no separate "quarter" being specially devoted to any, the habits of individuals and the necessities of classes create an irresistible tendency towards the localization of people of the same kind. We have, therefore, districts which are possessed exclusively by the rich, the poor, the moral, the immoral, the intelligent, the ignorant, the pious, or the criminal and depraved. Besides, there is not only a tendency to classification, but also to assimilation; so that the few take the tone of the many, and in the majority of cases sink into the common average.

While we thus account for dense masses of Non-worshipping population in the midst of communities nominally Christian, we should bear in mind that the less frequent attendance of many of the poor at public worship appears in these results as a diminished number of attenders; so that a little allowance should be made for poor communities, or for the poorer portions of mixed ones. As we are treating of this class, we may give their numbers first.

There are sixteen large towns in each of which the irreligious or Nonworshipping amount to 50 per cent. at least: while in Southwark they reach 68, in Sheffield 62, in Oldham 61, in Lambeth 60, and in Gateshead 60. The joint population of these is 2,622,394, and the irreligious in all this number amounts to 55 per cent. If we add to these eighteen other towns, none of which singly contains 50 per cent. of ungodly population, we have in the whole thirty-four, nearly four millions, [3,993,467.] Of these, more than two millions, [2,197,388] or 52 per cent. are Nonworshipping. With all the modifications which have been suggested or can be assigned, this is a fact of fearful significance. On the other hand, the number is very small in Warrington, Cheltenham, Cambridge, Dover, Ipswich, and Reading; ranging from 16 per cent. in the first to 7 in the last. In Bath, Exeter and Colchester the number vanishes, probably in consequence of the better than ordinary attendance at Divine Worship, of other sections of the community.

In the Established Church, the worshipping members attain their maximum limit in Exeter, of 68 per cent. In explanation of this, it is only necessary to state that there are 25 Churches in the Borough, (independent of 15 chapels of other denominations,) for a population of less than 33,000. In other towns of the Kingdom, there are one, two or three churches for this number; and the wants of the population are regarded

as well supplied, if there be so many as six. The order then is Dover 65, Worcester and Bath 64, Colchester 57, Ipswich 56, Cheltenham and Maidstone 55, Reading and Wakefield 50. The eleven towns first enumerated contain in all 58 per cent. of Worshipping Churchmen, independent of course, of those who are only nominal members. But while these rise considerably above the average [42] for the whole country, there are others that sink below it; so that in fifteen towns the average is about 16. These include Sunderland, South Shields, and Gateshead, which are connected with commerce; Tower Hamlets embracing a poor and long neglected portion of London; Dudley, Stoke, Manchester, Oldham, Sheffield, Rochdale, Bradford and Preston in the manufacturing districts; Newport and Merthyr Tydvil which are also in a Dissenting District; and Carlisle which is exceptional.

The strongest point of Nonconformists is Merthyr Tydvil, where their numbers appear to rise to 833. There is internal evidence however, that some of the returns have been grossly exaggerated; independent of the external evidence that the average for all the great towns of the Kingdom is only 21, and that in Swansea which is in the same neighbourhood and of the same character, the number of Dissenters is only 44, or little more than half as great. Besides, Swansea is the highest except Merthyr Tydvil. Colchester, Dudley, Northampton, Reading and Rochdale come next in order. The lowest numbers are found in Gateshead, Manchester, Tower Hamlets, Lambeth, Preston, Marylebone, Liverpool, Westminster, and Southwark. In these the per centage ranges from 17 to 8, and averages

about 13.

The towns in which Roman Catholics attain high relative numbers are nearly all situated in Lancashire, four of the first five being Wigan 22, Liverpool 21, Preston 18, and Manchester 14. Newport in Monmouthshire has 16. On the contrary, there are five towns in which they do not seem to be represented at all; and fifteen others in which they average only 1 in 75 of the population.

3 Character of the Non-worshipping Population.

Though the terms "irreligious" and "ungodly" have been used as almost synonymous with "Non-worshipping," it would be a very unjustifiable inference that none are religious but those who attend worship and hear sermons in Churches and Chapels. There are large numbers who regard

Religious Worship as a moral necessity and who look forward to it as an enjoyment; but who in consequence of limited means or improvident habits, rarely find themselves in a condition to attend, consistently with selfrespect. The desire at length becomes weakened, and habits are contracted at variance with piety or attachment to any creed. In other instances, the connexion is still kept up or renewed at intervals, with the Church or Chapel, directly through the occurrence of the offices of baptism, marriage and burial, or indirectly through the school which their children attend, or through the visitor who calls at their cottages.

But, while it would be not merely unsafe but also uncharitable to regard as unchristian all who are Non-worshipping, it is undeniable that a broad line of distinction is drawn in this fact. The individual and especially the family who can spend a succession of Sundays in physical rest, or intellectual quiescence, or social intercourse, or recreation, or secular pursuits, soon finds that a 'species of estrangement has grown up within him to religion; and even when leisure permits or inclination prompts, he is still an absentee from Church or Chapel. Thus, he yields to his animal propensities and becomes a mere secularist, living to eat, work, and sleep; and being little under the controul of public opinion, which still exerts a salutary influence on the higher classes, many thousands know nothing of religion but the party feelings with which it is sometimes associated. Indeed public feeling frequently acts injuriously in the case of the humble man; for when few persons in a street perform "religious "worship" anywhere, or when this occurs with particular persons on few 'occasions, the exceptions draw forth comparisons or criticisms which few have the moral courage to bear.

There is great danger that the negative irreligion of the present generation will grow into positive and aggressive infidelity in the next;-especially in the great towns, and in those of them where the Non-worshipping at this moment outnumber the worshippers of all creeds. It is thus that the causes in the past generation are visible by their effects in this one; the seed of neglect having produced a harvest of home heathenism. Few are aware of the actual condition of portions of our great towns, for few will penetrate where facts of the following kind occur. In 1849 I had the pastoral charge of two ecclesiastical districts in Liverpool, the joint population of which was nearly 24,000. The condition of these was

carefully ascertained by visitation from house to house; and a tract was published with full details in 1850. It contains the following:

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In six streets and their courts in one of the districts, where there is a "population of 5,939, only 29 families attend Church. In six streets and "their courts in the other district, where there is a population of 5,188, only 14 families attend Church."

"In a population of 5,850, embracing whole streets and all the courts of "other streets (in the former district), not one attends Church. In a population of 2,308, embracing whole streets, and all the courts of other streets, (in the latter), not one attends Church.

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"The degree of religious knowledge or religious feeling existing among "these people is low indeed. In the former district there were 467 'families, and in the latter 240, (in all a population of more than 3,000) "not one of whom would even promise to attend a Church Service! Yet "these are not Roman Catholics or Protestant Dissenters, they are all the "lost sheep of our National Church. There were 482 other families in the former, and 343 in the latter, (in all a population of nearly 4,000), "who were more polite but in general less truthful; they promised to come occasionally to Church. These again, are not Roman Catholics or "Protestant Dissenters, but nominal Churchmen. Here then is a popula"tion of 7,000 who have never connected themselves with any party "hostile to the Church; and yet God is not in all their thoughts.' The "term Protestant as applied to them is a misnomer; the majority are "simply not Christians."*

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V.-SUGGESTIONS FOR THE CENSUS OF 1861.

We ought to feel duly grateful for the fact that the nation has taken a decided step in the right direction, by the publication of the "Census of "Religious Worship." Yet the importance of the subject, which compels us to welcome such data as it affords, demands that we should remove, as far as possible, all sources of error. With that intention, the following sug

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gestions are offered; it being taken for granted that a "Census of Religious Worship" will be made in 1861 also. But if that should be regarded as superfluous, a Census of adherents, like that of Ireland, 1834, would be of immense importance; as it would furnish us with a set of new facts, not hitherto arrived at.

1. The making of returns should not be a voluntary act, but should be made imperative. Several Dissenting Ministers, and a large number of the Clergy of the Established Church refused their co-operation ;---in general assigning as a reason that the return was inquisitorial, or trouble

* Missions at Home, or a Clergyman's Account of a Portion of the Town of Liverpool. London: Rivingtons, 1850.

some, or unnecessary. There was another reason which was not so frequently stated, viz., that congregations were below the average; and the ministers connected with them did not know how far the facts which they furnished might obtain publicity. In Preston, for some reason, only three out of the incumbents of ten Churches* made any return; while out of nineteen other places of worship there was only one omission. One would almost imagine that there was an intention on the part of some to destroy the value of this Census; for it is remarkable that many of those who were least interested and least earnest to promote the wishes of Government, are loudest in their complaints of the incorrectness of the volume. We are all sorry that the book is deficient or erroneous in any respect; but it is only those who have done their duty that have any right to complain.

2. Most of those who made returns were unaccustomed to count the attendants at Church or Chapel; and some did not even know how to make an estimate. The usual error consisted, therefore, in estimating too high, and the tendency to do this is strong with the minor officials in places of worship. Perhaps this may be accounted for in part from the fact that they see the people from the same level, the intervening spaces being hid by sitters or kneelers; but there can be no doubt that in some cases there was designed and culpable exaggeration. At present this is proveable in only a few cases; but where the attendance is represented as considerably beyond the capacity of the building, there can be no doubt respecting the incorrectness of the return. I have grouped some curious figures in a note below.+ The returns from Merthyr Tydvil are very

The attendance at the 10 Churches is represented as having been 2479 in the Morning, 951 in the Afternoon, and 180 in the Evening! This return, which is obviously absurd, is the fundamental error; and it gives us in the usual way 18 Roman Catholics per cent., 14 Dissenters, 9 bona fide Churchmen, and 59 Non-worshipping. The correct analysis may be inferred from the following:-" When the tripartite division of the new Burial Ground was made, the population was distributed into the three sections with the greatest care; and the proportions were subjected to various rigid tests and scrutinized by all with the utmost jealousy. The result which was accepted, showed Church people 62, Roman Catholics 27, Dissenters 11,100.”

+ The number in brackets denotes the number of sittings or the entire capacity of the Chapel; the numbers following shew the recorded attendance at one or more times of the day. In the greater number of religious communities, no anomalies of this kind occur, in any of the 73 great towns,

Primitive Methodists. -Bath, (434) 530; Derby, (1192) 1310; Nottingham, (1850) 1900.

General Baptists.-Coventry, (300) 397.

Wesleyan Association.-Marylebone, (198) Morning 277, Evening 336.

Wesleyan Reformers.-Bradford (810), Morning 1061, Evening 1483! Yarmouth (400), 450; Halifax (400), Morning 460, Evening 526; Leeds (200), Morning 650! Afternoon 723!! Evening 1030!!! Nottingham (600), 700.