Sabbath school was established in all to be held in veneration, that were honparts of Britain. There is no difficulty, oured by God in ushering in a better then, in tracing the present extension day, though they should be afterwards of Sabbath schools to Raikes' school at obscured by others of greater lustre. Gloucester, and to him, then, belongs John the Baptist felt it to be an honour the honour of founder. Hook enunci- to be the forerunner of Christ, though ated the principle of gravitation with his own light was destined to decrease almost as much precision as Newton as that of his Master increased. There himself; but to Newton belongs the were reformers before the Reformation, honour of establishing the great law but their light waned before that of of the universe, as he made this law Luther, and their names are comparathe foundation of a system capable tively unknown. Yet it is with no comof indefinite application to all the new mon interest and veneration that we phenomena emerging in the history of read of these holy men, who, amidst astronomy. Hook's idea was a solitary darkness and persecution, raised the phenomenon, which did not germinate torch of truth, to prepare the way for into a mighty system; and he therefore him who was destined by God to effect missed the honour that was reserved for a revolution, only equalled in its results Newton. But who can read the history by the first propagation of Christianity of science without pausing at the name itself. of Hook; and while we see him verging on the brink of a mighty discovery, and feel as if another step would put the clue to the mysteries of the universe into his hand, are we not struck with the conviction that he was no ordinary man, and that, after all, though unconsciously, he forwarded the discovery of the great law which Newton had the honour of demonstrating? It is seldom or never that the discovery of any great law in the natural world, or any great revolution in the moral world, is a sudden or accidental thing; no doubt there may be circumstances to precipitate the movement; but, after all, there was a previous and preparatory movement. The popular mind feels gratified in tracing great discoveries in the natural, and great move- It is often difficult to estimate, by any ments in the moral world, to accident. tangible results, the amount of good done Hence the story of Newton's apple, and the by any special machinery for the religious thunder-bolt of Luther. It is imagined, improvement of the people. The special that the honour is greater if they stood influence is masked by so many other alone, like Melchizedek, without father or causes, that it is difficult to say how much mother, with no acknowledged descent is due to this particular one. We are, from previous times. But these lights however, bound to labour on, believing of the world never appear without a that good is done, if we use the means dawn announcing their advent. It may sanctioned by God, though we cannot sometimes be longer, like the long twi-point to any special results. We must light of the artic regions, and sometimes shorter, like the twilight of the tropics; but there is always a preparatory period. The dawn is part of the day, as well as the full sunshine. And those names ought Though we do not attempt to place Mr. Morison on the same level with Mr. Raikes, yet it is right that his name should not be forgotten. He was spared to see the wide-spread of an institution which he was the first to commence; he died in 1824, being then ninety-six years of age. He realized in his life what he prayed for in his death; the Lord had, indeed, dealt bountifully with him - he died full of years, but full of thankfulness too, for seeing the work he had been honoured to begin, so rapidly carried out. The catechism by Mr. Morison, to which we have alluded, is admirably simple, and to the point-shewing that he was well acquainted with the requirements of the young. cast our bread upon the waters, believing that it will return to us, though after many days. It is, however, satisfactory to meet with cases in which the good can be directly traced to the means em ployed; and it would be gratifying to know what effect has been produced in any special locality by the operation of the Sabbath school. No doubt, many individual cases can be quoted where Sabbath school teaching has been the means of conversion; and even such cases alone would be a sufficient encouragement to continue the good work. Still, the value of the Sabbath school as a part of our ecclesiastical machinery, will be tested chiefly by its power in moulding the religious character of the people as a body. We are not acquainted with the religious condition of Norham or Gloucester, and cannot say whether they bear any marks of their being honoured as the first seats of the Sabbath school. We are, however, familiarly acquainted with the religious condition of a parish which was among the very first in Scotland to benefit by the Sabbath school. A member of the chief family of the Clapham sect had settled there, and having soon caught the spirit of the movement going on in England, lost no time in organizing schools in the parish, and personally sharing in the work. The scheme at once took with the people; and its influence in this case was enhanced by the circumstance, that the Sabbath school served as a link between the highest rank and the humblest condition in life. But the point to which we would advert is the circumstance, that the blessing of this early enjoyment of the advantages of the Sabbath school is distinctly marked at the present day. We do not refer so much to the individual cases of parishioners, who look back with gratitude to the efforts made for their good, and can trace serious impressions to this instrumentality, as to the general effect upon the parish, and more especially the village, whose population has been remarkably fixed, and therefore well adapted for testing the influence of the Sabbath school. This village is noted, among the other manufacturing villages in the locality, for the orderly habits of the people, their respect for divine ordinances, and all the usual tests of a sound religious condition. The grounds of comparison are in this case so obvious, and the cause of difference so distinctly marked, that we cannot hesitate to regard it as a most gratifying testimony to the beneficial effects of the Sabbath school, and its vital importance as a part of our Church machinery. Though it is gratifying to record such distinctly marked cases, the conscientious labourer in the Lord's vineyard will exact no such evidence as a condition of his labours. In by far the largest proportion of his labours, he must be content with unseen influence and unseen fruit. But, though unseen, may we not presume that it is great if he has really done God's work honestly and faithfully? How disheartening would it be to a minister if he could only count upon, as the fruit of his labour, distinct and obvious cases of conversion! Well might the heart of the zealous labourer sink within him if he was to take courage only from the visible. But he has the higher source of comfort, that many may rise up at the great day of account to acknowledge him as the unconscious instrument of turning them from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God. B. B. "Besides the Scriptures of truth, God has provided three books for the instruction of His intelligent creatures. The book of Creation, which is interpreted by natural science; the book of Providence, book of the Human Heart, in which all which history unfolds to us; and the that is real in biography and poetry forms a chapter."-Passages in the Life of a Daughter at Home. HYMN. "Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God."-PSALM CXviii. 10. Give me, O God! an earnest heart Fearful of wealth, and worldly pride; Cautious of all the gauds and glows Monsell's Parish Musings, JERUSALEM REVISITED.* THERE are, we presume, few of our readers who are not acquainted with one or other of the beautiful volumes in which Mr. Bartlett has endeavoured to illustrate those spots which are memorable as the scenes of Scriptural events. His Walks about Jerusalem, his Forty Days in the Desert, his Nile Boat, and his Footsteps of our Lord and His Apostles, have each, in their turn, served to give to stayat-home travellers striking and accurate views of these memorable places to which, day after day, the hearts of so many in Christendom are turned with earnest longing. For our own part, we frankly confess, that the engravings of Mr. Bartlett have succeeded in conveying to us by far the clearest ideas we have ever been able to form of the various scenes depicted by him. In this respect, even the magnificent drawings of Mr. Roberts -however superior in artistic effect must yield the palm to those of Mr. Bartlett. The volume before us,—the last, alas! that we are to receive from the pen and pencil of its accomplished author, who died somewhat suddenly last autumn on board a steamer in the Mediterranean,— is well entitled to rank with its predecessors. Taken along with his Walks about Jerusalem, the two give by far the best and clearest description we possess of the Holy City. It is not, however, our intention at this time, to endeavour to give our readers any account of the outward appearance of Jerusalem, or to enter into controversy regarding the numerous disputed sites within and around it; our object is, to enrich our pages with the latest information regarding the actual condition of its inhabitants, and the progress now being made by civilization and Christianity. On these points, Mr. Bartlett's work gives important and interesting information, containing, as it does, not merely the result of his own acute and unprejudiced inquiries, but also a lengthened contribution by Mrs. Finn, the accomplished lady of our consul there, whose long residence in Jerusalem has rendered her peculiarly fitted to give full and accurate details of everything connected with the progress of improvement, and the march of events there. It is now many years since the attention of the English Church was first directed to Jerusalem as a suitable spot for establishing a mission to the Jews. The London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, which was founded in 1809, sent its first mission of inquiry thither in 1820; and in 1824 it sent Dr. Dutton to reside there as a medical missionary. In the following year, the Rev. Mr. Nicolay son arrived at the seat of the mission, but it was not till some years later that the work of the mission could be said to have commenced. Proposals were ere long circulated for building a church; but in consequence of difficulties connected with the purchase of a proper site, it was not till 1838 that its erection was commenced. In addition to political difficulties, however, physical obstacles of no ordinary character had to be overcome. Mr. Johns, the architect employed, at first attempted to rest the building upon a concrete foundation. "I was, however,' he says, 'soon convinced of the utter impossibility of forming a foundation which could be depended upon of this material, from the honeycomb nature of the debris accumulated on the rock of this portion of Mount Zion, from the numberless sieges and earthquakes Jerutime when David wrested his stronghold salem has been subjected to, from the from the Jebusites till the wars of Mehemet Ali, its late possessor. Such uncertainty of soil and rubbish existed, that you could not form any conjecture as to what the next blow of the pickaxe would alight upon. It was impossible to foresee whether it would be a portion of a ruined clergy and congregations,-and any who might join his church-in Palestine, Syria, Chaldea, Egypt, and Abyssinia. His chief missionary care was to be directed to the conversion of the Jews, to their protection, and to their useful employment. He was to establish and maintain, as far as in him lay, relations of Christian charity with other churches represented at Jerusalem, and, in particular, with the orthodox Greek Church; taking special care to convince them "that the Church of England does not wish to disturb, or divide, or interfere with them; but that she is ready, in the spirit of Christian love, to render them such offices of friendship as they may be willing to receive." To this it was added, that German congregations were to be under the care of German clergymen ordained by the bishop, and under his jurisdiction." chamber, loose rubbish, some part of a the Prussian crown. The jurisdiction of destroyed arch, perhaps in an inverted the Bishop was to extend over English position-a portion of a broken floor-or, as in some cases, a small portion of tolerably solid masonry, and, if so, this would probably rest upon loose rubbish. There was not, in fact, in any of the six large shafts sunk to the rock, one foot of anything that could be depended on until we reached the maiden earth, and this only remained undisturbed in two very small portions, where it formed only thin strata upon the rock-all, all, is unsubstantial deposit of the razing siege or the destroying earthquake. Finding such an unsolid substratum, I determined at once to proceed down to the rock, and thus obtain a foundation against which the rain might descend, and the storm beat without fear of its being moved. Accordingly, the shaft at the south-east angle was commenced and carried down to the solid rock, and on the 28th January 1842, the first stone was laid by Bishop Alexander, on the rock of Mount Zion, at the depth of thirty-five feet from the surface. The other shafts were also sunk, the lowest point touched being no less than thirty-nine feet from the surface!'" Truly was it foretold that Jerusalem would be "laid on heaps," and that "the stones of the sanctuary would be poured out on every street!" The operations of the society, and the erection of the church, led the way to the establishment of an English bishopric at Jerusalem. The history of this institution is somewhat singular. It originated with the King of Prussia, and is contained in an instruction given to Bunsen, his ambassador at London. "The envoy was instructed to inquire, 'In how far the English National Church, already in possession of a parsonage on the Mount Zion, and having commenced there the building of a church, would be inclined to accord to the Evangelical National Church of Prussia a sisterly position in the Holy Land.' This proposal was warmly received by the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishop of London, and the negotiation was speedily effected. It was stipulated that the English Bishop of Jerusalem was to be nominated alternately by the crowns of England and Prussia, the Archbishop having the absolute right of veto, with respect to those nominated by To provide an endowment, the King of Prussia subscribed £15,000, the interest of this, and of other subscriptions, to be paid to the bishop until the capital sum can be advantageously converted into land situated in Palestine. The first bishop was Dr. Alexander, a converted Jew, who, dying in 1845, was succeeded by Dr. Gobat, formerly a missionary in Abyssinia. In September 1853, when Mr. Bartlett was in Jerusalem, the census of the congregation was as follows:— The minister of the church is the Rev. Mr. Nicolayson, so long missionary there. The services are as follows:-The Anglican service at 10 A.M. every Sunday morning, and on the principal festivals; the same in German every second Sunday, at three P.M.; and the same in Hebrew every morning, at six in summer, and seven in winter, besides the communion service in Arabic every Sacrament Sunday early. "Whatever may be thought," says Mr. Bartlett, "in a religious point of view, of this mission, one thing is certain, it, Jordan, &c., that they must leave Pahas undeniably promoted the cause of lestine utterly ignorant of the present European civilization in Jerusalem. state of society, manners, and feelings in Wherever the English establish them- the Holy City. Some who attend the services in Christ Church on Mount selves, they never fail to introduce a higher standard of comfort, improved Zion, are surprised to find a numerous sanitary regulations, to give a stimulus congregation, with their bishop, priests, to industry and agriculture. The neigh- and deacons offering the well-known bouring peasantry find their account in prayers and praises of the Church of this new state of things, and are increas- England Liturgy, in the English laningly sensible that their interests are guage, and with the propriety and order interwoven with those of the Franks. so dearly prized at home. But what They get not only a better market, but this congregation is, and why here assembetter prices also. But this increase of bled, few appear to know. Should the animal comforts is the lowest result that traveller be furnished with introductions bas followed the settlement of the Eng- to the English bishop, the minister, the lish. A feeling of rivalry on the part of consul, the physician, or others, he will other sects has led them to emulate the probably find himself some evening in educational measures of the mission, and either of their houses, amid a numerous a general activity has succeeded to the assemblage, perhaps some forty or fifty, stagnant torpor of ignorance and sloth, whom, he will be told, are residents in that has so long settled over the Eastern Jerusalem. Interesting conversation, churches. The society of the place has carried on in French, German, Italian, been enlarged and improved. The con- English, &c., and perhaps a little music, sulates of the principal foreign powers with every appearance of European comare no longer filled up by Syrians, but fort, may prompt the question: Is this by educated and often distinguished really Jerusalem, where everything has What natives of the different countries repre- been described as so barbarous ? sented, who form an intellectual and has brought all these people here? and refined circle; so that in winter, when what are they doing?' the city is visited by numerous travellers, as many as fifty or sixty invitations have been issued for an evening party at the consulate. The Franks in the city are now every way in the ascendant; their numbers and influence are continually on the increase, while in both respects the Turks are as steadily losing ground. It should be mentioned, in connexion with the increasing influence of the Christians, that the government of Jerusalem has been changed from that of a simple Arab Mutsellim to a Turkish Pashalic, expressly to protect more efficaciously the various Christian interests of Turkish subjects." Such are some of the indirect results springing from the establishment of the mission in Jerusalem. These, however, are so fully and clearly traced by Mrs. Finn, that we feel we cannot do better than quote so much of her communication as we can find room for. After giving some account of the various classes of travellers who visit Jerusalem, she says:-- "Even the more intelligent of the European travellers who visit Jerusalem at the season of Easter, are so occupied with the ceremonies to be seen or joined in, and the hurried visits to Bethlehem, "Directly or indirectly, Religious interest in the Holy City has been the motive which has collected together so large a number of intelligent Europeans. The various gentlemen of the assemblage are either attached to the English Episcopate, or to the Prussian Mission, or agents of missionary societies, or officers of the various consulates. These, with their ladies, form a large circle, besides other persons of independent fortune, who have chosen the Holy City as their home; and it sometimes happens that travellers prolong their visits for several months. Thus a numerous and superior society may at all times be found in Jerusalem." She then proceeds to detail the various steps connected with the institution of the mission, the building of the church, and the foundation of the bishopric, and adds that "The establishment by Dr. Gobat of a Diocesan school, in which were taught boys and girls of all creeds and nations, Jews, Moslems, Christians-Copts, Greeks, and Latins-children of Hebrew converts to Christianity, and of German and English parents,-the establishment of this school speedily gave an impulse to education, and schools for girls, under the supervision of Sisters of Charity, and |