whom, with the horse on which the priest had ridden, died mad. This occurrence had made some impression both on the mind of the curate and his congregation, for afterwards the curate ceased his severe denunciations from the altar, and the people no longer called after them "mad dog, mad dog." A third link in this striking chain of facts connected with these interesting men is deserving of notice. After the death of poor S. Keeglen and his burial as a Protestant, the storm was again raised in the parish. About a week after the interment, Mr. Eneey was going out to visit an Irish school near Ballybog. Passing a quarry where 20 or 30 men were blasting stones, Mr. E. stopped to speak to his cousin, of the name of Mr. Kinny. When the latter heard Mr. E. address him, he was stooping, putting the powder into the rock that was to be blasted. Lifting up his head, and seeing Mr. E., he began to abuse him, calling him a renegade Biblereader, and damned heretic; and reminded him of the sudden death of S. K., whom he said the judgment of God had overtaken so suddenly: that he died returning from the hellish Irish gathering, and was not allowed to see his wife or children living. Mr. E. remonstrated with him, telling him he should not thus oppose the word of God, nor speak so of poor K., who died by inflammation of the lungs brought on by fatigue and cold. Mr. K. got into a furious rage, wishing to God that the hole bored in the rock was large enough, and that he had powder sufficient, that he would blow all the Irish teachers with their damned spurious Bibles to the devil. Mr. E. observing his cousin in such a rage, walked on, but had not gone far, when he heard a tremendous noise. The blast had gone off, but awful to relate, Mr. K. was a corpse! After igniting the train, there was some unaccountable delay of the blast taking. All waited. At length, unfortunate Mr. K. went to see the cause of the delay: he stooped over the train, the powder had come in contact with the fire; the spectators heard the terrific noise; they saw Mr. K. enveloped in smoke: they waited for a moment till the smoke cleared away, and found the body of Mr. K., the head dashed into atoms, the teeth, jaws, and skull scattered about, and that tongue with which he had so audaciously spoken against God's sacred word, torn to pieces! Several heard his awful threatenings; these in a few minutes after witnessed his awful doom. I am told that it created an intense sensation, and that even the enemies of our Irish teachers view the occurrence as an evidence of the Divine displeasure. May the Lord overrule it for good both to our poor men and their enemies. This is the constant prayer of your humble fellow-worker, W. MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE. EXTRACT FROM THE LAST REPORT OF THE LONDON CITY MISSION. IN July last, the Committee were led to appoint a Missionary to the Italians of the metropolis, some promises of support being given them at the time, and a suitable labourer presenting himself in the person of a converted Romish priest, a teacher of Italian at Eton College, and a member of St. John's Chapel, Bedford Row. He has pursued his difficult work in a manner very satisfactory to the Committee; and during the first nine months of his appointment visited about 1000 Italian individuals, all of whom heard from his lips the words of eternal life. Fifty-one of his visits were to the sick and dying. He expounds the Scriptures once a week in Italian. Some of the copies of the sacred Scriptures which he has distributed to Italians, have, on their leaving this country, been carried by them to their homes in the mountains of the Pope's dominions, into the very regions of St. Peter; and thus the London City Mission, although professedly confined in its boundaries within eight miles of St. Paul's Cathedral, receives funds from India,* and sends forth the blessed Gospel into Italy. Two Italians have come to Dr. Di Menna (the Italian Missionary), to his residence, to tell him of these men with whom they met in Italy, and informed him that they had borrowed of them the Scriptures, which they had taken with them into that dark country, and had been privileged to read them by stealth for themselves. In no fewer than twenty cases, he trusts he has been blessed in producing a great change in the hearts and lives of Italians, besides three cases in death in which he indulges some hope. The opposition, especially from the Romish priests of London, has been, as might be expected, very strong. A priest of the Sardinian Chapel in Lincoln's Inn Fields, has printed and distributed a circular to which he has appended his name, addressed to the Italians of London, and especially directed against the Missionary, from which the following extract is a translation. "Daily is every door assailed by certain Italian foxes fed by Protestant philanthropy, who, with consummate art, with a calm and devout demeanour, with the patience and resignation of friars or capucines, fain would alienate from the Catholic faith such Italians as are now in London. It is true that they have met with resistance and rebuffs in the very act of grasping their prey. It is true that admittance has been denied them, and that they have been forced to turn away in shame and confusion. It is true that they are held in universal detestation and contempt, (and in this you are highly deserving of praise,) yet allow me to press upon you strongly the necessity of avoiding contact with such persons, according *Referring to the receipt of a large sum from India, for the purposes of the London City Mission. to the advice of St. Paul, for their breath is poison and their touch contamination. Let me, also, dearly beloved, warn you against receiving Bibles, tracts, and papers offered you by a treacherous hand, in which noing apparently militates against the holy faith. But beware, for the viper is concealed in the grass, and there, where the expressions are most devout and beautiful, lies hid the venomous poison of heresy." How remarkable, that the Scriptures should thus find their way into benighted Italy! GERMANY. FROM a Journal kept by the Rev. J. J. Weitbrecht, of the Church Missionary Society, during a tour for Missionary purposes through part of Germany.-"I was last Sunday at Mergentheim, and dined with the Dukes, Paul and Adam, of Wurtemberg. The town contains only 400 Protestants, so we expected but a small congregation, but the whole population came, the church was crammed full, one might have walked on the heads of the people: there must have been 1500, who listened for an hour and a half in breathless silence. The Dukes were present, and became subscribers to the Society. How these people rejoiced in getting some sound Gospel food, who are all their life long turned off with the husks of Popish superstition! You can imagine I do not lose these opportunities for speaking, as God may enable me, to the hearts and consciences of the hearers. Letters have reached Stutgard, communicating the great and general impression which this visit in the Hohenloe country has produced. May the Lord Jesus water the seed I have been permitted to sow with the dew of his divine grace! I could see and feel everywhere that the Lord was with me I never witnessed anything like it before. Many ministers and congregations have been stirred up. Six months, instead of fourteen days, might well have been spent, for there were numbers of places I could not touch. What a pity it cannot be done! The prayers of hundreds followed me in my labours, and to this chiefly I ascribe this wonderful movement. The Prince of Hohenloe Jaxtberg, who heard me the week before, and who is a Roman Catholic, came to Mergentheim last Sunday to hear me again. He said, 'I felt no rest at home, I was obliged to come and hear you once more. At Creglingen, an old peasant woman, who had followed me from Freudenbach, came to me and said, 'Oh, sir, I am so glad to see you, my heart was warmed yesterday. I love the Saviour, and wish to love him more; will you pray for me? I have to suffer much ridicule and persecution in my village, for they neither know nor love Jesus. I had an only daughter-she died, and I am left alone; she spun and prepared a piece of flaxen cloth, but could only half finish it. It is worth ten batzen (about 1s.) the ell, but I cannot sell it, because it is the last thing my dear child ever made. Pray accept a part of it, and have a shirt made of it. Wear it when you are among the heathen, and then think of me as you look at it, and pray that I may be faithful to the end, and that my latter end may be peace. I hope I shall meet you in heaven again.' `I was almost moved to tears. If any feeling is at present preponderating in my mind, it is this-that the more we are permitted to witness the work of God in sinners, the more should the instruments be abased and humbled in the dust. I trust I have learnt a lesson lately which will remain deeply imprinted on my heart and memory all my life. It is this: to live nearer to God, to believe and realize his promises more in all my undertakings, and to ascribe all the glory more entirely to him!" CONSTANTINOPLE. The I HAD a very pleasant interview with a Greek of Constantinople. He was well acquainted with the late Rev. John Hartley, who was an instrument in the hand of God to direct his attention to the Gospel and the things of eternity. He became a true Christian, and has ever since adorned his Christian profession with a life devoted to the service of Christ. chief employment of this Greek has been the translation of the Scriptures, and the Armeno-Turkish Bible is a fruit of his labours. Some years ago he spent a short time at Syra, during which time we had much delightful Christian intercourse with each other. Oh, how encouraging is it for Missionaries in this country, at the present day, to see some fruit of the labours of their brethren, who sowed the good seed before them! Dear Mr. Hartley has entered into his rest, but his works follow him. The value of one immortal soul, for which Christ shed his blood, is unspeakably great; for "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth;" but there is more than one soul in the Mediterranean that has been brought to a saving knowledge of the truth, by Mr. Hartley's instrumentality, and that will be his joy and crown of rejoicing in the great day of the Lord. I would not be discouraged, therefore, in the work of my calling, hoping that, feeble and unworthy as the instrument is, my "labours shall not be in vain in the Lord." POPERY. PETITION OF CATHOLIC INHABIT- CHRISTENDOM. Presented 21st Feb. 1845. Translated from the original German. A great movement in the Roman Catholic Church of Germany, having been some time going on, of which only slight and vague accounts have been heard in this country; it is presumed that the following address from the inhabitants of Offenbach to the Roman Catholic Bishop of Mentz, will be acceptable, as conveying a more definite knowledge of the objects and increasing importance of this great religious meeting. To His Grace, the Most Reverend Lord Bishop, Doctor Peter Leopold Kayser; the respectful address and petition of the undersigned, members of his Diocese, concerning pressing necessities of the Church. IN the confident assurance that your Grace is aware of the sources of the dangers which threaten to shake the fundamental pillars of our holy Catholic Church, and that your Lordship will cheerfully and courageously apply to those dangers, and the deeply rooted diseases which are at their source, the powerful remedies which are at your command: We, the undersigned, as faithful members of the community, seek of our Chief Shepherd spiritual advice, assistance, and guidance in the way of salvation. Believing, also, that deliverance from every spiritual evil, as soon as we clearly recognise and openly avow its nature and origin, will not be difficult to God-confiding strength : we, in the following, openly express ourselves about the defects and abuses, whose JULY-1845. abolition we esteem absolutely neces sary, if we and many thousands of our brethren are to be helped out of spiritual anxiety and need. In doing so, we confine ourselves to the simplest outlines of our views, wishes, and motives: feeling assured that the deep insight of your Grace does not require a more detailed account, and will rather be able to complete our reasons by many others. According to our view, therefore, the well-being of Catholic Christendom requires principally the reconsideration and respective abolition of the following particulars, where partly the original perversion of divine laws, partly prevailing misunderstanding and abuse of originally well meant human laws, can be demonstrated. 1. The reading of the Holy Scriptures, in those versions, also, which are not approved of at Rome, to be allowed. Error and truth will be separated in the safest way, if we follow the words of the Apostle, (1 Thess. v. 21.) "Prove all things, hold fast that which is good!" 2. The ordinance of Fasts to be repealed; for "not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man," says our Saviour, (Matt. xv. 11.) Nevertheless, let no one be prevented from mortifying his body, if he considers it advisable for the subduing of his passions and, consequently, for the salvation of his soul. 3. The worship of saints and of relics to be abolished, because experience, even down to our present time, has shown that the difference between veneration and adoration can be rightly comprehended by the minority of worshippers only; consequently, that such veneration has become an abominable idolatry and fetish worship, with which the worship of the "One God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus," (1 Tim. ii. 5.) cannot co-exist. 4. From the external worship of 2 T God let every thing be removed, which, being unintelligible and dead, neither enlightens the understanding nor edifies the heart; and which, through its want of vitality, puts unmeaning ceremonials in the place of forms inspirited by the Holy Ghost: thus, the lip prayer of the Rosary, and particularly the use of the Latin and every foreign language, which already the Apostle Paul, in the fourteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, has entirely condemned. We quote only some of his words, (1 Cor. xiv. 16, 19.) "How shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue." 66 5. We claim the ancient right of every Christian, never entirely disputed by the Popes themselves, to partake of the Sacrament in both forms; in the first place, because at its institution, Christ himself, speaking to his disciples, who, as the first congregation, surrounded him as the only Priest and Mediator, asked them to I drink all of it!" In the next place, because the pastor, as a brother amongst brethren, as member of a congregation, and, at the same time, as their spiritual guide and teacher, ought to share with them the means of grace. The Saviour himself called not only those "brethren" who were so after the flesh, but all who worshipped God with him. 6. Auricular Confession, with its dependent absolution, to be abolished as a later invention of men, who succeeded in giving it the appearance of a higher institution, to keep the so called laymen in servile dependence upon. ambitious and mostly foreign priests. It is but too generally known, how often the refusal of absolution, dependent upon confession, has hurt innocent men in their domestic and public relations, and sometimes brought them to an unnatural obedience towards so called divine commandments; how often, also, on the other hand, the unconscientious granting of it has led weak men to total immorality and irreligion, and has substituted for the divine laws of Jesus, the human, yea, the devilish laws of Jesuits and their consorts. That pious and faithful priests do not abuse this institution is no argument against its mischievous operation in the hands of others. We also believe from our hearts, that without sincere confession, penance, and improvement, the grace of God and a worthy partaking of the holy supper cannot be obtained. But God himself only, not the priest, has to pronounce the final judgment upon the right or wrong of our special doings, of which every one, in his heart, has to render Him an exact account. In accordance with the position in the community already indicated in the previous article, as belonging to the priest after divine and human laws let him proclaim in their name and in his own the sacred duty of searching self-examination, of purity of heart and of life, and the consequent strong faith in God's love and mercy. He, however, who feels the want to confide specially and without restraint the doubts and reproaches of his conscience to his pastor, as to a friend and adviser, who is particularly conversant with the laws of God, and with His ways and means; he surely shall not be hindered in it, and he will certainly fare better, being led to this act by free confidence, than if he had been forced to it by an unrelenting, tyrannical command. 7. And now concerning Indulgences: shall we wait till Christ returns, to drive the buyers and sellers from the polluted house of the Lord? No, Christ rather waits himself, that we with our pastors and teachers at our head, should do it in his name and spirit. To recognise the perniciousness of this superstition in its fruits, it needs not casting a look upon the soul-mongering at Treves and other places, from which the wise and loving care of your Grace keeps the community in your charge as much as possible away; but our country offers also other instances of it, particularly in the processional pilgrimages to shrines of indulgence, mostly fre |