contradicted himself. That whole night he passed in prayer, making no mention of virgin or saint, but of Christ alone, and incessantly. In the morning Murphy visited him, and hearing what had passed, asked if he would like to see a priest. 'No,' was the emphatic answer: and soon afterwards, his countenance assuming a very happy and joyous aspect, he smiled, whispering to himself, 'I don't want a priest now.' He died soon after Murphy left him. I was subsequently told by a young lad who was within hearing, that the people about him had urged him greatly, in the night, to admit a priest, but he steadily refused. His case was a very satisfactory one: he had stood idle long, because no man had hired him. At last the call came, he obeyed it, though at the eleventh hour, gave testimony of a simple faith in Christ, and entered into the joy of his Lord. The next instance was more affecting: but that I 'must reserve for a future number, if spared to record it. TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN MADAM, THE well-known character of your magazine, as essentially Protestant, and long may it glory in such a reputation! induces me to obtrude a few remarks upon a subject which deservedly occupies the thoughts of many Christians,-I mean the bold front that popery has of late years assumed in this land, and her openly entering the lists, not as a tolerated system, not even as the rival of Protestant principles, but as the authoritative assertor of exclusive right upon an inalienable title to the uppermost seats,' among a Protestant people. If we look at the strides that Rome is now making, and compare them with the cautious, stealthy, unperceived rate at which formerly she, like a wounded snake, dragged her slow length along,' we must be struck with the difference. Formerly if she did venture to move forward, she first cast a furtive and anxious glance around, to ascertain if that vigilance which her own aggressions had excited, was still unwearied; then, shrinking immediately from observation, she again resumed her apparently inert position. Now, though scarcely eight years have elapsed since she was invited from her obscurity, she has advanced farther than in any preceding fifty years, hastening on to the goal of absolute power, hurling defiance at those whose liberty she aims to subvert: reminding one of the hedgehog in the well-known fable, which in a halfdead condition prevailed upon a snake to receive him into her abode, He was no sooner entered,' says Æsop, than his prickles began to make his companion very uneasy, upon which he was requested to remove, as she found upon trial, the apartment was not large enough to accommodate both.' I need not state the intruder's reply; all know, that, well satisfied with his quarters, of which he meant to retain possession, he not very courteously proposed that his benefactor should evacuate ! Who cannot remember when the Roman Catholic places for public worship were usually in such obscure corners and by-paths, that they were almost private, scarcely known except to the initiated? And in number, they were so few and far between,' that even in our larger towns, the absence of such edifices was much more general than their existence; in fact, they were more frequently attached to, and formed part of some old family seat, than separate structures. But now, no site is too conspicuous, no style too magnificent, no decorations too gorgeous, no appearance, in short, too attractive, for modern Roman chapels. Again, go to our beautiful sister island, look at the priests as they are, and as they were, within the memory of many upon whose head the snows of age have not even begun to fall. Did they not generally keep within the limits of their own line of duty, at least did they not apparently wish to be regarded as loyal, orderly men, exerting their influence only for the quiet maintenance of their own faith; the more turbulent among them, whose love of excitement and troubled waters (I abstain from harsh terms) led them into unconstitutional, ungentlemanly, unchristian conduct, were glad to conceal themselves from the watchful eye, which they felt, rather than knew, might be upon them, behind the integrity of their more consistent brethren. Now those very men, throwing aside the veil, come forth unblushingly, breaking faith, scorning peace, preaching dissension, nay, recommending, urging it even to the death, between subjects of the same king, children of the same soil. Fain would the church of Rome sap the very foundations of the throne, and spirit away the sceptre from the monarch who holds it; which, blended with the symbol of spiritual tyranny, she would place in the hands of him who wears the triple crown, while she would insolently demand of us, her dupes and victims, Give this man place!' Oh, unhappy Ireland! how art thou made the prey of those to whom thy sons and daughters look as the dispensers of the bread of life! What hast thou not suffered from the party-spirit, the jealousy, the deadly hatred, of those to whom thy children, with a confidence and an affection thoroughly national, commit their everlasting interest! Irishmen seeking the blood of Irishmen, with unnatural insatiate fury; inhabitants of the same lovely, and once peaceful village, living in mortal enmity, ready to revenge, at the bidding of his reverence,' whose very hint is a command, any difference of creed, religious or political, by hurrying the unfortunate delinquent into eternity! These are some of the consequences of increased liberal and popish influence. These are some of the fruits, by which the tree is too well known, for any disinterested person to deny its cha racter. Maynooth has deluged Ireland with more misery than any other single cause whatever. The difference between the present and past being so manifest, may I, without even wishing to make your pages a vehicle for political acumen, be permitted to state a few facts, which strike me as some of the causes? The progressive steps, from the concealed inactive hatred of Rome, to the more open display of the cloven foot, may be traced back to about fifty years since, when the removal of certain penal disabilities, was brought before the British parliament. The disastrous riots of 1780, which succeeded the concession, proved, if such guilty, senseless, injurious ebullitions may be allowed to prove anything, that 'the people,' as they are styled, were then Pro testant. Many of the older individuals of that period, if they could not themselves actually remember the cruelties perpetrated by the Romish church, yet were the sons of those who had witnessed the efforts made, the blood shed, and shared in the fearful struggle for religious liberty, against the attempts of a popish king once more to bring this nation under the papal yoke. These again were descended from fathers, whose sires had religiously handed down to them, as cautionary warning, histories of suffering, and horror, and persecution. Death or recantations,' imprisonment, torture, rack, fire, faggot, were household words of awful truth and meaning. But to return; when the subject above alluded to, was beginning to be openly discussed in our senate, a Protestant king sat upon the British throne, one who by the grace of God' was a true defender of the |