relief. As time is flowing rapidly into the ocean of eternity, believers are hastening into the bosom of God. The Holy Bible is set before us to direct us to that happy place. Philosophy teaches earthly things, but the Book of God teaches us heavenly things. The march of intellect may find out what may be useful to the body, but religion promotes the happiness of the soul. If intellect marches in opposition to the Bible, we dare not wish it success. Let Rome and Athens keep their proper place; but let Calvary be exalted above the hills. May the Holy Spirit open our understandings to understand the Scriptures, that we may embrace the Saviour, and enjoy our God. Sit with Mary at your Saviour's feet, catch the sweet words of love which flow from his redeeming heart, and say, 'I have an invitation from my God to accept a pardon, and enter heaven.' What a mystery that Christ should have appeared in this vale of tears! What a mystery that the Spirit of Christ should dwell in a sinner's heart! May that almighty agent furnish your mind with

heavenly views, and fill your heart with divine love. So prays your old friend,

W. T.

Addressed to a parent on the loss of a Christian daughter.

our sister liveth. She has cast off immortality, and the immortal is now in triumph. Another soul is received into glory. The beloved child is in her Father's bosom. The desire of her heart is granted. Happy soul! Her robe is white, her palm for ever green. Her heart is love, her soul is joy. Hark how sweetly she sings. Her history (how well she tells it!) is a mystery to angels. If lovely while a dying sinner, how truly such is her humble soul, bending with a crown of glory at her master's feet. If a stone, sculptured by human art, attracts wonder and admiration, how much more does the spark of immortality glitter, when he who spake the sun into its glory, touches it with perfection. Could the holy soul revisit earth, with what heavenly pathos would she say, 'Brother, the Saviour's heart is love, lean upon it and be happy.'

THE following statement appears in a recent Number of the Oxford Journal, and has been reprinted in some of the London papers:

The Rev. T. Smith, a clergyman of the Established Church, has lately opened a room in his house on Shooter's Hill for divine service, which room he entered in the Bishop's Court at Rochester, agreeable to an Act of Parliament of the 52d of Geo. III. c. 155. The Rev. Henry Shackleton, who is minister of the parish, caused an information to be laid against him, praying that Mr. Smith might be compelled to take an oath according to an Act of the 12th of Geo. III. On Friday the case was heard before Dr. Watson and other magistrates at Woolwich, who called on Mr. Smith to take the oath. Mr. Smith said that he was a clergyman, and the Act was directed against Dissenters. The magistrates said they did not know he was a clergyman. Mr. Smith said, Mr. Shackleton, who laid the information, knew of it: in fact, he had shewn him his letters of orders. The magistrates then dismissed the case, saying that the information was illegal.'

The decision of the magistrates in this case is, we conceive, perfectly correct. The oath spoken of in the Act above referred to, is 'An oath contained in the Act of Geo. III. intitled an Act for the further relief of Protestant Dissenting Ministers aud Schoolmasters, and as such could not be properly required of any clergyman of the Church of England. At the same time, we should have expected that the magistrates would have required the production of Mr. Smith's Letters of Orders, or some sufficient proof that he was a minister of the Established Church.

The importance of this subject may justify some further observations. We have on a former occasion expressed our doubts whether the Act of 52 Geo. III. could apply to a clergyman giving instruction to his communicants prior to the sacrament in his own or any other house; (see Christian Guardian, Feb. 1830, p. 80.) nor are we by any means clear, that this Act applies at all to churchmen. The acts which it repeals were made for dissenters, as is specifically stated in their preambles, and as penal statutes require a strictly limited interpretation, it has been maintained that their provisions could not be legally enforced against any communicants of

the Church of England: though such communicants might be called to prove their attendance at the Lord's table and as the Act of 52 Geo. III. was enacted for the relief of those aggrieved by the Conventicle Acts, it is said that it cannot apply to churchmen, and that therefore the conviction obtained some years since under this Act against Lord Barham, would have been quashed, had his Lordship appealed to the higher tribunals.

Were exemption from pecuniary penalties the only point to be considered, it would be adviseable for persons desirous of holding religious assemblies in private houses to certify them under this Act; but if the Act really relates only to dissenters, any churchman availing himself of its provisions, becomes in a measure identified with non-comformists; and we should therefore ourselves rather risk the peril of an information, than certify any place according to this Act.

It is however important for clergymen especially to observe, that the 13th section of this Act provides, "That the Jurisdiction of the Archbishops, Bishops, or other persons exercising lawful authority in the Church of the United Kingdom shall remain and continue as if this Act had not passed;' and accordingly it has, if we mistake not, been decided that this Act cannot afford protection from ecclesiastical censures to a clergyman in doing any thing, which he would not have been justified in doing prior to its enactment. There are indeed many cases where clergymen officiate in private houses, and there are some where they preach publicly in places of worship in parishes where they have no authority; without, or even contrary to, the consent of the incumbent, though, perhaps, with the connivance or tacit permission of the diocesan. It does not, however, thence follow that such clergymen are strictly regular,nor even exempt from very serious consequences. The temper of the times is happily averse from persecution, and many therefore shrink at present from the odium of proceeding against a clergyman for preaching and praying; while the protection still afforded by our Courts of Law to the temporal rights of the clergy, renders it not always safe for even a diocesan to interfere with an incumbent. For curates, however, there is no remedy; they have no appeal, they

are demolished by the stroke of a pen, and the bishop is not bound to give any reason of his inhibition. But even supposing a diocesan or ecclesiastical superior is of himself disinclined to interfere, there are still means which may entangle an offending party in a vexatious, and ruinously expensive litigation. From these dangers the repeal of the

penalties in the Act of 52 Geo. III. (which repeal has lately in some circles been agitated with little prospect of success) would afford no effectual relief. We are unwilling to speak more explicitly because we do not wish to enlighten any malicious person into whose hands our work may fall, as to the means of doing mischief.

AN insurrection broke out in Paris on Thursday July 5, which was promptly suppressed by the Troops under Marshal SOULT. The loss of life is estimated at from three to five thousand. Disturbances have also taken place in the West of France, where four departments are under martial law. The insurgents at Paris, and in the West, appear to advocate opposite extremes, the one seeking for a Republic, the other for the restoration of the family of Charles X. It is most probable, however, that there is a mutual understanding between the parties, and that they are both intent on overthrowing the present French government. There seems to be some probability of Marshal Soult making an effective stand for a time against the mouvement. Talleyrand has arrived in Paris, and if his views accord with those of Marshal Soult, it is hoped their united talents may succeed in restoring tranquillity to France.

Prince

M. Hosemann, whose excellent ordination discourse was given in the number of the Christian Guardian for December, has published a small volume of sacred poetry in French, in conjunction with M. P. Boucher.

M. Champollion, the French antiquary, has discovered in Egypt a basrelief relative to the invasion of Judæa, by Shishak, the supposed Sesostris of the Greek historians.

The Bible Society, the Missionary and Tract Societies, at Paris, with other similar institutions, resolved to suspend their meetings this season, in consequence of the cholera, without relaxing however in their labours. It was feared that country subscribers would be prevented from attending, and one of the principal object of these societies would have been frustrated. Meetings for prayer and humiliation were held instead by pious members. How earnestly are we concerned to wish for the

elect's sake, that these days may be shortened!

On Tuesday, April 17, a placard containing the commandments of God was stuck on all the walls of Paris. The zealous author of this warning is not mentioned, but we trust with the pious editor of the Semeur, 'that this appeal, addressed to the conscience of a city, so deeply afflicted, may be felt by them, and induce many to seriously reflect on their conduct in these awful times.'

The St. Simonian Journal at Paris, entitled The Globe, has stopped. Nothing could expose the poverty of this new doctrine so much as the pestilence, when it had consolation to offer to the sick or dying.

Among the unsuccessful attempts made by the Jews to be received on a footing of equality, is the petition presented last year to the States of Hanover, which was refused. After the late insurrection at Modena, a severe pecuniary contribution was exacted of that unfortunate community by the duke, on the plea that they had favoured it. Let us remember, in whatever intercourse we have with that unsettled race, that salvation is of the Jews. How earnestly should we pray the Lord speedily to accomplish the number of his elect, and hasten the coming of the fulness of the Gentiles into his kingdom, so that blindness may be removed from Israel for ever.

It is worthy of notice, that between the end of May and that of August, last year, more than two thousand Bibles, and nearly sixteen hundred Testaments were sold in Paris, by means of hawkers, at reduced prices.

The lottery is abolished in the canton of Neufchatel, to date from January 1, 1832. The king of Prussia, who is sovereign of the canton, has acquiesced in the almost unanimous feeling of the people.

M. COUSIN, who was sent last year into Germany by the French government, with a special commission to inspect the state of education, has communicated the result of his observations to M. de Montalivet, minister of public instruction and worship. As soon as he entered Germany, M. Cousin was surprised to see, that as soon as the children had got out of their Lesebuch, (or first reading-book) the books put into their hands were the Scriptures in Luther's translation, the Catechism, and a history of the Bible. These three books (he says) form the ground of popular instruction, and every wise man will be glad of it; for there is no morality for three-fourths of mankind except in religion.* The great religious monu

M. Cousin probably means, that literature is only accessible to a small portion of the community. We will not stop to criticise the passage, only observing, that any morality must be of little worth that is not founded on religion.

ments of nations are their serious reading-books; and I have always regarded it as a public loss, that in the sixteenth century, or at the beginning of the seventeenth, where the French language was still natural, flexible, and familiar to the last degree, some great writer (for instance Amiot) did not translate the Holy Scriptures. Such

would have been an excellent book to put into the hands of youth. While the translation of Sacy, meritorious as it is on other accounts, is diffuse and feeble, that of Luther, which is masculine and spirited, circulating throughout all Germany, and being put almost from the cradle into the hands of the people, has done much towards developing the spirit of Christianity, as well as true civilization. The Holy Scriptures, with the history of the Bible which explains them, and the Catechism which is a summary of them, ought to form the library of youth, and of primary schools.'

IN the United States, schools have been opened, where instruction is given gratuitously, as far as money is concerned, on condition of the learner's working for three or four hours a day, at mechanical or agricultural tasks, for the profit of the teacher. Thus a reciprocity is maintained, and the schoolmaster is repaid, while the poorest person_acquires learning free of expense. This recalls to our mind the case of St. Paul; for what would have become of him, humanly speaking, in his agitated life, if he had not learnt the business of tentmaking, while he attended the lectures of the celebrated Gamaliel? In these

times especially, when the foundations of the earth are out of course, how necessary it is to bring up youth to the knowledge of a profitable trade, that with quietness they may work and eat their own bread. (2 Thess. iii. 12.) Parents ought strongly to inculcate on their children this passage in the Catechism, 'My duty towards my neighbour is.... to learn and labour truly to get mine own living. A pious man lately preferred educating his son to a profession, to accepting the offer of a place for him, because the first would be always available, but the second might suddenly be taken away.

LETTERS have been received from Mr. Wolff, dated at Tabruz, in Persia, in July last. Mr. W. found at Angora (the ancient Galatia) a great number of Armenian Catholics, and a Bishop of that communion, who treated him with much kindness. From Angora, he went to Tokat, and then to Trebisond, by way of Nixa, the ancient Neo Cesario. After remaining in the house of the British Consul, Mr. Brant, for a short time, for the recovery of his health, Mr. W. proceeded to Erzeroum. On the road he found whole villages deserted by their Armenian inhabitants; for it seems that 15,000 Armenians emigrated from these

parts into Russia, with the return of the army of Field Marshal Paskewitch. "Ill, sick, and fatigued," says Mr. Wolf, "I arrived at last at the hospitable camp of Captain Campbell, the British Chargé d'Affaires, where I found also Mr. M'Neil, his assistant. With God's grace I entirely recovered, by the kind and Christian care which these excellent gentlemen and their ladies took of me. They live in tents twenty miles from Tabruz, in consequence of the plague which is raging in that city. I have already made arrangements for my departure for Bokhara, Balkh, Samarcand, and Cabul."