them, let the "decent,"
"moral," and "civil" be as _wicked_ as they may.

I hope it is not necessary for me to disclaim, in speaking of
facts, the most remote idea of throwing a slight on the sincerely
pious of any portion of the community; but, if religion does not
invigorate the higher feelings and principles of moral obligation;
if a heartless and hollow jargon is often substituted for the
fundamental laws of Christian obedience; if ostentatious
affectation supersedes the meek, unobtrusive character of feminine
devotion; if a petty peculiarity of system, a kind of conventional
code of godliness, usurps the place of the specific righteousness,
visible in its fruits, "of whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
things are just, whatsoever things are lovely;" if, to be fluent
and flippant in the jargon of this petty peculiarity of code, is
made the criterion of exclusive godliness; when, by thousands and
thousands, after the example of Hawker, and others of the same
school, Christianity is represented as having neither "an _if_, or
_but_," the conclusion being left for the innumerable disciples of
such a gospel school; when, because none--"no, not one"--is
_without sin_, and none can stand upright in the sight of Him
whose eyes are too pure to behold iniquity, they who have exercised
themselves to "have a conscience void of offence toward God and
man," though sensible of innumerable offences, are considered, by
implication, before God, as no better than Burkes or Thurtles, for
the imputation of utter depravity must mean this, or be mere hollow
_verba et voces_; when amusements, or recreations, vicious only in
their excess, are proclaimed as national abominations, while real
abominations stalk abroad, as is the case in large manufacturing
towns, with "the Lord," "the Lord," on the lips of some of the most
depraved; when, from these causes, I do sincerely believe the heart
has been hardened, and the understanding deteriorated, the wide
effects being visible on the great criminal body of the nation,--I
conceive I do a service to Evangelical Religion by speaking as I
feel of that ludicrous caricature which so often in society usurps
its name, and apes and disgraces its divine character.

I am not among those who divide the clergy of the Church of Engl