refunded and foreign rapacity satiated, but the public debts were discharged, and the aggregate of available wealth increased. The plea of exhaustion from war and foreign plunder, therefore, cannot avail to account for the present state of the country.

This poverty cannot be from the country's being overstocked with inhabitants, for Tuscany, for example, has but about one hundred and thirty-five to a square mile, while France has one hundred and fifty, and England about two hundred and sixty.

It cannot be for the want of resources, for the soil of the plains and valleys is very rich, producing two crops a year: the hills are fruitful in vines, olives, and other fruits: and the mountains abound in minerals. There is also abundant water power for machinery, and the entire country is a peninsula surrounded with navigable waters, and indented with innumerable bays and harbors.

Will it be said the people lack enterprise? This is grantedbut what has destroyed their enterprise? The climate? But when and where was there a more enterprising race than the ancient Romans, who inhabited the same country? The spirit of Popery has broken down their enterprise, and never will they be restored to activity and enterprise, until this incubus be removed from them. It takes away the key of knowledge from the great mass of the people-it shrouds their minds in superstition, and superinduces an intellectual torpor.

But above all, the Catholic religion absorbs the great whole of the fruits, of the industry of the people in a barren consumption.. Never before, I believe, was there so costly a religion as this. Look at some of the principal items: First notice the expense of the churches-the traveller is astonished at the multitude of the churches that he sees in Italy, both in town and country-in the vales and on the mountains, where there are inhabitants and where there are none-for it is often the case that some saint will have a church and a shrine at a distance of one, two, three, or more miles from the habitations of men, which is used, perhaps, once or twice a year on some fete day, on which a company make a pilgrimage thither to celebrate mass. Every little town and village will have a number. Rome, for example, has one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, and three hundred churches. Many of these are splendid and extravagantly expensive. St. Peter's alone, with all its fixtures, furniture, paintings, mosaics, and statuary, cost from fifty to fifty-five millions of dollars; and although there are no other churches to be compared with this, yet there are a number of churches in Rome that must have cost several millions each. I should judge it a moderate calculation to estimate the cost of the churches and ecclesiastical edifices of Rome at one hundred and fifty millions. And what does all this expenditure return for the outlay? Nothing-for the more part worse than nothing, because it only furnishes occasion for the employment of an army of sinecures. It is true, an adequate number of churches of reasonable expense, and a competent supply of religious teachers, are an advantage to a nation even in a pecuniary point of view ; but how trifling the necessary amount compared with this?

Secondly, look at the number of ecclesiastics, monks, and nuns of every grade. It would be interesting to know the proportion

that the priests, monks, and nuns bear to the whole population. I was told, with how much accuracy I cannot say, that in Florence, which has a population of about eighty thousand, there were five thousand priests and other ecclesiastics. Probably this was a high estimate, but certainly there are very many. It seemed as though every fifth or eighth man we met in the street was a priest. I tried to ascertain from the priests themselves the number of their profession in Rome. They were either ignorant or unwilling to tell. Their answer was: Molto! molto! There are, however, according to the best information I could get, from one thousand five hundred to two thousand priests and bishops, and about double that number of monks and nuns. These monastic establishments were almost wholly suppressed by the French, but have been restored by the pope. Not so many of the provincial monasteries, however, have been restored in the Roman states; and in the Austrian dominions in Northern Italy none of the orders or religious houses have been restored. In the kingdom of Naples, before the revolutions there and its subsequent subjugation to the French, the whole number of ecclesiastics was about one hundred thousand, which was supported at an expense of about nine millions of dollars annually. Some of the religious houses of this kingdom have been restored, and it is not for the want of a good will in the pope that all have not.

By this multitude of priests and other ecclesiastics it is seen that not only is there a direct tax upon the country for their support, but there is also subtracted from the industry of the country the amount of what these ecclesiastics might have contributed to it, if they had been engaged in some industrious calling. This is a great tax, certainly, upon the income of a nation.

Some of these orders live upon incomes of certain estates attached to them-others, and a very considerable portion, are of the mendicant orders. They possess no property, and live upon charity. We had hardly got settled in our lodgings in Rome before one of these licensed beggars called on us, with his credentials, stating that their monastery supported many of the suffering poor, &c. It is said there are ten convents in Rome that employ public beggars constantly.

The frequent feasts and religious days in this country are a great tax upon the industry of the people; at the same time they cultivate indolent habits, and thus prove a double loss to community. To this we might add the processions and the pilgrimages, which are all a tax of a similar nature, and they also encourage idleness.

In short, the wax candles that are burned in Roman Catholic countries, most of them in broad daylight, would of themselves make a handsome revenue. I have seen large processions moving through the streets of Rome and Naples with their large wax candles flaring away in the wind, and so valuable was the dripping wax to the poor, that the boys, one at each candle, running by the side, caught it in a piece of paper as it fell. I have seen five or six hundred of these burning at a time in one church. Eighty are kept constantly burning before the shrine of St. Peter in St. Peter's Cathedral.

When all these enormous expenses are taken into the account, can any one wonder at the poverty of the people, or doubt that this system is at direct variance with the soundest principles of political economy?

These are some of the objections that have occurred to me as operating decidedly and fatally against the character and claims of the Roman Catholic Church. And, however little they may avail with such as are Catholics, they ought to have their weight with Protestants, as well to guard their own minds against the plausible insinuations of the system, as also to keep up the influence of an enlightened public sentiment on this subject. Let Roman Catholics have full liberty to exercise and propagate their religion, but let Protestants ever bear in mind what have been and what are now the essential features of a church which must always maintain the same character in all its parts, or cease to be what she claims to be—the infallible and only Church of Christ. Rome, March, 1836.

W. FISK.

From the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, for Jan. 1837.

ART. X.-SELECTIONS FROM THE PAPERS OF MR. WATSON. "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?" John vi, 60.

EASY sayings in matters of religion, whether of doctrine or of practice, generally indicate either an incompetent teacher, or a very advanced and apt disciple.

Neither of these alternatives is true in the case before us. The master was Christ, who knew the whole will of God; who knew the Father; who was himself God; whose words were, therefore, revelations of truth in its heights and depths, and of precepts which could not be brought down either to human vice or to human weakness.

The disciples were men in their natural estate, or just taking the first step out of it; and "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

This state of things remains to the present hour. Christ still stands among us, and teaches out of his word. But the natural man bears the same character that he did eighteen centuries ago; and whatever in any of us still remains of the natural man darkens the judgment, vitiates the affections, and makes the "sayings" of Christ hard and difficult. How many of these "sayings" of Christ could I sound in your ears at this hour, of each of which you would exclaim, "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?"

Many of these wondrous and "hard sayings" I cannot at present adduce. They are too numerous to be distinctly considered. I purpose, however, for your instruction, to direct your attention to four of these "sayings" of Christ which are eminently "hard."

1. The first "hard saying" of Christ which I shall introduce is a saying for the rich :-"How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."

To "enter into the kingdom of God," is to become a Christian. Whence arises the difficulty of this to rich men? It arises from their education and training. They are generally brought up and mingle with the wise men of this world. Yet a man must "become a fool," in order that he may be made wise unto salvation. He must become teachable as a child; not debating, but learning.

It arises from their pride. Distinction always excites this in the natural man. But to become a Christian he must be humbled in the dust; condescend to men of low estate; and avouch the despised and persecuted people of God as his brethren and sisters.

It arises from their lively sense of honor and reputation. The least apparent slight is by them often painfully felt; whereas, as Christians, they must not only submit to reproach, but even glory in it.

It arises from that worldliness of spirit which the possession of riches often creates and fosters. In becoming a Christian, the rich man must learn that he is only a steward, who must give a strict account of the purposes to which he has applied the property that was committed to his trust. He must acquire, also, a heavenly mind.

2. My second selection is "a hard saying" for the poor, or those who are comparatively so. "Take no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." This, too, is "a hard saying; who can hear it?"

Its hardness arises from the natural anxiety of the mind respecting the future. This anxiety is so natural to men, that even the rich are not free from it. Strong as is their "mountain," they fear that it will some time be "moved;" and they often live in fear of ten thousand imaginary evils. How much more must this natural anxiety press upon the poor, to whom future evils are more probable; and who are reminded of that probability by present afflictions!

It arises from a very natural and obvious mode of reasoning. If they are poor in health, what must they be in sickness? If they are poor in the prime of life, what can they expect in old age? If to-day they are in trouble, and see no way of relief; to-morrow, in all probability, will be worse. The cruise of oil wastes, and the barrel of meal fails; and they do not live in the age of miracles. How hard is this saying! It is hard for preachers to take it to the ears of the poor; and hard for them to receive it.

Nor is this " saying" easily relieved by our Lord's own words: "If God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" In nature we see God more immediately than in providence; at least, we see nothing between him and the effect, but unconscious and unresisting agents. The sun darts his beams, the clouds hold on their flight, the showers drop their fatness, the valleys laugh and sing. Thus God clothes the grass: warmth and moisture spread vegetation over the earth; and the playing light paints every flower with beauty.

But in providence man comes between us and God. A willing being is often a resisting one. How hard it is to believe that God can accomplish his purposes, when they must often encounter in their march the selfishness, the sloth, the wickedness of men!

3. A third of these sayings respects both the rich and the poor. "If any man will come after me," that is, will be my disciple, "let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."

The hardness of this saying arises from the strange kind of contest which it enjoins "Let himself deny himself." Here is self against self, engaged in settled and constant war: the self of reason against the self of passion; the self of conscience against the self of appetite; severity against pleasure; exertion against indolence; the enduring of hardness against effeminate indulgence.

It arises from our natural antipathy to suffering and dishonor. Yet the cross is to be taken up, and borne with joyfulness, even unto death.

It arises from our condition, as corrupt creatures. "Follow me," said Jesus. A man that is born corrupt is to follow, to imitate, Him who knew no sin. A creature is to imitate God. "This," say some, "is a hard saying. You urge impossibilities, both natural and moral." Remember, however, that they are not my words, but the words of Christ.

4. My fourth example is connected with the text; and it relates also to all people, whether they be rich or poor; as it touches the matter of our justification and spiritual life."Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." By eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of man is meant, partaking by faith of the benefit of his sacrifice, in order to our present pardon, and future spiritual life. Through faith in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus we are justified from the guilt of our sins; and by the same means the divine life is produced and nourished.

This is hard to the wisdom of the world, which cries, "Why cannot sin be pardoned by mere prerogative on the part of God, without an atonement? and why cannot man obtain it simply by repentance, without trusting in any sacrifice? Why may not spiritual life be the result of personal acts, and of meditation, rather than of faith in the death of the Lord Jesus?" All this is "hard" to pride. Man wants to do something to merit these blessings; whereas faith in Christ takes away all glorying in man,-renders salvation common, by placing its blessings within the reach of all.

Many reasons might be assigned why these "sayings" of Christ are deemed "hard," and why men so often complain of them. I will only mention two.

1. The first reason is our natural insensibility to the evil and danger of our sinful state. Sin has darkened the understanding, corrupted the will, depraved the heart, and made men "earthly, sensual, and devilish." Look at Adam in his plenitude of moral glory; and at man in his present fallen state. Yet of this change and degradation he is not sensible, nor of the danger that threatens him. The wrath of God abideth on him, and he is doomed to future misery. If we saw ourselves aright, we should feel self-abhorred and alarmed, look around for help, and seize it when offered.' It would make the "hard sayings" of Christ easy, did we only feel for sin as for a painful and dangerous disease. What man, in pain and danger, puts riches in comparison with health? If we were duly convinced of the evil of sin, as little should we cleave to