followed by the Protestant Missions is superior to that of the Catholics —it is said, that where the Catholics have once been established, and circumstances have driven out their Clergy, all the work is ruined-that there is not a trace to be found, because they have not built upon the Gospel, they have not built upon the Bible, but have built upon sand. These are the expressions of the writer. You have seen one instance of the contrary in Ceylon; and how different from this is the instance among the native Indians! A few years back there was a deputation from one of the tribes of Indians, who presented themselves before the Governor of Indiana, to ask for a Missionary. He told them that he would send them one. They said, "What sort will you send? Will you send those that bear the cross; and will he be a married or unmarried clergyman?" He replied, somewhat embarrassed, "Certainly they would bear no cross, but be married Clergymen." They replied instantly, "These are not the ones we want; we want those that used to be amongst us formerly "-that is to say, the class of Jesuits, the Catholic Missionaries. On the 12th of August, 1823, a petition was presented to the President of the United States, from the Uttawa Indians, from which I will read an extract. "We thank our father at Congress, for every mode of bringing us to salvation and the knowledge of Jesus, the Redeemer of the red and white man. Confiding in your paternal kindness, we claim liberty of conscience, and beg you to grant us a minister, or master of the Gospel, belonging to the Society of Catholics, of the order of St. Ignatius, formerly established at Michillimakicac by Father Magnet and by other Jesuits. Since that time we have always desired similar ministers. If you will grant us them, we will invite them to occupy the lands formerly held by Father Dujaunay." Four months later another petition was presented by the same tribe, from which this is an extract. "We, a chief and others, pray you will allow us to have a minister like those who used formerly to be amongst us. We desire to be instructed in the same religion as our ancestors were, when the Mission of St. Ignatius yet existed." This was so far back as 1765. "We shall deem ourselves happy if it shall please you to send us a man of God of the Catholic religion."

In 1827, a chief of the Kausas came to St. Louis, and asked, in the same way, for a Catholic Missionary, The request was not complied with, and he applied again to General Clarke, and after a third request, Dr. Rosati appointed a German priest, who is now among them. Since that there have been several others in the same way. But I mention these instances to show, that the religion which was then preached to them, so far back as the middle of the last century, is yet remembered by them; and they know well how to distinguish between that religion and any other instead: and, it is singular,

that about three years ago, when a Missionary, with whom I had the pleasure of being acquainted, went among these Indians, he found a prayer written on paper, which had been composed by one of the Jesuit Missionaries seventy years ago, bearing that date upon it, and which they had kept and cherished with the greatest care and reverence. It was certainly a beautiful prayer for the success of the Missions; and this he had printed, and I was happy enough to obtain a copy. They remembered the names of the last Jesuits who had been among them; they knew every thing about them-the houses, the very places they lived in; and they had, if I do not mistake, even retained, with considerable care, the things that had belonged to divine worship before.

I feel that I have by no means done justice to the subject. I have hurried over a great deal; and have even not been able to make use, in the way I wished, of the tempting documents that I have in my possession. I think, however, what I have advanced must be sufficient for contrasting what I have said to-night-and for every item of which I will pledge my character-with those documents which I brought forward, from the most unsuspected sources, the last time I addressed you.

It will be easy to see which church, or which method of preaching, appears to have been appointed by Divine Providence. There has not been an instance, that I am aware of yet, of any Protestant community, of any establishment, undergoing persecution. But, before leaving persecution, do allow me to detain you for one moment, with one remarkable instance that I have mentioned. The state of the Sandwich Islands was alluded to, in what, perhaps, might have been thought too severe terms; and the way in which the Missions had been there conducted. A traveller, mentioning an interview which he had with a princess there, says he asked, " Why did you become a Christian?" She replied, "Mr. Bingham, who can read and write so well, tells me it is the best religion; and because I see that the English and the Americans, who are Christians, are so much superior to us. But it was only an experiment; and if I find it does not answer, we will leave them alone. In the year 1826, some Catholic Clergymen went over, and they commenced the work of trying to make converts in the simplest manner. They opened an oratory, and placed in it the image of our blessed Saviour crucified. The natives naturally came in and asked what that represented. They took occasion, from the outward symbol, to explain the mystery of redemption; for it is very probable, that with. out some such representation, it would have been impossible to convey to these untutored and simple savages the doctrine and the history of our Saviour's passion, and what is the meaning of that there related. The consequence was, they soon began to have persons placing themselves under instruction. It went on for some time; and at last, after two or

three years, by Protestant authority there-that is, the Missionaries, who had taken possession of the temporal, as well as the spiritual power -they were banished from the Island, and took refuge in California, where the last tidings left them. By a letter, dated August 1833, it appears, that all the Catholics there, who had been discovered, were summoned before the authorities, and were ordered to attend Protestant worship. Upon their refusal, they were condemned to hard labour on the public roads; a task was appointed them, and they were ordered to do so much work. When it was done, they were brought up for a second interrogation, and asked if they would attend Protestant worship. Upon their refusal 'they were condemned to a second task; and when they came to the fourth task, some of them demurred on this account, that hitherto they had been allowed to work in bodies composed entirely of themselves, and an order now came that they should be mixed with convicts-with all that were condemned to work for every sort of crime. They felt themselves hurt, naturally; and, more than that, they felt that they were going to incur danger, by being mixed up with the lowest refuse and the worst form of society. The consequence was, they demurred, and begged they might be allowed to work alone. An order came that they should not; but not only so, an order was given to separate the wives from their husbands, and make them work in different parts of the Island. This produced something like a tumult, and they consulted the catechist whether they were to obey. He said, "If an order of this kind come through the Commissary, he has no authority to command it; but if the proper magistrate tells you, you must submit. God will not be the less pleased with you for your keeping such company, so long as it is not your own doings. It proved that the Commissary gave the order; and, taking the catechist's words too literally, they insisted upon having the command issued in their presence, by the supreme Judge. They were taken before him, but, in passing before the house of the English Consul, some of them, in chains and being dragged away to this hard work, rushed into his house and claimed his protection. He instantly, as was worthy of the English character and name, took them under his protection-because, I must observe, that the Missionaries were not Englishmen—and since that, the persecution has ceased. This was an instance of the persecution of one sect of the Christian religion-professing to be Christian-against another of that religion, and who are the people that are always considered as persecutors by that sect. The consequence was, that in April, 1833, the king annulled the decree by which all the people should be compelled to attend the Protestant church; I say compelled, because, as a traveller says, he saw, himself, the people driven to church with a stick, receiving severe blows to oblige them to enter. But the moment the decree was issued, that they should not be obliged to go, it was found that the Catholics had

not lost one single convert-not one person had left them. Let anybody contrast the conduct of the two-the one that endured persecution and still remained faithful-the other, who were supported by law, the moment the compulsion was taken off, have in a great measure abandoned their course.

These are matters for your own reflection; and, if you look at them, even independently of the comparison which I have made, I am sure you ought to feel, that it is a subject of much consolation, and much comfort to all those who profess the faith of Christ. I cannot conceive a more delightful occupation, than to study the peculiar manner in which Christianity alone, of every known religion, can adapt itself to every possible state and condition of mankind. We may say, that every other religion which has ever been upon earth, bears in itself most manifest marks of its being adapted only for one particular climate or character. You cannot, for instance, suppose that the Huron could have ever, by any ingenuity, or any talent, been induced to embrace the abstemious, and, I might almost say, the amphibious religion of the Ganges; that he could have been induced to pass a great portion of the day on the shore, to hope for his sanctification from frequent ablution in his frozen lakes, or to abstain from animal food, and confine himself to vegetables, which the stern decrees of nature have forbidden to his clime. You cannot conceive how the soft and luxurious inhabitant of Thibet should adopt, in his calm and spicy groves, those sanguinary divinities which distinguish the religion of the Scandinavian; or that he would have listened with delight to the legends of blood and of glory, which serve to nerve the heart that is sinking amid the storms of that country. You cannot, in like manner, conceive how he, in his turn, could have been brought to embrace the religion of the East with its variety of perfumes and light Pagodas, and every portion of the ceremonies forming a part of worship so manifestly intended for one zone. In the same manner we may say of every ancient religion. The religion of Egypt is so completely the produce of the soil, that it must have perished had it been transplanted beyond the banks of the Nile. And the religion of Greece, in the same manner, with all its poetical mythology, could only have been adopted by a nation possessing the same refined taste and the same exalted fancy which they had. Even the Jewish religion itself, bears the impress of not having been intended by its Maker to be a durable or universal form of worship. Christianity alone seems to be the religion for every climate. We have seen, from the accounts we have given you, individuals from one pole to the other, from the bounds of the East to those of the West, believing the same doctrines; and the same practices taking root in every possible variety of the human race, whether we consider their habits or their constitution, their complexion or their natural characteristics.

However, I hope that what I have said this evening will make us just to ourselves, and lead us to find, that it is not every form of Christianity which can thus be adapted to the wants of every fallen individual; that it is only the Catholic religion which seems to make itself, as it were, all in all, and takes hold of every possible variety without altering in the least those characteristics which form specific distinctives. The doctrines of some Protestant sects have been proposed to the Negroes in the West Indies, and the consequences of it so far have been fatal to themselves, and to those by whom they are surrounded. We have seen Lutheranism attempted to be thrusted on the natives of Ceylon; and in consequence there has been the most frightful chimera of religion ever seen, for there has been the union of Christian worship with the worship of devils. We might say the same of the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, in which all the traits of savage character have been merged in the vices of a civilized nation, in the worst forms of European character. It seems, therefore, as if the Catholic religion possessed a certain grace and efficacy peculiar to itself—that of laying hold of every diversity, and every character, without destroying our personal or national individuality. It seems to have the same latent and mystical virtue which is attributed to many springs, wherein flowers or leaves that have been some time, are, by the water, gradually divested of every frail particle, and converted into a solid durable mass; but yet, at the same time, preserve every line, every mark which served to give them character in their more frail and perishable state. So it is precisely with us. You have seen the Catholic religion proposed and accepted independently of civilization: it may have gone sometimes before it, if not, it is sure to be its harbinger. You see how, sometimes, it has found it gone, and proved its creator. You have seen, in other instances, how savages have been brought to the knowledge, and admiration, and practice, of the sublimest doctrines, and yet continue in their own native You have seen it, on the other hand, form the only check, the only preservative, amid the debilitating influence of the Indian climate. Surely these are qualities upon which we may dwell with gratitude to God, for having blessed us so far as to have known, and embraced, and practised this religion. O that the Lord may preserve us in it; and that you may thank God for the grace given to you and others, is a blessing which I pray God to grant you all.

state.