That there has been an increase of religious instruction since the revolution can admit of no question. The English Church was originally the established religion: the character of the clergy that above described. Of other sects there were but few adherents, except the Presbyterians who predominated on the W. side of the Blue Mountains. A little time previous to the Revolutionary struggle the Baptists sprang up, and made a very rapid progress. Among the early acts of the Republican Legislature, were those abolishing the Religious establishment, and putting all Sects at full liberty and on a perfect level. At present the population is divided, with small exceptions, among the Protest: Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the Baptists & the Methodists. Of their comparative numbers I can command no sources of information. I conjecture the Presbyterians & Baptists to form each abt. a third, & the two other Sects together, of which the Methodists are much the smallest, to make up the remaining third. The old churches built under the establisht. at the public expence; have in many instances gone to ruin, or are in a very dilapidated State, owing chiefly to a transition of the flocks to other worships. A few new ones have latterly been built particularly in the towns. Among the other sects, Meeting Houses have multiplied & continue to multiply; tho’ in general they are of the plainest and cheapest sort. But neither the number nor the stile of the religious edifices is a true measure of the State of religion. Religious instruction is now diffused throughout the Community, by preachers of every Sect with almost equal zeal, tho’ with very unequal acquirements; and at private houses & open stations as well as in buildings appropriated to that use. The qualifications of the Preachers too among the new Sects where there was the greatest deficiency, are understood to be improving. On a general comparison of the present & former times, the balance is certainly & vastly on the side of the present, as to the number of religious teachers, the zeal which actuates them, the purity of their lives, and the attendance of the people on their instructions. It was the universal opinion of the Century preceding the last, that Civil Govt. could not stand without the prop of a Religious establishment, & that the Xn religion itself, would perish if not supported by a legal provision for its Clergy. The experience of Virginia conspicuously corroborates the disproof of both opinions. The Civil Govt. tho’ bereft of every thing like an associated hierarchy possesses the requisite Stability and performs its functions with complete success: Whilst the number, the industry, and the morality of the priesthood & the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the Church from the State.