with the wicked," Isa. iii. 10, 11 -then will all the dealings of the Lord, towards his friends and enemies be stamped with the broad seal of approval, by the whole intelligent creation: and "true and righteous are thy judgments," Rev. xix. 2.—will be the joyous testimony of the redeemed, while it will be the extorted testimony of the impenitent and unbelieving. "The times and the seasons are unknown to us, and it is right they should be so: but the day of the Lord so cometh "as a thief in the night," 1 Thess. v. 2. and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, 1 Cor. xv. 52-the great change will take place, in those who sleep in Jesus, and they will be raised incorruptible, while those "which are alive and remain (the quick) will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air and so shall they ever be with the Lord," 1 Thess. iv. 17.— Cheering declaration!

Can you

enter cordially into it? Can you, when you "see the ungodly in great prosperity and flourishing like a green bay tree," Psalm xxxvii. 35. "comfort one another with these words?" 1 Thess. iv. 18.When you hear of Bibles burned, of public worship interrupted, of ministers of God massacred, do you believe that there will be a restitution of all things, that the mystic Babylon will come to destruction after her sanguinary practices and short lived triumphs? Do you believe that there will be 66 new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness," 2 Pet. iii. 13—and are you according to the promise of God looking for them? Has a divine change passed upon your minds? Are you weaned from earth? Are you minding the things of the Spirit? Have you a firm persuasion that the Lord Jesus Christ has "fulfilled all righteousness," and that he is the Almighty, the only Sa

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viour, the only Mediator, the only Redeemer, the only Intercessor ? Is he your "all in all" for time and eternity? Do you love him? If so, are you keeping his commandments, (that is, obeying him in all things,) and imitating his example? "A name to live" will not do this cannot give peace or support under trouble, or remove the sting of death-you must be under "the power of godliness" or you are undone. "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love." Gal. v. 6; vi. 15.-1 Cor. vii. 19.-To be a member of the body of which Christ is the head, is to be a partaker of true happiness here and of everlasting glory hereafter. John

xvii. 24.

Let nothing short of this satisfy

you.

The roll of death has been considerably lengthened during the past year, and the names of many from among the noble, and the excellent of the earth, have been placed upon it. Our late gracious Sovereign, who had endeared himself to his people by many highly estimable qualities,' and whose 'candour, kindness, justice, patriotism, and conscientious attention to the duties of his high function,' are held in ' grateful remembrance,' has been removed from the throne of his fathers. He was watched over, counselled and comforted during the whole of his oppressive and fatal illness by his now widowed Queen with the most devoted attachment and exemplary tenderness. May her labour of love be amply repaid by her daily enjoyment of the rich blessings which the Holy Spirit can impart to the believing soul, even in the seasons of its deepest sorrow. The injunction contained in 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2, 3, commends itself in an especial manner to the attention of every one who acknowledges the Divine authority of the Scriptures;

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In the East we have lost the Bishop of Madras, (Daniel Corrie) a man whose praise has long been in the churches. Humble, devoted, laborious, affectionate, spiritual and uncompromising, he lived as well as preached the Gospel of Christ, and was the honoured instrument of forwarding the great work of evangelization in India. May his mantle fall upon his successor. In the West we have lost the indefatigable and generous Bishop of Quebec, (the Hon. Dr. Stewart) who will be remembered with gratitude while our Church maintains a footing in Canada. He lived but to promote in that country, which has a strong claim upon the benevolence and sympathy of the subjects of this United Empire, the extension of Christ's kingdom. In England we have lost the Bishop of Salisbury, (Burgess,) one of the ablest modern defenders of our Church, and of the Divinity of Christ, the belief of which doctrine she maintains to be indispensably necessary to salvation. The college of St. David's is a standing and most valuable memorial of the Bishop's zeal, disinterestedness, and anxious desire for the spread of sound education and religious principle among the clergy of South Wales.

The sudden removal of Doctor Lloyd, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, has produced feelings of the deepest regret among the friends of science, literature, and Scriptural instruction. Under his fostering care and judicious administration, the University rose high in character and estimation, and additional provision was made for the

instruction of Divinity Students in the revelation which God has made in the Bible, and from which all his own hopes and comforts were derived.

Some devoted parochial ministers of our church have also been called during the past year to their heavenly rest, and have left behind them a satisfactory testimony that they "walked with and pleased God," and preached not themselves but Christ Jesus the Lord. One I cannot but mention alike from personal regard, and from a conviction that his example ought not to be lost upon the generation which has survived him-the Rev. Doctor Quarry, of Cork. His kind physician, Doctor Willis, who knew him well for a long period, thus writes, he was a man of wisdom: calm, but of unflinching fidelity--his eye was singleGod's glory was his permanent object-the love of Christ his constraining motive-an enlightened zeal for the spread of his truth, and the establishment of his dominion in the hearts of contrite sinnersthe absorbing and sacred passion that stimulated his labours and governed his life. His life and death were in holy harmony; when in vigorous health his heart was with the Lord; and in the dark valley of the shadow of death, his blessed portion was perfect peace, through the love that passeth knowledge and the truth that is immutable. The last words I heard him utter were 6" 'my soul is in peace through the Lord Jesus Christ"great peace (emphatically) and he shortly added, I shall soon fall asleep in Jesus."

Nearer home we have been furnished with fresh proofs not only of the certainty of death, but also of the triumph over it which faith can give. Mrs. Harty, whose heart and whose house were opened many years ago to the Gospel when it was virulently opposed in this place, was exceedingly comforted

in her declining days by the consolations which flow from the perennial fountain of redeeming, everlasting love. Her hoary head descended to the grave in the way of righteousness, Prov. xvi. 31, and her peace produced by faith in the one offering made for sin by the Lord Jesus Christ flowed as a river. In her the Church Missionary Society has lost a cheerful contributor and a warm friend.

Through a long and distressing illness, marked by various changes, Jane, the beloved wife of Doctor Kinchela, was supported by the invisible but Almighty power of the Holy Spirit. Patience, had indeed its perfect work in her. Acquainted with the letter of the Scriptures from a very early period, for she was one of the most diligent and most attentive in my Sunday School, it was reserved for the season of affliction, to have their precious truths unfolded to her opening mind; truths which she ever after dwelt upon with gratitude and delight-truths by which she was upheld in seasons of severe conflict-truths which afforded a satisfying portion to her soul in the hour "when flesh and heart fail." There was a richness

of experience in divine things at once discernible in her, which fully proved that with a real hungering she fed upon "the bread of life."

The young among you have received a loud and solemn call to repentance, in the very sudden death of Edward Grace, who was known to most of you. Gentle in disposition-kind in manner-obedient to the call of duty- he was much beloved. Diligent at the Sunday School, and most anxious to receive the instruction needful for a learned profession, he has left an example worthy of your imitation while his attention to the Scriptures, to Church ordinances, and to prayer, gave promise of his being at some future day actively employed as a labourer in the Lord's vineyard. "The race," however, " is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." He is taken and possessing as he did a firm trust in Christ-is blessed. You who are left: prepare-prepare-by trusting in Him who is

the Lord our righteousness." The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

Your very affectionate Pastor and faithful Friend,

PETER ROE.

IT came, 'tis gone, 'tis past, 'tis fled,
Another year is vanished,
'Tis buried like the silent dead,
Within its dark sepulchr'd gloom :
Yet shall a record theme arise,
An open'd scroll before all eyes,
When earth, and air, and sea, and skies,
Convuls'd shall wait their doom.
When all to whom this year has giv'n,
The light of life-the hope of heav'n
The secret sigh to be forgiv'n,

Through him who died to save;
Whose ev'ry wish and thought would climb
To thoughts more holy, more sublime,
To joys which live when fading time
Shall vanish with the grave.

On whom each welcome new-born day, Seem'd with fresh mercy-beams to play, Shining with glory's brighter ray,

These may with tears embalm its tomb Their tears of grateful incense shed, O'er the past year now numbered, Nor look with horror or with dread,

On nature's day of doom.

Not fear? bold daring some may say,
Not fear the terrors of that day,
When heav'n and earth shall melt away,
Ah no! no fear nor dread,
Shall harass or perplex the blest,
Peace, perfect peace, and perfect rest,
Is shed on them-a high behest,
From their own living head.

K.

SIR.-I am very reluctant to occupy your time or space with further discussion on this topic, but as two of your correspondents have animadverted on my observations, it seems desirable that I should make a brief reply.

S. T. V. in your number for December, intimates that all were not agreed as to the indispensable necessity of some alteration in the Old Poor Laws, and maintains that by means of a select vestry, and assistant overseer, his own parish was brought into proper order. Now doubtless some few instances of this kind might be found; an entire change in the administration of a law might supersede, to a considerable extent, the alteration of the law itself; but in very many cases, clergymen could not be induced or authorised to exert themselves in the troublesome and invidious business of presiding at select vestries, and superintending assistant overseers; and hence a system had grown up most injurious to all classes of society. Both whigs and tories, high and low, persons of every description and sentiment, arrived at the conclusion, that some change was indispensable.

H.D. takes another ground, and insinuates that I ought to have proved the Old Poor Law scripturally wrong, and the New Poor Law scripturally right; and sums up his observations with declaring the New Poor Law awfully wicked, pregnant with present misery, and exposing many to the most imminent danger of everlasting damnation. But his arguments have not communicated that conviction to my mind, which he seems to have anticipated, though I feel that I can scarcely explain my own views without entering more into detail than is desirable.

There seems to me in the rea

soning of H. D. and many other persons, a confounding together of two things, which are, I conceive, entirely distinct, namely, private charity to the poor, and public provision for the poor. The commands to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and provide for the destitute, relate entirely to private charity to the poor; but a public provision for the poor; the actual taking from the rich, whether willing or unwilling, their property for the benefit of others; a compulsory provision, in short, for the sustenance and relief of the poor, is a system for which there is not, as far as I can discover, any scriptural precept or precedent. That provision for the poor made by the laws of Elizabeth and William IV. is wholly distinct from the charity enjoined in the Holy Scriptures.

At the same time I have no doubt that a moderate provision for the poor is accordant with the spirit of Christianity, and I conceive it highly honourable to our land, that such a provision exists. Yet I humbly conceive that every provision of this nature should be attended with some privation. That charitable relief may be carried too far. That there is under every conceivable system of Poor Laws, a danger, lest the improvident and the indolent should oppress and plunder the laborious and industrious. I think I could point out cases where parish paupers have been better fed, clothed, and lodged, than some of the smaller occupiers, who with great difficulty paid to the poor rates.

Another point of some importance is, the proposed duration of relief. There are the aged and the infirm; they of course must be maintained permanently, and therefore greater provision should be made for their comfort, than for

those who are only supposed to need assistance for a few weeks. No doubt the separation of man and wife, of parent and children, is of itself an evil; a separation to be avoided as much as possible; but there are greater evils; it is a greater evil when the family is starving at home, while the father is drinking at a beer shop; it is a greater evil when the whole family are in danger of perishing with hunger; and there are other evils which may easily be conceived of, but which cannot be avoided, unless workhouses were built much larger and more expensively than is practicable. But if a family go into a workhouse now for a few weeks, and are separated from each other, they suffer no more than a very large proportion of those in higher walks of life, who are compelled to be weeks or months away from home; and this very privation may lead all parties on the return of a more favourable season to exercise greater industry, economy, and contrivance to avoid a privation which they have found to be disagreeable.

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I am far from denying the apparent hardship of some of the provisions of the New Poor Law, and it is very easy to declaim against them; but very few real amendments have yet been proposed. I do not see why an innocent father and mother should be forced to keep a seduced and ruined daughter and her offspring,' nor would I defend a law which lets the most criminal go free;' but I am not sure whether this is the case with the New Poor Law. It is to me perfectly clear that in many instances, parents have been most criminally negligent with respect to their daughters; and if the apparently harsh provisions of the New Poor Law excite any to greater circumspection they may prove highly beneficial.

It still appears to me that if the guardians clearly understand, and steadily yet considerately discharge

their duty, the New Poor Law will be found highly beneficial. But no enactment can effectually guard against the supineness, the negligence, or the hard-heartedness of men. As ministers of religion, it seems to me that we ought to point out to every class of society their proper duties; and if once we can clearly ascertain that any particular provision is of an injurious character, it will become us to seek a corresponding remedy, whether by petitioning the legislature, explaining our views to leading and influential characters, transmitting articles to Magazines, Newspapers, &c. But we are not justified in representing the decisions of our legislature, in a needlessly unfavourable light; or in making a large and comprehensive measure, in the adoption of which the leading men of all parties agree, a stalking horse, in order to assail an obnoxious party. I am, and I always have been, opposed to the political views of those by whom the New Poor Law was introduced, and there are some of its provisions which I conceive might be materially improved; but viewing the measure as a whole, and taking into consideration the claims of all parties, I am compelled to maintain, that with the sole exception of the abolishing of Slavery, the New Poor Law is the most beneficial measure which the present administration has introduced; and 1 cannot but regret that so many of my brethren should hastily oppose the measure, without allowing it that fair trial which on every account ought to be conceded.

Here I take leave of the subject. Your pages are wanted for more valuable matter; though at the same time I know of no political measure so materially affecting the present peace, and the future prospects of multitudes of our poorer brethren, as the provision made for the poor of the land.

KYAN.