suffered many calamities, and were often made prisoners, and killed, on account of their religious sentiments; many were deprived of their property, and reduced to beggary, and many were forced to perform their worship secretly, and hide themselves in desarts and caves. But they possessed the noble consciousness that they were in the right, and that though men should revile and persecute them for righteousness' sake, yet they had laid up for them a reward in Heaven.

11. A. D. 336. The Emperor Constantine ordered the heathen temples, throughout the Roman empire to be demolished, and Christian worship to be established. This was partly effected; in time, the gods of Rome were forgotten, many wise men taught the Christian religion, and Churches were erected; but so few people could read, and so many false stories were told of Christianity, that fables were introduced into it. About six centuries after Christ, the Christian religion was divided into two very distinct systems, one called the Roman Catholic, and the other the Greek Church; both of these religious systems supposed that ceremonies, and reverence to saints, were of the highest importance, and that to read the scriptures could do people no good; so that very little of the Christian religion was known, or practised in the world, for many centuries after that time.

12. About the same time that the religion of Europe was divided into the Catholic and Greek churches, all western Asia, Arabia, and all the north of Africa, received the religion of Mahomet, which professes to detest Christianity; so that true Christianity was only preserved by a few learned men, in manuscript copies of the Scrip

tures, kept in convents; and such was the genera ignorance which followed the corruption of Christianity, that the long period which elapsed between the sixth and the sixteenth centuries, is called the Dark Ages.

13. The sixteenth century is called the glori ous era of the Reformation. Printing was discovered in 1444. In every country of Europe, people learned the art of reading. Bibles were printed in all languages, and somewhat read in all countries. Ulric Zuingle, in Switzerland, John Calvin, a Frenchman, Martin Luther, a German, John Knox, a Scotsman, and many other men called reformers, in different countries, preached from the Scriptures, and from that time to this, the religion of the Bible has been cultivated and understood by many people.

14. European Turkey has adopted the Mahomedan religion, though the Greeks of Turkey and the Grecian Islands, worship according to the rites of the Greek Church. Russia professes the faith of the Greek Church. In Great Britain, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden; in the British Colonies, in Asia and America, and in the United States of America, the Protestant faith prevails among the inhabitants.

15. Asia is chiefly given up to Mahomedanism, and other false religions. The Indians of North and South America, and the Islanders of the Pacific and Indian Oceans are idolaters. The French inhabitants of the Canadas, and of Louisiana, the white men of Mexico, and the Spanish and Portuguese, of the vast countries of South America, are also Catholics. Attempts are now making by the Protestants in Europe and America

to send the Bible into all countries, and the hope is cherished by Christians every where, that all men will, in due time, come to the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ whom he sent into the world.

Protestants. Those Christians every where are called Protestants, who profess to believe that it is every man's duty to read the Scriptures for himself, to judge of their meaning by his own understanding, and to worship God in the manner that he judges to be right. Protestants are divided into many sects, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, &c. but the wise and good among all these, agree to allow others the privilege of honouring their Maker, each in his own way.

1. The Pope.-Early in the sixth century the bishops of Rome declared that when Jesus left the world, he appointed Peter, one of his disciples, to be the head or governor of the church. The Church means all people, every where, who believe that Christ came from God, and taught as God inspired him. The bishops of Rome asserted that when Christ ascended to Heaven, he appointed Peter to be the master of all believers, not only as to what they should believe, but in respect to all their actions, and all their property; that after the death of Peter, one bishop after another was to have the same power, which they asserted had belonged to him, and that a Father,

as they called him, was always to represent, or be in the place of Christ in the Church. These bishops called themselves Popes, or Fathers, and commanded all men to obey their orders.

2. One of the commands of the Pope was, that people should not read the Bible, but that they should believe what should be told them by priests, concerning it. This command was obeyed almost all over Europe. The princes and the people in all the civilized nations, received this doctrine.

3. Besides commanding the whole Christian world what they should believe, the Popes took upon themselves to determine what kings should reign over different kingdoms of Europe. These kingdoms had rules of their own, respecting who should govern them, but if at any time the Pope chose to set these laws aside, the nations, in whose affairs he interfered, felt themselves obliged to submit; but after the Reformation he never presumed to regulate Protestant states, and for a long time Roman Catholic princes have not permitted him to direct their government.

4. The Pope's authority over foreign countries, and out of the Church, is called his temporal power. His government in the church is ecclesiastical power. The Pope was said to be infallible; which means it was impossible for him to be in the wrong. When he was pleased to say that any person should not belong to the church, his declaration was Excommunication. As all persons were enjoined by the Roman Catholic religion, to look with contempt and horror upon an excommunicated person, excommunication was the greatest misfortune that could befal any one.

5. In the United States, we all have the liberty to

worship God in the manner we each approve.To hinder a person from doing this, would be persecution to allow it, is toleration.

1. The principal article of the Christian faith, is a belief in Christ; whom we believe to have been sent from God, because his coming was foretold by the Prophets, and his character and actions agreed with descriptions given of him, centuries before his birth. We also believe in him, because he performed miracles, arose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven.

2. But why do we believe that the Gospels. which relate the history of Christ are true? For the same reason that we believe any other recorded facts to be true. If the Gospel had been false, the history would have been contradicted when it was first written, but these facts were known to be true at that time, and have been believed by the best and wisest men, who have lived since, and who have been able to read and study the books of the New Testament.

3. A Christian writer has thus explained the reason of our faith. "We do not believe in the Gospel of St. Matthew, because we are assured by an oracle from Heaven, which has told us that this book is truly an apostle's, but on the same account that we believe that the Eneid is truly Virgil's, and the Iliad truly Homer's. For, in truth, we do not believe in Jesus Christ, but because we are persuaded that the history of him is true. And