Classical Theology.—Lxxix.

Herod would have worshipped him as readily as he obeyed Mm . But what we here immediately would point out is , after the Son of God had been tempted , " angels came and ministered unto Him . . . . . And His fame went throughout all

Sy ria and they brought unto Him all sick that were taken with divers diseases and torments , and those that were possessed with devils , and those which were lunatic , and those that had the palsy ; and He healed them . '"

Again , we read in this Gospel according to St . Matthew , after many other respective records , as in the other Gospels , the Acts , the Ep istles , and the Revelation of St . John the Divine

( c . xxvi ., 53)— " Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my Father , and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels . " And again , of those that until that time had not arisen as it were—that is to say , "And the graves were

epened , and many bodies of the saints which slept arose , and came out of the graves after His resurrection aud went into the holy city , and appeared unto many . "—( c . xxvii ., v . 52 , 53 ) . Truly , we hear of these concurring events , yet

almost in the same breath , we are constantly told , there are no such things as visible spirits or angels , either unhol y or holy , but the Scriptures testify of angels as of the Saviour . Thus it is written of Him , in the first and second chapters of St . Paul's E p istle to the Hebrews : "For unto which of the angels said He at any

time , thou art my son , this day have I begotten Thee ? And again , I will be to him a father , and he shall be to me a son . And again , when he -bringeth in the first-begotten unto the world he saith , and let all the angels of God worship him .

And of the angels he saith , who maketh his angels spirits , and his ministers a flame of fire . But unto the son he saith , th y throne , 0 God , is for ever aud ever ; a sceptre of ri g hteousness is the . sceptre of th y kingdom But to which

of the angels said he at any time , sit on my right hand , until I make thy enemies th y footstool ? Are they not all ministering spirits , sent forth for them who shall be heirs of salvation ? . . . . For veril y he took not on him the nature of angels ,

but he took on him the seed of Abraham . . . . Tor in that he himself hath suffered being tempted , he is able to succour them that ai'e tempted . "

Ar00202

ZEAL is very blind or badly regulated when it encroaches upon the rights of others .

The Gold, Silver, And Bronze Coinage Of 1863.

THE GOLD , SILVER , AND BRONZE COINAGE OF 1863 .

It is an extraordinary fact that the annual return of work done at her Majesty's Mint seldom or never makes its appearance until seven-twelfths of a year after the date to which that return extends . One would suppose

that most careful note is daily made in that important establishment of every piece of money struck therein , and that the casting-up of the total number of coins issued between the 1 st of January and the 31 st of December in any one year might be accomplished in less than seven months , even without the aid of Mr .

Babbage or his machine . "We do not mean to assert that the public suffer by the delay , or that it is of serious moment to anybody but impatient members of the Statistical Society . It is , however , " unbusinesslike , " and it gives colour and form to the censures so frequently and freely passed upon Government establishments and

the officials connected with them . Let us hope for better things next year . Mr . Peel , whose name appears upon the coinage return for 1863 , which now lies before us at present , or his successor , may feel disposed , perhaps , after this notice , to " move earlier" in the coming season than the month of June for an account of the " monies of the realm" coined from the 1 st of January to the 31 st of December , 1864 The public of our day prefer the speed of the railway train to the " snail's gallop" of

the road waggon ; and those who move slowly must be driven . Let it not be imagined that we desire to cast imputations upon the authorities of the Mint , or to blame them for inactivity . On the contrary , the return of which we speak would justify a certain amount of praise being awarded them . The quantity of metal , precious and otherwise , converted into coin of various

denominations at that establishment last year , is very large , as will be seen from the following abstract : —The number of ounces of gold transformed into sovereigns and half-sovereigns was 1 , 696 , 939 * 01 . These produced of sovereigns 5 , 921 , 669 , and half-sovereigns 1 , 371 , 574 . Of silver converted into florins we have 341 , 280-00 ounces yielding 938520 ieces . Of silver afterwards

, p issued in the form of shillings the quantity used at the Mint in 1863 was 156 , 240-00 ounces , producing 859 , 320 pieces of money . The number of sixpences struck from 44 , 640 * 00 ounces was 491 , 040 , and the number of threepences from 43 , 404-00 ounces , 954 , 888 . For the Queen ' s Mamiday money 516 ounces were stamped in the form of silver fourpences , twopences , and pence into 16 , 830

coins . Of bronze 340 Ions weight was used for the purposes of coinage , and this produced 28 , 062 , 720 pence , 15 , 948 , 800 halfpence , and 1 , 433 , 600 farthings . The total nominal value of this large amount of the subsidiary denominations of money was £ 151 , 648 . In addition to tbe foregoing , something like 4 , 000 , 000 of silver and bronze

coins were struck for circulation in the British colony of Hong Kong . The total number of coins of all denominations produced during the past year by the Eoyal Mint was therefore 59 , 998 , 961 ; this gives an average of rather more than eleven hundred thousand five hundred coins per week , and is not far off 200 , 000 per day .

Ifc cauuot be said , therefore , that the men ov the machinery of that place can have been idle during the year 1863 , and we only have to complain of the very tardy appearance of the return from which the above figures have been collated . It is neither just to the public nor to the money manufactory itself , that the doings of the Mint should so long remain concealed under the dark shadow of official apathy , or by the mysterious but potent influence of red-tape . —The Artimn , Sept . 1 , 1864 .