friend; but inserted our correspondent's paper for the use of all the parish-clerks in England aye, and Ireland too—except those to whom it is “inapplicable." His worthy nominee escapes unhurt. T. B. states that he did not mean to assert that Mr. Scott intended to deny the solemn doctrine conveyed in the words "there is nothing hid which shall not be manifested," but only that his exposition of “judgment according to works" appeared to him incompatible with it. As little did he mean, he says, to misquote Mr. Scott; and in fact his word was only "allusion" though the printer unfortunately placed the passage in inverted commas. Surely this is enough of the matter. A Correspondent informs us that the Congregation at Karlshuld is already in possession of a temporary church, walled in with planks, in which the Lord's Supper has already been once celebrated. It is expected that many of those who have left the Protestant Church will return to it, when they see that Mr. Lutz does not come back to Karlshuld; and it is thought that the Protestant congregation may yet reach the number of five or six hundred souls. In the bishopric of Augsburg it is stated that there are from sixty to seventy Catholic ministers, who are evangelical in their sentiments; but they are still labouring under the mistaken notion of reforming the Catholic Church itself, on which account they will not join the Protestant Church. One congregation of 1100 souls, with its minister, has, some time ago, by threatening otherwise to join the Protestant Church, secured for itself liberty to receive the Lord's Supper in both kinds, and to have Divine Service in the German language. Our Correspondent adds, that great distress exists at present at Karlshuld. The distress at Karlshuld is beyond all description; and what it will be in the ensuing winter, it is impossible to say. The harvest is entirely destroyed; the potatoes, the chief means of sustenance, have failed; and a famine is at the door. More than one hundred children are without a single article of clothing; and you may enter many huts where from five to eight naked children are lying in straw, only just holding out their heads. My heart bleeds within me, while I only hear of this; what must it be to be an eye-witness of it? Alas! how many of the rich could spare, without at all missing it, as much as would at once remove all this distress." P. is right in his censure on the Waverley Novels. More in our next Number. SUPPLEMENT TO RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY. THE very name of Scriptural Education in Ireland is, or ought to be, sufficient, at this eventful moment, to command the attention of our readers to the appended document. The Hibernian Society has our best wishes and prayers at all times, and more especially in this perilous hour, for Protestantism and scriptural teaching in Ireland. HOUSE OF COMMONS REPORT ON THE LORD'S DAY. With much gratitude to the Father of mercies, we affix to these pages the Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Observance of the Lord's day. In times like these we could scarcely have ventured to hope for a Report so specific; so faithfully expressive of the inadequacy of our present laws for the observance of the Lord's day; so earnest for their amendment; and, in one word, so truly Christian, as is this invaluable document. Affixed to it is a vast body of most important Evidence, some portions of which we purpose to bring before our readers in future Numbers. The Bishop of London's evidence in particular, from the high station of the witness, and his explicit and fearless testimony, appears to us of so much value, that we purpose extracting it in our next Number or Appendix. This and other select portions will, we hope, be printed by that excellent institution, "The Society for promoting the Observance of the Lord's Day," if its infant funds will permit. It was owing to the zealous exertions of a few gentlemen connected with that Society, in bringing the subject before some religious friends in the House of Commons, that a committee was procured, and this Report and the Evidence drawn up and collected. We mention the fact, partly with a view to shew the encouragement there is for Christians zealously to exert their influence in the cause of God, even amidst many apparent difficulties; and partly to remind our readers of the existence of the Lord's-day Society, and the importance of their assisting its pious designs by pecuniary contributions, and by the formation of kindred institutions in their respective neighbourhoods. They may procure every information by writing to the secretary, at Exeter Hall. We cannot but earnestly hope, that in the next session of Parliament a bill will be brought in and carried through, grounded upon the suggestions in this Report; and embracing some particulars not directly contained in it-as, for example, the flagrant evil of Sunday newspapers-except indeed as they fall under the general head of Sunday trading. Let us remember the declarations of God himself in regard to his Sabbaths, with the blessings and denouncements, not only upon individuals but upon nations, according as they regard or disregard them. THE BISHOP OF LONDON'S EVIDENCE BEFORE THE HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMITTEE ON THE LORD'S DAY. For the Christian Observer. WE E should earnestly hope that none of our readers have overlooked the truly interesting and important House of Commons Report on the Lord's Day, affixed to our last Number. It is a most decisive and rightminded document; and will, we trust, lay the foundation for an efficient revision of the laws and practices relating to this momentous subject. The members who composed the committee were the following:-Sir Andrew Agnew, Mr. F. Buxton, Sir R. Peel, Mr. Evans (of Leicester), Mr. Stanley, Mr. Andrew Johnston, Mr. Hughes Hughes, Mr. Mackinnon, Lord Morpeth, Mr. Sinclair, Mr. C. Calvert, Mr. Sadler, Mr. Alderman Thompson, Mr. Wyse, Sir T. Baring, Mr. G. Lamb, Mr. Briscoe, Lord Ashley, Mr. Goulbourn, Mr. Littleton. Mr. Sergeant Lefroy, Mr. Alderman Venables, Sir G. Murray, Mr. Pringle, Mr. J. E. Gordon, Mr. G. Byng, Lord Sandon, Mr. Ruthven, the Hon. Granville Ryder. The committee sat during seventeen days, and examined numerous witnesses, Sir Andrew Agnew (a name memorable in Scottish story) taking the chair throughout the investigation. The The Bishop of London's evidence, both from its intrinsic importance, and the responsible station, sound judgment, and high character of the Right Reverend deponent, appears to us peculiarly to deserve wide circulation. Neither his Lordship, it will be perceived, nor the framers of the Report, have laid themselves open to the charge often groundlessly urged against those who are anxious for measures of Christian legislation, that they attack only the vices of the poor, and allow the rich to go unscathed. sins of the rich are usually of a more private character than those of the poor: they do not break the public peace; they are not connected with crowds and places of indiscriminate resort: and hence they fall less under the controul of the legislator, than those acts which partake of publicity and generate popular disorder, such as keeping open shops and frequenting public-houses. The rich man travelling in his chariot, or having music in his drawing-room, cannot be interfered with by law any more than law could interfere with a poor man for quietly riding his donkey or fiddling in his garret. Such matters, as well as the duty of frequenting Divine worship and devoting the Sabbath to religious observances, must be left to conscience and scriptural exhortation; and the House of Commons Report very forcibly, though briefly, urges on the rich man his duties in this respect; but open acts, things that offend publicly and tempt others, such as buying and selling, beer and spirit shops, newspapers, and public carriages, are within the just scope of Christian legislation. CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 372. 5 E The following is the Bishop's evidence. The Right Hon. and Right Rev. Lord Bishop of London, attending by permission of the House of Lords, examined. The Committee understand that your Lordship resided formerly at Chesterford.-Yes. On the road to Newmarket?—I resided there from 1810 to 1812 as curate, and from 1817 to 1824 as incumbent. In that situation had your Lordship any opportunities of observing the effects of Sunday travelling?-Too many. Can you state to the Committee any of the effects produced by such Sunday travelling upon your own people, in the first instance?—I can hardly speak in language too strong of the evil effects that were produced, not merely upon the spiritual state of my parish, but upon its moral condition, by the manner in which Sunday travelling was carried on, in, or rather through, that parish, at particular times of the year. Do the Committee understand that the particular times of the year` to which your Lordship refers had any relation to Newmarket?—I speak principally with reference to the Newmarket meetings, Chesterford being the last place at which the frequenters of Newmarket changed horses. The effects to which I allude were certainly not confined to those particular times of the year, but it is to those particular times of the year that I refer as presenting the prominent points of grievance of which I had occasion to complain. With the leave of the Committee, I will state briefly the principal points to which my observations refer: The Newmarket meetings commence on the Monday; the consequence is, that the greater part of the visitors to them go down on the Sunday, and they usually reach Chesterford about the time of afternoon service; some indeed came in the morning, and got down to Newmarket in the middle of the day, that they might go and see their horses on Sunday afternoon, before they went on the course on Monday morning; but the greater part of the company used to reach Chesterford about the time of afternoon service, and I have known on some occasions more than forty pair of horses change there in the course of the Sunday afternoon; of course the number of persons usually employed in the service of the inn (for there is only one posting-house there, which is situated very near to the church,) is by no means sufficient for this extra demand, and therefore a number of young men in the parish, who are at other times employed as agricultural labourers, are called in to assist the regular stable servants of the inn; but the evil done by breaking in upon the Sabbath duties of these persons, comparatively few in number, was trifling with respect to the mischief produced on almost the whole population. The company who visit Newmarket consist not only of persons of bad character, of no rank or station in society, but of many of the first nobility and gentry of the land. It was a common custom, not only of the people of my own parish, but of all the neighbouring parishes within five or six miles, to come, and, as they phrased it, see the gentry go down to Newmarket, (I am now speaking particularly with reference to Easter Sunday,) the consequence was, that all that part of the parish in which the church was situated was crowded with spectators from the neighbourhood, all of whom were of course absent from their own village churches. Booths were erected along the road, beer sold, and the usual inducements to gambling and drinking which are commonly met with on those occasions. There used to be a great clamour and noise in consequence of the calling aloud for change of horses and for new packs of cards, it being very common for some of the parties travelling to employ themselves in playing cards in open carriages along the road: these cards were frequently thrown out into the road, between the inn and the church, sometimes with the most fearful execrations on the bad luck of the gamblers, and fresh cards were called for, which were supplied in the sight of the assembled multitude. In short, Easter Sunday, with the exception of the limited congregation who attended church on that day, and the greater number of whom hurried out at the conclusion of the service to witness the sight, was employed partly in intemperance and rioting, and partly in witnessing the gross and indecent violation of the Sabbath by their superiors. Upon my taking charge of the parish, I endeavoured to put a stop to the booths selling beer, and other practices of a like nature upon that occasion; and by personal representations to my parishioners, and by conversation with many of the parties who were in the habit of attending, I succeeded without any interference on the part of the magistrates; but I found it impossible to stop the large assemblage of the people, and it was vain to argue with them as to the impropriety of coming together for such purposes on the Lord's-day, because I was always met with this argument, that if it be right for our superiors to travel to Newmarket on the Lord's-day, it cannot be wrong for us to go to see them; and so I found my ministry considerably impeded by circumstances connected with Sunday travelling during the whole of my continuance there. Of course Sunday travelling is not confined to the Newmarket days, but it was on those days that it was most offensive and injurious. How often in the course of the year did the recurrence of this cause produce similar effects?—I am not quite sure whether there were four or five Newmarket meetings in one year. In every one of which meetings the Committee understand that the same Sunday travelling prevailed as your Lordship has stated to have prevailed on Easter Sunday?—Yes; but not to the same extent, or with the same attention paid to it on the part of the people. Have any attempts been made to remedy the evil complained of, other than those your Lordship has stated to have been made by yourself and your own people at the time of your residence there?-More than one: just upon my my leaving the parish, I had some communication with a gentleman in the neighbourhood, the present Lord Braybrook, then Mr. Neville, who felt together with myself the evil which resulted from the practice alluded to; and being a leading member of the Jockey Club, he consulted with me as to the possibility of putting a stop to the practice referred to, by getting the first day of the races changed from the Monday to the Tuesday. I communicated with the then Bishop of London on the subject, and he had some correspondence with a very influential person respecting the change proposed. Owing to difficulties, into which it is not necessary to enter more particularly, it was not effected. As I then quitted this part of the country, I cannot speak positively as to any subsequent attempts; but I have reason to believe that the proposed change has been once at least since that time submitted to the Jockey Club, and I rather think prevented from being carried into effect by a very small majority; from which I conclude that many persons of rank and station, who frequent Newmarket, are alive to the evils which I have just described. I have reason to believe, however, that those evils, such as they are, still continue unabated; and that in sixteen or seventeen parishes in my diocese, which is the number of parishes through which the road to Newmarket lies, the rest and quietness of the Sabbath-day is disturbed, and the usefulness of the clergy, as teachers of religion, is materially impeded by Sunday travelling. You have, it is understood, called the attention of the public to the subject, in a letter addressed by you, on the subject of the observance of the Lord's-day; distinct from that mode of calling public attention to the question, and distinct from the recommendation you have just stated to have been addressed, at your suggestion, to the Jockey Club; do you consider that there are other means than the strict observance and enforcement of the law by justices upon the spot, which can prevent the evil of which you make complaint?-I feel some difficulty with respect to any legal enforcement of the devout observance of the Sabbath-day; I feel none as to measures which shall prevent gross violations of it without necessity : but with respect to travelling, I have not ever been able to make up my mind as to any legislative provision, which, while it prevented the unnecessary infraction of the rest of that day, should not, on the other hand, impose inconvenient and unnecessary restrictions in other quarters. Your Lordship, in describing the evils arising out of travelling to Newmarket on Sunday, no doubt meant to illustrate the evils arising out of travelling on Sunday generally?-I intended principally to show that whatever evils arose from travelling on a Sunday, are continued and propagated by the sanction and example of the higher classes, who travel without necessity, and on these occasions with an almost ostentatious infraction of the decency of the Christian Sabbath. Although your Lordship feels at a loss to recommend any special legislative enactment to prevent Sunday travelling, is it your opinion that all meetings on Monday or Saturday, which may lead to Sunday travelling, might, where it is possible, be postponed to other days, not only with regard to Newmarket meetings, but meetings for other purposes?—I will speak with reference to Newmarket, having lived a great part of my life in the neighbourhood. I believe that even with reference to the parties who attend Newmarket, no real inconvenience would be occasioned by the change in the day; this is almost proved by the assent which was given to the change by a large proportion of the persons most interested in the question. But I am glad to have this opportunity of stating my opinion, that if the greatest conceivable inconvenience, as far as relates to this amusement, were to be occasioned by the change in the day, that it would be no justification whatever of parties who resist that change, provided it can be made to appear that such a change would have the effect of obviating the evil complained of; because no person can pretend that any convenience or inconvenience connected with mere amusement can be put in competition with a great moral injury done to a very considerable class of the community. Did your Lordship act as a magistrate in the parish of Chesterford ?Not when I first lived there; I did afterwards. Then the success you had in putting down some of these nuisances was by exertions in your clerical character, and not as a magistrate ?-Entirely; I never would act as a magistrate in my own parish where I could avoid it. I put down the evils I have complained of effectually before I was a magistrate; when I was curate of the parish. These nuisances, the booths and the sale of beer, were breaches of the law, I conceive?—Yes. Which the magistrates should interfere with ?—Yes. Your Lordship said you never could make up your mind as to any legal provision for the suppression of Sunday travelling; do you conceive any provision depending on common informers would be effectual, or the reverse?—I think we ought not to consider that any legal provision will depend on common informers. If all people would do their duty living under a civil government, there would be no such things as common informers. I doubt whether, if temperate and reasonable laws were passed for the observance of the Sabbath, the enforcement of them would fall into the hands of common informers; because I think there is a very large body |