At least he could read those passages supposed to contain evangelical doctrinethere could be nothing wrong in that. Baffled and perplexed, he directed her to the word of God for consolation; and read to her such texts as these: God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life' He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name.'

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law.'-Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.' No more was wanted: it was light to her perplexed path, it was peace to her anguish, it was life to the dying, it was instant cure for her despair; and she welcomed the gospel as the flower in the desert welcomes the rain; held fast the consolation, and died rejoicing in the faith;-a signal instance of the adaptation of the gospel to our moral wants."

STATE OF EVANGELICAL RELIGION IN
GENEVA.

"THERE is irreligion in Geneva; and I have only heard of three or four pious pastors in the whole National Church: but still there are few towns of the same size where so many educated, influential, and decided men are combined for the promotion of the cause of Christ. I rejoice to record the names of some of those whom I met. Besides those whom I have already mentioned, the Pastor Barde, and Messrs. Vernet, de Mole, and Cramer, of the National Church, who have never been called by the Company of Pastors to any pastoral charge, with Messrs. d'Epines, the father and son, and Mr. Cramieux, are all active in doing good.* To these must be added the excellent Congregational ministers of the Congregational Church at La Palisserie, Empeytaz, Guers, and L'Huillier. This is an influential band of brethren, to whom is entrusted a great work."

ITALY.

A VISIT TO THE VATICAN.

Or all the edifices in Rome, the Vatican is by far the most extensive, rivalling in its magnitude the residences of those emperors who were masters of the world, when a palace covered a hill. Do we resort to it for objects of art? - It is enough to say that the Transfiguration by Rafaelle, and the Apollo Belvidere are there. Do we

M. de Mole has since left the National Church.

wish to become acquainted with the treasures of ancient lore, MS. or printed? -- Its library opens up riches which many lifetimes could not exhaust. Or do we wish to wander over the chief residence of him whose predecessors at least, trod on the necks of emperors, and upturned the thrones of kings; while even now, shorn and diminished as he is, the Pope, as the head of Antichristianism, enthrals the minds and the consciences of millions?-Then here, with St. Peter's on the east, the gardens of the Palace to the south, the church-tipped Monte Mario (Clivus Cinnae) to the west, and the yellow Tiber and Rome to the north, we find the abode of that Man of Sin who still supports the system which vies with the grossest superstitions in corrupting and debasing mankind. But let us turn for a little from polemics, to examine in detail this wonderful pile, and record the impressions which a visit conveys.

First, as to the arts.-Where shall we begin? We are in the chamber of Rafaelle, and on that frescoed wall the master has depicted the history of the apostle Paul, in a style so life-like, so grand and speaking, that one expects for a moment to hear his voice, till reflection dispels the illusion. It returns, however, as you study the exhaustless production. One of the texts is the stone with the words, "To the unknown God;" the pulpit is Mar's Hill; the hearers are Athenians; the preacher, Paul; the painter, Rafaelle; and where in the world's history, among mere men, was ever a group so noble, or associations so varied, or topics so exciting and suggestive as are thus presented to the eye?

But pass through a few apartments, any one of which would signalize a country where the objects of art are more rare, and you stand before the Transfiguration, by Rafaelle. In the Sistine Chapel, you find the Last Judgment, by Michael Angelo, in fresco. It is awful and appalling, though in some respects its details degenerate into the grotesque; but you can turn from it without emotion- at least there is no drawing forth of deep feeling by all the painter's power. Before the Transfiguration, on the other hand, one feels attracted, and actually loves the production. The chief figure is so exquisitely beautiful and ethereal, that it appears not a thing of earth-" His face shines as the sun, and his raiment is white as the light." Those apostles, so stunned; those attendants, Moses and Elias, so ethereal, like their Lord, (1 John iii. 2,) are all so inexpressibly lovely and perfect, that one can form no adequate estimate of the power of painting till objects such as these have been seen. We do not forget that criticism has pronounced certain censures on some details in this painting, and there may be truth in them; but that con

and

But pass to another section of this vast pile. It is a chamber in the form of the segment of a circle. The view from it is one of the grandest in Italy. The Castle of St. Angelo, the Campus Martius, the Tiber, Rome, the Sabine Hills, the Campania, Tusculum, Frascati, Tivoli-a thousand objects of interest meet the eye as it roams from scene to scene, beheld from the Palace and its halls. But in that chamber, small in comparison with many beside it, stands another amazing creation of art, the Apollo. It was found at Antium, towards the close of the fifteenth century, and placed in the Museum of the Vatican by Buonarotti. Perhaps there are some who feel, or think they feel, all the beauty of this wondrous statue, when they first gaze on it--and the first look, no doubt, conveys a distinct impression of its grandeur and symmetry. But the expression, the real greatness of the mimic god, are not discovered to their full extent except by visit after visit. He has just discharged an arrow, and gazes after it to mark its effects; the attitude, haughty yet reposeful, the anger felt and expressed, yet not ruffling the countenance, combined with the perfect proportions of the work as a human figure, hold us in a kind of awe in its presencean awe which we felt deepened and enhanced by each reiterated visit. Except in that marvellous and mighty pile, the Pantheon, nowhere in Italy did man's power affect us so much as in the presence of the Apollo. We have traversed the field of battle at Thrasymene, and tried to realize the feelings of the combatants when they struggled so intensely that they felt not the earthquake which rocked the ground on which they fought; we have followed Buonaparte over the Great St. Bernard, with its glaciers and snows, and explored with care the battle-field of Marengo; we have heard the British huzzas, and seen the French disasters at Waterloo-and these have drawn forth emotions which one would not wish to repress, and could not tel!; yet the Apollo in effect surpasses them all, at least, it is sui generis. The mind versant in moral loveliness, learns before it, that even in things as they exist in our wrecked world, there lie concealed the elements and copies of beauty as it exists

in the Divine mind, waiting the appointed time when all the redeemed shall be morally lovely- literally like God. "Quella venusta che da Dio deriva, conduce a Dio," is the aphorism of an Italian. It is true, at least, in spiritual things, so that one carries to his ultramontane home, from the hall of the Apollo, a figure of loveliness which it requires no effort for the mind to reproduce: and which it is nothing more than instinct to admire. Strange that the mind that conceived, the hand that chiselled that exquisite embodiment of thought, was Pagan, worshipping, if it worshipped at all, a stock or a stone, and seeking pleasure in the objects which the true God abominates, and bids man abjure! The form, however, is only the more admirable on that account. It is the idealized creation of some high mind, the transcendentalism of taste, the absolute ideal of manly beauty, and prompts us to wonder more and more at the character of ancient Rome. To-day, its vestal virgins were presiding at a massacre in the circus; to-morrow, adoring, after their fashion, in a temple worthy of Athens; now, the majestic people consigned a city to the flames; anon, they re-peopled it with statues just not living! Madame de Staël somewhere asks, Whether Nero, looking on such perfection, would not have foregone somewhat of his ferocity? She knew not that it is not that kind of beauty that can tame man's heart into tenderness. It is, nevertheless,

"A form of life and light,
That, seen, became a part of sight;
And rose, where'er we turn'd our eye,
The morning star of memory."

In the neighbourhood of the Apollo, though in a separate hail, stands the group of the Laocoon, another marvellous creation, though less imposing than the simple majesty of its companion. It is assigned to three artists at Rhodes; it formed one of the ornaments of the palace of Titus, on one of the seven hills, and was discovered there amid the ruins in the time of Pope Julius II. In complexity, it resembles the group of "Niobe all tears," in the gallery at Florence; but the concentration or convulsion of feeling that is visible in the Laocoon draws one back to study it again, and again, and again-it is a tragedy in stone. The struggle, yet resignation, as if to inevitable fate, of the old man; the helpless and imploring resistance of the sons, crushed, maimed, and tortured as they are by the coils of the serpents, and their sympathetic inclination towards their parent, even as they writhe in agony, all speak to the soul more than to the senses. Criticism is disarmed while we behold the Æneid surpassed in marble; for the creations of the artists of Rhodes leave a

"Laocoonta petunt: et primum parva duorum Corpora natorum serpens amplexus uterque Implicat, et miseros morsu depascitur artus. Post, ipsum auxilio subeuntum ac tela ferentem Corripiunt, spirisque ligant ingentibus."

But there are other stores in the Vatican besides the treasures of art. It is said that there are 60,000 statues in Rome, and many of them adorn the halls of this papal palace; but we turn from them all to the library.there to glance at the treasures which it contains. It was founded by Pope Nicholas V., in 1447, who transferred to it from other quarters the MSS. which had been in course of collection for ten centuries before. The present pile dates from 1588, and the contents of the library have been augmented from time to time, and from innumerable sources. Leo X. was an active collector, and added largely to the stores. Yet the interior of this magnificent pile has little of that erudite appearance which its character as a depôt of lore would lead us to expect. Indeed, its treasures are so buried or immured in presses, and these presses are so bedizened with ornament, that except in its vastness, it is more like the library of a well-conditioned and rather pretending citizen's villa, than the depository of so much that is antique and invaluable. It would be endless to attempt to catalogue the treasures and true curiosities of literature that are here. Romish partiality or pride estimates the printed works at 100,000 volumes, the MSS. at 35,000; but even though we make an abatement from these, the collection is still noble, and worthy of a more dignified proprietor than the head of a system which has wrought with such fell and ruinous effects upon the consciences of men. The volume which chiefly attracted our attention was the treatise, "De Republica," by Cicero. It is not complete, but has been wonderfully restored by Angelo Maio, from under the version of Augustine's "Commentary on the Psalms," which had been written over the ancient MS. The monks of the middle ages are often eulogised as the conservators of literature during the dark midnight of Europe; and men are rising up in hundreds to spread their celebrity in that respect. What evidence do the palimpsests of Angelo Maio bear to the taste, and learning, and conservative tendencies of the monks? A production of "Rome's least mortal mind," effaced by some shaveling scribe, to make room for the production of one who, though much to be honoured, had yet been copied, and copied again, on less precious vellum, is surely not an argument in favour of monkish enthusiasm in the cause of letters.

The living literature of the Vatican is

we mean the Italian literati, who are met with there, add a charm to that storehouse of learning. Our first visit to it was in quest of an early production of Calvin, (a preface,) which we knew was in the Vatican, but which the subordinate officials could not discover. Angelo Maio was called in, and with equal intelligence and politeness, produced the stranger from its hidingplace. In his appearance, Maio is a favourable specimen of Italians. With rather more of grave and portly sedateness than they generally exhibit, he has their frank and ready politeness, and withal, their communicative volubility. It cost no effort to lead him into his favourite themes, and there he was loquacious, as few but Italians can be a thorough enthusiast - a very devotee. Maio began his career as keeper of the Ambrosian Library at Milan, where he signalized himself by his discoveries in ancient manuscripts, which had been effaced and written over by monks with their lying legends, though for some time he anonymously published his discoveries. Having attracted the notice of Pius VII., he was promoted to the office of librarian of the Vatican, and eventually exchanged the ruby-coloured robe of a Monsignore for the purple of a cardinal. He has been called the Hero of the Palimpsests, and deserves the title. He is chiefly famed for his edition of "Cicero de Republica," which is reckoned the most powerful production of the orator. Maio is now sinking into the feebleness of age. His policy as librarian is said to be illiberal, and the glory of his setting does not correspond with the promise of his rising, or the vigour of his meridian power.

Another of the Italian savans whom we have met in those storehouses of literature is the Abate Mezzofante, now, like his friend Maio, a cardinal. He first became famed at Bologna, where he was professor of Greek and the Oriental tongues. In that chair he had for his colleague the noted Signora Clotilda Tamborini. Strange as it may seem, she combined her stores with those of Mezzofante in training the Italian youth in the knowledge of Greek; thus carrying us back to the days when Olympia Morata, Lady Jane Gray, and others, their contemporaries, rivalled their brothers and husbands in their knowledge of language, their literature, and philosophy. At her death, about the year 1821, Mezzofante profoundly lamented her removal; and evinced, by his regrets, how congenial were their studies and tastes.

In our day, as in that of Tacitus, every thing in Italy that is either very good or very bad soon finds its way to Rome, and in due time, Mezzofante was called up by the head of that church which has been so

wise through all its generations. It was there that we made his acquaintance. On a cold February morning, we were seated in the compartment of the library where he usually studied, when an uncouth and not prepossessing figure took possession of the adjoining table. He was busied with a work on Turkey, which soon became our topic. He speedily discovered, from our mode of pronouncing Italian, that Britain was our home; and, without any forewarning, addressed us in our vernacular. His readiness and accent surprised us. He is reputed the master of forty languages, but he himself smiles at the assertion. That he has an amazing aptitude for acquiring them, however, is certain; but he does not pretend to be master of more than a few. With Greek and the Oriental tongues he is familiar. Polish, Hungarian, German, Bohemian, Spanish, English, French, and others, he knows well, having acquired them mainly by intercourse with natives of those countries in Italy. But the accounts of his linguistic powers are exaggerated, while, at the same time, his knowledge in other departments is limited. We once showed him a precious volume, marked, in the catalogue of the library, "Rarior ipsa raritate," but the Abate scarcely gave it a glance.

But we must away from the Vatican, with all its treasures-artistic, literary, and living. Would they were in nobler hands than those who now pervert them! But the time will come. How vast the change that has passed over Rome since Augustus, or even Trajan, was its lord! and how shorn and subdued in our day, compared with what it was when Leo X. was its pontiff and prince! Harbingers these of greater changes still. "I will overturn, overturn, overturn, till He comes whose right it is to rule," embodies the deathwarrant of Rome. It has been said of the past, and will be said of the future

"And thou art she, the ghost of that proud Rome,
Whose eagles fatten'd on the million corpses
Of nations prostrate. Far as wind rocked Thule
Was felt thy crushing grasp-thine iron car,
Swift as the thunder's fiery messenger,
Roll'd on and on, in triumph, till the suckling's

scream,

Bereft of her who bore it - Eld's hoary head; Doom'd to a childless dotage-the widow'd maid, Who had but dreamt of joys she ne'er could know, Heaved their deep curses from their broken hearts, And imprecated on thy ruthless butchers

The vengeance which has scathed thy scarry brow. How the heart weeps and joys to see thee fallen thus!

Weeps, that a thing so mighty as thy sway Should veil its glory to a shaveling's mumbling; Joys, that retribution, sure as were thy conquests, Hath come at last to lay thy Neroes prostrate."From the Free Church Magazine.

GERMANY.

ac

(From our German Correspondent.) THE amount of ignorance of Scripture and neglect of true religion amongst the Protestant inhabitants of Prussia, who profess to be zealous Lutherans, is amazing. I have endeavoured to promote the establishment of Sunday-schools for religious instruction, but without success. It is equally impossible to have a "Tract Society." The people have no idea of doing anything without the clergy. And the evangelical clergymen whom I am quainted with, whilst they admit the usefulness of such institutions, are afraid the magistrates would interpose to resist such things. One, whose congregation consists mainly of the agricultural labourers from the suburbs, tells me that he wished to commence a service on Sunday evenings for those who live too far off to attend the church, and had arranged to have this service in their own neighbourhood,—but the magistrates interposed and forbade it. The present "shaking of the nations" may shake down the State-Church of Prussia,if so, it will do much good; for, under the new state of things, the State-Church would be entirely in the hands of the

Rationalists.

Last year, whilst at Reinerz, I went over the borders into Bohemia, and gave away a good many tracts, "but secretly for fear of the" priests; this year I hope to do it more extensively and with less restraint. My health is considerably improved, but I fear it will be necessary for me to follow the physician's advice of visiting Reinerz a third time, which will require my staying here another year. Things are very unsettled here, and it seems by no means improbable that we shall have war before long.

RUSSIA.

PROTESTANTISM IN RUSSIA. (From our own Correspondent, dated April 15, 1848.) ON the banks of the Wolga, in the government circuit of Saratow, which lies between 60 and 65° E. longitude, and between 40° and 45° N. latitude, there is a German colony; it was founded under the reign of Catherine II., in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Its population amounts to more than 10,000, distributed into 102 villages. These are situated principally upon the banks of the river. Few are more than 25 wersts from it, and nearly all are within 100 wersts of the provincial town, Saratow.

The houses are built chiefly of fir wood, and in regular order. They present an appearance of comfort, and consist generally of two, in some cases of three, four, or even five rooms. The roofs are often painted red, and the windows, which are

pretty large, either red or green. The interior is, in most cases, neat and orderly.

On the right, or "hill" side of the river, there are 46 villages, of which 33 are Protestant and 13 Catholic; on the left, or "meadow" side, 56; of which 40 are Protestant, and 16 Catholic. The proportion of population was, in 1836, as follows:

Households. Males. Females. Total. Protestant... 9,073 41,898 40,435 82,333 Catholic...... 3,070 13,578 13,023 26,601 53,458 108,934*

12,143 55,476

A "household " comprehends the inhabitants of a house in which usually two or more married couples and their children reside. The people are simple, cheerful, and virtuous. From the names of several of the

villages-Shafhausen, Glarus, Basel, Zurich, Solothurn, Zug, Lucern, Unterwalden, we presume that a part of the population emigrated originally from Switzerland. Each "village" is under the care of a superintendent, aided by "elders;" and an overseer is appointed for each "district," comprising several villages. The overseer stands in connection with the Imperial authorities at Saratow, where a "Guardian † Office for Foreign Immigrants" superintends the affairs of the entire colony, and was formerly under the "Minister for the Interior," (Home Secretary,) but now under the "Minister of the Imperial Demesnes," (Commissioner of Woods and Forests)

The Protestant villages are distributed into 17 parishes, nine on the "hill" and cight on the "meadow" side. Two are Calvinistic and 15 Lutheran; though in some of the latter there is a considerable proportion of Calvinists. There are two provosts, one for each side of the river, who are chosen from amongst the preachers, and whose appointment has to be confirmed by the governmental "Consistory for the reli gious affairs of foreign confessions." It is their province to inspect the schools and churches, and to preside at the annual synods of the preachers. They are subordinate to the Consistory at Moscow. From 1820 to 1833 there were a Superintendent and Consistory in the colony; but afterwards the former was abolished and the latter removed to Moscow.

The churches and schoolhouses are gene. rally of fir wood, though lately some have been constructed of stone. Nearly all the old ones are too small for the present amount of population. The churches, moreover, are incapable of being heated. In winter, therefore, the service must often be held in the school room, whose capacity is far too small to contain the people,-as in that part of the year the greatest number

The population returns in 1842 give 104,319 Protestants, 32,894 Catholics + Tutel.

attend, not being so much kept away by field work. These evils are of no small magnitude. There is hope, however, of their being gradually removed, by the erection of more commodious and convenient structures.

Public worship takes place on Sundays and festivals, at about ten in the morning. As this cannot always be conducted by the pastor, who has to supply, perhaps, two or three villages, the schoolmaster often fills his place. He reads a sermon from some book sanctioned by the pastor. Those generally employed for this purpose are Brastberger's, Schöner's, and Francke's. Prayers are read from the books of Arndt and Schmolk; and the hymns in use comprise 823, from the Marburg hymn-book. The bells, of which there are one, two, or three in each church, are rung an hour before service-time. During the service two or three members of the "Church-board," whose office it is to aid the pastor in preserving order, carry round purses, with little bells affixed, to receive the free-will offerings of the congregation. In the afternoon children and adults are catechised: if this be conducted by the pastor, it is usually upon the gospel for the day, or some other passage of Scripture; if by the schoolmaster, he merely asks the questions contained in the catechism used at school, and reads one or two chapters from the Bible. Of late, adults, especially married people, had neglected these meetings, and thence increasing ignorance of the word of God was observable; for but a small portion is read during public worship, and it is very rarely attended to in the house.

The houses of the preachers are nearly all alike, and mostly of wood. They contain six spacious rooms, together with outhouses, stable, cowshed, &c. The whole are kept in repair by the congregation, and there are usually annexed an orchard of apple and cherry-trees, and a couple of acres of land for vegetable produce. The situation is generally good, and even picturesque.

Each preacher receives from the "Guardian Office for Foreign Immigrants," 600 rbl. b. as. yearly in three payments: from each household of the congregation, at the end of the year, 50lbs. of wheat, worth 80 -85 copper copeks, and 50lbs. of rye, worth 40-45 c. c.; in autumn, 2 puds of hay, worth about 12-15 c. c. per pud; for each baptism, 50 c. c.; confirmation, 1 copper rbl.; betrothment and marriage, 2 c. rbl.; burial, from 50 c. c. to 1 c. rbl., according to the service required; communion for the sick, 50-100 c. c.; "church-lines," 50100 c. c.; on the "hill" side these fees are seldom exceeded, while, on the "meadow" side, they are sometimes doubled. The annual income of each is, therefore, from