Rappahannock. This has been balanced by another battle in the neighbourhood of Nashville, fought with equal bravery and a similar result. The Federals remained in possession of the field, and the Confederates retired undisturbed. At Washington and New York, everything seems hastening to a crisis; the conscription appears to be abandoned. Of the tax-gatherer we hear nothing; faction begins to riot, and unless some master mind appears, the end cannot be far distant; it is the break up of the Federal States that has now begun to be the theme of declamation in the streets and popular assemblies of New York itself.

We have much to add on home subjects of considerable interest. The protest of our whole bench of bishops, with one exception, against Sunday excursion trains deserves more than a passing acknowledgment. The shower of small abuse, vulgar and insolent, which it has met with, ought to give no surprise to those who remember that infidels and brawlers for liberty are proverbially tyrants. At the annual meeting of the London and Brighton Company, a city demagogue, amidst the applauses of the well dressed mob, who refused to hear the advocates of the Sunday's repose, was permitted to read the Book of Sports of James the First, and his unhappy son Charles the First, and actually to express a wish, in which he was cheered by his audience, that it might be re-enacted by Queen Victoria.

The unhappy affair of bishop Colenso will soon engage the anxious deliberation of the episcopal bench. The Primate has summoned their Lordships to meet early in February, and never since the days of our own great civil war have they met to discuss a question so distressing. Let them not want the prayers of all who love the peace, or, what is still more important, the purity of the Church of England. Mr. Oakley has given notice for a motion on the 20th instant, at the annual meeting of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, to remove the Bishop of Natal from the list of its Vice-Presidents. If the Right Reverend the Prelates should by that time have made their decision public, it ought to be urged and carried; and we will say more, it must be carried; if not without dissent, by a majority which shall admit of no dispute, as to the real feeling of its incorporated members; otherwise a very short chapter will suffice to tell to posterity the future history of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. It concerns not only the members of this great society, but every sound hearted member of the Church of England; and it is one apon which their voice will not be silenced, and cannot be despised.

Mr. Newdegate has given notice of a Bill for the commutation of church rates, which seems to promise better for a settlement of the long agitated question than any measure hitherto proposed. We have prepared a brief abstract of it, which we fear we must postpone till our next number, when we hope it may still be in time to be of service.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We wish to be obliging, but we really cannot enter into private correspondence; nor can we return short contributions.

"I saw again. Behold! Heaven's open door;

Behold! a throne, -the Seraphim stood o'er it,

The white-robed elders fell upon the floor,

And flung their crowns before it." (Lyra Anglicana.)

PERSONS about to leave their fatherland are eager to collect information about their future home. Nor can it be otherwise with the Christian, and the better country to which he is going. For, besides his own desires, evermore drawn thither by reflective anticipations, events occur which stimulate the ardour of his inquiry. Such result follows from the happy departure of some Christian friend whose sufferings he had watched with anxious solicitude. The precise moment when the spirit left the body was marked by the changing hues that passed upon the face of death. Notwithstanding the first gush of sorrow, and the hopelessness of final separation then felt to be real, thoughts about the world to come, where the departed spirit has just entered, come irresistibly to mind;-Where is he now? What sights and sounds surround him? Who came forward to the mysterious boundary, where this world ends and that begins where life meets death, and death leads to life? What are now his recollections of the great journey just ended? What his first impressions of the world to which he is gone?

Suf

They who are conversant with the house of mourning know the eagerness with which survivors fix their meditations upon the scenes of felicity into which the soul has entered, and the strong desire, if it might be, to know something more definite about them. The sorrows of the departed are now over. ferings which had long wearied the body with heavy burdens are ended. Symptoms of disease, endured in silent patience, are traceable no more. The restlessness of tedious days and nights, more and more wearisome, is gone; nor is the eye uplifted in

silent supplication to God for grace to help in time of need. These scenes are over. The great conflict of life is ended. The battle, we thankfully feel, was well fought, and the victory won; but we should like to know, in minuter detail, if we might, what awaits the conqueror.

We know something; and that something is worth worlds to know, that they who are "departed in the true faith of His holy name have their perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in His eternal and everlasting kingdom;" and that absence from the body is presence with the Lord. This assurance is unspeakably welcome when, standing on the spot of all others most sacred to grief, we commit the remains of those we love to the bosom of the earth, and comfort one another with these words. But, it may be a source of strength and hope if, discarding all speculation, we reverently seek to gather a few rays of Scripture light concerning the present happiness of believers in relation to the world to come.

This life is the preparation for the next. It is also a mirror, reflecting, but in obscure outlines, some image of the future. What we now experience of the true and real, in broken parts and detached fragments, we shall fully know when that which is perfect is come. It may be safely presumed that the eternal felicity of God's people will resemble, so far as relates to character, their real, though imperfect, felicity in this life. For, much happiness is enjoyed even here; and many Christians can testify that, however "few and full of evil the days of their years" may be, still considerable portions of their lives have been enriched with such measures of "goodness and mercy" as made their hearts to overflow with thanksgivings to the Gracious Giver, whom they lovingly adored as the "Father of mercies and God of all comfort."

But wherein does their happiness at present consist? Dr. Johnson remarks, somewhat indefinitely, that happiness consists in the multiplication of agreeable consciousness. In his minute yet comprehensive portraiture of happiness, the Greek philosopher includes perfect physical organization, besides the cultivation of intellectual endowments. It is certain that in whatever degree bodily disease, infirmity, or defect exists, happiness must be so far diminished. A clear and comprehensive intellect, capable of searching into truth, and deriving enjoyment from such exercises, is equally necessary; for ignorant dulness cannot consist with any high degree of well-being. But it is evident that there can be no happiness without filial access to God as your heavenly Father, based upon the assurance of perfect reconciliation and forgiveness, with peace of conscience, and unmurmuring subjection to His will in the events of life. Besides, to make your happiness complete, you must have congenial companions, in whose society you can find perfect sympathy of thought and feeling: scope for active

service is also needful; for no man can be happy who does nothing, and has nothing to do.

Many a Christian can look back upon years in which these ingredients were richly mingled in his cup. Possessed of bodily vigour and activity, unimpaired by neglect, nor enfeebled by folly; gifted also with mental powers, strengthened by culture and stored with varied knowledge; conscience never outraged by guilty excesses, and yet truly convinced of sin by the Spirit, and having peace with God through faith alone in the merits of Christ's salvation; his will ever in harmony with the will of God, and enjoying habitual communion with Him,— with companions thoroughly suited to his taste, and such daily occupations of mind and body as he rejoiced to fulfil; this is an outline of happiness which many now in the way to Heaven thankfully acknowledge that they have enjoyed during large portions of their lives.

Such, in its perfection, was the happiness of Adam. With an intellect capable of investigating truth-a spiritual nature pure from sin, and ever delighting in God-with society in perfect unison with every wish of his heart, and occupation sufficiently active but not wearisome, to dress and keep his earthly paradise, what was his condition but in the most absolute sense a heaven upon earth?

Sin blighted the fair scene, and man's happiness on earth was marred. His body became subject to disease and pain; his understanding lost its clear perceptions and love of truth; communion with God was distasteful, and the heart that cannot but worship something, debased itself by idolatries: the world he lives in is full of vanity and evil, and the labour which gives him bread to eat is wearisome and oppressive. This life is not happy, and he dreads to think of the next. Such is man as sin made him. To regain his lost happiness is the great pursuit of life. But he fails in it. He changes his residence, but unhappiness follows him to his new abode. He changes society, but new companions fail to fulfil his wants. He tries new occupations, but the evil remains. Fearing that he labours too hard, he seeks relaxation; or thinking that he toils too little, he "rises early, and late takes rest;" thinking that more income might meet his wants, he seeks treasure upon earth, and becomes avaricious; or, that happiness is incident to age, he hopes to be happier as he grows older. But all in vain. At length, after a life of disappointment, he settles down in despair, and concludes morosely that happiness is but a dream. Such is the man of the world.

But what about the Christian? When we turn to the Bible, and see how Christians live, and how they die, we are at no loss about the present happiness which the Gospel of

the grace of God confers. Admitted into that intimate fellowship which God's people sometimes enjoy with one another, we see on the one hand they are happy; on the other, their happiness is, as yet, diminished by serious drawbacks. As to their condition in this life, their body is an increasing source of suffering, either actual or apprehended. As to intellectual powers and mental cultivation, many true Christians derive but little happiness from their pursuit of knowledge. As to God, and their condition before Him, there indeed something solid is gained; they have peace with God through Jesus Christ, and they are made new creatures by the power of the Holy Ghost. But even there the corruption of nature reu:ains, creating the conflict of the flesh and the spirit, besides the direct temptations of Satan, ever striving to bring the soul to sin. As to their companions, few Christians can look even upon the inner circle of their dearest friends with feelings of unqualified satisfaction, that they are all they could desire. 66 My house is not so with God." And as to life and its daily occupations, they bring too much hard toil and too many anxieties, reminding us far more of the heavy burden that man carried with him when doomed to "eat bread with the sweat of his brow" outside the gates of Paradise, than the gentle occupations of tending the plants and flowers that grew with spontaneous fertility in that garden of the Lord. Such is the condition of believers here. If happiness be the combination of many and varied pleasurable emotions, without any abatement, then their condition in this life is such, that they may not look for their fulness of joy here.

As to others, their best estate is pronounced by high authority to be altogether vanity. Not at peace with God, their own conscience restless and foreboding, their eternal interests not settled, things within all wrong; besides the tumult of things around every day seething in disorder, the man of the world, however prosperous or envied, is not happy. "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." But, with the Christian it is not so. He has a real happiness even here. True, he has his discouragements. He is not what he would be. But the foundation is laid,-great questions are settled,— he has peace already, peace with God, and sometimes peace within his own breast. If evil is not subdued, it is opposed and weakened. He has not yet attained, but he is in the way, and success is sure. In the world he has tribulation, but he has peace in Christ. Temptations are not few, but he has grace to bear them, and a way to escape. To his great grief, sin yet abounds; but to his great joy, grace much more abounds. So that even in this life, with all its discouragements, its fightings, and its fears, the believer is possessed of an amount of enjoyment, that makes each day welcome, and