WITH this volume we close our editorial labours of twenty-two years and six months, during which period it has been our lot to chronicle a series of astounding events. The year we entered upon our office was signalized by the flight of Louis Philippe from the throne of France, and the flight of Pope Pius from Rome; and in the year we close the same Pope is divested of his temporal power, and Napoleon III. is a prisoner of war. Within those periods, too, we have seen unstable France pass through the several phases of a monarchy, a republic, an empire, and become now a republic again. Within the same brief period we have seen nations joyously assembling at world exhibitions. of commerce and art, with professions of perpetual amity and peace; and anon the same nations meeting together again in bloodiest conflict, and the thunders of war have never ceased since then to roll. In 1851 myriads of armed fanatics began their devastations in China, year after year carrying fire and sword through the finest provinces of that vast empire. In 1854 Russia invaded Turkey, when England, France, and Italy rushed to the Sultan's aid, and the Crimea was deluged with blood. In 1856 a war broke out afresh between England and China, in which the legions of France were combined with those of Britain, and the haughty despot of the Celestial Empire was compelled to succumb, and open his long-closed ports for commerce and the Christian religion. In 1857 the Indian mutiny arose, which, after horrid slaughter, and the siege of Cawnpore, Lucknow, and Delhi, was put down, and provinces numbering 200,000,000 people were added to the British dominions. In 1859 the Emperor of France declared war against Austria, and after several bloody battles, the victory at Solferino terminated the struggle in Austria's defeat. In 1861 commenced the internecine war in America, which raged for four years with terrific slaughter, but ended with the subjugation of the South, and the liberation of four millions of slaves. This bloody war closed with the cruel murder of Abraham Lincoln, the upright President of the United States. In 1862 Mexico, after years of internal anarchy, was invaded by France to end the devastations of Juarez and place Maximilian on the throne of a new empire-an abortive attempt, in which the French legions lost their honour, and the nascent emperor his life. In 1863 Poland made another desperate struggle for her freedom; but after terrible carnage, she sank helplessly again into the iron grasp of Russia. In 1863 the two powerful armies of Prussia and Austria combine to vanquish the little kingdom of Denmark and reduce her territory. In 1866, as was expected, Prussia and Austria draw swords against each other, and after a short but sanguinary war, the latter is defeated, and Prussia adds several German states to her dominion. In 1867 England proclaims war against Abyssinia to liberate her captives from the power of the barbarous Theodore, who is vanquished and slain. Coincident with these events the King of Sardinia, aided by France and the flying column of Garibaldi, takes possession of Lombardy and other Italian states; when the King of Naples, the Duke of Tuscany, and the Duchess of Modena fly in despair from their thrones, and Victor Emmanuel becomes King of Italy. After these convulsions the Queen of Spain, the last of the Bourbons, is driven from her throne, and her long-enslaved kingdom iv proclaims civil and religious liberty. In July of the present year, the Emperor of the French enters upon a causeless, wicked war against Prussia; but in a few weeks his armies are scattered, his fortresses destroyed, his cities reduced to smoking ashes, himself made a prisoner of war, and Paris is besieged by the victorious legions of Prussia. When the royal supporters of Popery fall, the Pope himself is hurled from his temporal power, and a victorious monarch takes possession of his seat and quietly appropriates his dominions to himself. And, as if the most tragic events must be blended with a farce, the Pope assembles at Rome a council of 1,051 dignitaries, who proclaim the old dotard infallible the very moment before he falls. Amid these remarkable commotions, it is consoling to see that God is evolving from them the advancement of truth and the extension of his Kingdom. The provinces of India welcome education and the ministers of Christ; China opens twelve ports for commerce and the Gospel; the shores of Japan are accessible to the truth; Turkey wipes her bloody sword, and blots out her persecuting code; Feeji abolishes her cannibalism, and thousands of her savage tribes become transformed into saints; Madagascar burns her idols and, as a nation, receives the Gospel she had proscribed; Papal dungeons are emptied; monarchs dissolve their concordats with Rome, the nations laugh at her anathemas, trample her infallibility in the dust, turn a deaf ear to her cry of distress, and from one end of her dominion to the other the Bible is being circulated and religious liberty proclaimed. Meanwhile education, science, and civil immunities are advancing. A new chapter of Bible evidence is opened by Layard's discoveries; the centre of Africa is revealed by the enterprise of Livingstone and Barth; the river Nile is traced to its great fountains by Baker and Speke; the Suez Canal opens a highway on the ocean to the Eastern world; the great railway of America unites the Atlantic with the Pacific; the electric telegraph flashes our thoughts across the globe; the analysis of light reveals the composition of suns, planets, and stars, and the telescope adds ninety new asteroids to the solar system. In one year a great Politics keep pace with the march of science. measure of Parliamentary reform invests the people with elective rights; in another, the Irish Church is freed from the bondage of State control; and within the present year a great measure has been passed for the universal education of our population; meanwhile, all the religious institutions of our country are arising to nobler deeds. Such is a rapid glance at public occurrences within the years of Blessed God, our office, and all of them have a place in our pages. speed thy cause throughout all the nations, and hasten to fill the earth with thy glory! In laying down our pen, we thank all ministers and friends who have aided us by their influence, their kind words, and their literary contributions. We part with you all in cordial esteem, and be assured we shall number the years of our official intercourse among the brightest and happiest of our existence. We have one request to make-give to the honoured brother who succeeds me the same kind and generous support you have rendered to myself. Farewell. Yours ever affectionately, WILLIAM COOKE. Forest Hill, London, 1870. A DISCOURSE BY WILLIAM COOKE, D.D., PREACHED BEFORE THE CONFERENCE OF 1869, AND PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL REQUEST. "In due time Christ died for the ungodly."-Rom. v. 6. THE slowness of the Divine proceedings hath oft been viewed with perplexity by short-sighted man. The first promise of the Saviour was given as soon as man had fallen, but 4,000 years elapsed before it was fulfilled. This delay was a mystery to human reason, and a trial to the faith of Old Testament saints. The early patriarchs saw mankind rapidly multiply, and iniquity abound until the earth was filled with violence and crime; and then, instead of the promised Deliverer, there came an awful deluge, which swept all mankind away, one family alone excepted. What a mystery this to those who longed for Christ's appearing! Again mankind multiplied, and again iniquity prevailed, and patriarchs and prophets waited with eager expectation for him; but he came not. They saw century after century sweep past; mighty empires rose, culminated, and fell, stricken down by the judgments of God for their sins, and oft was heard the scoffer's taunt, "Where is the promise of his coming?" and yet the great Restorer did not appear. What a perplexity to human reason, what a trial to faith! But God had not forgotten his promise. He was neither indifferent to man, nor unmindful of his own word. All this time his eye was upon his covenant, and at length it was fulfilled. The promised Saviour came and performed his mighty work, and when he came there had been no unnecessary delay. Our text affirms it was in "due time that Christ died for the ungodly." There is a deep meaning in this reference to the fitness of time: it implies that the delay was wise, and the time selected the best-the most fitted for all the purposes of God and the good of man. Moreover, it must be remembered that though the fulfilment of the promise was postponed, there was no delay in the experimental blessings of salvation. These were obtainable on the first day the promise was made. For as God is faithful, what he had engaged to do was as certain as if it had been done at once. Therefore, faith in a Saviour promised was as efficacious as in a Saviour given. Abel found B it so, for by faith in the first promise "he obtained witness that he was righteous," and expired a triumphant martyr for the truth on which he relied. Enoch found it so, for through faith "he had this testimony, that he pleased God," and became so holy that he was translated to heaven, body and soul, without seeing death. Noah found it so, for by faith he obtained favour with God, and was preserved alive in the ark when a rebellious world was destroyed. And so of all the Old Testament saints: they believed in the promises; they trusted in the Redeemer who was to come; and all who thus trusted in him before he came were saved, as well as those believers who saw him with their bodily eyes. The promise itself being thus available for salvation during the ages of its delay, it was wise in God to postpone its fulfilment, if by so doing he could better accomplish the purposes of his mercy and love to mankind. Such is, indeed, the truth implied in the text, and the delay was not unseasonable; the event came at the right time— not one moment too soon, not one moment too late. It was, in the strictest sense of the words, "in due time that Christ died for the ungodly." Time must be an important element in the economy of God; and every event of Providence has its most fitting period; and as the greater subordinates the less, the greatest of all events must be the central fact in all the Divine arrangements. We are sure, therefore, that the great work of redemption, conceived in eternity, must have been fixed for the fittest period in the annals of time. This is the doctrine of the text, in illustrating which we observe— I. The death of Christ was in due time, because the universal helplessness of man had then become historically demonstrated. II. Because then prophetic truth had grown to full maturity. III. Because then, and only then, the prophetic dates were verified. I. When the Redeemer died, man's helpless condition had been historically and experimentally demonstrated. The condition of mankind as described in the text is twofold"ungodly" and "without strength." Ungodly, because depraved and guilty, without the image of God, without the enjoyment of God, severed from him, and under his displeasure. "Without strength," because man had no innate power and no acquired ability to restore himself. This, indeed, had been man's condition from the moment of his apostacy; but at the time of the Redeemer's death man's universal helplessness, as well as his utter depravity, had become historically proved by a prolonged experience. This proof seemed necessary to humble man, to exclude self-righteousness and self-dependence, and shut all men up to the Gospel as their only remedy. For although man is ruined by sin, he is abominably proud; though foul as the leper, and helpless as the prostrate paralytic, he is elated with self-sufficiency; and if saved at all, he would be saved by his own energies and resources, and thereby secure all the glory to himself. This is a universal delusion, and fatal as well as universal; for while it prevails it keeps man from God, and excludes him from salvation. It was necessary, therefore, to dispel the delusion by a disclosure of its folly. But this could not be done by theory'; it demanded experience; and experience required time. Now when the Redeemer performed his atoning work, mankind had gone through |