of his proceedings, and is a powerful exposure of that corrupt system of semi-paganism of which Pio Nono is the head. Had the author delayed the publication of his book a little longer, he would have found his prognostication realized in the actual proclamation of the personal infallibility of the Pope. Poor old man-that Pope, raised to the acme of his pinnacle just before the hour of his fall, to make his final degradation the more complete and the more conspicuous!

Lectures on Various Subjects.

By

the REV. WILLIAM ANTLIFF, D.D. London: G. Lamb, Primitive Methodist Book-room. THE lectures are eight in number, embracing the following subjects :The Bible, its characteristics and claims-Christianity in EnglandThe Protestant Reformation-The Foreknowledge of God-Charity, its nature and importance-Woman, her position and influence-A New Charter for all classes of Reformers Young Men, their dangers and duties. These lectures are written in an earnest and eloquent style, and are brimfull of information, displaying extensive reading and sound judgment in the selection and the use of facts, and in the condensation of arguments for the enlightenment and edification of the reader. They are multum in parvo. We sincerely wish Dr. Antliff many years of health and usefulness in the honourable distinction he has just received. Christian Perfection exemplified in the Life of Margaret Featherstone. With a Sermon on the same subject. Whitby: Horne and Son. MRS. FEATHERSTONE was a sincere and thoroughly good woman. Her life beautifully and consistently exemplified Christianity in carnest. This little book affords a simple and unaffected, yet edifying record of her experience, and a faithful exhibition of her character.

The Soul's Inquiries Answered in the Words of Scripture. A Year-Book of Scripture Texts. Arranged by G. WASHINGTON MOON. London: Hatchards, Piccadilly. BESIDES texts of Scripture for every

Alice, or the Early Crown. By HENRY BURTON, M.A. London: Morgan and Chase.

THIS is a record of a brief but beautiful life, and it is beautifully written.

The Angel Guest. A Word to Him that is Weary. By ANNE SHIPTON. London: Morgan and Chase.

SWEET, pure, consoling, and strengthening, especially to the suffering soul.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

The Life and Labours of the Rev. John Petty. By JAMES MACPHERSON. (In our next.)

The Congregational Miscellany. A Monthly Paper for the Times. August, 1870.

An

The Methodist Family. A Monthly
Magazine. August, 1870.
London: Elliot Stock, 62, Pa-
ternoster Row. One Penny.
The Sunday-School World:
Encyclopædia of Facts and Prin-
ciples, Illustrated by Anecdotes and
Quotations from the Works of the
most Eminent Writers on Sunday-
School Matters. Edited by JAMES
COMPER GRAY. London: Elliot
Stock, 62, Paternoster Row, E.C.
The Plymouth Brethren: Their Rise,
Divisions, Practice, and Doctrines.
A Lecture by EDWARD DENNETT.
Second Edition. London: Elliot
Stock, 62, Paternoster Row, E.C.
1870. Price Eightpence.

The Sunday at Home. August,
1870. London: The Religious
Tract Society, 56, Paternoster
Row, and 164, Piccadilly.
The Sunday Magazine. Edited by
DR. GUTHRIE. Edinburgh: 12,
Hanover Street. Dublin: 6,
D'Olier Street. London: Strahan
and Co., 56, Ludgate Hill, E.C.
Price 7d.

The Scattered Nation. August, 1870. Edited by C. SCHWARTZ, D.D. London: Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row.

The Methodist Temperance Magazine. London Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row, E.C.

The Leisure Hour. August, 1870. London: 56, Paternoster Row, and 164, Piccadilly.

In the height of its grandeur sublimely it stood,

O'er the river, the village, the field, and the wood;

And river, field, village, and woodland grew bright,

As conscious they felt and afforded delight.

'Twas the bow of Omnipotence, bent in his hand,

Whose grasp of creation the universe spanned;

'Twas the presence of God in a symbol sublime,

His bow from the flood to the exit of time.

Not dreadful, as when in the whirlwind he pleads,

When storms are his chariot and lightnings his steeds;

The black clouds his banners of vengeance unfurled,

And thundered his voice to a guiltstricken world;

In the breath of his presence, when thousands expire,

And seas boil with fury, and rocks burn with fire,

And the sword and the plague-spot with death strew the plain, And vultures and wolves are the graves of the slain.

Not such was that rainbow, that beautiful one,

Whose arch was refraction, its keystone the sun;

A pavilion it seemed, which the Deity graced,

And justice and mercy met there and embraced.

THE WAR.

Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." WHILE this number of our Magazine is passing through the press, a most dreadful war is raging between France and Prussia- the former being the aggressor, the latter the defendant. The Emperor of the French, envious at the power and prestige of Prussia, sought occasion for a war, and pretended to find one in the nomination of a German prince for the vacant throne of Spain; and when the nomination was withdrawn at the demand of Napoleon, new conditions were dictated by him, to which the honour and independence of Prussia could not submit. This was made a casus belli, a pretext for the declaration of war; and a vast army, with the most destructive weapons, was hurried to the frontier of Prussia. The war was begun by an attack on Saarbruck, an open town. The French were soon beaten and driven from their post. Thence followed a series of bloody battles at Weissenburg, Forbach, and Woerth, in

which the French were again defeated, and even routed, with terrible slaughter, the Prussians also suffering severely from the destructive weapons of the French. Now the invasion of Prussia was changed into an avenging pursuit of a fleeing and disordered enemy far into the interior of France. The defeated braggarts collect their scattered forces within the entrenched city of Metz, where they are pursued by the victorious Prussians. The French, fearing their foe would now cut off their resources, and, while starving them to a surrender, push forward the main body of their army to Paris, make mighty efforts to force their way to Chalons; but again their proudest forces are driven back, after twelve hours' fighting, in which vast numbers on both sides are slain. Meanwhile, the haughty Emperor, who had assumed the command of the army, is compelled to leave it for a retreat at Chalons, and Paris itself is in a state of siege. Such is the state of affairs, so far as known here, at the moment we go to press. One fortnight has been enough to change

the whole aspect of events. The assailants are become fugitives, the fair provinces of Alsace and Lorraine are in the hands of Prussia; and instead of Berlin being taken, the capital of France is in danger. It may be the Prussians may yet experience reverses; it may be France will be vanquished and compelled to yield a portion of her territory; and it is by no means improbable that Napoleon, whose ambition has brought his nation into shame, disaster, and blood, will himself be hurled fron. the throne he has usurped. War is a terrible scourge, but it is one of the means by which the proud are humbled, the guilty are punished, and obstructions to light, liberty, and salvation are taken out of the way. Popery, Popery, Popery, thy day of retribution is drawing near! If Napoleon falls, will not the Pope soon follow? We wait the issues of Providence.

THE DUTY

OF

GIVING A

TENTH TO THE LORD.

THE reports of our taxation, instead of showing that we are not able to give a tenth to God, most emphatically prove the contrary. A very large portion of the revenue consists of taxes upon articles by no means necessary to existence or even comfort. These

are self-imposed; as the disuse of the things would exempt from the tax. According to the most accurate conclusions to which Mr. G. R. Porter has arrived, the British people tax themselves for spirits, wines, beer (exclusive of that brewed in private families), and tobacco in its various forms, to the extent of £57,063,230 per annum.

Whatever advantages may result from the use of these articles, most certainly less than the half of this sum is sufficient payment for them. The nation would on the

whole be much better to be wholly without them. When to this enormous sum, we add the amount spent upon other unnecessary and frequently injurious objects, it must be manifest that this nation, or an average section of it, could spare a tenth of their income. The same conclusion follows, perhaps, still more manifestly from a comparison of our wealth with that of other nations. France, with a population about 10,000,000 greater than this country, has a national income estimated at £320,000,000, while that of Great Britain is estimated in Poole's Statistics of Commerce at £800,000,000. In other words, the average income of every person in these islands is fully

three times as much as that of an inhabitant of France. Surely when

God has thus placed us in wealth so far above our neighbours, it would not be impossible to render, as a thanksgiving, one-tenth of what he has bestowed upon us. At all events, we cannot plead inability to conform to the custoin of the Jews. These observations are related to the subject before us, because Christians are on an equality in respect to their condition in this life with the rest of the population. There have been times frequent and protracted, and there are now many countries, in which this could not be said. Happily, in our land those sad days, when the followers of Jesus were driven from their homes, and compelled to wander in sheepskins and goatskins, and to lodge in dens and caves of the earth, are ended, and they are now permitted to buy and sell and get gain like others. Probably Christians from their probity and moral restraint Occupy a rather higher position in life than the average one; for character has an earthly reward, and godliness hath the promise of this life as well as of that which is to come. We therefore conclude that there is nothing in the outward condition of British Christians which will justify a diminution of their contributions to God below the proportion presented by the Jews.