mplanted in the national
constitution and sustained by the whole prestige of the realm. Under its
lordly bewitchery, Erastianism prevails in the Established Churches of
the kingdom. The Oath of Allegiance implicates all who take it in an
acknowledgment of the ecclesiastical supremacy of the sovereign as "by
law established," and this Oath must be taken by every member of
Parliament before he can sit and vote in the House, under a penalty of
five hundred pounds. The basis of qualification for membership in
Parliament has been so much altered in recent times that Roman
Catholics, atheists, and now idolaters are admitted--changes which have
been demanded by the vast majority of the non-established Churches, who
are pleading for the exclusion of religion from all State institutions.
The Papacy, through its various agencies, is in receipt of more than a
million and a quarter pounds annually from the national funds. A
wide-spread reaction in favour of the Romish religion is going forward,
and is being powerfully assisted by the Romanizing movement in the
Church of England, and the Ritualistic in the Presbyterian Churches
throughout the kingdom.

Had the two nations and their Churches adhered to their National
Covenants and the Solemn League and Covenant, and to the formularies
prepared by the international Assembly at Westminster, the lovers of the
Covenanted Reformation would not have had these portentous conditions to
deplore to-day. Would their adherence to those deeds and documents have
done them any dishonour? And would it not be to the lasting honour of
their posterity now, if a movement were originated and carried through
to reproduce with all possible fulness the scenes of the past--another
Greyfriars, Edinburgh, and another St. Margarets, Westminster. But, even
apart from the historical aspect of the whole matter, the question may,
in the presence of these monstrous evils, be pressed upon the attention
and heart of all the people throughout the land? What ought to be done
to remove these evils and avert the disaster which their continuance
must entail? What ought the British subject, if a patriot, do, in the
face of evils which threaten the ruin of his kingdom? What ought the
Protestant to do, in the presence of a government and administration
which are daily advancing the court of Rome to power? What the
Presbyterian, who cannot take the Oath of Allegiance without committing
himself to the hierarchy of Prelacy? What