some of the chief facts of Old Testament History. Every page is strewed with noble thoughts, and the style is lucid, condensed, and masculine.

GEMS FROM THE CORAL ISLANDS, WESTERN POLYNESIA. By the Rev. WILLIAM GILL, Rarotonga. London: Ward and Co.

THE PRINCIPLES OF THE PASTORAL FUNCTION IN THE CHURCH; Deduced from Scripture, and applied as a Test to the Claims advanced by the Wesleyan Conference. By the Rev. MACAIAH HILL. London: Ward and Co.

GEMS FROM THE CORAL ISLANDS. Let the lovers of the marvellous, who are constantly looking out for new tales of wonder, procure this book; they will find in it more to meet their appetite than Bulwer, Dickens, or Thackery, can supply. The facts here are stranger than fiction. Let sceptics read it, and they will discover that there is a revolutionary energy in that gospel which they denounce as an imposture-before which, all the systems and instrumentalities of men appear imbecile. Let Christians study it; it will strengthen their faith in the divinity of their religion, and encourage them in their efforts to evangelize the world. The power and charm of this book are not in the brilliancy of its thoughts, or the eloquence of its composition, but in the simple narration of its facts.-The facts are its force. THE PASTORAL FUNCTION is a Prize Essay on the New Testament doctrine of the power and position of the Christian minister, occasioned by the unhappy disputes in the Wesleyan body. The author has executed his task with great care and ability. The work is valuable. We do not, however, feel much interest in the controversy. We think that the New Testament, on the whole, teaches what is true to common sense and experience; that the authority of a minister is moral,-the power of influence. The minister of any denomination who has the necessary heart, brain, and tongue, qualification for his work, will never feel it necessary to vindicate his official power. The people who come under the influence of his teaching, will be too ready to cede to him more authority than he requires. The danger will be that they will mitre him. The ministry in any church that feels it necessary to contend for power, has become effete and powerless; and no New Testament argument will give it power.

THE PEOPLE'S SERVICE OF SONG: A Tune Book for the Pew. The Harmonies revised by GEORGE HOGARTH, Esq., Author of Musical History, &c. The whole edited by JOHN CURWEN, London: Ward and Co.

In all honesty we say, that we know not of any sacred tune-book for a congregation superior to this. We find most of our fine old tunes in this collection, besides the most select chants and anthems. The preface is fraught with the most common sense and practical suggestions as to how best to improve and conduct the worship of music. The indexes are admirable. Mr. Curwen deserves the gratitude, sympathy, and co-operation, of the Christian world, for the earnest and judicious endeavor he is making to improve the psalmody of Christian congregations.

A PLEA FOR PLAIN LANGUAGE FROM THE PULPIT. London: W. and F. G. Cash. This pamphlet is full of excellent advice. It bears internal evidence of having been written by a lay member of the Church of England; but there is nothing sectarian in its language or spirit. We thank the author for the valuable hints it contains; and heartily long for the time when the pulpit shall be what this pamphlet desires. The pen that can produce such advice as this, ought not to lie idle. We cordially commend it to the attention of all our ministerial friends. THE POLITICAL ANNUAL AND REFORMERS HAND-BOOK FOR 1856; London: Freeman.-Every man of progress should have this Annual by him. POVERTY PREVENTED AND APPLAUSE ACQUIRED; by JOHN FAITHFUL; London: Effingham Wilson. -This pamphlet treats of social economics, points out the way by which every healthy and industrious person might rise above the evils and fears of poverty, and urges the subject with considerable power upon all who seek the improvement of their race: the words of John Faithful are striking and seasonable. PALISSY THE POTTER: a Lecture; by the Rev. HENRY ALLON; London: Nisbet.-A spirited, searching, picturesque, and masterly discourse.

Extract from a New Work of the Rev. WILLIAM REES, Liverpool.

THE SIGH AND THE TEAR.

"THE sigh and the tear are brother and sister. Both express in their silent, modest, but most effective, style, the inward emotions of the human bosom. One flies away and ascends the skies on the wings of

air; the other falls down on the ground unheard, and often unobserved. But there are also bastard tears and sighs-those that intrude upon your notice, and seem anxious to claim your attention on any occasion. Some people seem to have their sighs and tears always ready at their command. They are superficials, made for show and display; the heart within belies them, having no sympathy with them. We would not give a farthing per thousand for such sighs, nor a penny per gallon for such tears. But, Oh! there is a mysterious charm, a deep melting influence, an irresistible power, in that modest, delicate, unassuming, sigh, which is issued by the pressure of inward emotions-which struggles to escape unobserved, and unknown to any one save the parent heart alone, buries itself in the bosom of the breeze to be wafted away somewhere-somewhere, to tell something-something that words cannot express in the ear of someone, some one who can understand its language, and sympathise with its distress. And that silent genuine tear that trickles down the cheek, hastening to the ground where it hides itself from observation, looking up as it were, after its sister-the sigh! Let not our soul come into the secret of that man who has no sympathy with such a sigh-such a tear. The heart of such a man must have become as dry and callous as the leather of the blacksmith's bellows. There is an eloquence in the genuine human tear, which penetrates and subdues the heart of an angel. 'O woman why weepest thou?' said one of those glorious and lovely beings to Mary Magdalene as she stood sorrowfully gazing into the grave wherein her Lord and Saviour had been laid. The great author of our being seems as if He could not resist the power of tears. Jacob prevailed with God by tears. 'I have seen thy tears,' said he to Hezekiah. 'Put thou my tears in thy bottle,' prayed the psalmist. 'Jesus wept :' yea, and he 'groaned in the spirit' too. Thus the atmosphere of our world was consecrated to carry up to heaven the sighs and groans of its sinful and distressed inhabitants, by the hallowed influence of the sighs of their divine Redeemer-and the earth baptized by the pure unmingled tears of compassion for their miseries and sorrows which fell upon it from the eyes of incarnate love!"

A HOMILY

ON

What Hinders the Gospel.

"We

suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ," &c.-1 Cor. ix. 12.

THERE are three thoughts in the text which I shall briefly notice, before passing on to the general question, What hinders the gospel?

The text teaches :

What an awful power The gospel-the light arrest its course, and

First That it is possible for man to hinder the gospel. "Lest we should hinder the gospel." is this with which we are endowed! and power of the world! Can we prevent it from penetrating the homes and hearts of men? The gospel—the river of life! Can we block up its channel, and stop its flow, and leave the world to droop and die of drought? Had the Almighty given us power to arrest the laws of nature, roll back the orbs of heaven, launch the thunderbolt, and kindle the lightning, would it have been equal, in importance, to this power of hindering the gospel?

The text teaches :

Secondly: That there is a danger even of good men hindering the gospel. It is no less an individual than Paul,-a servant of Christ—an inspired apostle, that is afraid of being guilty of hindering the gospel. He felt that there was a fearful liability, even in him. It is a solemn thought, which in the sequel of our homily will appear, that good men, and

Vol. V.

churches, can obstruct the progress of the Saviour's spiritual

empire in the world.

The text teaches:-
Thirdly

That to hinder the gospel is an immense evil.

should hinder the gospel." He tells us in this very

"We suffer all things, lest we What did the apostle suffer? chapter, that he forewent the enjoyments of domestic life. "Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles?" As if he had said, I have an undoubted right to take, at your expense, with me in my journeyings, a wife, whose delicate, gentle, and affectionate, converse, would cheer my spirit under my apostolic trials, and increase the comforts of my itinerant life. But this privilege I forgo,

lest I should hinder the gospel. He forewent his claims to their support. "Who goeth a warfare at his own expense," &c. ? "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap of your carnal things?" He had a divine right to claim ample support from the churches, both for himself and family,-if he chose to have a family; but he says, "Nevertheless, we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ." What did he suffer? Read 2 Cor. xi. 23-31. He suffered all things-all privations, persecutions, exposure to death in its most terrific forms, lest he should hinder the gospel of Christ. He knew of no greater evil than this—he shrank from it, more than from death-he deprecated it as the evil of evils.

Thus much for the text.-We now pass to the question, WHAT HINDERS THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST ? We moot this, now, in the bright month of May, when the great Religious Institutions of the country are celebrating their Anniversaries; not, God knows, to reflect uncharitably upon any particular class or society of religious men, nor for mere speculative and discursive purposes, in order to fill up our space with a readable Homily:-we do it for the relief of conscience. There is a "burden" of solemn convictions pressing heavily upon our spirits, and we thus seek relief in generous and faithful utterance.