has been to direct against the Established Church the whole discontented humours of the State.

The assault on the Church, therefore, is not to be regarded as a mere isolated menace on a detached interest in the State. It is a direct attack on the whole interests of society-the first of a series of measures by which the nobility, the throne, the funds, the great estates, will be destroyed. The leaders of the revolutionary party are well aware that the Church is the great bond which unites the higher and the lower orders; that in its defence all the greatest and noblest, as well as the humblest and simplest of the community, are linked together; and that in the feelings of common devotion, and the worship of God under one common roof, feelings of mutual sympathy are produced, which are perhaps the only ties of affection which, in the present artificial state of society, unite the higher and the lower orders. All this they know, and the effects of this union they fear from the bottom of their hearts. They are well aware that the Catholic Relief Bill, by depriving the Conservative party of the vast support which they received from the religious sympathy of the great mass of the rural tenantry on that important question, did more to prostrate the defences of the monarchy than any measure since the Revolution, and led by natural consequence to the Reform Bill, and all the catalogue of disasters by which it has been attended. Knowing this, and anticipating a similar junction of the Conservative leaders and the rural population, in defence of the Church of England, they are indefatigable in their efforts to heap up obloquy on its institutions; and anticipate from its overthrow the dispersion of the last phalanx which remains between them and the attainment of all their selfish and revolutionary projects.

The Revolutionists have begun their attack in an artful way. Knowing the influence of education on the mind of youth-seeing the noble stand which Oxford and Cambridge have made against the Reform Bill, and all the ruinous measures by which it has been followed; irritated beyond measure at the multitudes of

able and highly educated young men whom those two noble seminaries annually send forth, strongly imbued with Conservative principles; bitterly galled by the obvious fact, that the waters flowing from these great fountains of knowledge are now purified, and the sophisms of modern liberalism effectually ba nished from the really enlightened classes of society, they have recourse to a lower body. They represent these venerable institutions as the mere fastnesses of error, prejudice, and cupidity, and hold forth, as the first of the many grievances under which they labour, the necessity of conforming to the Church of England before they can attain any of the honours or important stations in the University. This is their first attack on Religion, the Church, and the State; they hope thus to get possession of the great fountain of public instruction, and so turn by its source the mighty stream which has so long opposed a barrier to their progress.

As it is obvious what the designs of the Revolutionists are in making this inroad, so it would be mere affectation in the Conservatives to attempt to conceal what their motives are for resisting it. They are fully aware of the importance of religion to society, and deeply impressed with a conviction, that the Church of England is the form in which its blessings can best be communicated to the English people. Believing this, they regard Oxford and Cambridge as not merely places of education, but essentially and chiefly places of religious education. They are persuaded, that unless the ele ments of a right faith are early implanted in the minds of the influential part of the nation-unless the truths of Christianity in its purest form are early inhaled by our statesmen, our legislators, our instructors, the institutions, not only of religion, but of society, are bound together by a rope of sand, and all the elements of British greatness and freedom will be speedily dissolved by the subtle poison which has proved fatal to them in the neighbouring kingdom. Believing this, and deeply impressed with the necessity of preserving unsullied the great fountains of public thought, they are resolved

to resist to the uttermost any measures calculated to weaken the ascendency of the Established Church in these seminaries, and render their walls the theatre of the divisions, acrimony, and malevolent disposition, which so lamentably pervade the dissenting interest in every other part of the kingdom. In doing this, they are not actuated by any illwill towards that body, adorned by many eminent and respectable men; they are merely sensible of the obvious truth, that they cannot coexist in the same establishment, that their sphere of usefulness lies in different quarters, and that the utility of both would be destroyed, if they were placed side by side in an institution fundamentally framed upon the adoption of one system of religious faith.

What would the Catholics say, if a Protestant were to insist not merely upon receiving the elements of education at Maynooth College, but being declared eligible to its professorships? or a Jew were to complain of injustice, because he were not permitted to become Professor of Divinity in a Christian University; or a Protestant were to propose that he should be elected to an important situation in the Propaganda of Rome? In all these cases the absurdity of the demand is obvious, and our own Dissenters and Liberals would be the first to point it out, if it were attempted by any member of the Church of England. But they wilfully shut their eyes to the unreasonable nature of such a demand when directed against the Established Church of this country; or rather, they distinctly see it and feel it, but obstinately persist in supporting it, from its tendency to advance their revolutionary projects.

Nothing but confusion and discord, envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness, can be expected to arise from permitting the point of the dissenting wedge to be introduced into either of the Universities. They say now, that they wish to be allowed to aspire to scholarships and degrees; that is, to become members of the University, and have a vote in various elections and matters connected with academical discipline. What good is to be derived from such an introduction ? Is it ex

pedient to introduce the firebrand of religious discord, the jealousies of an established and rival church, into the calm retreats of science and philosophy? Has the experience of mankind shewn that religious strife is so trifling and inconsiderable a source of discord, that it can be safely introduced into the bosom of a peaceful community? Are no evil consequences to be anticipated, not merely to the Church of England, but to religion in general, from the jealousy, the animosity, and heartburnings of two rival sets of theologians in one University, each burning with zeal for the propagation of their own set of opinions, and each striving to draw off proselytes, and students from their antagonist? Is there any example in the world, in any country really governed by religious principles, of such a heterogeneous mixture of discordant theological principles in a public seminary of education? Such a system may do very well in regenerated and revolutionized France, which has nearly thrown off the old slough of the Christian faith, and appears now in the parti coloured skin of science, profligacy, and despotism; but it is incompatible with a sincere belief in the truth of their principles by either Churchmen or Dissenters, and could lead to nothing, in a really Christian establishment, but the fierceness of religious strife, or the supineness of sceptical indifference.

The able and candid journals in the dissenting interest openly avow, and publicly glory in, the ulterior objects which they have in view, in thus seeking to force themselves into the Universities. The Examiner declares that the object is of vital im◄ portance, for that if once they succeed in possessing themselves of the lever of education, the speedy overthrow of the Establishment will be a comparatively easy task. They are perfectly right. It will be so; and therefore it is, that not only all friends to the Church of England, but all sincere and upright believers in Christianity, should unite their forces to resist an invasion fraught with such danger, not only to so venerable an establishment, but such incalculable danger to the progress of Christianity over the world. It is impossible to estimate the effects

by the lustre of its character to all the calumnies with which it was assailed, and exhibiting an example of usefulness, piety, and benevolence, in the midst of a corrupted society, which may well put its antagonists to the blush for the obvious blessings to which they have been insensible, and the vast advantages which they have sought to destroy.

When we reflect on the calumnies which the Dissenters have heaped on the Church of England,-when we look back to their history and her history, when we consider what they are, and what she is, we are lost in astonishment at the audacity and effrontery of their pretensions, and the gross ignorance of history, science, theology, and literature, which such diatribes imply in their followers. The schoolmaster has been abroad to very little purpose; his instructions have wofully darkened the age, when such misrepresentations can find a willing reception in any, even the humblest and most prejudiced class of readers. Who are the great men who adorn and have immortalized the dissenting churches of Britain? Respectable worthy pastors they have had, and have; two or three rather ingenious metaphysicians they may point out; eminent names in science they may boast; sturdy supporters of democracy they have produced: but to compare them to the luminaries of the Church of England! Where are their Taylors, and Barrows, and Hookers, their Clarkes, and Cudworths, and Newtons, their Sherlocks, and Ogdens, and Paleys, their Warburtons, and Butlers, and Tillotsons, their Hebers, Coplestones, Sumners, and Alisons? What names have they produced which have acquired a European reputation, or are known beyond the straits of Dover or the Atlantic, or will survive the fervour and zeal of the little sect to which they belong? *

Is it in the more silent and unobtrusive, but not less important walks of usefulness, that we are to look for evidence of the benefits of a national Establishment? Where shall we find such numerous-such overwhelming proofs of it, as in the Church of England? What other

national religion has ever so effectually resisted all the powers of wickedness?-what other has so manfully endured the terrors of a persecuting, or resisted the corrup tions of a profligate age?-what other has spread so far and wide the principle and practice of true religion ? what other has so thoroughly engrafted the great duty of Christian charity, not only upon the habits and feelings, but the institu tions of the people? The Poor Laws, the noblest monument, as they were originally conceived, of Christian benevolence and political wisdom, that ever was reared by man, date their origin from the 42d of Elizabeth, shortly after the establishment of the National Church; and but for the steady provision which they have since afforded to sickness and old age, the institutions of England could never have withstood the shocks arising from the vicissitudes of employment and subsistence, incident to a great commercial and manufacturing community. The charitable institutions, and benevolent establishments of the island, have since that time been unbounded, notwithstanding the vast burden entailed on the State by the subsequent misdirection of that great engine of national pity; and if we add together the legal and the voluntary contributions made good by English charity and benevolence since its first establishment, we shall find their amount unparalleled in any other age or country. Where shall we find a National Church that has so effectually resisted the agents of corruption which have been so long and actively at work in the British islands, and preserved the standard of national morals so high, and the adherence to religion so general, amidst sources of corruption unparalleled in any country, ancient or modern? Roman virtue rapidly yielded to the wealth brought in by her victorious legions; Constantinople soon was corrupted by the stream of wealth which flowed into the great emporium of Asiatic commerce; Venetian patriotism sunk under the enervating influence of Indian opulence: but the English

character has withstood, for above a century, the corrupting influence of all the causes which singly proved fatal to her predecessors in that dazzling career; conquests greater than attended the standards of Rome, even in the days of Cæsar; commerce more extensive than flowed into the golden horn of Constantinople; wealth more boundless than Eastern riches poured into the Lagune of St Mark. While France, her equal in years, was immersed in the corruptions and infidelity which induced the desolating tempest of the Revolution; while Spain, debilitated by prosperity, had sunk into an inglorious old age; while Italy, her elder born in national existence, unmindful of her immortal predecessors, had yielded to the deadly poison of long established refine ment, England alone remained comparatively pure and unchanged in its public character, and exhibit ed, though grey in years of renown, the energy and vigour of youthful civilisation. What is the chief cause of this singular exception in favour of the British Empire, of that tendency to decay which seems the common lot of earthly things? The purity and practice of her Established Church; the incessant efforts which its teachers have made to struggle with so many and varied causes of corruption; the principles which they have implanted in the minds of youth, and exemplified in their own blameless and blessed career. It is here that we are to find the secret of the long duration of British prosperity; of the matchless progress she has made in arts, and usefulness, and arms; and the unexampled resistance she has opposed to the many principles of decay fermenting in her own bosom. Extinguish these fountains of living water; mingle them with the bitterness of sectarian zeal, or the indifference of foreign infidelity; and how rapidly will the unresisted principles of corruption spread-how speedily will her long averted old age fall upon the British Empire!

men, will pronounce the labours of the English Church the most astonishing monument of Christian beneficence that ever has existed upon earth. It is institutions which make men. The efforts of the English Church have been so astonishing, because its Establishment is admirably calculated to combine practical beneficence with speculative research, and unite humble usefulness with dignified exertion. If its members had been exclusively of the aristocratic classes, it would have_sunk into the corruptions of the French Hierarchy; if of the lower, it would have been lost in the jealousies of the English Dissenters. It is by the happy combination of the two, by the admixture of plebeian vigour and ability with patrician lustre and descent,-by the union of the elevated character and simple habits of the old English gentlemen with the talents and energy of its rising urban society, that its admirable and dignified character has so long and durably been imprinted on the Church of England. Remove the operation of these causes, by the destruction or mutilation of the Establishment, and how soon would this character be lost, and this usefulness extinguished, and these virtues cease to bless mankind?

Where is now the Church of France? In that revolutionized and regenerated realm, what are the character, utility, and prospects of the Christian clergy? What barrier have they opposed to the flood of licentiousness, profligacy, and corruption which broke in upon the State with the triumph of revolutionary principles? Where are now the Bossuets and Fenelons, the Massillons and Bourdaloues, the Flechiers and Saurins, the Malebranches and Pascals of the best of republics? Buried in the vault of all the Capulets; overwhelmed in the ruins of the Establishment; drowned in the ceaseless struggle for the necessaries of life, which is imposed on pastors in their wretched circumstances. French talent is unquestionably not extinct; the glory

nify the vices or weakness of a few of its unworthy members; but history, judging by the actions of

the records of history; the researches of her philosophers have rivalled all but Newton's fame; the taste