directs them by his providence, that, whether | in his lonely dungeon at Babylon he sought prosperous or painful, they all promote the and found forgiveness of his sins. believer's good. "All things work together for good to them that love God." (Rom. viii. 28).

II. But the prophet adds, "Much more the wicked and the sinner." For, if the righteous, whose sins are pardoned through the blood of Christ, are yet dealt with in this life in judgment and mercy according to their conduct, good or bad,

much more shall the wicked and the sinner

meet with the recompence of their course, even in this life. Much more; because they are not pardoned: they have no interest in the redemption of Christ: they reject it: they have no desire to live a godly life: they hate it. They do not in any way desire or seek the glory of God. Their god is their belly: their glory is in their shame: they mind earthly things. Day by day, hour by hour, they provoke God to anger, and that without sorrow or remorse. If God does in this life visit upon those whose consciences are tender the consequences of their sins, much more will he visit them upon

But, if you feel that you must class yourself with "the wicked and the sinner," let this text remind you how vain it is for you to hope to escape the consequences of sin. You find them now already in a measure. You shall find them, alas! how fearfully! if you persist in impenitence and ungodliness. Whom is it you defy? The Lord, by whose goodness and long-suffering you live. Therefore, seek for pardon and mercy through Christ now. Believe that out of love for your soul he has come from heaven, and died to save you from the wrath of God; lest, amid disappointment and care, and the accusations of a guilty conscience, you learn by experience some of the horrors of hell even on this side the grave. For it has been remarked by an able and pious minister of Christ, "If they have two heavens who merit none, much more shall they have two hells who deserve both." While the unfailing word of a God of truth and equity declares, “Behold the righteous shall be recompensed on the ear:h; much more the wicked and the sinner."

ITALY AND ROME.

No. XXXIV.

"At Tara to-day, the strength of God pilot me, the power of God preserve me. May the wisdom of God instruct me, the eye of God watch over me, the ear of God hear me, the word of God give me sweet talk, the hand of God defend me, the way of God guide me; Christ be with me, Christ before me, Christ after me, Christ in me, Christ under me, Christ over me, Christ on my right hand, Christ on my left hand, Christ on this side, Christ on that side, Christ at back, Christ in the heart of every person to whom I speak, Christ in the mouth of every person who speaks to me, Christ in the eye of every person who looks upon me, Christ in the ear of every person who hears me. At Tara, to-day, I invoke the mighty power of the Trinity. Salvation is the Lord's: salvation is the Lord's: salvation is Christ's. May thy salvation, O Lord, be always with us."-ST. PATRICK

HIS "ARMOUR."

my

sixth century, to gather in the pagans into its fold, this festival was found in high favour in many countries. What was to be done with it ? Were they to wage war with it? No. This would have been contrary to the famous advice should meet the pagans half way, and so bring of pope Gregory I., that by all means they them in to the Roman church. The Gregorian policy was carefully observed; and so 'Midsummer-day,' that had been hallowed by paganism to the worship of Tammuz, was incorporated as a sacred Christian festival in the be determined, What was to be the 'name' of Roman calendar. But still a question was to this pagan festival when it was baptized and admitted into the ritual of Roman Christianity? If the name of Christ could not be conveniently tacked to it, what should hinder its being called by the name of his forerunner, John the Baptist? John was born six months before our Lord. When, therefore, the pagan festival of the winter solstice' had been consecrated as the birthday of the Saviour, it followed, as a have a festival at all, his festival must be at this matter of course, that if his forerunner was to very season, six months after the others. Now, for the purposes of the papacy, nothing could be more opportune than this. One of the many sacred names by which Tammuz, or Nimrod, was called, when he reappeared in the mysteries, after being slain, was Oannes.' The name of John the Baptist, on the other hand, in the sacred language adopted by the Roman church, was Joannes.' To make the festival of the alike, all that was needful was just to call it the 24th June, then, suit Christians and pagans festival of Joannes; and thus the Christian world supposed that they were honouring John the Baptist, while the pagan world were still worshipping their old god Oannes or Tammus. The fête of St. John begins exactly as the festal day of the pagan Oannes, or Baal. Thus the great summer festival of ancient Babylon is, at this very hour, observed in the papal church as the feast of the nativity of St. John. For this and all her other features Rome has not been unjustly styled, 'Baptized paganism"" (Hislop's "Two Babylons," 3rd edit., 1862).

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND HER ADVER"Mid-SARIES.-"In the governmental principles laid down for the conduct of the popedom, the pope is bound to persecute by the sword when it is in his power; to consider all kingly heretics as illegitimate, and to call in against them the aid of popish princes. There have been times when the pope has actually given away the kingdom of England to the French, the Spaniards, and the Normans. vast changes, both political and temporal, such Undoubtedly there would be as in the times of James II., were the pope to succeed in becoming master in England. But I hold popery 'from within' to be far more dangerous than popery 'from without.' It is the enemy which attacks the principle that constitutes the strength of the church of Christ, and of the church of England in particular: I mean the divine authority of the inspired word of God. Its ally in this onslaught is the infidelity of German rationalism'" (Merle D'Aubigné).

PAGANISM THE PARENT OF ROMANISM.
summer-Day. The feast of the nativity of St.
John is set down in the papal calendar for the
24th June, or midsummer-day. The very same
period was equally memorable in the Babylonian
calendar, as that of one of the most celebrated
pagan festivals. It was at midsummer, or the
summer solstice, that the month called in Chal-
dea, Syria, and Phoenicia by the name of "Tam-
muz,' began; and on the first day, that is about
the 24th June, one of the grand original festi-
vals of Tammuz was celebrated. So strong
was the hold that this festival, with its peculiar
rites, had taken of the minds of men, that even
when other days were devoted to the great
events connected with the Babylonish messiah,
as was the case in some parts of our own land,
this sacred season could not be allowed to pass
without the due observance of some at least of
its peculiar rites. When the papacy sent its
emissaries over Europe, towards the end of the

IRELAND.-Efforts of the Roman Church.-"To

upon

The more intelligent class will have a Douay
testament, and the sanction which the Irish pre-
lates once bestowed on that translation foils the
priest. For it cannot be too distinctly under-
stood that promiscuous lay-reading of the word
of God is as strenuously denounced by the priest
as any corrupt sin. You don't want this book,'
said a Romish clergyman: 'it's too deep for
you.' 'But, sir, will you not let me have my
own bible?' 'You are not able to understand
it.' 'Well, sir, I won't give you the book, I will
keep it.' 'You will not keep it, sir; give it to
me at once. As sure as I'm speaking to you,
you will die a protestant if you keep that book.'
Nothing could be more likely; yet it is singular
that such a prophecy should rise to such lips.
It is one of those involuntary homages to truth
that are the profoundest of all. Some years ago
an intelligent Roman-catholic, and a good Irish
scholar as well, was employed in translating
the New Testament into Irish, and with this
not unnatural result-that he left the church of
Rome. He soon after carried with him, by that
simple word of God, his father, an old man of
over seventy years, then his mother, and then
many others. It is a story that repeats itself
everywhere in the island. If in some places the
church of Rome tolerates the reading of the
book among her people, it is as the lesser of two
evils, and with no sympathy, and from her own
point of view rightly; for the reading of the
bible is not compatible with earnest Romanism.
It is compatible enough with nominal Roman-
ism. That very man's wife died lately in com.
munion with the church of Rome; and yet she
was a bible Christian, who had no faith but in
Christ Jesus. One of the most experienced and
thoughtful missionary clergymen in Ireland
declares that the class represented by such a
woman is much larger than we are prepared to
believe. And this indirect witness and power
of the bible is spreading underneath the show
of growth and conquest and the brave language
of ultramontanism" (Dublin: April, 1868. Cor-
respondence of the "British Messenger").

those who are not familiar with the country, the
transition from fenian trials and the deep-seated
discontent of which public men have spoken so
gravely, to a universal jubilee, and preparations
for a royal welcome to royal guests, must seem
unintelligible. To those who are, the infre-
quency of royal visits must seem equally unac-
countable. Much of the bitterness of the pre-
sent struggle would never have been evoked had
the simple remedy been tried of cultivating the
attachment of the people to the throne. What-
ever may be the issue of the great questions now
raised in Westminster, the relations and condi-
tion of protestantism in Ireland are certain to
be much modified, and the attention of all the
churches is fixed on the changes probable in
the future. Under these circumstances, the
pastorals of the church of Rome, usually abun-
dant and vigorous at this season, are almost
unheeded, and the policy of that church hangs
much in suspense. Recent statistics show the
latent vigour of Irish Romanism, the great im-
pulse it has received in this century, and the
little outward mark that protestantism has left
it. There are about 2,400 chapels in Ire-
land, 117 monasteries and 146 convents, about
- 2,500 parochial clergy, 550 monks, and 2,000
nuns. Few of these convents and monasteries
are older than fifty years, and close on 2,000 of
the chapels have been built within the century;
so that, including colleges, school-houses, paro-
chial houses, hospitals, and the like, it is reck-
oned that since 1800 the Romanists have spent
£6,000,000 upon their buildings. The mainte-
nance of all these, and the continuous building
of new chapels and monasteries, involve a very
large annual revenue. The twenty-eight bishops
receive an average income of over £500 a year
a piece: there are more than 1,000 parish priests
whose income is perhaps higher than that of
rectors in the established church, while the cu-
rates are certainly not worse paid than their
protestant brethren; and, if we include the
monks, we reach a sum of between £400,000 and
£500,000 a year. The Roman-catholic charities
are abundant, and it is estimated are supported
in Dublin alone at a cost of not less than
£70,000. The catholic university is sustained by
£8,000 a year; the various schools and colleges
require a very large sum; the repair and order
of the chapels are almost as large; and the total
annual income, including new buildings, cannot
well be less than £750,000. These are remarkable
figures, and worth consideration: they represent
the work of four millions and a-half of the
poorest part of the population: they show the
energy and strength of the system which holds,
four-fifths of the island; and they may lead to
some more patience with the protestant churches
in the slowness of their successes. The work
these churches are engaged in is vaster than is
commonly supposed-a work that is revealed by
indirect results much more than by direct; but,
if it has been and may be slow, it is also real,
and of a nature to encourage and not to dis-
courage. The church of Rome in Ireland sus-
pects in the bible its greatest enemy; and the
larger reading population and the freer circula-
tion of the bible suggests dangers against which
the priest is watching, but watching in vain.

THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS. In the lately published "Memoirs of Baron Bunsen," we find a letter from him to one of his sons, in which, referring to the well-known sermon of Dr. Pusey, published in 1843, the writer observes: "The day before yesterday appeared a work which will mark an epoch in the church history of England. July 9: In order to seize the connection clearly between the sermon and the commentary, place before your mind the simple question of the reformation. Is the Godhead-latens dictus-in the consecrated wafer, which by the consecration is made the present body? or is the bread and wine simply nothing, either before or after the prayer of consecration, except in and with the soul and body of the believing receiver-in which connection it may be termed the symbolical or substantial body, according to the school that affixes the term? Whosoever maintains the former (that the wafer is the present body)* is a Romanist, a servant of the mass.

*The holy Ridley, who sealed his repudiation of this dogma with his life-blood, denounces its falsity with an eloquence borrowed from his heavenly Master's own words, when he writes: "This carual presence is contrary to the word of

and is under the obligation to take all conse- unhappy man is thus left without any means of quences. But that is asserted everywhere in proving his innocence, or of defending his life, bethe sermon, just because without this assump-yond the hasty observations which his advocate, tion it is unintelligible. And why is this as- who is always appointed by the tribunal, may sumption at the bottom of the whole? Because be able to make on the evidence at the moment. instead of the living God and the eternal Word, It is by this barbarous code that the pope, who whose utterances are spirit and life, Dr. Pusey claims to be the high justiciary of the world, invests the priesthood, called by him 'the governs his subjects. But the grievance does church,' with a magic power to give or to re- not end there. Under the shadow of canon tain the blessing-therefore, to create the body law, there has sprung up a numerous crop of and to offer the sacrifice. This can be said in a inferior courts, of divers names and most exthousand different ways: it was also clearly ex- ceptional powers. These fill Rome, and cover pressed by Luther, when he wrote the principles the country, making the papal states but one of defence to be maintained in the expected legal jungle, tangled and thorny, in whose dark council: "The mass is the dragon's tail;' and it recesses lodge monsters, of various forms, who was God's judgment upon the unhappy Romanic prey upon the helpless and the unwary. Let us humanity, that the council in question confirmed take one instance out of many. If one's prothat expression of its prophetic opponent; for genitor, at some remote period-say three hunthe words of one of its decrees are: Missa est dred years ago-should have happened to besacrificium propitiatorium pro vivis et de- queath part of his goods for some pious purpose, functis: the precise inversion of the death of his heir of the present day is liable to be sumChrist is the propitiation for all mankind" moned before the house of St. Peter,' and (London: 23rd July, 1843). made to show cause why he should not pay the legacy of his ancestor. If, by rare good fortune, he is able to produce the receipt in full, he is, of course, released from the obligation; but, even in this case, he has to pay for the sentence absolving him. By another piece of legal machinery, a citizen may be declared incapable of managing his own affairs. In that case the task is kindly undertaken by the church, who, of course, expects a suitable remuneration for her pains. On the foundation of canon law are all rights held, as well as all causes decided. There is absolutely no civil code. The region

citizens, but church members. If they go to confession, and receive the sacrament, they have a right to their property, their liberty, and their life. If they fall out with the church, they lose all they are stripped of every right; they become outlaws; and nothing but speedy flight can save them from a prison or a scaffold.

66

ROME.-The Canon Law. The code by which the pope governs his kingdom is the canon law. This law consists of the bulls and decretals of the popes, which have been accumulating these thousand years, forming a tremendous array of contradictory statutes which fill several volumes. No human intelligence can master such a code. The most upright administrator must necessarily be much in the dark in applying it, while the unjust judge need never lack a pretext for oppression, nor a cover for wrong, in such a labyrinth of edicts. Besides, being the product is spiritually governed. Its subjects are not of the dark ages, whose ignorance, intolerance, and cruelty it faithfully reflects, this code claims to be the emanation of infallibility; and so the rights of conscience are but as dust in the balance when weighed against its tyrannical provisions. It enacts, in cases of sedition or treason, that the trial may take place before a commission nominated by the pope's secretary; ITALY.-Report of Progress.-A Florence corthat the process shall be secret, and that the respondent says: Probably something like accused shall not be confronted by the witnesses, half a million of bibles and testaments have nor even have their names made known to him. been sold or distributed in Italy since it was This code further provides that the accused may be examined in prison, and by torture. The open for their circulation in 1848. If the sale of the bible is now more languid than at first, God, as appeareth thus, I tell you the truth. It is profitable it is probably only because Italy is more nearly to you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter supplied up to its present educational ability to shall not come unto you.' Whom the heavens must receive read or understand it. Besides this bible circuuntil the time of restoring of all things which God hath lation, about three hundred and eighty books spoken.' The children of the bridegroom cannot mourn so long as the bridegroom is with them; but now is the time of and tracts have been printed and published by mourning.' 'But I will see you again, and your hearts shall the Claudean press, first at Turin and since at rejoice. I will come again, and take you to myself." If Florence. Within the last three years the they shall say unto you, Behold here is Christ, or there is number sold and circulated, of all sizes, have Christ, believe them not: for wheresoever the dead carcase is, been so many as four hundred and fifteen thou thither the eagles will resort.' It varieth from the articles of sand. This press, so called from Claude, the the faith: He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father, from whence (and not from any good bishop of Turin in the eighth century, is other place, saith St. Augustine) he shall come to julge both superintended by a committee of our countrythe quick and the dead.' It destroyeth and taketh away the men and of the Vaudois, and is employed chiefly institution of the Lord's-supper, which was commanded only by the London Tract Society. The committee If, therefore, he he now really present in the body of his flesh, here suggest the works, and superintend the translation and printing of such as the Tract then must the supper cease: for the remembrance is not of a thing present, but of a thing past and absent. And there is Society approve. Many of these publications a difference between remembrance and presence, and, as one have gone through several editions, especially of the fathers saith, a figure is in vain where the thing the works of Dr. De Sanctis, one of the profes figured is present."-H. S. sors of the Vaudois college, and an ex-priest of Rome. His work on "Confession" is now in its

to be used and continued until the Lord himself should come.

*The mass is a propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead.

sixteenth edition. A second edition of the "Purgatorio," of five thousand copies, was printed in 1864, and is now exhausted. His letter to Pius IX. reached its twentieth edition. His compendium of controversy is in its fourth edition. His almanac reached a circulation of eighty thousand yearly. The priests having got up rivals it has suffered, yet still maintains fifty thousand of a circulation. Rebetti's tract, entitled "Gli Italiani Sono Protestanti," in a few weeks ran through two editions of two thousand copies each. More than three thousand copies of an address by him, entitled "La Solusione Radicale della Romana Questione," were sold. The greater part of their publications are translations from the English, French, and German, and include such books as M'Crie's "Italy," D'Aubigné's "Reformation," the "Pilgrim's Progress," many of Spurgeon's sermons, &c. It is surely a great thing to know that the seed of God's word is thus being sown broadcast over Italy. This spring Gavazzi delivered a series of controversial lectures in the Vaudois church on the week-day and Sunday evenings. They were better attended than any lectures I have seen this winter in Florence. The hall was filled each night to overflow; and they seemed to listen with interest and approbation to his demolition of Romish errors.

CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, A' BECKET'S
SHRINE, &c. IN THE 15th CENTURY,

I ONCE more recur to Seebohm's "Oxford Re-
formers;" from which I borrow this lively and
instructive narrative.

"As they (Dean Colet and Erasmus) approach the city, the outline of the cathedral church rises imposingly above all surrounding objects. Its two towers seem to stand, as it were, bidding welcome to approaching pilgrims. The sound of its bells rolls through the country far and wide in melodious peals. At length they reach the city, and, armed with a letter of introduction from archbishop Warham, enter the spacious nave of the cathedral. This is open to the public, and beyond its own vastness and solemn grandeur presents little of mark, save that they notice the gospel of Nicodemus among other books affixed to the columns, and here and there sepulchral monuments of the nameless dead. A vaulted passage under the steps ascending to the iron grating of the choir brings them into the north side of the church. Here they are shown a plain ancient wooden altar of the virgin, whereupon is exhibited the point of the dagger with which St. Thomas's brain was pierced at the time of his murder, whose sacred rust pilgrims are expected most devoutly to kiss.

"In the vault below they are next shown the martyr's skull covered with silver, save that the place where the dagger pierced it is left bare for inspection: also the hair-shirt and girdle with which the saint was wont to mortify his flesh. Thence they are taken into the choir, to behold its treasures-bones without end, skulls, jaw-bones, teeth, hands, fingers, armsto all which the pilgrim's kiss is duly expected.

VENICE.-A letter from Father *** to one of his colleagues says: "I cannot but express my surprise at the numerous auditory which attended the evangelical service at which I was present: it was composed of all ages and classes. Brotherly love shone from all sides, and solemn silence was never broken: the gospel, and comments upon it, were listened to with earnest attention. O, my brethren, abstain from accusations: come to these meetings, and make yourselves acquainted with what these sectaries preach; after that, you will find it no longer in your hearts to persecute them, unless you are opposed to the truth and refuse to walk in its light." Seven hundred persons were present at the service referred to. Out of eighty catechumens who attended, not more than twenty were admitted as members of the congregation; the remainder requiring farther instruction in gospel truth. The rev. J. Palla, an ex-priest, was among those admitted. He made a public "Thence they are conducted up a flight of statement of the motives which had induced him steps into a chapel behind the high altar, and to renounce the errors of the papacy; and closed shown the face of the saint set in gold and with exclaiming: "How great the joy and hap-jewels. Here again Colet breaks in upon the piness of knowing Christ, hoping in Christ, living for Christ, and labouring in Christ's service !"

LEGHORN.--The Pelletier theatre has been converted into a church, and is now the second evangelical church in this city. M. Ribetti, its eloquent pastor, who had been indited by the attorney-general for the province for speaking of the pope in one of his lectures as "the pretended vicar of Jesus Christ," has been fully acquitted by the court of appeal at Lucca, as not having been guilty of any offence against the freedom of judgment guaranteed by the constitution. This verdict is considered of the highest importance for the friends of the gospel,

H. S.

“But Colet having had about enough of this begins to show tokens of dislike to kiss any more. Whereupon the verger piously shuts up the rest of his treasures from the gaze of the careless and profane. The high altar and its loads of costly ornaments next claim attention: after which they pass into the vestry, where is preserved the foot of St. Thomas, surrounded by a wonderful display of silk vestments and golden candlesticks.

dumb show with awkward bluntness. He asks the guide whether St. Thomas-á-Becket when he lived was not very kind to the poor? The verger assents. Nor can he have changed his mind on this point, I should think,' continues Colet, 'unless it be for the better.' The ver ger nods a sign of approbation; whereupon Colet submits the query whether the saint, having been so kind to the poor, when a poor man himself, would not now rather permit them to help themselves to some of his vast riches in relief of their many necessities, than let them so often be tempted into sin by their need. And, the guide still listening in silence, Colet, in his earnest way, proceeds boldly

to assert his own firm conviction that this most holy man would be, even delighted that, now