A Key to Christian Doctrine and Practice, founded on the Church Catechism. By J. H. Blunt, M.A. London, Oxford, and Cambridge: Rivingtons. 1871.-We think Mr. Blant must have lost his own key and borrowed one from his neighbours, when he issued this publication. At page 12 we are told, “ that we have no reason whatever to think that we should have any title to the kingdom of Heaven, or hope of it, if we were unbaptized.” At page 18, the seven "mortal” or deadly sins are enumerated. With regard to pomps and vanities, it is said, page 21, that “parties, dancing, &c., may be duties laid upon us; and the use of them may be obedience to God, as well as pleasure to ourselves.” At page 102, we are informed that in the Prayer of Thanksgiving after Communion, the Church prays for the departed. At page 122, we are glad to hear that the image of our Lord dying upon the cross is not generally used in our churches. At p. 140, we read that theatres and music halls may in themselves be perfectly lawful places of amusement; but immodest dancing, and the presence of immodest persons, often make them places where a good deal of sin may be suggested. At p. 172, it is stated that Baptism is Regeneration; and at p. 177, we read that it is the general practice of the Christian Church to add a little water to the wine used in celebrating the Holy Communion. Our readers will judge how far the “ Key” is likely to be serviceable to them.

Ancient Hymns from the Roman Breviary, and Original Hymns. By Richard Mant, D.D., 8c. London : Rivingtons. 1871.--This is a new edition of Bishop Mant's Hymns. The book is very neat and attractive in appearance. We must confess, however, that we do not put a high value on Bishop Mant's translations, or rather adaptations. In their native garb of quaint ecclesiastical Latin, these hymns have a charm; but, with very rare exceptions, the peculiar aroma disappears in the process of translation; and we do not think that among what have been exceptional successes Bishop Mant's performances can be reckoned. The “original" hymns, in a cold and stately manner, embody the views of dignified High Churchmen before the party were fluttered by the Tractarian controversy. It would be unfair to say that among these poems there are not some which can lay claim to merit; but the chief interest of the volume arises from contrasting the changed views of doctrine and modes of expression which are now prevalent among High Churchmen, and those not always of the most extreme type. While Evangelical men teach and preach what their fathers taught, the same grand and fundamental truths which the Bible is full of, and are therefore constantly taunted with bigotry, narrowness, and want of progress, a complete transformation bas passed over the utterances of High Churchmen, which now-a-days too often affect the peculiar phraseology, while they reproduce the sentiments, of the Church of Rome.

Where Dwellest Thou; or, the Inner Home. By M. L. Charlesworth, Author of " Ministering Children." London : Seeleys. 1871.The key-note of this book is the word “Home,” used however in its esoteric and heavenly sense. In very gentle and persuasive tones, it directs those who are homeless to the “house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,” and seeks to invite them in. These counsels assume the shape of meditations on selected passages in the history of our blessed Lord, from his birth in Bethlehem to the period of the Ascension. Holy thoughts are throughout suggested, which will, we are assured, be found profitable to, as we trust, many readers. We prefer it to some of Miss Charlesworth's previous publications, which have gained such extensive circulation. It is quite a book to be found very valuable in family circles, for Sunday evening reading, or for mothers' meetings, or in situations where persons are debarred from opportunities of public worship, and have often, as in India and our Colonies, of necessity to comfort and exhort one another in the absence of accredited teachers. We cordially recommend the book.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

In the vision which Isaiah saw, concerning Judah and Jerusalem, the prophet exclaims, “Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores : they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire : your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate as overthrown by strangers.” No language could more literally and accurately describe the condition of afflicted France ; only the language of inspiration could have adequately pourtrayed it. In our last issue we men

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tioned the terms of peace; they have been rigorously exacted. To preserve Belfort to France, M. Thiers consented to the German occupation of Paris ; for three days the victorious legions of the Emperor William occupied the fairest portion of the city, and defiled in triumph through the Arc de l'Etoile. Since then, Versailles, and the forts on the left bank of the Seine, have been evacuated by the Germans; and after some stormy sessions at Bordeaux, the Government of M. Thiers transported itself to Versailles, prudently abandoning any attempt to establish itself in Paris. “One vast madhouse,” has been the description given of that ill-fated city. Some attempts were made at restoring order by the suppression of some of the more violent and blasphemous of the Republican journals, and by a futile endeavour to capture the cannon still in the possession of the Red Republicans of Belleville and Montmartre. Apparently, with a little more energy, these measures might have been crowned with success : but there was faltering and hesitation; the troops of the line, thoroughly demoralized, fraternised with the National Guards, and both have combined to turn upon their fellow-citizens, wbo are cowering before them in helpless impotence, the deadly weapons which they shrank from employing against their German conquerors. Blood has been shed and barricades erected in the streets, where Frenchmen are murdering Frenchmen. Meanwhile the National Assembly at Versailles has looked on and done nothing ; so that the Red Republicans are masters of the situation, and a reign of terror has been inaugurated. Blanqui, Flourens, Pyat, and others, who were a few days ago condemned to death, have been, by the popular vote of Paris, placed at the head of affairs, and are enjoying a brief triumph. Various reasons have been suggested for the success of this outbreak. Unwillingness on the part of idle vagabonds to lose the thirty sous a day, which during the siege have been so potent an instrument in the preservation of order,—the silly vanity of the National Guards, who delight in strutting about in uniform,—the hopes of a Seisachtheia, which would quash all inconvenient demands for payment of debts,-these, and many such motives, have been alleged; but the deep and deadly hatred between the Red Republicans, who rule the mobs in cities, and the Parti Prêtre, who lead the ignorant rustics in the rural districts, explains it, we think, more truly. If, as has been surmised, the clerical party set this fearful war in motion to establish an universal domination of Popery in Europe, they have sown the wind to reap the whirlwind. Marseilles has followed the example of Paris, and Lyons will hardly remain long behind. We shall then have the awful spectacle of the cities of France arrayed against the Provinces, unless Germany once more intervenes, and throws down her warder between the combatants.

Meanwhile the Emperor of Germany, with his victorious generals, has resought Berlin, and his return home has been welcomed with sober but dignified triumph. The late Emperor of France, on the other hand, has once more found a refuge in England; while the Orleans Princes, and others whom his policy had exiled, are flocking back to their native land.

Foreign affairs in other quarters may be readily dismissed with short notice. The Queen of Spain has been received with a welcome to her new throne, which we hope portends security for her husband's reign. In America, negotiations are still pending between the Americans and ourselves, but the result has not yet transpired. Mr. Sumner, who has quarrelled with President Grant, has been dismissed from office, not apparently from his persistent animosity to England, but upon other grounds of offence. The Black Sea Conference has terminated to the entire satisfaction of Russia, “iniquissimam pacem justissimo bello anteferimus.”

On the 21st, the marriage of the Princess Louise with the Marquis of Lorne was celebrated at Windsor, with the fulness of regal pomp and splendour, and with, we believe, many earnest prayers that this marriage may prove a source of much blessing and comfort to our gracious Queen.

During the month many measures have been making their way through Parliament, but none of them have evoked any serious party conflicts. The Bill for Army Organisation has naturally occupied much time and attention; after a protracted discussion, mainly on the merits of the purchase system, it has been read a second time, and is now in Committee. The Bill for the Abolition of University Tests has been sent up to the House of Lords, where it has been read a second time, and will be considered further after Easter. The Bill for Marriage with a Deceased Wife's Sister has been thrown out of the House of Lords by a larger majority than was against it last year. We regret, in connection with this, the inadvertent use, in our last issue, of an expression reflecting, in a sense we did not intend, upon the promoters of this measure.

A Select Committee has been appointed to inquire into the Ribbon conspiracy in Ireland. We are not sanguine as to the results of this measure. It is not with such a thorn as this that the jaw of this leviathan can be bored through. The Lectionary Bill has passed the House of Lords, the recital in which reference was made to the approval of Convocation having been withdrawn. The Burial Bill, the Bill for the Repeal of the Ecclesiastical Titles Act, the Benefices Resignation Bill, are all in various stages of progress; but, as we have already more than once commented upon the policy of these measures, we need only now chronicle the fact. Mr. Goschen has been appointed First Lord of the Admiralty in the room of Mr. Childers, and Mr. Stansfeld has succeeded to the Poor Law Board with a seat in the Cabinet.

THE HAWAIIAN JUBILEE. We have lately read, in an interesting publication entitled “ Iona," a remark made by the Duke of Argyll, that modern Christian missions exhibit no such triumph as a national conversion, which crowned the labours of the missionaries of middle ages or the centuries preceding. So, probably, thought many officers in the “Flying Squadron,” which was sent out from Great Britain two or three years ago to practice our seamen in the Pacific Ocean. As they sailed by the long line of islands which stud that sea from New Zealand to the Sandwich Islands, they would hear of the various missionary attempts to civilize and evangelize groups of these islands; and they must often have remarked the vast difference, in individual instances, between an untutored savage and a Christian convert. But when the squadron arrived at Honolulu, a scene was witnessed which must at once have disabused their minds of their prejudices against modern missions. They found themselves in a civilized and Christian kingdom of the native race.

Wednesday, 15th June, 1870, had been set apart by royal proclamation, as a Jubilee commemorative of the first arrival of Christian missionaries in the Sandwich Islands. On that day, the King, and Queen (dowager) Emma, attended divine service in a large stone church, surrounded by officers of state, representing a constitutional government, in the midst of public buildings in well-built and well-furnished homes, all betokening an advanced stage of civilization. A chaplain of the Flying Squadron has furnished us with an account of this most interesting scene, and has put into our hands a newspaper pubVol. 70.-No. 401.

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