3

was dismissed for a recess of twelve days. As the time drew near for their dispersion, the pupils showed the same earnest solicitude for the conversion of their friends and the people of the villages, as in past years. "May we not carry to our homes the poison of the second death in our hearts, but bear to them the seeds of eternal life when we go hence," and similar expressions, were common in their prayers. Thus impressed with their responsibility, fired with the love of Christ, and many of them, though young and inexperienced, already workmen that need not to be ashamed, they made their inflence felt wherever they went, and returned after their vacation to tell of God's mercy to them and their friends.

they were about to separate, they were deeply af fected; and, going forth with deep chastened feeling, it may be expected that they carried a blessing with them. And such was the fact. The reports that subsequently reached the mission of their Christian deportment and useful labours, equalled the highest hopes of those who had watched over them with such tender solicitude.

THE JEWS IN LONDON.

THE following passages relative to the condition of
the Jews in London are extracted from the work of
Mr Mayhew," London Labour, and the London
Poor:"-

"The number of Jews now in England is computed at
35,000. This is the result at which the chief Rabbi arrived
a few years ago, after collecting all the statistical information
at his command. Of these 35,000, more than one-half, or
about 18,000, reside in London. I am informed that there
may now be a small increase to this population, but only
small, for many Jews have emigrated, some to California.
The foreign Jews, who, though a fluctuating body, are always
numerous in London, are included in the computation of
18,000; of this population, two-thirds reside in the city, or the
streets adjacent to the eastern boundaries of the city.
"I have before alluded to the underselling of the Jew boy
by the Irish boy in the street orange-trade; but the character-
istics of the change are so peculiar, that a further notice is
necessary. It is curious to observe that the most assiduous,
and hitherto the most successful of street-traders, were sup-
planted, not by a more persevering or more skilful body of
street-sellers, but simply by a more starving body.

In the female seminary, the first Monday of the year was observed as a season of fasting and prayer, which was succeeded by a solemn quiet, that seemed to betoken an outpouring of the Spirit as at hand. Nothing very special, however, occurred till the 13th of January, when the fountains of pent-up feeling suddenly burst forth. The following description of the scenes of the succeeding week, is by one of the ladies who have charge of the institution :-"In the girls' school, the week succeeding January 13th was one of deep solemnity. Our older girls (most of whom had given more or less evidence of piety previously) spent every leisure hour, yes, and moment, too, in prayer. Their domestic duties were performed most perfectly, and then they fled to their closets. Several of them spent no less than five hours out of every twenty-four, of that week, in these sacred retreats. When we sometimes besought them to leave praying for necessary sleep, they would reply, 'We have been asleep for weeks, doing nothing for God, ruining souls-how can we sleep till we are forgiven?' On Saturday afternoon, the feelings of several were such that they begged, with tears, to be excused from school-duties, that they might give themselves entirely to prayer for a blessing on the coming day. Never did we more gladly bid adieu to worldly cares, and welcome the approach of holy time, than when we saw that evening's sun decline. You will not be surprised to learn that we had a blessed Sabbath after such a week of prayer. During the morning service, almost all the school were bathed in tears. Many a seat was vacant at the dinner-table; while prayer, mingled with "The Irish boy could live harder than the Jew; often in sighs and groans, ascended from every place of rehis own country he subsisted on a stolen turnip a-day; he tirement. We heard not a voice, on that day, from could lodge harder-lodge for 1d. a-night in any noisome den, morning to night, in all our school-apartments, ex-boy; he could dispense with the use of shoes and stockings-a or sleep in the open air, which is seldom done by the Jew cept the voice to heaven sent.' When the supper- dispensation at which his rival in trade revolted; he drank bell rang, all came, but with countenances which only water, or if he took tea or coffee it was as a meal, and seemed to say, 'Our meat and drink are not here.' not merely as a beverage; to crown the whole, the city-bred A number asked to be excused; but in compliance Jew boy required some evening recreation, the penny or twowith our request, all were finally seated. penny concert, or a game at draughts or dominoes; but this the Never, Irish boy, country-bred, never thought of, for his sole luxury no, never can we forget the scene which followed. was a deep sleep, and, being regardless or ignorant of all such All those who had previously been interested, with recreations, he worked longer hours, and so sold more oranges, several others, were pouring forth floods of tears in than his Hebrew competitor. Thus, as the Munster or Consilent sorrow. The blessing was asked, and the naught lad could live on less than the young denizen of steward began to serve each plate was filled, but Petticoat-lane, he could sell at smaller profit, and did so sell, each remained untouched, until they were urged to until gradually the Hebrew youths were displaced by the Irish eat that they might have strength to pray." in the street orange-trade.

For two months following this period, every day gave increasing evidence of the power of this gracious work. Up to the close of the term, there was no diminution of interest. The older girls were very active in their efforts for the conversion of the younger ones, as well as for their hoary-headed grandmothers, and their mothers and sisters who visited the school. When their vacation came, and

"Some few years since, poor Irish people, and chiefly those connected with the culture of the land, came over to this country in great numbers, actuated either by vague hopes of 'bettering themselves' by emigration, or working on the railways, or else influenced by the restlessness common to an impoverished people. These men, when unable to obtain did the adults resort to street-traffic, generally in its simplest employment, without scruple became street-sellers. Not only forms, such as hawking fruit, but the children, by whom they were accompanied from Ireland, in great numbers, were put into the trade; and if the two or three children earned 2d. aday each, and their parents 5d. or 6d. each, or even 4d., the subsistence of the family was better than they could obtain in the midst of the miseries of the southern and western part of the Sister Isle. An Irish boy of fourteen, having to support himself by street-trade, as was often the case, owing to the death of parents, and to divers casualties, would undersell the Jew boys similarly circumstanced.

"It is the same, or the same in a degree, with other streettrades, which were at one time all but monopolized by the Jew adults. Among these were the street-sale of spectacles and sponges. The prevalence of slop-work and slop-wages, and the frequent difficulty of obtaining properly-remunerated employment-the pinch of want, in short-have driven many trafficers have been augmented, while no small portion of mechanics to street-traffic; so that the number of streetthe new comers have adopted the more knowing street avocations, formerly pursued only by the Jews."

Of the "Old-Clothesmen," Mr Mayhew says"It is very seldom,' my informant stated, very seldom indeed, that a Jew clothesman takes away any of the property of the house he may be called into. I expect there's a good many of 'em,' he continued, for he sometimes spoke of his co-traders, as if they were not of his own class, is fond of cheating-that is, they won't mind giving only two shillings for a thing that's worth five shillings. They are fond of money, and will do almost any thing to get it.' Jews are, perhaps, the most money-loving people in all England. There are certainly some old clothesmen who will buy articles at such a price that they must know them to have been stolen. Their rule, however, is to ask no questions, and to get as cheap an article as possible. A Jew clothesman is seldom or never seen in liquor. They gamble for money, either at their own homes or at public-houses. The favourite games are tossing, dominoes, and cards. I was informed by one of the people, that he had seen as much as thirty pounds in silver and gold lying upon the ground when two parties had been playing at throwing three halfpence in the air. On a Saturday, some gamble away the morning and the greater part of the afternoon. [Saturday, I need hardly say, is the Hebrew Sabbath.] They meet in some secret back place, about ten, and begin playing for "one a time," that is, tossing up three halfpence, and staking one shilling on the result. Other Jews, and a few Christians, will gather round and bet. Sometimes the bets laid by the Jew bystanders are as high as two pounds each; and on more than one occasion the old-clothesmen have wagered as much as fifty pounds, but only after great gains at gambling. Some, if they can, will cheat, by means of a halfpenny with a head or a tail on both sides, called a The play lasts till the Sabbath is nearly gray. over, and then they go to business or the theatre. They seldom or never say a word while they are losing, but merely stamp on the ground; it is dangerous, though, to interfere when luck runs against them. The rule is, when a man is losing to let him alone. I have known them play for three hours together, and nothing be said all that time but "head," "tail." They seldom go to synagogue, and on a Sunday evening have card-parties at their own houses. They seldom eat any thing on their rounds. The reason is, not because they object to eat meat killed by a Christian, but because they are afraid of losing a "deal," or the chance of buying a lot of old clothes by delay. They are generally too lazy to light their own fires before they start of a morning, and nineteen out of twenty obtain their breakfasts at the coffee-shops about Houndsditch."

or

66

The old-clothesman goes his rounds through all parts of the town. Their wares are sometimes procured in unlikely places. The following is a curious instance:

"At the west-end, the itinerant clothesmen prefer the mews at the back of gentlemen's houses to all other places, or else the streets where the little tradesmen and small genteel families reside. My informant assured me that he had once bought a bishop's hat of his Lordship's servant for 1s. 6d. on a Sunday morning."

Of the Jew-boy street-sellers, Mr Mayhew says:"I have ascertained, and from sources where no ignorance on the subject could prevail, that there are now in the streets of London rather more than 100 Jew boys, engaged principally in fruit and cake-selling in the streets. Very few Jewesses are itinerant street-sellers. Most of the older Jews thus engaged have been street-sellers from their boyhood. The young Jews who ply in street-callings, however, are all men in matters of traffic, almost before they cease, in years, to be children. In addition to the Jew-boy street-sellers above enumerated, there are from fifty to one hundred, but usually about fifty, who are occasional, or casual' street-traders, vending for the most part cocoa-nuts and grapes, and confining their sales chiefly to the Sundays.

On the subject of the street Jew-boys, a Hebrew gentleIman said to me: 'When we speak of street Jew-boys, it should be understood, that the great majority of them are but little more conversant with, or interested in, the religion of their fathers, than are the costermonger-boys of whom you have written. They are Jews by the accident of their birth, as others in the same way, with equal ignorance of the assumed faith, are Christians.'

.....

"The faults of the Jew lad are an eagerness to make mo

ney by any means, so that he often grows up a cheat, a trickster, a receiver of stolen goods, though seldom a thief, for he leaves that to others. He is content to profit by the thief's work, but seldom steals himself, however he may cheat. Some of these lads become rich men; others are vagabonds all their lives. None of the Jew lads confine themselves to the sale of any one article, nor do they seem to prefer one branch of street traffic to another. Even those who cannot read are exceedingly quick."

Again:

"As to the street-Jews, religion is little known among them, or little cared for. They are indifferent to it--not to such a degree, indeed, as the costermongers, for they are not so ignorant a class-but yet contrasting strongly in their ne glect with the religious intensity of the majority of the Roman Catholic Irish of the streets. In common justice I must give the remark of a Hebrew merchant with whom I had some conversation on the subject:-I can't say much about street-Jews, for my engagements lead me away from them, and I don't know much about street-Christians. But if, out of a hundred Jews, you find that only ten of them care for their religion, how many out of a hundred Christians of any sort will care about theirs? Will ten of them care? If you answer, but they are only nominal Christians, my reply is, they are only nominal Jews-Jews by birth, and not by faith.""

Notes on New Books.

Letters to the Right Rev. John Hughes, Roman Catholic
Bishop of New York, in Three Series. By KIRWAN.
Edinburgh: 1851.

THIS is a reprint of a well-known American work.
The an-
thor, who writes under the name of Kirwan, is an able and
distinguished Presbyterian minister of the United States.
He himself was a native of Ireland, and was brought up in
the Romish faith; but on reaching years of maturity, he was
convinced of its errors, and after a temporary infidelity, be-
came an earnest and devoted Protestant. The letters discuss
the great outstanding points of the Romish controversy, and
in a style singularly well adapted to the taste and comprehen-
sion of the mass of our people. There is a manly vigour, a
depth of common sense, a terseness of expression, and a
homeliness of style, about these letters, which entitle them
to a very high place among works of the kind. There is no
parade of learning; but the reader is supplied with abundance
of facts gathered both from history and observation, in support
of the positions which are maintained. Towards Bishop
Hughes himself, much personal kindness and courtesy is al-
ways manifested; while the system is constantly exposed,
with all the power of an intense moral indignation. A deep
reverence for the Word of God, and a tender concern for the
welfare of souls, are shown in these letters; and the true way
of salvation is prominently held forth to the view of the de-
luded and perishing sinner.

The following anecdote on Purgatory will at once illustrate the iniquity of the Romish system, and the way by which the author was led to see and renounce its errors:

"A respectable man in our parish died in mid-life, leaving a widow and a large family of children to mourn his loss. True to her religious principles, and to her generous instinct, the widow had her husband's name placed on that list [the list of deceased persons whose souls are in purgatory], and heard with pious gratitude his name read over from Sabbath to Sabbath, with a prayer offered for the deliverance of his soul from purgatory. After the lapse of two or three years, on a certain Sabbath, the name of her husband was omitted from the list. The fact filled her with mingled joy and fearjoy thinking that her husband had escaped from purgatory; and fear lest she had done something to offend the priest. On timid inquiry, she learned that his soul was yet in purgatory, but that she had forgotten to send in the yearly tax at the time it was due. The tax was promptly paid and the name was restored the next Sabbath. With this fact, sir, I am entirely conversant, for that widow was my own mother, who sought the release of the soul of my father from purgatory. Can you wonder, sir, that this incident made a deep impres sion upon my youthful mind, or that it shook my faith in your whole system? And as far as memory serves me, Father M. was an amiable man, and above the ordinary level of the men of his calling."

The Family of Glencarra; a Tale of the Irish Rebellion.
By S. O. MOORE
Bath: 1851.

Louis's School Days. By E. J. MAY.

Our Little Study. By the Rev. THOMAS FURLONG.
Katherine Douglas, or Principle Developed. By S. SELBY
COPPARD.

Helen Bury. By EMMA JANE WORBOISE.

My First Grief. By a PROVINCIAL SURGEON. Bath: 1851. THESE volumes, all most elegant and attractive in external appearance, do great credit, in that respect, to their publishers. They are to be commended too, for the palpable design with which they are written, to interest young persons in important religious truths, or stimulate them to the discharge of duty. The "Family of Glencarra" is designed to bring under public view the dreadful condition of the West of Ireland; the story is interesting and affecting-it is founded on literal facts, and though we have found traces of a too High-Church spirit, we regard it on the whole as fitted to deepen the interest in that unhappy land. show how Christianity should be practised even at school, "Louis's School Days" is designed to and how indispensable vigilance is, even to Christian boys. It is extremely interesting, and calculated to be a favourite with boys. "Our Little Study" consists of simple conversations on the connection between the law of matter, the law of instinct, and the law of mind. an illustration of the ways of providence in drawing out "Katherine Douglas" is Christian character, and leading to the correction of faults, and the exercise of graces; and "Helen Bury," is a warning against the insidious approaches of Puseyism. The publication of " My First Grief," is a great blunder; there is no. thing in it worthy of the public eye, and the number of trifling remarks which it contains only leads us to regret the facilities that exist for the publication of memoirs whose charm is confined to private circles.

The Inquisition Revealed; in its Origin, Policy, Cruelties,
and History, with Memoirs of its Victims, in France,
Spain, Portugal, Italy, England, India, and other
Countries. By the Rev. THOMAS TIMPSON. London: 1851.
The character and object of this book are sufficiently indi-
cated by its title. It is chiefly a compendium of historical
facts, regarding the progress and tyrannies of one of the most
infamous of all Rome's infamous institutions.
adapted for popular use; and we would recommend it for
It is well
congregational libraries. The facts which it details are calcu-
lated to make an impression on the minds of the young, that
years will never obliterate.

The Jansenists: their Rise, Persecutions by the Jesuits, and
Existing Remnant. By S. P. TREGELLES, LL.D.
London: 1851.

WHEN we read, in Kitto's Journal, the paper on the Jansenists, which is here given in an expanded form, we were so much interested in its statements that we prepared an abridg. ment of it, which we laid before our readers in our number for last April. We are the more interested in the subject, when we find that the learned Dr Tregelles was the author; and now that he has reproduced his paper, and given it additional interest by the lithograph view of the Port Royal, and the portraits of Jansenius, St Cyran, and the Mere Angelique, which embellish the present volume, we can very cordially recommend it to the favourable attention of our readers.

Daily Bible Illustrations. By JOHN KITTO, D.D. Vol. iv.
Solomon and the Kings.
Edinburgh: 1851.

WE omitted to notice this volume at the time of its first appearance, two or three months ago; but the omission is of the consequeuce, because the character of the work was so well established by the first three volumes, as to render further notice all but superfluous. We shall merely say, that the present volume amply sustains the reputation of its elder brothers. It is not often that we feel very much satisfaction at what, in publishing, may be called "making hay while the sun shines; but in the present instance, we have real pleasure in learning, that a second series of these "Daily Bible Illustrations" is now in preparation, to consist of-1. Job and the Poetical Books; 2. Isaiah and the Prophets; 3. The Life

319

and Death of our Lord; 4. The Apostles, and the Early Church.

Wolflee Series of Tracts. By Rev. J. B. JOHNSTONE. THE subjects of these Tracts are:-The Sinner's BethesdaEdinburgh: 1851. The Blinded and the Blinder-The Enlightened and the Enlightener, &c. They are the production of an earnest mind, longing for souls,-of one who, having this hope, uses great plainness of speech. If Mr Johnstone aimed at influencing require to give more variety and freedom to his style of readers of miscellaneous tastes and acquirements, he would readers, his short, sententious style is well adapted. thought and expression; but for plain and simple-minded

The Life of Father A. Gavazzi. By G. B. NICOLINI, of
Rome. With Three of his Orations. Edinburgh: 1851.
THE "Life" and the "Orations"
men of kindred spirit, and perfervidum ingenium. Full of
are the productions of
bold, noble, and daring sentiments, they indicate men who
have
"Snatch'd from the ashes of their sires

A portion of their former fires,"

and seem destined to scorch and destroy the cause of tyranny. There is a most thorough appreciation of the true spirit and character of Popery discovered in the writings of Gavazzi and Nicolini, and of its utter contrariety to the religion of Jesus Christ. This makes the position of these men remarkably interesting; they see that the religion of Christ is utterly opposed to oppression and tyranny; but whether they have learned to feel their personal guilt and corruption, and to look to the blood of Jesus for their pardon, and to the Holy Spirit for their personal regeneration, we cannot tell.. Many prayers will ascend from Scottish bosoms in their behalf; and who does not hope that the period of their exile may be brief?

General Entelligence.

PROGRESS OF THE ROMISH AND ANTI-ROMISH MOVEMENTS.

OUR readers know, that the passing of the Ecclesiastical Titles' Bill was immediately followed up by the formation of a "Catholic Defence Association" and an aggregate meeting of Papists at Dublin. A great deal of bluster and abuse were delivered on the occasion, and the determination to set the law at defiance was most offensively announced. It has been observed, however, that while their own friends give the Pope's bishops territorial titles, and while documents are even circulated, signed by them as territorial prelates, they have abstained from acts that can be brought home to them as express they have done; but the most effectual punishment that could and undoubted violations of the law. Many Protestants seem disappointed that no steps are taken to punish them for what be inflicted would be, the withdrawal of the grant to Mayvigorous effort for this object, and that, in the course of next nooth. We trust that all Protestants will unite in a most winter, we may have the gratification of seeing the Britishnation clear of the atrocious guilt of devoting the public money to the support of that hotbed of sedition, ungodliness, and misery.

Under the leadership of Primate Cullen and Archbishop M'Hale, the extreme Romish party have now begun a crusade against the National Schools of Ireland. Symptoms begin to appear that they are losing the confidence of the more rational and moderate of their own adherents. The Duke of Norfolk, -long the highest name in the ranks of English Popery,has joined the Church of England; and there are rumours that the Chief-Justice of Ireland is about to follow his example. Such changes cannot fail to be very bitter to a church to which worldly wealth and magnificence are all in all.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has given equal pleasure to

THE

FREE CHURCH MAGAZINE.

THE LOW CHURCH SECTION OF THE

CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

PART I. GENERAL SURVEY OF THE FIELD.

to the moral influence of his position, and his labours are mainly limited to a stately routine of duties. For the rest, things take their course, and the diocese governs itself. Then there are the universities-that

tiquated machinery-the capitular bodies, with their the ecclesiastical courts, with their cumbrous and anvested rights and irresponsible powers-the great chartered societies and voluntary associations for educational and missionary purposes, regulating their merely members-each, within its own sphere, selfown affairs, and of which archbishops and bishops are regulating and independent, and owning no submission to any one supreme and central ecclesiastical authority.

THE great outstanding feature of the Church of Eng-vast half-civil half-ecclesiastical imperium in imperioland, the main source of its weakness, and, in some respects also, of its strength, is its want of unity. We do not now refer to that which is so palpable to every one, in the strife of parties, the struggle of discordant principles, and the entire medley and confusion of opinions and views now existing within its bosom, but to the total absence of any central and controlling power, or any one pervading and binding principle in its constitution and framework. It is rather, in fact, an assemblage of distinct and independent powers and agencies bound together by an artificial tie, than one corporate and organized and living whole. Without any real head of life and action-without proper subordination of memberswithout any one informing spirit or commanding will —without, in short, any power of united action, either deliberative or executive, it obviously cannot, in any strict sense, be said to possess either corporate existence or organic life. It has, indeed, a nominal head -a central seat of jurisdiction and authority, from which all powers and functions throughout the body theoretically proceed. England," invested as it is with all the attributes of But the "Primacy of all a great spiritual power, is, in reality, but a name. It is a pre-eminence rather of dignity and precedence than of real authority-the mere impersonation rather of the majesty of the church, than the central and influential organ of its activity. Beyond the limits of his own diocese, where he executes the usual functions of an ordinary, the actual authority of the metropolitan is almost entirely nominal. Each diocese forms by itself a separate unity, and the suffragan bishop reigns within his own domain in practical independence of his metropolitan. Here, too, the same practical disorganization prevails. The diocese, secure from external control, presents within its own borders the same medley of separate powers. The bishop, the dean and chapter, the episcopal courts, the incumbents and patrons of each parish, each move at large in their prescribed sphere, and discharge their statutory functions apart from and independent of each other. The episcopal function itself is mainly a matter of pageantry and form. Limited on every side by statute law, hedged around by separate and independent powers, with little discretionary authority of any kind, without any means of gathering the effective energies of the diocese into one, and wielding its manifold agencies toward any one definite purpose, the bishop's power is confined, in great measure, XCV.

chine goes on-not through the impelling force of Thus from age to age the vast and complex mathe individual and co-ordinate parts. The bishops any one moving power, but by the separate action of perform their visitations, hold ordinations, confirm children, deliver charges, consecrate churches, license curates and institute incumbents, preside at public meetings, patronise societies, sit in Parliament. Deans and chapters hold their statutory courts, manage or mismanage cathedral trusts, execute congè-de-lires, and chant the choral service. from all their colleges their annual streams, either offertheir convocations, and grant degrees, and send forth The universities assemble vid evangelism, or rampant Puseyism, or latitudinarian laxity or mere lifeless inanity, as the case may be, siastical courts drag on, from year to year, their without let or control from any quarter. The eccledrowsy existence, unnoticed and unregarded by the outer world at large, save wher, now and then, some notable case disturbs the dust of Doctors' Commons, and the din of it rings from the Bishop's Court to the Arches, and from the Arches to the Privy Council, till the echoes of it die away amid the dingy courts and halls of the Exchequer and the Queen's Bench. The great societies hold their anniversaries, adopt agencies throughout the world. In fact, each indivitheir reports, pass resolutions, and circulate their vital dual parish is, in great measure, a separate principality, and the character of the church's ministrations, in any place, depends far more on the will of the irresponsible patron, or the fortunes of the auctionroom, than on the united power of the whole episcopate, the whole clergy, and the whole public opinion of the church put together. And such is the strange, complex, unwieldy, unmanageable abstraction called by a certain laxity of language the Church of England.

land is without any uniting or binding principle of We do not of course say that the Church of EngNOVEMBER 1851.