holy, to the purposes of generating strife, and of nourishing revenge. The effect of all this, as it respects our object, is, that every effort to turn to good account the new-born liberty of the press, and of the general feeling (which must, in its very nature, more or less, expose and refute the gross error of the whole Papal system) is considered, in the general confusion of ideas, as levelled against the independence of Italy, being contrary to, and derogatory of, the Pope, who has been, until now, looked upon as the moving man and principle."

Our correspondent then proceeds to say, in regard to the law on the subject of religious liberty :

"We are in a state of transition-the constitution is liberal, the laws are illiberal: the one proclaims that all places are open to all religions; the other enacts, that whoever shall speak or write anything derogatory to the holy sacraments of the holy Apostolical Church, shall be sent to the galleys.' We look for some settling of these conflicts on the meeting of the Chambers; for, as things now are, it is very practicable that a Preacher of the Gospel, availing himself of the constitution, may go to the galleys for a breach of the law."

It will thus be seen that there are two impediments to the progress of truth in Italy, one of feeling, the other of law. The latter is not unlike the contradiction between the letter of the old law in France, and the "Charter;" of which contradiction the Government of LouisPhilippe availed itself to prevent the free opening of new places of Protestant worship. But to our minds, the legal obstacle is very secondary, or rather, is dependent upon the other. The grand

impediment is the supposed attachment of the Pope to the cause of Italy. Let the Pope's popularity wane, and the law will soon be made to accommodate itself to the altered public opinion.

The whole question of the introduction of the Gospel into Italy seems, therefore, to resolve itself into a single point, Is the Pope, in this last resort, more of a patriot or a churchman?

If he refuses to defy Austria; if he clings to the unity of the Church, and shrinks from promoting a schism; if, in short, he maintains the fiction, which the

Popes have kept up for nearly twelve hundred and sixty years, that the Papacy loves religion above all things; then, in the course of a few weeks, or as soon as the people are persuaded that the Pope loves something better than Italy, his popularity will depart, his name will cease to be a tower of strength to his Church's idolatry and hypocrisy; the Black Virgin of San Agostino, with its disease-healing lamp-oil; the doll of the Ara Cœli, which keeps a Physician's equipage, and brings guinea fees to the Priests; the chemical compound, called St. Januarius's blood, which melts or congeals at sacerdotal bidding; the emasculated singers of the Pope's private chapel, of whom a regular supply is kept up in Rome; the immoral and infidel books seized at the Papal frontier, and shipped periodically to Marseilles, by the Court of Rome, for a steady sale in the French market; these, and ten thousand juggleries and iniquities, will begin to assume their true colours in the eyes of an exasperated population. Then there will be room for the Gospel.

If, on the other hand, the Pope comes out as a patriot, and breaks up "the Church" through Europe, he will be able for a time to work the machinery of the Church in Italy against Christianity. The enthusiasm for Pio Nono, the popular Pope, will prevent the open preaching of the Gospel for a time.

Our readers, after this elucidation of the question, will perhaps be better able to make use of the daily political news from Rome, as a barometer of the Gospel.

It is a great act of self-denial on our part, to refrain from mentioning many facts within our knowledge. Communications are lying on our table relating to Florence, Leghorn, Pisa, the Waldenses; but premature publication would be fatal. In Malta, England, and elsewhere, Italian brethren are waiting the Lord's signal to enter the field. Some particulars, we have reason to believe, will be communicated with needful caution at the approaching Conference of the British Organization of the Evangelical Alliance, at Bristol, where all its members who take an interest in Italy would do well to be present.*

was.

The service was beautifully simple, and was conducted with a solemnity which was truly affecting. Dr. Achilli delivered an address, explanatory of the subject. He pointed out the difference between the ancient Jewish sacrifices and the Christian commemorative ordinance; the former, external, the blood being poured out, and outwardly applied to the object purified; but, the work being complete in the one great sacrifice for sinners, the Lord commanded His blood, typified by the wine, to be drunk, received internally, thus showing that the purification of the Christian must be spiritual, and not effected by outward acts. It was truly an Evangelical Alliance meeting: there were assembled Italians, Swiss, English Episcopalians, and Free Church of Scotland Presbyterians. Two Scotch Ministers united in communion with us, besides members of their congregation.

There was little of man's composition in the service, which consisted almost entirely of Scripture passages combined to form one connected address. No use

An

less ceremonies, no kneeling at the table; all remained in their places; and while the younger Ministers silently distributed the bread and wine to the communicants, Dr. Achilli solemnly and clearly read striking scriptural passages of exhortation and encouragement to partake spiritually of the blessings promised. interesting family of converts were there. The father, a Sicilian, had long been convinced that Popery was a false system, and had occasionally read the Bible, but had never decided on a change till E- gave him the Indicatore to read. He was charmed with it, and read on till he was astonished; and E then urged his coming to the Italian church. He was fearful at first, but soon came; his wife soon followed; and their son, a devout worshipper of the Virgin, soon cast his idols to the moles and to the bats; and they are now all three earnest and grateful listeners to the word of God, and constantly express their warm sense of the Lord's mercy in thus delivering them from bondage. They are on the point of departure for Sicily, carrying with them tracts, &c.; and, I trust, the blessed Gospel is truly in their hearts, and that they may be made instruments, in the Lord's hands, of good to their fellow-countrymen.

PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF MERCANTILE SPECULATION. -The grand struggle of the multitude is excited neither by ambition nor covetousness; nor that nicer torment, a morbid love of approbation, which racks the sensitive genius; nor by the delirium of an entrancing affection, nor by the tyranny of grosser passion ; but the common aim of the majority, in their daily toil, is rather for means to sustain a bare and comfortless existence. The weariness of the scarcely successful effort is visible in almost every face. The vast increase of heart and nervous disease arises from the distracting excitement and stretch of mind which now prevail throughout

society, especially in large cities, where great competition exists, and where an uncertain commerce furnishes a precarious support, and wealth and pride too often take mean advantages of laborious poverty. The votaries of pleasure are scarcely more exposed to the causes of mental disquietude than the devotees of Mammon; and both alike waste the energies of life in excitement, and alike suffer the penalty of breaking those laws which naturally regulate the uses of both body and mind. The gambling spirit as constantly haunts the Exchange and Corn-market as the play-table; and, by perplexing and distracting the mind, soon saps the basis of health, and antici

pates old age. Hence, in large commercial towns, we often witness, even in persons who have barely reached the middle period of life, the haggard face, sunken eye, hoary hair, and feeble gait, which properly belong to "wearied eld." Nor can the results be surprising to those who reflect that anxiety is but a chronic kind of fear; a sort of intermittent fever or ague, which as manifestly disorders the circulation and secretions as that which arises from the poisonous malaria of the marshes, and which is scarcely more deadly than that of the market, in these days of desperate speculation and grasping monopoly.-Dr. Moore's "Power of the Soul over the Body."

A STREET SCENE IN NAPLES.Towards evening we approached it. The splendid Toledo-street lay before us it was really a corso. On every hand were illumined shops; tables which stood in the street, laden with oranges and figs, were lit up by lamps and gailycoloured lanterns. The whole street, with its innumerable lights in the open air, looked like a stream sprinkled over with stars. On each side stood lofty houses, with balconies before every window, nay, often quite round the corner; and within these stood ladies and gentlemen, as if it were still a merry carnival. One carriage passed another, and the horses slipped on the smooth slabs of lava with which the street was paved. There was a fire kindled before a corner-house, before which lay two half-naked fellows, clad only in drawers, and with the vest fastened with one single button, who played at cards. Hand-organs and hurdy-gurdies were playing, to which women were singing; all were screaming, all running one among another, soldiers, Greeks, Turks, English. I felt myself transported into quite another world; a more southern life than that which I had known breathed around me. Around us we saw illuminated theatres, on the outside of which were bright pictures, which represented the principal scenes of the pieces which were being performed within. Aloft, on a scaffold, stormed a Bajazzo family. The wife cried out to the spectators, the husband blew the trumpet, and the youngest son beat them both with a great riding-whip, whilst a little horse stood upon its hind legs in the back scene, and read out of an open book. A man stood, and fought, and sang in the midst of a crowd of sailors, who sat in a corner: he was an improviAn old fellow read aloud out of

satore.

a book, "Orlando Furioso," as I was told his audience were applauding him just as we passed by. Monte Vesuvio! cried the signora; and I now saw, at the end of the street, where the lighthouse stood, Vesuvius, lifting itself high in the air, and the fire-red lava, like a stream of blood, rolling down from its side. Punchinello made his merry leaps, peeped, twirled himself about, and made his funny speeches. around was laughter. Only very few paid attention to the Monk who stood at the opposite corner, and preached from one of the projecting stone steps.-The Improvisatore.

All

THE DERBY STATION.-A wonderful place is the immense station at Derby! There was half an hour's delay, because several railways cross each other, and the trains are separated and re-formed for their farther destinations. We availed ourselves of the time in order to obtain a more complete idea of the various arrangements of the station. Everything is on an immense scale. A great number of railways cross this colossal court, intended to accommodate several Companies. About one hundred engines are always ready; and in the middle of the court there is a large round building, with a cupola, into which the engines which have just been used are pushed, and placed concentrically on a large revolving metal plate, and easily turned round, so as to be readily replaced upon any of the converging radial lines, on which they are next to be employed. Not less than sixteen engines were standing in this immense rotunda; and I compared the whole to a colossal stable built for the reception of these snorting and roaring railway horses. Close by these is an hospital, too, for the lamed or diseased cattle, to which they are sent in case of need. Engines which are in any respect defective, or have received injuries, are sent thither to be examined and repaired; and, as may naturally be supposed, the workshops for the construction or repair of these steam-engines have their own machinery put in motion by steam. the end of the half hour our train left Derby, and we then entered upon the calcareous region which contains coalbeds. The limestone forms immense layers, which are either passed by very deep cuttings, such as we went through before reaching Leicester, or penetrated by tunnels. The works, in such cases, are very favourable to the study of natural history: by their means many very interesting fossils have been discovered, which now adorn the various English

At

collections. The country, too, is here upon a grander scale, diversified with hills, and well-watered valleys, lofty, broken rocks, and long chains of hills,

alternate agreeably with one another.→→ From the King of Saxony's Journey through England and Scotland in 1844, by Dr. C. G. Carus.

Nov. 12th, 1847.-Mrs. Lees, of Slaithwaite, in the Huddersfield Second Circuit. Her conversion may be traced to the introduction of Methodism into her native village in the autumn of the year 1820. A sermon she heard from the Rev. John Storry, then stationed in the Huddersfield Circuit, shook her confidence in her Antinomian subterfuges, and led her to seek earnestly the salvation of her soul. Having obtained mercy, she joined the infant society; and, to the day of her death, discovered an ardent attachment to the discipline and teaching of the body with which she had connected herself. The last time she was permitted to attend her classmeeting, all present were struck with the solemnity of her spirit and manner. She spoke and prayed with eternity in view, and apparently with a presentiment on her mind, that it would prove her last opportunity of communion with the saints militant. During the illness which terminated her life, although her sufferings were severe, she meekly justified the divine dispensation. Not a murmur escaped her. When the probable result of her affliction was intimated to her by her Leader, she said, "The will of the Lord be done. I feel I am on the Rock, Christ Jesus." Subsequently, in reply to a friend, she exclaimed, “O, I do feel the comfort of the religion of Christ!

Other refuge have I none;

Hangs my helpless soul on IIim.'"

On the last day of her life, she expressed an earnest desire to depart, and be with Christ; and while a ray of heavenly joy illumined her countenance, on which the pale hue of death was resting, she said, with difficulty, "Behold the Lamb of God!" These were her last words.

J. P. D.

March 9th, 1848.-At Lyme Regis, Mrs. May, aged sixty-eight. She had been a member of the Wesleyan branch of the church of Christ for more than thirty years. Shortly after Methodism was first introduced into the town of Lyme Regis, she joined the society, and, in conjunction with her husband, who about the same time identified himself with Methodism, invited the Preachers, who came a distance of several miles, to lodge and take refreshment at their house. Mrs. May and her husband were thus amongst the earliest members of the society in Lyme. Her husband survives as the Leader of two classes. She has "first attained." She died universally respected and esteemed. All regarded her as a truly sincere and upright Christian. By her family, and those who knew her best, she was much beloved. She was, more

over, a woman of superior mind. Her path, during the whole period of her Christian profession, was a straightforward and onward one. Prior to the commencement of the protracted affliction which terminated her earthly course, she was a diligent and thrifty wife. "She looked well to the ways of her household." During her sufferings, her resignation to the will of God appeared to be complete. Her affliction yielded "the peaceable fruits of righteousness." She observed, some time previously to her death, with reference to her complaint, "I do not wish it to be removed. I have but one wish,-that God may be glorified." In this state she continued until the silver cord was loosed, and the golden bowl was broken." A few minutes before her death, she testified that all was well; and then, calmly as a child betakes itself to rest in the arms of its mother, she fell asleep in Jesus. T. T.

March 9th.-At Gosport, Mrs. Sarah Tamanac, aged twenty-eight. She was a native of Bermuda, and in early life was awakened to a sense of her state and danger as a sinner under the ministry of the word by the Wesleyan Missionaries. In the thirteenth year of her age, she united herself to the Wesleyan society in Hamilton, and continued to the end of her life to adorn the doctrine of God her Saviour. Her husband, being in the employment of Government, was removed to Halifax, Nova-Scotia, in the early part of 1847, and subsequently to this country. While in North America, Mrs. T. caught a severe cold, which settled on her lungs, and laid the foundation of a consumption which terminated her life. A few days before her death, Satan was permitted greatly to harass her mind; but her blessed Saviour speedily brought deliverance. Strong confidence in God ensued; and she expired, "witnessing a good confession." W. W.

March 9th.-Mr. John Hughes, of Graigne (and late of Portarlington) in the Tullamore Circuit, aged eighty-four. He died at Rathdrum, at the residence of his son, the Rev. John Hughes, with whom he had been residing for a short time. He was an old and steady Methodist; and in meekness and lowliness of heart, for more than fifty years, walked with God. He filled the office of Class-Leader during nearly the whole of that period. In calm and full assurance of acceptance, through the merits of Christ, he finished his course, and entered into rest. J. H.

March 11th.-At Airdrie, John Hunter, aged fifty-four; a useful and beloved Class-Leader. About thirty years ago he found pardon through