we now possess, this interval should perhaps be very considerably extended. Accepting, however, the generally received and simpler chronology, we find in the Sacred Scriptures works written by Moses in the desert, by David on the throne, by the priest Jeremiah, the rustic Amos, the exile Ezekiel, by Daniel, the vizier of a succession of Eastern autocrats, by Matthew the publican, Luke the physician, and by John the fisherman and faithful witness to the truth in the rocky prison-isle of Patmos. Yet throughout this long and varied collection, the same law of correspondence applies with absolute perfection, so that a horse, a mountain, a tree, a river, -any material type whatever-bears an identical signification in Genesis to that which it sustains in the Apocalypse, and in every intermediate production of the series; the key unlocking in them all a beautifully instructive and connected meaning. To suppose that any fantasy could have invented a system of such marvellously wide and varied application, is to credit delusion or imposture with powers transcending the limits of the loftiest genius. Candidly and patiently examined, therefore, the doctrine of the spiritual sense of Scripture is its own ample vindication, its own sufficient and conclusive proof. Moreover, this doctrine and the principle of the verbal and plenary inspiration of the Word mutually confirm and illustrate each other. Together they immeasurably exalt our conceptions of the Divine revelations, showing them, in every part, as precious; exhibiting them as the means for uniting the Church with heaven and the Lord, thus as "a fountain of wisdom to angels and men," and abundantly able to make each one "wise unto salvation." Therefore, while grass withereth and flower fadeth, the Word of our God, thus infilled with infinite power and wisdom, shall, verily, stand for ever (Isa. xl. 8). In the light of these glorious truths the soul can indeed adopt, with grateful intelligence, the confession of the Psalmist: "The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple: the statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commiandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes: the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether" (Ps. xix. 7-9). JOHN PRESLAND.

B

JUSTIFICATION OF LIFE.*

OOKS should be read for the purpose of gaining information, but very frequently the reviewer reads with the object of discovering defects, or for the purpose of calling attention to the merits of the book. The work before us is admirably adapted to suit the tastes of all these classes of readers. It is a compendium of the teaching of the Lord and His apostles concerning the intimate relationship which exists between "justification" and "life." It has its defects, in that it does not recognise the sole Divinity of the Lord. But its merits are so great that we should be doing injustice to the cause of truth if we at all enlarged upon the doctrinal deficiencies that might be found in it.

The author's design is to show the real meaning of the term "Justification," and the result of his investigations is that it is "Justification of LIFE, .e., not justification in the sense of mere imputation of the merits of the death of Christ, or of the righteousness of His previous life; but justification in the sense of God's Justification of Life; its Nature, Antecedents, and Results. By the Rev. M. Sadler, Rector of Honiton. London: George Bell & Sons.

*

Life,

imparting to us a share in His Son's resurrection. to be in us will, and power, and grace to serve and love God" (p. v). He repudiates entirely the revivalist notions about "present, salvation," and Christ's work on our behalf being accounted a work of supererogation; and while admitting that our old nature is tainted and imperfect, contends that "notwithstanding this, so far from God being indifferent to the state of the soul and its work done before justification, it is represented by our Lord Himself to be a matter of life or death whether a man obeys the will of God so far as he knows it or not." The work abounds in sensible explanations of Scripture passages, and in sentiments that display a profound reverence for the teachings of the Word as distinguished from the traditions of the elders. He says: "There is no place in Scripture in which we have the slightest hint that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is imputed as distinguished from its being imparted; and yet, considering the part which this distinction has played in the pages of writers on justification, we had need of many very plain assertions to this effect. There are two places in which faith is said to be accounted unto a man for righteousness; but this is a very different thing from the righteousness of God or of Christ being imputed to a man as distinguished from being imparted. Faith is imputed for righteousness on a common sense, and, we might almost say, on a natural principle." Again: "The expression, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness,' can only mean that Christ is the end of the law to produce righteousness, i.e. obedience in us; for a law is only given in order that it may be obeyed; and so the end or object in view of any law can only be obedience to that law. Surely when God said, 'Thou shalt do no murder,' He intended men not to commit murder. Now Christ is the end of this sixth commandment, not that His love may be imputed to those who hate one another, but that through His Spirit and indwelling we may love one another as He hath loved us."

Commenting on 2 Cor. v. 21, the author very cogently argues: "It has been said that inasmuch as Christ was made sin only in the sense of our sin being imputed to Him, so we are here said to be made the righteousness of God only in the sense of His righteousness being imputed to us. But the answer to this is that Christ cannot be really made a sinner in the sense of being made sinful Himself; whereas it is the declared will of God that we should be made righteous in the sense of being righteous in heart and doing righteousness (1 John iii. 7, 8). Moreover, it is the will of God that this new righteousness should proceed, not from ourselves, but from Christ, our second Adam, and that it should become ours by our being in Him' in the sense in which a branch is in a tree or a member in a body."

In the chapter on Justification by Faith our attention is drawn to the fact that the faith that justifies is "not 'I know, or I am confident that Christ died for me, and that I have an interest in His death, and am safe for eternity.' . . . The Holy Spirit has selected, as the special object of the faith which justifies that article of the faith which is the evidence or rather assurance of the truth of all the rest, namely, the Resurrection of our Lord." The writer goes on to ask, "Is, then, a man justified upon his bare belief in the historical fact that Christ rose from the dead? Certainly not; he has to believe with the heart (Rom. x. 9).”

Mr. Sadler devotes another chapter to the consideration of the question, Are we justified by faith only? He "that when St. Paul wrote, 'We conclude that a urges man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law,' he could not possibly have meant to conclude that a man is

justified without repentance, without prayer, without love, etc." We might multiply quotations of this character to almost any extent. We have little sympathy with the author's views on Absolution and Sacramentalism, to which some prominence is given in the volume before us, though we cannot but believe that the divinely-appointed sacraments may be made a means of promoting "justification of life."

The book as a whole indicates a remarkable advance of religious thought on the great and all-absorbing subject of LIFE. J. D.

M

BUDGE'S BEWILDERMENT.

OST readers of railway literature are familiar with "Helen's Babies," who have since improved their acquaintance with the public as "Other People's Children." Full of mischief without vice; examples of vitality surpassing that of cats; defeating all their aunt's schemes for their moral salvation, they nevertheless do not wear out their welcome: they are as lovable as they are mischievous.

The ingenious pranks and hair-breadth 'scapes of these precocious babes are, perhaps, not too extravagant in a story of American children. Their familiar applications of scriptural examples and precepts would be better for the readers of light literature if accompanied by some hints at a truer interpretation. Here and there something like an intentional mockery of biblical statements is apparent, which we would hope is only apparent. If little children are now really allowed to make light of the literal sense of the Bible, it is a serious call to those who know better, to do all that in them lies to prevent the deplorable consequences.

Our present business, however, is limited to one of Master Budge's subjects of meditation, which, he tells his aunt, makes him think himself 'most to pieces. His thoughts trouble him how to reconcile the fulness of heavenly joy with the joy of having always something new to ask for and receive? He thinks it "must be awful not to have anybody to hold you to keep from kind o' tumblin' to pieces when you've seen enough of everything, an' done enough of everything, an' don't know what's goin' to happen next, an' wish it wouldn't happen at all. Say, Aunt Alice, folks don't ever have to feel that way when they get to be angels, do they?"

"No, indeed," says the bewildered aunt. "Well," continues the thoughtful boy, "do you think it makes folks in heaven happy to have a father-the Lord, you know-when there ain't anything to ask Him for? If they're happy the whole time, I don't see when they can think about how nice it is to have a heaven-papa. Do little angels ever have to go away from home an' stay a few days, an' not see their father at all?"

"Mercy-no!" says the aunt, with a shudder, "where do you get such ideas from, Budge?" To which Budge replies, "Nowhere I don't get 'em at all—they get me, an' don't let go of me until I think myself 'most to pieces."

If his aunt had been acquainted with Swedenborg's account of "the changes in the states of the angels in heaven," she would have been able to answer the child's question without a shudder, and save him from thinking himself to pieces. The angels, we are told, are not kept in a continual strain of extreme bliss. They have their states, as it were, of evening as well as morning and noon times, or rather states, of calm reflection, when they are permitted to feel that they are still fallible, and without any strength or virtue of their own; that all their

goodness and wisdom and happiness are from the Lord only. Though they do not really go away from home, they are not always equally conscious of being in their heavenly Father's presence. Their affections are not always equally warm, nor is their intelligence always equally bright. They are always loving and always wise, beyond any earthly love and wisdom; but their growth in heavenly love and wisdom is effected by experience; by learning the imperfection of each present state, that they may seek and find a higher. Each state is therefore a day which closes in evening; but there is no night. The evening and the morning are the succeeding day. The light of each state serves to show more light beyond; as the attainment of any amount of earthly knowledge shows how much more there remains to be known.

We are even told that the angels have sometimes states of comparative sadness-perhaps when they feel how inadequate are all their returns of love and service for the infinite love and mercy of their heavenly Father and Saviour. And then they learn that all the love and gratitude they are capable of, as well as all their powers to serve, are from the Lord alone, and they have to ask Him, not only for His blessings in general, but for that particular and most precious blessing, the spirit of thankfulness and love for all His goodness.

Thus it appears that the angels have the very blessing desired by their little embryo brother Budge; they have to ask their Father for everything, and they have times "when they can think about how nice it is to have a heaven-papa." (See H. and H. Nos. 154-160.)

H

THE SEXUALITY OF PLANTS.
To the Editor.

AVING carefully read Mr. Bruce's reply to my article on the above subject, and waited to see what others might say upon the subject, I proceed to consider Mr. Bruce's objection to the theory I advocated. I would, however, like to state that I have for many years been delighted and benefited by his writings, and that I highly value the kindly references to me contained in his reply to my article. It is consequently against my feelings to write anything opposed to his views.

It is worse than useless in discussion, because it is likely to engender ill-feeling, to pit one assertion against another, and I am sorry to see that Mr. Bruce has simply repeated his assertion that "the oak is as truly in the acorn as the eagle is in the egg" without attempting to reply to my demonstration to the contrary. The vitality of a seed is latent, and can only be made active and evident by the earth acting as a mother. The earth is acknowledged to be the common mother of us all, but she is especially the mother of plants. She breathes for the plant before its lungs are expanded, and she supplies it with moisture and warmth as nothing else can. Moreover, she will not allow another to feed her offspring in any stage of its growth. If you would feed a plant you must give the food to mother earth, and she will feed her offspring, not intelligently nor instinctively, but naturally. Thus she receives, conceives, brings forth, and nourishes her family-the subjects of the vegetable kingdom.

When the ostrich lays her eggs she has already provided everything necessary for the full development of the chick, with the exception of heat, and this she instinctively knows will be supplied by the sun. She therefore deposits her eggs in the sand where that element will act upon them and hatch them. We can

see no maternal indifference here. And fishes are not altogether indifferent, but exercise some parental care, each after its kind. Some of them build nests and watch them, many attend to the time and place for spawning, and I think there can be no doubt that wherever true sexes exist there are maternal duties performed such as cannot be found in plants.

Mr. Bruce's principal objection to the male theory of plants, is that there are not corresponding "germ-cells contained in ovules generated by mother-earth." I cannot see how this objection can apply. If Swedenborg had spoken of plants as male, and of the earth as the corresponding specific female, there would have been good ground for the objection. It is, however, impossible that Swedenborg could mean any such thing; the objection therefore is invalid. It appears to me that Swedenborg's statements are very distinct and intelligible, and quite consistent with well-known facts. He says, "In trees and all other subjects of the vegetable kingdom there are not two sexes, male and female." If there are two sexes-according to his own definition of sexes given in C. L., and quoted in my former article― let any one produce such subjects and we will be content. If our friends say Swedenborg was wrong in T. C. R., they must also say he was wrong in C. L., and if so we will then demand of them a better definition of sex than that which is given in C. L. "Each particular subject is male;" for this reason they produce seeds and not plants. Seeds pass through their embryonic state in the bosom of the earth. The elements necessary for their development are not provided by the plant, and can only be provided according to nature by the earth acting as a mother. "The earth alone, or ground, being their common mother, and consequently acting as a female,” not being the corresponding specific female. "For the earth receives the seeds of all plants, causes them to open, carries them as in her womb, and at the same time provides them with nourishment and brings them forth," etc. (T. C. R. 585.)

We have no doubt that the concurrent action of different organs in a blossom is necessary for the production of seeds, and constitutes a peculiar species of marriage. And we have before shown that Swedenborg recognised this marriage and spoke of it in the most beautiful terms, but he nevertheless denied that as a consequence of such union the vegetable kingdom consisted of male and female subjects. He affirms that "each particular subject is male," evidently for this reason, that it produces seed only. Now, to properly test the above denial and affirmation of Swedenborg, we would ask any of our friends to, first, give a clear definition of what constitute plants male and female subjects, and then point to any two plants throughout the whole vegetable kingdom and say, The one is male and the other female. R. GARDINER.

HOMEWARD BOUND.

HE Rev. C. Leach, F.G.S., has published under the above heading a series of Sunday afternoon Lectures delivered to the toiling masses of Birmingham. His text throughout is the parable of the Prodigal Son; the separate subjects being " Home, Sweet Home;" "Fast Life;" "Hard up;" "Forsaken;" "Hard Labour;" "Eyes Opened;" "Homeward Bound;" "The Good Old Father ;" and "Music and Dancing."

There is a noticeable absence of the "goody" element in this little volume. Homely truths are delivered in homely language. Mr. Leach's object has been to lead men to

SWEDENBORG AND METEMPSYCHOSIS.

THE Rev. Mr. Knight of Dundee, in a paper on "The Doctrine

of Metempsychosis," read to the New Speculative Society of Scotland in November 1877, which appeared in the Fortnightly Review for September, makes the following astounding assertion averring Swedenborg's belief in that doctrine: "It was defended with much learning and acuteness by several of the Cambridge Platonists, especially by Henry More. Glanvill devotes a curious treatise to it, the Lux orientalis. English clergy and Irish bishops were found ready to espouse it. Poets, from Henry Vaughan to Wordsworth, praise it. It won the passing suffrage of Hume as more rational than the rival theories of creation and traduction. It was held by Swedenborg, and it has points of contact with the anthropology of Kant and Schelling. It found an earnest advocate in Lessing. Herder also maintained it; while it fascinated the minds of Fourier and Leroux. Soame Jenyns, the Chevalier Ramsay, and Mr. Edward Cox have written in its defence. If we may broadly classify philosophical systems as à priori or à posteriori, intuitional or experiential, Platonist or Aristotelian, this doctrine will be found to ally itself both speculatively and historically with the former school of thought.' Even on the concluding definition Mr. Knight is wrong, for New Church philosophy is emphatically an à priori system, and yet metempsychosis is not "found to ally itself” either speculatively or historically with our school of thought. Though many absurd opinions have been palmed upon the world as the teachings of Swedenborg and of his followers, we have seldom met one so strangely at variance with the truth.

When will our savants and literary men study Swedenborg for themselves and not trust to hearsay, as they so often appear to do? If Mr. Knight had read even one of the smaller treatises of our author, it matters not which, he must have seen much that would contradict his statement; and if he had happened to read far enough he would have perceived that the origin of the doctrine was traced by Swedenborg to the same cause, but with more precision, as he himself surmises in his paper when he tells us that "the rare humanity of some animals, and the notorious animality of some men, suggested to the primitive races not the common origin of both, but the arbitrary passage of one into the other." He would find indeed that the writings would reveal the cause of this doctrine much more satisfactorily than this. For surely "the passage from one nature to another is only the means to an end." Mr. Knight also fails to see or to notice the question of the degree of "humanity" represented in the different animals, which must have been an important factor in the doctrine of metempsychosis. The distinction between the body and soul he implies in passing thus: "The derivation of the human body from a lower type quite consistent with the latter doctrine (that is, of development), because the body is not immortal." "But was the human soul evolved out of the vital principle of the previous races?" The professor thinks not; and if he had been fully acquainted with Swedenborg he would have seen why even the human body could not have been derived from a lower type. For the human seed in the ovary of even the highest animal would not have produced a man, because the body from the animal mother would have qualified the nature of the offspring, and the result would have been to produce something which stood in the same relation to both the man and the animal that the mule does to the horse and the ass. It would indeed have been a miracle, and a miracle which did violence to the Divine order of creation as revealed to us.

ment is held on so loose a manner that it is allowed to be a question whether hell is or is not a fact. And if this cannot be ascertained of hell, he asks, Is there any certainty of the existence of heaven? Pushing the argument yet further, he continues, If this clause of the Christian Creed be allowed to be regarded as of doubtful authority, what probability is there of the truth of that which remains? Although much of what Mr. Stephen says in his paper is, we think, capable of refutation, notably when he strives to prove from the omission "in the creed of the early Jews"-a document, by the way, in which we have no reliable information of any distinct reference to a future state-that the doctrine was unknown in early Jewish times, yet there is much in it that undoubtedly presses his opponents hard. The paper, inconsistently with an agnosticism it glories in, is apparently written to show that both heaven and hell are products of the imagination, and as such only have a sort of existence. This comparison of the use of force and bodily torture to effect conversion or to punish heresy, with the threats of a future hell employed as a means to procure the same results in more recent times, is also instructive; and really if the writer could only see that his ideal is none the less real because it is unseen, but that rather it is one of those unseen things that are eternal, he would be teaching something very like what we believe to be the truth in the New Church. With great perspicuity he points out the vast importance of the doctrine of a future state when regarded "as one which serves as the basis of the moral system and governs the whole application of the religious principle to conduct," and shows with no less insight that we cannot retain the amiable parts of a doctrine whilst leaving out the sterner elements.

PALACE GARDENS CHURCH, KENSINGTON. DR. BAYLEY'S LECTURE ON SPAIN.

THE Kensington News of Nov. 30 contains the following report of Dr. Bayley's account of his autumn holiday this year: "On Wednesday evening, Dec. 27th, Dr. Bayley gave the first lecture in connection with the winter series of meetings, provided by the Mutual Improvement Society, in which he described his recent tour in Spain, and commented on things that had come under his notice there. Mr. Herbert occupied the chair, and although the weather was the reverse of favourable the room presented by no means an empty appearance. Having previously had an opportunity of describing to some extent the commencement of his journey, including some remarks on the Paris Exhibition, Dr. Bayley said he would take up the subject of Spain at once. Having glanced at Bayonne on the French frontier, which had given its name to bayonets, which were invented there, and which when he reached it was en fête for a new bishop; and at Biarritz, also French territory, at which the wonderful action of the waves sent up the surge in such volumes, that as a sight, he was told by an American, it surpasses Niagara, he arrived on Spanish ground. There was little difficulty, he said, ever experienced about passports, unless you had much luggage, a practice he strongly deprecated. He had very little and therefore no trouble, although an English grandee who was there about the same time had been very much put out, but he, he explained, had about thirty-six boxes with him, and an English habit of wanting to do everything his own way. The journey in the Pyrenees was interesting from the grand views it presented, and it was impossible to think of these mountains but as a barrier raised by Providence for a landmark, and a protection o the Spanish nation. The first place he had called at was Miranda, the old portion of which in no way belied its reputation as about the dirtiest place to be found in a civilized state. However, the railway was, as it did everywhere, improving the aspect of affairs. There was a small stream there which in the grandiose style of the Spaniards was called the Ebro of Miranda. He next reached Bilbao, and was welcomed there by the kind friends he had made in the previous year. Here he had noticed an ingenious method of conveying iron-ore in mountainous districts by means of what he might term an 'Iron Wireway' supported on poles, and going from hill to hill. He had also had time to examine a celebrated cave near here, by name the 'Cuava de Madelina;' it was said it could be penetrated for a mile. It had a little chapel at the entrance, and at times processions were formed and toiled up the mountains to it. There was a great want about here, he thought, of a Protestant pastor, and anybody who went out as such would meet with a hearty welcome. There was a Spanish Protestant congregation at Bilbao, numbering about 200 people. spite of the protests and threats of the Catholic priest there was, he believed, a growth of a reverence for the Scriptures there, which acted upon would give rise to increased prosperity and happiness. At Madrid he met General Grant, with whom he had previously had an interview at Bordeaux. He had found the Protestants there whose pastors he conversed with active and hopeful. They had six places of worship in Madrid, with schools and a training college, and enjoyed full liberty of worship, the

In

cases of intolerance that had got into the papers being caused more by the injudicious proceedings of certain Protestants than by any harsh measures of the Government. Toledo, where he had next directed his steps, was interesting as the centre of the ecclesiastical government of Spain. Its cathedral was the glory of the whole country. The city was interesting from its antiquity, which it manifested, however, in lamentable dilapidations. He was glad to see here right in the centre of clericalism a colporteur selling Bibles and Testaments in the market-place, and finding a ready sale for them. At Saragossa he had an opportunity of seeing the King of Spain, whom he met as he was being shown over the cathedral there. From thence he went to Pamplona, a description of which and a few other incidents of the journey brought the lecture to a close."

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

The Correspondence of Numbers.-H. W. (Bristol) makes the following inquiry: "Knowing the readiness with which you answer, through your columns, the queries of your readers respecting difficulties which they may find in connection with the works of Swedenborg, I take the liberty of asking you for an explanation as to the following point :

"I understand that the science of correspondence unfolds the essential connection or relation that exists between things in earth and things in the heavens-a relation not arbitrary-as a letter which is made to represent a certain sound, but inherent in the nature of things. This, I think, is perfectly natural and clear when carefully considered. The point that I cannot understand is the correspondence of figures. I am told that each figure represents a certain quality, as, for instance, seven, perfection, holiness. It may be so, and the use of figures in the Scriptures certainly bears out, if it does not prove, the truth of the statement. At the same time I should like to see, and I believe that on Swedenborg's principles I am perfectly justified in asking for, the reason why. That is, I should like to see it rationally illustrated, as I understand all genuine truths can be."

The only passage in the writings bearing on the query of H. W. is contained in A. C. 5291, where we read: "It may be known to what ideas and to what things numbers correspond; but whence this correspondence is, is still unknown; as when it is that twelve corresponds to all things of faith, seven to holy things, and five and ten with the goods and truths stored up by the Lord in the interior man, and so forth. It is sufficient, however, to know that there is a correspondence, and that from this correspondence all numbers in the Word signify something in the spiritual world; consequently that also a Divine principle by inspiration lies concealed within them."

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

A number of additional notices of "A Hindu Gentleman's Reflec

66

tions" has appeared in the provincial newspapers lately, a few of which we think will be interesting. It is also a gratifying circumstance to know that the first edition of 5000 copies has been exhausted. The Oxford and Cambridge Undergraduates' Journal (Nov. 21) says: Rao Bahadur Dadoba Pandurung, the author of these Reflections, is a Hindu gentleman of well-known literary accomplishments, and also of steadfast loyalty, shown most conspicuously by his actions during the Mutiny. In the book before us, without bigotry or self-assertion, he gives his reasons for adopting the doctrines of the New Jerusalem Church. To those interested in the many different forms of religion these Reflections will be interesting reading." The Abingdon News says: "This is a remarkable work, and worth the perusal of every thinking Christian man or The Ashton-under-Lyne Reporter speaks of it thus: "This little but remarkably clear and concise work." Then referring to the author, the reviewer says: "This gentleman is Mr. Dadoba Pandurung, an eminent Oriental scholar, and also, we are informed, a magistrate whose services during the Indian Mutiny were of the greatest value to the British. His treatise on the works and doctrines of Swedenborg is written with great clearness and force; the arguments are cogently stated; and there is no doubt that this work, with its expositions of the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg, will tend greatly to the propagation of the New Jerusalem Church doctrines.

woman.

The second of Mr. Potts' lectures, on "The Tree of Knowledge, and what Kind of Fruit grew on it," and the third, on "The Talking Serpent of Eden," delivered respectively on Sunday evenings, November 17th and 24th, were attended by increasingly large audiences, the Glasgow church being more closely packed on each successive occasion. Mr. Potts is delivering the same course of lectures at Greenock on the Tuesday evenings, where also the hall in which the lectures are being delivered has thus far been quite filled with attentive audiences. A large number of Silent Missionaries and of the cheap editions of the works of Swedenborg,

have also been sold at the close of the lectures. At the close of the lecture there on the 26th a very spirited fire of questions was kept up for three-quarters of an hour. The answers given elicited frequent applause, and it was evident that the lecturer had quite gained the sympathy of his audience. At the end of the proceedings a gentleman in the meeting, not connected with the New Church, got up and said that he wished on behalf both of himself and of many others present to thank the lecturer for a series of lectures that had been "a perfect intellectual treat."

On the 13th of November Mr. Gunton delivered a lecture in the Town Hall, Marlborough, Wiltshire, the use of the hall being granted by the mayor. The subject was, "Heaven the Eternal Dwelling-place of the Good, and Hell the Eternal Dwelling-place of the Wicked," embracing a review of Canon Farrar's sermons on the latter subject. The chair was occupied by Mr. T. Harrison, and the hall was well filled by an attentive audience, about 200 being present. Almanacs, tracts, and old magazines were circulated, and thirty-five of the Silent Missionaries sold. This, we believe, was the first public presentation of the doctrines in Marlborough.

"A rev. gentleman in the course of an address to the members of his parochial church reading-room, said he thanked all friends who had voluntarily sent free copies of newspapers, except as to twothe Rock and the Police News. He declined to say which paper was of the higher moral character, but he declared both of them unworthy of admission to any respectable society, public or private. Thereupon the proprietors of the Rock have commenced proceedings against the local newspaper which published the speech, and against the rector who delivered it. Westminster Hall gossip has it that the Police News intends to have revenge on the evangelical organ by prosecuting his reverence for placing these two highly respectable journals so nearly on a level as he did."-Hull News.

At a recent board meeting of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel there occurred a sensation scene. Prebendary Kempe, rector of St. James's, Piccadilly, was in the chair. Mr. Vernon read the report of the Committee as to the advisability or not of making any change in the method of examining candidates for missionary work. Only nine bishops had replied to their circular, all of whom, excepting the Bishop of Dunedin, expressed themselves thoroughly satisfied with the existing system. The Committee recommended no alteration in it, but were equally divided as to whether or not clergymen selected by foreign bishops should not be examined. Hereupon the Rev. Outram Marshall, the secretary of the English Church Union, moved that the rule be altered so that any candidate chosen by a bishop need not be examined; and read a letter from Mr. Rivington in India, affirming that he had been rejected by the Society because he was a member of the Holy Cross, and denounced the questions put by the examiners as inquisitorial. He condemned the method by which the examiners were chosen, and said that Churchmen had no confidence in the Archbishops and the Bishop of London. He used such language of the latter prelate that there were loud cries of "Shame," and the Archdeacon of London, Bishop Piers Claughton, protested, and left the room. After a long debate Mr. Marshall's motion was carried by 40 to 32. In consequence of this vote two of the bishops have given notice of their withdrawal from the Society in default of the rescinding of the resolution at an early date.

We have had some strange illustrations recently of the manner in which Ireland is governed. A mob in Queenstown wrecked the tract depôt at the bidding of the priest because a text of Scripture was displayed in the window which the reverend gentleman considered offensive. When the colporteur applied for protection to the stipendiary magistrate, who is a Government official, his application was refused, and he was recommended to withdraw from public gaze the offending words. A few months ago some members of the police force in Galway were instructed to report to the authorities the statements made from the altars in that town, as it had reached the ears of the authorities that reference would be made to matters affecting the internal arrangements of the constabulary. The nature of these instructions was at once carried to the Roman Catholic Bishop, who became very angry, and called upon the Lord Lieutenant to avenge the insult which had been offered to his clergy. His Excellency replied that on inquiry he found that the county inspector had acted on his own responsibility, that he had accordingly been reprimanded, and that the like would not occur again. But this was not enough. The bishop wrote again to the Castle in stronger terms, and with more imperious tone than before. The result was that His Grace of Marlborough knuckled under, and in obedience to the bishop's commands both the county and the town inspector have been removed from Galway.

At the Bishop of St. Albans visitation at Stratford, on the 4th Nov., the parish churchwarden of East Ham, Essex, made the following presentment in due form: "Sunday after Sunday common decency is shocked by a strong, healthy young clergyman of the Church of England holding the cure of 5000 souls. with £1000 a year stipend, and no family, getting through the entire

service in forty minutes, in the lowest possible undertone, and asking the congregation to leave their accustomed seats for a position nearer the pulpit, on the ground of physical inability to raise his voice, when it is well known that he does nothing else on Sunday (until nine in the evening) but read the prayers once again and preach one other sermon; and when it is a matter of common notoriety that this affected undertone is (like the alteration of time from eleven to nine, the celebration of weddings and churchings in the middle of Divine service, the abolition of music and the Lord's Supper, and other recent innovations) for no other purpose than to drive people away, and so get an excuse for closing one of two churches, when both together afford such inadequate accommodation for the large and rapidly increasing population. Our vicar persisting in this conduct year after year, and both church and chapel of ease becoming practically deserted, the parishioners think that the time has arrived when the Bishop of the diocese should inquire into the nature of the Rev. S. H. Reynolds' regular and paid nocturnal engagement at an office in London, and determine whether or not the living can be held in conjunction with it without a breach of law, or at least without injury to the cause of the Church."

The difficulty of convincing students of prophecy of the futility of adopting the "temporal" views of the subject so much in vogue at the present day, and which we believe are supposed to form part and parcel of the "Evangelical Faith," is proverbial. On their favourite topic they are, unlike Thomas, who, when he had seen, believed, impervious to facts which they could, if they would, both see and feel for themselves. The reviewer of a book by one of this school, in the Clergyman's Magazine for August, evidently perceives this, and with a mild sarcasm writes: "With the second edition of Mr. Garrat's 'Commentary on the Revelation' we are in many respects much pleased. The first edition of the work was published in 1866. Since then, to give another turn to Mr. Disraeli's phrase, many things have happened, and accordingly the pious and learned commentator has been constrained to revise and enlarge his work."

At a Wesleyan Sunday-School Convention recently held at Sheffield, the subject of Catechisms and Doctrinal Teaching was introduced in a paper read by the Rev. W. T. Davidson (Bradford), who expressed a fear that the Catechism was looked upon as a bugbear in most schools. He admitted the difficulty of making the Catechism interesting, but maintained that religious teaching of that kind was necessary now in the schools, especially as the farce of the Bible without note or comment in the board schools was the very reductio ad absurdum of the religious difficulty. He stated the advantages of the Catechism, and strongly recommended its regular use. He also advocated that the children should be versed in the Apostles' Creed and the Commandments. An interesting discussion took place upon the point, in the course of which it was argued that the Catechism should be placed before the children in as interesting a form as possible. It was also contended that this was a duty incumbent upon the Wesleyans, because Romanists and Ritualists were labouring in a similar manner to draw the young mind from Protestantism.

The Autumnal Conference of the Church Association was held at Derby on November the 5th, under the presidency of Mr. T. R. Andrews. The Rev. Canon Ryle read an able paper on the "Distinctive Principles of the Church of England." In the course of the discussion one of the speakers expressed an opinion that there was not sufficient importance attached to the commandments.

The first Sunday-schools in Manchester are referred to, and the Rev. John Clowes' connection with them, in a letter by Mr. John Evans, published in the Manchester City News of October 5. It has interest for New Churchmen. "In preparing a Biographical Sketch of the Rev. John Clowes, the first rector of St. John's, Deansgate, I have had occasion to look up some details of the first movements of Sunday-schools in Manchester. As far as I can learn, the Sundayschool system was inaugurated in Manchester some time in the year 1783. Mr. Clowes was the first secretary of the Sunday-School Association in Manchester, and in his work would doubtless receive much assistance from Richard Keymer (then a smallware manufacturer of No. 6 Newmarket Lane), George Walker (of Hullard Hall, Cornbrook), and Edward Place (who filled the offices of constable in 1767, and borough reeve in 1789), all of whom were identified with St. John's, and took a prominent and active interest in the promotion of Sunday-schools in Manchester. Further, Mr. Clowes drew up the first general plan of the proceedings of the Sunday-School Association, and by unanimous request was appointed to preach the first sermon that was preached on behalf of Sunday-schools in Manchester, which he delivered on 9th October 1785, his text being, 'The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me' (Job xxix. 13). Clowes was a diligent Sunday-school teacher. I had placed in my hands the other day a tract on the Church Catechism, which embodies instructions lie was wont to give in his Sunday-evening discourses, which tract he thus dedicates: To the children of the Sunday-schools in the