GREAT BRITAIN.

Protestantism. -THE RELATION BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE is slowly but steadily transforming itself. The time when they will be entirely separated may still be far distant, but that many points must be changed, and that the interference of the State in matters purely ecclesiastical must cease, is more and more agreed upon by all parties. The disestablishment of the Church of England may still be considered by many Churchmen as a grave calamity, but they must admit that it is obviously possible. The bishops tell their clergy that the days of dependence on the State are gone by, and that if the Church will not lose her influence on the masses forever, she must re-establish it by her own energy. One of the relics of English State Churchism which had long been obnoxious to men of all parties, the "State Services" for the anniversaries of the Gunpowder Treason, (Nov. 5,) the martyrdom of King Charles I., (Jan. 30,) and the restoration of King Charles II., (May 29,) have at length been abandoned by a royal warrant. THE CONFLICT OF THE HIGH CHURCH AND LOW CHURCH PARTIES loses nothing of its violence. Rev. Mr. Cheyne having declared himself unwilling to retract those views on the Real Presence, on account of which he had been suspended by the Bishop of Aberdeen, the Episcopal Synod of Scotland has again confirmed his suspension, Bishop Forbes of Brechin only dissenting. The leaders of the High Church party, in England, condemn the decision of the Scottish bishops

FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XI.-20

in strong terms. Archdeacon Denison thinks that the teaching of the Scottish bishops is the same as the pernicious doctrines of Zwinglius and Calvin, and that it is a futile thing, not to say worse, to talk, as some High Church papers have done, of a Real Presence which is not the Real Presence. According to a letter of Dr. Pusey, this is the first time since the Reformation that the doctrine of the Real Presence has been condemned by the bishops of a Church which is in communion with the Church of England. He consoles himself, however, with the consideration that no article or formulary of the Church, which are the real teachers of the people, has been changed. The same consideration has been adduced by the High Church party of Scotland for not executing their first design, to establish a Free Episcopal Church. Rev. Mr. Poole, of St. Barnabas, Pimlico, whose license had been withdrawn by the Bishop of London for grave charges brought against him in connection with his use of the confessional, has applied to the Court of Queen's Bench for a mandamus to compel the Archbishop of Canterbury to issue a commission of inquiry into the alleged ground on which his license had been withdrawn, and the court has given judgment in his favor, the Lord Chief Justice Campbell, and the three other judges present, all expressing their opinion that Mr. Poole was clearly entitled to a full investigation. Notwithstanding the estrangement which exists between the two great parties, and which seems to widen every year, they still work harmoniously together in many

societies and for many reforms in the Church. Thus the SPECIAL SERVICES, which in the large cities have been held for the special benefit of the laboring classes, are warmly recommended by both. These extra services have been everywhere a great success. The opening of St. Paul's, London, on the first Sunday of Advent, attracted from 80,000 to 100,000 people, many of whom, being unable to gain admission at St. Paul's, thronged the majority of the city churches. The church has ever since been crowded, but the High Churchmen complain that none of their party has been selected to preach except Dr. Hook, the Vicar of Leeds, whose views, moreover, have considerably "lowered in late years. THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS are about to abandon formally some of their distinctive peculiarities. A conference of three hundred of the members of the Society was held in London recently, at which it was agreed to sanction marriages between individuals of this community (although not in membership) by allowing them to take place in its religious meetings, and that all restrictions in regard to what is called plainness of speech, behavior, and apparel, may also be discontinued, but confirming its ancient testimony in favor of Christian moderation in these respects.

The Roman Catholic Church. As the feelings of a large portion of the Protestant population are obviously opposed to the annual support of the Roman Catholic COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH, suggestions have been lately made to substitute for the annual grant a gross sum. The Freeman's Journal, the old daily organ of the Irish Roman Catholics, thinks that the Roman Catholic bishops might not be altogether indisposed" to terminate the bitterness which sectaries have extracted out of a national right to a national exchequer for the education of the national clergy," and suggests, at a rough guess, that the grant might be exchanged for £1,000,000 pounds sterling, reserving to the college the present building and land. The Tablet, a Catholic weekly, says that rumors are afloat that CATHOLIC LITERARY ENTERPRISES are, for the most part, a losing speculation; that there is everywhere, more or less a decline in the sale of Catholic books, and a certain absense of literary enthusiasm on the Catholic public.

GERMANY.

Protestantism.-THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE EVANGELICAL PARTY in all Ger

many is likely to be considerably advanced by the establishment of a new central organ, the New Evangelical Church Gazette, which is published in Berlin since January, 1859. For many years no new paper has appeared under the auspices of so many illustrious names, the prospectus being signed by nearly all the great theologians of Germany, and by a number of laymen, who rank among the greatest scholars of our times, such as Professor Karl Ritter, the celebrated geographer, Professor H. Ritter, the author of the History of Philosophy, and Professor Fichte of Tubingen, one of the most distinguished German philosophers. In Prussia the government of the State Church is at present under the control of the evangelical party, for the Prince Regent has called Herr Von Bethman-Hollweg, a leading man in the party, to the Ministry of Worship. In the new second Chamber, however, the Rationalistic Union Party is believed to have a very strong majority. In the Grand Duchy of Baden a great excitement has been created among the people by the known intention of the Supreme Ecclesiastical Council, to introduce, in accordance with a resolution of the last General Synod, a new liturgy, which contains the principal parts of the Lutheran mass. The remonstrances and petitions of a large number of Church Councils have induced the Grand Duke to order the postponement of its obligatory introduction until the next General Synod. In the Grand Duchy of HesseDarmstadt, the friends of an Evangelical Union have held a conference at Friedeberg, which was largely attended by clergymen, and in which also many distinguished laymen, as the Prince of SolmsLich, took part. In Wirtemberg, one of the six diocesan synods has almost unanimously expressed the wish, that a General Synod of the Evangelical State Church may be convoked soon, and that the Church may be placed more indeTHE LUTHERAN pendent of the state. PARTY has improved its organization in the three Hessian States, (Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Cassel, and Hesse-Homburg,) where they now hold semi-annual conferences, the last of which took place at Marburg, and was presided over by Professor Vilmar, of Marburg, so well known for his Romanizing tendencies. In Prussia several clergymen of the State Church, with a part of their congregations, have joined the old Lutheran Church. In Baden the Lutheran party is now nearly extinct, as its last leaders among the

clergy have left the State Church. THE RATIONALISTIC PARTY has made attempts to rally in Baden, and especially in the Bavarian Palatinate, but it has hardly gained any ground. It places great hopes on the change of government which has taken place in Prussia, though the free congregations and German Catholics have been again forbidden, in several places, to hold their regular meetings. PROTESTANTISM IN AUSTRIA must have made some progress in the northern provinces, for the Bishops of Bohemia have found it necessary to warn the Catholics against the Protestant propaganda. In the Tyrol they have at length received the right to purchase landed property and to bury their dead according to the rites of their Churches. But the urgent petitions of the Hungarians for permission to frame a new ecclesiastical constitution have not been granted, and in the Lutheran Church of the German provinces, the preaching of missionary sermons has been forbidden by the Protestant Consistory, from fear they might be considered as a demonstration against the Jesuits.

The Roman Catholic Church. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH OF AUSTRIA has held provincial synods in three of the seventeen ecclesiastical provinces. Great efforts have been made by the bishops, by the Catholic press, and the official papers of the government, to awaken in the people an interest in these assemblies, but with very little success. The emperor, however, has availed himself of this opportunity to assure the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Vienna, that their endeavors to give to the development of a stronger ecclesiastical life a well-conconsidered, firm foundation, meet with his warmest sympathy. A new decree on the Reorganization of Public Instruction provides that even every private school must have a denominational character, and that children of Catholic parents cannot be admitted to any non-Catholic schools; while, on the other hand, the Catholic schools are permitted to admit a limited number of children of other denominations. Circulars have been issued from all the departments of the ministry, by which the subaltern officers, the burgomasters included, are apprised of the determined will of the emperor, that all the public officers shall set an example to the people in respecting the Church and the clergy, Encouraged by such extra ordinary favors, the Catholic party has even dared to propose the re-establishment

of the censorship of the Church over all literary productions. If, nevertheless, the Catholic Church in Austria increases but slowly in power and influence, it is, for a great part, owing to the dissatisfaction of a large portion of the priesthood with both the institutions and the doctrines of their Church. The Catholic party will be the last to deny this important fact, as during the past year the bishops, to whom Rome has committed the reformation of the monks, have met, on the part of most convents, with an obstinate resistance. These facts being generally known, a rumor that upward of five hundred priests had petitioned the bishops for the abolition of celibacy, and for other reforms, was readily believed, though no proofs have as yet been adduced for its truth, which is denied by the Catholic press. THE CATHOLIC PARTY IN PRUSSIA has gained, at the last elections of the Second Chamber, a few members, and its talented leader, August Reichensperger, of Cologne, has, in consequence of the coalition of the Catholics with the Liberals, been again elected first vicepresident of the Second Chamber. The party intends, however, to drop its former name in the Parliament, in order to give to the Prince Regent, who has appointed a Catholic his Prime Minister, a proof of their confidence. THE RELATION OF THE OTHER GERMAN STATES TO ROME has changed but little. In Wirtemberg there still exists a great excitement on account of the Concordat, and it is believed that the Second Chamber will refuse to ratify it. In the Duchy of AnhaltDessau, the first Catholic church has been consecrated in the capital by the Papal Nuncio of Munich, who has been highly gratified at the very liberal disposition of the duke toward his Catholic subjects. A new proof of the strong ATTACHMENT OF THE CATHOLIC ARISTOCRACY TO THEIR CHURCH has been furnished during the past year by the considerable increase of candidates for the priesthood and monastic orders from their midst. Thus a daughter of the richest nobleman of the Prussian Rhine provinces, the Count of Furstenberg-Stammheim, has lately taken the solemn vows as a nun, and on the same day a cousin of hers was received as a novite.

The Greek Church.-As Russia does not cease to make secret efforts for inclining the UNITED GREEK CHURCH toward a separation from Rome, the Papal Nuncio at Vienna has made a tour through

Hungary and Transylvania, in order to obtain reliable information concerning the real state of affairs. Catholic papers say that he is fully satisfied with the result of his investigations.

SCANDINAVIA.

Protestantism.-A large portion of THE LUTHERAN CLERGY of Sweden and Norway continues to be strongly attached to hierarchical principles, and are opposing, to the utmost of their ability, though without success, the efforts of the many dissenting denominations, which on all sides are extending their operations. Foremost among these are still THE BAPTISTS, who spread in Sweden, in spite of continuing persecution, with extraordinary rapidity. From the small beginning made in 1849, when the first Baptist Church was organized, they have increased to forty-five churches, sixty-two pastors and colporteurs, and two thousand one hundred and five members.

A gen

tleman who is not a Baptist, annoyed by the intolerance and bigotry of the teachers of the national schools, has offered twenty thousand Swedish dollars for the erection of a school on Baptist principles, Colporteurs are at work in every province except the eastern ones, where the prejudice against all lay agency is so powerful that it shuts it out almost completely. Also in Denmark the work is onward, and promises a glorious future. THE METHODISTS have been equally successful in Norway. They have seventy members at Frederickshald, and one hundred and fiftysix at Sarpsburg, and small congregations have been collected in two other places. They have also commenced operations in Denmark, and the superintendent of the Scandinavian mission has taken up his permanent residence in Copenhagen. A bill for establishing a Supreme Ecclesiastical Council in the NATIONAL CHURCH OF DENMARK has been defeated in the Lower House of the Diet by a considerable majority, and there are no prospects for the Church to extricate herself soon from the disordered condition in which she has been since 1849.

BELGIUM.

The Roman Catholic Church. THE LIBERAL PARTY is unrelenting in its efforts to arrest the progress of ultramontane principles. The book-market abounds in anti-Catholic books, but most of the liberal writers know not what religious belief to substitute for that which they

attack, and have no other cause to plead than that of Atheism and Materialism. Some towns have tried to take the public instruction out of the hands of the priesthood; but the Liberals, as a party, have not yet been able to unite on a scheme for organizing a system of public instruction independent of the influence of the bishops. An ultramontane professor of the State University of Ghent, who taught the temporal power of the Pope, has been promptly removed, and a distinguished Protestant of Germany has received a call to the same university as Professor of Chemistry. THE BISHOPS, at their last meeting at Malines, have resolved that no clergyman shall teach at a school which does not adhere to the principles of the Convention of Antwerp, by which a compromise between the government and the bishops with regard to public institutions was effected. They also recommend to the Flemish congregations the new Flemish translation of the Holy Scriptures, made by Professor Vraten of Louvain. THE IN

TEREST IN FOREIGN MISSIONS shows itself, especially with regard to the United States of America and Scandinavia. The Ecclesiastical Seminary founded at Loupriests, has about twenty students, and vain for supplying America with European has already fitted out several priests for the United States. The superior states that he can find an almost unlimited number of candidates, if the necessary pecuniary means can be procured. the new Vicariate Apostolic of Greenland and of the northern parts of Norway and Sweden a similar scheme of special support is under deliberation.

For

Protestantism. The last annual report of the Sociète Evangelique Belge states that, during the past year, besides the opening of evangelical worship in several other places of greater or less importance, the society has founded new stations in Namur and Louvain, two of the most important towns in Belgium. All the stations have witnessed, during the past year, a great progress, especially those of Lize-Seraing, Jumet, and Charleroi. A very encouraging report on the PROGRESS OF PROTESTANTISM was likewise made by the Committee of Evangelization of the Evangelical State Church, which held its last annual synod in August. The committee supports six Protestant schools with four hundred and fifty children.

into two different bodies, generally called the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Reformed Evangelical Lutheran Church, is likely to be soon reunited, both parties having made some advances for this pur pose. The want of interest in FOREIGN MISSIONS, with which the Protestant Churches of Holland generally have been charged for many years, is especially felt by the sister Churches in view of the great openings for Christianity in Asia. The few persons who go out from Holland as missionaries are scarcely sufficient to meet the wants of a hundredth part of the heathen and Mohammedan population of Java and the surrounding islands.

The Roman Catholic Church. The Pope, notified by THE JANSENISTS, who call themselves the unhappy and disowned sons of the Catholic Church, of the election of a new Archbishop of Utrecht, has answered with a new brief of excommunication. The denomination has decreased, since the beginning of the present century, in numbers, and counts at present some five thousand members. But since the proclamation of the new dogma of the Immaculate Conception, new sympathies for it have sprung up in France, Italy, Spain, and Germany, and it is thought that a combination of these elements may lead to a new episcopalian reaction against the strictly Papal system which at present prevails in the Roman Catholic Church.

FRANCE.

The Roman Catholic Church. THE CATHOLIC PARTY has taken great offense at the warlike demonstration of Louis Napoleon against Austria, for it is the favorite dream of the Univers and its followers, that France and Austria are designed by Providence to reconvert, by their combined influence, and if necessary by force of arms, the whole of Europe to the Roman Catholic Church. Not less have their feelings been wounded by a report of Prince Napoleon, the governor of Algeria, to the emperor, on the expediency of having the Jewish population of the colony represented in the Councils-General, in order to manifest, by an act of government, that the equality of creeds before the laws of France is absolute and complete. Prince Napoleon has never been considered as a docile son of the Church, but the appointment of four Israelites as members of the Councils-General of Algiers, Oran, and Constantine, has funished a

new proof that even the emperor cannot always be relied upon. The marriage of Prince Napoleon with the eldest daughter of the King of Sardinia, displeases the Catholic party likewise; for the King of Sardinia is looked upon as the bannerbearer of an anti-Catholic liberalism among the European princes. On the other hand, the Catholic party feels great satisfaction with the progress of the French-Spanish expedition against CochinChina, where an important town has been taken and declared French property. They hope that the French government will seize on the whole territory, and make it a French-Indian empire, with the Catholic Church as the State Church. THE MONASTIC ORDERS AND RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS continue to multiply. Among the former, the Petites Sours des Pauvres, (Little Sisters of the Poor,) spread with unusual rapidity. Though founded only a few years, (the foundress, formerly a female servant, still lives,) they have at present fifty houses. Their object is to establish homes for poor old men and women, and to nurse them. They have received calls from nearly every large city of France, and a house and furniture is

generally given them by the city councils.

Some of the orders, however, commence again, as in former centuries, to occupy Thus the austere Trappists have comthemselves with very worldly pursuits. menced, in Algeria, to manufacture and sell perfumes in such quantities as to injure the business of other manufacturers, who declare themselves unable to compete with the Trappists, because the latter are subsidized by the government. Among the associations, the new Society of St. Francis de Sales, which was founded about a year ago, and whose object is to counteract the success of the Protestant missionaries among the Catholic population, has been prominent for its zeal. A most fanatical sermon was preached at its first anniversary, held in Paris, in November, by its president, the blind Monseigneur de Segur, who represented history as a warfare be tween the Lord of Creation, Jesus, his angels, saints and Christians, his Roman Catholic Church, with its visible head, the Pope, on one side, and the first of created beings after the Holy Virgin, namely, Lucifer, the revolted archangel, his demons, hypocrites, infidels, heretics, with all his emissaries, without a visible head, on the other. The annual report furnished numerous items showing the geat progress of Protestantism in all parts of France.