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secession, to these we know we can safely appeal for their concurrence, when we declare that "the profes sion of our Faith" and the principles of our Worship were never more pro foundly defended, more eloquently advocated, and more purely exemplified, than by the present ministry of our Church-and that "whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report," in the tenets and service of both, and have for ages been so received by the priests and people of our National Church, still retain their pretensions in all their original and authorized character of salutary discipline and pious usefulness-Nor shall we be regarded by such judges as exacting too much from their concession, if we plead for their acquiescence in the decision, that the administration of our Establishment in the æra now before us is upheld and main tained with an unwearied assiduity and pastoral earnestness commensurate in effort and talent with the general cause of Christianity which demands the exertion.

We live in times in which this Cause appears to have excited among all denominations of Christians the liveliest concern for the preservation of its genuine interests, and the universal diffusion of its heavenly truths. We trust, however, that we may be allowed, without the imputation of an overweening partiality, to place among the numerous associations to carry on the godly work those of the Church of England in the foremost rank We have seen the Princes and the Nobles of the Land, and the most eminent of the Rulers of Church and State, investing them selves with the solemn responsibility of opening to the meanest among their fellow-subjects a prompt and easy access to the Holy Page of God's Eternal Word, and promoting by an unrestrained range of personal munificence, that "Instruction in righteousness" which His Word alone contains.

In the furtherance of this glorious design, the whole body of our Clergy have amply co-operated; and we take upon ourselves to pay them their just meed of commendation, when we declare, that their energies have been exerted with a liberality and zeal alike deserving of the gratitude and admiration of the flocks over which they respectively preside-Their efforts have indeed, as they ought, for the most

part, taken that direction which their Union with the National Church pointed out; yet this regard for the con sistency of their calling has not in any instance been permitted to act in contravention of the general promotion, progress, and extent of the noble purpose in view-This has been narrowed by no restriction, impeded by no reserve, counteracted by no obstacle of adverse power or jealous opposition; but, on the contrary, every facility has been afforded, every avenue opened, every means pursued, which a generous concern for the spiritual welfare of mankind has been capable of bringing into action for the dispersion of that ignorance which is the parent of idleness, and of every vicious motive that can render the common mind corrupt, and not only useless, but dangerous, to the moral interests of society.

From this truly Christian measure, by which all the demoralizing causes of a profligate infidelity must be materially checked in their primary impressions of evil inclination, the progressive step of popular education naturally followed; and so comprehensive is the system which has been devised, that it can no longer be pleaded by the poorest inhabitant of the British Empire in excuse of any violation of religious or social duty, that he does not possess the opportunity of becoming acquainted with its obligations.

In this additional good also the Established Church has taken a prominent and essential part-not indeed by an adventitious instrumentality, but by an indispensable intervention, such as in all things well comported with the principles of her venerable authority; for, as it has been wisely observed, national education must be grounded on national religion," and for this obvious reason;

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That which is established by law, as blended with the constitution of the State, may justly be imposed upon the observance of those who are governed by its authority-Now the Liturgy of the Church of Eugland is confirmed by law as the repository of the religion by law established: and hence, were any other plan of educating the population of Eugland to be thus sauctioned than that which is conformable to the tenets of the established religion, the law itself must be nullified, and those so educated must eventually be alienated from their attachment to that consti

tuted order of things under which they are born, to which they are subject by their own consent, and which they are therefore morally bound to preserve and defend from all subversive innovation;" for a violation of this rule would involve not only an absurdity, but a principle of self destruction-it would counteract by authority what it enjoins by authority."

While, therefore, the Government of Our country, with a due concern for those privileges which the Act of Toleration secures to conscientious dissent, forbore to interfere with such peculiar Imodifications of this system as have been adopted by some dissenting communities, they have, at the same time, wisely prescribed, that such schools alone should be considered as national, whose plan of instruction is entirely conformable to the Liturgy and Catechism of the National Church, both of which are framed upon fixed principles of faith and morality, without which Christianity itself could not subsist. Nor can a restriction like this be urged as a reproach against our Establishment-It is an imperative obligation, issuing out of that wise policy of our forefathers, by which a regulated standard of worship has been authorized as the religious service of that Establishment, while it holds out to all who dissent from it a liberal toleration, tempered with no other restraints than what a just consideration for that public order and wel fare of the State which must always comprehend the peace and happiness of every community.

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range of action, in the service of that Established Religion whose interests be has all along proved himself to have had most sincerely at heart-In bim the apostolic injunction has been fulfilled in every application of it-" He has not only preached the Word, but has also been instant in season and out of season"-He has seized every opportunity of impressing the solemn truths of Christianity, and with a disinterested perseverance in personal labour, he has never sought repose in inactivity, when his conscience suggested that there still remained any necessity for farther exertion.

To a mind comprehensive as his, every probability of good that presented itself has been instantly scauned in all its bearings, and its apparent prac ticability has never been surrendered to the desultory contemplation of fortuitous events, nor deferred to "a more convenient season."

To him every Member of the Church of England must ever feel himself grateful for the very salutary and essential measure of increasing the number of parish-churches throughout every district wherein the increase of population has made the addition necessary.

It would seem that Dr. Yates had. long contemplated the necessity for this important extension of the facilities of attendance upon the public service of our National Worship; but it was not until the year 1815 that he embodied his ideas in a pamphlet of much sensible remark and accurate calculation. under the form of a letter addressed It is thus, then, that the Clergy of the to the Earl of Liverpool - It was not Church of England have pursued, with without reason that be entitled it the most fervent anxieties of affection". The Church in anger;" for he ate concern for the information and instruction of all who feel disposed to avail themselves of their earnest labours, those means of accomplishing so desirable a result as have appeared to be best calculated to secure it; -and among the most zealous and intelligent promoters of their success, we have the satisfaction of naming the indefatigable Minister and estimable individual who is the subject of this Memoir.

The Reverend Dr. YATES is one among the many of our Clergy who have not confined their exertions to the mere exercises of the Pulpit-His professional labours have taken a wider

Bishop Marsh.

perceived, that whatever might be the advantages which the ignorant population of the kingdom would derive from the dispersion of the Bible, and the system of universal education recently adopted, they could neither be complete in their provision, nor effeient in their most beneficial purpose, as far as the principles of the National Religion and the best interests of those among the poor who had been incorporated into the Established Church were implicated, so long as these were excluded from parochial instruction, and the practical application of our excellent Liturgy, by want of room for their accommodation in the parishchurches. If it was deemed incumbent upon the Clergy to make it their

care that every one of their flocks should be furnished with a bible, the godly profit would be but little, if any, to the ignorant and uninformed, if they were not at the same time found among their congregations.-If, also, it was thought expedient, that the prayerbook should be given with the bible, this additional boon would be of little account, if those who received it should be prevented from obtaining a knowledge of its excellencies, by an absolute impossibility of finding access to their parish church for their attendance upon the public service.

Upon these and many other points of judicious reasoning, Dr. Yates has grounded his argument for the necessity of building additional churches, and has supported it by adducing instances of this necessity, which incontrovertibly prove it. But, we will leave him to speak for himself in his own words, than which, no better can be supplied to convey any abstract of the just impressions with which he has written.

"With every real Christian it is an unshaken and acknowledged conviction, requiring no other illustration than is afforded by scripture and the experience of our own times,-that a negligent disregard of gospel truths and a practical renunciation of Christianity by a large portion of its nominal professors, must be followed by the most disastrous consequences, and open the way to one of those dire catastrophes, by which, under the moral government of Providence, a profane contempt of the Divine Authority, and the general prevalence of a profligate infidelity, are permitted to panish themselves.

"On the verge of such a precipice we are now standing.

"Wise, comprehensive, and truly Christian measures can alone rescue us from an abyss of anarchy,-of political devastation, and of individual misery; the approaches to which cannot but be seen, and indeed are strongly and awfully marked, in the present circumstances of most of our populous disstricts, and particularly of the British metropolis.

"If in addition to all the other occasions of moral degradation, one primary and powerful source of the impending danger and evil be traced to the want of arrangements necessary to give effect to the national religion itself; such a circumstance should obtain, as it certainly

demands, the earliest and most serious investigation.

"If a tremendously large and overwhelming proportion of the nominal members of the Established Church be deprived of all the advantages which that institution is intended and calculated to confer,-the effect must be,— not only a want of regard and support to the establishment, but also an alienation from it, rapidly rising and maturing into a direct bostility and opposi tion. And this hostility and opposition must receive additional and incalculable force from ignorant depravity, and the noxious associations of a profligate and atrocious spirit of modern violence, loosened from all religious restraint, and propelled to action by the consequent aggravation of every stimulating propensity to evil.-Such a perversion of friends into enemies, forms a danger sufficiently portentous, to induce all sincere and hearty well-wishers to the Established Church,-all zealous and willing protectors of our constitutional government, and of the internal peace and prosperity of our country,-and all who desire to facilitate the progress of Christian truth,-with the utmost possible solicitude and readiness to assist in discovering and applying a prompt and effectual remedy.

"The Associations formed of late years for the distribution of the Bible have been described as a probable cause of injury and danger to the Established Church. But surely the only injury likely to result to the establishment from the existence of these societies, and the controversy to which they have given rise, attaches equally to both sides of the question. The theoretical fears, and ideal phantoms of danger. that appear to excite such serious alarm in one class of literary antagonists;and the extravagant anticipations and exaggerated hopes of their zealous opponents,-have equally tended to divert the public attention from the real source of danger, and of consequence have led to the proposal of palliative and insufficient assistances, instead of the only practical and efficient remedy. -Repressing the exertions of these societies cannot possibly preserve the church from the danger that impends over it through the neglected ignorance, the unawed profligacy, the gross intemperance, and the babitual impiety of several hundred thousands, who are con

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sidered to be its members, and ought to be its supporters and protectors.-So far otherwise, that those who can be prevailed on to read the bible, must certainly be less dangerous and less inveterate enemies, than those in whom all the evil propensities of human nature are suffered to retain their full influence, fostered and strengthened by habitual and vicious indulgence; who are left in total ignorance of a God and a future state, and who equally disregard all laws, human or divine.

"Whatever danger may be supposed to threaten the Established Church from giving the bible without the prayerbook, that danger can only take its full effect from the neglect and disuse of the prayer book, consequent upon the neglect and disuse of the public service of the church. Those cannot be expected to have much love and reverence for the prayer book, when given to them, who are denied the opportunity of using it, and learning its excellence, in public worship.

"But, as opposing and weakening the power and influence of these societies cannot avert the storm that appears to be gathering around the Established Church, so neither can their utmost possible extention produce all the advantages which some of their supporters depict in such strong and glowing colours.-Giving the bible can do no good to the immense numbers that cannot read, and will totally disregard its contents; but leading them to a place of worship might impress on their hearts the benign instructions of the holy penmen. And even in respect to those that are able to read, it should never be forgotten, that, for the purposes of religious improvement, reading in private is only secondary and auxiliary to the public reading of the scriptures. A public ministry appears to be the means ordained by Providence for the diffusion and establishment of the gospel. Our blessed Saviour himself attended the public reading of the law, and the prophets, in the Synagogue; and the apostles and primitive Christians assembled together, even at the hazard of their lives, to read and to hear the scriptures.

"The sacred word of God, dispenses a more useful and permanent light, and dispels more effectually the darkness of ignorance and error, when emanating from the sanctuary. The best instructions, and the deepest impressions of

religion, in regard to the most numerous classes of mankind, are given and received in the acts and solemnities of public worship. The unlettered poor may there learn the inestimable value and eternal importance of Christian faith and Christian piety; and be led to prize and meditate, in private, upon those good tidings thus placed within the reach of their understandings and their acquirements.

Another source of the apprehended danger to the Established Church has been supposed by some of its most zealous friends, to exist in the increase of what is called methodism. And the only probable means of securing the Established Church is thought, by them, to be the restraint and coercion of this hostile power; though it has not, I believe, been pointed out by what means such restraint and coercion are to be effected, without violating that toleration which is one of the most glorious and valuable gems in the ephod of our ecclesiastical establishment.

"The perusal of the foregoing pages may have convinced your lordship, that the increase of methodism and sectarian disunion, ought to be considered a CONSEQUENCE rather than a CAUSE of the present state of the Established Church. It has been made evident that, around the metropolis, a very large proportion of the nominal members of the church are totally excluded from parochial instruction, and know nothing of our excellent liturgy.

"The law of the land, as it is supposed to stand at present, prohibits, except under certain difficult regulations, the building and opening of any places of public worship for the use of the liturgy of the church of England. But structures for every other mode of worship may be erected and opened, by any person so inclined, upon the easy condition of obtaining a licence from the magistrates, granted by the law upon a very inconsiderable pecuniary payment.

"To complain of the increase of sectaries and methodists cannot therefore answer any good purpose, while we have no churches to receive them, even if they wished to join our congregations; and while the law permits them, if they continue to dissent, to build as many chapels as they please; but if they con form to the liturgy, the privilege of providing themselves with the means of public worship is immediately denied,

although the establishment, in its present state, does not itself afford that essential supply.

"It is not at all wonderful, therefore, that in districts where numerous sheep are shut out from the possibility of receiving instruction in the fold of the regular shepherd, some of them should seek refuge and refreshment from the care and zeal of self-appointed pastors." In the farther detail of the obstacles which oppose the spread of the tenets of our national church, Dr. Yates has, in his letter, shewn, that within a circuit of about eight miles around the City of London, in consequence of the present distribution and circumstances of the parish after allowing to each church a proportion more than sufficient to fill it; and fully, if not more than equal, to the parochial care of the clergy now allotted to the charge; there is found to remain a surplus population of TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE THOUSAND excluded from the benefits and advantages of participating in the instructive public worship and pastoral superintendance of the established church. He then draws the following inferences from this hitherto unnoticed, but most important, fact.

"That Bible Societies are not the cause of the danger to which he adverts. That the increase of Sectarian Methodism is not the cause, but the consequence, of the present state of the Church, That the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, and that for the Establishment of National Schools, although in themselves admirable auxiliaries, are not, and cannot alone, be equal to the task of averting this danger. That the recent acts relating to the residence of the clergy, have not removed, or even touched upon the chief source and cause of danger. That a legislative enactment providing for a distribution of the population into appropriate divisions, supplying the means of public worship, and providing for the useful and efficient discharge of the pastoral offices in districts not hitherto so provided, is the most certain, and only probable means, of securing the stability and prosperity of the established

church."

This Letter excited much attention, and was deservedly acknowledged by all who duly appreciated its contents, as placing in its proper light, the present Condition of the Church of England. But its author published, in 1817, ano

ther letter, addressed to the same dis-
tinguished nobleman, in which he
strengthened all his former arguments
by a more general elucidation of the
points which he had urged in the first.
This second publication he entitled.
"The Basis of National Welfare con-
sidered in reference chiefly to the Pros-
perity of Britain, and Safety of the
Church of England." The contents of
this valuable pamphlet he prefaces with
"If it be ad-
the following suminary.
milted or proved, that religion in-
fluences the general habits, principles,
and motives, of conduct, be the only
sure and permanent BASIS OF NATIONAL
WELFARE-if it be also admitted or
proved that the parochial administra
tion of public worship and pastora!
offices forms the LEGAL AND CONSTITU-
TIONAL BASIS OF THE NATIONAL CHURCH,
and affords the only effectual means of
conveying religious impressions to the
GENERAL BODY OF THE PEOPLE; it will
follow as a necessary consequence, that
upon the degree of support given by
the legislature to secure the EFFICIENCY

AND DUE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PA-
ROCHIAL WORSHIP, the safely, both of
Church and State, must ultimately de-
pend. And if it should also be further
proved, by a most impressive and much-
to-be-lamented statement of facts, in
any induction of particulars from the
most authentic sources, that a VAST
PROPORTION OF THE PEOPLE ARE EX-
CLUDED from all participation in the
parochial and effective instructions of
the national religion; it will then be
most evident and undeniable, that such
legislative attention, assistance, and
support, is now most urgently and im-
periously required.

In every part of his reasoning throughout this and his other letter, we fully agree with Dr. Yates; aud we feel ourselves justified in our concurrence, by the observations which we ourselves have made upon the evil consequences resulting from the defective accommodation for the parishioners of large parishes, in which there is only one church of very inadequate dimensions to reWe have freceive the population. quently heard the murmurs of those, who as residents, have justly considered themselves entitled to pews for themselves and their families; but owing to the crowded state of the church, have not been able to obtain admission.

Many, we know, have waited for years before they could`sue.

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