ROMISH SERVANTS.

MADAM,

IN reading the paper in your last number, upon Romish servants, it occurred to me that a case had lately fallen under my own knowledge, which seemed to oppose the view you took, on the expediency of admitting Roman Catholics among the inmates of your household. You suppose that the mistress of a family may receive a Papist under her roof, indeed that it is her duty to do so, in order to reclaim her, if possible, from the errors of Popery, and bring another lamb within the fold of Christ. This seems right, and excellent, and judicious, so long as the mistress is there, to watch over the other members of her household, and guard them from contamination. But suppose she be suddenly removed. Suppose a mother, with a young family, is taken from them after a short illness; will she not tremble at the thoughts of leaving them exposed to continual contact with one who may instil into their young and susceptible minds the doctrines of her corrupt religion? Lest you should think this an idle supposition, and an occurrence so unlikely as to be unworthy of attention, I proceed to relate a tale which will prove it to be neither the one nor the other.

1

I am acquainted with a young lady of a good Protestant family, who, at the age of sixteen, declared herself a member of the church of Rome, left her

family and friends, and has lived abroad with Roman Catholics from that time.

And what occasioned this melancholy change? She lost her mother, an amiable and religious woman, in childhood. Her father shortly married again. Her step-mother treated her unkindly, and neglected her. She was therefore thankful for kindness from any one, and met with it in a Roman Catholic servant, from whom she borrowed Popish books. These, and the society of this woman, produced the effect upon her mind of which I have spoken. She declared herself converted to the Romish faith, and after some cruelly harsh treatment in the attempt to reclaim her, which had the effect of binding her more closely to her opinions, her family cast her off for ever; and, at the age of nineteen, she is wandering about the world, homeless, almost friendless, in poverty, and most strongly attached to the religion she has embraced.

I am fearful, Madam, of intruding upon your time, and wearying your patience, by a more detailed account of this poor young lady; and requesting your kindness in the consideration of this letter,

I remain, Madam,

With great respect,

M. C.

[This is, indeed, a lamentable case; and if our anonymous correspondent will furnish us with a real name and address, and satisfactory references, we will do our utmost to bring the poor wanderer within reach of those who will care for her soul.

But we cannot admit an isolated instance, remarkable too as the foregoing, as an argument against the

fulfilment of what seems an imperative duty in cases such as were originally adverted to. It is to be remembered, that the question was not, whether Christian ladies were called on, under all circumstances, to open their doors to Romish domestics; but what, in case of their being obliged so to do, was the obvious path of duty. We spoke of the matter, not as a thing to be done lightly, but as a most important branch of missionary enterprize, attended with danger, and only to be engaged in for the sake and in the strength of the Lord.

We supposed, not a choice between a Romish and a Protestant servant, but between a cruel acquiescence in, and a faithful protest against, the 'damnable heresies' that destroy the soul of the former.

We do not therefore see any reason to retract or to qualify the opinion already set forth; but rather hope that, through the publicity thus given to the sad fate of the young apostate, her rescue may be effected, and the happy assurance realized with regard to the believing mother, that her Christian labour was not in vain in the Lord.]

IF called to meet, for Jesu's name,
The world's reproach, contempt, and shame,
Oh may I mark his footsteps there,
And meekly bow, his cross to bear;
Then, resting on his faithful word,

Maintain, despite of foes, the honour of my Lord!
Cummins.

THE MOURNER'S LAMENT.

YES, I'll believe-believe that thou art near,
When all unheeded falls the silent tear!

When my tired spirit, thirsting for repose,
Plucks but the thorn where she had sought the rose!
But happiness and Jesus! who can sever
What through eternity must bloom together?
And He's my Lord-'tis therefore cruel sorrow
That I would say to thee, for aye, good morrow!
Ah! when by faith I touched his wounded side,
Methought I had no other grief beside,

And bath'd me in his blood-'twas joy to hide
My deepest sorrows in that crimson tide!

But now,

like some frail pinnace cast ashore, Where the light breeze can fill her sails no more, I pensive sit-a solitary thing

Cheerless, not mute, my harp's discordant string!
For ah! deep sorrow like the raging sea
Bursts all embankments to its misery;

And gravest lessons which the wise would teach
Ne'er ease the spirit, though the heart they reach!
In the still hour philosophy may guide,

She never triumphs o'er the stormy tide!
One voice alone can bid the tempest cease;
I'll wait for it; and when it whispers peace—
In lowly reverence at devotion's shrine

I'll own the hand that heals me is divine!

J. D.

"HEAR THE CHURCH."

DEAR MADAM,

It has long been matter of painful surprise to me, that the gross and palpable perversion of a passage of holy scripture, upon which the Romish church has founded principally her assumption of universal power, and which is now used by some who have arisen in our own church for very similar purposes, should be passively admitted, as it were, and acquiesced in on all sides, by which means a momentous advantage is gratuitously given to the adversary. I have waited, in the hope that some one of the little band of faithful followers, who have "come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty," would have vindicated this portion of his blessed word from the glaring perversion and misapplication by which it has been forced into the support of an unscriptural principle, and thus made the basis of most unscriptural practice. But seeing no such exposition attempted, and observing that your correspondent, 'Clericus Junior,' in the last number of your Magazine, once more brings forward this abused passage, in order to establish his argument in favour of the power of the church to interpret the scriptures,' and that he is permitted to do so by his opponent without any remark upon its misapplication-I cannot forbear from asking permission to occupy a little space