Yet have ye counted the cost that must win you

A place in the Home that your hopes doth engross?
High rises the Hill of Perfection before you,—
Steep is the Way of the Cross!

"Ye are gazing, and well may your longings be kindled,
That 'Vision of Peace' is so wondrously fair;

Ye are gazing, and lo, all your soul is enraptur'd,—
Well,-but not yet ye are there.

It is easy to ponder on glories eternal,

But have ye nerv'd you for trial and loss,
Asking not pleasure, nor sorrow refusing?
Rough is the Way of the Cross!"

"Yea, we are steadfastly minded to follow
Him Who hath gone to the Beautiful Land,
And we are looking for great tribulation,
And we have taken our life in our hand.

For we have noted the stones of the pathway,

Tear-drops have worn them,-blood-drops have stain'd,—

With Him His faithful ones labour'd and suffer'd,
Till in the City their rest they have gain'd.
So we have turn'd from the world's way of pleasure,
Counting its costliest treasures but dross,

For love of the light of His love that hath gilded
The thorn-planted Way of the Cross!"

A. W. C.

CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.1

2

AMONG the very unusual number of good books, which this season has produced, our readers will find few more deserving of their perusal and study than this memoir of the Great Constantine. The period of history described is almost the most interesting that can be named,

"Constantine the Great." By Edward L. Cutts, B.A., & D.D. London: S.P.C.K. 8vo., 422 pp.

* Few more cheering signs of the progress of opinion can be given than what is instanced by reference to the books published within the last few months. Thus

On Holy Scripture.—Vol. III. of Blunt's "Annotated Bible." Field's "Epistle to the Hebrews."

Patristic. Dr. Pusey's "S. Cyril of Alexandria," Vol. II.

Prayer Book.-Luckock's "Studies."

Church History.-Simcox's "Beginnings of the Church." Bishop of Lincoln's

embracing, as it does, on the one hand, the chief effort that was made for arresting the decay of the mighty Roman Empire; and on the other, the taking in of the Church as a partner for the vast work of civilizing and sanctifying society, corrupted as it was by Roman vices, and brutalised by the incursion of the barbarian tribes from the north and east.

r

The crisis is well described by Dr. Cutts,—“ Seven hundred years of conquest from Romulus to Augustus had gathered the nations into an Empire; two hundred more of wise legislation and vigorous administration from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius, had consolidated these heterogeneous conquests; a hundred years of revolution and misrule, from Commodus to Gallienus had disorganised and imperilled it; and now at the end of a thousand years this majestic empire seemed to be broken to pieces of internal weakness, and about to be swallowed up in a new flood of barbarism.”

After the death of Gallienus, a series of able soldiers came up in succession, and thrust back the barbarian invaders. Diocletian, who comes next, did yet more by dividing the imperial power, first of all with a colleague, and then to two lieutenants, whom he denominated Casars, with the prospect of succession to the purple. Constantius, the father of Constantine, was one of these, and so the son in due course succeeded to a moiety of the empire, and finally, as his colleague revolted, gained the victory over him, and once more Rome became subject to one supreme ruler. Constantius had advanced much beyond the religious belief of his age, recognising one only GOD over all, and this was the belief of the son, till he was converted to Christianity in the miraculous way of which the book speaks.

Dr. Cutts gives an engraving of "Constantine with the Labarum,” which we should gladly transfer to our pages, if it were possible.

"Church History." A. H. Hore's "Eighteen Centuries of Christianity." Blunt's "Reformation," Vol. II. just ready.

Biography.-Bishop Tyrrell. Mr. Lowder. Skinner's "Memoirs of R. Liddell." Cutts' "Constantine the Great." Bishop Wilberforce's Life, Vol. III. just ready. General Literature.-Shairp's "Lectures on Poetry." Palgrave's "Visions of England." "John Inglesant." Jervis" "Gallican Church and the Revolution.” "Diocesan Histories" of the S.P.C.K.

Sermons.-Liddon. Carter. Knox Little. Baring Gould. Holland.
History.-Brewer's "English Studies."

English History."

Gairdner and Spedding's "Studies of

Apologetics. Wordsworth's "Bampton Lectures."

Good Devotional books and good Tales and Tracts are too numerous to specify.

And we may mention in passing that there are several other engravings, besides portraits of the emperors from medals and coins, which give great value to the volume.

The reign of Constantine besides giving peace to the Church, inaugurated a policy of justice and order to which the world, even in less difficult times, had been hitherto a stranger. The chief blot in his life is the execution of his son Crispus,—an act of course which cannot be excused, but may be explained by reference to the traditional usages of the empire, according to which sons and nephews had frequently rebelled against the reigning emperor, who found his only safety in their removal out of the way; and to do this without even the form of a trial was considered the inseparable prerogative of the imperial power. The same fate, it is sad to say, overtook his second wife, Fausta, who, it would appear, was mixed up with the subsequent intrigues of her three sons, Constantius, Constantine, and Constans.

The latter portion of the volume abounds with subjects of surpassing interest, among which it is difficult to make a selection. The Councils of Arles, Nicea, and Tyre are vividly described by the Author. One chapter relates the Pilgrimage of the Empress Helena to Palestine ; another describes the Consecration of the Church at Tyre. Another is devoted to the consideration of " the Worship of the Primitive Church." But of all, perhaps the most interesting are two which enumerate the fruits of Christianity as produced by Constantine's conversion.

Under the head of the Emperor's "Legislation," Dr. Cutts specifies the abolition of branding on the face, crucifixion, and breaking the legs of criminals; the discouragement of infanticide by providing asylums for destitute children, laws for the protection of chastity, the prohibition of combats of gladiators, laws for the amelioration of slavery, and for the improvement of prisons, and lastly, an edict for the cessation of labour on Sundays. This, it must be admitted by any secularist, is a fair programme of good work accomplished by the first infusion of Christianity into a decaying and corrupted empire.

There is also another chapter which bears very closely on present times, detailing the relation which Constantine understood to belong to him as Emperor, in his dealing with the Church,-and certainly his view is more correct than one could possibly have expected under the novel circumstances which his conversion created, and should be well pondered by civil rulers among ourselves.

398

Reviews and Notices.

The charming little work entitled Gold Dust, which has obtained such universal favour and acceptance in its original miniature form, has just been brought out by Messrs. Masters (London) in a larger and much more convenient size. The first and second part are now united in a beautifully bound volume with a clear type, far better suited at least to the eyes of elderly people, and we do not doubt that the enterprising publishers will win the gratitude of many who will henceforward be able to enjoy the admirable contents of the little book so much more pleasantly.

Sparks of Light for Every Day, (Masters, London,) differs from various other tiny books which have appeared of late, by containing a wise sentence or maxim for each day of the year. As these have been arranged by Madame Guizot de Witt, translated by the same hand which gave us "Gold Dust," and edited by Miss Yonge, it need hardly be said that it is a most choice collection.

A Pocket Guide to British Ferns, by Marian S. Ridley, (David Bogue, London,) is an unassuming but most useful little work, which we strongly recommend to all who care to study the beautiful plants with which it deals. The authoress had met with a difficulty often felt by other botanists in ascer taining from any existing works on the subject, what the special features really were which characterised the different species, and she therefore adopts in her "Guide" a system of tabulating by words, without figures, such of the peculiarities as are alone absolutely necessary to identify a fern. All her explanations are very clear and simple, and she gives useful hints also on herbariums and kindred matters.

Parish Teachings: the Apostles' Creed and Sacraments. By the Rev. T. T. Carter, M.A., late Rector of Clewer. (Masters and Co.) This small volume of sermons is calculated to be of great use not only to the younger clergy, but to that large and increasing body of the laity, who desire to sound the depths of the Catholic Faith as it was held by SS. Augustine and Athanasius, and the other Fathers. We are by no means strong in dogmatic theology; many persons therefore will welcome this volume as a solid and substantial contribution to the study. And it is plain to see that there are few important doctrines which do not come for treatment under one or other of the heads under which Mr. Carter has ranged his sermons.

The Messrs. Pollock, the two brother-priests of S. Alban's, Birmingham, have put together a few short papers, which originally appeared in "The Gospeller," under the title of My Religion (Mowbray.) They are well calculated both to destroy certain popular errors, and to build up Christians in the Faith.

399

Correspondence.

[The Editor is not responsible for the opinions of the Correspondents.]

To the Editor of the Churchman's Companion.