ways expressed in language chaste, beautiful, | the burden of taxation, which presses so and, not infrequently, highly eloquent. This little volume, intended to be "a manual which should exhibit a condensed view of the teachings of Scripture on the subject of afflictions," is probably destined to be more eminently useful than any other of his former publications. This subject is such that, in one shape or another, it must commend itself to every Christian; for every genuine disciple of Christ has to pass through trials, and not a few are called upon to "take arms against a sea of troubles." And in handling the subject Mr. Leask has evinced consummate skill, combined with a depth of tenderness that cannot fail to win the attention and soothe the spirit of the mourner. He has exhibited the true philosophy of trials, conducting the Christian to Divine wisdom and love as their fountain, and to holiness and meetness for heaven as their grand issue. Let, then, the Christian minister peruse this beautiful and instructive "Manual," and he will find himself better prepared to weep with them that weep," and to bind up the broken-hearted among the flock; and let the tried disciple make it his companion, and if his tears are not quite wiped away, they will be found reflecting the sunlight of heaven-if his wounds are not completely healed, they will, at least, be "bound and mollified with ointment." 66 heavily on the poor, be diminished-let Christian benevolence raise up an efficient band of instructors, and extend aid to districts which need some help, and we may dispense with the aid of the State, which often interferes injuriously, and which is not competent to call into existence that education which has "the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come." WHATEVER comes from the pen of Mr. Swaine has the mark of strong sense and gentlemanly feeling upon it. Those who wish to see the ablest defence of national secular education which has, perhaps, seen the light, should instantly possess themselves of this lecture. We cannot say, however, that we are convinced by it, so as to feel that the scheme proposed is either practicable, or likely to work well for the interests of society. We do not believe in free schools, in the absolute sense of that term. What is got for nothing will never be properly valued. We do not believe in schools dissociated from religion; nor do we think that religious men can have hope in their efficacy. And we do TRACTS ON POPULAR EDUCATION. 12mo., not, moreover, believe that National Free We very earnestly commend this volume to our readers, assured that to thousands of sorrowing Christians it will speak in the welcome and soothing tones of a genuine "son of consolation." cloth boards. THE education of the people is the question of the times. In the midst of the agitation excited by the promoters of various new schemes, we think that those who have always been the steady friends of popular enlightenment may claim a hearing. The Congregational Board of Education has a testimony to offer. The present volume contains a series of papers on the topics which are producing so much discussion. We earnestly recommend our readers to study the subject, and to give these tracts a thoughtful consideration. The question of education does not stand alone. It is intimately related to the interests of our churches and the spread of vital Christianity, and no Christian patriot can regard it with indifference. "Christians," says Algernon Wells, "must educate religiously." Let this sentiment be pondered, and it will lead to a rejection of all plans based on general and local taxation, and rouse the church to a proper sense of its high vocation. Let parents by suitable means be stimulated to the discharge of their duty-let Schools can be established in this country, without either giving undue influence to government, or parish authorities. We have, therefore, brought ourselves to the strong determination to give our earnest and steady support to the Congregational Board of Education, and to oppose, in every possible way, the national and local schemes now afloat. WOMAN. London: A. M. Pigott, Paternoster-row, THE Author of this book writes upon a popular theme, and is likely to secure the attention, and, we doubt not, benefit the hearts of many fair readers. The chapters are thus headed:"Woman, an Help-meet for ManWoman's Province and Position-Woman beneath the Cross-Woman in her Domestic Relations-The Christian Wife-The Christian Maiden-The Christian Mother-The Useless her knees. And even were it possible that the Lord could go with her even to the door, would he accompany her further ? And could she 'dwell in him, and he in her,' during the noise and excitement of the revel? When she goes forth to visit the sick, to relieve the indigent, to comfort the mourner, or to exhort some soul wedded to the world Christian Servant Conclusion Woman-Worldly Woman-Bereaved Woman-Deserted Woman." The design of the volume is obvious from the "Contents." The matter is well arranged, discriminating, able; the style is smooth, pure, and consequently attractive; and the spirit that pervades it is thoroughly Christian. There is a fine philosophy in the book which will commend it to the thoughtful, and an earnestness fitted, under God's blessing, to arrest the gay. Take, e g., the following passage:-" Next to pursuits decidedly criminal, nothing more completely estranges the heart from God than idle and frivolous amusements. They stifle prayer, which is the breath of the soul; and, therefore, it is written: 'If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.' And this is confirmed by universal history. It was during the excitement of a brilliant feast that Belshazzar profaned the vessels of the Lord's house; and we know that the wits and infidels of the last century were nearly all men of pleasure. The thirst for pleasure has never existed without producing a forgetfulness of God, although the worship of false gods, which is simply impiety deified, allies itself most closely with the love of pleasure. The Holy Spirit shows us this alliance in the instance of the Israelites worshipping the golden calf in the wilderness : 'And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To-morrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.' The idolatry of Greece and Rome presents the same characteristic; and it is a remarkable fact, that the degenerated Christianity of Popery displays it in its turn. Superstitious religion is essentially a religion of pleasure. Without mentioning the religious spectacles of the Middle Ages, which were a medley of blasphemy and obscenity, we may point to the present practice of Popish countries, where the approach of Christmas and Easter is celebrated by the most disgusting excesses of folly and intemperance. In fact, dissipation eradicates the idea of God from the mind; for dissipation and the spirit of piety are incompatible. Let us suppose, for instance, a young woman about to attend some large public ball. Is it possible that her affections are still devoted to God, and that she can obey the commandment of the Holy Spirit, Pray without ceasing?' There is small room for obedience either before the ball, or during its continuance, or at its close. Could she pray before she went, when she is entirely absorbed in the fascination of her dress and of her figure? She would fear to disturb the fall of her robe, or disarrange the order of her tresses, by casting herself upon VOL. XXX. to quit its service for the glorious liberty of Christ, doubtless the Lord does follow her; but here, where her whole desire is to please, and to be pleased, Oh! here the presence of the Saviour would be unwelcome; and ere she entered within those doors, she would look back, and say, 'Hold, Lord! where I go, thou mayest not follow!'" We thank Mr. Jessopp for his handsome book, which, though avowedly an amplification of a Sermon by a "late French Protestant Clergyman," whom he does not name, is not, on that account, less worthy of extensive circulation. THE ELIJAH OF SOUTH AFRICA; or, The Character and Spirit of the late Rev. JOHN PHILIP, D.D., Unveiled and Vindicated. By ROBERT PHILIP, Maberly Chapel. Small 8vo. pp. 72. John Snow. IN early life, when Dr. Philip was the most popular and effective preacher, perhaps, in the North of Scotland, Mr. Philip was a member of his active and public-spirited church. He had constant access to him in the private circle, and imbibed that strong attachment to his person and ministry which the lapse of years could never impair. He all the strength and fervour of an undying doubtless feels towards his fragrant memory attachment. But though he indulges no little share of imagination in his delineations of character, there are but few who knew Dr. Philip in his best days, who will not recog nize the truthfulness of the general portrait. Had he taken a little more time for his preparations, and gone a little further into details, he would have done more justice to himself. But the little volume is a hearty tribute, and as just as hearty, to the virtues of one of the best of men, whose bosom ever glowed with the purest and loftiest philanthropy, and who would not have shrunk from martyrdom in the cause of truth and humanity. For Africa he was willing to live or to die; and if his advice had been taken, in reference to that ill-fated land, the aboriginal tribes had long since been thoroughly conciliated to British sovereignty. May the Lord God of Elijah raise up the men for us that the age requires ! D granted, in small amounts, by the Board to day-schools in districts which require help. It is impossible to over-rate the importance of these objects; and we hope a design so benevolent and so perfectly unexceptionable will be accomplished by the prompt liberality of the friends of Voluntary and Religious Education. WE see, with warm satisfaction, that the cause of Voluntary and Religious Education is advancing rapidly, under the spirited and able management of the Congregational Board of Education. Our readers are aware of the noble project formed at a Conference held in London in the month of June. It involved Several County Educational Associations two main points: namely, first, the raising of have been formed, for the purpose of effectDonations to complete the purchase of Homer-ually organizing the Congregational body, ton College, and to fit it up in every way, with the addition of model schools, for the Training Institution of the Congregational Board (including both the Male and Female departments); and second, the raising of Annual Subscriptions to sustain the Training Institution, and to enable the Board to make annual grants to schools in poor districts. namely, in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Hampshire, and Gloucestershire. The energetic Chairman of the Board, Mr. S. Morley, together with the Principal of the Training Institution, the Rev. W. J. Unwin, M.A., and assisted by friends in Yorkshire, Lancashire, &c., have held numerous meetings to advance the principles and objects of the Board; amongst other places, at Manchester, Liverpool, Stockport, Rochdale, Darwen, Wigan, at Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Wakefield;-at Bakewell (for the county of Derby);—at Bristol, (for Gloucestershire) and Stroud; and in the county of Hants. Lectures have been delivered at many of these places by the Rev. W. J. Unwin, the Rev. G. W. Conder, the Rev. H. R. Reynolds, Mr. E. Baines, &c. A The total amount required in Donations was from Ten to Eleven Thousand Pounds, of which only £4700 had been promised in June. We rejoice to state that, by a liberality worthy of the body, the whole amount has now been raised, the effort having been begun by several of the large-hearted members of the Board in London, and brought to a consummation by the equally spirited friends of the cause in Lancashire and Yorkshire, at a Conference held in Manchester in Septem-powerful appeal has also been addressed " to ber. As this sum has been contributed by comparatively few individuals, it is now proposed to raise the additional sum of Five Thousand Pounds, for the twofold purpose of aiding in the building of new schools, and of accumulating a stock of school-books and school-materials-for which the Board has had a large demand. It may be hoped that, so much having been done chiefly in London, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, the remaining amount will be contributed with cheerfulness and ease by the rest of the kingdom. The second object is, however, of still greater importance, namely, the raising of Annual Subscriptions equal to the carrying on of the excellent objects of the Board. It is proposed to raise the sum of Four Thousand Pounds a-year; of which about £2000 will be required for the support of Homerton College Training Institution in full efficiency; and from £1500 to £2000 is proposed to be the Congregationalists of England and Wales," by Mr. S. Morley, and Mr. E. Baines. It seems quite certain that both of the Manchester Projects of Education, the Secular and the Local, will be brought before Parliament in the ensuing Session; and as these projects rest on principles altogether inadmissible by the friends of Voluntary and Religious Education, and seriously threaten the interests of religion and of liberty, we hope the Congregational body, true to their principles and their high vocation, will oppose them, not only by petitions, but in the most effectual of all methods, namely, by raising the full amount of Annual Subscriptions required to make the Congregational Board one of the most effective educational institutions in the country. We regret that our limited space would not permit us to introduce into our pages the convincing appeal of S. Morley, Esq., and E. Baines, Esq., to the Congregational Churches of Great Britain. It appeared in the Patriot," and in the "British Banner," and is worthy of most earnest perusal. The Congregational churches must brace themselves for a great struggle, unless they are prepared tamely to retire from the influential sphere they have occupied in the Education of the people. GREAT MEETING OF THE PROTESTANT EVENTS of a remarkable character have created and nourished this hallowed confederation. The See of Rome, aided by the Romanizers in the Episcopal Church, has been the unintentional architect of the Protestant Alliance. The Papacy, from without, and the Anglicans from within,-by insolent aggression on the one hand, and stealthy movement towards Rome on the other, have resuscitated the slumbering spirit of the Reformation. They have done us noble service, though they meant it not. Had we carried out to its legitimate results our first Reformation, we should never have needed a second. We yet want men for the times; but if we are kept prayerfully awake, God will send them to us, in answer to united and fervent supplication. The Protestant Alliance has made a noble beginning. The aspects of its great gathering, at Freemasons' Hall, on Friday, the 28th of November, were most encouraging. We never beheld an assembly in the metropolis more calmly earnest. Enlightened, outspoken Protestantism, characterized all that was there uttered. The noble Chairman, the Earl of Shaftesbury, said that they had met, as Brother Protestants, to offer a consolidated resistance to Papal aggression,-an aggression alike crafty and bold, against our spiritual and political liberties. He exposed, with great force of argument, the utter failure of those politicians, who, upon principles of expedience, had taken Maynooth College into the pay of the State. Their main argument, viz., the conciliatory tendency of the measure, had proved a fallacy. Perhaps Mr. Gladstone would scarcely thank his Lordship for quoting so largely from his volume, entitled "The State in its relations with the Church." But it is quite fair, when a man writes volumes, and afterwards changes his opinion, to tell the world what he once thought; if it were only to weaken the power which such a writer has to do evil. All the speakers acquitted themselves in a manner suited to the crisis which has come upon us; and proved to demonstration that earnest Protestants have a common bond of union, which they will do well to strengthen and cement, that they may present a bold and manly front against the common foe. J. C. COLQUHOUN, Esq., and the REV. DR. TIDMAN, proposed the First Resolution,— "That the revival, on the part of the Church of Rome, of the loftiest pretensions and most intolerant doctrines of the Papacy of the Middle Ages, renders it he duty of all Protestants to unite, both for the defence of their civil and religious liberties, and for the maintenance of Revealed Truth, on which depend alike the temporal and eternal happiness of mankind." Both the speakers on this resolution made a powerful defence of the real union of Protestants. Dr. Tidman most triumphantly demonstrated the grounds of such union. The Second Resolution, moved by the Rev. R. BURGESS, Rector of Upper Chelsea, and seconded by the Rev. WILLIAM CHALMERS, of the Presbyterian Church, was as follows: "That the recent movements of the Romish priesthood throughout Continental Europe, coupled with their late aggressive proceedings in England, prove the existence of a settled purpose to overthrow religious freedom; while their success in France, in prosecutions for the sale of controversial tracts, and in preventing the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, shows to what an extent that freedom may be curtailed, even under a Constitution framed to secure both civil and religious liberty. That this Meeting, therefore, approves of the purpose of the Committee of the Protestant Alliance to interpose, whenever practicable, in behalf of those suffering wrong at the hands of that priesthood; and it calls upon the Protestants of all countries, and especially upon those in the United States of America, to unite with the people of Great Britain in defence of those principles of the glorious Reformation for which our ancestors laboured and suffered." Mr. BURGESS's speech was distinguished by most ample details of the state of Popery in France; and showed in forcible language how it had accommodated itself to all forms of government, for the purpose of accomplishing its nefarious purposes of aggression on the temporal and spiritual liberties of mankind. The Third Resolution, moved by Sir CULLING EARDLEY E. SMITH, and seconded by the Rev. FRANCIS CLOSE, of Cheltenham, was "That this Meeting desires to express its sense of the contrast afforded to this retrograde movement in France and elsewhere, by the protection recently given by the Government of Piedmont to the ancient Church of the Waldenses, and by the firmness with which that Government has withstood the arrogant pretensions of the Papal priesthood. It trusts that the House of Savoy may have the honour of carrying on to completion the work of liberty of conscience, the surest guarantee of civil freedom and national prosperity. And it desires to express its firm conviction, that in maintaining the independence of the Sardinian Crown against the aggres-ive claims of Rome, the Piedmontese Government n ay rely on the warmest sympathy of the people of Great Britain." The Fourth Resolution, moved by the Rev. CHARLES PREST, and seconded by the Rev. Dr. BEGG, of the Free Church of Scotland, was "That, as the nearest and most practical duty of the British people, an earnest endeavour ought forthwith to be made to terminate that intimate connexion with Rome into which this Protestant nation was brought in 1845 by the Act which settled upon Maynooth College a permanent national endowment. And that for this purpose Petitions to both Houses of Parliament be now adopted, praying for the immediate and total repeal of that Enact ment." The following form of Petition to the House of Commons, in addition to the resolution, was read by the Chairman, and, being put to the meeting, was unanimously carried : NEW BROAD-STREET CHAPEL, CITY. WE are happy to be able to announce, that the Deacons of the ancient and venerable church, assembling at the above place of worship, have succeeded in obtaining a new lease of their chapel, on favourable terms, from the City of London. The services are at present conducted, as usual, by acceptable supplies; but we trust that the church will shortly obtain an efficient pastor, whose labours will be abundantly blessed in so important a sphere of Christian usefulness. Whatever difficulties may be felt by some of our City churches, in consequence of the prevailing custom of living away from the metropolis in modern times, we should still much regret if any important, well-established "TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMONS OF THE sphere of action were relinquished. UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRE- "The Petition of the undersigned "Humbly showeth, "That your petitioners witnessed with great concern the endowment granted by Parliament, in the year 1845, to the Romish College of Maynooth,believing, in common with vast numbers of their fellow-countrymen, such endowment to be indefensible in principle, and at variance with sound policy. "That your petitioners believe that subsequent events have shown, that the reasons of expediency by which that measure was then sought to be defended, were altogether founded in error; that the fruits of that endowment have been entirely different from those which were anticipated by its promoters; and that the worst predictions of its opponents have been fully realized. "Your petitioners, therefore, feeling an increasing repugnance to that measure, pray that your honourable House will repeal the Act of 1845, and will withdraw the support given to that College, as promptly as may be consistent with the engagements entered into with the parties now holding office under that Act." JAMES COOK EVANS, Esq., supported the above resolution, in a very enlightened and telling speech, and explained certain features of the Act of Parliament for the Endowment of Maynooth. Thanks were then moved and seconded to the EARL of SHAFTESBURY, by C. H. FREWEN, Esq., M.P., and the Hon. ARTHUR KINNAIRD, and carried unanimously. We cannot but augur the greatest benefits from the formation of the Protestant Alliance, and from the noble and earnest spirit in which it has been inaugurated. Let all right-minded Protestants throughout the United Kingdom, regardless of Denominational distinctions, rally round this great and healthy centre of Protestant influence for Great Britain and the world. Let branch Societies be formed in all our large cities and towns. True to ourselves, we have nothing to fear;unfaithful to our trust, the consequences may be such as ages of toil and sacrifice may not be able to repair. It is Though many respectable families reside out of town, yet vast multitudes, from the necessity of their circumstances, still remain there. These ought, on no account, to be neglected. If less respectable, to a worldly eye, than others, they are still immortal, accountable creatures; and these poor should have the gospel preached unto them. also to be remembered, that the influence of our Nonconformist modes of worship are found more readily to affect the middling and lower, than the higher classes, whose prejudices and interests alike point another way. And if we neglect the humbler inhabitants of our large towns, the Romanists, the infidels, and the socialists, will soon supply our place, to the great peril of the whole structure of society. Then if we lose our hold on the metropolis, there is much reason to fear that we shall lose the suburbs too. Who are the great supporters of our suburban churches? In nine cases out of ten, those who have been successful traders in the metropolis, and whose early training has been in connexion with some one or other of the London religious communities. They have subsequently resided near town, but they have carried their religious convictions and sympathies with them. Hundreds of well-known names might be mentioned illustrative of these remarks. It is true that the circumstances here referred to, and the successive loss of valuable members, may often try the faith, the patience, and the resources of the pastors, and the managers, too, of our City churches. But let not their zeal decline. In the end they shall reap, if they faint not. Let them support their respective interests, and all the schools and social institutions connected with them, not forgetting that the more their selfdenial and difficulty may be, the greater will be even their present satisfaction, and the richer their future reward. Those who retire to the country from the pressure of prosperity, do not always withdraw their patron |