But you, Sir, and those persons whom I must be allowed to call the semi-reformed English Romanists, of

whom you * may be considered as the representative; you are ready to exclaim that you believe them as little as I do; that all such stories are only the weaknesses of your ancient writers, . . . the natural growth of unenlightened and credulous times. Base the money is, but it is the currency of the Romish Church; the perpetual succession of your boasted miracles is made up of such stories; they are not the weaknesses of your writers: they are the frauds of your teachers and your saints. It was the system of that Church to encourage, to accredit, and to practise them. It is so still. Witness the pictures of the Virgin Mary at Rome, that moved their eyes and squinted! Witness the canonization of Joseph Labrè! Witness the episcopal knight of St. Winifred's well! Witness Prince Hohenloe! Witness the blood of St. Januarius! Would the Neapolitan priests exhibit this experiment in the presence of Sir Humphry Davy, and permit him to examine the phial and its contents? Sir, you are conscious that they dare not submit their miracle to any such investigation. You know that this juggle is annually performed with the full knowledge of your highest ecclesiastical authorities, not with their sufferance only, but their sanction. with the full approval of your infallible church and its infallible head; and knowing this, is it with a sigh or a smile,' Sir, that you charge me with calumny, when I charge that church with carrying on a system of imposture and wickedness?"

TERTULLIAN'S DEFINITION OF A CHURCH.

THE Tractarians are very fond of referring to the authority of the Fathers; will they adopt Tertullian's definition of a Christian Church? de exhort. cast. c. 7. "All Christians are priests, agreeably to the words of St. John in the book of Revelations- Christ has made us a kingdom and a priesthood to God and his Father.'

*The late Charles Butler, Esq.

The authority of the church and its honor, which derives sanctity from the assembled church, has established the difference between the clergy and laity. In places where there are no clergy, any single Christian may exercise the functions of the priesthood, may celebrate the Eucharist and baptise. But where three though laymen, are gathered together, there is a church." We have adopted the translation of that very eminent scholar, Bishop Kaye.

MR. DELLON'S NARRATIVE OF THE ROMISH INQUISITION AT GOA, IN WESTERN INDIA, IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

Extracted from Christian Researches in India, by late Rev. C. Buchanan.

MR. DELLON had been thrown into the Inquisition at Goa, and confined in a dungeon ten feet square, where he remained upwards of two years, without seeing any one but the gaoler who brought him his victuals, except when he was brought to his trial, expecting daily to be brought to the stake. His alleged crime. was charging the Inquisition with cruelty, in a conversation he had with a priest at Daman, a Portuguese town in another part of India.

"During the months of November and December, I heard every morning the shrieks of the unfortunate victims who were undergoing the question (torture.) I remembered to have heard, before I was cast into prison, that the Auto-da-Fè was generally celebrated on the first Sunday in Advent, because on that day is read in the churches that part of the gospel in which mention is made of the last judgment; and the inquisitors pretend by this ceremony to exhibit a lively emblem of that awful event. I was likewise convinced that there were a great many prisoners besides myself, the profound silence which reigned within the walls of the building, having enabled me to count the number of doors which were opened at the hours of meals. However, the first and second Sundays of Advent passed by without my hearing of anything, and I prepared to

undergo another year of melancholy captivity, when I was aroused from my despair on the 11th of January, by the noise of the guards removing the bars from the door of my prison. The alcaide presented me with a habit, which he ordered me to put on, and to make myself ready to attend him when he should come again. Thus saying, he lighted a lamp in my dungeon. The guards returned about two o'clock in the morning, and led me out into a long gallery, where I found a number of the companions of my fate drawn up in a rank against the wall. I placed myself among the rest, and several more soon joined the melancholy band. The profound silence and stillness caused them to resemble statues more than the animated bodies of human creatures. The women, who were clothed in a similar manner, were placed in a neighbouring gallery, where we could not see them; but I remarked that a number of persons stood by themselves at some distance, attended by others who wore long black dresses, and who walked backwards and forwards occasionally. I did not then know who these were; but I was afterwards informed that the former were the victims who were condemned to be burned, and the others were their confessors.

"After we were all ranged against the wall of this gallery, we received each a large wax taper. They then brought us a number of dresses made of yellow cloth, with the cross of St. Andrew painted before and behind. This is called the San Benito. The relapsed heretics wore another species of robe, called the samarra, the ground of which is grey. The portrait of the sufferer is painted upon it, placed upon burning torches, with flames and demons all round. Caps were then produced, called carroches, made of pasteboard, pointed like sugar loaves, all covered over with devils and flames of fire.

"The great bell of the cathedral began to ring a little before sunrise, which served as a signal to warn the people of Goa to come and behold the august_ceremony of the Auto-da-Fè;* and then they made us

*This was the term applied by the inquisitors to the burning of heretics.

proceed from the gallery one by one. I remarked as we passed into the great hall, that the inquisitor was sitting at the door with his secretary by him, and that he delivered every prisoner into the hands of a particular person, who is to be his guard to the place of burning. These persons are called parrains, or godfathers. My godfather was the commander of a ship. I went forth with him, and as soon as we were in the street, I saw that the procession was commenced by the Dominican friars, who have this honour because St. Dominic founded the inquisition. These are followed by the prisoners, who walked one after the other, each having his godfather by his side, and a lighted taper in his hand. The least guilty go foremost; and as I did not pass for one of them, there were many who took precedence of me. The women were mixed We all walked barefoot,

promiscuously with the men. and the sharp stones of the streets of Goa wounded my tender feet, and caused the blood to stream, for they made us march through the chief streets of the city, and we were regarded everywhere by an innumerable crowd of people, who had assembled from all parts of India to behold this spectacle, for the inquisition takes care to announce it long before in the most remote parishes. At length we arrived at the church of St. Francis, which was, for this time, destined for the celebration of the act of faith. On one side of the altar, was the grand inquisitor and his counsellors, and on the other, the viceroy of Goa and his court. All the prisoners are seated to hear a sermon. I observed that those prisoners who wore the horrible carrochas came in last in the procession. One of the Augustine monks ascended the pulpit, and preached for a quarter of an hour. The sermon being ended, two readers went up to the pulpit, one after the other, and read the sentences of the prisoners. My joy was extreme when I heard that my sentence was not to be burnt, but to be a galley-slave for five years. After the sentences were read, they summoned forth those miserable victims who were destined to be destroyed by the holy inquisition. The images of the heretics who had died in prison, were bought up at the same time, their bones

being contained in small chests, covered with flames and demons. An officer of the secular tribunal now came forward and seized these unhappy people, after they had each received a slight blow upon the breast from the alcaide, to intimate that they were abandoned. They were then led away to the bank of the river, where the viceroy and his court were assembled, and where the faggots had been prepared the preceding day. As soon as they arrive at this place, the condemned persons are asked in what religion they choose to die, and the moment they have replied to this question, the executioner seizes them, and binds them to a stake in the midst of the faggots. The day after the execution, the portraits of the dead are carried to the church of the Dominicans; the heads only are represented, surrounded by flames and demons; and underneath is the name and crime of the person who has been burned."-Relation de l'Inquisition de Goa, c. xxiv.

INSCRIPTIONS ON BANNERS IN THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. GUDULE, BRUSSELS.

Heaven smiles, and Hell trembles, when we devoutly repeat the Angelic Salutation.

Mary is the rose of Paradise, whose perfume strengthens the righteous, and gives (or restores) life to sinners.

Yes, her goodness delights in comforting the hearts of those who confide in and pray to her continually. Say-do we ever see a true disciple of Mary perish?

The Christian in this stormy world is always in