Bibles make him announce, the end of _the world_; he announced “the end of _the age_,” “the close of the period.” That close came, as he had foretold; and a like “end of the age” is imminent wherever a certain stage is reached in the conflict between the line of Jesus and the facts of the period through which it takes its passage. Sometimes we may almost be inclined to augur that from some such “end of the age” we ourselves are not far now; that through dissolution—dissolution peaceful if we have virtue enough, violent if we are vicious, but still dissolution—we and our own age have to pass, according to the eternal law which makes dissolution the condition of renovation. The price demanded, by the inexorable conditions on which the kingdom of God is offered, for the mistakes of our past, for the attainment of our future, this price may perhaps be required sooner than we suppose, required even of us ourselves who are living now; “verily I say unto you, it shall be required _of this generation_.”—_Contemporary Review._ THE ECONOMIC EFFECT OF WAR. War is, of course, economically, purely destructive. The men employed produce nothing; the engines prepared are useless, except for killing; the money expended is most of it consumed on objects which can yield no direct return. Enormous quantities of food are wasted in transport, domestic animals are used-up in unproductive labor, and the men slain are necessarily among the strongest in the nation. Nevertheless, the economic loss of war is often not felt for a time; and it is probable that in the war supposed to be coming with Russia this will be the case to an unusual degree. Almost all the possessing classes, to begin with, will at first feel as if the war had made them less poor. Those of them who are lucky enough always to save, find all investments cheaper, which is to them as if their money had directly increased in power. Only six weeks ago you could not buy a solid security to pay quite four per cent., and to-day there are twenty to choose among. The possessing classes have been suffering from the fall in prices, and the fall in prices will cease. Already the owners of land are relieved of apprehension by a rise in the price of wheat which may be taken as equivalent in effect to a five-shilling protective duty; and the farmers, possibly misled by the tradition of former wars, look forward to a rise of at least double that. As the American supply will not be affected, and the Indian supply will be as good as ever, and every rise in price draws new supplies, they may possibly be disappointed; but imagination is a factor in trade, as in all other things governed by human minds, and the prices of things to eat will undoubtedly stiffen. The mere increase in the cost of sea-carriage will secure that; and this increase will be considerable, for a Government at war draws heavily on the surplus shipping for transport; and while freight