they grasped, what difficulties they encountered, and what ends they obtained! As Protestant Dissenters let us reflect on the spirit and conduct of our Puritan and nonconforming ancestors. Think how they served God at the expense of all that was dear to them in this world, and laid the foundation of our churches in woods, and dens, and caves of the earth! Say, too, was their love to God more than need be? Is the importance of things abated since their death? Might not they have pleaded the danger and cruelty of the times in excuse for a non-appearance for God, with much more seeming plausibility than we can excuse our spirit of hateful indifference? Oh let us remember whence we are fallen, and repent!

As to our own lives, if we are real Christians, probably we can remember times wherein the great concerns of salvation seemed to eclipse all other objects. We covenanted with God-we resigned over all to him-we loved to be his, wholly his, rather than our own-we were willing to do anything, or become anything, that should glorify his name. And is it so now? No! but why not? what iniquity have we found in him that we are gone away backward? "O my people, saith the Lord, what have I done unto thee? wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me!" Have I been a hard master, or a churlish father, or a faithless friend? Have I not been patient enough with you, or generous enough towards you? Could I have done anything more for you that I have not done? Was the covenant you made with me a hard bargain? Was it hard on your side for me to be made sin, who knew no sin, that you might be made the righteousness of God in me? Were the rewards of my service such as you could not live upon? Is it better with you now than then? O Christian reader! pause awhile; lay aside the paper, and retire before God! reflect, and pour out thy soul before him. Say unto him, "O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face!" Thus, thus, remember whence thou art fallen, and repent!

But do not stop here-think it not sufficient that we lament and mourn over our

departures from God; we must return to him with full purpose of heart-" Strengthen the things that remain which are ready to die." Cherish a greater love to the truths of God -pay an invariable regard to the discipline of his house-cultivate love to one anotherfrequently mingle souls by frequently assembling yourselves together-encourage a meek, humble, and savoury spirit, rather than a curious one. These are some of the things among us that are ready to die!" To this it is added,

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"Do thy first works."-Fill up your places in God's worship with that earnestness and constancy as when you were first seeking after the salvation of your souls-flee from those things which conscience, in its most tender and best informed state, durst not meddle with, though since perhaps they may have become trifling in your eyes-walk in your family, in the world, and in the church, with God always before you live in love, meekness, and forbearance with one another -whatever your hands find you to do, "do it with all your might;" seeking to promote, by all means, the present and eternal welfare of all around you.

Finally, brethren, let us not forget to intermingle prayer with all we do. Our need of God's Holy Spirit to enable us to do anything, and everything, truly good, should excite us to this. Without his blessing all means are without efficacy, and every effort for revival will be in vain. Constantly and earnestly, therefore, let us approach his throne. Take all occasions especially for closet prayer; here, if anywhere, we shall get fresh strength, and maintain a life of communion with God. Our Lord Jesus used frequently to retire into a mountain alone for prayer: he, therefore, that is a follower of Christ, must follow him in this important duty.

Dearly beloved brethren, farewell! "Unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy; to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen."

IT is not unusual for Romanists to admire very much the missions of their church; but I suppose that the generality of the English people are very little acquainted with the working of those missions. Now I am ready to recognise the upright intentions of many of the Popish missionaries, but I believe it to have been, and to be, very generally a zeal without knowledge, and that consequently it has often produced a vast deal of evil.

But it is not my intention to enter in this place into the details of an appreciation concerning the results of the Romish missionary efforts; what I desire is, to place before the public some facts concerning those missions, not, perhaps, generally known, so that the reader may compare them with the Protestant missions, and their verdict is not doubtful.

As the pages of the CHRISTIAN WITNESS that can reasonably be given to

this subject are necessarily limited, I will only produce two facts, one describing a Romish missionary station seventy years ago; the other speaking of some of the means employed for saving the pagans—if such a word be permitted-in our own time. The first illustration is taken in America, the second in China.

Here is the first. Few are the places where the Romish missionary system has been able to develop itself fully, especially in some of its most domineering and directing tendencies. Here is, however, a somewhat curious specimen of it. It is taken from the voyage of the distinguished but unfortunate La Pérouse, and relates the state in which he found, in 1786, the missions of Northern, or New California, then under the care of the Franciscans. The station which he visited was founded sixteen years before. But let us hear what the illustrious voyager, himself a Papist, says:

Mr. Fages, the Governor of the Californias, insisted on accompanying us, and took on himself to furnish us with horses. After having passed by a little plain, containing a number of herds of bullocks, and in which there remain but a few trees to furnish a shelter to the cattle against the rain and the intensity of heat, we ascended the hills, and heard the ringing of bells announcing our approach, of which the missionaries had been apprised by a horseman sent by the governor.

The president of the mission, with his cope and the holy water sprinkle in hand, was waiting for us on the threshold of the church, which was illuminated as on the greatest festivals. He conducted us to the great altar, where he sung a Te Deum of thanksgiving for the happy success of our

voyage.

We had, in coming to the church, passed through a square where all the Indians of both sexes had been placed in double-row. Their physiognomy did not express any astonishment, and left us to doubt whether we would be the subject of their conversation for the rest of the day. The church is very neat, though only thatched. It is dedicated to St. Charles, and adorned with pretty good paintings, copies of Italian originals. painting of hell on one side, and another of heaven on the other side, are mentioned.

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In going out of the church we passed between the same rows of Indians, who had not deserted their place during the Te Deum; the children only had got a little out of the way, and were in groups near the house of the missionaries, which is opposite to the church, as well as the various stores. On the right is the village of the Indians, composed of about fifty cabins, which serve as the habitations of seven hundred and forty persons of both sexes, including the children,

which compose the mission of St. Charles or of Monterey.

These cabins are the most miserable that can be met with in any country; they are round, and are six feet in diameter and four in height; a few poles, the thickness of a man's arm, fixed in the ground, and united together at the top in the form of a vault, form all the wood-work. Some straw, badly fixed, put over these poles, shelter the inhabitants from the rain and the winds. In fine weather more than half of the cabin remains uncovered. Their only precaution is to keep near their cabin two or three spare bundles of straw.

This architecture, generally in use in both Californias, the missionaries have never been able to prevail with the Indians to alter; they say that they like the free air, and that it is a convenience to burn one's house when it is too full of fleas, and to be able to build a new one in less than a couple of hours.

The house of the missionaries, their storehouses, which are constructed with bricks, and plastered with mortar, the threshing-floor, the oxen, the horses, everything, in fact, called back to our mind the thought of a plantation in St. Domingo, or some other colony. The men and women are collected together by the ringing of the bell; one of the friars conducts them to work, to church, and in everything. We say it with sorrow, the resemblance is so complete, that we have seen men and women in irons, others with blocks,* and the clashing of the whip might have struck our ears, as that mode of punishment is also admitted, but used with no great severity.

The monks, by their answers to our various questions, did not leave us in ignorance of any details concerning the management of this kind of religious community, for no other name can be given to the legislation they have established. They are the superiors in temporal matters as in spiritual, and the product of the ground is remitted to their care. There are seven hours of work each day; two hours for prayers; and four or five on Sundays and the festival days, which are entirely set apart for rest and Divine worship. Corporal punishment is inflicted on the Indians of both sexes who absent themselves from the religious services; and many sins, the punishment of which, in Europe, is left to Divine justice, are here punished with irons and the block. To complete the comparison with the religious communities, from the moment that a new convert is baptized, it is as if he had made eternal vows. If he runs away to return to his relations in the independent villages,† he is summoned three times to come back, and if he refuse, the missionaries require the interference of the Governor, who sends some soldiers to take him from his family, and conduct him back to the missionary station,

*The block is a beam cut lengthways, and in which a hole is made of the size of an ordinary leg; iron hinges unite them at one end, and it is opened at the other end to pass the leg of the prisoner; it is then shut with a padlock, and he is obliged to lie down in a rather painful position. These are the villages of the Pagan Indians.

where he is condemned to receive a certain number of lashes with the whip. These people have so little courage, that they never offer resistance to the three or four soldiers who violate, so evidently in their case, the common rights of men; and this custom, against which reason speaks so strongly, is maintained, because some theologians have decided that baptism could not in conscience be administered to a people so inconstant, unless Government would serve them as a kind of godfather, and answer for their perseverance.

We desired to be present at the distribution made at each meal, and as every day is alike for this kind of religious community, in describing it for one of these days, the reader will have it for all the year.

The Indians get up, like the missionaries, with the sun, go to prayer and mass, which take up an hour, and during that time is prepared, in three large pots, on the square, some flour of barley, which has been roasted before being reduced to flour. This kind of pap, which the Indians call atole, and which they greatly relish, is prepared without butter or salt, and would be for us very indifferent food.

The inhabitants of each cabin send to fetch their portion in a vessel made of the bark of trees. The distribution is made without confusion or disorder; and when the pots are emptied, what sticks to them is given to the children who have the better retained the lessons of the catechism.

The meal takes three quarters of an hour, after which they all go to work; some, with the oxen, go to turn the ground, others dig the garden; every one, in a word, is employed about the various necessities of the establishments, and always under the superintendency of one or two missionaries.

The women have little else to do but to take care of their household, of their children, and of roasting and crushing the corn, which last operation is very painful and very long, as they have no other means than to crush the corn on a stone with a cylinder. Mr. De Langle, on seeing this, gave his mill to the missionaries. It was difficult to render them a greater service, for now four women will be able to do the work of a hundred, and time will be left to spin the wool of the flocks, and to manufacture some coarse cloth. Until now the missionaries, more occupied with the interests of heaven than with the temporal comforts, have very much neglected the introduction of the most common industries. They are so severe with themselves, that they have not even a room with a fireplace, though winter is sometimes very

severe.

At noon the bells call to dinner; the Indians leave then their work, and send to fetch their rations in the same vessel as the breakfast; but the pap this time is thicker than the first, to the wheat or maize some peas or beans being added. The Indians give it the name of poussole. They return to work from two till four or five; they have then the evening prayers, which take nearly an hour, which is followed by a new distribution of atole, similar to that of the breakfast. These

three distributions are sufficient for the generality of these Indians.

After describing the manner in which the Indian women roast their corn, he continues:

It is distributed to them every morning, and the least infidelity when they give it back is punished with whipping; but it is very seldom they expose themselves to it. These punishments are ordered by Indian magistrates, called caciques. There are three at each station; they are chosen by the people from amongst those not excluded by the missionaries; but, to give a true idea of these magistrates, we will say that these caciques are like the overseers of the plantations, beings without a will of their own, blind executors of the commands of their superiors; and their principal functions consist in being beadles of the church, and to keep in it order and the exterior of devotion. The women are never whipped in the public square, but in an enclosure at a certain distance, perhaps to prevent their shrieks exciting too much compassion, which might incite the men to revolt themselves; these last, on the contrary, are exposed to the looks of their countrymen, that their punishment may serve as an example. They generally ask mercy, in which case the executioner diminishes the force of the stripes, but the number is irrevocably fixed.

The recompenses are little distributions of corn, of which they make little cakes, baked in the ashes; and in the great festival days there is a distribution of beef, which many eat raw, especially the fat, which appears to them as delicious a relish as the best butter or cheese.

It is often permitted to them to go shooting or fishing for their own account, in which cases they usually make a present of fish or venison to the missionaries; but they give a quantity merely equal to what is required by them; if they know any strangers to be with their superiors, they pay the attention of augmenting the portion. The women keep around their cabins a few fowls, of which they give the eggs to their children. These fowls are the property of the Indians, as well as their clothing, and their little furniture, and shooting apparel. There are no instances of their ever stealing from each other, though their only door is a bundle of straw put across the entrance when everybody is absent.

These customs will appear patriarchal to some of our readers, but they do not pay attention to the fact, that in none of these dwellings is there anything of a nature to tempt the desires of the neighbouring house. hold.

The missionaries have constituted themselves the guardians of the women's chastity. An hour after supper they lock in all the women of whom the husbands are absent, and the girls above nine years old, and during the day they are put under the care of old women. Yet all this is insufficient, and we have seen men in the block and women in irons for having evaded the vigilance of these female Arguses, whose two eyes are not enough.

The converted Indians have preserved all their old customs as far as their new religion permits it. Same cabins, same amusements, same dress. The dress of the richer is a cloak of otter's skin, which covers his loins. The more lazy have but a piece of linen, given to them by the missionaries to cover their nakedness, and a little cloak of rabbits' skins to cover their shoulders, and coming down to the waist, and tied round the neck with a string. The remainder of the body is completely naked, as well as the head. Some, however, have straw hats, very well matted.

The dress of the women is a cloak of stags' skin, badly prepared. In the missions they usually make sleeves to it; it is their only ornament, with a little apron made of reeds, and a petticoat of stags' skin, which covers their loins, and comes down somewhat lower than the knee. The little girls of less than nine years have but a kind of girdle around their body; the children of the other sex go entirely naked.

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race,

The missionaries, persuaded by their prejudices, or, perhaps, from their own perience, that the intelligence of these people is seldom developed, (which is for them a sufficient reason to treat them as children,) admit but few of them to the sacrament; these are the geniuses of their who, like Descartes and Newton, would enlighten their time and countrymen-by teaching them that four and four make eight, which calculation is more than many can do. The organization of the missions is not fit to make them emerge from this state of ignorance; all is combined to attain the recompenses of another life, and the arts of most common use, even the surgery of our villages, are unknown. Many children die of hernia, which the most common care and attention

might cure; and our surgeons have been happy enough to be able to assist a few, and to teach them how to use the proper bindings.

This government is a veritable theocracy for these Indians. They believe their superiors to be in direct and continual communication with God, whom they cause to descend every day on the altar. By the help of that opinion, the fathers live in the midst of the villages with the greatest security; their doors are not even shut at night during their sleep.

The viceroy of Mexico is actually the only judge of the difficulties arising on the missions, which do not recognise the authority of the governor of Monterey, who is only obliged to furnish them the help of his authority, when required to do so. Spain gives four hundred piastres to each of the missionaries, the number of whom, for each parish, is two; if there be a third, he receives no salary.

Such is the singular and really distressing description of those Papist missions, and of the poor people in them, of which the same distinguished voyager says in another place: "I own that, more the friend of the rights of man than a theologian, I would have

desired, that to the principles of Christianity had been joined a legislation which, little by little, would have rendered citizens of these men, whose state actually differs but little from the negroes of the plantations in our colonies, governed with the greatest humanity and kindness."

Ånd has Rome any reason to glorify itself in such missions, and for such results? How great the difference of this mission of Monterey and the Protestant missions of any part of the world. But these remarks can easily be made by every reader; and so to this article, being already so long, I forbear adding anything, leaving, for a second one, the remainder of my subject. E. LE BRUN.

Jersey, 7th March, 1855.

CONVERSATION WITH A ROMAN CATHOLIC AT RUGELEY.

(To the Editor of the Christian Witness.)

SIR,-It happened, on a Saturday evening, when I was employed in making preparation for the pulpit on the following day, that a Roman Catholic called upon me, full of zeal for his religion. He stated that he had been informed of my preaching against those who held the same principles with himself; and that I had affirmed, "that the Catholics pray to the Virgin Mary as Christians in general pray to God!" He then assured me, that if I could prove my assertion, he would have nothing more to do with the Catholics as long as he lived. A challenge being thus given me, though at a very unseasonable time, I felt it to be one which I ought not to decline, especially as I was prepared to make my defence. I therefore acknowledged that I had made the assertion which he had named, and said, "I think that I shall find no difficulty in proving my words; for, in the first place, you Catholics give titles to the Virgin which belong to God only; and, in the second place, you pray to her for such things as God alone can bestow." In substantiating this, I referred to a book of Romish devotions, called "The Garden of the Soul." In this book, I remarked, the Virgin is called "Ark of the Covenant," "Gate of Heaven," and the "Morning Star," which last title is claimed by God our Saviour (Rev. xxii. 16); but I hope that you expect to be eternally safe in no other "Ark" than Christ, or get to heaven by no other "Gate" besides "the Lord our Righteousness" (Jer. xxiii. 6). But in the "Garden of the Soul," the Virgin Mary is called "Refuge of Sinners," "Comfort of the Afflicted," and "Help of Christians." The Scriptures, however, I remarked, tell us that "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble," Psa. xlvi. 1. The apostle speaks of "the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulations," 2 Cor. i. 3, 4; and of being able to say, "The Lord is my helper, and I will not

fear what man shall do unto me," Heb. xiii. 9. I trust, therefore, that in all these respects we shall look to "the God of love and peace to "be with us," and not to any departed saint, now with God in a better world.

I next proceeded to tell my visitor that I had said that Roman Catholics pray to the Virgin for such things as God alone can bestow. In the "Garden of the Soul," said I, this prayer occurs: "We fly to thy patronage, O holy mother: despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers," page 326. Now is not this enough to prove that Catholics pray to the Virgin Mary as Christians in general pray to God?" The "Garden of the Soul" contains also a hymn addressed to the Virgin, which appears at page 324, which begins thus:

Hail, thou resplendent star, Which shinest o'er the main ; from which it seems that the Virgin is regarded as the peculiar patroness of seamen ; so that I have read in Erasmus of a sailor in danger of shipwreck, who prayed to her for deliverance, and vowed, that if she would hear him, he would give her a wax candle as large as the mast of his vessel! Let me ask, then, what rest the Virgin can have if she must attend to the prayers of all sailors throughout the Catholic world? But can the Virgin be endued with anything like omnipresence and omniscience for so God-like an employment as this? How much wiser and better is it to "cry unto the Lord in their trouble," so as to find that "he bringeth" our seamen out of their distresses," Psa. cvii. 27, 28.

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However, this hymn, in "the Garden of the Soul," calls upon the Virgin to

Negotiate our peace,

And cancel Eva's wrong!

But is not this to make the mother of our Lord our mediator with God, while his Word assures us that there is but "one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus," 1 Tim. ii. 5, who "appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself?" Heb. ix. 26. Yet the hymn in question calls upon Mary to do other impossibilities, which we Protestants never think of asking any one that is not God to do for us, such as

Loosen the sinner's bands;
All evils drive away:
Bring light unto the blind,

And for all graces pray;

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which last kind office any pious and prayerful Mary may do for us, while to drive away all evils," and "bring light unto the blind," is more than we can ask or expect from any glorified saint in heaven. It must, therefore, be in vain to say, as in the next

stanza

O pure, O spotless maid,

Whose meekness all excel, O make us chaste and mild, And all our passiona quell.

With respect to such things as are here implored, what can the Holy Virgin do for any of those who worship her? To such persons it may properly be said, "To which of the saints wilt thou turn?" Job v. 1. It must, then, be more reasonable, as well as scriptural, to pray, as the Apostle does, when he says, "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thess. v. 23.

Having thus endeavoured to make good my assertion, my visitor was, in fact, put to silence. He merely reminded me of the words of Mary in her song: "He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden; for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed," Luke i. 48. This he urged in favour of his party, harping upon the same string again and again. "Well," I replied, "God did certainly honour her very highly when he made her the mother of our Lord, and did such 'great things' for her as to induce all generations to call her 'blessed.' We gladly own it; and we call her so; but this does not imply that she was to receive worship, or that all generations were to pray to her. It means nothing more than that she would be called happy. So is every good man and woman who is favoured with a heart to submit to the Divine will, and be thankful. In like manner we shall be blessed' or happy if we walk not in the counsel of the ungodly,' but delight in the law of the Lord, and meditate in it by day and night,'" Psa. i. 1-3.

Thus I talked to a man who perhaps was "convinced against his will," but continued to adhere to his chosen opinions, as I presently found that he did, and exceeded all moderate bounds in his defence of them. For that purpose he spent some time in writing a pamphlet, and spent money for printing, after his priest had corrected it for him. Having detained me inconveniently long, he said that one of his friends was unwell, so that he must see him that evening, and for that purpose took his departure. He afterwards came to hear me, especially when I was delivering my Protestant Lectures. then found that he was the intelligencer of the late Sir Charles Wolseley, and was sometimes the medium of communication between us. The same person I soon found to be also a conceited, vain-glorious man, who, on one occasion, thought fit to speak to me as I came from the vestry on à Sunday evening, before some of my hearers, and said that he should like to have a public disputation with but which, for various reasons, I thought fit to decline.

me,

Langrove Cottage.

JOHN BULMer.

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