Most earnestly do we call upon the members of the Free Church to recollect that them has God in his providence called to erect the standard, and assume the lead in the new march of evangelical beneficence, and that as to them much has been given in the way of honour, so much is expected from them in the way of effort and sacrifice. It is well to exhibit our descent in the means of this world, on our plain and homely sanctuaries. But let the same fact be inscribed upon all that belongs to us, and proclaimed in every arrangement we make. Let it be built into our less aspiring mansionslet it be carved upon our more frugal furniture-let it be woven through the very texture of our dress-let it regulate the supply of our tables-let it be stamped upon our whole expenditure—and impart its character to all our habits. Then shall both the acknowledgment of Thyatira, and the blessings of Philadelphia be ours. 'I know thy works,' shall the Son of God himself proclaim, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works, and the last to be more than the first :'-adding, at the same time, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.'

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CRITICAL NOTICES.

Journals of the Rev. Messrs Isenberg and Krapf, Missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, detailing their proceedings in the kingdom of Shoa and journeyings in other parts of Abyssinia, in the years 1839, 1840, 1841, and 1842. Seeley, Burnside, and Seeley, London.

The perusal of these journals will leave on the reader sad and painful impressions regarding Abyssinia. These missionaries detail what they saw and heard as they traversed the country; and the broken fragments of truth which they occasionally found in the worship and creed of the Christians of that region, will scarcely be sufficient to excite, even in the most sanguine, any hope as to real godliness being left in any corner of the land, or salvation truly known by any of its people. Yet Abyssinia is possessed of deep interest from its position in the past days of the Christian church, and from its singular peculiarities as a country. The volume before us has prefixed to it a very useful geographical summary of the information hitherto obtained about its localities and of this world, yet a little attention will convince us of its truth. What we use perishes in the using; what we lay by, we leave to others; but what we give away from a principle of religion, we lend to the Lord, and have the strongest assurance of viewing it again. Prov. xix. 17. This is God's bill for our money, goods or services. With what propriety then does Paul call giving our goods for religious purposes, laying up in store." And again, "laying up for ourselves a good foundation, (a good stock) against the time to come." This then is our proper riches, which we shall assuredly enjoy. We have God's bill for the whole, and he will repay it with full interest. The tenth, or what we give to the Lord, is still the rich number. alone we lay up for ourselves, and not for another. Hence, alluding to this sense of the word, Paul calls the charitable, rich in good works.-Pirie's Works, vol. iii. p. 56.

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tribes; and the accompanying maps are very valuable. The style of the work is obviously very imperfect-but the author is a foreigner. There is not, perhaps, so much of missionary intelligence as we might have wished; nor is there exhibited such a spirit of devoted prayerfulness as we might have anticipated in a record from the pen of missionaries whose lives have been consecrated to this deeply interesting work. Their narrative resembles the hasty sketches of men passing quickly through the people, not of labourers fixed and labouring in a locality. Mr Krapf directed much attention to the study of the language, and ascertained many important facts regarding the country. In the customs of the country much that is curious often occurs. Take the following instances: "Very early this morning I heard a loud cry in the neighbourhood of our house. On asking what it was, I was told there were several persons who wished to make their complaints known to the king. They cried, Abiet, abiet!" (p. 72.) Again, "A boy seeing that Adara would not believe him, took dust from the ground, and scattered it in the air, saying, that if he had not spoken truth he would become like the dispersed dust." (p. 386.) The Abyssinian creed seems to be a mixture of Christianity, Judaism, heathenism, with somewhat of Mahometanism sprinkled through. A string of silk put round their necks is a sign of their Christianity-perhaps borrowed from the Jews, Numb. xv. 33. They fast abundantly; kiss churches in reverence; pray to saints; refuse to eat with Mahometans; will not eat locusts, and deny that John ate them, just because they are eaten by Mahometans; believe in Sheal, an intermediate place between hell and heaven, where a man may still use prayers, fastings, and masses, in order to reach heaven. They make pilgrimages to Jerusalem, use circumcision, observe distinctions as to clean and unclean food. The only theology that provokes disputation among them is about the three births of Christ, or such questions as whether at the great day, Christ will praise the Father in his human nature. Monks swarm among them, and priests are ignorant and despotic. Superstition and ignorance prevail over all ranks; and fleshly lusts are fully gratified. Mr Krapf tells of the monks of Mantek, in the forest of Manerat: The alaca, an old man, wore iron round his loins, and his whole body bore traces of self-torture, of which he much boasted. In one room, next to the walls, were raised banks of clay, upon which the monks sleep in an upright posture, being secured from falling by straps fastened to the walls. They were very proud of this rigid self-mortification, and said plainly that they practised it, in order that they might become righteous before God." Mr Krapf told them their sinful error, pointing them to Romans iii. (p. 239.) It is singular how deep is their reverence for Jerusalem, and how greatly they respect one that has been there; but the gross fabrications of pilgrims have led to this in part. For pilgrims come back and repeat to their countrymen, that in Jerusalem no children die, that a light falls from heaven over the holy sepulchre at Easter, that the water of Jordan is as white as lime, and many such fables. The questions put to the missionaries about fasting were renewed in every place; for fasting seems to be the Abyssinian Christian's only devotion. Prayer is comparatively neglected. Slavery is encouraged and practised; slaves were frequently offered to the travellers as gifts, though they always refused them, and reasoned on the sinfulness of the practice. In one region called Sentshiro, there are people who deliver to their king some of their first-born sons to be sacrificed to their god, "the fruit of their body, for the sin of their soul!"

The natural features and natural productions of the country are often singular. The traveller sees elephants roaming at leisure-or meets with the sight of a hundred hippopotami at one time, playing in the waters of a lake. On shooting at them, they plunge beneath the water, and on coming up again blow a stream of water out of their nostrils like whales, and snorted like horses. (p. 54.) There were crocodiles in the same lake, "leviathan and behemoth dwelling together." Leopards and hyenas have a great dread of

each other; and Mr Krapf thinks the deliverance of Mr Gobat was brought about, in the providence of God, by this natural means. Mr Gobat slept between a leopard and a hyena! but the hyena was watching the motions of the leopard, and the leopard the motions of the hyena. (p. 37.) We do not, in our country, meet with scenery like the chasm of Tegulet-wat, three feet in breadth, 200 yards in length, but so deep that you do not hear the noise of stones cast into it; or the defile by which you enter the centre of Shoa, so steep and high, that a whole army could be stopped in it by pouring down stones. Another hill near this defile has the governor's house on the top of it, the hill a complete mass of solid rock, and its sides several hundred feet high, with only one way of access. The mountain Ambassel, the prison of the state captives, is amazingly high and steep, with only one road to the top, but on the top is a well cultivated plain, with good water. The valley near its foot was all alive with birds of most beautiful plumage, and of all variety. (p. 421.) The lake Haik, with an island in the centre, is picturesque, surrounded on the south and east by high and steep mountains. The lake is said to be so deep, that in most parts of it the bottom has not been found. "The system of rivers and mountains in Abyssinia," says the writer, "always replenishes my mind with astonishment at the wisdom of Him who has created all things." (p. 369.) There is a kind of grass called goessa, that grows only at the height of 8 or 10,000 feet above the sea. But the sort of people there are surely not the least remarkable things of the land, when you read of Ali Marie, who in one battle killed 300 men with his own sword; (p. 399.) and of the people called Shohos (p. 319.) who have no human feelings, but of whom Mr Krapf writes, “in one word, if you see a Shoho, you must think you have before you a very devil on earth." The hospitality of the Abyssinians is not very extraordinary, its whole motive being selfishness, some being kind to you for curiosity; some because they think it a meritorious duty; some expecting a reward in return, or intending to torment you with questions; some wishing the stranger's blessing, which drives away "devils, ants, locusts, mice, gins, (?) famine, war, sickness." (p. 431.) There are some singular monopolies, e.g., none but the king dare prepare the Abyssinian hydromel, in Shoa; and there is a bridge over the Beresa, which none but the king dares cross. (p. 65.) What can be the meaning of the "white people" being called "red people" by the Abyssinians? The author mentions it p. 257, but does not explain. Nor does he say if the curious division of the churches into three parts, where the second is "Kediste," and the third is "Keduta, Kedutan," correspond to the Jewish courts, Holy Place, Most Holy. But we suppose it does. He testifies Mr Bruce to be the best writer on Abyssinia, though sometimes mistaken. (p. 428.)

There are too few gleams of divine truth in the book-too few of even such a sort as the following. After being plundered, he received his New Testament. The soldier who had taken it came with it and said, "Forgive me and pray for me." Mr Krapf held it up to the people and said, "this is my greatest treasure; because this book shows me the way to eternal happiness, which no other can take from me." (p. 382.) We by no meaus like his Sabbathtravelling, p. 28, 32, 34. "It is already the third Lord's day of our journey." Our deputation to the east did not find it necessary to travel on the day of rest. It is true he says, p. 521, "Bare necessity having compelled me to travel on Sunday, since I left Shoa," but this is not reconcileable with p. 49, "Lord's day, May 26, 1839. To-day we have again had an undesired-for day of rest!" Our deputation to the Jews record in their narrative, on the same day of the same year. "The Sabbath dawned sweetly upon us-we rested in our tents"-though the thermometer was 92o in the shade.

There is but one hopeful case of inquiry mentioned, and even that is not more than hopeful. In the village of Shal, a woman asked with real earnestness, "What is the will of God?" He replied, "We should love God with

our whole heart, and our fellow-creatures as ourselves." She asked; "How can we love God?" He said, "If we see how much God has loved us before, in giving us his Son Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Mediator." "Who is Jesus Christ, and which is the word of God?" were her next questions, and afterwards she remarked; "I have often thought that God does not love us: because we offer bread and beer to St Michael and St Abbo, and yet they do not prevent our houses being burnt by our enemies." Mr Krapf showed how this proved God's desire to make her cease from idolatrous worship of saints. All was spoken in evident anxiety and deep concern. (p. 448-9.) We can sympathise with Mr Krapf when he exclaims, "O that I might have once the infinite pleasure of finding one, only one, real and enlightened Chrisiian in Abyssinia." (p. 497.) "Who can cure the wounds of Abyssinia," he asks on another occasion-impelling us to rise from the perusal of this, like other similar records, with the Psalmist's prayer," Have respect unto thy covenant!" and in the Church's hope, “Behold, he cometh! leaping on the mountains, and skipping on the hills." Then shall the day break, and the shadows flee

away.

Our Present Position on the Chart of Time, as revealed in the Word of God. By the Rev. J. BRODIE, A.M., Free Church, Monimail. Pp. 37.

This little work, in the compass of a few pages, gives several very interesting expositions of prophecy. Under the first head,-the emblematical prophecies, we find discussed, Daniel's image, the seven-headed beast, the woman clothed with the sun, Babylon the great, &c. On each of these themes we could dilate, sometimes agreeing with our author and sometimes differing from him, but our limits will not permit us. The second part of the work contains a short view of the prophecies concerning data, discussing those first which have already been fulfilled, and thence drawing certain rules to assist in interpreting those which are as yet unfulfilled. One of these rules to which the author calls particular attention is, that when a prophecy refers to a period to which different dates of commencement may be assigned, we may look for its conclusion exhibiting corresponding stages of completion. This rule, however, is not a new one, but has been fully illustrated from the very instances which our author quotes by Habershon, in his work on prophecy. He thus applies this principle to the 1260 years of the 12th of Daniel, which, according to him, define the duration of the Mahometan empire. In the year A.D. 603, Mahomet began to preach. A.D. 622 is the commencement of the epoch of the Hejira from which the Mahometans calculate. And A.D. 637 is the year when the Holy City was conquered by the Saracenic hosts. Reckoning 1260 years from each of these periods, brings us to the dates of A.D. 1868, 1882, and 1897. But we would venture to suggest, whether, as the Mahometans calculate by lunar years, we ought not to follow their mode of reckoning in our computation. The year A.D. 1843 is the year 1260 of the Hejira; and the three dates given above will become, if reckoned in this manner, A.D. 1829, A.D. 1843, A.D. 1852. Comparing these with history would lead us to some interesting conclusions, which, however, for the present we must leave untouched. In like manner, the 1260 years of Papal supremacy, if dated from A.D. 533, the year in which Justinian's edict was issued, end in 1793; if dated from the decree of Phocas in 606, they end in 1866. We do not wait to inquire into the correctness of these calculations; we would simply point out how emphatically they enforce the Divine warning, WATCH! Let it be supposed that they are incorrect, still they will tend to show that the end of the 1260 years cannot be far distant. And what shall succeed them? Why, the slaying of the witnesses, the time of trouble, such as there never has been before; and then, after that, the COMING OF THE LORD.

The Second Coming of Christ Practically Considered; being Lectures delivered during Lent, 1844, at St George's, Bloomsbury. By Twelve Clergymen of the Church of England. With a Preface, by the Hon. and Rev. H. MONTAGU VILLIERS, A.M., Rector of St George's, Bloomsbury. London: James Nisbet and Co. 1844.

We do not profess to acquiesce in all that is taught in this volume by these twelve ministers, but we must say that it contains very much that we accord with, and much that we consider most vitally momentous. Some of the lectures are of high excellence, others of an inferior stamp, but all of them full both of the sufferings of Christ, and of the glory which shall follow. Let us add a few extracts.

"What now is our position upon this stream, in respect to time?

"It may be drawn, I believe, with no small accuracy from the words of inspiration, upon which I forbear to enter, but from which this truth becomes self-apparent, that the day of the Lord is at hand.' And this all-important fact gathers strength from that other particular of which we speak, our bearing on the prophetic land-marks on its banks.

"Of all those sure signs, with which the Word of God abounds, which mark the winding up of our present dispensation, I believe, two only remain. The one, The restoration of Judah, in an unconverted state, to the city and the land of his fathers; the other, The sign of the Son of man in heaven. With respect to the first, it is an unavoidable deduction from Zechariah's prophecy; that as, when the Lord shall appear for their deliverance from their last troubles, he shall find them in their own land, they shall then be converted unto him, by looking upon him in that day; into that land and into that city they must have gone, in a condition of national unbelief. (Zech. xii. 1-14, xiv. 1–4). In their return, therefore, to Judea and Jerusalem, I look as the next event which has yet to take place, believing, as I must, that the other buds of the parabolic fig-tree have unfolded; and that these two alone remain to be developed. And, if this event may be very near, what manner of persons ought we to be, in all holy conversation and godliness?' And should this event prove actually to be so, shall we then think, if now we give good heed to it, that we shall have been preparing too soon or too earnestly to stand before the Son of man? And if the minister of the Lord believe in his conscience that it is so, what should be the reply which he should give, from the watch-towers of our Zion on which he stands, to every one that asketh, Watchman, what of the night?' surely this,- The morning cometh,' to the saints of God, and also the night,' of sorrow to a heedless and ungodly world. Why! the very streaks of light, the harbingers of early dawn, are now beginning to break over the mountain tops, and to tell us that the day-spring from on high is at hand,' and that the day of the Lord must shortly dawn." P. 41-44.

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"3. Again, the evil we are combating may arise from supposing the heavenly inheritance to be distant. Unbelief may spring, not from uncertainty, but from the supposed distance or delay of the thing promised. The wicked servant said in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming;' he regarded the event as distant, and then followed practical unbelief. He began to eat and to drink, and be drunken;' and at last he had his portion with the unbelievers.

"But cherish the hope of the Lord's coming again, and the event can no longer appear distant to the eye of faith; for it is the peculiarity of the doctrine of the Second Advent, that we are directed always to regard that event as near at hand. The lapse of time has indeed proved that nearly eighteen centuries were to intervene between the apostolic age and the Saviour's Ad