Editor's Table [pp. 93-96]

EDITOR'S TABLE.
testant church, the large and gorgeous Notre Dame, the
walk on Sabbath afternoon amid sports of every description, from Place de la Bourse, up the Rue de Paris to
Ingouville.
2. Papal countries present masses of the people in the
lowest degradation. This is particularly true of Italy.
Lazzaroni crowd the streets of the city, and station
themselves along the highways, presenting the most
lothsome pictures of vice, filth, poverty, and deformity.
Mr. S. states that they are to be met in crowds at the
bases of hills, where vehicles are expected to halt, or
move slowly, and that such is their degradation and
cruelty, that mothers often break and twist the limbs of
their children, in order to qualify them for successful
begging. The question naturally arises, Is this the resultof their religion? To which Mr. S. answers, "Yes."
The money of the many is abstracted by the few. The
palaces of the cardinals, the Vatican of the Pope, the
monasteries and nunneries, splendid edifices with beautiful parks, the cathedrals of the Church, all of the most
magnificent order, have been reared by the money of the
people, and are the depositories of immense wealth.
The Vatican is a rich toy-shop. The stranger standing
in an Italian cathedral, and surveying the paintings decorating its immense walls, the statues in its niches, the
votive offerings which deck its images, the rich museum
which opens to his eye, whether he contemplates its inmmense height, or looks down its gorgeous street-like
aisles, need not be at a loss to understand why a church
is an acquisition (in some countries) to an invading
army.
3. Idolatry. Wherever you turn in a Catholic country you meet images: inside and outside of the churches, in private houses, and along the highways. When a
Catholic rears a new habitation, he is careful to have an
apartment, or a small, separate house for the image of
the Virgin; if a new bridge is built, a house is erected in
its vicinity for the Virgin Mary, to which the passing
traveler is expected to pay his devotions. Even the
children have their little images, and are taught to kiss
them and pray to them; when one of them desires a
new dress or toy, she prays to her image to intercede
with her parents for her; if she obtains her desire, she
expresses her gratitude to the image; if not, she treats it
coolly. Mr. S. stated, that in one of the cathedrals in
Naples, (if we err not,) there is an image of the Virgin,
guarded by an iron railing, and inclosed in a glass case,
which when pleased, weeps tears, and when offended,
blood. She is richly decorated with gold watches and
other costly offerings of the higher classes, and surrounded with waxen arms, legs, &c., suspended to the
wall by the poor, in token of their healing by her miraculous power. Her tears are, doubtless, from a bottle
concealed in her head and managed by some priest,
who can thus calm the multitude, or rouse them to fury.
Numerous similar cases might be referred to-this must
suffice.
The reverence paid to the Pope is scarce less than
idolatrous. At the Carnival, he is conveyed on a scarlet
couch, upon the shoulders of eight men, to St. Peter's,
and as he rises from his eminence, the sea of heads falls
beneath his outstretched hands-this ceremony ended,
the multitude retire with an assurance, that do what
they may, having the Pope's blessing, they cannot be
damned. It is remarkable that every thing about
the Pope is scarlet, his curtains, his couch, and his
carriage lining, and even the livery of his servants. A
pretty successor to St. Peter is the Pope! Not the wandering object of persecution, but a monarch with sixteen
thousand soldiers for his guard.
4. Popery shows the widest distinctions in society: the
palace and the hovel, the princely cardinal and the beggar. Hence, the reason why despots without faith have
been Catholic with zeal. Romanism is a splendid machinery for the depression and control of the mass. The
principles of liberty go hand in hand with Protestantism,
because Protestants read the Bible, whose principles and
tendencies are democratic. The New Testament teaches the equality of all men, the right of the people to examine into the character of their rulers, the dependence
of man for his salvation on God only, and the individual
importance and dignity of every human being. We
were not surprised to hear Mr. Sawtell say, that even
infidels in Italy are desirous to distribute the Bible, because they have observed a connection between its distribution and civil liberty. Italy is soon to experience a
revolution.
Wandering, said Mr. S., on the Palatine hill with an
Italian, he said to me, "The condition of this country
is like that of Vesuvius. When I lie down at night, I prepare myself to be awakened in the morning by the sound
of the cannon. There are many in Italy that will not
rest until that country is free." Sorne, however, suppose
God designs to destroy Italy physically; that the whole
peninsula is volcanic, and that Vesuvius is a mere outlet
to the surplus fires which God is accumulating for this
purpose. Many geological facts support this hypothesis.
Be this as it may, the Pope cannot long maintain his
temporal dominion: his subjects do not exceed 3,000,000,
and his finances are in a desperate state, his government
debt being $67,000,000. It has been supposed that he
will at no distant day transfer the Vatican to this continent.
Dark as Italy is, it has some bright spots. There are
twenty-four Evangelical Protestant ministers in this country, two in Rome and its vicinity, one of them on the Capitoline hill. Bibles are introduced into Italy notwithstanding the Pope's efforts to prevent it. Protestant
books are read in defiance of the Pope's "damnatio."
From the bosom of the Pope's dominions, the cry of feeble Protestants comes up to us, "They of Italy salute
you." This country has associations to endear it both to
the scholar and the Christian; it is the country of Cicero
and Virgil, of Paul's bondage, and travels, and preaching.
When I entered the Bay of Naples, said Mr. S., no object was so attractive as the little village of Puteoli; and
though it was dangerous at that season to travel through
the Pontine marsh, I took the old Roman way to Rome,
that I might stop at Appii Forum, where Paul took
courage.
FRANCE, in regard to its religious condition, has
long been in a somewhat unsettled state. She has had
a tendency to resist the encroachments of Catholicism,
to some extent, ever since 1170, when the Waldenses
arose. This remarkable people still exist in their mountain fastnesses, from which, not even the bloody persecution of the 17th century could displace them. They
are artless, self-denying, Protestant Christians, whose
temporal circumstances, however, are far from enviable,
and whose number is, perhaps, gradually decreasing.
We expected to hear Rev. Mr. Sawtell gjve some account of them, but we were disappointed. At the ascen
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