are openly assembled and mingled those characters and occupations which, in all other capitals, are driven to shroud themselves in separate and retired recesses; from this focus of vice and treason have flowed forth those waters of bitterness of which France has drunk so deeply."

The state of marriage in this country since the revolution is likewise the fertile source of immorality and crime. Marriage is little else than a state of legal concubinage, a mere temporary connexion, from which the parties can loose themselves when they please; and women are a species of mercantile commodity. Illicit connexions and illegitimate children, especially in Paris, are numerous beyond what is known in any other country. The following statement of the affairs of the French capital, for the year ending 22d September 1903, given by the Prefect of Police to the Grand Judge, presents a most revolting idea of the state of public morals: -During this year 490 men and 167 women committed suicide; 81 men and 69 women were murdered, of whom 55 men and 52 women were foreigners; 644 divorces; 155 murderers executed; 1210 persons condemned to the galleys, &c.; 1626 persons to hard labour, and 64 marked with hot irons; 12, 076 public women were registered; large sums were levied from these wretched creatures, who were made to pay from 5 to 10 guineas each monthly, according to their rank, beauty, or fashion; 1552 kept mistresses were noted down by the police, and 380 brothels licensed by the Prefect. Among the criminals executed were 7 fathers for poisoning their children; 10 husbands for murdering their wives; 6 wives that had murdered their husbands; and 15 children who had poisoned or otherwise de stroyed their parents.

The glaring profanation of the Sabbath is another striking characteristic of the people of France, especially as displayed in the capital. Entering Paris on the Sabbath, a Briton is shocked at beholding all that reverence and solemnity with which that sacred day is generally kept in Christian countries, not only set aside, but ridiculed and contemned, and a whole people apparently lost to every impression of religion. The shops are all alive, the gaming-houses fill ed, the theatres crowded, the streets deafened with ballad-singers and mountebanks; persons of all ages, from the hoary grandsire to the child of four or five years, engaged in balls, routs, and dancings, the house of God alone deserted, and the voice of religion alone unheard and despised. The Sabbath was the day appointed for celebrating the return of Buonaparte from Elba in

1815. In the grand square there were stationed two theatres of dancers and rope-dancers; two theatres of amusing physical experiments; six bands for dancing; a theatre of singers; a display of fire-works; a circus where Francone's troops were to exhibit; and above all, that most delectable sport called Matts de Cocagne. The Matts de Cocagne consists of two long poles, near the tops of which are suspended various articles of cookery, such as roast beef, fowls, ducks, &c. The poles are soaped and rendered slippery at the bottom; and the sport consists in the ludicrous failures of those who climb to reach the eatables. Two Matts de Cocagne were also erected in the square Marjury; as also four bands for dancing, a theatre of rope-dancers; a theatre of amusing experiments; a theatre of singers, &c.; and fire-works. These amusements were to commence at 2 o'clock, P. M. and to last till night. Along the avenue of the Champ de Elysees, there were erected 36 fountains of wine, 12 tables for the distribution of eatables, such as pies, fowls, sausages, &c. The distribution of the wine and eatables took place at three o'clock. At nine o'clock there was a grand fire-work at the Place de Concorde. Immediately afterwards a detonating balloon ascended from the Champ de Elysees. The detonation took place when the balloon was at the height of 500 toises, or above 3000 feet. In the evening all the theatres were opened gratis, and all the public edifices were illuminated. Such was the mode in which the Parisians worshipped the "goddess of Reason" on the day appointed for the Christian Sabbath.

That such profanation of the Sabbath is still continued, and that it is not confined to the city of Paris, but abounds in most of the provincial towns of France, appears from the following extract of a letter inserted in the Eevangelical Magazine for January 1833, from a gentleman who recently resided in different parts of that country:-"Could every pious reader of this letter be awakened, on the morning of that sacred day, as I have been, by the clang of the anvil, and, on his entrance into the streets and markets, observe business prosecuted or suspended according to the tastes of the tradesmen; could he mark the workmen on seasons of religious festival, erecting the triumphal arch on the Sabbath morning, and removing it on the Sabbath evening; and notice the labourers, at their option, toiling all day at the public works; could he see the card-party in the hotel, and the nine-pins before every public house, and the promenaders swarming in all the suburbs; could he be compelled to witness, on one Sunday, a grand review of a garrison; and on another be disturbed by the music of a company of strolling players; and could he find, amidst all this profanation, as I have found, no temple to which to retreat, save the barren cliff or the ocean-cave, surely he

would feel and proclaim the truth, This people is destroyed for lack of knowledge.'" The same gentleman shows, that this profanation is chiefly occasioned by "the destitution of Scriptual information which exists in France," which the following facts, among many others that came under his own observation, tend to illustrate. "On the road to M- on a market-day, I stopped about a dozen persons, some poor, others of the better classes, and showing them the New Testament, begged them to inform me if they possessed it. With a single exception, they all replied in the negative. In the town of M

I entered, with the same inquiry, many of the most respectable shops. Only one individual among their occupiers was the owner of a New Testament. One gentleman, who, during a week, dined with me at my inn, and who avowed himself a deist and a materialist, said that he had not seen a Testament for many years. Indeed, I doubted whether he had ever read it; for, on my presenting one to him, he asked if it contained an account of the creation. A journeyman bookbinder, having expressed a wish to obtain this precious book, remarked, on receiving it, in perfect ignorance of its divine authority, that he dared to say it was a very fine work.' A student in a university, about 20 years of age, told me, that although he had seen the Vulgate (Latin) version of the New Testament, he had never met with it in a French translation. A young woman, who professed to have a Bible, produced instead of it a Catholic Abridgment of the Scriptures, garbled in many important portions, and interlarded with the comments of the Fathers."

Such facts afford a striking evidence of the hostility of the Roman Catholic clergy in France to the circulation of the Scriptures, and the enlightening of the minds of the community in the knowledge of Divine truths; and therefore it is no wonder that Infidelity, Materialism, and immorality, should very generally prevail. "Even among the Protestants," says the same writer, "a large number of their ministers are worldly men, frequenting, as a pious lady assured me, the chase, the dance, and the billiard table.' As to the public worship of God, the case is equally deplorable. In two large towns, and a population of 25,000, I found no Protestant sanctuary. In a third town, containing about 7000 inhabitants, there was an English Episcopal chapel for the British residents, but no French Protestant service. At a fourth, in which there was a Protestant church, the minister, who supplied four other places, preached one Sabbath in five weeks."

The mania for dancing, which pervades all classes and all ages, is another characteristic of the people of Paris, of which some idea may be formed from the following extract from a French public Journal, dated August 2, 1804 :-" The

danso-mania of both sexes seems rather to increase than decrease with the warm weather. Sixty balls were advertised for last Sunday; and for to-morrow sixty-nine are announced. Any person walking in the Elysian fields, or on the Boulevards, may be convinced that these temples of pleasure are not without worshippers. Besides these, in our own walks last Sunday, we counted no less than twenty-two gardens not advertised, where there was fiddling and dancing. Indeed, this pleasure is tempting, because it is very cheap. For a bottle of beer, which costs 6 sous (3d.,) and 2 sous (1d.,) to the fiddler, a husband and wife, with their children, may amuse themselves from three o'clock in the afternoon till eleven o'clock at night. As this exercise both diverts the mind and strengthens the body, and as Sunday is the only day of the week which the most numerous classes of people can dispose of, without injury to themselves or the state, government encourages, as much as possible, these innocent amusements on that day. In the garden of Chaumievre, on the Boulevard Neuf, we observed, in the same quadrilles, last Sunday, four genera tions, the great grandsire dancing with his greatgreat granddaughter, and the great-grandmamma dancing with her great-great-grandson. It was a satisfaction impossible to be expressed, to see persons of so many different ages, all enjoying the same pleasures for the present, not remembering past misfortunes, nor apprehending future ones. The grave seemed equally distant from the girl of ten years old, and from her great-grandmamma of seventy years, and from the boy that had not seen three lustres, as from the great grandsire reaching nearly fourscore years. In another quadrille, were four lovers dancing with their mistresses. There, again, nothing was observed but an emulation who should enjoy the present moment. Not an idea of the past, or of time to come, clouded their thoughts; in a few words, they were perfectly happy. Let those tormented by avarice or ambition frequent those places on a Sunday, and they will be cured of their vile passions, if they are not incurable."*

Such are a few sketches of the moral state and character of the people of Paris, which, there is every reason to believe, are, with a few modifications, applicable to the inhabitants of most of the other large towns in France. Among the great mass of the population of that country, there appears to be no distinct recognition of the moral attributes of the Deity, of the obligation of the Divine law, or of a future and eternal state of existence. Whirled about incessantly in the vortex of vanity and dissipation, the Creator is lost sight of, moral responsibility disregarded, and present sensual gratifications pursued with

• Several of the above sketches are extracted from the "Glasgow Geography," a work which contains an immense mass of historical, geographical, and miscellaneous information.