The daily prayers in the two Houses of Parliament are a mere form and interruption, and are rarely and unwillingly attended. Religious rule and argument are out of place in the House of Commons, except for the abstract premiss, that Christianity is a part of the law of the land. A schoolmaster at one time might not teach without a licence from a bishop.* Now the superintendence of the clergy over education is looked upon with jealousy. Judges feel it a burden to begin their solemn office at each assize town by attending divine worship, and for the most part one of them absents himself. These old customs, and others, stand to the archbishop jurisdiction in the last resort. In the following year, the ultimate cognizance of all such causes was given to the King. Yet, as Gibson assures us (Codex, Inst. Disc. 22), there are no footsteps of any of the nobility or common-law judges being appointed, till the year 1604 (seventy years after the erecting of the Court); nor from that time are they found in above one commission in forty, till the year 1639, when all ecclesiastical, especially episcopal authority, began to be contumeliously struck at. Still, even in the beginning of the last century, when Gibson compiled his Codex, the number of lay judges bore only a fair proportion to the spiritual. The proportion, however, gradually increased; till at length it seems to have been regarded as useless to observe even the semblance of consideration of the spiritualty in adjudicating on appeal in spiritual In 1833, the Judicial Committee of Privy Council was made the court of ultimate appeal in all such causes, of which court not a single spiritual person was constituted a member." (Bishop of Exeter's Charge, 1842, pp. 45—47.) causes. * Rex v. Hill, 2 Ld. Raym. Rep. † A custom seems to have existed of one of the judges preaching a sermon, each in his turn, in Serjeant's Inn Chapel, to the rest of his brethren. Of late years they did it by deputy, appointing and paying a preacher. But that they once did it in person seems to be evidenced by the expression used, "It is Mr. Justice -'s turn to preach!” as land-marks, to show plainly what our former principles must have been, and how we have departed from them.* And in the meantime we have arrived at these maxims of government,—that the government ought to take cognizance of no person's creed; that governments have no conscience, nor any opinion in religion; that Sabbath observance is not a subject for the legislature ;† that prosecutions for blasphemy are impolitic, and encourage the evil, and obtain for the victims the respect of martyrs,—thus placing Satan on a level with Christ, wrong with right, the fruit of a lie with the sacred treasure and prerogative of truth. Other symptoms in government are of the same cast and complexion. We have now lately seen the Sadducees in power.‡ Not only have Unitarians, though not in the cabinet perhaps, been exercising the chief influence in subordinate offices, and by their semi This custom must have arisen when the judges were ecclesiastics. It was altogether discontinued, even by deputy, in the time of Mr. Justice Lawrence, who was the last judge who furnished a preacher, at the beginning of the present century. * When lately the daily prayers were established at Lincoln's Inn Chapel, they found that the chapel bell was already rung regularly every morning at eight o'clock; witnessing that the practice of daily morning prayers had formerly existed, and been discontinued. + An effort was made by the late government to transmit letters through London on a Sunday. A cabinet minister, in his place in the House of Commons, when speaking of religious differences, inquired tauntingly, "What is truth?" -making his own the words of the crucifier of our Lord. This is an occurrence well suited to the period in which the event has been acted over again, in the persons of Romanists and infidels, through the instrumentality of ministers, and for the purpose of destroying what is good-of Herod and Pilate being made friends together. official writings, which are accepted as the groundwork of legislation, but unbelievers also have been among the most forward supporters and friends of ministers. Religious and moral character has been held to have no connexion with politics, and the notorious want of principle in the friends of government has been a laugh and a joke. The annual advance by government to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, has been of late years discontinued. A part of the money sent for the relief of the sufferers by the hurricane at Barbadoes being unspent, the government refused a petition to apply it to the repair of the churches, which had been injured by the same hurricane. Marriage has been divested of its religious character, and made a mere civil contract, and the holy sacrament of baptism practically endangered, by act of parliament. The House of Commons has voted to open the theatres in Lent. But perhaps these so recent instances ought not to be mentioned, since the evidence of recent reaction towards religious observance has been rejected. I believe that the above related acts and evidences are real symptoms of the condition we are in, and of the change we have undergone; and that these symptoms will not be soon removed, but be confirmed and increased. We will leave these, however, and descend to ordinary affairs, and the practices of business, and the habits and usages of private life. The forms used in mercantile transactions, being founded upon ancient custom, and legal forms, which are of all things the most fixed and unchangeable, bear witness to the decline in religious reverence; it being certain that the same devotional expressions would not now be introduced, and are not in fact introduced into modern forms employed for similar purposes. Indictments for murder charge, that the prisoner had not "the fear of God before his eyes," and was "instigated by the devil.” Bills of lading begin, following the old form,— Shipped by the grace of God;"—and conclude,--"And so God send the good ship to her desired port in safety. Amen." Bottomry bonds used to contain these forms of expression, “I A. B. &c. do send greeting in our Lord God everlasting :"-" The first good wind that God shall send :"-" The ship whereof W. T. is master under God." But they are now discontinued. -- Every one in drawing his will, even by the hand of an attorney, began it by commending his soul to God. The sanction of an oath was looked for, as the best security from persons in all situations: from churchwardens, merchants, servants, soldiers, tenants attorning to their lands.* Now, the salary is looked upon as the best security. The judges' charges to the jury used to be fortified by quotations from Scripture.† The forms of enfranchisement of slaves expressed that it was done upon religious motives; and the peti *Book of Oaths, Edit. 1715. † An example of such a charge may be seen in Kitchen on Courts, p. 14. Edit. 1675. Guizot on Civilization, Sect. 6. tions of the suitors to the lords and stewards of the manor courts did not conclude without a prayer "for your worship's most prosperous welfare and lyfe, the whiche I praye God presarve and long to continue unto Hys blessed pleasure. Amen."* Petitions to the Houses of Lords and Commons are records of the same custom; but they stop short at "Your petitioners will ever pray, &c." A physician's prescription of 1642, given by a Dr. Bray to Mr. Powell, an ancestor of Mrs. Taddy, and now in Serjeant Taddy's possession, concludes thus,"And by God assisting, you shall enjoy your health and breath." There is an entry by the churchwarden in the Hampton Wick parish book, of the year 1699, to the following effect,- December, the 26th day, Payed to Mr. Thomas Uvedale an apotacary for phisseck and all other necessary means aplouyed to Thomas Treadwell in his sickness to have preserved his life if it had plesed God,-01: 15:00."+ Formal and familiar letters did not conclude without some devotional reflection or allusion; and doubtless the conversation was similar in this respect, if it were in like manner recorded. A letter of Henry V., * Watkins on Copyholds, vol. 2, p. 48, tem. Hen. VIII. † Mr. Powell was no Puritan himself, but a staunch royalist. A short time since a very eminent physician was called in at night to a child which was in a very alarming state. He thus related the circumstance. "I saw at once what was the matter, and administered the proper remedy; and the child recovered. As soon as we saw him out of danger, we retired into the next room, and before I knew where I was, I found myself upon my knees, with the whole family; and the father offered up an extemporary thanksgiving to God for the recovery of his child :—but he said nothing about me!" |