however medicinally valuable, being mixed with the water ordinarily used, would be to occasion sickness and death. It is hardly possible to read of this third plague, and not to think of those strong, spirituous drinks, which are, in fact, water turned into poison. The very name absinthe, is not unknown in their nomenclature; and there is no effect which could be so aptly described by the falling of fire into water, as this which results in ardent spirits-in that which the simple islanders of the South Sea call fire water. That this plague may go on to destroy even this fearful proportion of the ungodly in the latter days, is far from being impossible, considering its prevalence even now in some parts of the civilised world. But I mention this rather as an illustration than as an interpretation."

From Rev. T. WATSON'S "PRACTICAL DIVINITY."

[THE Rev. Thomas Watson was minister of St Stephen's, Walbrook, London. He studied in Emanuel College, Cambridge, and was a hard student. He, along with two thousand eminent ministers, was ejected from his charge by the famous Bartholomew Act, on the 24th August 1662. He has been long and favourably known to the Christian public by his " Body of Practical Divinity," being a series of discourses on the Shorter Catechism; the earliest of these expositions of this admirable summary, so far as we know, that has come down to us. We make the following quotations from a well-thumbed copy, published in Glasgow seventy-three years ago.]

Chrysostom saith truly, "To act virtue is easier than to act vice." Temperance is less troublesome than drunkenness; meekness is less troublesome than passion and envy. Many have gone with more pains to hell than others have to heaven.

Surfeiting shortens life, many dig their graves with their teeth, too much oil chokes the lamp, the cup kills more than the cannon.

The snuffers of the tabernacle were of pure gold; they who reprove and snuff the vices of others had need to be free from those sins. The snuffers must be of gold; sin makes a man like a beast. (Ps. lxxiii. 22.) It is more to be like a beast than to be a beast; it is no shame to be a beast, but it is a shame for a man to be like a beast. They who serve Satan have such a bad master that they will be afraid to receive their wages.

It is easier to be sober than intemperate. It is easier to serve God than to follow sin. A wicked man sweats at the devil's plough, and is at great pains to damn himself.

You can never sin so privately but that there are two witnesses byGod and Conscience.

The lust of the flesh is beauty, the lust of the eye is money, the price of life is honour; these are the natural man's trinity.

The world pretends to hale the godly for something else, but the ground of the quarrel is holiness; it is a Christ-healing and a saint-hating world.

From Rev. T. BOSTON'S "BODY OF DIVINITY."

[THE REV. T. Boston was first minister of Simprim, in Berwickshire, and afterwards of Ettrick, in Selkirkshire. He was born in Dunse, March 17, 1676, and died at Ettrick, May 20, 1732, aged 56. His name has been a household word among the religious of all denominations in Scotland, and he is particularly known, by his "Fourfold State."]

Sin and wickedness spoil the greatest glory, and no man is more like the devil than a wicked old man; but old godly men are most like God. Young people's grace may be more bulky; but old people's grace, though of less bulk, is more worth, because it is more solid. John was the longest lived of the Apostles, and wrote last of them. In his younger years he could have burnt whole towns for Christ; but if ye look to his epistles written in his older days, they breathe nothing but love, and meekness, and solid godliness.

Though anxiety will not add a cubit to our stature, it may through time take a cubit from it.

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Reviews and Notices.

A Chapter of Autobiography. By the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P. 8vo. London: John Murray. 1868.

WE have here a very remarkable book, interesting alike to the political and the religious worlds. A sincere member of the Church of England-a High Churchman-declares for the disestablishment of a portion of that Church, a portion which he formerly defended with great ability and zeal. In this pamphlet Mr Gladstone gives the history of his opinions, accounts for, and defends his present position in reference to the Established Church in Ireland. The opinions which he held at the commencement of his political life in regard to Church Establishments, were unfolded in a work which he published in 1838, "The Church in its Relation with the State." The leading idea of that book is "that the State has a conscience," must judge between truth and error, and establish and support the former, repressing the latter. This being proved, or taken for granted, the question arises, Is the State, as at present constituted, qualified to judge between truth and error for the people of the United Kingdom, and under obligation, having so judged, to give an active and exclusive support to what it regards to be the truth? To this question Mr Gladstone replied in 1838, Yes. Now he says, No.

That the State, in some sense, has a conscience, and should, in certain circumstances, support the Church, Mr Gladstone still maintains; and in this, doubtless, he is right. Indeed, Mr Gladstone would state his present views much more clearly than he does were he to adopt the language of the "Statement of Principles submitted by the Committee of the Reformed Presbyterian Synod to the JointCommittee on Union," on 8th February 1865, in the following words:

"That while this friendly alliance ought always to be kept in view as the normal relation of the Church and the State, the question whether, and to what extent, the realisation of it in any given case ought to be attempted, cannot lawfully or safely be determined without taking into account the circumstances and attainments of both, particularly the degree of unity which the Church has attained, and the extent to which the State has become Christian."

Mr Gladstone assigns two reasons for his change of position in relation to the Established Church in Ireland. First, That Church, since 1845, when the grant to Maynooth was remodelled and increased, has been maintained, not as the true and only Church of Ireland, but as a Church in Ireland. This Mr Gladstone regards as an entire abandonment of the establishment principle, for he has as great an abhorrence of the principle of a promiscuous endowment of truth and error as the Reformed Presbyterian Church herself. Second, Mr Gladstone acknowledges that the Episcopal Church in Ireland has failed in its mission, in circumstances every way favourable to success. Success in the future he regards as equally hopeless. In explanation of his change of view on this point, Mr Glad

stone gives a very graphic account of the awakening to life of the Church of England between 1831 and 1840. Prior to the earlier date, he says, "The Church of England had been passing through a long period of deep and chronic religious lethargy. For many years, perhaps for some generations, Christendom might have been challenged to show, either then or from any former age, a clergy (with exceptions) so secular and lax, or congregations so irreverent and indevout." But the political and social changes of the period of the first Reform Bill, including the repeal of the "Test Act," and the subsequent emancipation of the Roman Catholics, acting contemporaneously with powerful influences within the Church itself, resulted in an awakening, or revival, of the most extraordinary, and, in its earlier stages, of the most promising kind. "Laws were passed to repress gross abuses.' "The tone of public schools, and of universities, was steadily yet rapidly raised. The greatest change of all was within the body of the clergy." Mr Gladstone speaks with reverence and affection of the great men, some of whom, alas! have wandered far astray, who gave strength and direction to the mighty current. "When the great heart of England began to beat with the quickened pulsations of a more energetic religious life, it was in Oxford that the stroke was most distinct and loud." "It would be a moderate estimate to say that much beyond one-half of the very flower of its youth chose the profession of holy orders." "I doubt whether at any period of its existence, either since the Reformation, or perhaps before it, the Church of England had reaped from either university, in so short a time, so rich a harvest." These were bright and happy days for the Church of England, which seemed for a time to be "beautiful as the sun goeth forth in his might," "and terrible as an army with banners." Full of youthful ardour, Mr Gladstone "formed a completely false estimate of what was about to happen." He believed that the Church would not only hold her ground, but win back to her communion both the irreligious and the dissenters. Carried away by such a current, can it be wondered that Mr Gladstone claimed for the Church of England exclusive privileges? But soon the ecclesiastical horizon became overcast. The murmur of conflict

arose, and waxed loud. "Since then the Church of England may be said to have bled at every pore; and at this hour it seems occasionally to quiver to its very base.' At least a moiety of the most gifted sons reared by Oxford for the Church of England are now hurling at her head the thunders of the Vatican, while others, still in her communion, seem hurrying on to Rationalism. The result of these disappointments is, not only a revolution in the opinions advanced by Mr Gladstone, but that the idea of asserting, on behalf of the Church of England, "those exclusive claims, which become positively unjust in a divided country, governed on popular principles, has been abandoned by all parties in the State."

Where a Church is "the Church of the whole nation, or of the greater part, with some general concurrence from the remainder," Mr Gladstone would still endow and establish it. But such condi

tions do not exist in Ireland. There the Church fails to fulfil any of the real functions of a National Church. It has been tried in circumstances the most favourable to success, and found wanting. Now the sentence has gone forth against it, and much as we would regret to see any evil befall a great Protestant Church, we rejoice with exceeding joy in the prospect of her disestablishment. The Church of Ireland is a living Church, and will not die. Separated from the people she is intended to benefit by walls of prejudice, which without her disestablishment will not be thrown down, she cannot at present be a useful Church. We would gravely doubt the wisdom and justice of the proposed changes, if we did not anticipate for the Protestant Churches of Ireland a future far more richly fraught with blessing to the land than the past has been. In the altered state of things, as Mr Gladstone well says, "Each man who has faith in freedom, faith in justice, faith in truth, anticipates a harvest of benefit for his own creed."

It is not easy to dismiss such a subject without remarking, how the present movements in the political world seem to prove the wisdom and justice of the position taken up by our fathers. The present Liberal programme coincides in principle, and must, if consistently carried out, lead to the ultimate adoption in practice, of the more important peculiar views contended for by our Church during her whole history.

News of the Church.

PROBATIONER LICENSED.

ON the 22d ult., Mr Walter Rogerson Paton, by the Presbytery of Edinburgh.

BEQUEST TO THE MISSIONS OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

The Trustees of the late William Drummond, Esquire of Rockdale Lodge, Stirling, have intimated that, by his Deed of Settlement, that gentleman has bequeathed the sum of Two Hundred Pounds to the Missions of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland, to be divided among the said Missions as his trustees may direct. The money is payable at Whitsunday next. The deceased was the eldest of several brothers, one of whom, Mr Peter Drummond, is everywhere well known on account of the singular energy and success with which he has carried on the Stirling Tract enterprise, begun by him twenty years ago. Mr William Drummond, although extremely retiring in his habits, was, in many respects, a man of note. The interest he took in the principles of the Scottish Reformation amounted almost to a passion. It is well known that the statues of our Reformers and Martyrs which invest the Castle Hill of Stirling with such a crown of beauty, were erected almost at his sole expense, and that he spared no pains in the endeavour to make them, in point of taste, worthy of the men and the principles they commemorate. It is not so well known that Mr Drummond, although a member of the Free Church, took a deep interest in the principles and schemes of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. He was a con

stant reader of our denominational publications. There is evidence that on his death-bed he ruminated much on the well-timed testimony lately emitted by the Edinburgh Presbytery in behalf of the sole Headship of Christ over the Church, and in opposition to the attempt made by Mr Disraeli and others to set forth the Royal Supremacy as the palladium of the national liberties. Mr Drummond all along took a deep interest in the New Hebrides Mission, and few read with greater care the letters of the missionaries as they appeared in our pages from time to time. His munificent bequest is therefore the fruit of a sincere and devout interest in the cause to which it has been given.

AMERICA.COMMEMORATION OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF ORDINATION OF REV. DR T. W. J. WYLIE.

The First Reformed Presbyterian Congregation of Philadelphia met on Nov. 5, for a joyful celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the ordination of the Rev. Dr T. W. J. Wylie as their pastor. The ministers of the city evinced their cordial interest in Dr Wylie by their presence to the number of fifty. George H. Stuart, Esq., occupied the chair. Rev. John W. Faires, D.D., in the name of the 400 members of the congregation and other friends, presented Dr Wylie with a purse containing a cheque for 1500 dollars, i.e., £300. The money was for his use; the purse they would ask him to bequeath to his little son, whom they had some hopes to see in his place when the weight of years grew upon him, as he had taken his father's place. For his (Dr W.'s) venerable mother, whose 89th birthday it was, the ladies of the congregation had prepared a Bible and PsalmBook, with suitable inscriptions. Dr Wylie descended from the platform, holding the Bible and Psalm-Book, which he placed in his mother's hands. He then thanked the congregation for their kindness and sympathy. He referred to Mr Stuart's hearty friendship, which he had enjoyed ever since they had been teachers together in the Sabbath school. He felt sure that the congregation was stronger now than ever before, and that they would not be driven out of their beautiful church edifice. In the twenty-five years of his pastorage 1700 persons had been received to membership. Mr Stuart announced that the lawsuit, begun last January, for the possession of the property, had been that very day officially withdrawn.

The same number of the Banner of the Covenant reports that the First Reformed Presbyterian Church in connection with General Synod, worshipping in Horticultural Hall, Philadelphia, held their semi-annual communion lately. Over two hundred members communed, and ten were admitted to membership-five on examination, and five by letter. This congregation has not yet decided on a pastor, nor on a site for their future place of worship.

ORDINATION OF REV. PETER MILNE AS MISSIONARY TO THE NEW HEBRIDES.

As intimated in our last number, the Free Presbytery of Edinburgh, at the request of the Foreign Mission Committee of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, met on the 26th of November last, in Free West Church, for the ordination of Rev. Peter Milne as missionary to the New Hebrides. Rev. Sir Henry Wellwood-Moncreiff, Bart., D.D., preached, put the questions of the formula, offered the ordination prayer, and gave the charges to the newly ordained missionary and people. The whole services were of much interest. The ministers of the Reformed Presbyterian Church present were invited to associate with the Free Presbytery in the act of ordination, an invitation to which they were happy to respond. Rev. W. Nisbet, the clerk of the Presbytery, said it was the first occasion in the