he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him."

Memoirs of the Life and Ministry of the Rev. Thomas Raffles, D.D., LL.D., &c. By Thomas Stamford Raffles, Esq., Barrister-atLaw, Stipendiary Magistrate of the Borough of Liverpool. London: Jackson & Co.-This Memoir, like the preceding one of Dr. McCaul, is written by a son of the deceased. It possesses the fault, so common to family biographies, of entering into long and (to the public) tedious description of the private life of the subject of the memoir; details which can offer but little interest to any except his own intimate acquaintance. That Dr. Raffles was a good, kind, Christian man, no one would think of disputing. He was an eloquent preacher: but his life was devoid of incident. We do not perceive any of those remarkable indications of talent, or striking acts of self-denial, which were so conspicuous in the life of the late Dr. McCaul. Dr. Raffles was of a social, genial disposition, fond of society and of literature, and his continental tours afforded him much pleasure; but at the same time, notwithstanding his appreciation of art and literature, we are not aware that he ever displayed any remarkable literary ability. -The son of a solicitor, he was born in London, and at an early age became a dissenting minister, his mother being a Wesleyan Methodist; for half a century he spent at Liverpool a useful and honourable and Christian life, and there, in the August of last year, he closed his days, revered and loved by very many; and followed to his grave by sorrowing friends, among whom not a few were Churchmen and the clergy; for his spirit was catholic, and amongst Churchmen he had many friends.

Steps and Stages on the Road to Glory. By the Author of "God is Love," &c. &c. London: Virtue. 1864. This popular author does not always do justice to his works in the titles he selects for them. We have felt this in one or two former cases, but never so strongly as in the present one. Few persons, we imagine, who read this title-page, "Steps and Stages on the Road to Glory," will draw from it any idea of the richness of the subjects selected for contemplation. The opening chapter, indeed, on "the Heavenward Journey," is quite in agreement with the general designation; but almost instantly the author rises to the highest of all topics,-the words and actions of Immanuel- the footsteps of the Lord Jesus. The second, third, fourth, and fifth chapters are devoted to "the Beatitudes and Benedictions of our Lord." The sixth and seventh are occupied with "the New Commandment." Then follow, "the Tears of Jesus""the Prayer of Jesus"-"the Dying Bequest of our Lord"—"the Paradoxes of Scripture "—and only in the last do we return to "the Heavenward Journey." Thus, the repast actually provided far exceeds anything that the bill of fare, as given in the title-page, would lead any one to expect. In truth, the topics handled are among the choicest and best that the whole Word of God contains. As to the manner in which they are handled, it cannot be needful for us to say anything. A succession of works, all passing through several editions, places the author above the need of our praise.

Treading in the path of Romaine, of Newton, and of Scott, there is one respect in which his language and turn of thought differ from much of the theological writing of the present day. Like those valued

instructors of the Church, he generally speaks of this world as a place which believers finally leave at their death, removing then to some far distant scene, called heaven,-there to be "for ever with the Lord." Now, we do not wish, in this brief notice, to assume anything, or to decide anything, on these subjects; but we cannot shut our eyes to the fact, that the theological studies of the last thirty years have tended to bring into notice such passages as that in Rev. v. 10, “We shall reign on the earth," and xxi. 3, "The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them,"-and a multitude of others, agreeing with the third Beatitude, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,' —a beatitude which would have no meaning with reference to all the "meek" who have yet lived, if they have finally left this world, and shall see it no more. We are far from wishing to dogmatize on this subject; but we would try never to forget the closing chapters of the four great prophets, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and St. John, all of whom speak plainly of mighty deeds to be done "upon the earth." In this respect, a change is taking place, and the language of the great writers of the last century is passing away, and falling into disuse.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

THE year opens under brighter auspices. A year ago, it seemed very doubtful whether peace could be preserved, and whether we should not suffer severely from the continued blockade of the Southern States of America, and from the continuance of the American war. We were hopeful on both questions; and we have now gratefully to acknowledge the goodness of God towards our country. The Danish war has come to a close, and the enemies of Denmark have had their triumph. This for the present seems to have cooled the temperature of the continental states, and brought them to a more peaceful state than they have displayed for some years past. True, all this may be suddenly reversed; for there are several quarters full of explosive elements. Poland is subdued, but Italy is dangerous; and the pope, as usual, is the centre of disturbance. Within two years, the French troops evacuate Rome, and the subjects of his holiness count the days just like impatient school-boys as their holidays draw near. The walls of Rome, not long ago, were chalked with the mysterious number 740; the vigilance of the pope's police was roused; it is said that terror took the place of reason in the pope's councils, and the walls of the city were purged with brush and broom. The next day the mystic number was 739, which increased the alarm, and found fresh employment for the pope's scavengers. On the third day the mysterious figuration was 738; but by this time light began to break in upon the pope and his cardinals; they discovered that these were the number of days which intervened till the withdrawal of the French troops should give his dutiful subjects the long wished for opportunity of striking for the freedom of Rome!

Nor is the spiritual condition of the pope much more enviable. Fourteen hundred of his clergy, probably by this time a much larger

number, have joined in a declaration that they intend no longer to submit blindly to his authority. It is evident that a crisis approaches; and it is one which, as Christians and Protestants, with our Bibles open before us, we regard with the utmost hopefulness. The man of sin trembles on his throne; and if the sure word of prophecy teaches any thing with regard to which we ought to take heed, it is that these are the precursors of still greater events, and that the time is drawing near.

In the East, affairs wear a brighter aspect. Our ambassador at Constantinople had not defended the Christian mission as he should have done. The Bible was suppressed, and those excellent men, the American missionaries, were silenced and insulted. Earl Russell has recalled our ambassador to a sense of his duty with becoming spirit. His letter concludes thus:-" Her Majesty's Government instruct you, therefore, besides those measures in regard to places of worship, shops for the sale of books, and Turkish converts, which you have already advised, to urge the Turkish government to allow the free distribution of the Bible by means of travellers or hawkers employed by the Bible Society, or other British subjects, as an essential and indispensable part of religious liberty guaranteed by the Hatti Humayoun, and confirmed by the practice of many years."

The New Zealand war with the natives has broken out afresh. It is a painful subject to those who have traced the New Zealand mission from its infancy, accompanied it through all its trials, and triumphed in its wonderful success. The war originated in the avarice and injustice of our settlers, but the Maories have become acquainted with the secret of their own power. In their own way of fighting, among ferns and swamps and well fortified pahs, they have proved more than a match for their opponents. There are 10,000 English troops opposed to them, and they will no doubt be crushed at last. But at the last accounts they were in active rebellion, and even the native converts have joined their countrymen. They have had but too much reason. A native Christian was exhorted by a missionary to look upwards, and seek help from God; "Yes," said the New Zealander," and whilst we are looking up to God, you are looking down to the earth, and plundering us of our land." In these few words the whole story is told.

It is, and always has been, the great fault of England to disregard the complaints of her Colonies, until, having refused moderate concessions, they are obliged to concede even what is most unreasonable. In Australia, we have contrived to provoke a serious ill feeling by our obstinate determination to make its eastern coast a convict settlement. The remonstrances of Melbourne and Sydney have been treated with indifference, except that they were assured that the convict settlements were so remote that they could not be injured by the introduction of the worst of our criminals into their vast island, or rather continent. Upon this point, however, they had come to a very different conclusion; and we believe that they were right; but right or wrong, our Government ought to have seen that they were too powerful to be trifled with. Their convictions were deep. They anticipate with confidence the time when railways shall gird the coast, and when the distance of a thousand miles will be insignificant, and they have determined that a convict population shall not poison

their social life. Those who have read the biography of Samuel Marsden will feel no surprise. However, at the last hour, our Government has wisely given way, and we hope the loyalty of New South Wales and Victoria is not seriously disturbed; only they feel that a concession, which a year ago would have been received as a favour, has now been enforced upon the mother country by her angry colonists.

In Canada, a feeling of loyalty, and of warm affection to the mother country, prevails. We trust it will be cultivated on both sides. The dreadful state of the American republic has given a warning to Canada, which she has not despised. She has drawn up a Constitution for herself, thoroughly English in spirit, and well worthy of a great nation such as Canada has already become. We hope the day is far distant, when anything shall occur to interfere with the perfect good feeling that exists on both sides.

Politicians at home are furbishing their armour for another parliamentary campaign. They are hardly beset for want of a political cry. So Parliamentary reform is to be the word. But neither itinerating M.P.'s, nor newspapers sorely wanting materials and glad to seize upon the topic of the day, have been able to invest it with importance. Does the House of Commons fairly represent the deliberate judgment of the English people? This is the only question deserving of consideration.

Dr. Colenso protests against the assumed authority of the bishop of Cape Town, and makes his appeial to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. His cause has now been heard for several days, but is not yet concluded. However unfit Dr. Colenso is to be a bishop, we cannot persuade ourselves at present, that the bishop of Cape Town has the right to supersede him; and no immediate good ought to reconcile us to an over-straining of the power of colonial bishops, or indeed of any judicial functionary. It is very certain that no such power was ever meant to be deposited with any of our colonial bishops. It is a question with many civilians whether it is possessed by our own archbishops at home; and we are not to do evil that good

may come.

The strike of the South Staffordshire colliers is at an end. They have gained nothing; but their loss in wages only, amounts to £70,000. The hardships they have suffered, and the still greater privations of their families, are such as we shall not attempt to describe. Their moral degradation, too, has, we are afraid, kept pace with their distresses. Their leaders, in their unlawful attempt to compel others to join with them and abandon their work, have been punished, though not severely. The poor fellows had real grievances, though they themselves were scarcely aware of the real nature of them. They felt that they were harshly used; but, like men suffering under some severe complaint-they know not what, but that it is breaking them down-they sought relief in a mode of treatment which aggravated the disease. They have been denied all moral culture. Their employers, as a body, have neither built them churches, nor sent them clergymen and Scripture readers, nor established schools. for their children; consequently they are vicious and ignorant, their own enemies, and the enemies of their employers. Yet are they a noble race of men, and capable of vast improvement. This has been proved in the parish or district of Kidsgrove, in North Staffordshire,

where the proprietor built a church and placed a zealous minister; with schools for the children of his colliers. In the course of thirty years the face of the parish has entirely changed; it is now one of the most orderly in the whole county, and in all respects a model to the neighbourhood.

Judge Byles suggested from the Bench, on the trial of these men at Stafford, that a court of justice should be legally constituted which should have power to arbitrate between masters and workmen upon all differences that might arise on either side; that such arbitration should be final, and that strikes on the one side, and peremptory changes on the other, should be made unlawful: the courts being so constituted as to be equally satisfactory to the men and to their employers. It was only a suggestion, thrown out with a modest apology by the learned judge; but it deserves serious consideration. All England is struck with admiration at the noble forbearance of the Manchester cotton-spinners; and to what is it owing? To the Short Hours' Bill of Lord Shaftesbury, with its attendant schools, and to the moral and spiritual instruction which followed in its train. The Christian minister was listened to, when the soreness of want and the sense of oppression were relieved. Here a great field for the philanthropist lies open. Missions, and other works which have in view the spiritual good of the heathen, will not suffer because more attention is paid to our half-heathen population at home. Our neglect of our own countrymen has been very culpable. "These things ought we to have done, but not to have left the other undone;" but the subject can no longer be allowed to slumber.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

"NEMO," under which signature many of our readers will recognise a former Editor, in whose time the Christian Observer was conducted with eminent success, has favoured us with some confidential letters to himself from Mr. Zachary Macaulay, our first Editor, when he himself was young in the work. One sentence we shall venture to extract without note or comment. "Such paltry productions as, when coming from our own friends, it would be much better to permit to sink into oblivion. We discredit ourselves by bepraising them, and do them no good. We cannot raise such works into notice, while we sacrifice to a feeling of kindness to them our own claim to the character of impartiality. But I will talk more on the subject when we meet. I know your difficulties, I have experienced them. (So in original.) And I feel fully the arduous and invidious task you have to perform."

A SUBSCRIBER writes to call our attention "to a certain inaccuracy and carelessness in our late numbers, as if the writers were scribbling without knowledge." The only instance he produces of the least importance in proof of this harsh censure (for there are two others which, even if he be correct, are the merest oversight, such as all writers are liable to) is thus expressed. "In the same (November) number, some stories of licentious conduct in monastic institutions are repeated on the authority of a Roman Catholic writer of the fourteenth century, named Balaus. This is a blunder for Bale, the Protestant bishop of Ossory in the sixteenth century, a person of foul imagination, a selection from whose more decent writings has been published by the Parker Society." Now as we purposely abstained from giving either the verses themselves, or our authority for them, we shall be glad to know by what means our censor has discovered the "blunder" of which he complains. We believe the blunder lies on his side, not ours. We refer those of our readers who wish for further information on the subject, to Emiliennes' Hist. of the Monastic Orders. It is a very scarce work, and we cannot now turn to it. "Z.," just received, in our next; as well as Mr. Carr's letter.