(From the 'CHRISTIAN SECRETARY.') 'Then we must abandon the missions, and call home our missionaries.' As this thought from a Missionary Circular was still lingering in my mind, I fell into a kind of reverie, and I dreamed that I lived in a beautiful land, The Concert for Missions was now obsolete, But I had a fancy for roaming afar O'er the distant and wide-spreading ocean; Where a steamer was quickly in motion. To the land where the loved* and the lost are asleep, I then wandered on through the jungle and glen, But I found there no worship of christian men, For heathenish darkness had long settled there, And then I sat down by a mountain cave, I was thinking of Him who had died to save, I entered the cave, as I cautiously crept, I gave him my hand, he press'd it, and wept, 'I'm last,' said the lone one, and tears flowed again, By our teacher I stood, when he breathed not for pain, And that holiest tie-it was riven. 'I remembert ma'ma how she laboured and sighed, 'And then, one by one, the disciples expired, But many were slain as the rulers desired, Then a murmur of voices my slumbering stirred, They awoke me, and lo! I had dreamed. S. S. G. LINES COMPOSED FOR THE LEAGUE OF BROTHERHOOD‡ ANNUAL MEETING, Go sweet dove! with thy olive leaf, of mercy and of love, Go sweet dove! with thy olive leaf of love and righteousness, Go sweet dove! with thy olive leaf, to barbarous tribes reveal, Go sweet dove! with thy olive leaf, to palaces of kings, Go sweet dove! with thy olive leaf, and let the nations know Go sweet dove! with thy olive leaf, nor stay thy joyous course, † A female missionary. * Missionaries who have died in the East. 'The League' are constantly circulating tracts and obtaining insertion in Newspapers of wellwritten articles on peace, entitled 'Olive Leaves;' to this department of labour the verses refer. REVIEW. THE GLORY AND SHAME OF BRITAIN. An Essay on the Condition and Claims of the Working Classes, together with the means of securing their Elevation. First Prize Essay: By HENRY DUNCKLEY. London. Religions Tract Society. pp. 232. THE OPERATIVE CLASSES OF GREAT BRITAIN THEIR EXISTING STATE AND ITS IMPROVEMENT. Prize Essay By W. M. O'HANLON. London. Religious Tract Society. pp. 250. ONE of the most interesting features of the present age is the great attention paid by the intelligent and philanthropic to the condition and claims of the working classes. It is beginning to be felt and acknowledged that they are the strength and sinews of our nation; that without their aid commerce must cease, all useful arts decay, and the tide of human progress be rolled back; that it is they who turn into tangible form the conceptions of our men of genius, they who construct our almost omnipotent machinery, level our railroads, arch our rivers, build our sea-waggons, ply our looms, rear our temples, halls, and dwellings, print our books, and in short, translate the dreams of science into the actual facts of every-day life. Being conscious, then, of their great value and importance, it is natural that considerable interest should be felt in their welfare. That this is now the case we have but to point to the grand enthronization of labour in the Palace of Industry for a practical proof. Never before in the history of the world has there been so great a gathering of the nations for such a purpose. Never before has such high homage been paid to despised yet dignified labour. Never before have the great and mighty of the earth met together to celebrate the splendid achievements, and bloodless triumphs of patient, peaceful, and persevering industry. But notwithstand ing all this, we must not overlook the present condition of the greater part of our working population. We must not allow the glare of the Crystal Palace to dazzle our eyes, and prevent us from considering labour in other, VOL. 13.-N. S. Ꮓ though less attractive aspects. We must not forget that the labouring classes of this country are, with many honourable exceptions, still in a state of social, intellectual, and moral degradation. Admirably adapted to remind us of this are essays like those whose titles stand at the head of this article. Their appearance just now is very seasonable. They teach many stern and striking truths concerning the present, at a time when we are most likely to indulge in wild and dreamy speculations concerning the future. All serious and thoughtful men, and especially those professing christianity, must be deeply affected with the general state of the masses, their ignorance, poverty, wretchedness, and immorality, and feel that the removal of these is a 'consummation devoutly to be wished.' Many theories are propounded for this great end, both by the ignorant and the learned. We, ourselves, have faith in none of them. Rejecting as the vague dreams of an enthusiast the propositions of the Socialist, and of others equally absurd and visionary in their character, and admitting the great and immense importance of sound secular and religious education, we are inclined to believe, after all, that the only way by which the condition of the working classes can be improved, is by their own individual effort. No acts of parliament, no private charity, no parish-relief, no compulsory education, no new moral world,' can or will ever work out a change in society for the better, without this. It is this fact that we think should be chiefly impressed on the minds of the masses. they are to be elevated, their elevation must be their own work. Aid may be given them, but they themselves must use it strenuously. No external power can of itself be efficient. As the hand stretched out to save a drowning man would be stretched out in vain, unless he were to grasp it firmly, so any attempt to raise the working classes would be made in vain unless they heartily and earnestly co-operated in it. And experience teaches us that those who strive patiently and honestly to lift themselves up to the full enjoyment of the blessings of life, always If meet with that sympathy and encou- | ragement which they need. The world is found more ready than is expected to extend to such a kind and helping hand. And we believe that mankind generally would be far more willing than they are to assist the needy and destitute, if it was found that they made the best possible use of the means they could command, and were therefore likely to be benefited by other aid. But too often the opposite is the case. Money given in charity for the purchase of wholesome food, is spent in intoxicating liquor, and even hard-earned wages are squandered in sensuality and extravagance. Working men do not generally use what means they have in their power to live comfortably, decently, and respectably. They are not faithful over a few things, and it is therefore folly in them to complain that they are not rulers over many things. The greatest obstacle in the way of the improvement of the condition of our operatives is that they do not really desire improvement themselves. Could this desire be awakened the strongest barrier would be thrown down, and a decisive step taken in their temporal advancement. Until this is done, society must labour in vain and spend its strength for nought. This anxiety or desire for improvement should not, however, be the offspring of envy, or a mere day dream; it should be sober, serious, thoughtful, earnest. The working man should make his elevation the subject of calm thought and cool reflection; for every man can think if he will, and surely he might find inclination to think about his own interest. He should look within and endeavour to know himself, his wants, his capacities, his powers, his responsibilities as a man. He should look without, and learn his exact position, socially, politically, intellectually, morally, and religiously, and he should apply himself diligently to work, strive for, and toil after his own advancement in life. He should determine to trust to no political or social reforms which cheat his gaze in the far distant future-to no private charity, or parish relief which is doled out to him with a stern or reluctant hand-but feeling the dignity and power of manhood, and that noble independence which every working man ought to feel-he should trust to himself. He should remember that all men, not born to wealth and idleness, have to work their way upwards, and that if his condition is to be improved, it must be his own work, if his mind is to be educated he must do it himself, if his home is to be rendered comfortable and happy he must seek to make it so himself. And he is not without that which should encourage him in this great work. The path he is anxious to tread has been trodden before, and the footprints of his fore-runners may still be found; the difficulties he has to do battle with have been overcome before, and the trophies of victory are held up to his view-why then should he despair? Only let men earnestly strive to work out their own temporal elevation, and the result must be satisfactory and successful. We have laid this emphasis upon self effort because we wish to present a determined front against the teachings of those who assert that man's character is formed for him and not by him, and therefore that he is not responsible for habits of indolence, extravagance, or sensuality; an opinion pleasing and welcome to the idle and vicious, but offensive to God, and insulting to the dignity of the human mind.* We are glad to find that views of this kind are in some measure brought out in the volumes before us. In the first essay self-effort is insisted upon more strongly than in the second, but even there it is not so emphatically advocated as we could wish. We long to see the working classes of this country rise, not by the influence of others, but by their own latent energies, to the full power and strength of manhood. The 'Glory and Shame of Britain' is an exceedingly well-written book. The author is evidently familiar with his subject, and has had much intercourse with working men. He seems thoroughly to understand them. We have * Concerning the religious welfare of the working classes we agree with the authors of the Essays before us, both as to its pre sent actual character, and the means of its improvement, and would respectfully refer our readers to their pages. never met with a book which throws | so much light on the condition of our operatives as this. The striking truthfulness of its descriptions of their every-day life, the strong common sense with which it treats of their elevation, and the fervent piety which it breathes throughout, render it at once interesting, instructive, and eminently calculated for usefulness. The essay is divided into three chapters. In the first the writer offers some very judicious remarks as to the personal character and habits of the working classes, notices their position in reference to society as at present constituted, and dwells at some length on their political sentiments. His sketch of Socialism is truly graphic. We give a specimen of the manner in which he handles this popular delusion. 'When each person is left to his own exertions, and the enactments of society are confined to matters of order, there must occur fewer chances of personal collision than when every position in life is made a matter of vote and preference; where every man would be able to point to a specific decision on the part of others as the sole reason why he filled an inferior position instead of such as he might possibly deem himself qualified to hold. Society on this latter system would be a vast and complicated rivalship, carried on in an atmosphere daily thickened by contending passions. But Socialism is the perfection of such a system, the most complicated of all conceivable complications. Socialism can be established only by perverting or suppressing great principles. Freedom of thought and action must be proscribed before society can be clipped down to the stiff equalities of a formal system, and in this proscription we discern the blow that must prove fatal to brotherhood. The springs of action within the soul will not suffer bondage, its impulses possess a freedom which is perpetually renewed in every man and in every age. Let them have free course and they grow benevolent; chain them and they angrily chafe and foam till they are set at liberty. Wealth can ally itself in holiest friendship with poverty. Intellectual extremes have often found the golden meam of love. Voluntary choice is the procurer of these unions; once enforce them and they become impossible. Oblige wealth and intellect into such unequal alliances, and bitter enmity will ensue, society will be covered with rankling wounds from which its life-blood will issue. Justice claims observance equally with freedom as a means of estab. lishing genuine fraternity among men. We are so constituted as to experience emotions of anger at the perpetration of wrong. These emotions are invariably excited when the offence is perceived; and in our present selves within proper bounds. These sentifallen condition they seldom confine themment to legalize murder would fail to change ments are not controlled by law. An enactour estimate of that crime, nor would a code of social regulations tending to place the intemperate and the sober on the same footing, have any power to make us regard such a step as otherwise than essentially unjust. It requires no great degree of foresight to predict that a community based upon the denial of such principles must If freedom and prove an utter failure. quickly follow them into exile. justice were banished happiness would The halo of friendship which gathered round it in the heated imagination of its votaries would vanish as the morning cloud; and the boasted paradise of social rights would soon be changed into a theatre of malignant passions, a nest of brawlers, and a den of thieves.'-pp. 60–61. Our author then proceeds to notice the religious condition of the masses, exhibits the grounds of their prejudice against christianity, and analyses popular infidelity. We like this part of the Essay exceedingly. Every page of it our observation has proved to be true. In the second chapter, the principles and means which are necessary to secure the elevation of the working classes are dwelt upon. These are considered as four, social aid, selfeffort, the multiplication of educational agencies as a pre-requisite to this selfeffort, and a more practical and earnest manifestation of christian truth. Under 'self-effort' there is much earnest appeal, but if it had been still more emphatic it would have suited us better. Perhaps, however, it will be more likely to win its way to the heart in the softened and kindly spirit in which it is written than if it had been more stern and imperative. The last chapter is occupied with the consideration of the claims of the working classes, and the benefits both temporal and religious which would spring from their elevation. The concluding appeal is very stirring and forms an appropriate sequel to the essay. The second Essay, which gained a prize of £50 (the first prize was £100) is a very respectable production, and ticular theory as to the plan or exposition of this difficult book, but his work tends to facilitate a mastery of its various imagery. THE JESUITS: a historical sketch. Monthly Series. Tract Society. THE chief facts in this sketch are drawn The from original and authentic sources. Jesuits have been allowed, as far as possible to delineate their own portrait. They by their assiduity, artifice, and various colare now very numerous in this country, and leges, are doing as much as they can for the spread of Romanism. A SERIES OF LECTURES TO CHILDREN. By the REV. JOHN CRAWSHAW. B. L. Green. THESE Lectures, five in number, may be called specimen Lectures, and will serve to suggest to ministers and others capable of the task the kind of style suitable for such addresses. The author adopts the plan of occasionally requiring the children to give audible responses to questions proposed by him in the course of his discussions, and in reference to one of them, he tells us, that some thousand scholars kept up their attention for three quarters of an hour. THE PENNY PULPIT. James Paul, 1, Chapter House Court. Part 274. THIS part contains a rather full report of some sixteen or eighteen sermons delivered by eminent ministers. CORRESPONDENCE. REVIVAL OF AN OLD CHURCH. To the Editor of the G, B. Repository. MY DEAR SIB,-Will you have the kindness to insert in the Repository the following account of the apparent revival of the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ in connection with the Upper Church in the little village of Langley, in Essex. Not being fixed in the pastorate, during the autumn of last year I was invited to render occasional ministerial assistance to the little infant cause at Langley, known in that village and neighbourhood as the Upper Church. In the month of October last, I went down as requested; I addressed my first sermon to the little congregation assembled in their small meeting house, which is not capable of seating more than 150 persons, and which has been set apart for the worship of God by the kindness of one individual who for many years has testified his love to the cause of Christ and to the souls of the villagers around. Things have continued for some years at Langley in an apparently drooping state, when about two years ago Mr. W. Claridge, a member of the church under the pastorate of Dr. Burns, removed with his family to Langley, with the view of rendering ministerial help to the cause; but he was permitted to labour only for a few months; God in his mysterious providence removed his servant from the labours of earth to the rest of heaven. The friends at Langley were again left destitute of help, except that of a lay brother, who kindly stept forward to assist them in their necessity, when more regular ministerial aid has been wanting; and this brother in Christ still kindly renders to this little church his occasional help. Such was the position of the cause when I was requested to render them some assistance. I went, and in the first instance continued with them two sabbaths, and preached on these occasions to a house full of attentive hearers; and have occasionally visited them ever since. But |