lation of song-books, catechisms, question-books, &c., a single inexpensive volume which shall contain a variety of materials needed in the general exercises of the school." The first part of the work consists of 80 hymns, songs, and chants, in a similar style of arrangement to " Chapel Gems," and in fact more than a quarter of the pieces are taken, by Mr. Root's generous permission, from that popular and delightful little work. Of the rest, the majority are by the same talented composer,-a few are by the Rev. Frank Sewall, who is the compiler of the "Welcome," and the rest are selected from the best American sources. It is needless to tell those who know anything of the attention paid in America to the production of children's sacred music, that the Americans are far ahead of us in this department. Indeed, we have little or no music of this kind in our own country except what we have borrowed from our transatlantic friends. Very "welcome," therefore, is Mr. Sewall's nice little compilation of a second instalment of Sunday-school "gems" for the use of our children. The thanks of all whose hearts are open to the sweet spheres of childhood, and who find pleasure in drawing out and cultivating the tender but beautiful germs of heavenly affections in children's minds, will be warmly, if not obtrusively given, to Mr. Root, Mr. Sewall, and other disinterested and talented men, who devote their abilities to the production of hymns which will be real expressions of the feelings of childhood, and which children will therefore sing with spontaneous delight. Of course, all the hymns and songs in the book have tunes printed with them. This is a great convenience, and, what is of far more importance, these tunes have been chiefly, if not wholly, composed expressly for the words given with them. It is difficult to sufficiently estimate the value of this arrangement. By this means the words and tunes become as intimately associated as do the words and tunes of secular songs. We shall never effect much improvement in our Sunday-school music until this plan becomes universal, as it must soon do. For so long as books of words, mis-called hymn-books, are tolerated for Sunday-school and congregational use, the work of talented composers in producing the unity between music and words which constitutes a true hymn, is continually being undone. Every leader of a choir is thus driven to "set tunes" to the words of the hymn he finds in the book, and the consequence is that the words and music of original compositions get divorced from each other, the words go to other tunes and the tunes to other words, and a universal loss of power in the musical part of our worship is the result. How often do we hear, for example, the ludicrous effect produced by singing solemn words to lively music, how much more frequently even the quite irresistible mixture of cheerful sentiments and dead marches. These are, of course, extreme cases, but between them lie a multitude of shades of minor horrors which are interfering more than is commonly imagined with the usefulness of our public worship. Now, above all things, it is desirable that children's music should escape this weakening influence as far as possible, and we therefore hail with the warmest satisfaction works like the "Welcome," which introduce at once a new element of power into the management of our Sundayschools and the fireside worship of our homes. The musical part of the "Welcome" is divided into five parts, in the following order :— Opening and Closing Hymns, Hymns Descriptive of the Life of our Lord upon Earth, Thanksgiving and Prayer, Sacred Songs, Chants, Responses, &c. The second division of the work contains:-Suggestions for Conducting the Sunday-school, a brief and simple form of Children's Worship, Psalms for Responsive Reading, First Questions, The Catechism, Questions in Bible History and Geography, Scripture Alphabet, Chain of Golden Words, and the Ten Blessings. The catechism is that known as the Child's First Catechism, written, we believe, by the Rev. John Hyde, and published by Conference. The book is neatly got up, legibly printed, and considering the low price at which it is published, may be said to be a model of what a child's book should be. It is the same shape as "Chapel Gems," and we recommend it to both old and young who are at all lovers of music. To the conductors of our Sunday-schools we should think it must prove an invaluable assistance. "We With regard to the title of the work, we read in the preface: call our little book the 'Welcome,' because we hope that, like a good angel standing at the gate of the New Jerusalem, it may give a friendly greeting and happy reception to many little children, who, by its means, shall learn to love and do the commandments of God, and thus 'enter in, through the gates, into the city."" THE CENTRE OF UNITY, WHAT IS IT? CHARITY OR AUTHORITY? being an Inquiry occasioned by the recent Letter of Pope Pius the Ninth to all Protestants and other Non-Catholics. By the Rev. AUGUS, TUS CLISSOLD, M.A. London: Longmans, Green & Co., Paternoster Row. THE subject of this work formed the first resolution of the Annual Meeting of the Swedenborg Society, held in June, and was proposed by the author, the substance of whose speech was given last month in our report of the proceedings. The work is written without any reference to Swedenborg or the New Church. We trust it will be extensively read, as it cannot fail to be of great service in these times when church union is so much talked of, and efforts are being made by some of the ecclesiastical bodies to combine. The Roman Catholic Church desires and proposes union by absorbing all other religious bodies into itself, and placing them under the care and authority of His Holiness the Pope. Our author shows the Churches a more excellent way,,—the way of charity,-which out of many churches makes one, and without which there is no real unity. We need not say that the work is deeply interesting and instructive. THE SEAT OF THE SOUL AND ITS IMMORTALITY. BY JAMES GILLINGHAM. London: Lemarc, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row. THIS tract is an attempt to show, from the cases of person who have suffered amputation of their limbs, that the spirit and the body are of the same shape, and that the soul dwells in every part of the material man, while the head is the centre of action. It is intelligently written, and may help those who require to be convinced by such a mode of reasoning what would almost seem a self-evident proposition. The argument is of course of no value in favour of the immortality of the soul; since a physiological phenomenon, such as feeling pain in a limb which has been amputated, which is no doubt common to man and to animals, proves either too much or too little. EXTERNAL WORSHIP. "Where there is no devotional feeling there is of course no devotional taste, and in such a state we can easily persuade ourselves that our devotional exercises are of but little importance either to ourselves or to others. But it is at that very time, when our feelings are cold, when our spiritual aspirations are low, when our spiritual conceptions are languid and dull, that we stand in most need of the holy and inspiring sphere of the sanctuary. Let us not exchange that for the cold and lifeless devotion of the world. We may persuade ourselves that we are discharging every duty of life with the utmost faithfulness and punctuality; we may acquire a prominent and honourable reputation in the church; we may even suppose that we are influenced by a more than ordinary feeling of charity in all our actions; but if we are strangers to the quickening influences of a social and Divine worship -if we have no taste for these-then may we justly fear that we have no true regard for the highest and holiest obligations of religion. A. J. C. 421 Miscellaneous. BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY. THIS Society entered during its recent anniversary on its new building, and is now worthily housed. The old premises were taken down to make way for the new street from the Mansion House to Blackfriars, and the sum received for compensation, aided by donations and subscriptions, has enabled the Committee to rear the noble pile on which they have now entered. "It has cost, including the value of the site, £36,500, the whole of which sum, with the exception of only £500, has been subscribed. The building is a handsome piece of architecture, substantial, roomy, elegant, and every way suitable to the magnitude and dignity of the work which is to be carried on within its walls. The Italian style has been adopted, and the building covers a quadrangie, having a frontage of 115 feet, and a depth of 70 feet, with a height of five stories." "On Monday afternoon, May 3, the opening of the above premises was celebrated by a special service in St. Paul's Cathedral, under the shadow of which they may almost be said to be situated. There was a very large attendance, the friends of the society mustering in force. The great interest of the occasion was the gathering together of so many leading men of different religious communions in the Metropolitan Cathedral to commemorate the completion of a vast Bible house for the world. The Nonconformists entered very fully into the spirit of the occasion. The Rev. T. Binney, Dr. Stoughton, and a few others of their order, occupied stalls, while in the reserved seats and other places there appeared many more. The Archbishop of Canterbury was the preacher, and discoursed with much emphasis about the Bible, though he said but little about the Bible Society." The annual meeting was held in Exeter Hall, on Wednesday, May 5, and, as usual, attracted a large audience. From the report we learn that "the circulation during the year has amounted to 133,077 copies. In Belgium 6750 copies have been circulated by colpor teurs, and 6031 copies through other channels. In Holland the issues for the year have been 24,741, of which 14,358 have been sold by colporteurs. In Germany, the largest sphere of the society's operations, the circulation has amounted to more than 300,000 copies. After some encouraging statements from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Russia, the report alluded to the new opening presented in Spain, and the efforts the society had made to circulate copies of the Scriptures among the Spanish people. Great difficulties, it was stated, have been experienced in this work, arising from fiscal rather than from religious considerations, the Spanish law forbidding the introduction of books printed abroad. New editions have been accordingly printed, or are in preparation, in Madrid. One of these is an edition of a million Gospels, for which a special fund has been raised. A network of depôts has been established throughout the country, and in some of them the supply has been already exhausted. The amount of subscriptions for Spain has reached £4500, the liabilities being £5,965. The receipts from ordinary sources for the year ending March 31, 1869, have reached the sum of £176,489. To this must be added £1500 received for the China F.; £3645 for the Special Fund for Spain; and £6317 further contributions to the Building Fund; making a grand total of £18,795. The ordinary payments have amounted to £173,542; and adding the sum paid on account of the Jubilee, China, and Spain Funds, the total has reached £178,139. The society is under engagements to the extent of £98,651. The issues of the society are as follows:-From the depôt at home, 1,129,618; from depôts abroad, 1,011,002-2,140,620 copies. The total issues of the society now amount to 57,210,485 copies. Crawford. An apparent irregularity in the proceedings of the Assembly brought up the subject earlier than was expected, and led one of the members to express in the Edinburgh Evening Courant of June 21, the sentiments he would otherwise have spoken in the Assembly. This circumstance we cannot but regard as advantageous to the cause of truth. It has led to the publication of two letters admirably adapted to impress the public mind with the importance of addressing all Christian prayers to the Christian Saviour. give extracts from the first of these letters, and hope in a future number to give the second and longer letter at greater length: We "Who is the object of worship that should be present to the worshipper's eye? Is it to God in Christ-God incarnate--or is it to God, for the sake of Christ, that we ought to pray ? Is Jesus-God incarnate, one with the Father, and Himself Jehovah -the object of worship? Should Christians now, as at the beginning, be called Christians because they call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,' or, which is the same thing, because they bow the knee to Jesus as the object of worship, and present their prayers and praise to Him, and in His name, in the same sense in which they present their bodies to Him, a living sacrifice in all their services, when they do whatsoever they do in His name?' In these prayers, as they were originally published by Dr. Crawford, when they first received the sanction of this Assembly ten or twelve years ago, there was, so far as I could discover, no prayer or petition addressed directly to Jesus, many, or several, indeed most, to God, for the sake of Jesus. Those who offered up these prayers, it seemed to me, I confess, and it still appears, could not be called, as all Christians were at the beginning (Acts ix. 14, 21; 1 Cor. i. 2), men who called upon the name of the Lord Jesus, for to call upon His name is to give to Him, in our worship or prayers, the place and glory which Israel in all their generations gave to Jehovah, and which we are, as they were, forbidden to give to any other than Jehovah. "But observe, sir, the form in which this great question comes before us today demands of us a peremptory and authoritative decision or deliverance, once for all, for our people's sake. On Saturday, at the close of the business, in a very thin house, the General Assembly resolved to send down to Presbyteries for their consideration a volume of hymns, 200 in number, of which the worship of Jesus by prayer to Him immediately and consciously form so prominent and essential a part, that it seems to me pre-essentially its peculiar characteristic. In dozens of them, both prayer and praise are addressed formally and directly to Jesus who is called 'our God,' 'Jehovah,' and so on. How can men take such hymns into their hands, far less make them the expression of their inmost hearts and most sacred feelings of devotion before God, whose prayers are all presented to another than Jesus directly, in whose worship Jesus is not directly approached as the immediate object of prayer or worship, our Lord and our God,' in the spirit of Stephen, Paul, Thomas, and the other apostles, before whom, therefore, in all their prayers, till the concluding sentence, Jesus is not immediately present to the eye? "Whatever these prayers be in themselves, worthy or unworthy of our Church, as compared with other prayer books, or with the English Liturgy, this is a circumstance of fundamental and paramount importance, in which we are departing, not only from the English Liturgy, a large part of which, as in the Litany, and the best and oldest prayers, as in Chrysostom's, are addressed immediately to Jesus Christ, but from the worship of Christendom, and I may say of this universal Church. For all in heaven and earth worship Jesus; and bow the knee, not at, but in His name, worship not merely the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, as moderns speak; but Jesus, who has sat down in glorified human form at the right hand of the Father, and in Him worship the Father. "We are, sir, all sighing for unity, and speaking much of unity, but not too much, in those perilous times. The foundation of the Church's unity, let me say with the deepest solemnity, is the unity of God, and the enlightened faith of her people in the unity and personality of God. The root of all our divisions, the deepest root, is, I verily believe, our departure, unconsciously |