A Church, if it deserves that title, must yield us assistance, and not we the Church. The Church that needs our assistance, we despise. Only the Church which has help from above for mankind, and is conscious of it, is a divine institution.

4. A Church that has its origin in heaven, is an organ cf divine inspiration and life to humanity. For Religion is not only a system of divinely given truths, but also the organ of a divine life. Life, and its transmission, is inconceivable, independent of an organism. The office of the Church, therefore, is not only to teach divine truths, but also to enable men to actualize them.

If entrance into the Church is not a step to a higher and holier life, the source of a larger and more perfect freedom, her claims do not merit a moment's consideration. Away with the Church that reveals not a loftier manhood, and ena bles men to attain it.

5. The object of the Church authority is not to lay restraints on man's activity, but to direct it aright; not to make him a slave, but to establish his independence; the object of Church authority is to develop man's individuality, consecrate and defend his rights, and elevate his existence to the plane of his divine destiny.

Divine Religion appeals to man's holiest instincts, and inspires the soul with a sublime enthusiasm. A Church without martyrs, is not on equality with the institution of the family or state; for they are not wanting in heroes. A Church that ceases to produce martyrs is dead.

6. Hearts are aching to be devoted to the down-trodden and suffering of the race. Breasts are elated with heroic impulses to do something in the noble cause of Truth and God; and shall all these aspirations and sentiments, which do honor to our nature, be wasted, misspent, or die out for want of sanction and right direction? Who can give this sanction? Who can give this direction? No one but God's Church

upon earth. This is her divine mission.

In concert with the voice of all those who are conscious of their humanity, we demand a visible and divine authority, to

anite and direct the aspirations and energies of individuals and nations to great enterprises for the common welfare of men upon earth, and for eternity.

7. If the Religion we are in search of does not exist, and we remain in darkness, we shall be found standing upright, ooking heavenward, our Reason unshackled, in all the dignity and energy of our native manhood.

"Better roam for aye, than rest

Under the impious shadow of a roof unbless'd.” 1

60. THE WILD LILY AND THE PASSION FLOWER.

ROUQUETTE.

REV. A. ROUQUETTE is a native of New Orleans. His French poems, under the title of Les Savanes, were received with much encouragement in France. He has written a beautiful and poetical treatise on the solitary life, entitled La Thébaïde en Amerique, and a volume of English poems, called "Wild Fowers." He is a perfect master of the melody of the English; and that he is a poet by nature appears in every line, and more strikingly in his prose than in his verse. Mr. Rouquette was ordained a priest in 1845.

Right Reverend JOHN ENGLAND, D.D., first Bishop of Charleston, S. C., Wis born in Cork, in 1786, died in Charleston in 1842. Dr. England wa man of great natural abilities, and profound and varied attainments. He was one of the greatest prelates the American Church has yet had. As a writer and an orator he had no superior, and few equals. He has enriched our literature with essays on almost every subject bearing upon the interests of Catholicity in this country. His works were collected and pubLshed, in five octavo volumes, by his successor, Dr. Reynolds.

1. In my last I gave a brief description of the proces sion and first vespers of the festival of St. Peter and Paul, on the 28th ult. Preparations had been made for illuminat ing the exterior of the church of St. Peter's as soon as night should fall No description can convey to your readers an

adequate idea of the spectacle which this presents. The dome is somewhat larger than the church of St. Mary of the Martyrs, which is the old Pantheon; and this is not only surmounting the roof, but raised considerably above it. This Pantheon is much larger than the Circular Church,' in Meeting-street. Imagine this as only one of three domes, of which it is indeed far the largest, elevated considerably above the roof of a church, the façade of which is a grand pile of architecture; this dome is half surrounded by columns, and the one by which the entablature over them is crowned, is closely ribbed to its summit; over this is a ball, in which I was one of eight persons, standing erect, and we had room for at least four others, and this ball surmounted by a cross.

2. From the sides of the front two wings of splendid architecture project forward, upwards of eighty feet; at their extremities are lofty columns, over which run the proper entablatures, crowned by pediments; from these the immense colonnades recede almost semicircularly from each wing, sweeping with their hundreds of pillars round the immense piazza, capable of containing probably one hundred thousand human beings upon the area within their embrace.

3. In the centre of this is a rich Egyptian obelisk, resting upon the backs of four lions couchant upon the angles of a fine pedestal. Half way from this obelisk, at each side toward the colonnade, are the two magnificent fountains, probably the most superb in the world. Each appears to be a spacious marble vase, elevated upon a sufficiently strong, but gracefully delicate stem; the summit of this vase is at the elevation of about twelve feet. From its centre rises to nearly the same height another still more slender and delicately-shaped stem, from whose summit is projected to a considerable height, a water-spout, which gracefully bending near its summit, and yielding to the direction of the wind, as it forms its curve and descent, is separated into a sort of sparkling spray of pearls and silver intermixed; twelve other simi

'The Circular Church, one of the principal buildings in Charleston, South Carolina

lar spouts shoot round this central liquid column, diverging from it on every side as they rise, and falling with a similar appearance at somewhat of a less elevation.

4. They seem in the distance to be like rich plumes of some gigantic ostrich, gracefully waving in the breeze, while the descending shower is received in the capacious vase, from whose interior it is conducted to various fountains in the city. Hundreds of statues lift their various forms, appearing larger than life, over the frieze and cornice of the colonnade; while at the foot of the majestic flight of steps by which you ascend to the portico of the church, two ancient statues of St. Peter and St. Paul have for centuries rested upon their pedestals.

5. The façade of the church itself is surmounted by the colossal statues of the Twelve Apostles. The illumination consisted of two parts. The lamps for the first part were disposed closely, in colored paper, along the architectural lines of this mighty mass, along the ribs of the domes, around the ball, and on the cross.

6. To me, as I looked from the bridge of St. Angelo, the scene appeared like a vision of enchantment. It seemed as if a nighty pile of some rich, black, soft material, was reared in the Ukeness of a stupendous temple, and the decorations were broad lines of burning liquid gold. The ball and the cross were seen as if detached and resting in the air above its summit. It was indeed a becoming emblem of the triumph of a crucified Redeemer over this terrestrial ball. After I had passed the bridge, and as I approached the piazza, the front of the church, and the expanse of the colonnade, exhibited their lines of light. The specks which formed those lines glowed now more distinct and separate, and though their continuity was lost, their symmetry was perfect and magnificent.

7. The immense piazza was thronged with carriages, and persons-on foot; while a division of the Papal dragoons, one of the finest and best disciplined bodies of cavalry in existence, moved in sections and single files through the multitnde, calmly, but steadily and firmly, preserving order in a kind, polite, but determined manner. Scarcely a word is heard