he was dismissed; and he replied that he had acted according to his instructions. I then wrote to the Board of Works, but received no answer to my letter. My rector and myself did everything in our power to have the man reinstated; but all was in vain. We endeavoured to procure employment for other converts, some of whom were miserably destitute; but the engineer, who had not been found sufficiently compliant by the Romish priests, had been removed through their influence, and his successor dreaded the same fate. In fine, sir, the matter was brought before the magistrates of the petty sessions; the facts were clearly proved on oath; the intimidation was evident; and the sentence was announced to be three months' imprisonment,' in case of a conviction being obtained. But the magistrates were afraid to convict the priest, and dismissed the complaint, on the plea of varying evidence-the culprit being allowed to go triumphantly out of court, boasting that the law was not made for such as he.'

Whatever may be said in England on the small progress of the reformation in Ireland, we, who are on the spot, know that the Romish priests rule their people with an iron sceptre; and that the real cause of our churches not being crowded with converts is to be found in the well-grounded apprehension of relentless never-dying persecution.

Those Englishmen, however, who blame the Protestant clergy for the comparative smallness of their success in that direction, would do well to consider whether it is reasonable to expect the Church to make very rapid progress so long as the unhappy peasantry know that their priests can reckon on the conciliating policy of Government, and the fears of the county magistrates, to assist them in ruining any one who will presume to avail himself of that civil and religious liberty which the constitution professes to protect, but which, as far as the subjects of the Irish priesthood are concerned, is nothing better than a mockery and a fiction.

I am, Sir, yours faithfully,

ALEX. HALLOWELL, Curate of Bantry*.

* As illustrative of the above, we refer to a matter which came to light at an investigation before the Carrigaholt Relief Committee.

It appeared on the sworn testimony of several witnesses, that a Romish Priest, named Duggan, employed the check clerks and stewards on the public works to collect his dues from the labourers. A young lad, named Cox, stated that he had paid sixpence to his steward, Mr. Muleehey; that it was against his will he gave the money for Father Duggan, as he was in want himself, but one of the under stewards, named Connell, told him that if he did not pay it, he would not allow him on the work. He further stated, that he was afterwards obliged to give fourpence more to make up the sum usually given by the labourers to the Priest.

THE INQUISITION.,

THE following letter from the Right Rev. Dr. Wilcox, lord bishop of Rochester, then chaplain to the English factory at Lisbon, to Dr. Gilbert Burnet, bishop of Salisbury, dated January 15, 1706, N.S., exhibits the horrors of an Auto da Fé in the eighteenth century:—,

"MY LORD,—In obedience to your lordship's commands of the 10th ult., I have here seen all that was printed concerning the last Auto da Fé. I saw the whole process, which is agreeable to what is published by Limborch, and others, upon that subject. Of the five persons condemned, there were but four burnt: Antonio Javannes, by an unusual reprieve, being saved after the procession. Heytor Dias and Maria Pineyra were burnt alive, and the other two first strangled. The execution was very cruel. The woman was alive in the flames half an hour, and the man above an hour. The present king and his brothers were seated at a window so near, as to be addressed for a considerable time in very moving terms by the man as he was burning. But though the favour he begged was only a few more faggots, yet he was not able to obtain it. The wind being a little fresh the man's hinder parts were perfectly wasted; and as he turned himself, his ribs opened before he left speaking, the fire being recruited as it wasted to keep him in just the same degree of heat. But all his entreaties could not procure him a larger allowance of wood to shorten his misery, and to despatch him.”

CONVERTS FROM THE ERRORS OF POPERY.

TWELVE PERSONS renounced the errors of Popery in St. Audron's Church, Dublin. Of these, two were priests, nine were men, and three were women, of a respectable class. The Rev. Nicolas Beaty, D.D., was Superior of the Convents in Drogheda, Athlone, Waterford, and Multifarnham; and the Rev. Patrick Brennan was formerly the Popish priest of the parish of Crure, in the diocese of Elphin. Dr. Beatty was ordained by the late Bishop of Rome, Gregory XVI. He was highly respected by his former brethren; of whom he now says, “that no doubt many of them will follow his example of shaking off the unscriptural yoke of Rome;" but both the priests and the laity are deterred by the horrible persecution to which converts are subjected by the fierce disciples of Maynooth.

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.-The brief notice of the Fasts and Festivals in April; and Reviews of Mr. Christie's pamphlet, and Mr. Miller, Vicar of Harlow's Sermon and pamphlet are unavoidably postponed, on account of the Editor's absence from home.

REGENERATION is that spiritual change wrought by the Holy Spirit upon every person in the use of baptism; whereby he is translated out of his natural state of wrath or depravation as a descendant of Adam, to a spiritual state in Christ; that is to say, to a state of salvation. The Church teaches us that the inward and spiritual grace given in baptism is "a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness: for being by nature born in sin, and the children of wrath, we are hereby, i. e., by baptism, made the children of grace." We were born in original sin, which is a depravation of all the faculties of the mind; ignorance in our understanding; an inclination in our wills rather to evil than to good; and a proneness in our affections to sinful and unlawful pleasures. THE DISOBEDIENCE of our first parents to the commandment of God was the original sin. Adam had the use of reason in perfection; but he would depend upon his own strength and reason without belief and dependence on God; and so having free-will he acted against his reason, and sinned most grievously, and tainted all his posterity. This taint is rather a misfortune than actually and strictly a sin in his descendants; because they neither had nor could have any accession to his transgression. Adam's sin is not imputable to us as an actual sin, for God declares that "the soud that sinneth, it shall die" eternally, and the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father in the life to come'. The

No. 9.

Continued from page 233.

1 Ezek. xviii. 20.

K

term original sin, as applied to us, does not imply actual, wilful, and deliberate transgression on our part; but according to "the radical and primary meaning of the terms used in the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures ( ......) it is to ‘err,' 'to be out of the way,' 'to miss the mark;' or, as St. Paul most accurately defines it, 'all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.' It is also observable, that where the inspired writers in both Testaments, intend to speak of what we understand by transgression or actual sin, they use other words of more determinate signification, as will be acknowledged by all who are in the least acquainted with the original style of Holy Writ. What, therefore, Scripture declares, and experience hourly proves, it is certainly most reasonable for us to believe; viz., that there is in human nature as derived from the corrupted nature of Adam, even now, ‘a mistake,' ‘a coming short,' 'a missing of the mark;' nay, even an hereditary vitiosity, which, whether denominated 'SIN' or not, is undoubtedly 'ORIGINAL, since death' is the 'wages' of it; and that must be 'original,' or 'from the source which affects the whole race or offspring. Nor is our temporal dissolution the only effect (though the only visible effect,) of this contagion; it prevents our being entitled to, or fit for, the glorious immortality which we are taught to believe is prepared for us: since without holiness no man can see the Lord.""

6

ADAM WAS CREATED in the likeness of God; that is, in perfect holiness, being replete with divine grace and favour; and he enjoyed the perfect fellowship of the Holy Spirit; nevertheless being a free agent he fell from that state of grace. He fell into the snare set for him by the devil, who took him captive at his will; the whole human race, which was then included in his loins, were consequently comprehended in his captivity. In consequence of this alienation from God and entrance into the service of the devil, sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and this disobedient son of God lost that divine nature or likeness of God with which he had been endued. Adam therefore sank down into mere animal life which the apostle denominates the flesh; and all his offspring are begotten in his new likeness of sin, and are therefore the children of wrath. But to recover

Adam and all his posterity from the captivity of the devil, God devoted the Lamb to be slain in the fulness of time, and made both him and his descendants accepted in His beloved Son, who should bruise the head of that serpent that had "beguiled" Eve.

THE QUICKENING SPIRIT is bestowed in baptism, when we not only put on Christ, but die with Him unto sin and to the carnal pleasures of the world, and our life and conversation are hid with Him in God. That is, our conversation and affections ought to be in heaven; because, having died to sin, we ought therefore to be no more subject to its polluting influence. "The captivity of the soul," says Bishop Taylor, "is taken away by the blood of redemption, and the fiery darts of the devil are quenched by these salutary waters; and what the flames of hell are expiating or punishing to eternal ages, that is washed off quickly in the holy font, and an eternal debt paid in an instant. For so sure as the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea, so sure are our sins washed in this holy flood. For this is a Red Sea too; 'these are they that have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb".""

ADAM WAS A TYPE or figure of Christ, and gave us life, death, and also sin; and Christ, the second Adam, gave us redemption, salvation, and the spirit of obedience to the divine laws. All mankind were made subject to death by the sin of the first Adam; and all true believers have been restored to spiritual life by the second Adam, whose resurrection from the dead is an assurance and pledge that the dead in Christ shall arise at the last day. Redemption by Christ is as universal and as extensive, as sin and death by Adam from whom we inherit our animal bodies. As Adam's animal body was formed before his Creator breathed into him the breath of life; so we must be born into the worl in our natural state, before we be regenerated and newly created in Christ. For "that was not first that was spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual"." Christ having satisfied divine justice and raised Himself from the dead renewed the divine image in us, and has restored

2 Great Exemplar.

3 1 Cor. xv. 46.