under the merciless sceptre of the Czar, yet, in free Germany, a healthy and energetic spirit has arisen; and from the birth-place of the northern heresy, as well as from under the walls of the seraglio, new conquests are every day made.

Calvinistic Holland is bending to the faith of ages; Belgium is still true as steel; even in Sweden, the faith may now be openly professed, and, ere long, it may spread wide in the birth-place of St. Bridgit, and St. Catherine. If the recent attempt to shackle the liberty of the Gallican bishops, be for a while successful, yet they are firm and true; their clergy, the model of what a Catholic priesthood should ever be; and though oppression may fight against them, we cannot forget that, parallel with this, the faith is now being given back to the country of St. Cyprian and St. Augustine. Yes; though the interesting Church of Carthage lost the faith, she was severely punished; and to show how hateful in God's providence is the sin of heresy, the faith is restored to the descendants of the men, who, twelve hundred years ago, were the instruments of his vengeance in extirpating the heretical doctrines that had defiled the once fair form of the African Churches.

In our own colonies, how rapidly is the faith spreading! in the West Indies, where it has languished so feebly, how fresh a spirit has sprung up! in spite of all opposition, how rapidly it is extending in Australia and New Zealand! How much have we reason to rejoice in the spread of the faith in Hindostan ! How cheering the accounts we read of the blessed faith taking root for the first time in the far islands of Oceana ! How beautiful are the footsteps of them that bring the glad tidings of salvation! How cheering to the Catholic heart, that, though heresy may oppress and infidelity contemn, yet, in those remote spots of the habitable globe, apostolic men are now carrying glad tidings that fall, for the first time, on the ears of heathen men; men of such docility, that they are heathen now no more, but fair and simple hearted branches grafted on the tree of life, and gathered here on earth as fruits that shall spring for all eternity in Heaven.

But what shall we say when we turn our eyes to the militant Church in China and Cochin ? Shall we rejoice or mourn? Shall we mourn over their grievous persecutions-their sufferings unparalleled but in the times of the Cæsars? or shall we rejoice for their constancy and . perseverance, and give God thanks that in these our days there are so many men, of flesh and blood like ourselves, who are worthy of the holy grace of martyrdom? Truly we do rejoice, that in the wondrous sufferings of the Chinese Church, there is shown a constancy that is

worthy early ages. Read their acts, and turn to those of the early centuries, and, but for the names, we could not discriminate between them, the same zeal, the same patience, the same meekness and spirit of prayer, are as eminent in the martyrs of either age, as we witness the like tyranny and frantic atrocity in the bloody acts and edicts of the Roman and the Chinese emperors. But the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church, and even now there is an under-current of favour towards the persecuted Christians, that shows that it is all in vain that the gates of hell have let loose her utmost malice. May God grant that it may foretell, as in Rome it preceded, that bloodless revolution that, in a day, gave the Catholic faith to the empire, and quenched for ever the odious superstition and worship of devils. Nor are our hopes in this respect without foundation. We should remember that every martyr, hurried to Heaven by the sword of the persecutor, converts a poor weak suffering man into a glorious saint and powerful intercessor. And thus, by the might of their holy prayers, and the mercy of God, shall the vast empire of China fall before the strength of His powerful grace; their idols shall be cast away to the moles and the bats; and all shall bow before the sweet yoke of Christ.

It would be unjust to conclude this hasty summary without alluding to the instrumentality of the society of the Propagation de la Foi, in promoting, under God's blessing, much of the cheering fruits which we have alluded to above. Truly the grain of mustard seed has sprung into a goodly tree, and the fowls of the air have taken refuge under its branches. Notwithstanding various unfavourable circumstances, the funds of this institution are still advancing, and with their supplies increase of good and virtue. In very deed, the blessing from on High has been visibly shown in its regard, by the fruits it has produced; fructu noscitur;—and we should never forget that, by our holy father in his allocution, it is especially recommended to the support and good will of all the faithful.

It is with much pleasure we see it spreading in our own country, and we sincerely hope that it will continue to make progress, and penetrate into every congregation, throughout our own country, and that so we may all have our share in this wondrous work of charity. Oh! may this holy tree flourish, and drop its dew on the nations, casting blessings around it with as lavish a hand, as He who first inspired into its founders the spirit of his love; and may the faith spread over

the face of the earth, till nothing be heard but the hymn of charity rising up in unison with the unchangeable voice of the Church!

As one who parts with those he loves often turns and looks fondly back, so we have dwelt perhaps too fondly on the hopes that our own country awakens, and too shortly on our brethren of every land, colour, and climate; yet still, ere we close, we cannot choose but turn again, and look with tearful eyes, not of sorrow but of love, on the rising hopes that spread so fair a light around our own horizon. But if we really wish its increase, we must not be idle. The year opens in hope if we would see the fruit of hope ripen in that on which we have entered, we must zealously co-operate with the grace that is vouchsafed to us, and so live that every individual Catholic, be his state of life high or low, may shine as a beacon of charity to light those that are around him to the faith of ages. Let us be brethren in deed and in truth, as there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism ;-so let our lives be in unison, and as we ascend by one baptism, to the one faith, and by the one faith to the one Lord, the adorable Trinity,—so let every day bear witness to our growing perfection, for as perfection is alone to be found in the Catholic Church, so in it alone is it obtained by the common and every day virtues of our state of life. While we lift up our suffrages to God in prayer, for our separated brethren, let us not forget, that unless we first be pure ourselves, our prayers are as empty wind. Let us earnestly, then, practice all that the Church imposes; let us be zealous in well-doing; assiduous in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; devout to our Lady St. Mary, to the saints, and holy angels; and thus, as we grow in individual perfection, shall our hopes ripen into reality, and if not on earth, at least in heaven, if it seem good to Him, who ever waiteth to confer his gifts of grace, shall we behold the consummation of our desires,-the Faith given back to our beloved country.

13

ECLECTIC REVIEW.-DUTY OF EVANGELICAL

DISSENTERS.

"HAD one of the Reformers of the Church of England been told that within three centuries, there would be a great revival of Popish zeal,—that instead of being extinguished, popery would be spreading fast, building new and good sanctuaries, gaining many converts, and not in one and the lowest class of society only; that enlarged and vigorous schemes would be concocted, and carried out with all the earnestness which a hope of success alone can inspire, for the conversion of Britain to the faith of Rome; and especially if he had been told that his own Church would furnish a most powerful auxiliary in this mighty movement, in a large and learned body of clergy propagating sentiments containing all the essential elements of Popery, and many of its actual developments, and doing its work well and effectually by means which itself could not command, and in quarters to which itself had not access ;-had this prospect been stretched out before the vision of some earnest and warm Reformer, who cannot imagine the mingled emotions of incredulity, horror, and amazement, with which he would have contemplated it? Yet all this is fact. The Church of Rome is extending itself in this country; priests are educated and prayers are offered especially for its reclamation, and fervent prayers, whatever may be God's answer to them, answer themselves in part, for a man cannot pray with all his heart without working with all his strength. The prospect as to Popery is becoming serious; for if these things are done in a green tree, what may be done in a dry? The tendency of public events is not to place Papists in a worse state for propagating their religion, but in a better. As to political power and favour, they have evidently seen their lowest state of degradation and exclusion. They can only rise; and rise they will, until not a vestige or a sign of civil inferiority is left about them. And many of the supports of Protestantism are giving way."

The foregoing is extracted from the leading article of the December number of the Eclectic Review, the able, consistent, and uncompromising organ of the English Dissenters, which article is titled “The duty of Dissenters in relation to Popery." It is not often that we dive into the pages of the Eclectic, but, prompted by curiosity, we hastened to peruse the essay alluded to; and the perusal has afforded us consider

* By the way, in the Post Office Directory, just published, the Catholic places of worship in the metropolis are put down in the list of "Dissenting chapels," owing, of course, to the ignorance of the compiler. The leading dissenting sect in England is, in fact, the Established Church itself, the founders of which were the first dissenters in England.

able gratification: for instead of the usual vapid and stale nonsense about "Popery," which forms the staple commodity of those journals which treat of the Catholic religion, we were agreeably surprised to find all the vulgar notions respecting it, which are enforced by anti-Catholic writers and declaimers, scouted by the reviewer, whose candour is the more to be admired, inasmuch as his hostility to the ancient faith is certainly equally great and not less sincere than that of the M'Ghees and Stowells, or any of the other worthies, ejusdem generis, who figure with the pen, or display their animosity to our creed with their lips. It is really consoling to read the following acknowledgments, in an antiCatholic publication of the standing and character of the Eclectic

Review.

"There has hitherto been a great horror of Popery in this land. It has not been founded in knowledge, but still it has been great. Popery has been a real bugbear. The Pope has been a nursery alarm. Many little children have been made good by him. The wholesome detestation has been cherished by many customs. The fifth of November has witnessed an annual revival as well as exhibition of the orthodox faith. But the public feeling is changed in part, and is being changed in whole. Protestants can go to hear mass without fearing that the roof will fall upon and crush them. It is necessary, by big placards, to 'caution unwary Protestants' not to contribute towards the erection of popish sanctuaries. The gunpowder-plot is almost forgotten; and petitions are presented to Parliament, from Protestants, for it to be no longer binding on the sovereign to call Popery by hard names in the ceremony of coronation. All these things, however good, show that a general alteration of feeling respecting Popery has taken place in the land; and if the alarm and horror with which Popery used to be regarded has nearly ceased, the danger is that their place will be supplied by a prejudice in its favour. It is not easy to check the course of a national, any more than of an individual mind; when it is turning from a severe and bitter estimate, and a rude and fierce abhorrence of anything, it generally stops not until it has reached the opposite extreme, and we greatly fear that in many minds there is in place, and perhaps as the effect of the Protestant alarm and bitterness which used to be, a disposition, and almost a wish, to find Popery true. Then, as we have said, the Church of England is a great help to the Church of Rome. Puseyism is Popery in a Church professing to be Protestant; Popery is but Puseyism in a Church professing to be Popish. The time is coming when the one must merge into the other. A slight change of circumstances may bring it about: an intimation that it is possible has not been whispered but printed. It is an historical fact now, that the toleration of Puseyism in the Church of England is the price of the keeping Puseyites within it ;-and if Puseyism is Popery, the