naticism. We have always admired the system of perfect toleration which prevails in his Majesty's Continental dominions, but confess our inability to reconcile it with the present case of persecution, which loudly calls for the reprobation of all enlightened persons and pious Christians.

SWITZERLAND.

Freiburg. This small canton, with a population of only 70,000, who are entirely Roman Catholics, contains 200 secular priests, 280 monks or regular priests and 200 nuns.

Geneva.-We are happy to be able to state that the persecution of the religious party (called in derision "Momiers") which has been so providentially established in this canton, has at present ceased. Their Church is without the walls of the city, and the magistrates have determined to protect them in the exercise of their worship. It is but justice to state, that the established clergy who have avowed Socinian principles are opposed to all acts of violence, though they have not preserved the same moderation in their writings against their more orthodox brethren.

The Ligorian monks have left their convent in Valsainte, and sold their property there. They have taken a country-house at Tschufern near St. Sylvester, where they now live, few in number. It is reported, that the monks of La Trappe from France, will again take possession of the holy valley.

DENMARK.

Copenhagen. The Bible Society founded here in 1814, has thirty-four auxiliary branches, and possesses a capital of 30,000 rix dollars. Since its com mencement it has circulated 142,000 copies of the Holy Scriptures in the Danish territories.

Kiel, Dr. John Friedrich Kleuker, the celebrated professor of theology in this place, died at the commencement of June last. He was born in 1749, and was considered to be one of the most learned theologians of the kingdom.

NEW PRUSSIAN LITURGY. We believe we shall gratify such of our readers as are curious in liturgical matters, by presenting them with a literal translation of the Sunday morning service, according to the new Prussian liturgy, which has excited so violent a controversy in Germany.

Some of the clergy consider it an illegal imposition on their Church, as it has not been prepared or approved of by any ecclesiasti

cal assembly, but was drawn up under the sanction of the King of Prussia, and report says, that he was principally concerned in framing it. Some object to the matter, others to the form. We need only compare it with our excellent prayer-book, from which it has borrowed much, to decide on its inferiority and imperfections.

Hymn by the Congregation and Choir. Come Holy Ghost, &c. &c.

Minister.--In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Our help is in the name of the Lord who has made heaven and earth.

Beloved in Christ, let us in deep humility acknowledge before the Lord our unworthiness and our sins, and say, Before thee Almighty God and Father, before thy unchangeable holiness we acknowledge that we are guilty from our births, and sinners prone to evil; for with inward sorrow must we acknowledge that we have acted contrary to thy commandments, and with earnest repentance we condemn ourselves and our sins. Look mercifully down upon us for the sake of thy Son Jesus Christ, forgive us our sins and grant us the assistance of thy Holy Spirit, that we may entirely renounce all evil, and become pleasing in thy sight. Amen.

Choir. Amen.

Minister.-Thy goodness Lord is every morning new, and great is thy faithfulness. Adoration, praise and honour, be unto our God for ever and ever.

Choir.-Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Lord have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon us, Lord have mercy upon

us.

Minister.-Glory be to God in the highest, and peace upon earth, and good will towards men. The Lord be with

you.

Choir.-And with thy spirit.

Minister. The name of the Lord be praised and blessed, now and for ever. God all good, all merciful, behold us offering to thee thanks for numberless proofs of thy gracious goodness. Alas! we are less than all the mercy and faithfulness thou hast shown us. Let this acknowledgment be well pleasing in thy sight and graciously receive the praises of our lips. With our whole soul would we depend on thee, and with joy obey thy commands. Praised be thy great name by us, bere and above, now, and in eternity. Amen. Choir.-Amen,

Minister.-1 believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost; born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate; crucified, dead and buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he arose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven; and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; in one holy universal Christian Church; in the communion of saints; the resurrection of the body and everlasting life. Amen.'

Minister. The Lord has done great things for us, praised be he. The Lord has done great things for us, and therefore are we joyful. Praised be he. Lift up your hearts and let us thank the Lord our God.

Choir. It is right, just, and salutary to thank thee O Lord at all times, and in all places through Jesus Christ our Lord, for whose sake thou hast pardoned us, and forgivest our sins, and promisest ús eternal blessedness; and with all angels and arch-angels, and with the whole company of the heavenly host, we sing to thee and thy endless glory a song of praise: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts, all the earth is full of his glory. Hosanna in the highest. Praised be he who cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Minister. Lord God, heavenly Father, we pray thee that thou wouldest govern thy holy Christian Church with all its teachers and ministers by thy Holy Spirit, that preserved by the pure doctrine of thy word, true faith may be awakened and strengthened in us, and that love towards all mankind may increase and grow in us. Let O Lord thy grace be granted to the King our Sovereign, the crown princes and the crown princesses, to all the royal family and those who are related to and connected with them. Preserve them to us by a long life, as a continual blessing and a Christian pattern. Grant our king a long and happy reign, a wise heart, royal thoughts, beneficent plans, upright

works, a courageous mind, a strong arm, prudent and faithful advisers, victorious generals, faithful servants, and obedient subjects; that we may yet long lead under his protection and defence, a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and propriety. Protect the royal army and all faithful servants of the king and our native country. Teach them as it becomes Christians, always to remember their oaths, and let their services be blessed to thy honour and the welfare of our country, that equity and justice may be administered, and all ungodliness suppressed by their means; and aid them by thy fatherly help that the sins and sorrows of the land may be diminished, and thy blessings multiplied among us. Bless us and all the royal dominions. Grant that we through the assistance of thy Holy Spirit, may continually advance in the work of our salvation, and strengthen in our hearts the sentiments of a sincere love to thee. Preserve in our country obedience towards the lawful authorities, reverence for the laws, diligence, moderation, and inclination to the harmless pleasures of domestic life. Help each in his necessity, and be a Saviour to all mankind, particularly to believers. Preserve us from an evil unprepared death, and bring us all hereafter into thine eternal kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. Petersburg.-As the intercourse between the Christian, Mahommedan, and Heathen population of this vast empire, is necessarily daily increasing, and as this had led to marriages between them; the Emperor has issued a decree regulating such unions by the following conditions:

I. Asiatics (the inhabitants of Bucharia excepted) entering the Russian empire, and marrying female subjects of the Emperor, must not, if they wish to return at any future period to their respective countries, take either their wives or children with them; these must not on any account quit Russia.

II. Since according to the discipline of the Greek Church established in Russia, and of the Roman Catholic Church, it is strictly forbidden to Mahommedans and other unbelievers to marry Christian wives, natives of Russia; and since the Reformed Churches allow of these marriages, only under the condition that the husband binds himself before their Consistory, not to interfere with the religion of his wife, and to allow her to educate their children as Christians; we order that these regulations of the respective bodies be strictly observed.

III. When an Asiatic married under these circumstances, leaves the Russian territories, he must conformably to the Ukase of the 18th of September, 1743, declare whether he intends to return or not, if he does not, the marriage contract is then dissolved between the parties: if he does, he must return within two years, or in this case also, the marriage will be dissolved. This principle being conformable to the Mahommedan law which considers so long an absence as a virtual divorce.

IV. The inhabitants of Bucharia visiting the Russian empire, and mar rying here females professing the Mahommedan faith, may, according to the 9th article of the treaty of the year 1816, concluded with the Bucharian Ambassador, Divan-Beg-Asinsham-Mhmanshakow, take their wives and children home with them, when they have obtained the permission of their parents..

NORTH AMERICA. Pennsylvania.-The Theological Lutheran Institution at Gettysburgh, in this State, for the support and further establishment of which the Rev. Kurz, has lately been collecting subscriptions in Germany, bas commenced its labours with great success. On the 15th of May last the first half-yearly examination of the students took place, which afforded a very favourable specimen of the utility of the institution, and the President and Directors had reason to observe with thankfulness the attention of the pupils, and the progress they had already made in the German language; so that there appears every reason to expect that at the conclusion of their studies all of them (one student excepted, who belongs to the American Episcopal Church) will be able to preach in this tongue. On the following day the annual addresses of the Theological and Missionary Societies connected with this seminary were delivered before a numerous assembly. In the morning Mr. Jacobs spoke of the difficulties which hindered the extension of the German Lutheran Church in Ameri

ca-Mr. Kämpfer on the missions of the German Church in Europe. In the afternoon Mr. Eichelberger addressed the meeting in the English language, on the excellency of the Christian religion above all others- Mr. Haverstick on the state and importance of Missionary objects.These addresses in both languages far surpassed the expectations of the auditors, and afforded sufficient ground to hope that the young persons who delivered them would hereafter become useful labourers in the Lord's vineyard. All these meetings were opened with prayer and the singing of a psalm. Sermons were preached on Tuesday evening in German by the Rev. Mr. Keller, of Carlisle, and on Wednesday in English by the Rev. Mr. Schäfler. The directors of this institution have agreed that the establishment of a classical preparatory school would contribute greatly to further their object, and have therefore resolved to found one, for which purpose a committee has been named.

SOUTH AMERICA.

Peru.-All monasteries and convents in this State, containing less than eight monks or nuns, are to be immediately dissolved, and no city is to have more than one establishment for the religious orders.

Buenos-Ayres.-As this kingdom has been separated from the mother country for fifteen years, so have the consequences of the revolution taken deeper root than elsewhere. As the Bishop was expelled in consequence of his attachment to the former order of things, the secular clergy have chosen a successor from among their own body, who, with a council formed of several clergymen, presides over ecclesiastical affairs. The tithes, which were formerly paid to the Viceroy, are now placed under the direction of government, which distributes them yearly, partly to pay eighteen or twenty canons and others of the higher clergy, partly to thirty or forty priests of different parishes, partly to defray the expenses of the schools, and the remainder to other useful purposes. The revevenues of the religious orders are all received by government. The Franciscan monks alone remain, and when their number is reduced from twenty-eight to eighteen, their convent will also be suppressed. Two convents for females still exist, the one contains twenty-two, the other twelve nuns. All respect for the monastic institutions has totally disappeared-monks and nuns are subjects of derision and contempt. The govern ment favours education, and many Lancasterian schools have been established.

DUBLIN METROPOLITAN RE

FORMATION SOCIETY.

On Friday and Saturday, December 14 and 15, a meeting of the Metropoli tan Branch of the British Reformation Society, was held in the Rotunda, his Grace the Archbishop of Dublin in the Chair. We subjoin the following observations from a letter of a correspondent, whose animated account we regret that we have been obliged to curtail :

SIR-If the particular Institution with which the proceedings of this meeting were identified, had not previously occupied a place in your Miscellany, I should have considered it due to your readers to give some account of its objects, and of the peculiar circumstances in which it had its origin. This was done in the EXAMINER of July last, and as your pages have since been open to a discussion of the Society's character, and the means which it proposes for the accomplishment of its objects, it is unnecessary to recur to the subject.

The British Institution stood in need of the assistance of a general organ of communication with this country, and the active support of a deliberative, not less than a ministerial agency—a species of co-operative support which should give intelligence to its councils, unity to its efforts, and effect to its decisions.

The

design of such a Society having been matured at a meeting consisting of the clergy of Dublin, and the members of the existing Reformation Committee, with the Archbishop in the chair, a public meeting was fixed for Friday Dec. 14, to receive a statement of the objects and principles of the new Society; and tickets of admission were indiscriminately issued to 2400 applicants, among whom there were a considerable number of respectable Roman Catholics. As this distribution exceeded the actual capacity of the Rotunda, the Committee were reluctantly obliged to refuse further applications, and this circumstance must be received as their apology to those who could not be supplied. The mode of proceeding on this occasion was characteristic of the leading feature of the

Society's constitution. In order to avoid even the imputation of a desire to repress legitimate discussion, or to shackle the spirit of full, free, and unfettered inquiry into the objects of the meeting, it was resolved to hear any opponent of respectable character, the moment he should present himself in front of the chair.

'The doors of the Rotunda were opened at 10 o'clock, and no scene which has been witnessed in this metropolis was calculated to register a stronger impression upon my mind, than was produced by_the general aspect of the meeting. -The Island which we inhabit does not present an exhibition upon which the eye of the Christian philanthropist can repose with feelings of so much elevated satisfaction, as those periodical meetings, at which the elite of our national Christianity, assemble to cheer by their presence, and to sanction by their suffrages, a great conventional effort at the emancipation of their unenlightened and spiritually misguided countrymen. Such scenes, relieved as they are by a sickening monotony of moral debasement and factious contention, bring home to our conviction with greater assurance than any thing besides, the existence and the activity of those mighty agencies which are tasked against the powers of a dominant superstition; and we derive no pledge of their success which is more intelligible or convincing than the information and the encouragement which such opportunities afford.

Between such assemblies and those which we witnessed on Friday and Saturday, there is a marked and most intelligible distinction-a distinction which sat on the aspect of the auditory, and marked its proceedings throughout.The great preponderance of the male over the female part of the attendance gave an appearance of energy and of resolution to the assembly, that was characteristic of its objects, and the strong expression of feeling which was ready to mark and to repress impertinent or irrelevant sentiment in the speakers, sufficiently proved that the temper and judgment of the body were

in unison with the objects which it had met to promote. If it were possible for any circumstance to heighten the general interest, it was the presidency and controlling intelligence of that great and gifted individual, whom Providence, for purposes of mercy to this country, has invested with ecclesiastical jurisdiction over this city. We have long admired the consistency, the conscientiousness, and the unblushing decision of his Grace the Archbishop of Dublin, and although we did not require the example of this meeting to convince us that profession and practice with his Grace are the same thing; I will yet be bold to say, that no act of his public life has imparted more general satisfaction to the friends, or done more to perplex and embarrass the adversaries of that faith of which he is at once the Professor and the unanswerable Champion.

It would be foreign to the object of a merely descriptive article, to attempt an analysis of the different speeches which were delivered on this most interesting occasion, and it would be difficult to hazard an opinion of their comparative me rits. They were excellent as parts, and perfect as a whole, and according to the concurrent sentiments of those who seem

to be the best judges, they were greatly superior to any thing which has been heard within the same walls.

This is partly to be attributed to the exciting character of the scene, and the novelty, as well as the scope of the subject, but more than any thing to the opposition which was attempted. Their publication in an authentic shape (which is determined upon) will prove a valuable addition to our controversial miscellany.

The influence of such a meeting as has been described, is incalculable in the present circumstances of Ireland, nor will it be confined to one party in the controversy. Like the pillar of cloud and fire which stood between the emancipat ed Hebrews and their former oppressors, it will prove a directing beacon to the one, and a cause of perplexity to the other.

Among Protestants it will be productive of the best possible results. Whatever is calculated to harmonize discordant feelings, and cement the bond of Christian union among professors of the same faith, and servants of the same cause, is of essential advantage to the interests of Scriptural Christianity, and when those elements which refused to amalgamate under the action of an ordinary temperature are exposed to the glow of such an atmosphere as was generated by these meetings, they will soften and blend, VOL IV.

and receive the impress of a common designation.

On the promoters of the Reformation generally throughout Ireland, the meetings of Friday and Saturday, must have the happiest effect. Spiritual Protestants have at once a centre of union and an example of conduct, and their cause has been committed under a sanction which stamps the proceeding with the importance and the dignity of a national movement.

The Church of Ireland in particular, has resumed the ground on which her Ushers and her Bedels contended. She has pledged herself to the emancipation of a mentally enslaved people, and surely no spiritual member of her community will refuse to identify himself with the great and sacred undertaking.

To our brethren in England the Dublin Reformation meeting must speak as unequivocal evidence, that their Christian example has been followed-Ireland has responded from her metropolitan platform, and while they witness the Protestant Church in this country embarking in a struggle, on the issue of which is suspended the temporal and eternal interests of several millions of British subjects, they cannot continue in different spectators of the contest.

The extent to which the influence of such a meeting is calculated to have on Roman Catholic feeling, will very much depend upon the means that are employed to give currency to its proceedings. To the hierarchy of that Church nothing can be more ominous than the movement which would threaten to marshal in systematic opposition to her system, the spiritual and intellectual resources of Protestantism in this and the sister country. They have put the Protestant Church into an attitude of aggression, which they are neither prepared to oppose nor able to resist, and it is not more certain that the Bible is above the Council of Trent, or that he who is armed with the whole armour of God is superior to the man whose best defence is the "dogmatic theology" of Maynooth, than it is certain that the result of the collision will tend to the glory of God and to the moral emancipation of this country.

The spirit of genuine Protestantism like Milton's lion struggling to disengage his half-created body from the earth, is exerting a noble effort to free itself from the trammelling influence of a secular policy, and will eventually prove itself the potent agent of Ireland's intellectual and spiritual regeneration.

K

Such proceedings as those we have