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duct. But to return to the church, and the habitual conviction of the people of England.
So far are the people from being 'habitually convinced that no evil can be acceptable, either in the act or the permission, to him whose essence is good[1];' that the sermons which they hear are to them almost as unintelligible as if they were preached in a foreign tongue. The language and sentiments rising above their capacities, very orthodox Christians are driven to fanatical meetings for amusement, if not for edification. The clergy, I speak of the body, not forgetting the respect and affection which I have for individuals, perform the duty of their profession as a kind of fee-simple, to entitle them to the emoluments accruing from it; and their ignorant flock think that merely going to church is meritorious.
So defective, in fact, are our laws, respecting religious establishments, that I have heard
- ↑ Page 140.
many
