tempts to corrupt the minds of the People? Not only was this open to the law officers of the crown; but Edwards, that well-known compositor in the Cato Street conspiracy, was almsot daily in Carlile's shop, lodged opposite to him, wormed himself into his confidence, actually moulded and cast the figure of Paine, so prominent in the shop, was the maker of the little images hawked about the streets, and daily possessed himself of what was coming in and going out! Yet Mr. Sherwin, his weekly visitor, was permitted to escape; and with his honest industry has opened an establishment in a respectable part of the city, adorned with religious books on " grace," and baptism, and Shakspeare's plays, "All's well that ends well!" congratulating himself on his ingenious extrication! and, perhaps, often flattering himself that he is not the late Mr. Sherwin, of Fleet Street. What process of adult baptism has converted and regenerated this child of grace? and by what minister was he confirmed?

I put it to the feeling of every man who loves his country, his religion, and his laws, whether this culpable neglect of the law can be justified? These facts are notorious to hundreds in London; and I ask any man, whether the application of the law in the first instance would not have prevented all that subsequently occurred for three years?

Sir, it is at all times a violation of our best feelings to drag private character before a public ordeal: but one who has acted so public a character can have no pretensions to so premature a retirement. What security have we, Sir, that this insidious apostle of "blasphemy" will not renew his apostolic missions on similar opportunities? Sir, I think you are bound, by your professed love of religion, to urge a Parliamentary investigation of this mysterious subject. I conceive Ministers bound, by their professed abhorrence of "blasphemy and sedition," to assist you in this investigation: it is a sacred obligation due to the injured character of the People; and if Ministers do not yield every possible assistance, the unavoidable inference must be, that "blasphemy" is a most useful ingredient in the political cauldron, where the system of a new and doubtless improved liberty is concocting. If this Mr. Sherwin be a penitent, let him make a public confession of his sins: if still abiding in his iniquities, let the State do her duty to repress them. An imperious sense of duty, Sir, on my part, has urged this public citation; for it cannot be endured, that, for the sake of an individual, the People should rest quiet under the bitter calumnies heaped with no sparing hand upon them, in this their day of burden and reproach. I know nothing of this self-dubbed Patriot and Reformer, of his origin or pursuits, except from the murmuring whispers which an ear

not willingly shut may easily hear; and I have, therefore, studiously confined myself to facts of public notoriety.

Thus, Sir, I have exposed to you the sole and polluted source of this exaggerated "blasphemy," which has, after all, disseminated only a few paltry reprints of Palmer, Diderot, Voltaire, Volney, Paine, and often-refuted and long-forgotten English sceptics-in the total, I will venture to say, not amounting to the sale of Dr. Chalmers's volume on the Evidences of Christianity. And, with respect to the class of society amongst whom this miserable trash has circulated, if we deduct the portion sold to the curious and speculative men in the higher and more educated ranks, a remnant only remains for the lower classes of society, which, compared with the innumerable religious publications monthly and annually dispensed to the people, is but as a grain of sand to the myriads of the sea shore. Sir, I write from correct and thorough information now before me; and I affirm, that there cannot be a more monstrous falsehood, than this blasphemous taste imputed to the people. It contradicts the most notorious facts and the most evident character of the times: and you, Sir, well know that it is asserted, by the very same men who prefer the charge of infidelity, that there is an increase of evangelical religion. You know that, both in the church and out of it, the latter tenets are discouraged by the present Ministry, and that excess of Methodism is the fear of their minds. You well know, that from the first accession of the Dundas influence up to the present moment, evangelical religion has been opposed in Scotland, and all preferment withheld from its professors you know that the "wild men" have been snubbed, and the moderates advanced. You cannot have forgotten the early and rancorous opposition of the majority of the ruling party to the Bible Society, merely because founded on a principle of filiation and comprehensive charity: and although it has since received a partial support from some of them in occasional attendance at the Meetings, yet you cannot be the dupe of a craft, which after failing to strangle an infant in its birth, merely adopts it, "to make the best of a bad job." You must have seen the honors of

'I cannot refrain from noticing here, as part of the same system, a circumstance which lately excited great disgust in a midland county. A certain nameless apostate, well known as the Guilford Rat, lately informed an unfortunate female criminal, that as he could not hold out to her any hope in this world, so he took the opportunity of intimating to her, that in his opinion she had little to expect in another-and that the wild and visionary opinions of the vulgar Christianity would sadly disappoint her reliance on them! I thought of the following passage in Bishop Fell:-"It is indeed to be wished we would cease to invade God's peculiar, by judging those that must stand or fall to him: but if we will needs take his office, it is but equitable we take his rules too; and in our wrath remember mercy. But God be blessed,

the mitre adorning the heads of those who had most violently opposed it, and shunning those who had been its most ardent friends. Mark the ministerial respect for the passive virtues of Christianity in the promotion of those Christian warriors, the Reverend Mr. Hay and Sir Bate Dudley !!

Again, Sir; as to this charge of "blasphemy;" consider, before you admit it, the increased zeal of the Establishment and the sectaries. See them vying with each other in the useful dissemination of their respective religious opinions; turn to the Laureat's "Life of John Wesley." Ask those who know the habits of the agricultural and manufacturing population, and ask yourself, whether the English people are not a religious nation? Mark the decent and pious observance of the Sunday throughout the kingdom! See the churches and the chapels rising up in all parts! Inquire into that incredible mass of religious publications from charity schools-Bell and Lancastrian systems of education-Bible and Tract Societies—and ask yourself, whether the imputation of blasphemy is deserved by any class of society?

I now proceed, Sir, before closing this Letter, to give you the most clinching proof that the charges brought against us are mere calumnies. It would be endless were I to lay before you the details of every class of religious publication. You know that several hundred distinct periodical works on religion, conducted by individuals, are in monthly circulation. You know that there are innumerable societies in the three kingdoms, of every cast and sect of Christianity, forwarding with ardent and judicious efforts the great object of religious education. The united efforts of all these associated bodies, in their total amount, it is impossible to calculate. I shall, therefore, select only four of the most extensive and wealthy (as irrefutable arguments in proof of the religious character of the times), because they are the four supported by all denominations of the British Church universal.

I. The Society for promoting Christian Knowledge.-The number of Bibles, Common Prayer Books, Tracts, &c. dispersed

it is the judgment of our upright, yet gracious Master, that shall finally determine us; and not that of our passionate fellow-servants: if these were irreversible, and the key of the bottomless pit were in our custody, we might give Satan a Writ of Ease, discharge him from his perambulations; he would need no more to walk about as a Lion, but might still lie in his den; and we should bring in prey enough to glut the devourer: for could we execute all we condemn, we might, as the Disciples, question-Who then can be saved?"

1 Pluralities and non-residents were never heard of in the primitive ages, and it is a shame there should be so many fat parsonages, and yet so many lean parsons. It is the devil's market where churches are bought and sold, and such spiritual hucksters deserve to be whipt out of the temple.-Religio Bibliopola.

by the Society, between the audit April 22, 1819, and the audit April 20, 1820, is as follows:

3797 Packets of Books sent to Members, on the terms of the

Society; consisting of—

The total Number of Bibles, &c. distributed on the Terms of the

This Society has therefore issued, in this "blasphemous age," two

millions, eight hundred and ten thousand, eight hundred and seventy

four articles on the Christian religion!

II. The British and Foreign Bible Society. The number of copies issued from March 31, 1819, to March 31, 1820, is

115,775 Bibles,

141,108 New Testaments.

Making a total from the commencement of the Society's issues, of more then two millions, five hundred and fifty thousand Bibles and Testaments. The following extract of the last report requires no observation

"At home the prospect is equally encouraging. Notwithstanding the extraordinary pressure of commercial difficulties, and the industrious propagation of irreligious, and even antichristian opinions, the resources of the Society, so far from suffering any serious diminution, have been very liberally maintained; and its operations, viewed on the great scale, have kept pace with the activity and efficiency of the most prosperous eras of the Institution. Never was the demand for the Scriptures so great and general; and at no period were means provided in such abundance for printing editions of them, or channels opened in so great a variety of places for their free and general circulation. These assertions are so completely sustained by the facts which your committee have reported, that they appeal to them with confidence, as affording matter for the most devout gratitude and the most cordial satisfaction. The craving desires which have been expressed for the word of God, and the thankfulness which has been uttered when this desire has been gratified, have been uniformly associated with those principles and feelings on which are founded loyalty and contentment, subjection to principalities and powers for conscience sake, and a quiet and peaceable demeanour in all godliness and honesty."

III. The Prayer Book and Homily Society.—The last report of this Society (1819-20)speaks of the encouragement they receive"when they see such an increasing zeal in numbers to distribute, and hear, in many instances, of such a willingness in others to receive these plain and simple expositions of Scripture doctrine."

The issue of Prayer-Books, Psalters, and the Book of Homilies, from this Society's depository, during the last year, has been as follows: English Prayer-Books, 9,372; Irish Prayer-Books, 170; Welsh, 333; Greek Prayer-Books, 12. Of enlarged Psalters, 978 copies have been issued; of common Psalters, 448. And during the same period, 171 copies of the Book of Homilies in octavo have been disposed of; 82 in duodecimo; and in folio, 15.;-making the total issue of bound books, during twelve months,

11,581.

Of Homily tracts the committee report an increased issue, to the