the Church, embodied in the constitution, especially the supremacy of the Crown in spiritual matters, remain without change. The consequence is, that the Established Church, at a time when the foundations of the Christian religion are assailed by her own ministers, is perfectly helpless. She can only reach offenders by a costly and tedious process in courts presided over by civil judges, and very partially even thus,-it being the present policy to comprehend the greatest possible diversity within her pale.

The Romanising tendencies of the Legislature seem on the increase. Not only is the endowment of Maynooth for the education of the Romish priest continued, and an annual grant given in aid of Romish schools as formerly, while the public generally seem quite indifferent, and the protests uttered by a few are unheeded, but a very decided step in advance has been taken, in the enactment of the Prison Ministers' Bill. A very large proportion of our criminals, sentenced to different periods of imprisonment, are Roman Catholics. The Popish party, instigated by their priests, pleaded that provision ought to be made for their spiritual instruction by the appointment of Popish chaplains. The validity of this plea has been admitted by Parliament, and a bill passed, authorising those in charge of prisons, in which a large number of Papists are confined, to appoint such chaplains, and to pay them a salary out of the public funds. It is true that the appointment is as yet only voluntary, and even the Papists expect it to be made only in a few cases. This issue, however, they glory in as positively favourable to their ambitious objects. The right having been admitted by Parliament, but practically refused by prison guardians, they will insist that such appointments be made imperative; and the probability is that they will succeed. Thus, in one important point, Popery is placed on the same level with the Established Church, in whose nationally authorised creed the doctrines of Romanism are pronounced "damnable;" and it needs but one step more to the endowment of the priesthood, in order to secure the instruction of the whole Popish community. Nor will the usual cry, that one Church is as much entitled to grants out of the public funds as another, avail here. The same favour is neither asked by any body of Protestant Dissenters, nor granted to them. They are satisfied with having liberty of access to prisoners of their own communion, and why, but for the fact that they have greater influence, and are regarded with greater favour in high places, should Papists not have been kept in the same position? What need the friends of truth have to unite, in order that their power may be felt, and their indignant protest heard! How important that the power of legislation should be entrusted only to men of truth and principle, who will adhere to what is right, instead of being willing to pay any price that will quiet the troublesome, and secure their support in preserving to them the places to which they cling!

The multitudes employed in the cotton manufactures have passed through a period of great hardship and deprivation. Owing to the war between the Northern and Southern States of America, and the blockade of the latter, the supplies of raw material, which were principally obtained in that quarter, have been quite cut off. Mills in every place were closed. Hundreds of thousands were thrown idle, and became dependent for the support of themselves and their families upon the charity of others. this we cannot fail to observe the hand of God, and the certainty with which, sooner or later, He causes calamity to overtake sin. Britain sinned in the matter of American slavery. It was introduced into the Southern States while under her dominion, and with her sanction. Nay, more, when some of these States wished to abolish slavery, Britain would not

In

permit them. The time of recompense has come. The cry of the injured

African has entered into the ear of the Lord of Sabaoth. The Northern and Southern States are underlying the infliction of the penalty, in the

slaughter of thousands, and in the expenditure of sums almost fabulous, which must prove a permanent burden. Britain, a partaker in sin, has become a sharer in the plague. Although spared from the horrors of war, she has been smitten in her manufactures, in the impoverishment of her merchant princes, in the poverty of industrious multitudes, and in the necessity laid upon the nation to supply their wants.

It is cause for profound gratitude that the famished operatives have conducted themselves in the most peaceful manner amid their trials, and that almost unprecedented liberality has been manifested by those who possessed the means, in contributing to their support. Britain's sons in all lands, and even those belonging to other nations, have cordially taken part in this good work. The calamity is now becoming abated. The high price of cotton has induced to the cultivation of it in almost every country where it will thrive. The supply is thus being rapidly increased; and should the American war continue, independence of the Southern States, in so far as the supply of this staple commodity is concerned, will be established, and provision made for preventing the recurrence of this calamity from the same cause. Thus the dreadful events of the past two years will be ultimately overruled for the benefit of many nations, and powerfully conduce to the extinction of slavery over the earth. Not only is there a gradual increase of employment in the cotton manufactures, but, owing to the unprecedented activity in other branches that went to supply the place of cotton, multitudes have only required to adapt themselves to the change, in order to their being profitably occupied. In addition to all this, God has blessed as with a bountiful harvest, so that the labouring classes are supplied with excellent food, at very cheap prices. Had scarcity and dearth of food been added to scarcity of employment, who can tell what sufferings must have been endured? In the midst of wrath God has remembered mercy; and, in our acknowledgments, we should sing of mercy and of judgment.

The cause of sobriety among the people is making progress. The quantity of distilled spirits returned for home consumption during the year ending 31st March 1863, was-for England, 10,481,577 galls.; for Scotland, 4,511,193 galls.; and for Ireland, 3,891,759 galls. It will thus be seen that in Scotland, as compared with the previous year, there has been an increase of 94,597 galls.; but in England a decrease of 246,835 galls., and in Ireland of 298,369 galls. In the three kingdoms there is a decrease of 450,707 galls. When we compare the quantities consumed last year with the quantity consumed in 1854, the progress made by the country is very striking. In 1854 the quantity returned for home consumption was 25,883,584 galls.; whereas last year, with a greatly increased population, it was only 18,884,429 galls.; being a decrease of 6,999,155 galls., or of

more than one-fourth.

Has crime diminished with the diminished consumption of ardent spirits? Statistics prove that it has. During 1854 there were committed for trial in Scotland, 3994 persons; in 1862, notwithstanding the increase of population, 3630. In Ireland, during 1854, there were 11,788 persons committed for trial; during 1862, only 6666 persons.

While encouraging progress has been made, there remains much room and need for improvement. Even last year there has been expended on ardent spirits, computed at 16s. per gallon, upwards of £15,000,000; on malt liquors, reckoning merely the price of the barley and Government duties, but excluding manufacturers' and retailers' profits, upwards of £14,000,000; on wine and spirits imported, upwards of £5,000,000 ;—in all, about £35,000,000 sterling! When to all this we add the cost of the pauperism, the crime, and the loss of time, which drinking causes, what a prodigious burden does it form! When we consider how many of our promising youth are debauched--how many of the ministers and members

of the Church are ruined-how many more mar their usefulness, that may not be cast out—what a hindrance is presented by drinking, according to the testimony of missionaries, to the extension of the kingdom of Christ— and to what important purposes these sums might be devoted,-Christians should feel themselves called to arouse and to combine their energies in seeking to make sobriety universal.

Reviews and Notices.

Recent Forms of Unbelief: Some Account of Renan's "Vie de Jesus." By WILLIAM LEE, Minister of the Parish of Roxburgh. Edinburgh: Edmonstone & Douglas.

FEW of our readers but must have seen allusions to the work of Renan. It is possible that many have wished to know something of its scope and substance. Various pamphlets and articles have already appeared, refuting and exposing it; but for a clear view of its character, we have seen nothing, if we except the untranslated pamphlet of Pressensé, that exceeds in value the singularly able and thoughtful pamphlet before us. It is a notable proof and instance that hard language is not necessarily strong reasoning. We have not detected a single bitter phrase applied to Renan. The author has the art of concealing art-artem celandi artem-to a high degree. He writes as if he were simply enquiring into Renan's positions, and not refuting them; and yet the reader feels, as his eye moves from page to page, that the foundations of Renan's whole theory are shaken to fragments. We could have wished that in summing up his argument the author had brought out more clearly than appears in his pamphlet, that the theory of the French sceptic involves a contradiction-that it ascribes the effect of Christ's teaching to his moral worth, while in reality, according to Renan, He dies under the guilt of detected imposture-of claims so extravagantly false, that Renan can account for them only by the convenient supposition of temporary insanity. We append the closing sentences of the pamphlet, again commending it warmly to our readers, as a production worthy of the son of the late venerable Principal of the Edinburgh University. It is peculiarly gratifying to hear such clear and manly utterances in vindication of a definite belief in evangelical truth, issuing from the Established Church, in which, if we are to believe all rumours, some theological professors even have got addled and bewildered with the hazy opinions of a certain modern school.

"Shall we cease to believe in the blessed gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ -that gospel which has been found to be the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth—because of some things in His Word or ways which we cannot account for? Especially when there are similar difficulties more or less in all truth, and the world is full of what is mysterious, inexplicable, at variance with man's judgment. This would be sheer folly. The gospel is surely strong enough to keep its ground, even should we admit that there are ten thousand times more and greater difficulties in Scripture than have yet been sought out or dreamt of.

"But it is the gospel in its whole length and breadth and depth and height that can alone stand against the adversary. It is not by having religion shorn of its miracles, and its atonement, and its free salvation, and its eternal life, and its God, that we shall strengthen it to overcome the Philistine. We shall thus only use the means by which it may become weak and like other faiths-the false faith of men's own inventions. It is the gospel, and the gospel only; the gospel which began to be delivered by our Lord, and has been confirmed unto us by them that heard Him; the

gospel unexpurgated, and unrationalised, and uncorrupted-nothing added to it, and nothing taken from it--which is the wisdom and the power of God,' and' against which the gates of hell shall not prevail.'”

The Forty Days after our Lord's Resurrection. By the Rev. W. HANNA, LL.D. Edinburgh: Edmonstone & Douglas. 1863. Pp. 271.

To the student of the life and character of Jesus, every part of the marvellous history is full of interest. From the moment when the Godman lay in the manger of Bethlehem, till that other moment came, when a cloud received Him out of the sight of His wondering disciples, we are held as by a spell-we cannot choose but read, and still read and marvel. Deep as is the interest of our Lord's history from the manger to the cross, it becomes, if possible, more intense during the forty days that elapse between His resurrection and the time when He ascends to His Father, and to our Father. The Son of man during that period appears to His disciples once and again; once and again withdraws Himself as mysteriously as He had appeared, causing to blend into one harmonious whole their faith in Him as a brother and a friend, with their trust in Him as divine. It is with this, the closing part of Christ's history on earth, that Dr Hanna has dealt in the present volume. In the "Last Days of our Lord's Passion," the subject was one, the effective treatment of which was rendered difficult by the vast number of writers, who had given to the world their thoughts upon it. Despite this, however, the freshness of the treatment, the graphic style, and the entire absence of that sentimentalism which many had mistaken for piety and depth of feeling, placed the volume at the head of that class of literature to which it belongs. If, in "The Forty Days after our Lord's Resurrection," the author has not had the same number of competitors, he has had, on the other hand, to deal with a period of our Lord's history in which many difficulties present themselves. The mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, is not less a mystery-but more, after he has wrested the sceptre from the hand of death, and led captivity captive. The questions have often been asked by every intelligent reader of the sacred narrative, "How account for these mysterious appearances and disappearances?-this passing from the visible to the invisible, from the recognised to the unrecognisable?" With skilful, but reverent hand, Dr Hanna touches these mysteries which pertain to faith:

"It seems to us the best, if not the only way of accounting for this, to suppose that the resurrection body of our Lord had passed through a stage or two in its transition from the natural into the spiritual body; from its condition as nailed upon the cross, to its etherialised and glorified condition as now upon the throne; the flesh and blood which cannot inherit the heavenly kingdom, still there, yet so modified as to be made more plastic under the power of the indwelling Spirit, less subject to the material laws and conditions of its earlier being, the corruptible on its way to the incorruptible, the mortal putting on the clothing of immortality."

While treating thus reverently of Him, who is the "Resurrection and the Life," not avoiding the difficulties inseparable from the consideration of such a subject, but stating his views in a spirit equally removed from dogmatism, and from the striving after novelties which so many affect in the present day,-Dr Hanna exhibits all his former skill in the graphic sketches and expositions which he gives of the disciples with whom our Lord came in contact during these forty days. The chapters upon the incredulity of Thomas and the restoration of Peter, are among the happiest efforts in the way of analysing character with which we recollect to have met. The descriptions given of the ingenious casuistry of the one, springing out of wounded pride, and the self-confidence of the other, beaten to the

ground by the remembrance of the night when he denied the Lord that had bought Him, and by the tender love, and wise, faithful dealing of the Great Shepherd, are master-pieces of sacred art.

It is gratifying to learn from the preface of this volume, that Dr Hanna intends following it up by others, presenting in the same manner the leading incidents of our Redeemer's life. Intended, not for doctrinal or controversial, but for practical and devotional purposes, we have no doubt that, should the author's plan be carried out, it will effect the object at which, with the modesty which always characterises merit of the highest order, he ventures to hint the counteracting, namely, of the injurious effects likely to be produced by the works of such writers as Renan, who, in eliminating from the character of Jesus the divine element, mar and mutilate his character even as a man.

A Pastor's Legacy: being Extracts from the MSS. of the late Rev. Robert Nichol, Galashiels. With Introductory Notice by the Rev. J. A. WALLACE, Hawick. Edinburgh: Johnstone, Hunter, & Co. 1864. Pp. 224.

His

The remark made by Matthew Henry upon the 119th Psalm, may be, in a certain sense, applied to this volume: "It is a chest of gold rings, not a chain of gold links." Instead of presenting us with several consecutive discourses, Mr Wallace has selected from the MSS. of his deceased friend a considerable number of the most striking passages, and by prefixing appropriate titles, has given us fresh proof that "the words of the wise are as goads, and nails fastened by the master of assemblies." From the disjecta membra, it is easy to form a conclusion as to the style of preaching cultivated by the late pastor of the Free Church of Galashiels. theology, Calvinistic; his sermons, rich in Bible language and eloquent; earnest, home-pressing of the great salvation; Christ and Him crucified, that which was known by him among his people-all these features come out in the extracts before us. It was a happy thought thus to bring before the members of his flock many of those passages which must, in their delivery from the pulpit, have deeply impressed them; it is their old pastor, though dead, yet speaking. But though primarily addressed to the members of one congregation, we trust that the "Pastor's Legacy" will find its way into many homes, and influence many hearts throughout the land. Had our space permitted, we could have wished to have given one or two specimens of the singular felicity of illustration which characterises Mr Nichol's style. Out of several passages which we had marked for extract, we select but one, which has the appropriate heading of the "Sun-Dial :""We must have a spirit of wisdom and of revelation given us before we can attain to the knowledge of Christ. Like a dial which has the circle correctly divided, and the figures correctly placed and marked, and the gnomon or index exactly fixed, still you look at it in vain to ascertain the hour of day; aye, and until the bright sunshine of heaven fall upon it. Even so in vain do you read and study the holy Scriptures, till a light shine upon them from above, or till God shine into your hearts to give you the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of His Son Jesus Christ.'

Historical Notices of Lady Yester's Church and Parish. By JAMES J. HUNTER. Edinburgh: Johnstone, Hunter, & Co. 1864. Pp. 156. By those whose tastes lie in the direction of antiquarian research, or who feel interested in the varying fortunes and changes of a church and parish in the metropol's of Scotland, this book will be read with much pleasure and considerable profit. While disclaiming all title to originality, and re