Paraguay or Canada. Bayle's paradoxical assertion of the innocency of Atheism, has been satisfactorily disproved in France, by a long and wide train of evils that flowed from the inculcation of Atheism as the subject of popular belief; and a pretty large number of French theorists, who stupidly believed in the virtues of savages, received the strongest possible confutation of their doctrine, in being devoured by these majestic beings!

Robespierre, Carnot, and their associates, went boldly to work in cutting down the carved work of all religious belief and moral practice, by teaching that death is an eternal sleep! "The dying," said a member of the Convention to that assembly, are thus no longer frightened." A professor was named by Chaumette, to instruct the children in the mysteries of Atheism. He abolished all forms of religious worship, demolished the churches, and caused the following inscription to be displayed in the public burying-places-" Death is only an eternal sleep!" In the Convention, Gobet archbishop of Paris, the rector of Vaugirard, and several other priests, with a Protestant minister, and Julian of Tholouse, a member of the Convention, abjured the Christian religion; and for this abjuration they received applauses and the fraternal kiss. A priest from Melun stated, that there is no true religion but that of nature, and that all the mummery with which they have hitherto been amused is only old wives' fables, and he was heard with loud applause. In a deputation from the commune of Sens to the Convention, the spokesman declared, that henceforth human victims will no longer be slaughtered in the name of any imaginary god. "The sole figure of the Almighty," said Couthon, "is in the picture of nature." Akin to this blasphemy is the assertion of De la Metherie, that the highest and most perfect form of crystallization is that which is vulgarly called God!

The Convention decreed in 1793, that all the churches and temples of different religious worship, which are known to be in Paris, should be instantly shut up, and that "every person requiring the opening of a church or temple, should be put under arrest as a suspected person." The bulk of the clergy, however, "refused to abjure their tenets, and were accordingly unmercifully persecuted - were butchered wherever foundhunted as wild beasts, and frequently roasted alive, or drowned in hundreds together, without either accusation or trial!"

After the death of the sanguinary Robespierre, and the overthrow of the Terrorists, the Moderes granted a toleration to all forms of worship, the churches were again restored to their accustomed uses, and the Catholics obtained a respite from those sufferings which they had endured from the Atheistical Jacobins. Under the government of the Directory, however, they were again exposed to persecution. A new infidel sect had arisen in France, under the name of Theophilanthropists, or lovers of God and man. Assuming reason as their sole guide in matters of religion, a principle which they held in common with Deists of every class, and the Socinian part of the Unitarians, they professed belief in the existence, perfections, and providence of God, and the doctrine of a future state, pretending to found their moral system upon the basis of love to God and good-will to men. La Reveilliere Lepaux was the apostle of these Deists; and his principles, according to Mr. Belsham, the chief leader of the English Unitarians, differed in nothing from his own, except in denying the resurrection of a dead man. Lepaux was a member of the Directory, and he employed the greater part of his time in composing sermons for the Theophilanthropists, in hunting out priests, whether they were nonjurant or consitutional, in persecuting Catholies, botanizing in the national garden, and making,

altering, and re-altering constitutions for the Cisalpine, Roman, Luccan, Helvetian, and Dutch republics. Under the reign of this merciful Theophilanthropist, the churches were again taken from the priests, and converted into places of amusement or municipal festivity.

Such was the miserable condition of the Roman Catholic religion in France, until the revolution of Nov. 18, 1799, by Buonaparte, broke the power of the Terrorist Jacobins, and emancipated the priesthood from the persecution of the Theophilanthropist director, Lepaux. An arrete of the consuls not only put an end to the proscription, but annulled every condemning decree of the Directory, setting at liberty those who were imprisoned, and recalling those who had been exiled by its terrible sentence. All the administrations that had been active in this persecution of the priests were immediately broken, and the churches were restored to their former uses. The Catholic clergy promised forbearance and toleration, and they procured a translation of the Bishop of Llandaff's Apology for the Bible, in answer to Paine's Age of Reason, to circulate as an antidote to infidelity, promising at the same time an ecclesiastical reform.

(To be continued.)

SCRIPTURE BIOGRAPHY.

ABRAHAM.

The Death of Sarah.

DELIGHTED in contemplating the matured virtues and the extraordinary piety of Isaac, Abraham enjoyed several years tranquillity in the bosom of his happy family. But the patriarch confessed himself “a stranger and pilgrim upon earth." The monitory voice to the prophet, "All flesh is grass," was now painfully addressed to the venerable" father of the faithful." That surpassing beauty on which conjugal affection had doated, and which foreign princes had coveted, becomes wrinkled with age, deformed by disease, and loathsome in death! "And Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years old: and Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan." Gen. xxiii, 1, 2.

After a union of nearly a hundred years with such a wife, we should naturally expect to hear that "Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her," ver. 2. But this man of God "sorrowed not as others who have no hope." His renewed mind had been devoted to spiritual things; to anticipate the bliss of his ancestor Enoch; to seek "a better country, that is a heavenly ;he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Heb. xi, 10, 16. To that blest place, Abraham doubted not but the spirit of his longloved Sarah was received; and that the period could not be distant, when his own disimprisoned soul would repose in the same everlasting mansions. Abraham soon dries up his tears to fulfil imperative duties. A sepulchre must be prepared; but Abraham has not a foot of ground actually his own. He is necessitated to make application to the princes of the land. According to the custom of the age, the patriarch rendered them due honours in soliciting the favour. "And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight." Ver. 3, 4.

The lords of the country entertained a high respect for this distinguished servant of God: for while his numerous retinue was calculated to excite their jealousy and fear, his piety, integrity, and courtesy had gained their unsuspecting confidence, and they were at once ready to gratify him. "And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, Hear us, my lord;

thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead." Ver. 5, 6.

The cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron was the spot desired; and the mourning patriarch requested it in purchase for the amount of its value. "And Ephron the Hittite answered Abrahamn in the audience of the children of Heth, saying, Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee: in the presence of the sons of my people give I it to thee: bury thy dead." Ver. 11.

Abraham acknowledged the sympathizing kindness and the delicate politeness of the liberal proprietor of the land but with a generous independence of mind he insists on knowing the value of the estate, and on paying its estimated price. Ephron at length yielded to his demand, "saying unto him, My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver: what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead. And Abraham hearkened unto Éphron: and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named, in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant." Ver. 15, 16.

The whole detail of this affair is admirably instructive, as it presents to us a genuine picture of the beautiful simplicity of ancient manners. Here is the first notice of sacred repositories for the dead, and the most ancient money transaction of which we read. It is evident that a circulating medium was then common in the East; and as the shekel was about half a crown, the price paid by Abraham was about fifty pounds of our money.

Having secured the purchase of Machpelah, Abraham discharged the last melancholy duties to the mortal remains of a faithful and beloved wife. He bewailed her loss in a manner which marked his sincere veneration for her memory; he looked forward to a reunion in the world of bliss eternal, and anticipated the ineffable satisfaction of a glorious resurrection, in the immediate presence of God, who was his "exceeding great reward."

Letters to a Mother, upon Education.
LETTER XL.
Religion.

(Concluded from p. 381.)

6. Beware how you allow a servant, or, if the tutor comes to your house, even the tutor, to speak to your child on the subject of religion. Strictly prohibit it, and let yourself and your minister be the only teachers. Nurses and servants especially often talk to a child about religion to the same ill effect as they do upon other subjects above their attainments.

7. Let all your instructions in religion be systematic. Take up the topics in the order in which I have enumerated them: teach each one of them thoroughly, then proceed to the next. Be assured, that if ever you are to do your child any good in this respect, it must be by a course of instruction.

8. Never teach any thing in religion which you do not quite understand yourself: never overstate. Immense mischief is done by these means. If you are at a loss, apply to the minister, whom I have supposed to be throughout permitted to be your instructor.

9. Be most careful not to convey that there is any thing meritorious or remarkable in your child being religious. How many a wretched child have I beheld, restrained and awkward and hypocritical, and becoming

rapidly imbecile, from being made an object of such particular attention! Ever act and feel towards him and yourself, that to be pious and well instructed towards God is no merit, though ignorance and irreligion would be the greatest disgrace. I have often feared that the parade one sometimes sees about such matters is but one subtle form of pride, conceit, and vanity. Would the persons in question look, and act, and talk as they do, if they were alone, or in an uninhabited island. Now change their circumstances, and see the change in them. The man or woman who is sullen, or inactive, or ill-tempered when alone or merely with their family, become wonderfully excited and devout when a stranger or a neighbour comes in. What is all this but display, and mere selfishness in one of its grossest forms. Hence when these persons come into affliction, or into the hour of death, you will find them devoid of all hope, or, as I have seen to my amazement, even totally indifferent to the whole subject. Their religion lived in publicity alone.

10. Avoid by all means talking upon the subject of religion as a family conversation. How disgraceful is such a scene! Each one has his opinion; and while one is talking, another is thinking what he shall say when he can next get an opportunity to speak; and many a phrase that has struck them in sermons they have heard, is introduced, under the temptation to appear eloquent or profound. Roused in conversation upon religious subjects, the mind, like a chariot wheel, glows by action, and soon sets on fire; and it is endless to think upon the false notions propagated through such means. Religious conversation should only be conducted between friends, who are nearly equals in age, circumstances, and attainments. I am persuaded that multitudes of people talk upon the subject from the mere love of excitement, indolence, the want of something to do, and often from mere ambition and display.

11. Be exceedingly careful that you make morality the grand desideratum and effect of all religious knowledge. Without morality there may be theological knowledge, but there is no religion. The grand effect of all knowledge on all topics is conduct. Often explain the nature, and the principles, and the modifications of virtue. Make superior moral conduct of mind and heart and external action the alone standard of religious attainment. I do not object to your pointing out instances to the contrary to your child, and expressing your just pity, and even contempt of them. Inspire him with the conviction, that the more he knows the better he must act.

12. Be most careful never to praise or to reprove him in the use of any words or associations derived from the subject of religion. Many parents when they are pleased, and especially displeased with their children, express their approbation or their spleen in the terms of scripture, or by dilating upon the motives of religion. In the latter instance, their knowledge of the subject serves no other purpose than to enable them more thoroughly to irritate and abuse.

13. I strongly advise you to be most careful into what associations of a religious nature you enter, and especially into which of them you introduce your child. Be assured that all extraordinary means, manners, and sensations, are transitory in their existence and their effects. They are transitory in their existence: in a short time the movers of the scheme get tired, and are off after something new. They are transitory in their influence: in religion, as in every thing else, the law of excitement is, that the collapse shall be proportionable; and the glow of the mind, like all kinds of fire, which burns most steadily and temperately, does most good and lasts the longest.

14. Let me remind you, that all beneficial effects of religion must be derived from thorough and comprehensive knowledge. Accordingly, do all you can to have your child soundly and thoroughly instructed on the subject. To select one instance out of many: we are commanded in the Scriptures to love our Creator; but the mere command to love him will not produce the affection. Our love of an object can only be proportioned to our knowledge of the object. Hence I scruple not to assert, that the ampler and more correct our knowledge of the Creator is rendered, the higher and more intense will be our love. The same remark may be applied to every topic of revelation. Knowledge is the instrument whereby the affections are to be excited. It is only through our perceptions of an object that esteem for it is enkindled in our mind; if we do not perceive it, we do not love it; and if we have defective views of it, our regard will be proportionably deficient.

15. Let it be a test of a genuine doctrine of Revelation, that it tends to endear and exalt the character of our blessed Creator in the minds of his creatures. Hence then let us not only attribute creation to Him and providence, but the inspiration of the Seriptures, the gift of the Saviour, and the help of the Holy Spirit. "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.

16. If you take proper views of religion, or of any of its topics, you will assuredly take such as are calculated to cheer and console you, and by your own tran quil cheerfulness and serenity, you will afford a very strong and convincing argument of its excellence.

17. Lastly, let the views you inculcate of death be scriptural, and then, though solemn, they will not be revolting. Represent to him, that death is indeed the proof of our degradation; but that through that degradation we derive the Saviour, and that through him we regain a glorified body, and a far higher exaltation of our nature, than that from which it had previously descended. Let it also be gathered from your observations, that the mode or time of death are at the disposal of that gracious and wise Being, and that were it to occur at any other time and in any other mode, it would be less adapted to the moral purposes intended in the particular instance, which are always wise and benevolent. Be careful to adhere to the representation of the Scriptures, that the spirit upon departure is gathered into the invisible world, and that the perfection of human nature is reserved for the resurrection. Exercise a sound discernment as to the statements of the Scriptures on these topics, lest you apply to the state which transpires immediately upon death, those representations which apply alone to the time when the faithful shall have their "perfect consummation and bliss" in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Nor will it be an unprofitable lesson, finally, to remind him, that the purposes intended by the Creator, though benevolent, yet often involve the adoption of means, and a slowness of providence which is opposed to human impatience; but which is nevertheless the best calculated upon the whole to secure the grand object of the Divine procedure, namely, the greatest portion of happiness of his creatures during the greatest duration.—I am, dear Madam, yours, &c.

CLERICUS.

If thou desire not to be too poor, desire not to be too rich he is rich, not that possesses much, but that covets no more: and he is poor, not that enjoys little, but that wants too much. The contented mind wants nothing which it hath not: the covetous mind wants, not only what it hath not, but likewise what it hath.

Quarles' Enchiridion, cent. 2, chap. xvii.

ON THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES. IMPROVEMENT OF THE SERIES OF ESSAYS. THE character of God, when rightly understood, cannot fail to strike the mind as one of infinitely surpassing loveliness; and though I am quite conscious that the task which I assigned to myself, of illustrating that character, has fallen far short even of human excellence, yet I entertain the hope that some few at least have gained information, and been able to correct wrong notions or improve right ones. In reviewing, therefore, the subjects which have passed under consideration, I am desirous to deduce from the whole some lessons of practical importance. We are connected with the Deity by ties of a most awful and at the same time pleasing nature. Every moment of existence is passed in his presence, and we are bound at all times to keep him in remembrance. The hum of business, the society of friends, the enjoyment of lawful pleasures, the exercise of devotion, are alike scenes and circumstances in which it is our duty to act as though impressed by the belief that an All-seeing Eye is fixed upon us. Such considerations are by no means calculated to spread gloom or melancholy over our actions, but the reverse; for he who is striving to please his Maker, should derive comfort from the reflection that he is watching every struggle on the side of virtue, and waiting to bestow all needful supplies of strength. Impressed by these recollections, let us proceed to inquire what are the dispositions of mind with which God requires that we should contemplate him.

1. Love. Love is a compound principle, and is composed of different dispositions, according to the different natures of the beings towards whom it is exercised. The love which the husband bears to the wife, or the parent to the child, of course differs materially from that love which we bear to the Deity. It will be well therefore to point out the distinction. The different circumstances in which we are placed with regard to our fellow-creatures, does in fact render the nature of the love we bear to them in some degree various. I should say, that to make up that frame of mind which we call Love to God, it is necessary to behold him with admiration, complacency, gratitude, benevolence, confidence. Now these are also dispositions requisite for the contemplation of a superior under any circumstances. The indigent man, who looks up to a kind and benignant benefactor, will be found to have a portion of each of these views, requisite to describe the emotion which he feels. But not so when equals are the subjects of our regard. We may then dipense with gratitude and confidence, since there will be nothing to be grateful about, and since the situation in life of each of the parties renders confidence unnecessary. Though these remarks are far from making the subject plain, they will show that we must look up to God with similar feelings, though in a much higher degree, to those with which the poor and needy regard their benefactors. God is in truth the great Benefactor of the human race; and when we remember the unchangeableness of his nature, and the superior claims he has on our worship and obedience, to what any creature can have upon his fellow-creature, whatever his situation may be, we shall, I think, be in possession of the sentiments requisite for rendering the present remarks useful and intelligible.

Having stated what dispositions compose love to God, I proceed to point out the reasons which exist for contemplating him with them. 1. Admiration. Surely no man can review the glorious attributes ascribed to our Heavenly Father, without exclaiming, "Who is a God like unto thee?" The more we know of the dispensa. tions of the Almighty, and the reasons upon which

they are founded, the more shall we be lost in adıniration at the boundless goodness and wisdom which they display. We are by nature apt to admire excellence to which we cannot attain; and well therefore may we employ this inclination when the wonders which the hand of our Almighty Parent has wrought are the subject of our contemplation. 2. Complacency. By this we are to understand, pleasure or joy. Now, though it is not possible for man in a state of alienation to feel any emotion of joy in reflecting on the nature of one whom he must ever view as bound to punish sin, yet real love to God includes obedience to his commands; and since the most pleasing of his commands direct the eye of faith to behold a Saviour and Redeemer in Christ the Lord, it cannot fail to excite in the minds of those who obey indescribable emotions of pleasure. "Rejoice in the Lord alway." 3. Gratitude. Let us look around, and contemplate the unnumbered mercies that we are every day receiving at the hand of God; let us remember that every temporal blessing we enjoy, nay the very breath we draw, is bestowed upon us by him; let us picture also to our imagination the gloom of that endless night from which we are redeemed, and the glories of that eternal state to which we are invited; let us revert to the sorrows that the Saviour underwent to accomplish for us so desirable an object; and then I am sure we shall feel the immensity of our obligations, and the loud calls which are made upon us to "bless the Lord, and forget not all his benefits." 4. Benevolence. Right apprehensions of the Deity are exceedingly well calculated to produce in our hearts universal benevolence. They lead us to contemplate the whole human species as one family, and God as the Father of them all; and thus we are induced to feel towards each particular member of this large assembly, anxiety for his welfare, and to indulge the pleasing hope that we, who endure together the sorrows of life, and submit to the present obscure and incomprehensible workings of providence, shall meet again in a brighter world, where sorrow shall cease and universal love smile all around. 5. Confidence. From the Christian dispensation we undoubtedly derive the strongest inducements to place implicit confidence in its Author; for when we contemplate the unwearied assiduity with which he has laboured for our good, and the inconceivable exertions he has made to produce happiness in the highest possible degree, we cannot fail to be convinced, that in his hands we are perfectly safe. Neither is it Revelation alone that teaches this great doctrine. Who is he that does not verily believe, when he beholds the setting sun, that yet a few hours and it shall again appear, "coming forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber?" Who is he that does not feel the fullest confidence, that the bright days of summer shall smile upon the earth, that the fields shall stand thick with corn, and that nature shall again assume its smiling aspect, even though the whole face of the earth seems gloomy and forsaken, the trees are leafless, the rivers are stagnant, and the flakes of snow seem determined to mantle every green and blooming prospect with their fleecy covering? Why then should we doubt that all things will be made to work together for our good, if we will but keep his commandments? For though thou sayest thou canst not see him his dispensations are inscrutable and thou art unable to comprehend them, yet judgment is before him; he sees further than you can, and he knows that the end of his work will be right; therefore do thou put thy trust in him.

Such is a brief view of those various dispositions and emotions of mind, the union of which may be consi dered to produce that Love which our Heavenly Father requires of us. (To be continued.)

JUDGE HALE HONOURING THE SABBATH. MR. EDITOR,

The excellent spirit in which the following Letter is written, induces me to forward it to you: it is from Judge Hale, Lord Chief Justice of England, to his children, on the serious observance of the Lord's day (commonly called Sunday), when he was on the circuit, which well deserves the attention of the Readers of the Christian's Penny Magazine.

from whence I

"I am now come well to — intend to write to you on the observance of the Lord's day and this I do for these reasons; 1st. Because it has pleased God to cast my lot so, that I am to rest at this place on that day, and the consideration therefore of that duty is proper for me and you; namely, the work fit for that day. 2dly. Because I have, by long and sound experience, found that the due observance of that day, and the duties of it, have been of singular comfort and advantage to me; and I doubt not but it will prove so to you. God Almighty is the Lord of our time, and he it is that lends it us, and it is but just that we should consecrate this part of that time to him; for I have found by a strict and diligent observation, that a due observance of the duties of this day has ever had joined to it a blessing on the rest of my time; and the week that hath been so begun hath been blessed and prosperous to me on every hand. On the other side, when I have been negligent of the duties of this day, the rest of the week has been unsuccessful and unhappy to my own secular employment; so that I could easily make an estimate of iny successes the week following, by the manner of my passing this day; and this I do not write lightly or inconsiderately, but upon a long and sound observation and experience."

Such is the advice of this excellent man to his children. O how few feel as this learned man felt when he said, “God Almighty is the Lord of our time, and he it is that lends it us." How few, I say, think "it just that we should consecrate this part of our time to him." But Judge Hale knew by experience, that the due regard of the Sabbath was a reflection to which he could look back with pleasure, and that the utter disregard thereof would leave behind it a reflection not the most agreeable. Reader, look on the one side and on the other, and then ask yourself the solemn question, "What will it profit me if I should gain the whole world, and lose my own soul?" Let me tell you, Reader, that now is the time to study that point; and if you do not do so, sooner or later you will regret it. What if you should gain the courtesy of the king, and lose the favour of the King of kings. The king's favour endureth but for a while, the pleasure of this world is but for a season; but the pleasure of the King of kings endureth for ever and ever. O let me entreat you to turn from the way of death and destruction, and, ere it is too late, beg of Him who gave his only begotten Son as a propitiation for the sins of the whole world pardon for all the mispent Sabbaths that have passed over your head, and power to walk in Him who is "the way, the truth, and the life," the remainder of your days, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. T. G. W.

I am the Way, says our blessed Saviour; for since his sacrifice, the bar that prevented man's approach to God - it is is taken away it is now a highway for man God's highway. Religion is not a mere speculation, it is an action; it is a life of action. Try it. Believing in Jesus, try God's promises. Appealing in his name, thou wilt find he is a prayer hearing and answering God.

I am the Truth, our Lord also asserts. When Christ came, all heaven, all hell, all earth, could point to him and say, "That is THE Truth!" Truth is the representation of the mind of God. God is the mindJesus the word by which it is made known. God is the substance. Jesus the light that reflects it. God is the unknown-Jesus the great revealer of God: he is the knowledge and wisdom of God. God is the great living fountain Christ is the stream continually flowing from it, diffusing its waters all around. If we wish to know what God is, we must look to Jesus, who is the express image and great revealer of God.

The Life. Yes, Jesus is life, essential life! Look at man - look at the world and what do we see? In the midst of life we are in death! All things around us dying and decaying and changing. This is the appointed end of all things. Life here is the condition of dying rather than of living: but in Christ a life will be ours, which neither disease nor temptation nor death can ever touch. It is a life which feeds on God. The life that is in the Godhead is manifested in Jesus. It is the life of God: a glorious life, whose powers and fa culties shall be of vast comprehension, capable of vastness of thought and feeling, that shall be able to contain the revealed fulness of God! a fulness of love which no unkindness will ever disturb, a fulness of joy which no sorrow can ever alloy, a fulness of stability subject to no change or dissolution, a fulness of glory, a fulness of all that can make the redeemed soul happy, without liability either to diminution or to falling away!

The radiant truth! the unutterable truth which Jesus has expressed!that before unapproachable place, which God Almighty fills with all the effluence of his own essence, and with all the blessedness which Deity diffuses around, every one of you who trust in Jesus shall be there! this is the truth of truths! It cannot be estimated but by the dimensions of the unmeasurable love of God. Yes: each believer in Jesus shall be taken from this scene of sorrow, from this dark and desolate world, to his presence where there is the fulness of joy. Oh! would you estimate the love of God, then see it in the love of Jesus. Oh! consider the love of Jesus, try its extent, consider its dimensions, and you see the extent and know the dimensions of the pity and the love of God!

E. 1.

God is Alpha and Omega in the great world; endeavour to make him so in the little world: make him thy evening epilogue and thy morning prologue: practise to make him thy last thought at night when thou sleepest, and thy first in the morning when thou awakest so shall thy fancy be sanctified in the night, and thy understanding rectified in the day; so shall thy rest be peaceful, thy labours prosperous, thy life pious, and thy death glorious.

Quarles Enchiridion, chap. xxviii, cent. 2.

SOCIETY FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF SUNDAY TRADING.

A Public Meeting of the above Society, of which the Bishop of London is patron, was held on Friday, the 29th of November, at the London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill, Lord Henley in the chair.

The Right Hon. Chairman in a forcible manner drew the attention of the Meeting to the utter inefficiency of the present laws for preventing a desecration of the Sabbath, to the urgent necessity for their amendment, and to the probability of their speedy alteration and improvement.

Apsley Pellatt, Esq. one of the Secretaries, then read an interesting Report, in which the efforts made by the Society were detailed, and the encouragements to perseverance were adverted to. The Report referred, amongst other things, to the indifference and opposition manifested on this important subject, as matter for regret; and to the success of Sir A. Agnew in his bill for transferring the election of corporate officers from Sunday to Monday, and to the pledge given by Lord Althorp to support such a measure as the Committee contemplate, as grounds for congratulation and encouEsq.; ragement.

The Meeting was addressed by J. Labouchere, J. Conder, Esq.; R. J. Chambers, Esq. of Marlborough Street Police Office; Rev. H. Smith; Rev. G. Mutter; D. Wire, Esq.; a gentleman from Antigua; J. E. Saunders, Esq. &c. &c.; and Resolutions were unanimously adopted, pledging the Committees to renewed exertions, and recommending the formation of local associations and the presentation of petitions to Parliament.