A HOLY SISTERHOOD.

WE commend the following extracts, from the report of a recent trial, to those who are sighing for the revival of conventual institutions among us.

"On the 18th of November, at the Court of the Assizes of Vienne, two directing nuns of the convent of Bon Pasteur, and seven other nuns and two novices, were placed at the bar, charged with cruelly ill-treating a young woman, Genevieve Billy, who had been brought to the convent, and with detaining her there against her will.

"The convent names borne by the two principal nuns were the Mother of the Saviour (Mere du Sauveur) and Mother St. Matthew (Mere St. Mathieu.) The seven other nuns called themselves Madeline of the Holy Spirit, Madeline of the Seraphim, Madeline of Charity, Madeline of Mercy, Madeline of the Incarnation, Madeline of the Annunciation, Madeline of Providence."

Genevieve Billy was introduced, and attracted the attention of the whole court. She moved slowly, and was supported by the arms of two attendants. deposition was in these words :

Her

“I was conducted to Bon Pasteur by two sisters of Pont Achard. Not being able to bear the regulations of the house, I often demanded to quit it. I was put off with promises, and at last was told that I must remain there a year at least. One day when

I was very sick I wished to retire from the class. The Mother of the Saviour would not permit it, and told the penitents to prevent me. Madeline of the Holy Spirit, and Madeline of Charity dragged me by my hair, and Madeline of the Seraphim beat me. Another time when I could not repeat my lesson, I was taken to Saint Alexis. Madeline of the Holy Spirit held my arms, and the Mother of the Saviour cut my front hair. I had been three weeks at Bon Pasteur, and I was told that I should never quit it. On Tuesday morning, the 25th of July, the Mother of the Saviour came to tell me that I must rise, and dragged off the bed-clothes. I said I was willing to rise; I only required my dress. The Mother of the Saviour then took me by the hair, and severely kicked me. The penitents who were present threw my clothes over me. I struggled, and it is possible that I involuntarily struck the Mother of the Saviour. I was dragged by the arm from one end of the dormitory to the other. Many penitents threw themselves on me, and dragged me down to Saint Alexis. I know not what occurred during the passage,-for I fainted. When I recovered, I found myself in Saint Alexis, having on only my shift and a petticoat. It was not till the next day that I received my shoes. The Mother of the Saviour and the Mother St. Matthew tied my arms behind my back. Madeline of Mercy then kicked me several times. I remained in Saint Alexis from Tuesday morning until Thursday. I was afterwards taken to the convent door, and left on the steps. I was unable to move. A woman who passed by had pity on me, and took me to the house of Madame Piat, who procured me admittance to the Hotel Dieu, where I yet remain,”

"Saint Alexis," was the name given by the nuns to a dark, damp dungeon, in which they immured the victims of their capricious ferocity. The poor girl's statement was borne out by ample testimony from neighbours who had heard her cries, and the vociferations of her tormentors; but the Doctor of the convent bore witness to the exemplary characters of its inmates; their eloquent Advocate was struck with horror at the impiety of supposing such devout persons could do wrong; and in conclusion the jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty in favour of all the accused, with the exception of Madeline of Mercy, who was condemned to three months' imprisonment.

"The authority of the President was sufficient to repress any exhibition of feeling in the court. But not so out of doors. The populace accompanied the accused to the gate of their convent, loudly hooting them, and uttering threats of vengeance."

To this we will only add an extract from the Ecclesiologist, the organ of the Cambridge Camden Society ;

"It is most cheering to find the ABSURD and GROUNDLESS popular PREJUDICES against the ancient Monasteries-the NOBLEST, the HOLIEST (!), and the BEST Institutions which the Church in this land has ever known, combatted and exposed; the virtues and AusTERITIES of their sainted founders rescued from the prejudices and contempt with which they have been too long treated; and the utility of their wonderful works maintained."

EXPOSITORY REMARKS ON GENESIS.

No. IV.

BEFORE we pass on to the consideration of the sentence pronounced by the Divine Lawgiver upon our first parents, let us not fail to notice that much is implied in the fact of the Lord's first pronouncing the serpent's doom, before He proceeded to pass judgment upon the other criminals who stood convicted at His bar. For it must have been evident to those trembling culprits, that in the curse denounced against the serpent there was a hope of mercy for themselves, and that the bruising of Satan's head by the woman's seed, implied that man would as certainly overcome the evil one, as he had now been vanquished by him. And as the Lord pronounced this sentence upon man's destroyer in the presence of his victims, and before addressing Himself to them, they might naturally infer that they were not to be utterly deprived of the favor and loving-kindness of the Lord, and a feeling allied to hope would therefore spring up in the midst of that despair and death which was now encompassing them on every side. They were conscious that they were just about to hear the sentence of death passed upon themselves, and how alarming was their situation, how fearful the anguish of that expectation of death! Nevertheless an uncertain instinctive hope JANUARY, 1844.

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of ultimate deliverance, an undefined idea of the divine mercy had also a lodgment in their hearts, (implanted there by the all-gracious Creator) and partially sustained by this incipient hope, by this newly-formed faith, they stood so far strengthened to hear the coming sentence as not to be immediately annihilated, or cast into irretrievable despair, upon its being uttered by the Almighty lawgiver. And in this compassionate dealing of the Creator with His guilty creatures, we have our first scriptural view of the pity and forbearance of God, a pity and forbearance which springs essentially out of the divine nature, and forms a part of the divine character. (Ps. x. 3. 8, 9. Lam. iii. 22. 31, 32. Mic. vii. 18, 19.) That to the breach of the law of God penalties should be annexed, which penalties must also be enforced; that the disobedient must eat of the fruit of their own devices; that if the creature sin he must also suffer; all this flows necessarily out of the nature of God, and from this connexion of effect and cause there can be no possible appeal. God must either punish sin, or in other words, He must either connect sin with suffering, or cease to be God. Cease to be God he cannot, therefore He must punish sin. But "He does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men." (Lam. iii, 33. Jer. xxxi. 20. Ezek. xxxiii. 11. Heb. xii. 10.) The sinful creature is subjected to vanity by his Creator, but "not willingly.” (Rom. viii. 20.)* The heart of the compassionate Creator yearns over the creature, formed in his own image and likeness; the Father's heart is moved within Him when He

*Does not this text apply solely to the creatures that are made subject to change and suffering, not by their own faults but by man's sin ?-ED.