In her sympathetic kindheartedness we find that the poor widows of Friends are especially borne in mind in another benefaction. She lived until the year 1720. Her loss appears to have been widely as well as deeply felt, for she delighted in showing hospitality, and was a true friend to the poor, freely dispensing what had been acquired by patient industry. She was a very regular attendant of meetings, and earnestly longed for the advancement of the kingdom of her Lord.

To men and women, such as those who form this faintly-sketched group, the following quotation seems applicable whilst revealing the secret of their lives: "The crowning excellence of their ministry, and that of every man and woman who faithfully received their message—and followed, in their measure, where their leaders guided-was the entire consecration of their lives, as knowing no aim but the glory of Christ; and no happiness which interfered with a constant and abiding communion with Him."

FRANCES ANNE BUDGE.

EXPECTATION.

WHAT Will it be when, life's long conflict ending,
We turn at last from the sharp hard-fought strife,
And, from the Alien-land our footsteps bending,
Enter the gate of everlasting life?

When from the feet the travel-dust is shaken,
And the last drops wiped from the weary brow,
And that, which far off cheered the pilgrim journey,
Is close at hand, our grasp awaiting now?

What will it be, when, in full radiance streaming,
Light from the eternal fount o'erfloods the soul,
And joyful thought!--in its celestial beaming,
We stand at last made pure, and clean, and whole?
When earthly spot no more our souls expelling,
Nor driven earthward by our guilt or pain,
As citizens we enter God's own dwelling,
And midst the saintly ranks our station gain?

What will it be, when to the full-toned chorus
Of golden harps, and angel voices sweet,
We trembling listen, as they sound before us
High praises to the Lamb, who made us meet?
When far and wide, the heavenly dominion
With hallelujahs from the saved resounds,
And, floating upward, as on holy pinion,

Prayer's softest incense God's high throne surrounds?
What will it be, when, at the gentle leading
Of Him who Heaven's gate has opened wide
The free-born soul, with earnest ardent longing,
Shall follow, step by step, its heavenly guide?
When, (as the mists before the morning sunshine,)
All clouds which veiled faith's eye shall melt away,
And on the Throne, in all His wondrous Godhead,
We see the Son, Lord of the world for aye?

What will it be, when we shall hear Him calling,
"Come in, ye blessed!" When in radiant, light,
Standing upon the throne-steps of Jehovah,

His gracious countenance shall meet our sight,

We see those eyes, once with sad tears o'erflowing,
At human need, and hardness of man's heart,
Those wounds, from which the precious blood outpouring,
From death eternal has secured our part?

What will it be, when through the realm celestial,
Hand locked in hand the saints together roam
Where flows life's river, and the life-trees waving
Fresh as when first created, shade our Home?
There, where glad youth shall never lose its freshness,
Nor Time's sharp tooth its wonted suffering brings;
Where no eye weeps, no heart shall e'er show coldness,
But grief, pain, death are all forgotten things?

What will it be, when for each glance of sadness
At the dark valley now beneath our feet,
Is granted perfect light and endless gladness,
And blessedness beyond all telling sweet?
As joy grows deeper, and our love increases,

To Him who made us conquerors through His grace,
And perfect peace in its unruffled fulness,

Shall crown the faith in which we ran the race?

What will it be! Oh, what no eye hath pictured,
No ear hath heard, nor thought can understand;
This shall be ours-all, all shall be our portion,
When we shall enter in the glorious land.
Then courage! for though steep the upward pathway,
'Tis worth the trouble, for before us lies,

In the bright country whither we are hastening,
How far beyond our thought! the gracious prize.

Translated from the German of Spitta.

A. L. C.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN EUROPE SINCE THE
VATICAN COUNCIL.

THE controversy provoked by Mr. Gladstone's article on Ritualism has served to draw public attention in England to the great revolution in the Roman Catholic Church effected by the Council of 1870, and to the threatening attitude then assumed by that Church with regard to the civil duties which subjects owe to their Governments.

Just before this controversy broke out, we had been profiting by a vacation from more serious studies, to peruse a thoughtful discussion of the self-same subject by one of the most distinguished and liberal members of the French Assembly, and we have thought that a brief notice of this valuable work might not only be interesting to the readers of the Examiner, but might be useful in guarding them against lending the influence of their sympathy to the system of exceptional legislation with which Prussia and Switzerland have thought fit to encounter the hostility of modern Ultramontanism.

If to obtain, by an able and well-timed discourse, a Parliamentary majority in an assembly predisposed against the measure introduced, be a proof of true eloquence, then is Edmond de Pressensé, the writer of the work we propose to review, entitled to the homage generally accorded to him as a distinguished orator. The son of the venerable Christian who so long and so faithfully served the British and Foreign Bible Society as its agent at Paris, himself a pastor of the Free Church of France, M. de Pressensé had distinguished himself as a writer by his "History of the First Three

Centuries of the Christian Church," when his election as deputy for the Department of the Seine decided him to retire from his pastoral duties, and to devote himself to the championship of the cause of religious liberty both in the press and in the parliament of his country. In the latter forum he has lately been the successful introducer of a law for establishing complete liberty of worship in France, supporting it by the admirable speech to which we have just referred, and by means of which a large majority was obtained for the first reading. We believe that the bill has, for the present, fallen through; doubtless M. de Pressensé and the friends who act with him think it will be wiser, now that the Constitutional Laws have been voted (which was not then the case), to wait till the first session of the new Legislative Chambers, so as to obtain from a more liberal body a more comprehensive measure.

In the press M. de Pressensé has long been an earnest advocate of the same great principles, especially in the influential columns of the Revue des Deux Mondes, and the work we propose to review is a collection of Papers which originally appeared there, and which its author has revised and completed by some new essays. In his introduction the writer thus speaks of the spirit by which he has been animated:

I have pointed out, without prevarication, the evil and error which I have found on both sides. The sincerity which abjures party spirit costs dear, it provokes severe judgment from the opposing parties, but, for all that, to fight fairly the battle of all our liberties, beginning with that which is the most sacred amongst them, is something for which it is worth while to speak, to write, and to live!"

The first of this series of essays is devoted to the Jesuits, to whose influence M. de Pressensé traces the

* La Liberté Religieuse en Europe depuis 1870. Paris, 1874.