instruction is not less an object of public concern. The rudiments of religion are best learnt at our mother's knees:-it is in the order of nature that where we receive our natural life, there we should receive our spiritual being also; that the same affectionate solicitude by which our bodily frames are nurtured should first develope in us those finer faculties whereby we are made heirs of immortality. Were the children catechised in the church at stated seasons, according to the good old custom, a few trifling rewards to the children themselves, and a few marks of encouragement and approbation to those parents who deserved it, would produce greater and better effects upon both, than those persons may believe who have yet to learn how easily the human heart is affected by kindness, especially when it bears the character of condescension.

The neglect of this important duty has been long complained of. "Considering,' says one of our old prelates, how this necessary work of catechising hath been neglected for many years past, it is much to be feared that the aged need it as much as the youth. But would parents and masters well consider the great advantages that would accrue to them even in their worldly concerns, they would be very zealous to come themselves, and both see and hear their youth catechised and bred up in piety and godliness; the want whereof hath bred that great undutifulness in children, that sloth and falseness of servants which we sadly behold in this degenerated age. The example of some would be followed by others, and so by degrees the number would increase; and when catechising by this means begins to grow in fashion, it would quickly be taken up by all. God be merciful to us,'-pursues this pious writer,' that religion in many is chiefly for fashion sake! yet, I hope, by God's assisting grace, religion, beginning though but in fashion, would end at last in true devotion, at least in many, if not in all.' It was Dr. Hammond's custom, during the warmer season of the year, to spend an hour before evening prayer in catechising; the parents and elder persons were wont to be present, and he used to say they reaped more benefit from this than from his sermons. Upon this subject his biographer has a remark most applicable to existing circumstances: If,' he says, 'in those times catechetical institutions were very seasonable, it will now be much more; when principles have been exchanged for dreams of words and notions, if not for a worse season of profane contempt of Christian truth.' • For my part,' says Bishop Hall, I have spent the greater half of my life in this station of our holy service; I thank God, not unpainfully nor unprofitably. But there is no one thing of which I repent so much, as not to have bestowed more hours in this public exercise of Catechism, in regard whereof I would quarrel with my very ser

mons,

mons, and wish that a great part of them had been exchanged for this preaching conference. Those other Divine Discourses enrich the brain and the tongue; this settles the heart. Those other are but the descants to this plain song. Contemn it not, my brethren, for the easy and noted homeliness: the most excellent and most beneficial things are most familiar.'

It is not presumed here that men may be made good Christians, in the higher meaning of that holy appellation, by those ordinary cares which it is in the power of an establishment to take, and which it is the duty of the state and of the rulers of the church to see taken. But the foundation may certainly be laid by those ordinary cares; such knowledge may and ought to be given as that no man perish for ignorance, and the state will find those men good subjects whom it makes only decent Christians; thus far their neighbours and the community are concerned; all beyond this is between themselves and their God. Let us suppose a country parish, containing from two to three thousand inhabitants, where the simple and easy measures of which we have spoken should be adopted:---the children of the paupers, instead of being suffered to grow up in filth and pauperism, would receive a wholesome education both for body and mind, and be trained up, from their earliest childhood, to habits of industry, decency, and good order. The children of the other inhabitants would be examined in the elements of religion on stated days in the church, and receive from the clergyman, after the final examination, some little reward proportioned to their deserts, with especial reference to the general good conduct of the individual; some remuneration of that kind, which is acceptable to all, being, however, distributed to all who had attended regularly, without distinction, as the means of rendering attendance a thing desired by the children themselves. Suppose that a prayer-book or a Bible were given to such as had merited some especial mark of approbation; he must know little of the human heart and of its finer workings, who should hesitate to believe, that a Bible or a prayer-book, thus obtained, with the salutary lessons and recollections that it would bring to the mind, might not sometimes save one that was tottering, and sometimes contribute to recover one that had fallen. Such rewards would be to the rising generation what medals and stars are to men engaged in a military life-objects of proper ambition, proofs of good desert, and motives for further exertion in well-doing. Nor would the beneficial effect of these things upon the parents be too inconsiderable to be taken into the account of good. The commendation bestowed upon their children would become to them a source of laudable and useful pride, and they would themselves be in no slight degree benefited by the performance of a

duty which would often be neglected, if no such motive for its performance were held out. While good offices were thus rendered by the clergyman on his part, a feeling of good-will and gratitude towards him would spring up, and that sense of individual importance would be gratified in its proper place, which is not one of the weakest inducements whereby so many are led to separate from the church in which they were born, and enrol themselves among the Methodists.

We are supposing a possible case, such as in part already exists in some places, and such as a zealous clergyman, with the assistance of a few worthy and intelligent parishioners, might realize anywhere, except in those places where the diseases of crowded civilization require a stronger interference. The next and final step in that religious education, which the establishment is called upon to provide, is the rite of confirmation. When the church of England was purified from all superstitious or superfluous ordinances this ceremony was wisely retained, as being well adapted to make a lasting impression upon young minds properly prepared for it. Yet there are great numbers who never receive the rite, because it is performed only in the larger towns, and persons in humble life are deterred by considerations of expense and inconvenience, from sending their children, if the distance (as it often is) be such, that the journey there and back cannot be performed in a single day. That this is the case we know, and in pointing it out, we are assured, that when it is known, it will be remedied. If indeed the bishops were occasionally to visit the smaller towns for this purpose, and even the larger villages, their presence might produce a beneficial effect, operating silently, and unseen, yet such, that it would be felt by individuals, and perceived hereafter in the amended state of public morals.

The apprehension of ridicule, and the certainty of slanderous misrepresentation, will not deter us from again and again repeating that religion is the one thing needful for young and old, and all intermediate ages, for individuals and for communities. It is more than ever needful to proclaim this at a time when profane and impious ribaldry (to use no harsher term) is protected by juries, huzzaed by mobs even in the very seat and sanctuary of the laws, and rewarded by public subscriptions. At such a time, it is more than ever needful to proclaim that neither the virtue nor the happiness of individuals can rest upon any other sure foundation,-all else is fleeting, all else is mutable, all else is insecure. This is the only permanent good, a good which will endure through life, and in death, and after it. This it is which should be the Alpha and Omega of our existence. Here is the right basis of education; here we have an unerring principle of conduct; here we have

safety

safety in temptation, consolation in sorrow, support in infirmity, and hope and joy in death. Weak and frail and fallen as we are, here we have our strength and our salvation. And not only the welfare, but the very existence of the state depends upon the same cause. It was truly remarked by Lord Clarendon that there can be no possible defection in the hearts of the people, whilst due reverence is paid to the church:' aud it has been with equal truth observed by Burke, that a predominant inclination toward Jacobinism appears in all those who have no religion, when otherwise their disposition leads them to be advocates even for despotism.

Let us pursue the picture of what might be the condition of a parish, well regulated under the existing laws. The maintenanceand education of the poor children, and the religious instruction of all the rising race, has been provided ;-there remains the more difficult task of correcting and improving the existing generation, which is to be effected by the steady administration of good laws. And here the proper means would be to bring the public-houses into good order, and reduce their numbers wherever it can be done; to repair the stocks; and to put an end to those habits of Sabbath breaking, such as gambling in public places, which are offensive to public decency, and disgraceful to the magistrates wherever they are suffered to prevail. A notice that these offences would be punished would prevent the greater part of such assemblages; a reprimand on the second Sunday to those who were found offending, would probably preclude the necessity of ordering any person to the stocks on the third; but if an offender should afterwards be apprehended, one such exhibition would be an effectual cure.

Mr. Vivian was asked by the Poor Law Committee, whether he thought that limiting the number of public-houses in parishes generally, would be a measure that would tend to diminish the poorrates. This gentleman, whose opinion is entitled to great weight, replied,

I think very much. I think the difference between three publichouses and six would turn many drunken men into sober. When pubJicans are poor, from being numerous, they are supposed to do anything to get men into their houses. Cockfights, and other riotous and barbarous amusements, often originate in such motives, a cause of corruption which was long since pointed out by the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor.'

In the Reports of that meritorious Society, it is observed, that a law which should give to the women the complete disposal of the earnings of their own labour, would add a considerable increase to the industry of the kingdom.

"It is an ancient maxim,' says the old author of " England's Wants," 'interest Reipublicæ ut re sua quisque bene utatur; it is the interest of the commonwealth that every subject should make a right use of his own

G 3

estate,

estate. Wherefore, amongst the fundamental laws of the ancient Romans, (those laws of the Twelve Tables, observed by them almost as sacredly as the Two Tables or Ten Commandments of the Jews,) it is especially provided, that a guardian should be set over the person and estate, not only of idiots and madmen, but of all prodigal persons. This law hath been derived from them to all our neighbouring nations, and enjoyed by them ever since they enjoyed civility, even to this very day. To England only this law is wanting; not that England is without such unreasonable creatures, for it hath been observed, that the English nation is naturally as much or more addicted to prodigality than any nation in Europe, the sad effects whereof are every day before our eyes,-wives that have brought great estates left poor needy widows; children of noble illustrious families, brought to a morsel of bread, and to do base ignominious things, unworthy of their noble ancestors, and dishonourable to the very degrees of honour which their fathers purchased by their merit, and maintained by their laudable frugality. Where this forementioned law is in use, the prodigal person is thus defined-is qui neque modum neque finem habet in expensis-one that spends without limits or bounds. Any man being proved to be such, is declared uncapable of managing his own estate, or of making a will, or of entering into bond, or of being a witness, &c.; and thereupon a guardian is put over him and his estate, to allow him necessaries out of his own estate, and to preserve the rest to his next kindred. Now the king of England hath his breve de inquirendo de idiota, and his breve de inquirendo de furioso; and can any solid reason be produced why his majesty should not have also his breve de inquirendo de prodigo, directed in like manner to the escheator of the county, to be tried by a jury of twelve men?'

Blackstone, when he notices this provision of the Roman law, says that the propriety of the practice seems very questionable, 'for although it is doubtless an excellent method of benefiting the individual, and of preserving estates in families, it hardly seems calculated for the genius of a free nation,* who claim and exercise the liberty of using their own property as they please. Sic utere tuo ut alienum non ladas, is the only restriction our laws have given with regard to economical prudence.' Perhaps Blackstone has not regarded the provision in its true light; it is not designed for the benefit of an individual, whom it treats in some degree as a criminal, and on whom it fixes a mark of reproach and public shame, but for the protection of his helpless family, who are dependent upon his mercy; and if in consideration of them the maxim of our own law which he cites had been extended to em

* While we are writing this, the newspapers copy from the American paper a proof that such a law is not thought inconsistent with the genius of a free nation' in republican America. Notice is hereby given, that the subscribers have been duly appointed guardians of Hezekiah Allen, yeoman and a spendthrift-and all persons are hereby forbidden from trusting or dealing with the said Hezekiah.- -Josiah Sandford, Robert Wilson, Guardians.'

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