features into a grin of unmixed delight. But this is Catholic! but, indeed, what abomination, what folly, what degradation of the human mind exists here, that may not be traced to this most fertile of all sources of error, the Catholic Church. May heaven preserve England for ever from its influence. May there be at least one nook left in the world, where this Scourge of the human race is not felt! The Pope has been heard to state, that he hopes to live till he sees the church in the same prosperity it enjoyed before the Reformation; and I must say, he is using his endeavours to attain the object of his hopes. The Jesuits do not hesitate to avow, that they look to Catholic Emancipation as one great step towards uniting the Church of England to the Holy See and one of their fraternity, an Irishman, who is travelling here, in the full confidence of their carrying their point this Parliament, had the impudence to laugh, in my company, at those Protestants who, by supporting the claims of the Catholics, were aiding and abetting their own destruction. You may smile at my fears, but I am sure that no Protestant who has seen, as I have seen, the Catholic Church, both at its fountain-head and in its polluted streams, but must feel as I feel, if he have a human heart in his breast, or is capable of being moved by the deplorable and lost condition of his fellow creatures.

as

On the first of this month we had an earthquake, I felt it distinctly for some seconds; indeed, long enough to reflect on its probable consequences. The walls of my house, and the floor on which I stood, shook so as to make me almost lose my balance. The Italians call it leggierdres sima, (i. e. most light); but to me it was dreadful. It seemed as if the earth were moving out of its place, and though a little stronger concussion would have put an end to me and to the inhabitants of this populous city, and opened a speedy passage for us to eternity; but, as I said before, to the Italians it was nothing; it was not enough even to induce them to remove the masks from their faces; so they went on rioting and revelling, and pelting their sugar plums, as if nothing had happened. News travels slowly here. It was not till some days after this we heard, that in a town called Tito, in the interior of the kingdom, many houses were thrown down, the principal church nearly destroyed, and large masses of rock rent and separated from the mountains, and rolled down into the vallies, carrying terror and destruction in their

course.

The very beauties of this country savour strongly of volcanic action; and those wild and fantastic forms which now make such an impression on the imagination, have probably, at some time or other,

been produced by those convulsions of nature. Sometimes, as in the bay of Bahia, a hill is thrown up from the bottom of the sea, in the course of a few hours; and the morning finds a mountain where night left a plain. Sometimes a rent is made in a rock, and a new passage opened to the waters; rivers are seen suddenly flowing over a country which, but a short time before, presented nothing to the eye but peaceful vineyards, or groves of oranges; the cottage is left standing on the very verge of the precipice; and the goats are seen feeding on points inaccessible even to their feet.* So fertile and luxuriant, however, is vegetation in this fine climate, that the wound is healed almost as soon as it is made. Flowers, trees, and fruits, shortly become visible in the clefts of the rent rock, and nature seems to take peculiar delight in dressing out with luxuriant beauty, scenes which would otherwise have the features of devastation and ruin. Dressed and decorated as they now are, they present nothing to the eye but images of delight; the very rents and chasms add to their fantastic character, and the whole has the air of enchantment.

The Host is just passing by! The wafer is carried by the priest in a little vase, and a man goes behind with a sort of cast-iron umbrella, which protects both priest and wafer from the sun, and gives some consequence, to what otherwise would be a most paltry procession. A dirty flag precedes, and two or three boys with censers, and the box or canopy, in which, I suppose, the little god is to be placed when the priests enter the sick man's house. Some police officers walk on each side, and a barefooted verger heads the whole, ringing a little bell, to announce to the people that the god is coming. The carriages stop, and down go all the foot passengers at once, on their knees. Some even fall upon their faces, and knock their heads against the ground. I now see them from my balcony the whole length of a wide street, and a most curious and melancholy sight

it is.

This scene passing before my eyes, brings me back, most unwillingly, from contemplating the power of Omnipotence in the wonders of nature -to behold, with feelings the most painful, the degraded state to which the man of sin has here reduced the human mind. The people are constantly in the habit of calling the Pope, God upon earth. I recollect one of my modellers telling me, how thankful

* A partial earthquake of this kind happened lately at Amalfi, in the gulf of Salerno, of the effect of which I have preserved a drawing.

they were to the holy father for giving them such a delightful rain, which had done so much good to the corn and the vines. Is it not reasonable to suppose, that the priests encourage this? for otherwise it would be difficult to conceive how the people get such things in their heads. They believe every thing the priest tells them.

You will think I torment you on the subject of Popery; but I am really apprehensive, lest the generosity and kindheartedness of Englishmen should be deceived into granting what their obligations, as Christians, require them to withhold. I wish them to know, that Popery is now just what Popery always was, saving and excepting the deficiency in power. Should you grant them power, you may depend upon it they will use it to your destruction. I have lately looked much into Catholic books, and it is really wonderful how little they contain in support of the whole, or any part of their dreadful lie. They talk of their antiquity, and of their universality. I can conceive a wen, or excrescence, to grow on a man, which had its origin in some accident of his youth: I can conceive it continuing to increase, till it spread over and disfigure the greatest part of his body. This wen, however great, extended, and alarming it may become, is still the wen, the man exists in his original identity. Not less absurd would it be to call this wen, or excrescence, the man, than it is to call Popery, Christianity! England has already done too much toward setting up and establishing this curse on humanity; let her not add the misnamed emancipation to her other crimes. Let her give the Catholics a nobler emancipation; let her endeavour, in every possible way, to educate the poor, and to put the Bible into their hands, and at length there will be an end to the power of popes and priests. The Bible is a thing unknown here; I lately tried to procure an Italian Bible, but without success. There is a little book which contains a sort of history of the Old and New Testament, and this is all the people are allowed to read.

FURTHER PERSECUTIONS AT LAUSANNE.

The Committee for the relief of the Exiled Swiss Ministers, has not yet been favoured with the particulars of information which have for some time been auxiously expected. But we are not surprised at this. Many of the persons and families, concerning whom our inquiries are in progress, and others to whom relief has been sent, are in places difficult of access, and to which there is probably no post. A few months ago, we had information, which excited the hope, that the members of the Lausanne Council were either convinced of their error, or

moved by the force of public opinion, so as to be disposed to a relaxation, and, in due course an abandonment of their persecuting measures. But this hope has been painfully repulsed. Violent proceedings have been revived. Several have been condemned to fines, with heavy costs, and others to exile of different periods, from one year and a half to two and three years. A young minister, who had been condemned to banishment, is also obliged to repay 50 louis, (we suppose old louis, worth about 23s. cach,) which had been granted him as a college exhibition. Another minister of distinguished fidelity, and zeal, but whose prudent and inoffensive conduct had been so far respected by the men in power, that they had not instituted proceedings against him, is apprehensive that he cannot much longer escape. On the Lord's day before our last advices, he had held a meeting in the concealment of a wood, and he, with his fellow-worshippers, escaped being apprehended by the gens-d'armes, only in consequence of having changed their plan for that day. We have sent different sums for the assistance of those sufferers whose cases are satisfactorily ascertained; and shall, providence enabling, proceed with all the expedition that is consistent with careful investigation. The banishment of some who were engaged in trade, is productive of ruin to their temporal interest. In the midst of these proceedings, so injurious to the sufferers, and so deeply disgraceful to the oppressors, our hearts are gladdened with the intelligence, that "the Gospel spreads, and that the pious clergy, non-separatists, are acting nobly." We hope to be favoured, in due time, with an elucidation of these words of our correspondent.

The quantity of matter arising from the numerous religious anniversaries, will probably preclude my further report on this subject in the next month's Magazine, but we hope, in the ensuing number, to be able to make our final report. On behalf of the Committee,

Votes of the House, No. 634, and cannot but express our regret that a small society of Dissenters, in a Borough-town, remote from the metropolis, should thus take precedence of the bodies which are annually appointed in London to perform this long neglected duty. We do hope that they will soon attempt something worthy of the great body they profess to represent, or that the country congregations will follow this spirited example, and take the business into their own hands.

"That the petitioners belong to a body of British subjects, who, for a century and a half, have patiently submitted to privations and penalties imposed on their ancestors in an unenlightened and persecuting age; that the principles which the petitioners profess are declared, by the undisputed testimony of history, to have been mainly instrumental to the most auspicious national events, the expulsion of arbitrary power from these realms, and the succession of the House of Brunswick to the Throne; that the forefathers of the petitioners, in the reign of James the Second, nobly refused to receive the repeal of the Test Act, when the grand principles of Protestantism would thereby have been endangered, but patriotically remained the self.devoted victims of civil disqualification; that as a body, the petitioners have been remarkable for their unshaken loyalty to the House of Hanover, that they have ever been faithful to their country, and obedient subjects to the Laws of the Land; that while France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, following the dictates of a liberal and enlightened policy, have discarded every test purely religious, in Britain, the boasted land of liberty, Episcopalians alone are eligible to offices of honour or emolument; that this exclusion implies a stigma which the petitioners feel they do not in justice deserve, and they humbly beseech the House to remove the anomalous reproach from them and their country, which excludes a Protestant Dissenter from situations of honour and confidence, yet does not deny him a seat in the house, to participate in counsels, and deliberate on measures that involve the fate of empires and the destinies of the world; the petitioners humbly pray, That the House will confer on them the same privileges as Protestant Dissenters in Ireland enjoy, where every restriction affecting them is removed, and that they may participate in those blessings of religious freedom which our glorious King has conferred on his Hanoverian subjects,"

THE LONDON BAPTIST BUILDING FUND.

We beg to present our readers with the following extracts from the first report of this important Society, which has been most laudably formed to supersede, as far

at least as the Baptist denomination is concerned, that system of religious mendicity which has so long and disgracefully prevailed in London, by which the ministerial character has been degraded, and the cause of religion_frequently injured. We congratulate our Baptist Brethren in the honourable example they have set, and we trust that the Congregational body may be excited, by their success, to follow it.

"Your Committee at the commencement of their labours, judged it of importance to obtain as large and correct a list as possible of the names and residences of those persons who had previously been in the habit of contributing to country cases.

"From various sources, and with considerable difficulty, a list of several hundreds was formed, letters of address, with the rules of the Society, were forwarded, and the Collector, with the aid of the Committee, was desired to wait on them severally. More than two hundred of them have become Subscribers or Donors to the amount of £1,448 1s. and a considerable number, who have declined for the present, have promised the Society their support in the ensuing year.

"When your Committee began their active services, twenty-seven cases from the former Committee were transferred to their care; and during the year 1825, thirty-six fresh applications have been made; the following sixteen have been relieved with various sums proportioned to their exigencies, to the amount of £1,400, and forty remain on hand, waiting for assistance.

Aldborough, Suffolk. Axbridge, Somerset

£100

80

Barnstaple, Devon

90

Clonmel, Ireland

100

Collumpton, Devon

85

Great Brickhill, Bucks. Kingstanley, Gloucester Malton, York

80

85

100

71 clauses is now printed, (occupying 40 octavo pages,) for the use of the shareholders, who are required to sign the original document without delay.

It in course is much too long and technical for insertion in our columns, but we transcribe a few of the clauses, which will give our readers information on the most important parts of its constitution.

2. Therefore, this Indenture witnesseth, and it is hereby agreed and declared, that the several persons, parties to these presents, being the persons who have so agreed to become proprietors or shareholders of the aforesaid capital, in the share or shares set against their respective names in the schedule to these presents, and who are hereinafter distinguished by the title of Proprietors,' and the several other persons who shall become proprietors, as hereinafter mentioned, shall be and continue an Association, or Institution, by and under the name of The Proprietors of the University of London.' But it is hereby expressly agreed and declared, that the said Association or Institution, or the present or future proprietors of the shares of the same, shall not assume or pretend to be or to act as a corporate body, unless or until they shall hereafter be legally incorporated; and that none of the provisions contained in this present indenture shall be deemed or construed to imply any intention on the part of the said Association or Institution, or of the present or future proprietors of the shares in the same, to be a corporate body, or to act as such. And this Indenture further witnesseth, and it is hereby declared and agreed by and between the said parties to these presents, in manner following, (that is to say ;)-

"3. That the object of the said Institution is the advancement and promotion of literature and science, by affording to young men residing in or resorting to the cities of London and Westminster, the Borough of Southwark, and Counties adjoining to either of the said cities, or to the said Borough, adequate opportunities for obtaining literary and scientific education at a moderate expense.

"4. That, for effecting the said object of the said Institution, a piece of land, near Gower-street, in the parish of Saint Pancras, in the County of Middlesex, has been purchased, and the purchase of it has been, and is hereby approved.

"That halls, schools, lecture rooms, offices, and other buildings, proper and suitable for receiving professors and pupils, and for carrying into effect the object of the Institution, shall be erected upon the said purchased piece or parcel of land; and that the said building, when completed, shall be called, "The University of London," and appropriated solely to the objects of the Institution.

"5. That the said capital of the Institution shall not amount to more than three hundred thousand pounds, or to less than one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and shall be raised by subscription for shares, of one hundred pounds for each share; but that no one person shall be capable of holding, directly or indirectly, more than twenty such shares; and that, to the extent of his or her share, or respective shares, and to that extent only, each proprietor for the time being shall be liable to the Institution, or to the fulfilment of the contracts and engagements to be entered into by the council, or ses-sion of council for the time being, constituted and nominated as hereinafter mentioned, on account thereof.

"30. That the session of council, for the time being, shall have the power of appointing a secretary, or clerk and clerks, for conducting the business of the Institution; and also a librarian, or librarians, and professors, masters, tutors, officers, agents, messengers, workmen, and servants, and of procuring such aid or assistance as the object, business, and concerns of the Institution shall, in the judgment of the session of council, for the time being, require; and shall allow to persons employed by them in any of the capacities, or for the purposes aforesaid, respectively such salaries, wages, compensation, gratuities, privileges, and benefits, as well in respect to past as future services, as the said session shall think proper, and shall have power, from time to time, to delegate to them respectively by any instrument in writing, or otherwise, such powers and authorities as the said session may deem expedient; and to vary and alter, or revoke such powers and authorities, and delegate others whenever, and so often as the session of council, for the time being, may think proper; and shall have power to suspend, displace, or remove any secretary, clerk, librarian, professor, master, tutor, officer, agent, messenger, workman, and servant, either as occasion shall require, or as the said session shall think fit, without being compelled to assign any reason for such suspension, dismissal, or removal; and also, from time to time, if deemed expedient, to appoint persons to supply the vacancies occasioned thereby. Provided, nevertheless, that the professors, masters, and tutors, shall have the privilege of appealing against such dismissal within one month after the same shall have taken place, to a General Meeting of Proprietors, to be called by the clerk of the Institution fourteen days after notice of such appeal."

We regret to learn, that the embarrassments of the commercial world have prevented many subscribers fulfilling their promises of support, but there is capital enough untouched by these calamities

March 29, 1826, the Associated Ministers of Sheffield, Wakefield, and Rotherham, &c. held their half-yearly meeting at Melton. The services commenced on the preceding evening, when a sermon was de livered by Dr. Cope, of Wakefield, on "the Kingdom of Christ, and the Means of its Advancement." The next morning, the Rev. Mr. Boden, of Sheffield, preached on "Satanic Influence," and the Rev. Mr. Dixon, of Sheffield, on "Christian Watchfulness." The Rev. Messrs. Nichols, of Bawtry, Docker, of Sheffield, Dr. Bennett, of Rotherham, and J. Woodwark, of Doncaster, engaged in the devotional parts of the services.

CHAPELS OPENED.

On Tuesday, Dec. 27, 1825, a neat and commodious place of worship, connected with the Independent denomination, was opened for divine service, in the pleasant town of Solihull, Warwickshire; on which occasion three sermons were preachedthat in the morning, by the Rev. J. A. James, of Birmingham; that in the after noon, by the Rev. J. W. Percy, of Warwick; and that in the evening, by the Rev. T. East, of Birmingham. On the following Sabbath-day, sermons were preached, in the morning and afternoon by the Rev. W. Hood, minister of the chapel, and in the evening by the Rev. J. Sibree, of Coventry. After which latter service a collection was also made. The collections amounted to £43. 4s. 2d. The devotional services were conducted by the Rev. Messrs Sibree, Jerard, Barker, &c. The success attending the erection of the above place of worship, is at once most surprising and gratifying. This town, containing from two to three thousand souls, was previously, for upwards of twenty years, destitute of evangelical preaching by any denomination of Dissenters. An eligible piece of ground was purchased by the Rev. J. Sibree; a chapel has been erected; a minister, in the cha

racter of a Home Missionary, is become a resident in the town, to preach regularly in the place, and in the neighbouring destitute villages; many of the pews in the chapel have been let to respectable families; the place is crowded with attentive hearers every Sabbath-day; and upwards of a hundred persons attend the week-day evening lectures. Thus a work has been accomplished, within the short period of one year, which, in all probability, would not have been performed in ten or fifteen years by the usual mode of entering into destitute towns. A debt of £400. remains to be defrayed; to effect which the aid of the benevolent public is earnestly solicited. A new Independent chapel was opened at Bawtry, Yorkshire, on Wednesday, the 15th of March, when sermons were preached by the Rev. James Parsons, of York, the Rev. W. H. King, of Gainsborough, and the Rev. Dr. Bennett, of Rotherham. A sermon was also preached the preceding evening, by the Rev. James Parsons. These sermons were impregnated with the most important and essential truths of the Gospel; the attention and the number of the auditors was highly encouraging, and their contributions truly liberal.

ORDINATIONS.

On Wednesday, the 29th of March, the Rev. J. W. Wayne, from the Newport Pagnel Evangelical Institution, was ordained to the pastoral office over the Independent church at Hitchin. The Rev. C. Gilbert, of Stony Stratford, commenced the service, by reading the Scriptures and prayer. The Rev. S. Hillyard, of Bedford, stated the nature of a Gospel church, and asked the usual questions. The Rev. D. W. Aston, of Buckingham, (Mr. W.'s pastor,) prayed the ordinationprayer, with imposition of hands. The kev. T. P. Bull, of Newport Pagnel, gave the charge to the minister, from 1 Tim. iv. 16; and the Rev. W. Chaplin, of Bishop's Stortford, a discourse to the people, from Matt. v. 14; and the Rev. J. Geard, the venerable Baptist minister of Hitchin, concluded the interesting service with prayer.

In the evening, the Rev. J. Slye, of Potter's Parry, delivered a discourse from Rom. ii. 31. The Rev. Messrs. Early and Hawkins engaged in prayer.

On Thursday, April 13th, the Rev. George Moase, late of Okehampton, Devon, was publicly recognized as the pastor of the Congregational church, Artillery Street, Bishopsgate Street, London. The Rev. J. Blackburn read and prayed. Dr. J. P. Smith delivered the introductory discourse; Rev, J. Fletcher, M.A., offered the intercessory prayer; Dr. Winter addressed the minister and people, from 1 Thess. iii. 8-" Now we live," &c.; and the Rev. J. Meek, of Painswick, concluded with prayer.