Holy Scriptures," is about to be translated into French. A French edition has just been published of Newton's "Letters to a young Person." Miss Edgeworth's five series of publications for children are also being published in French. M. Lacoste, a strenuous Catholic, and vicar general of the diocese of Dijon, has lately published an edition of Abbadie's celebrated work on the evidences of Christianity, with high encomiums on the author, notwithstanding Abbadie was a Protestant, and wrote a treatise in defence of Protestantism. Abbadie's work, it is hoped, may be quite as useful to French Protestants as to Catholics, especially as he regards the doctrine of the Divinity of Christ as the centre of the whole Christian system; a doctrine which too many continental Protestants have doubted or impugned.

A recent traveller, after remarking that the fine arts are more attended to in France than literature, adds, that he had never heard of a single instance of a book club, of which in England there are probably a thousand.

SWITZERLAND.

A volume of highly interesting original letters by Fenelon has lately issued from the press of Geneva.

GERMANY.

Miss Kennedy's popular "Father Clement" has been translated into German, and published at Frankfort. Most of Miss Kennedy's works have been widely circulated in French.

UNITED STATES.

A Female Society has been instituted in Ohio, for promoting temperance. The members pledge themselves to reject the addresses of any suitor who shall be known to drink ardent spirits, "either periodically or on any public occasion;" and to use their influence as mothers, daughters, and suitors, to prevent the connexion of any of their friends with a spirit drinker. The New Hampshire legislature has adopted the following preamble and resolution :-" Whereas great efforts are now in operation to lessen the use of ardent spirits, and the members of this house feeling disposed to aid the good cause by their example,-there

fore, Resolved, That we will make use of no ardent spirits in our respective boarding houses during the present session of the legislature." The resolution passed without opposition. The American papers also state, that a bill is before the legislature of North-Carolina for the relief of women who are so unfortunate as to have drunken husbands!

A bill has passed the legislature of Kentucky, which makes it perjury for any one holding an office, having taken the oath prescribed, to give, accept, or carry a challenge, without first resigning his office; or if an attorney, entering on the record his withdrawal from practice. In some of the States no man who has fought a duel, or conveyed a challenge, can hold a public office.

Charity Bazaars, or, as our American friends call them, "Ladies' Fairs," are becoming as popular in the United States as in England, and large sums are collected for various objects of piety and benevo lence.

A circular brick-tower, 234 feet high, the wall of which was built without scaffolding, has been erected in Baltimore for making shot. The immense quantity of lead used in the United States is the produce of native mines.

Such is the rapid progress of the arts and of manufactures that it is stated, that there are twenty piano-forte manufacturers in New-York; whereas ten years ago, every piano-forte was imported from Europe.

PITCAIRN'S ISLAND.

The most recent accounts from Pitcairn's Island describe that little colony as existing in great harmony, and in full contentment with its produce. The population now comprises sixty-nine persons. John Adams was in good health, but rather infirm from age. He expressed, it is said, a desire to return to his native land.

THEOLOGY.

Sermons. By the Rev. E Bather, Archdeacon of Salop. Vol. II. 128.

Sermons. By the Rev. J. Edmonson, 2d vol. 8s.

Sermons. By the Rev. T. Arnold, D.D. 10s. 6d.

Sermons. By the Rev. Dr. A. Thomson. 12s.

Writings of Bishop Hooper, the Reformer and Martyr. 4s. 8d.

Scripture History for Youth, with engravings. ByEsther Hewlett (nowCopley). 2 vols.

Sermons. By the Rev. J. Jones. Discourses on Revivals in Religion. By the Rev. H. F. Burder. 33.

Miscellaneous Thoughts on Divine Subjects. Second series. 3s. 6d.

Baxter's Reformed Pastor, abridged by Dr. Brown: with an Essay, by the Rev. D. Wilson. 4s.

Reflections on various Texts of Scripture. By the Rev. G. Bliss. 6s.

Gurnall's Funeral Sermon for Burkitt the Commentator, republished. 1s.

MISCELLANEOUS.

A Dialogue on the Roman-Catholic Church. 2s.

A Vindication of Niebuhr's History of Rome. By the Rev. J. C. Hare. Friendly Advice to my Poor Neighbours. By a Member of the Church of England.

Essay on Moral Freedom. By the Rev. T. T. Crybbace. 8s. 6d.

Natural History of Enthusiasm. 8s. Dublin Juvenile Magazine. No. I. Is. Elements of Natural History. By J. Hinton. 5s.

A Manual of Instructions for Infant Schools. By the Rev. W. Wilson. The Savings Banks Assistant. By C. Compton. 5s.

CHURCH ANNIVERSARIES. THE general Meeting of the National Society will be held in the Central Schoolroom, on Thursday the 21st of May; the Meeting and Sermon for the Sons of the Clergy, on Thursday 14th May; the Anniversary Dinner of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, on Tuesday 19th May; the Examination of the Children of the Clergy Orphan Society, in St. John's Wood Road, on Friday 22d May; and the Meeting of the Charity Schools, in St. Paul's Cathedral, on Thursday 4th June. The day for the general Meeting of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts has not been fixed.

The Sermon before the Church Missionary Society will be preached by the Rev. Dr. Singer, of Dublin. Another anniversary of this institution has arrived before we have found sufficient space to give, at the length it would require, an abstract of its last Report; and the information will now be superseded by later intelligence: but we the less regret the deficiency as not only is the Report itself widely circulated, but as the chief facts may be found both in that invaluable repository of religious intelligence, the Missionary Register, and in the monthly papers issued by the Society. The great multiplication of religious institutions prevents our devoting more than a very brief space to any one in particular; but should the society adopt the plan of circulating either their Report abridged, or an occasional sheet, beyond the limits of their own subscribers, we should most readily include it among the documents appended to our Numbers. We would recommend the members of this and other institutions, as an excellent preparative for celebrating the approaching anniversaries

in a right spirit, to re-peruse the Bishop of Winchester's affectionate and interesting sermon prefixed to the last annual Report, especially the concluding "practical reflections." May the appropriate text of that discourse be the motto of all Christians, and all Christian institutions, especially those connected with our beloved church. "We, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another."

PRAYER-BOOK AND HOMILY
SOCIETY.

The Appendix to the last Report of this valuable institution gives the following extract from a letter from a clergyman in Ireland: "There are many Protestants so totally ignorant of what our Prayer-book contains (and this arising from their being kept from public worship by the local circumstances of the country in which they reside), that when the Roman Catholic charges our Prayer-book. as containing prayers for the dead, and enjoining prayers to the Virgin Mary, they are not able to contradict him. But should your Society enable me to distribute a fewPrayer-books, and books of the Homilies, amongst my people, I am convinced that they will soon be more enlightened; and who knows but that their Roman-Catholic neighbours might also partake with them that light which banishes all darkness from the heart?"

At a time when so many societies are exerting themselves for the benefit of Ireland, the claims of the Prayer-book and Homily Society ought not to be forgotten.

SCHOOLS IN DENMARK. The last Report of the National Education Society states, that the committee have received an interesting account of

the progress of schools in the kingdom of Denmark, by which it appears that 2,003 schools are already formed, and 368 now in progress; the former of which contain an amount of 132,786 children.

PARIS MISSIONARY SOCIETY. This rising society is sending out three missionaries to the Hottentots of the Cape of Good Hope, under the friendly superintendence of Dr. Philip. They will be stationed at a village twenty-five miles from Cape Town, which is inhabited by the descendants of French fugitives after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, to instruct the Hottentot slaves.

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE IN
FRANCE.

A French Protestant lately refused to take an oath in a court of justice, stating that he conscientiously scrupled to do so, and pleading the indulgence which is shewn to Quakers in France as elsewhere. It was contended on the other hand, that he was not a Quaker, except so far as that he had imbibed this scruple; but the court, finding that he had entertained it for a long period, and consistently, so as to make it evident that it was not a mere excuse in the present case, decided that he might be legally examined upon his solemn affirmation.

service for the special object of promoting Christian missions among the heathen.

NORTH-AMERICAN INDIAN
MISSIONS.

The Methodist missionaries in Upper Canada have about 1200 native Indians under their instruction, who have received Christian baptism. Eight hundred and twenty of these have been formed into classes. Many of their children are walking in obedience to the precepts of the Gospel.

NEW-YORK EPISCOPAL MIS-
SIONS.

Bishop Hobart presented a report at the last convention, from the committee of the Protestant Episcopal Church for propagating the Gospel in the State of NewYork, in which it is stated, that the missionaries employed by them during the past year have been thirty in number, being four more than those of last year, and that the number of missionary stations has also been enlarged from thirty-one to thirty-six.

The report concludes with the following statement and appeal to the liberality of Episcopalians: :-"Greater exertions than usual on the part of the friends of the church will be necessary, to enable the committee of the ensuing year to meet its engagements. The rapid extension of our church, in the new settlements of our

DE VAUD.

The spirit of intolerance may appear to sleep in a country for a time; but so long as the law allows of its operation, instances of its excesses will occasionally occur. The intolerant edict of 1824 still permits the exercise of religious persecution in the Canton de Vaud; and an instance lately occurred in which it was applied for the arrest of a person not of that canton who had presided at a Missionary Prayermeeting in a private house. After being detained twenty-four days, partly in prison and partly in the hospital, where he was obliged to be sent on account of illness, he was expelled the village, to await his trial at the district tribunal; narrowly escaping from the anger of the populace. And this in Switzerland, in the nineteenth century; Switzerland, the cradle of civil and religious liberty; and worst of all-deducting the popular outrage-under the odious sanction of law!

GENEVA SERVICE FOR MISSIONS.

It has been determined by the company of pastors at Geneva, that on the first Tuesday of every month there shall be a

means of support. The members of our communion are there comparatively few; and unless their zeal be supported by missionary aid, they will be swallowed up by the more prevalent denominations. It is under such circumstances that the service of missionaries becomes indispensable, since in no other way can the church be preserved among its scattered members; and unless we are prepared to see it extinguished in the rising villages of our state, we must keep the number of missionaries in some degree proportionate to the demand for them; they must grow with the growth of our population, so that no section of our country may be without the occasional services of a minister of the church, to keep alive the attachment of its members, and to prepare them for future union. But in so good a cause your committee cannot believe that funds will long be wanting: zeal will call forth means: means of support will raise up missionaries; and under the blessing of God upon their labours, missionaries will be to our church, as the sinews of her strength, as the labourers who sow that good seed which bringeth forth an hundred fold."

PROTESTANTISM IN FLORENCE. Protestant worship continues to be celebrated in Florence. The attendants amount to nearly 200, and the minister, M. Colomb, it is stated, devotes himself with great piety and zeal to their spiritual welfare. The government have even allowed sermons to be preached in Italian; so that the natives, if they please, may at least learn what is Protestant doctrine. The Italians are too apt to consider Protestants as Deists, not seeing them exercise the public rites of their religion, which has not till of late years been allowed.

LUTHERAN CHURCH IN THE

UNITED STATES.

Lutherans are to be found in almost every part of the United States. They have about 900 churches, but not so many as 200 pastors, the members being in many parts widely scattered, and one pastor itinerating among several churches. The ministers are chiefly supplied from Germany, and the service is usually in German, though in some places it is in English; but a native theological seminary has recently been established, at which twenty young Americans are studying.

THERE are several subjects of foreign and domestic importance to which we were anxious to direct the attention of our readers; but, for the present, we must again pass them by, in order to notice the result of the great question which has so intensely agitated the country. That result is, however, familiar to every reader. The great question is settled; we would hope, and we sincerely believe, auspiciously settled. The commons have said " aye," the lords "content," and the king "le veut. In the lower house, on the third reading, the numbers were, for the measure 320, and against it 142, making a majority of 178. In the house of lords the divisions were much more strongly in favour of the bill than had been anticipated, even by the most sanguine of its well-wishers It having been once read formally without opposition, the first division, including proxies, was 217 to 112, majority 105; and the second division 213 to 109, majority 104. To give even an abstract of the protracted debates, in either house, would be wholly incompatible with our present limits; nor is it necessary, as they have been universally read throughout the country; and we hope, either by devoting our Appendix at the end of the year to the subject, or in some other way, to embody in our pages an ample history of these momentous proceedings to which our readers and their children's children may refer back in future years for information. Our volumes would be incomplete without such a record. We therefore pass over this part of the subject for the present. We are disposed to think that the contending parties, opposite as were their conclusions, were generally honest in their opinions; for few questions have been argued with a more complete disruption of the ordinary ties of political party. It is grievous, CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 328.

therefore, to witness the asperity which has been evinced in many quarters to some of the public men who have come forward, or have been forced forward by events, in this great question; and especially to those revered prelates who voted in the majority. It is impossible for a moment to question the good faith of the two Archbishops of England, the Archbishop of Armagh, the Bishops of Bath and Wells, Bristol, Carlisle, Chichester, Durham, Ely, Exeter, Gloucester, Hereford, Lincoln, London, Meath, Peterborough. Salisbury, St. Asaph, and Worcester, who were in the minority; and as little do we question that of the bishops of Chester, Derry, Kildare, Llandaff, Lichfield and Coventry, Oxford, Rochester, St. David's, and Winchester, who were in the majority. We say nothing of the arguments on either side; but only of the wish of the parties to vote conscientiously for the benefit of religion and of their country. There was, however, one class of arguments employed, and in some high quarters, which, as Protestants and Christian observers, we ought not, even in this brief notice, to pass over without censure, we mean those which went to apologize for the errors and delusions of Popery. We believe the measure to have been wise, equitable, patriotic, and in ac cordance with the principles and spirit of Scripture; but in granting to our RomanCatholic countrymen an equal share in the civil privileges of the common-weal, it would be un-Christian, anti-Protestant, and suicidal to shut our eyes to the enormities of Popery. Our duty, as Christians and Protestants, is far otherwise: we have responsibilities to the full height of which we ought to rise: and we were prepared to dwell at considerable length upon this important point in our present Number; but having received from the Rev. Daniel Wilson a second letter, which

2 L

refers to it with great force and in considerable detail, we must again postpone our intended observations, many of which are anticipated and superseded by his able paper. We perfectly concur in the tenor of his observations. What he has said respecting zeal on the one hand, and a spirit of conciliation on the other, is emi. nently important, especially at the present moment of public excitement. Nor less so his recommendations respecting societies, education, and tracts; or his observations on the importance of promoting habits of diligence and providence; the greatest hindrance to which would be the introduction of that alleged panacea, however modified-poor laws: in reference to which we heartily wish that both in England and in Ireland, Christian economics were among the sciences universally taught to the poor-that even in our schools familiar tracts were introduced, shewing the evils of pauperism, and inculcating a taste for higher enjoyments than those of sordid self-indulgence, explaining the nature of wages, the prerequisites to happy unions in marriage, and various other points. But this only incidentally. We equally concur in our valued friend's appeal to the clergy of the Established Church of Ireland: our only objection to it is, that, strong as it is, it is scarcely strong enough. We have enjoyed for ages the munificent ecclesiastical revenues of the Church of Ireland: but what have we done with them, for the spiritual welfare of the people? Individuals at all times have been active and conscientious, and recently there have been most favourable symptoms of a great natural increase of clerical zeal and piety; but, speaking in the main, how little has the wealth of the Church of Ireland been consecrated to the spiritual welfare of the people. Power, and influence, and patronage, and family interest, and secular partizanship, and mere political Protestantism, have been too long and too widely the arbiters of the Church of Ireland; while the souls of men and responsibility to God have been forgotten in the struggle. But we check our hand: we hope for better days, and will not recal the memory of past neglects. Only we should add, that we ought not to consider Ireland as sueing to us in the form of a pauper. She has powerful claims upon us in attending to them, we do but discharge our duty; in neglecting them, we commit a sin.

We have purposely avoided again entering upon the faults or the merits of the great measure which has now passed into a law. We have already stated our views, and to urge them further might only keep up asperities without any corresponding benefit. There is no cause for triumph or any side; and there are some things which, after the first moments of heat are past, Christians will feel require mu tual forbearance and forgiveness. We

most cordially applaud the following Christian sentiments of Mr. Faber on this subject.

"Should the present bill pass into a law, the man who most encourages the spirit of forgiveness and oblivion will be at once the best citizen and the best Christian. While a measure is in progress, it is the constitutional right of every Briton to meet it with a fair and manly and open opposition: when it has finally received the royal assent, it is the duty of every upright member of the community to submit. Should future peace, and union, and happiness, and increase of sound religion, as the confidently expected fruits of this bill, practically confute me; at such a felicitous defeat no person will rejoice more sincerely than myself."

In taking leave for the present of this absorbing question, shall we act otherwise than as Christian observers if we appeal to our readers, on the score of individual responsibilities and professions, as members of the Reformed Church? It is easy to speculate on the dangers, or the advantages supposed to be derivable to our own communion from the present posture of affairs: but maywe not be so entirely occupied by temporal views of passing subjects, as to forget higher and eternal prospects? May not some among us be suspending the care of their own souls, while they are watching the progress of courts and parliaments; sinking the believer in Jesus Christ into the eager and impatient politician; and coming nearly to a pause in their career after an immortal crown. When the soul has been beguiled by this temptation into secularity and earthliness of feeling, it must be a loser; and that, not only in reference to its own prosperity, but as affecting all who come under its influence. This is especially true as regards the ministers of Christ; and if any such have allowed themselves to be betrayed into irritations and animosities, either in the pulpit or elsewhere, their flocks will be no gainers-not one step nearer to a celestial inheritance; but rather dragged down from the contemplation of heavenly things, to grovel among worldly and transitory anxieties. It is possible, indeed, so to discuss a subject bearing upon the political concerns of a kingdom, yet intermingledwith religious cautions as to render it at once a lesson for time and eternity. But to do this is a Divine art, of which how few appear to possess the secret! and of many who make the attempt, the issue will be, that the spiritual portion of the effort will be hardly discernible, or be destroyed in the experiment. Would, however, that all who profess to look at the events of the times with seriousness of mind, would strive to allow religion its own rightful place-its pre-eminence and indisputable pretensions-and ask themselves, and those around them, What has been done, and is doing, on the high