surmounted by the figure of the Cardinal's hat, appears on the side of the Church of St. Ambrose, or, in Italian, St. Ambrogius, and with the words as a motto, "Sola fides sufficit;' -FAITH ALONE IS SUFFICIENT. We usually attribute the doctrine of salvation by faith alone to the Reformers, and especially to Luther, but here it is on a Cardinal's coatof-arms, and practically it prevailed long before the Reformation, only it meant the Romish Faith.

The glory of Milan is its Duomo or Cathedral, dedicated "Nascenti Mariæ,"-to Him who was born of Mary.

This wonderful Gothic structure, of white marble, so vast, so high, so elaborately ornamented with pinnacles, statues, and richly carved work of every kind, is truly marvellous. Vast pillars support the majestic roof, immense windows of superb coloured glass enrich every part of the building, and the effect in the interior is magnificent. You can mount to the central tower, which rises far above the roof of the church, and the numbers of pinnacles, statues of saints, and remarkable persons, present a forest of sculptured marble. There are said to

be 4500; many of them above life size. The whole edifice within and without is imposing and stupendous. It would hold probably 6000 people. It was built by a German architect, at the expense of Visconti, the Duke of Milan. The chroniclers of the time say "he was a great sinner, and he built a large church."

The high altar was dedicated to God by Pope Martin in 1577, and the whole was completed and consecrated by the excellent Cardinal Charles Borromeo on May 3, 1611, the year in which our present translation of the Bible in English was published.

We have noticed the grandeur and impressiveness of this wonderful building, but when our feelings of admiration have calmed down, the thought will come what is the real use of these immense churches? The amount of worship in large cathedrals is very limited. You see a priest in a corner gesticulating and muttering, while five, six, or twenty people are kneeling a few yards off, looking devoutly on. Strangers are constantly walking about, looking at the windows, pillars, monuments, with no more feeling of devotion than if they were walking in a market-hall. The servants of the church are looking out to see if the visitors are likely to be inveigled to pay something to be shown the queer old bones or other melancholy objects they have been taught to prize.

We shall not be edified if we look curiously at the inscriptions and notices in these large structures. At the entrance of the choir at the Duomo, people are told by a tablet, for every one to see, on the authority of the Pope, that every one who comes to that church, and in penitence confesses his sins, saying afterwards one Lord's Prayer and one Hail Mary, will have one hundred years of forgiveness from the pains of purgatory, and one hundred quaternions. What this latter term

It seems

means I really do not know, unless it is quarters of years. a liberal arrangement for one Lord's Prayer and one Hail Mary; but as we do not know the whole length of time to be served in purgatory, matters are still left, somewhat uncertain. At a large side

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altar, which had several successive kneeling visitors, there is an inscription stating that you are to pray there to the wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a prayer printed to be used to the wound in the right hand, and another to the wound in the left hand; then there is a prayer to the wound in the right foot, and one to the wound in the left; and lastly, a prayer to the wound in the Saviour's side; and we are told that, by the authority of Pope Leo IV., if a person comes and adores at this altar, saying five Our Fathers and one Hail Mary, he will have pardon for 1000 years, so that here 5000 years of indulgence may easily be earned. I translated and took a copy of the prayer to the wound in the Lord's side. It commences : "I adore you, most holy wound in the side of my crucified Redeemer; wound for the love of me opened," &c. I do not give the whole, as I would not seem to treat lightly what some sincere souls regard with devout respect; but, at the same time, one can hardly observe such unusual demonstrations of eccentric piety without sadness, that such strange things should be substituted for the clear and simple wisdom of the Gospel, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments. The kingdom of God is not lo! here, nor lo! there, but the kingdom of God is within you." We e reserve Rome for our next and last paper.

CHRISTMAS AND THE NEW YEAR.

LIKE the Israelites and ancient Egyptians, Christians have their sacred and their civil year. The sacred year among Christians begins on the 25th of December, and their civil year begins on the 1st of January. The birth of Christ is rightly taken as the commencement at once of our sacred year and of our era, and yet neither of them coincides with the event from which they receive their designation. Christ was not born on the 25th of December, nor was the beginning of our era the year of His birth. Although it is known that He cannot have been born in the last month of our year, it is not known with certainty in which of the other months His birth took place; and although it is known He was not born in the year which our chronology has fixed as that of His Nativity, we cannot absolutely rely on the accuracy of the data which places it four years earlier than Exiguus, in the sixth century, adopted as the commencement of the Christian era.

Thus the greatest event that ever occurred in the history of the world cannot be assigned to any precise point of time. Yet of what consequence is it that we know neither the hour, nor the day, nor the month, nor even the year in which unto us a Child was born, unto us a Son was given, whose Name was called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace? He whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting, needs not that His coming should be accurately entered in the records of time. He came indeed into a world of time and space, but even when He was in

it He was not subject to it. He who was on earth was at the same time in heaven, and even far above all heavens. His age on earth is not to be measured by years, for into His life the knowledge and experience of all times were gathered; nor is His appearing to be marked on the dial that measures the progress of time, but on that which measures the progressions of state-the dial of Ahaz, which marks the decline of the day of the church and religion. Our ignorance of the day and hour of our Lord's birth may remind us of an important fact and teach us a useful lesson. Prophecy had given the promise of the Saviour's coming, but had fixed no time for His appearing-however commentators may attempt to indicate it. The uncertainty which should have induced men to watch had so lost its influence, that the Lord at His coming found the world asleep. He came upon it as a thief in the night. It knew not the time of its visitation, nor of its redemption. He came in the fulness of time, when, in fact, to use the language of the Book of Revelation, time was no longer. The states of the Church, which are the spiritual periods of her life, had come to an end, and she sat in darkness and in the shadow of death. Our ignorance of the day and hour of the Lord's birth should impress us with the conviction that not times but states are the means of His true glorification. It is seemly and proper that a season should be set apart for celebrating so great and blessed an event as the birth of our Saviour, but it is quite possible that the time may be more attended to than the state of celebration. The Lord came as the Life and Light of the world, that His creatures might have life and the light of life.

The year of His coming to us is the Year of His redemption, the day of His birth in us is the Day of Salvation. These are the true grounds of our rejoicing; in these He is truly exalted. Our Christmas is the birth of the Lord as our Redeemer and Saviour, and this is His birth, or the birth of His Truth and of His Love, in our understandings and hearts.

It is not at all necessary that we should refuse to join in the festivities of the season associated with the Lord's advent; it is only needful that we should not forget the practical lessons which it teaches us, but make it also a season of reflection on the boundless and tender mercy which prompted that act of Divine condescension, the manifestation of God in the flesh. As Christmas and the New Year come round, let it be to us the beginning of a new state of life as well as of a new period of time, so that it may bring us a step nearer heaven.

Reviews.

CHARACTER: ITS Elements and DEVELOPMENT. By a Bible Student, Author of "Our Eternal Homes," etc. Spiers, London.

Most of our readers are no doubt aware that this book is a republication of the series of articles which appeared in the Repository during the years

1872-4, and that their author is the Rev. John Hyde. They must not however be allowed to remain in the belief, that in reading the book they are only perusing what they have read before. Even were this the case, there are few who would not be glad to possess in a separate form matter that from month to month had afforded them so much real pleasure and solid instruction. But in fact the work is in a great measure new. The articles in the Repository furnish only the backbone of the present goodly volume. The work has been almost entirely rewritten. Much has been added to the text. Three new chapters appear. Some things in the articles have been left out. The address of Professor Tyndall before the British Association has enabled the author to embody a mass of argument bearing directly on the controversy opened by him. The text has been lavishly embellished with gems from the great poets. In regard to the book itself, the idea of the author is evident ;-to trace a child from its infancy to an honourable old age, ripe and prepared for death, tried by adversity as well as by prosperity,-married, -a father--an ornament to society-a power among men. To produce or help forward these results is the professed object of all moral and religious teaching, and indirectly of all education whatever. Happiness is the end and aim of all human aspirations and exertions; and directly or indirectly of all teaching and writing, and of all reading and learning. Great is the gulph between the happiness and the desire and pursuit of it whose end and aim are in this world only, and those whose end and aim are in heaven. It is not that the worldly and heavenly life are two separate things, or that one begins where the other ends. This has been too much the idea hitherto, and is too much so still. And as the secular and religious life, so secular and religious teaching, and the secular and religious character, have been viewed and pursued too much apart. In the new age, this, with many other old notions and practices, is done away. The religious and the secular life are seen to be united by correspondence. One is within the other, and both should be cultivated together, not as rivals but as mutual friends. There is nothing in a true secular life inconsistent with religion, there is nothing in true religion hostile to a secular life. The character that most fits men for the world fits them most for heaven. The heavenly life is not a different life from the worldly life, but is within it, as its soul, that ennobles and beautifies it, that purifies and tranquillizes it, that makes it fruitful in real use and in true happiness. Had not the Creator intended secular life as the means of forming the spiritual life, He would have made man very different, in his outward condition, from what he is. Differently from all other creatures, He has imposed upon him the necessity of exerting both his mind and his body in providing even for his temporal wants. Yet, rightly considered, it is in this so-called struggle for life that man forms his character and works out his destiny. An active life in the world brings him into relation with his fellows, and into the exercise of his faculties, both of intellect and will, that are both the means and opportunities of acquiring and confirming fixed principles, that constitute the essentials of character. For character is determined, not by what a man does, but by the principle which actuates him in doing it. In the great arena of life, and not only in its business but in its relations, not only in its duties but in its pleasures, there are continually present the elements of conflict and the objects of choice, and however unconscious we may be of the fact, conflict and choice are constantly going on, for rationality and liberty are never asleep, but always awake and active. In all that we do, and even in all that we think, there are present with us selfishness and disinterestedness, injustice and justice, insincerity and truthfulness. These are the essential elements or rather the principles of character; the good principles are the foundation

of the throne of God in the human heart, as they are of His kingdom on earth and in heaven, and the bad are the foundation of the throne of Lucifer and of the kingdom of darkness and evil, both in particular and in general, in this world and the next. In fact religion is so intimately and inseparably connected with common life, that it consists in every one faithfully performing the duties of his station and calling. To some indeed this would seem to be nothing more than a secular religion, and to have no spiritual character or saving power in it, since the moral as well as the religious may be equally able to show excellence in it. Whatever outward similarity there may be in the two uses, there is always this essential difference between them, that one is based upon selfish and temporal, the other upon unselfish and eternal principles of action. And these run into all that is comprehended in what is called life, and into all its relations and duties,-filial, marital, and parental; political, social, and domestic; as employer and employed, producer and consumer, buyer and seller. Faithfulness in all these would make a heaven on earth. But there can be no real fidelity separate from religion, for none can faithfully perform his duties to man who does not discharge them as duties which he owes to God. The fear and the love of God can alone go to the root of human nature and form the groundwork of a true and thorough singleness of character, which will produce an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. The notion, so long and urgently insisted on as the gospel, that life forms no part of the conditions of salvation, but is only to be regarded as the effect and evidence of faith, which alone saves, has done much to draw the mind of Christendom away from the religious value of character; for that which is of secondary importance must be esteemed and cultivated as of secondary consideration. If heavenly happiness does not depend upon character, why should temporal happiness? Much reasoning is employed to obviate the practical force of this objection, and many practical lessons are enforced. It is urged that although we are not saved by good works-or by a good character-we cannot be saved without them; but no reasoning and no teaching can give the force of an essential to that which is only accidental. How can that be a direct way to happiness, which is only an indirect way to heaven!

The present work is a valuable contribution to a right view and true practice on this all-important matter. It places the subject in its true light, and to human beings at all periods and in all relations and conditions of life it may do much to promote the great end of the Incarnation, to make the life and character of finite man an image, true in its nature however imperfect in its degree, of the life and character of the Divine Man, at whose birth was sung, and the echo of which should be heard at the birth, as it is designed to be realized in the life of every immortal creature, "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will among men."

LIFE OF THE REV. J. CLOWES, Rector of St. John's, Manchester, and late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Third Notice.

WE have stated it as our conviction that Mr. Clowes advocated nonseparation as a temporary measure, but not a permanent state. In his Dialogues he delivers his views on this subject so fully that we cannot do better than quote what he says on the subject. The extract is long, but it will repay perusal, as everything which that delightful writer has produced is sure to do.

After the beautiful description of the New Church in regard to its principles of faith and life, quoted in our last notice, he turns to the considera

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