authorize them, under the plea of public utility, to require subscription to creeds, and conformity to particular modes of worship. Civil society would at once be dissolved, if no power were delegated, except with a guarantee against its abuse. Political as well as religious rights have often been violated under pretence of the public good; and yet, even in the most popular governments, the legislative power is necessarily unlimited, except by a few constitutional restrictions. Few rights are in general more dear to mankind than those of property; and yet no government is restrained from taxing its subjects at discretion, through fear that the power might be wantonly exercised. It cannot be necessary to prove, that no law incompatible with religious freedom will ever be passed, before we can establish the right of the legislature to protect the Sabbath from profanation -it is sufficient, if we prove, that the exercise of this right advances the welfare of all, without trespassing upon the just prerogatives

of any.

Liberty of conscience consists in the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, so far as may not be inconsistent with the public safety and tranquillity, and while this liberty is enjoyed, no religious right can be impaired. Should the legislature, for the purpose of cherishing and perpetuating a reverence for our republican institutions, forbid all laborious employments on the anniversary of our national independence, they would not certainly be guilty of violating the religious rights of the community: neither are they guilty of such a violation, when, in the exercise of a sound discretion, they enact laws for the observance of the Sabbath. These laws do not presume to regulate the intercourse between man and his Creator; nor to prescribe the duties to which the Sabbath is to

be devoted; but they merely suspend on this day the ordinary occupations and public amusements of society. This suspension, while it can offend the consciences of none, is imperatively demanded by the religious faith of the great mass of the population. Christianity is, in fact, if not in law, the religion of our country; and its professors believe it to be their duty to abstain on this day from all secular employments. If, therefore, the laws did not recognise the Sabbath, the Christian might be required to spend it in the halls of legislation, in courts of justice, in repairing highways, and in various other avocations of public duty.

The rights of conscience being sacred and inviolable, it is the duty of a legislator, not merely to respect them himself, but to protect them from invasion by others. Did the laws permit the ordinary business of life to be transacted on the Sabbath, the dependent poor would, in a thousand instances, be compelled to sacrifice either their conscience or their livelihood to the cupidity of their employers. In vain would the labourer, the apprentice, or the slave, ask from a heartless master, that repose which is at once his right and his duty. The request would be answered by ridicule and reproaches, while punishment or dismission from his employment would be the lot of him who should dare to respect the command of his Maker more than that of his fellow-mortal.

The welfare and happiness of society, no less than the rights of conscience, render it incumbent on the government to enforce the observance of the Sabbath. A légal permission to secularize this day would be its virtual abrogation, and a rejection of all its proffered blessings. The thirst for gain would triumph over religious sentiment, and public opinion would

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yield to the force of example. The influence of religion would decline, as the occupations of the world encroached upon the time allotted to her service; and before long, the Sabbath would cease to be distinguished from ordinary days, or distinguished only as a season of revelry and licentiousThe labour of the poor would be unremitted, while its diminished value would aggravate their distresses. Deprived of the knowledge, they would cease to feel either the restraints or the consolations of religion; and alike debased and depraved, they would be wretched themselves, and dangerous to social order. The rich and enlightened, no longer controlled by the benevolent precepts of Christianity, would pursue their own vicious and selfish gratifications, regardless of the rights and happiness of their fellow men. Infidelity and corruption would gradually pervade every class, and our mild and free institutions, no longer supported and strengthened by the moral sense of the commu. nity, would be found incompetent to the protection of property or life, and would ultimately give place to a government of force and terror.

The voice of history, and our own observation, teach us, that in every age, and under every form of government, the degree of justice, security, and liberty enjoyed by the subject, is in proportion to the virtue of the people. Christianity is, in its very nature, hostile to oppression and persecution, and to every violation of the rights of man. This religion is the true and only genius of universal emancipation; and wherever it is professed in its purity, it proclaims" liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Popular institutions, however wisely contrived and balanced, will ever be subverted when assailed by the intrigues of ambition, the

corruption of wealth, and the madness of passion, if not protected by religious sentiment. In vain shall we be referred to the free states of antiquity, as evidence, that liberty and morality are not inseparably connected. The downfall of these states, was in every instance preceded by the prevalence of luxury and licentiousness; and even in the fairest periods of their history, but little regard was shown for human life and happiness. The boasted republics of Greece and Rome afforded less personal security to their citizens, than is now enjoyed under the most absolute government in Christendom. But why resort to the experience of past ages, when our own is pregnant with instruction? We are ourselves familiar with a republic which prohibited the observance of the Sabbath, proclaimed Christianity an imposture, and decreed that there was no life beyond the grave.

We have beheld the French people, bursting with convulsive strength every moral and political restraint, and prostrating at once the altar and the throne. We have witnessed their tremendous efforts, to eradicate from their soil every vestige of monarchy and of religion; tearing from the tomb the remains of their kings, and de filing in the dust the volume of inspiration. And did they thus rear an enduring fabric of civil and religious liberty? Were tyranny and priestcraft for ever banished from their land? Did the time redeemed from the service of God, augment the productive industry of the nation? Did the maxims of infidelity, substituted for the precepts of the Bible, lead to social order and individual happiness? Alas! the same generation which witnessed the birth of the terrible republic, beheld also its dying agonies. Gorged with blood, and exhausted by crime, the French nation offered to the

senters know how to make their just claims heard and respected by the British legislature. Witness the successful appeal made a few years since to the senate, when the question of the renewal of the East India Charter was before Parliament, in behalf of Christian missions to that country. Witness the effectual resistance made to the attempt of Lord Sidmouth to introduce a bill, having a manifest tendency to abridge the rights of Dissenters. Witness the obvious impression made on both Houses of Parliament during the session of 1824, by the numerous petitions which were poured in relative to the iniquitous business at Demerara, the important discussion which took place on that question, and the decision of the legislature concerning it. These and many other facts prove, that the Dissenters, when once they take up a question "ex animo, ex animo," have ever obtained, at least, the respectful attention of the ruling authorities to their petitions, and an investigation of the justice and reasonableness of their claimsif they have not immediately succeeded in carrying their object. That they have not made such an united and vigorous effort during the long space of thirty years, can only be accounted for by supposing, that they are not alive to the magnitude and importance of the question.

There are, Gentlemen, certain bodies to which the Protestant Dissenters of this country are accustomed to look as a kind of natural guardians of their civil and religious rights; but these have been content, as far, at least, as the subject of the Test Laws is concerned to slumber at their posts, year after year, without so much as attempting to awaken general attention to that subject, or even communicating information respecting these intolerant

statutes.

The Ministers of the Three Denominations meet, as is well known, in solemn conclave, at Red Cross Street Library, on certain occasions, and are considered, when thus assembled, as virtually the representatives of their brethren throughout the British empire. They have often done themselves great honour by passing resolutions expressive of their abhorrence of persecution, their attachment to the cause of civil and religious liberty, and their determination to adhere to the principles of their puritan forefathers; but how is it that they have been so apathetic with reference to the Test Laws? They may, now and then, have presented to Parliament petitions for the repeal of these laws, to which the signatures of their own body are attached; but the writer is not aware that they have solicited, or promoted, congregational petitions either within or beyond the limits of their own association. Yet they cannot but know, that the effect in Parliament of a single petition, signed by a few clerical names, however well known and respectable, is widely different from that which would be produced by general congregational petitions throughout the empire.

The Deputies are expressly appointed as guardians of the civil rights of Dissenters, and have, in many respects, well and faithfully discharged their trust; but, as far as a judgment can be formed from their public acts, to the question of the repeal of the Test Laws, they have been almost indifferent. It is true, now and then, at very distant intervals, able and well written circulars have been issued, addressed to the pastors of Dissenting Churches, though with what intention the persons receiving those circulars were unable to divine. Certain it is, that in many parts of the country, their signal has been expected in vain