MISCELLANEOUS.

Evangelical Alliance.-The first annual meeting of the American Branch of the Evangelical Alliance was held on February 1st, in the lecture-room of the Mercer street Presbyterian Church, at 3 P. M. Hon. Wm. E. Dodge, the President, briefly stated the purpose of the meeting, and commended the objects of the Alliance.After prayer, Rev. S. I. Prime, D. D., the Corresponding Secretary, read the report of the work of the year. It related to what has been done in preparing for the conference of the Christians of the world, to be held in this city in the latter part of September. Addresses were made by Rev. N. H. Schenck, D.D., of Brooklyn, and Rev. John Hall, D.D., of this city. After the adoption of the report, the officers for the ensuing year were appointed. The Executive Committee was authorized to appoint a Financial Agent, and to make arrangements for a public meeting. The exercises were closed with prayer by Rev. S. H. Cox, D.D., and the benediction by Rev. Geo. W. Wood, D. D. In our next issue we hope to give some account of the great meeting of the Alliance to be held in New-York in the fall, and of the various countries to be represented.

Rome's Secret Plottings.-We take the following most significant paragraph from the Roman correspondence of the Westminster Gazette, and ask our readers to ponder it well:

We hear a good deal about the Pope's efforts in the cause of the Temporal Power, and we hear anecdotes of his genial disposition, but the grand work of his reign is going on too much in our midst to receive at the moment all the attention it deserves. But when history comes to write the record of his reign it will find that no Pope of modern times has effected so large a propaganda, that few in so short a space have effected so signal a reparation in the breaches of the ecclesiastical bulwarks. It must be remarked, too, that all this has not been done by chance, nor have certain fruits been shaken by a passing wind ready ripened into his garner; what has been done has been the result of calculation and exertion. Without noise or parade his humble emissaries go forth into the great highways of the earth, and bring him the surveys he requires, and obscure priests from remote localities, men of whose existence the world takes no note, are mighty powers in his hand. Indefatigable in his audiences, morning by morning, he studies the capacities and exigencies of each province of the earth, and masters schemes which afterwards receive their public development. We may picture him to ourselves, not without truth, sitting in his chamber, globe in hand, and marking on it the direction of new fields of labor, and saying to an insignificant emissary who passes on his way without noise-"Go and take possession!"

RECEIPIS

In behalf of the American and Foreign Christian Union, for the Month ending 6th February, 1869.

THE CHRISTIAN WORLD.

Vol. XX.

APRIL, 1869.

No. 4.

The Proper Attitude and Measures of Protestants towards the Roman Catholic Religion

and People.

BY REV. R. B. THURSTON, STAMFORD, CONN.

THE discussion of this subject requires us at the outset to seek a correct apprehension of the position, power and purposes of our adversaries; for as such we are compelled to regard the Roman Church and its adherents. From the Papal See downward through all hierarchies to the lowest and blindest masses, they allow no fellowship with us; they denounce us as heretics; they deny that we are a constituent part of the Church of Christ; and they almost invariably assert that we are without the pale of salvation.* No terms of reconciliation are vouchsafed on their part, except as we all shall confess our sin and return to the bosom of "THE CHURCH."

As adversaries they employ all available means of hindering and overthrowing the Protestant cause. They have waged war against us in the past. They now make use of political intrigues, and demand that the assumptions of the Papacy shall be respected in the measures of the government. They seek special privileges in the schools of public instruction. They found institutions, professedly educational and eleemosynary, but manifesting the purpose of propagandism. They provido attractive seminaries for our daughters; for Rome has a passionate desire to be the nurse of the mothers of the future America. They spend vast sums of money, and acquire possession of the most valuable properties. Their plans are comprehensive, far-reaching and effective. Since the war, great efforts have been commenced among the Freed

* Inferentially and hesitatingly, in a recent appeal to non-Catholic Christians, the Pope seems to have admitted that some Protestants may be saved.