TO HIS GRACE

THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.

MY LORD ARCHBISHOP,

I feel that if I were to bring this volume before the world as an attempt to illustrate the religion of God and the Wisdom of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and as an exponent of the feelings of one half of the British race, without a dedication to your Grace, the acknowledged head of the British Churches, and the chief representative of the National religion of the country,—I should be wanting in courtesy, both to the dignity of your office and to the elevated position which you occupy in the community; I therefore beg to present the volume to the favour and attention of your Grace, and in so doing I have the honour to be,

My Lord Archbishop,

Your Grace's

Most obedient humble servant,

A CHRISTIAN.

PREFACE.

It has been asked by five millions of Britons, each of them of sufficient age to know his right hand from his left

Can we really be religious without going to church? Can a man not be a Christian without going to a place of public worship?

When I was a youth, I also repeatedly asked this question, but without finding any one to give me an answer in any way sufficient to satisfy my mind. I determined therefore, to find an answer for myself, and not to be satisfied till I had gone through all the circumstances and bearings of the question. Thousands of my countrymen desire a solution of this question, without either the disposition or the means of pursuing the same course to arrive at an answer. These I have no doubt will feel some interest in the perusal of the following papers. While they may not be without their use to others, as an humble attempt to give the world an explanation of the origin, nature, and consequences, of the greatest social phenomenon of our age.

The religious observance of the Sabbath by no means results from the appointment of the rest of the seventh