Her father could not retain his anger against the child he loved so dearly, he could not have resisted her deep affection, her thousand winning ways; but he waited not for them; at the first sound of her voice all coldness had vanished, and he never even thought of erecting the frigid barrier again. Florence had the delight of restoring, at his own request, that Bible which he had promised never to part with, and of seeing it was his chosen companion to the end of his life: he never openly declared his acceptance of its doctrines, but from the tenor of his life and many an unguarded expression, she could not but believe that he had made them the ground of his hope. For herself, and for those who were dear unto her, she trusted in the Lord, and continued to do good, and verily He exalted her to inherit the land.

Oh that many had been like her, in those bye-gone days! Oh that a sense of their deep responsibility had influenced the earlier Protestants of this land! If a love for the souls of their fellow-countrymen, if tenderness for their failings, had actuated those who enjoyed such superior privileges, then indeed might righteousness have exalted our nation, discord might have been healed, judgments might have been averted, peace would have been within our walls, and plenteousness within our palaces.

But even by this neglect, has not our own accountability been fearfully increased? can we inherit the faith of our forefathers, can we in many instances inherit their possessions, and not be reminded of the opportunities that have been lost, the years that can never be recalled; can we behold a population still sunk in ignorance and semi-barbarism, without calling to mind the long generations who have lived side by side with

our ancestors, perishing for lack of knowledge, then, even as now. Oh may such solemn considerations arouse every thinking heart to increased exertion, knowing that "the night is far spent, the day is at hand," that we should "work while it is called to-day, for the night cometh when no man can work," and that night has no dawn. Awful thought! may it lead us to prayer, both for ourselves and others, that the gracious Giver of all good, who has seen fit to visit our land with chastisement, may convert it into a blessing ; that in the common bond of privation and sympathy her people may become more united; more anxious to comfort; more ready to listen; until "violence shall no more be heard in the land, wasting nor destruction within her borders; but that the Lord may be glorified, when the days of our mourning shall be ended,―The Lord hasten it in His time."

SIGMA.

LETTERS FROM ABROAD.-No. I.

MY DEAR MADAM,

I write to you upon a subject which I know to be near to your heart; and, I believe, at this moment, to the heart also of every Christian man-I mean, the present state of Popery. I think it may be of some service, if I just give you the impressions I have received in the course of an extensive tour through East and West Flanders, which has included all the principal cities of both districts. In no part of the world is Popery so calmly supreme, so undisputedly dominant as in this! Italy is not to be compared to it. There you meet with questionings and grumblings and surly looks at the priests, and the visible signs of discontent with things as they are in all classes. But here, things are totally different. The poor people have not intelligence enough to comprehend anything more than the fact, that they are starving and miserable. They do not seem capable of any question beyond those of "What shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed."

This is especially the case at Bruges, Ghent, Malines, and cities of that class, which owed their ancient wealth and importance exclusively to the now perfectly extinct foreign trade of the low countries. The state of things there may be gathered from the following statistical particulars regarding Bruges. This city was the mart of the world in the 15th century. Its

canals were crowded with the shipping of all known nations. Its splendour was equal to its riches; for it was for a long period the favourite residence of the counts of Flanders, and afterwards of the dukes of Burgundy. The natural consequence of this prosperity in the middle ages was the constant increase of the ecclesiastical establishment of the city. To such an enormous extent had this been carried, that, even in the 16th century, the 400,000 inhabitants of Bruges complained of it as far more than commensurate to their spiritual wants. Since that time, the population has declined to about 40,000, of whom, at least, 15,000 are absolute paupers, dependent upon the poor's-rate of West Flanders and of the rest, the entire occupation of the poor men is agricultural labour; for which, in that thickly-populated district, they are not at all wanted, and an occasional franc or two from visitors, from whom they may be fortunate enough to obtain an engagement as guide to the pictures, churches, &c., of their once beautiful city. Those of the Bruygois that still retain any property, are impoverishing rapidly. The walls of Bruges, like those of most other cities of Flanders, are covered with affiches announcing the sales of family estates, family houses, pictures, &c.

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In the midst of this mass of destitution and misery, the Holy Church Catholic' flourishes as vigorously, and blossoms as abundantly as in Ireland. The entire staff of the priesthood remains unimpaired, as when Bruges had 400,000 inhabitants. More than 600 secular priests minister in its twenty-seven churches, and the inmates of thirty-four convents, amounting to many hundreds, aid their ministrations. Yet, not an echo of the complaints of the 400,000 rich burghers of Bruges against the priestly exactions, which made their fair city one of

the refuges of the Vaudois, and a cradle of the Reformation, can be distinguished among the pauperised remnant that alone represents their descendants. True, there is less blood to suck, but there is also less power in the hapless victim to resist. The burghers of Bruges fought hard in the 16th century for that measure of their abundance which the Church demanded. But their pauperized descendants in the nineteenth yield to the same power their life's blood, without a struggle. Nothing flourishes in Bruges but the priesthood! The gloss of newness is upon the ample garments of fine Flanders broad cloth, and the broad-leafed hats of the haughty, and (to judge by appearance) by no means ill-fed beneficiares that crowd the streets of Bruges. As the ecclesiastic walks along, so many are the salutations he has to return, (the men doffing their caps, the women and children kneeling) that his hat seems to float in the air over his head like a nimbus. Perhaps the most distressing sight in Bruges is, that of the lace-weavers. The city was once celebrated for this manufacture, but the comparatively recent invention of the lace-loom has entirely put an end to it. Better lace can now be produced at one-half the price upon which it would be possible for the hand-labourer to live. Yet, all the women and children sit in the close narrow streets of Bruges, and weave lace! Lace to trim the priests' garments withal! for so they are made to earn the convent doles! Useless, valueless labour! Poor wretches; they look as happy as a gang of English paupers kept at some purposeless employment! This picture of Bruges is very little modified in Malines, Ghent, Louvaine, Vilvorde, and other cities of the same district. It would seem that, in exact proportion to the destitution and misery of the people, is the absolute domination of the priest