the most active, enterprising, and energetic race on the face of the globe. The amazing moral power of England can scarcely be conceived. In mere physical power, though even that point may be doubtful, other countries may equal or exceed her; but in the influence that she carries as fixing and determining public opinion, which in the end is almost sure to carry the day, no continental nation can approach her. The opinions and actions of a free people must always possess a strength before which despotism grows pale. Now, to crush this moral power, to stamp out this liberty of thought and action, and reduce our free England to slavery and serfdom, is the grand aim of Rome. That this is no visionary dream of ours, but the deliberate intention of Rome and her agents, the following extracts from the words of Dr. Manning, the Romish Archbishop and successor of Cardinal Wiseman, will plainly show:

"If ever there was a land in which work is to be done, and perhaps much to suffer, it is here. I shall not say too much if I say that we have to subjugate and subdue, to conquer and rule an imperial race; we have to do with a will which reigns throughout the world, as the will of old Rome reigned once; we have to bend or break that will which nations and kingdoms have found invincible and inflexible. Were heresy (i.e., Protestantism) conquered in England, it would be conquered throughout the world. All its lines meet here, and therefore in England the Church of God must be gathered in its strength."-Tablet (a Roman Catholic paper), August, 1859.

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Now, the question is, whether we, as Englishmen, as Protestants, as Christians, should fold our hands and let Rome thus have her will? Is it our duty to lay our necks humbly under her feet, and tamely let her advance onward till she has thoroughly subjugated and subdued' us? We well know, from the whole of her history, what subjugation and subjection to her mean-that it signifies trampling on all our civil and religious liberties, shutting up our chapels, burning our Bibles and our bodies too, if she can get the power."

The learned writer then proceeds to combat a subject of the very gravest importance; and we pray our readers to consider well what he

says:

"But it may be said, 'Should religious people, those who profess above all things to make vital godliness their chief aim, the end and object of their life, interfere with these political matters? Should they not abstain from meddling with politics altogether?' Unhappily, it is not a political matter. It is a mighty struggle whether truth or error, liberty or slavery, light or darkness, the worship of God or of idols, the Bible, or the massbook, conscience or the priest, Christ or Antichrist, shall reign and rule in this land. The calamity which such men as Mede, Fleming, Bunyan, Gill, and Huntington have declared would come to pass now seems to be rapidly accomplishing.

"It may be God's will to give us up into the hands of our enemies. For our sins as a nation, for our abuse of the greatest privileges that any land was ever favoured with, it may be the will of God to bring upon us the whole weight of the most crushing slavery that, as an organised system, has ever appeared. But that is no reason why, whilst time permits, we should not avail ourselves of all lawful means to stave off the greatest calamity that could befall us.

"Amongst these lawful means, one is to spread information, and show from the Scriptures the awful errors and doctrines which Rome holds; to

point out the progress that she is making; to unmask the nature and tendency of those practices whereby, under the subtle robe of what is called generally 'Ritualism,' she is gaining over whole congregations. You may call all this politics. But, if you had a daughter entangled in, and, we may say, seduced by witnessing such practices, or attending such places till she was led on, step by step, to turn Roman Catholic, and become a nun, you would soon feel that it was something more than politics; or, if the wife of your bosom should, by the arts of some crafty priest, be in a similar way perverted; should she worry you night and day to turn, too, and be determined to bring up your children in the same creed, you might learn there was something more in Popery than, ‘It is all a question of religious liberty. Let them have their way as we have ours. We never interfere with politics.' And were you ever to see what sort of questions the priest is authorised to put, in confession, to your maiden daughter, you would think there is something besides politics in such a mystery of iniquity. If your chapel were closed, your minister carried to prison, and yourself heavily fined, would you call that 'Politics ?' If your house were searched, and every Bible and good book taken away and burnt, would you call that 'Politics?' And, if you were not allowed to buy or sell, exercise any business, trade, or profession, unless you received the mark of the Beast, would you call that 'Politics?' Now, this is what Rome has done again and again in other countries, and what she would most certainly do here were she to regain full power. Let us not, then, be blinded to our real danger by so foolish a plea as that we must have nothing to do with opposing Popery, because to do so would be Politics, but look at the impending danger in the face, and take what precautions we can against it."

We purpose again to return to this most important and truth-telling

volume.

Table Talk and other Poems. By WILLIAM COWPER. London: Religious Tract Society, Paternoster Row.-This is an exquisitely-got-up edition of the standard work. At this season of the year it will form an admirable gift-book, and be a rich and useful ornament for the drawing-room table.

Passing Ebents.- Monthly Note.

IRELAND continues to be in a most unsatisfactory condition. So far from the Church Bill having pacified the people, it has made them more dissatisfied than ever. Agrarian outrages are repeatedly committed, and no person's life or property seems to be safe. Twenty-three magistrates of Meath have forwarded a memorial to the Lord-Lieutenant on the state of that county. Within twelve months, they say, one farmer has been murdered, three magistrates shot at, one in open day, in attempts to murder them; two ladies have been wounded, one seriously, and the coachman of one magistrate had been killed. They ask that Government should grant them protection, even should it entail an autumn session. Mr. Fortescue, in reply, asks to be favoured with any suggestion as to remedies. The county of Westmeath was once remarkable for the peaceful character of its inhabitants, and the friendly relations which existed between the landowners and their tenantry. Now, however, things are very different. It is said that a regular "war" is being waged there between the landlords

us;

and their tenants, and the following instance is mentioned by a correspondent of the Daily Express: "A few days ago the agent of a gentleman possessed of considerable property in the centre of this county proceeded to the estate to collect his employer's rents, but was met by the several tenants with the stern assurance that no more rent would be paid until the next Parliament should have settled the land question. On mildly expostulating, and asking what Mr. was to do that he was a good employer, and how could he continue to be such without being paid his rents? the answer was, 'Let him live now on what he has wrung from he had his turn, and now it is ours.' This gentleman is a Roman Catholic, and his agent, a kind-hearted man, had to return to him without one shilling." Even the election of a dispensary medical officer was made the occasion of a riot at Munroe. There were two candidates, a Roman Catholic and a Protestant, and, strange to say, the Roman Catholic had considerable support from the Protestant parishioners, and the Protestant from the Roman Catholic. Some days, however, before the election, the Roman Catholic priests began to bestir themselves on behalf of their co-religionist, and they delivered, it is said, an harangue from the altar. The consequence was that, on the day of the election, a fearful scene of riot occurred, and the election had to be postponed. Mr. Gladstone himself made a remarkable admission at the recent publie banquet in the Guildhall; he said, "Painful as it is to confess it, we are bound to confess that even this very year has been marked in Ireland by a sad augmentation of those agrarian outrages which, occurring as they do in a country singularly free from a general tendency to crime, acquire a painful notoriety, and strike at the heart of Englishmen a deadly chill."

The reorganization of the Protestant Church of Ireland is proceeding slowly, but we trust satisfactorily. A considerable sum has been contributed for its re-endowment, and delegates are being elected in every parish to form a General Assembly, or Synod, in which the new rules of the Church will be arranged.

A great benefactor of England has passed away, the generous American merchant, Mr. Peabody. The sum which he gave and bequeathed to the poor of London amounts to £500,000. What an incalculable amount of good that sum, if it be judiciously expended, ought to accomplish. It is stated that Her Majesty the Queen had expressed a wish to see Mr. Peabody again, and to have some conversation with him. Mr. Peabody's remains have been temporarily deposited in Westminster Abbey, previous to their being removed to America, where he had constructed (or ordered to be constructed) a mausoleum for their reception.

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Her

We also notice with deep regret the death of Mrs. Bowen Thompson, the foundress of the British Syrian Schools. Her end was peace. last words were, Rest, rest, arise. Amen!" Her works remain, to bless the thousands of the Lebanon and other parts of the Holy Land, for which she laboured so well. Those who surrounded her dying-bed state that she was enabled to exercise assured faith as to the continuance of this great work. Under God, she committed it to the hands of her excellent sisters, Mrs. Mentor Mott and Miss Sophia Lloyd, supported by her attached brother-in-law, Mr. Mott.

A letter from Rome asserts that General Dumont has offered to the Pope, on the part of the French Government, five thousand men, who are to stay in Rome during the Council. It is said this proposal has

been accepted. The Papal Government fears some Garibaldian movement, and does not trust implicitly to the fidelity of its troops. The deficit caused by the great number of deserters is to be filled up by recruits from different parts of the Catholic world. Two thousand men are said to be on their way to Rome. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Orleans has had the courage to address a letter to the clergy of his diocese, in which he declares himself adverse to a definition of the personal infallibility of the Pope, as inopportune. He says that a declaration of it would be inopportune at the present time, because it would be useless and dangerous; would drive schismatics and heretics still further from the Church, their restoration to which ought not to be despaired of; that it would provoke the mistrust even of Catholic Governments, and would revive the hatred of the Pontifical power. One of the most celebrated German Roman Catholic scholars, J. Frohschammer, has lately published a pamphlet on the infallibility of the Pope and the Church, in which he expresses opinions far more liberal than those of even his advanced co-religionists. The eloquent Carmelite monk, Père Hyacinthe, has taken refuge in America, and seems to have thrown off altogether the Papal yoke. He affirms that the present hour is a solemn one for the Roman Catholic Church, and says that the approaching Council will be an instrument for giving the stamp of authority to the dogmas of Ultramontanism, which dogmas are "called Roman but are not Christian." He declares that these dogmas are “a sacrilegious perversion of the Gospel," and he charges upon them "the anarchy-social, moral, and religious," which pervades the Latin race. He appeals desparingly to the Council to remedy these evils, adding, that if his fears as to the result should be justified, he will "appeal to God and to man for the summoning of another council, truly united in the Holy Spirit, not in the spirit of parties, really representing the universal Church, not the silence of some and the oppression of others." "And finally," he writes, "I appeal to your tribunal, O Lord Jesus. It is in your presence that I write these lines; it is at your feet, after much prayer, much reflection, much suffering, much waiting—it is at your feet I sign them. I feel that if men condemn them upon the earth, you will approve them in heaven. To live or die, that is sufficient for me." Where, we may ask, is the boasted unity of the Romish Church, and where is the peace, where is the calm, where is the rest which are said to be enjoyed universally in her communion ?

A letter has been received from the great explorer, Dr. Livingstone, which shows that he was alive and well sixteen months ago. He states that the sources of the Nile must be placed much farther south than they have usually been, not far from a thousand miles south of the Equator; and that the region in which the Father of Water rises, unlike the northern and southern extremities of the most ancient of continents, is a land of mountain and flood, permeated by countless and copious streams, studded with lakes, and likely, when more minutely examined, to prove as prolific in new forms of vegetation as the valleys of the great rivers of South America.

Some interesting information reaches us respecting the circulation of the Scriptures in Spain. Through the exertions of two or three brethren at the fairs of Toledo, Alcalade, Henares, and Salamanca, and of visits to Saragossa, and Pampeluna, nearly 700 Bibles, 400 Testaments, and 6,000 Gospels were sold, and 15,000 tracts were distributed. The following is an account of the work at the great annual fair at Toledo: "Dis

cussions were held at every moment with priests, young and old, with Neos, and even with infidels; all the elements of the world seemed to be unanimous in warring against God and against His word. While on the one hand, brother Lawrence discussed with some; on the other, the Frenchman was selling; and I was occupied reading some passages, to which the people attended quietly, and afterwards I addressed them a few words explanatory of what had been read. During our stay at this fair the people were addressed in the open air on six different occasions, not without effect. But this was not all. The chief men came to see what stuff we were made of. For instance, the Director of the Institute approached our table, and, taking a Bible in his hand, said, "It has no notes.' He was immediately answered, by telling him that the Word of God was sufficiently clear for men's comprehension; and that there was no need of putting a note to the second commandment to say that God does not mean what He says, and, when teaching the people their catechisms, to suppress that commandment in order to support the idolatrous practices established among the Roman Catholics. He argued a long while on the subject, and at last confessed that if we were to adhere to the Bible only, and reject the authority of both the Church and tradition, the image worship practised by them would be diametrically opposed to the teaching of the Word of God. Thanks to the Almighty for this public confession, which must have helped to remove many of the prejudices existing in the minds of the people, and put them thinking on the subject. The next day he came and shook hands with us, inquiring about the prosperity of the work, &c. Thursday, the 19th, was a day of great joy to us. We had some books burnt by three ladies in the public square; the banner of good tidings received several shots, and attempts were made to conquer it, but they were vain attempts, and we continued to sell the Gospels with more joy than before. Towards four in the afternoon the Rector of the Seminary passed by, and, hearing the indefatigable Frenchman cry the complete Bible for four reals, he asked him, 'How is it complete if the books of Maccabees and others, called by you apocryphal, are wanting?' He would not, however, wait to be answered, and went to walk up and down the square with two other gentlemen. The Rector was afterwards joined by the writer of the letter and a fellow-labourer, who argued the point as to the inspiration of the apocryphal books with him. He tried to smooth matters, but, failing, he held Lawrence and myself by the arm, and, taking us aside from those that listened, said, 'If you come to the truth, neither our Bible nor yours is true. It is all a tissue of lies.' On our last day of sale, all those who had kept back till the last moment came forward and bought. In the evening the musicians of the Regiments de Arragon were playing in the Plaza, as they had done on the two previous nights, and during the intervals they came to listen, and some to buy. Next day, in the afternoon, the whole band of musicians were waiting to bid us good-bye in the Plaza de Zocodover. It was a deeply-touching scene to see them clasping our hands, while their bedewed eyes manifested that it was a heart-felt farewell they were wishing those, as they said, who had come to do good to them and to their country."

W. H. & L. Collingridge, City Press, 117 to 120, Aldersgate Street, London, E.C.