Treasurer two pieces of money— the one gold and the other silver.

From the feet-washing every one hurried to an adjoining room to be present when the Pope served these same pilgrims at dinner, which took place immediately after. The dinner provided seemed an excellent one, and to my surprise the pilgrims made a hearty meal, notwithstanding the crowd which surrounded them.

The Pope served like a welltrained servant, first furnishing them with water to wash their hands, then helping them to the various dishes, supplying them with wine from time to time, and changing their plates when necessary.

The Ambassador of each of the great Catholic states has the privilege of naming a pilgrim, and this right is of some little value, as I believe each receives for himself the spoon, fork, and knife which he uses at dinner. In the afternoon the Miserere is again performed in the Sistine, but on this occasion the ornaments of the Pope's throne are removed, and the cushions taken off the benches of the Cardinals. The altar piece is covered with a purple veil and the crucifix with black, to denote the deep mourning of the church during the time that our Saviour lay in the tomb.

The Tenebræ and Miserere are performed in St. Peter's each evening, as well as in the Sistine, but the music is less perfect.

There is however a singular ceremony on the Thursday in St. Peter's, the origin and meaning of which I am not able to explain. It is the washing of the high altar with wine. A table is prepared beside the high altar, on which are placed six glass cups, and one of silver filled with wine, also a bason containing seven towels, and another containing seven spunges. Service is performed in the chapel of the choir, and after it Aspergilli, or sprinkling brushes are

distributed to all who are to take part in the ceremony. They walk in procession to the high altar, preceded by the crucifix and two candles, snuffed out, another emblem of the darkness which covered the earth at the crucifixion.

On arriving at the altar a cup is given to each of seven of the Canons of St. Peter's, who pour the contents upon the table of the altar, and then wash it with their sprinkling brushes. These seven are followed by a great many other priests of various ranks, chaplains, musicians, &c. who all go through the same process of rubbing the altar with the sprinkling brushes which had been delivered to them. When this is concluded the bason with seven spunges is presented to the seven Canons who officiated first, and they clean the altar with them; the bason with seven towels is presented last of all, and with them they dry it. The procession then adore the three great relics described in the ceremonial of Good-Friday, and after their departure the assistants complete the cleansing and drying of the altar.

The sprinkling brushes used on this occasion are done up in the form of a diadem, in memory of the crown of thorns, and are much sought after by the pious.

After the mass of this day the altars in Catholic churches are all despoiled of their ornaments; the altar-pieces and crucifixes are covered, and no bells are used in the churches until noon of Saturday. In place of bells they return during this period to the ancient practice of using a wooden mallet to summon the faithful to church; and returning home this evening I met a priest at the head of a dozen little ragged urchins, some having two pieces of hard wood in their hands, which they knocked together, and others carrying mallets with which they rapped loudly at each door as they passed along the

streets.

THE noted traveller Niebuhr relates the following anecdote of a Bedouin Arab, illustrative of the character of the Mahometan religion, and affording no slight evidence of its human origin.

On being reproached for his neglect of the duties inculcated in the Koran, he said with a smile The Koran was never intended for my country. We have no water -how can we perform the ablutions? We have no moneyhow can we give alms? The fast of Ramazan is superfluous to us, who fast all the year round; and if God be every where, why should we go to Mecca to find him.'

Every system of religion, enjoining as an essential part of its practical duties, any particular kind and mode of external rites, subjects itself to the same charge as does that of the Koran. It is not adapted to be a universal religion --to be practised and exemplified by every nation under heaven, and by every man in every rank and condition of life. But how is it with Christianity in this respect? Is there a region of the earth where its peculiarities will not permit it to take root? Is there a human being from the degraded Hottentot under the scorching sun of the equator, and the equally degraded Laplander amidst the polar snows, to the wise men and the men of power in civilized lands-is there one individual in all this wide range of climate and condition, to whom the precepts and duties of Christianity are impracticable in any of their essential features? To this question, but one answer can be given. Even were the universality of the Christian religion less evident than it is from the nature of its precepts, experience, the best of all proofs, has shown it beyond a doubt. Where has Christianity gone in its

purity and found a region where it might not dwell? or a people whom it did not bless, and to whose circumstances it was not adapted? Let the history of missions furnish the answer. Let it tell of the innumerable tribes of men in all the vicissitudes of climate, to whom the Bible now speaks in their own tongue, and is cherished for its glorious hopes, and obeyed in its holy precepts.

How widely different in climate, in language, in the customs and habits of life, is our own country from the land of Judea, where Christianity was first planted. Yet who can say it is unsuited to our necessities, and impracticable by us in all that constitutes it a rule of 26 duty from God, or a remedy for unholiness in man. Does it thrives as an exotic here, or yield lesso abundant fruit, other circumstances Ve considered, than it did under the! milder sky of Palestine, and in the midst of the scenery, and among that people, where it had its birth?

od

Christianity, it is true, possesses strong national characteristics. Her language, her costume, her i features, are all Jewish, and betray her eastern origin. But her spirit

her essential character, is wholly catholic, and alike adapted to every climate. Like man himself, for whose good she came to earth, she is capable of inhabiting every clime, and blessing with her presence every people under heaven; and accordingly we find amidst the snows of Lapland; the jungles of Western Africa; and the burning plains of! Hindoostan, holy men drawing near unto God through Christ; enjoying communion with him in his ordi nances, and looking for that blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus.. Christ.

f ZIED02 NOCOLUMBUS, 507

I ADMIRE the truly Christian spirit of your correspondent H. O. on this, subject in your June number, and agree, generally, with his remarks. I have some hope, however, that the following observations may throw an additional light on the inquiry....

1st. Those whom our Lord addresses Mat. xii. 31, 32. Mark iii. 28-30, and Luke xii. 10. did not, and could not then commit this sin, because the sin of which they were guilty is marked in these passages as blasphemy against the Son of Man, with which the Lord contrasts blasphemy against the Holy Ghost the former they had committed in attributing his miracles to demoniacal collusion and agency; but the latter they could not then commit, because the Holy Ghost was not then given; our Lord performed his miracles by his own inherent power as God.

If

I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you," Luke xi. 20. but it was part of his voluntary humiliation that he did not publicly display the full evidence of the glory of his Godhead in his own person on earth: he refers in the passages before us, and elsewhere, see John xv. 26, 27. to a future, fuller, and more public testimony in his behalf, by the effusion of the Holy Ghost. The former sin against the Son of man, was pardonable, and we have good reason for thinking, that many who were guilty of it, did experience the pardoning mercy of the Lord, Acts ii. 36-42. our Lord's address is, I would say, a merciful caution, as if he had said, You have now been guilty of a great sin, in attributing this miracle to demoniacal agency; this is a sin against me, the Son of man, personally; it is pardonable, because you have not now before all you the full and clear evidence, which

shall hereafter be given, but the Holy Ghost will shortly be shed upon my disciples, enduing them with miraculous powers--beware! for if any resist this testimony, and speak blasphemously of it, this sin cannot be pardoned: this is the sin against the Holy Ghost spoken of in these passages.

2nd. The Apostle, in Heb. vi. 4-6, speaks of another sin, or rather a modification of the same, differing in this respect from the foregoing, that it is accompanied. with apostacy, there being in this case a felt influence of the work of the Holy Ghost, a profession in consequence, and an after falling away; they who commit it are described as "once enlightened, having tasted the heavenly gift, being made partakers of the Holy Ghost, having tasted the good word of God, and the powers the world to come, and afterwards falling away," such cannot possibly be renewed again unto repentance, and therefore their sin is unpardonable.

of

3rd. The sin which the apostle Paul speaks of, Eph. ii. 20-22, is similar in its nature, but as it appears to me, is chiefly applicable to nations, communities, or churches. The passage describes prophetically and accurately the Protestant nations of Europe since the Reformation, and as they now exist. These having escaped the Popish pollutions of the world, through the " through the "Knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," derived from the Holy Scriptures; are now beset by those "who speak great swelling words of vanity, promising them Liberty, while they are themselves the servants of corruption," and are manifestly hastening into that apostacy so awfully denounced. Alas! I fear for England!

Bayswater, July, 1833.

T. G.

miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them together to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." In 2 Thess. ii. speaking of Antichrist (whom I believe to be here the infidel antichrist, not yet revealed) St. Paul says that his coming is "after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders." And "the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils speaking lies (i. e. which DEVILS speak lies) in hypocrisy ;" which seems to refer to those rather who shall be drawn away by this deception. And finally, there appears to be an allusion to the same thing in 2 Tim. iii. 8, where the apostle after describing the character of the men who shall exist in the last day perilous times, says, "Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth," which, seems to intimate, that they will endeavour to countervail the truth by false miracles; that being the mode by which Jannes and Jambres, who are assumed to be two of Pharaoh's magicians, withstood the truth of God in the time of Moses.

6

I am chiefly indebted for this view to a writer under the signature of TapeTns,' in the Investigator, No. xviii. so that I communicate it rather in the way of that information' you invited, than as original. The same writer argues at some length, and (as it appears to me) irrefragably, that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit were never communicated to any individual, so as that he was enabled to exercise them habitually; but through the instrumentality or in honour of an apostle; and, consequently, that when the apostles died, there ceased to be any individual capable of communicating them; and when the last of those died who

had the most recently received those gifts, there ceased also to be an individual existing, who then possessed abiding miraculous gifts. He does not deny that there have been occasions since, when individuals, through faith, or owing to

signal interposition of God, have occasionally exhibited miraculous power; but this is evidently very different from that habitual exercise of the power communicated by the apostles, and enjoyed by the first Christians. The texts cited by him in support of this view, are very striking, but I must refer those desirous of information, to the article itself. One passage only I will refer to, because it will also bear upon that particular argument which I have advanced. He argues from the latter part of 1 Cor. xiii. First, that the apostle shows the superiority of "faith, hope, and charity, these three," over prophecy and tongues, &c. in that the former were then to abide, (now abideth faith, &c.) whilst the others were presently to 'fail,' and to cease;' from which he contends that tongues and the miraculous gifts were not to extend beyond the apostolic age, faith, hope, and charity were. Secondly, he shows that the apostle makes a further distinction between faith, and hope, and charity, showing that the last was greatest; which he contends is because it would still abide, when faith should be swallowed up in sight, and hope in possession. If this argument be valid, it will follow, I think, that we are not to expect a revival of miracles in this dispensation, as well as that they were to cease.

but

My ministerial avocations will not allow me to make a longer communication; but if you think proper to insert this, I shall be encouraged to take up on some future occasion the second particular, viz. the mode in which the kingdom of God is to be established.

A FREQUENT READER.