debauchery, to rule and intimidate, -to lie and deceive,-to dishonour and seduce, and commit all kinds of evil in peace and security. . . ."

"O Lord, arise! it is not so with us as the Papists pretend; thou hast not forsaken us, neither are thine eyes turned away from us."

"THE SPIRIT OF HIS MOUTH." INDEPENDENT CATHOLIC CHURCH. -We understand there is a movement in this city to establish an independent Catholic Church, in accordance with the avowed principles of the Reformation now in progress in Germany. A city German paper contains a call for a pastor of a new Catholic Church. It is understood that the subscribers to this church are numerous, and the main object of their Association is the establishment of a Catholic Church, Independent of the Pope and Bishops.-Cincinnati Gazette.

Though the errors of Popery have been exposed a thousand times in the most cogent and unanswerable manner, the system still stands green and flourishing, putting forth vigorous branches, and bearing plentifully the fruit of death: and, doubtless, it will continue to outlive all that man can do for its overthrow, until the Lord see meet to blow upon it with the breath of his mouth, when like a hollow tree, or a house built on sand, it will fall, and great will be the fall thereof.

Some indications of this fall are already perceptible, and, like most of the Lord's doings, they come from an unexpected quarter. Not through the instrumentality of Evangelical or Protestant Societies, or from the world's Conventions against Popery the glory, in these cases, might have been, to some extent, ascribed to man -but through the instrumentality of a previously unknown German priest. Do we, therefore, undervalue the other means? Surely not.

They have been blessed in the enlightenment and conversion of many souls, and thus have the seal of God's approbation; and even though they had never been the means of converting

one, it is not the less our duty to preach the Gospel to every creature. But we mean to exalt the glory of God as much as lies in our feeble power, by calling attention to the fact, that he still employs the weak things of the world to confound the strong, yea, things that are not to bring to nought things that are!

We are led to these reflections by reading the foregoing paragraph in a newspaper from Cincinnati. Where the Church of Rome had, with extraordinary pains, and at enormous expense, created a stronghold of Popery-a centre of influence-a perfect metropolis of power, from which to subdue and govern, the immense valley of the Missisippi. Against the progress of Romanism in the West, Home Missionary, American Protestant, Tract, Bible, Sabbath School, and a host of other Societies, have for years directed their unwearied energies without making any perceptible impression. But lo! the Lord only breathes upon it, and the fabric begins to crumble away from among the very fingers of the Pope and the Propaganda.-Montreal Missionary Record.

SLOWLY AND STEADILY ON

WARD.

OUR Puritan fathers never acted in a hurry, nor with a view to temporary good. They acted on broad, general principles; they laid their foundations deep and strong; they waited patiently for the fruits, and the fruits came; and when they did come, they were worth the having. So must we do, if we would make any real progress, or even retain the characteristic excellences of the Puritan race. This is the policy of our opponents, the Romanists, and it is a wise policy, and they pursue it with an energy and a perseverance, which, if they only had the truth on their side, would make them irresistible.

The men that are needed, are not men who do things with a flash, and then leave all things darker than before; but men who can look far a-head, men who can form and carry out large views; men who, for Christ's sake, are willing to labour amid ob

scurity, and hardships, and privation, when they know all the while that they would at any moment better their worldly lot by quitting the field. When I was a boy, and lived in Massachusetts, Caleb Strong was the Federal candidate for Governor, and his party were accustomed to placard on the walls and posts in every direction, A long pull, a Strong pull, and a pull altogether." Now this is just what we want for the West: A long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether; and it is only such men as are capable of helping at such a pull, that we can make good use of in the great struggle between truth and error now going on, and thickening around us.

DIVISION THE WORK OF

JESUITISM.

THE secret agency of the dispensed Jesuits had done wonders in splitting into hostile factions the lovers of God's truth in England; and their regular brethren were pointing to this work of their own order here as well as on the Continent, with fiendish exultation; and shouting, to the extent of their voices, to astonished and believing Europe, "Behold the fruits of Protestantism." The order itself, now largely increased in numbers,

ever, without a sprinkling of ardent enthusiastic dupes of other countries, who, lured by the prospect of the crown of martyrdom, offered themselves voluntarily to share the perils and the glories of the enterprise. For the worldly-wise and crafty rulers of the order knew well the value and importance of the religious fanaticism which had inspired their founder, and were profoundly skilled in the arts of exciting and directing it in their pupils. Trained from early youth to the implicit unhesitating submission of the understanding and conscience in all things to the will of the superior, their alumni cared for no dogmas in religion, save those parts of the Romish system which are controverted by Protestants, and acknowledged no religious duties, save those of stirring up the English Papists to rebellion, and the reduction of England to the obedience of the Papacy. Many of the seminarists had found their way to England already; a still larger body was now at the disposal of the conspirators. From the "Hidden Works of Darkness, or the Jesuits of Ancient and Modern Times," by W. Osburn, Esq., now nearly ready as one of the special series of the Protestant Association.

to the extent of its immense resources for the recovery of England. The English seminaries (splendidly supported by the English Catholics) were theirs. Five of these were already established, and the number of them was increasing continually. The professors of these seminaries were the most eminent men that the order afforded: so they had already acquired a high and deserved character as seats of learning, and were the resorts for education, of nearly the whole of the younger branches of the Catholic nobility and gentry of England; for secular as well as clerical studies were pursued by the students. The clerical students at these seminaries were all candidates for the English Mission. They consisted mainly of English refugees for religion, not, how

HIS ROMANIST FATHER BEFORE THE PRIEST.

A YOUNG man, R. D., one of the pupils in our Institute, at Belle Riviere, went, a short time ago, to visit his parents at L- His father, although troubled himself by many doubts, thought the religion of his son to be false. R., in despair of convincing his father, who was apprehensive of some mistake in the statements and proofs that were urged upon him, proposed to him that they should go together and see the priest. The father consented, and they went. The priest had just finished saying his mass, and was still in the sacristy. Father-Sir, I bring you my son, that should you prove to him that his religion is false.

Priest.-Oh, look here M. D., it

cannot be proved to him-it is impossible these people do not believe anything.

R-I beg your pardon, Sir. For instance, if you would just show me in the Gospel something like "Confess your sins to a priest," I should confess immediately?

Priest (to the father).-See what he asks now! When they have once listened to that they stick to it, and they will not desist. Tradition is necessary to prove them that, for the Gospel is not complete?

R. That is not true.

Priest. Do not insult me.

> R. No, Sir, I did not come either to insult you or to be insulted; I only wish that you should prove to me, from the Gospel, what I have asked you? shoot

Priest The Gospel! Nobody can understand it, or rather it could not be understood until the Fathers had explained it. t

R. You say that we need the fathers and the theologians? Priest.-No doubt.

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Priest.-Go away.

RBut that will not prove that we ought to confess to a priest. There is no other confession but that of St. Peter.v

Priest. Leave there your St. Peter! (Turning himself towards the father.) It is 1800 years since we told them the same thing, and they will not believe any thing. Protestantism is no religion. Every religion must have a priesthood and a sacrifice, and you have neither priesthood nor sacrifice?

R.-What do you think that the priesthood of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice is nothing?

Priest. It is 1800 years since this sacrifice is over.

R. But what does St. Paul say to the Hebrews ? Does he not say, That Jesus Christ is Priest for ever; that his priesthood cannot be inherited by others; that He is sitting at the right hand of God, his father, able to save those that approach God through him, being ever alive to intercede for them; and that having offered himself once in sacrifice, he has consecrated, for ever, such as are sanctified."

Priest. You are in existence only a few days, and yet you speak of the "sacrifice of Jesus Christ "

R. But is not the Gospel the word of God?

Priest. Go away, as I told you already. (To the father) They are a set of ignorant people that do not understand anything. You ought not to admit your son into your house.

R.I see what a successor of an apostle you are, Sir.

a

Priest. What do you say? What successor of the apostles I am.

R. Yes, Sir. Have the apostles taught the fathers to turn their chil

dren out of their houses?

Priest. Go away; leave this place. The Priest went to open the door. While the young man was going out, he addressed him in these words, "Remember, Sir, that at the day of judgment, you will have to give account before God for your contempt of his Holy Word."

When the father came to the church with his son, the Canadians that saw them exclaimed, he takes his son to confession, and came eagerly to witness it. Many heard the discussion. The father, especially, was very much astonished, that the priest he had thought so much of had not been

able to convince his son, hardly more than a boy, of the truth of the Roman religion. He went all through the market, and told the people of the embarrassment of the priest, and of the victorious assurance of his son, whom he believed to possess the true religion.

The next day, Sabbath, the priest preached, spoke of the Bible, which he compared to a book of medicine, that people cannot understand; and as it is dangerous to compose remedies and help one's self from the directions of such a book, so it is dangerous to read the Scriptures, to make one's creed out of them, and to conform one's life to their directions. However, added he, alluding to Protestants, they are good people, but you must not hear them when they talk religion.

DEATH OF POPE GREGORY XVI. From the " Tablet.")

AND yet how weak is the faith of man; or rather, how weak is our faith. For with all the encouragements to hope presented by the events of the last fifteen-or, say, of the last fiftyyears, we cannot strain our eyes into the darkness of the time to come without trembling for the result. The stake is so great; the human instruments so feeble; the danger so immediate and so pressing.

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On Thursday-the great Feast of the Body of our Lord-the Conclave of Cardinals was to meet in order to choose a successor to the defunct Pontiff. Let us hope that the assembling on this day is something more than a happy omen or a fantastic anticipation. Around this Conclave swells and surges a huge ocean of temporal intrigue. Now, at this moment, the Church is (as it were) in the hands of those very men who carried off Christ bound to Pilate.

Temporal sovereignty oppresses her. The power of civil despotism holds her in chains. At this solemn crisis we feel bitterly that the Church is not free that her hands are in manacles; that she has fallen into the grasp of cruel harpies who are her enemies. Even now they hover about her; obstruct the freedom of her action;

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deny her that privilege which in England every dissenting seet enjoys; and impose upon her assembled princes a despotism which it was vainly sought to inflict upon Ireland, and which Ireland would not have endured even if rebellion had been the consequence of her refusal-we mean the Veto.

What makes this Veto, perhaps, less dangerous in practice makes it, however, more dishonourable in appearance. Four states have nominally the power of insulting the Church, by interposing their sacrilegious hands upon the free exercise of its lawful prerogative-Austria, France, Spain, and Portugal. We ask, why do they not add Russia and England? Shortly, we suppose, there will be war in Europe, or threats of war, to determine whether this Protectorate of the Church shall receive the extension we suggest. Of these four powers, Spain is not in the enjoyment of intercourse with the Holy See, and so blessedly forfeits its wrongful right. Portugal, it is thought, is too weak to presume upon the right. Through France, ruled by Deists and Heretics of all kinds, the Devil exercises one veto upon the choice of God's Vicar. Through Austria which has enslaved the Church after her own fashion, basely plays the part of minion to the Northern Antichrist, and keeps the victims of his devilish tyranny in prison, lest their loud words should help still further to blast the character of the tyrant—the Devil exercises a second vetoes

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Let the Catholics of this empire, those of America, and of all the world, know that the Church, in the election of their Spiritual Ruler, is the vassal of Austria and France-that they, in this particular, are the vassals of Austria and France! How long shall this disgraceful anomaly continue ? Is it said to be part of the Law of Nations? We know not the exact ground upon which the abusive prac tice is based, but we think that before long the Law of Nations will have to be altered in this particular. The freedom of the Church is a higher thing than any pretended sections of a law which force has imposed upon her. It must, and, please God, will, be altered and repealed.

224MISCELLANEOUS. THE BIBLE TRIUMPHING OVER INFIDELITY. It is within the recollection of many, that in the year 1792, on the Continent of Europe, the most desperate and the most deliberate effort was made to crush Christianity once for all. The most celebrated Infidels, Voltaire, and Diderot, and de Lambert, and Hume, and Rousseau, and others corresponded together; and the maxim they adopted was, "Crush the wretch," meaning the Lord Jesus Christ, the Divine founder of Christianity. They composed the most elaborate productions, penned the most subtle and ingenious essays; and they were so successful that (Be astonished, O heavens and wonder, O earth!) they actually got an inscription written on the altars and temples of Paris, "No God!" and they got written upon the graves, beneath which the bodies of the martyrs lay, "Death is an eternal sleep"--and proud philosophy, as if to illustrate, by a living example, the close connexion between the Infidel and the fool, fell down and worhipped an infamous woman as "the Goddess of Reason:" whilst all France rang with the tocsin of congratulation, "Now Christianity is entombed, the Bible is destroyed, the Gospel is for ever overthrown!" But was it so? Far from it. What they imagined to be the tombstone of the Gospel, was the platform of its noblest and its most glorious triumphs; for at that very moment the Missionary Societies started into existence; The Tract Society and the Bible Society appeared as if in answer to a celestial impulse; and an effort was made by believers to disseminate the Gospel, the most unparalleled in the history of Christendom. It seemed as if Christianity, like the palm-tree, shot forth its boughs the more beautifully and extensively, the greater the pressure that was placed upon its roots. Oppressed Christianity rose and swept wide Europe with the speed and splendour of an angel's flight, and so successful have been the efforts then called forth, that the very printing press which Voltaire employed at Ferney, for the printing of his Infidel books, is now, or was lately, employed in the printing of Bibles; the very

house where Gibbon lodged in Geneva, and out of which he sent forth his dazzling speculations, attributing to second causes the work of the first Great Cause, came to be occupied by a branch Bible Society; and the very house at Edinburgh where David Hume lived, and wrote, and died, without God, and without Christ, and without hope in the world, became also a branch depository of the Edinburgh Bible Society.* The clever Infidels of France and Britain learned the lesson themselves, and taught it to Christendom in their utter discomfiture, that "there is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord."

Upwards of 100,000l. has been raised within the last two years and a half, by the Congregational Union, for educational purposes.

Six thousand pounds have been voted by the Legislature of Jamaica for the building of churches, a portion of which has been set apart for the building of schools.

SYRIA.-Jerusalem.-A riot occurred in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, at Jerusalem, on Good Friday, between the priests of the Greek and Latin Churches. The Latin Fathers repaired in procession to Golgotha, to adore the cross; the Greeks had, however, previously obtained possession of the chapel, and denied them admittance. After some altercation, the two parties came to blows, and the Governor of Jerusalem at length interfered to preserve peace, and ordered a Turkish regiment to clear the place!!

The Emperor of Russia has published a Ukase, ordering all the Jews in Russia to place themselves, before January 1, 1850, in one of the four following classes:-1. Among the burgesses of a town, by the purchase of a piece of land or a house. 2. In a corporation of artizans, after having given the proof of ability required by the law. 3. In one of the three corporations of traders; or 4, In the grand body of tillers of the earth, whether on their own property or under a proprietor. Such Jews as

* See the Rev. Dr. Cumming's Sermons, from which mainly these details are

taken.