No intelligent observer of the times can have failed to notice the remarkable fact of the evident decay of the power of Popery in its strong holds. With the recent movements in Spain our readers are familiar. The confiscating of the overgrown ecclesiastical115estates, the open denunciation of the arrogant priesthood, the avowal of Protestantism in the discussions of the public councils, are sufficiently significant. The almost outright rebellion of the Austrians against the disgraceful Concordat; the general restlessness of Italy, and the well understood readiness of the people to throw off their shackles—these contemporaneous as they are, are portents to the mother of abominations, that her sceptre is ere long to depart from her. In France, too, notwithstanding the harassments to which the Protestants are still subjected, and notwithstanding the cajolery between Napoleon and the Pope, it is evident that there is a leaven working, which sooner or later will diffuse itself with power, to the ultimate spiritual enfranchisement of the Gallican people. The following, from the French correspondent of the Christian Times, is an indication of the spirit which is abroad. The priests are losing their power. The spell is at last broken. “We believe that our meetings will show a fair increase in the Protestant population of France this year—an increase quiet, but sure. Do what they will, the efforts of the priests of Rome counteract their own cause. Take the following example as one of hundreds: In the Haute Saone, Pastor Parrot, at Vesoul, has opened a new place of worship at Jussey. In order to obtain funds to build a church at Vesoul, he made an excursion into a neighboring department, the Haute Marne, as far as Bourbonne-les-Baines, where he was called upon to bury a Protestant lady. The day previous to the funeral, the priest thundered from his pulpit against the Protestants, and forbade any of his parishioners to follow the remains to the grave. Vain words! Roman Catholic ladies held the corners of the pall, and, around the tomb one hundred and fifty persons listened seriously to the words of everlasting life. “The churches which are still closed to the longing, thirsting hearers, in different parts, are not a cause of discouragement. We hear from Franvillers, one of these, near Amiens, that the Protestants there are full of confidence and firmness. Not one deserter among them. Meetings continue there; two new families have left the ranks of Rome to join the Evangelical Church. Two young persons, formerly singers at the priest’s mass, have, after following a course of instruction from the pastor, joined the Protestant Church; while an aged man died in the peace of the Saviour, having been called out of his darkness at the eleventh hour.”