melancholy music. It would continue so to do, if the inhabitants did not perforate it with holes to let the wind escape, until the spring sun should thin it, when, the ice no longer able to resist the pressure, the wind would break through with a tremendous explosion. This is a good illustration of what, in all probability, would have taken place in the future history of our country, were it not for the holes our numerous philanthropic institutions are making in the surface of society, through which the winds of popular discontent and fury may continually escape. These institutions must prove the safety valves of our nation. They will save us perhaps from the repetition of that awful and bloody catastrophe which overtook a neighbouring nation a few years ago, known in history as the great French Revolution. For centuries the princes, the nobles, and the upper classes of that country had been living in magnificence and opulence, but neglecting and oppressing in the most heartless and cruel manner the lower orders of the people, who were little better than their slaves. But beneath the surface of that cold and glittering civilization, the passions of a discontented and furious populace were gradually gathering strength. Forages these winds had been discoursing most melancholy and ominous music, but it was unheard, or if heard disregarded, and the result was, that when the time arrived and circumstances were favourable, these winds of popular fury burst through the surface of that gaudy and glittering civilization, and swept it away in a whirlwind of destruction; and then was enacted one of the bloodiest tragedies that ever occurred in the history of the world, and which will be a warning to future nations throughout all generations.

This will indicate, then, the indirect good which is being exerted in our country by those institutions originated and maintained by the Christian Church. But this is only a part of what is being effected by them. They are also instrumental in bringing innumerable multitudes of precious souls into the fold of Christ, and much increase is being realized in this way. This is one source of the Church's growth, but it is rather accidental than normal. We do not despise this source of increase, but would encourage it to the utmost, and yet it is not to it the Church should look for its normal growth. That growth is rather to be found in the family-the Christian household; to which the Church should look continually for its great and permanent supplies of true increase. In the thoughts of God as set forth in His Word, or rather perhaps in the knowledge of God; for God does not think, He knows; from the knowledge of God then, as given to us in His Word, we see that the idea of the family was ever the root, the seed corn, of His Church. He called Abraham to found a new family in the world, that it might grow into a nation-a theocratic nation; and then, when that was worn out and was ready to vanish away, He took out of it the only good elements left, that they might be the nucleus of the new Church, God's true spiritual theocracy in this world. And we find that not only individuals, but households, were received into the new kingdom. When a new convert was received into the Church, and that convert was the head of a family, his household, i.e., all the inmates of his house-his wife, his children, his servants-were received and

baptized. And what, let me ask, does this mean? What, but that our children are included in the covenant of grace; that grace is given to them; that they are born into Christ, into whose name they are baptized; and that it is God's intention that they should be brought from the first into contact with Divine principles, institutions, and influences; that God's spirit should so operate on their hearts from the first, in the formation of holy principles, habits, and character, that they should be Christ's, belonging to His Church, from the beginning, and that they should never go into the world at all, or at all lead a sinful life.

If this be so, then we should recognise and act upon the blessed fact that our children are born into Christ; that while they come into the world possessing a sinful nature, yet that they are also born into a state of redemption. It therefore follows, that they go direct to heaven, if they die in their infancy, for of such, says our Lord, are the kingdom of heaven; and that, if by God's mercy they are spared, they should be baptized into the name of Christ, as a recognition of the blessed fact that they do not belong to the devil or the world, but that they are God's children, the property of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that, too, by the purchase of His precious blood. Their baptism also introduces them into a state of religious privilege from which they should not be kept any longer than can be avoided. And this state of religious privilege, as I apprehend it, means, that they should be instructed in all the principles and truths of our holy religion; that they should be trained up in the exercise of all its duties and ordinances; and that we should expect, and take it as a matter of course, as Christian parents, that they should grow up to love and serve God, and as members of Christ's Church, the subjects of God's kingdom in this world.

And surely we find the warrant for all this, not only in the teachings of Holy Scripture, in the very constitution of the Church, and the very genius of Christianity, but also in the constitution of our children themselves, in the first principles of our own nature. Children have not only bodies that have to be cared for by their parents, and minds, intellectual powers, to be developed and trained, but they have also a moral nature, moral and spiritual powers, which it is the duty of the parent to train rightly, to develope, and to direct to their proper uses. This latter, indeed, is the most important part of their nature, and that to which all the other parts should be subordinate. Take a child, study its nature from the first, and you will find, that long before the mental powers awake there is in it, alive and vigorous, the sense of right and wrong. This sense, the conscience, awakens as an instinct, at the slightest hint. The will is seen in the mere child, the spiritual reason too; and chiefly the affections. The whole experience of the human race manifests that at that precise period when the mental powers, owing to the rapid growth of the frame and the corresponding feebleness of the brain, are weakest and most unsuitable to exertion or to training, then are they most susceptible of impression, most capable of emotion. So much so, indeed, that men often look back with feelings of wonder, and almost of awe, to the high and radiant glory that they feel to have shed its beams upon their infant soul-the glory, undoubtedly, of

the moral powers in the first awakening. Of this emotion in the child, Wordsworth speaks in his immortal ode:

"There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,

To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,

The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;-
Turn wheresoe'er I may,

By night or day,

The thing which I have seen I now can see no more.

The rainbow comes and goes,

And lovely is the rose

The moon doth with delight

Look round her when the heavens are bare;

Waters on a starry night

Are beautiful and fair;

The sunshine is a glorious birth,

But yet I know, where'er I go;

That there hath passed away a glory from the earth."

This glory, which the great poet so beautifully and justly attributes to infancy and childhood, we recognise as the first awakening glow of the moral affections of the child, demanding that spiritual food and support to them which the parent is authorised to give; that training which they are then best qualified to receive.

Nor need this glory pass away, if the parent walk himself in the faith of things unseen and eternal, if the child be trained by him to walk in the light of heaven, and under the shadow of the Almighty; if the home be a sanctified temple and dwelling place of God's presence and His teaching. Then, indeed, the eye of the child would in all things continue to see the glory of the unseen God, and not the external world alone be apparelled in celestial light; but from youth to age the human being so trained would walk through life canopied with light from the unspeakable glory; crowned with a halo and a radiance of moral beauty that we see in few at the present day.

We have thus briefly indicated what is the true normal growth of the Church. And surely we shall all admit that it is a source of increase that is being too much neglected both by Christian parents and the Church. Each has a pressing duty to discharge in relation to it. The duty of the parent, which is the great right of the child, is the right of being dedicated to God by the formal act of baptism. But then this dedication should be considered in its true light and meaning. It is now little more than a form, a meaningless ceremony, alluded to without any realizing sense of what it is and of what it involves. And yet, from it, rightly considered, how many consequences flow! The right that all children thus dedicated to God should be trained up in His name and His word—that His law should be made the rule of their lives—that the written Word should be their study that the home should be a sanctified temple of God's presence and grace, and not a mere abiding-place to eat and drink in, but a temple, wherein father and mother shall be, as it were, "priests and kings," sanctified teachers and sanctified governors of their household in Christ perpetually! This is the great claim the child has upon the parent; and this claim, we say, is verified and established by all parts of the human nature of the child, which cry

aloud for such a consecration; and children are then, and then only, placed in their proper position towards man and God, when so dedicated, so united in covenant to the eternal Zion, through the eternal Spirit. This is the highest teaching to the spiritual nature of the child, and the most complete and perfect education that its faculties and its necessities require and demand. Nor is the duty of the Church to be overlooked, for the child has rights upon the Church, which is but a larger family, and which rights and duties cannot be neglected without great loss to both the Church and her children. The Church should practically look upon the children as her own, take care of them, and provide instruction for them, and also make a place for them in her ordinances and fellowship. But is she doing this? Alas! no. At best she is doing it only imperfectly, and while she is exerting every endeavour to obey the serious command, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature," she is too much overlooking that equally important, and let me add, equally imperative command, given to the chief of the Apostles, "Feed my lambs.”

C. P. T.

HANDEL.-II.

We now approach what may be called the middle period of Handel's life-in other words, that period which is least poetic and attractive to the general reader. All persons feel the charm of childhood and youth, with their blooming hopes and rich possibilities. All persons can see a ripened and reverent beauty in an honourable old age, especially when crowned with great achievements. But the middle period of life is the period of toil, of struggle, of conflict. It has neither the smiling sweetness of rosy morn nor the glowing richness of sunset eve. It is the unpoetic day, characterized by "burden. and heat."

Our hero entered upon this new epoch in his history with £10,000, the profits of his previous works. With this capital he entered into partnership with the proprietor of the Haymarket Theatre for three years, in order to bring out Italian operas. He then went on the Continent to collect a company of competent singers. Voyaging and travelling were not very secure and commodious in those days, and international sentiment was not so friendly and confiding as now; but Handel pressed through all difficulties, and returned to this country with a fine staff of vocalists and instrumentalists. On December 2nd, 1729, appeared "Lothario," and on February 24th, 1780, appeared "Parthenope," two original Italian operas. Look at this wonderful man! With all the complicated anxieties of a theatre-manager pressing upon his mind, he can yet sit down at odd moments and compose immortal music. He must have had a wonderful capacity for right down hard work. Indeed he had a robust frame. He was broad-set, full chested, and of dignified and commanding appearance. His brain partook of the general healthiness

of his constitution. He could originate far-reaching and elaborate conceptions, and he could toil through any amount of detail and drudgery.

On February 2nd, 1731, appeared another Italian opera entitled "Porus." Whence did Handel obtain his inspiration for such elevated and noble music as appears in these operas? Most assuredly not from the words to which the music was set, for in most cases these were wretched and puerile in the extreme. Also, considering the licentiousness of the age in which he lived and worked, the moral elevation of his music is still more surprising. Surely he was a "light shining in a dark place."

On January 25th, 1732, Handel brought out " Ætius," and on February 15th the same year "Sosanne" appeared. It is easy to record this; but very difficult to realize the exhaustive character of the When we labour necessary to the production of such gigantic works.

see this willing and gifted man toiling so thanklessly to enrich posterity but to exhaust himself, we think of Solomon's word, "This is a sore travail. For what hath a man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun? For all his days are sorrow, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night."-Ecc. ii., 22, 23.

This year of 1732 is memorable in the history of music in England as well as in the history of Handel as a musician. An incident, which need not be detailed here, induced him to perform "Esther in public, which was a marked success. The public at once appreciated and applauded. This was the first public performance of an oratorio. Hitherto the English people had heard of oratorios as private luxuries, but now that source of instruction and delight was made public. It opened up a new mine of wealth to the gifted composer. It was a new source of power; it suggested a magnificent opportunity, and it contributed to the glory of England and the undying fame of Handel.

The suggestions of Providence in this case as in so many others in our world, were adopted reluctantly and slowly. Handel's heart was set upon Italian opera, but God was gradually leading him to the sacred oratorio. Handel's operas repeatedly and successively failed; his oratorios have succeeded beyond all example, and have established the reputation of their composer.

During this fruitful year appeared "Twelve Sonatas, or Solos, for Violin or German Flute," which were composed for the Prince of Wales. Probably many musicians have regretted that Handel did not set a greater value on his instrumental music, and that he did not compose more. Indeed he never suspected how much it was likely to be esteemed by posterity. He also brought out another Italian opera this year, "Orlando," in which there is music written for an instrument now completely obsolete, namely the "Violetta Marina," for it is not only not in use, but no one seems to know what it is.

Besides achievements in composition, Handel had to manage the tempers and whims of singers-by no means an uncommon difficulty. A distinguished lady singer, named Cuzzoni, declared that she would not sing the air "Falsa imagine"; this was at a rehearsal of "Otho," one of Handel's beloved Italian operas. This threw the composer into