with Him? What evils have we now to deplore? Why, a
great number. It is a blessed land after all; and there is more of
Christianity found in it than in any other in the world. There is
doubtless more of the direct influence of Christianity in our population
than you will find elsewhere, and certainly more of the indirect
influence upon the constitution of the nation, upon our legislation, upon
our national--aye, and upon our domestic habits. There is a large amount
of the indirect influence of Christianity in our midst, for which we have
cause to be thankful. But then, on the other hand, how much is there of
evil? There is great evil in our midst. There is first, what really our
fathers had not so much to do with--there is the presence and power of a
subtle, of a most ably-wrought and powerfully-patronised Popery, about
which we have been asleep for too long a time, Popery, which is inimical
to the welfare of any nation, and inconsistent with the political
happiness, prosperity and security of any people. You have not far to go
for the proof of this. You have only to go to the present miserable
condition of Ireland to prove it. It is all very well for disclaimers to
arise from the men who created the disloyal element of this mischief, but
they must esteem the Protestants of this country more credulous than I
hope they will prove if they expect them to believe their present
protestations. What else have you? You have the presence of this Popery
also where Protestantism alone ought to be known. You have it
dishonestly intruded into the temples of Christian truth; and you have
the pernicious nonsense of miserable and disgraceful antics obtruded into
what men call divine worship, utterly beneath the dignity of sensible
men. You have another thing. You have infidelity, and in the pulpit
too--the pulpit in high places--infidelity in its worst form. You have
all this, and no power, and very little inclination exists to correct it.
You have all this, and multitudes love to have it so. That is one form
of evil, leading to many other forms, and causing all thoughtful men to
deplore the condition of churches cursed with a schism like this, with a
false doctrine and heresy so utterly opposed to the truth and to the
salvation of men. Well, then, look, at the profanity of the people
around us. Look at the ungodliness of decent people. I am not here
to-day to call your attention simply, as people sometimes do, to the