crimson wool was tied on to the horns of the scape-goat, and that, as it was sent away, this wool turned white, as a signal that their sins were completely pardoned. For the nation was then adorned with salvation, and covered with a robe of righteousness. She shewed her joy, and uttered her gladness. The high heavens dropped and flowed with dew; the ridges of the field were watered, and gave their fruit.' Then they were washed, purified from their filthiness and pollution; they were made pure and perfect by the purity of His hands, that all might know that He who cleanseth them is the fountain of living waters, the hope of Israel cleanseth them with faithful sacrifices.' After various prayers, of an historical rather than a devotional nature, have been repeated, a description is given, a very exaggerated description, of the glorious appearing of the high priest; it is said, that his face was like the sun, that his face was like the rainbow, and a variety of similar expressions are made use of to illustrate his greatness. They then say, 'Happy are the eyes which saw all those things, but, verily, to hear only of them afflicts our soul. Happy the eyes which saw our temple, and the joy of our congregation, but, verily, to hear only of them afflicts our soul. Happy the eyes which saw the scarlet twist that was on the scape-goat turn white, but, verily, to hear only of it afflicts our soul. Happy the eyes that saw the continual offerings that were offered in the gate of the temple, that was thronged by the congregation, but, verily, to hear only of them afflicts our soul. But the iniquities of our fathers have caused the desolation of the temple, and our sins have prolonged the period of our captivity. Oh may the rehearsal of these things procure forgiveness for us, and the awakening of our souls be the means of our pardon! Thou hast, therefore, in thine abundant mercy, given us this day of atonement, and this day of pardoning iniquity, for the forgiveness of iniquity, and the expiation of transgression.' And then follows this description:-'We have no burnt-offering, no trespass-offering, no staves, nor mingled meat-offerings, no lot, nor burning coals, no oracle nor fine-beaten incense, no temple, nor sprinkling, nor confession, nor bull for a sin-offering, no sacrifice, no sprinkling of blood, no sin-offering, nor fatling burned on the altar, no purification, no Jerusalem, nor forest of Lebanon, no sweet sacrifice nor libation, no fine flour nor sweet spices, no ordinances or burnt-offerings, no vail, nor mercy-seat, no Zion, no perfume, no sweet savour, no present, nor peace-offering, no thanksgiving-offering nor continual burnt-offering; for because of our iniquities, and the iniquities of our fathers, have we wanted all these things.' Then, after a great many other prayers, they say, 'We have not obtained the desire of our heart; we have hoped for tranquillity, and trouble came; for exaltation of our horn, and, lo! depression. We said, "Our salvation is nigh," but it is far distant.'"

The Indian Rebellion; its Causes and Results: A Series of Letters from the Rev. A. Duff, D.D. London: James Nisbet & Co. 1858. WE merely note the publication of these remarkable Letters, and commend them to the attention of our readers, giving the following extracts :

"Still, of the ultimate issue I never once for a single moment doubted. This I have reiterated almost to very nauseousness. But my hope has not sprung from any desire or attempt to minimise the amount of danger on the one hand, or maximise the amount of preparation to beat it down on the other. No! But solely from my unshaken persuasion that the God of Providence has, in a strange way, given us India in trust for the accomplishment of His grand evangelising designs concerning it. In the discharge of this solemn trust, we, as a people and nation, have been shamefully, criminally

negligent. Hence it is, mainly, though by no means exclusively, that the Lord has admonished us in the way of sore judgments. We have been brought to the very brink of the precipice; the gulf of destruction has yawned terrifically beneath us; India has been within a very hair's-breadth of being severed from our unfaithful grasp for ever;-but having, as a people and nation, when brought into the very depths of trouble, and all but inevitable ruin, in some measure humbled ourselves before the Lord, and cried unto Him in our trouble, He has been graciously pleased so far to deliver us from our distresses, yea, out of the very darkness and shadow of death. And now, when manifestly about to grant us a new lease of India, He, in condescending mercy, appears thus, in effect, to address us:-'On you, as a people and nation, I have bestowed the treasures of gospel knowledge and grace, as well as the treasures of earthly substance, together with territorial dominion, beyond those bestowed on any other realm in the Old World. My purpose in so doing has been to constitute you the almoner of my bounties of providence and grace to the many kingdoms and peoples which now have been made to acknowledge your sovereign sway. For this end was India committed in trust to you; but having proved faithless to your great commission, I was about punitively to tear it from you in a way of ignominy and shame. Having, however, bowed before me in contrition for the past, with resolutions of amendment for the future, I purpose to try your fidelity by restoring it to you once more, with a view to your realising, under the ministration and aid of my Holy Spirit, the great object of the everlasting covenant,—even the subversion of Satan's empire, and the establishment of the Messiah's kingdom instead. Be again faithless to your great commission, and you have now had your last warning; when next visited in my hot displeasure, it will be in the way of exterminating judgment. Be faithful henceforth to your great com. mission, and your tenure of India, as a material dominion, is sure, until it can become a source of immeasurably greater benefit to you as a spiritual possession, redeemed from the bondage of its idols, its falsities, and lies.' God, in mercy, grant that the salutary monition may be joyously and effectively responded to; and that the future may make ample reparation for the sins and shortcomings of the past!

"Are these sentiments, or are they not, in accordance with Scripture? Are these words, or are they not, the words of truth and soberness? If so, why should they be regarded as needlessly gloomy and cheerless? Whatever they may appear to others, to my own mind they are the very sheet-anchor of hopeful and joyous anticipation for the future. As a nation, we have openly admitted and avowedly confessed that the calamities which have overtaken us are judgments from God, on account of the sins and criminal negligence of the past. Now, surely the wound-the bruise-of judgment does not consist merely in the awful massacres of our unoffending countrymen, women, and children; but also, and very specially, in the deep-seatedness, malignity, and extent of that rebellion, which has so nearly cost us the most magnificent viceroyalty under the sun, and the effectual quelling of which must involve the shedding of such fresh torrents of human blood. Now, in the severity and extent of the Divine judgment, ought we not to behold something like a measure of the Divine estimate of our sins as the procuring cause? To make light, therefore, of the judgment, in its wide-embracing comprehensiveness, or make it appear less than it really is, must be to make comparatively light of our own sins, or make them appear less than they really are in the sight of God. And if so, how can we be duly penitent before Him? And if not duly penitent, how can we expect the wound to be properly healed? or how can we be duly grateful for the greatness of the deliverance? They who feel that their sins are many, and have been forgiven much, can alone love much; and they who know that they have been helplessly in the very depths of trouble and

distress, can alone truly rejoice in their salvation. Let us, then, strive to realise the whole of our calamity,--massacres, rebellion, and all, with the antecedent sins which have led to them,-in its utmost amplitude and bounds, that our contrition may be the deeper; our gratitude for unmerited deliverance the greater; our hope, from the very magnitude of the Divine favour, the brighter; our joy, in contemplation of our new lease of the empire, the purer and more ecstatic. .

"The last mail brought us notifications of the honours conferred by her Majesty on some of the leading actors in stemming the great rebellion, such as Wilson of Delhi, Havelock and Neill of Lucknow. All here rejoice in the conferring of these honours on heroes who jeoparded their lives in their country's cause, and two of whom have fallen victims on the high places of the field; but in their name and example they have left a precious legacy and a tower of strength. There is, however, a very general feeling of disappointment at the meagreness of the new honour conferred on Sir John Lawrence; unless, indeed, the present be considered a mere first instalment of what is in reserve for him. His really pre-eminent services do not as yet seem to be adequately apprehended or appreciated at home. Relative to these a local journalist has given the following just and compendious state. ment-Sir John Lawrence, with few European troops, and the largest division of the native army, met the great rebellion face to face, drove it back, and annihilated its authors. Without money or orders, he raised a loan on his own responsibility, and in three months created an army of 40,000 men, No man knew better than Sir John Lawrence the critical position of the Punjaub; but he knew also that Delhi must be taken; and he accepted the danger, roused the old Khalsa spirit as far as it was safe, struck the key-note of the national pride in his order giving the Punjaub to Punjaubis, and saved not only his own province, but Bombay. And when on that terrible week in the end of August the balance swung slowly back, and it seemed that once again Providence had declared against the empire, he alone stood firm. His last regular Sikh regiment was despatched to Delhi, and the chief stood alone surrounded by new levies and a quaking population. He supplied the Generals with troops and ammunition for the siege, filled all vacancies and all arrears, kept all communications open, restrained the frontier tribes to an unwonted quietude, found his merits acknowledged by the Government of India and yet receives only an honour which has no attribute of permanence.' Now, I believe that I express the general mind of the European community out here, when I say, that if the man who laid the foundation of British dominion in India became Baron Clive of Plassey, the man who, within the last six mouths, has virtually saved an empire-more extensive far than the daring imagination of a Clive ventured to grasp, and his sober reason actually pronounced it madness to attempt to create has nobly earned the title of Baron Lawrence of Lahore-a title which it is hoped he will yet live to receive and enjoy. Not that I attach any peculiar value to mere earthly titles. They are in themselves, and weighed in the balance of eternity, little better than glittering gew-gaws or the evanescent transparencies of a dissolving view. Nevertheless, on the equitable principle of giving to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and rendering honour to whom honour is due, if it be legitimate to bestow them at all, they ought to be conferred on the most worthy. Now, at this moment there is not within the bounds of our British Indian empire a more deserving subject of the British Crown, nor one whose transcendent services to the State more justly entitle him to the highest favour of a gracious Sovereign, than Sir John Lawrence, the Chief Commissioner of the Punjaub.

"The year 1857 opened upon us with incipient symptoms of disaffection and mutiny in certain portions of the Bengal army. The year 1858 has

opened upon us with nearly the whole of that once redoubted army-after having committed atrocities that have made the ears of the whole civilised world to tingle-fiercely and defiantly arrayed in a life-and-death struggle against us. Even now, the hosts on both sides are silently and sullenly, and with the pent-up energies of mutual hate and wrath, mustering for a final conflict. That conflict, when it does come, may be expected to be a tremendous one. Still, no one who understands the subject at all can, as regards the ultimate issue, entertain the reasonable shadow of a doubt. It is the Lord who, in a strange way, and for the accomplishment of one of the noblest of ends, even that of the evangelisation of its people, gave India to Britain. It is the Lord who, on account of our culpable misimprovement of the awful trust, in His sore displeasure, suffered India to be nearly lost to us. And it is the Lord who alone can effectually restore it. And my firm persuasion ever has been, and is now, that, after having, by a prolongation of judgment and disaster, constrained us, in some adequate degree, to acknowledge the real extent of our criminality and danger, He will restore India once more to us, on probationary trial;—in other words, will recommit to our hands, for careful culture, the most extraordinary wilderness within the whole realms of heathenism, but destined one day to become one of the most glorious vineyards of that renovated earth where truth and righteousness shall for ever dwell. Oh for the needful wisdom to devise the right new policy, originate the right new plans, inaugurate the right new institutions! Oh for the needful faith and faithfulness to carry these on in a course of development ever forward-ever progressive!"

The Voice of Christian Life in Song; or, Hymns and Hymn-Writers of Many Lands and Ages. By the Author of "Tales and Sketches of Christian Life." London: James Nisbet & Co.

1858.

We do not per

A MOST attractive, interesting, and profitable volume. haps form the same estimate of some of the early hymn-writers of the Christian Church as the authoress does; and we consider a large portion of mediæval hymnology the utterance rather of the sentimentalism than of the spiritualism of the Church; yet we do not, because of this slight difference of opinion, value this book the less. The translations are all good, some of them very superior. The concluding paragraphs of the volume suit our pages well:

"How many sweet and joyous, or deep and touching hymns are there in our days, as doubtless there have been in all times, which never reach beyond the little family or social circle which they gladden! How many have been written to comfort one sorrowful heart, and, having accomplished that, are heard no more! How many gush out on occasion of some especial sorrow, or joy, or deliverance, and are forgotten like the song of the birds who poured out their happy music yesterday morning!

"Yet none of these are lost; they reach God, to whom they are sung, and they speak of Him to man-and more, neither song nor singer can seek to be or do. And not only this. There are tens of thousands who never wrote a hymn, who may yet have made better spiritual music with many hymns than those who wrote them. The hymn-writer only speaks the thought or feeling of all Christians, and the echo may often be sweeter and purer than the original notes, because less mixed up with self. The faith which sees the Invisible, and is loftier than all flights of imagination, is not the dower of a few, but the heritage of all. The whole Church is a Choir as well as a Priesthood. The harps of God, with the priestly robes of festival, and the victor's crowns

are the purchased possession of all who stand by that sea of glass mingled with fire. But what those images mean, and what that song and that joy will be, we know not yet; we only know that it shall be, and that its first notes are only to be learned on earth.

"Has there not, moreover, amidst all the din and discord around, been a growing beauty and power in this song? Has there not been a development of Christian doctrine, not independent of the Bible, but evolved out of it? Has not the Church been gradually mounting to the height of the Book, and can we not, in some measure, trace this in her hymns? Is not the expiatory power of the death of the Lamb of God more fully brought out in the Ambrosian than in the Oriental hymns? Through the wars and convulsions of the middle ages, when the soil of modern society was being formed by the crumbling of old civilisations and the upheaving of new races; through those times of darkness and tumult, when it seemed so often as if the end of all things must be at hand to close the terrible struggle, whilst the apprehension of the day of wrath' was often so present and vivid, did not the Cross shine more and more clearly as the one refuge from the judgment-throne? And then, when instead of the dreaded judgment the long-suffering of God sent the Reformation, when before, since the days of St Paul, had the world ever heard with such force and clearness the tidings of great joy-that Jesus is now not the Lawgiver and the Judge, but the Forgiver of sins and the Saviour-as from the lips of Martin Luther? Again, when in the eighteenth century Zinzendorf and the Wesleys arose, did not the old message gain something fresh from the old fountain as it issued thence anew? To Luther, the Grand Turk and the Pope of Rome were simply Antichrists; to Zinzendorf, and the Evangelical English Christians of the eighteenth century, the heathen were part of that lost world which the Son of God came to redeem. To the age of battle for the truth succeeded the age of propagation of the gospel. The hymn-books of the eighteenth century begin to contain missionary hymns.

"And now, in our hymns of to day, is there nothing fresh? Does not that 'glorious hope,' the light of the day of the appearing of Christ, shine more brightly in some of these than it has since the Thessalonians turned from idols to serve the living God, and to wait for His Son from heaven'? As in the time of the Reformation the teaching of St Paul was brought out with such fresh power that it seemed then first understood, and the way of salvation and peace was made plain, are there not yet depths in the Gospel of St John, and heights in the Apocalyptic vision, a fulness of revelation of Him who is at once the Lamb of God and the Son of man, the Son of God and the Bridegroom of the Church, which the Church is yet slowly travelling up to apprehend? May there not yet even on earth be sung psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, deeper and more heavenly than any earth has ever yet heard? For the Church is not journeying away from the first Advent, but on to the second; nor is she left to dig for herself her treasures of truth out of a Book written in a language dead for centuries. The Book is spoken to her still by a living Voice, the Voice of Him who testifies of Jesus.

"The song of redemption is no mere echo of an earlier song pealing in fainter and fainter cadence from age to age. It is the rebound of the living waters ever freshly flowing from heaven to earth; and if anything of echo mingles with it, it is the reverberation of a song which is drawing nearer and nearer the song of the great multitude which no man can number, which is to burst on earth in the Day which is approaching. For there is a triumphal entry to come; the gates of the heavenly City shall yet open wide, and the multitude from within shall meet the throng coming up from the Jordan and the wilderness, and both shall form one adoring company round Him who cometh no more in humiliation, but mighty to save. No cross shall follow that day of triumph; those songs shall never again fall into discord, nor be