Opening for the Gospel.

At the public meeting of the Evangelical Alliance, in London, in October last, Sir C. E. Eardly said—“He would tell them of something the Alliance had heard, and of something they had done on the subject of Italy. The Conference had heard from all parts of Italy that the Lord was opening ways for the entrance of his own Gospel into that country. He would fearlessly repeat here a statement he had made many months ago, and for which he had been accused of illiberality—that the great humbug of Popery having been become liberal at Rome, was now completely exploded. There were persons in this country who were led away by their politics, and who imagine that it was possible for the Head of the Roman Catholic Church to be really a favourer of liberty. That error had, however, been completely exploded, in the headquarters of the error itself. Only a few months ago it had been said by the persons who fell into this error, that the entrance of real Christianity into Italy was, humanly speaking, impossible, because the Pope's religion was at that time identified with liberty, and those who oppose the Pope's religion were supposed to be the friends of Austria. They were now told by the same parties that the tide of public opinion was completely changed; and he could adduce evidence of this change, and could show them that whereas formerly the popularity of the Pope would have prevented parties from listening to the message of salvation, they were now willing and ready to give ear to the truths of the Gospel. On one of the defeats of the Papal troops, the newspaper La Patria stated that the Pope had wept, and another newspaper of large circulation, page 21 and of democratic character, contained an article with this text—'The Pope weeps, &c.,’ and that article re-printed as a hand-bill, was now largely circulated throughout Tuscany. The following is a specimen of this article. ‘Weep, O Pontiff, wicked and living Anti-Christ, weep for thy Germans. Hast not thou in thy fearful delirium arrived even at blasphemy? Hast not thou dethroned from His throne, the Eternal, and placed there, in his place, the Virgin, with the Princes of the Apostles, as if they were the responsible ministers of heaven?” In the very centre of Italy, the prestige, the fallacy of the Pope being liberal had passed away. He was happy to tell them the Alliance had their eyes turned toward Italy, and that many of their brethren in various parts of Europe had their eyes turned towards Italy too. They hope and desire that, by the help of the Almighty, they might be able to do something towards introducing the truths of the Gospel into a land, from which the delusions of the Papacy were passing away, and where the worse delusions of infidelity would soon be substituted, if the Catholic Church did not step in and hold out to the people the Gospel of the grace of God. It had been determined at a meeting to-day, he said, that Associations should be established with a view to promote, to the utmost possible extent, the glorious cause of Christ in Italy.”