tume of the Nuns-they having already served the five allotted years, besides their noviciate, as a preparatory term ere they could take the last vow-a vow of "voluntary poverty, perpetual chastity, and entire obedience to their Superior"—an expression which is, we believe, peculiar to the Nuns of that order. They advanced to the steps of the altar, each bearing a lighted taper, and crouched in the same manner as the previous suppliant at the Bishop's feet Questions similar in import to those which had been addressed to the Novice were then put to them, the only difference being that they were urged individually, three distinct times, to ponder well on the sacrifice they were about to make—if they had any desire of again mixing in worldly turmoil, of again returning to their home and kindred (two of them were French ladies, and they were addressed in their own vernacular), there was yet time; but if the oath were once accepted, nothing on earth could afterwards absolve them. They all answered in a firm and unfaltering voice, that it was their own voluntary and free will that they had embraced the austerities of that solemn ritual. The Bishop then placed upon each of them a crown of thorns, and gave them a missal and a crucifix. The Holy Eucharist was next administered in the usual form of the Romish Church, after which the Nuns retired to the nave of the chapel, bowed themselves prostrate on the ground, and were covered with a large black pall, having a white figure of a cross upon it, and supported at the corners by four of the superior Nuns. They remained in this posture until the Bishop gave them his benediction, after which they arose to do homage to their Superior, and were welcomed by the sister Nuns and Novices with an affectionate kiss of recognition. Thus ended the solemn and imposing ceremony of initiation. A collection was afterwards made for the benefit of schools cor.ducted by the sisters of charity, at Milton House, in the Canon Gate, which realized a considerable sum. The assemblage, which was a very numerous one, then left the chapel. ENGLAND BEFORE THE REFORMATION. The liberty and wealth of England, and especially the liberal provision made by ecclesiastics for the poor before the Reformation, are favourite subjects of declamation with the priests, who are now endeavouring, with fair words, to beguile the hearts of the simple. To set the public mind right on this subject, we solicit attention to the record of one who was practically acquainted with the subjects referred to, living, as he did, at the time when Rome lorded it over England in the plenitude of her power. Matthew Paris A.D. 1246-that is about three hundred years before the reformation-thus enumerates the grievances of England, and points to their source :-- "The kingdom of England is aggrieved, forasmuch as our lord the pope is not content with the subsidy which is called Peter's pence, but extorts from all the clergy a heavy contribution, and still strives to extort many more still more oppressive, and he does this without the agreement or consent of our lord the king, against the ancient customs, liberties, and rights of the kingdom, and against the appeal and remonstrance of the king's commissioners, and of the kingdom made in conucil. "Also the church and kingdom are aggrieved, forasmuch as the patrons of the churches cannot present fit clergymen to those which are vacant, as our lord the pope has conceded to them by his letters, but the churches are granted to Romans, who are wholly ignorant of the language of the country to the peril of souls, and they carry the money out of the kingdom, impoverishing it beyond measure. "Also the kingdom is aggrieved by the purveyances made by our lord the pope, and by the exaction of pensions against the tenor of his letters, in which it is contained, that of all the retainings made in England, he only intended to confer twelve livings after the finishing of the said letters, but we believe that many more benefices were disposed of and purveyances made by him afterwards. "Also the kingdom is aggrieved, forasmuch as Italian succeeds to Italian, and the English are drawn out of the kingdom by apostolical authority in their suits, contrary to the customs and written laws of the kingdom, and contrary to the indulgences granted by the predecessors of our lord the pope to the king and to the kingdom of England. "Also it is aggrieved by the frequent arrivals of that infamous declaration, the 'non obstante,' by which the sanctity of oaths, the ancient customs, the force of Scripture, the authority of grants, the statutes, rights and privileges are weakened and vanish, so that an infinite number of persons in England are grievously oppressed and afflicted, nor does our lord the pope in revoking the fulness of his power, deport himself so courteously or moderately towards the kingdom of England as he verbally promised the commissioners of the kingdom. "Also it is again aggrieved in the general taxes, collected and imposed without the consent and will of the king, against the appeal and opposition of the king's commissioners and all England. "Also it is aggrieved, forasmuch as in the livings of the Italians, neither the laws, nor the maintenance of the poor, nor hospitality, nor the preaching of the divine word, nor the useful embellishment of the churches, nor the cure of souls, nor the divine offices in the churches take place, as is fitting, and as is the custom of the couutry, but the walls and the roofs fall down, and are altogether in ruins." MATT. PARIS, P. 716. AN. DOM. 1246. "The lord pope, therefore, gathering courage from the past to trample under foot the poor English imperiously, and even more imperiously than usual, demanded of the English prelates, that all the beneficed clergy in England, who resided on their livings, should confer the third part of their livings upon the lord pope, and that those who did not reside, should grant the half; many hard conditions being added, binding up the said mandate; by that detestable word and addition 'non obstante,' which extinguishes all pre-established justice." Achill Herald. FIFTH OF NOVEMBER. TUNE-"Martin Luther's Hymn. To Thee, Eternal God, to Thee, Thou art the source of every good, Yea, in each dark and trying hour, Preserve Thy Church from Satan's power, We e pray for mercies to the last, While now to Thee for mercies past Our thankful praise we render. From RAGG'S "Hymns from the THE CHRISTIAN WATCHMAN, AND MIDLAND COUNTIES' PROTESTANT MAGAZINE. LETTER FROM M. MOLLARD-LEFEVRE, A respectable merchant of Lyons, in France, on the subject of his conversion to Protestantism. Lyons, 25th June, 1825. SIR, YOU inquire what were the motives which actuated me in the step I have just taken, and why I attach so much importance to becoming a member of the Christian Reformed Church. I am ready to inform you, and to open my mind to you with the utmost candour. The Gospel, my conscience, and my reasonthese, in three words, have been my guides and advisers. I know, by my own experience, that man is a religious being; I felt the need of uniting myself to God by an entire faith and by worship; but I felt also that this faith and this worship ought to have nothing in them contrary to that natural light, that reason, that consciousness of right and wrong, which God has implanted within us; and that every religion which should not accord with these grand principles, or should shrink from being examined upon them, could not be diviue, since God cannot contradict himself, and his works cannot dread the light. It became, therefore, my wish to recur to the foundation of the Christian faith, by studying the Holy Scriptures in the love of truth; and from that moment I may say a new day broke K |