received a most favourable account at Geneva from one of the French pastors, during the Conference of the Evangelical Alliance held there last autumn. This Christian effort is so unique in its kind, so catholic in its mode of operation, so well-timed, so well received, and so greatly blessed, that it appears to me to deserve being widely known.

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"In the autumn of 1871 a Christian minister and his wife, from one of the English counties, visited the French capital for the first time; no thought of ever residing there had crossed their minds, but the providence of God showed them that in the darkest districts, among a people cherishing the bitterest hatred to all forms of religion with which they had been acquainted, there was a Christian work to be done, and that those whose infidelity was proverbial, who had made 'Communism' å dreaded word, were, notwithstanding, accessible to the power of kindness, and were willing to hear Gospel truths presented to them by the bons Anglais. Lord Bacon has remarked, Great weights hang upon slender wires.' An incident which occurred one evening at Belleville was the slender wire:' a courteous reception of a few tracts, and some words spoken by a rough but intelligent operative, to this effect:'We number tens of thousands in this district, and we have all, to a man, done with the priests; but if any one would come and teach us religion of another kind,-a religion of freedom and reality,- -we are ready for it,'were slight things, but on them hung the weight of much after-service. A wide field opened out to the view of the English minister and his wife. Better still, it appeared to them white unto the harvest. Mr. and Mrs. M'All there and then resolved that, God helping them, they would be the reapers, and at once entered with true missionary zcal upon the work that was before them.

"A few months of anxious con

sideration and correspondence, with much prayer, succeeded. The French language was diligently studied, and with the beginning of 1872, a shop in the main thoroughfare was rented, its trade fittings removed, and replaced with chairs, forms, etc.; and its bare walls were decorated with pictorial illustrations of Holy Scripture. The first mission-room was then opened, to which workmen and their families were invited to come. The fact that those whom it was sought to instruct and win for Christ were unused to attend religious services of any kind, suggested the idea of meetings in which there should be no lengthened speaking, but a number of short, pointed readings or addresses, varied by the singing of hymns, and, should the people seem prepared for it, the offering of prayer. The reading of the Bible might, it was hoped, form au interesting feature, the Book having, for multitudes, sad to say, the charm of absolute novelty. Illustrated Magazines, such as l'Ouvrier Frankais, and other periodicals of a religious tone and tendency, were provided, so that all who entered the room would have the opportunity of reading what was likely to interest, instruct, and influence them for good. The commencement of the mission was a time of anxiety, but it was undertaken in faith and hope and love, and this itself was the presage of success. True, bitter opposition was at one time attempted on the part of a few atheists, and the newspaper press was brought into requisition against the work; even the Commissary of Police, though cordially approving the object, expressed his fears that, in consequence of the prevailing disposition to mock at religion, the services might be interrupted; but fears melted into thanksgiving as the work proceeded. At first a few, then many, persons attended, and at each service expressed their thanks for the interest shown in their welfare by those who had spoken to them the truth in love, and pre

"I returned to my hotel much gratified, and not a little impressed with what I had seen and heard. I feel persuaded that, whatever good work of other kinds is being carried on in Paris and throughout France, (and there is much that is good, and many faithful Christians are doing it,) this work is not the least deserving of Christian sympathy and support. It appears to solve a difficult problem, and to show that those whose number is the largest in our city population, whose class distinction and habits and prejudices often present the most formidable barriers to Gospel impressions, may be reached and rescued from their religious antipathy by the adoption of methods novel in their character and strange to our ecclesiastical and denominational modes of operation, but wise, and suitable, and blessed, notwithstanding. It shows also that the range of Divine grace knows no limit, and that the same Gospel is ever and everywhere 'mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,' and the turning of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.""

THE PAPACY AND ITS PROSPECTS."Threatened men live long," says the old proverb. Before these lines are read it is indeed possible that the

rumours with which the political atmosphere has lately been darkened, to the effect that Pius IX. is no more, may have received a melancholy confirmation. But be this as it may, there can be no doubt that the veuerable Pontiff's days, if not actually numbered, are fast drawing to a close. The position of a Pope, even in these days of steam, electricity, free thought, and what is perhaps not quite the same thing, advanced civilization, is still entirely different to that of other potentates. The courtly maxim of Le Roi est mort! Vive le Roi! no doubt holds good of the successor of St Peter as of secular sovereigns. That Pins IX. and the Popedom are destined to be buried in one grave is a utopian idea held by but very few, and these the least capable of comprehending the vitality with which the Papacy as a system is endowed. That a successor to the reigning Pope will be found cannot be doubted......

For our part, we are content to accept the situation as we find it, aud to assume that though Pio Nono is more dangerously ill than we have ever known him to be, he is still a living and substantial reality. The possibility of the Pope's demise within a very short period affords matter for very serious reflection. Without entering into a biographical sketch of his life, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion, that the death of Pius IX. must at the present juncture of European politics have less importance than if it had occurred, say, five or six years ago. It is true that the more enthusiastic members of the Roman Catholie Church are accustomed to regard the fact of Mastai Ferretti having occupied the Papal throne for a longer period than any of his saintly predecessors, with the exception of St Peter himself, as a signal interposition of Divine Providence in favour both of the Pope and the Papacy. Length of days is no doubt a privilege granted to but a minority of mankind, and to this extent Pius IX. may fairly be said to have

profited. But regarded from a wider point of view, it is extremely doubtful whether his lengthened lease of life, including the exceptionally-lengthened occupancy of St. Peter's chair, is such an unmixed blessing as the more devout among the faithful would have us to believe.

We do not contend that the Papacy is even approaching its end; but it is evident that, like many other earthly institutions, it has entered upon a new phase of existence. Only a few years back, the Vatican and its interests formed a centre round which Continental politics gyrated without ever appearing to approach a conclusion. That the occupancy of Rome by the King of Italy was a mere question of time, was admitted from the moment that Cavour succeeded in enlisting the sympathies of the late Emperor of the French in the cause of Italian independdence. From one point of view, Louis Napoleon was only following out the very recent traditions of the second French Republic, which, true in its turn to a still older maxim, was careful to give the lie to the so-called liberal principles upon which it was founded, by supporting vi et armis the most grinding tyranny which the wit of man had ever devised. We are not concerned with the feminine intrigues which, it is said, from time to time confirmed the late Emperor in the vacillating policy which he persistently pursued towards Italy in the matter of her ancient capital, up to the moment when the sceptre of European arbitration fell from his unnerved hand. But we are decidedly of opinion that had Pius IX, been relieved by the merciful hand of death from the cares of a double sovereignty at the time when he had still a faithful, though possibly selfish, ally in the throne of France, the situation arising from his demise would have been much more complicated than it will prove itself to be when that event takes place, be it far

or near,

That the Papacy as a secular power

was dead in Italy long since is beyond dispute. During the reign of the late Emperor, indeed, it breathed through French rather than Italian lungs. There were many reasons why the cause of the Vatican and that of the Tuileries were one, and it is true that the present President of the French Republic was the bitterest opponent of Italian independence, because such independence meant a fresh rival to the overweening ambition of France. We do not suppose that the opinions of M. Thiers on this point have undergone any change. But the situation is greatly altered. The influence of France in the councils of Europe are at present at low-water ebb. Indeed, for her Europe means Prussia, and in that country the power of the Pope, even as a spiritual sovereign, can look for no support. It is customary for the French people ever to inveigh against the ingratitude evinced towards France by a people whom, it must be confessed, she assisted with much blood and treasure in the attainment of their independence. But whether Italy has or has not shown a proper appreciation of the material advantages which she obtained from France in her first great war of independence, it cannot be denied that she owes a still greater debt to that formidable German Power which now occupies in Europe the place so recently held by France. The alliance of France against Austria and the princes of the Hapsburg and Bourbon houses was purchased with a price-nothing less, indeed, than the cession of Nice and Savoy, Italian provinces. That of Prussia was not altogether disinterested; but the bargain with Bismarck was at least so far advantageous to Italy, that while she obtained the gift of Venice, she was enabled to retire from a war in which she had individually gained anything but credit. The result was that while the Goliath of Rome found himself face to face with the young David of Italian independence, the only friend the former had

in Europe threw away the last chance be had of profiting by Italian gratitude. So long as France was powerful, the Papacy existed as a galvanized corpse may be said to exist. When the Empire fell, the Vatican, figuratively speaking, was buried in its ruins.

ness.

For all this, however, the spirit of intrigue need not necessarily be said to be dead as regards a successor to Pius IX. That the demise of the reigning Pontiff will occasion, if not embarrassment, at least matter for solicitude to the Cabinet of Victor Emmanuel, is beyond doubt. Indeed, recent communications tell us that the probability of the Pope's death occasions the advisers of the King of Italy considerable uneasiAs a rival in temporal power, Victor Emmanuel has nothing to fear in the election of a fresh occupant of the Vatican. But if the secular arm of the Papacy is shrivelled and numb, the spiritual arm still maintains all its pristine vigour. Strange to say, in no country in the world is the latter showing the length of its reach more distinctly than in Protestant England. While Bismarck is rapidly profiting by the prostration of Rome's former ally to curb the insolence of priestly supremacy in the dominions of his royal master, Great Britain exhibits the strange spectacle of men in authority doing their best, if not to foster the spiritual power of the Papacy, at least to truckle to its pretensions. France is helpless; Spain distracted; in Prussia the ancient spirit of resistance to Papal aggression, which once formed the proudest boast of Protestant Great Britain, is making itself every day more markedly apparent; yet in the latter country the Papacy finds a ministerial support which would not have disgraced the Court of Austria at a time when she, now convinced of the folly and absurdity of such policy, attempted to her own serious detriment the propping up the tottering fabric of Papal supremacy

over the bodies as well as the souls of her subjects and dependents. The death of the present wearer of the tiara, when it takes place,—as take place it must before very long-will occasion regret among those who value and recognize the personal virtues of the venerable old man, who, while he has outlived his predecessors in the occupancy of the Papal throne, has been perforce compelled to surrender all the material advantages of his triple crown. But Pius IX. has at least this consolation, that in his closing hours he has been privileged to witness a greater renewal of political sympathy with Rome in the governing power of these islands than has been evinced since the days of James the Second of England.-Edinburgh Courant.

ROMISH ARROGANCE AND AMBITION.An article in the "Westminster Gazette," a Romish paper, advocates the organization of a "Catholic party" for political purposes in this country. A distinct Catholic platform is to be adopted. It is not meant that the Roman Catholic Church should strive to obtain a majority in the House of Commons, "and administer the government of the country," but it is to have a policy and claims of its own, and to support, or not support, any Govern ment accordingly. This perhaps is natural, but what is to be the policy and what are to be the claims? We gather that Catholic candidates must be put forward, and only such candidates supported; but beyond this all is haze and cloud. What do the Roman Catholics want? Not the disestablishment and disendowment of the Established Church, for those objects have been denounced by Archbishop Manning and other Catholic bishops with as fierce invective as they are denounced by High, Broad, and Low Churchmen. Perhaps the Romanists want the endowments for themselves!