she told me she had often felt the blush of shame redden her cheek, and doubts arise in her mind whether the Priest had any right to ask her such indelicate questions. On attending a Protestant Prayer Meeting she was much astonished to find she could understand all she heard, it being spoken in English; she is most anxious to become acquainted with God's word. I never saw any one listen with such attention.-She has been visited with sickness. I visited her and when she got better I asked her, if, when in pain and sorrow she sought the aid of the Virgin? She answered, she had not, for she did not believe she could either hear or help her. But she had prayed to the Father and the Son, who, she believed, had both heard and answered her. I sincerely hope that she has not only renounced error, but has received the truth in the love of it, and has become a true disciple of Christ. I have not been the sole instrument of her change of views, a man, himself a convert from Popery, had, previous to my knowing her, conversed with her and removed her prejudices against Protestants; he planted, I have watered, and I trust God has given the increase; to his name be all the glory. I have great hopes of her husband, as she told me that he read some tracts I lent her, getting up at six o'clock in the morning to read them to her. One of the tracts was called living water; he has read them over and over again, and lent them to another Roman Catholic, who says, if he could but follow the Tract, he should not fear to die.

EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF MR. H.

Westminster Operative Auxiliary.

HAVING called at Mrs. C's, one of the neighbours told me that she was out at work, and getting into conversation with her, Miss P- began to urge upon her the necessity of preparing to die; on which she said she was no worse than her neighbours. I shewed her that it would not do to look at others, for we must each give an account of ourselves. Having then pointed out to her several passages of Scripture to that

effect, she asked, if I thought God would pardon all. Turning to several passages of Scripture I showed that Jesus died for the chief of Sinners, and that being justified by faith she would have peace with God through believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. She then told me that she was once a happy woman but that her husband at one time did not believe there was a God, and it was through him she was in this state of mind. I advised her to return like the prodigal Son, and the Lord would pardon all her sins; and after talking for some time longer she wept and said, O if I could but have this religion and feelings in my heart! I told her that all this she could enjoy, for now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation; and having advised her to read her Bible daily, and pray to God to give her grace, she said she had not got a Bible, but would endeavour to get one. I left, promising to call again.

ROMISH DISUNION.

At a meeting of the Lee House Romish Chapel congregation, October 26, 1845, the following resolutions, strange and new in the recent history of the Romish Church in England, were unanimously adopted.

Resolution 1.-"That the Lee House congregation has been nearly two years deprived of the rites of their religion in their chapel, (originally founded by Mr. T. Eccles, and lately rebuilt, chiefly at the cost of the Rev. Francis Nappes), and deprived, not by avowed persecutors of their faith, but owing to the conduct of the Right Rev. George Brown, V. A., who in order to obtain possession of its temporalities and the power annexed to them, has used various violent and, as appears to this meeting, unjustifiable measures for this purpose, without regard to, or even knowledge of, the will of the founder; for instance, by preventing a large debt from being paid to Mr. Nappes, unless the Trustees made over the said temporalities, by attempting

without investigation, as if conscious of the badness of his cause, to trample on the claims of Mr. Blanchard and others, and seize possession; and when foiled in these and other measures, which the Trustees considered to savour of fraud, by interdicting the chapel."

Resolution 2. "That having thus, in his apparent determination to wrest from the old Catholic families and lay Patrons the management of the temporalities of chapels, reduced this congregation to a lamentable and scandalous condition, in which their dead are deprived of not a part, but of all the masses for which they bargained with money, and the living of every religious advantage; Bishop Brown persists in acting as if he were judge in his own cause, and treats with contempt all overtures and measures likely to lead to a fair adjustment."

Resolution 3.-" That it is now desirable that some professional gentleman be employed to act for the congregation, and be empowered to take such measures as shall be judged prudent, in the way of appeal to the laws of the country, or to the Pope, the British Catholics, or to the public at large, as well as to correspond on its behalf, if deemed useful, with Bishop Brown, in order to put an end to the present scandalous state of things."

The above extracts illustrate the grasping spiritual domination of the Romish Priesthood on the one side, and the ameliorating influence of the British constitution on the Romish people on the other.

The priesthood are a politico-religious corporationseeking civil power by their spiritual functions. But in all probability the people are the earnest but misguided victims of superstition, attached to it on spiritual grounds alone. The British constitution is the great bulwark of freedom, and as long as it exists in integrity, Hildebrandism will always meet a check proportioned to the force of its pretensions.

THE BRITISH

PROTESTANT.

No. XIV.-FEBRUARY, 1846.

THE CHURCH.

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In the true explanation of the meaning attached to the word "EKKλnoia," or Church, by the inspired authors of the New Testament, nothing can be farther from our desire than to impair, in the slightest degree, that respect and deference which is abundantly due to the pastors and ministers of the Christian Church. All that we disapprove of is, the substitution of the pastors for the flock; the representation of the ministers of the Church as being the Church herself. The Greek word, "Ekkλŋola," which is translated into the word "Church," in the English Bible, literally means public meeting, or assembly." This word, consequently, where it has been used by the Evangelists and Apostles, means the meeting, or assembly, or company, of Christians. The term Church, or assembly, may be employed in various senses. It may signify the assembly of believers at any particular place. In this sense the term was used by the Evangelist when he narrated our blessed Saviour's precept, "Hear the Church." Sometimes it designates the company or assembly of the saints in glory. Heb. xii. "To the general assembly and church of the first-born." The word "vi" means general gathering, or assembly. The word

VOL. II.

C

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"ɛkkλŋola," means assembly, or company. It is rendered by the word " Church," and no one can imagine that St. Paul meant the clergy of the first-born. Sometimes the Church, or assembly, describes the general body of professing Christians on earth; in other words, the visible Church. Sometimes it depicts the general company of true believers, or saints upon earth; in other words, the spiritual Church. Sometimes it is used to describe the universal Church of Christ, which will be composed of the saints in glory, the saints on earth, and the saints unborn; or, in other words, the whole body, of which, in his triumphant reign, Christ will be the visible and glorious head. But in every instance it means the body or assembly of believers of all classes, and not the clergy in particular. To this body the clergy belong, in their private capacity, as members of Christ's body; in their official capacity, they are the pastors and ministers of the Church, and not the Church herself.

It is most important to keep in mind, that the word EKKAŋoia, or Church, signifies the assembly, or body of believers. The notion that the word " Church" means the clergy and hierarchy, has been the main engine employed by ambitious ecclesiastics to uphold, propagate, and enforce, what has aptly been termed the heresy of priestcraft. The clergy of the Church of Rome and Tractarians continually vociferate our blessed Saviour's precept, "Hear the Church." A little reflection should admonish them not to bring forward, in this enlightened age, a precept which so expressly contravenes their lofty assumptions; for, if this precept is applicable to matters of doctrine, then, since the Church is