nations will shake it and them: on the one side the cry will be "priests and autocrats," "Saint George and the Dragon;" on the other, "God and man," "the Bible and the People." What then is our hope that this will be accomplished, and that it will be permanent?

The simple fact, that nations are beginning to feel their own strength, to know their own duties, and to appreciate the inalienable rights of man: and whether there be calamities of war or not, the progess is sure, and the results will be permanent; because resting not on mere physical force, and the suddenness of a shock of arms, or any temporary chances in the fortune of war; but first on the evident current of God's providence, and in the line of his revealed will: and, secondly, because it is based on ideas and intelligence, which are ever present workers, the perpetual motion of human sentiments; an intelligence and sentiment, that cannot be retarded or extinguished, because we have, what the ancients had not,-printing and steam, for preserving and communicating thought, and interchanging frequent hospitable intercourse amongst the nations; together with a Bible to print, which is slowly and steadily imbuing all literature with the truth, that "God hath made of one blood all nations of men," giving to all equal rights, as belonging to a common family, under "One God and Father of all."

Some indeed say, that intelligence and information, are no security against superstition and tyranny; since superstition has had many ornaments of genius and learning: this is the position maintained by one whose influence in literature is extensive. We should indeed despair if this were true: no doubt, a certain kind of education, a certain style of information and learning, may be connected with superstition, despotism and servility. The arts may flourish, where artifice is requisite; painting, sculpture, ecclesiastical architecture and shrine-making, may be carried to a very high pitch of refinement and splendour, amongst a people mentally degraded: but true knowledge; the knowledge of man's rights and dignity; the edu cation, not in shutting but in opening our eyes; the training of man's independent judgement, and inculcation of his freedom and responsibility :-this true knowledge, and free exercise of our faculties, must be the death-blow of all usurped authority. But to teach men classics, and tell them they may not read the Bible; to train them in refinements, and make them mentally effeminate; to engage them in a curious pursuit of history and antiquities, and teach them passive obedience to priests in all that concerns their real welfare, is to amuse men with toys, and retain them as children in the nursery of a pretended mother.

It is not this kind of intelligence on which we rely; for this is only a laborious ignorance and gilded imprisonment: but set the mind free, and tell men, they are children of God to learn from him, not infants of the priests to be put in their swaddling clothes, and rocked to sleep under the influence of their charmed drugs and opiates, then will they put away childish things, and arrive at the years of discretion,-"unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."(Eph. iv. 13.)

Let it be set down then, as a delusion and falsehood, to assert, that intelligence is no security against superstition.

The abettors of tyranny and priestcraft know well enough what is their

most fatal antagonist: hence the indexes of forbidden books, kept by the deceiving Romish priesthood; hence the first work of tyrants, is to gag the press; as the grand art of priests is to shut the Bible; or if they open it, to provide a sense in which it is to be read.

True knowledge of man's dignity, freedom, and responsibility to God, is therefore the security of our rights, and our defence against usurpation, the enemies of truth and freedom themselves being the judges.

WHAT THEN IS OUR DUTY ARISING OUT OF THE SIGNS OF THESE TIMES? It is that we should through ourselves and our influence, into the onward current of God's will and providence, in opposition to every form of delusion and oppression, that would dishonour God, in degrading man, God's highest handy-work.

To secure the fulfilment of this duty, we must see and hail the coming of Christ, the Great Emancipator; welcome him into our souls, and glorify him in our lives, lest "the kingdom of God be taken from us, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."

The Son must first make us free indeed, as we own and serve the true deliverer; and thus shall we be prepared to perform all social and public duties, as reading the signs of the times, we contribute our influence however small, to extend and uphold by every means, right principles; and secure a great combined moral force, as an army of the Lord, against injustice, falsehood, and oppression.

That as Christians, our public duties to the State, may ever tend to the security and liberty of mankind, as the road along which Christ will come: that our country may fulfil the command, to "make straight the way of the Lord;" by levelling all the mountains of usurpation which shut the Saviour out, and lifting up from the valley of oppression those who are forbidden to hear his words; that by all legitimate means, we, as a nation, may herald to the peoples of the earth the approach of their Saviour and King.

This method of action, by no means necessarily includes an appeal to arms; there is the same influence to be exerted between nations as between individuals: there are two methods of seeking the same ends, force and persuasion; it is the latter we propose: by this, and not by war, Kossuth was liberated; by this, Lord Palmerston at the suggestion of the Protestant alliance, prevailed upon a continental government but last month, to release from prison a man charged with distributing seditious, that is, religious publications. Let our country's moral influence be thus wielded, that since as a nation we have weight with others, the authority of our character, may win other nations to a humane and enlightened policy.

We seek not, therefore, as some would object, "to carry the Bible at the point of the bayonet," but rather to persuade those, who, by the bayonet exclude the Bible, to give it free passage, to refrain from oppressing men's conscience and so fighting against God.

We ask for the Bible a free passage; and whilst we force it on none, we would firmly protest against all obstructions,-against forcing men to give up the Bible;-against driving it away at the point of the bayonet.

Nor amidst all human means and persuasions, would we forget his providence who rules in the affairs of men, and turns even adverse pur

poses to good account; praying that he, whose footsteps are in the whirlwind and the storm, who by human conflicts and earthly passions, by the dark deeds and contrivances of the enemy of man, steadily and surely advances his kingdom; that this King, immortal and invisible, may interpose in behalf of the world: that we, seeing and acknowledging the hand of God, in human events, may even now behold amidst wars and rumours of wars, the presence of Christ in the storm, saying, "peace, be still," in a voice of authority that shall calm all disturbing elements, and proclaim him henceforth, visibly the King of nature, and of nations.

Let then his kingdom be in us, and by our influence around us, that it may go forth from our shores to fill the earth!

Let not the competitions of business, the necessities of labour, and the incitements of pleasure, rob us of the power of reading and thought; but let our minds be ever strengthened and our principles invigorated by intercourse with the great King; that, sanctified and pardoned by the great High Priest, and quickened by all human intelligence, we may offer on the altar of the gospel, devout allegiance, willing and effective service.

Let us not be turned aside from the cause of truth, by the hatred of its enemies, the coldness, desertion, jealousy, or rivalry of its friends: but serve Christ when he is in prison, in the apparent weakness of his cause, that he may acknowledge us, when he is enthroned, on the seat of victory prepared for him.

That to each one of us may be due the commendation of the poet ;

"I read that sitting like a looker on

Of this world's stage, thou not'st with critic pen,
The sharp dislikes of each condition.

And as one careless of suspicion,

Nor fawnest for the favour of the great,
Nor fearest foolish reprehension

Of faulty men, that danger to the threat;
But freely dost, of what thou list entreat,
Like a great lord of peerless liberty,
Lifting the good up to high honour's seat,
The ill condemning, evermore to die."

We cannot more appropriately conclude this estimate of the signs of the times, the appearances, hopes and duties of our age, than by quoting the following "Hymn of Faith and Hope" and a few sentences, by which it is introduced.

All "outcry with congratulation about the 'good time coming,' if there be no heavenliness, no belief in eternal thoughts, which only with grand slowness fulfil themselves, can be but an eager sanguine lust―never a solemn inspiring hope.

Let the good time' we desire on earth be a heavenly time, and the heaven we look for, be one that may now begin in the heart.

Then while working, as we hope and quietly wait, we shall sometimes sing

HYMN OF FAITH AND HOPE.*

Maker of worlds! of spirits Father!

Hear thou our utterance !

We live from thee:

And this to know and feel, oh, grant us! rather
Than that, in folly, we

Should joy in favouring chance

Or curse harsh destiny.

O God! thy great thoughts are as mountains,
Dark in their loftiness,

Mist-veiled they stand;

Far up, the trading rivers have their fountains,
The life-streams of the land;

Discovering winds we bless,

Which shew the outline grand.

Time is a dawn, for ever brightening
To its day of million years,

Thou, God, the sun;

Swift as the impetuous, divided lightning
Our vain thought hurries on ;

But to change all cloudy fears
The gold light hath begun.

Slow but sure-prospering her salvation,
Earth works out mediately,

Thy love the power;

And wisdom intricate, a fold each nation,
Each man, and every hour,

• Memorials of Theophilus Trinal, Student. By Thomas T. Lynch. (Longman, London.)

IV.

SCEPTICS' RELIGION.

Under this department, sceptical objections, and systems or principles advocated as hostile to Christianity, are dispassionately considered.

"THERE IS SOMETHING GOOD IN ALL RELIGIONS." To the Editor of the Bible and the People.

SIR, "THERE IS SOMETHING GOOD IN ALL RELIGIONS," such is the oracular and Catholic decision of those who do not take up with any particular religion; but reject each in turn, on the ground that there is something good in others.

Not having observed this particular defence of no religion, from the excellency of all religions remarked upon in your periodical; I beg to call your attention, and that of your readers, to this imposing fallacy, by which some deceive themselves, and some delude others. There is a specious (but truly spurious) charity in the sentiment which commends it to the well-meaning, whose feelings may have the better of their judgement, and which forms an excuse to the indolent for not exercising their own discretion, in the most important concerns.

It may perhaps be fairly questioned, whether if the sentiment were true, it would be of any value; and certainly it would be a very poor rule in any affairs of this life.

There is perhaps no character, and no scheme, which has not something good in it the worst of men, has his favourable features, but these should form no recommendation of his vices and crimes.

A slaveholder, may have something good in him,-hospitality, generosity and the domestic virtues; and still slavery may continue infamous: any form of government, even the most despotic, may upon the whole have some advantages over entire confusion and anarchy; but despotism is not therefore a good thing.

Stage coaches and canals, are good in their way, and performed excellent services to the public, yet a man who wishes to travel a hundred miles in a few hours, will find that railways are better: it would not be at all a pertinent observation, to remind him that there is some good in all methods of conveyance.

It is equally out of place to observe upon any set of opinions, whether relating to political principles, or anything else affecting the welfare of society, that there is some truth or good in them: since this is often the