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132,000 at home. We have, besides this, our navy. The extra charge for the increase of these two branches of the service, beyond what they cost during the administrations of the Duke of WELLINGTON and Earl GREY, is nearly equal to the proceeds of the income-tax. Immense sums have been recently expended upon our fortifications and garrisons; and we pay annually upwards of twenty millions for the maintenance of these our protectors. And, lo! we are all at once told, that we are in a most defenceless, perilous state; that our national safety not provided for; that the French may be upon us any day. There is no question here of expense,' we are told. Safety is a thing that must be provided for at any cost. Very true; but what has become of our money? What are we paying the income-tax for a war-tax to sustain a war establishment in time of peace. What has become of our National-Defences? We pay for them, that is certain; pay more than any other nation under heaven. It is very hard that we should be the only people unable to sleep quietly in our beds for fear of invaders."

Attempted Change in the Poor Law.-An important decision has just been given at Glasgow in a poor law case, to the effect that whilst able-bodied men are not entitled by the law of Scotland to aliment, their children are. If this is confirmed it will lead to an entire change, for to aliment a man's children is plainly to aliment himself, as he is administrator for his children. It is, therefore, an attempt to overthrow our old Scotch habits by a side wind. The probable effect on Glasgow, will be, we are told, to increase the assessment by £30,000 a-year. We observe that the assessment in Paisley threatens to swallow up the whole property of the town. It is proposed next to eat up the county, and when that is finished, to eat up the kingdom! Meantime, amongst all the wise men, none seems to ask what are the causes of this vastly augmented pauperism, and how may they be removed? Statesmanship seems to have died out. The vessel drifts without a rudder or compass; and nothing is in vogue, but the weak and maudlin sentimentalism of men whom our fathers "would have disdained to set with the dogs of their flocks." We are confident that, amidst all this increasing assessment, there is no scarcity of whisky-that tobacco in every form is abundantly consumed by men who say they can by no means get bread. By all means let the helpless poor be liberally supported, but let us not reduce the whole land to beggary, by giving way to the crotchets of mere visionaries, and suffering idle profligates to eat up the hard-earned property of sober and industrious men. It is high time that common sense were coming to the rescue, for the same spirit has already made havoc enough in several other departments-especially in that of the secondary punishments for crime.

Residuary Tactics.-The Residuaries in Glasgow seem peculiarly bustling and forward; and amongst other plans for recruiting their decayed popularity, they have taken to soirees. Things have come to a curious pass when Dr. Hill goes to a soiree. The following account of one is somewhat

curious:

"St. John's Parish Church Soiree.-On Thursday evening last a social meeting of the congregation and friends of St. John's Parish Church was held in the City Hall, Candleriggs Street. The party numbered upwards of one thousand two hundred ladies and gentlemen, and thoroughly filled every part of the magnificent hall. The Rev. Mr. Gillan, pastor of the congregation, occupied the chair. On the platform were Sir James Campbell, Bailie Gilmour, Professor Hill, Drs. M'Leod, Craik, Black, Napier, Barr, Mr. Jamieson of St. Paul's, Mr. Munro of Campsie, Mr. Johnstone of Maryhill-ministers. Dr. M. S. Buchanan, Messrs. Proven, Murray, Burnet, Steel, Lindsay, Lawson, Hunter, M'Vey, Stewart, and Wilson-of St. John's Kirk-session."

After tea, coffee, &c., there were speeches. First one from Mr. Gillan, whose qualities of all kinds are well known at Holyton and Abbotshall, and whose church, we observe from the report, has eight hundred and seventy-seven seats let; in other words, is rather more than half filled, after all the

trumpeting and beating of drums about the new "great man." But the most curious part follows

"Thereafter the meeting was addressed in terms alike animating and instructive by Dr. Hill, Dr. M'Leod, Mr. Munro of Campsie, Dr. Black (whose allusions to the various pastors who had cared for the people of St. John's in times past, including the gifted Chalmers, the amiable M'Farlane, and the sainted Brown-was exceedingly beautiful and eloquent), Mr. Jamieson, and Mr. Johnstone of Maryhill."

Is it possible to imagine anything more barefaced than this? Every allusion to such men ought to have made some of the gentlemen present blush the deepest crimson, when they remembered their own tergiversation. The people of Glasgow are surely not to be taken in by such pitiful trickery. It reminds one of the man who was exhibiting a certificate received in his better days from a worthy minister. The minister remarked, "I once thought him a decent man, but the only certificate I could give him now, is that which Demas 'Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present

got: world.'"

Collections and Committees.-We are glad to see a movement by Dr. Candlish, in the direction of abridging the public collections of the Free Church, and concentrating her committees. This will not only be very satisfactory to the country, but will more effectually secure the object aimed at. It is time also that some clear rules were adopted in regard to future financial operations, as for example:-1. That no committee which does not raise money, should be allowed to spend any-in other words, that every Committee should collect its own funds. 2. That no committee should promise or vote a sixpence, until the money is actually in the bank, or sure to be realized-in other words, that the possibility of debt should be carefully avoided. Within the limits of these clear rules, there will be the utmost room for the energy and for the safe management of the vast resources of the Free Church.

Dr. Thomson of Coldstream.-A few months ago, we called attention to the case of Dr. Thomson, in connection with the abolition of the Bible monopoly, and the unfair and oppressive conduct of the British and Foreign Bible Society towards him. We showed, that chiefly by his instrumentality the price of Bibles had been reduced two-thirds, that the income of the Bible Society had thereby virtually been trebled, and that the blessed result of the whole had been a vast increase in the purchase and distribution of Bibles. We stated also, that notwithstanding this, the British and Foreign Bible Society-the largest Bible purchaser in the world-had not only refused to purchase a single sheet of the Bibles printed at the Coldstream Press, but had bought them at a dearer market (that of the English monopolists), and in various instances had even sought to injure Dr. Thomson, by selling them to the public cheaper, and of course at a serious loss. And we called upon the Christian public to interfere and prevent the cruel injury which it was the tendency, if not the object, of such proceedings to inflict. We rejoice to learn, that since that time vigorous steps have been taken in connection with many congregations of the various denominations, for the purpose of aiding Dr. Thomson, by purchasing quantities of the Coldstream Press Bibles. We hope that the ministers of the Free Church will not be behind their brethren in the matter. Every congregation might easily order (as is proposed) five pounds' worth of Bibles; and were that done, it would secure Dr. Thomson against the loss which his enemies are seeking to inflict upon him, and the Christian public against the increase in the price of Bibles, which would be sure to follow the success of their endeavours. An attempt has been made in Edinburgh, within the last few weeks, to build up a case against Dr. Thomson; but the reverend gentleman's Reply to the Charges and Statements of his accuser is most satisfactory and triumphant. And we cannot entertain a doubt that

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the answer of the Christian people of England and Scotland to the appeal which has been made to them, will be such as both to relieve him from embarrassment, and save themselves from reproach.

Devices of French Popery.-The French correspondent of an American paper gives the following:

"In the very centre of Paris you could have read, not many months ago, the following extraordinary hand-bill, conspicuously posted up under the porch of the Church of St. Merri:'Apparitions of the Most Holy Virgin, To Two little Shepherds,

On the Mountain of Sallette, Canton de Corps,
Diocese of Grenoble.

Miraculous Cure of a Woman sick for 23 years,
Accompanied by Letters of the Bishop of Gap,
And the Abbe Chaband, Grand Vicar, &c., on these Miracles,
With fine Engravings, to represent

1. The Apparition. 2. The Cure. 3. The Benediction of The Fruits of the Earth;

With a Prayer by the Archbishop of Paris.' "The Constitutionel, an influential Parisian journal, ironically asked, at the time, if it would not be well to distribute to each deputy, a copy of this document along with the plan of the law, for public instruction. It is due to the Bishop of Grenoble, to state, that after the little pamphlet thus advertised, had been extensively circulated, he tried to allay the excitement which it occasioned, by publicly declaring that the account of the apparition had never received his formal sanction. It was not difficult by such a declaration, in a journal, to silence the sneers of sceptics, without disturbing the credulity of the faithful."

Curious particulars are stated as to the devices by which French Romanism attempts to make early impressions on children. It has not elevated them to the pulpit, like the bambini, or little children dressed up as abbés and prelates, and delivering what a French writer calls "charming little sermons" at the Ara Cali, a church in Rome, on occasion of the jubilee of Pius IX. But it has resorted to expedients equally puerile. It is not only solicitous that the children shall receive "baptism" at their birth, and partake of their first communion on attaining twelve years of age, after having been duly trained by the parish priests, and by the “Brethren of the Christian Doctrine," to answer glibly all the questions in their catechisms, to kneel devoutly before the Madonna, to habituate themselves to make the sign of the cross, and regularly to fast during Lent; but it also seeks to remind them of the observances of their religion, in "their playthings and sweetmeats." The toy-shops exhibit in their windows, baby-chapels with baby-altars, shrines, and crucifixes. The boy who used to take his pocket-money to purchase little soldiers, now buys little monks, and the girl shows you her doll dressed as a Sister of Charity. Sugar plums are formed into figures of the Virgin and the Saviour; and priests in their robes, are eaten in sweet chocolate, as images in sugar are swallowed from the crust of a twelfth-night cake. The trade in this delectable confectionary, into which "milk for babes" has thus been transformed (the French are famous cooks), is plied with especial activity at Christmas and New Year's. A Parisian shop is a tenth wonder of the world, at any season of the year, but at Christmas, it eclipses even itself by its brilliant display of all possible combinations of taste and fancy. And none of the shops in Paris are more attractive than those in which are sold elegant rosaries, Virgins, and infant Christs, missals sumptuously bound in velvet, with sculptured crucifixes in gold, ivory, or silver, on the covers, little shrines for the private closet, priestly robes of the finest material, and an infinite variety of other objets religieux.

Illustrations of Jesuitism.-The effrontery of Romish Bishops is remarkable. In our own country, we have specimens of them in Dr. M'Hale, who claims a right for his priests, as God's messengers, to say what, and denounce whom, they

choose from their altars; and, in Dr. Murray, who, after having issued and recommended treatises in which all Protestants are declared beyond the possibility of salvation, comes publicly forward and speaks of them as "dear fellow-Christians." One of the ablest and most prominent of the Romish dignitaries in America-Bishop Hugheshas of late been doing some bold things of the same sort. He preached a discourse in the Hall of Representatives at Washington, in which he laid down and elaborately proved this position-That Christianity is the only source of moral and political liberty. Of course, his object was to leave the impression with the American legislature and people that the Church of which he is a Bishop-and which claims to be the only embodiment and representative of Christianity-is, of necessity, favourable to liberty. The falsehood of such a statement is as transparent as its object. It is notorious that, from the rise of the Papal system to the present day, it has been "the bitterest foe to human liberty, and is chargeable with the mass of the horrid cruelties, persecutions, and massacres, which have trodden the moral and political freedom of the fairest portions of Europe in the dust." Bishop Hughes' proposition, that Christianity is the source of moral and political liberty, is unquestionably correct. But the only inference which can fairly be drawn from a comparison of the proposition with the actual history of the countries in which the Church of Rome is predominant, is, of course, this That Popery is not Christianity. Is there either moral or political liberty in Austria, or in Spain, or in Portugal, or even in Italy? Is it not the fact, that in these countries the mass of the people are immoral and degraded? Are they not both religiously and politically in a state of the most abject bondage? And if so, and if Christianity is always the source of liberty, is it not an unavoidable inference, that true Christianity has not yet visited or blessed them? And yet it appears that many in America are deceived by the Bishop's talk. At the annual dinner of the New England Society, on December 22d, a festival held in commemoration of the Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, one of the toasts proposed was,

"The present Sovereign Pontiff of Rome, Pius IX." And who should reply to the toast but Bishop Hughes! His speech is a rare specimen of "the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive." smoothly stating his agreeable surprise at the position in which he found himself, he actually proceeded as follows:-

After

"When you speak of your Pilgrim fathers and rocks and the Pilgrim landing, you touch upon topics with which I deeply sympathize. You treat it as a matter of tradition; while I regard it as a matter of experience, impressed on my memory, for I landed a pilgrim on these hospitable shores. And were I disposed to convey to the Sovereign Pontiff information to enable him to form an idea of this country, which is a free country, I might tell him the history, if so I might call it, of a young and tender, and I fear a useless plant, washed out of its mother earth, carried by the waves of the Atlantic to these shores, where it touched not a rock, but the soil, in which it took root and acquired a prosperous life. (Cheers.) That single circumstance, it seems to me, would give him a better idea of this country, of its fostering institutions, its kind and hospitable people, and of the avenue which it opens to every man who feels called to enter upon a career of selfadvancement, than volumes written upon the subject."

And he concluded by proposing a toast to the honour of the New England schoolmasters!

"Not to trespass too long upon your patience, and to express a sentiment which has sprung up in my heart and mind during the festive proceedings of this evening, I beg simply to remark, that New England is not distinguished as a country of great production, according to the terms of political economy. It produces granite, to be sure, of which we have a fine specimen before us; and it produces ice; but there is among its productions something which is still more honourable and which renders it more distinguished-its teachers:

and allow me,-(I allude to its teachers of Common Schools) | --to conclude, with this sentiment: Prosperity to the land which grows schoolmasters.""

Now, all this must be mere Jesuitry. Bishop Hughes knows full well that, had this ". young and tender plant," of which he speaks, grown on Popish soil, instead of being allowed to be washed away from its mother earth, it would have been unceremoniously pulled up and thrown into the fire. And he knows also, that if any inhabitant of Austria, or Spain, or Italy were Puritan enough to think of selling a Bible, or convening a prayer-meeting, or printing a Protestant tract, he would have small experience either of "fostering institutions," or of "kind and hospitable" people, or of an open avenue to self-advancement;" but would, on a moment's notice, be constituted a pilgrim by banishment, or, more probably and worse, would be cast into a dungeon. And yet his speech was received with "loud applause by the descendants of the Puritans! And it is confidently stated, that the American Government have some intention of sending him as their accredited ambassador, to negotiate a treaty with Mexico! This would be a rare triumph, and would be turned by the crafty priest to the best account.

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The End of a Pseudo-Reformer.-The evidence of an Atheist was lately rejected by the judges of a court in Ohio. Some interest attaches to the history of the unhappy man, as indicated in the American papers. He was at one time a Baptist minister, and editor of a religious newspaper in Vermont. Attaching himself to the Garrisonian party, he mounted all the "reform hobbies," which have ridden so many (at first) well-meaning men to destruction, and became successively a non-resistance, anti-Government, antiChurch, anti-marriage, anti-Bible man. He started a newspaper which he named the "Regenerator," and in which he advocated with considerable ability the various nostrums of the quasi benevolent Infidelity, which is so rife in America, and threatens to become prevalent in our own country. He has ended in Atheism. When asked by the judge as to his faith, he declared that "he believed nothing which he did not know and see to be a visible fact," and consequently that as "no one had seen God, no one could testify of him, and no one could rationally affirm his existence." The instances of a like desperate and deplorable infatuation following the adoption and becoming the climax of such views, are very numerous in America, and should serve as a warning. When men begin to tamper recklessly with things most surely believed, and think to make a code of morals more benevolent than that which the Bible furnishes, or to find regeneration for the world apart from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they are not far from making shipwreck.

Sabbath Taverns.-The Judges of the Court of Common Pleas for Philadelphia city and county, have decided that tavern-keepers and others licensed to sell liquors have no right to sell them on the Sabbath; and have taken their licenses from several who were prosecuted for keeping their houses open on that day. The main ground for the action of the Court appears to be, that the observance of the Sabbath is enjoined by the laws of the State, and that to keep open taverns, &c., on Sabbath, is as much a violation of the law as for merchants to keep open their stores, mechanics to work in their shops, or farmers on their farms. We regret much that a movement in this direction has not long before now been made among ourselves. We, of course, concur and aid most heartily in the opposition to Sabbath travelling and traffic on railways. But it has often surprised us that no systematic and combined movement has been made for the suppression of the infamous Sabbath traffic in intoxicating liquors. There is no kind of Sabbath desecration so common or so injurious, nor, perhaps, is there any so utterly defenceless. We never heard a single plea of any kind urged on behalf of Sabbath whisky shops, or of the special license which somehow or other they are under

stood to enjoy. And yet they abound, and, in many places, are increasing, and do their diabolical work so effectually, that a greater number of drunkards are lodged in our police offices between the evenings of Saturday and Sabbath than on any two days of the week. The idea is so monstrous, that while all the bakers', butchers', shoemakers', and other shops of the city should be (by compulsion) closed, these dens of ruffianism and ruin should alone be allowed to remain open, that there is every reason for expecting that, were a vigorous and sustained effort made to put a stop to the anomaly, every man, not only of religious principle, but even of outward moral decency, would gladly help it forward. We are told that

some of our Voluntary friends are somewhat squeamish about applying to the Legislature on such a subject. But that is no reason why others, who fortunately have no such scruples, should not set about the work immediately. Besides we are much mistaken if the members of Voluntary Churches generally would have any sympathy with such squeamishness. We think so well of them as to believe that were they to be told that their Voluntaryism was inconsistent with the compulsory closing of Sabbath whisky shops, they would at once (from that Sabbath-loving instinct which, as true Scottish Christians, must pervade them) bid goodbye to their Voluntaryism till the whisky shops were closed. The mass of American Christians have been hitherto claimed as Voluntaries, in the Scotch sense of the term. But that must be a mistake. They are at present combining in ́all directions to put a stop to every mode of Sabbath desecration, and appear to have no idea that they are doing wrong in invoking the aid of the civil magistrate. Besides, we observed lately, that a day of thanksgiving for the harvest was appointed by the governors of the various States of the Union, and observed with the utmost unanimity by the whole religious public.

The Beauties of Popish Literature. The Romanists have an organ in America called the Freeman's Journal. The following extract from its issue for December 11, is worth quotation and perusal :—

"The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin.The Provincial Council of Baltimore having elected the Most Blessed VIRGIN MARY as Patron of this country, and having, at its last sitting, solicited and obtained the permission of using the title Sine Labe originali Concepta in the office and mass, it is certainly not unreasonable to anticipate a great increase of fervour and devotion towards the holy Mother of God amongst good Catholics of our country, and especially on the festival of the Immaculate Conception, which was celebrated last Wednesday. We do not know in how many of the churches the day was specially celebrated, though we know that in some of them it was with so great magnificence. Certainly no man of faith will hesitate to admit that the person, the parish, the diocese, or the province, by which a special devotion to the Queen of Angels shall be practised as well as professed, particularly in this mystery, shall find it indeed a fruitful source of benedictions, a kindling of fervour, and increased of virtues and graces, an extending of power for the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom and the salvation of souls.

The gross idolatry of such views and observances is manifest. And yet a Romish bishop in Australia lately pretended to "curse" every one who "worshipped" the Virgin Mary.

Calls.

Craig. Rev. Hugh Mitchell, February 6. Glasgow, Hope Street Church.-Rev. Donald M'Gillvray, Campbeltown, February 2.

Renton.-Rev. W. M. Dempster, January 19.

Induction.

Dundee, St. John's Church.- Rev. Mr. Laird of Abbotshall, February 9.

Printed and Published by JOHN JOHNSTONE, 15, Princes Stret. Edinburgh; and 26, P ternoster Row, London. And sold by the Booksellers throughout the kingdom.

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