by a mutual exchange of insults. The nation, we trust, entertains a far deeper sense of the ill-judged act of the Papal Court.

With regard to the aggression itself, we have some debt of gratitude to an opponent who, by an awkward attack, rouses without really injuring us. We would repay him not by a sudden impulse of passion, but by a deep-seated purpose, not merely of defying him, but at length of disarming him, and depriving him of further means of annoyance.

The true position of Britain is to be the head of civil and religious liberty throughout the world. Her prosperity is connected with her assuming this position. She dates her glories and her preponderance from Elizabeth, from Cromwell, from William. Her years of shame and degradation were owing to her connexion, through the Stuarts, with despotism and Popery. Whenever she has been a truly Protestant power, she has been everywhere pre-eminent. A shade now threatens to come over her greatness-she has ceased to spread her protecting wings over the oppressed in Europe. The king of Prussia pleads openly for the Madiais, and Britain is still silent; if she pleads at all for them, it is secretly and tamely, not with the voice which, from the mouth of Cromwell, arrested the sword of persecution, and made the Pope with his confederate kings, tremble through all their recesses of darkness.

The apologists for Maynooth plead for it as a literary institution;-what a literature! The science of casuistry and the confessional! No depths of knowledge, save the depths of Satan.' The devil's great art consists in presenting corrupting thoughts to the mind; the priests follow in the wake of the tempter, but with more authority, and therefore greater success. The very thoughts which the tempter has suggested, and the tempted have repelled, are systematically recalled by the priests to the memory, dwelt upon with every form of emphasis, and every shade of aggravation-forced back upon the attention, under the sanction of superstition, and thereby infixed in the polluted imagination. This is the science, this the employment which Britain sanctions by its subsidy to Maynooth! and this the corruption which Protestants, by their Parliamentary contributions, spread over the length and breadth of the land!

Maynooth is no boon but a curse to Ireland. It has in no wise answered the purpose for which it was projected. It neither civilizes nor instructs-it only corrupts the morals and inflames the passions. Far from promoting loyalty, it promotes only a degraded adherence to

Rome, and a deep-seated hatred to Britain. Can any nation come under the immoral and suicidal obligation to spread the corruption of the Confessional, and to purchase and to arm future enemies to herself?

Maynooth is no boon to Ireland, but enlightened education would be the greatest of blessings. In withdrawing the grant from Maynooth, the sum should be doubled or trebled for imparting knowledge to the Irish nation. We are too apt to confound the interests of the Irish priesthood. They are opposing interests. The priesthood has been the bane of Ireland, ever since the Pope, indignant at the comparative independence of the Irish Church, betrayed Ireland into the English sway.

In spite of all the enmity of its priests, we have one firm hold upon Ireland, if it were rightly used. The Irish to their honour, above all nations, have an ardent desire for education and knowledge. Greatly as they fear their priests, and are devoted to their superstitions, this masterpassion would cast off both these oppressors, would invigorate anew the powers of their mind, and revive that native, but neglected genius, with which God has so largely endowed them. Amidst poverty, wretchedness, and crime, they have never lost that mental acuteness which has made them distinguished in many lands, which elevated Ireland in the dark ages to be the isle of saints and sages, and which is ready again to restore her to a still higher pitch of moral greatness.

To sum up all,-Protestants must have war with Rome. If we wait for it, the battle will come to our own gates. If we rise up immediately, we may roll back the contest upon our enemies, and the aggressions of Rome may be more than repelled by the hosts of enemies we have the power of rousing up around her and within her. We may say of Rome, as Epaminondas of Sparta-she is powerful at a distance, but weak at home. Wait for her, and she comes with all the forces of her tributary cities. Advance upon her without delay, and you may break down her ramparts of mud, and set fire to her cottages of straw. Her fortresses are ill-manned, while her prison-houses are crowded with victims. There are thousands upon thousands, even in the seat of her sovereignty, who are sighing for her destruction. We must have war, but it need not be an interminable conflict, and every step in advance leads us to final victory.

To give a practical application to the few observations that have been made,— we have come to a crisis both in the affairs of religion and of the world; and we must be prepared to meet it, and without delay the time is short, the struggle must

soon be at an end. Resistance is victory; acquiescence, subjection and destruction. There are five points to be immediately attended to; first, Prayer; secondly, Parliamentary Petitions; thirdly, Permanent effort; fourthly, Political influence; fifthly, Publications, and the enlightening of the public mind.

With regard to prayer, the Papists are setting us an excellent example. Everywhere Prayer is offered up for the conversion of Britain to Popery. May we display equal zeal and perseverance in praying for their conversion to the Truth. They are offering up their adorations to the deified Virgin, and the rabble of pretended saints; let us, like the prophet Elijah, call on the name of Jehovah, and we can have no doubt of the result-The God that answers by fire, He is the God.' Petitions ought to be drawn up without delay, and numerously signed, to be presented at the meeting of the new Parliament. For several reasons, not necessary to be stated, Congregational Petitions might be preferred. More general petitions might be sent from those who may not consider themselves represented by any particular body in their immediate neighbourhood. Before the Reform Bill was passed, Petitions were more attended to by the House of Commons, who had then the modesty not to consider themselves the full representation of the people. A reformed House of Commons judge otherwise, and neglect Petitions-probably flattering themselves that they embody public opinion, and therefore have no need of prompting from without. This, however, we should consider a mistake, which petitioners ought to do their best to rectify. In petitioning against Maynooth, let us not forget the Monasteries and Nunneries-places of yet deeper abomination than the prophet beheld depicted on the mystic wall!

Thirdly, Petitions, however numerous, if not persevered in, cannot be expected to do much they will be considered merely as a popular breath which is passing away. We require permanent and organized effort, and, above all, continued repetition. Even error, by being often reiterated, assumes the place of truth, and if only once proved, and not reiterated, becomes obsolete, and ceases to be regarded.

Fourthly, more attention must be paid to political influence. It is a miserable choice that is often presented to electors an option between candidates who are both equally ineligible-and the case admits of so little remedy, that many conscientious electors would wish their power of voting withdrawn, and their mock responsibility taken away. A wiser political arrangement might effect much-but as that is

distant, our immediate remedy must be an appeal to the Ruler of all; and an attempt to rally those who have any political conscience, at least to set up a standard of opinion, in the well-founded belief that a conscientious minority, however small, would rapidly gain ground in the public estimation.

Fifthly, and lastly, Protestant publications should be multiplied-the influence of the press should be exerted to the uttermost over the public mind. Every form of publication should be used from the tract to the large treatise. Old works, however excellent, would scarcely be useful; like the British, before the days of Nelson and Wellington, they cannonade the enemy too much from a distance. Popery should be torn up by the roots; it is a loss of time to be lopping at the branches. Above all, when contending with Popery, it must be ever kept in view that it is merely baptized Paganism'not any form of real Christianity, that we are dealing with. As Popery sprang from darkness and the corruption of the human mind, so it must be combated by light, and the victorious power of the Word and the Spirit. In earnestly praying for a revival of religion in our own hearts, and ultimately throughout the country, we shall, by a general revival, give its deathwound to error, while we are advancing into the fulness of Gospel light and liberty.-James Douglas, Esq. of Cavers.

THE RABBLING OF THE

CURATES.

SOON after the convention of estates had declared the throne vacant, and before William had been proclaimed king of Scotland, the country may be said to have been in a state of anarchy: There was no king in Israel, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes.' Is it remarkable, that during this interval, this surcease of justice,' there was no insurrection against the local authorities, no lives sacrificed, no outbreaks of any importance, or leading to any serious results. When it is considered that the nation had been groaning for such a length of time under the most unprovoked oppression, it is astonishing that no reprisals were attempted on those who had been the instruments of tyranny, and that the recoil of the nation on its ancient abutments was not accompanied by any disruption of social order. In one point only the people considered themselves entitled to improve the opportunity of this interregnum. The curates, as they called the Prelatic incumbents (for they would not allow them the name of ministers), were of all others the

most obnoxious to the common people. They were the living monuments of the usurpations of Prelacy. All of them had been thrust in by the bishops, under the law of patronage, against the inclinations of the people. In many cases they had acted the part of spies and informers to the Government, and aided the soldiers in the harassing and bloody persecution; few of them preached the gospel, and not a few of them had disgraced their profession by their lives. They were regarded, therefore, in the light of hirelings and intruders, filling the place, and eating the bread, of those faithful ministers whom they had driven into the wilderness, and whose blood was to be found in their skirts. No class of men had more reason to dread retribution, now that the tyrant was deposed and the military withdrawn ; and the wonder is that they did not fall sacrifices to the popular fury. Nothing, however, worthy of the name of persecution awaited them. On Christmas day, 1688, several of these curates, particularly in the west of Scotland, were ejected from their churches and manses, chiefly through the agency of those called Cameronians or Hill-men. The example was followed in different parts of the country. The plan taken for effecting these measures, displays a solemn earnestness and high feeling of conscientiousness, characteristic of the party. Regarding themselves as specially called to perform this act of justice, by the circumstances in which Providence had placed them, and even by the vows under which they lay for the extirpation of Prelacy, the covenanters brought out the obnoxious incumbent to the churchyard, the cross, or some place of public resort. He was then solemnly charged with his former misconduct. Not a drop of his blood was spilt, not a sixpence worth of his property was touched, excepting his fringed gown (a clerical vestment, which, being worn at that time by the curates, was regarded by the people as the badge of Prelacy, and was on that account, from that time till very lately, obnoxious to all Presbyterians). His gown was taken from his shoulders, torn over his head, and trampled under foot. This ceremony being ended, the disrobed curate was paraded to the boundaries of the parish, and dismissed with an emphatic warning never

to return.

The curates, it appears, were sadly alarmed on these occasions, expecting nothing else but to be murdered in cold blood. We learn this from Patrick Walker, the eccentric pedlar, who published lives of Cameron, Peden, and other covenanters. Patrick candidly confesses that he himself was present at fifteen of these rabblings; and so far from being ashamed of his share

in them, he records it with evident satisfaction. The time of their fall was now come,' says he, 'which many longed for, even for long twenty-eight years. Faintness was entered into their hearts, insomuch that the greater part of them could not speak sense, but stood trembling and sweating, though we spoke with all calmness to them. I inquired at them what made them to tremble; they that had been teachers and defenders of the Prelatical principles, and active and instrumental in many of our national mischiefs? How would they tremble and sweat if they were in the Grassmarket going up the ladder, with the rope before them, and the lad with the pyoted coat at their tail! But they were speechless objects of pity.' This rabbling, as it is called, continued till April of the year following, and during this time upwards of three hundred curates are said to have been ejected. It may be easily conceived what an outcry these persons would make after recovering from their panic, and finding themselves dispossessed of their livings. The most exaggerated reports of their treatment by the rabble were transmitted by them to Edinburgh, where they were collected by Dr Munro (himself smarting under his expulsion from the University of Edinburgh), and published under the title of 'The Case of the present afflicted Episcopal Clergy in Scotland truly represented.' This highlycoloured caricature was sent up to London, to prejudice the Presbyterian cause. That in some cases there may have been rudeness and incivility, is not to be wondered at. Walker admits that there were some loose men, brought up under their own wings, who were very rude, in eating, drinking, and spoiling of their houses;' and complains of this being laid in the names of the covenanters, who were entirely innocent of such transactions. But judging even from their own representations of 'the case of the afflicted clergy,' it appears perfectly ridiculous to dignify the annoyances and hardships of which they complain with the name of persecution. We are informed, for example, that 'with tongue and hands they committed all outrages imaginable against the ministers, their wives, and children;' but when we come to learn the particulars, it only appears that,' having eat and drunk plentifully, at parting they carry the minister out of his house to the church-yard, and there expose him to the people as a condemned malefactor, gave him a strict charge never to preach more in that place; and, for the conclusion of all this tragedy, they caused his gown to be torn over his head in a hundred pieces!' A conclusion worthy of the tragedy indeed! One Mr William Bullo of Stobo seems to have