thanksgiving to our Covenant-God, and to plead with Him for blessings both for the church and for the world.

It is encouraging to know that their prayers have been graciously answered. The Lord has been in the midst of His people gathered together in His name. They who have watched the progress of God's providence, and who have faith to discern His good hand in passing events, cannot fail to acknowledge that, notwithstanding the audacity of infidelity, the past four years have been remarkable for the very blessings sought in earnest and united prayer. Among these may be named-the power of the Holy Spirit manifest in religious awakening and revival; the progress of the Gospel in Heathen and nominally Christian lands; the emancipation of slaves in many countries; the shaking of Papal and Pagan powers; the Christian ac⚫tivity that has carried the Gospel to the neglected masses of our great cities; and the triumphs of truth in many places over various forms of error.

Therefore let Christians again plead before God, agreeing on earth as touching the things they should ask, and remembering the promise, "It shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven."

The following topics are suggested as uitable for a prominent place in the exhortations and intercessions of the successive days:

Sunday, Jan. 3d.-Sermons: Subject -The work of the Holy Spirit, and our Lord's words on agreement in prayer.

Monday, 4th.-Penitential confession of sin, and the acknowledgment of personal, social, and national blessings, with supplication for Divine mercy through the atonement of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Tuesday, 5th.-For the conversion of the ungodly: for the success of Missions among Jews and Gentiles; and for a Divine blessing to accompany the efforts made to evangelize the unconverted of all ranks and classes around us.

Wednesday, 6th-For the Christian church and ministry: for Sunday-schools and all other Christian agencies, and for the increase of spiritual life, activity, and boliness in all believers.

Thursday, 7th.-For the afflicted and oppressed that slavery may be abolished-that persecution may cease, and that Christian love may expand to the comfort and relief of the destitute in all lands.

Friday, 8th.-For nations: for kings, and all who are in authority-for the

cessation of war-for the prevalence of peace, and for the holy observance of the Sabbath.

Saturday, 9th.-Generally for the large outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the revival and extension of pure Christianity throughout the world."

Sunday, 10th.-Sermons: SubjectThe Christian church; its unity, and the duty and desirableness of manifesting it.-British Organization of the Erangelical Alliance.

A STRANGE" DEDICATION FESTIVAL." -The "Church Times" describes the proceedings at the "Dedication" of St. Michael's Schools, Bognor. We are told that the service commenced "on the eve, at eight P.M., at which hour the choir, consisting of twenty of the pupils dressed in white,-fitting emblem of the purity of their hearts and minds,-and the chaplain, preacher, and other clergy, entered the chapel chanting the 148th Psalm. The sermon was delivered after the second lesson, the preacher being the Rev. E. Field. At the end of the service there was an offertory, during the collection of which the Alleluiatic Sequence was sung. The procession left the chapel, chanting again the 148th Psalm. At eight o'clock the following morning there was a celebration, with full choral service, at which fifty-eight of the household communicated.

We need hardly say that the chapel was beautifully decorated; and at night, when brilliantly lighted, the effect was most striking. At ten o'clock a large party breakfasted with the Lady Warden, after which the gardens and grounds were visited and enjoyed until the bell summoned all to matins." Then comes an account of what is called "one of the great events of the day-dinner," whereat fourteen geese were consumed. "Evensong was

at four o'clock. The religious services of the day having been brought to a satisfactory conclusion, a few moments of breathing time were allowed to give the last touches to the arrangements which had been prepared for the theatrical representations, which comprise no less than four separate pieces." The rest of the long narrative deals with the details of the representations, for which we have neither space nor patience. "A ball was naturally the best mode of concluding the evening. Dancing was kept up with great spirit and animation until the clock struck twelve." Cheers for the "Lady Warden" concluded the extraordinary mélange, called a “Dedication!"

FIRST SCANDINAVIAN MISSIONARY CONFERENCE. Principally resulting from the reports of Dr. Kalkar on a joint Missionary action of Scandinavian Christians, at the second General Danish MissionaryConference at Aarhuus (1861), and at the third Scandinavian Church Congress at Christiana (1861), a great interest in Danish Missions has of late arisen amongst the Missionary friends of South Sweden, which has been evident both from considerable contributions to the Danish Missionary Society and its Mission-school, and from an invitation from the Missionary Society of Lund to the Danish Missionary Society, three months ago, to meet with them and consult on the realization of Dr. Kalkar's plan. As the result of these consultations, a Scandinavian Missionary Conference was convened at Malmoe, August 26th and 27th. There were present from Norway two pastors and the inspector of the Missionary school at Stavanger, and from Denmark about eighty pastors and laymen, several of the former from the remotest parts of the country. Belonging to Sweden there were about 1,000 persons, many of whom were pastors and many peasants, who had travelled, several of them, sixty miles to be present. The Conference was opened by Divine service in St. Peter's Church, at which the Bishop of Lund, the Rev. Dr. Thomander, preached. The conferences were held in the great hall of the Senate-House of the city. The first report was delivered by Rev. Dr. Skarstedt, Theological Professor in the University of Lund. He spoke on the Scandinavian Missions, how Finland had been converted by Sweden, which itself had then but recently been brought under the influence of Christianity,-first by the sword, but afterwards by the efforts of many evangelically-minded and zealous bishops. He mentioned the crusades of Denmark to Esthonia and Livonia, and the Mission of Sweden to Lapland, commenced singularly enough, from Malmoe, about the year 1340, and remarkable for the zeal of a Christian Lapland woman, Margrete (1389). After the Reformation, both Swedes and Nor wegians laboured for the conversion of the Laplanders, who are now all Christianized. After referring in detail to the labours of Danish and Swedish Missionaries, the speaker remarked that we should beware, while praising the Missionary efforts of former days, of standing aloof from the Missions of our own time. He wished a joint action of

the Christians of Scandinavia on this Mission-field, and that the Scandinavian Missionary Societies should concentrate their operations on the Missionary seminary, which has of late been erected by Mr. Blomstrand at Tranquebar.

He

Dr. Kalkar afterwards spoke on the great signs of the times,-how it was evident that God opened the countries far off and hitherto closed to the Missionaries, and how He in so many ways showed His favour to Missions. was firmly convinced that all that occurred in politics, science, discovery, and invention would, in the end, tend to the furtherance of the Gospel. At the second day's Conference he spoke specially on the joint action of Scandina vians on the Mission-field. He showed that the Scandinavian National churches have more in common than any others; their liturgy and doctrine are the same; they speak the same language; and, as in many other respects the three peoples have much in common, a joint action of the churches in Missions might be expected to bear rich fruit. He knew that much hesitation would now arise as to the plan, but hoped that it would one day be realized. He proposed that a yearly Scandinavian Missionary meeting should be held, but desired to go further, and proposed that the three churches should have a common Mission-field, that there should be a Missionary journal, in which articles on the deeper questions relating to Missions should appear, in Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, and that a common Mission-seminary should be established. The subject thus presented by Dr. Kalkar was discussed till late in the evening and on the next day. The proposals of Dr. Kalkar were, on the whole, agreed to by the Danes, and by the speakers from Southern Sweden, (Dr. Bergman, Rev. Lundbergson, and others,)-whereas the Norwegians, and the speakers from Northern Sweden did not seem much inclined to yield to the proposal; the latter, perhaps, mostly because they did not know exactly the Missionary work of Denmark and Norway, the case being so new; the former, because they have a flourishing Mission (at Natal), and do not wish to cede the direction of their Missions to a joint committee. But at last the resolution that a second Scandinavian Con. ference on Missions should be held at Copenhagen, when reports upon the subject should be presented by delegates from all the Scandinavian Missionary Societies, was carried unanimously.— Evangelical Christendom.

EVANGELICAL CHURCH OF LYONS.-I must not quit the important city of Lyons without saying a few words respecting the "Evangelical Church" which exists there. The Committee have recently sent to their friends their half-yearly Report, which, like those that have preceded it, contains some cheering facts. In spite of the efforts and calumnies of the Jesuit party, many copies of the Bible have been circulated, and have produced good fruit. The soldiers come in great numbers to ask for New Testaments, which are sold at the low price of ten centimes (1d.), or offered gratuitously. They call the sacred volume significantly the Little Book of the Good God, and they read it in their leisure hours with interest.

This Report relates several remarkable conversions, especially among the working classes. In our days, as in the time of our Lord and of St. Paul, the poor, the humble, are more willing to receive the good news of salvation than the rich and great.

In the midst of these encouragements, however, the "Evangelical Society of Lyons" has also matter for regret. It refers to a spiritual languor, a sort of moral decline, which has done much harm. The pious laity take a less active part in efforts of evangelization, and leave to the pastors, almost exclusively, the care of propagating the knowledge and practice of sacred things.-Correspondent of "Evangelical Christen

dom."

PROTESTANT PERIODICALS IN ITALY.I am happy to announce the appearance of the first two numbers of a weekly Evangelical newspaper, which has been so long in request, at the Claudian press here. The "Eco della Verità" promises to be a valuable medium of communication among the scattered Protestants, and a powerful defender of our principles against the frequent attacks of the priestly and secular press. The superintendence of Dr. Revel is sufficient guarantee for sound doctrine, while the staff of writers among Italian littérateurs and evangelists throughout the kingdom will ensure freshness, vigour, and variety. Liberal politics and educational and scientific matters will be treated from a Christian point of view, while instruction in Gospel truth, controversy with Romish error, the progress of Christ's kingdom in Italy and abroad, and the stirring affairs of actual life, will occupy the greatest space in the journal.

Another weekly journal has for some

months been issued from the Claudian press. It is a Sunday-school magazine, and was commenced through the exertions of Mr. Woodruff, an American gentleman, who travelled last summer over Italy, as he had previously done in Switzerland, organizing and improving the native and foreign Sundayschools. Under the accomplished editorship of Signor Bolognini, a circulation of 4,000 copies has now been attained; and the deficit in the accounts will be met by contributions from the originator, the Religious Tract Society, and private friends. The Bible now being stereotyped here for the American Bible Society, under the supervision of Dr. Revel, is making progress, while a new edition of 10,000 copies of the Italian Testament for the London Bible Society is about finished. It will be an immense advantage in Italy to have Florence instead of London on the title-page of these Scriptures, which will thus remove the prejudice which always arises against a foreign book, especially when it has been printed in a land like Great Britain, so renowned for her Protestant opinions and propagandist efforts. Nor ought I to omit the "Letture di Famiglia," the Italian "Leisure Hour," so admirably edited by the Rev. Mr. Piggott, of Milan. The ability of the literary matter, and the beauty of the illustrations, are giving this journal a wide fame, and have necessitated a fortnightly instead of a monthly issue.-Ibid.

PROGRESS OF EVANGELIZATION---A REMARKABLE CONVERSION.-ITALY.-Very interesting reports reach us from the various Waldensian Mission-stations of the progress of evangelization. The case of a poor man in Brescia Hospital-who was badgered in his dying hours by the priests, but refused their services, and died rejoicing in an all-sufficient Saviour -has been noised abroad. Fifty young tradesmen of Como have established an Evangelical Church, as the result of an exposition at the interment of a Protestant Hungarian lady and the zeal of a colporteur in the district. The innkeeper at Lamma, on Lake Como, has large audiences collected to hear the Gospel from the lips of the evangelist, despite the excommunications of the priests, for whose good or bad word some sixty workmen and other inhabitants seem to care very little. At Chiavenna, the village inn is also the place of meeting for a number of people earnest about spiritual things, and who have experienced the kind protection of the delegate

of police against priestly interference. In Pavia, a room, holding one hundred and fifty persons, has, for some time back, been once a-week filled with professors and students of the University, who listen to, and discuss with Signor Turin, the vital doctrines of the faith. This is one of the first instances in which serious heed has been given to the truth as it is in Jesus by the middle and educated classes, and God seems to be blessing the movement. In the island

of Elba the good work progresses. In Perugia, cardinals and priests have been fulminating against the so-called "Evangelical Academy." The evangelist Combe has had a busy time of it this summer, publishing short and pithy replies to the attacks printed and circulated there and at Todi. One man, who has since become a colporteur, was saved from the error of his ways in a very singular manner. Some time ago he was most wretched. He did not believe in God. He tried to believe in the devil, and to love him. He cherished in his heart the infernal image, and read with avidity all that related to Satan or could recall his influence. He went the length of invoking him, asking the evil one to reveal himself to him. One day the curé from the pulpit announced that the town of Perugia was infested with Protestants. "And do you know, my dear brethren," said he, "what Protestants are? They are monsters of iniquity, who have renounced Jesus Christ, and who worship the devil." "Excellent news," said the man of whom we are speaking to himself; and that very day he ran to the meeting of those worshippers of the devil, and it was there that he learned to give himself to Jesus Christ, and to worship Him."-Ibid.

CEMETERIES IN ITALY.-The question of cemeteries for the non-Catholic Italians has been settled. The Government has charged the various municipalities in the kingdom to bear the expense of setting apart a portion of the common burial-ground, by a wall or ditch, for the service of the Evangelicals. This space of ground is to be well situated, and in no case to be lower than the level of the Catholic part, or unwalled, as the bigoted priests so much desired, in order to place the heretics in the same inferior place with suicides, monstrosities, and unbaptized persons.

The Prefect of Turin has issued a valuable circular, in which he looks on the cemetery in its civil as well as religious aspects, and enjoins all the syndics of his province to

attend to this matter without delay, and to avoid all unseemly behaviour at the grave. Leghorn having lately been the scene of some such disgraceful fanaticism, the Society of Artisans in that town deliberated on the matter, and, after a long and interesting report in strongest sympathy with the Waldenses, (which has been printed in all the papers,) by the famous writer Guerrazzi, resolved to accompany every funeral cortége to the place of burial, until intolerance had passed away. In Como, Brescia, Florence, and other towns, great crowds have assembled to witness the simple ceremony of an Evangelical sepulture, at which the evangelists have had abundant opportunities of preaching the Gospel.-Ibid.

A PROTESTANT PREACHING IN A MONASTERY.-On arriving at Pescara, a colporteur was waiting for me on the platform, and handed to me a letter from my correspondent at Atessa, in which the acting Superior of a monastery near S- was recommended to me. I had scarcely had time to read that letter, when I was warmly greeted by the man himself, and various other people from the town of S- who, having heard of my coming, had made a journey of two hours to see me.

The Superior insisted that I should take up my residence in his monastery, and for that purpose had brought down donkeys for himself and me, and a monk to carry my carpet-bag. After a two hours' ride, we safely arrived at the monastery, and the best room in the foresteria was assigned to me. The Superior seemed to be most happy at having a minister of the Gospel with him, and told me how for years he had been yearning and praying for that privilege, so that he himself might get the direction and instruction he stood in need of, and a way might be opened to him for throwing aside the hated clerical garb. All the monks in the monastery are decidedly anti-Papal, but this man alone has found the Gospel, and loves the Lord Jesus Christ. All the other monks wish to get out of the monastery, but only that, without restraint, they may enjoy the liberty, or rather licentiousness, of the flesh; this man is animated by the desire of serving his Lord and Master. He is a man of eloquence and learning, having been for a considerable time Professor of Theology in the seminary at P. . . . The news of my being in the monastery spread in the neighbourhood, and a number of

people, among them three clergymen, came to hear the Gospel expounded. It seems to me still like a dream that I should have enjoyed the privilege of proclaiming the Gospel of a free salvation through Christ in a monastery, and to an audience consisting of five monks, three priests, and a number of other people. The effect of my preaching was very different on the different hearers. The Superior wept for joy, the other monks withdrew from me, and got visibly colder, except a very young one, who seems well disposed. Of the three priests, one left abruptly, another stayed to the close, and very coldly bade me good-bye, while the third (who is a canon) came back early on the morning of my departure, in order, as he said, to have once more the pleasure of shaking hands with me and kissing me. As to the effect on the laymen present, they got up a serenade for me the first evening, and to the words which from a window I addressed to them they answered, "Viva l' Evangelo" (Success to the Gospel). It was at my express desire that the serenade was not repeated next evening: but they resolved that, until they could get an evangelist, they would meet regularly to read the Bible. -Rer. Theodore Meyer.

FLORENCE UNDER THE NEW REGIME. -Certainly, so far as externals bear witness, Florence has gained much by her change of rule. The improvements and new buildings which in every direction are being rapidly pushed forward, indicate at length the right of the Tuscan capital to the title of La Bella, which had been so long accorded to it through the license of the poets. The transition has not been effected without suffering to various class interests; but it has been attended by so many substantial benefits to the general community, that those few even who would revert to the old state of things are forced to acknowledge the irreversible nature of the change. Travellers bemoan the greatly enhanced cost of hotelliving, and the other incidental expenses to which they are subjected; but those who determine on settling here for any considerable time experience little just cause of complaint. For ourselves, we find house-rent pretty much the same as it was twenty years ago; and, did your space admit of it, I could here detail many facts of domestic and educational expenditure, to prove that Florence is still the cheapest city in Europe of its size and attractions. However some

may incline to controvert this, I can imagine no difference of opinion as to the vast benefits of the change that the government of Victor Emanuel has effected for his new subjects in their civil and religious liberties. Now, instead of the noble Guicciardini, or the poor and unfriended Madiai, being incarcerated for their reading of the Holy Scriptures, "the conscience of man is free in Tuscany, and the Bible is a free book." This proud boast of Ricasoli, however, was not immediately made good by the recent revolution in Italy. The power of the priesthood and the nervousness of statesmen protracted for a time its realization; and there are yet, perhaps, some further modifications to be effected, before the invaluable benefits of the full change can be said to be accomplished. Every man may now read his Bible unmolested,—that is one great fact; and he may, moreover, do as St. Paul did at Rome,-see his brethren "in his own hired house," and preach to them "the kingdom of God, and teach those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him." The new privileges of the Florentines extend yet further; and four different Italian Protestant congregations have been formed, whose varying principles in no case diverge from the pure Gospel truth of their preaching. Of these, the Waldenses are by far the most interesting. They are largely indebted to the liberality of the Free Church of Scotland for their very beautiful chapel, which is generally full to overflowing. This, with the adjoining palace (Salvietti) was purchased and fitted up for them about two years ago, at a cost of £7,000, of which £4,000 were paid by four noble Christians, in sums of £1,000 each. The palace affords ample accommodation for their schools and college, as well as very handsome and commodious residences for their present and expastors, Dr. Revel and Professor Paulo Geymonat. Few continental names are more deservedly known amongst Christians in England and Scotland than that of Dr. Revel. And Professor Geymonat, though still a young man, has, by his great learning, zeal, and eloquence, placed himself in the very foremost rank of that noble band who are throughout the greater part of Italy proclaiming the heresies of the Roman Church, and converting thousands by their powerful expositions of their own pure Christian faith. In listening to his magnificent declama