ungodly and soul-destroying principles and means as the Romish Church applies in the service of her charities. Better far to have less presented through the influence of a spontaneous and scripturally governed love, than more, were it ten thousand times more, exacted by the terrors of a deluding purgatory. Our weakest and most fearful point is the fewness of labourers for the manifestly plenteous harvest. And here we cannot help laying before our readers, the most touching and reasonable appeal of the Bishop of Newfoundland on his recent return to his diocese. One would think it impossible for any candid Christian to contemplate his conclusive reasoning, without herein discovering the most serious ground for alarm, lest a Christian people, so largely failing to rise to the due discharge of their responsibilities, should provoke the God of heaven to withdraw and transfer elsewhere his peculiar favour. "It will, I am sure, grieve the society to learn, as it does me deeply to write, that after inquiring and proposing in every way and direction which I thought properly open to me, I have not yet been able absolutely to secure for my diocese the services of one clergyman, or of one person regularly educated for the sacred office. "In default of clergymen and fully educated persons, able and willing to serve in my destitute diocese, I am desirous of engaging some young men who have been occupied as Scripture readers, or have been otherwise prepared, or have prepared themselves, for ministerial duty. Several such have been found, in nothing deficient, but in that learned education which our universities only can supply. "It has been my fortune, in this journey across the Atlantic, to accompany the Governor-General of Her Majesty's North American Colonies, hastening in this inclement season to cross the Canadian snows, that he may enter, without delay, upon his arduous and important office. Honour to his patriotism! and may his mission, for his country's sake, be blessed with abundant success. He is attended by three aide-de-camps, and two more have preceded him, all of noble families. I have reason to suppose that more than one of these attend at their own and their friends' request, without any call or appointment, and without any prospect of remuneration or preferment. And his excellency himself informed me that he had received a hundred applications for similar employments from persons of all ranks, some desiring, but many regardless of, salary. It is their own and their friends' wish, that they may be trained in a service of honour, and be prepared for future usefulness for their country's sake. "It might, perhaps, provoke a smile, if I should appear to compare the wants and requirements of a colonial bishop with those of governors and queen's representatives. I have no intention of doing so: but I may be permitted, in all simplicity, to ask whence this mighty disparity between applications for employment in a governor's court and retinue, for honour, it may be, and our dear country's sake, and the neglect and drawing back when any are invited to devote themselves, for Christ's sake, to the Missionary life? Why, in plain language, do hundreds of all ranks seek and ask for themselves and children such employment, while a colonial bishop must return, after inquiry and petition in all quarters, without any-I will not say, to attend and assist him, but-to share his labours, and learn with him to serve God and the church, in humbler and easier duties, as the proper school and preparation for the more anxious and responsible? "It is plain that it is not the separation only from friends and home,that is no bar in the case of secular office; it is not the poor payments,for none is needed in many instances; it is not the trying climate and its effects upon the constitution, these do not keep at home soldiers or civil officers. How many sons and brothers are cheerfully sent to the camp on the Sutlej, or in New Zealand, with the clear prospect of war added to the trials of a new country and climate! "Let such persons ask themselves, (for it is indeed hard to answer for them,) why they do not desire and propose that these sons and brothers should go into these same countries as soldiers of the cross, in the more sacred and blessed office of Missionaries as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!' I said, Why do Christian parents not desire and propose such employment for their sons? but I should rather ask, Why do they withdraw them from it, and put impediments in their way as I have found unhappily the case. The question ought to be answered, and the cause or causes of the difference and disparity I have alluded to impartially weighed, by all who ? would not come under the censure of loving son and brother (nay, should we not rather say, of loving this world and its honours?) more than Christ. "But my feelings, I am afraid, are carrying me too far; and I am sadly conscious that I am not in a condition to discuss such a subject, and its circumstances, calmly, and with moderation. I ought, perhaps, to have avoided touching upon it, if I only and my diocese could complain of such desertion; but is it not a still more affecting view of the case, when we look at almost all other professions overstocked, but the ministry of the church quite unequal to the calls upon it, both abroad and at home?" SECESSION OF GERMANS, AT NEW YORK, FROM THE A BODY of two hundred Germans We have just heard the following interesting story connected with the recent Roman Catholic movement in that city, at the head of which is the Rev. Mr. Giustiniani. About two months ago, this gentleman made his appearance, a perfect stranger, at the rooms of the American Bible Society, and solicited a present of thirty German Bibles, and while he refused to give his name, he added, he hoped the Bibles would do much towards promoting the cause of the Redeemer. The Bibles were presented to him, and he departed. Some short time after this, the agent of the Bible Society received a note through the Post-office, from the Rev. Mr. Giustiniani, mentioning the fact that he was the stranger who had received the thirty Bibles some months ago. He also stated that each of these Bibles was presented at the time to an influential German family of that city, and that every one of that family had forsworn the Church of Rome. He also added that there were thousands of intelligent Germans in the city of New York, who were ready to follow his little band of Christians in the (to them) newly discovered pathway to eternal life. They were only waiting to see how the pioneers would be received by the American Evangelical Churches. WE are no admirers of a sullen and morose piety. We think a true Christian should endeavour always to maintain a cheerful spirit. To innocent mirth we are no enemies. But, at the same time, we cannot help remembering that there is no more dangerous weapon to true religion than wit, when wielded by its enemies. The mass of mankind are not capable of appreciating abstruse and metaphysical arguments. Infidelity would never have made the progress which it did during the last century, had not its quiver been filled with the poisoned arrows of witty sarcasm. For humour can accommodate itself to every capacity. The sense of the ridiculous is often as fully possessed by the unrefined as by the polished intellect. And, therefore, in every crusade, either against religion or lawful secular authority, the chief danger is to be dreaded from those weapons whose effects are most widely felt, which tell in the cottage as powerfully as in the palace. Therefore we take the liveliest interest in the direction which the humorous literature of this country assumes. We know that what men have learned to laugh at, no longer possesses their respect. And when the popular literature of a country has learned to scoff at what mankind generally hold sacred, we may look for some fearful political convulsion at no distant date. Infidel tactics are directed first to teach the people to ridicule what is right. For such men know, that when respect has been once shaken, an open assault upon what was formerly venerable will encounter but a feeble resistance. 1 In some respects we may perhaps be thankful that our light popular literature is no worse than it is. Generally speaking, we find in it few open attacks upon true religion. Sacred things are seldom openly ridiculed; and when they are, public opinion generally condemns the delinquent. All this affords matter for devout gratitude to God. But still we cannot tell how long this lull of the tempest may continue. The enmity of the world to the truth is the same as it has ever been; and, therefore, we may easily trace it in a thousand forms in our popular literature, although it does not appear as yet in the guise of open profanity. 1 Before us, at this moment, is lying one of the lightest of the many light periodicals which each week brings into renewed existence. It is a number of the well-known "Punch,' published on May first, which a friend has sent us in a bundle of newspapers. We have not happened to see "Punch" for many along day. It seldom makes its way into our seclusion. And perhaps the conductors of religious periodicals, and religious men generally, are too careless about such jeux d'esprit, ephemeral trifles though they be. They too often forget to look beyond their own circle, and notice what is passing in the great world which lies without it; and from this cause, no doubt, much evil exists in our popular literature, which might, to a considerable extent be remedied, if they who ought to be the salt of the earth"-and therefore its preservers from decay would direct their attention to the subject. There can be no doubt that indirectly, a firm protest against such evil, on the part of the serious-minded portion of the community, would have an immense effect upon the world at large. But to return to "Punch." We are exceedingly annoyed to find in the short compass of a single number, two virulent effusions, the spirit of which can call forth nothing but our strongest reprobation. The first is an attack directed against the House of Lords, and its object is to hold up that branch of the legislature collectively to ridicule. The attempt is a feeble one. The wit is dull and pointless, but the spirit of the writer is abominable. We quote the passage. It is entitled, "The New House of Lords." "Mr. Barry, the architect of this very beautiful building, has given a sly but very severe dig at the peers, for he has so constructed the upper house that none of the speeches of their lordships are audible in any part of it. The Peers can neither hear each other, nor hear themselves, nor be heard by any one else; so that, according to Mr. Barry's plan, a debate has been treated as a thing to which it is worth no one's while to listen. Considering what a common habit it has been for several of their lordships to talk at the same time, this new acoustic regulation will be found very convenient, for they can all speak at once without disturbing each other, or creating the smallest confusion. "Lord Brougham is, we believe, determined to be heard, and intends introducing a speaking-trumpet for his own special use, and will insist on a voice-conductor being used by the Lord Chancellor, when he, Lord Brougham, addresses the woolsack. There is something very ingenious in so constructing the House of Lords that nothing can be heard; for any one going to see this portion of the collective wisdom of the empire, is not liable to have the illusion destroyed by hearing what their lordships are saying. The effect is very imposing under present circumstances, for to the eye there is every appearance of a dignified assembly, while the ear is not startled by any of those dull platitudes to which, when the Peers speak, they are in the habit of giving utterance. We think Barry deserves the thanks of the nation for having rendered the debates in the upper house almost entirely inaudible. If one of the Peers desires to speak out more boldly, and with more meaning than any of his colleagues, he will find no difficulty in obtaining a hearing. The mere dummies might as well be dumb, and it will therefore be no loss to the country to miss the speeches they think proper to make, and which now as they cannot reach the reporters' ears-will not be inflicted on the readers of newspapers." But our second extract refers to a subject more sacred. It is an attempt, of a very coarse nature, to ridicule a law founded upon the express commandment of God himself: "Whoso sheddeth blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” (Gen. ix. 6.) There may be discussion as to the other crimes for which it is lawful to inflict death as a punishment. But we cannot understand how any believer in the Bible can deny that murder ought to be punished by the death of the murderer, far less speak of so solemn a subject in the way in which "Punch" does. Be it remembered, that the woman to whom the extract refers, had murdered her husband by poisoning him. It is entitled, "The Marquess of Westmeath on Killing by Law." "The noble Marquess, a night or two since in the Lords, alluded to the execution of the wretched woman Foster, at Bury. It appears, that is, according to the perceptions of the Marquess, that the people were so horrified by the protracted suffering of the woman, that they exclaimed, 'Shame, shame! Murder, murder!' The Marquess is assuredly in error. The people did not by such exclamations rebuke the unskilfulness of the hangman, but the stupid wickedness of a barbarous law-a law proved to be wholly ineffectual in its implied end, that of teaching a respect for the solemnity of human life, by judiciously killing the offender. How many that composed the enormous crowd at Bury were awed into respect for the law by the convulsive agonies of one expiring woman? What feeling possessed the crowd as it broke up? Why, a feeling of disgust at the punishment, mingled with sympathy for the criminal. And this is the majesty of Law! The judge dons a black cap when he passes sentence. A cap and bells would be more in keeping with the hideous mockery of common sense and common humanity. "The Marquess of Westmeath has evidently bent the powers of his mind to the subject of hanging, that is, to hanging made easy. We would he would shift his ground, and study how to make hanging unlawful. Dryden speaks of the wife of an executioner who, with conjugal partiality, declared that any bungler could put a man to death, but it was only her husband who could cause a man 'to die sweetly, like a gentleman.' If such an artist could be always insured by the state, the Marquess would perhaps consent that we should continue in the good old way of strangulation by rope. Nevertheless, hanging, says the Marquess, on the authority of Sir Astley Cooper, is a punishment that presses unequally on different culprits. The heavy man 'suffers but little,' whilst the 'light person suffers much.' To remedy this, the Marquess significantly alluded to "executions in Germany,' and the garotte (a Spanish machine of death), as being 'more humane' than the mode adopted here.' "We are surprised that no peer vindicated the use of the halter as a good old British custom, condemning every other plan of judicial homicide as un-English, and utterly opposed to the genius of the nation. In Germany, the two-handed sword, wielded by sinewy arms practised at the work, takes the head clean off, with little inconvenience to the owner. Would the Marquess familiarise the use of the weapon to the mob of the Old Bailey? Or again, France drives a good trade in guillotines, having, among other Gallic blessings indigenous to the soil, shipped several cargoes of the ingenious toy to Algeria. What say you, Marquess, to the guillotine? Á free gift of such an instrument by Louis-Philippe, might help to restore the entente cordiale between the two nations. 66 'Seriously, however, we marvel that the Marquess, in his consideration for the moribund criminal, did not eschew alike the notion of the influence of rope or steel upon the culprit, until compassionately prepared by inhalation of ether. This is a great improvement, and would be worthy of the attention of the Marquess, were there not a paramount duty to engage his attentionnamely, not to study the easiest mode of killing, but its abolition. Legislators hang for a 'moral example,' which the people, in the disgust and loathing of their hearts, translate into 'Murder-Murder !' وو MONDAY MARKETS AND FAIRS. It is with great satisfaction that we copy the following passage from a leading article in the Morning Herald of May 8. We have long been deeply impressed with the conviction, that no point of legislation for the observance of the Sabbath would tell with such extensive benefit throughout the country, as the abolition of Saturday and Monday markets and fairs. We rejoice to find that public attention is drawn to the subject in so influential a manner. "The second resolution to which the Farmers' Club came, at their recent meeting, was "that the day of market ought to be changed from Monday to Tuesday." Most people То are aware that late on Sunday night the cattle used to be admitted to Smithfield; and even now, under the improved system, they enter that market so early on Monday morning that for every other purpose, except a legal definition, it is still Sunday night. Moreover, all cattle which does not arrive by railway, of course travels on Sunday afternoon. the cruelties which a confined area necessarily produces in driving the beast into rings and "off droves," is added the desecration of some portion or other of every Sunday. That outcry and turmoil, the rush of oxen, the shouts of drovers, the flashing of torches, and the reverberations of blows, which mark the preparations |