against God. Now, while the above interpretation is natural, simple, consistent, in violation of no principles of grammar, philosophy, theology, or common sense, it is in direct opposition to very many of our ablest critics. ART. IX.-FOREIGN RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. PROTESTANTISM. GREAT BRITAIN. THE ANNIVERSARIES.-The great religious societies of England, as was to be expected, have suffered, as well as those of America, from the distress which is caused in both hemispheres by the continuance of our civil war. Yet several of them, as the British and Foreign Bible Society, could report an increase of their receipts, and all a vigorous prosecution of their operations. For some time it was feared that the bi-centenary agitation might lead to a rupture between evangelical Churchmen and Dissenters, and to a withdrawal of the former from the religious societies in which hitherto both have been frater nally united. Several lecturers of the Nonconformists having charged the evangelical clergy of the Established Church with dishonesty for remaining in a Church, part of whose liturgy they desire to be altered, the Rev. Dr. Miller, of Birmingham, retired from the local committee of the Bible Society. The apprehension that his example might be extensively followed was dispelled by the meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which was, as usual, presided over by the Earl of Shaftesbury, and participated in by a number of bishops, who emphatically declared their continuing adhesion to the catholic platform of this great national society of Protestant England. THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.-The efforts made for fully restoring to the Established Church of England the right of synodical action and self-government continue to be successful. In the Convocation of Canterbury, on motion of the Bishop of Oxford, the House of Bishops unanimously resolved to request the President of the House (the Archbishop of Canterbury) to address to the Arch bishop of York an earnest desire that measures be devised by which both provinces might act together harmoniously and with concurrent deliberations, especially with regard to the action which had been taken in reference to the change of one (the 29th) of the canons. A petition in favor of the convocation resuming synodical action through the Queen's dominions was, also on motion of the Bishop of Oxford. unanimously referred to a special committee. Still more important were the resolutions of the Convocation of York, which met on March 18. The Lower House adopted a resolution, not only asking for harmonious action of the two convocations, but for a union of the two convocations into one body, "so that, without prejudice to the occasional assembling of provincial synods, the general convocation of the clergy of the Church of England, which now consists of two provincial assemblies, may meet together as one national synod." From the discussion it was evident that, in contemplating the convocation of a national synod, the Irish Church was by no means forgotten, and that even a closer union of the colonial Churches with that of England has been taken into consideration. Important resolutions relative to the reorganization of the Established Church have also been passed by the English Church Union, au influential association of High Churchmen. They demand that the highest court of appeal in ecclesiastical matters should be the Upper House of Convocation, with the understanding that the bishops exercise the power of calling to their assistance as assessors theologians and laymen learned in the law; and, with regard to any bill on ecclesiastical subjects in Parliament, that, previous to the introduction into the legislature of any bill for the amendment of ecclesiastical discipline, both the English and Irish Convocations ought to have the| He avoided all allusion to his paradox opportunity of fully discussing the scope and details, seeing that the priests of the Church in England are not represented in Parliament. The Scottish Episcopal Church is following the example of the Episcopal Church of England and Ireland, and making strenuous efforts for reviving the synodical constitution. On July 8 a General Synod is to meet for the first time since 1838. It is expected that the communion-service of the Church, which is generally regarded as being of Romish proclivity, will be modified, and that thus the way will be prepared for a final union of the Episcopal Church in all the three kingdoms. The High Churchmen of England and Scotland are, however, falling out on this question. For many the very charge of Romish proclivities is a reason to wish the liturgy to remain as it is; while, on the other hand, Mr. Cheyne, a clergyman of the Scottish Episcopal Church, who some years ago was tried on the charge of having Romanizing views, has declared in favor of the change. In Parliament the advocates of the political prerogatives of the Established Church have again succeeded in rejecting the Church Rate Abolition Bill, though only by one majority. The friends of a separation of Church and State find, however, some consolation in the fact that this time four more votes were cast for the bill than last year. political opinions, by which he gave last year so great offense to the Protestant world, and made an adınirable speech on the Inspiration of the Bible, which is highly commended by the entire Protestant press, and has even been republished by the leading political papers. The son of Guizot, who has already won among scholars a fine reputation by several works of great merit, also took an active part in the proceedings, and presented the annual report. Besides the Protestant Bible Society, two other societies, the French and Foreign and the British and Foreign Bible Societies, are zealously laboring on behalf of the spreading of the Bible. The latter society disposed again of the largest number of copies, (113,000;) and has, since it commenced its operations in France, circulated in all nearly 5,000,000 copies. Like the Bible Society, the Tract Society was also addressed by an eminent French scholar, Professor Rosseeuw St. Hilaire. He is a convert from the Roman Catholic Church, and ranks, like Guizot, among the best historians of France. He spoke on the immoral character of the popular literature which is circulating among the working-men, a subject which well deserves the greatest attention of the Christian philanthropist. He recommended to the Christian associations an earnest study of the proper means for obviating an evil that is fraught with so great danger for society. The three Home Missionary Societies -the Evangelical Society, the Central Protestant Society of Evangelization, and the Evangelical Society of Geneva in Switzerland-were all able to report progress. New congregations continue to spring up in Catholic districts, and take root in spite of severe persecution. The reopening of the Protestant schools in the department of the Haute Vienne, which have been so long closed, was this year an occasion for special joy and gratitude. THE RATIONALISTIC CONTROVERSY IN THE LUTHERAN CHURCH.-A great agitation has recently sprung up in the Lutheran Church of France on account of the appointment of Mr. Colani, one of the leading men of the Rationalistic, or, as it is commonly called in France, the Critical School of Theology, at the these discordant elements together much longer. The orthodox party in particular are desirous to have the right of selfgovernment restored to the Church, very confident that a direct appeal to the Churches would soon lead to a withdrawal or expulsion of the Rationalistic element. GERMANY. STATE AND CHURCH.-The elections for a new House of Representatives in Prussia have resulted in favor of the political parties of the country, is most favorable to the self-government of the Protestant Church. The Ministry of Public Worship had addressed a circular to all the clergymen of the Established Church and to all the superintendents of public schools, calling on them to use their influence against the election of candidates of the progressive party, and a large portion, especially among the High-Church party, acted in accordance with this request. The conservative party, which adheres to the theory of a theocratic state, and is an implacable enemy to the establishment of religious toleration, will again, as in the last House of Representatives, control no more than about a dozen members. It may be expected that in the new house a motion that the full right of self-government may be restored to the Evangelical Church will be made and carried. The "Catholic" party, which counted in the last House of Representatives about fifty members, has suffered a considerable loss at the recent election. A circular of the bishops, urging on their people the duty of electing conservative Catholics, had been of no avail. Lutheran Theological Seminary of Strasburg. The Lutheran Consistory of Paris, which consists of ministers and laymen, regarded it its duty to address to the Directory of Strasburg (the highest board of the Church) a letter, in which the appointment of a professor who is known to reject all the principal doctrines contained in the Confession of Augsburg is declared to be a wrong inflicted upon the Church. The Directory of Strasburg consists mostly of men who approve the views of the new professor, and, as the Church has no self-party of progress, which, among all the government, it is not likely that any measure for the removal of Mr. Colani will be taken. The controversy has, therefore, to be entirely fought by the orthodox party on literary ground; and as the orthodox party have no organ of their own in the French language, they must appeal to the Church in pamphlets. Of these quite a number have been published. The first one was by Mr. Hosemann, a Lutheran clergyman of Paris, in a letter addressed to Mr. Colani, (Un Mot à propos de l'appel adressé à Mr. Colani par la Séminaire Protestant de Strasbourg.) Mr. Hosemann insists that all clergymen who cannot honestly subscribe to the Confession of Augsburg should leave the Church. To this Mr. Colani and several of his friends replied, claiming the liberty of free investigation as a fundamental right of every Protestant, and charging Mr. Hosemann with misquoting the writings of Colani. A brief survey of the entire controversy has been given in a pamphlet by Mr. Meyer, the President of the Consistory of Paris, (Simple Exposé du Debat.) Colani and his school go far beyond the opinions expressed by the English Essays and Reviews. There is another Rationalistic party, of which Pastor Leblois is a well-known representative, who go still further and openly confess the views entertained in the eighteenth century by the Deists. They, of course, sympathize in this question with Colani. In opposition to these Rationalistic schools there is an evangelical party which sympathizes with the United Evangelical Churches of Germany, and which has of late made some progress under the able leadership of Rev. Mr. Härter, and an old Lutheran party, with all the High-Church proclivities which characterize this party in Germany. Members of all schools begin at length to see that it will not be possible to keep PROTESTANTISM IN BOHEMIA.-The Protestant periodical literature of Austria has received a valuable addition by the establishment at Prague of a journal in the Bohemian or Cechic language, entitled Huss, an Evangelical and National Journal. It is edited by Rev. Wencel Schubert, a clergyman of the Helvetic Confession. (the name given in Austria to the Reformed Church,) and, as its title indicates, it will try to revive among the Bohemians the remembrance of the glorious age when their ancestors, under the leadership of men like Huss, were the foremost champions of relig ious reformation. The new paper, there fore, fully sympathizes with the national | have spread to some extent; while in the south, where the influence of Germany is little felt, the clergy adhere strictly to biblical theology, and the people would never tolerate a Rationalistic ser, mon. In this part of Bohemia little was known of the Protestant Churches of Germany; only of the Gustavus Adolphus Society the people had heard. Some of the congregations have already been assisted by this society in building new churches and schools; but as the salaries of the ministers and teachers are too small, there is an increasing want of both, and many, both clergymen and school-teachers, express a desire to receive fixed salaries from the state. ITALY. PROTESTANTISM IN NAPLES-CRESIALBARELLA.-It is a remarkable circumstance that Naples, which before 1858 granted to Protestants the least toleration, is now the most promising field of the evangelical mission. A history of the Protestant movements in the south of Italy is given in the report of the Naples Evangelization Aid Society, which was founded in the winter of 1861 by members of various Protestant communions. It has raised and disbursed about £400. The Marquis Cresi, who presides over a meeting of Italian Christians, and superintends the colporteurs of several societies in the towns and provinces, is highly esteemed, as well as his assistant, Signor Cerioni, an ex-priest, who was many years ago received into the Christian Church at Malta by the Bishop of Gibraltar. The female school begun in the fisherman's quarter, the Mergellina, by Signor Cresi and the Russian Countess Steinbock, and taught by Miss Sprenger of the German Protestant school, has fifty scholars. In addition to two Calabrian priests, Calva and Gioja, who have since been studying in Florence and Genoa, the society has been applied to by a large number of priests, who were desirous of leaving the Roman Church if they could only find an opportunity to earn a livelihood. Four priests have actually left their Church. The evangelical school for boys begun by the society, though under the ban of the clergy, has eighty scholars in attendance. Two able teachers have been employed, and Mr. Buscarlet, the Scotch minister at Naples, superintends the religious instruction of the children. An evening school for adults has been attended by forty workmen, who not only learn to read the New Testament, but give evidence that they lay to heart its teachings. In the course of the last year Cresi has circulated 2,100 Bibles and 2,700 New Testaments. His celebration of divine service was, toward the close of last year, regularly attended by sixty or seventy persons. He proceeds with great caution, excludes politics from the pulpit, and with all evangelical decision shows in his polemical discourses against the Roman Catholic Church no offensive want of moderation. It has been announced that Signor Cresi was about to publish a confession of faith which will substantially agree with that of the Waldenses, though he does not belong to the communion. A still more efficient laborer in the Protestant cause is Signor Albarella, an advocate in Naples, who has devoted himself gratuitously to the work of evangelization in that city. For a time he was either president or a leading supporter of the Society of Operatives, and the political element often entered largely into his harangues. But later he withdrew from these societies and devoted himself wholly to the work of evangelization. The friends of the evangelical work in Naples are in much distress because Albarella has been recently appointed by the Minister of Grace and Justice to the post of Subprocuratore Regio in Campo Basso, quite at the extremity of the peninsula. SCANDINAVIA. PROGRESS OF THE BAPTISTS.-The Baptists are rapidly increasing in Sweden, although the intolerant legislation has only been partly repealed, and still puts many legal obstacles to the spread of every denomination of dissenters. At the end of the year 1861 they counted 150 churches, with 4,865 members, and 891 children in Sundayschools. During the year 639 persons were added to the Churches by baptism. They have now perfected their organization, having at the last triennial conference, held at Stockholm from June 23 to June 28, 1861, divided their Churches into seven associations: Norrland, Dala, Gotland, Stockholm, Nerike, Smaland, and Skien. With each of these associations a missionary society is connected, and a number of colporteurs and missionaries are supported by them; besides there is also a colporteur school, commenced in 1856. The Churches, although still young and feeble, and greatly in need of aid for supporting a greater number of home missionaries, have already commenced to contribute for the foreign missions of the American Baptists in Burmah. In Norway the first Baptist Churches were organized a few years ago by Mr. Rymker, a colporteur of the American Baptist Publication Society, at Porsgrund and Laurvig. A third Church was organized in 1861 at Skien. Numerous additions to these new congregations are expected from the remnants of a sect of Lutheran seceders, founded in 1856 by a clergyman of the Lutheran State Church by the name of Summers. This sect favored the introduction of the baptism of adults, though not absolutely rejecting infant baptism. The founder returned in 1860, together with some of his followers, to the State Church, but many other members are inclined to join the Baptists. RUSSIA. HOME AND FOREIGN MISSIONS.-The Church Aid Society of the Lutheran Church, which was founded in 1859, has recently published its second annual report. Though still in its infancy, this society has already done good service in the cause of evangelical Christianity. The central committee has its seat in St. Petersburgh, and among its members are some of the highest officers of the Russian empire. Besides there are twenty district committees, which again embrace numerous branch committees. The annual report gives a frightful picture of the spiritual destitution of the Lutherans in some of the provinces. The parish of Novgorod extends over a territory larger than the aggregate area of Sweden and Norway; it has 2,083 members and 2 schools. In the "government" (province) of Vladimir 1,132 manufactories employ 80,000 workingmen, a majority of whom are Lutherans; yet there was not one Lutheran congregation until 1859. It has, however, made good progress since. The congregation has subscribed 900 rubles annually for the salary of the pastor, and 2,000 rubles for the erection of a church and parsonage. To the territory of the district committee of Moscow belongs also West Siberia, with only two parishes, Tomsk and Tobolsk. Both can |