took the Bibles out of my pockets, and I said, here is the Roman Catholic one for you, and I will keep the other, and if you can prove to me, that your Church is in any way in accordance with the doctrine and discipline of Christ and his Apostles, as it is written in the inspired book of God, I will become a Roman Catholic as I was before. He said, I do not believe a word that is in them Bibles; no, for ye took every word that God said out of them, and ye put hard words in them against the priests of our Church that have the power of God upon earth, to forgive sins to the people, and ye are taking away the power from the mother of God, that is the gate of heaven, with her hands open to receive every one that comes to her. I said, God help you, and may he open your eyes and your heart to see and to understand the truth as it is in Christ, and may he bring you out of that apostate Church that poor souls are deluded in. At this time another strange man that I did not know, came in; he was a friend or a partner of SI kept explaining to them all the errors of their Church that I could think of, and shewing them the truths of the Gospel of Christ, but it was all only throwing pearls before swine, for they would not believe one word of the truth, neither did they come for it, but I do believe for some bad purpose, as it did appear to me they were sent by others, for their language was shameful. I thank God they went away, after a long time, without further harm. As they were going, I said, Mr. S- I will pray to God your conversion. It is but little use to name all that passed between us, for he is worse than the infidel whose creed is the creed of all unbelief.

for

HAMMERSMITH OPERATIVE AUXILIARY.
Extract from the Journal of Mr. B——, Secretary.

A PUBLIC meeting was held Dec. 6th, 1848, in the Temperance Hall, Hammersmith; the chair was taken by Capt. F. E. V. Harcourt, R.N.; the meeting commenced with singing and prayer. The Chairman

then addressed the meeting in an affectionate, plain, and Scriptural manner, and appealed to all present, especially Roman Catholics, who listened with marked attention, while he quoted many passages of Scripture, setting forth the only way of salvation and eternal life, by the one great Mediator, Jesus Christ.

Rev. J. J. Cumming, of Hammersmith, then proceeded with his lecture, the subject published-Popery not the Religion of Jesus Christ or his Apostles, but the great anti-christian corruption of it. He said, in commencing he must state he had laboured underdisadvantages, his friends advised him not to bring it forward, he would cause himself enemies; but he said, he did not mind that, he would not shrink from the truth; as long as persons were deluded by it, we must bring the truth forward boldly. He quoted from different bulls, councils, &c., the time of dates of their doctrines being first introduced, shewing they were innovations not in unison with the Bible, consequently not the religion of Jesus Christ or his Apostles; he dwelt upon the restraint of the holy Scripture, a rule approved and confirmed by Pope Pius IV. which says, if the holy Bible in the vulgar tongue be indiscriminately read, more harm than good arises; the bishop, inquisitor, or confessor, must sit in judgment upon every man, to decide whether he is fit to read God's word, and if done without their license, he shall not receive absolution of his sins. What a contrast to our Saviour's words, "Search the Scriptures," his appeal to the written word in his temptation; and he dwelt upon the alteration in the sacrament of the Lord's supper, withholding the cup from the laity. Our Saviour's words are by St. Matthew, "Drink ye all of it," &c. He clearly proved Popery was not the religion of Jesus Christ or his Apostles. He said, tradition was very good as far as it went, it was often useful, but to put it upon a level with the Bible was sinfully wrong. He alluded to the Pope taking his flight, and said, he was glad to see so much of fallible man about him; he was thankful the head of our Protestant Church, was that sure foundation which cannot be moved, the King of kings and Lord of

lords. He compared the Romish Church, or antichristian corruption of the true religion, with the three first verses of the fourth chapter of Paul's first epistle to Timothy, "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter days some shall depart from the faith," &c.

After the Lecture, Capt. Harcourt made a few remarks, soliciting assistance from the friends present for the distribution of tracts, and we sung the Doxology. "The grace of our Lord." Tracts were distributed. The hall was filled; though a very wet evening. It was a quiet, orderly meeting, and though there were a number of Roman Catholics present, they behaved throughout with decorum.

BERMONDSEY OPERATIVE AUXILIARY.

Extracts from the Journal of Mr. D, Secretary. DEC. 20, 1848.-The annual meeting of the Bermondsey Auxiliary was held in the Queen Elizabeth's Branch Grammar School-room, Magdalenstreet, Southwark, last evening. The Rev. J. Ralph, the Rector of St. John's, Horsleydown, presided.

The Rev. Chairman, having opened by prayer, proceeded to address the meeting, by stating the objects of the Society and of the present meeting, and then made allusion to the great amount of liberty we, as Protestants, enjoyed, and compared the state of England in the times of the Popish Queen Mary with those of her illustrious successor Elizabeth, when Protestantism, learning, the Bible, industry, prosperity, and victory, were enjoyed by happy England; he shewed how remarkably God had ever since the establishment of true religion in this country blessed it by victory and preservation from foreign aggressions; and warmly expressed his wishes for the prosperity of the Society.

The Rev. Dr. Cumming then rivetted the attention of the vast audience for about two hours by a very able and useful speech, calculated to do great good in this truly benighted and superstitious district.

The place, which is large, was crowded to excess; and the doors were obliged to be locked to keep others from trying to force their way in. It was supposed there were not less than 1200 persons pre

sent.

BURNING THE BIBLE BY A ROMISH PRIEST AT BIRMINGHAM.

(To the Editor of Aris's Gazette.)

"SIR,-I see in your paper of last Monday a statement that a Testament was burnt by a priest of the Church of Rome in a house in London 'Prentice Street, in this town. I had written you a letter on the subject immediately on its occurrence; but upon consulting with the Hon. and Rev. Grantham M. Yorke, Rector of St. Philip's, in whose Free Industrial Schools the Testament in question had been given to a little girl, I determined first, if possible, to obtain the admission of the priest to what passed between us in conversation. As, however, publicity has been given to the occurrence before I have had time to carry out my plans, I think it best, as the minister of the district in which London 'Prentice Street is situated, to write to you at once, and say that the statement is strictly true. The priest acknowledged to me that he burned the Testament, and also declared that he would burn every Bible or tract which he found in the houses of any of his people. He also charged me never again to enter the house of a Romanist in my district; and upon my assuring him that I should pay no attention to his command, and that the law of the land would protect my person, he said he would order his people to use scurrilous' language towards me, and to offer me insult, if I ventured to pass their doors. Upon my remonstrating with him, and asking how he dared to burn the word of God,' he told me to go and preach in my pulpit, and not to preach to him.' I merely state facts, and leave your readers to draw their own inferences from them.-I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, JOSHUA GREAVES, Incumbent of St. Peter's, Birmingham, Nov. 29, 1848."

The above letter has produced the following reply, in which the priests confess the charge made against them :-" We, the Catholic clergy of Birmingham, having seen it stated in a letter from the Rev. Joshua Greaves, that one of our body had burnt a copy of the Protestant version of the New Testament, found in the house of a Catholic, have no hesitation at once to admit the fact; but wish at the same time to add, that the act was regretted afterwards by the clergyman by whom it was done, and strongly disapproved of by his brother clergy, as soon as known. Justice, however, requires us to state, that the Catholics of Birmingham had suffered constant and great annoyance from the interference of certain Protestant clergymen or others, their agents, who frequently intrude themselves in the houses of poor Catholics, unsought for and uninvited, for the purpose of perverting their faith. It was with the knowledge that such a system was going on, and under the excitement of the moment, that the act, which it is not attempted to justify, was done. We take this opportunity of stating that the Catholic version of the sacred Scripture is considered by us as the only one authorized for circulation amongst our own people. Bernard Ivers, Thos. M. Leith, Wm. Mollay, St. Chad's; George Jeffries, Michl. O'Sullivan, St. Peter's; J. P. Burke, St. Mary's, Handsworth. St. Chad's, Birmingham, Dec. 7, 1848."

Two Meetings have been held at Reading, both of which were crowded with attentive audiences, more so than at any former period; also at Southampton and Newport, I. W., and Bermondsey. A sermon was preached at St. John's, Portsea. At all these there seemed to be felt a growing interest in the objects of the Society.

Among other donations to the Society, and evidences of the feeling entertained in its favour, we may mention the munificent donation of £100. from R. C. L. Bevan, Esq.