Ephrata has fallen-degenerated beyond all conception. It is now spiritually dead. Ichabod is written upon the walls of this branch of our Zion.

As early as 1758, there was a branch of this Society established at the Bermudian Creek, in York county, about fifteen miles from the town of York; some of the members of which still remain, though they have been without preaching many years. Another was established in 1763, in Bedford county, which still flourishes, and many members of the present Society are scattered through the counties of the interior of the State; so that the truth which was left has not become extinct, but is still extending, which is particularly the case at Snowhill; and hope is still entertained, that the little one may become a thousand, and the small one a great nation.

For a further detail of the history of this Society, a description of the Monastic Institution at Ephrata, and an account of their extensive literary labours and numerous publications, as well as their music, which is peculiar to themselves, see the writer's "Historical Sketch," in Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, vol. xv. page 161; from which the foregoing article is extracted, and which will appear entire in the History of Lancaster County, now in preparation by the editor of this work, Mr. J. D. Rupp.

Out* of the foregoing church another branch was established in Franklin county, at a place now called Snowhill, and similar to the mother church at Ephrata, under the superintendence and eldership of Peter Lehman and Andrew Snowberger, where the greatest body of the Society now reside. Several small branches have since been established in western Pennsylvania.

In regard to their religious tenets, they believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And also believe, "That all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." And consequently they acknowledge the Holy Scriptures as their only rule of faith and practice.

They keep the seventh day of the week for the Sabbath, in honour of God's command, and contend that no other day has ever been instituted as the sabbath, and that the one instituted in Paradise has never been abolished, by God himself, or by Jesus Christ, who acknowledgeth himself Lord of the Sabbath; and consequently is yet binding upon all mankind, as firmly and absolutely as upon the ancient Israelites.

* This portion is furnished by the Rev. Andrew Fahnestock, of Snowhill, Pa.

We can no where in Scripture find an act repealing it; and therefore any other day instituted as the Sabbath, must of course be a human and not a divine invention; for the proof of which we might quote many passages from the Holy Scriptures, and also from respectable historians; but we wish to be as brief as possible with this article, and accordingly shall dispense with it. Baptism is administered among them by trine immersion: while the person is kneeling in the water, he is plunged three times forward under water, "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;" with the laying on of hands and with prayer while the person is yet in the water. Baptism is administered upon none but adults, though children of believing parents are received into the church, by the laying on of hands, and calling upon the Lord to bless them, according to the example of Christ, Mark x. 16, at which time it is supposed to have been instituted. They also practise the washing of feet before the Lord's supper, which they celebrate in the evening. Open communion is an established rule of the church. They disclaim the right of withholding the holy sacrament from any one who expresses a desire to partake of the same, or to judge who is worthy or unworthy; but they rather adhere to the words of St. Paul, 1 Cor. xi. 28: "But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." Chap. iv. 5: "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." They also consider it essential to adhere literally to the time, manner, and practice, of all the ordinances and injunctions of Christ, as they are recorded in the gospel, as near as they are capable of comprehending them; as they believe, that to deviate from the letter is to deviate from the spirit of it.

CATHOLIC, ROMAN.

BY PROFESSOR W. JOS. WALTERS,

PHILADELPHIA.

THE Roman Catholic Church, as it exists on this side of the Atlantic, may date its origin from the discovery of the western world. From the memorable day, October the eleventh, 1492, on which Columbus landed upon the island of Guanahani, or San Salvador, and at the foot of the cross poured forth his fervent thanks to God for the success of his glorious enterprise: this church has, amid many reverses, continued gradually to advance. If in some quarters she has met with reverses, her losses have been compensated by what she has gained in other directions; so that the number of her adherents, according to recent and respectable authorities, may, at the present time, be estimated at about twenty-five and a half millions, spread over the whole American continent. This ancient church, therefore, outnumbers by nearly ten millions, even in the new world, all the various Protestant denominations put together. Of this large body, however, only about 1,300,000 at the highest calculation, are found in the United States.

A Catholic navigator, whose name will be forgotten only in the wreck of the world, having thus discovered this vast continent, and another son of the church having given it its name: it was likewise by the illustrious Catholics John and Sebastian Cabot, and Verragani, in the service of the Catholic kings Henry VII. of England, and Francis I. of France, that the shores of the United States were first discovered and explored. This took place between the years 1497 and 1524. Farther north, the noble-hearted James Cartier discovered, in the course of three successive voyages, the gulf and river of St. Lawrence, and laid the foundations of the present flourishing cities, Quebec and Montreal.

It is, however, to that portion of the new world which the American fondly hails as his native land-the United States, and to the origin

and progress of the Catholic religion within its borders, that we now confine our attention.

And here with unfeigned pleasure, with honest and heartfelt satisfaction, does the American Catholic challenge the attention of his countrymen to the first settlement of the Maryland colony; for the early history of that colony, is the early history of Catholicity in these United States.

The following is an outline of this memorable epoch in our annals. Lord Baltimore having obtained from Charles I. the Charter of Maryland, hastened to carry into effect, the plan of colonizing the new province, of which he appointed his brother, Leonard Calvert, to be Governor. This first body of emigrants, consisting of about two hundred gentlemen of considerable rank and fortune, chiefly of the Roman Catholic persuasion, with a number of inferior adherents, sailed from England under the command of Calvert, in November 1632, and after a prosperous voyage, landed in Maryland, near the mouth of the river Potomac, in the beginning of the following year. The Governor as soon as he landed, erected a cross on the shore, and took possession of the country for our Saviour, and for our Sovereign Lord the King of England. Aware that the first settlers of Virginia had given umbrage to the Indians by occupying their territory, without demanding their permission, he determined to imitate the wiser and juster policy that had been pursued by the colonists of New England, and to unite the new with the ancient race of inhabitants by the reciprocal ties of equity and good-will. The Indian chief to whom he submitted his proposition of occupying a portion of the country, received it at first with sullen indifference, the result most probably of aversion to the measure, and of conscious inability to resist it. His only answer was, that he would neither bid the English go, nor would he bid them stay; but that he left them to their own discretion. The liberality and courtesy of the Governor's demeanour succeeded at length in conciliating his regard, and so effectively, that he not only promised a friendly league between the colonists and his own people, but persuaded the neighbouring tribes to accede to the treaty. Nay more, he said with warmth, "I love the English so well, that even if they should go about to kill me, while I had breath to speak, I would command the people not to revenge my death: for I know they would not do such a thing, except it were my own fault." Having purchased the rights from the aborigines at a price which gave them perfect satisfaction, the colonists obtained possession of a considerable district, including an Indian town, which

they proceeded immediately to occupy, and to which they gave the name of St. Mary's.

The tidings of this safe and comfortable establishment in the province, concurring with the uneasiness experienced by the Roman Catholics in England, induced considerable numbers of the professors of this faith to follow the original emigrants to Maryland, and no efforts of wisdom or generosity were spared by Lord Baltimore to facilitate the population, and promote the happiness of the colony. The transportation of people and of necessary stores and provisions during the first two years, cost him upwards of forty thousand pounds. To every emigrant he assigned fifty acres of land in absolute fee: and with a liberality unparalleled in that age, and altogether surprising in a Catholic, he united a general establishment of Christianity as the common law of the land, with an absolute exclusion of the political predominance or superiority of any one particular sect or denomination of Christians.

This wise administration soon converted a dreary wilderness into a prosperous colony. The opposition of the Virginia planters to the new colony, but still more the intrigues of the vindictive Clayborne, cast for a while a gloom over the early history of Maryland. Notwithstanding the misfortunes which attended and followed the rebellion of 1645, the same Assembly that enacted measures for the future protection and safety of the colony, made a magnanimous attempt to preserve its peace by suppressing one of the fertile sources of human contention and animosity. It had been declared by the Proprietary, at a very early period, that religious toleration should constitute one of the fundamental principles of the social union over which he presided, and the Assembly of the province, composed chiefly of Roman Catholics, now proceeded, by a memorable "Act concerning Religion," to interweave this noble principle into its legislative constitution. This statute commenced with a preamble declaring that the enforcement of the conscience had been of dangerous consequence in those countries where it had been practised, and therefore enacted that no persons professing to believe in Jesus Christ should be molested in respect to their religion, or in the free exercise thereof, or be compelled to the belief or exercise of any other religion, against their consent; so that they be not unfaithful to the Proprietary, or conspire against the civil government; that persons, molesting any other in respect to his religious tenets, should pay treble damages to the party aggrieved, and twenty shillings to the Proprietary; that those, who should reproach their neighbours with opprobrious names of religious