is still to be seen the stony couch on which the poor saint used to sleep at nights: and the identical spot where our Saviour stood when he espoused her, and put the wedding-ring on her finger! My astonishment was unutterable. I have seen the marriage of Christ and St. Catherine, a thousand times, in painting; but I always concluded it to be metaphorical, or thought, at most, that credulity had magnified some accidental dream into a vision sent by Heaven; but it never once entered into my head, that any human being had ever imagined, or pretended, that such a marriage really did take place. Yet here I was repeatedly and most solemnly assured by every body present,— consisting of a priest, a lacquey, a tailor, and two women,- that our Saviour actually appeared on this spot in his own proper person, invested her with the ring, and declared her his spouse; notwithstanding that he had been crucified several hundred years before St. Catherine was born! Nay, they declare that he carried on a most affectionate correspondence with her, and that many of his letters of conjugal love are still extant. Of these, however, I could not obtain a have frequently seen good Christians painfully mounting on their knees,a method of locomotion they seem to think more to the taste of the Virgin who lives at the top of them, than the vulgar mode of walking; and it is either practised, in order to repay her for some benefit already received, or to obtain some desired gratification. One woman told me she had gone up on her knees, because she had made a vow to do it, if the Madonna would cure her of a bad sore throat in this case, it might be termed a debt of honour. Another performed this exploit, in order to prevail upon the Madonna to give her a prize in the lottery....Nineteen centuries ago, Julius Cæsar, at his first triumph, ascended on his knees, the steps of this very temple, (that of Jupiter Capitolinus.) Strange! after the lapse of ages, to see, on the same spot, the same superstitions infecting opposite faiths, and enslaving equally the greatest and the weakest minds! The last time I visited this church, it was crowded almost to suffocation, by peasants from remote mountain villages, arrayed in their grotesque and various holiday costumes, who had performed this festive pilgrimage, in order to see the Bambino, the new-born Jesus; sight; but I saw, in the public and pay their respects to the Virgin library in this city, several epistles ...The upper part of the Church on her side, to her dear husband around the great Altar, was adorned Jesus Christ, and her mother-inwith painted scenes, and converted law the Virgin Mary. That such into a stage, in the front of which a legend ever should have been acsat the figure of the Virgin, made credited in the darkest ages of exof wood, with her best blue satin travagant fanaticism, I could scarcegown, and topaz necklace only have believed; but that it should There lay, the new-born Bambino, rolled in rich swaddling clothes, and decked with a gilt crown; beside him stood St. Joseph, and the two Maries; and at a little distance were seen two martial figures, who, we were given to understand, were Roman centurions, made of pasteboard, and mounted on white horses. Near them projected from a side scene the head of a cow." P "We paid a visit (when at Sienna) to the house of St. Catherine, where have been gravely repeated, as authentic, in the nineteenth century, nothing, I think, short of the evidence of my senses, could have convinced me *." It is not without extreme hesitation that I have copied this last extract; nor have been transferred to your pages, but should a recital so painful and revolting for the important purpose of revealing the practical deformities, loathsome, and impious as they are, of the papal system. Roman-Catholic Church, or does it not, I would only add one inquiry; does the authorize, encourage, or defend such Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. THE following observations are submitted, on the subject of the wish expressed by you, in your last Number, "to have the privilege of pleading by counsel extended to all classes of offences," with a view to qualify your decisive opinion on that subject *. The well-known practice at present is this, so far as respects cases of felony counsel are allowed on both sides,-for the crown, to open the nature of the case, and to examine witnesses; for the prisoner, to examine and cross-examine on his behalf; that is, they have that liberty but there are cases where no counsel is engaged on either side. Prosecutors, however, have this advantage, that it is in the discretion of the judge to allow them reasonable costs, including those of counsel. In that opening, candour and humanity are the prevailing features; so much so that a counsel would forfeit his respectability, both practices as are here detailed? for, setting aside every question purely doctrinal, such rites and legends are surely the invention, and, in their practical influence on the minds of the papal populace, the triumph, of the powers of darkness over the pure and undefiled religion of Jesus Christ. They effect, under the mask of Christianity, what Voltaire and Condorcet endeavoured to accomplish by the weapons of infidelity. *Our correspondent will perceive, on referring back to the passage, that we expressed no "decisive opinion," even if we had one, on the subject; we merely stated, that, as Mr. Peel intended "to look into various circumstances connected with the administration of justice," with a view to such improvements as may appear expedient, we could wish, that, among other points, he would consider of the propriety of extending the privilege of pleading by counsel to all classes of offences. We insert G,'s arguments without comment, leaving the discussion open, so far as suitable for our pages, to our correspondents. We forbear also to embark on the consideration of some other points to which our attention has been summoned, especially that of the uniformity required in every case, of jurymen, which certain of our correspondents consider as "irrational in its principle, and highly injurious in its operation, leading often to the grossest perjury." CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 282. to the bar and the public, did he indulge in a different strain. On the other hand, the counsel for the prisoner is left to the fullest liberty of cross-examination, which is often exercised to a pitch of severity, even beyond the latitude taken in civil causes. Then again; where the prisoner has no counsel, which on. be the case, the judge becomes the proposed plan, must still often his counsel; and this, in many instances, much more to his advantage, than were a counsel to act for him. It must not also be omitted to be observed, that the prisoner's counsel is at full liberty to state and argue points of law on his behalf. Under these circumstances, it is not easy to discover what advantages a prisoner would derive from this supposed privilege of pleading by counsel. The following are some of the disadvantages, if not to himself, yet to the courts of judicature; and even, it may be, to the perfect administration of justice, which might result from allowing such a practice. 1. The trouble and inconvenience to judges and jurors. An assizes or commission of oyer and terminer, would last at least twice as long as it now does, were counsel to be heard at length for and against the prosecution; and this being a case of life or death, the prisoner's counsel would feel bound for his own credit, perhaps also urged by his feelings, to expatiate to the utmost; his opponent, of course, to resist his arguments at equal length; as in fact is already observable in cases of treason. 2. The passions would be attempted to be unduly worked upon. And in cases of this nature, a counsel would scarcely be restrained by the court, from any length he might choose to go, though in a civil cause he might be subject to some check. 3. Criminals, both those who were tried and those who were waiting derive encouragement to crime, for trial in court, would be apt to 3 A from the specious colourings and reasonings of an ingenious barrister in favour of their innocence. 4. The jury, who in crown cases (for the best reasons) generally consist of plain men, would be not assisted, but confounded and embarrassed, by the addresses in defence and in reply; and though they would have the resource of the judge's opinion, (without which in civil cases they would often be lamentably bewildered,) yet that resource would be likely to be much more simple and serviceable without those wearisome and extraneous appendages of pleading and argu ment. Nor does the change appear to be called for on constitutional grounds. If it were; if every subject had a right to be defended by counsel, and to this extent, provision should be made by law, in forma pauperis, that every culprit, unequal to the expense, should have an attorney assigned him, to draw up his case, and inquire out his proofs, and a counsel to hold a brief for him; yet this very impression of "equal rights" is the one likely to carry over many in favour of the present idea, for want of cool investigation; and indeed, unless we are on our guard, other plans of reform of the present day might, at first sight, appear corrections of abuses, which yet, on re-consideration, would be found to militate against usages founded in wisdom, and matured by experience. G. Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. No employment perhaps has so strong a tendency to weaken the impressions of religion as mental pursuits, whenever they become the main occupation of life. The thoughts of the practical mechanic may range to a certain degree at will, over spiritual subjects, in his busiest hour; but the scholar must bend earnestly and constantly every faculty of his mind to the one object immediately before him. To the evils, which such an absorption is liable to induce, the experience of every Christian student will bear witness. How often may progress in earthly knowledge be measured by retrogression in heavenly wisdom. How often have the fascinations of literature chilled the ardour of devotion, opened a way to vain-glory and ambition, and gradually brought on a grievous decay in every part of the spiritual life. To check such a tendency, to avert such consequences, one would catch at any thing which promises, however indirectly, to break the continuity of this abstraction, and to recal the ideas, though but for a moment, from Parnassus to Sion. With this view, the writer would recommend to the classical student, in the midst of his daily labours, ever to have his Bible within reach. Let him, as a philologist or antiquarian, remark and compare whatever parallel phrases, sentiments, imagery, customs, or incidents may occur; and they are neither few nor uninteresting. This habit of reading, with the eye perpetually glancing off to the pages of Scripture, could not fail of being attended with happy effects. Not to mention the value of the illustrations so derived, he would thus be brought into a closer and more frequent intercourse with the repository of his faith, and imperceptibly be led to identify it with every object of his study. By way of following up the suggestion, a few instances of such parallelism, (the best the recollection of the moment can adduce,) shall close this communication. 1. "It is turned as clay to the seal." Job xxxviii. 14. This use of clay, where we employ wax, is incidentally noticed by Herodotus, Euterpe 38; where, speaking of the examination of the victims by the Egyptian priests, he says, "If the animal is found unblemished, the priest marks it by twisting a slip of byblus around the horns; and then having spread thereon sealing CLAY (yny onμavтpica) he impresses his signet." 2. After that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed," &c. Jeremiah xxxi. 19. This expression of violent emotion is mentioned in Homer. Iliad xii. 152. "Then Asius uttered a piercing cry, and smote upon his thighs (w TETANYETO μnow)." And so Mars, Iliad xiv. 113. 3." My net will I also spread upon him; and he shall be taken in my snare." Ezek. xii. 13. referring to Zedekiah, "Who didst cast thy net (eßaλec KTVOV) upon the towers of Troy." Eschylus. Agamem. 348. 4. "I will sweep it [Babylon] with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts." Isaiah xiv. 23. "OJove, what meanest thou to do? Lay down the besom (тo коpпμa): sweep not (EKKOPEL) Greece." Aristophanes. Par. 59. Eschylus furnishes a somewhat similar instance. "Having rased Troy with the spade of Jove, (ALos pakeλλn)." Agam. 508. 5. "Many also, which used curious arts, brought their books together and burned them before all men." Acts xix. 19. So Horace, (Epod. xvii. 4.) addressing the enchantress Canidia, conjures her "by the books (libros carminum) of incantations, potent enough to call down the stars from heaven." 6. "In the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge." Psalm Ivii. 1, &c. The same image is used to denote protecting power and guardian care, by the classical writers, as Eschylus (Eumen. 1004.) "Dwelling beneath the wings (TTEρOLC) of Pallas the sire respects them."-And Euripides (Heracl. 10.) "Keeping his children under my wings, I protect them," &c. 7. "For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon." Daniel ii. 12. Thus, Astyages, the Mede, when his army was defeated by Cyrus, "First of all impaled the interpreters of dreams, who had formerly persuaded him to let Cyrus go free." Herodotus Clio. 128. 9. There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." 1 Kings xxii. 8. So the son of Atreus indignantly addresses the seer Calchas; "Prophet of wars, never yet hast thou once declared aught prosperous for Thy delight is ever in predicting misfortunes: and never hast thou delivered a prophecy of good." Homer, Iliad i. 106. me. 10. "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord...Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.' Psalm cxxvii. 3, 5. For this reason men pray for children, that they may repay their enemy with evil." Sophocles Antigone, 643. Οντις. REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. Observations on Corporal Punish- WE rejoice to observe that a very large share of public attention has of late been increasingly devoted to various points connected with the well-being of seamen both in the king's and the merchants' service. Too long have seafaring men been considered as little better than mere machines or animals, incapable of being regulated by those higher motives and principles which influence, or ought to influence, other classes of mankind, and as it were naturally destined to be governed by slavish severity in this life, and to be almost excluded from all practical acquaintance with a life to come. The scene happily has changed; our maritime population are at length acknowledged to be human beings, responsible beings, immortal beings; beings whose stock of necessities is not confined to eatables, drinkables, and inflammables; shot and gunpowder for their enemies, and rum and rope's-end for themselves. The British public have ascertained that sailors have souls as well as bodies; and are beginning, very insufficiently indeed, but still hopefully, to act upon that discovery. Hitherto this benevolent agency has been Hitherto chiefly voluntary and of an eleemosynary kind; but we despair not of its becoming, rapidly we would hope, but ultimately we cannot doubt, national, official, and co-extensive with the moral, physical, and religious wants of this large and interesting class of our fellow-subjects. The sum of what has been done, is in progress, by voluntary agency for our seamen, is chiefly as or follows. The Naval and Military Bible Society, and the Merchanttended the circulation of the ScripSeamen's Bible Society have extures among them; the Prayer-book and Homily Society is diffusing among them the formularies of the very insufficient funds will allow; Church of England, so far as its tract societies are sending them their "winged messengers *;" and parts of the world, but chiefly unon every side are arising, in various der the auspices of different bodies of Dissenters, "floating chapels," riners' libraries." "mariners' churches," and " ma England has not yet come forward The Church of service of humanity, religion, and with sufficient activity in this great true patriotism. Ireland, however, has set us a most honourable example in her noble marine institution in the port of her metropolis under the zealous patronage of the Arch Christian Knowledge, has long been enThe venerable Society for promoting gaged, in its measure, in the important object of circulating the Bible, the Prayeris most justly remarked in one of the book, and Tracts among our seamen. tracts of that institution; It "The miscarriages of too many of our seamen have occasioned great reproach to us abroad, and have been the cause of great damage to us at home. No sufficient remedies can be provided for these mischievous disasters, till there be particular care taken for the good education signed for a sea-faring life, and till conand religious instruction of such as are denerally set up in our ships. Human nastant prayers and good government be geture is a corrupt and degenerate thing, and and ill-manners without diligent education will bring forth nothing but wickedness and careful conduct; and therefore, where the name of the great God is not mentioned but in order to blaspheme and proabound that the devil can suggest and fane it, it is no wonder if all the mischief men can commit;-for it is religion only that makes the world habitable, which would otherwise be as a wilderness of bers, as among the uncultivated Caribsavage beasts and a universal den of rob bees." |