the subject of any express rule. What were their qualifications? To this the answer is explicit. As to condition, they were to be unmarried women or widows who had been once married (vi. 17. Cotel. 348): as to character, they were to be "blameless and of active habits" (iii. 19. Cotel. 289), "faithful and holy" (iii. 15. Cotel. 287), "faithful and worthy of honour" (vi. 17. Cotel. 348).

Some of these details will come more fully under notice in my second and third letters; the first of which will trace the subject through the Councils and the Canon and Civil Law, the latter through the writings of the Greek and Latin Fathers.

J. S. H.

[NOTE.-The whole subject of deaconesses, and the propriety of restoring them in the Church of England, as a separate order, are points on which we wish it to be understood that we reserve our judgment. The discussion of them, however, has become necessary, now that the Westminster Convocation have taken up the difficult question, and, as many of our readers will think, too hastily decided upon it. However, we feel that the discussion is safe in the hands of our correspondent, whose learning and sound protestantism eminently fit him for the task he has kindly imposed upon himself; and our readers, we are persuaded, will receive with pleasure his contributions on a subject of so much interest, both historical and ecclesiastical.-EDITOR.]

THE TRUE "SISTER OF MERCY."

BEHOLD yon maiden Form so softly treading
Each dusky alley, where pale Misery hides;
With silent footfall every staircase threading,
Where Sorrow or lone Suffering, abides.
Not tricked in garments night-like and forbidding,
As though she came the harbinger of grief;
The mazy passages her feet are thridding,

To minister to Woe its hoped relief.

Nor with pale moony face, by art beclouded,
Close veiled around, and hid from creature's sight,
And all that's human from the human shrouded,
As though 'twere sin to look, like Nature, bright.
Mantled in light, and with a face all sunny,

Mercy's true Sister moves among mankind;
With kindly smile, more potent far than money,
To soothe the racking sorrows of the mind.

Like Heaven's blue arch that o'er the earth is bending,
She bends benignant o'er the couch of Woe;
And though, like angel from the sky descending,
She gentle be, and pure as falling snow;

Yet not in holy pride, or busy prying,

Peers she behind the sacred veil of sorrow,
To cast a deeper shadow o'er the dying,

And make to-day more darkened than to-morrow.
No member is she of man's "Institution,"
Nor sent one of a banded Sisterhood,
Who, by stern rule, ply mercy's execution,-
But one self-winged by promptings simply good.
Her fount of charity so overflowing,

Is the true love of Christ, her dying Lord-
A love so fathomless it passeth knowing,

And feebly speaks by kindly deed and word.

With voice as soothing as the Spring's soft breezes,
She whispers solace to the heart of Grief;
And while her hand each heavy burden eases,
Her very aspect yields a felt relief.

Not with fixed frosty frown and look disdainful,
Nor with a proud and patronising air,
Which makes felt poverty felt doubly painful,-
Does she her errand to the Poor declare.
If o'er her face a cloud be sometime glooming,
It is an April cloud that drops warm tears;
And then the sky, its brightness fresh assuming,
Clears present sorrows and prospective fears.
This is true Mercy, gentle, kind, and tender,
Born of the bosom's native sympathy,
Which, feeling unto feeling quick to render,
Lights, as the sun the lake, man's lower sky.

For with soft touch of Nature in the creature,
In sighs she echoes to the aching heart;
And when faint Grief looks up with pallid feature,
The tears of pity from her eyelids start.

And want ye proof this is true Mercy's Sister,
In whom "the friend in need" the needy find ?—
See! turning to her shadow, Pain hath kissed her,
And owned her as true mercy to mankind.

The Vicarage, Camberwell, Jan. 30, 1862.

STEPHEN JENNER.

DUTCH LIFE AND THE NETHERLANDS.

La Néerlande et la Vie Hollandaise. Par Alphonse Esquiroz. DURING the sixteenth century every eye in Europe was turned with intense anxiety upon a little strip of sandy shore, washed, and often inundated, by the German Ocean, which seemed too

insignificant to bear a share in the world's history. Yet the struggle that was carried on in those burgher towns, rich as they were in merchandise, learning, and free opinion, was to set a mark on the advancing civilization of all nations which will never be erased so long as the world shall last. Against these Seven United Provinces the whole force of the proudest and richest monarchy in Europe was launched; the treasures of the rich soil of Spain, not then in its present decayed and desert state, the fleets of Cadiz, the gold of America, all were poured out for the conquest of this heroic little country, which was fighting, not for territory, but for leave to worship God in its own way. Hence this long war, which lasted eighty years, was a religious war; the despotism of a faith which had received a mighty blow from the hand of Luther, was in deadly opposition to the free Protestantism which the States demanded, and civil and religious liberty have been the gifts which their efforts granted to the world. England especially owes them a debt of gratitude; and had she entered into the struggle with the heartiness her best statesmen desired, but which the parsimony and fickleness of Queen Elizabeth prevented, Holland might have been spared much bloodshed.

The Netherlands are then, we may say, the work of the Reformation; their national existence emanates from the sacred doctrines which proclaim to the world the right of private judgment. Although the circumstances are no longer the same, their social principles are still moulded by their belief. More than half a century ago, religion was separated from the state; but constitutions, however good they may be, can change laws more quickly than they can modify the manners and historical character of a people. Hence, in a country where Protestantism has played so grand a part, no effort is spared to support the edifice of national faith. If attacked, the religious principle in Holland defends itself with numerous and powerful arms. It is the present state of a country once so interesting, now comparatively so insignificant, that we shall attempt to describe in its religious, charitable, and literary condition-referring to those parts of the work of M. Esquiroz which bear upon these subjects more especially; though we can recommend the whole as a book of much interest, and similar in plan to the sketches of English life which have made the author well known in our own country.

And to begin first with the universities, where literary and scientific life is in some sort concentrated; whilst the religion of the country is attached to them by ties which cannot be broken, animating and inspiring the youthful minds which come there to be formed. Each of the three, Leyden, Utrecht, and Groningen, bears its own distinctive character, to which we might find a parallel in our own country. The city of

Leyden may be termed the Versailles of Holland, from its air of fallen grandeur, deep sadness, and imposing solitude. Its cloth manufactories, once celebrated throughout the world, founded by the French refugees, are extinct; and nothing remains of its former riches but a handsome Hotel de Ville of the sixteenth century, two fine churches, canals with wide quays planted with trees, houses that still remind you of the better days of the republic, and a university. This last owes its establishment to the siege of the city by the Spaniards in 1573. Most heroic was its defence. For seven weeks bread was not seen within the walls, and six or seven thousand of the inhabitants died from pestilence. Nothing remained but to pierce the dykes, and a high tide following, the enemy was submerged, retreating with the loss of his cannon, and giving place to a convoy of boats, bringing provisions to the poor starved wretches who lined the banks. William the Silent, scarcely recovered from illness, hastened to the plague-stricken city, and offered them as a reward, freedom from certain taxes, or a university. The inhabitants did not hesitate; there was a universal cry for an institution which would extend and strengthen, by its learning, the political liberty conquered in

war.

"The University of Leyden has fulfilled these expectations; by calling men of eminence to Holland, by adopting clever foreigners, it was not long in becoming a centre of intellect. A school which counts among its professors Justus Lipsius, Paul Merula, Scaliger, Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde, Vossius, Albinus, Boerhaave, and many others, assuredly merits respect. In the building is a hall where the portraits of the old professors are hung. In the presence of this assembly, where figure men celebrated in theology, science, and literature, I felt a deep emotion; the soul of old Netherlands was there. Among modern professors we may mention Van der Palm, and M. Thorbecke. The former, a pupil of the great Orientalist Schultens, has written the purest prose which exists in the Dutch language; whilst his sermons and Bible criticisms are esteemed valuable; at the early age of thirty-three he taught the Oriental languages. M. Thorbecke, now one of the most distinguished statesmen of Holland, was, some years ago, professor of law at Leyden. Born at Zwollé, of the middle class in life, he visited Germany, and attached himself to that country by his philosophical studies and natural affinities. His lectures excited the warmest sympathy among the clever youths of the university. One of his merits as a writer is the improvement he has introduced by avoiding the heavy prolix style of Dutch prose, and expressing himself more concisely: flying from diffuseness, he has, it is true, fallen into the opposite excess-a certain abruptness of expression; but he is never

theless a thinker, and one of the few authors who have formed a school in Holland."

How deeply rationalism has spread its errors in Holland, we may trace in many of the sketches which M. Esquiroz gives of the leading men; confirmed as it has so lately been at the Evangelical Alliance meeting at Geneva. One of the professors of natural history at Leyden is accused of having written a book, entitled "Night and Day," in which he tries to prove that the advent of Christianity has arrested the development of science, civilization, and art; and that it would be especially wrong to attempt its introduction into Japan. So palpable an untruth was sure to rouse opposition in Holland; yet, so far is toleration carried, and such is the respect for convictions the most opposite to the general feeling, that M. Junghuhn still keeps his official position. He is a very celebrated botanist and geologist, and has published some original ideas on the formation of the Indian Archipelago: a perfect nomade, he is to-day in Holland, to-morrow in Java; forgetting the wants of nature, and as unequal in his studies as in his recreations.

If we turn from the scientific and literary interest of Leyden, we shall meet with the religious element in its severe orthodoxy at Utrecht, once the seat of a Catholic bishop, prince of the surrounding country, carrying on bloody wars with his rival the Bishop of Liége. A few years ago this bishoprick, with five others, was re-established by the papal court, and roused an excitement as great as a similar act did in England some time back. The press and the pulpit poured forth a torrent of invective, marking the strength and energy of Batavian protestantism. The university attaches itself strongly to the old Calvinistic faith, as set forth at the Synod of Dordrecht; and the professors try to shut the door against any stray sheep. The poet Bilderdijk did much during the last century to subdue the lax principles that had gained ground, and has left behind him a school, at the head of which are now M. Groen Van Prinsterer and M. da Costa. The first of these is a man of great talent, strong convictions, and a persevering will; possessed of an immense fortune, which he spends nobly, he did not disdain to publish "De Nederlander," a daily paper, at Utrecht, in order to support the principles he so strongly advocates. This proving unsuccessful, he had retired into private life, when the city of La Haye sent him as its representative to the States-General, where he collects round him a small party who would govern Holland by a kind of theocracy. He specially condemns the conduct of separatists. "It is not for us," he says, " to retire; these churches, now invaded by false teachers and false doctrines, are ours. We are the chosen, the real children of Holland; we must not desert the ranks, but put to flight the faithless."