THE PREVALENT RELIGIOUS LIFE IN ITALY. [FROM ME GERMAN.] Michael Angelo says, in one of his letters, " Art is the imitation of God, and because the Italian people alone can enter into the deepest conception of the Deity, no other people can compete with the paintingand sculpture of Italy." At this day, instead of repeating such a boast, the great artist would have mourned alike the depravation of art and the decay of religion among his - people. Whence this great change ? A professor in Naples, the other day, at the close of a lecture upon the corrupt Italian writers of the 17th century, pro posed the same question. "Whence, gentlemen;' said he, "arises this miser able spiritual condition, which has made our naturally gifted people a reproach among the nations ? The only answer I Can give is, from the oppression of the religious spirit. A sad tyranny has, in our country, crushed the freedom of re ligion, and with it the freedom of the spirit. But now, the Gospel is.no longer bound, the Spirit is free, and it will free Italy." The applause with which this sentiment was'received by the students shoivs that a new life is astir in the Halls of the Universities of Italy. -But the University at Rome is still entangled in the dust and cob-webs of scholaiticism. No medieval or modern history is taught there, and no branch of philosophy but, logic. At a late lecture, attended by five students, the teacher- 7 -a Bishop—read a tedious excimus in regard tothe day on which Vespasian set out on his return from Jerusalem to Rome. A dry dispu tation followed, on the question, "Do, the non-Christian witnesses upon the truth of Christianity deserve credence ?" On such barren instrUction are the future - ministers of the church trained for their work. It is a happy fact that an evan gelical theological school exists in Flor ence, where a better system will. be Wight. His a great pleasure to mingle with the professors and students there, and to feel the warm religious spirit that thrObsin their teachings, their learning and theik prayers. It will be a long time,, a very long time, before the religious spirity now choked by, dead forms, will attain greater , life anddepth, The Italian people make no distinction between the world and the kingdom of - „God. Things - sacred and profane are.so: deeply and ;inextri tably confounded in their Mindi, that ..eVen conlrerted Italians cannotget the better of the confusion. In the midst of a -meeting for prayer, you may hear from thelip's of true Christians the cry, "„To the Capital." The Romisli church itself is: the cause, in a very dreadful way, 'of this mingling of, the sacred and profane. You may see one of the altar boys crossing himself at the weekly lot terydrawing—which exerts such a de-. moralizing, influence on Rome—end Priests assisting at the scene. Monks of the Ara Celi will, for' a trifling reward, give the people numbers for the game of lotto; while. the miserable sheet, "Armonia," in its envenomed polemic against the Protestants speaks of the "Bible and. other trashy books" I One of the noblest festivals in Rome is the Feast of Tongues, when the praises of God and of Christ are 'proclaimed in I the languages of the world. The onception is a 'sublime one; but how is 4 e undeceived when, on such an coca : th, he hears two negro yoUths sing Ille of their native songs for the grati fte tiouef the crowd, and is asked, upon lea hug, by a priest, " How Were you ent , tained?" At one of the most mag nifie a t Easter festivals, held in the Bikini' chapel, a- priest was seen to write in hi note book, " This day attended the sh wY service in the Sistine chapel. Aroun , me stood only Englishmen and French len—mere heretics. I imagine that the , hole of us, myself not except ed, came' ither out of curiosity and not . for devot In." There is no doubt that these maiificent Raster festivities are more a sh, , for foreigners than a sol emnity for k ltholies. Said a 130heinian priest, In Roe; on one of these occa sions : "1 ca e from such a great dis tance to see m holy father. I expected much onjoyme t during my visit, but I go home with`` , ,st heavy heart." How like, in effect, te the visit of Luther, three centuries ay° t The conclusion of tL Easter festivities consists in illuini nating the dome and in fire-works—in the . estimation of the ROMans the prin- - cipal part of the feast itself. . The reli'gioui and moral condition of , the people in the country and among the bills is lfar`better than that of the city .people. There is some earnestness antong the more simple worshippers of the ,`:virgin :and of relics; . morals are immr , ; marriage is regarded as sacred; :purity , isAnaintained.; the priests are held in respect; strangerS . are kindly - treated, and one can go through whole neighborhoods without seeing a beggar. Much more endurable is the naive devo tion here shown than the stupid fungi _ cism that characterizes the masses of the cities. But, with all this, the question arises, how is it that the roots of Romanisin have struck so deep and spread so widely through the -entire population; so that even liberal journals speak of Protest antism as a peril to Italy ? The explana tion is found in the fact that the Italians ; to attain to the spirit of the Gospel, must go through an inward experimental struggle, to which they are peculiar!y averse. Catholicism requires no such inward work. The Papal churches, adorned with hangings and images, with painted domes and chancels, and with mirrors here and there, dispose the mind in. no degree to thought, much less to a spiritual conflict. The worshipper, at his entrance, is often greeted with the liveliest opera and dance music, and the chuca p h is very much like a theatre, where the priest has a certain part to perform, like -an actor. Curiously adorned places are the Romish churches of Italy, espe ciallyifthey contain some image supposed to possess miraculous power. The walls are sometimes quite covered with votive offerings : silver hearts, waxen limbs, tresses,old clothes,paintings representing the appearance of a saint, a fall from a horse, &c. ? adorn or disfigure the place. The sacred image itself is concealed be neath the accumulation of ornaments: Over the doors of the churches is fre quently written a notice of the length of time for which they pant indulgendes. "Indulgences for 100 days." "Indulience for 1000 years!' " Indulgence for - 6000 years." " Indulgenzia, plenaria perpet ua:" -Often the priests seek to draw the people by hand-bills : " Here you have the same indulgence as at St. Peter's,' in Rome." It is remarkable that -no difference is observable in the attendance on churches which give an indulgence for 6000 years or forever, and those which offer inferior inducements of the sort. • The facility with which forgiveness of sins may be obtained is a great tie to 'retain the Italians in the Church of Rome. "A - hundred and twenty sins can be confessed as quick as a hundred," is a Roman. proverb. To gain this easy forgiveness, men and women bow at the confessional and disclose not merely the state - of their , hearts, but the secrets of their domestic relations and the political sentiments of their relatives. Dr. De. *Sanctis, who, as theologian-T2TW - rn-7. quisitioni-baq, opportunity of learn ng - ilie . facts, says that a great - part of the instruction of the seminary, is directed to preparing the future priests; to deal efficiently with the questions arising. in the confessional.. Many a father forbids his daughter to go to the. confessional for fear of contamination. As to the immorality of the priests, there is in all Rome but one outcry of indigna tion. Yet this indignation fails in that deep moral abhorrence which alone can produce practical results. So impure is the religious feeling of the Italians, that they make the same person or, thing alike an object of ridicule and of worship. It is well known that the Italians believa in the evil eye—ntalocchio—or power to injure with a look. This demon-power they naively ascribe to -the holy father, and they stretch out two fingers as a ges ture of self-protection. Yet they pros trate themselves in the street when the Pope appears walking or riding. A few days after Easter, there is a great audi ence held annually in the apartments of .the Vatican. Foreign priests of high standing, with arms full of a Treaths which they design to carry back with the papal blessing on them, distinguish ed Italians with wives and children, form a long procession. The Pope ap pears ;- all but a few Protestants, per haps, fall upon their knees. After they have risen, the Pope utters afew words. Last year he spoke of the rising of Italy against him. "Among you," he Said. " are many whose sons and brothers have fallen in - the struggle for me. And the War seems to have been fruitless. But God fights for his vice-gerent ; have courage, hope on, God. will bring every thing to a good result." Then giving ,, his benediction, he withdrew. Those near him fell down and touched. the hem of his garment ; mothers held up their children before him, to catoh his blessing. The whole scene was a lively illustration of the impression yet made by the appearance of the Pope. Another -indication of life yet remaining in Italian Catholicism, is the flagellation-service during lent Every Saturday evening, in a little:church on the Corso, assemble a number- of Catholic penitents, who are supplied with whips by the attendants. The lights are extinguished;.a priest delivers a discourse intended to produce repentance; and then for some minutes the tracking of the whips, upon . the backs of tlie , selftorturersis heard, until: the priest pronounceia blessing and, dis= misses the peni tent 'frock. - -Such indications of life are, however, rare. Indifference and ignorance are the prevailing, characteristics of the : irSTlWNo767lnrnii Zi-;) 11:31411111 WI. t:lgr= popular religion. The processions which in Catholic "Gerinany are so grand, including rich and poor, old and young ; in Italy make no stir ; the-peo ple take no part in them.' At the pro cession in honor of the Immaculate Con ception, scarcely a hundred persons fol lowed the long train of priests and monks. An astonishing Ignoranc•l of religious truth prevails:. The people seldom know more tho the passages from the life of Christ', dead on ,feast days ; of the doctrines of their ehurch the people have no idsi not to speak of Protestantism. Nark who pre* pro testantism do so entirelylon the ground that the Pope is ft mofL are ' nd Chri'st was, as they say, a Republi n. Especially towards the South are a people incre dibly rude. Even in e 'better• class este of society, show 1 :01 ', 'good living constitute the centres their life. Lit tle stress is laid up n good morals. Domestic relations ar -- well nikh .de stroyed. The childrenahow n• rever ence 4 for their parents ; ' arents, kercise no discipline ; the gro np so s live a , loose life in the cafes. r times 4 -misfor-: tune there is a terrible 1 ck of s • • pathy. When the choleia raged, the s k were often abandoned by their rela •es and left destitute of all attentie , . The Italians do not wish to be r when death approaches:; though th y treat ment of the corpse is often ~ 'tended with touching and beautiful c,rrrionies. We should,bear this hia • jr,giftell people upon our hearts,an I -; A them the Gospel to waken them i•IO spirit ual life. This Gospel has • egun its course in Italy. The Waldo • es' are 're venging themselves , of the bl Idy perse cution‘flicted on their ant • tors by the Church of Rome, by preachi g the. Gos pel. Wise men and compet i tlaborers from abroad have enteredu I n the . - field. They should be well susta' ild, so that through their bold and e • Italy may be provided _wit well-groundedreligion. whe ing she awakes to find t toretspottia THE CHRISTIAN 00 ~',.. MICH IN GEORGIA - The following letter - from! William Reynolds, Esq., ChairmAu of itlut Peoria (Ill.) Brand.of the Or l& •CtuxuAis sion.—lt Vitts - addids - giii. iiti . 43 , D - ft g e__lL, - 4 Stuart, Esq., President' of .i,lle Christian COmmission: RINGGOLD, Gellrgia, April 4 1864. DEAR BEA). : Thi ' place is now the extreme front of. p army_ The rebel ~,. ' pickets extend to= thin two miles of here, and their main force is at Dalton, fifteen miles south of this. We have a 'large force in and , about this place, guarding the difficult passes or gaps in the range of rnonntars which extend in front of us. 1 Brother Wyckoff land myself came through from Chattinooga about ten days ago, for the purpt,!se of seeing what could be done for the spiritual welfare of this branch of the .army. , .On our arrival we found the ti pops in admirable condition to be, reached with the truth. Most of the town had been destroyed by our army, but fortunately one of the churches was still standing and in good condition for religious services. The L chaplain of the 10th Ice tacky,. who, by the way; is . one of the bit - and most T z . su_successfulphaplains in army, - made application to General i rk• rd, who is in command of this post,%r the use of this church for religionqurposes. The i General promptly gran cd the request. We once commenced !services. The house the first day *,. comfortably full; the next night it * s overflowing, and since then hundreds "eve had to go away each evening unal e . to gain ad mittance. God is pourn 0. out his Spirit most - abundantly. On hundred and thirteen; thus far in 1, e week) have come forward for pra,ylo. The cry is heard, "'Men and bretllen,. what shall , • 1 we do to be saved?" 1 tiny have found peace in believing and are rejoicing in a new-found Saviour. I have never seen saki deep interest manifested .before in • the Soul's salvation . as appears to be now in_lispart of our army. Many who were rOrmerly known as the most wicked and !deprave.d men. in the camp are now liiorn. again, and doing all they can. for Ser l ts. Yesterday 'being Sabbath, I visitedi 'a majority of the regiments encamped, here. A more quiet and orderly set of end never saw ;congregated together ei her in or out of , the army. I said to a 4idier, I see less card playing in this camp than in any,l have ever visited. " Ohl" saidhe, "that is abbut played out here;; a great many of the men who were mist addicted to that vice, have.4uit it eittirely,.and are now doing all they can against God appearS to be moving upon the hearts cif •our soldiers.. Thero.4s, p,_seloran4y, and an anxiety to converse upon reli gious subjects manifested, by our brave boys, that I have never seen manifested in the army before. One young man in the 10th Kentucky, who has been re garded as one of the wildest in the regiment, came to our meeting a few evenings ago, and at the close came forward for prayers. The next morning I called at his tent to see him. He told me that at the battle of Chickamauga, last fall, a ball struck him in the breast bone, glanced off and thus saved his life. He thought, "if bullet had penetrated ray heart, where would Ibe now'? Lost!" He there promised God if he would save him through that battle he would seek the kingdom of heaven. God saved him but he forgot his promise until that night. Ihe Spirit said, "Come now, or it will be forever too late." The devil said, "Not now—to-morrow." He de liberated .a moment—remembered his vow at-Chickamauga, and determined to arise and go forward. He did so. He went from the meeting, not to_ his tent, but to, the woods, and there, upon his knees, gave himself to Jesus. He arose a new creature, and is now .a Chris tian. Another came to the meeting, was convicted; but could not find peace. A few nights afterwards he was upon picket, feeling miserable on account of his sins. He dropped upon his knees beside a tree, and looking up to heaven, cried "Lord be merciful to me, a sinner." Jesus heard that prayer, and light broke in upon his soul. He also arose feeling• that his sins were forgiven and washed : away-,in 'Spsas' blood. Numerous in stances of this lrind occur daily- God's Spirit is abroad throughout the camp with great power. The prayers of Christians at the North, of mothers and wives, have been heard, an are -being answered in the army. God is reward ing the labors of the Christian Commis sion wonderfully - . No such field of labor was over opened before to the Christian public. If the friends of Jesus wish to win souls to him, here is , the place to labor. While our ministers at home are laboring and preaching to gospel-harden ed congregations, with occasionally one br two additions to the fold, here men are hungering'for the word of life, and with the same amount of labor, hundreds could be brought into the Kingdom. Let our northern churches lend their ministers to this work, and send to the Commission the moans of forwarding them. Zest: labers, a true and 'some.morn- Tal)acy in GOD OBSERVANT OF SMALL THINGS, He upholds the sparrow's wing, clothes the .;lily with his own beautify ing hand, and numbers the hairs of his children. He holds the balancings of the clouds. He maketh small the drops of rain. It astonishes all thought to ob serve the minuteness of God's govern ment, and of the natural and common processes which he carriers on from day to day. His dominions are spread °tit, system beyond system, system above system, filling all height and latitude, bat he is never lost in the vast or mag nificent. He descends to an infinite de tail, and builds a little universe in the smallest things. He carries on a pro-_ Bess of growth in every , tree, and flower, and living . thing; accomplishes in. each an internal organization and works the functions of an internal laboratork, too delicate all for 'eye or instrument to trace. He articulates the members and impels the instincts of every living mote that shines.in the sunbeam. As when we ascencl toward the distant and the vast, so when we descend toward the minute, we see his attention actual -hated, and his 'skill concentrated on his object; and the last discernible particle dies out of sight with the same divine glory on it, as on the last orb that glim mers in the skirt of this universe. God is as careful to finish the mote as the planet, both because it consists only with his perfection to finish everything, and because the perfection of his great est structures is the result of perfection in their smallest part's or particles. The works of Christ are, if possible, a still brighter illustration of the same truth. Notwithstanding the vast stretch and compass of the work of redemption, it is a work of the most humblest detail in its style of execation.. The Saviour could have preached a sermon on the mount every morning. Each night he could have stilled the sea,b afore his aston ished disciples, and shown the conscious waves lulling into peace under his feet. He could have transfigured himself be fore Pilate anti the astonished multi tudes of the temple. He could have made visible ascensions in the noon of every day, and revealed his form standing in the sun, like the angel of the apoca lypse. But this was not his mind. The incidentcof which his work, is princi pally made -up, are, humanly speaking, very humble and unpretending. The most faithful pastor in the world was never able, in any degree, to approach the Saviour in the lowliness of his man ner and his attention to humble things. His teachings - were in retired places, and his illustrations drawn from ordinary affairs. If the finger of faith touched him in the crowd, he knew the touch and distingnished -also the faith. He reproved the ambitious housewifery of an humble woman. After he had healed a poor being, blind from his birth—a work transcending all' but divine power --he returned and sought him' out,- as the most humble Sabbath school, teacher, might have. gone; and whet' he had found hiris, cast, out and persecuted' by men, he taught him privately the high est secrets of his Messiahslsip. When the world around hung darkened in sympathy with his cross, and the cazat - r.qj toailautono. was shaking with inward amazement, he himself was remembering his mo-. ther, and discharging the filial cares of a good son. And when he burst the bars of death, its first and final con queror, he folded the linen clothes and the napkin, and laid them in order apart, showing that in the greatest things, he had a set purpose also concerning the . smallest. And thus, when perfectly scanned, the work of ? Christ's. redemp tion, like the created universe, is seen to, be a vast orb of glory, wrought up out of finished particles. Now a life of great and prodigious exploits would have been comparatively an' easy thing for him, but to cover himself with beauty and glory in small things, to fill and adorn every little human occasion, so as to make it divine,—this was a work of fskill, which no mind or hand was equal to, but that which shaped the atoms of the world. Such everywhere is God. He nowhere overlooks or de spises small things.—Dr. Bushnell. NEOESSITY OF DETAIL TO EFFI- O.TENOY. It is a fact of history and of observa tion, that all efficient men, while they have been men of comprehension, have also been men of detail. I wish it were possible to produce as high an example of this two-fold character among the servants of God and benevolence in these times, as we have in that fiery prodigy, of war and conquest, who in the beginning of the present century, desolated Europe. Napoleon was the most effective man in modern times— some will say of all , times. The secret of his character was, that while his plans was more vast, more various, and of course, _more difficult than those of other men, he had the talent, at the same time, to - fill themkup . with perfect promptness And precisi9t, in every par ticular of execution. His vast and dar ing plans would have been visionary in any other man; but with him every vision flew out of his brain, a chariot of iron; because it was filled up, in all the . particulars of execution,to be a solid and compact framework in every part. His armies were together only one great engine of desolation, of which he was the head or brain. Numbers, spaces, times, were all distinct in his eye. The wheeling of every , legion, however re mote; was mentally present to him. The tramp of every foot sounded in his ear. The numbers were always supplied, the spaces passed over, the times met, and so the work was done. The nearest moral approximation I know of, was Paul the Apostle. Paul had great principles, great plans, and a great enthusiasm. He had the art, at the same time, to bring his great princi ples into a powerful application to his own conduct, and to all the common af fairs of all the disciples in his churches. He detected every want; understood every character; set his guards against , those ,whom he distrusti3d; kept all his workurning a- motion of discipline; prompted to every duty. You will find his epistles distinguished by great prin ciples-; and, at the same time, by a va rious and circumstantial attention to all the common affairs of life ; and, in that, you have the secret of his efficiency. There must be detail in every great work. It is an element of effectiveness, which no reach of plan, no enthusiasm -of purpose, can dispense with. Thus, if a man conceives the idea of becoming eminent in learning, but cannot toil through the million of little drudgeries necessary to carry him on, his learning will be soon told. Or, if a man under takes to become rich, but despises the small and gradual advances by which wealth is ordinarily accumulated, his expectations will, of course, be the sum of his riches. Accurate and, careful de tail, the minding of common occasions and small things combined with general scope and vigor, is the secret of all the efficiency and success in the world.—Dr. Bushnell. COMMERCE WITHOUT CHRISTIANITY. There are now and then lessons taught to the world of liruch - a character and with such emphasis that they never need to be repeated; they are learned once for all, and such a lessonlas been given in the history of the British East India Company. Here was a country---India—wonder fully rich in resources and population, consolidated, to a greater or less extent; under a strong government, proving itself, indeed, strong enough by its own arm to keep down an uprising empire till help could arrive, exercising its sway over a docile people for at least a century and partially for two centuries,—a coun try advancing slowly but certainly in all the elements of civilization, and yet, at a certain moment, a sudden outbreak occurs in a northern province and at once with telegraphic speed half the -pe ninsula is in arms and pauses at nothing in the determination to rid itself of its hated rulers. It spares neither age nor sex- nor character, but sweeps in one common butchery all that bears the name of European. A spark seems to have caused the explosion, but the train and the magazine were there before. As, if to point out so emphatically that the whole world should see without the possibility of mistake where the error had been, the provinces and the Only provinces which remained unshaken da ring the insurrection, were those in which missionary labors had been most successful and abundant, and where Christianity had the most wide-spread power. These were, indeed, all that saved India to England. Had the presi dencies to the south arid east joined in the revolt, its salvationvould have been impossible. However men may ex plain the fact, there it standt--that those parts of India were most faithful where the gospel of Jesus Christ had the most power, and that khe very classes most Under - the inilue,rice of the Company and most couVted and caress ed by it were the first to throw off their allegiance. As a Comm,ercial Copora tion it did all it could for them, and de signedly, :Jai deliberately withheld Christianity; and the end was disaster and ruin, only prevented by Christian soldiers and faitlifulrtess of Christian men. The common consent of mankind seems to have determined, with a, uniformity which is wonderful as it is universal, that here, just here was the fatal error of the government of India; so that without one solitary dissenting voice in England, a total`reversal of the whole policy in regard to religion has been de manded; an so clear has,. been the case that not an objection `hass - be - en raised against it. The world 'Sees that even for its own safety commerce cannot with impunity be a Godleds thing ;it must cen- Connect itself with higher interests than mere commercial advantage, .or else court its own destruction.--Bev. W. Aikmam IS STREET PREAORING ILLEGAL ? The Presbyterian of last week has some remarks of this question worthy of general attention. Mr. Baiter is we believe, a Minister of respectable char acter, known for his Millenarian writ, ings,in which Louis Napoleon is de scribed as anti-Christ. A minister of the Episcopal. Church (the Rev. Mr. Baxter) was arrested by the police of Philadelphia, Sabbath be fore last, for preaching in the public streets of the city, and afterwards ar rested on the same day for preaching from the window of a hired hall to a company who stood on the side-walk before him. There was no allegation that the people assembled were in any way disorderly, or that any thing was said ox done tending to the disturbance of the public peace;