68 MEMOIR OF 



on the other, sapping the very foundations of 

 our noble Protestant Church, and creating a 

 widespread menacing cry for its disestabUsh- 

 ment, it may well be doubted if either the 

 cause of pure religion or the social welfare 

 of the country is likely to be benefited by 

 recent changes. 



For instance, there are clergymen amongst 

 us in the present day notoriously taking the 

 pay of one Church and doing the work of an- 

 other. Members they are of a secret society — 

 Jesuits, it may be, in disguise — who, with 

 " The Priest in Absolution " in one hand, and 

 a manual "for the young" in the other, are 

 inculcating the necessity of confession on 

 children at the tender age of six or six and 

 a half years ; thus soiling the infant mind with 

 the foulest suggestions, outraging the first in- 

 stincts of English nature, and, as Archbishop 

 Tait said, " conspiring " against the doctrine, 

 discipline, and practice of our Reformed Church. 



The hunting parson is, at least, no " con- 

 spirator ; " and if he stands true to the colours 

 under which he enlisted, conscientiously endea- 

 vouring to do his duty so far as light is given 

 him to do it, who shall cast a stone at him 

 for accepting the exhilarating and innocent 

 recreation which Nature has given him a taste 

 for, and which the charms of the country 

 invite him to enjoy? 



