He bade them fetch a shirt of hair before a block, when he received, in a cloth to clothe me in. cracked plate, a little soup, a spoonful Imagine then, dear readers, a shirt of such a fabric that the ends of the horsehair should turn inwards and in sert themselves into my open and bleeding wounds. Think what a dressing it was for my wounds. They brought this new instrument of torture, put it on me, with my cassock above, and conducted me to my cell. I passed a night made horrible by the sufferings of the body, but with my heart full of peace. The anguish and the strugglings of my conscience had ceased The more the Superior had repulsed and ill treated me, the more I seemed to be drawn towards God. It was as if I had passed from the hands of the Father Gabriel into those of the Lord. I ceased not to repeat these words, "Happy are those who suffer persecution for righteousness, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs ;" and I understood this happiness. I felt calmed by it: my conscience was set free. I had discharged it by this public confession. I had nothing more upon my mind. The exercises of mind through which the sufferer passed at this time were, as may be supposed, of the most interesting description; and he appears to have been supported in a manner the most extraordinary. From his agonies he could not sleep, but he spent his time in ceaseless prayer, during which the truth shone more and more clearly before the eyes of his understanding. His whole treatment materially contributed to strengthen him, illustrating, as it did, the wickedness of the Papal system, and the power of the Gospel to support him. But his condition was one of utter torment; so mangled v as his body, that he lay on his face, to spare his suffering flesh, and each respiration brought him severe pain. Insult was added to cruelty. He was compelled to take his miserable morsel of food behind the door, on his knees, of vegetable, and four ounces of bread. As if in mockery of his woe, the Superior advanced towards the open door, holding in his hand a copper vessel, Each brother containing holy water. took and dipped a brush in the vessel, In the month of December he lay upon a straw mattrass, without any other clothing than his wet cassock! On the 31st of December the Superior ordered the removal of his hair shirt, and the brotherhood drew it from his body, to which it was glued by his clotted blood, and gave him back his own shirt of cloth. He hoped now there would be a respite to his torture, but in vain. On the 4th of January, 1851, the Bishop of Belley came to celebrate Mass in the monastery, and this opportunity was taken to exorcise the heretic, who was treated as one possessed by devils! For this purpose the vessel with the holy water was brought back, when each brother sprink'ed his shoulders, passing behind him, and then went and seated himself in his stall. The exorcism finished, they sang the Litany, after which the Bishop chanted a mass for the dead! And immediately he began to interrogate the heretic, who made a noble confession of the truth of God. The result was further to exasperate the fraternity, and to increase his torments. Upon a signal made by the Superior, four monks approached him, and led him to the Hall of John the Baptist, where his cassock, shoes, and stockings were taken from him, and nothing left but his drawers, and a cloak thrown over him as he crossed the passage which led to the dungeon in which he was shut up. At first I could perceive nothing, but by degrees I was able to discern that I was in an arched vault about twelve feet square. An aperture in the wall, thickly set with bars, scarcely allowed the light to penetrate into this gloomy recess. I then distinguished a stone which might serve for a seat, whilst my feet might rest on a little old straw, damp and cold. I took some steps in this horrible corner, but with great difficulty. The cilice wrung me. It is a waistcoat made of strong and thick cloth, set within with metal points, which impede every motion of the body and neck. This they bind about the body in such a manner that the points enter into the flesh; and every time the chest heaves to draw breath, the pain is renewed. It tore slowly and re-opened all my wounds. Besides which, the haire, that other machine for punishment, completed my torment. This consists of sleeves lined with long bands of iron, which confine the arms and legs, so as to prevent their being folded. This was a terrible hour-the most terrible of his existence. He felt that he had nothing more to hope from man, and turned himself wholly to God. He was now denounced as a Protestant, with whom no terms of either charity or mercy are to be kept. The picture of his sufferings which ensues is too copious to be related. The very recital makes the blood run cold! It shows the spirit of Popery to be the spirit of Pandemonium, and that nothing is wanted but power, to subject the entire Protestant world to intoler able torture! At times his life seems to have been in imminent danger. What with suffering, what with hunger, and what with cold, his preservation was almost a miracle. He was at one time utterly insensible, when one of the monks found him, and brought him a morsel of bread and water; and comfortless as these cordials were, they served to revive him, although but for a short time, for he soon fell again into the same lifeless state, when it was believed that all was over with him. But we can proceed no further; suffice it to say that Providence so ordered it that he effected his escape by a private door in the wall. This he did when the fraternity were at what they call " prayers." Although he was so weak that he was scarcely able to move while in the dungeon, yet such was the strength inspired by the love of liberty, that once beyond the dismal precincts, he became a new creature, and bounded with the fleetness of a roe on his way The moment he was towards Geneva. missed eight of the swiftest and most vigorous of the brethren were ordered to exchange their cassocks for blouses, and to pursue him. Happily, they took the road for Lyons; hence, the faster they sped their way, the further they were from their victim. At length, he reached the city of Calvin, where he found pity and succour. The words with which the narrative closes are significant from their very brevity. They are these: Behold what has taken place in France in 1851. The facts speak for themselves so loudly, that it is not necessary for me to add any reflections. Yes! such is Popery all over the world. Let Englishmen think on these things, and be instructed. The Letter Box. MENTAL AND MORAL PROGRESS. To do much well, in little time, and to have full enjoyment and full improvement from the doing of it, you must be thoroughly in earnest-concentrating on it all your intellectual energies-giving to it all your heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. And while you will find this the best way to acquire knowledge, you will find it also the best way for training and disciplining the mind, and rearing it up to early and thorough manhood. YOUNG MEN!-There is a publication | tion. In proceeding to set before you the means and modes of mental and moral progress more within our sphere, we say 3. Husband well your time.- Some may be lamenting that they have so little time for improvement, and saying, "Oh, had we what some of our neighbours have, how rapidly would we advance, how rich and varied would be cur acquisitions!" You are not sure of that. Do not then murmur at you lot; but, thankful for what it is, resolutely resolve to make the most and the best of it. They who have most time, do not always make most improvement. Use well what you have, and if it is little, be all the more careful of it. The little thus used may be great in its results. Of this our country affords many noble examples; and these results are to him who has achieved them all the more honourable. 1. Read largely and rightly.-Read as largely as you can. But be sure that you read always rightly. Get the best books that are to be had on the subjects you wish to study; and then read these books rightly, that is, read with fixed attention, understand every sentence, weigh every sentiment, and 4. Be careful as to your companions. adopt or reject according to your own-He that walketh with wise men best judgment. And while you fully shall be wise. Improper companions digest and treasure up all that is most will act as a constant drag upon you, worthy of being called your own, and and prevent advancement. Proper comthus add to your stores of knowledge, panions will stimulate, and strengthen, remember that mental discipline and and help you onward in your course. strength, mental expansion, and eleva- And if they are somewhat before you in tion, and refinement, are the principal mental and moral attainment, so much things to be sought. All this is in- the better. A high standard, a noble cluded in reading rightly. Read you ambition, in this respect, we cordially thus daily, and daily grow wiser and welcome and recommend. And havbetter. ing secured suitable associates, be sure to make the most of them. Keep alive a strong desire for mutual improvement: draw forth your fellows to what will edify, and elevate, and refine; and be yourselves always equally ready to give as to take; to do good as to get good; and thus add to the common stock, and help on the common progress. 2. Train yourselves, in all you do, to earnest attention, and thorough concentration of mind.-Let your motto be, one thing at a time, and that one thing thoroughly, and with all your might. Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well. And to do it well, you must do it with fixed earnest atten 5. Try as soon as possible to have en· lightened and steady principles, and to carry out these in consistent conduct. The sooner your great principles of action are formed and matured, the better for you, the happier, the safer. And the sooner you begin to reduce these principles to practice-to embody them in consistent character and conduct, in personal virtues, and in deeds of patriotism and piety, the better also for you, the happier, the safer. Let it be yours, then, early to imbibe, and firmly to hold the truth. And yours also let it be, by your conduct as well as your creed, to be ever on the side of purity and piety; the patrons and the practisers of all the virtues, and all the graces. Help on by all the means in your power the welfare of your fellow men, and try to make the world you live in the better for your living in it. And remember, for your encouragement, that this is all promotive of self-improvement. Teaching, you learn; giving, you get; well-doing becomes welfare; duty, delight; and labour its own reward. 6. Be your own daily censors.Every night before you sleep, think over the events of the day, and how you have acted your part in them. If in any respect you have failed, learn caution for the morrow. If you have erred, learn wisdom. If you have done wisely and well, be thankful; take courage and seek to be more and more established in well-doing. If the day has been misspent and lost, be humbled at the saddening fact, and resolve that such another day shall never witness against you. Thus daily taking yourselves to task, may you not hope to be every day wiser and better? ex It will be advisable also to exercise the same censorship over more tended periods. At the close of every week, take yourselves to task for the week. At the close of every month, for the month. At the close of every year, for the year. And let the censorship be solemn and searching, in proportion to the extent and importance of the period under review. This we know has been a mode of self-culture practised by many wise and good men; and they have found in it their reward. Try it; try it fairly and fully. We have thus given you a few kind, honest counsels. We have indicated the path by which you may advance in mental and moral improvement. We have set before you some of the means and modes, by which, with the Divine blessing, you may become wiser and better every day; and now, the result is with yourselves. Where there is a will there is a way. But where the will is wanting, the way will not be found. Advices, however good, will be of little avail to those who have no desire to excel. By those who have this desire strongly, advices will be little needed; the strong desire will find and make its own way. We trust that most of our readers belong to the latter class; and it has been our object to guide, and encourage, and stimulate all such to yet firmer resolves, and more earnest labours. And now, here is the conclusion of the whole matter-here the sum and substance of present duty: Mental and moral improvement, by one and all of us. Wiser and better every day, by one and all of us. For our own sakes, for the sake of the pure and patriot cause which we have espoused, by one and all of us, every day wiser and better. The paragraph which calls for notice is No. 5, in which a paramount matter is set forth in terms so loose and general, as to render it useless, and not only so, but to mislead a class only too willing to be misled, on a matter of vital and eternal moment. Try as soon as possible to have enlightened and steady principles, and to carry out these, in consistent conduct." Very accommodating-very convenient for those who put far away from them the evil day-the day of death and judgment! The writer is clearly a devout, as well as an able man. His excellent opening paragraph, in the foregoing extract, shows that he entertains the highest reverence for the Sacred Scriptures. It is, therefore, all the more important that such a man should at all points acquit himself worthily. Let him, therefore, take the Apostle as a model of inculcating Divine truth: "Now-now," not "as soon as possible," is the time to surrender the heart to God. "Now is the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation," not to-morrow! The example of Felix is in point here. Now, immediately, we call upon you to receive the Record which God hath given concerning his Son, and if you would have "enlightened and steady principles," you must seek them at the cross. If you believe the love there manifested, it will slay your enmity, and diffuse love throughout your heart, and that love will constitute the principle which will work in you "consistent conduct." Let there be no mistake here. Till you have decided for eternity, we have nothing else to say to you, but to proclaim your guilt and danger, folly and infatuation! perform that?" Do this, we say, from the beginning to the end, and the benefit of even a single perusal, will be such as you have no idea of. But one perusal will not be sufficient. You ought not to consider the work as even respectably advanced, till you have an intelligible grasp of the whole New Testament, so that, in the absence of the book, you can run the mind over the several compositions which form it, with a distinct apprehension of the matter of each, so that at any moment, you have but to take and turn to it. Nothing less than this ought to be aspired to by every Christian, even of the humblest position and intellectual attainments; but it is a lamentable fact, that there is only too much reason to believe that this, even this, is the attainment of only a very small number. It is one of the rarest things In the matter of "reading," No. 1, that occurs in the experience of a pasyou are liable to the utmost peril; tor to find a Christian possessing even you will find within yourselves a dis- this amount of mastery of the Records position to read anything and every- of Inspiration. Three or four such thing but that which ought to be perusals as we enjoin, would nevertheread first and most, the Sacred Scrip- less suffice for the attainment of it. tures, and works the object of which And is this really too much for a Book is to illustrate them. If you will do written by Inspiration of God? Alas! what we now suggest, it will redound how few seem to believe that God hath to your spiritual, moral, and temporal spoken. The faith of this would exwelfare, to your latest day, to an ex- ceedingly change the general character tent of which you have no conception. of human inquiry. Men would cease so Take, then, the New Testament, with- exclusively to walk in the twilight, or out note or comment, and read it in utter darkness, when they may enthrough from the commencement to joy the benefit of celestial light. The the close, deliberately, thoughtfully, order of proceedings would then be and prayerfully, endeavouring to under- reversed. The book which is now read stand everything as you go along, whe- least, would be read most; the pages ther of a doctrinal, experimental, or to which recourse is now had rather practical character; habitually inquir- from custom and habit than from faith ing as to the doctrinal, "Do I believe in its divine character, and a desire to that?"-as to experimental, "Do I ascertain its contents, would then befeel that?"-as to precept, "Do I come the manual of Christian men. |