answer for me, that undoubtedly they would now give the preference to religion.

In remembering, therefore, the severity and the suddenness of those PROVIDENCES which took place under your own eyes, and were intended as a trumpet-warning from God, sounding in your own individual ears; I would refer you to a particular occasion upon which our Lord addressed the Jews upon this very subject of "PROVIDENTIAL warnings and Divine Visitations." It is to be found recorded in the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel by St. Luke; "There were present at that season some that told Him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering, said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered these things? I tell you NAY: but except YE repent, YE shall ALL LIKEWISE PERISH. Or those eighteen, upon whom the TOWER IN SILOAM fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt at JERUSALEM ? I tell you, NAY: but, except YE repent, ye shall ALL LIKEWISE

PERISH!"

Understand, therefore, my youthful friends, and lay it deeply to heart, that THE DUTY OF RELIGION is your FIRST and most imperative duty; and that if you neglect this service of perfect freedom, you

may indeed become "bravoes and desperadoes,” but you cannot be "SOLDIERS!" The character of the soldier and the character of the Christian correspond to each other, and, when they are united, THAT CHARACTER IS A SUBLIME ONE! There have been many examples of it; may it be your study and ambition to emulate them all! And, may the "Lord of all power and might" so favour and so bless you, that you may both become and "continue His for ever, even until you take possession of His Everlasting Kingdom!" Amen.

NOTE TO SERMON VII. PAGE 140.

"THE command of rulers no sufficient warrant to perpetrate crimes either against God, or against men.

A remarkable living instance of martyrdom to this combined civil and religious principle occurs in the well known case, or cases, of Captain Atchison and Lieutenant Dawson, both formerly of the Royal Artillery, but DisMISSED from his Majesty's service in the year 1824, under circumstances redounding to their own ETERNAL Honour, and to the INDELIBLE DISGRACE and INFAMY of their godless and lawless oppressors.+

The following is an extract from the Record newspaper of July 28, 1833, No. 583:

"Lieutenant Dawson having twice brought the case fairly before the PUBLIC, and particularly before the HEADS of the CHURCH, long ago ceased to agitate the ques

"By the law of all civilized nations, if the prince requires something to be done which the person who is to do it takes to be unlawful, it is not only lawful, but his DUTY rescribere principi." -Lord Somers. Counsel of defence for the Seven Bishops. State Trials, Vol. XII. p. 397.

Compare this with the observations ordered to be " communicated without reserve to the garrison of Malta," and referred to in page 166 following.

+ See a copy of Captain Atchison's Petition to the House of Commons annexed to this note; also the pamphlet containing his "Trial," printed for Hatchard and Son, Piccadilly, 1825; and also the pamphlet containing the Trial of Lieutenant Dawson.

tion. After going through the usual course at the university he took orders, and is now devoting his talents to the work of the ministry in Guernsey. Captain Atchison has, on the other hand, felt it his duty to labour to arouse the government, aud his countrymen at large, to a sense of the hardship of the case, connected, as it is, with a great national sin. He has repeatedly memorialised the HEADS of the ARMY and the ORDNANCE, and his petition to the KING was very favourably received. Nothing, however, has hitherto been done in the way of redress; but we begin to hope that the perseverance of this much injured gentleman will be successful. His petition was formally introduced into the House of Commons by Mr. Plumptre, whose Christian firmness in Parliament we have often observed with feelings of thankfulness and joy. Mr. Plumptre's statement was clear, forcible, and effective; and he was supported, not merely by such men as Sir Robert Inglis, but by several members whose sentiments on religious subjects were widely different from his own. Even the great Popish Agitator himself declared his abhorrence of the tyranny exercised over the conscience of Protestants, in compelling them to assist in performing Roman Catholic ceremonies. Into the motives of Mr. O'Connell, for thus exhibiting himself as the advocate of religious liberty, it is unnecessary to inquire; certain it is that he stated some of the strongest points of hardship, in the case of Messrs. Atchison and Dawson, with force, and added his testimony (of what value it is our readers must judge) to the fact of the duty which they were called to perform being of a RELIGIOUS and not of a MILITARY character; of its being of such a character as no Protestant could perform with a good conscience, unless his Protestantism was a name for in

difference to all religion! We cannot go further into this question at present, but we trust Mr. Plumptre and his friends will not let the matter rest where it does. The feeling of the HOUSE was strong and decisive on the oppressive character of the proceedings against Captain Atchison, and we cannot but trust that some redress will be afforded."

No such redress, however, has as yet been afforded to that unfortunate officer. The case has again and again been brought before Parliament, by the Earl of Winchelsea in 1834, and by Mr. Plumptre in 1835, but without any other success or advantage to the personal sufferer, than that of rendering his cause clearer and clearer, and the arguments of his too strong persecutors more and more palpably untenable and cruel.

66

Among these PERSECUTORS, we are first of all to reckon those HEADS of the ARMY and the ORDNANCE, who, it has been above stated, were 66 repeatedly memorialised" by Captain Atchison: and of these HEADS, it is to be noted, that it was more especially upon the representation of the then Master-general of the Ordnance * that these gallant officers were cashiered, for declining to join in, what they very justly considered, acts of gross idolatry:" also, in the report of the debate on the presentation of Captain Atchison's Petition to the House of Commons, Colonel Leith Hay stated, as an authority for the orders which were objected to, that "he recollected the Duke of Wellington assisting in Roman Catholic religious ceremonies at Salamanca."-(Record Newspaper, July 17, 1833.)

His Grace's principle of "EXPEDIENCY" is, indeed,

* Field-marshal the Duke of Wellington.