heathen, have been prepared, to give particular directions as to the minutiae of religious worship and the religious life. Every part of the edifice of the Church, and of its adornments and elaborate ritual, must be full of symbolical meaning. Men lacking religion, or regarded at present as incapable of spiritual religion, are to be led to it on the crutches of Church ceremonial; others, full of religious sentiment, but weary of the simplicity of ordinary Protestant worship, are to be indulged with the splendour of unreformed worship, that they may with ecstacy declare they have found what they longed for. Such a course, we venture to affirm, would not be approved of if the teachings of these pages were prominent in the discourses of all the clergy of our land. Let the dispensation of the Spirit be recognised, and no revival of Church architecture, music, vestments, and ceremonial will be admitted to compensate for the want of spiritual life; indeed, excessive regard for ritual will be esteemed a retrograde tendency, and an indication that religious men do not know the day of their visitation." Narrative of the Conversion of a Chinese Physician. By the Rev. Henry Moule, M.A., Vicar of Fordington. Second Edition. London: Nisbet & Co. 1868.-If we chronicle with pride our country's successes in arms, we will not pass by her more peaceful triumphs, through the sword of the Spirit, beneath the standard of the cross of Christ. Protestant missions in China are of very recent date, but now bear promise of substantial success. The mission of the Church Missionary Society at Ningpo, a large city of three or four hundred thousand souls, was commenced by the Rev. G. Smith, afterwards Bishop of Victoria, in 1846, and renewed in 1848 by Mr. Cobbold and Mr. Russell. One of the first converts, Bao by name, now assists Mr. Russell as a catechist; and among other missionaries who have been appointed to this station are two sons of the author of this narrative, one of whom we remember as standing at the head of the Cambridge Classical Tripos in 1857,-an honour much augmented by his subsequently following in the steps of the talented and beloved Henry Martyn. The catechist Bao received a visit one day from a Chinese resident, Dzing Sin-sang, or, as we should render this very euphonious title, Mr. Dzing. Mr. Dzing was a well-educated medical man, and had practised for some years in Soochow before he resided at Ningpo. His experience as a physician gave him, while there, a painful insight into human wickedness; and he was still more troubled in mind because he found the philosophy of Confucius powerless to keep his own heart right, or to impart any solid satisfaction to life. Like Justin Martyr, he could find no rest for the sole of his foot in the Schools, and set out to seek it elsewhere, flitting from system to system, until Christ gave him rest. He first became a Buddhist devotee, and observed all the rites and ceremonies of his new faith with the care of a neophyte. It is only one step from rationalism to ritualism. Superstitious rites are an opiate; they lulled Dzing's conscience, but they did not satisfy his longings. He was one of those very genuine and straightforward men who are delightful wherever we meet them, and shine as lights in the world when brought by Divine grace within the Church of Christ. After his return to Ningpo, one of his children became dangerously ill, and he called in the aid of a native Roman Catholic physician, who was an agent of the French priests in the city, and went about gratuitously administering medicine to the sick, and speaking to the people on religious subjects. This person prevailed on him to make a vow, that if, under his treatment, the child should recover, he would examine into the doctrines of "the religion of the Lord of Heaven," and, if they should prove satisfactory to him, he would embrace them. The child recovered, and Dzing kept his word. His instructor brought before him the immortality of the soul of man, the sovereignty of one Almighty God, and then the nature and punishment of sin. Dzing trembled, like one of old time; and when directed to the cross of Jesus Christ, at once embraced the Saviour's mercy as his only hope. It is a real comfort to meet with an instance in which Romanists have directed a heathen to Jesus Christ in such a manner that the Saviour became the sinner's hope and confidence. But, even in this instance, the foundation had scarcely been laid when it was overlaid. Poor Dzing must not go straight to his Redeemer. His prayers must be addressed, he was taught, to the Seng Mu, or Sacred Mother. She was to be the real Mediator. He had offered a latria, or secondary worship, to his ancestors as a Buddhist. This was now transferred to the saints of the Calendar. Chinese images adorned his oratory; Christian images now replaced them. This parody of paganism! is it fair to call it Christian? But, in the providence of God, he heard of the "religion of Jesus," as taught by faithful Protestant missionaries in his own city. It grieved him that these teachers and their followers should be separating themselves, as he thought, from infallible truth and the one true Church; and finding his own teachers would do nothing to bring them to a better mind, he went himself, out of deep compassion for their souls, and called upon the catechist Bao for the purpose of inviting discussion. For the interesting and somewhat amusing passage of arms which ensued, and the history of Dzing's gradual enlightenment during this and subsequent visits, we must refer our readers to the narrative of Mr. Moule. When darkness and light struggle in the morning twilight, we know beforehand which must prevail. And the day-star arose in Dzing's heart, the clear light of God's Word shone more and more unto the perfect day. How he presently became a valuable teacher among his ignorant countrymen,-how tenderly he brought round his mother to give up images, and pray through Jesus only,-how his selfdevotion in the work of Christ led to an early death and early crown amidst the Taeping rebellion, and how his family followed in his steps, like Christiana and the children after Christian was gone before, all this, with collateral information respecting China and the mission, will be read with much interest. The friend of Christian missions will thank God and take courage from this story. He will feel, also, that important principle strengthened in his mind, that the chief end of foreign agency must be an efficient native agency. London: some Account of its Growth, Charitable Agencies, and Wants. By Charles B. P. Bosanquet, M.A., Barrister at Law. London: Hatchards. 1868.-It is impossible for a thoughtful Christian man to inquire into the condition of the working classes of London, in its social, moral, physical, and religious aspects, without intense sorrow and anxiety; and any one who suggests the means of alleviating, in any measure, the evils which have settled themselves in this great city, does good service in a great cause. The author of this small volume meets the new comer into London who may have a heart to do anything, with suggestions as to how he may best employ his talents, if so disposed, in his Master's service; suggestions which may be equally valuable to those who have lived long in the great city without seeing their way to usefulness. He also says enough to awaken hearts that have been previously dead to the calls which have been arising all around them, and to impel them to endeavour to do something for the benefit of their fellow-men. But besides this, he describes how they may find employment. Urgent as are the wants of London, he shews that it is not a vast desert, from which the good and beneficent have turned away in despair, deeming it to be beyond all hope of being reclaimed by cultivation. He tells of a multiplicity of agencies which have been brought into exercise, and gives some account of the work which they are doing, and the success which encourages them. He also points to a variety of ways in which separate individual action may find its field of usefulness. And he gives credit to both kinds of efforts for having been sufficiently fruitful of good to encourage the philanthropic and Christian workman to continue his labour in hope. Additional interest is given to the book by its being avowedly the production of one who has devoted his own time and talents to his Master's service, in the streets and lanes and courts of London, and who has felt the need of such a suggestive handbook as this which he has prepared for the guidance of others. The titles of the chapters give a fair insight into the contents of this small volume. They are (1) How London strikes a stranger. (2) Growth of Old London. (3) Growth of Modern London; its sunken sixth." (4) Church-building Movements previous to 1856. (5) On some of the Religious Agencies and Charities of London. (6) Church Extension during the last Ten Years-Personal work. (7) The Parochial System in London. (8) The Working Classes, and some of their wants. (9) Suggestions to Laymen. Some personal experiences. (10) The Poor Law, and Private Charity. (11) Poor Relief,-in a Glasgow Parish,-in Elberfeld,-in Paris, and New York-and amongst the Jews of London. (12) Sanitary Legislation. (13) On Dwellings Improvement Associations. (14) The Dwellings of the Poor. (15) Conclusion. These chapters conduct the reader over a wide field, and there is not one of them from which valuable hints may not be derived. We recommend them to the study of the newly arrived professional man, and man of leisure; but equally to those who have long resided in town, but who have not yet discovered how to enter upon the good work which it might be in their power to do. We shall not have mentioned them in vain, if thereby we have succeeded in enlisting any fresh and hearty service in a work which at present demands far more help than has yet been engaged in it, or appears at all likely to be forthcoming. Compared with the work to be done, the labourers are miserably few. The Rev. Edward Massie, whose shorter poems have often enriched our pages, has just published two beautiful volumes of Sacred Odes, Original and Translated. From an exquisite piece, entitled "The Journey to Emmaus," we quote the following:"The sun is sinking fast, and eventide Will soon be come, this night with us abide. With eyes uprais'd, 'Take, eat,' no other word; Then vanish'd from their sight;-they knew the Lord." These are very suitable volumes for a Christmas present. The Press and St. James's Chronicle.-Among the almost innumerable periodicals of the day, there is one, long established, "The Press and St. James's Chronicle," of which we can scarcely speak in too high terms. For years it has not only rendered great support to the cause of Protestantism, but has pursued an independent course, anxiously watching over the tactics of Rome and the Jesuits on the one hand, while, with unflinching courage and deep foresight, it has confronted, and still continues to confront, their approach, and expose their intrigues against civil and religious liberty. This periodical, since it partakes rather of a civil than a religious publication, should, and doubtless does, carry more weight amongst the large class of secular Protestants than almost any avowedly evangelical newspaper or magazine. We wish it every success; while during the present political, nay Protestant, crisis, its services have been invaluable. The Seventh Vial; or the Past and Present of Papal Europe, as shown in the Apocalypse. By the Rev. T. A. Wylie, LL.D. London : Hamilton, Adams, and Co.-This is an explanation of those parts of the Book of Revelations which appear to the author to relate exclusively to the Church of Rome. Dr. Wylie's works are, and for many years have been, well known and much esteemed by a large number of English Protestants; and we do not think that the present publication will at all lessen the esteem with which he is so justly regarded by most of us. All of Dr. Wylie's works on prophecy possess one trait which is almost peculiar they are not dogmatical: hence the cause of their wide circulation; and we are happy to say that "The Seventh Vial; or the Past and Present of Papal Europe, as shown in the Apocalypse," is no exception to his previous writings. In the first place, he maintains that the development of the title of "Universal Bishop," assumed by the Pope of Rome in 606, is the era from which the mystical 1200 days of years are to be counted. It is the author's opinion that there are three distinct eras in the development of the Papacy: the first of which terminated in 1792, the time of the French Revolution: the second in 1866, when His Holiness's territories were confined to Rome; and the Vol. 67.-No. 372. 6 F third to culminate in the year 2060. On questions of unfulfilled prophecy we are reluctant to enter. But the work well merits attention, and we cordially commend it to all students of prophecy. POETRY. THE CHRISTIAN MARTYR. THE morning sun pours down a ceaseless glare While old grey piles of massive buildings rise Would seem to warn the heedless crowd beneath A bold unflinching witness to the truth, That truth, which nerved the first great martyr's heart And which now filled with holy zeal and love W. B. |