Faith's Work Perfected; or Francke's Orphan House at Hulk. Edited
and translated by W. L. Gage. (Low and Son.)—Mr. Gage's introduc- tion to this quaint little work would be improved if he did not speak of Carlyle as caricaturing things in his ribald zigzag way, and as virulently attacking almost every Christian. We notice these blemishes the more, that the tone of the whole work is so naive, so trustful, so charitable. Francke's own account of the manner in which he first began his work of instructing the orphans of Halle, how money came in, sometimes by gifts of fourpence halfpenny, at other times by gifts of 160/ ; how he was frequently at a loss, and God sent an immediate answer to his prayers, is almost miraculous. At one time, he says, he tried to find one poor orphan to educate ; four were brought to him to choose from ; "relying upon the Lord, I ventured to take all four." The one or the four had to be supported on the interest of 75/., yet Francke seems to have found that four could be supported just as easily as one. One of his most singular entries is, "To my surprise, a public hangman came in to see me, and brought me sixteen shillings, which, coming from such a quarter, gave me new assurance of the favour of God."
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