might reach his bewildered mind, to give light to him where he now sits in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide his feet into the way of peace!

It will not be our fault if Mr. Sibthorp does not see this article: we shall send him the Magazine in Christian candour; and we earnestly entreat our Christian friends to unite in prayer for him. His case is that of a person on whom a latent disease has long been secretly preying, but who has now reached such a crisis that the issue must be speedy-for life or death. And why not for life? The Lord is gracious and very pitiful; He hath no pleasure in the death of him that dieth: He is glorified when the sinner, turned from the error of his way, seeks pardon through the blood of the Lamb. The alternative is inexpressibly awful: shall it be said to' one who but lately was a teacher of truth, "Thou child of the Devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?" or shall it be said of him, as of a returned prodigal, tired of the husks, the swine, and the harlot, "This our brother was dead and is alive again ; he was lost, and is found." To the church it will not make any essential difference, for not all the powers of earth and hell combined can pluck one of Christ's sheep out of his hand; how much less shall a poor, weak, erring, unfaithful man do so, by the force of his persuasion and example. But to himself, of what tremendous importance is the short, the uncertain space, allowed him to decide whether he will proceed or return!

Mr. Sibthorp has preached Christ, but has he ever known Him? We think not; because that craving for spiritual rest, which drove him to the beads, the

crossings, the sprinklings, the voluntary humility, will-worship, mummeries and idolatries of Rome, would have found immediate and abiding satisfaction in the true knowledge of Christ as His own people know Him; those in whose hearts the Saviour dwells by faith; and who, being rooted and grounded in love, are able to comprehend what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, and so are filled with all the fulness of God.

We have been sharply censured for using strong language in our former article respecting Mr. Sibthorp why should we not do so? Why should we speak smooth things and prophesy deceits concerning those offences on which God has pronounced a curse? It is no pleasant thing to flesh to be exposed to censure and reproach, accused of uncharitable feeling, of ignorance, presumption, and so forth: but to all this we reply, "Is there not a cause?” Every passing day furnishes additional proof that there is; and we humbly bless God for any measure of faithfulness vouchsafed, confident that He will yet give an open blessing to this open effort, however feeble, to shame the opposers of His gospel, and to vindicate the honour of His most Holy Name.

CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH.

MODERN APOSTATES.

WE are continually told that Popery in the nineteenth century, is something far more enlightened than Popery in the earlier ages; and that in forsaking Protestantism, the deluded victims of this ancient destroyer do not now embrace tenets so far removed from the obvious doctrines of scripture as is generally supposed. In other words, that those over whom we might mourn as lost to the pure faith of the gospel, and whom we should seek to pluck out of the fire, which if they be not rescued from must consume them, have not become idolators, and therefore, are not exposed to the withering flame of God's wrathful vengeance. To erase this delusive impression, we will lay before our readers an extract from the Catholic Magazine" of last month.

The Hon. George Spencer, it is well known, was led to apostatize some years since; he was a clergyman of the Established Church, and is now high in office in what our readers, after perusing the annexed morceau, will join us in calling the synagogue of Satan. It will be perceived that the person who forwarded to him the blasphemous effusion in which they both take such delight, is likewise an apostate clergyman. We reprint the "Homily," just to shew on what fearful garbage they can be brought to feast, who, forsaking the way of truth betake themselves to this refuge of lies-this soul-destroying Poper

The blasphemy is of so truly revolting a character, that no Christian can peruse it without horror.

"EXTRACT FROM A BOOK OF HOMILIES, A.D. 780. "To the Editor of the Catholic Magazine. "St. Mary's College,

"Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 1841. "In one of my letters on the prayers for the conversion of England, last summer, I introduced to your readers, my friend Mr. Pierce Connelly, formerly clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Natchez, in the state of Mississippi, North America: who became a convert, together with his family, about the year 1835, and is now settled in the state of Louisiana, near a great college of Jesuits, in which he is engaged in teaching; his wife being similarly occupied in a neighbouring convent of the Sacré Cœur. From that distant place, he, from time to time, communicates to me the effusions of his ardent pious heart, to help me forward in my course, too often rendered tedious by the coldness of mine. It is but three days ago that I have received a letter from him, enclosing what he calls " a little offering to our Lady; which, by sending it to you, I am happy to make an offering for myself, as well as a second time for him. He dates it on the Nativity of our Lady; I send it to you on this day of her Immaculate Conception, for which it was originally designed. May it be acceptable in the eyes of our glorious virgin Mother; and may she obtain of her divine Son, that it may warm with the fire of devotion to her, some of those hearts who yet know not the joy of loving this Queen of beauty and of love.

"The following piece, which, as the heading of it

intimates, was written originally as a homily, is attributed by Mr. Connelly to the year 780. He gives this date as a conjecture; the real date may have been somewhat earlier or later. In the mandate of Charlemagne, sanctioning the work, he styles himself king of the Franks and Lombards. It must therefore have been after 774, when he became master of Italy, and before 800, when he was crowned emperor.

"This little offering," says Mr. Connelly, is to him "only the sweeter, for having been locked up in a casket not much opened for the last thousand years; and its antiquity gives it an important value likewise in the eyes of those who are desirous of tracing, from age to age, the marks of the same changeless spirit of the Church, which has always breathed such pure and ardent devotion to the holy Mother of her divine spouse.

I am, sir, your faithful servant in Christ,
George SPENCER.

FROM THE BOOK OF HOMILIES, SET FORTH BY ORDER OF THE EMPEROUR CHARLEMAGNE, A.D. 780. "For the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. "Let every creature magnify the Mother of the Creator, and let heaven and earth, and all the fulness thereof, bow down before her glorious Majesty. Let the Mother be exalted in the Church of her Son, and let all the redeemed of the Lord say to her, We lift up our hands, and our eyes, and our hearts, to thee, O Queen of the World! we bend our knees, and we bow down our necks, before the glory of thy greatness, and offer up to thee our sighs and prayers. Disdain not from the height of heaven to cast down