they were when the good John Newton said, there were not three hundred among the ten thousand clergy of the establishment who preached the Gospel of Christ. But I am quite willing to risk the assertion, that at the present time not one half of them either preach evangelical doctrines, or profess to be serious christians! I should not be thought extravagant by the best judges, perhaps, should I make the number very much greater. The church of England has given to the world some of the greatest and best of men. Ever since the fires of Oxford and Smithfield were put out, there have been learned and holy men nurtured in the bosom of the English church. What age or nation beside, can open a scroll where you find such names as Butler, Brown, Stillingfleet, Tillotson, Boyle, Law, Leighton, Barrow, and Jeremy Taylor-and in later times what names are more honoured than those of Newton, Scott, Cecil, Legh Richmond, Buchanan, Henry Martyn and Simeon ? Are there better men than Baptist Noel, M'Neil, Melville and Bickersteth? I have met with some of these last mentioned, and heard them preach, and I do not know that I ever listened to any preachers with more pleasure. I only wonder that these men who acknowledge and lament the evils I have spoken of, should be so deeply wedded to the establishment; since these evils have always existed in the church, and spring legitimately from it in its alliance with the state. On several occasions I heard Baptist Noel; and

of the two thousand in his congregation, I did not see one who did not seem deeply impressed with the truth. The congregation was made up chiefly (in his Chapel of Ease) from the humbler walks of life. The preaching was just what it should be. The most sublime truths of Christianity illustrated in pure and simple language, the most tender and affectionate appeals were made to the conscience, and the highest motives to holiness úrged. The speaker convinced me that he had a message from God, and felt it in his own soul. When the assembly broke up, you could discover that many heads which had been bowed for an hour were bent in tears-they went forth silently -each had listened for himself—not a word could be heard in the porch as the assembly separated. This, I exclaimed, is Christianity, pure and undefiled. One loves to witness such scenes. I care not whether I worship in a spacious and magnificent temple, with the pomp of a cathedral service, or in the log school-house, in a clearing of the Missouri forest, so that I but hear a message of love and truth from my Father in Heaven delivered by a man, whose earnestness, fervor, and simplicity tell me he feels the truth himself. One scene I may, perhaps, briefly allude to, which will not soon fade from my memory. I had the pleasure of attending a Sabbath School Jubilee at the house of Mr. Noel, near old Epping forest. A thousand sunday-school children from London met there, according to his custom of gathering

once a year, all the scholars and teachers connected with his church and chapel, to his house for an entertainment. There was a book, fruits, and a bouquet of flowers for every child. It was a beautiful sight. A thousand children could be seen playing on the green lawn at the back of the house, nearly all dressed in white, and all wild with the excitement of pure country air, and rural sports. I passed an hour or two with Mr. Noel, walking over his grounds. He spoke freely of the Church, its abuses, corruptions, pride, and worldliness. I expressed great surprize that one who knew and felt all this, should consider it his duty to remain in the position he occupied. He wished me to make a proper distinction between the Church of Christ and its corruptions, for it was the real Zion, although its garments were soiled with the filth of the world. I inquired the feelings that existed between Churchmen and Dissenters. He replied, "Holy men, I find, are everywhere more attached to the spirit than the forms of religion, and there are many in communion with the Church, and more, perhaps, who dissent from it, who have heartily united in several noble, benevolent objects, willing to acknowledge each other brethren of one common Lord. We feel that we cannot in any manner so effectually break down the walls that have so long separated the sympathies and hearts of Churchmen and Dissenters as by associating ourselves together in spreading the Saviour's truth. It softens the feelings and binds

the hearts of God's people together, to go forth hand in hand to win a triumph for holiness and philanthropy in the earth. Oh ! if Christendom could have turned her arms against the empire of darkness, and not have buried them in her own bowels, the world would long ago have been made bright as heaven. I am persuaded that sectarian jealousies have done more to obstruct the progress of Christianity than almost all other causes, and the Christian Church in all its branches must give up its bigotry, before she can expect the world to embrace the doctrines and spirit of the Saviour." Here, too, I met him who was for many years the curate of Legh Richmond. He related to me many interesting circumstances in the history of that illustrious man.

These are the bright spots in the picture. In the establishment there are but few men like Baptist Noel. By the greater part of the clergy, such men are avoided-and all we can say is that they are exceptions to the general rule-the constitution and practice of the State Religion has no tendency to produce them.

I have dwelt upon this point to show the reader that I am not insensible to the good things that do exist in the general mass of corruption. But I have unfolded the character of the church, first to show what the establishment tolerates, second, The abuses to which it is subject, and Third, that the rule among the clergy is worldliness, and holiness of life the exception.

A part of her clergy, disbelieving her creed but understanding her worldly policy, get rich by her spoils and perform her sacred functions as a means of obtaining them. A part make an open avowal of having no experimental religion. The younger sons of the nobility find the church with the patronage of their fathers the easiest path to wealth and a life of leisure. Another, and a very large and rapidly increasing class, deeply imbued with the reverence for forms and symbols, are retiring again to the doctrines and spirit of the Roman Catholic Church, and some have recently withdrawn to its bosom, where perhaps they always belonged. But the rapid increase of Puseyism in the establishment within five years, has surprized none but churchmen themselves. Neither Catholics or Dissenters have ever regarded them as very widely separated from the mother church, and have been astonished that they did not long ago go back into the arms of the papacy, from which they had wandered. It will not be long before one of two things takes place either Puseyism will win the laurels, the spoils and the power of the establishment to its own hands, and introduce those slight changes necessary to constitute it once more a papal church,-(with the exception perhaps of the acknowledgment of the absolute supremacy of the Pope,) or the half fought battle of the Reformation must be again tried, and a final separation rend the two parties asunder. So much of the moral power of the Church of England has