Thus would the matter stand, even though, in respect of the efficiency of the means respectively

of the matter contained in the Exposition, the moment any discourse, purporting to be the Exposition of an original, by which a system of religion is delivered-the moment any such paper is subscribed to, as prescribing the true and only true sense of the original, the religion delivered in the original is renounced. The object of the belief thus declared is— not the original, in any part of it, but the Exposition. Suppose -(for argument sake, at any rate, a supposition to this effect may be put)-between the original and the Exposition, suppose, in any part, a difference-insomuch that, to the extent of the difference, if the one is adhered to, the other is renounced. In such case, which is adhered to? Evidently the Exposition :-for that is the instrument subscribed to :-which is renounced? Evidently the original, for the original is not subscribed to. Be your original what it may-be your Exposition what it may-thus will the matter be. In the present case, the original is the Bible-the Exposition is the set of Church of England Articles. What follows?-Need it be repeated? To the whole extent of that formula, the religion of its unknown penners is by every such subscriber adhered to-the religion of Jesus renounced.

It is therefore mere mockery, to call this part of the religion of Church of Englandists the religion of Jesus. It is the religion of the penners of the Thirty-nine Articles,-adopted, and down to this time received and sanctioned, by the several successive rulers, for the time being, of the Established Church of England.

So in Scotland. What is it that Church-of-Scotlandists believe in? Is it the religion of Jesus?-No: that they are precluded from believing in by their Catechisms. It is the religion of those who penned, and of those who, since them, have been subscribers to those Catechisms:-in one word it is the religion of the Kirk.

This is not the less true, be the discipline of the Church of Scotland ever so much better (and, even before these pages are

employed for the inculcating them, the Bible and the Catechism were suffered to stand upon the same level. But how wide this supposition is of the truth has been seen already.

Question to my Lords the Bishops-and to the Lay-Saints, Co-or Sub-Rulers of the self-styled "Excellent Church."-Suppose two Books, the Koran and the Bible: each of them furnished with an accompaniment, consisting of an Exposition, composed of a Catechism, injected by the new engine into the mind in its infant state, and a set of Articles, his belief of which, with the starvation pistol at his throat, each youth, at his entrance upon the road to preferment, is, by a writing under his hand, forced to declare. The Catechism and Articles attached to the Koran are-every proposition of them-so many extracts composed of the most essential parts of the four Gospels. The Catechism and Articles attached to the Bible are-so many extracts composed of the most essential parts of the Koran. In both cases, as above, the Exposition got

at an end, it will be seen to be beyond all comparison better) than that of the Church of England,

Between the two churches, taken at their origin, in this lies the great difference-the great moral difference. Whatever else they were the authors of the religion of the Church of Scotland were honest men :-men firmly believing,-as the proof given by them, as above, shews,-that every thing contained in the religion of their making was contained in the religion of Jesus: while the others were-what their works, as above, shew them to be.

D

by heart, and subscribed to,-the original not. For. the purification of morals-for the salvation of souls-which of the two apparatus would your Graces, your Lordships, and your Honours, be pleased to recommend in preference ?

Suppose your Lordships' temporalities at stake: suppose, moreover, that, for the preservation of decency" in the Church, these instruments of the renounced "pomps and vanities" were become objects of your Lordships' care.-A law which gave them; accompanied by an interpretation, composed of a judgment, viz., in dernier resort, by a competent court of law, which took them away: or a law which took them away, accompanied with an interpretation, which, in the way just mentioned, restored them: Of the two laws,-all prospect of any others out of the question,-which would be your Lordships' choice?

A reproach, often mentioned, as having been cast, by their adversaries, upon such of the Hollanders, who, in former days, had been admitted as traders into the Japanese Empire, is that, in the character of a token necessary to their being so admitted, they had trampled on the cross. The case is

that the Romanists, by the course which, in those days, they took for the propagation of their religion in those countries, having rendered their religion an object of alarm to the rulers of that empire, this ceremony, supposing the story founded in fact, must have had for its object the furnishing

what was regarded as conclusive evidence, of their not being votaries of a religion which had rendered itself thus formidable.

For my own part, supposing, under these circumstances, supposing it to contribute any thing towards a prospect of spreading the religion of Jesus in those as yet untried countries, I see not what prevalent objection, unless he were a Catholic, the most zealous missionary need have to the joining in such a ceremony.

In this, if taken by itself, there is nothing more than an imputed-there is not any real and effectual-renunciation of the religion of Jesus. But, by a subscription to any such pretended Exposition and real substitute, as has just been brought to view, not only a renouncement is made, but that renouncement a substantial and effectual one.

PART II.

EXCLUSIONARY SYSTEM OF

INSTRUCTION-ITS

ESTABLISHMENT-ITS BAD TENDENCIES.

EXCLUSION, and compulsory or seductive proselytism,-exclusion of one part of the community of the poor from the benefits of education-compelling the other part to come within the pale of the church dominion, such are the two intimately connected, though perfectly distinct, and even contrasted, objects, in the pursuit of which this formulary is made a principal instrument.

Presently will be seen the particular measures,— which, in the pursuit of these objects, have been, and continue to be, employed. But, in the mean time, a short view of the circumstances, which led to the application thus made of that instrument, may be not altogether without its use.

In that part of education, which consists in intellectual instruction, the moralist beholds the means of virtue and happiness,-the politician, the