for a new institution, while many of the existing ones are in circumstances of great perplexity and embarrassment for want of the necessary funds. But waiving this objection, it would be difficult in a collegiate institution to give that moral training of which we have just spoken, since it would be impossible for the person who superintended it to become so intimately acquainted with the character and habits of the students as if they were members of his own family. Again, if such an institution derived its funds from public subscription, the body that governed it would be appointed by the persons who supported it, and would, consequently, be independent of the committees of the various existing colleges. It might, therefore, happen that the committee of a college might consider a young man suitable for admission into the preparatory institution, while the committee of the latter might deem him unsuitable.

(2.) Another plan would be for one of the existing colleges to undertake this preparatory education. But against this plan the same objections would lie as against the one last named, with the sole exception of the difficulty of obtaining support for it. And this plan, perhaps, cannot even be entertained, as it is almost certain that none of the existing colleges would be willing to undertake this office, and most would, from their constitution and the nature of their trust-deeds, probably be prevented from doing it.

(3.) A third plan, and, as it seems to me, the only practicable one, would be for the committee of each college to take the management of the matter into their own hands, and to determine to devote a part of their funds to the object of preparatory training. They might select a minister, in whose judgment and learning they had confidence, and under whom they might place all such students as needed a preliminary education. Such a plan would require no change at all in our existing institutions, nor the establishment of a new one. It would only require some slight addition to the income of each college. No difficulty would be found in obtaining brethren suitable for undertaking this important duty, and the tutors and committees of our respective institutions would soon discover the one most competent for the office. Nor would such a person have to complain, as has been the case heretofore, of the difficulty of obtaining pupils, since if all our colleges determined to admit no student unless he could pass the matriculation examination in the University of London, or one of a similar kind, and if at the same time they made arrangements to defray the expenses, when necessary, of such a preliminary education, the man who prepared the students in the most efficient manner for their collegiate course, would be certain to receive, every year, as many as he could instruct.

LINES ON THE DEATH OF A FEMALE FRIEND.

SWEET departed! how soon have thy journeyings ceas'd,
How soon from the earthy thy spirit 's,

Not for thee, but for others, too soon!

When the flower was most lovely, its beauty was crush'd;
When the strains were the sweetest, the music was hush'd;
And the sun hath departed at noon!

Had thine age been as ripe as thy graces were bright,
Had a full day prepared for the coming of night,

The affliction had known a relief;

But from mid-heaven the glory hath vanish'd away,
The darkness hath spread in the midst of the day,
And amazement is added to grief!

Full well may we sigh o'er thy life's speedy close,
For thy sun, as in strength and in beauty it rose,
Pour'd on many a sacred delight;

Thy goodness was constant, but modest and meek,
It knew no parade, and its own did not seek,

'Twas the power and the silence of light!

When in sorrow, and oft thou wast called to weep,
As deep as thy anguish, thy patience was deep,

And thy grace was reveal'd by thy woe;

Thus the night gives to heaven its most beauteous adorning,
Thus the tear-drops of nature are gilded by morning,
Thus the clouds bear the covenant bow!

Thou art gone to thy rest, and hast left us to mourn thee,
To thy home in the skies thy Redeemer hath borne thee,
To a higher and happier sphere;

Where thou shinest in light which no mortal hath seen,
Where no cloud and no shadow, nor darkness hath been,
Where no sun-set can ever appear!

CHINA.

A. J. M.

KNIGHTS of the cross, your souls are in that shout,
From realms whose names once filled the heart with woe;
The arm of faith doth life immortal show

O'er land and flood! The foe is all in rout;
Up with the banner-let its symbol glow,
The sign of promise for all men below.
Sing, if ye will, but on! To halt brings doubt,
And, with it, rushes back th' all madden'd foe.
The hell-forg'd gates start open-gods cringe down,
(The Christians' song hath prov'd their rottenness,)
On-on, till Jesus wear e'en Sinim's crown,

For untold millions* live in your success :
Above our way Hope hovers. List her voice,
"China is ours-a world may now rejoice!"

Sheerness, Kent.

PIRCE DE WARD.

* Vide “Sinim; a Plea for China." By the Rev. R. G. Milne, M.A.

REVIEWS.

Tracts and Treatises of John de Wycliffe, D.D., with Selections and Translations from his Manuscripts and Latin Works. Edited for the WYCLIFFE SOCIETY, with an Introductory Memoir, by the Rev. R. Vaughan, D.D., &c. 8vo. pp. 426. London.

THE Wycliffe Society, formed recently for reprinting a series of the most scarce and valuable tracts and treatises of the earlier Reformers, Puritans, and Nonconformists of Great Britain, has made an appropriate and acceptable commencement.

The first step of ecclesiastical reform, both in discipline and doctrine, after ages of error and corruption, must be assigned to the age and person of John Wycliffe. Not that any effectual or constitutional change was then achieved. It was scarcely to be expected, considering the strong holds that had to be assailed, and the diversified powers that manned them. But all who are capable of tracing great revolutions to their causes, will admit, that the first shock given to the usurpations of ecclesiastical power and authority came from the hand of Wycliffe. Though himself a churchman, nurtured in the superstitions and errors of his times, steeped in the subtle involutions of scholasticism, and long hampered in his purpose by the conflicting tendencies of custom and conscience, antiquity and revelation, yet at length his love of truth and righteousness made him free. The heroic independence of his spirit is the more admirable from the fact of its solitude. It stood erect, not in the wisdom of any human master, not by the example of any contemporary, or the light of any predecessor, but in the power of God.

To those who occupy the vantage ground which the Reformation and succeeding ages of intellectual enfranchisement have prepared for them, it may seem that this proto-reformer lingered too long among scholastic disputations, and was tardy as well as imperfect in his announcement of the naked truth. But though it were so, it is to be remembered, that he had to find out truth piece-meal, to disinter it limb by limb, and invoke the spirit of life to enter into it, before he could himself apprehend its harmony and beauty. He had, moreover, at the same time, to pursue the double work of confounding his learned enemies upon their own ground, and of enlightening the people with

Gospel doctrine-he had to keep the dogs at bay, while he fed the flock. The eminent ability with which he contended for liberty against the usurped authority of Rome, and defended the rights of his king and country, when assailed by papal cupidity, endeared him to high and low who had no sympathy in his evangelism, save as it might serve their secular purposes. Yet this circumstance laid a broad basis for the exercise of a better influence, and constituted a shield which his enemies long felt to be too formidable for them either to pierce or turn aside. His early studies both of the civil and canon law, in which he had acquired the highest reputation, made him an invaluable advocate of king Edward's and the nation's cause against the pecuniary demands of the pope.

Historians generally have not done justice to the influence which Wycliffe exerted over the affairs of his country, and the reformed church has not adequately appreciated the mighty inroad which he made upon public opinion, at an age when there was no press to give circulation to novelties and discoveries. If the chief honour belongs to the first inventor or discoverer of a principle, or a law of science, which others apply practically and beneficially-then to Wycliffe, more than to any other man, belongs the honour of the Reformation. It might even be reasonably debated, whether there would have followed the reformation that did, if Wycliffe had not first given the word of God to the people in their vernacular language, and taught the right of private judgment, in defiance of church authority. It is glorious and refreshing to behold the energy of a great mind struggling to be free amidst a world of intellectual vassals; but it is still nobler and more delightful to see that conception of liberty regulated and controlled by the higher emotion of subjection to Divine authority-its legitimate fountain, and its ultimatum-for liberty beyond this, or apart from this, for the human spirit, there is none. It is licentiousness or insanity, recoiling by an invariable, eternal law upon its miserable and confounded subjects.

But it is not for us to eulogise the memory and the achievements of our enlightened and magnanimous countryman. We can scarcely deem this interesting, we might say, invaluable volume a subject for review. We feel that the greater part of it is placed beyond our province. We admire it as we should a physical phenomenon, or some rare and beautiful specimen in natural history. We cannot even judge adequately of the value of Wycliffe's works, because we cannot realise the entire character of his age. It differed too much from our own in all its constituents, and is at too remote a distance, to allow us to place ourselves, even in imagination, among its people. The best rule, and it is but an imperfect one, for estimating the worth and power of his writings, is to be derived from their effects upon the men of his time, both in his own country, and throughout Europe.

The extent to which he pursued his discoveries in biblical truth, is both admirable and wonderful. He was a Christian divine, not only before his age by centuries, as succeeding ages have shown, by coming to many of his opinions,-but he was in many respects even before a large majority of our age, and it were well if the clergy of our Protestant Establishment would put themselves to school once again, to learn their principles from this first of reformers. His works would set them right upon many momentous principles, concerning which they yet bear the leading-strings of ecclesiastical nurses.

Concerning the volume now before us, it is incumbent upon us to inform our readers that it contains in Part I. "Facts and Observations concerning the Life of Wycliffe." This portion of the volume, extending to near one hundred pages, is in fact a comprehensive, but succinct, life of Wycliffe, containing a most interesting account of his writings, controversies, and public transactions. It is distinguished by great good taste, and a thorough acquaintance with the subject. The reader enjoys the advantage of a condensed and improved review of one of the earliest and most favourite of Dr. Vaughan's studies in history. Part II. consists of two books,-the first on the Writings of Wycliffe still in manuscript, the second on his Latin treatise, entitled, TRIALOGUS, of the first three books of which some account is given, and several chapters from the fourth book of which, treating of the sacraments, the hierarchy, and the religious orders, are translated. The Third Part contains numerous Tractates, reprinted from former editions, relating mostly to the mendicant friars, and concluding with several of the most interesting public documents, connected with the proceedings taken against him by the ecclesiastical authorities, after the accession of King Richard the Second. The whole affords a very complete and concise view of the Life, Times, Writings, and Character of this Reformer, with quite sufficient specimens of his works to enable the reader to judge both of his ability, piety, and patriotism.

As the first volume issued by the Wycliffe Society, it is, both in editorial and typographical execution, fully adequate to the pledges made to the subscribers,—and as a specimen of the three volumes which each subscriber is to receive for his pound, must, we should presume, secure a respectable increase of names to sustain the committee in carrying their plan into execution. Heartily do we wish that every zealous Protestant may contribute his influence to this peaceful method of fighting the battle of the Reformation over again. The armour may not be all suitable for modern warfare, but the arsenal will supply many weapons, which still retain both their edge and their temper. We trust, therefore, that the project of the Wycliffe Society will receive ample encouragement,-and that by the nonconforming community in all its sections it will be liberally patronised. On them has devolved, in the mysterious movements of an inscrutable providence, the entire