Unless the present disastrous conflict shall be brought to a speedy termination -which there is, unhappily, no reason to suppose and our public teachers shall betake themselves to repress, rather than to encourage thefeeling of revenge which now animates the public breast, there is too much reason to fear that our old love of war will be revived, and that we shall never omit an opportunity of quarrelling with our neighbours, that we may demonstrate the prowess of our army and the power of our fleet. That such a period may never return upon us, must surely be the sincere desire of every real philanthropist. Of course it is very natural and highly proper that, as war against the towering pride and aggressive spirit of the Czar has been actually begun, the people of this country, who are so largely involved in the issue, should manifest the deepest interest in its progress; but that such a conflict of arms, in this age of the world, and of European civilization, could not have been averted, is a burning satire upon our vaunted progress, whether in politics, literature, or religion. The present condition of affairs is but too plainly the result of former temporizing and inconsistency. Our ready acquiescence in the partition of Poland, and the suppression of the liberties of Hungary, furnished the Emperor of Russia with good grounds for supposing that we should not object to his invasion of Turkey. It is clear, as the sun at noon, that compromise of principle and opposition to truth will work evil results to nations as well as to individuals; and that the path of safety is to be found only in a course of rectitude. Thus considered, our present Austrian alliance will turn out to be our bane, as, indeed, it has in one sense already; and, if a wise Providence prevents not, it will be found that the present war, like most, if not all those which have preceded it, will have proved terribly productive of irreparable mischief to multitudes, and to have afforded not a particle of benefit, either to Turkey or her defenders.

It must be admitted that, notwithstanding the enthusiasm for war which is too generally manifested, there is a spirit of humanity abroad among the people, which shows itself in the efforts that are made to alleviate the sorrows of the sufferers, such as never was witnessed during the progress of any other war in which this nation has engaged. The Patriotic Fund, for the relief

of the widows and orphans of those who fall in the battle, continues to swellgolden streams pouring in continually from every quarter-and there is reason to believe that, enormous as the drain upon it will doubtless be, it will be found amply sufficient for all the purposes of its creation.

We

It is a common and very natural thing for men to overrate their own importance. "If I should be cut off, who is there to carry on the work in which I am engaged?" is a question which every man labouring to advance a worthy cause, is at some time or other disposed to ask; yet the best and ablest of the race pass away, their places are speedily occupied, and it is soon forgotten that they ever lived. The fact that the world can go on without us is, doubtless, calculated to make us humble and sad; but seeing that none can continue long to mingle with the world's affairs, it is a merciful provision. hear a good deal of talk just now, in England, respecting the next generation of Christian ministers, which seems to be largely the result of the habit of mind to which I have referred. The "burden" of many an aged pastor, heard both from the pulpit and the press, is this, "Who will supply our pulpits when we are gone?" It seems to be forgotton that the demand must precede the supply; and that they themselves are the successors of men who, in mournful tones, propounded the same question ere they were gathered to their fathers. Just in proportion to the magnitude of the breach which is made by the hand of the destroyer, will, of course, be the difficulty of restoring it. But even in cases where men of pre-eminent ability have been providentially removed from those spheres which it seemed that only themselves could occupy, it has not often happened that their vacant places failed to be speedily, and sometimes even more efficiently supplied. This circumstance ought to be a ground of hope, and a reason for unwavering confidence in Him "who sitteth upon the circle of the earth," and wisely manages all the affairs of men. When Rowland Hill began to descend that valley which leads to the place appointed for all living, it was mournfully asked, "Who will occupy the pulpit of Surrey Chapel?" The Rev. James Sherman was then a country minister, and but little known. But the "hour" brought forth the "man," and the question was solved. Prosperous years rolled on, and Mr. Sherman spoke of exhausted strength, and the

necessity of retiring from so large a sphere. Again the question is asked, in even sadder tones, "Who will supply the pulpit of Surrey Chapel?" and again misdoubted providence supplies the very man; and it is of him I wish to speak. The Rev. Newman Hall, B.A., bids fair to be one of the leading and guiding spirits of metropolitan nonconformity. He is a man who, in every respect, stands abreast with the timespolished and powerful-earnest and loving. The most enlightened and refined congregation may listen to him with profit and pleasure, while the rough operatives of the factory, and the ignorant occupants of our hidden cellars and blind alleys, are arrested and subdued by his proclamation of the grand old gospel, which seems to be the most vital part of the preacher's own spiritual nature. Mr. Hall's experiments in the matter of open-air preaching, are said to have been remarkably successful; and it is thought that the example which he has set to the London ministers will, next year, be extensively followed. But Mr. Hall is an author as well as a preacher, and his very able biographical work, entitled the Christian Philosopher Triumphing over Death, has reached a circulation of no less than 19,000. In that volume, which is published by Mr. Snow, the three great questions-Is Christianity true? What does Christianity teach? and What can Christianity effect? are treated of in a most able manner. And to those who desire that their own minds should be brought into contact with one of a very superior order, elevated, earnest, and holy, I would say, get this work, read it carefully, and devoutly meditate thereon.

The annual "charges," to their clergy, of the Bishops of Oxford and London, generally contain matters deserving of some notice. The present year furnishes no exception to the rule. Those who are really anxious for the maintenance of Protestant principles in the Anglican establishment, very naturally scrutinize with a keen eye the teachings of the bishops, when they address their clergy on subjects relating to Scripture doctrine and church order. The instructions communicated by Samuel of Oxford, especially, have always been open to suspicion; but never more so than at present. It would seem that all the sons of William Wilberforce are destined to be a disgrace to their father. Each of the four was brought up to the "church;" and having for a season basked delightingly in the smile, and lived sumptuously on

the favours of this daughter of the Papacy, they became fascinated by the blandishments of the mother, and went over to her embrace. Gentle Samuel was the only one of them who obtained a bishopric; and he has, therefore, stronger reasons than they for remaining where he is. Besides, in such a position, he can, not only be a Papist in heart, but engage himself with impunity in spreading far and wide the "doctrine of devils;" and thus prove, in reality, to be a more useful son of "the father of lies," than by conforming to Rome, and proclaiming the authority of the Pope. And, true to his character, this lordly prelate never loses an opportunity of treating with contempt the doctrines of the Reformation, by inculcating their opposite. For example in his late charge, he enjoins upon his clergy carefully to instruct the people in "the reality of the presence of Christ's body and blood, through God's supernatural working, with every faithful partaker of the consecrated elements." Now, although, as it has been aptly remarked, this rule of teaching has "all the ingenuity of an enigma, and all the essence of equivocation," yet its design and bearing is but too apparent, especially as he goes on to urge "the duty of discouraging curious inquiring as to the mode of the presence." He also referred, in high terms of satisfaction, to the semiPopish sisterhoods which he has founded in his diocese at Wantage and Clewer, and declared his intention of encouraging the growth of such institutions, which are doing much, wherever they are commenced, to assimilate the establishment of England with the apostasy of Rome. Being well aware, moreover, that so long as the secular power of the nation keeps its hold upon that which is nominally the embodiment of the spiritual, an actual transference of ecclesiastical property can. not be effected in favour of the Man of Sin, the bishop is found labouring again, as on former occasions, for the revival of Convocation. It will be a time of rejoicing for the Puseyites, but of mourning for the nation, should it ever arrive, when the state shall agree with the church to afford it patronage and support, but relinquish all claim to regulate and control.

In the charge of Charles James, of London, there are some sentiments which will be generally approved; but, taken as a whole, it is secular in spirit and unamiable in tone. The census has evidently stirred up his lordship's bile. "True it is," he says, "there are yet among us, in our

crowded cities and towns, vast masses of human beings to whom the ministrations of the clergy can scarcely reach." That they are reached by the pious labours of evangelical Nonconformists, appears to yield to this Christian bishop no satisfaction. On the contrary, he evidently regards all Dissenters as enemies. While mournfully remarking, that little can be done towards rescuing the great body of the workingclasses from the power of the church's adversaries, till the church shall be enabled to put forth a far greater amount of energy," he finds comfort in the educational statistics founded on the census, as proving the strength put forth by "the church" to be greater than that of the various bodies of Dissenters; showing that "the church is doing her duty as the legitimate instructress of the people." All other teachers are, of course, "illegitimate:" the bishop would, no doubt, be glad if they were also unlawful. No Papist bigot, if we may judge from his lordship's manner of speaking of Dissenters, could cherish a more intolerant feeling towards those without the pale of his own communion. His lordship's hatred and dread of the sectaries seems to grow upon him with his years; and he finds fresh fuel for his animosity in the efforts which, he says, are being made by the "church's adversaries" to cripple her strength, by depriving her of those material resources which have been intrusted to her by the pious liberality of former ages." He therefore proceeds to condemn the Tithe Commutation Act, and to defend the churchrate system as it now stands, with all its injustice and cruelty; or, in other words, the robbing of Dissenters for the support of his sect. The bishop may rave, however, as much as he likes; church-rates are in evitably doomed, and will ere long be quietly stowed away with the cherished lumber of former times. His zeal for church-extension would do him greater honour, if he did not appear to be actuated more by political than by religious motives, and to regard all that has been done, and is doing, to reclaim and instruct the labouringclasses by other denominations, as only so much ground occupied by the enemy. Whether his lordship still holds, with his former protégé, Mr Gathercole, that "dissent is a greater crime than drunkenness," I cannot tell; but it is evident that his charity towards those who are out of the pale of the State Church has not received any increase. "Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name, and we forbade him, because be followeth not with us."

"Our church," says Charles James, "is the only legitimate instructress of the people.' Towards the close of his charge, the right reverend prelate adverted to the censure which had been cast upon him for not interposing his authority "to prevent the adoption of certain forms of public worship inconsistent with the simplicity and plainness which ought to characterize the religious offices of a reformed church.” If his remonstrances were disregarded, he could not be blamed for acquiescing in a state of things to which his inability, not his will, consented." He expressed, however, his decided objection "to all those unusual gestures or genuflections which imply, or are thought by many to imply, an act of adoration to the corporal presence of our Lord in the eucharistic elements-a notion which our church most explicitly condemns, and which, however modified and veiled by metaphysical subtilties, he held to be wholly inconsistent with her Árticles and Liturgy." The following explicit declaration, as a contrast to that of the Bishop of Oxford, will be read with satisfaction:"The body and blood of Christ are received in a purely spiritual sense, and even in that sense by the faithful communicants only. I earnestly exhort my younger brethren to receive and interpret the Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Articles in the plain, literal sense of the words in which they are couched, and not to suffer themselves to be perplexed and misled by the mystical, and to me, unintelligible refinements, by which it has been attempted of late to make the language of our church mean something, not only different from, but directly opposed to, the truth which it was intended to assert. I am thoroughly persuaded, that to embrace the notion of any corporal presence of our Lord in the eucharist, is virtually to embrace the dcctrine of transubstantiation; and when that is once received, a door is opened for the easy admission of all the errors and superstitions of the Church of Rome, which our reformed church has renounced and condemned."

I must not omit to give a brief account of a very remarkable libel case which has been conducted in one of our courts of law during the past month. The executive of the London Missionary Society, and a number of the leading Independent ministers of the metropolis, being the parties whom it primarily concerned, a considerable share of the public attention was necessarily enlisted in the matter. A general history of the case will be requisite to a

Mission House; and it has come out on the trial that the Rev. Dr. Archer was its author. The British Banner also took up the subject, and so completely turned the tables upon Mr. Ainslie, that he was constrained to seek refuge in a law-suit, the result of which we reported in the March number of the Christian Journal, p. 142. The merits of the case, however, as affecting Dr. Tidman, were not considered on that occasion, and at length that gentlemen found it necessary, as the chief officer of a most important society, to put Mr. Ainslie into a position to prove, if he could, the truth of his allegations of forgery and perjury, and some other analogous crimes. In June last the case came on for hearing, before Chief Baron Pollock; but that high judicial functionary, considering that it would occupy far too much of the public time, earnestly advised the parties to dispense with a jury, and let a competent arbitrator decide between them. With reluctance this course was pursued; but the wisdom of the suggestion has been shown in the fact, that no less than seven days were occupied in hearing about onethird of the evidence. When the trial had proceeded thus far, Mr. Ainslie became thoroughly convinced that he had all along been engaged in the defence of a worthless individual, and wished the cause to be stopped, offering to make a full and ample apology to Dr. Tidman, and the rest of the parties whom he had maligned in his publication, and to defray the whole of the very heavy expenses which had been incurred in rebutting his charges. Tidman at once accepted the offer; although, had he refused to do so, and determined to let justice take its course, there is no doubt whatever that he would have obtained damages to the amount of £1000 or £1500. As it is, however, Mr. Ainslie will be called upon to pay at least 3000 sovereigns out of the 30,000 which he is said to possess. The friends of Mr. Davies are terribly enraged with Mr. Ainslie, for having, after defendng him for some two years and a half, in so sudden a manner thus left him in the lurch. Mr. Davies, however, still affirms his innocence, and has several actions pending, on his own behalf, against certain of the parties by whom he considers himself to have been injured.

Dr.