Cast down the superstructure, unsightly in its appearance and appalling in its consequences and the foundation, being based on reason and Eternal Love, will be found to be of God, and for good to all. The labour is one in which all are called to unite, who are anxious for man's happiness and their Creator's glory. But never will it be thoroughly effectual, whilst men profess in public, what they scorn in private, or uphold, by their countenance and influence, what they deprecate and denounce as "fruitful causes of insanity."

Dr. Burrows, in the extract which is given in the Report of the Directors of the Glasgow Lunatic Asylum, attributes the increase of "the victims of insanity," mainly to "the overweening zeal with which it is attempted to impress on youth the subtile distinctions of theology, and an unrelenting devotion to a dubious doctrine. This practice is an alarming error. It is growing to an excess fatal to the preservation of intellectual sanity, and in a manner especially dangerous to the rising generation." The Directors have quoted this passage with seeming approbation. I believe there are Clergymen, or at least persons of influence, of the Established Church of Scotland, among the Directors. And, surely, they must know, that if it be an evil which is pointed out by Dr. Burrows, it is an evil of far less less fearful magnitude in England than in Scotland. If I could hope, that this portion of the Report was an indication of the purpose of the Directors, to stay, to the utmost of their power, as patrons and directors of schools, the "practice" of this " alarming error," I should hail it as one of the brightest signs of improvement for "the rising generation." They must have heard of "the Mother's Catechism for the young child," and of the Father's Catechism also, to say nothing of "The A B C, or Shorter Catechism of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster." They must know, that one or all of these, are instilled not only into the mind of "youth," but even of infancy-the steps by which the child ascends the ladder of learning. They must know, that the language addressed to infants, "in order to their easier understanding of the Assembly's, Shorter Catechism," is "You may see graves of your own length, and skulls of your own size, in the church-yard, and hell fire will burn green trees as well as old stocks. Oh, then, would you be saved from hell, and be happy for ever?

Flee from the Devil and sin, to our Lord Jesus Christ, your Saviour." The Directors must know, that in the Highland Schools, it is recommended in one Report, that if the weather be bad, the children should not be taken to Church, but that in the school-room Boston's Fourfold State, and other similar works, should be read to them. And knowing all this, and coupling these matters with the statements of their Report, I trust they will see the consistency, when they rejoice that "the schoolmaster is abroad," of providing that his instructions be more in accordance with common sense, truth, and Scripture-better adapted to preserve pure hearts and sane minds; having already, by virtue of this Report, acknowledged, that the present mode "ought not so to be."

The Directors might have found stronger corroboration for their opinions on the "fruitful causes of insanity," in Mr. Haslam's "Observations on Madness and Melancholy," and in Dr. Cox's "Practical Treatise on Insanity." It is testimony which cannot be suspected, for Dr. Cox was of the sect of Particular or Calvinistic Baptists. His means of information, too, were extensive, being Physician to the Lunatic Asylum near Bristol; and Dr. Mason, who is mentioned in the extract I am about to make, was his relation, as also his predecessor in that Institution. "My experience," Dr. Cox observes, "has furnished many unhappy instances, in which the misplaced, injudicious zeal of preachers, has induced hypochondriasis; in others, insanity of the most incurable species, and moping melancholy, often terminated by suicide. Professors of this description, with the very best intentions, too frequently make no allowance for the peculiarity of natural disposition, and impute to serious conviction and celestial influence what more properly belongs to incipient disease, or the agency of certain moral and physical causes. Nothing is more calculated to depress hope and induce despondency, than the indiscriminate practice of minutely describing, in the most glowing colours, the effects and consequences of sin, the horrors of hell, and the sufferings of the damned, dwelling on the judgments more than on the mercy and the goodness of the Deity. And I remember to have heard Dr. Mason deeply lament this tendency, in what he termed 'the terrors of the Gospel."" That the Gospel, as interpreted by Calvin, has this tendency, facts as well as the preceding authorities oblige me to conclude.

But I bless God, there is no such tendency in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Its pure and hallowed teachings, its merciful and benevolent spirit, tend to enlighten not darken the mind, to elevate not depress the spirit, to expand not contract the heart. Holiest aspirations to the all-gracious Father, fervent devotedness to the good of man, not melancholy, madness, and despair, are its soul-cheering, thoughtdignifying, all-blessed fruits. Christian Unitarian! yours are "the consolations of that quiet and soothing faith, which has given peace to Christians in all ages.' Prize your mercies. May gratitude to your Maker lead diffuse the blessings which make you happy. Compassionate the sorrows and the misery from which you have escaped. Stand fast to your profession without wavering. ARGUS.

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Religious Denominations of Glasgow.

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DR. CLELAND, the able and active Superintendent of Public Works, in this City, has just issued a printed statement on 66 Glasgow Statistics:-Population, and Church Accommodation," from which we thankfully avail ourselves of the following information. It will be interesting, we think, to many, if not all of our readers, bringing them acquainted with the origin and progress of some sects peculiar to Scotland, whose names occasionally occur on our pages. From this paper, we learn, that in 1740, the population was 17,034; sittings in the Establishment 7400-Dissenters 400. In 1780, the population had increased to 42,832; the sittings in the Establishment amounted to 14780-and among the Dissenters to 8101. In 1821, the population was 147,043; sittings in the Establishment 24,748-Dissenters 32,397. And in 1830, the population is considered to be 217,534; sittings in the Establishment 30,928—and Dissenters 42,497.

"In 1830, there are 81 places of Worship in the City and Suburbs, viz. Established Churches 12; Chapels connected with the Establishment, including the Seaman's Chapel at the Broomielaw, 13; Old Dissenters 1; United Secession Church 8; Original Seceders 1; Original Burgher Seceders 2; Relief Church 8; Independent Relief 1; Society of Friends 1; Scotch Episcopal Communion 2; Gælic Episcopalians 1; Roman Catholics 2; Chapel for Military 1; Old Independents 1; New Independents 2;

Gælic Independents 1; Glassites 1; Baptists 7; Bereans 1; Methodist 5; Unitarians 1; Universalists 1; Jews 1; Swedenborgians, or the New Jerusalem Congregation 1; Ranters 1; Splits from the minor Sectaries 5; these last are exclusive of a small knot of Freethinkers, Infidels, or Deists, which meets occasionally."

Episcopal Church in Scotland.-Soon after the Reformation in 1560, the Presbyterian form of Religion was established in Scotland by law, but certainly not on a firm foundation; for from 1572 to 1592, Episcopacy obtained in the church. From 1592 to 1610, it was strictly Presbyterian. From 1610 to 1638, it was again Episcopalian. In 1638 it resumed the Presbyterian form. In 1662, it became a third time Episcopal, and remained so till the Revolution in 1688, when the Presbyterian form was permanently fixed. Though deprived of their temporal honours and privileges at the Revolution, the bishops and clergy of the Episcopal communion continued to exercise their spiritual powers for the benefit of that part of the church which had been committed to their charge; and having sworn allegiance to James VII. conceived that it could never be dissolved but by his death; they, therefore, refused to take the oaths of allegiance and assurance to King William, and, afterwards, the oath of abjuration, from which circumstance they were known for about a century, by the appellation of Nonjurors. Some relaxation of the severities with which the Nonjurors were treated under King William, was, however, granted them by Queen Anne, and an Act of Parliament was passed in 1712, To prevent the disturbing of those of the Episcopal communion in Scotland, in the exercise of their religious worship, and in the use of the Liturgy of the Church of England.' In consequence of this indulgence, public chapels, which till then had been prohibited, were built, and in several places well frequented.

"The same principles which had influenced the Nonjurors to withhold their allegiance from King William and Queen Anne, would not allow them to transfer it to a new family, clogged as it was by so many oaths, especially that of the abjuration. At the Rebellion in 1715, certain restraints were laid on their public worship, which, however, were not of long duration, nor very severe. Another attempt having been made to reinstate the Stuarts on the throne of their ancestors, at the Rebellion in 1745, pro

hibitory Acts were passed in 1746 and 1748. Upon the clergy, those rigorous laws were not long rigorously executed; but in as far as they affected the political privileges of the laity, they were kept in full force for forty-four years.

"On the death of the late Prince Charles Edward in 1788, the situation which his brother, the Cardinal York, still held in the Church of Rome, precluding him from sitting on the throne of his ancestors, the bishops and clergy of this church thought themselves at full liberty to offer their dutiful allegiance to the Sovereign on the throne. Their tender of loyalty was very graciously received, and, on application to Parliament in 1792, the penal laws that had been enacted against them were wholly repealed, and the Scotch Episcopalians effectually tolerated. For upwards of a century, the Scotch Episcopal clergy did not subscribe any regular system of Christian principles. They were only required at their ordination to profess their belief in the Scriptures, as containing every thing necessary to salvation, through faith in Christ. This practice continued till 1792, when, by the Act of Parliament already alluded to, they were required to subscribe the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, which they unanimously and heartily agreed to, and subscribed them in a General Convocation, called for that purpose, and holden at Laurencekirk, in the county of Kincardine, on the 24th October, 1804.

(To be Concluded in our next.)

THE CHRISTIAN PIONEER.

GLASGOW, March 1, 1830.

"THE BIBLE CHRISTIAN." In our 40th Number, we announced, with pleasure, the forthcoming of this periodical. It appeared in February. It will be conducted, we understand, by able and intelligent individuals who have separated, or rather who have been driven out, from the Synod of Ulster, on the ground of Christian freedom. We wish them God speed. As we have some little knowledge of the difficulty of drawing up a Prospectus, we would not be captious on such a matter; and had it not been inserted in the first Number of the Work, we