ADVERTISEMENT. THIS series of papers was prepared for delivery as Lectures in reply to the attacks of Liberationists upon the Church. Several have been delivered, and have been reported in a necessarily imperfect form in the newspapers.. Many persons have expressed a wish to have them published that they might be generally circulated. In accordance with that wish they are now published, in the hope that they may be, in some measure, directly useful, and still more that they may lead to research and thought: to rejection of what is false, though plausible and pretentious, and love of and adherence to what is true and good. THE QUEEN'S CORONATION OATH, ETC. ETC. OUR SOVEREIGNS are required to take a very solemn oath when they are crowned, and by that oath they bind themselves to employ their royal power for certain purposes, and to govern only in certain ways. Two of the subjects which are specified particularly in the coronation oath are: “The Protestant Reformed Religion established by law;" and "The Established Church.” This Church is the great bulwark of the Protestant religion in Christendom, and is the only test of adherence to and support of that religion which our laws recognize. This oath sprang out of the attempt to overthrow the true religion which was made by the last Stuart king who occupied the throne of this realm. Our forefathers had seen Popery in part brought back by King James the Second, and the revenues of the Church in part appropriated to maintain Popery, and therefore at the Great Revolution they so altered the coronation oath that it should be a barrier against both these things, and a security for efficient maintenance of the truth by an established, endowed, and so far independent Church; a Church not liable to change and fail the nation as a test, if ever it were needed, to determine the maintenance or breach of a solemn compact entered into between the sovereign and the people of this realm. The oath framed for this purpose and taken by every monarch who has occupied the British throne since 1688, except the words in brackets, which have been added since the union between Great Britain and Ireland, is this: The Archbishop. "WILL YOU SOLEMNLY PROMISE AND SWEAR TO GOVERN THE PEOPLE OF THIS [UNITED] KINGDOM OF [GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND] AND THE DOMINIONS THERETO BELONGING, ACCORDING TO THE STATUTES IN PARLIAMENT AGREED ON, AND THE CUSTOMS OF THE SAME?" The Queen. "I SOLEMNLY PROMISE TO DO SO." The Archbishop. "WILL YOU, TO† YOUR POWER, CAUSE LAW AND JUSTICE, IN MERCY, TO BE EXECUTED IN ALL YOUR JUDGMENT?” The Queen. "I WILL." The Archbishop. "WILL YOU, TO THE UTMOST OF YOUR POWER, MAINTAIN THE LAWS OF GOD, THE TRUE PROFESSION OF THE GOSPEL, AND THE PROTESTANT REFORMED RELIGION ESTABLISHED BY LAW? [AND WILL YOU MAINTAIN AND PRESERVE INVIOLABLY THE SETTLEMENT OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND, AND THE DOCTRINE, WORSHIP, DISCIPLINE, AND GOVERNMENT THEREOF, AS BY LAW ESTABLISHED WITHIN ENGLAND AND IRELAND, AND THE TERRITORIES THEREUNTO BELONGING?] "AND WILL YOU PRESERVE UNTO THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY OF [ENGLAND AND IRELAND] AND TO THE [UNITED] CHURCH§ COMMITTED TO THEIR CHARGE, ALL SUCH RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES AS BY LAW DO OR SHALL APPERTAIN TO THEM OR ANY OF THEM?" The Queen. "ALL THIS I PROMISE TO DO." The Queen then proceeded to the Communion Table, and laying her right hand upon the Holy Gospel in the Great |