are from it, whetalous, therefore, ofequired of

Fears by the clergy of his deanery, as their Rural Dean; and also as their chairman, by the Launceston Board of Guardians, of which he had been an unfailing member from their first meetings there in 1837. Well has it been said of him, that “he was a man sui generis, both physically and mentally." May God's grace raise up able helpers in all those various departments, to supply in some measure the sad vacancy caused by his departure to his needed rest, -the rest that remaineth in heaven for all the true servants of God, in His love and holy fear enduring to the end! For he well knew what was the straight and narrow Bible path of Christian faith and practice, and that minute obedience to it was required of every believer. He was very jealous, therefore, of any permitted departure from it, whether of doctrine or Christian morals. But the revealed holy way of God's inspired Word was for himself and others, as closely as possible, his rule and standard always. And anything like the appearance of new or unscriptural doctrines, or Antinomianism, he repelled at once, as if abhorrent to his very soul. The day before his death, he said to those about him, “ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God who giveth as the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ !” “Aye, Christ, that is the name! Let us pray that that name may be more known, and more glorified where it is known. All that is done in these days, the outward pomp and show, serves but to encrust and hide the house. Out of Christ, all is worthless, worthless, worthless! With Him, we have all; and He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto Him. 'Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.'” Stead. fastness was most strongly marked in him,-almost, we may add-for he was but human-to a fault; and, therefore, he was always opposed to any suggested improvements, either in our version of the Sacred Scriptures, or in the Liturgy of his most dearly beloved, because most Scriptural, Church of England. He scarcely admitted that any changes in either of them, however trifling, could be improvements; for he well knew how foolish some suggested ones were. And he thoroughly understood their unrivalled general excellence, and read them daily with undiminished delight, as the friends of both his youth and riper age. He knew the holy and Scriptural intentions and spirit of the Reformers and Fathers of our Church, from whom, through God's preserving mercy, we have received them. Our possession for ever he wished them both to be. And what was called improvement he thought might lead not only to the injury of their most Scriptural spirit, but also to a deplorable total loss of it; for from his youth he had been taught the danger of innovators, and remembered the inspired

words of Solomon (Prov. xxiv. 21, 22), “My son, fear thou the Lord and the king; and meddle not with them that are given to change: for their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both ?” We may bless God, that he is now safe from all coming changes and troubles of any kind, and the “evils” apparently coming upon the earth, permitted by a just and Holy God for our many heinous sins. And the words of Isaiah, lvii. 1, 2, may doubtless comfort us respecting him : “ The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that tho righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.” For he did indeed walk closely and faithfully with God; not trusting, however, to any righteousness of his own, but only, as we have seen, to the righteousness of Christ, which would saye him from all his sins,-all those traces of human infirmity which, few as they were, “still remain even in the regenerate.” Jesus Christ was his all in all; and he knew that he wanted nothing else for his salvation. “Christ has been enough for me in life! Christ is enough for me in death! I want no more !” These were among the many testimonies to the all-sufficiency of Christ, which he uttered on his dying bed. Knowing, too, the weakness of human nature, he felt that he needed daily the strength and guidance of His Holy Spirit to keep him from falling, and restore him when fallen. “If He does not keep me,” he often said, “I cannot keep myself.” Thus he constantly prayed to the Lord, to direct and strengthen, keep and preserve him. As Jesus Christ was his hope for salvation, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, was his dependence for enduring therein to the end. Great, he knew, were his responsibilities to God for the right use of the many talents entrusted to him,-his noble understanding, attain. ments, and moral qualities; his fine estate, his time, and his influential position; and this, not only as a Christian, but also as occupying the still higher rank of one of His ordained ministers, specially consecrated to His love and constant service. These responsibilities he strove never to forget, but gave himself up to the Lord, body, soul, and spirit. Well, however, did he feel, as the holiest mere child of man must feel, that many were his shortcomings in such exalted duties. No one, therefore, ever heard any proud, vain-glorious boasting speech about himself falling from his lips; and his full trust was in the special promised mercy of the God who loved him, and gave Himself for him. God's inspired Word was here again his hope and stay. Not long before his death, he said to those about him, “Do not let any one persuade you to doubt the inspiration of any part of the Word of God! All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." A friend of mine, when on his death-bed, had some hymns repeated to him, to comfort him; but he said that though they were very good, when a man came to be on his dying bed he could be content with nothing short of the Word of God itself; he must have that to rest his faith upon. Christ alone,-aye, that is the thing,-enough in life, enough in death!

“And may the music of Thy name

Refresh my soul in death !" That comprises the whole gamut of Christianity, Christ alone. And this will be found to be true in the world to which I am going. This is my testimony as far as it is worth. I can say no more. Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen! Amen!”.

His soul is at rest from all his labours, and his works do follow him, and will testify to his persevering good and faithful service, before men and angels, at the last great day. And whether in his ardent support of Missionary work abroad, or his unwearied furtherance of the kingdom of Christ at home, his name will long be remembered here below also, among the many who loved and honoured him, as The Apostle of the West. Alternon, Cornwall, Dec. 17, 1868.

R. H. T.

NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

Notes on the Book of the Revelation. London: Nisbet. 1868.-We feel quite incompetent to assess or estimate in any way the guilt of such productions as this. If the principle of interpretation adopted in it be admitted, our Bible is gone. “Past," means present ; “present” means future ;—“the things which are," describe the things which may be, two hundred or two thousand years hence. Were it possible, which we thank God it is not, to spread such writings as these among the people, the result could only be universal scepticism and unbelief.

Why, except to do mischief, should the writer of such a book give himself the trouble and cost of composing and publishing it? He has persuaded himself, by arguments which would prove black to mean white, and past to mean present, that the whole of St. John's

Vol. 68.-No. 374.

Revelation is future; and that not one syllable of it has yet been fulfilled, nor can be for a long time to come! Well, if this be so, why waste time upon it? If the churches of Ephesus, Sardis, Smyrna, Laodicea, &c., addressed by St. John, were not the churches that existed in the apostles' days, but certain other churches, which are to appear at some future time, why publish a volume about them? Why not rest content with saying, “The whole book of Revelation is future, not a word of it has yet been fulfilled, or can be for a long time to come; therefore, we may leave off thinking or talking about it.” The concluding words, “ Seal not up the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand,” mean nothing. But how revolting,--how deeply criminal, is this! Here is a book, which begins:-" The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show his servants things which must shortly come to pass.” And which instantly adds,—“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy : for the time is at hand." The apostle is then instructed, “What thou seest, write in a book, and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia.” “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be after these things."

To the seven churches, the apostle is instructed to write, not only concerning their present state, but their past doings. “I know that thou hast borne, and hast laboured, and hast not fainted.” “I know thy works, and where thou dwellest ; and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith.” The whole tenor of the epistles to the seven churches is that of warnings, lessons, and encouragements to churches then living, striving, witnessing for the truth. Yet, with a calm unblushing assurance, the writer of this volume pushes all this aside, telling us that

"Everything John saw and heard with regard to the seven churches (or church collectively) was future, and relates to the time when the visions will begin. Of course, therefore, the address to the church in Ephesus cannot be to the minister (even if there had been one) of the church to which Paul wrote his Epistle long before; and we see this the more clearly, because none of the churches supposed to be addressed in this and the next chapter were destroyed by the Lord coming in person to take away the candlestick. We believe, consequently, that he addresses the seven angels of the churches at the beginning of the time of the end,' or 70th week in Daniel, and says to them, as if then very near at hand, 'I am coming quickly.'” (p. 33.)

With such an expositor as this, we cannot argue. No plainer words could have been used, than those which the Holy Ghost dictated to St. John. Again and again is the Church warned that the purport of the Revelation is, to instruct the people of God of the things then coming on the earth. And a man who can recklessly and wilfully push all these plain declarations aside, and assure us, eighteen hundred years after the prophecy was given, that not an iota of it has ever been fulfilled, but that the very first predicted event is still future,-shows himself to be so irrationally bent on his own wilful misinterpretation, as to be altogether out of the reach of argumeut, or even of common sense.

The Mainspring : or, " For Thy sake :" a Tale. By Jane Anne Winscom. London : Seeleys. 1869.—Miss Winscom is, we believe, one of the very few living authors who have had the honour of seeing their works transferred to other lands, and other tongues, by the pens and labours of crowned heads. One at least of her former volumes has been translated into Dutch, by the present Queen of Holland. Nor have we, at home, been insensible of its merits. Eight successive editions have proved the acceptability of “Vineyard Labourers ;” and its sale, we believe, still goes on.

The present story is not one which calls for a detailed review. The topic on which Miss Winscom delights to dwell, is, “Living for Christ." Not feeling at liberty to offer herself as a formal teacher or preacher, she embraces the opening which is found in “ a tale." But the subject of her tales is always the same,-though the incidents are varied. In the present case, two sisters, one of whom has just lost her husband, à clergyman, agree to live together. They seek for, and find, a new house; and then commence, together, ·labours more abundant." A single extract will show the general tone of the volume; which is not, like much of the “religious fiction" of the day, lowering, but rather elevating :

“She still sat on her own low nursing-chair; and opposite was one with which she said she could never part. It was the easy leather-chair, where her husband used to sit and read with her every night God's precious word. That book was on the little bare table, for the covers were yet packed up; and, as Bertha laid her hand on it, silent tears rolled down her cheek; not tears of rebellion, for her inmost soul whispered, 'Thy will be done,' but tears she could not help-tears which relieve the soul, which soften sorrow. Then thoughts of her new and changed home gave place to anticipations of the mansion prepared by the Saviour's love-nothing unfinished there-no chilliness, no sorrow, no vacancy—there she would stand beside her Ernest, there she would see Jesus; and if tears of joy glistened in her eyes, His hand would wipe even them away; then thought returned to the unknown space between this moment and that—the time of widowed, earthly sojourn—the time to work for Christ-the time to fill up the measure of His sufferings. *My Father,' she exclaimed, 'lead Thou me on! Teach me the preciousness of the day when I can work for Thee. May I follow the footsteps of him who, through faith and patience, now inherits the promises; and may I cheerfully, for Thy name's sake, labour and faint not.' Prayer strengthened the widow's heart; and, when Alice entered the parlour fagged with the occupations of a very busy day, her sweet smile dissipated the apprehensive anxiety expressed in the words, 'Dearest Bertha, not in bed yet, with that poor little fire to starve you ??

“ And that evening the active but wearied sister was comforted by the trusting confidence of the bereaved one; and both were refreshed by quiet conversation with one another, and pouring out of the heart before their God. Their new house was sanctified by the word of God and by prayer." (pp. 47, 48.)

Family Prayers. By the Very Rev. Henry Law, Dean of Gloucester. - Family Prayers. By the Rev. J. W. Reeve, M.A. London : Nisbet and Co. 1869.-We have here two more proofs of the fact now universally felt and acknowledged :—that one of the most diffi. cult of all common things, is the writing prayers for the use of