ecclefiaftical establishment, that admirable adjustment for diffusing a spirit of religion through all orders of the ftate, is indeed ftill in ufe; but feems to be much lefs generally regarded as a neceffary provifion for the public good.

Some perfons now living can remember the time, when abfence from church was far from being fo common as it is now become. Then the more confiderable heads of families were generally feen in the houfe of God, with their fervants as well as children. This vifible acknowledgement of the importance of religion had a good effect on families of inferior condition : the prefence of the merchant and his houfhold, brought the tradefman and his family; and the example of the latter, induced his journeymen and out-door fervants to come to church. But this is not a defcription of modern habits. In many pews once regularly filled by the entire houfhold to which they belonged, it is now common to fee only a fmall proportion of the family, and often not an individual. Two or three of the younger branches from the female fide of the house occafionally attend, with, perhaps, the mother; but without the father, and the fons: the father wearied with bufinefs, wants a little relaxation; and to the young men, not fufpecting their want of inftruction, a rural excurfion offers fomething interefting, while the tranquil fervice of a church

is too tame an occupation for their unexhausted fpirits. Nor among the few who attend public. worship are they always the fame individuals that we fee in the houfe of God. So that it does not appear to be from fteady principle, and ftill lefs from the influence of parental authority, that fome of the family are occafionally there. The children are left to themfelves; they may go to church if they choose to do fo; they incur no difpleasure from the father, they excite no grief in his bofom, if they stay away. There is no difreputation attaching to abfence. It falls rather upon the contrary conduct: any uniform attendance on divine worship being frequently confidered a mark of imbecility, or demureness.

To account for the thinnefs of our parochial congregations, fome alledge, that there is not a fufficient quantity of naturally attractive circumstances in the ordinary fervice of the church. But it is obfervable, that where our liturgy is used in its grandeft form, the attendance is as far from being numerous as it is elfewhere. It might be expected, and especially in an age in which a tafte for mufic fo generally prevails, that in a metropolis containing near a million of inhabitants, there might be more perfons drawn by the grandeur of cathedral worship, to the place where it is performed, than could well be accommodated in one church. The cathedral of London, however,

prefents no fuch fcene. With a numerous attendance of minifters, the fineft fpecimens of churchmufic, and these performed with that effect which profeffional qualification gives to fuch compofitions, the feats at St. Paul's Cathedral are feldom half filled.

This circumftance may be thought by fome not to merit much confideration; but it ought to have a place in the account, as it ferves to fhow, how little hold our church, under any of her forms of administration, has on the minds of the people : fhe is paffed by with equal indifference; whether fhe appear dreffed in cathedral ftate, or in the plainer attire of parochial fervice!

But what a difcouraging view of things is this! To fee religion fo fail of interefting a people, as not to be able to enfure that cheapest part of piety, an attendance on its forms! If it cannot procure this, what other good effect can it be expected to produce? And if that be inefficient in which we muft look for the "falt of the earth," that which alone has virtue to preferve the body politic from becoming corrupt in every part, what is there to check the influence of deteriorating caufes from without; or to correct the character of a people, having in themselves, as all mankind are generally acknowledged to have, a propensity to evil? To answer this question

we can be at no lofs. It is, alas! an experimented cafe: the clergyman having lefs business on his hands, the lawyer has more; the men who are fet apart for affifting the well-difpofed by religious counfel, are feldom applied to; they whofe office is derived from the existence of crimes, are oppreffed with increafing occupation.

Of the low ftate of religion among us all Christian minds muft now have a moft affecting impreffion, by adverting to the manner in which Sunday paffes in this country with thousands and tens of thousands.

Let us turn our attention firft to the drudges of the community; that immenfe multitude of people composed of our day-labourers, porters, carters, &c. little thought of as immortal creatures by many of their employers; and to whofe habits little regard is paid, provided they are ready when wanted to perform that fervice for which they are hired; whether gain or pleasure be its object. Let us add to thefe, the yaft numbers of people employed on the water; the thousands of our street criers; the almoft incalculable number of artifans and manufacturers, all discharged from labour on a Sunday.-How does this vaft collection of beings, having an equal intereft with the reft of their fpecies in the concerns of religion, generally difpofe of a Sunday? Not one in a

thousand of this multitude, perhaps, is there ever feen in a place of worship! The interval of reft feems to be generally divided by these claffes, between floth and hard drinking. Of this, without going into their wretched haunts, we often have fufficient indications as we go to the house of God, by meeting these unhappy creatures in the streets, in the drefs of their working days, and with the hagard looks which their debauch has left on their features.

Go to the other extremity of the scale. Think of the entire streets in the fashionable part of the town, inhabited by people, whofe Sunday scarcely begins till the morning fervice in the churches is nearly over; who fpend the noon in the parks, then go home to dine, and dispose of the rest of the day in the drawing-room.

Take a furvey of another clafs, fituated about mid-way between the higheft and the lowest orders. Think of the general flocking of the better conditioned men of trade into the country on a Sunday; the morning confumed in the journey, the middle of the day in conviviality, the evening in returning to their neglected homes, where the uninfpected fervant arrives just time enough to open the door to his carelefs mafter. Nor is it impertinent to recollect here, that many of this clafs have their country-houfe in places