EFFECTS OF FAITH. "IF I look into the Gospel Glass, my looking is a figure of my faith; for, unless I look, I can neither see Christ nor myself. When I look-what do I see? Christ crucified, and God in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. My eyes-my soul-are fascinated with wonder and solemn delight. Pole-star on Life's tempestuous deep! 66 My heart melts, my eyes overflow-my head is as water when I look on Him whom I have pierced. The burden of guilt gently unlooses, and rolls into his quiet sepulchre, and the peace of God calms all the tumult of my breast. For a season, I am so engaged in the contemplation of the heavenly vision, that I have no leisure to consider myself, but, at length, I catch a glimpse of my own countenance and image; I recognise the same features, but, how wonderfully they are changed-what a spirit is lighted up in those faded eyes! Peace is enthroned on the brow so wrinkled by care-celestial splendours play upon my temples—all my gaping wounds are healed, and not a scar is left behind. My tattered filthy rags are exchanged for a robe made white in the blood of the Lamb. Immortal vigour braces every nerve. I tread in air, and Abba Father bursts spontaneously from my loving heart." -Rev. Melville Horne. CABINET. If men and women did but see the need they have of Christ, they would say they had better want light, than want Jesus Christ, who is the Light of Life.-John viii. 12. They had better want bread, than want the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Bread of Life.-John vi. POETRY. THE BIBLE. (From Poems by Bernard and Lucy Barton.) LAMP of our Feet!-whereby we trace Our path, when wont to stray; Pillar of Fire-through watches dark! Beacon!--when doubts surround; Compass!—by which our course we keep ; Our deep-sea Lead-to sound! Riches in Poverty !-Our aid In every needful hour! Unshaken Rock!-The Pilgrim's Shade!— The Soldier's Fortress-tower!. Our Shield and Buckler in the Fight! Victory's triumphant Palm! Comfort in Grief!-In Weakness, Might! In Sickness-Gilead's Balm! Our Hope-when we go down to dust- Pure Oracles of Truth Divine! Unlike each fabled dream Given forth from Delphos' mystic Shrine, Or Groves of Academe! Word of the Ever-living God! Will of his Glorious Son! Without Thee-how could Earth be trod ? Or Heaven itself be won ? INTELLIGENCE. "PRAY WITHOUT CEASING."-1 Thess. v. 17. Warrington.-The Annual meeting of the Warrington Protestant Association was held Gilon Tuesday Evening, October 18th. bert Greenall, Esq., the President of the Association, in the chair. The Rev. Hugh M'Neile was prevented attending, though he had promised to do so, which was felt as a great disappointment. The speakers were the Rev. Thomas Harrison, Rev. Mr. Nolan, and Rev. James Wright. A liberal collection was made at the conclusion of the proceedings, which were of a very satisfactory description. The zeal and truly Christian labours of the Rev. Mr. Wright in this locality, cannot be too highly appreciated. We trust Warrington may long be blessed by the ministerial labours of such a devoted servant of Christ. Fifth of November. The commemorate sermon will be preached (D.v.) before the members and friends of the Protestant Association, by the Rev. EDWARD BICKERSTETH, of Watton, on Saturday morning the Fifth of November, 1842, in St. Dunstan's Church, Fleet Street. Service to commence at 11 o'clock. We strongly urge all our Operative friends, who can spare the time, and live in or near the metropolis, to be present on this most interesting occasion. We When waves would whelm our tossing bark- can promise them that the sermon will be Our Anchor and our Stay! no ordinary one. The Protestant Association have just published an admirable little tract on "The fifth of November," adorned with many woodcuts; most suitable to be given away to children, or distributed as rewards in Sunday Schools.-A hundred can be had for three shillings and sixpence. Southwark.-A public meeting of this Association was held in the National School Room, Borough Road, on Monday Evening, Oct. 17. The Rev. J. R. Barber in the chair. The meeting was addressed by the Rev. M. H. Seymour, and James Lord, and J. Callow, Esqrs. Tower Hamlets.-The annual sermon of this Association will be preached (D.v.) on Friday Evening, Nov. 4th. The monthly meeting of the Mutual Instruction Class will be held in the Trinity Chapel Episcopal School Room, on Tuesday Evening, Nov. 8th. Adjourned subject-Transubstantia tion. The Shoreditch and Hackney Association will hold a public meeting (D.v.) on Monday Evening, Nov. 7th, in the British School Room, Weymouth Terrace, Hackney Road. The City of London Tradesmen and Operative Protestant Association purpose holding a public meeting on Tuesday Evening, Nov. 8th. The City and Finsbury Protestant Conference hold their next meeting at the Girls' School Room, of the Royal British Institution, Tabernacle Walk, City Road, on Monday Evening, Nov. 14th. The attention of Sunday School Teachers is especially requested to the important objects of the Conference. Sermon and Meeting for Marylebone.-On Friday Evening, Nov. 4th, a sermon will be preached in the Rev. Dr. Holloway's Chapel, London Street, Fitzroy Square, by the Rev. R. W. Dibdin, M.A. at 7 o'clock. sociation, at the Colonnade School Rooms, Brunswick Square. Norwich.-The annual meeting of the Norwich and Norfolk Protestant Association was held in St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich, on Thursday, Oct. 20th. Henry J. Stracey, Esq. in the chair. It was a most gratifying meeting, and the attendance was good. On the platform were about forty of the Norfolk Clergy, besides many of the influential gentry of the county. The speech of the Rev. Hugh Stowell was most masterly; and the speeches delivered by the chairman, Rev. F. E. Arden, Major Loftus, John David Hay Hill, Esq. Rev. H. E. Preston, and Rev. S. O. Attlay, were characterized by soundness of Protestant principle and scriptural sentiment. The Norwich Protestant Operative Association met in the evening-the Hall and Orchestra were filled in every part. J. Skipper, Esq. in the chair, who addressed the Rev. H. Stowell. This highly-gifted Promeeting at some length, and introduced the testant Champion delivered a most eloquent and effective address, full of arguments and facts, demonstrating that Popery was a system of error, absurdity, and spiritual tyranny. Salford Operative Protestant Association.— A meeting of the Salford Operative Protestant Association was held in Hope Street School, on the 3rd Instant. The Rev. Hugh Stowell, M.A., presided, and in a brief address gave a very cheering account of the prosperous condition of Protestant Associations in London, and the progressive advancement of Protestant feeling generally. The Rev. W. Archer, Vicar of Newcastle, Ireland, then delivered a lecture on the Popish doctrine of Purgatory, and urged an earnest exhortation to Protestants to prefer the peace-giving truth of God's Word to that dismal doctrine of Rome, which happily can find no defence in the sacred oracles. On Friday, Nov. 11th, 1842, a meeting will be held in the Fitzroy School Room, 12, Grafton Street, Fitzroy Square. The At the close of the meeting a gentleman chair to be taken at half-past 7 o'clock. anonymously handed a sovereign for the One of the members (Mr. J. H. Jefferson) furtherance of the objects of the Association. has commenced a singing class in this As- From the Protestant Witness. 1 "If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."-Isaiah viii. 20. SUPERSTITIONS OF THE IRISH ROMANISTS. (From the Church of England Magazine.) A VERY interesting history of the church of Ireland has been lately published, by the bishop (Mant) of Down and Connor. A lamentable picture is there given of the blighting influence of popery upon the inhabitants of that country. Popery knows how to suit itself to time, and place, and circumstance; where knowledge at all prevails, it masks in the light its grosser features; but, amid the darkness of ignorance and irreligion, it ventures on pretensions, and imposes a yoke which must constrain its unhappy votaries to the worst mental bondage. Some facts shall be produced from bishop Mant's book, which will, I am inclined to think, startle many a protestant reader, especially when he is informed that, though they occurred, as it is said, many centuries ago, they are at the present time authorized by the Romish church, and a belief in them taught in the seminary at Maynooth. Thus, for instance, the following legend is taken from the supplement to the Roman breviary, containing proper offices commemorative of certain Irish saints, and published in 1808. Brigid," says the lesson for Feb. 1, her festival day, "Brigid, a holy virgin of the province of Leinster, born of 66 VOL. III. noble and Christian parents, became the mother of many holy virgins in Christ. When she was yet a little infant, her father saw men, clothed in white garments, pour oil upon her head, thus pre-figuring the future purity and holiness of the virgin. Arriving at the first years of childhood, she so earnestly, from the bottom of her heart, clung to Christ the Saviour, whom she chose for her spouse, that for love of him she expended on the poor whatever she could acquire. And, lest the suitors, by many of whom on account of her incomparable beauty she was sought in marriage, should compel her to break the vow of virginity by which she had bound herself to God, she prayed God to make her deformed; and presently she was heard, for one of her eyes immediately became swollen, and her whole face was so altered, that she was permitted to send back a message to her suitors, and to consecrate her virginity to Christ by a solemn vow. Having then taken to her three maidens, she proceeded forth to the bishop Macheas, St. Patrick's disciple, who, seeing over her head a pillar of fire, put on her a shining vest and a white robe, and, having read holy prayers, admitted her to the canonical profession, which the blessed Patrick had introduced into Ireland. Whereupon, whilst she was stooping her head to receive the sacred veil, when she had touched with her hand the wood at the foot of the altar, that dry wood on a sudden became green again, and her eye was healed, and her face restored to its pristine beauty. And afterwards, by her example, such a multitude of maidens embraced that institution of a regular life, that in a short time it filled all Ireland with convents of virgins; amongst which, that over which Brigid herself presided was the chief, and on that as their head all the rest depended." Another of these pretended miracles is related in the ecclesiastical history of Carew, professor of divinity at Maynooth. "The extraordinary veneration which St. Malachy entertained for St. Patrick, St. Brigid, and St. Colomba, made him anxious to discover the grave where the bodies of those holy persons reposed. But every effort which his ingenuity could devise proved unavailing, for no memorial remained which could assist him in the enquiry. All human means having failed, the good bishop had recourse to prayer, and with a holy importunity he earnestly besought God to make known to him the place in which the earthly remains of those three distinguished favourites of heaven were deposited. The prayer of the venerable prelate was at length favourably heard. On a certain night, while he offered up in the church his fervent petition to the Almighty, a ray of light, like a sunbeam, was seen by him to pass along the church until it reached a particular part of the temple, when it ceased to advance. Persuaded that heaven had chosen this mode to reveal to him the subject which he so ardently desired to know, St. Malachy caused the place to which his attention had been thus drawn, to be immediately examined. His exertions were rewarded with the success they so well deserved; for, when the earth was removed, the bodies of the three saints were found deposited together in the same grave. By the bishop's direction the precious remains were then raised up, and placed in coffins which he had provided for them. As soon as this ceremony was completed, the bodies were consigned to the same tomb." Afterwards, however, the relics were transferred to a more honourable place of sepulture, and the anniversary of their translation was ordered to be kept as a festival throughout the churches of Ireland. Another miracle is related of this same St. Malachy, by the same veracious professor of divinity in the royal college of Maynooth. "The lady of a certain knight, who resided near Bangor, being at the point of death, the saint was sent for to prepare her for the awful moment of dissolution. When he arrived at her place of abode, her sick ness had somewhat abated, and her friends besought the saint to defer until the morning the discharge of his sacred office. Malachy yielded with reluctance to their request; but the holy man had soon occasion to repent of his condescension; for, in a short time after he had retired from her house, he was overtaken by some of the attendants, who proclaimed by their lamentations the melancholy intelligence that their mistress was now no more. Overwhelmed with grief and remorse for the facility with which he had yielded to the importunity of the lady's friends, the holy bishop returned to her apartment, and raising his hands to heaven exclaimed-" It is I who have sinned by this delay, and not the poor creature." Then, standing by the bed of the deceased lady, the afflicted pastor, with tears and sighs, poured forth his prayers to God in her behalf. The remaining part of the night the saint employed in supplicating the divine mercy, and in conjuring those who were present to watch and pray along with him. At length, towards the break of day, the lady opened her eyes, raised herself in the bed, and reverently saluted the saint. Elated with joy, the good bishop then administered to her the sacrament of extreme unction. The singular favour which God had shewn to her at the intercession of his minister, was prolonged until she had performed the penance which the saint had enjoined her. As soon as this obligation was complied with, the lady, after receiving with devotion the holy rites of religion, relapsed into her former state of debility, and departed in peace." To the narratives already given may be fitly added the detection of a feigned miracle, as related by Strype in his life of archbishop Parker:-"The litany was sung in English," after queen Elizabeth's accession, "in Christ church, Dublin. This gave great offence to some of the Popish zealots, reckoning aright that the use of the mass was in danger of being laid aside in that cathedral. Something therefore was to be done, now or never, to keep the reputation of the old superstition; and a miracle was to be shown in the said church the next Sunday, when the lord-lieutenant, the archbishop, and the rest of the privy council were there at service. There was in that cathedral an image of Christ, in marble, standing with a reed in his hand and the crown of thorns on his head; and, while service was saying before this great assembly, blood was seen to run through the crevices of the crown of thorns, trickling down the face of the crucifix. The people did Little comment need be made upon the narratives here extracted. Popery, it would seem, is as unscrupulous now as in former ages, in insisting on its superstitions and legends where it conceives the temper of the people likely to receive them. In England, perhaps, and to a more enlightened class of readers, the professor of divinity at Maynooth might not have ventured on the histories he has recorded; hut amid the gloom of Irish ignorance he had no hesitation. Is POPERY AT HOME. S. WE have been favoured with a few extracts from a paper concerning " Popery at home," written some time ago by the Rev. R. Maxwell M'Brair, author of the recent interesting Sketches of a Missionary's Travels; which we do not hesitate to lay before our readers, as the writer vouches for the truth of the facts therein stated. After showing that a man's real character can only be fully known at home," he proceeds to state 66 "We have been at the home of Popery, and witnessed her manners in her own house--in Italy. The foster-mother and patroness of this many-headed hydra. not perceive it at first, therefore some who were in the fraud cried out to one another, and bade them see how our Saviour's image sweat blood. Whereat several of the common people fell down, with their beads in their hands, and prayed to the image. Vast numbers flocked to the sight; and one present, who indeed was the contriver, and formerly belonged to the priory of the cathedral, told the people the cause, viz., "That he could not choose but sweat blood, whilst heresy was then come into the church!" it not a national sin, that a college where The confusion hereupon was so great that the professors abet such monstrous frauds the assembly broke up. But the people is supported by the national purse? still fell upon their knees, thumping their breasts; and particularly one of the aldermen and mayor of the city, whose name was Sedgrave, and who had been at the English service, drew forth his beads, and prayed with the rest before the image. The lord Sussex and those of the privy council hastened out of the choir, fearing some harm. But the archbishop of Dublin being displeased, caused a form to be brought out of the choir, and bade the sexton of the church to stand thereon, and to search and wash the image, and see if it would bleed afresh. The man soon perceived the cheat, observing a sponge within the hollow of the image's head. This sponge, one Leigh, sometime a monk of this cathedral, had soaked in a bowl of blood; and early on Sunday morning, watching his opportunity, placed the said sponge, so swollen and heavy with blood, over the image's head within the crown; and so by little and little the blood soaked through upon the face. The sponge was presently brought down and shewed to these worshippers; and some of them cursed father Leigh, who was soon discovered, and three or four others that had been contrivers with him. The archbishop the next Sunday preached in the same church before the lord-lieutenant and the council, upon 2 Thess. ii. 11-God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie;" exposing the cheats, who openly stood there with father Leigh, upon a table before the pulpit, with their hands and legs tied, and the crime written on their breasts. This punishment they suffered three Sundays, were imprisoned for some time, and then banished the realm. This converted above one hundred persons present, who swore they would never hear mass more. And further, upon the 10th of September, 1559, the archbishop caused this image to be broken down, although he himself had caused it to be set up at his coming to that see, after it had been pulled down once before by George Browne, the former archbishop, in king Edward's time." "It is recorded, that Augustus, having been angry at Neptune on account of the loss of his fleet in a storm, ordered that his image should not be carried in procession with those of the other gods at the next solemnity of the Cireencian games. This practice of revenge against the gods is not yet wholly abandoned. For in Sicily there is a place where, in times of drought, the priests take a saint's image out of the church, and put him into the water, until rain falls. Should it then rain too hard, they take it out, and, exposing it to the pelting shower, they fasten the church door safely, that he may not re-enter till the storm has abated." The writer then gives the account of a splendid procession on St. Anthony's day in Florence, when he followed the image of that saint into the church, in order to witness the service. "At various times the image was elevated (as it is customary with the host), upon which the whole mass of people fell down upon their faces or knees, in humble adoration; and whilst a litany was being chanted by the priests, a frequent response of the people was- O Anthony, save us! O Anthony, help us! Is this idol worship? Or will men be duped by the hypocritical |