BELGIUM. Continental Corner. Letters dated, Turin, November 14th, mention a new conversion to Popery. It is said that, on the previous Sunday, Miss Louisa Cambridge abjured Protestantism in the Convent of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd at Genoa, and entered the cloisters as a novice.-Times. According to a correspondence published in the Gazette d'Augsbourg, the government and various communities of the Italian States rival each other in restoring the secularised property which they held to its former masters, for the establishment of new ecclesiastical foundations, and especially for the benefit of the order of Jesuits. MAJORCA AND MINORCA. The last accounts from the Bellaric Isles state, that the Jesuits have established themselves there in spite of the laws of the country, and that the political chiefs and several of the other authorities were present at the ceremony of opening their Church. THE HEALING OF THE COUNTESS OF From the Rhine and Moselle Newspaper. Fischering, a relative of His Grace the Archbishop Clement Augustus, is the subject of much conversation. The Countess, who since a series of years was so crippled, that she could with difficulty go only on crutches, and made use of the Baths of Kreutznach and Bertrich, was, from the report of eye-witnesses, brought a few days ago before the holy garment. After she had there offered up her prayer, and had touched the holy garment, she descended alone, without crutches, the high marble steps through the cathedral, and went across the street to her dwelling in the Red House. She is now again in Kreutznach; and, to the astonishment of all who knew her previously, goes there without crutches, which remain near the holy garment at Treves. The Countess is known to be a very pious lady. A solemn act of the affair itself, has been taken by order of the bishop.-Translated from the original. THE HOLY GARMENTS AT TREVES. From the Exchange Hall, Hamburgh Evening Newspaper, for Commerce, Shipping and Politics. In spite of the unusually great influx of pilgrims, no disorders have yet happened; we hear only of thefts which have been committed as well in the Church as particularly in well-furnished houses. Most of the pilgrims carry with them bread and butter, and the most zealous, their favorite pancakes. Many of the peasants sell their superfluous provisions. Most of the money is given away for rosaries; to which medals, of different dimension and quality, with images of the holy garment, are attached, which had been holden on the same, and had touched it. One of the merchants here imported 34 cwt. of rosaries, and sold them in a short time. SPAIN. The Carlist party are working most strenuously to effect an arrangement, which, though the amount of contributions for the object may be less, may still be modelled on the old system, both as regards the emoluments of the Church, and the ancient statutes of the clerical body. Their efforts are principally directed to render the ecclesiastical corporations as independent as possible of the state, and of all controul on the part of the Government, and restore the ancient connexion with the Court of Rome. The Journal des Debats publishes a letter from Brody in Gallicia, of the 25th of Novem ber, which states that M. Holowinski, a distinguished professor at the University of Kiew, having been appointed Rector of the Catholic seminary of St. Petersburgh, the Emperor of Russia came to visit the establishment, and having congratulated the Rector on his promotion, he added, "I likewise am a Greek Catholic, and I am not the enemy of the Latin Catholics, but I solemnly swear that I will never tolerate Latin Catholics unless they consent to acknowledge no supremacy but mine, and that they will no longer communicate with Rome." THE AND PROTESTANT ADVOCATE. MARCH, 1845. Spiritual State and Claims of Ereland. THE AGGRESSIONS OF ROME. We do not appre We cannot wonder that the feelings of British Christians have been so much aroused by the treatment experienced by poor Queen Pomairé; and the outrages inflicted on the natives of Tahiti. Injuries done to the weak and defenceless, have always enlisted the sympathy of Great Britain on behalf of the sufferers. And the interest which all the people of God have growingly felt in the progress of the Gospel in the South Sea Islands, an interest increasing every year, augmented by each succeeding narrative, and raised to its utmost height by the thrilling accounts given by the tongue and pen of the martyred Williams, and sealed, as it were, by his blood, has awakened a far deeper impression than that of mere national sympathy, or political jealousy, or any other evanescent emotion of the kind. Some have complained of the apathy of the British public in the matter. hend that such apathy exists. The noise of the demonstration does not always prove the reality or the fervour of the feeling thus ostentatiously displayed. Agitation for political purposes may often excite a wide community to a state of feverish frenzy, where there is no real interest on the part of the individuals that compose the aggregated mass, in the objects that are brought forward as the means of excitement; and no proper apprehension of the character of the grievances which by the art of popular orators may be so urged as to instigate them to madness. Uproar and tumult are not the natural indications or expressions of British mind; and they are much mistaken as to its character, who suppose that it is inactive and torpid, because it does not immediately indicate what is working within, by a sudden and violent explosion. We have recently had some specimen of this in the history of Puseyism. The advocates of that system appear to have supposed that England was either indifferent to their progress, or favourable to their views. From this mistake, they were led to venture further than they would have dared to do, had they been aware of the real state of the public VOL. I. で mind. They incautiously developed themselves before their time. The result has been that the torpor which they mistook for a sign either of thoughtlessness or of approval, has been suddenly shaken off at the moment when they fancied they were carrying every thing before them; and the feelings now indicated by the great body of the Protestant laity, sufficiently attest the searchings of heart that had been silently at work upon the subject before. A surplice, a lighted candle, an extra genuflection, are now sufficient to alarm an entire parish: and even the LAUDS of modern times feel their mitres tremble as they give way to these unexpected popular demonstrations. They do not believe the adage, "Vox populi, vox dei;" yet they are obliged to act as if they did. We have our idea that such will be found to be the case with regard to Tahiti: that the British lion is but seeming to slumber; and that all the while his eyes are open, his senses wide awake, and his heart throbbing at the wrongs that are done to this injured people. He is watching what is going forward, and, at an unexpected moment, may shake his mane, utter his awful roar, and, by some demonstration of his just anger, compel the ruthless assailant to give up his prostrate and bleeding victim. But the British nation is not fond of madly rushing into war. Peace is more congenial to the mercantile, manufacturing, and agricultural pursuits of the great body of its population; and more conducive to its real prosperity. The experience of many wars has taught it this happy lesson. War, too, is repugnant to the feelings of the Christian public of Great Britain. This, we apprehend, has been one great cause of apparent apathy about Tahiti. Many Christian people have shrunk from agitating the question, because they have felt that there was a danger of its ending in war. They could scarcely see any other alternative that would bring it to a satisfactory issue; and though they have deeply felt the injustice of France, and the wrongs of Tahiti, they have deprecated such an alternative as this. France has, however, been but the hand to execute the devices that were plotted in the heart of Rome. The scarlet lady has but mounted on this dragon, as the most willing animal she could meet with, to bear her to her prey. And the indignation excited by the event, should not fall upon the head of poor priest-ridden France, but upon the Anti-Christian system of proud, imperial Rome. Here will be full scope for a righteous and holy indignation. Let the cry not be "war with France;" but "down with Babylon." Let us remember, too, that the weapons of this warfare are not carnal but spiritual, and mighty, through God, to the pulling down of every strong hold of Satan. We must fight the battle, not with bayonets and muskets, with marshalled armies or garments rolled in blood, but with Tracts and Bibles; with hosts of Scripture readers, and colporteurs, and missionaries, bearing in their hands, and on their lips, the blessed "story of peace." And where is it to be fought? We are not going to enter upon the deep problem of prophecy in order to ascertain the site of the apocalyptic armageddon. We wish to rouse the British public to a noble reprisal on Rome for the temporary loss of Tahiti. Has she attempted to snatch that brilliant little gem from our Redeemer's crown? and is there not a larger island near the shores of Britain that has been often styled 'Fairest isle of the earth, and first gem of the sea?'-an island that vastly outnumbers in its population the few thousands of Tahiti-and the vast majority of whose inhabitants are still the slaves of Rome. Let Ireland be selected, then, as the field of this bloodless war. While we wish not to set the claims of Tahiti for one moment in abeyance, nor to say a single word that might tend to check the generous current of British feeling towards that hapless isle, and its ill-used queen; while, on the contrary, we would urge every Christian effort to counteract this aggression of Rome, and to rescue the island from the bloodshed and immorality which have marked the usurpation of the mother of harlots, and abominations during her short reign of terror there, we would yet plead with British Christians not to be satisfied with this; but to retaliate on the aggressor, by taking efficient and immediate measures to rescue a larger and nearer island from her cruel sway. Let her feel that in grasping at Tahiti, she has lost Ireland. Oh! that these few hints were trumpet-tongued enough to awaken the Protestant churches to this new and genuine crusade. And the blessing of God that maketh weakness strong can render them the instrument of rousing his armies to so noble and glorious a warfare. Amen. PROTESTANT CHURCH OF IRELAND.-"I deeply lament that persons do not see that what occurs in Ireland is of far greater importance in this country than they are willing to attach to it. It has ever been the system in the history of the two countries, that any great attempt to undermine the constitution of this country, either in Church or State, has been attempted first in Ireland. And you may depend upon it, that if you admit principles essentially wrong in Ireland, you may keep off the evil day of political and powerful ins fluence, but rest assured the day will come when you will have to fight against those principles in your own country. Let me then urge you to come forward liberally, and enable the Church of Ireland to fulfil her high and holy calling. Remember that she comes forward as holding out the essential doctrine of Protestantism, this principle upon which the constitution of this country ought at least, and I trust ever will rest. She comes before you as the Church of Ireland, the unquestionable representative of that Church which in her earlier and her brighter days held forth the word of God. True it is, that she abandoned the faith of her ancestors, she forgot the covenant of her God. But her dereliction from the path of duty has been followed by miseries unparalleled almost in the history of the nations of the earth. And remember, it is to this country that she owes all her misery; that it was from England she received the doctrines of the Church of Rome.”—Bishop of Cashel. Missionary Stations and Labours, IRISH EVANGELICAL SOCIETY. Ballybay, County of Monaghan, Jan. 29, 1845. a moment question; but this is not all From personal observation, and the mostauthentic information, I have good reason for believing, that vast numbers of Protestants are living without God and without hope in the world—many, so far as a knowledge of vital Christianity is concerned, in many parts of the country are as destitute of true knowledge as their Catholic neighbours. A great willingness, however, has been manifested to hear the word, and I have visited no part of Ireland where a faithful energetic ministry would be more highly valued by some, or where, under God, we might expect to find it proving more generally effectual in the conversion of greater numbers. The day after my arrival in the place, being the Lord's-day, I preached in the Courthouse to an overflowing congregation in the afternoon. The attendance, I am sure, must have exceeded 200, while some, I was told, had gone away for want of room. I addressed the people from 2 Tim. i. 12. Great attention prevailed, and I trust the hand of the Lord was there, opening the hearts of the people, and applying his own word. During the My dear Sir, I am almost ashamed of myself, in not having sent you before now some articles for your Irish Magazine. Be assured it has been from no feeling of indifference to the success of that undertaking. To say nothing of the power of private friendship, which would naturally have an influence on my mind, in reference to any "work of faith or labour of love" in which you might personally engage. I trust a sincere regard to the advancement of the cause of our blessed Lord will ever induce me to afford my warm sympathy and feeble support to any enterprise, conducted with a view to the enlightenment of poor superstitious Ireland. But I have been deterred from an apprehension that I could write nothing of sufficiently stirring interest. Somehow or other, I have a kind of horror of flourishing statements of Missionary success. Being out, however, on a Missionary tour in this locality, I am now able to furnish, I think, some facts that may prove interesting to your readers. B-week I made domiciliary visits, all of is a small town in the county of M-, containing a population of, I believe, about 2000; one half, or nearly so, of whom I should think are Roman Catholics. The town is rather beautifully situated on a rising ground, having too little lakes on the west and south sides; so that, with the scenery around, it must present, in the summer months, a rather romantic appearance. Its natural scenery stands, I have reason to fear, in melancholy contrast to its moral condition. That the Catholic portion of the inhabitants must be in a sad state of spiritual darkness, none who know ought of the dogmas and delusions of Popery will for which were well received. I frequently heard a desire expressed for a zealous, holy, and devoted ministry. On Tuesday Evening, January 14th, I preached in the Court-house, B-, to an encouraging and most attentive audience. January 16.-Preached to a congregation in the Court-house in the evening, chiefly composed of Wesleyans. The Methodists have a service once in two weeks, but, somehow or other, on this evening the preacher did not come, so I took his place. I am always anxious to co-operate with the Wesleyans. Though Congregationalists may differ from them on some speculative points in |