easily understand them; and so interesting, that the educated will feel pleasure in perusing them.

There are a variety of points touched upon in connexion with the Romish controversy, and we think it may prove useful to quote a few observations on these topics, as Protestants frequently need to be furnished with simple Scripture arguments, when brought into contact with intelligent

Romanists.

The idolatrous worship of the Virgin Mary is one feature of the apostate Romish faith.

At p. 24, we find the following observations on the second chapter of St. John:

"Let us notice in the whole history of Jesus the gradual retreat of Mary into the obscurity that belongs to her, and the gradual procession of Jesus into the glory that He had with the Father before the world was. This translation, What have I to do with thee?' I believe, is scarcely correct; but instead of accepting a softer translation, as the Romanists would have, it appears to me that it is susceptible of a much more decided one. It is not, What have I to do with thee?' but really, 'What hast thou to do with me?' That is the true rendering. The words are in the original, Ti époù Kai ooi; and according to the Greek idiom, the σoí is the leading pronoun; and therefore it ought to be, 'What hast thou to do with me?' not, 'What have I to do with thee?' Jesus had much to do with her; he had to wash her spirit in his precious blood, and to admit her, a poor sinner, to everlasting joy but she had nothing to do with Him in the way of helping Him. He must tread the winepress alone; of the people there must be none with Him: He must suffer alone, die alone, and so receive the glory alone; and as no one shared in his sorrows, none must share in his glory and exaltation."

In the fifth chapter, Dr. Cumming explains in a striking and interesting manner the injunction, "Search the Scriptures.'

P. 86

"I have already noticed that there was a dispute between the Protestant Church upon the one hand and the

Roman Catholic Church upon the other, whether the Greek verb for search ought to be translated in the present indicative, Ye search the Scriptures,' or in the imperative mood, Search the Scriptures.' In the Roman Catholic version, it is in the present indicative, Ye search the Scriptures;' in our version it is in the imperative, Search the Scriptures.' In the first it is the declaration of a fact; in the second it is the injunction of a duty. But I showed you that whether you take it in the one way or in the other, it cannot serve the purpose of the Romanist in asserting that the study of the Scriptures is not the duty of the laity; for if it be translated in the present indicative, then it is the declaration of a practice which our Lord sanctions, and which he justifies, and by which he says they may discover eternal life: and if it be the injunction of a duty, then it is an obligation upon all: either way it vindicates the blessed privilege rather than the sacred duty of searching that blessed book, which is the storehouse of the things that belong to our everlasting peace."

P. 88:

"Having seen thus far how we are warranted in interpreting this passage, I

notice the lessons that naturally flow from it. First, the expression here applied to the Bible The Scriptures'-is suggestive of a most precious truth. God's Word is not left to oral transmission, to traditional unfolding, but it is written. The word translated by us 'Scripture,' or in the plural, 'Scriptures,' means something written. To search, therefore, the Scriptures is not, listen to oral testimony, to ecclesiastical tradition, to Patristic opinion; but, search that which is written the Scripture. And it is a very blessed fact that the Scriptures are written. They are thus a stereotype. Our opinions may vary, like clouds about a mountain top, but the mountain top remains whether the clouds are resolved in showers, or deepen into greater mist and darkness. So this blessed book, being a fixture, remains. The commentaries of men very often are in collision, but the great and blessed fact remains, that God's Word, like himself, is immutable—it is a fixture-it is written."

Pp. 89 and 90:

"The passage shows that it was addressed to the laity, to all the people that were met together; some lawyers, some Pharisees, some publicans, and others; it implies that the laity, that is, Christian people, ought to have the Bible. One of the plainest lessons taught in the Bible, and the most difficult to escape, is that the Bible is for the laity. In the first place, the laity have souls to be taught; they need that book out of which they can be taught. In the second place, a layman is as capable of understanding plain and simple statement of fact, as the most educated clergyman. And in the next place, the laity are just as learned as are the clergy. And in the last place, every Epistle in the New Testament, except three, is addressed to the lay people, or to the Christian people, and not to the ministers at all. And therefore it is plain that the Christian people ought to have the Scriptures; for the command to search the Scriptures implies they previously had the book, or how could they search a book, that they had not in their own possession? And in the next place, the passage plainly teaches that the Bible is an intelligible book. If it be unintelligible, what use can there be in searching what we can never understand-what use of trying to go into a labyrinth that has no avenue that leads to open day? What is the use of reading a book that we cannot understand? The meaning of a book is to reveal something; the meaning of reading a book is to inform you of something; and if we are commanded to read this blessed book, surely there underlies the previous fact that the book is intelligible to those that will impartially and dispassionately read it?"

Pp. 91, 92:

"Let us, however, turn our attention to the main duty that is insisted on, namely, 'search." The word is extremely expressive. It denotes search for something you have lost. Search the earth for its Eden; search the ocean for its precious pearls; search amid all difficulty, in face of the greatest peril, for that which you believe and know to be most precious. Now, there is no earthly blessing at

tainable without toil; man does not earn his bread without labour. And why should we expect to have and receive truth without toil? It is right we should have the Bible, it is a privilege to be able to read it; but it is still a duty to search it, and to search it diligently till we find out the great and precious truths which relate to the salvation of the soul, to the glory of God, and the well-being of mankind. The word accordingly implies that you are to explore the sacred vo lume as the miner explores the earth for its seams of gold, as the diver descends into the deep for its precious pearls; not ceasing to search till you have discovered what God has promised to guide you to-his own blessed and well-beloved Son. Then, in the second place, when you search the Bible, search it to discover what the Bible was given to reveal. Search this book, to find out what God has revealed concerning you, your responsibility, your destiny, your hopes, your fears, all that you need to know as associated with that which is your duty, and that which leads to eternal life. In searching this book, you must search it to find out what is God's mind, not to find texts to prove your theory, or to vindicate your communion."

P. 93:

“You must not carry your creed to the Bible, and read the Bible in the light of your creed; but you must carry your creed to the Bible, and read your creed in the light of the Bible. You are not first to lay down a creed, and hunt up texts to support it; but you are first to open the Bible, and find what is written, and deduce your creed from what is written in that book, which ends all controversies, and settles all disputes. Remember that the Roman Catholic sin is, that he reads his Bible in the light of the Church, as he calls it, or of the fathers; but it is no less Roman Catholic to read your Bible in the light of the Thirty-nine Articles, or in the light of the Scotch Confession of Faith; it is just as Popish a practice. We are to read the Bible as God's Word, rejecting creeds and articles that contradict it; only thankful when we find that what we hold is supported and

volume."

Page 94:

"We must search this blessed book always in prayer. It is a great ordinance, that the wayfaring man who searches the Bible, and prays that the Spirit of truth may teach him its meaning, will never err therein; it is no less true that you may search the Bible from morning till night without prayer, and God will not suffer you thus savingly to understand it. It is part and parcel of his own law that you should read the Bible, but read it looking to him for light and direction to help you. And it is a blessed thought to us, that the Author of the book still lives; and that what is in the book which we do not understand, we may reverently ask the Inspirer of the book to make plain and unmistakeable to our minds."

It is indeed marvellous, that in the nineteenth century any argument should be required to prove the evil connected with conventual establishments; much less that it should be imagined, that the religion of our blessed Redeemer sanctions such a mode of life; yet superstition and bigoted ignorance assuredly prevail to a fearful extent; and we consider the following appropriate observations calculated to do much good. At pp. 348, 349, and 350, in the Commentary on the seventeenth chapter of John, we read,

·

"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. That is the prayer that is applicable to every true Christian. Christ does not pray that we may be taken out of the world; and every attempt to take ourselves out of the world is either monkish or suicidal ; that is, unscriptural and wrong. Christ's prayer is, that Christians while in the world may be kept from its evil, and be the lights of the world; that others, seeing their good works, may glorify their Father who is in heaven. We never ought to forget that our position is assigned us in Providence; and that we are not at liberty to leave that position any more than the soldier or sentinel is to leave the post that is assigned him; but in

do the duties that devolve upon us; and there, not elsewhere, to glorify our Father in heaven. And this verse seems to me to be utterly fatal to all conventual and monkish institutions. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world.' Ask a monk what explains his position. His answer will be, I was afraid of the world's sin; and therefore I came out of it, that I might worship God as I could desire;' that is his explanation of it. But is that compatible with our Lord's prayer-'I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world?' Supposing that a convent is extra mundane, out of the world, which is a very questionable thing, then to run out of the world to escape from the trials of the world, is to traverse and to contradict the very words of our Lord, that in the world we should remain, that we may be the lights, the blessings, and the benefactors of the world. Suppose that everybody were to have the monkish desire, what would be the result? That all the salt of the earth would leave it, and it would go to corruption; that all the lights of the world would be quenched, and it would be consigned to darkness. It does seem to me, that the better a man is, the more Christian a lady is, the more need the world has of them, not the more imperative it is upon him or her to go out of the world.

If you be Christians, you are just the very people that the world wants; and to go out of it is to do what God forbids. And if you be not Christians, to go into a convent to get Christianity is much worse, you may depend upon it, than continuing where you are. Where you are you may attain it, whither you will go you have no chance of getting it at all. It seems, therefore, obvious that the true duty of a Christian is to remain where Providence has placed him. If you are a soldier, you can serve God as a soldier; if you be a sailor, you can serve him as a sailor; if you be a Member of Parliament you can serve God there; if you be a tradesman, or a merchant, or a lawyer, or a physician, you can serve God thus. And you will find it invariably true, that the man who cannot serve God just

where he is, never would serve him better if he were where he would be. And very often, the wish to change our place in order to be religious, as it is called, is simply a lazy wish to get out of difficulties that we will not manfully grapple with, and to get into smoother water, where we think we shall have less trouble, under the pretence that we shall be more religious. The prayer is, 'Holy Father, keep

through thine own name those that thou hast given me. I do not pray that thou wouldest take them out of the world; but I pray that thou wouldest keep them from its evil,' whatever that evil is, the evil of the world."

We recommend these "Readings on St. John," to heads of families, for family worship on a Sunday evening.

PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION OF BIRMINGHAM.-SMETHWICK BRANCH.On the evening of Tuesday, July 17, J. B. Melson, Esq., M.D., of Birmingham, delivered, in the National School-rooms, Smethwick, a Lecture on Popery. Unavoidable causes prevented the attendance of John Henderson, Esq., of the London Works, and the Rev. T. G. Simcox, Vicar of Trinity Church, North Harborne, either of whom would otherwise have acted as Chairman. The Rev. T. Roper, Curate of Trinity Church, took the chair. The subject chosen by the Lecturer, was 66 Popery a Lie." He selected as the groundwork of his theme, the delineation of Antichrist as given by Paul, comparing it with the prophetic descriptions of Daniel and John. The Lecturer, in a series of passages characterized by great force and clearness, showed the striking application of that delineation, and those descriptions to the Heads which have successively ruled the Church of Rome; the large catalogue of her errors and foul atrocities, her direct antagonism, and ceasless hatred to Scriptural truth, were succinctly but ably descanted on, and the influence of her baneful doctrines. on her infatuated slaves depicted with great power. Those summoned by the Lecturer to tell the story of the Harlot Church's crimes were among the best, the brightest, of her sons, and truly out of her own mouth was she condemned. Thus was the probable imputation, that the

Lecturer took his facts from partial authorities, effectually anticipated and demolished. The Lecturer was heard with absorbing attention, and evoked an occasional outbreak of reprobation winever he quoted the blasphemies of her who is drunken with the blood of the saints. The Lecturer concluded with pointed advice as to the necessity of close and strong union among Protestants in resisting the aggressive efforts of Rome. At the close of the Lecture a Meeting was announced to be held in the same place on Monday evening, the 30th July.—From a Correspondent.

SPAIN. RIDICULOUS EXPOSE.-It is to be feared the faith of Spain is on the decline. A Madrid letter says:"An extraordinary thing has just occurred. It has been stated that the Pope, in return for the magnificent tiara enriched with diamonds presented to him by the Queen, had sent to her Majesty the skeleton of St. Felix the Martyr; but it turns out that the relics of the same St. Felix the Martyr already exist in the church of Saint Mary, in the town of Arcos, in Andalusia."

FLORENCE.-DECLINE OF POPERY IN FLORENCE.-It is stated on good authority that no less than five thousand individuals in Florence have failed to come forward at the Easter communion. Before Easter, the priests visit every house, and leave a ticket to be given in when the person receiving it confesses and communicates. accurate register is kept, so that the

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