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trophies to truth, by his sanctified fervour, even among the Areopagitæ.

Yet it is indisputable that there are some phases of madness which connect themselves with a kind of religion; and, in modern times, this subject has attracted no little attention. Materialists have tried to find in it a proof of their assumption that man's whole constitution is homogeneous-all gross and earthly. Others have used it as a sophism against spiritual religion; while others have investigated the phenomena of madness, in connexion with religion, with a view to discover the best remedy for the sad visitation. It may tend at once to guide the minds of some who watch for souls, and cannot but weep with those that weep, and to soothe the sorrows of some who suffer in the mournful way to which we now refer, if we consider a few examples of the evil. Without at all adopting the opinion-in which, however, there is, perhaps, a substratum of truththat no man is absolutely sane on every subject, or without asserting that all eccentricity is incipient madness, we remark, that the extent to which derangement prevails is known to very few. The very names by which the various shades or kinds of mental disease are made known indicate how diversified and wide-spread it is. There is mania or fury, and melancholia or gloomy dejection. There is monomania, where some one topic is found invariably to unhinge the mind; and that, again, is subdivided into monomania of suspicion, or pride, or superstition. Then there is demonomania, when the diseased deem themselves possessed, and erotomania, mad, passionate, destructive. There is amentia, literal mindlessness, or idiotcy. There are dementia, delirium tremens, and delirium ferox. There is, moreover, moral insanity-but we need not prolong the catalogue. Some psychologists, as well as medical practitioners, have so subdivided the disease, or so classified its appearances, as abundantly to show that it must be rare indeed to escape from every form of aberration, if these subdivisions and distinctions be not the result of professional theories rather than of established facts.

In some of the cases to which professional men thus advert, the most touching exhibitions of poor humanity are made. For example, it is not very uncommon for those who are visited with mental malady to apply for admission to asylums, during a lucid terval, to "obtain protection from themselves." In one of these receptacles for the wretched, out of two hundred and fifty-one admitted in a year, three were of that class. One of them was a lady, who had formerly been an inmate of the asylum. When she felt that her excitement was recurring, she voluntarily fled to immure herself again in the sad abode, where she knew her calamity would be cared for and her sorrow alleviated. The other two were affected by the common impulse to suicide, and returned to the asylum, that they might "be watched and preserved from their own hands." Of all the pictures of disconsolate humanity which can be fancied, there is none more touching than this. Even "Moody madness laughing wild Amid severest woe'

is not more shocking to all our sympathies.

literary, and theological study, had been for years haunted by a single word. He had long been able to preserve his self-control, and had carried his secret with him in the discharge of his daily duties. But the horrid word was continually before him. Every. thing suggested it, or led him to fear it would be suggested. It appeared to pursue all his conceptions with the untiring activity and relentless persecution of a demon. It gained upon him every day, until at last it met him in every line he read, and seemed to lurk under every placard, sign-board, and door-plate. Every sound suggested it to his terrified imagination. He could not listen for fear that each word might be the one he so much dreaded, and feared to speak lest it should escape from his own lips. This monad became at last the terror of his existence; and he could no longer trust himself alone, lest he should be impelled to some desperate act, to save himself from his loathsome and inveterate foe."

Nor can we omit another case, equally illustrative of the more than Protean forms of insanity. "A young man of intelligence, industry, and piety, and distinguished by much warmth of affection for his family, was caught in a single act of intoxication. A reproach from his master led him to throw up his situation. He became dissatisfied with himself, restless, and changeable; and, after an incubation of six months, his disease manifested itself distinctly, by alienation of affection for his family, fits of abstraction, ravenous appetite, suspicion, fear, and distrust; and ultimately, after three months in this state, a short time previous to his admission, he was saved from the commission of suicide by the sudden interposition of his friends..

"Soon afterwards he took to bed; his pulse fell to forty, his inclination for food appeared to leave him, and all attempts at feeding by the ordinary means were fruitless. He seemed to have lost the sense of taste, and the power of deglutition, and lay speechless, motionless, and apparently insensible to all that was done to him, or that went on around. In this state of apparent lethargy, amounting almost to coma, he continued for five months.

"The day before his death, the fire which had smouldered so long, and burned so low as to escape all observation, was suddenly lit up, and he raised himself in bed, spoke, took a bason of broth, and in-supped it with apparent relish. On questioning him, I found, to my surprise, that, during the whole of this period of apparent insensibility, he had been alive to all that had gone on around him-that he remembered the different attendants who had had charge of him, and appreciated the attentions of each according to their respective merits. I further discovered that he had refused food, believing that God had commanded him not to eat, and that he could live without food. The most minute objects appear to have been watched by him, and the operations of a spider, which occupied a corner of the ceiling above his bed, seemed to have been the especial object of his solicitude and observation. A few minutes after he first spoke, he who had so long lived without eating, apostrophized the spider in a tone of commiseration, saying, 'Poor thing! it has not had a meal for two days.' On the following day he died."

But one of the cases we have instanced deserves to be more minutely described. "A young man of high promise, of amiable dispositions, superior intellect, and fine moral perceptions, who had pursued, with ardour and success, a long course of classical,

But, instead of limiting our attention to these diversified phases of the distempered mind, let us contemplate those more directly connected with religion. The proportion of these is not very great, although the general clamour regarding them would

lead us to suppose that their number is overwhelming. Out of about eighty-four cases of insanity, about five may be connected with religion; but, on a close inspection, it will appear that even these are not to be ascribed to the influence of truth, but, on the contrary, to some perversion of it.

It is well known that, owing to physical causes, wholly uninfluenced by moral considerations, the human frame is more susceptible of impressions at one time than another. The nervous system, in half the human family, is subject to an excitement the periodicity of which is as regular as the phases of the moon, and whatever affects the mind at all, tells upon it at such seasons with tenfold influence. Sounds appear to be more loud, because the nerves are more sensitive; dangers seem more near or more appalling, because the mind, through the nervous system, is more easily affected-in short, periodically, with great regularity, except in cases of disease, the minds of many pass into this sensitive or nervous condition.

And it is scarcely necessary to say, that whatever takes hold of the mind when in that state, will reign supreme for the time, with a sway that is unchallengeable at least with a power that is resistless. It may be some opinion the most abnormal, or some delusion the most baseless; it may be some veriest trifle, or some mighty truth; but, whatever it be, for the time it is paramount, and covers the whole soul with its influence, whether it be to excite to violent mirth or sink into gloomy and cheerless dejection.

Let it be supposed, then, that, in that condition, religion-the only topic which should be engrossing to every human being is presented to the soul, or pressed on its attention; let an active conscience and an excited system combine their influence and urge forward in the same direction-need we wonder though agitation lead to intense anxiety; and intense anxiety, when misdirected, even to despair; and despair to excitement, or to melancholy, according to the temperament of the patient? What marvel though the question, "What must I do to be saved?" or," How shall man be just with God?"-which it has baffled minds the most sane to solve-should stir and agitate the inmost depths of the already excited spirit on which such questions take hold? The wonder is not that about five in eighty-four are thus instigated to insanity: our only wonder is, that the ratio is not inverse-that is, eighty-four to five; and nothing but man's death like indifference to the things of God, of eternity, and the soul, can prevent them from being thus excited to an earnestness so intense that reason would totter on its throne, were it not for the divine panacea, the gospel.

Yet, let it be observed, that it really was not the religion of Christ that excited these minds. Such patients only seized upon that overmastering topic after their minds were excited by other and physical causes. We once saw a maniac who stoutly declared that she was Lady Brougham, and would not be convinced of her delusion. She deemed herself the partner of our eccentric statesman, but who would dream of alleging that that delusion was the cause of her madness? It took possession of her mind, previously unhinged or maddened by other causes; and thus it was a symptom, not a producent of disease. At one period we had frequent occasion to visit an aged maniac, who was full of the conviction that he was George III., the reigning monarch of his youth. When the patient became lunatic, that

aberration engrossed his whole mind, and he lived for years in a state of mock-majesty, receiving the mock homage, and bearing the mock sway of royalty. Now, who would argue that that man became insane because of his loyalty to George III.? That delusion fastened on his mind after it had been disturbed by other causes, most probably physical in their nature; and the case is a perfect analogy to many of the instances of reputed mania in connexion with religion. The mind was excited by other influences. It was at least susceptible from physical causes, which might or might not be moral in their charac ter, and religion then took hold of it, just as a passion for teaching has continued to rule in the minds of teachers, or a passion for diplomacy in the minds of statesmen, after they were enfeebled or mentally mutilated by derangement.

That religion is not the exciting cause, but rather the engrossing result, in many cases, may be shown in another way. Many who have been excited to an extreme degree on the subject, have been relieved by the physician and not by the divine. Indeed, we think that in many cases of alleged spiritual distress, it is the former and not the latter that should be appealed to. We have known individuals, whose minds were, to say the least, abnormal on the subject of religion, first relieved, and eventually cured, by cupping, periodically resorted to-a result which clearly indicated both the seat and the nature of the disease. not so much" ministering to a soul diseased," as to a body distempered by inflammation, plethora, or a pressure of blood on the brain, that was required; and the best and most judicious physicians, among whom we would give a prominent place to the late Dr Cheyne of Dublin, have regulated their practice by that maxim.

It was

But another proof of the baselessness of the world's charge against earnest religion, as if it tended to generate madness, is found in the fact that, in the best conditioned asylums, religion enters largely into the treatment of the convalescent. Hope to the desponding, and consolation to the distressed, are thereby supplied. Men of large experience assure us that the unhappy victims of morbid fear, superstition, and despair, have their sorrows soothed by such influences as nothing but religion can impart; and in more than one asylum we have witnessed its hallowing effects. We once addressed an assemblage of about one hundred and twelve lunatics. in different stages of their disease, in the chapel of an asylum, and never spoke to more attentive listeners, or more earnest men, than there. The religion of Christ visibly soothed and gently calmed the body through the mind.

And the proof that the world's charge is a fallacy, becomes yet more conclusive, when we go on more fully to show that even where mania does stand connected with religion, it is some perversion of the truth, and not the truth itself, that fosters the aberration. The case of the poet Cowper is often quoted here. It is well known that for many years he was the victim of a strange hallucination. At one period he even attempted suicide, and long subsequently to that, he deemed himself utterly cut off from the privileges of a Christian on earth, and equally debarred from his hope beyond the grave. Now, those who do not distinguish between things that differ, sweepingly ascribe all this to religion. It is broadly asserted that it was his Calvinism that drove poor Cowper mad, and that froze up his exquisitely

genial powers in a long winter of nine or ten years' duration. But nothing would be easier than to show that it was not religion that led to that result; it was, on the contrary, a mischievous perversion of religion. Instead of having his peace of mind obscured or eclipsed by truth, it was because the truth was not received that all his trouble came, and continued upon him. The religion of God, which in the Irish tongue is called "The Story of Peace," is designed to diffuse serenity and joy through every soul that welcomes it; and wherever it is welcomed these are its "peaceable fruits." It is a divine prescription for spiritual health-so that there is neither a truer nor more beautiful verse in all the compass of poetry than that in David's psalm

"In dwellings of the righteous
Is heard the melody

Of joy and health; the Lord's right hand
Doth ever valiantly;"

and so completely is this the purpose-the final effect -of true religion, that we may as rationally impute he warmth of June to the frost of January as its cause, as allege that the religion of the Prince of Peace, when believed, can lead to aught but purest and serenest joy. There may be religious aberrations which begin in eccentricity and end in downright insanity. That has, perhaps, been the case with some heresiarchs. Men of a sensitive temperament, as Cowper was, may be either awed or agitated, till the mind lose its equilibrium. Fatuity, we know, has sometimes followed some crushing calamity. Those who were once most. fondly loved, have become most intensely hated when mental disorder supervened; and if even the natural affections have been thus dislocated and deranged by strong causes, who will wonder though the strongest of existing powers, when perverted, should discompose, distress, derange? But still it is religion abused, not religion used, that is the origin of that result.

To establish the position which the world so complacently holds on this subject, it would be requisite to prove that the gospel, in its offers, its invitations, its promises and love, tends to produce madness. These embody the simple truths of the gospel; and all the doctrines of our faith are but the channels through which salvation is to be conveyed to the soul. What are even the divine decrees but the method adopted by divine love to make salvation sure? These and similar portions of the truth may be insulated, distorted, caricatured, and then presented to the mind in a way that would bewilder. But let them be unfolded in their scriptural relations and harmony, and they ever tend to build up believers in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation. Far from disturbing the mind, they become like the rock against which it may lean-the pillow on which it may repose in the enjoyment of that gladness that is provided for the upright in heart.

*

No better illustration of this subject occurs to us, than the case of a young woman, mentioned by Dr Cheyne. Her devotional feelings were strong, but she was ignorant of the doctrines of the cross; in other words, she did not understand the religion of God: like thousands everywhere, she put natural emotion in its place. When her illness, which ended in insanity, began, she was liable to be disturbed in prayer; and as she grew worse, she was constantly assailed by the temptation to begin her petition

* In his Essays on Partial Derangement of the Mind, in supposed

connexion with Religion,

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thus: "Our Father which art in hell." Her misery was thus rendered excruciating; and amid the peculiarities of her case that temptation, or tendency, would appear to have been paramount. Now, who will say that that madness was the result of religion? In fact, the woman had no religion, properly so called; and only those who know not the gospel would deem her religious. It was mere emotion-mere impulse-a thing which all began in her own heart; and there is no greater wonder that that, when wrought upon by physical causes, should end in madness, than that intoxication, or sudden and severe loss, or some overwhelming calamity, shoul make reason reel, and at last abandon its place as the guide of the mind. To impute such things to Christianity is as illogical as to argue that the dainties of the epicure, or the wine of the drunkard, could produce pure and undefiled religion. Who can be persuaded that such fanatical insanity as that of Cowper, who stuck a penknife into his side, because he thought he was commissioned from heaven to do so, was really the result of religion? Such things are physical results, the effects of functional or organic disorder; and, we repeat, it is not the ministers of religion, but the guardians of our health, that should be consulted in the matter. One of the most competent judges has said, that men are to be delivered from such temptations by gentle cathartics, alkaline bitters, and country air; for" every instance of amentia, delirium, or insanity, is connected with superadded disorder of the body."

But what are some of the data on which men who are anxious to fasten a charge of producing insanity on the earnest religion which the Word of God describes and inculcates, rest their conclusions? One of them is, that, prior to the French Revolution, a large proportion of the insane in France were monks. Now, we grant at once that superstition, like that of Rome, may lead to madness. The history of raving "ecstatics," whose wild and bysterical procedure proves that reason was extinct or eclipsed, abundantly shows how such results may attend the excitement of miracle-workers, of exorcists, and the swarming impostors fostered by the Church of Rome, wherever men are so morally dark as to admit of such exhibitions being made with success. But, to infer from these that the religion of peace, of love, of mercy, of holiness,' in one word, of Christ, leads to such results, is just to ascribe darkness to sunrise. God's truth, as revealed by his Son, is designed to hush every disorder of the soul and conscience-to spread the peace of God, which passeth understanding, through the else troubled bosom of man; and to suppose that such a system could occasion woe, or madness, or aught but purest joy, is both to charge God foolishly and put bitter for sweet. Godless men may sneer at "saints," and impute every mental aberration to that which is the only power that can produce true moral and mental order; but all who know the truth in its power, and receive it in love, will feel undisturbed that urges it, for "God keepeth that man in perfect by such a charge-it will prompt only pity for him peace whose mind is stayed on him." Peace, the very peace of Christ himself, is his legacy to all that trust

in him.

on this

It is, perhaps, needless to dwell longer topic. It must be abundantly clear to all, that the religion of Christ can never of itself be the cause of disorder. Take it in its extremest forms; think,

ANALYSIS OF THE CATHOLIC DIRECTORY
FOR 1849.*

The Catholic Directory contains a vast amount of in-
formation of importance to Papists, and not without
analysis of the book-chiefly of that part of it con-
interest to Protestants. We propose to give a short
taining the statistics of the Catholic Church in Great
Britain.

for example, of the text which alludes to our "laying down our lives for the brethren," or being "crucified to the world," and the whole is promotive of man's highest interests man's purest peace it would transmute our groaning and travailing world into a vestibule for heaven. But, in addition to what has been stated, let it be remembered that, when decidedly religious men become insane, religion often ceases for a time to be regarded—its ascendency returns only when the paroxysm has passed The volume commences with the usual almanack away. As a brave soldier has been known to become a skulking coward, and men of large and open-first of all an "Explanatory Preface" descriptive of and ecclesiastical register for the year. There is hearted liberality to become selfish and niggardly, the offices and festivals of the Church, with direcwhile derangement continued, so religious men have tions for the use of the Mass-book and the Vesperbeen known to become impious blasphemers, even till the ears that heard them tingled. Was it their book. Of the nature of the explanations, an idea religion that produced that result? No more than may be gathered from the following extract :it was the heroism of the brave man that made him a coward, or the liberality of the generous that transformed them into churls.

A lady, a hearer of some Swedenborg preacher, went to the sacrament of the supper. When the cup reached her, it was empty. She regarded it as a token that she was rejected of God, and became deranged under that conviction. Did religion produce that effect? We mean, did the glad tidings of great joy, or more briefly, the gospel (for that is the only religion-all else is superstition), produce that madness? A worldly man has quoted the case as a proof

that it did.

Again: a lady under sore affliction was urged by a friend to seek alleviation in religion, and the urgency was supported by "spiritual arguments, intermixed with many abstract doctrinal points." "Shortly, complete insanity was developed." Such is the record. But again we ask, Was not disease at work? or was not the mind turbid by reason of perrerted religion? And is it not just a proof of the folly of men, deemed wise in their generation, to quote these as instances of the connexion between madness and true religion as it came from heaven to guide men to it?

"The words double, semi-double, and single, occurring in the Directory, show the different degrees of solemnity with which the offices of the Church are performed. The word double subjoined to a festival, denotes that the office of that festival is more solemn than that of a semi-double or single. The order of the festivals is as follows:-Double of the first class; double of the second class; double-major; double; semi-double, and single.”

By these and similar instructions the faithful are taught the exact degree of devotion with which to worship, not the most high God alone, but also the Blessed Virgin, and the cloud of saints in the Romish calendar, whether with "double-major," or "semidouble," or "simple" solemnity! Here is the present week of the almanack

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18.

19.

St Peter's Chair at Rome, gr. d., while. St Wolstan, B. C. (Bishop-conf.), d., white. 20. SS. Fabian and Sibastian, MM., d., red, abstinence." The words white, red, purple, green, and black, in italics, denote the colour of the vestments of the day. How tame the Anglican controversy of black and white seems after this variegation of vestment!

Passing over the "plenary indulgences granted to the faithful in England during the year," and other religious announcements, we proceed to examine the "STATISTICS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN GREAT BRITAIN," i. e., England, Wales, and Scotland, apart from Ireland and the Colonies.

Great Britain is divided into 11 districts; England 7, Wales 1, Scotland 3. The division of the districts is as follows:

"1. LONDON-including Middlesex, Berks, Hants, Herts, Essex, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, and Isle of Wight, Guernsey and Jersey.-Pop. 4,101,806 (Census 1841.)

But we must close. When this land was lately visited by revivals and seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, the baseless charge which we have here considered was rifely circulated. Formalists, who felt rebuked by religious zeal-worldly men, who could caricature the very Word of God, and, much more, religion, as exhibited in the life of his peoplecold-hearted infidels, with a profession of religion on their lips, spoke in sage laconisms on the subject, and almost told you that they were the people, and wisdom would die with them-the revivalists were mad. At Perth, at Aberdeen, and other places, the excitement was so great, that, had we believed the rumours circulated, we must have concluded that the asylums were crowded in consequence of the revivals. We have seen the baselessness of the allegation. Physical, and not spiritual, causes explain all such cases; and we conclude in the words of the gifted physician already quoted:-"We firmly believe," he says, "that the gospel, received simply, never, since it was first preached, produced a single case of insanity; the admission that it has such a tendency ought never to have been made to the enemies of the cross. We have-Pop. granted that fanaticism and superstition have caused Insanity-as well they may; nay, derangement of the mind may often have been caused by the terrors of the law; but by the gospel-by a knowledge of, and trust in, Jesus—NEVER.'

"2. CENTRAL.-Derby, Leicester, Notts, Oxford, Salop, Stafford, Warwick, and Worcester.-Pop. 2,284,240. "3. EASTERN.-Beds, Bucks, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Lincoln, Norfolk, Northampton, Rutland, and Suffolk.-Pop. 1,797,806.

"4. WESTERN.-Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorset, Gloucester, Somerset, and Wiltshire.-Pop. 2,225,880.

5. LANCASHIRE.-Lancashire, Cheshire, and Isle of Man.

2,100,689.

"6. YORK.-Yorkshire.-Pop. 1,591,480.

"7. NORTHERN.-Cumberland, Northumberland, Westmoreland, and Durham.-Pop. 809,054.

"8. WALES.-Wales, with Monmouthshire, and Herefordshire.-Pop. 1,159,836.”

* The Catholic Directory, Almanack, and Ecclesiastical Register for the year 1849. Permissu Superiorum, London, C. Dolman.

Scotland is divided into the eastern (pop. 1,092,123), western (pop. 998,231), and northern (pop. 529,748), districts, of which, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, are the respective head-quarters.

The grand total of Catholic churches and chapels in Great Britain is 674, besides stations where service is occasionally performed. In England 576, Wales 11, Scotland 87. The greater number are in the following counties:Lancashire.

Yorkshire
Staffordshire

Middlesex

128 | Northumberland
62 Durham

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In England there are 10 Catholic colleges; and 1 in Scotland, at Blairs, Kincardineshire: There are religious houses of men, 13. Convents for women in England, 40; and 1 in Scotland. The religious houses and convents belong to a great variety of orders. Besides the Jesuits, whom no one knows where to find, or rather where not to find, there are, male, Passionists, Redemptorists, Cistercians, Dominicans, Conceptionists, Fathers of the Oratory, &c. Of female orders, there are Sisters of Mercy, Sisters of Charity, Benedictine Nuns, Dominicanesses, Sisters of the Holy Sepulchre, of the Sacred Heart, the Faithful Companions of Jesus, &c. &c. Many of the convents are also places of education, or have boarding-schools associated, where Protestant as well as Catholic females are admitted for instruction.

The grand total of priests in Great Britain, including the bishops, is 897. The increase over the preceding year is 65. They are distributed as follows:2 London district

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Berwick, Bute, Clackmannan, Haddington, Kinross, Nairn, Orkney and Shetland, Selkirk, Sutherland, have neither chapel nor station. In Fife there is a missionary priest, but no chapel. In Caithness there is service at Wick only during the fishing season.

Of the English counties, there is no chapel nor mission in Huntingdonshire, or Rutlandshire. Of the Welsh, Carmarthen, Radnor, Anglesea, Merioneth, Montgomery, are in a similar state of happy destitution. As the Directory writes, after stating the population of these several counties, "no chapels! no mission-houses! no school-houses! no missionfund! no missioners!"

Some of the Welsh stations are supplied by priests from Brittany. Concerning Aberystwith, for instance, it is stated that the mission is undertaken by such priests, and that "the affinity between the Breton and Welsh languages, and the better feelings of the Welsh people towards Breton priests, than towards English and Irish, earnestly recommend this experiment to the zeal and charity of Catholics." This hint is worthy of the attention of the Continental Society, or others interested in the progress of the gospel in France. If Welsh Calvinistic Methodists could labour profitably among the Breton population, a door of much immediate usefulness is apparent.

Each of the districts in Great Britain is under a vicar apostolic, with coadjutors or other assistant dignitaries. The titles of the vicars and prelates are taken from assumed names of cities, such as (Bishop of) Cambysopolis, Apollonia, Limyra, Ariopolis, &c. The districts are divided into rural deaneries, with regular places of conference of the clergy under their rural deans. The Romish Church has thus an organization as complete in England as that of the Anglican Church, with the advantages of freer and more vigorous movement. The English Establishment has no convocations nor official assemblies of the clergy for deliberation or active enterprise; and, the present state of the Church, it is as well that such courts are in abeyance. The conferences of the Romish rural deaneries, commenced within the last three years, are more analogous to the meetings of presbyteries in Scotland, not, indeed, for jurisdiction, but for superintendence and consultation.

In Scotland, 107.

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This list includes priests without any fixed station or mission. The number of those not avowed openly, but scattered throughout the Church of England, and other religious bodies in disguise, it is impossible to conjecture.

In taking a general survey of the statistics of the Catholic Church in Great Britain, various considerations suggest themselves, such as these

1. The number of chapels and priests is greatest in those parts where Irish emigration is strong. Lancashire has 128 chapels, and in the district are 189 priests. In Glasgow, and other towns of the west, Popery flourishes among the Hibernian stranger population.

2. The Romish Church gains or retains footing most easily in districts remotest from educational and other civilizing influences. In the neglected manufacturing towns of England, with rapidly growing population, the people are unguarded by education against superstition and imposture. In wild thinly-peopled parts, such as some of the highlands and islands of Scotland, the light of truth has but slowly spread, and ancient Popery still survives.

3. The number of chapels and priests is not large in proportion to the actual Catholic population of England. The supply of religious ordinances is not greater than in most other denominations of this country, and less than among Catholics of almost any other country.

4. The increase of chapels and priests is not much greater than the proportional increase of population. Besides, judging from the names in the clergy list, the number of foreign priests imported within the last few years is unusually large.

5. While the increase, on the whole, is not more than might be required for the population, the Roman Catholic Church is the only religious body, except the Church of England, and the Free Church of Scotland, that has at all kept pace with the inincreasing census. The Wesleyans, Baptists, Independents, and other denominations, are barely able to hold their ground, and are doing little or nothing to overtake additional population. Romish and Anglican zeal are putting forth more effectual efforts for ecclesiastical extension than all dissenting denominations together.

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