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 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029646589 
 
Cornell University Library 
 ACS .Ci85 
 
 ^^^S!XiJJS!S!Pi^^"^^''- ' memorial volum 
 
 3 1924 029 646 589 
 
HTERARY REMimSCENOES 
 
 ^ Pmond tome, 
 
 OONTAiniNa 
 
 SELECTIONS FEOM THE PAPERS 
 
 SAMUEL HALLETT GRIFFITH, M.R.C:S. 
 
 EDITEP BY HIS BEOTHEE. 
 
 LONDON: 
 3|nntib for f libali Cihrtttlstion. 
 
 1860. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 RICHARD BABBKTT, PRINTER, 
 
 MARK LANE. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following pages are compiled in affectionate remem- 
 brance of a beloved, and now deeply lamented brother ; 
 and in presenting this memorial volume to our Mends, a 
 slight sketch of him we mourn may not be deemed in- 
 appropriate. 
 
 Samuel Hallett Griffith was bom at Bath, August 18th, 
 1819. Descended from godly ancestors and blessed with 
 pious parents, he was from childhood surrounded by reli- 
 gious influences, and early received and retained religfcus 
 impressions. ^Endowed with good natural abilities, and 
 possessing an excellent memory, he also early gave proofs 
 of those mental powers which, with diligence in study, 
 enabled him to pass with much honour through his scho- 
 lastic course, and, subsequently, as a student for the 
 medical profession. 
 
 He was educated at Mill Hill Grammar School, where 
 he attained the rank of head boy, won several prizes, and 
 obtained, in 1836, the gold medal, given by the old scholars 
 for the best English composition. While at Mill Hill he 
 publicly professed his faith in Christ, and was received as 
 a member of the church presided over by the Eev. William 
 Clayton. At this time he was summoned home to the 
 dying bed of his beloved mother, whose last moments 
 were cheered by the knowledge of her son's honourable 
 course of study, and yet more by his youthful consecration 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 to his Eedeemer. On leaving school, he entered the 
 establishment of the Eev. John Watson, as a theological 
 pupil, iwith a view to the Christian ministry ; but while 
 at home in the study of biblical literature, he did not feel 
 himself qualified for extemporary address. Hence, know- 
 ing that the success of the minister of the gospel depended 
 not only on consecration of heart; but also, in great mea- 
 sure, upon the style of address from the pulpit, in which 
 he feared he might fail, he relinquished his course of study 
 for the sacred office, and entered the medical profession. 
 
 At St. George's Hospital he obtained prizes and certi- 
 ficates of merit in nearly every department of study, 
 passed his examinations with honour, and immediately on 
 receiving his diplomas commenced medical practice in 
 Wolverhampton. Here he joined a literary circle, con- 
 nected with the Philosophical Institute, and on several 
 occasions read papers at the meetings of its members. 
 But *he friendships here formed were of short duration. 
 Scarcely had a twelvemonth elapsed, when the loss of one 
 whom he had fondly hoped would have been his dearest 
 earthly companion cast a shadow over all life's brightness. 
 Feeling that at home there would be desolation, he dis- 
 posed of his practice, and accepted' a medical appoihtment, 
 which took him to the East and West Indies. Eetum- 
 ing home in 1846, he shortly afterwards entered on pro- 
 fessional duties in London. From this period to his death 
 his course was a chequered one. His youthful hopes had 
 been blighted, and succeeding years brought other trials 
 to cloud and sadden his path, but which, doubtless, were 
 the discipline his Heavenly Father saw needful to fit him 
 for a better life beyond. Eeserved in manner, he was 
 intimately known to few, but by them he was ever regarded 
 as the kind, intelligent, and sympathizing friend. Having 
 a sound judgment, and quick apprehension of the various 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 aspects of a subject, his opinion was often sougbt, and the 
 needful counsel and assistance were ever promptly given. 
 
 While in London, our brother, besides preparing papers 
 for social literary meetings, contributed several articles to 
 the " Sunday at Home " and 'i Leisure Hour." Himself 
 a congregational dissenter, and member of the Church oi 
 Christ worshipping in Barbican Chapel, he was free from 
 all sectarian prejudices, and numbered among his Mends 
 and acquaintance several clergymen of the Established 
 Church. Through, this connection, he became a stated 
 contribntot to the "Church of England Monthly Eeview," 
 a periodical started in 1856, for the nlaintenance and 
 furtherance of Evangelical religion, as well as for the 
 expression of opinions- upon subjects of scientific and 
 general interest. A selection from these papers, together 
 with some contributions to the " Church of England 
 Magazine," wUl be found in the following' pages. 
 
 In the pursuance of these literary occupations and the 
 duties of his profession, time rolled on till 1859, when he 
 again went abroad as surgeon to the Joseph Fletcher, bound 
 for New Zealand and China. The outward voyage was 
 the means of re-establishing his health, which had been 
 for ^ome time failing, and the passage to New Zealand 
 was a singularly pleasant one. The utmost harmony and 
 good feeling prevailed on board, and" our brother won the 
 esteem of all by his constant attention to the wants and 
 comfort of the passengers ; and it was remarked that if 
 any were specially taken care of, they were to be found 
 among the second-cabin and steerage emigrants. He, 
 with others, conducted Divine service on the Sabbath, and 
 endeavoured, in many ways, to do good to those around 
 him. 
 
 Having spent about a ilionth in Auckland, exploring 
 the neighbourhood, and witnessing the settlement of some 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 of his fellow-passengers, he proceeded in the Joseph 
 Fletcher, with the captain and crew, towards Shanghae. 
 They passed the Caroline and Ladrone Islands, and were 
 just entering the China Sea near the Loochoo Isles, when 
 bad weather came on, apd either owing to a strong 
 ■ southerly current, or the island being inaccurately marked 
 in the chart, the vessel struck on Wukido, one of the 
 Loochoo group, about midnight of November 2nd, 1859. 
 The night was fearfully dark, and nothing remained but 
 to cling to the vessel, hoping she might hold together till 
 break of day. When dawn arrived, it was found that two 
 of their number" had j)erished during the night. For the 
 rest the only chance of escape was to sling themselves by 
 means of a rope on to the reef on which the vessel had 
 struck. The leap was a hazardous one, and all were more 
 or less injured in the attempt ; while our brother, who 
 remained tiU last, was struck by the ship's side, or carried 
 under by a wave. 
 
 In the afternoon, his body was washed- ashore, and in 
 that far-off land now lies interred, awaiting "the resur- 
 rection of the just. ' ' 
 
 " At rest from all the storms of life, and its night-watches drear, 
 Prom the tumultuous hopes of earth, and from its aching fear ; 
 Sacred and sainted now to u^ thy once familiar name, 
 High in thy sphere above as now, and yet in this the same. 
 Together do we wait and' watch, for that long-promised day. 
 When the voice that rends the tombs shall call, ' Arise, and come 
 
 My bride and my'redeemed, winter and night are past. 
 And the time of joy and singing is come to thee at last.' 
 When the family is gathered, and the Father's house complete, 
 And we, and thou belovM, in the Fathers smiles shall meet." 
 
 Slough, December, 1860. 
 
EDITOR'S NOTE. 
 
 Amongst the following papers some expressions were 
 inserted or altered to suit the associations of the probable 
 readers ; and many of the papers abridged to accommodate 
 the space allotted in the periodicals ; and the Editor of this 
 volume not having the manuscripts to refer* to, could only 
 compile them as they had previously appeared in print. 
 Were it not for this, some passages might have been different, 
 and many of the articles would have appeared with a more 
 finished conclusion. 
 
 Among the shorter papers, the former part appeared in 
 the pages of the " Sunday at Home," and those commencing 
 with the paper' on " Fire," in the " Church of England Maga- 
 zine." Hoping that his friends and any who may read these 
 pages, will derive pleasure and profit from their perusal, and 
 that all may hereafter unite in happy fellowship beyond the 
 reach of sin and death, they are now submitted with much 
 consciousness of haste and imperfection in the compilation. 
 
II^DEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ebugion of Geology 3 
 
 Celbstiai Sobneet ,... 21 
 
 Physical Gbographt 40 
 
 Ethnology .' 60 
 
 S4JJITAEY Ebpoem , 75 
 
 Sbcondaby Punishments .., •.. 94 
 
 Our Relations to THE Spikitual Would 109 
 
 Eelatiohb op Women to Society....' 137 
 
 London , 143 
 
 Dew : 159 
 
 Sleep ! 164 
 
 Sunday with the Blacks 169 
 
 Reteibutive Justice ". 173 
 
 GSHS •. 178 
 
 ^HB Soutbebn CJ(0S8 184 
 
 JohnBunyan's Wedding Poetion 188 
 
 Saoeed PilsaKs and Pillar Saints .' 193 
 
 FiEB , 197 
 
 Anointing- Oil 202 
 
 Ceown op Thoens 208 
 
 The Burning Bush ■ 213 
 
 Onwards , 218 
 
€<0)lfTmSlBT2€)Mg 
 
 
 1856-7. 
 
JlfHgion of (Seol00g. 
 
 " Between the word and the works of Crod there can be no actual 
 discrepancies, and the seeming ones are discernible only by the men 
 who see worst." — Hugh Millee. 
 
 " Mote-like they flicker in unsteady eyes, 
 And weakest his who best descries." 
 
 It is the province alike of reason and religion, to expect 
 and to admit the fnllest harmony between the works and 
 the word of God. The former attest his existence and 
 attributes ; their light, however, dim and distant, will lead 
 us on, if diligently traced, to the high Source from which 
 it emanates. The latter, with an authority we dare not 
 repudiate or resist, not merely proclaims whence it cfeme, 
 but reveals to us all it concerns us to know or becomes us 
 to believe. 
 
 Now, if the volumes of nature and revelation are written 
 by the same hand, unerring in wisdom as well as Almighty 
 in power, they must present the same characters, utter the 
 same language, fulfil the same designs. The writing may 
 be obscure, or our interpretation may be erroneous, but it 
 is impossible that the testimony itself should be conflicting 
 and contradictory. To suppose that the sacred writers 
 were guilty of ignorance, or mistake, or misrepresentation, 
 as to any law or phenomenon of the material universe, 
 would be to dishonour Him by whom they were fully and 
 continually inspired. Or to suppose that God's works 
 and ways, word and will, were altogether beyond the 
 capacity of his intelligent and immortal, reasonable and 
 responsible, creature man, would be inconsistent with the 
 Divine goodness, and derogatory to the just claims of 
 human nature. It is our highest honour if our eyes are 
 opened to behold the wonders of God's word, and it should 
 be our exalted happiness to take pleasure in his works, 
 
 b2 
 
4 RELIGION OF GEOLOGY. 
 
 and carefully to seek them out. Based on the took of 
 eternal truth, and bathed in the sunshine of infinite 
 wisdom, the Bible summons all to explore it, challenges 
 any to overturn it, invites the exactest scrutiny, dreads 
 not the rudest assaults. Yet are there difficulties, which 
 may sorely exercise our reverent research, if they do not 
 elude our feeble and finite grasp. 
 
 No portion, perhaps, of Holy Writ, is involved in greater 
 perplexity than the opening verses of the Pentateuch-^a 
 perplexity which has been much increased, if it has not 
 been mainly induced, by the disclosures of geology. This 
 science, slowly and laboriously built up on persevering 
 investigation, cautious inference, and legitimate analogy, 
 is entitled, so far as it has gone, to the same confidence as 
 any other branch of natural philosophy or history. The 
 field of inquiry is comparatively modern ; the Geological 
 Society of London has not completed the fiftieth year of 
 its existence ; but a mass of evidence irrefragably proves 
 that this globe had been fulfilling its course, had been 
 the birthplace and the tomb of successive generations of 
 organized beings for countless ages before the ' ' Lord God 
 formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into 
 his nostrils the breath of life ; and put him into the garden 
 of Edea, to dress it and to keep it." The facts of science 
 it is unplulosophioal to reject, the authenticity of the Mosaic 
 record it is unchristian to deny ; how may the two be 
 reconciled without doing violence to either ? The age of 
 prejadice and sarcasm has, we hope, gone by. We may 
 regret that the amiable Cowper should have gilded with 
 his genius the bitter taunt : — 
 
 "Some drill and bore 
 The solid earth, and from the strata there 
 Extract a register, by which we learn 
 That He who made it, and revealed its date 
 To Moses, was mistaken in its age." 
 
 But there was a time when geology was tortured by the 
 enemies of rehgion into their unholy service. And some 
 of the professed friends and champions of revelation have 
 involved themselves and the subject in ridicule by their 
 perverted ingenuity and illogical conclusions. 
 
RELIGION OP GEOLOGY. 5 
 
 We cannot agree with those who would treat the first 
 chapter of Genesis as mythic ahd poetic, fabulous and 
 figurative. We believe it to be simple narrative and 
 historic truth, as worthy of credence as any of the other 
 descriptive portions of the Pentateuch. On various theories 
 which have at times prevailed, we scarcely think it requisite 
 to linger : those, for instance, which maintained that the 
 fossiliferous rocks, with all their remains, were created 
 originally and at once as we now find them ; or those 
 which contended that the whole series of fossil-bearing 
 strata were deposited by the deluge of Noah ; or those, 
 more reasonable, but yet untenable, which supposed that 
 the secondary rocks were formed during the sixteen hun- 
 dred years intervening between the creation and the deluge. 
 In the age preceding and accompanying the Eeformation, 
 it was a favourite opinion of Christian philosophers that 
 fossil forms were mere sports of nature, or that "fatty 
 matter set into fermentation by heat" gave birth to them. 
 A celebrated Italian anatomist conceived that petrified 
 shells acquired their shapes from "the tumultuous move- 
 ments of terrestrial exhalation." So lately as 1677, our 
 countryman, Dr. Plot, in his Natural History of Oxford- 
 shire, attributed to a "plastic virtue latent in the earth" 
 the origin of fossil shells and fishes. And within a com- 
 paratively recent period this strange hypothesis has been 
 revived. The second theory, which assigned such immense 
 and indefinite results to Noah's flood, was that which long 
 and largely obtained as the orthodox creed, and was as 
 earnestly contended for as any acknowledged article of 
 Christian faith. To the third theory we have enumerated, 
 an intelligent writer of our own day, Mr. Sharon Turner, 
 would seem to give the sanction of his opinion. 
 
 " The interval to the deluge was at least sixteen hundred and fifty 
 years, and therefore the Mosaic record allows that space of time for 
 all the formations between the primordial and the tertiary. The violent 
 changes which occurred at the diluvlan ruin seem to be most connected 
 with the tertiary geology." 
 
 But let us approach the record itself, and inquire what 
 lessons it actually conveys. We have, first, a general 
 proposition, "In the beginning Grod created the heaven 
 
D RELIGION OF GEOLOGY. 
 
 and the earth." Secondly, a description of the state the 
 earth thus created by -God originally or subsequently 
 assumed. It was "without form and void," waste and 
 unfurnished. Thirdly, a commencing or continued agency 
 of organization or renewal. "The Spirit of God moved" 
 (or brooded) "upon the face of the waters." Fourthly, 
 a detailed narration of the arrangement of the earth during 
 six demiurgic periods, days or durations, by fitting its 
 atmospherical and physical condition, and filling it with 
 veget^,ble and animal life, that it might be a residence 
 suited for man, the last and best of the beings formed. 
 "And" (or afterwards) "God said, Let there be light, 
 and there was light ;" and so on, until " God saw every- 
 thing that he had made, and behold it was very good. 
 And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." 
 Lastly, a cessation of creative work, and the institution 
 of a day of rest, to which, unlike the periods of activity 
 which preceded it, no limits are assigned. Then, after 
 men had lived and multiplied and died, and nine long 
 generations Ijad passed away, a flood of waters was sent, 
 in the days of Noah, to destroy for their wickedness the 
 inhabitants of the earth. We will not further allude to 
 this deluge, or discuss the question as to its universality, 
 or the changes it may have effected, but will only express 
 our unqualified opinion, that an inundation of one hundred 
 and fifty days, however extensive or destructive, was totally 
 inadequate to strew those ruins, and store those relics of 
 the ancient world, which have popularly been assigned 
 to it. 
 
 Having cursorily reviewed the Mosaic record, we may 
 dwell on those points which appear of peculiar and pro- 
 minent importance. The first verse of Genesis, we have 
 every reason to believe, is a distinct and independent state- 
 ment. The book which is to announce the character of 
 God, as the Preserver and the Eedeemer, and to unfold 
 the methods of his government and grace, opens with a 
 declaration of his eternity and omnipotence. It proclaims 
 him as the Creator of the universe by his power and 
 wisdom, in opposition to any vain conceits of the eternity 
 or self-existence of matter, or the fortuitous concourse of 
 atoms into one vast and causeless whole. The language 
 
RELIGION OF aBOLOGY. 7 
 
 is as indefinite as language can be. "In the begirming." 
 "Thou, Lord, in the beginning, hast laid the foundation of 
 the earth, and the heayens are the works of thine hands." 
 There was a time far beyond our power to fathom — or 
 rather a, period of eternity, for time had not begun — ^when 
 He who is, was, and was alone ; as there will be a period 
 in eternity to come, when He is to~be, after the heavens 
 shall have passed away, and the earth and all its works 
 shall have been burned up. 
 
 How sublime the idea of the ever-living God ! and how 
 far more in harmony with all we can conceive of his in- 
 finite attributes, that for age upon age He should have 
 been the Framer and Sustainer of worlds, the Author and 
 Giver of life, than that He should have delayed the exet- 
 cise of his creative power till just six thousand years ago, 
 when it pleased Him to introduce a new order of beings, 
 capable of rendering Him intelligent service, but alone also 
 capable of offending Him by wilful sin ! The creation here 
 described we believe to have been the origLaal formation of 
 the physical universe, not its remodelling or renovation 
 out of pre-existing matter. "Through faith we under- 
 stand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, 
 so that things which are seen were not made of things 
 which do appear." Elsewhere the creative act is ascribed 
 to the eternal Son, the Word, the Wisdom of God. And 
 if, instead of adopting the opinion that the agent which 
 moved upon primeval chaos was the wind of heaven, 
 or the breath of God's mouth, we believe with our great 
 poet that the Eternal Spirit 
 
 " From the first 
 "Was present, and with mighty wings outspread. 
 Dove-like sat brooding on the vast abyss, 
 And made it pregnant" — 
 
 we have a recognition of the three Persons of the God- 
 head, associated in creation as in redemption. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that the Hebrew noun, Elohim, 
 God — not singular or dual, but plural, implying at least a 
 triad as to number — ^is united with a verb in the singular. 
 Hence this first chapter of Genesis is appointed as a lesson 
 on that festival of the church, when, "by the confession 
 of a true faith, we acknowledge the glory of the eternal 
 
8 EELIGION OF GEOLOGY. 
 
 Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty we worship 
 the Unity." 
 
 Nor is the explanation we haye given recondite or con- 
 strained. If we take a parallel proposition, "/« the 
 beginning was the Word," would anyone imagine nohigher 
 antiquity was here intended than that through which St. 
 Luke traces the genealogy of Christ, from Joseph his 
 putative father, as man, up to Adam the son of God? 
 Or if we turn from the &st utterance of the holy oracles 
 that fell upon mortal ears, to the fading accents of the 
 apocalyptic testimony, that shuts and seals the book of 
 Kfe, if the beginning can be dated back no further than 
 the six days preceding the birth of man, then may we 
 wonder that the prophecy, "Surely I come quickly," has 
 not long since been fulfilled. Accordingly, we find that 
 those who have contended for the recent formation of the 
 earth, have been equally persuaded of its early dissolution. 
 In the times of medieval ignorance, it was not uncommon 
 for the title-deeds of monastic lands to commence with 
 some such preamble as "appropinquantemundi termino," 
 or " appropinquante magno judicii die." The belief in the 
 independent and indefinite character of the first verse of 
 Genesis is no new hypothesis, framed to reconcile science 
 with Scripture. It was held by ancient fathers and modem 
 reformers, and adopted by commentators before geology 
 had made known its wonders. In support of the opinion, 
 more or less modified, we may adduce the testimony oif 
 several eminent writers of our own day. Our venerable 
 primate says, in his treatise on the Records of Creation : — 
 
 "According to the Mosaic history, we are bound to admit, that only 
 one general destruction or revolution of the globe has taken place 
 since the period of that creation which Moses records, and of which 
 Adam and Eve were the first inhabitants. But we are not called upon 
 to deny the possible existence of previous worlds, from the wreck of 
 which our globe was organized,,and thd ruins of which are now furnish- 
 ing matter to our curiosity. The belief of their existence, is, indeed, 
 consistent with rational probability, and somewhat confii'med by the 
 discoveries of astronomy, as to the plurality of. worlds." 
 
 We quote again from the Dean of Westminster's in- 
 augural lectm'e, entitled VindicicB Geologicce: — 
 
 " As far as it goes, the Mosaic account is in perfect harmony with 
 
RELIGION OP GEOLOGY. 9 
 
 the disoOTeries of modem science. If geology goes further, and shows 
 that the present system of this planet is built on the wreck and ruin 
 of one more ancient, there is nothing in this inconsistent with the 
 Mosaic declaration, that the whole material universe was created in 
 the beginning by ihe Almighty ; and though Moses confines the detail 
 of his history to the preparation of this globe for the reception of the 
 humein race, he does not deny the prior existence of another system 
 of things, of which it was qtiite foreign to his purpose to make men- 
 tion, as having no reference to the destiny or to the moral conduct of 
 created man." 
 
 Thirdly, we refer to the Rev. Professor Sedgwick's Dis- 
 course on the Studies of the University of Cambridge : — 
 
 " The Bible instructs us that man has been placed but a few years 
 upon the earth ; and the physical monuments of the world bear wit- 
 ness to the same truth. If the astronomer tells us of myriads of 
 worlds not spoken of in the sacred record, the geologist, in like 
 manner, proves that there were former conditions of our planet, 
 separated from each other by vast intervals of time, during which 
 man, and the other' creatures of his own date, had not been caUed 
 into being. Periods such as these belong not, therefore, to the moral 
 history of our race, and come neither within the letter nor the spirit 
 of revelation. Between the first creation of the earth, and that day 
 in which it pleased Gtod to place man upon it, who shall dare to define 
 the interval ? On this question Scripture is silent ; but that silence 
 destroys not the meaning of those physical monuments of his power 
 that Grod has put before our eyes, giving us, at the same time, faculties 
 whereby we may interpret them and comprehend their meaning. We 
 must consider the old strata of the earth as monument of a date long 
 anterior to the existence of man, and to the times contemplated in 
 the moral records of his creation. In this view there is no ooUision 
 between physical and moral truth." 
 
 And Mr. Sharon Turner admits : — 
 
 "What interval occurred between the first creation of the material 
 substance of our globe, and the mandate for light to descend upon 
 it — ^whether months, years, or ages — is not in the slightest degree 
 noticed. ; Geology may shorten or extend its duration as it may find 
 proper."' 
 
 Another or additional mode suggested for reconciling 
 the Mosaic cosmogony with the evidence of its higher 
 antiquity afforded by the earth itself, is by supposing that 
 the periods of creative agency were not literal days, but 
 long undefined durations. The word "day," in the genius 
 of all languages, admits of this secondary and extended 
 
10 RELIGION OP GEOLOGY. 
 
 application, and elsewhere in Scripture it is so employed. 
 There is also a remarkable general coincidence between 
 the successive formations of organized life described by 
 Moses and their buried exuviae, from beneath upwards, 
 laid bare by the researches of geology. By some writers 
 this analogy has been pushed ingeniously, though fanci- 
 fully, into particular and critical details, this minute 
 comparison, however, will lead to inconsistencies and 
 absurdities ; and ,the mission of Moses was to reveal 
 moral truth, not to unfold the mysteries of natural 
 science. It may plausibly be urged in support of this 
 theory, that God's day of sabbatic rest was not an 
 ordinary day ; that, so far as we can learn from Scrip- 
 ture and observation, our world still shares its blessed- 
 ness ; and that it will not close until the consummation of 
 the present economy, and the advent, of the "new heavens 
 and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." The 
 theory has been maintained, both by theologians and by 
 men of science. M. de Luc, an eminent continental 
 philosopher, has thus stated it : — 
 
 . "En effet il y a bien apparenoe que lorsque Moyse nous rapporte 
 I'ouvrage des six jours, ce n'est pas de six fois vingt-quatre de nos 
 heui'es qu'a veut parler. II semble que les jours de la cr&tion ne 
 signifient que des p^riodes. Le terns n'est rien pour la Divinity ; et 
 les Slides ne sont que des instans dans la duree de I'uniTers. On 
 croit, done, pouvoir allonger ces pSriodes au besoin, sans s'eoarter du 
 rcoit de Moyse ; pourvfl. que dans les dififerens progrfes de la formation 
 de I'univers, on n'intervertisse pM I'ordre de ces jours, tels que cat 
 historien sacrS les rapporte." 
 
 Our countryman, Mr. Bakewell, has also suggested it,^ 
 in his work on Geology : — 
 
 "In the institutes of Menu, which, according to Sir William Jones, 
 are nearly as ancient as the writings of Moses, the account of the six 
 days of creation so closely resembles that given in Genesis, that it is 
 scarcely possible to doubt its being derived from the same patriarchal 
 communication. There is, however, a particular definition given of 
 the word day, as applied to the creation, and it is expressly stated 
 to be a period of several thousand years. If this interpretation be 
 admitted, it will remove the difficulty that some have felt in recon- 
 ciling the epochs of creation with the six days mentioned by Moses. 
 The six days in which Oreative Energy renovated the globe, and called 
 into existence different classes of animals, will imply six successive 
 
RELIGION OF GEOLOGY. 11 
 
 epochs of indefinite duration. The absence of huifian bones in stratified 
 rocks, or in undisturbed beds of gravel or clay, indicate that man, the 
 most perfect of terrestrial beings, was not created tiU after those great 
 reTolutions, which buried many different orders and entire genera of 
 animals deep under the present surface of the earth." 
 
 But the fullest e3;position of these views we have met 
 with is that given by an able minister of the English 
 Church, the Eev. George Stanley Faber, in his Treatise 
 on the Patriarchal, Levitical, and Christian Dispensations. 
 He commences with the proposition : — 
 
 " That the six demiurgic days, instead of being nothing more than 
 six natural solar days, were each a period of very considerable length, 
 may be proved, partly by analogy of language, partly by the very 
 necessity of the narrative, partly by ancient tradition, and partly (and 
 that most decisively) by the discoveries of modem physiologists." 
 
 He then contends that as the seventh day, or Divine 
 Sabbath, has already lasted six millenaries, each of the 
 six days of creation must have been at least of equivalent 
 length. Moreover, that it appears from the Mosaic narra- 
 tive (the Lord God made every plant of the field before 
 it was in the eartH, and every herb of the field before it 
 grew), God created the vegetable family in the condition 
 of seed previous to germination ; whence, if the six days 
 were ordinary days, graminivorous animals must have 
 perished of himger, as in the course of nature, seeds 
 committed to the earth on the third day, could not by 
 the fifth or sixth days have produced fruits or herbage fit 
 for food. He, lastly, thinks it the only or best way of 
 getting over the difficulty, that fossil remains could not 
 have been the results of the deluge, and reduces his argu- 
 ment to this dilemma : — 
 
 "We have our choice of two theories. The one is, that the six days 
 are six periods each of immense length, and that in the course of these 
 six periods the universal organization of cnide matter was effected. 
 The other is, that a very wide organization of crude matter took place 
 prior even to the first of the six days ; that the six days themselves 
 are six natural days ; and that, during their lapse, was effected that 
 subsequent organization, of which alone in his cosmogony Moses is to 
 be understood as treating. Of these two theories I have adopted the 
 first ; and the reason of my preference is, becaxise it quadrates at once 
 both with the actually ascertained order of fossil stratifi(iation, and 
 with the most obvious interpretation of the sacred narrative." 
 
12 nELIGION OF GEOLOGY. 
 
 Whichever alternatiye we adopt, however, there is much 
 requiring explanation. If it be urged that the language 
 of the fourth commandment proves the days of creation to 
 have been ordinary days, we may again refer to what has 
 been said as to the duration of God's day of rest; or we 
 may bring forward that summary of the Mosaic narrative, 
 "These are the generations of the heavens and of the 
 earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord 
 God made the earth and the heavens." If, again, it be 
 contended that the demiurgic periods were literal days, 
 because spoken of as having evenings and mornings, we; 
 would reply, that if the whole day lave a metaphorical 
 sense, the words which express its portions or divisions 
 must be allowed a similar usage. If we believe the first 
 verse to be a distinct announcement, and the six days 
 periods of twenty-four hours, how are we to reconcile the 
 comprehensive declaration, ' ' In the beginning God created 
 the heaven and the earth"— that is, the physical universe — 
 with the subsequent statement, that on the fourth day God 
 made the sun, and moon, and stars, and set them in the 
 expanse, to give light upon the earth? Or how could 
 there have been three days, in the ordinary sense, before 
 the formation of the sun, to our dependence on whidh 
 alone are we indebted for the distinction of day and night? 
 Here, to repress irreverent doubt, or avoid inextricable 
 difficulties, we must revise our authorized translation of 
 the Holy "Word, and presume the meaning to really be, 
 "Let lights be, or serve, in the expanse of heaven, for 
 distinguishing between day and night ; and let them serve 
 for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years." The 
 sacred historian evidently speaks — ^not of the first forma- 
 tion of the heavenly bodies, but of their direction or deter- 
 mination to certain uses which they were to render to the 
 earth. Moreover, if we consider a long succession of 
 vegetable and animal organisms to have existed before 
 the demiurgic days commenced, what do we make of the 
 assertion, that on the first of these days light was created? 
 Prom all we know of the necessary influence of light on 
 the growth of vegetables, we must, from analogy, infer 
 that it was equally essential to the luxuriant vegetation 
 of former epochs of our earth. We also meet with the 
 
RELIGION OF GEOLOGY. 13 
 
 petrified remains of eyes in animals, of various and very 
 distant geological formations ; and where the eyes them- 
 selves have not been preserved, the cavities which con- 
 tained them remain, with the channels for the passage of 
 the nerves of sight. Prom our most approved theories of 
 the nature of light, that it is not a substance, but an 
 attribute of matter, a series of undulations of an elastic 
 medium, we can more easily conceive that on the first day 
 it was called into action, than that it was created. Dr. 
 Buckland, in his Bridgewater Treatise, has given this 
 explanation : — 
 
 "If we suppose all the heavenly bodies and the earth to have been 
 created at the indefinitely distant time designated by the word 'be- 
 ginning,' and that the darkness described on the evening of the first 
 day was a temporary darkness, produced by an accumulation of dense 
 ■vapours upon the fece of the deep, an incipient dispersion of these 
 vapours may have re-admitted light to the earth upon the first day, 
 whilst the exciting cause of light was still obscured, and the further 
 purification of the atmosphere upon the fourth day may have caused 
 the sun, and moon, and stars to re-appear in the firmament of heaven, 
 to assume their new relations to the newly-modified earth, and to the 
 human race." 
 
 To follow out the Dean's argument, we may suppose the 
 floating upwards of these mists, or their conversion into 
 clouds, to have effected that separation of the waters above 
 from the waters beneath the firmament, which we read of 
 as the work of the second day. The word heaven must 
 here have a different meaning from its usage in the first 
 verse. According to the Hebrews there were three 
 heavens. The first is that immediately above us, where 
 clouds move and birds fly ; the second is the starry 
 heaven ; and the third is the habitation of the angels, 
 and the seat of God's glory. If the original creation 
 included the whole system of worlds, celestial and ter- 
 restrial, visible and invisible, the heaven afterwards spoken 
 of as synonymous with the firmament must be restricted 
 to our own atmosphere. This, on the second day, was 
 clearly defined by the volumes of watery vapour having 
 risen into it, there to be grouped into buoyant and 
 beauteous wreaths, and veils, and masses of clouds, and 
 then received its popular name. So the work of the third 
 
14 reIjIgion of geology. 
 
 day was the limitation and arrangement of the relative 
 positions of land and water, after the numerous inter- 
 changes of preceding ages, and their subsidence into their 
 present boundaries. On the other hand, presuming that 
 the days were periods, we must believe the earth to have 
 long been one shoreless ocean, until, by volcanic agency, 
 the dry land was raised above its level. " "Thou coveredst 
 it with the deep as with a garment : the waters stood 
 above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled ; at the 
 voice of thy thunder they hasted away." But on this 
 theory we are almost driven to conclude, that when Moses 
 describes the creation of plants, or marine animals, or 
 birds, or quadrupeds, he intends all of each kind that 
 ever were or should be formed ; that the demiurgic periods 
 are to comprise the whole series of developments, inorganic 
 and organic, that occurred from the beginning of the earth 
 to the birth of man. How inconsistent is this with the 
 fact, that the fossil remains of the secondary rocks are of 
 totally distinct species from those now living, and that in 
 the tertiary strata the proportion of recent or still existing 
 species is but small to that of the extinct, and progres- 
 sively advances as we approach the most modem deposits. 
 If the days are not protracted periods, we must presume 
 that Moses makes no mention of those successive evolu- 
 tions of life, of which, had geology not taught them us, 
 we should have never known ; but that he confines him- 
 self to that present order of animated existencies, which 
 were put in subjection to man as the lord of creation, and 
 the visible representative of moral and intellectual power. 
 
 We must remember that much of the obscurity of the 
 Mosaic narrative arises from its very brevity and sim- 
 plicity; It has a sublimity worthy of its Author, and is 
 strictly limited to those ends for which revelation was 
 designed, far removed as they are from gratifying any 
 idle curiosity, or informing us as to those mysteries of 
 philosophy which afifect not our moral or spiritual interests. 
 It has been thought by some able and excellent men, that 
 what Moses gives is, as it were, a pictorial representation 
 of creative work, in which God appears in the character 
 of a builder, who accomplishes what he undertakes by 
 easy and progressive stages, and on each consecutive day 
 
RELIGION OF GEOLOGY. 15 
 
 performs some separate portion of the allotted task. The 
 whole is written in a popular condescending style, adapted 
 to the rude understandings of the people to whom it was 
 first addressed, and suited to the comprehensions of plain, 
 unlearned men of every age. In the highway of God's 
 Word, the wayfarers, though fools, shall not err. Accord- 
 ing to this suggestion, the picture of the sacred historian, 
 like that of a great painter, is a description of truth indeed, 
 yet not presented with literal exactness, or mathematical 
 accuracy, but in a graphic, striking form, that should 
 interest and impress the perusers. Or, rather, instead 
 of having one picture, we have six, in which, as in the 
 moving scenes of a panorama, the successiye steps of 
 creation are portrayed. It may be said, that this is to 
 treat what Moses wrote as allegory rather than history ; 
 but if so, it is at least admitted to be a Divine allegory, 
 given in that form through compassion and consideration 
 for the ignorance and weakness of the recipients of the in- 
 spired record. This is very different from the rationaUstic 
 or sceptical hypothesis, that Moses is merely drawing from 
 his own fancy, or from the traditions of his countrymen. 
 
 On the whole, it would seem most in unison with pro- 
 bability; that the six days of creation were natural or solar 
 days, and that what the sacred historian implies is, such 
 a renovation or reconstitution of the economy of matter, 
 as would be in harmony with its commencing subjection to 
 the development and dominion of mind. A new era was 
 to be inaugurated ; creatures were to be formed in the 
 likeness of God; the chain that for countless ages had 
 bound together the fabric of this earth was to be broken 
 by the power that wove it, and a link of higher lustre and 
 more enduring brightness introduced. The tabernacle of 
 the Most High was to descend, and the spot to receive it 
 must be swept and garnished. But there was to be no 
 abrupt or sudden transition ; no violent convulsion to 
 mark the change of dynasties. Silently and slowly had 
 race succeeded race, since earth first drew from her prolific 
 stores ; and when the latest bom and noblest of her chil- 
 dren came to close the long array, we have no reason for 
 believing that there was any rude inversion of pre-existing 
 laws. Those who speak of our inheriting the wreck and 
 ruins of an ancient world must do so figuratively. Those 
 
16 HELIUION OF GEOLOGY. 
 
 plants and animals which immediately preceded us are 
 still our contemporaries, and between them and us was 
 no middle state of chaos and confusion. The chain of 
 being was to be interrupted in so far as this, that not 
 merely, as had previously happened, was the structure to 
 be more complicated, the organization more complete, but 
 the living, the moving, the feeling, was to give place to 
 the intellectual, the moral, the spiritual. No new creature 
 has arisen, no new character has been introduced, since 
 man's first entrance on the stage ; but before the curtain 
 could rise on an act of such majesty and meaning, an 
 adjustment of the machinery was needed. The occasion 
 was worthy, and the Divinity must interfere. On the 
 future purposes our plailet may subserve, we hazard no 
 conjecture. Whether, in the councils of the Most High, 
 it is destined for the residence of beings nobler than 
 ourselves, under an economy more wondrous and more 
 glorious than that in which our lot is placed, is beyond 
 the scope of revelation to announce, or of reason to infer. 
 Suffice it, that we know it has hitherto passed tha-ough 
 successive courses of advancement, until, in the fulness 
 of God's time. He adapted it as the scene of our pro- 
 bationary career. 
 
 Yet, while we claim for our earth a very high antiquity, 
 we presume not to fix its absolute age. Fossil remains 
 have been beautifully called the medals of creation. Like 
 medals, we can arrange them in our cabinets, and refer 
 this to the Silurian, that to the Devonian, system ; some 
 to the lias or the chalk ; others to a definite division of 
 the tertiary strata. But they present not, as medals do, 
 any image or inscription, whereby we can assign them to 
 any era or epoch to be computed by human chronology. 
 The attempt has been made to determine what no one can 
 ascertain ; the children of earth have vainly sought to raise 
 the veil which hides the secrets of her history. Analogy 
 is our only clue ; conjecture the only reward to our re- 
 search. M. Boubee, a French professor of geology, con- 
 ceding that the world is not eternal, concluded that, to 
 produce the various formations presented to us, it must be 
 at least three hundred thousand years old. This duration 
 he divided into four stages. (1). The primitive state of 
 incandescence, when the atmosphere was aU on fire, from 
 
THE RELIGION OF aEOLOGY. 17 
 
 which it gradually cooled, sixty thousand years. (2.) The 
 &st appearance of organized beings, plants, and aquatic 
 animals, and the formation of the coal beds, and the ex- 
 tinction and successive creation of these organised beings, 
 two hundred thousand years. (3.) The appearance of 
 land animals, increasing progression of the organic king- 
 dom, and decrease of the inorganic, thirty thousand years. 
 (4.) An universal deluge, after which he placed the first 
 appearance of human beings, an epoch of eight thousand 
 years. "We give this as a sample of what has been thought 
 and written on a subject so obscure ; at the same time we 
 believe that facts, as they are now interpreted, require a 
 much more extended antiquity than even this. We think 
 this position would be confirmed by the researches of 
 astronomy, on which, at present, our limits will not allow 
 us to enter. 
 
 But if we abandon unprofitable speculation, we may, in 
 the spirit of the truest philosophy, observe the changes 
 now in progress, similar to those which have, in former 
 ages, bequeathed to us their traces and their testimony, 
 and thence obtain some data from which to argdfe. Such 
 are, the effects of water — ^the excavating and transporting 
 power of rivers, the formation of deltas, the denuding and 
 carrying agency of waves and currents, the waste of sea 
 cliffs, the deposition of sediments ; the effects of fire^ — 
 volcanoes and earthquakes, the elevation aiid subsidence 
 of dry land or of the bed of the sea ; the construction of 
 coral reefs and islands. We will give a few illustrations 
 of the evidence thus afforded, with a view rather to their 
 relative value than to their intrinsic interest or importance. 
 
 To take, for instance, the reproductive agency of rivers. 
 At the Mediterranean mouth of the Ehone, Notre Dame 
 des Ports, a harbour in 898, is now a league from the 
 shore; Psalmodi, an island in 815, is now two leagues 
 from the sea ; and several old lines of towers and sea- 
 marks occur at different distances from the present coast, 
 all indicating the successive retreat of the sea. From the 
 northernmost point of the gulf of Trieste, down to the 
 south of Ravenna, there is an uninterrupted series of recent 
 accessions of land more than a hundred miles in length, 
 which, within the last two thousand years, have increased 
 
18 THE RBLIGION OF GEOLOGY. 
 
 from two to twenty miles in breadth. Adria was a seaport 
 in the time of Augustus, giving its name to the gulf ; it 
 is now about twenty Italian miles inland. Ravenna was 
 also a seaport, and is now about four Italian miles inland. 
 The delta of the Nile has been considerably modified since 
 the days of the ancients. Pharos, an island of old, .now 
 belongs to the continent. Lake Mareotis, and the canal 
 connecting it with the Canopio branch of the Nile, have 
 become dry. In 1243, Damietta was on the sea, with a 
 good harbour ; it is now a mile inland. On data such as 
 fiiese calculations have been based. An Italian hydro- 
 grapher imagined that it would require a thoiisand years 
 for the sediment carried down by all the running water on 
 the globe to raise the general level of the sea about one 
 foot. Others think this an insufficient estimate. It has 
 been calculated that the deposit from the Ganges would 
 take thirteen thousand six hundred years to raise the area 
 it inundates three hundred feet ; and this is much less 
 than the thickness of theiiuviatile strata that have already 
 been bored through at Calcutta. 
 
 Then as to the destructive power of water. The coast 
 of Yorkshire has lost a mile in breadth since the Norman 
 conquest, and more than two miles since the occupation of 
 York by the Romans. Where were formerly towns and 
 villages, are now sandbanks in the sea. In the middle of 
 the fourteenth century, Ravenspee was a rival to Hull, a 
 port of historical importance ; sands, dry at low water, 
 now mark its site. Prom careful inquiries made at Niagara, 
 Sir Charles Lyell concludes it would have taken thirty- 
 five thousand years for the retreat of the falls from the 
 Queenstown heights to their present site. The idea of 
 perpetual and progressive waste is palpable to all beholders, 
 and it is reasonable to suppose that the whole ravine below 
 has been excavated, in a similar way, by causes now in 
 operation, whose effects have been observed and estimated. 
 Yet, as Lyell most, truly observes — 
 
 " It may be safely affirmed tiat the quantity of igneous and 
 aqueous action, of voloailio eruption and denudation, of subterraneous 
 movement and sedimentary deposition, not only of past ages, but of 
 one geological epoch, has exceeded immeasurably all the fluctuations 
 of the inorganic world which have been witnessed by man." 
 
THE HELIGION OF GEOLOGY. '19 
 
 If from these objects of present observation, the marks 
 and memorials of historic age, we survey the physica;! 
 monuments of the dateless and unwritten past, ere man 
 had lived and left his impress, how stupendous the 
 contrast, how far beyond our feeble powers to compare, 
 or calculate, or comprehend 1 Here we have strata upon 
 strata, thousands upon thousands of feet in thickness, 
 slowly deposited and consolidated ; not rudely engulfing 
 and confusedly heaping the torn and shattered remains, 
 but delicately sheatlung and carefuUy preserving the 
 minutest outlines, of successive generations of plants and 
 animals, separated from each other by distant intervals 
 and widely-differing atmospherical and geographical con- 
 ditions ; through a countless series of alternate states of 
 disturbance and repose, elevation and depression, sub- 
 mergence beneath the sea, or emergence into dry land. 
 And when we have explored the whole progressive struc- 
 ture, from the highest tertiary beds to the lowest palaeozoic 
 rocks, we then have only reached the " foundations of the 
 world," the " perpetual hills," the unstratified granite 
 basement, which for ages yet to take in the account must 
 have been in preparation for supporting organic life. In 
 the eloquent language of Dr. Harris, author of the Pre- 
 Adamite Earth : — 
 
 " Let us conceire that the atoms of one of these strata have foimed 
 the sands of an hour-glass, and that each grain counts a moment, and 
 we may then make some approximation to the past periods of geology. 
 Or remembering that no one species of animals has died out during 
 the sixty centuries of man's historic existence upon earth, can we 
 think of the thousands, not of generations, but of species of races, 
 which we have passed in oxir downward track, and which have all run 
 through their ages of existence and ceased ; of the recurrence of the 
 change again and again even in the same strata ; and of the many 
 times over these strata must be repeated in order to equal the vast 
 sum of the entire series, without feeling that we are standing in idea 
 on ground so immeasurably far back in the night of time as to fill the 
 mind with awe ? Here, at as incalculable a secular distance, probably, 
 from the first creation of organic life as that is from the last creation — 
 here silence once reigned : the only sound which occasionally broke the 
 intense stillness being the voice of subterranean thimder ; the only 
 motion (not felt, for there was none to feel it) an earthquake ; the only 
 phenomenon a molten sea, shot up from the fiery gulf below to form the 
 mighty framework of some future continent — and stUl that ancient 
 silence seems to impose its quelling influence, and to allow in its 
 
 c2 
 
20 THE BELIGIOir OF GEOLOGY. 
 
 presence the activity of nothing but/thought. And that thought — 
 what direction more natural for it to take, than to plunge still further 
 back into the dark abyss of departed time, till it has reached a First 
 or Efficient Cause ?" 
 
 Eetuming from the contemplation of infinity, or of 
 duration though finite yet indefinite, before which we are 
 but of yesterday, how low are our highest pretensions, 
 how mean our proudest antiquity ! 
 
 If there is one fact geology more clearly demonstrates 
 than another, it is, that man was the last of God's 
 creatures. Surely the thought that the world should have 
 existed so long without us may teach our insignificance. 
 Or may we rather learn therefrom our dignity and nobler 
 destiny? That so Tast a preparation was needed, before 
 our fitting dwelling-place and heritage could be provided, 
 may lead us to inquire wherein we differ from the other 
 products of Creative Wisdom. Our bygone history is as 
 nothing to that of our globe and its sentient inhabitants, 
 but we have immortality to come. It may humble us to 
 reflect on the past, to compare our ephemeral date with 
 the hoary age of all around us and beneath us ; but from 
 the unerring testimony of God's Word, which declares 
 that in the immeasurably far beginning He created the 
 heaven and the earth, we also learn that the heavens shall 
 vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old and 
 die, while through the circling seons of eternity we shall 
 possess the privilege or the doom of an undying existence. 
 " The things which are seen are temporal;" immense as 
 their, time may be, they will ultimately return to the 
 nothingness whence they originally came. " The things 
 which are not seen" — for which we look and long, and 
 coeval with which will be our destiny and duration — " the 
 things which are not seen are eternal." 
 
 Yet may we not, from the considerations that have been 
 adduced, legitimately infer that those are mistaken who 
 would so interpret Holy Writ as to conclude that the close 
 of present things is near at hand ? We believe that much 
 has yet to be accomplished, in the moral and intellectual 
 history of man, and in the evolution of the purposes of 
 God, before the prophecy shall be fulfilled, which He that 
 liveth for ever and ever sware by his mighty angel, that 
 " time should be no longer." 
 
€tkBtml Samx^, 
 
 . "And spangled heavens, a shining frame, 
 Their great Original proclaim ; 
 For ever singing as they shine — 
 ' The hand that made us is divine.' " 
 
 " An undevout astronomer is mad." 
 
 There are many who assert, but do not appreciate or 
 nndeTstand, the dignity of human nature. Assuming 
 that which is essentially true, the methods by which they 
 attempt to establish it are superficial or fallacious. They 
 exalt a cherished idea, and ignorantly worship a phantom 
 of their own creation. The Christian philosopher, by a 
 different process, arrives at the same conclusion. It is 
 with him no idle boast, or conjectural attainment, but a 
 lesson of heavenly wisdom, suggesting distinguished 
 privilege, and demanding devout acknowledgment. From 
 science as well as from Scripture he learns his high posi- 
 tion in the scale of being. In the structure of the earth 
 beneath, he sees the indubitable traces of the mighty revo- 
 lutions it had undergone, before, in the judgment of the 
 Eternal, it could be fitted and fiomished to receive him. 
 Or, if he casts his wondering eyes at the glorious orbs 
 above, he may be taught by them how august is the nature 
 he bears. It is not that pride asks, " For what end the 
 heavenly bodies shine?" and answers, " 'Tis for mine;" 
 but it is that he gratefdlly admits that the Almighty 
 Maker has had concerns with him, in revealing to him his 
 will, and bestowing on him his grace. And if he gazes 
 at the realms of space, dwelling on aU their brightness 
 and their beauty, he may again inquire whether they con- 
 firm the evidence derived from his own earth, as to the 
 changes that had preceded his entrance upon being, and, 
 
22 CELESTIAL SCENERY. 
 
 the periods those changes involve and imply ; or whether 
 they are worlds hke his own, inhabited by creatures such 
 as he is, equally designed and adapted with himself to 
 reflect the glory of the great Original. 
 
 Stupendous as are the inductions from geology, with 
 regard to the antiquity of our globe, and the existence of 
 countless developments of life of which no direct intima- 
 tion is conveyed by the inspired records, still more as- 
 tounding are the lessons drawn from the exacter science of 
 astronomy. Beyond the aU but boundless field of obser- 
 vation and admeasuremfent' are the regions of conjecture 
 and fancy ; to the known and determined succeed the 
 imagined but unknown ; to the evidence of the senses, the 
 exercise of the higher faculties of reason and reflection 
 and philosophic inquiry. Prom astronomy we shall derive 
 the Bublimest conceptions of that Divine agency which — 
 
 " Lives through all life, extends through all extent, 
 Spreads undivided, operates unspent," 
 
 and the most thrilling convictions of the dignity of the 
 human spirit, made in the likeness of such a Being, and 
 competent to enter on such vast realities. 
 
 The remarks we have now to offer will rest on two car- 
 dinal points or bases of belief. The one is, that the com- 
 prehensive and indefinite declaration of Scripture, " In 
 the- beginning God created the heaven and the earth," 
 will admit of any amount of antiquity that natural ap- 
 pearances may reqtiire ; the other is, that the same words 
 imply for both heaven and earth, for our own solar system 
 and for the innumerable systems that stud immensity, an 
 equal duration. If then, from observation and analogy, 
 and the laws of physical science, we can legitimately infer 
 that there are radiant objects, suns or spheres, which have 
 existed for myriads or millions of years, it is not incon- 
 sistent with reason or revelation to claim for our earth a 
 similar age. 
 
 To the early observers of the starry sky the impression 
 conveyed, vast as it may have been, was very different 
 from that which we now experience. Yet with inspired 
 prescience may the Hebrew poet have uttered, as an 
 ascription worthy of even Infinite attributes, " He telleth 
 
CKLESTIAL SCENERY. 23 
 
 the number of the stars ; He calleth them all by their 
 names :" and in the richest hyperbole of eastern language 
 may the inspired legislator of the Hebrews have reminded 
 them of their distinguished lot, " The Lord thy God hath 
 made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude." Within 
 the last two hundred and fifty years, from the days of 
 Galileo to those of Lord Eosse, immense have been the 
 accessions to our knowledge. With the results obtained 
 by the science, skill, perseverance, and enthusiasm, aided 
 by the appUances of wealth and leisure, enjoyed and exer- 
 cised by this nobleman, we have chiefly now to do. A 
 telescope with a speculum six feet in diameter, possessing 
 a power of penetrating into space five hundred times 
 greater than that of the eye, and augmenting the visible 
 universe one hundred and twenty-five million times — what 
 may we not expect from such gigantic means of research, 
 and how much has already been achievedJ By this mon- 
 ster organ of vision- stars can be made apparent so incon- 
 ceivably remote, that light emitted by them, though 
 travelling one hundred and ninety thousand miles in a 
 second, would take sixty thousand years in reaching us. 
 Such distances if expressed could not be understood. We 
 have referred to them simply to prove the inmiensities of 
 time as well as of space that the teachings of astronomy 
 imperatively demand. How could we entertain, with any 
 consistence or propriety, the notion of the recent origin of 
 our planet, which the popular interpretation of Scripture 
 formerly required, if it can be proved by mathematical 
 formulae that some portions of " the heaven," along with 
 which we were formed, must have existed sixty thousand 
 years ago, even had that existence long since completed 
 its allotted course ? But if we pursue this train of rea- 
 ,Bomng, it will carry us much farther, and scarcely shaiU 
 we know where to fix the boundaries of legitimate induc- 
 tion, or when to check the too adventurous flights of fancy. 
 We may, in illustration of pur meaning, adduce the lan- 
 guage of the eloquent and enthusiastic Professor Mchol : — 
 
 " Taking the guidance of analogy, it may be asserted without hesita- 
 tion,— although not apart from a feeling next to OTerwhelming, 
 relating to tho awful realities within which our fiail lives are passing, 
 —that if any of those milky nebulae first seen by the six feet mirror, 
 
34- CELESTIAL SCENERY. 
 
 and left irreaoluble until art shall achieve some new and mighty ad- 
 vance — yes ! if any of these are like the grand object in Orion— they 
 may he so far off in space tha.t light does not reach us ^om them in 
 less than thirty millions of years." 
 
 Immense extent demands immense duration. It is 
 illogical in us to dissociate them, as it would have been 
 impossible for nature to violate her laws of harmony and 
 due proportion. It is also a matter of observation that 
 our sun, with all the planets primary and secondary in his 
 train, is moving onward round' some distant centre, in an 
 orbit of such inconceivable dimensions, that millions of 
 millions of years might be occupied in performing a single 
 revolution. There are binary or multiple stars which re- 
 volve around each other or some common centre of gravity ; 
 and it has been even thought that our sun may be in the 
 same category, though, if so, his colleague in the mighty 
 round is yet to be discovered. This will give us some 
 realization of what ancient philosophers fancied and fore- 
 shadowed, . when they spoke of the sun's "great year." 
 Here we again quote from Professor Nichol : — 
 
 " We may infer that the sun would reach that remotest distance to 
 which Lord Eosse's telescope can pierce in about two hundred and fifty 
 million years ; and so far is even this stupendous period from sounding 
 all the worMng time of nature, that many of the mountains of our 
 earth may through its whole duration have been in being, rearing 
 their peaks towards different constellations, and surviving in theii- 
 littleness and fragility even these immense transitions." 
 
 Lest some may say that such statements are excessive 
 or extravagant ; that, not content with the actual, they 
 court the ideal, and prove so much as to incur the risk of 
 proving nothing, we would reply, that they are at least 
 put forth in the spirit of profoundest reverence, and that 
 it, would be a higher error against sound judgment and 
 sober piety to reduce to any limits of our own the possible 
 or practical results of supreme contrivance and Almighty 
 power. For, on the one hand, in the quaint language of 
 Sir Thomas Browne, — 
 
 "St. Peter speaks modestly, when he saith, a thousand years to God 
 are but as one day ; for to speak like a philosopher, those continued 
 instances of time which flow into a thousand years, make not to Him 
 one moment." 
 
CELESTIAL SCENERY. 26 
 
 And, on the other hand, in the emphatic words of 
 Coleridge, — ' 
 
 " It is surely not impossible that to some infinitely superior Being 
 the whole universe may be as one plain — the distance between planet 
 and planet being only as the pores in a grain of sand, and the spaces 
 between system and system no greater than the intervals between one 
 grain and the grain adjacent." 
 
 While these are the sentiments cherished and confessed, 
 we dread not any extension of the empire of astronomy, 
 though facts and figures far less marvellous would suffice 
 to sustain our argument. 
 
 There are, however, other views of established and ad- 
 mitted authority, which not merely claim for our planetary 
 system an epoch of immense duration^ but also confirm 
 the scriptural truth that the material is not immortal. 
 It is most probable that the space in which the planets 
 move is filled by a resisting medium of extreme rarity. 
 The effect of this would be that the planets, losing a 
 portion of their velocity, would be drawn proportionately 
 nearer to the sun, the centripetal not being sufficiently 
 counteracted by the centrifugal force. If the resistance 
 were to continue, they would be drawn perpetually 
 nearer to the centre, and, revolving quicker and quicker 
 around it, would at last be swallowed up in it, and the 
 system would cease to be a system. If Jupiter, as has 
 been calculated, were to lose a millionth part of his velo- 
 city in a million years — and this is more than is probable 
 — he would require seventy million years to lose a thou- 
 sandth of his velocity, and a period seven hundred times 
 as long to reduce it to one-half. Vague and uncertain as 
 may be the intervals of time assigned to these changes, 
 the changes themselves, in consequence of the resisting 
 medium, must , sooner or later take place. The learned 
 Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, has carried out 
 this argument in his Bridgewater Treatise : — 
 
 " It may be millions of millions of years before the earth's retar- 
 dation may perceptibly affect the apparent motion of the sun ; but 
 still the day will come when this cause will entirely change the length 
 of our year and the course of our seasons, and finally stop the earth's 
 motion round the sun altogether. There is a resisting medium, an^ 
 
26 CELESTIAL SCENERY. 
 
 therefore the movements of the solar system cannot go on for ever. 
 Our knowledge of the vast periods, both geological and astronomical, 
 is most slight. It is, in fact, little more than that such periods exist ; 
 that the surface of the earth has, at wide intervals of time, undergone 
 great changes in the disposition of land and water, and in the forms 
 of animal life ; and that the motions of the heavenly bodies round 
 the sun are affected, though with inconceivable slowness, by »• force 
 which must end in deranging them altogether. The periods agree in ' 
 this, that they reduce all things to the general rule of finite duration, 
 Not only the rocks and the mountains, but the sun and the moon, 
 have the sentence 'to die' stamped upon their foreheads. They enjoy 
 no privilege beyond man except a longer respite. The ephemeron 
 perishes in an hoiu: ; man endures for his three-score years and ten ; 
 an empire, a nation, numbers its centuries, it may be its thousands of 
 years ; the continents and islands which its dominion includes have 
 perhaps their date, as those which preceded them have had ; and the 
 very revolutions of the sky, by which centuries are numbered, will at 
 last languish and stand still. No one who has dwelt on the thought 
 of a universal Creator and Preserver wiE be surprised to find the 
 conviction forced upon the mind by every new train of speculation, 
 that, viewed in reference to Him, our space is a point, our time a 
 moment, our millions a handful, our permanence a quick decay. But 
 it may be objected, the effect of the medium must be ultimately to 
 affect the duration of the earth's revolution round the sun, and thus 
 to derange those adaptations which depend on the length of the year. 
 And, without question, if we permit omrselves to look forward to that 
 inconceivably distant period at which the effect of the medium will 
 become sensible, this must be allowed to be true. Millions, and pro- 
 bably millions of millions, of years express inadequately the distance 
 of time at which this cause would produce serious effect. That the 
 machine of the imiverse is so constructed, that it may answer its 
 purposes for such a period, is surely sufloient proof of the skill of its 
 workmanship and of the reality of its purpose : and those persons, 
 probably, who are best convinced that it is the work of a wise and 
 good Creator, will be least disposed to consider the system as imper- 
 fect, because in its present condition it is not fitted for eternity." 
 
 But, we may ask, what are the purposes so real and so 
 momentous which this celestial mechanism is intended to 
 fulfil ? Ate the heayenly bodies mere ornaments, void of 
 intrinsic usefulness, but set to keep watch and ward, to 
 shed sweet influences, or to lend a friendly gleam and 
 guidance, to us the dwellers upon earth 7 That would be 
 indeed, to exaggerate the glory and honour with which we 
 are crowned, and to elevate our tiny planet above her 
 proper sphere. Or are they only gems in the diadem of 
 the King Eternal, proclaiming his majesty and might, but 
 prodigal, because profitless, expenditures of his creative 
 
CELESTIAL 80ENBRY. 37 
 
 energy ? That would be to impugn the wisdom and good- 
 ness, the harmonious associates of Infinite Power. In all 
 science it is a source of error or absurdity to study parts 
 and forget the whole, to reason within a narrow circle, and 
 neglect the juster views derived from enlarged comparison 
 and transcendental inquiry. So long as it was supposed that 
 this earth was the centre of the planetary system, and that 
 the imaided eye of man scanned and sounded the limits of 
 creation, it might have been reasonable to claim for earth's 
 inhabitants a principal or exclusive share in the Divine 
 contrivance and counsel and compassion. But we think 
 the opinion incompatible with the exacter and more en- 
 lightened convictions that modern science determines and 
 demands. 
 
 Theologians as well as natural philosophers have not 
 hesitated to believe in a plurality of inhabited worlds. 
 There is nothing in Scripture inconsistent with the idea, 
 that the planets of our own or of other systems may be 
 now the seats of intelligent life, or may be reserved for 
 the future residences of those who shall have passed away 
 from this the stage of their moral probation. In the days 
 of Newton such views were not unknown. In those lectures 
 which associate the names of Boyle and Bentley, we shall 
 find them advocated by an eminent scholar. 
 
 " We dare not undertake to shew what advanta^^ is brought to ub 
 by these innumerable stars in the galaxy, and other parts of the fir- 
 mament, not discernible by naked eyes, and yet each much bigger 
 than the whole body of the earth. If you say they beget in us a 
 great idea and veneration of the mighty Author and Govemor of such 
 stupendous bodies, and excite and elevate our minds to his adoration 
 and praise, you say very truly and well. But would it not raise in us 
 a higher apprehension of the infinite majesty and boundless bene- 
 ficence of God, to suppose that these remote and vast bodies were 
 formed not merely upon our account, to be peeped at through an 
 optic glass, but for different ends and nobler purposes ? And yet who 
 will deny but there are great multitudes of lucid stars even beyond 
 the reach of the best telescopes : and that every visible star may have 
 planets revolving about them which we cannot discover ? Now, if 
 they were not created for our sakes, it is certain and evident that they 
 were not made for their own ; for matter has no life nor perception, 
 is not conscious of its own existence, nor capable of happiness, nor 
 gives the sacrifice of praise and worship to the Author of its being. 
 It remains, therefore, that all bodies were formed for the sake of in- 
 telligent minds : and as the earth was principally designed for the 
 
28 CELESTIAL SCENERY. 
 
 being and service and contemplation of man, why may not all other 
 planets be created for the like uses, each for their own inhabitants 
 which have life and understanding ?" 
 
 If we pass from the close of the seventeenth to the 
 middle of the nineteenth century, the clearer light of 
 science has only tended to confirm the guesses of a less 
 accurate philosophy. The younger Herschel, embodying 
 and expressing his father's sentiments as well as his own, 
 thus asks and argues : — 
 
 "For what purpose are we to suppose such magnificent bodies 
 scattered through the abyss of space ? Surely not to illuminate our 
 nights,,which an additional moon of the thousandth part of the size of 
 our own could do much better, nor to sparkle as a pageant void of 
 meaning and reality, and bewilder us among vain conjectures. Useful, 
 it is true, they are to man as points of exact and permanent reference ; 
 but he must have studied astronomy to little purpose, who can sup- 
 pose man to be the only object of his Creator's care, or who does 
 not see in the vast and wonderful apparatus around us provision for 
 other races of animated beings. The planets derive their light from 
 the sun ; but that cannot be the case with the stars. These, doubtless, 
 then, are themselves suns, and may, perhaps, eaxili in its sphere, be 
 the presiding centre round which other planets, or bodies of which 
 we can form no conception from any analogy offered by our own 
 system, may be circulating." 
 
 Objections, physical and metaphysical, scientific and re- 
 ligious, have been urged against the doctrine that other 
 worlds than our own are inhabited. We may, therefor^, 
 take a brief survey of the solar system to which we belong, 
 and see whiat reasons there are for conceding or denying 
 to the planets which compose it the same conditions as to 
 organization and occupancy that belong to us. It is not 
 essential to the argument to prove the inhabitabiUty of the 
 satellites or the sun, though the belief has been held by 
 men of distinguished attainments. Our moon and other 
 moons may have been constituted, as Scripture declares, 
 to rule by night, and to give light upon the globe round 
 which they circulate. To limit their functions is not to 
 doubt that the primary plaiiets have higher ends to serve. 
 Our sun may be the source of life and movement to the 
 system he sustains, and we may be content to assign to 
 him so vast an empire to direct, and to disembarrass him 
 from the inferior cares of domestic maintenance. To 
 
CELESTIAL SCENERY. 29 
 
 depopulate him is not to doom the regions to which his 
 influence extends to death and desolation. But the argu- 
 ment may not unreasonably be applied to other systems in 
 the universe of God. We think there is both wit and 
 wisdom in the reasoning of Fontenelle : — 
 
 " ' La lune, selon toutes les apparences, est habitee, pourquoi Venus 
 ne le sera-t-elle pas aussi ? ' Mais,' intenompit la Marquise, * en disant 
 toujours porgtioi non ? tous m'aUez mettre des habitans dans toutes 
 les plandtes.'- 'N'en doutes-pas,' repliquai-je, 'ce pourgtun non a une 
 vertu qui suffira pour peupler tout.' " 
 
 Around our sun revolve, in addition to the earth we 
 occupy, seven planets of various dimensions, and about 
 thirty planetoids or planetary fragments, together with 
 numerous comets of irregular and undetermined orbits. 
 Our earth occupies a position removed from either extreme 
 of size or distance from the common centre. Two planets 
 are nearer to the sun, two are smaller, one about the same 
 size, and four larger ; Jupiter, who in bulk transcends the 
 whole of his compeers, being thirteen hundred times as 
 great. The intensity of solar radiation — that is, of light 
 and heat — is nearly seven times greater on Mercury than 
 on our earth, and on Uranus three hundred and thirty 
 times less. The intensity of gravity, or its efficacy in 
 counteracting muscular power, on Jupiter is ne.arly two 
 and a half times that on the earth, on Mars not more than 
 half, on the moon a sixth, and on the planetoids probably 
 not more than a twentieth. The density of Saturn hardly 
 exceeds one-eighth of the mean density of the earth, so 
 that it must consist of materials not much heavier than 
 cork. Here let Sir John Herschel, to whom we are in- 
 debted for the data, speak for himself as to the deductions 
 they suggest : — 
 
 " Under these various combinations of elements so important to 
 life, what immense diversity must we not admit in the conditions of 
 that great problem, the maintenance of animal and intellectual exist- 
 ence and happiness, which seems, so far as we can judge by what we see 
 around us in our own planet, and by the way in which every comer of 
 it is crowded with living beings, to form an ilnoeasing and worthy 
 object for the exercise of the Benevolence and Wisdom which preside 
 over all." 
 
 Prom general statements we may descend to more 
 
30 CELESTIAL SCENERY. 
 
 special details. With regard to Mercury and Venus, it is 
 most probable that we do not see their real surface, but 
 their atmospheres loaded with clouds, which may serve to 
 mitigate the intense glare of their sunshine. We are 
 consequently unable to judge of their geographical features, 
 but have reason to infer that they present the same variety 
 of outline as ourselves. Venus receives about double as 
 much light and heat from the sun as we do. In size, in 
 density, in length of day, she resembles our own planet. 
 A body would weigh on her nearly what it does with us, 
 the laws of matter and motion would be the same, the 
 meteorological conditions alone would vary. But can we 
 doubt that He, who has adapted the Laplander and the 
 Cingalese to their determined but different lots, who has 
 enabled the family of man to exist and to enjoy existence 
 amid arctic snows and upon tropic sands, should not have 
 provided for the inhabitants of Venus natures suited to its 
 gorgeous and glowing chme ? Or are we bound to believe 
 that our own is the only type of physiolo^cal contrivance ? 
 Surely poetry, no less than philosophy, would revolt from 
 the idea, that the glorious evening star, so brilliant as to 
 cast a shadow on our earth, bearing the name of the 
 goddess of beauty, should be a blank and barren waste, 
 unblessed with Ufe and love. And adopting Fontenelle's 
 phrase, what is true of Venus, "why not" of Mercury 
 also ? We merely here require a further adaptation of the 
 constitution and capabilities of animated existences to the 
 physical circumstances in which they are placed. To 
 Venus our earth would appear as much a star as she does 
 to us, but probably not so bright. Her inhabitants, gazing 
 at their nearest and most attractive neighbour, might pity 
 us that we should not bask so closely as they do in the 
 solar beams. 
 
 Passing beyond the confines of our orbit, we arrive first 
 at the ruddy Mars. Here we can discover mountains and 
 valleys, the outlines of what may be continents and seas. 
 The land is red, which may arise from a peculiarity of soil ; 
 the water green, which, according to optical laws, would 
 be the complementary colour. His poles are surrounded 
 by brilliant white spots, resembling our polar snows ; and, 
 just as with us, each spot contracts itself during the 
 
CELKBTIAL SCENERY. 31 
 
 summer of the hemisphere to which it beloEgS, gradually 
 again enlarging with the approach and increase of winter. 
 The bulk of Mars is about a sixth of the earth's, the 
 density much the same, the weight of bodies one-half 
 what it is here. If he possesses, as is supposed, only half 
 of the light and heat which yre enjoy, there is no doubt 
 the same wise adjustment of the necessities of those to 
 whom he gives a home. 
 
 Of the planetoids we need say little. They are thought 
 to be the scattered remains of some globe of mighty 
 dimensions, but why or when the catastrophe occurred it 
 were presumptuous to conjecture. May not what has 
 already happened take place again, and the host of heaven 
 be dissolved, departing as a scroll that is rolled together 7 
 From the small mass and low gravity of these bodies, it 
 has been calculated that an inhabitant of our earth, if 
 placed thereon, could leap sixty feet high, with as much 
 ease, and with as little shock, as here he would a yard. 
 On their surface giants might exist ; and creatures as large 
 as our monsters of the deep, not needing the buoyancy of 
 water to support them, might gambol on the land. 
 
 With these fragmentary exceptions, we have hitherto 
 had to do with planets not differing vastly from our own in 
 dimensions or in diameter of orbit, and agreeing in diurnal 
 movements. The next in order is of majestic size, with a 
 surface one hundred and twenty times as great as th^t of 
 the earth, five times as far from the sun, and consequently 
 enjoying but a twenty-fifth share of our bight and heat. 
 To telescopic observers Jupiter is intersected by zones or 
 belts, which are probably tracts of clear sky in his atmo- 
 sphere, occasioned by currents analogous to our trade 
 winds. Here we begin to see some striking examples of 
 that principle of compensation which obtains throughout 
 the planetary worlds, as indeed it does in the minutest por- 
 tions of nature's domain. His axis being nearly vertical 
 to the plane of his orbit, he has no difference of seasons, 
 or variation in the length of days and nights, but may be 
 said to enjoy perpetual spring. Our own globe is so con- 
 structed, that two-thirds of it are uniahabitable, and we 
 are not obliged to beheve that the whole of Jupiter is 
 peopled with life. But had his axis any considerable in- 
 
32 CELESTIAL SCENERY. 
 
 clination, Hs polar inhabitants would be doomed to a 
 wintry darkness, lasting for a period equivalent to six of 
 our years. His nights, of five hours each, are perpetually 
 illumined by his four attendant satellites, which average 
 in size rather more than our moon. We know not what 
 stores of central fuel, fanned by his swift diurnal rotation, 
 may supply the deficiency of solar heat, nor how his atmo- 
 sphere may be constituted to fulfil the same design. In 
 like manner may the solar light be made less faint and 
 feeble by an adjustment of the organs of vision, the pupil 
 being enlarged, or the retina endowed with higher sensi- 
 bility. We can imagine such a clime as that enjoyed by 
 the equatorial regions of Jupiter, free from vicissitudes 
 and extremes, from sultry heat or piercing cold, day 
 blending into night with one soft, silvery rafiance, to be 
 the fabled abode of the blest, the. poet's elysium of purity" 
 and peace. 
 
 In heathen mythology the father of Jupiter was Saturn, 
 and thus is called what, till seventy-five years ago, was 
 considered the remotest planet of our system. Saturn, a 
 thousand times as large as our earth, but deriving from the 
 sun, by ordinary calculation, only a ninetieth part of the light 
 and heat with which we are favoured, has other provisions 
 made for his welfare, in his seven or eight satellites and 
 his compound ring. He has also short days and nights, 
 though not an uniformity of seasons ; and from his peculiar 
 supply of light we may presume him to aiford a home of 
 more diversified beauty than that of Jupiter. On this it 
 has been remarked by Sir John Herschel :: — 
 
 " The rings of Saturn must present a magnificent spectacle from 
 those regions of the planet which lie above their enlightened sides j 
 vast arches spanning the sky fi^om horizon to horizon, and holding an 
 almost invariable situation among the stars. On the other hand, in 
 the regions beneath the dark side, a solar eclipse of fifteen years in 
 duration under their shadow must afford (to our idea) an inhospitable 
 asylum to animated beings, ill compensated by the faint light of the 
 satellites. But we shall do wrong to judge of the fitness or unfitness 
 of their condition from what we see aroimd us, when perhaps the 
 very combinations which convey to our minds only images of horror, 
 may be in reality theatres of the most striking and glorious displays 
 of beneficent contrivance !" 
 
 What shall we say of those other planets, so "remote as to 
 
CELESTIAL SCENERY. 33 
 
 be almost invisible, and whose existence was, till lately, 
 unsuspected and unknown ? Can it be possible that they 
 could have been created for our sakes, and is it reasonable 
 to suppose that they were made in vain ? The same argu- 
 ments that would people Jupiter and Saturn may be ex- 
 tended to Uranus and Neptune. As the distance from the 
 sun increases, the scale of magnitude decreases, Uranus 
 being about eighty times, and Neptune about one hundred 
 and twenty times as large as the earth. Uranus has six 
 or eight satellites, Neptune two or more, and probably a 
 ring like Saturn. Why this effort to atone for the dim 
 distance at which they are placed from the central lumi- 
 nary, unless these planets have living creatures by whom 
 the influence of light is needed, eyes by whom it shall be 
 seen and welcomed? When we think of the number of 
 our years occupied in their periodic revolutions, we may 
 speculate as to the longevity of the inhabitants, and wonder 
 what system of chronology prevails ; or with length of 
 days we may be led to associate largeness of form and 
 stature : but it may be that in such perpetual twilight the 
 lapse of time is not recognized as with us, and that beings 
 of & different mould from any to which we are accustomed 
 may find it best suited to their peculiar frames and ftmc- 
 tions. If even planets of our own system are invisible to 
 our naked eyes, why, because our best instruments have 
 not yet discovered them, should we doubt or deny that, 
 they circle around those briUiant bodies spread through 
 space, which must be self-luminous, and which cannot 
 shine without some final cause 7 Sirius, one of the nearest 
 and brightest of the fixed stars, has been calculated to 
 have an intrinsic splendour equal to sixty-three times that 
 of our sun ; CapeUa must also be a sun of immense size 
 and splendour. Why should not the planets of Sirius and 
 Capella be mightier than our own, life-giving temples of 
 their Creator's praise ? 
 
 Without plunging in the abyss of these remoter systems^ 
 we may glance at the remaining members of our own. Of 
 comets our information is far from accurate. We can 
 hardly conceive that structures so filmy, so extremely 
 tenuous as to be almost ethereal, moving in such eccen- 
 tric paths, and exposed to such extraordinary alternations 
 
34: CELESTIAL SCENEEY. 
 
 of temperature, should be fitted as the residence of crea- 
 tures of any type analogous to our own. Fancy has 
 peopled them with wicked spirits, and would trace in their 
 rapid, restless, uneven course, a symbol of the erratic 
 desires, the impetuous impulses, the troubled consciences, 
 of their miserable and doomed inhabitants. May we not 
 equally suppose them to be tenanted by heavenly mes- 
 sengers, travelling through wide fields to explore the 
 mysteries of creation, carrying intelligence from outpost 
 to outpost of God's universe, his ministers to do his 
 pleasure, and announcing their advent, or bestowing their 
 blessing, as they speed, their onward course, in. a halo of 
 glory, filling the temple of immensity with their train. 
 
 The two great lights,, which daily and nightly control 
 and cheer us, we can more closely observe, and with regard 
 to them we may speculate with greater reason. The moon 
 has high mountains, and deep volcanic vaUeys, but no 
 seas, no clouds, and only indistinct traces of an atmos- 
 phere. No appearaaices indicating vegetation, or the 
 slightest variation of surface, which can fairly be ascribed 
 to change of season, can anywhere .be discerned ; though 
 with any instruments yet constructed we could not expect 
 to see signs of habitation, as evidenced by buildings or 
 changes on the soil. The moon's climate has been stated, 
 on high authority, to alternate from unmitigated and 
 burning sunshine for a fortnight, to the keenest severity 
 of frost for an equal period, while the want of air would 
 render it most improbable that any forms of life agreeing 
 with those on earth could subsist there. But we must 
 remember that the moon is an opaque body, receiving, as 
 we do, her hght from the sun ; and if she were intended 
 solely to rule our nights, and reflect the glory of the. orb 
 of day, would she not have been so constituted as to be 
 always full? We are, if consistently it may be said so, 
 as much a satellite to the moon as she is to us, and far 
 more lustrous ; and the lunar inhabitants, if such there be, 
 might plausibly contend that we were created for their 
 service. We have every reason to believe that the sun 
 himself is a sohd opaque mass ; and it has been calculated 
 that he receives comparatively little light and heat from 
 the luminous atmosphere which surrounds him. A globe 
 
CELESTIAL SCENERY. 35 
 
 a million times as large as the' earth would afford a mag- 
 nificent dwelling-place for some high order of existences, 
 whose benevolence might equal the beneficence and beauty 
 of which their home is the representative and radiant 
 centre. But, as we have previously intimated, we may 
 very well concede the poiiit as to the sun and moon being 
 inhabited, without affecting the argument that the planets 
 are, like ourselves, subject to higher laws, and fulfilling 
 nobler destinies, than those which belong to inorganic 
 insensate matter. 
 
 We have seen that the doctrine of a plurality of worlds 
 is suggested by analogy, is not contradicted by physical 
 facts ; that objections founded on the varying degrees of 
 light and heat, so essential to life, or on the increase and 
 diminution of the force of gravity, are more apparent than 
 real ; and that everything that may be demanded must be 
 ceded to the resources of an infinite Creator and Contriver. 
 Yet it has been contended by the sceptic, that it weakens 
 or destroys the authority of revelation, abdto the believer, 
 also, it has on Scriptural grounds been beset with diffi- 
 culties. To the one the creed has afforded an unholy 
 triumph, to the oiher it has occasioned perplexity and dis- 
 tress. Amid the crowd of systems, the millions of races 
 of intelligent and moral creatures, is it credible that God 
 would so distinguish one insignificant portion as to make 
 it the object of his special regard, to send his Son to atone 
 for its transgressions, and to favour it with the communi- 
 cations of his word ? By such reasoning as this would the 
 infidel seek to throw (fiscredit on the Christian scheme, 
 and to reduce to absurdity its momentous claims and 
 august designs. The believer, on the other hand, to whom 
 the plurality of worlds is not a matter of dogmatic Scrip- 
 ture teaching, has lost his way in vain reflections as to tiie 
 moral state of their inhabitants, their need of the provi- 
 sions or their share in the effects of the redemption of 
 which we are partakers. With the infidel objection we do 
 not feel ourselves called upon to hold controversy. To one 
 who denies the existence of God, who refuses to admit his 
 moral government, or; repudiates his inspired record, it can 
 make little difference whether or not other worlds are 
 peopled with beings like himself. He would rather believe 
 
 d2 
 
36 CELESTIAL SCENERY. 
 
 they are, otherwise he is bound to show why a distinction 
 so great should have been made in behalf of the planet 
 he occupies. But we are now dealing with opinions 
 rather than facts, with analogies and inferences rather than 
 indisputable demonstration or express declaration; and 
 Christianity rests on positive evidence, which cannot be set 
 aside by any hypothetical reasonings. The behever's per- 
 plexity demands more serious attention. It has been well 
 observed that to an Arian or Socinian the difficulty would 
 lose much of its force. If the inhabitants of other worlds 
 were frail and fallible, if they needed an example of virtue 
 OT a mfessage of pardon and peace, some heavenly visitatnt 
 cbuld easily have been provided to instruct and bless them. 
 But by us who acknowledge and confess that Christ is very 
 God of very God, of one substance with the Father, begot- 
 ten before all worlds, although for us men and for our 
 salvation he became incarnate, some other solution of the 
 problem is required. We can scarcely imagine that crea- 
 tures occupying a material fabric, and consequently sub- 
 ject to material laws, could be purely spiritual; or if 
 material, that they could be exempt from imperfection. 
 Still, we are not compelled to believe that the entire 
 tenants of the universe have forfeited the favour of the 
 King of Kings, and have needed the ministry of reconcilia- 
 tion. Beings there may be who have never sinned, who 
 enjoy such high intercourse with the Source of light, as 
 far transcends the teachings of a written word, and whose 
 spotles.s integrity could maintain thpLr own cause. But 
 who will dare to set a Umit to the value and efficacy of 
 the atonement made on Calvary ? As in our own world 
 niultitudes were saved through faith in a redemption to be 
 accomplished, why should not the dwellers in another 
 world paxticipate in the benefits of a finished sacrifice, the 
 circumstances and conditions and consequences of which 
 might clearly be set before them 2 Divine tradition would 
 be of equal authority with Divine prediction. Or, even 
 supposing that we are the only beings that had sinned, 
 was it not worth while that God should stoop to save us ? 
 He who sustains life invisible to us, in every drop of water 
 and every blade of grass, and whose tender mercies are 
 over all his works, would He wilHngly consign the inhabi- 
 
CELESTIAL SCKNERY. 37 
 
 tants of any portion, however minute, of Ms vast domain 
 to misery and disgrace, and forbear to rescue them, though 
 the effort involve so stupendous a surrender ? Surely the 
 dwellers upon other worlds, if they derived no personal 
 benefit therefrom, would rejoice in our ransom and restora- 
 tion; there would have been no disproportionate inter- 
 ference, no waste of mercy ; but planet to planet, and system 
 to system, would unite in one anthem of praise, and the 
 burden of the song would be, " Glory to God in the 
 highest." There are mysteries, we are bound to admit, 
 which we cannot unravel or explain ; still more must we 
 expect that matters not fully revealed, and for a belief in 
 which we are not accountable, should be entangled and 
 obscure. 
 
 But while Scripture nowhere dogmatically asserts the 
 position for which we are contending, we think that from 
 various passages it may not illogicaUy be inferred. Let 
 us take as an illustration the confession of the Levites in 
 the days of Nehemiah : — " Thou hast made heaven, the 
 heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all 
 that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou 
 preservest them all ; and the host of heaven worshippeth 
 thee." Here we have the host of heaven put in apposition 
 with the creatures of earth and sea, as if equally instinct 
 with vitality; moreover, the host of heaven are supposed 
 to be capable of intelligent worship, for the adnaission that 
 they do so worship ipamediately follows an exhortation to 
 the children of Israel to stand up and bless the Lord their 
 God. In another place the army of heaven and the in- 
 habitants of earth are mentioned in connexion, as alike 
 subject to the will of the Most High. At the same time, 
 we allow that the words we have quoted do not necessarily 
 involve the interpretatioln we have given. 
 
 In peopling infinity, we are not restricted as to any type 
 of structure or of functions, to any standard of physical or 
 mental or moral capabilities. The inhabitants of Jupiter 
 or of Neptune, or of the planets that revolve round Sirius 
 or Capella, need not be men and women like ourselves. 
 "We, too, may be as perplexing to their naituraUsts and 
 psychologists as they would be to ours. But there is 
 another consideration bearing on the subject which we 
 
38 CELESTIAL SCENERY. 
 
 must not overlook. In the future state of existence, what 
 residence shall we assign to the millions who have lived, or 
 who may live, upon this earth ? Bodily forms, however 
 refined and renovated, will need a solid resting-place ; and 
 is it extravagant to believe that in some of those distant 
 spheres, on whose glories we now loot and linger, may be 
 the new heaven and the new earth promised and prepared 
 for us? The objeots of sight may be the objects of 
 faith and hope. On this we will venture to introduce 
 some remarks by an able American divine, Dr. Albert 
 Barnes : — 
 
 " It seems to accord best with the goodness of God, and with the 
 manner in which the universe is made, to suppose that every portion 
 of it may he visited, and become snooessively the abode of the re- 
 deemed ■ that they may pass from world to world, and survey the 
 wonders and. the works of God as they are displayed in different 
 worlds. The universe so vast seems to have been fitted up for such 
 a purpose, and nothing'else that we can conceive of will be so adapted 
 to give employment without weariness to the minds that God has 
 made in the interminable durations before them." 
 
 Nor can we refrain from alluding to some beautiful and 
 ingenious speculations of our own illustrious philosopher, 
 Sir Humphry Davy. In an imaginary vision a genius 
 appears, and, taking him through our system, points out 
 the inhabitants of Saturn, beings who are of far higher 
 sensibility and intelligence than ourselves, and who depend 
 very much on the influence of light for sensation and en- 
 joyment. His conductor acquaints him by the way that 
 spiritual natures pass from system to system, in progres- 
 sion towards power and knowledge ; that the universe is 
 everywhere full of life, pf infinitely diversified modes, and 
 that every form of this life must be enjoyed and known 
 by every spiritual nature before the consummation of all 
 things. He is then conveyed to a cometary system. The 
 genius speaks : — 
 
 " Those globes of light smrounding you are material forms, such as 
 in one of your systems of religious faith have been attributed to 
 seraphs : they live in that element which to you would be destruction; 
 they communicate by powers which would convert your organized 
 frame into ashes ; they are now in the height of their enjoyment, 
 being about to enter into the blaze of the solar atmosphere. These 
 
CELESTIAL SCENERY. 39 
 
 beings, so grand, so glorious, with iiuictions to you incomprehensible, 
 once belonged to the earth ; their spiritual natures have risen through 
 different stages of planetajy life, leaving their dust behind them, 
 carrying with them only their intellectual power. There is one senti- 
 ment or passion which the spiritiiaj essence darries with it into all its 
 stages of being, and which in these happy and elevated creatures is 
 continually exalted — the love of knowledge or of intellectual power, 
 which is, in fa6t, in its ultimate and most perfect development, the 
 love of infinite wisdom and unbounded power, or the love of God. 
 From the height to which you have been lifted I could carry you 
 downwards, to show you intellectual natures even inferior to those be- 
 longing to the earth, in your own moon, and in the lower planets ; and 
 I could demonstrate to you the effect of pain or moral evil, in assisting 
 in the great plan of the exaltation of spiritual natures ; but I will not 
 destroy the brightness of your present idea of the scheme of the 
 universe by degrading pictures of the effects of bad passions, and of 
 the manner in which evil is corrected and destroyed. Your vision 
 must end with the glorious view of the inhabitants of the cometaiy 
 worlds. I cannot show you the beings of the system to which I my- 
 self belong, that of the sun ; your organs would perish before our 
 brightness ; and I am only permitted to be present to you as a sound 
 or intellectual voice. We are likewise in progression, hut we see and 
 know something of the plans of Infinite Wisdom ; we feel the personal 
 presence of that supreme Deity which you only imagine ; to you 
 belongs faith, to us knowledge!; and our greatest delight results from 
 the connotion that we are light, kindled by his light, and that we 
 belong to his substance. To obey, to love, to wonder and adore, form 
 our relations to the Infinite Intelligence. We feel his laws are those 
 of eternal justice, and that Uiey govern aJl things, from the most 
 glorious intellectual tiaturea belonging to the sun and fixed stars, 
 to the meanest spark of life animating an atom crawling in the dust 
 of your earth. We know all things begin from and end in his ever- 
 lasting essence, the Cause of causes, the Power of powers." 
 
 Sublimities of thought such as these will give us fresh 
 views of the dignity of human nature. We may regard it 
 not as it is, but as it will be, and that not only with " the 
 creed of the philosopher," but with " the hope of the 
 Christian." From what astronomy reveals and suggests, 
 we may learn to attach a fuller emphasis to words sO often 
 uttered : " To thee all angels cry aloud : the heavens 
 AND ALL THE POWERS THEREIN. To thcc Cherubim and Sera- 
 phim continualy do cry, Holy, Holy, Holy ; Lord God of 
 Sabaoth ; heaven and earth are full of the majesty 
 
 OF thy glory." 
 
Il^gskal €^00rapl^g. 
 
 " If Grod hath made this world so fair 
 Where sin and death abound, 
 How beautiftil beyond compare 
 Will paradise be fovmd !" 
 
 MONTGOMEEY 
 
 The authors of two of the Bridgewater Treatises adopted 
 severally as the suhjects of their inquiry, the adaptation 
 of external nature to the physical, and to the moral and 
 intelleotual condition of man. Important and instructive 
 as this region of research may be, it is not our present 
 purpose to examine or explore it. We might a /priori 
 suppose that He who created the earth, and constituted 
 it a home, would render it in every way suited to tlje com- 
 plex nature and necessities of its tenants ; that tnan, as 
 a creature, no less of corporeal frame and functions than 
 of spiritual endowments and energies, would iind in the 
 sphere assigned him all that could satiate his jippetites, 
 supply his senses with exercise and enjoyment,|'excite his 
 emotions, or engage his powers^of thought and reason. 
 That what philosophy would predicate experience proves, 
 is abundantly established, and has ably been delineated. 
 
 But we think the converse of the proposition to be of 
 equal truth and interest — ^that the condition and character 
 of man, his material and mental developments, are adapted 
 to the physical peculiarities in which he is ; placed, or 
 rather are dependent on them, and influenced by them. 
 Not merely is the home fitted and furnished for the capa- 
 city and convenience of its inmates, but the inhabitants 
 themselves are moulded and modified by the accidents and 
 associations of their home. As in our domestic architec- 
 ture there is immense variety as to size and style and 
 structure, as to outward and inward adornment and arrange- 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 41 
 
 ment, so do those many mansions of earth's surface, which 
 form the heritage of nations and communities, differ 
 remarkably in extent and outKne, in design ^nd decora- 
 tion, in the scenery they command, in the impressions they 
 convey. In either case are the children of men educated 
 by the circumstances that surround their birth; and so 
 exact is the proportion of apparent evil and real good, that 
 none have reason to envy their brethren, or to condemn the 
 allotments of the Almighty Parent. There may have been 
 a greater uniformity among the various parts than actually 
 prevails, but that woidd have been inconsistent with the 
 wisdom that planned and prescribed the whole. For, to 
 quote from an elegant and earnest writer of our day, — 
 
 " God made the present earth as the home of man ; but had He 
 meant it as a mere lodging, a world less beautiful would have served 
 the purpose. There was np need for the carpet of verdure, or the 
 ceiling of blue ; no need for the mountains, and cataracts, and forests ; 
 no need for the rainbow, no need for the flowers. A big, round 
 island, half of it arable, and half of it pasture, with a clump of trees 
 in one comer, 'and a magazine of fuel in another, might have held and 
 fed ten millions of people ; and a hundred islands, all made on the 
 same pattern, big and round, might have held and fed the population 
 of the globe. But man is something more than the animal which wants 
 lodging and food. He has a spiritual nature, fuU of keen perceptions 
 and deep sympathies: He has an eye for the sublime and beautiful, 
 and his kind CJreator has provided man's abode with affluent materials 
 for these nobler tastes. He has built Mont Blanc, and molten the lake 
 in which its image sleeps. He has intoned Niagara's thunder, and has 
 breathed the zephyr which sweeps its spray. He has shagged the 
 steep with its cedars, and besprent the meadow with its king-cups and 
 daisies. He has made it a world of fragrance stnd music — a world of 
 brightness and symmetry — a world where the grand and the gracefiil, 
 the awfiil and the lovely, rejoice together. In fashioning the home of 
 man, the Creator had an eye to something more than convenience, and 
 built, not a barrack, but a palace ; not a workhouse, but an Alhambra ; 
 something which should not only be very comfortable, but very 
 splendid and very fair ; something which should inspire the soul of 
 its inhabitant, and even draw forth the 'very good' of complacent 
 Deity." 
 
 But in external nature there is not absolute beauty 
 alone — there are relative degrees, there is infinite variety, 
 in that- which captivates and charms. And since diversity 
 of circumstance is the law, we may ask if diversity of con- 
 dition or character is the result of its operation. 
 
42 PHYSICAL GEOGKAPHY 
 
 The first and most obvious differences in the physical 
 constitution of the earth are those which depend upon 
 cliniate, and this has undoubtedly much to do with the 
 mental and moral peculiarities of the inhabitants. So long 
 ago as the days of the great Hippocrates, — -days of undy- 
 ing Grecian story — days when the human intellect attained 
 a culture which, through all succeeding ages, has exalted 
 and ennobled it, — the influence of climate was recognised 
 and recorded. For, contrasting Western Asia and East- 
 em Europe, he infers that from the higher and more 
 equable temperature of the former, a manly, hardy, labori- 
 ous, intrepid spirit could not exist there, but that pleasure 
 would be the ■ governing principle. That, in consequence 
 of the unvarying nature of the seasons, it is that the 
 Asiatics are unwaTlike and gentle, feeble and timid, because 
 change of all kinds is necessary to arouse the understand- 
 ing, and to preserve body as weU as mind from torpor. 
 The French political and moral philosopher has but ex- 
 tended the conclusions of the Greek physician, when he 
 asserts that liberty is the genius of the nations of Europe, 
 and slavery that of those of Asia, though in the details of 
 his argument Montesquieu has probably laid too much 
 stress on the claims and consequences of climate. 
 
 By climate we at present refer to temperature ; but it is 
 needful to remark, that this depends on additional causes 
 than latitude alone, and also that in estimating climate, 
 we must take other things into account besides the mere 
 thermometrical ranges. 
 
 Yet the principle remains, that in cold climates, or in 
 those further removed from the equator, there is greater 
 vigour, greater self-confidence and courage, a higher sense 
 of personal superiority, and less inclination to revenge, a 
 greater feeling of freedom and security, and less subtilty 
 or suspicion. The people have the-activity, the strength, 
 the ingenuousness, the innocence of youth. But you will 
 not expect to find among them much fertility of imagina- 
 tion, or acuteness of sensibility. On the other hand, in 
 the burning regions of the equinoctial zone, body and mind 
 alike are destitute of energy and endurance ; there is little 
 enterprise or elevation ; the inclinations are passive rather 
 than active ; the passions acquire more strength, and are 
 
AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 43 
 
 less susceptible of control; sloth or sensual indulgences 
 are the chief good. The people will present the lassitude, 
 the timidity, the suspiciousness of old age. To the ener- 
 vating effects of physical causes we may partly ascribe the 
 unchanging and unyielding type of oriental religions, 
 manners, customs, laws. 
 
 But we must go further in our investigations before we 
 can arrive at the whole truth. The philosophy of the sub- 
 ject has been ably expressed by M. Malte-Brun : — 
 
 " It would appear that, in countries where there is no summer, the 
 inhabitants are destitute of genius, or, at least, of intelligence and 
 taste ; while in those regions where there is no winter, true valour, 
 constancy, and loyalty, as well as other civil and military virtues, are 
 almost imknown. Yet the general character of a nation being the 
 result of all the physical circumstances under which it is placed, and 
 of the political institutions which modify these circumstances, it is 
 absurd to make it depend on climate alone. Extreme cold as well as 
 extreme heat, by enfeebling the constitution, seems to check and re- 
 strain that progress of improvement which a people might otherwise 
 make ; but institutions aod manners struggle successiiilly against the 
 climate. !Egypt, bordering on the tropic, and Scandinavia on the polar 
 circle, have equEiUy given birth to heroes, sages, and men of genius. 
 The nature of a country has more influence than the temperature." 
 
 With mountainous and rugged lands we instinctively 
 associate courage and independence, liberty and patriotism. 
 For rocks and steeps are necessarily unproductive, and the 
 less we have left to us to call our own, the more are we 
 attached to it, and the more strenuously we endeavour to 
 preserve it.. There is something in the sternness, and soli- 
 tude, and sublimity, inseparable from the scenery of such 
 lands, that peculiarly endears them to their children, that 
 peculiarly shelters them from despotism and degradation. 
 How frequently has Greece struggled to regain her free- 
 dom ! how successfully has Switzerland striven to main- 
 tain it! Our own disasters when contending with the 
 Afghans, and the fruitless efforts of the Russians against 
 the tribes of the Caucasus, exhibit the same truth. A 
 mountainous territory is easy to defend, but difficult and 
 dangerous to attack. The stores and munitions of war 
 required by an invading, army are conveyed to such scenes 
 of conflict with infinite trouble and expense. A handful 
 of armed men can repair to a fortress inaccessible to any 
 
44 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHY 
 
 but themselves, and secure a pass impregnable to aught 
 but treachery, while from their lofty perch they can defy, 
 and, with deadly power repel, tens of thousands of their 
 helpless assailants. The atmosphere, the associations, the 
 advantages, the very existence and enjoyment qf moun- 
 taineers, compel them to consider that freedom is their 
 birthright, which must not be stolen, or sulUed, or sur- 
 rendered. 
 
 Sterility of the soil will render those who occupy it in- 
 dustrious, sober, persevering. That which the earth refuses 
 to yield spontaneously must be wrested by toil from her 
 reluctant bosom; what is painful to procure, it will be 
 pleasant to preserve ; the labours of the field will prepare 
 for the hardships of war. The most fertile lands are not 
 always the best cultivated, for nature's affluence is a pre- 
 mium on man's indolence. The facihty with which food 
 is procured obstructs the growth of industry and the arts. 
 In some of the sunniest spots on earth, paradises of abun- 
 dance and loveliness, we shall meet with the lowest forms 
 of ignorance and barbarism. 
 
 Large tracts of level country, without navigable rivers 
 or forests, will give rise to a pastoral and nomade life. 
 Under such circumstances, population wiU increase but 
 slowly ; the flocks and herds will supply the simple wants 
 of those who tend them, and neither the motives nor the 
 means will occur for the cultivation of manufactures and com- 
 merce. Eich vales, adorned with green pastures and still 
 waters, may arrest the progress of these wandering tribes. 
 A settled abode will convert the keepers of sheep into the 
 tillers of the ground, and agriculture wiU pave the way for 
 other arts and useful avocations. So, according to Malte- 
 Brun, " the Mongols, descending from their upland plains, 
 have founded numerous towns in China ; and an African 
 horde, following the Nile from Meroe and Upper Ethiopia, 
 successively created the wonders of Thebes and Memphis." 
 The vast central table-land of Asia affords the best exam- 
 ples of the physical and social state to which we have just 
 alluded. The Hindoo, more civilized and apparently more 
 happy, owes to his climate the effeminacy and indolence 
 that has subjected him to domestic tyranny, and to the 
 sway of foreign adventurers, from which the barbarous 
 
AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 45 
 
 and unsettled, but independent Tartar has escaped. The 
 continent of Europe, more broken up and intersected and 
 less extensiye, where extremes of temperature and of 
 temperament meet not as they do in Asia, presents an 
 assemblage of various nations, vying with each other in 
 intelligence and strength, more anxious to secure, and 
 more able to sustain, a community of interests and a balance 
 of power. National rivalry will be the stimulus and the 
 safeguard to national liberty, enterprise, activity, and 
 advancement. 
 
 Elxtensive forests wiU suggest the hunting of animals as 
 a natural occupation. The excitement, and daliger, and 
 toil, demanded and derived from the chase, wiU invigorate 
 both body and mind, and dispose to a more rapid improve- 
 ment in civilization than would be induced by the quieter 
 and more equable habits of a pastoral life. Hunters would 
 become warriors, means of protection as well as of attack 
 would be required, the forests would supply abundant ma- 
 terials for dwellings and defence, and architecture would 
 give rise to mechanical inventions and ingenuity. 
 
 Islanders, again, have characteristics as strongly marked 
 as those of mountaineers. We can imagine that in some 
 narrow speck of earth, enclosed and entrenched by nature 
 herself, arose the first ideas of nationality and independence. 
 The limits were defined by no human authority, therefore 
 Providence must have intended that those who dwelt 
 within them should be a distinct and peculiar people ; the 
 boundary line could not be enlarged, it must therefore be 
 jealously watched and guarded. Ignorance of the world 
 beyond, and want of intercourse with it, would confirm 
 individuality, and exaggerate personal importance. In- 
 sular nations are distinguished by originality, as the result 
 of self-reliance; and by exclusiveness, as the result of 
 self-directed effort. Attached to the land of their birth, 
 and unjust towards others ; devoted to national interests, 
 liberties, and memorials, and distorted by national preju- 
 dices and superstitions, they generally evince more energy 
 of character than the inhabitants of continental plains. 
 The bleak and damp sea air, and the necessity of shelter 
 from the inclemency of the seasons, may, in some islanders, 
 have further tended to develope their natural and mental 
 
46 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 
 
 resources ; while the majesty of ocean, and the longing to 
 explore its mysteries, would excite a spirit of hardihood 
 an<d afiventure. To maritime nations, whether on those 
 smaller islands known as such, or on the coasts of those 
 larger islands called continents, belongs the honour of 
 whateTer navigation has attempted and achieved. And 
 when we consider the much larger proportion of earth's 
 surface occupied by water than by land, we are certainly 
 justified in assigning to navigation a chief, if not the 
 highest, place among the instinctive and implied pursuits 
 of men. 
 
 Beyond the general relations already glanced ati, we shall 
 find a certain connexion between physical and political 
 geography and Uterature, science, and the fine arts. To 
 give a few simple illustrations. It has been remarked,: that 
 trunks of trees supporting a verdant roof supplied the first 
 idea of Grecian colonnades, whilst Chinese architecture 
 consists only of tents indtated in wood and stone ; in 
 Gothic architecture we recognise the image of gloomy 
 caverns and steep rocks. Who will fail to trace in the soft 
 and glowing landscapes of Claude the reflex- of those Italian 
 skies to which, from early life, he was accustomed? While 
 the shallow soil of Attica was the parent of agricultural 
 industry and skill, its clear, fresh, pure air and elegant 
 scenery gave grace and strength to the productions of the 
 Athenian intellect. We have already intimated that, in 
 genial and sunny climes, where nature is arrayed in loveliest 
 hues, and assumes her gayest smiles, we especially look 
 for taste and fancy, warm imaginations and lively emotions. 
 How true is this of the literature of Persia or of Araby 
 the Blest ! In every waywere the Arabians remarkable, 
 during their epoch of bloom and maturity, forming a con- 
 necting link between the glory of ancient and of modern 
 times, and leaving memorials of their industry and inge- 
 nuity, of the value of which we are now scarcely conscious. 
 "What a noble people were the Arabs !" was the exclama- 
 tion of the learned Professor Beckmann ; " we should have 
 stUl more to thank them for, were we fully aware of the 
 benefits we have derived from them. Had I still twenty 
 years to Uve, and could hope for an abundant supply of 
 Arabic works, I would learn Arabic. There was some-. 
 
AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 47 
 
 thing, too, in the institutions of Islamism which resulted 
 from climate, or was related to it. Extensive and extra- 
 ordinary as was its spread, it would seem to have been 
 limited to physical boundaries, which, unlike Christianity, 
 Heaven's gift to. universal man, it was unable to surpass. 
 
 Impressibility and acuteness are not always allied with 
 solidity and strength, with depth and dignity. In less 
 favoured climes do we look for that learning which con- 
 sults utility rather than ornament, and requires for its 
 culture profound thought and patient application. Where 
 nature's attire is chaste and charming, not gaudy and 
 voluptuous ; where the breath of heaven is refreshing, but 
 not relaxing ; where earth's treasures, though stored with 
 no imsparing hand, must laboriously be sought, that they 
 successfully be obtained, — ^there wUl mental vigor fix its 
 home, flourish abundantly, and bring forth fruit ; there will 
 it extend its empire, and wia its widest conquests. The 
 necessity for toil is not a curse, but a condition ; and when, 
 whether of body or mind, it is not a spasmodic effort, but 
 a sustained exertion, it will lead to the healthiest and the 
 happiest results. 
 
 May we not here pause to apply to the land we live in, 
 to its social and intellectual development and history, the 
 principles we have endeavoured to exhibit and explain? 
 Our climate has been much maligned, both by others and 
 ourselves. A witty tourist has said, that in London there 
 are eight months winter and four months bad weather in 
 every year ; and we are proverbially, and perhaps not un- 
 reasonably, disposed to blame our skies and seasons. Yet 
 we may safely assert, by an appeal to facts and figures, 
 that our cotmtry is among the healthiest in the world. 
 Our scenery, -which we so much depreciate and desert, 
 though it have not the sublimity, the extent, the prodi- 
 gality of adornment which that of other lands, statelier 
 and sunnier, may yield, yet has it a quiet beauty, a quick 
 interchange of varied aspects, an uniformity of attractive- 
 ness, that may, with Ifess success, be looked for elsewhere. 
 If we lose in luxuriance or grandeur, we gain in sobriety 
 and grace, and are, at least, free from the desolation, 
 dreariness, and deformity that often alternate with exces- 
 sive creative efforts or startling display. If there is no 
 
48 PHYSICAL GEOGKAPHY 
 
 profusion, there is no poverty. Then, again, we pos- 
 sess within ourselves those conditions which enable us to 
 cultivate every department of human industry. We are 
 not exclusively agricultural, or manufacturing, or com- 
 mercial, but nature has adapted us to combine the whole. 
 Our coasts are never ice-bound, but always intricate and 
 dangerous ; near enough to the tempestuous north to give 
 hardihood and caution, too far from the torrid south to 
 induce feebleness or cowardice ; and our seamen, well in- 
 structed and inured in the exigencies and enterprise of their 
 noble calhng, are a national necessity and a national 
 renown. The stores beneath our soil supply the materials 
 for machinery and for transit, together with the fuel which 
 makes minerals available for use, and which gives motion 
 and meaning to the contrivances of mechanical skill. 
 While on every side, undisturbed by the business of great^ 
 waters, or the din of the factory and forge, " the pastures 
 are clothed with flocks, the valleys also are covered over 
 with com : they shout for joy, they also sing." Prom the 
 evils incidental to islanders we are by no means exempt : 
 our national vigour and national success have rather in- 
 creased and intensified them ; but of the advantages of our 
 geographical position we have made the fullest service. 
 Our character is rather constructive and practical than 
 contemplative and poetical; but as we have a variety of 
 natural capabilities and industrial resources, so have we a 
 versatility of mental endowment, and a wide extent of 
 mental triumph. The same country that inspired A Mid- 
 summer Night's Dream and Comus, gave birth to the authors 
 of the Novum Organon and the Principia Mathematica. 
 And if from ourselves we turn to our brethren beyond the 
 Atlantic, do we not see in the immensities of nature that 
 surround them, in the pathless prairie, in the mighty Mis- 
 sissippi, some reasons for their own high aspirations, their 
 restless energies, their maxim and their method of onward 
 progress ? 
 
 A land there is, the cynosure, not of neighbouring only, 
 but of far distant eyes, endeared by the most sacred asso- 
 ciations, enshrined in the deepest recesses of the memory 
 and heart, — how far are the considerations which we recog- 
 nise in other lands to be admitted and applied to it? 
 
AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 49 
 
 Palestine was the country chosen for the seed of Abraham, 
 God's friend, the province dignified with'his special favour, 
 his personal government, his peculiar interpositions, the 
 scene of the ministerial life and mediatorial death of our 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. While we acknowledge 
 the sovereignty and supremacy that determined the choice, 
 we also believe that, on motives obvious to human intel- 
 lect, it could be justified and explained. 
 . The ancients supposed that their sacred city Delphi was 
 the very centre of the world, the focus of heaven's light and 
 of earth's wisdom. May we not more truly assign to Jerusa- 
 lem, "the holy city," the same position and pre-eminence ? 
 If we take a map of the world, as usually laid down on 
 Mercator's projection, and draw two diagonal lines, the 
 point of intersection will not be very far from the precincts 
 of the land of promise. If this be i^^ncy, we are content 
 with the evidence of facts. In Asia was the birthplace of 
 the human fanuly, and in Asia did He arise through whom 
 they should be bom again. But the spot selected as the 
 theatre of revelation and redemption was the western ex- 
 tremity of Asia, on the confines of the three quarters of 
 the ancient world, on thf borders of that sea which, from 
 its situation, has acquired the name of Mediterranean. 
 Surely there was a purpose and a wisdom in this appoint- 
 ment. Heaven's oracles were not to be buried in obscurity 
 and secrecy, far removed from the haunts of men and the 
 highway of Ufe, but human intercourse must speed the 
 sacred message, that aU may hear, accept, attend. 
 
 The country itself was of limited extent, under two hun- 
 dred miles in length, with an utmost breadth of less than 
 ninety. Shut in by its natural boimdaries of sea and 
 desert and mountain, it was sufficiently defined from sur- 
 rounding lands, and within itself it amply sustained the 
 people to whom it was given in possession. It enjoyed 
 what we are accustomed to consider the perfection of 
 dimate, the southern region of the temperate zone, Jeru- 
 salem being nearly on the same paraPel as Madeira. Yet, 
 from the irregularity of its surface, and from other 
 causes, its climate was subject t(4 vicissitudes. There' was 
 the valley of the Jordan, depressed below the level of 
 the sea, tropical in its temperature and vegetation ; the 
 
50 PHYSICAL GKOGRAPHY 
 
 warm, moist plains bordering the Mediterranean; the 
 elevated table-land of the interior, with summer and winter 
 more distinctly marked ; and the lofty tract of Lebanon, 
 with mountain summits ever sterile, and clothed with per- 
 petual snow. From May to September, from the end of 
 Abib to the beginning of Tisri, the season was hot and 
 dry ; during the seven remaining months rain was frequent 
 or general, often violent and destmctive. In some winters 
 the frost and cold have been exceedingly severe. To the 
 crusaders' armies they were often a source of suffering ; 
 pilgrims flocking to the holy shrines have encountered 
 their distressing effects ; and there may have been much 
 force and meaning in our Lord's words to his disciples, 
 '" Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter." Yet in 
 the depth of winter, when the air is still, it is frequently 
 warm, or even hot. The spring and autumn nights are 
 often cold. On the 'night of our Lord's betrayal, which 
 was about the period of the vernal equinox, Peter sat with 
 ihe servants of the high priest and warmed himself by the 
 fire. Extremely hot days may be succeeded by excessively 
 cold nights. Of the intensity of the summer heat we have 
 abundant evidence in the incidents and allusions of the 
 sacred record. 
 
 The habits of the people were agricultural and pastoral, 
 and the produce of the soil, as well from natural fertility 
 as from careful culture, was astonishing in its amount. It 
 was indeed, as had been promised and portrayed, " a good 
 land, .... a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and 
 fig-trees, and pomegranates ; a land of oil olive, and 
 honey ; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarce- 
 ness, thou shalt not lack any thing." It had a variety as 
 well as a luxuriance of vegetation which, in a higher or 
 in a lower latitude, would have been impracticable, or even 
 in the latitude it enjoyed, had it not been for the in- 
 equalities of level. What it now is in its days of ruin the 
 researches of travellers attest ; and we may thence con- 
 ceive what it must have been in its populous and prospe- 
 rous times, abiding "under the shadow of the Almighty." 
 
 Journeying from Siohem to Jerusalem, Dr. E. D. 
 Clarke thus writes of the country through which he 
 passed : — 
 
AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 51 
 
 " The road was mouDtainous, rocky, and full of loose stones ; yet 
 the oultivation was everywhere marvellous : it afforded one of the 
 most striking pictures of human industry which it is possible to behold. 
 The limestone rocks and valleys of Judea were entirely covered with 
 plantations of figs, vines, and olive-trees ; not a single spot seemed to 
 be neglected. The lulls, from their bases to their upmost summits, 
 were entirely covered with gardens ; all of these were £ree from weeds, 
 and in the highest state of agricultural perfection. Even the sides of 
 the most barren mountains had been rendered fertile by being divided 
 into terrace's, like steps rising one above another, whereon soil had 
 been accumulated with astonishing labour. Under a wise and bene- 
 ficent government, the produce of the Holy I^nd would exceed all 
 calculation. Its perennial harvest ; the salubrity of its air ; its limpid 
 spiings ; its livei's, lakes, and matchless plains ; its hills and vales, — 
 all these, added to the serenity Of its climate, prove this land to be 
 indeed ' a field which the Lord hath blessed;' " 
 
 Then there was every description of scenery — ^mountain 
 and valley, forest and lake", wilderness and watercourse, 
 each with its story and song, to impress the senses or 
 delight the memories of the inhabitants. Each lofty peak, 
 each, murmuring brook, each rocky cave, had its sacred lay 
 or legend. Each spot had its mercy to suggest, its Divine 
 manifestation to recall, its incident of patriarchal history 
 to commemorate. God's dealings with Abraham and Isaac 
 and Jacob would thereby be asserted, and their children 
 would be assured that they were heirs of the same pro- 
 mises, and partakers of the same protection and favour. 
 Everything conspired to .deepen the affection of the Jews 
 for the land of their nativity ; and He who designed that 
 to that land they should con&ie their regards, gave them 
 within its borders all they could covet or embrace. If its 
 general aspect was distinguished by fruitfulness and beauty, 
 there were other portions full of stem sublimity, which 
 still impress on our colder^ imagination their thrilling 
 influence. Such is the desolate tract south-east of Jeru- 
 salem, where John preached repentance, and our Lord 
 was led by the Spirit to be tempted. Here, says 
 Chateaubriand, — 
 
 "Extraordinary appearances' everywhere proclaim a land teeming 
 with miracles ; tie burning sun, the towering eagle, the barren fig- 
 tree ; all the poetry, all the pictures 'of Scripture, are here. Every 
 name commemorates a mystery ; every grot proclaims the future j 
 every hill re-echoes the accents of a prophet. God himself has 
 
 2 E 
 
52 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 
 
 spoken in these regions : dried up rivers, riven rocks, half-open sepul- 
 chree, attest the prodigy ; the desert still appears mute with terror, 
 and you would imagine it had never presumed to interrupt the 
 silence, since it had heard the awful voice of the Eternal." 
 
 Let us pass from the physical features of the country to 
 the mental operations of the people. The Hebrews were 
 comparatively rude and unlettered. Shepherds and hus- 
 bandmen and warriors, they had few trades or manufactures, 
 and their modes of life were simple. In the earlier periods 
 of their history they had no commerce, and were thus pre- 
 served from that intercourse with other nations which 
 would haVe been inconsistent with God's purpose con- 
 cerning them. In the age of Solomon liew relations arose, 
 and with them new wealth and luxuries, which no doubt 
 made them a prey more longed for by foreign invaders. 
 Still, their secular mission was, first, to go in and possess 
 their land ; then to till and tend it ; and, lastly, to defend 
 it from present encroachments, and to transmit it, with all 
 its institutions, to the care and for the service of future 
 generations. Their rural engagements were favourable to 
 thought, their climate gave warmth and vivacity to fancy. 
 In the beautiful mythology of ancient heathendom, the god 
 of shepherds was the inventor of the flute, and the Jews 
 were early accustomed to the recreations of singing and 
 dancing and instruments of music' Their religious ser- 
 vices were eminently aesthetic ; and the book which was 
 at once their manual of worship, their code of law, their 
 standard of morality, their storehouse of history and 
 poetry and philosophy, was expressly calculated to refine 
 their feehngs and cultivate their taste. In it was their 
 literature comprised ; its very syllables were sacred ; copied 
 and recopied with reverential accuracy, and engraved on 
 their hearts and memories, the only efforts of their pen 
 were directed to explain or enforce it. Let us inquire, 
 then, how far the style of this book may have been in- 
 fluenced by the geographical conditions amid which it was 
 composed. To say that it was inspired does not affect the 
 argument. If it had been filled with images and illustra- 
 tions foreign to the people to whom it was addressed, we 
 should have been slow to approve the wisdom of its design, 
 yr been led to doubt the reality of its claims. However 
 
AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 53 
 
 philosophers may dispute about the " fitness of things," as 
 a moral principle or a metaphysical necessity, we know that 
 God has a method and a meaning in all his plans, and a 
 constant regard to adaptation, utility, and association. 
 We should, therefore, expect to find in the thoughts and 
 words suggested by Him to the writers of the sacred 
 record, such allusions as would be most familiar to them 
 and their readers. 
 
 The illustrious Humboldt has adduced the 104th Psalm 
 as the best instance occurring to .him of the connexion 
 between Hebrew scenery and Hebrew poetry, and if we 
 examine it in detail we shall be convinced of the justice of 
 the observation. After alluding to the general phenomena 
 of creation, the psalmist makes mention of those natural 
 appearances by which he was himself surrounded — ^moun- 
 taios, valleys, running springs, fruitful rains, grass and 
 vegetables, com and vines and olives, cedars and fir-trees, 
 forests and craggy rocks, the liability to earthquakes and 
 volcanic agency, the sea and its inmates, birds small and 
 large, domestic cattle and wild animals, with their several 
 instincts and resorts ; and, amid all, the peaceful and 
 profitable occupations of agriculture, man going forth 
 unto his work and to his labour untU the evening. But 
 wherever we open the Hebrew Scriptures, and to whatever 
 department of poetry we turn, whether prophetic or elegiac, 
 or didactic or lyric, we shall find the same principle in 
 operation. In some portions are the figures more richly 
 clustered, and some are of such frequent occurrence, and 
 of such special or local force, as to be characteristic of the 
 sacred writings, or confined to them alone. To exemplify 
 this truth, we shall adopt the guidance of the learned 
 Bishop Lowth : — 
 
 " The metaphor by which sudden and great calamities are expressed 
 under the figure of a deluge of waters seems to have been remarkably 
 familiar to the Hebrews. The Jordan annually overflowed its banks, 
 from the snows of Lebanon being melted in the beginning of summer. 
 The whole country of Palestine was watered by few perennial currents ; 
 but being mountainous, was exposed to frequent floods after great 
 tempests of rain, which periodically took place. The image, therefore, 
 was in a manner local to the Hebrews. It may be remarked, that 
 the author of Job has made most sparing use of this image, although 
 the nature of his subject presented excellent opportunities for em- 
 
54 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 
 
 ploying it. If composed in Arabia, nature presented a, different 
 aspect. There is a species of imagery derived from natural objects, 
 altogether peculiai' to the Hebrews. Among the mountains of Pales- 
 tine, the most remarkable, and consequently the most celebrated in 
 the sacred poetry, are mount Lebanon and mount Carmel. The one, 
 remarkable as well for its height as for its age, magnitude, and the 
 abundance of the cedars which adorned its summit, exhibiting a 
 striking and substantial appearance of strength and majesty. The 
 other, rich and fruitful, abounding with vines, olives, and delicious 
 &uits, in a most flourishing state both by nature and cultivation, and 
 displaying a delightful appearance of fertility, beauty, and grace. 
 The diflferent form and aspect of these two mountains ia most accu- 
 rately defined by Solomon, when he compares the manly dignity with 
 Lebanon, and the beauty arid delicacy of the female with Carmel. 
 Each of these suggests a different general image, which the Hebrew 
 posts adopt for different purposes. Thus Lebanon is usei, by a very 
 bold figure, for the whole people of the Jews, or for the state of the 
 Church ; for Jerusalem ; for the temple of Jerusalem ; for the king of 
 Assyria even, and for his army— for whatever, in a word, is remark- 
 able, august, and sublime : and, in the same manner, whatever 
 possesses muph fertility, wealth, or beauty, is called Carmel. Thus, 
 too, by the fat rams, heifers, and bulls of Bashan, by the wild beast of 
 the reeds, or lion of Jordan, are denoted the insolent and cruel tyrants 
 of the Gentiles. In this and other imagery of the same kind, lliough 
 the sacred writers presume to attempt what would not be allowed in 
 the Greek and Latin poets, yet they cannot be accused of any defi- 
 ciency in perspicuity or elegance, especially if it be remembered that 
 the objects which ftimished them with this imagery were all familiar 
 or indigenous to the Hebrews." 
 
 The dew of Hermoiij the vineyards of Engedi, the rose 
 of Sharon, the goats of mount Gilead, the hart panting 
 after the water-brooks, the shadow of a rock in a weary 
 land, the garden of spices, the palm-tree, the lily, hallowed 
 and homely to us as emblems, yet conveyed to the Israelites 
 a significance which we cannot appreciate. Allusions and 
 metaphors such as these, which we might multiply to any 
 extent, would have been altogether inapphcable in other 
 coimtries or in other chmates. Had we no knowledge of 
 -Palestine from the discoveries and descriptions of modem 
 travellers, we could have arrived at some accurate con- 
 clusions with regard to its physical geography from the 
 undesigned testimony of its ancient Scriptures. The 
 prominent use of water as a type of temporal or spiritual 
 blessings bears witness to the temperature of its air and 
 soil. The perpetual reference to mountains portrays a 
 
AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 55 
 
 characteristic feature of the scenery. The same fact is 
 proved by the variety of vegetable productions of which 
 mention is made. Each family of plants has its special 
 zone or allotted home, increase of elevation being equiva- 
 lent to increase of latitude. Thus the Peak of Teneriffe 
 has five belts or stages of vegetation, each with its peculiar 
 forms of life, — the regions of vines, of laurels, of pines, of 
 brooms, of grasses. So in Palestine we gradually pass 
 from the palm and the balsam to the oak, the cedar, and 
 the fir. Of Lebanon it has been said by an eastern poet, 
 that he bears vrinter on his head, spring on his shoulders, 
 and. autumn in his bosom, while summer lies sleeping at 
 his feet ; the same natural phenomenon being thereby ex- 
 pressed in other language. How much more was the 
 convenience and enjoyment of the Jews consulted, than if 
 the chosen land had been in some ,high northern latitude, 
 which would yield the pine cone or acorn, but not the date 
 or fig ; or on some alluvial flat, beneath a burning sun, 
 with richness of fruit and foliage, but no range or variation 
 of scenery and surface. The express and ever-recurring 
 allusions to the fertility of Canaan prepare us to admit its 
 wondrous capabilities, and to understand that the state- 
 ments given as to its populousness are not excessive or 
 improbable. 
 
 Yet we must never forget that intrinsic and physical 
 conditions alone do not determine a nation's character and 
 advancement. Many extrinsic causes and circumstances 
 equally induce and influence the result. Accidents we 
 will not call them, as we believe them to be the accom- 
 plishment of laws sanctioned and superintended by the 
 Divine Ruler of events. Else why should not Egypt and 
 Greece still maintain their intellectual superiority, be still 
 the arbiters of art and learning ? Why should not Eome 
 be still the mistress of the world ? Why should the mar- 
 vellous cities of central America have passed to desolation 
 and decay? Why should our own British isles have 
 attained a pre-eminence denied to New Zealand, which in 
 physical features is not dissimilar? Why should civilization 
 be so arbitrary in its development, so shifting in its seat^ 
 so revolutionary in its career ? Hence, without reference 
 to that special interference, which we yet admit, we are 
 
56 PHYSICAL GEOORAPHY 
 
 not without parallel in asking, Why does not modem 
 Palestine redeem the promise and renew the glories of the 
 past ? But if we fully surrey its scanty population, its 
 arid plains, its sterile rocks, its towns in ruins, its fields 
 lying waste, its ports deserted, its roads destroyed, property 
 insecure, and labour unblessed, we are forcibly reminded of 
 such words as these : — " Upon the land of my people 
 shall come up thorns and briers ; yea, upon all the housesi 
 of joy in the joyous city: because the palaces shall be for- 
 saken ; the multitude of the city shall be left ; the forts 
 and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a 
 pasture of flocks." While the 'crescent of the false prophet 
 sheds its sickly ray where shone the Shechinah of the 
 God of Israel, while different Christian sects contend for 
 the custody of holy places, the Jew, whom all pass by as 
 infidel and outcast, still clings to the country of his fathers, 
 still weeps When he remembers Zion. His constancy amid 
 captivity and humiliation is the object of pity or praise, of 
 astonishment or admiration, to all observers. In M. de 
 Chateaubriand's Journey from Paris to Jerusalem are some 
 eloquent reflections on this social and spiritual anomaly, 
 which we shall venture to transfer to our pages : — 
 
 " Between Mount Zion and the temple, behold a few who live apart 
 from the other inhabitants of the city. Special objects of soorp, they 
 bow their heads without complaint ; they endure every insult without 
 seeking redress ; they submit to buffetings without a sigh ; nay, they 
 even surrender their lives without a murmur. If any member of this 
 proscribed race die, his companion will go by night, to bury him 
 stealthily in the valley of Jehoshaphat, under the shadow of the 
 Temple of Solomon. Penetrate the dwellinga of this people, you will 
 find them in fearful misery, reading a mysterious volume to children 
 who, in their turn, will read it to their ovm. That which they did five 
 thousand years ago they still do. Seventeen times have they witnessed 
 the ruin of Jerusalem, and nothing can discourage them ; nothing 
 <;an hinder them from turning their looks towards Zion. When we 
 see the Jews scattered over the earth, in fulfilment of God's word, we 
 are no doubt surprised ; but this surprise will strike us with more 
 than natural force if we retrace them to Jerusalem ; if we see the 
 rightful masters of Judea slaves and strangers in their own land ; if 
 we see them await under every oppression their king and deliverer. 
 Crushed by the cross which condemns them, and which is reared above 
 their heads, concealed near the temple, of which there remains not 
 one stone upon another, they yet abide in their deplorable blindness. 
 Persians, Greeks, Romans, have vanished from the land ; and a little 
 
AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 57 
 
 nation, whose origin preceded that of those mighty nations, still exists 
 unamalgamated amid the desolations of their country. If anything 
 in the world's history bears tlie character of a miracle, we think that 
 character is here. And what is more marveUous, even in a philosopher's 
 eyes, than the meeting of ancient and modem Jerusalem at the foot 
 of Calvary ? — the former mourning in view of the sepulchre of the 
 risen Christ ; the latter comforted around the only tomb which will 
 have nothing to give up at the end of the world." 
 
 From the past or the present we may turn -vyith satis- 
 faction to the future. Whether or not we accept in their 
 literal import the predictions as to the ultimate destinies 
 of the Jews, and believe in their actual restoration as a 
 people to their former heritage and home, we have reason 
 to conclude that the veil will not always remain on their 
 hearts ; that spiritually, at least, their captivity will be 
 turned; that they shall " shake themselves from the 
 dust; and, as " the ransomed of the Lord, shall obtain 
 joy and gladness." 
 
 Varied are the scenes of earth, infinite its adaptations, 
 marvellous its resources. Warmly but vainly may its 
 children dispute as to the relative blessings of their re- 
 spective lots, envying or exalting, depreciating or despising, 
 their own or their neighbours' inheritance. Yet with 
 common faith, and earnest* feeling, and united assurance, 
 we can raise our hearts and hands above, where aU is 
 loveliness and all is harmony, and exultingly say — " There 
 lies the happiest land !" 
 
^t^H0l00g. 
 
 ^'The different races of mankind are not different species of a 
 genus, but forms of one sole species." — MoLLBK. 
 
 The Court of the Areopagus had existed for centuries. 
 Its authority had been undisputed, its wisdom unrivalled, 
 its equity unimpeached. Many cases and charges of heresy 
 and impiety it had adjudicated, many scenes of pathos and 
 of power it had witnessed, many novelties of denunciation 
 and defence had been propounded within its area, but none 
 so strange and startling as when, in its declining days, a 
 foreigner, a Cilician Jew, visiting the city of Athens, 
 accuses the inhabitants of ignorance and presumption, and 
 undertakes to unfold to them the true theory of the Divine 
 and human nature. God, he says, is immaterial and 
 independent, spiritual and supreme, yet has he visible 
 relationships with earth. He is the Universal Father, 
 and all men, barbarians as well as Greeks, are his common 
 children. " He hath made of one blood all nations, to 
 dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined 
 the bounds of their habitation." 
 
 Stranger and' still more startling would this announce- 
 ment have appeared, had the Athenians known what we 
 know of the number and variety, of the wide dispersion 
 and vast diversity of aspect, of the members of the human 
 family. We nevertheless accept it as an axiom for all 
 time, admit its fuU significance, and approve its conformity 
 with truth and reason. The differences between man and 
 man, if we take their extreme and most striking contrasts, 
 are far inferior to those which distinguish him from all 
 other animals, even those most seemingly allied, and are 
 so superficial, as not to affect the great doctrine of the 
 unity of the human species. 
 
BTHNOIiOGY. 59 
 
 If we look at man in general; we find him possessed of 
 certain characteTs which are his sole prerogative. To him 
 is the erect attitude peculiar, and his whole framework is 
 constructed to secure this object. In the highest of the 
 apes, the upper or anterior extremities are adapted rather 
 for progression or prehension than for any display of 
 mechanical ingenuity, and the posterior limbs are unable 
 to sustain an habitually upright position. Man alone has 
 two hands, with all their flexibility and delicacy of organi- 
 zation, and their infinite range of movements of strength 
 or skill. His teeth are approximated and of equal length ; 
 the lower cutting teeth are perpendicular, and hence the 
 chin is prominent and rounded. He has not a muzzle, but 
 a mouth ; he is not a tearing or a gnawing or a grazing 
 animal, but has limbs wherewith to grasp and guide his 
 food. Above all, he is distinguished by the large pro- 
 portion borne by his skull to his face, by the great size 
 and noble structure of his brain. In man only is the 
 facial line vertical, and the facial angle approaching a 
 right angle. Man is rational and endowed with speech, a 
 creature of mental, moral, and religious capabihties, fitted 
 for social intercourse and for heavenly communion. As 
 an accompaniment or consequence of this, he alone is 
 defenceless and unarmed, without fur or feathers or natural 
 clothing, without tusks or claws or weapons of protection 
 and attack. His wants are to be suppUed not for him but 
 by himself, or wherefore had he faculties to all other 
 animals ungranted and imknown ? In him, also, is bodily 
 growth more slow and gradual, is maturity more tardy, 
 than in the brutes by whom he is surrounded. He is an 
 educable creature ; and as he has higher ends- to serve 
 than the supply of his physical necessities, so has he a 
 longer period of preparation for the purposes he was 
 formed to fulfil. 
 
 Yet amid these common and characteristic attributes of 
 the order, there are many secondary or accidental points 
 of individual difference. The several tribes of men vary, 
 in the colour and texture of their skin and hair, in the hue 
 of their eyes, in the cast of their features, in the contour 
 of their heads, in the shapes and proportions of their body, 
 in stature, in animal economy, in intellectual and moral 
 
60 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 development. Colour has been made a prominent mark 
 of distinction and description. White is met with in 
 all Europeans, except the arctic population, in western 
 Asiatics, and in Northern Africans. Yellow or olire 
 belongs to the Mongolian race. Red or copper, variously 
 modified, prevails over nearly the whole continent of 
 America. Brown or tawny or mahogany characterizes 
 the Malays. Black, ranging from that of soot to ebony, 
 is the colour of the Negro tribes of Africa, and of the 
 Negro -Kke natives of Polynesia and Austraha. But 
 between the most strongly marked tints there is every 
 conceivable intermediate shade ; and in every other par- 
 ticular wherein mankind differ, extremes meet by the most 
 delicate and gentle gradations. So great is the relation 
 between climate and colour, that we cannot fail to trace 
 their mutual dependence. Within the tropics, or closely 
 bordering on them, black holds its sway ; fair skins are 
 the associates of the colder temperate regions ; and to 
 intermediate countries belong intermediate complexions. 
 This is in accordance with the analogies of nature. Beneath 
 a torrid sun birds have their gayest plumage, flowers their 
 most gorgeous hues, -the animal and vegetable worlds alike 
 assume their intensest colouring. In the polar regions, 
 on the other hand, there is a monotony of white or neutral 
 tints ; the dulness of living forms agrees with the dreari- 
 ness of inanimate creation. In man the difference of 
 colour is not even as it is popularly said to be, skin-deep ; 
 but consists simply in the greater or less amount of pig- 
 mentary deposit in the under layer of the scarf skin. So 
 it is more correct to Say that in whites there is a deficiency 
 of material appropriate and essential to the human organi- 
 zation, than that in blacks there is any substance or quality 
 ~ new, adventitious, special, or abnormal. By intermixture 
 of the races, Negroes pass into Quadroons, not distin- 
 guishable from whites ; and, vice versa, these may, in the 
 same manner, revert to the original Negro character. 
 Europeans and American Indians, or Negroes and Ameri^ 
 cans, produce by intermarriage a corresponding range of 
 results. Children do hot always resemble their parents,- 
 and the genera.1 laws of colour are not invariable. Among 
 the white nations of Europe occur scattered instances of 
 
ETHNOLOGY. 61 
 
 individuals with skins as dark as those of Mongols or 
 South Sea Islanders. So among Malays may we meet 
 with light brown or sandy hair ; and fair complexions, and 
 even red-haired individuals, among a community of blacks. 
 On the other hand, the descendants of the early Portuguese 
 settlers in India have, in many cases, become as dark as 
 the Hindoos around them. Many Jews in the colder 
 regions of Europe, acclimatized during centuries, have 
 assumed light complexions and yellow or red hair ; while 
 others, still lingering in the valley of the Jordan, are said 
 to be black as any Ethiopian. . Prom the tenacity vrfth 
 which the Jews have preserved their nationality, their 
 isolatiou amid dispersion, we have in them pecnhar advan- 
 tages for testing the influence of climate on complexion. 
 With the colour of the skin is associated that of the eyes 
 and hair, but these are characters equally superficial and 
 non-specific. Hair, however it may vary in texture, or 
 by whatever names it may be designated, is never really 
 wool; nor does it differ in anatomical construction. In its 
 coarsest or crispest tangles, or most fantastic forms, -it is 
 essentially the same as the soft and flovrtng locks that 
 cluster round the proudest and' fairest brow. The hue of 
 the eyes is a distinction so evidently trivial, that we need 
 not attach to it any great importance. It simply depends 
 on the quantity and quality of pigment that may happen 
 to belong to one thread of an intricate tissue, one segment 
 of a complex structure. The seat of colour is a membrane 
 which, in recognition of this its subsidiary service, has 
 been figuratively called the iris or rainbow. What an 
 element of beauty in the "human face divine" is this 
 rainbow play of light ! and we need not leave our own 
 shores to witness its fullest variety of change and charm. 
 In stature the range is wide between the Bosjesmans and 
 the Patagonians, from four and a half to six and a half 
 feet as an average height ; but among ourselves also there 
 are giants and there are dwarfs. Some tribes excel in the 
 acuteness of certain senses or the perfection of certain 
 muscular powers, and many are undoubtedly below the 
 level of their fellows in moral and intellectual energies, 
 but not to such an extent as to prove any original dissimi- 
 larity, any primitive degrees of inferiority or superiority. 
 
62 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 As an object of natural history, man must be referred 
 to the same laws, and every inquiry into the phenomena 
 of his being be conducted on the same principles, as are 
 observed throughout the other departments of organized 
 creation. With regard to the vegetable world, a species 
 has been defined by De CandoUe as a collection of all the' 
 individuals which resemble each other more than they 
 resemble anything else, and which reproduce themselves 
 in such a manner that we may from analogy suppose them 
 all sprung originally from one single individual. Zoologi- 
 cally, a species comprises those animals which are presumed 
 to have proceeded at first from a single pair. Each species 
 is distinguished from all others by some peculiarities, which 
 the one cannot be supposed to have acquired, or the other 
 to have lost, by any operation of physical causes with 
 which we are acquainted. The original difference which 
 characterizes a species is transmitted in perpetuity, from 
 generation to generation, in constant and undeviating 
 type. Varieties, again, are such diversities in individuals 
 and their progeny as are observed to take place within the 
 limits of a species. They may be produced by the agency 
 of external causes, but are hereditary and permanent. The 
 more we investigate man, the more are we confirmed in 
 the conclusion that he is the sole species of a separate 
 genus of a distinct order ; yet of this species there are 
 several varieties. To discover and define and describe 
 these varieties is the aim of the science of Ethnology. 
 
 The field of research is co-extensive with the world, 
 some portions of it remaining comparatively imtrodden. 
 Two methods of exploration have been adopted, the phy- 
 sical and the philological. To the former mode of analysis 
 and arrangement we shall chiefly confine our attention, but 
 the latter is in some respects the more exact and philo- 
 sophical. In the classical writings of Dr. J. C. Prichard, 
 employment has been made of both, but he has rather 
 given us a catalogue of humanity than a systematic sum- 
 mary or a concentrated grouping. He has dealt more 
 with the ultimate ramifications than the primary divisions 
 of the parent stem. That dihgent cultivator of natural 
 science, Linnaeus, the great master of artificial and acci- 
 dental systems of .arrangement, classified mankind as 
 
ETHNOLOGY. 63 
 
 Europeans, Asiatics, Afiicans, and Americans. His divi- 
 sion was consequently based on the arbitrary distinctions 
 of geography. Professor Bhimenbach, of Gottingen, led 
 by the principles of physiology, defined and described five 
 races, the Mongolian, the- Malay, the Caucasian, the 
 Ethiopian, the American. These races have thus been 
 subdivided. The Caucasian has been made to include the 
 Caucasian, Celtic, Germanic, Arabian, Libyan, Nilotic, and 
 Indostanic families. The Mongolian vfill comprise the 
 Chinese, Indo-Chinese, Polar, Mongol- Tartar, and Turkish 
 families. To the. Ethiopian have been referred the Negro, 
 CafiTraiian, Hottentot, Australian, Alfoiian, and Oceanic 
 Negro families. The Malay includes the Malayan and 
 Polynesian families ; and the American the American and 
 Toltican. The distinguished naturalist, Cuvier, reduced 
 the number of races to three — the white or Caucasian, the 
 yellow or Mongolian, the black or Ethiopian, but seemed 
 ^doubtful where to assign the Papuans, Malays, and Ameri- 
 cans. To one of these two systems predominance would 
 be given by those who pursue this train of inquiry. Sim- 
 plicity, and perhaps elementary reasoning, suggests the 
 latter. . Colonel Hamilton Smith describes these races as, 
 respectively, the bearded, the beardless, and the woolly- 
 haired ; while Prichard, taking the hair as his guide, 
 arrives by a different process at an equally tripartite con- 
 clusion. Colour indicates his course, and its partitions 
 are, the melanic, with black or very dark hair ; the 
 xanthous, with yellow, red, or light brown hair ; the 
 leucous, with white hair, but this is unnatural and devious. 
 Dr. Pickering, after circumnavigating the globe, as a 
 member of the United States Exploring Expedition, con- 
 tends for the existence of eleven races. Two he describes 
 as white, the Arabian and Abyssinian. His Arabian 
 divisioii corresponds for the most part with the Caucasian 
 or European of other authors. Three he describes as 
 brown, the Mongolian, the Hottentot, the Malay. Under 
 the head of Mongohan he includes the native Americans. 
 Four he describes ,as blackish-brown, the Papuan, the 
 Negrillo, the Indian or Telingan, the Ethiopian. And 
 two he gives as black, the Australian and Negro. Other 
 classifications could be adduced, but the recital would only 
 
G4 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 be wearisome, and of no practical advantage. We think 
 the multiplication of attempts itself sufficiently proves that 
 the diversities among men are not referable to distinctions 
 of species ; otherwise we should be able to define their 
 number, and clearly to draw their lines of boundary. 
 Following the affinities of language, as a bond of union or 
 basis of separation, Dr. E. Gordon Latham has distributed 
 the human family into three great branches, the Mongo- 
 Udse, the Atlantidse, and the lapetidae. Here we again 
 have a ternary division. Under the Mongolidse he includes 
 all the Asiatics, except the Semitic and the Iranian 
 nations ; of the Europeans, the Ottoman Turks, the 
 Magyars, the Finlanders, and Laplanders; also the Malays, 
 •par excellence, of East Indian Islands ; the Polynesians, 
 Papuans, AustraKans, and Americans. The Atlantidse 
 comprise all the inhabitants of Africa, together with the 
 Semitic tribes of antiquity, and their modem representa- 
 tives. The lapetidae are the nations of Europe— the 
 Celtic ; the Gothic, or Teutonic and Scandinavian ; the 
 Sarmatian, or Lithuanian and Slavonian ; the Mediterra- 
 nean, or Hellenic and ItaKan, with their descendants ; and 
 also the Iranians or Sanscrit-using families, of Kurdistan, 
 Persia, Beloochistan and Afghanistan. The lapetidK have 
 at all times been an encroaching race, and have never been 
 permanently dislodged by the Mongolidse or Atlantidse. 
 
 Let us retrace our 'Steps to the zoological starting-point 
 of inquiry, and, taking for convenience the arrangement of 
 Blumenbach, briefly review the prominent peculia,rities of 
 each variety of the one great human species. 
 
 The Caucasian race, most civilized and most dominant, 
 of highest moral and intellectual development, are distin- 
 guished by the beauty of the oval of their heads. Skin 
 white, or inclining to brown ; hair dark or Hght, copious, 
 soft, curled and waving; eyes black or brown or blue, 
 according to complexion. Skull large, with its upper and 
 anterior parts particularly developed ; face small and 
 straight, features distinct, narrow nose, small mouth, with 
 vertical jaws and rounded chin. The Caucasians are traced 
 as a centre, by tradition and affiliation, to the region be- 
 tween the Black Sea and the Caspian, with their connecting 
 barrier mount Caucasus, and have hence derived their 
 
ETHNOLOGY. 65 
 
 name. Here at the present day do we meet with the 
 highest styles and specimens of beauty ; and hence we 
 may presume the several branches to have ramified and 
 radiated. Cuvier, describing man's natural history, has 
 sketched these migrations, and the statements he has 
 given we shall analyze and adapt. The Aiamean branch, 
 proceeding southwards, produced the Assyrians, Chaldeans, 
 Arabs, Phoenicians, Jews, Abyssinians, and probably the 
 Egyptians. Here was the birthplace of religion ; here 
 literature and science flourished, though with much of the 
 fanciful and mystic. The Indo- Germanic branch, more 
 widely extended and more anciently divided, multiplied its 
 relationships among four principal languages — ^the Sanscrit, 
 the sacred mother-tongue of India ; the ancient language 
 of the Pelasgij or whatever may have been the source of 
 Greek and Latin, and their modem representatives of 
 southern Europe ; the Gothic and the Slavonic, parents of 
 speech and writing to western and to eastern Europe. 
 'Dus branch has attained the highest progress in philosophy 
 and art, and has been their longest and largest protector 
 and promoter. It was preceded in Europe by a third, the 
 Celts and Cantabri, whose descendants still linger in the 
 British isles and the Basque provinces. The Scythian or 
 Tartar branch was warlike, roving, and aggressive. The 
 Parthians, who disputed empire with the Eomansj wera 
 offshoots of this branch, and so were the Turks, who over- 
 threw the dominion of the Arabs, and the miserable relics 
 of the Byzantine Greeks. Tribes of similar origin still 
 wander north and east of the Caspian, the river Irtish 
 being regarded as the boundary of the Caucasian race. 
 This central and primary division of the human family 
 includes, as we have seen, all that in ancient and modern 
 times has been most distinguished, mentally, morally, 
 poUtically, and socially. 
 
 The Mongolian race, with square and angular heads, 
 have been stationary in their civilization. They are cha- 
 racterized by a yellow or olive tint of skin, black eyes, 
 black straight thin hair, Httle or no beard ; forehead small 
 and low, face flat and broad, with features confused, cheeks 
 projecting outwards, nose small and flat, eyes narrow, 
 placed obliquely and far apart, large ears, tliick lips ; 
 
66 ETHNOLOaY. 
 
 stature inferior to that of Europeans, and especially so in 
 the polar regions. This race comprises the inhabitants of 
 central, northern, and eastern Asia, and of northern 
 Europe, and those Esquimaux tribes who alone are common 
 to both old and new worlds. As we traced the Caucasians 
 to a centre which gave them a designation, so may we 
 refer the MongoHans to the Altai mountains, and to the 
 large tract of surrounding country called Mongolia. Some 
 branches of the race, still nomade, traverse this vast desert 
 region. Three times have their ancestors, under Attila, 
 Ghengis, and Tamerlane, spread far and wide the terror of 
 their names. The Chinese family are the most anciently 
 civilized, not of the Mongolians only, but of all mankind. 
 Another branch, the Mantehoo- Tartars, have conquered 
 and now govern China. Another has founded the great 
 empire of Japan. The Mongolians are for the most part 
 addicted to Buddhism, or the religion of Fo. 
 
 The Ethiopian race, with skulls laterally compressed 
 and elongated anteriorly, have always remained barbarous. 
 Their skin and eyes are black, the latter prominent ; the 
 hair black and woolly ; the forehead low, narrow, and 
 slanting ; the cheekbones projecting forwards ; the nose 
 broad, thick, and flattened; the jaws narrow and pro- 
 truding, the upper front teeth oblique, the lips thick, the 
 chin retreating ; the whole physiognomy of the mouth 
 resembling, more than that of any other men, the cha- 
 racters presented by an inferior organization. All natives' 
 of Africa south of the Atlas, with the exception of the 
 Nilotic tribes, belong to this race. Its centre may be 
 referred to the country watered by the Niger, the Ethiopia 
 of the ancients, and here alone do we meet witij. the true 
 or typical Negroes, that is, with those who exhibit, in 
 their extreme and unmodified degree, the physical features 
 we have sketched. But as the Greeks- applied the word 
 Ethiopian, according to its etymology, to dark skinned 
 nations generally, so with us it admits of extended em- 
 ployment. 
 
 The American race present less natural and distinctive 
 marks than either of the preceding, and the division is 
 evidently more arbitrary and artificial. In skull and 
 features they most resemble the Mongolians. The colour 
 
ETHNOLOGY. 67 
 
 of their skin is more or less red, sometimes browner, 
 sometimes whiter in its shade. The hair is black, straight, 
 and strong, the beard scanty, and often eradicated. The 
 forehead is low, made sometimes still more so by art ; the 
 eyes deeply set, the face broad and flat, the cheeks promi- 
 nent and rounded, the features generally more decided 
 than among the Mongols, the mouth large, and lips rather 
 thick. Under this heading are comprised all the aboriginal 
 Americans, with the exception of the Esquimaux. It 
 constitutes a division of mankind known popularly as the 
 Red Indian, of whom, as types of an order, the Red River 
 may be assumed as the central or culminating point. 
 • The Malayan race are of all the most widely scattered, 
 extending in insular groups over more than half the cir- 
 cumference of the globe ; but in this one class two sub- 
 divisions are included, the former Mongolian in complexion, 
 the latter Ethiopian. Thus they vary from olive or tawny 
 to deep brown or black ; and while in aU the hair is black, 
 and more or less curled and abundant, in some it is. espe- 
 cially frizzled and luxuriant. K they derive their name 
 from the Malayan peninsula, if to that we look as their 
 ciiaracteristic centre, the families that compose the asso- 
 ciated race may be tracked throughout the Bast Indian 
 Archipelago, Australasia, and Polynesia, possessing a 
 variety of religions, dialects, and social observances. The 
 proper Malays are rather short in stature, with narrow 
 heads, bones of face large and prominent, nose full and 
 broad towards its root, and large mouth. This race and 
 the last we have named are addicted to the practice of 
 tattooing, or bodily disfigurement. Through nature and 
 constitution the Mongohans are pastoral, the Americans 
 huntsmen, the Malayans seafaring and often piratical. 
 
 Prom the dominant Caucasian to the degraded Ethiopian 
 the transition is extreme ; if of the one we take the 
 highest, and of the other the lowest, form, the contrast is 
 obvious, the demarcation complete. And if between the 
 two we interpose a standard specimfia of the Mongolian, 
 we shall have little less difficulty in continuing the com- 
 parison we have commenced. But it will at once appear 
 that with the American and the Malay the case is difierent. 
 The terms are themselves too vague and general, the details 
 
 f2 
 
68 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 too deficient in individuality, and the points of extrinsic 
 affinity so strong, as to weaken the purpose or propriety 
 of adopting the division. If on a fillet we inscribe the 
 words MoNaoLiAN-CATJOASiAN-ETHiopiAN, and connect its 
 ends into a chain, we may then fill up in the intermediate 
 spaces the lints which will complete the circle of humamty* 
 Between the Mongolians and Ethiopians would undoubtedly 
 come in the Melanesian Malays ; probably between the 
 Caucasians and Ethiopians the Hghter-hued Malays ; and 
 between the Mongolians and Caucasians the Americans. 
 The subdivisions of each group would occupy their re- 
 spective and appropriate intervals, and the continuity of the 
 whole would be woven into an unbroken and harmonious 
 series of indefinable gradations. A ray of light proceeding 
 from the sun, colourless in its uniformity, may be separated 
 by art or by nature herself into seven component coloured 
 raylets, and these may again be analyzed into three ele- 
 mentary and essential. Yet from the union of red and 
 yellow, and blue is produced the infinite diversity of chro- 
 matic combination and effect. So may man, to emanation 
 from the Father of lights, be single in his species, or 
 threefold in his primary varieties, and yet present so 
 multiform an aspect, so marvellous a divergence from any 
 actual or ideal standard of unity. Each line of difference 
 proceeds from the same centre and pursues the same plane, 
 each point of the circumference is equidistant from the 
 centre and has an equal relation to it, each similarly con- 
 duces to the integrity of the whole. 
 
 We may now inquire how far science and Scripture here 
 as elsewhere agree, how far the evidence of the one is 
 confirmed by that of the other as to the common origin of 
 the human race. We have every reason to believe that 
 with the lower animals there were several distinct centres 
 of creation ; why should this not have been the case with 
 man? We answer, that science does not compel us to 
 expect it, and that Scripture forbids us to entertain it. 
 
 As to the animals, the argument may thus be stated. 
 Geology prepares us to admit that other beasts of the field, 
 and other fowls of the air, must have been formed than 
 those which Moses records to have been brought to Adam, 
 to see what he would call them. And if the admission be 
 
ETHNOLOGY. 69 
 
 once made, it may be indefinitely extended. Observation 
 proves that the various animal tribes are not spread over 
 the earth by chance, or without local relations. Many 
 entire genera as well as particular species are wholly 
 confined to certain districts. When the same genus is 
 discovered among the native animals of two distant and 
 entirely separated regions, we do not find that the same 
 species exist in both countries, but corresponding species 
 of the same genus. We may hence infer that the various 
 tribes of organized beings were originally placed by the 
 Creator in those regions to which their organization was 
 best adapted, each kind having had its birth amid the 
 circumstances in which it was peculiarly suited to subsist. 
 Each species had only one beginning in a single stock ; 
 probably a single pair was first created in some particular 
 spot, and their progeny left to disperse themselves to as 
 great a distance from their original centre as the locomotive 
 powers bestowed on each species, or its capability of bearing 
 changes of climate, or the absence of obstacles to its pro- 
 gress, may have enabled it to wander. Dr. Prichard, 
 whose opinions we have quoted, beheving that Noah's 
 deluge was universal, has further asked why the various 
 nations of animals, which have the centre of their abodes, 
 and seem to have had the origin of their existence, in 
 distant regions, might not have been created since that 
 era, which man and the animals, his companions, survived? 
 But if we believe that deluge to have extended only to 
 such portions of earth's surface as were habited by man, 
 we have no difficulty in maintaining the doctrine we profess, 
 that he was the last as well as the loftiest of God's 
 creatures. 
 
 We have abeady shewn wherein he differs from the 
 animals around and beneath him, but there is still another 
 point on which we would especially insist. He has a pro- 
 pensity to wander and a means of indulging it, a facility 
 of accommodation, and a power of endurance, wHch belong 
 to him alone. His constitution adapts itself to every 
 extreme and vicissitude of climate ; his faculties can devise 
 the needed shelter from every variety of -atmospherical 
 influence ; his invention enables him to scale the mountain 
 range, to cross the wide and rapid river, to roam the 
 
70 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 expanse of ocean. There is no obstacle which he cannot 
 surmount,'no danger which he will not brave, no distance 
 which he cannot gain. The whole animal and vegetable 
 and mineral worlds are placed at his disposal ; he can 
 compel their service and employ their aid. There was, 
 then, no reason why, in order to possess the earth, he 
 should have been pQsted at several points of invasion and 
 conquest. Yet some of his migrations it is difficult to 
 trace, and perplexity may envelop the highest probability. 
 Dr. Latham contends that the evidence of the human 
 family having sprung from one special spot, and diffused 
 itself thence to the ends of the earth, is by no means 
 absolute and conclusive, and that it is even less certain 
 that the original spot has been discovered. He still 
 believes that such a spot there was, that it was somewhere 
 in intertropical Asia, and that it was the single locality 
 of a single pair, without, however, professing to have 
 proved it. 
 
 We would suggest that the laws of mathematical rea- 
 soning may confirm the conclusion at which we aim. If we 
 pursue a descending series of geometrical progression, we 
 must in time arrive at its lowest term ; and we think the 
 same term, duality, must be as applicable to the whole 
 human race as it would be to any of its divisions whose 
 lineage we can follow. In the genealogy of families or of 
 tribes, we know documentary evidence can be adduced to 
 explain and enforce tradition^ and why should we not 
 admit the logic of Prior's witty epitaph, that all mankind 
 have a primitive common heraldiy ? If we once concede 
 that there may have been more than a single pair of pro- 
 genitors, we shall not know where to stop in our enume- 
 ration. Some may contend for three pairs, some for five, 
 some for eleven, and some for even more ; and which of 
 these numerous pairs shall then be primary, which pre- 
 dominant, or, if aU be coeval and coequal, which shall 
 peculiarly personify humanity? Where, amid all, shall 
 we look for the ' * representative man ' ' 1 Philosophy rebels 
 at the hypothesis. Instead of equality and fraternity, we 
 should have confusion and estrangement. 
 
 Again, we think that the analogies of the lower creation 
 will prove that the extremes of human variety exceed not 
 
ETHNOLOGY. 71 
 
 the limits of a single species. In colour, in form, in size, 
 in appearance, in all that is adTentitious, the -diTersities 
 are as great in animals as in man. Horses and oxen may 
 be white or black, or tittged with red ; flocks and herds 
 may be horned or hornless ; sheep may be clothed with 
 wool or hair. Blumenbach remarks, that no naturalist 
 lias carried his scepticism so far as to doubt the descent of 
 the domestic swine from the wild boar, and yet that the 
 difference in their slmlls is as great as in those of the 
 MegTO and the European. But the best instance wiU be 
 probably afforded by man's friend and servant, the associate 
 of his wanderings and his home, the dog. How unlike 
 the mastiff and the greyhound, the effeminate poodle and 
 the noble breed of 8t. Bernard, and each to other of the 
 manifold varieties, and yet all belong to one species, the 
 canis familiaris. No fact to our mind can be more con- 
 vincing, no inference more complete, no analogy and 
 argument more instructive. If any should doubt or deny 
 the xmity of man's species, should think him too unlike 
 his fellow-man to have issued from a common stock, we 
 would present him with no elaborate reasoning, we would 
 refer him to no abstruse or unfamihar methods of research, 
 we would point him to the dog that crouches at his feet, 
 we would direct him to intestigate for himself into every 
 Opposite aspect of every other animal that bears the name, 
 and then assure him that, amid all this seeming contrariety, 
 the naturahst cannot fail to detect one Uniform and unmis- 
 takeable specific character. 
 
 Beyond the distinctions of colour, which are more obvious 
 than important, the most prominent peculiarities in the 
 races of men are in the shapes and proportions of their 
 heads. But these amount no further than as follows. 
 Among the uncivilized and uncultivated the brain is small, 
 and the cavity which contdiins it is narrow and unexpanded. 
 At the same time, the lower portion of the face is more 
 developed, and the features are more expressive of animal 
 propensities than of refined emotions. A succession of 
 generations of sinailar conditions stamps and strengthens 
 and perpetuates the physiognomy. The converse is equally 
 true if we ascend what we are pleased to call the scale of 
 superior humanity. Circumstances not only affect the 
 
72 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 character, and influence the pursuits, but also mould the 
 outward shape. And to circumstances, not to consti- 
 tution ; to secondary processes, not to original necessity ; 
 to that which may and does change, not to what is fixed 
 and final, do we attribute the disparities of the human 
 form. , 
 
 This will prepare us to examine the direct teaching of 
 Scripture. We there read that God created man in his 
 image : "In the likeness of God made he him ; a male 
 and a female created he them." Adam was both the 
 common and generic name of the human being, and also 
 the proper and personal name of the first man. The 
 plain inference from the narrative is, that the creative act 
 included but a single pair, of full maturity, with the com- 
 mission and the instinct to increase and multiply. Before 
 any offspring had arisen, Adam, who had acquired by fatal 
 experience the knowledge of good and evil, called his 
 wife's name Eve, or the mother of all living. There was 
 doubtless in this a consciousness or a certainty, a prescience 
 or a prophecy, of Divine bestowment. Without tracing 
 the consecutive steps of the history of the human race, as 
 developed in the sacred record, we would dweU on another 
 consideration that appears to us of especial interest and 
 importance. Does not the scheme of redemption by Christ 
 sustain our argument ? Does not the doctrine of original 
 sin demand the existence of a common origin? What 
 jbecomes of the reasoning of St. Paul, unless fallen hu- 
 manity has one federal head, as regenerated humanity has 
 one, Mediator and Saviour? " By one man sin entered 
 into the world, and death : by sin." "As by one man's 
 disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience 
 of one shall many be made righteous." " As in Adam 
 all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Identity 
 of origin rather than similarity of organization, lineal 
 descent rather than natural affinity, is surely here denoted. 
 Those only who participate in the offence would need a 
 share of the free gift, but the Gospel message is unrestricted 
 and universal. We have no hesitation in offering to any 
 who bear the human impress the same promises and privi- 
 leges, nor do we fail to recognise in any the same evidence 
 of moral infirmity and degradation. We would also add, 
 
ETHNOLOGY. 73 
 
 that everywhere, however debased and dormant it may be, 
 is some vestige of a principle of conscience, some sense of 
 a superior Intelligence, powerful and punitive, but placable, 
 some hope or dread of a future state of retribution and 
 reward. Natural religion is an imperfect substitute, but a 
 consistent supporter of revelation. 
 
 To complete the Scripture chain of testimony another 
 link remains. As we originally trace mankind to Adam 
 and Eve, so have we intermediately to trace them to Noah 
 and his three sons. Expositors may differ as to the extent 
 of the deluge recorded by Moses, as to whether or not the 
 whole globe was then submerged ; but all agree in believing 
 that of earth's entire inhabitants existing at the period 
 Noah and his famUy were the sole survivors. We think 
 the language of Holy Writ would allow of no other inter- 
 pretation. To these progenitors of a new race, as to the 
 first man of the primeval race, the blessing and the charge 
 were identical — ^to be fruitful and bring forth abundantly : 
 " And of them," we afterwards read, "was the whole earth 
 overspread." To Japheth and Shem and Ham we can to 
 a certain extent refer as the accredited ancestors of the 
 various nations of the world. It is worthy of attention 
 that, under any system of arrangement, a threefold division 
 of mankind has been that most generally and naturally 
 adopted. Neither of those we have given, however, coin- 
 cides exactly with the Scriptural and traditional accounts 
 of the descendants of the sons of Noah. • 
 
 To Ham we may trace the origin of the tribes of Africa. 
 His name denoted burnt or black. Whether he was him- 
 self of swarthier complexiop than his brethren, or whether 
 it was assigned him with any predictive meaning, we will 
 not determine. Through Ms sons, Miziaim and Phut and 
 Cush, he peopled Egypt and Libya and Ethiopia, and the 
 shores of the Eed Sea and Persian Gulf. He was also 
 the father of the Philistines, the Phoenicians, and the 
 Canaanites. The sons of Shem occupied Persia, Assyria, 
 and Armenia, and then-ce spread over southern and eastern 
 Asia. Arphaxad was the progenitor of Abraham, and 
 through him of the Hebrews and of the IshmaeUtes and 
 Midianites : while Aram was the ancestor of the Syrians. 
 We read of the " tents of Shem," and to this day many 
 of his descendants are a nomade and a pastoral race. Of 
 
74 ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 Noah's eldest son the name and the destiny were alike 
 enlargement. His successors spread, on the one side, over 
 Asia Minor, the northern coasts of the Mediterranean, 
 and thence through Europe ; and, on the other side, east 
 of the Caspian, oyer northern Asia, and probably into 
 North America. By them " were the isles of the Gentiles 
 divided in their lands." This was a vague and extensive 
 announcement, but it referred most likely to all those 
 countries westward of the centre of migration to which 
 the Mediterranean would give access. Among these isles 
 we surely are ourselves included, and in our history has 
 the prophecy been abundantly fulfilled, ' ' God shall enlarge 
 Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." When 
 the Greeks and Komans extended their eastern conquests, 
 when the great monarchies of earUer date gave way to the 
 encroachments of their successors and supplanters, the 
 prediction had met with a partial accomplishment;' so, 
 probably, it had in the rise and progress of the Mogul 
 power ; but when distant islanders of another continent, 
 breaking beyond their narrow bounds, forced their foot- 
 steps and perpetuated their possession, controlling by their 
 influence, if not annexing to their dominion, the fairest 
 fields of Asia, complete, indeed, has been the vindication 
 of the patriarch's words. When, too, we think of the 
 seed of Abraham, and the special privileges they enjoyed, 
 when we remember Him who thence derived his earthly 
 lineage, we shall not fail to appropriate and approve the 
 secopd prediction, " Blessed be the Lord God of Shem." 
 
 We may not be able accurately or exclusively to refer 
 the Caucasians or Mongolians to Japheth or to Shem ; 
 there is no literal correspondence between the physical 
 distinctions and the genealogical descent. But we think 
 there is no difficulty in assigning to Ham the Ethiopians. 
 We sympathize not with tho^e who would from Scripture 
 draw a warrant for enslaving and degrading the African 
 Negro. God's presumed purposes must be left to himself 
 to fulfil, and the express and positive commands which are 
 given us to obey, except and exclude none from the claims 
 of human justice and mercy. Yet we are bound to admit 
 that the curse pronounced upon Ham by his insulted parent 
 was the image, if it were not the instrument, of a fearful 
 doom. A "servant of servants" has he been unto his 
 
ETHNOLOGY. 75 
 
 brethren. Not merely did the Canaanites endure expulsion 
 or 'exaction from the sons of 8hem, but the Cushites have 
 been subjected to every cruelty and oppression by the sons 
 of Japheth. If any value is to be attached to the opinions 
 of some writers, we shall give an indefinite extension to 
 the family and followers of Nimrod, and may even believe 
 that all those dark-skinned tribes, scattered amid ocean, 
 and sunk in degradation, partake of the same kindred and 
 inherit the same curse. But as one oi the offspring of 
 Ham, still a servant to his brethren, was compelled to 
 bear the cross up the ascent of Calvary, we believe there 
 was virtue in the touch, and an earnest of future exaltation. 
 
 Before the dispersion of the sons of Noah, we are 
 informed that "the whole earth was of one language and 
 of one speech." This is what might have been expected, 
 and here again human learning sustains and strengthens 
 the Divine announcement. "All languages are to be con- 
 sidered as the dialects of one now lost." " The universal 
 affinity of language must be considered as completely 
 demonstrated." "The human race and language there- 
 with go back to one conomon stock, to a first man, and 
 not to several dispersed in different parts of the world." 
 Such among others, are the opinions of eminent scholars, 
 but the subject is one to which we are unable to proceed. 
 
 We have glanced at the varieties of the human race, 
 and have shewn that as no two individuals of the same 
 family are precisely alike, and as among the members of 
 one nation there is every style of form and feature, so, if 
 we extend our survey to the entire globe, we shall find 
 characters the most opposite, contrasts the most obvious. 
 Yet amid so many apparently discordant elements there is 
 unity of designtand harmony of execution. We return to 
 the proposition from which we started, that all are "of one 
 blood," with equal rights, and equal relations to one com- 
 mon Parent. There is the same inherent dignity, the 
 same impress of divinity. Eternity will repair the ruins, 
 and efface the deformities of time ; but time itself shall 
 witness and welcome that glorious consummation, when 
 there shall be "neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor 
 uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free : but 
 Christ all, and in all." 
 
jamtarg "^dmrn. 
 
 " Health is the salt that seasons, and the honey that sweetens, 
 every earthly enjoyment." 
 
 W. Jat. 
 
 In our earKest histories, both sacred and profane, we 
 trace the records of epidemic disease. For natural or 
 ordinary disease we are- prepared ; it is a part of our 
 economy and organization. Paradoxical as it may seem, 
 it is no less true, that decay and dissolution are essential 
 attributes of life. But epidemics must be referred to 
 another category ; they have laws of their own, and are 
 among the anomalies, not the necessities, of nature. The 
 most ancient of which we read were those which visited 
 the Egyptians, as preludes to the exodus of Israel. In 
 subsequent pages of the inspired volume we meet with 
 plagues inflicted on the Israelites during their journey to 
 the lan^ of promise. Some centuries later, the captive 
 ark of God became the avenger of its own offended 
 sanctity, and the overshadowing cherubim were the angels 
 of death to the men of the cities of Philistia. And on 
 another occasion, the presumption of David in numbering 
 the people of his kingdom drew down the rebuke and the 
 penalty of a pestilence, bf which "there died, from Dan 
 to Beersheba, seventy thousand." In all these cases we 
 are authorized in afSrming that Divine wrath was the 
 source of human woe, — ^that between the two the connexion 
 was express and evident. The heathen who knew not the 
 true God, prompted by fear or ignorance or superstition, 
 arrived at the same conclusion. They believed that pesti- 
 lence was sent by their gods, and that -those who sent 
 
SANITARY REFORM. 77 
 
 could alone avert or remove it. Hence supplications, or 
 services, or sacrifices, were the means recommended and 
 adopted. In the first ages of all nations, the priests would 
 appear to have been the physicians, and medicine was 
 invested with a character of more than human dignity. 
 So we have the mythical history of ^sculapius, the son 
 of Apollo, with his sons Podalirius and Machaon, immor- 
 talized by Homer, and his daughters Hygeia and Panacea, 
 names still as common as they are classical. 
 
 However superior our creed or our pretensions, our 
 practice, until very recently, has been even worse than 
 that of heathen antiquity. We mean not to assert that 
 medicine assiimes a lower position, or that its practitioners 
 are regarded with less complacency, though we believe 
 that their calling and their claims aKke are too often 
 under-valued. We remember Him who, by his Divine 
 example, exalted and ennobled the healing art ; and we 
 profess to acknowledge the duty and the dignity of following, 
 in our humble degree, the footsteps of his perfect humanity. 
 But our efforts have been almost solely directed to alleviate, 
 not to avert — to combat the effect, not to control the cause. 
 And so it has happened, that neglect has led to conse- 
 quences for which effort, when aroused, has served but 
 imperfectly to atone. 
 
 If we glance at the teachings of the past, we shall find 
 that, in matters which concern the pubhc health, a less 
 amount of sagacity has prevailed among ourselves than at 
 earlier periods of the world's history. We are informed, 
 that in ancient Eome ofScers were appointed, who had the 
 care of cleaning streets, markets, temples, baths, and 
 other public places. Strict orders were given that no filth 
 should be thrown into the river or streets, and those who 
 transgressed this prohibition were subjected to punishment, 
 and obliged to repair the damage. To facilitate these 
 measures, a system of cloacae was provided, of unrivalled 
 capacity and completeness. The laws of the twelve tables 
 contained also this memorable clause, — "Hominem mortuum 
 in urhe ne sepelito, neve urito." 
 
 But to return to our own days. Whenever events have 
 arisen to appal and overpower us, we have viewed them as 
 mysteries, unintelligible and unavoidable, or have called 
 
78 SANITARY REFORM. 
 
 them "visitations of God." This phrase, true and reverent 
 as it may be, has been frequently a mere disguise to coneeal 
 or palliate human ignorance, indifference, and inactivity. 
 We fully believe in the great doctrine of a supreme and 
 superintending Providence ; we rejoice in it as a law, 
 and we restrain not its operations. We also believe that 
 the pestilence walking in darkness, and the destruction 
 wasting at noonday, may be God's appointed instruments 
 for fulfilling the purposes of his moral government, and 
 that their efficient causes may be for ever hidden beneath 
 his secret counsels. But we as fally admit and assert, 
 that the conditions which prepare and predispose for their 
 reception and spread, which aid their approach and enhance 
 their evils, are to a great extent within our power, open 
 to our observation, and amenable to our control. This is 
 a fact which has but lately vindicated its right to pubhc 
 attention, and not even yet are its importance and influence 
 properly established. The art of preserving health, of 
 preventing disease, and of prolonging life, with respect 
 not to individuals but to communities, is an object of pro- 
 found scientific enquiry, which has scarcely engaged that 
 earnest thought to which it is justly entitled. We cannot 
 exaggerate the evils that result from disregarding its laws, 
 or estimate too highly the benefits that would arise from 
 systematically pursuing and obeying them. 
 
 We shall find that, in our own country, an improvement 
 in the sanitary condition of the army and navy preceded 
 any attempt at amelioration in civil life, and that private 
 and partial measures took the lead of any public or com- 
 prehensive scheme. That profession who derive their 
 emoluments from the treatment of disease, and who may^ 
 therefore, be presumed to have a beneficial interest in its 
 existence and excess, have been the most zealous in inves- 
 tigating the causes of high mortality, and in recommending 
 the methods of reducing it. In the summer of 1837, an 
 act came iato force for effecting a general and uniform 
 registration of births and deaths, and from that period, 
 less than twenty years ago, may we date the commence- 
 ment of a new and better era. In the Eegistrar-General's 
 first report appears a letter from a gentleman, who has 
 highly distinguished himself in the* department of vital 
 
SANITARY REFORM. 79 
 
 statistics, Dr. William Parr. After alluding to the social 
 and political advantages of the act, he thus expresses its 
 other probable and practical effects : — 
 
 " The deaths and causes of deaths are scientific facts which admit 
 of numerical analysis ; and science has nothing to offer more inviting 
 in speculation than the laws of vitality, the variations of these laws 
 in the two sexes at different ages, and the influence of civilization, 
 occupation, locality, seasons, and other physical agencies, either iq 
 generating diseases and inducing death, or in improving ihs public 
 health." 
 
 Concurrently with this, reports had been rendered to 
 the Poor- Law Commissioners by Dr. Neil Armott, Dr. 
 Kay, and Dr. Southwood Smith, with regard to the preva- 
 lence of certain physical causes of sickness and mortality 
 in the metropolis, to which the poor were pecuUarly ex- 
 posed, and which were capable of being removed by proper 
 sanitary measures. These reports were in due course laid 
 before Government, and by them printed and published. 
 Some years previously, .Dr. Southwood Smith, whose 
 opportunities of observation were equalled only by his 
 benevolence and zeal, had, in his work on fever, pointed 
 out the influences which induced it, and the wretchedness 
 it entailed. To him must we refer as one of the great 
 leaders in this new and noble crusade against copditions 
 and consequences, which, while so wrong physically, could 
 not be morally right. As the first practical result, an 
 address was presented to her Majesty, on the motion of 
 Bishop Blomfield, praying that an inquiry be made among 
 the labouring classes of England and Wales, as to the 
 prevalence of the same causes of disease which were proved 
 to exist jn the metropohs. In consequence of instructions 
 subsequently issued, this inquiry was extended to Scotland, 
 On the information thus elicited from various sources was 
 framed the very able and instructive report of Mr. Edwin 
 Chadwick. Meanwhile other agencies were at work. In 
 March, 1840, on the motion of Mr. Slaney, it was ordered 
 that a select committee be appointed to inquire into the 
 circumstances affecting the health of the inhabitants of 
 large towns and populous districts, with a view to improved 
 sanitary regulations for their benefit. As to the Bishop 
 of London was due the honour of .introducing^ these im- 
 
80 SANITARY HEFOKM. 
 
 portant considerations to the notice of the Upper House, 
 so was the cause much indebted to Mr. Slaney for his 
 perserering agitation in the House of Commons. Upon 
 the committee obtained by him, and of which he was 
 chosen chairman, we have the names of Mr. Cowper, Mr. 
 Wilson Patten, Sir Harry Verney, Mr. Mackinnon, Mr. 
 Baines, Mr. Brotherton, and others. Among the witnesses 
 examined were Dr. Southwood Smith and Dr. Neil Amott, 
 Dr. Simpson of Edinburgh, Dr. Maunsell of Dublin, Dr. 
 Duncan of Liverpool, the late Dr. Jordan Lynch, who was 
 a martyr to his exertions among the fever- stricken poor 
 of this metropolis, and Mr. George Alfred Walker, who 
 so successfully explored and disclosed the abominations of 
 intramural interment. The report rendered by the Com- 
 mittee begins as follows : — 
 
 " Yoiir committee have inquired carefully into the matters sub- 
 mitted to them, and find that sanitary regulations iu many of the 
 principal towns of the realm are most imperfect and neglected, and 
 that hence result great evils, suffering, and expense, to large bodies 
 of the community." 
 
 — ^language certainly too cautious and qualified to convey 
 the momentous character of the evidence adduced. In 
 1842, a second parliamentary committee sat to consider 
 the question of burial in towns, and on this subject also a 
 special report was prepared by Mr. Edwin Chadwick. 
 Additional steps were now taken. In May, 1843, a com- 
 mission was issued to inquire into the state of large towns 
 and populous districts, with reference to the causes of 
 disease, and the best means of promoting and securing the 
 publio health, under the operation of existing laws and 
 usages with regard to drainage, building, and water supply, 
 and how far their amendment would improve the condition 
 of the poorer classes, and the salubrity and safety of their 
 dwellings. Besides the Duke of Buccleuch, the Earl of 
 Lincoln, Mr. Slaney, and the Eegistrar- General, the com- 
 mission included some of the most distinguished men of 
 science of our day — Sir Henry de la Beche, Dr. Lyon 
 Playfarr, Dr. Reed, and Professor Owen, with Captain 
 Denison, R.E., Mr. Ranald Martin, Mr. James Smith of 
 Deanston, Mr. Robert Stephenson, and Mr. W. Cubitt. 
 This commission produced two reports, embodying many 
 
SANITARY REFORM. 81 
 
 valuable suggestions, the result of mucli patient and 
 philosophical inrestigation. The public attention had been 
 awakened, and it was necessary that its vigilance should 
 be sustained and stimulated. Li 1844, a Health of Towns 
 Association was established, under the presidency of the 
 Marquis of Nonnanby, who had taken the initiative in 
 sanitary legislation by introducing, in 1841, the Drainage 
 of Buildings BiU. Auxiliaries were formed, meetings were 
 held, tracts were issued ; the usual means were adopted 
 for arresting and engaging the intelligence and conviction 
 of all classes, and parUamentary interference became im- 
 perative. Aifter the failure and abandonment of preceding 
 schemes, the session of 1848 passed the Public Health 
 Act and the Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention 
 Act. At the prorogation of Parliament in that year we 
 find this gracious and cheering allusion in Her Majesty's 
 speech : "I have given iny cordial assent to the measures 
 which have in view the improvement of the public health, 
 and I entertain an earnest hope that a foundation has been 
 laid for continual advances in this beneficent work." With 
 regard to these acts, we may simply remark that the 
 latter was temporary in its provisions and operations, and 
 that the former was scarcely adequate to the exigencies it 
 was designed to meet. A general Board of Health was 
 created to administer it, and, as first constituted, no 
 member of the faculty of medicine was appointed to a seat 
 in this board. But her Majesty's words were not unmeaning 
 or unprophetic. Sanitary reform is one of the questions 
 of the day, and great advances have been made since those 
 words were uttered. 
 
 The cause has had much with which to struggle. It 
 has had to contend with ignorance, apathy, selfishness, 
 and ridicule, with vested rights, divided authority, and 
 conflicting claims. " Sic utere tuo ut non alienum Icedas" 
 is a maxim alike of law and of Christian morality, which 
 in our social relations has been fearfully violated. Self- 
 interest has been a great obstacle to aU reforms, and irre- 
 sponsibility is the parent of abuse. What it is no one's 
 special duty to do, is neglected or imperfectly performed. 
 The ignorance we complain of has been twofold. Some 
 knew not, or cared not to know, that certain evils existed ; 
 
 o 
 
82 SANITARY REFORM. 
 
 others were aware of the facts, but knew not that they 
 were eyils, or failed to estimate their nature and extent. 
 The important functions of the lungs and skin, their sensi- 
 bilities and sympathies, and the influence of air and Hght 
 on the processes of life, were subjects little thought of 
 but by, those who had made them a peculiar and profes- 
 sional study. Akin to ignorance is indifference and apathy, 
 and this has been manifested, both by the sufferers them- 
 selves and by those whose eyes and hearts the sufferings 
 of others have failed to reach and impress. "We meet with 
 the statement, on the authority of the Eev. Whitwell 
 Elwin, that by the poor no privation is felt so little as that 
 of cleanliness : — 
 
 " The propensity to dirt is bo strong, the steps so few anci easy, 
 that nothing but the utmost facilities for water can act as a counter- 
 poise ; and such is the love of unoleanliness, when once contracted, 
 that no habit, not even drunkenness, is so difficult to eradicate." 
 
 But a somewhat opposite opinion has been expressed by 
 the prelate who exerted himself so honourably in ascer- 
 taining these social evils, and advocating their remedy : — 
 
 "The poor of this country are not by nature nor inclination indis- 
 posed to cleanliness ; on the contrary, it is almost wholly found that 
 if its means and appliances be placed within their reach, so as to be 
 accessible without much cost or trouble, they gladly .avail themselves- 
 of them ; and it is never to be forgotten, that if thousands and tens 
 of thousands of our feUow-Christians are at this moment living — and 
 that, too, in the very neighbourhood of our most sumptuous palaces 
 and halls — in the extreme depths of physical, social, and moral 
 degradation, and exposed to the most imminent danger of perishing 
 by disease, that is not entirely, often not at all, their own fault, but 
 the fault of those whose duty it is not only to teach them the benefits 
 of cleanliness and decency, but to do something towards famishing 
 them with the means of being cleanly and decent, which under their 
 actual cii'oumstanoes is nothing less ihan an impossibility." 
 
 The testimony of Bishop Blomfleld is abundantly con- 
 firmed by that of Mr. Liddle, who, by his long experience 
 as medical officer of the poor, and by his devoted exertions 
 in their behalf, had extensive means of forming a just 
 conclusion. 
 
 " That it is a libel upon the character of the industrious poor to 
 charge them with the love of unoleanliness, I have no hesitation in 
 asserting. They are fer more alive to the privations under which 
 they are labouring than is generally supposed by those who have but 
 
SANITARY REFORM. 83 
 
 little intercourse with them : when once they are made acquainted 
 with the evils which result from the neglect of habits of cleanliness, 
 s>nd at the same time have placed within their reach the means of 
 forsaking their present filthy habits, we shall find, that so far from 
 thwarting our endeavours to promote their health and cleanliness, 
 they will render us every possible assistance ; besides which, they 
 will soon be taught to see that their own interests are deeply involved 
 in all those measures which are calculated to improve their sanitary 
 condition." 
 
 But our present purpose is not to discuss the share 
 which the destitute and degraded of our society may have 
 had in inducing or confirming their miserable lot ; we hare 
 rather to dispel the ignorance and arouse the apathy, 
 if such unhappily remain, of those more fortunate and 
 favoured, and also to shew the important bearings of 
 sanitary reform on morality and religion. 
 
 To whichever page we turn of the commissioners' reports 
 we shall find something to surprise or shock us. Selection 
 is difficult, and we have not so much to distinguish between 
 the positive and the negative, as to deal with comparative 
 degrees of evil. We may observe, once for all, that while 
 these documents refer to a period some twelve years ago, 
 circumstances remain, as to the mass, materially the same. 
 In Liverpool, forty thousand were estimated as residing 
 in cellars, that is, in dwelhngs underground, generally 
 having no windows, and no communication with the 
 external air except by the door, the top of which is some- 
 times not higher than the level of the street. The access 
 to the door is by a narrow flight of steps descending from 
 the street ; the roof is often so low as not to admit of a 
 person of moderate height standing upright; there is 
 frequently no floor but the bare earth, though usually 
 flagged, and, in rare instances, boarded ; and, as may 
 easily be imagined, these cellars are dark, damp, and dirty. 
 There is sometimes even a back cellar used for sleeping, 
 having no communication whatever with the air and light 
 of heaven, but receiving its feeble share from the front 
 apartment. If, in addition to this, we take into account 
 the thousands who reside in courts, ill ventilated and worse 
 drained, we are prepared for the information, that on an 
 average one in twenty-five of the working people are 
 annually afifected with fever. This sanitary state of 
 
 G 2 
 
84 SANITARY REFORM. 
 
 Liverpool is not altogether the rapid product of modern 
 development. At the commencement of the present cen- 
 tury, it was ascertained that upwards of nine thousand were 
 Uving in underground cellars, and nine thousand more in 
 back houses, with no provision for ventilation. And 
 according to Dr. Currie, writing in 1804, among the 
 inhabitants of these cellars and back houses typhus was 
 constantly present ; the number of persons under this 
 disease applying for medical, rehef to the charitable insti- 
 tutions exceeding, on an average, three thousand annually, 
 the population of the whole town being about eighty 
 thousand. Since then the mischief has been much in- 
 creased by the extensive immigration of the Ksh, whose 
 habits — such, for instance, as that of keeping, pigs in the 
 cellars or garrets which they occupy — aggravate the 
 wretched influence of existing circumstances. In Man- 
 chester, again, we read of cottages or hovels at the backs 
 of streets, the only entrance to which is through some 
 nameless narrow passage, converted, as if by, common 
 consent, into a receptacle for the most offensive filth and 
 rubbish. The interiors of these residences are dark and 
 dirty, often literally wet,, and in disgraceful repair. A 
 table, a chair or a stool, a few cuhnary articles, some 
 shavings or straw in a comer, and a scanty piece or two 
 of foul bed-covering, constitute the whole .famiture of 
 many, and some have not even so much as that. In Leeds 
 we read of cellar homes — can we dignify them with such 
 a name? — without the slightest drainage, from which 
 every drop of wet and every particle of filth have to be 
 carried up into the street ; vpith corded frames for beds, 
 overlaid with sacks ; scarcely anything else but a stool or 
 a few bricks to sit on ; the fioor in patches absolutely wet ; 
 » pig in the comer ; and in the street outside the accumu- 
 lated animal and vegetable refuse of years. With regard 
 to Glasgow, we may adduce the emphatic language of 
 Mr. Jelinger Symons : — 
 
 " I have seen human degradation in some of its worst phases, both 
 in England and abroad, but I can advisedly say that I did not believe, 
 untU I visited the wynds of Glasgow, that so large an amount of filth, 
 crime, misery, and disease existed in one spot in any civilized 
 country." 
 
SANITARY REFORM. 85 
 
 Or the impressive testimony of Dr. Arnott : — 
 
 " We entered a dirty low passage like a house door, which led fix>m 
 the street through tide first house to a square court immediately 
 behind, which court, with the exception of a narrow path around it, 
 leading to another long passage through a second house, was occupied 
 entirely as a );«oeptacle of the most disgusting filth. Beyond this 
 court tile second passage led to a second square court, occupied in the 
 same way by its dunghill ; and from this court there was yet a third 
 passage, leading to a third court and third heap. We learned that a 
 considerable part of the rent of the houses was paid by the produce of 
 these heaps, which received all the filth which the swarm of wretched 
 inhabitants could give. The interiors of these houses and their in- 
 mates corresponded with the exteriors. We saw half-dressed wretches 
 crowding together to be warm ; and in one bed, although in the 
 middle of the day, several women were imprisoned under a blanket, 
 because as many others, who bad on their backs all the articles of 
 dress that belonged to the party, were then out of doors. This 
 picture is so shocking, that, without ocular proof, one would be 
 disposed to doubt the possibility of the facts; and yet there is perhaps 
 no old town in Europe that does not fiimish parallel examples." 
 
 As a natural and necessary result, we are informed that 
 during the five years ending 1840, the mean annual 
 mortality in Glasgow was one in thirty-one of the inha- 
 bitants, and under five years, one in seventy of the popu- 
 lation of all ages. By the Eegistrar General's last report 
 we learn that in England, during 1853, the deaths under 
 five years of age were one in two hundred of the popu- 
 lation. Thus we may assume the infant mortality in 
 Glasgow to be three times as great as it ought to have 
 been — a merciful provision possibly as to the innocent 
 victims themselves, but a sad frustration of the purposes 
 of the beneficent Author of being. If from crowded towns 
 we turn to country villages, oi' scantily-peopled hamlets, 
 we shall find that there aU is not Arcadian. The Eev. 
 Dr. GiUy exposed the miserable habitations of the border 
 peasantry, and equally discouraging accounts have been 
 g^ven of the domestic state of the agricultural labourers in 
 various counties of England. We will dwell no longer on 
 the loathsome details. We have said enough, and more 
 than enough, to prove the conditions existing ; we must 
 now advert to their consequences, direct ■ and indirect, 
 physical and moral. 
 
 We have high authority for asserting that fever bears 
 
S& SANITAKY HEFOBM. 
 
 the same relation to filth that iniquity does to ignorance ; 
 that typhus is not the disease of poverty, per se ; that its 
 source is not want but uncleanliness, not insufficiency of 
 food but impurity of air, particularly such as is produced 
 by overcrowding; — that, in fact, it arises from causes 
 within our control. Then, again, it is not the disease of 
 the young and feeble, but pre-eminently that of the prime 
 of life ; its principal victims are heads of families, parents 
 not children'; and it is one of the most constant sources 
 of widowhood and orphanage, and consequent pauperism. 
 But besides typhus, or any of the class of what have been 
 so expressively called zymotic diseases, other formidable 
 results may be traced to defective sanitary arrangements. 
 There is no sufficient reason for considering consumption 
 as a pecuhar Enghsh complaint. According to Dr. Guy, 
 a certain amount of consumption, probably about one in 
 seven of all deaths above fifteen years of age, may be con- 
 sidered as inevitable, but beyond that proportion prevention 
 is possible. The annual waste of adult life from pul- 
 monary consumption may be safely stated at upwards of 
 fiv,e thousand, and this estimate is probably much below 
 the truth. The chief cause of this great mortality is the 
 defective ventilation of houses, shops, and places of work. 
 Next to this in importance is the inhalation of dust, 
 metallic particles, and irritating fumes. Another cause, 
 over which the poor themselves can exercise control, is the 
 abuse of spirituous liquors. 
 
 We may remind the classical reader how, in the 
 memorable description given by Thucydides of the plague 
 at Athens, he refers to the overcrowding of the city as an 
 aggravation of the evil. We have reason to believe, also, 
 that Athens, at the time, was unprovided with sewers, 
 and thus, multitudes being confined in close, ill-ventilated 
 huts, the mortality was greatly increased. So the noxious 
 influences of our own day, not only invite and propagate 
 and foster disease in general, but much enhance the 
 horrors of any special or extraordinary epidemic visitation. 
 
 In England and Wales, at the lowest estimate, there is 
 an annual sacrifice of thirty thousand lives from causes 
 which might be obviated. We think of the ravages of 
 war, of the carnage and casualties of the battle-field, and 
 
SANITARY REFORM. 87 
 
 we mourn over the sad results of unhallowed human 
 passions ; but what are they to those horrors which, 
 " unfcnelled, unknown," " unwept, unsung," are being 
 perpetrated daily and hourly in our midst ? Surely the 
 cries of the sufferers have entered into the ears of the 
 Lord of Sabaoth. But this is not all. These thirty 
 thousand unnecessary deaths involve and imply more than 
 ten times as many cases of unnecessary illness. Then if 
 we think of the loss of wages, the cost of medical 
 attendance, the sums spent by the more affluent in the 
 maintenance of hospitals and dispensaries, the burdens 
 imposed upon ratepayers, and the suspension of profits 
 from productive labour, we can form some estimate of the 
 pecuniary disadvantages of sanitary imperfections. To 
 this we must add the losses sustained by sick clubs and 
 benefit societies, through excessive claims for allowances, 
 and through premature superannuation ; and also by life 
 assurance offices, from the additional contingencies of 
 disease to which the wealthier classes are exposed. The 
 sickness itself not merely destroys personal and domestic 
 comfort, but it leads to debt, and entails a forfeiture of 
 the spirit of independence and of self-respect. 
 
 It has been established, moreover, that the havocs of 
 epidemics and other diseases do not diminish, but tend to 
 increase the pressure of population. In those districts 
 where the mortality is greatest, the births are sufficient 
 not only to replace the numbers removed by death, but 
 absolutely to add to the existing amount. This is a law 
 of physiology applied to political economy, but how 
 miserable are the results of its operation. For this 
 younger race, bred up amidst noxious physical agencies, 
 are inferior in health and organization, and less susceptible 
 of moral influence. Thus there are other still more im- 
 portant aspects in which the subject must be viewed. 
 
 Such a population as we are describing will be not only 
 short-lived, but also improvident, reckless, intemperate, 
 and inclined to sensual indulgences. The habits and 
 associations of their life annihilate its conveniences and 
 decencies, and the overcrowding of their houses is as con- 
 ducive to immorality and degradation as it is to unclean- 
 liness and unhealthiness. Loss of self-respect will lead 
 
SANITARY REFORM. 
 
 to loss of desire to be respected. Those who feel that 
 they have not, or enjoy not, any rights of their own, will 
 be careless of the rights of others. Hence, offences against 
 the criminal laws will arise and abound. To blunt the 
 sensibility of shame or suffering, or eren the cravings of 
 hunger, to seek a momentary refuge from ills they cannot 
 permanently escape, and in tdo many instances to grasp 
 at the only gratification, however unsubstantial, that 
 society offers, they will be driven to drunkenness, and thus 
 be plunged still deeper in misery and misrule. Disregard 
 of all common decorum in domestic arrangements, and 
 ignorance or indifference as to all affectionate offices and 
 kindly charities^ will tend yet further to deprave and 
 brutalize. Destitute of education themselves, despairing 
 of improvement, or despising its aids and methods, what 
 interest can they have in the elevation or welfare of their 
 offspring ? Living by the day, and for the day, what to 
 them is the. great hereafter? Without hope, are they not 
 almost necessarily without God in the world ? What said 
 Bishop Blomfleld in his pastoral letter from which we 
 have already quoted ? "It is certain that persons im- 
 mersed in hopeless misery and filth, are for the most part 
 inaccessible to the motives and consolations of the Gospel." 
 What is the graphic language of Dr. Southwood Smith ? 
 " When the house ceases to be a sty, and possesses the 
 conditions which render it capable of being made a home, 
 then, but not till then, may it receive, vrith some hope of 
 benefit, the schoolmaster and the minister of religion." 
 " Cleanhness is akin to godliness" is more than a proverb; 
 it is a maxim of the Mghest truth and reason, and its 
 converse is of equal force. Even the attempt to convey 
 the blessings we enjoy to these aliens from our Christian 
 commonwealth is fraught with danger. The Rev. J. 
 Garwood has put it on record, that he considers we sustain 
 as much loss of life and health in prosecuting missionary 
 work in London, as those societies do whose object is to 
 send missionaries to foreign parts, many of which are 
 notoriously unhealthy. We beHeve that, in these extreme 
 cases, the elevation of the physical condition must precede 
 that of the moral, and we lay the greater stress on this, 
 as showing some of the many difficulties with which 
 
SANITARY REFORM. 89 
 
 ministers of religion have to strive in the prosecution of 
 their high and holy calling, and as suggesting to those in 
 secular life how they may effectually cheer their hearts, 
 and strengthen their hands, and extend their influence ; 
 or rather we would indicate how, by means directed to 
 earthly ends, and conferring temporal advantage, God's 
 glory may be promoted, and spiritual benefits conferred. 
 
 We cannot pursue the history of sanitary reform from 
 the year 1848 to the present day, or allude to its varied 
 developments and multipUed agencies. The subject would 
 be far too extensive for our limits, and each prospect as it 
 opened would be of engrossing interest. We can only 
 select some prominent considerations, as instances of what 
 may be done and has been done, and which we hope are 
 but the preludes to results more great and glorious. If 
 we look at our Royal Navy, we find that, in 1779, the 
 proportion of deaths was one in eight of the employed ; in 
 1811, it was one in thirty-two; and in 1836, one in 
 seventy-two only. Or if we refer to what prisons were 
 when Howard began his benevolent labours, and contrast 
 their present condition, we shall see how immense has 
 been the improvement. And in civil or common life we 
 shall find that no less obvious advantages have accrued 
 from the employment of similar sagacity. In all London, 
 during the year 1853, the deaths were twenty-two per 
 thousand of the population. In the Potteries, Kensington, 
 a locality notoriously bad as to drainage, cleanliness, and 
 the supply of water, they were forty per thousand. In the 
 Metropolitan Buildings, Old St. Pancras Boad, erected 
 by the Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwell- 
 ings of the Industrious Classes, the deaths were only seven 
 in the thousand. During the same year, the deaths of 
 children under ten years of age, from zymotic disease, were 
 in the whole of London sixteen per thousand. In the Pot- 
 teries they were fifty-two per thousand ; while in the 
 Metropohtan Buildings they were but eight per thousand. 
 These buildings have also been exempt from typhtis fever, 
 which in London generally averages twelve per eent. per 
 annum of the total deaths, and which in some of the worst 
 districts is almost always present, upwards of twenty cases 
 having occurred in a single house in a few weeks. Ip 
 
90 SANITARY REFORM. 
 
 them, moreover, no charge of crime or complaint of dis- 
 turbance has been lodged at any police station against any 
 tenant since their occupancy. They have been constructed 
 so as to secure thorough drainage, free admission of air 
 and light, and an abundant supply of pure water, together 
 with the privacies and sanctities of home. Their rent to 
 the tenant is scarcely greater than that charged for the 
 miserable abodes they are intended to supersede, and to 
 the capitalist they have been proved to pay as commercial 
 speculations. Beyond the pale of any model institution, 
 attempts have been most successfully carried out. In one 
 spot in London, by improved drainage alone, the mortahty, 
 which has teen unusually high, was reduced in two years 
 from fifty-five to thirteen in the thousand. No more in- 
 structive case, perhaps, can be presented than that of New- 
 castle-on-Tyne. No town in England ever suffered more 
 severely from cholera than did Newcastle in 1853 ; but 
 its garrison, by strict attention to sanitary precautions, 
 entirely escaped the disease. Another signal benefit has 
 been conferred by the registration and regulation of com- 
 mon lodging-houses. Dr. Cowan, of Glasgow, formerly 
 said of them, that they were the media through which 
 newly-arrived immigrants found their way to the fever 
 hospital. Very wretched they were, in low unwholesome 
 situations, exceedingly dirty, and ill ventilated. Many 
 had no beds, the inmates lying on the bare floor, or upon 
 a few shavings, with their clothes on. Eight, ten, or 
 twelve persons were to be met with in one room, nine or 
 ten feet by eight. And the description given of Glasgow 
 was equally applicable to towns in England. But under 
 the present improved system the exemption from disease 
 is great, while vice and immorality and crime have much 
 decreased. A Birmingham magistrate informs us, that 
 the whole conduct of the classes resorting to lodging-houses 
 is far better since the act came into operation. Before 
 that time their manner towards the police' and magistrates 
 was sullen and coarse ; now it is respectful, candid, and 
 open. With regard to Birmingham, moreover, we are 
 pleased that we can favourably report as to its greater 
 general freedom from fever than other large towns. This 
 has been attributed to its elevated situation, its excellent 
 
SANITARY REFORM. 91 
 
 natural drainage, its abundant supply of water, the entire 
 absence of cellars used as dwellings, and the circumstance 
 of almost every family having a separate house. Another 
 competent autiiority says of the common lodging-houses, 
 that neither they nor their inhabitants can be recognised 
 as the same as formerly ; that the lodgers take an active 
 part in assisting the police in enforcing the regulations ; 
 and that the value of the improvement to society in general, 
 and to the parties immediately concerned, is incalculable. 
 We are also happy to be able to add the valuable testi- 
 mony of Captain Hay, Commissioner of the Metropolitan 
 Police : 
 
 " The workiDg of an Act of Parliament reaching to the homes and 
 healths of the people, benevolently intruding on their habits, and 
 wresting from others an impure source of gain, obtained from those 
 whose circumstances make them the victim of the system, has been 
 carried on without complaints of any alleged hardship, though often 
 enforced by magisterisi authority, proving the necessity of the law 
 itself, and a consciousness of the wrong perpetrated by those who 
 were violating its enactments ; and the law is now acknowledged by 
 many of the poorer classes as contributing to promote their comfort 
 and respectability." 
 
 Dr. Southwood Smith, in a brief but pregnant pamphlet, 
 emtitled "Eesults of Sanitary Improvement," has illus- 
 trated the good of sanitary changes, m the improvements 
 effected by private benevolence in the dwellings of the 
 industrious classes, and in the legislative, restraints im- 
 posed on common lodging-houses. The efforts put forth 
 have been tentative and temporary ; suggestions to be 
 followed rather than realizations to be attained; but 
 though much more is to be desired, much less might have 
 been expected : — 
 
 " These results are the first fruits, full of promise, of the removal of 
 the causes of physical debasement. But still much remains to be 
 done. The neglects of years cannot be remedied in days ; surface 
 cleansings cannot i^ach the mischiefs that exist and accumulate be- 
 neath. It is impossible to over-estimate the practical importance of 
 the results which have been stated. They show the extent to which, 
 under circumstances of the utmost difficulty and danger, it may stUl 
 be possible to save life ; tliey open a prospect of the physical and 
 social improvement of the people, such as, before these results were 
 obtained, there was no warrant from experience to anticipate ; they 
 indicate that the first step in this progress must be the removal of 
 
92 SANITARY REFOEM. 
 
 the degrading influence of the present dwellings of the labouring 
 classes, and they prove the practicability, without loss, of the uni- 
 versal substitution of houses for hovels. There must be compulsory 
 enforcement of certain sanitary conditions wherever there are human 
 habitations. There must be provision for the supply of better 
 ordered dwellings for the industrious classes ; dwellings accessible to 
 air and light, and no longer producing that malarious depression which 
 resorts for relief to the fatal stimulus of ardent spirits ; dwellings 
 compatible with cleanliness, comfort, and those decent observances 
 which are necessary to self-respect, and which must become habits 
 before there can be respect for the happiness, property, or life of 
 others. Until such dwellings are within the reach of these classes, 
 they cannot be raised out of that physical debasement which has been 
 shown to be the portion (the unnecessary portion) of large masses of 
 the people." 
 
 A fartlier advantage efifected has been the facility 
 afforded to the poorer classes for the promotion of per- 
 sonal cleanliness, by the establishment of baths at almost 
 nominal charges. When we remember the magnificent 
 baths of imperial Eome, and consider their importance as 
 national institutions, we may again be tempted to reflect 
 on the superior wisdom of the ancients. Bathing at Eome, 
 no doubt, was carried to excess ; it degenerated into the 
 occasion or the means of indolence and sensuality ; but 
 with us, on the contrary, it has been by far too much 
 neglected. If we admit and assert that physical conduces 
 to moral purity, we must hail with satisfaction the unob- 
 trusiye but most valuable efforts of the several associations 
 that have lent their aid to rescue us from this national 
 disgrace. Another measure -we beUeve to be of no mean 
 value is the provision of public walks or places of recrea- 
 tion. The absence of such resorts for healthy and innocent 
 enjoyment, which formerly obtained as the doom of the 
 teeming and toiling population of Manchester, was espe- 
 cially insisted on in the report of Mr. Mott, the Assistant 
 Poor-Law Commissioner. And honourable mention by 
 all was justly made of the munificence of Mr. Strutt, who 
 presented to the town of Derby a public 1;arden of eleven 
 acres, constructed by Mr. Loudon's taste and skill into an 
 arboretum. 
 
 " Excelsior" is a favourite mOtto of the age. To 
 nothing, perhaps, is it more applicable than to the subject 
 we have attempted so feebly, to review. It descends to 
 
SANITARY REFORM. 93 
 
 the lowest, to exalt to the highest. Prom that which is 
 external and personal it passes to social and spiritual 
 relations. The mission of the sanitary reformer is to raise 
 the poor out of the dust, and lift the needy out of the 
 dunghill, that, with God's blessing, they may ultimately 
 be set among the kings and priests of his redeemed 
 people. Many of these pariahs of our society have been 
 baptized, and for all Christ died. However debased, they 
 are yet immortal ; and for their condition, both temporal 
 and eternal, a fearful responsibility attaches to us, more 
 favoured but not more worthy. The narratives we have 
 given were not designed to pander to any morbid curiosity, 
 but the evil must be known before the remedy can be ap- 
 plied. There certainly is no department of human bene- 
 volence which embraces so wide a range of practical utility, 
 or which affords a nobler opportunity of striving for the 
 sentence of Divine approval, " Inasmuch as ye have done 
 it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done 
 it unto me." 
 
5a0n;ba;r2f litimsl^meitts. 
 
 " The end of punishment is twofold ; amendment and example." 
 
 Palsy. 
 
 To four classes or categories we may refer the members 
 of a civil or political community — ^law makers, law ad- 
 ministrators, law keepers, and law breakers. The idea 
 of society implies a surrender of private will to public wel- 
 fare; and whatever advantage it may promise and secure 
 to such as accept the compromise, it insists on obedience 
 as a necessary test of admission or exclusion. 
 
 The idea of law includes the liability to do wrong, as 
 well as the liberty of doing right ; and while it is a system 
 of protection and reward, it is also one of restraint and 
 penalty. Law must not only be authoritative in its com- 
 mands, but coercive and punitive in its sanctions. Those 
 laws which are infallible, eternal, and Divine, are girt 
 about with sanctions of their own, worthy of their Author, 
 their character, their aim ; and moral impunity has no 
 place in the counsels of a Supreme Governor, no plea at 
 the tribuival of a Supreme Judge. Violations of these 
 laws, whereas and wherein they affect the interests of 
 society, come also beneath its cognizance and are amenable 
 to its reproofs, and thus involve a twofold retribution. 
 "The powers that be are ordained of God," and to human 
 instrumentality is delegated the conception and completion 
 of the Divine purpose. Human laws, so far as they accord 
 vrith the principles of universal equity, have an authority 
 beyond that which any human institution can impart. But 
 human laws may be arbitrary and artificial, of special 
 origin and local application, prescriptive or prohibitory, as 
 to matters of purely social agreement and observance. It 
 
SECONDARY PUKISHMENTS. 95 
 
 may even happen that what is legally right is morally 
 wrong, or vice versd; and offences may result from careless 
 definitions and false conclusions, the offspring of a system 
 of no higher creation than human invention, and therefore 
 prone to imperfection. Laws may be destitute of inherent 
 strength and dignity, or guilty of extravagance and error. 
 They may fail to apprehend the essence or establish the 
 evidence of crime, to prevent or detect its commission. 
 The very necessity of punishment is a proof of the ineffi- 
 ciency of law, yet law would be a mockery unless the 
 necessity when it arose were admitted and enforced. 
 
 The question of crimes and punishments, as one to be 
 decided by human law, is independent of abstract morality. 
 To the great Master of all, each of his accountable servants 
 standeth or falleth, and man is not to usurp the preroga- 
 tive that belongs to God alone. The first table of the 
 decalogue is as binding as the second, but its high claims 
 must be vindicated by him from whom they are derived. 
 Expediency and public utility, not disobedience to the 
 Divine law, are the motives to determine the penalties of 
 human appointment. Yet it is consolatory to know that 
 the gravest offences against the Iciwer code are equally 
 infractions of the higher, and that thus earth's justice 
 coincides with heaven's awards. Punishment must not be 
 regarded in the light of retaliation, or return of evil for 
 evil, but as a means of protection to the community, and, 
 if possible, of salutary impression to the offender. The 
 principles which should regulate it are, that it be suffi- 
 ciently formidable to deter from crime, and at the same 
 time devoid of needless cruelty ; that if it fail to correct, 
 it should at least not be permitted to corrupt ; and that its 
 costliness should not be too great a burden to the well- 
 doing. 
 
 It is admitted by all, that for the ends and advantages 
 of punishment, certainty is more effective than severity. 
 In the earlier part of this century the law of England, 
 which absurdly emulated the policy and logic of Draco, 
 was rendered by its very terrorism practically inoperative. 
 The sentence of death was too inclusive to be imposing, 
 the form diluted and disguised the reality and meaning, 
 and the event of conviction became a lottery. In the year 
 
96 SECONDARY PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 1830, out of 1,397 on whom was passed the solemn doom 
 of forfeiture, only 46 were executed. This was a condition 
 so obviously revolting to good sense, and subversive of 
 right influence, that we have less to rejoice at its cessation 
 than to wonder it should ever have prevailed. Apart from 
 the punishment of death, to discuss the propriety of which 
 belongs not to our present design, there remain, as subor- 
 dinate or secondary penalties, expatriation, personal con- 
 finement, with or without the imposition of labour, and 
 variously modified as to intercourse or isolation, corporal 
 chastisements, and pecuniary inflictions. The last of these 
 four classes can have but a limited range, and we at once 
 dismiss it from our consideration. 
 
 The comparative merits of imprisonment and transporta- 
 tion, and the method of best disarming crime by dealing 
 with the criminals, has become a subject of peculiar inte- 
 rest and importance, engaging the attention alike of par- 
 liament and people. From an official return lately made, 
 it would appear that the more serious offences are decidedly 
 on the increase, and that pubhc apprehension has not been 
 prematurely aroused. TaJiing the five, years ending 1855, 
 if we compare the close of that period with the commence- 
 ment, we shall find, with regard to manslaughter, an 
 advance of 21 per cent.; of burglaries, 21 per cent; of 
 larcenies from dwelling-houses, 30 per cent.; and of 
 forgery, 20 per cent. By a singular concurrence, it has 
 happened that while the average character of crime has 
 been higher, the actual number of committals has been 
 less. There has also been remarked a larger proportion 
 of those whose social advantages would be presumed to 
 remove them from the allurements of crime. We think 
 it not improbable that the unhealthy influences of war, 
 which, however righteous in theory, must be injurious in 
 its accessories and results, may have tended to foster per- 
 nicious passions and develop deeds of violence. At the 
 same time, its very necessities would have absorbed many 
 who, from idleness or mischief, might have swelled the 
 rants of minor offenders. One especial crime, formerly 
 unknown, has gained an unenviable notoriety, spreading 
 with the fatal contagiousness and epidemic virulence of 
 moral evil, and garotting has assumed that aspect of terror 
 
SECONDARY PUNISHMENTS. 97 
 
 which some years ago belonged to burkirig. The Ordinary 
 of Newgate suggests that it may have had its origin in 
 the appeal made to the senses and imagination by the 
 well-known models of Indian Thugs in the British Mu- 
 seum. But whencesoever its source and spread, it is 
 certainly more in accordance with Eastern treachery and 
 cowardice than with the traditionary boldness of Enghsh 
 character, even in wrong-doing. 
 
 Associated with this increase of serious crime, if not 
 auxiliary to it, has been the introduction of a system,' novel 
 and much debated, and demanding a more extended notice. 
 An act of 1853 abolished transportation for terms of less 
 than fourteen years. For shorter periods has been substi- 
 tuted the sentence of penal servitude, to which attaches 
 this peculiar provision, that it is open to suspension under 
 a licence to be at large, and also subject to re-iufliction 
 during the term of such suspension. Those sentenced to 
 seven years' penal servitude may, after an imprisonment 
 of three years, be discharged with tickets of leave, and 
 those to ten years in like manner after four ; but the 
 tickets when granted are, in case of misconduct, revocable 
 at the pleasure of the crown. Sentences of penal servitude 
 must be carried out at home, or in those colonies, as 
 Gibraltar and Bermuda, where there are public works ; but 
 every prisoner so sent out must be brought home before 
 or at the time of the completion of his term, so as not to 
 be discharged abroad. Good conduct in prison is the test, 
 though a very imperfect one, of the fitness or unfitness for 
 the privilege of the ticket of leave. For while it invites 
 submission to discipline, or encourages the effort at 
 amendment, it as certainly develops and rewards hypo- 
 crisy. One well qualified to judge has lately said — " As 
 a general rule, the ticket-of-leave system fails with men 
 of habitual crime, and should never be applied to them, 
 except in rare instances of exemplary demeanor. There is 
 nothing so much dreaded by habitual thieves as perpetual 
 imprisonment, and to lessen such a sentence there is no- 
 thmg they would not have recourse to." That is, there is 
 no extent of apparent penitence which from motives of 
 policy they would not simulate ; there is no depth of mean- 
 ness to which their degraded natures would not stoop : 
 
 H 
 
98 SECONDARY PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 and, at the same time, no amount of temporary self-denial 
 they would not practise, for the sake of gaining a speedier 
 return to indulgence in iniquity. 
 
 Yet prejudice overleaps itself, and those who have a had 
 name are made accountable beyond what they actually do, 
 for what it is deemed they ought to do. Up to the present 
 tiine 16 per cent, only of these tickets have been revoked, 
 or their holders re-convicted; and at the assizes of last 
 December, less than 5 per cent, of the prisoners belonged 
 to this suspected class. We are stating this on the 
 authority of the Home Secretary from his place in Parha- 
 ment. But we believe the most serious objection to the 
 system is, as we shall presently have occasion to show with 
 regard to transportation, that it involves a judicial farce, 
 and defeats or weakens the purpose of punishment. A man 
 is sentenced to a loss of Hberty for seven years, but at the 
 time the sentence is passed, it is known, both to him who 
 pronounces it and to him who receives it, that something 
 different is intended or expected. We think that the 
 certainty of five years' seclusion from society, for the com- 
 mission of such or such offences, would have a better 
 influence than the chance of seven proh^ably, or even pos- 
 sibly, convertible into four. Instances occasionally occur 
 of facts revealed after conviction which might reasonably 
 call for mitigation of the sentence : and provided the claims 
 of justice have ' been vindicated, some discretionary limits 
 might be assigned to their rigid exercise ; but we object 
 to their systematic evasion. Would it not he better to refer 
 each crime, that is, each injury inflicted on society, to some 
 comprehensive standard, and affix to it a supposed pecuniary 
 value, and, commuting this into some analogous amount of 
 productive labour, allow the prisoner to complete his term 
 in proportion to his habits of industry ? Each legal out- 
 rage would then be exact in its retributive award, and a 
 right for social restoration would be earned, which no 
 mistake or deception could dispense with or anticipate. 
 Punishment is a proceeding due less to the criminal than 
 to the community, and any .mode of it, even nominal, 
 which enhances the feeling of public insecurity is unphi- 
 losophical and injudicious. So long as the rogue for his 
 roguery, or the violent man for his deed of violence, is put 
 
SECONDARY PUNISHMENTS. 99 
 
 Tinder a condition of restraint, society is satisfied, and 
 dreads no danger ; but no sooner is lie provisionally libe- 
 rated, and put on his good behaviour, than suspicion is 
 aroused, confidence disturbed, and social harmony impaired. 
 This is a feeling against which it were idle to argue, and a 
 circle of mutual distrust being formed, each section in turn 
 becomes the victim and the victimizer. If society through 
 its law-making representatives agree to accept a specific 
 amends for a specific offence, then, the amends having 
 been paid, society is bound to re-admit the offender ; but 
 the negative transition state of guilt unexpiated and abso- 
 lute freedom unassured, the stage of embryonic absolution 
 and indefinite acceptance will almost inevitably lead to 
 confusion and disaster. Whatever may be urged in favour 
 of the system on which we comment, we think that, as 
 falling both to uphold the majesty of law and to secure the 
 privileges of law keepers, it merits reprobation. Yet it is 
 but an experiment, or a temporary exigence, and the whole 
 subject of which it forms a part is beset with difficulties of 
 no ordinary character. 
 
 Our former plan had been to practise what the Recorder 
 of Birmingham has called " the easy injustice of casting 
 the home-bred criminal on our colonial fellow-country- 
 men." In introducing -the question of transportation, we 
 may first state the objections to which it is exposed, and, 
 in so doing, avail ourselves of the powerfiil pen of Arch- 
 bishop Whately. We will quote some of his Grace's 
 words : — 
 
 " Among all the extravagancies that are recorded of capricious and 
 half-insane despots in times of ancient barbarism, I do^ot remember 
 any instance mentioned, of any one of them having thought of so 
 mischievously absurd a project as that of forming a new nation, con- 
 sisting of criminals and executioners As for the attempt 
 
 to combine salutary punishment with successful colonization, it only 
 leads in practice to the feilure of both objects, and in the mind it can 
 only be effected by keeping up a fallacious confusion of ideas. . . . 
 If the problem were proposed how to combine, in the greatest degree, 
 the disadvantages, and exclude the advantages of both these plans — 
 prevention without reformation, or reformation without prevention — 
 the solution would be found in our system of tran^ortation. . . • 
 The very system of a pena^ colony contains in itself, considered as a 
 mode of punishment, a principle of self-destruction j because it not 
 only aims at two objects essentially at variance with each other, 
 
 h2 
 
100 SECONDARY PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 but also has a constant tendency in practice to sacrifice the more im- 
 portant of these two objects to the incidental and subordinate one, 
 the efficiency of the penalty to the prosperity of the colony." 
 
 Mr. Adderley again remarks : — 
 
 " I never could believe that national corruption could be required 
 for the purpose of national correction, or that what is foully vicious 
 in principle and result can be a necessity in God's economy." 
 
 The objections here urged are twofold — that it is both 
 vinreal and unfair, and a system of miserable subterfuge 
 withal. It is like getting rid of a nuisance, by removing 
 it from our own premises and depositing it on our neigh- 
 bour's, and then flattering ourselves for our ingenuity. 
 The nuisance ceases to annoy us, and we are content it 
 should, but not the less on ttiat account is it intrinsically 
 and essentially a matter of mischief. So our colonists 
 argued, indignantly protested, and strenuously withstood, 
 declaring that the children ought not to bear their parents' 
 burdens as well as their own. It may be said, that the 
 stream of pollution draining forth will first purge and 
 protect the area it leaves from impurity and injury, and 
 then, by a process of filtration, become itself innocuous 
 and limpid, or by its fertilizing powers enrich the soil to 
 which it is directed. But the very .reverse of such treat- 
 ment as would make labour advantageous is compatible or 
 consistent with a scheme of punishment, on the principle 
 that slavery is less productive than unfettered industry, 
 and that all confidence is lost between the employers and 
 the employed when they stand to each other in the relation 
 of gaolers and prisoners. This reasoning, however, applies 
 with greatet force to the system of assignment or prsedial 
 servitude than to works of public ptnity, conducted under 
 the superintendence of the authorized administrators of the 
 law. The ambigmty of transportation has been one of 
 its worst attributes. It may mean little more than simple 
 banishment from the land of birth, with comparative 
 liberty and comfort in the land of involuntary adoption ; or 
 it may imply hopeless and heartless tyranny and toil. 
 Some, without apparent motives to exaggerate or deceive, 
 have described the saddest scenes of horror ; others have 
 drawn, in glowing colours, scenes of privilege and ease. 
 
SECONDARY PTJNISHMEKT8. 101 
 
 Judges on the bench have been perplexed to know the 
 meaning of the words they uttered, and prisoners at the 
 bar have returned thanks when they heard their doom. 
 Crimes have been committed for the express purpose of 
 meriting or meeting transportation. Many in so doing 
 have found themselves the victims of a miserable delusion ; 
 but others have obtained, at the antipodes, opportunities 
 for self-improvement which they would never have expe- 
 rienced at home. 
 
 We, meanwhile, have been content to Kve in careless 
 indifference or blissful ignorance. If inclined to the 
 " study of words," we may have mused on the change that 
 conducts from the association of floral beauty to that of 
 moral deformity and social disgrace ; but as Botany Bay 
 is not in our hemisphere, we have not troubled to pursue 
 the subject. "We have had our joke at Van ' ' Demonians ; ' ' 
 we may even have shuddered at the past atrocities of 
 Norfolk Island, or rejoiced at its present transformation 
 into an abode of primeval purity and patriarchal simplicity; 
 but we have evaded home perplexities, and have satisfied 
 our consciences by shifting our responsibilities. 
 
 Yet many believe, and not unreasonably, that whatever 
 arguments may be brought to bear against transportation 
 in theory, or against its actual condition and consequences, 
 the system itself is not wholly indefensible, nay, even 
 commendable and advantageous. Some look at it nega- 
 tively, as an unavoidable evil, others as a positive and 
 practical good. On a recent occasion the Home Secretary 
 stated his conviction, that the prosperity of New South 
 Wales and Tasmania was owing to the introduction of 
 convicts during earlier stages of their existence. At the 
 present time there is in the Swan River settlement, or 
 Western Australia, a demand for labour which we are 
 unable to supply. The newer and less developed colony 
 accepts and approves that which the older and more 
 organized repudiates and rejects. There may be elements 
 wMch conduce to material strength, while inimical to moral 
 advancement. Maturity casts off the diflcipline of child- 
 hood, and those whose fortunes are made are often ashamed 
 of the instruments by which they were gathered and con- 
 solidated. We see no reason why a scheme should not 
 
102 SECONDARY PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 be devised for applying convict, labour to purposes of real 
 utility to the state that employs it, or to the settlement 
 for which it is employed, and at the same time carrying 
 folly out the idea and intention of punishment. The real 
 evil is that there is nothing in punishment inherently 
 reformatory, and that when its term expires, the pro- 
 pensities that led to its necessity may continue unsubdued. 
 If we take as its highest and most awful type the final 
 doom of the impenitent, we shall be guilty of an error, 
 which, as Protestants, we renounce, in assuming it to pos- 
 sess a purgatorial or cleansing character. Correction may 
 but harden, and suffering unblessed yet more demoralize. 
 Convict discipline may fail to elevate its subject, and the 
 convicts themselves, ceasing to benefit, will become a curse. 
 Another charge alleged is the costliness of transporta- 
 tion. So far as this arises from the distance of a penal 
 colony, and the expenses incidental to a protracted voyage, 
 we do not see how this objection can be obviated, unless by 
 fixing on a destination nearer home. But if we glance at 
 the subject of punishment from the stand-point of pecu- 
 niary reparation, if we consider the offender to become for 
 a season the property of the commonwealth, and bound to 
 repay by his services the loss at which his offence has been 
 appraised, the objection ceases to be formidable or fatal. 
 Whether the convict's lot be drawn at home or abroad, he 
 must first redeem his purchase-money before his claim to 
 wages can be allowed. Punishment by involuntary idle- 
 ness is worse than useless ; punishment by maintenance 
 without anxiety,, and employment remunerative to the in- 
 dividual, is a blow and discouragement to honest industry ; 
 punishment by insufferable oppression and gratuitous tor- 
 ture is derogatory to civilization and Christianity. But 
 the distinction ought clearly to be enforced between sub- 
 jection and exemption from the penalties of the law, and 
 the innocent ought to know that they are not contributing 
 to support the guilty. The guilty, moreover, unless by 
 habitual and repeated crime they have incurred the meed 
 of life-long exclusion from social advantages, should be 
 allowed the means of rescue and return. And where can 
 such means be better enjoyed and exercised than amid new 
 scenes, in a distant land, ;with a change of name, pursuit. 
 
SECONDARY PUNISHMENTS. 103 
 
 and circumstance. We are not sorry that parliamentary 
 committees of both houses have arrived at similar conclu- 
 sions. The Lords, with accustomed cautiousness, thus 
 minute their decision : — " That in the opinion of the com- 
 mittee, a continuance of the system of transportation to 
 some colony or colonies, with such improvements as expe- 
 rience has suggested, or may suggest, would be highly 
 desirable, provided that the system can be carried on with 
 advantage to the colony, and with satisfaction to the 
 coloiiists." Here is a gentle recognition of that interne- 
 cine war between the mother country and her dependants, 
 that has so agitated and involved the question. The 
 Commons declare, with greater decision, ' ' That the punish- 
 ment of transportation is more effectual and deterring, 
 better adapted for the ultimate reformation of convicts, 
 and more beneficial to this country, than any other 
 secondary punishment for serious crimes which has yet 
 been tried. That the committee therefore recommend the 
 continuation of the sentence of transportation, so far as her 
 Majesty's dominions may afford safe and proper facilities 
 for that purpose." 
 
 The territorial resources available for transportation 
 have by no means been exhausted. We fortunately, or 
 unfortunately, have no Siberia ; but if we seek its sub- 
 stitute we shall not look in vain. Why should not those 
 trackless regions, so little known, frequented, and im- 
 proved, extending from Hudson's Bay to the Rocky 
 Mountains, or thence to the Pacific, be made to yield to 
 convict labour a profitable investment? Of this vast 
 wilderness the diocese of Eupert's Land forms but a small 
 proportion ; and the bishop informs us that in travelling 
 three hundred miles he met but a solitary Indian. The 
 hardships and endurances of pioneering, even voluntarily 
 undergone, have much in them akin to punishment, and 
 those who follow and reap the fruit, may excuse unclean- 
 ness in the hands that go before and sow the seeds. Why 
 should not the Falkland Isles, as has lately been proposed, 
 be supplied with artificial contrivances, that would so 
 evolve and recommend their natural capabilities? Why 
 should not some of the uiicultivated and unproductive of 
 our own British Isles be turned to better account, and 
 
104 SECONDARY PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 made to giye their increase, or become tlie scenes of silent 
 but profitable exile ? Why should not within the limits 
 of this or the sister mainland, wastes be reclaimed, or 
 works of convenience and safety performed ? The Port- 
 land Breakwater is both a reasonable undertaking and a 
 suggestiye example ; and throughout our wide-spread 
 dominions how much may be found to effect, as to roads, 
 drainage, harbours, plantations, &c., by which those who 
 have incurred obHgations to society may usefully discharge 
 them. 
 
 In selecting spheres for transportation many require- 
 ments must be observed. They must present the oppor- 
 tunities of remunerative labour, first for the state, and 
 secondly for the convicts themselves when liberated. We 
 must not take the treadmill as our type, and conclude 
 that if the muscular energies are exercised, and simple 
 though aimless toil imposed, the end of punishment is 
 gained. Toil that is not only wearisome but worthless 
 can but degrade ; but those who have done evil may be 
 benefited by the consciousness of doing good, and inspired 
 to nobler efforts for the future. The place of banishment 
 must afford the means of honest and sufficient maintenance 
 to those released from bondage, and, we would hope, 
 reformed. CUmate is a point of particular importance. 
 It must not be too glowing, so as to arouse the animal 
 passions, to enervate and relax, or invite to indolence. 
 This is a consideration which has not received the attention 
 it deserved. Nor have we the right to expose our erring 
 children, with bodies as well as minds too often enfeebled 
 by sinful indulgence, to the ill effects of insalubrity. We 
 must not put them in the way of almost inevitably 
 shortened lives, or by lowering their standard of health 
 weaken their chances of moral improvement. It is a 
 feature, as we conceive, of no little moment in favour of 
 the localities we have suggested, that the period of 
 crowded intercourse on ship-board, with all its corrupting 
 tendencies, would be much curtailed, and in the same 
 ratio the cost of transport reduced. With every vigilance 
 on the part of the officers, a convict ship must, more or 
 less, reproduce the miseries and mischief that attended 
 our former system of prison mismanagement. Yet vigir 
 
SECONDARY PDNISHMKNTS. 106 
 
 lance must not be relaxed, but rather increased, on the 
 completion of the voyage, so that the pest to the colony, 
 if it be one, may not be allowed to propagate, or, be per- 
 petuated by mutual re-infection. Similar objections, 
 though not in the same degree, that would apply at home 
 to the ticket-of-leave system, would be admissible abroad. 
 Convicts must not be sent out, primarily, for their own 
 advantage. They become, by their crimes, conscripts to 
 the state, not for military service, but yet for purposes of 
 public economy. The term of conscription must be regu- 
 lated by the exigencies of the community, that is, by the 
 amount of violated rights that calls for it. It must not 
 be wantonly imposed, nor prolonged beyond the narrowest 
 limits compatible with the claims these exigences may 
 assert. But what is said must be meant, while no more 
 than is meant is said. So soon as convicts are entitled to 
 discharge, the state must not consider her duties to have 
 ceased. They must not be sent forth uncared-for, desti- 
 tute, and friendless. Beyond the presumed equivalent of 
 their crime, the proceeds of their labour may be debited to 
 their account, and in cases of more than average good 
 conduct a bonus may be added. This should be held in 
 trust by the authorities, and dispensed at their discretion, 
 in accordance with the wish of the emancipated. A 
 portion may, with great propriety, be spent in providing 
 a passage to some other place, where, free from infamy, 
 with antecedents buried in obUvion, the freedman may not 
 be driven by the persecutions of society to contemn him- 
 self, or renew a course of depravity and degradation. In 
 this way may pimishment be an ultimate privilege, and 
 yet lose none of its dread reahty. 
 
 Our gravest doubts and difficulties arise as to the ques- 
 tion of transportation for the term of natural Ufe. It is a 
 fearftil thing to consign to slavery that shall last till death 
 gives rest to the weary, and, whatever aptitude for self- 
 improvement such discipline may evoke, to preclude its 
 encouragement and exercise. But if the principles are 
 true already advocated, we must not pause in applying 
 them. For offences pm-ely political it may be enough to 
 simply expatriate, and, provided he keeps his opinions to 
 himself, to allow the offender personal liberty, though 
 
106 SECONDARY PUSriSHMBNTS. 
 
 forbidden to return to the land whose government he has 
 abjured. We emulate not the examples of continental 
 absolutism, and we also think a distinction should be 
 made between the claims of human conventions and the 
 obligations of eternal law. Transportation for life should 
 be a sentence seldom passed, but when accorded to crimes 
 against property or person of a magnitude presumed to 
 merit it, its full significance must be preserved. Prom 
 that day forth must the felon surrender his all to the 
 ministers of pubUo justice. As years roll on, his labour 
 may be lightened and his position made less irksome, but 
 liberty and independence are not for him. He is the 
 bondsman of society, the past an unavailing retrospect, 
 the fnture without prospects. To such a life expatriation 
 adds no horrors, and for the culprit himself its .residuary 
 benefits to others would have no place. We believe that 
 incorrigible criminals must be visited with perpetual exile 
 from their fellow-men. They must be treated as mis- 
 chievous lunatics or hopeless imbeciles, who need seclusion 
 and restraint. But this can be carried out as effectually 
 at home as abroad. What is needed would be a pro- 
 longation, but gradual relaxation of the severity, of the 
 penitentiary system. Imprisonment for life would be far 
 less endurable than transportation for that term, as it ever 
 has been executed or understood. Whatever is most 
 deterrent from crime is practically the truest humanity, 
 and if such a substitute as this were proposed and enforced, 
 very seldom would its dire necessity be called for. 
 
 Within a period by no means remote, our prison 
 economics were a disgrace to reason and religion. We 
 now are somewhat apt to err in a contrary direction, and, 
 led by motives of vicious or mistaken philanthropy, to 
 evince more sympathy for the fallen than interest in those 
 who have maintained their integrity. Prisons must' not 
 be palaces, and their inmates the indulged ones of society. 
 Punishment, so called, must not be a premium and in- 
 centive to vice. Cleanliness must be rigidly enforced, 
 every precaution taken to avert or arrest disease, all, 
 tyranny and oppression be sedulously avoided. Prisoners 
 should be treated not as brutes, but as men, and tenderly 
 dealt with, as with the weak or ignorant ; but they must 
 
SECONDARY PUNISHMENTS. 107 
 
 be made to feel the rod, and to smart beneath its stroke. 
 For terms of less than seven years we should recommend 
 home in preference to foreign servitude, and that the 
 sentence imply a subjection to penitentiary discipline 
 variously modified. However necessities may require silent 
 fellowship during the hours of labour, separation ' when 
 unemployed should be always enforced. Solitude is 
 favourable to thought, and, by God's blessing on the 
 moral and religious instruction with which it is and ought 
 to be accompanied, has led to earnest and abiding peni- 
 tence. Let every means be taken to establish health and 
 cheerfulness, but let no idle sentimentaUsm interpose with 
 indulgences denied to paupers, and beyond the reach of 
 many in even a higher social scale. For . periods of or 
 beyond seven years, public works at home would be placed 
 in the same category with foreign transportation, and 
 perhaps the shorter the term, the less distant should be 
 the destination. Many of these home-!^ept convicts, by a 
 wisely-applied proportion of the produce of their toil, 
 would be enabled to emigrate, and with bettered resolves 
 redeem their fortunes. To all natures not utterly depraved, 
 hope is an impulse more powerful than fear ; and however 
 we may punish, we should never "forget the intention or 
 the instruments to elicit the good and subdue the evil. 
 For offences of peculiar brutaUty, we think it would be 
 wise to adopt a more extensive recourse to corporal chas- 
 tisement. The infliction of pain on the helpless, or of 
 injury on the innocent, is an attribute of character so 
 essentially unmanly , that we may be pardoned in proposing 
 for it a treatment that may seem degrading or derogatory 
 to humanity. 'But leaving adults to expiate their gmlt 
 without public exposure, or private inflictions that may 
 partake too much of the retaliative principle, we think at 
 least that stripes should fall within the portion of juvenile 
 offenders. Here is the true field of philanthropy and 
 promise. " Take care of the children, and the grown 
 people will take care of themselyes," is the pointed and 
 pregnant aphorism of Archbishop Whately. Juveniles 
 should be kept most scrupulously separate from the old and 
 hardened. First offences should not be passed over, or we 
 may encourage and invite a second ; but every allowance 
 
108 SECONDARY PCNISHMISNTB. 
 
 should be made for the strength of temptation, and the 
 •comparative inability to resist it, and every effort directed 
 to secure genuine and well-grounded amendment. We 
 rejoice at the sanction and assistance given or pledged by 
 Government to the scheme of juvenile reformatories. 
 
 We cannot reflect, however superficially, on a subject 
 so engrossing as the theory and practice of punishment, 
 without being driven to the conclusion, how much easier 
 and safer it would be to prevent the evil than to invent its 
 remedy. Each year we have a crop of from 2,000 to 
 3,000 tares ready for burning in the fires of penal suffering, 
 objects of infinite annoyance, danger, and expense ; how 
 are we to check the growth, and anticipate the harvest ? 
 Sanitary reform, in its most inclusive sense, we beUeve to 
 be the basis of all others. Ignorance is the parent of 
 iniquity. Distress is a source of dishonesty. Injudicious 
 or unrighteous laws will lead to an unnecessary multi- 
 plication of offenders. With all this weeding, some will 
 remain who would not be virtuous if they could; and who 
 will continue to yield a supply of crime. Something may 
 be done by making punishment more exact, positive, and 
 tremendous,; but & warning after warning fails to impress, 
 they must be regarded, as we have eaid, as morbidly in- 
 corrigible or incapable of self-control, and dealt with 
 accordingly. This world ever will be a state of probation, 
 and human institutions stained with blots which human 
 ingenuity will fail to efface. For a brighter economy is 
 the promise reserved — " There shall be no more night," 
 in which children of night can indulge in deeds of dark- 
 ness ; " there shall be no more curse ;" and because the 
 empire of sin is abolished, " there shall be no more 
 death." 
 
iar 'gthikm U t\t Bpxximl MA 
 
 " They are God's minist'ring spirits and are sent, 
 His messengers of mercy, to fulfil' 
 Good for salvation's heirs. For ua they still 
 Grieve when we sin, rejoice when we repent : 
 And on the last dread day they shall present 
 The severed righteous at His holy hill. 
 With them God's face to see, to do His will. 
 And bear with them His likeness. Was it meant 
 That we this knowledge should in secret seal, 
 TJnthought-of, unimproving ? Esther say, 
 God deigned to man His angel hosts reveal. 
 That man might learn, like angels, to obey ; 
 And those who long their bliss in heaven to feel. 
 Might strive on eaxth to serve him ev'n as they." 
 
 Mant. 
 
 Of the two extremes or evils we prefer credulity to 
 over-caution. The rigid and frigid philosophy, which 
 exalts sense above faith, which derides enthusiasm and 
 fancy, which professes nothing it cannot prove, and admits 
 nothing it cannot comprehend or explain, is surely less 
 amiable, if it be not less wise, than the child-like, un- 
 cavilling simplicity and trust, which imagines and believes 
 beyond its brief experience, which grasps the ideal, realizes 
 the unseen, and sometimes even accepts the improbable. 
 - The world of matter in which we dwell has its own im- 
 portant interests and duties, but the immaterial which 
 dwells in «s suggests and demands other and higher 
 affinities and aims. In pursuing these inner relations, in 
 solving doubt, eliciting error, and determining the true 
 and s&ie, we must not be too ready nor yet too reluctant 
 to receive or refuse the evidence offered. 
 
 In Scripture we are taught to consider God as the 
 
110 OUR RELATIONS TO THE SPIRITtJAL WORLD. 
 
 Father of Spirits and the Lord of Hosts, while he also is 
 the Creator of the ends of the earth, the. Ruler and Pre- 
 server of men. In our formularies of faith and worship we 
 acknowledge that with him " do live the spirits of them 
 that depart hence;" we also pray that his holy angels 
 may, by his appoiatment, succour and defend us on earth, 
 and " that those evils, which the craft and subtilty of the 
 devil worketh against us, may be brought to nought." 
 We believe in the personality of the Holy Ghost, nncreate, 
 incomprehensible, eternal, almighty ; we also believe in 
 the existence and agency of " thrones, dominations,' 
 princedoms, virtues, powers," celestial and infernal, not 
 as imaginary influences, but as actual creations, energetic 
 though. incorporeal. We know that still, as in days of 
 old, the sect of Sadducees remain, the confessors of nega- 
 tion ; but assuming the prevalent and positive creed, as 
 estabhshed by testimony direct and Divine, we may inquire 
 how much the creed involves. Do the disembodied spirits 
 of mortal men revisit the scenes of earth 7 What shapes 
 or semblances do they put on, or what communications do 
 they hold with us 7 How far are fallen spirits permitted 
 to have fellowship with fallen humanity, or what is the 
 method and measure of the intercourse they impose and 
 the injury they inflict on the sons of men or the servants 
 of God 7 
 
 In common usage, spirit and soill are synonymous or 
 correlative terms, but by metaphysicians the ideas have 
 been distinguished, and by St. Paul the distinction was 
 maintained. We therefore separate man's complex struc- 
 ture into three component parts. We have, first, the 
 material fabric of the body, that tabernacle of dust which, 
 when , taken down, dissolves to its native elements. 
 Secondly, the soul or breath or principle of life, vegetative 
 and animal, with the propensities and passions common to 
 man, and the irrational inferior creatures. Thirdly, the 
 intellectual faculties and moral powers, the spirit immortal 
 and Divine, which returns to Him who gave it. But 
 ancient philosophers went beyond this obvious and ortho- 
 dox division. They held or fabled the opinion that men 
 had each three souls, which after death were thus disposed 
 of: — The spirit ascended to the stars, recalled by the gods 
 
OUR RKLATIONB TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. Ill 
 
 from whom it came ; the manes, or shade below, wandered 
 in the realm of Pluto ; and the umbra, or ghost, haunted 
 and hovered round the body's resting-place. To whichever 
 of these classes belong the apparitions of popular belief, 
 they are certainly more mystic and mythologio than 
 Christian in their origin. Yet we think ourselves autho- 
 rized, both by reason and rehgion, in admitting and 
 affirming the abstract possibihty of the visible appearance 
 of disembodied human spirits. It is also no less true that 
 such presentments have been manifested to persons of 
 soimd mind and credible testimony. The question is, 
 were they real or idfeal forms, phantasms of the imagination 
 or objective and sensible shapes 7 Most of our moralists 
 and men of science maintain the former view ; but many 
 writers, chiefly Germans, of whom Mrs. Crowe is a popular 
 English exponent, suggest or support the latter. 
 
 Dr. Hibbert, Dr. Ferriar, and others, conceive of appa- 
 ritions as nothing more than morbid symptoms, indicative 
 of intense mental excitement. This theory is founded on 
 certain physical or physiological facts — that impressions 
 of visible objects remain for some time after the eye is 
 shut or has been withdrawn from them ; that impressions 
 of objects recently seen return after a considerable interval; 
 and that false perceptions continually arise in the course of 
 bodily disorder. We may here observe, that the per- 
 ceptions to which we now refer are distinct from delusions 
 purely subjective ; and, moreover, that we are excluding 
 from, the account cases of acknowledged mental disease, 
 though the limits which divide sanity and insanity are not 
 always easily and accurately traced. The accomplished 
 and excellent Dr. Abercrombie, without calling in question 
 the possibility of supernatural communications, attributes 
 spectral illusions to one of five causes. (1) False im- 
 pressions made on the senses only, in which the mind does 
 not participate. (2) Eeal dreams, though the person at 
 the time may not be sensible of having slept, or conse- 
 quently of having dreamt. (3) Mental conceptions so 
 intense and striking, as for the moment to be believed to 
 have a real existence, especially if these internal emotions 
 are aided by the withdrawal of external influences, by 
 solitude, darkness, and bodily repose. This is a condition 
 
112 OUR RELATIONS TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 
 
 closely allied to dreaming, though the individual is really 
 awake. Hence the ghosts that haunt the guilty, hence 
 the hideous spectres of their inurdered victims that attend 
 and affright the murderer. Thus also we may probahly 
 explain some of the stories of second sight, fulfilled, as 
 dreams occasionally are, by natural coincidence. (4) 
 Erroneous impressions connected with bodily disease, 
 generally of the brain. Former circumstances are often 
 recalled, and believed to have a real and present existence. 
 Lastly, from pure misconception, the imagination may 
 conjure up into a spectral illusion something tangible, but 
 very trivial. A piece of shapeless wreck floating on the 
 biUows, or a withered tree stretching its bare arms, has 
 often been converted into a veritable ghost ; but objects far 
 more ludicrous have led to similar fears and follies. The 
 preceding arguments would apply not merely to the visual 
 return of departed forms, but to the presentiments, pre- 
 monitions, and mental revelations of 'forgotten facts, which 
 have been assigned^ to spiritual agency. 
 
 According to Sir David Brewster, spectral appearances 
 are only ideas or recollected images of the mind, which, 
 in certain states of bodily disorder, have been rendered 
 more vivid than actual impressions ; or, in other words, 
 the pictures of the mind's eye have become more vivid 
 than those .of the body's eye. Still further, the mind's 
 eye is identical with the body's eye, for the retina is the 
 common tablet on which both classes of impressions are 
 painted. This is true of all ideas, recalled by the memory 
 or created by the fancy, and is a fundamental law in the 
 science of pneumatology. A philosopher absorbed in con- 
 templation will experience a temporary suspension of the 
 use of his senses. Prightfid illusions and apparitions will, 
 in this way, be resolved into ordinary ideas, made more 
 brilliant by some accidental and temporary derangement 
 of the vital fanctions. These spectres of the memory or 
 fancy have always their local abode in front of the eye, 
 and partake of its movements, as the impressions of 
 luminous objects do after the objects themselves are 
 withdrawn. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott has also dwelt on the perverting power 
 of the imagination to induce and influence such results. 
 
OUR RELATIONS TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 113 
 
 Sorrow for friends,, remorse for crimes, eager patriotism, 
 deep devotion, excessive indulgence of the passions, or 
 inordinate moral excitement, may persuade us by day or 
 by night, that we witness with our eyes or ears actual 
 instances of that supernatural communication, the possi- 
 bility of which we cannot deny. The corporeal organs 
 may impose on the mind, while the senses, deranged and 
 misled, convey erroneous impressions. The mental delusion 
 and the physical deception may co-exist, and the belief in 
 the phenomena will then be firmer. Thus will philosophy 
 explain away what Crabbe calls the " last lingering fiction 
 of the brain," that faith in the supernatural of which 
 Johnson says, that all reason is against it and all tradition 
 for it. Thus will terror be disarmed, mystery unmasked, 
 and the horrible become the harmless. 
 
 Yet, while we approve these decisions of philosophy, we 
 must allow that there, is much to establish or excuse the 
 contrary opinion. The religion of the ancients, which 
 peopled all nature with deities of various ranlcs, peculiarly 
 exposed them to such delusions. When every landscape 
 to the poetic eye had its nymphs and fauns, every hill or 
 grove or stream its oread or dryad or naiad, when every 
 living man had his own guardian spirits or tutelary genii, 
 it was certainly no marvel that the fancy should. impose on 
 the senses, and the abstract put on the attributes of 
 matter. We have abundant evidence, also, without going 
 beyond the record of Scripture, that the Jews, who pos- 
 sessed the oracles of God, were equally firm believers in 
 the spectral and supernatural. The disciples of our Lord, 
 when they saw him, with miraculous disregard of physical 
 laws, walking on the surface of the sea, said, " It is a 
 spirit ; and they cried out for fear." 
 
 Apart from all religious teachings, the idea is much 
 influenced by national or natural causes. Historical asso- 
 ciations, traditionary legends, the solitary and sublime of 
 local scenery, the thoughts and tendencies induced by 
 education or employment, are important aids to its deve- 
 lopment. Ruined towers, feudal castles, Cloud-capped 
 mountains, lonely moors, spots infamous by deeds of 
 blood, scarcely need Scandinavian superstition or German 
 mysticism to fit them as stages on which spirits may walk, 
 
 I 
 
114 OUK RELATIONS TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 
 
 or to fill them with performers from the unseen world. 
 We must not forget that visible and invisible are relative 
 terms. Forms may surround us so attenuated and ethereal 
 as to elude our feeble powers of sense, but to higher orga- 
 nizations they may be palpable and apparent. It may be 
 consistent with the purpose and providence of ,God, that 
 on certain occasions these airy shapes should assume a 
 cloudy condensation, or that our visual or auditory organs 
 should be strengthened to embrace them. We know not 
 the confines of earth and Hades : on the state and place of 
 departed spirits it is idle and irreverent aKke to speculate 
 and dogmatize, Ti^e doctrine of corporeal souls or astral 
 spirits, the umbrae of the ancients, may even not be a 
 fiction absurd and absolute. We cannot allow too much 
 to the efibrts of imagination, nor can we attach too high 
 a value to the maxims of physical and ethical science ; yet 
 there are instances on record of possible visits from the 
 silent land which are on these principles difficult of expla- 
 nation. But all we can venture to do is to refrain from 
 denying the impossibility of that which is improbable, and, 
 if it ever happen, most infrequent. The topic is too 
 dangerous for any but the discreet and the devout to 
 intrude upon its mysteries. We cannot sufficiently repro- 
 bate the weakness and wickedness of Transatlantic extra- 
 vagance, as found in some of their modern works. With 
 much that is neither intelKgible nor credible, if not 
 positively blasphemous, there is an under-current of senti- 
 mental pantheism subversive of all correct theology. It 
 has been urged, that by these pretended revelations the 
 truth of immortaUty has triumphed, Scripture has been 
 confirmed, and sceptics converted. But to such arguments 
 we would prefer the inspired assertions of the Great 
 Teacher, — " If they hear not Moses and the prophets, 
 neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the 
 dead," Eather than yield to what we cannot but regard 
 as perilous and seductive errors, we would denounce them 
 as unworthy of the age in which we Kve, or almost sooner 
 choose the blissful ignorance and orthodox bigotry of the 
 past. But the subject leads us to a still more important 
 branch of inquiry. To what extent are spirits, essentially 
 and confessedly evil, enabled and allowed to be the per- 
 
OUR RELATIONS TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 115 
 
 secutors or enslavers or accomplices of mankind, or the 
 destroyers and disturbers of the products and processes of 
 nature ? Has he, whom we call the Enemy, a power and 
 influence material as well as moral, aifecting the body 
 while it pollutes the soul ? 
 
 We think that no unprejudiced reader of the Gospel 
 narrative can refuse to admit that, in the days of Christ 
 and his Apostles, demoniac possession was really what it 
 was nominally, th^,t it was something different and more 
 dire than any bodily or mental disorder. With every 
 allowance for the force and, figure of eastern language, 
 some of the instances recorded cannot be softened down 
 into those evidences and effects of insanity or epilepsy 
 that Socinians and sceptics are content to trace. What, 
 for example, do we make of the man in the country of the 
 Gadarenes ? The devils in him believed and trembled, 
 besought Jesus that he would not command them to the 
 deep, and obtained his permission to enter and torment a 
 herd of swine. Unless the miracle related be not history 
 but allegory — and even such allegory would be inconsistent 
 and improbable — ^how could any mere morbid state have 
 led to such performances ? We are not required to show 
 why such evils should have then existed, even though we 
 could prove that they were altogether exceptional to the 
 course of nature before and since. It may be they were 
 Resigned to exhibit and enhance the power and glory of 
 the Son of God, who " was manifested that he might 
 destroy the works of the devil." Fallen men were also 
 made to understand, by sensible and indisputable tokens, 
 the might and malignity of fallen spirits, and the extent 
 of the Saviour's majesty and mercy. The empire of Satan 
 was to be subverted, and as the time drew near he was to 
 attain the summit of his earthly dominion. Miracles of 
 all kinds were to attest the mission of Christ ; he was to 
 supersede and to subordinate to himself all rule and 
 airthority and power, and to assert to the world that all 
 things were put under his feet. Freely admitting this, 
 we are as fuUy authorised in supposing that, as the 
 necessity and the working of miracles have ceased, so has 
 Satanic agency been restrained, and his direct intercourse 
 with man been brought to a close. The antagonism 
 
 i2 
 
1J.6 OUR RELATIONS TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 
 
 remains between the King of glory and the prince of 
 darkness ; but the weapons and methods of warfare now 
 employed are more usual and unobserved. Extraordinary 
 interference had a purpose and a period, but both have 
 been fulfilled. 
 
 Are we not warranted, moreover, in believing that the 
 Pythoness of Philippi, exorcised by Paul, was more than 
 an impostor ? The transaction seems to demonstrate that 
 she was under the actual influence or inspiration of an 
 evil spirit. This avowal by no means compels us to 
 believe that the Pythian oracles, or those of any other 
 heathen god, were due to Satanic agency. Yet many 
 have thought that these false deities were real demons or 
 rebel spirits, who, having lost their native dignity, sought 
 to compensate their disgrace by assuming an unlicensed 
 and unrighteous sovereignty. This view will receive an 
 apparent confirmaticin from the Apostle's statement, " The 
 things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to 
 devils;" and, indeed, from several other passages. If 
 this be true, it was not mere pdetry that led Milton to 
 attribute such results to Messiah's incarnation :■ — 
 
 " The oracles are dumb ; no voioe or hideous hum 
 Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving. 
 Apollo from his shrine can no more divine, 
 
 With hollow shiiek the steep of Delphos leaving.^ 
 No nightly trance, or breathed spell, 
 Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell." 
 
 But we think that superior sagacity and practised skill 
 in an age of general superstition ; that deep insight into 
 human character and accurate acquaintance with passing 
 events ; that a knowledge of the secrets of natural philo- 
 sophy, manual dexterity, unscrupulous audacity and deceit, 
 and an assumption of solemnity and awe, were quite 
 suf&cient to , produce the oracular marvels and mysteries 
 of the teniples of Egypt and Greece, vrithout having 
 recourse for explanation to any Satanic connivance 
 and 3:id. 
 
 No passage of Holy Writ has probably been more 
 abused, or been made the occasion of greater cruelty and 
 wrong, than the injunction of the Mosaic, law, " Thou 
 
OUH RELATIONS TO THE SPIEITUAL WORLD. 117 
 
 Shalt not STifFer a witch to live." " It seems one of the 
 most flagrant absurdities of modern Sadducism to suppose 
 that God himself would repeatedly command the magis- 
 trates of his people to punish with death a crime which 
 never was committed," is the comment of the Rev. Thomas 
 Scott. But is not this a petitio principii, as great as that 
 indulged in by an expounder of the English law, who says, 
 " It seems that there must formerly have been such a 
 crime as witchcraft, because divers statutes have been 
 made against it?" So we may prove, particularly from 
 old German writers, that the devil must have dwelt in 
 human bodies, because medicines were administered for 
 the purpose of expelKng him. 
 
 lie word* translated "witch" has been variously inter- 
 preted by competent scholars and expositors as a person 
 skilled in legerdemain, a juggler, a sorcerer ; a poisoner, 
 or person pretending or attempting to hurt or destroy 
 others by potions, charms or spells ; one who practises 
 diabohcal arts, who professes to discover by magical means 
 things hidden or future, or who claims the power of in- 
 verting the established order of nature. The idea of 
 witchcraft in mediseval or modem times implied a contract 
 between the witch and a demon, in virtue of which she 
 became his slave, and acquired an infernal or superhuman 
 ability and propensity to injure property and persons. It 
 is not necessary to show that the wizards or witches of the 
 Hebrews were really in league with familiar fiends, in 
 order to justify or explain the severity of the sentence 
 decreed against them. God was to his people lawgiver, 
 king, and judge, while he was the object of supreme 
 adoration. He was jealous of his own honour, and anxious 
 to prevent the slightest encouragement or imitation of the 
 idolatry of surr6unding countries. Hence any intrusion 
 on the prophetical office, any seeming appeal to false 
 divinities, any withdrawal of the allegiance due to the true 
 and living Jehovah, was to merit and incur summary con- 
 viction and deadly displeasure, even though there was 
 nothing more than infatuation on the one side and im- 
 posture on the other. For a Jew to have consulted the 
 oracles of Isis or Apollo would have been a capital offence ; 
 and those who, however ignorant and inexpert, would have 
 
118 OUR HELATIONS TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 
 
 set up shrines of their own to delude and seduce, were to 
 be removed from the land with an unmistakable display of 
 Divine abhorrence. 
 
 The case of the woman of Endor, consulted by Saul, we 
 imagine to have been exceptional and miraculous. Various 
 theories of interpretation have been adduced. It has been 
 supposed that she was a mere fortune-teller, and that 
 there was no vision at all, but that the whole affair was a 
 deception practised by her in concert with some human 
 accomplice. Others conjecture that an evil spirit, with 
 whom she had relations, appeared and personated the 
 prophet. But the more probable opinion is, that God 
 interposed, and, to fiilfil the designs of his providence, 
 permitted Samuel to rise again, and to foretel the doom 
 of the disobedient monarch. The woman was evidently 
 surprised and alarmed at what she saw. It was not her 
 fainUiar, if such she had, who came at her invocation. 
 Samuel appeared, borne by angel bands, but he rose not 
 through the devil's power or the witch's arts. It might 
 have been intended to establish by sensible tokens the 
 existence of the spirit after death, though not meant as a 
 precedent or pattern of the curiosities of our own ex- 
 perience. It has also been suggested that Samuel was 
 sent by way of reproof, to discountenance dealings with 
 witches, as the refusal of the rich man's request in the 
 parable was designed to discourage praying to departed 
 saints. "We may not inappropriately here introduce some 
 observations of the learned Dr. Adam Clarke, though the 
 whole of his creed we are not pledged to accept and 
 approve : — 
 
 " I beKeve that there is a supernatural and spiritual world, in which 
 human spirits, both good and bad, live in a state of consciousness. I 
 believe there is an invisible world, in which various orders of spirits, 
 not human, live and act. I believe that any of these spirits may, 
 according to the order of God in the laws of their plsioe of residence, 
 have' intercourse with this world, and become visible to mortals. I 
 believe there is a possibility, by arts not strictly good, to evoke and 
 have intercourse with spirits not human ; and to employ, in a certain 
 limited way, their power and influence. I believe that the woman of 
 Endor had no power over Samuel, and that no incantations can avail 
 over any departed saint of God, nor, indeed, over any human disem- 
 bodied spirit. I believe Samuel did actually appear to Saul, and that 
 he was sent by the especial mercy of God. I believe that the woman 
 
OUR RELATIONS TO THE SPIRITTTAL WORLD. 119 
 
 found from the appearances that her real or pretended charms had no 
 effect ; and that what now took place came &om a totally different 
 disposition of things itoia those with which she was conversant. I 
 believe that direct, circumstantial, and unequivocal oracles were now 
 delivered, concerning things which neither human nor diabolicaJ 
 wisdom could foresee or penetrate — matters which, from their nature, 
 could only be known to God himself, and that no demon or bad spirit 
 conld be employed in such a transaction." 
 
 The malice, the ambition, the power, and the knowledge 
 of evil spirits, though not infinite, are doubtless very 
 great. They are ever ready to interfere, watching their 
 opportunity, and waiting their commission from Him, 
 whom they fear while they hate, and to whom they render 
 an inToluntary obedience. Nor can we doubt that human 
 beings may be found, weak enough and wicked enough, 
 knowingly to invite and encourage their counsel and co- 
 operation. Tallen natures have affinities and analogies in 
 common. The lower may envy the capacities of the higher, 
 and the higher may delight in degraing the condition and 
 increasing the culpability of the lower. Yet it by no 
 means follows that Satan should have had such dealings 
 with man as would be involved in the admission, that the 
 witchcraft of the middle ages was owing to his personal 
 superintendence and special instigation. He is, indeed, 
 the father of lies, and to him may indirectly or figuratively 
 be assigned every development of folly and sin : but further 
 than this we have no reason for supposing that his influence 
 extended. The evU to which we refer was a gigantic 
 popular delusion, a wide - spread temporary madness, 
 " fostered by religious fanaticism, and leading to incredible 
 atrocity. No ranks or classes escaped the infection. 
 Papal bulls and Puritan bigotry alike excited and en- 
 couraged it. Persecution was paramount, ingenuity was 
 taxed to invent impossible crimes, and death was the 
 punishment of presumed delinquency. Women were the 
 principal sufferers, but even young children were included 
 in the fearful doom. Multitudes, whose only misfortune 
 or offence were age and ugliness, were subjected to the 
 mockery of a disgusting trial, and then ruthlessly con- 
 demned. If Satanic arts were not practised' by the 
 prisoners, Satanic cruelty was indulged in by the judges 
 and executioners. One Eemigius, a commissioner of 
 
120 OUR RELATIONS TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 
 
 Lorraine, boasted that, in fifteen years, he had himself 
 brought nine hundred to the stake. We know not whether 
 most to deplore the ignorance, credulity, impiety, or 
 iniquity, displayed in the proceedings. Innocence and 
 i;nfirmity were treated with equal disregard ; mercy and 
 pity were unknown ; the slightest suspicions were exalted 
 into positive proofs of guilt; charges were made from 
 which humanity revolts ; and no wonder that many, to 
 bring their tortures to a speedier close, confessed to what 
 they had not and could not have committed. To crown 
 the whole, what was done was done for the good of the 
 Church and the honour of God. In Germany the number 
 of victims could not have been less than 100,000. In 
 our own coimtry, between the reigns of Henry VI. and 
 George II., they have been estimated at 30,000. 
 
 It is little more than a century ago that witchcraft in 
 England ceased to be a capital offence. We need not to 
 be told, as any argument in its favour, that such men as 
 Luther, Lord Bacon, Sir Matthew Hale, and Eichard 
 Baxter, were firm believers in the substantive existence 
 and diabolical origin of witchcraft. They were not exempt 
 from the frailties of humanity, and they Kved in a transition 
 age of great mental and moral conflicts. If ever mortal 
 lived, to vex and vanquish whom would have been worth 
 a Satanic effqrt, it was Martin Luther. He was engaged 
 in struggling with a system which ensnared and enthralled 
 the souls of men, and- Satan may well have trembled as he 
 foresaw his damaged and diminished authority. But are 
 we, therefore, to believe that the devil visibly appeared and 
 bodily assaulted the reformer ? 
 
 As believers in the word of God, we cannot be sceptical 
 as to Satan's continued agency and constant activity. 
 Demoniac possession belongs to the history of the past. 
 Witchcraft we think it safer to refer to the class of vulgar 
 errors, if once excusable now exploded. But spiritual 
 wickednesses in high places have ample means at their 
 disposal, which time has failed to influence or impair. 
 Christ, as the pattern of his people, was tempted by the 
 devil. He suffered that he might succour, and endured 
 that he might experience the accidents and afflictions 
 common to humanity. These temptations were skilfully 
 
OnR RELATIONS TO THE SPIRITOAL WORLD. 121 
 
 adapted to his peciiliar nature and necessities. Satan is 
 still equally solicitous to thwart the Saviour's work or» 
 earth, to interrupt his mission, and inTahdate his mediation. 
 If he come not openly and boldly, or assume no spectral 
 disguise; if he can be neither seen nor heard; if he torment 
 not the body and cannot be felt, he no less really applies 
 his stratagems and asserts his sway. He is content with 
 spiritual intercourse ; he can commune and conrerse with 
 the intellect and will, the affections and passions ; his 
 presence ceases not to be because it chooses to be unper- 
 ceired. When Peter denied his Lord, it was because 
 Satan had desired to hare him, and had obtained a partial 
 aecomplishment of his fell endeayour. When Ananias 
 and Sapphira contrived a fraud to gratify their greed, it 
 was because Satan had filled their heart to lie to the 
 Holy Ghost. As from God "all holy desires, all good 
 counsels, and aU just works do proceed," so from the 
 enemy of God and man come every evil purpose and per- 
 formance. We should exhaust the vocabulary of sin were 
 we to complete the catalogue, or fuUy detail the character, 
 of the suggestions, propensities, insinuations, emotions, 
 that emanate from him. Deceit is emphatically of the 
 devil; murder is his, hatred is his, blasphemy is his, pride 
 is his, cruelty is his, sensuality is his. Him we are to 
 resist, to him we must give no place. We read of his 
 devices, his wiles, his fiery darts, and are to see that he 
 get not the advantage over us. He is the adversary, the 
 accuser of the brethren, the prince of this world, the great 
 dragon, the old serpent, a roaring lion, walking about 
 seeking whom he may devour. , He is no fantastic, 
 ridiculous, sentimental figment, to alarm the weak or 
 amuse the wise ; but a positive, potential personage, busy, 
 crafty, malign ; whom it is rashness to forget or contemn, 
 and whom to dread is not cowardice but- courage. He has 
 not the attributes of Deity ; he is not omnipresent, 
 omniscient, or omnipotent ; but we cannot exaggerate his 
 vast and varied capacities. For he is not one, but many. 
 He is Beelzebub, the chief, with a trained and trusty army 
 of emissaries and allies. The air, the earth, and hell, 
 swarm with his legions, subject to his control, and sworn 
 to obey his mischievous commands. Among so immense 
 
122 OUK RELATIONS TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 
 
 a multitude there are degrees of rank, authority, intelli- 
 gence, and strength, and, no doubt, also of infamy and 
 guilt. Men and demons may approach each other by 
 indistinct gradations. Even now we can scarcely draw the 
 line between fiends incarnate and immaterial. Desperate 
 depravity may have led to the hypothesis of diabolical 
 ownership, the resemblance may have been taken for the 
 reality, and thence we may gain some glimpses of future 
 ' doom. We hesitate to proceed. We tremble to explore 
 the dark recesses of the infernal world. What spectacles, 
 could we portray them, would open to our gaze ! A 
 community of evil spirits, unqualified and unrestrained, 
 conscious of boundless faculties, impelled to ceaseless 
 exercise, decreed to endless progress, yet ever misusing 
 and perverting their powers, plunging still deeper in 
 debasement, departing still wider from rectitude and peace, 
 loveless, joyless, helpless, hopeless ! We need no material 
 emblems, no chains, or fire, or darkness, to express and 
 enhance the horrors of the scene. 
 
 But brighter visions wait us. Spirits of another order 
 cluster through the universe; happy, exalted, holy beings, 
 descending in a glorious chain from the throne of heaven 
 to the humble homes of earth. Angels, archangels, 
 cherubim, seraphim, or by whatever appellations the 
 celestial host are known, are connecting links between just 
 men made perfect and God the Judge of all. We read of 
 Michael contending with the devil, of Michael and his 
 angels fighting with the dragon ; we also read of Gabriel ; 
 but we oftener find the mention of a nameless innumerable 
 throng. Angel, unHke its opposite, is a word rather 
 common than proper in its application, but we as firmly 
 believe in their individuality, personality, and self-existent 
 nature. Satan is the type or concentration of evil, and 
 as such deserves to be identified and stigmatized. Angels 
 in their several degrees are of kindred affinities with God, 
 and do his pleasure with active zeal and lowly adoration, 
 content to fill the ranks assigned them, careless to be 
 singled out for special noticp or regard. We often think 
 of angels as far removed from us, or as chiefly occupied in 
 exploring the mysteries of redemption, or in uttering the 
 praises of Jehovah. We are apt to forget how near they 
 
OUR EBLATIOHS TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 123 
 
 are to the sphere of our daily duties, and how constant 
 and intimate are our relations with them. 
 
 They doubtless delight to study the perfections and to 
 celebrate the praises of Jehovah, and to explore the mys- 
 teries of providence and grace. Free from the trammels 
 of carnahty and the taint of sin, they hold high intercourse 
 with the Father of Spirits, and in his presence " hearkening 
 to the voice of his word," they find full exercise for those 
 faculties in whose strength and sublimity they excel. Yet 
 are they as distinguished by humility and obedience, lowly, 
 reverential, zealous activity. They are ministering spirits, 
 and especially do they welcome the summons that sends 
 them to minister to the heirs of salvation. 
 
 In earlier epochs of the church and world, when God 
 held personal communications with men, instead of leaving , 
 them, as now, exclusively to the teachings of the Word 
 and Spirit, angels frequently appeared, sometimes in 
 human garb, sometimes attired in heavenly grandeur, 
 sometimes singly or in pairs, sometimes as " Mahanaim," 
 the host of God. Thus to Abraham they came, in the 
 plains of Mamre, as ' he sat at his tent-door in the 
 heat of the day ; to Lot at eventide, in the gate of 
 Sodom : to Jacob journeying from Mount Gilead ; to 
 Joshua encaiflped without the walls of Jericho ; to Gideon 
 at the oak in Ophra ; to Manoah and his wife in the field 
 at Zorah. Assuming the attributes of humanity, they 
 stiU asserted the divinity of their mission^ as when they 
 not only kindled mystic fire, but themselves ascended in 
 the flames of the altar. On the other hand, how ineffably 
 majestic were those cherubic and seraphic visions when it 
 was not that the gods came down in the likeness of men, 
 but that men were Ufted up to glimpse the unapproach- 
 able glories of God. Isaiah and Ezekiel were subjects of 
 special privilege, but the church in all ages can participate 
 in the fruits of the abundant revelations they enjoyed. In 
 all that relates to the work of redemption angels have ever 
 manifested the deepest sympathy. They announced the 
 advent of Messiah, welcomed his birth, and assisted at the 
 triumph of his rising from the tomb. When Satan ceased 
 to tempt the Son of God, bafiied by a power and wisdom 
 he dared to molest but failed to subvert, angels hastened 
 
124 OUR RELATIONS TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 
 
 to soothe the wearied victor. But that it would have 
 interfered with the purpose of Christ's humiliation unto 
 death, he could have received the succour of twelve legions 
 of angels. How glorious a body-guard compared with 
 that of any earthly sovereign ! 
 
 We live under an economy that appeals not to sense but 
 to faith, yet have we equal reason to believe in the con- 
 tinued existence and agency and care and communion of 
 these angelic beings. How their influence is exerted we 
 fcannot explain, but the fact we must accept. " The angel 
 of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, 
 and deUvereth them." " He shall give his angels charge 
 over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." " There is joy 
 in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that 
 repenteth." As once they sang " Glbry to God in the 
 highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men," so 
 now do they rejoice at the continuance and completion of 
 the Saviour's mediatorial work. As once they released an 
 imprisoned apostle, so now do they reheve drooping and 
 burdened saints. They guard them from evil, guide them 
 through danger, witness their conflicts, and whisper con- 
 solation. They watch around their bed of death, and wait 
 to bear them to Abrahanl's bosom. We know not indeed 
 what disclosures they may make to the departing soul, 
 how they may flood the eyes with light dawning from 
 the upper world, as when the martyr Stephen saw ap- 
 proaching glory ; or cause the ears to ring with ' ' sounds 
 seraphic." Shakspeare environs the dying Katharine 
 with blissful visions, and the Christian may more than 
 realize the poet's dream. Why should not angels also, in 
 God's good providence, be instruments of conversion, or 
 media of communication of matters of deep concern ? As 
 Satan and his satellites are ever active, and we admit and 
 deprecate their interference, why should not holy angelsbe 
 employed in infusing holy thoughts, or imparting knOW" 
 ledge higher than earth can yield ? We think that those 
 who in any sense beheve in witchcraft ought certainly to 
 allow as a necessary sequence the contrary position, and to 
 assume, as more than fable, the ministry of guardian angels. 
 It surely is not improbable that some of those impressions, 
 impulses, or intimations which come we know not whence. 
 
OUR RELATIONS TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 125 
 
 and cling to us we know not why, tyhich change onr pur- 
 pose, fix our character, or mould our lives, and which we 
 regard as effects of special Providence, may arise from the 
 care and communion of these beneficent beings*. 
 
 Surely, as says good Bichard Baxter, ' ' by neglecting 
 the ministry of angels we give not to God the due honour 
 of the order of his works. We are guilty of unrighteous- 
 ness in denying their due love and gratitude to such noble 
 agents. We lose the comfortable remembrance of our own 
 communion with them. We lose some helps to a heavenly 
 mind and conversation, whereas it would make the thoughts 
 of heaven more familiar and pleasant to us, to think of 
 such a holy and amiable society, and would make us the 
 willinger to die." 
 
 But if we encourage and follow such musings, we must 
 be careful to preserve the limits of scriptural propriety. 
 We are authorized in praying that as God's holy angels do 
 bim service in heaven, so by his appointment they may 
 succour and defend us on earth ; but angels themselves are 
 not to be the objects of adoration or supplication. Angels 
 are but fellow-servants with those who keep the testimony 
 of Jesus. Angels and autho];ities and. powers are subject 
 unto Christ. He is set "far above all principality, and 
 every name that is named, not only in this world, but also 
 in that which is to come." Angels are connecting links 
 between just men made perfect and God the judge of all. 
 They form a glorious chain, descending from the throne of 
 heaven to the humble homes of earth. They deserve our 
 love, they demand our reverence, they invite our commu- 
 nion ; but to approach them with the attributes of worship, 
 or to invoke their intercession, is to derogate from the 
 honour due to the one God, and to degrade the office of 
 the one mediator between God and man. 
 
 From what has been revealed to us as to the nature and 
 pursuits of angels, we may derive much instruction and 
 encouragement. We cannot attain their dignity and 
 grandeur, but we should admire and emulate their devo- 
 tion. To them God's will is law, and though they can 
 achieve the greatest things, no service he assigns them, 
 however little, is imwelcome or humiliating, t'^ith atten- 
 tion ever active and awake, no sooner is the order given 
 
126 OUR RELATIONS TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. 
 
 than they fly to its fulfilment. Submissive, self-sacri- 
 ficing, their love and tenderness equalled only by their 
 ardour and fidelity, what bright examples do they offer for 
 the method and measure and motives of our own obedience. 
 Unfallen beings, not having participated in our ruin, and 
 deriving no personal benefit from the ransom provided, 
 they evince the liveliest interest in our return to the favour 
 and likeness of God. So far as the sinless can sympathize 
 with the sinful, or those who are incapable of suffering and 
 insensible to necessity can sympathize with the wretched 
 and the needy, they have a fellow-feeling vrith all the 
 struggles of the Christian life. Shall we grieve them by 
 our impenitence, or by our indifference to those things into 
 which they " desire to look?" If they are not unconcerned 
 spectators, shall we be cold and careless actors ? Eather 
 ," seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of 
 witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and run with 
 patience the race set before us ;" let us labour to promote 
 their joy in the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom ; let 
 us give all diligence that when the Son of man shall come 
 in Bis glory we may be acknowledged in their presence, 
 and welcomed to their society. 
 
^t llektions of Mmm U Sothtg. 
 
 " Warriors and statesmen have their meed of praise, 
 
 And what they do or suffer men record ; 
 But the long sacrifice of woman's days 
 
 Passes without a thought, — without a word. 
 And many a holy struggle for the sake 
 
 Of duties sternly, faithfully fulfilled, 
 For which the anxious mind must watch and wake, 
 
 And the strong feelings of the heart be still'd — 
 Goes by unheeded as the summer's wind, 
 
 And leaves no memory and do trace behind." 
 
 No social question can arise of deeper moment that that 
 which relates to the condition and claims of woman. No 
 truer standard can be found, by which to judge of the 
 character of a community, than the position which woman 
 by mutual consent maintains. By turns a goddess or a 
 slave, the sport of caprice or the tool of passion, the 
 priestess of folly or the minister of sin, consigned to use- 
 less nonentity or condemned to hopeless drudgery — ^it is the 
 aim and triumph of Christianity and reason to raise her 
 from the dust of degradation, and equally to remove her 
 from the airy throne of an unmeaning supremacy, while 
 she assumes her proper place of confidence and freedom, 
 of correspondence in rank, community in interests, and 
 interchange of duties with man. To assert that the sexes 
 are in all respects equal, that what is right for the one is 
 right for the other, that what is attainable by the one is 
 attainable by the other, that what is true of the one is true 
 of the other, absolutely and indiscriminately, would be to 
 obliterate distinctions as necessary as they are natural, 
 to interfere with the order and beauty and harmonious 
 adaptations of the fabric of society, to ignore woman's real 
 mission, and to injure her dignity while it sought to enhance 
 it. No inferiority or antagonism is hereby admitted or 
 
128 THE RELATIONS OF WOMAN TO SOCIETY. 
 
 implied, any more tjian the head can despise the hands, 
 or the hands can repudiate the head. Each is essential to 
 the integrity and intentions, the work and welfare, of the 
 whole. " Neither is the man without the woman, neither 
 the woman without the man. As the woman is of the 
 man, even so is the man also by the woman ; but all things 
 of God." 
 
 But if diversities there are, defined by nature and decreed 
 by Providence, we may inquire in what they consist, and 
 to what they conduce. We must remark, in passing, that 
 we have to confine our attention to general laws and ave- 
 rage results. Some have confused the subject by dwelling 
 too much on selected instances and singular exceptions, 
 on what may be rather than what is. As indiscriminate 
 praise only detracts from the tribute due to individual 
 merit, so may the sterling excellence of the many be 
 damaged or despised, while pursuing the showy pretensions 
 of the few. 
 
 None can deny that the sexes differ in physical organi- 
 zation. When the usual characteristics are reversed, in- 
 deed, we hear the vulgar reproach of " mascuHne " on the 
 one hand, or " effeminate " on the other. We involun- 
 tarily prove the rule, by our very disgust at deviations and 
 abhorrence of unseemly assumptions. In woman, as com- 
 pared with man, there is deficiency of muscular power, 
 and excess of nervous sensibility. Her frame is les§ firmly 
 built,. but more delicately poised ; not so robust, but more 
 refined ; not so strong, but more symmetrical. The one 
 is rough-hewn, massive, the symbol of stability ; the other 
 is cast in a graceful mould, but though of texture more 
 fragile, not necessarily less enduring. Women have a 
 buoyancy and elasticity of fibre, which often enables them 
 to repel shocks whose violence would crush man's sterner 
 structure. Apollo's marble statue would crumble in the 
 furnace, which would leave untouched the intrinsic value 
 of Diana's silver shrine. The records of longevity are by 
 no means unfavourable to the female sex. The lamp of 
 life may not bum so high, biit its ray will less early be 
 extinguished. Yet woman's weakness, though an absolute 
 physical fact, is very much affected by artificial circum- 
 stances. The nearer we approach to what is called a state 
 
THE RELATIONS OF WOMAN TO SOCIETY. 129, 
 
 of nature, or, in other words, the less we are controlled 
 by the accidents and anomalies of civilization, the less 
 obvious will this weakness be. Among barbarous tribes, 
 where woman is still a hewer of wood and drawer of water, 
 little more in esteem than a beast of burden, while man 
 often indolently lives by the sweat of her brow and the 
 produce of her toil, she contenans and conquers the con- 
 ditions of her being. The energies of the one sex are 
 exhausted by inaction, those of the other unduly strained. 
 In either case law is outraged. Woman oppressed becomes 
 debased. Muscular power is heightened at the expense of 
 that sensibility which is a prerogative and a charm, and 
 the penalty of labour which nature never indicated is an 
 abridgment of the time allotted for both life and labour. 
 But if we ascend the scale, and arrive at what we believe 
 to be a more vivid reflection of nature's image, where no 
 rude tasks are imposed or tyranny inflicted, but household 
 burdens borne in due proportion, family cares cheerfully 
 encountered, and life's engagements actiyely fulfilled, un- 
 fettered by the trammels of conventionalism, unharmed by 
 the allurements of vanity, we shall be taught how much of 
 woman's accredited weakness is adventitious and ideal, 
 how much is inseparable and inherent. In savage life 
 woman is misexed ; in the other social extreme her sexual 
 characters are preserved, but perniciously fostered and 
 extravagantly intensified. We would rather have those 
 characters exaggerated than efiaoed, but still rather see 
 them presented in no higher relief than accords with the 
 symmetry of nature's own design. The sustenance and 
 strengthening of health, as a moral duty, is far too much 
 neglected, and especially so by women of all ranks. How 
 little do they enjoy of heaven's air and sunshine ! How 
 little are their bodies braced, their activities aroused, their 
 tempers tranquillized, their charms confirmed, by refresh- 
 ing and invigorating exercise ! How much do they suffer 
 from the enervating influence of sedentary engagements, 
 from the restrictions of dress, from the requirements of 
 fashion ! What injuries are inflicted on their physical 
 frames and functions by their processes of mental cultiva- 
 tion, by the attainment of accomplishments which, when 
 gained, are approved as graces, by the very development 
 
130 THE RELATIONS OF WOMAN TO SOCIETY. 
 
 of their powers of pleasing ! The connexion borne by- 
 health to utility as well as enjoyment, its influence on the 
 emotions, affections, and pursuits, its relative results as 
 well as its personal advantages, render it a possession 
 peculiarly needed by woman. On her depends the well- 
 being of succeeding generations. Sicldy forms are here- 
 ditary, and sickly forms more or less involve contracted 
 capacities, morbid imaginations, and vitiated tastes. "We 
 want not Spartan maids or Eoman matrons, but we want 
 Christian mothers of England, fitted to transmit that best 
 of earthly combinations, ',' a sound mind in a sound body." 
 It were an insult to reason, or rather an impious reflection 
 on Creative Wisdom and Protecting Goodness, to suppose 
 that one-half of the human race should be decreed to hope- 
 less infirmity, not simply clinging to the stronger and 
 claiming their support, but absolutely powerless to assist 
 themselves, defrauded of privileges and deprived of plea- 
 sures alike instinctive and innocent, and doomed to penalties 
 injurious and undeserved. 
 
 From woman's corporeal we may turn to her spiritual 
 characteristics. It has been a vexed question whether to 
 woman, intellectually, should be assigned a lower level 
 than that of man. The truth appears to be, that in her 
 the mental and moral faculties are more intimately blended; 
 and while the power of thought may be less vigorous, the 
 impressions of thought are more acute. It has been well 
 observed, that for woman to think profoundly is the same 
 as to feel exquisitely ; while in man the intellect and heart 
 are often estranged. Women have been able mathema- 
 ticians, adepts in abstract science, accurate scholars in 
 oriental and classical erudition, shrewd polemics or pohtical 
 economists ; but their domains are rather those of ethics or 
 of fancy, the ideal creations of the fine arts, or the living 
 ^ beauties and marvels of the works of God. In woman the 
 judgment is arrived at by the ready avenue of the sympa- 
 thies, rather than by the more intricate path of exact 
 inquiry and cautious conclusion. But if she reason con- 
 fusedly, she conceives clearly, and belies not her convic- 
 tions. If less patient to argue, she is more prompt to 
 act ; and if less able to explain an opinion, more eager to 
 a,dvocate it. She loves not to trace causes or follow con- 
 
THE RELATIONS OP WOMAN TO SOCIETY. 131 
 
 sequen&es 80 much as to obey present consciousness. She 
 is more impulsive than man ; but her impulse, though 
 often mistaken, is seldom wilfully misguided. If her 
 mental stores are not extensive, they are ever at command. 
 Woman peculiarly excels in that quick apprehension, that 
 delicate perception, that intuitive resource, that skilful 
 adaptation of means to ends, which is commonly known as 
 tact. She is more able than man to acconmiodate herself 
 to passing circumstances, or to unforeseen contingencies. 
 Morally, as well as physically, she will bend to that before 
 which man would break. It may be said of woman, as 
 was said of Goldsmith, she touches nothing which, she 
 does not adorn. Her acquisitions may be shallow, but she 
 invests them for herself, or imparts them to others, with 
 superior grace. Her arguments may be superficial, but 
 she sets and states them to the best advantage. She 
 speaks or writes what she believes and feels. She teaches 
 with success, because she testifies what she appreciates 
 and approves. She deals no measured portions from the 
 calm, cold stream of intellect, but deep, full draughts from 
 the gushing fountain of the heart. Here are the " words 
 that breathe, and thoughts that burn." You seldom meet 
 with sluggish, speculative women. Hers is not the im- 
 passive philosophy of the porch, or the contemplative scowl 
 of the cynic. The solitary cell is not for her, nor the still 
 musings of the rapt recluse, but the study of life's realities, 
 the amenities of social converse, and the activities of love. 
 We have encountered the remark, that clever women 
 are coUeotively underrated and individually overrated by 
 men. It is not, we believe, that talent is with them more 
 rare, and therefore more renowned, or that their genius is 
 more lovely because more lofty, but that in them it has 
 greater personality and power. It dwells not apart, like a 
 heavenly visitant, whose aid must be invoked before his 
 presence can be granted, and when he comes, illumining 
 yet not enlivening, bestowing his gifts without blessing 
 the recipient ; but it pervades their entire being, treated 
 and trusted as a household guest, it penetrates each hidden 
 recess, fills each chamber of the soul, and beams through 
 every outlet, a "thing of beauty " and a "joy for ever." 
 Clever women are so not in one respect but in many. At 
 
 K 2 
 
132 THE RELATIONS OF WOMAN TO SOCIETY. 
 
 all times their faculties are less self-balanced, less inde-^ 
 pendent and isolated, than in man ; and so superior excel- 
 lence becomes in them more conspicuous and complete. 
 Woman's wisdom, if not profound, is persuasive and prac- 
 tical. If she strive not at the arduous, and affect not the 
 sublime, she appropriates the graceful, and adorns the 
 familiar. If less ambitious and persevering, she has more 
 enthusiasm ; and loving approbation, and inspiring affec- 
 tion, she commands attention. It is sometimes said of 
 men, that they have every sense save common sense ; but 
 such a censure would scarcely apply to women. 
 
 Woman is often unfairly dealt with by society. She is 
 expected to know little, and despised for her ignorance ; 
 or if, challenged as to her capacity, she asserts her claims, 
 she then is ridiculed for her presumption. It may be that 
 with some the ridicule and the reproach have not been 
 unmerited. In adopting unusual courses, and aiming at 
 singular gifts, they have neglected positive duties, and 
 impaired their proper delicacy and dignity. The sins of 
 the few have been visited on the many, and general blame 
 has attached to particular folly. Noble instances are daily 
 occurring, where women far exceed the Knes prescribed by 
 custom, and pursued by common mediocrity, without at 
 all infringing on their sex's highest attributes. A woman 
 may cultivate the powers that God has given her, may 
 gain emolument and fame, may instruct, improve, and 
 delight the world, and not become in the faintest degree, 
 to use an odious phrase, " strong-minded." The epithet 
 " strong-minded " would never have been applied, unless 
 there previously had been weak-minded men who, through 
 prejudice or jealousy, refused to recognise the proprieties 
 of woman's nature. The character which the epithet 
 denotes is as much regretted and repudiated by the one 
 sex as it is sneered and satirized by the otheri Women, 
 again, often re-act on society, and revenge its wrongs, by 
 pretending an ignorance they do not possess, by affecting 
 a frivohty they do not approve, and by compelling men to 
 court their favour, by a complimentary forgetfulness of all 
 that is good or great, if not by contemptible folly. We 
 may smile at Hercules spinning amid the maidens of 
 Omphale, or at Diogenes simpering at the feet of Lais, 
 
THE RELATIONS OP WOMAN TO SOCIETY. 133 
 
 but the pictures are types of truth. How much unmeaning 
 flattery, unprofitable triviality, and vapid insincerity, is 
 expended in the intercourse of the sexes, by a compromise 
 worthy of neither and discreditable' to both — a compromise 
 distasteful to those who look beyond the conventional 
 horizon ! The prevalent systems of female education, 
 which to a great extent sacrifice solidity to show and 
 utility to ornament, or at least mistake the flowers that 
 strew ttie path for the end and object of the journey, con- 
 firm the confusion and enhance the evil. The less that 
 woman is treated as a painted toy, and incense burnt to 
 her as to a gilded image, the less she stands on a separate 
 pedestal, draped in dreams and canopied with clouds, unfit 
 to mingle in the serious engagements and earnest sobrieties 
 of life, the less will existing anomalies be permitted and 
 perpetuated, the more wiU she be really respected, her 
 confidence claimed and her, authority appealed to, as a 
 competent counsellor and a faithful friend, and then may 
 she cease to contemn those who yield her no more and no 
 less than the reverence she deserves. 
 
 With pleasure we can pass to glance at woman's moral 
 physiognomy. In the empire of virtue her sway is • para- 
 mount. To her is committed, and by her is protected, 
 the cause of purity and the practice of charity. By nature 
 endowed with higher conscientiousness, gentleness, dis- 
 interestedness, and compassion, than man, with greater 
 constancy, cheerfulness, and self-control, it is hers to 
 restrain his licence, to soften his asperities, to correct his 
 errors, to heal his sorrows, to " allure to brighter worlds 
 and lead the way." Woman's weakness is her strength, 
 her timidity her defence. The bond of her virtue is a 
 consciousness of innocence, her safeguard the sense of 
 shame. Deprived of these, despicable in her own eyes, 
 callous because degraded, sinning and sinking yet more 
 and more because hopeless of return, she is driven by the 
 necessities of her outraged nature to sound the lowest 
 depths of infamy and guUt. ' ' Proper deformity shews 
 not in the fiend so horrid as in woman." Nothing on 
 earthiis more hideous, more hateful, more hellish, than an 
 utterly depraved and fallen woman. Yet would that the 
 gates of repentance were not so often sternly closed iby the 
 
134 THE RELATIONS OF WOMAN TO SOCIETY. 
 
 sentence of offended social law ! would that the yawning 
 gulf which Beyers from the paths of peace were oftener 
 bridged by sympathy, and the helping hand of pity and of 
 power extended to the rescue ! How many Hagars wander 
 in the wilderness, and die and are forgotten, because no 
 angel voice accosts them, " What aileth thee ? fear not" ! 
 How many, far " more sinned against than sinning," 
 persist in a career which they haye chosen, and from which 
 they cannot retreat, not through resistless impulse from 
 within, but through resistless repulsion from without ! 
 From the very perversion of woman's powers, from the 
 violation of her instincts, and the abnegation of her inte- 
 rests, we may learn what God designed she should be. 
 The lurid light of the abyss wiU reveal the lovely linea- 
 ments of the form that rears its head above, unsullied and 
 unshrinking. From the ruins we may judge of the splen- 
 dour of the temple, in all its integrity and symmetry. 
 No form beneath the skies more fair, no temple tenanted 
 by human spirit more holy and more honourable, than a 
 true and tender woman, conscious of her high prerogative, 
 and obedient to her sacred calling ; her heart Hke Bethesda's 
 pool, responsive to the angel touch that stirs its depths and 
 awakes its healing virtues — her lips like Memnon's statue, 
 vocal to the falling sunbeam, breathing the music that 
 heaven's own light inspires — ^her hands hke Aaron's rod, 
 bursting with latent life, and, divinely quickened, bearing 
 goodly fruit, or, with a more than fairy's talisman, evoking 
 worth and beauty from the shapeless and the vile. 
 
 But it may be well to farther analyze the ethical ele- 
 ments of woman's constitution. Not inerely is it true in 
 general terms, that as physically she is weaker, so is she 
 stronger morally than man, but she also differs in the 
 methods of her moral development. Much that with man 
 is passion, with her is principle ; what with him is spas- 
 modic effort, with her is spontaneous exercise and sustained 
 endeavour. If love, in its widest acceptation, be with her 
 a dominant propensity, then it ever proclaims its presence 
 and asserts its authority. It is not weakened by worldh- 
 ness, smothered by selfishness, chilled by caution, and 
 distorted by deceit, nor is it checked by contumely or 
 quenched by neglect. Its voice is not silenced, because 
 
THE RELATIONS OF WOMAN TO SOCIETY. 135 
 
 no echo greets its accents ; and though cheered by smiles, 
 it is not chased by frowns. Its question is not what it 
 will bring, but what it can endure and what it can effect. 
 It is set aside by no other consideration, but everything is 
 made subservient and subordinate to it. And if love be a 
 centre around which other emotions revolve, a point towards 
 which they culminate, we shall find throughout the whole 
 system the same laws in operation. Faith and. hope — 
 love's glorious satellites — have in her a clearer outline and 
 a more constant ascendency than in man. Their light is 
 less often obscured by the clouds of dejection and distrust, 
 or their motions retarded by the obstructing media of 
 personal unworthiness. More simple, confiding, and 
 earnest than man; more generous and less suspicious, 
 with a greater aptitude for the ideal and mysterious, and 
 a greater affection for the new and marvellous, the faith 
 of woman often becomes credulity. But strengthened by 
 hope, and sustained by inflexible will, it leads her on to 
 indomitable heroism. Not only have women swelled the 
 ranks of the noble army of martyrs, who for the bloody 
 cross they bore were canonized on earth, and are crowned 
 in heaven, but in the common transactions of life she dis- 
 plays a. higher fortitude than the sex confessedly stronger. 
 This is true ahke of physical suffering and of moral endu- 
 rance. In the torments that agonize the body, in the 
 trials that lacerate the spirit, through hours of horror, 
 days of darkness, months of weariness, long years of 
 lingering grief, where but in woman do we find the un- 
 daunted, undoubted resolve, the unmurmuring, unwavering 
 resistance? It is not for her to accomplish deeds of daring 
 blazoned in the page of history; to seek for "bubble 
 reputation in the cannon's mouth ;" to achieve the "boast 
 of heraldry," or attain the "pomp of power;" but hers 
 is the victory that overcometh the world ; hers the bravery 
 of self-denial, self-government, self-constraint ; hers are 
 the triumphs and trophies, whose witness is within and 
 whose record is on high. The fortitude of woman arises 
 a light in darkness, forbidding her to sink and enabling 
 her to strive. But it does more than this — ^it inspires and 
 invigorates herself j it also guards and guides' and gladdens 
 others. It breathes a spell whose charm is contagious, a 
 
136 THE KELATIONS OF WOMAN TO SOCIETY. 
 
 spell interwoven of benevolence and delicacy. Woman is 
 intuitively kind as instinctively she is pure. Much of her 
 kindness is involuntary and injudicious ;• but though its 
 manifestations' may be perverted, very seldom are its 
 motives unworthy. "Women are far less chargeable with 
 apathy than with ardour, with indifference than with im- 
 prudence ; but their very imprudences are amiable, and 
 their ardour arises from intensity of feeling, not from 
 impatience of restraint. The great controlling power, the 
 crowning grace, the presiding genius of woman's nature, 
 is a sense of honour, or personal purity, above suspicion 
 and beyond reproach. This in her is emphatically known 
 as virtue, being the foundation and cement of all that 
 assumes the character and deserves the name of virtuous : 
 without it woman is a broken column, its standing insecure 
 and its capital in the dust : her pride of beauty or of 
 intellect alike unmeaning and unseemly, and all moral 
 excellence unattainable. It is the barrier which excludes 
 the desolating tide, not only of individual but of social 
 and national degeneracy, the standard of rescue and 
 bulwark of defence for the laws and liberties of dignified 
 humanity. It frequently happens that women, without 
 forfeiting their claims to this high privilege and peculiar 
 honour, are guilty of injustice to themselves in neglecting 
 to cultivate the gift that is in them, and allowing their 
 foibles or frailties to obscure their inherent worth. This 
 arises from inadequate apprehension of their moral re- 
 sources, or unhappy interference with their due develop- 
 ment, rather than from any positive deficiency or depravity. 
 Socrates avowed he made Xantippe his wife that, by the 
 discipline of her tongue, he might be trained to patience, 
 and, through constant abuse at home, be enabled to sustain 
 the assaults of his enemies abroad. In his case there was 
 undoubtedly great intellectual disparity as well as emo- 
 tional divergence. Yet when the hour of trial came, when 
 the philosopher through malevolence was consigned to 
 unmerited doom, the philosopher's wife redeemed the 
 errors of a lifetime, revealed the hidden yearnings of her 
 nature, inspired him with her counsels, and cheered him 
 with the solace of assiduous a,fiFection. The ore may be 
 rich in metal, but it needs the melter's crucible and refiner's 
 
THE RELATIONS OP WOMAN TO SOCIETY. 137 
 
 fire to exhibit its presence and elicit its value. Through 
 faulty training or foolish indulgence ; through premature 
 disappointment, early neglect, or prolonged draughts of 
 the cup of bitterness ; through constitutional infirmity of 
 purpose, or through the power of accidental extraneous 
 influences, the moral equilibrium may be disturbed, and 
 a fitful, wayward, uneven, unmanageable temper induced, 
 the source of incalculable mischief, misery, and miscon- 
 ception. To awaken dormant sensibilities, or divert them 
 into healthier, happier, and more useful channels, to chase 
 the storm-clouds and restore the sunshine, is required 
 the stimulus of some new excitement, of a sudden and 
 unlooked-for demand, or of stem imperious necessity. 
 The aimless lives adopted by so many, frittered away in 
 negative pursuits, or alternate idleness and dissipation, 
 tend materially to form and foster habits of caprice and 
 petulance, disgust with themselves, and discontent with 
 surrounding persons and objects. 
 
 But of woman so fitted and furnished, as to body, soul, 
 and spirit, we may now ask, what are the duties appointed 
 and impUed, by nature and Providence, reason and religion? 
 The first class of duties are necessarily those which belong 
 to the engagements and endearments of home, to the con- 
 jugal and maternal relations. If we consider, however 
 cursorily, what these duties involve and include, or reflect 
 that communities are but multiples of famihes, and that if 
 every hearth and home were a model of propriety, the 
 whole social system would be raised and regenerated, we 
 must admit the vastness of the charge that peculiarly and 
 prescriptively belongs to woman. How much vulgar vice, 
 public disorder, and political disafiection would be pre- 
 vented, if every domestic circle were a sanctuary of peace 
 and purity, contentment, cheerfulness, cleanliness and 
 order ! And to secure these blessings, whose the office 
 and the privilege but woman's? It is hers to determine 
 the tone of morality, to mould the manners of the present 
 age, «nd to maintain the hopes and promise of the future. 
 
 " Woman," saya an able French writer, " is not to teach virtue, but 
 to inspire it. liiis is peculiarly her province. What is a child in 
 relation to a tutor ? an ignorant being whom he is called upon to 
 instruct. What is a child in relation to a mother i an immortal being, 
 
138 THE RELATIONS OF WOMAN TO SOCIETY. 
 
 whose soul it Is her husiness to train for immortality. Good school- 
 masters make good scholars ; good mothers make good men : here is 
 the difiFerenoe of their mission." 
 
 How great the influence for good or evil that attaches 
 to the sacred character of mother — an influence dating 
 from the helplessness of infancy and earliest dawn of rea- 
 son, growing with the growth, and strengthening with the 
 strength, of childhood and of youth, continuing through 
 all time, and ceasing not with time itself ! If we look no 
 further, we shall have found enough to- shew the high dis- 
 tinction and destiny of woman. Yet all are not wives and 
 mothers, and even these have duties that extend beyond 
 the requirements and retirement of home. The courtesies 
 and charities of the inner circle, commencing in it but not 
 confined in it, are to be exempHfied abroad. The arts and 
 advocacy of pleasing are to be exerted in behalf of what- 
 ever is true, venerable, just, pure, lovely, and of good 
 report. Woman, the centre and attraction of society, may 
 do much to curb its extravagance, to refoym and regulate 
 its tastes, to chasten its amusements, to ennoble and ele- 
 vate its converse. By her persuasive example she can 
 redeem much precious time, can repress much profitless 
 and pernicious talk, can rescue and improve much useful 
 but misappropriated talent. 
 
 But are there no specific objects to which her energies 
 can be devoted, no services to be rendered, no professions 
 to be embraced? The catalogue of professions available 
 to the female sex is doubtless at present far from being so 
 complete as it should be, but great caution and delicacy 
 are needed in extending it. Woman must be the colleague, 
 not the competitor of man. She must never forfeit the 
 position that appeals to his protection and tenderness, by 
 disputing his acknowledged claims, and exposing herself 
 to his enmity and envy. Between the sexes there must 
 be, in the words of Mrs. Jameson, " a communion of love 
 and a communion of labour." They are mutually depen- 
 dent, and should be mutually helpful. Each is to aid and 
 strengthen, to confer with and defer to the other, but 
 neither is to trespass on the other's territory. Portia's 
 adroitness gained the cause of justice and of mercy, but 
 she assumed- the garb and guise of a learned doctor of the 
 
THE RELATIONS OF WOMAN TO SOCIETY. 139 
 
 law, and woman is not to enter the arena of forensic toils 
 and triumphs. Women are the best of nurses, but they 
 are unfitted for many of the arduous duties that devolve 
 on the practitioner of medicine. Woman may be, as Phebe 
 was, a servant of the Church ; she may bring up children, 
 lodge strangers, wash the saints' feet, relieve the afflicted, 
 dUigently follow every good work ; but the laws of natural 
 decorum are confirmed by apostolic authority, that she is 
 not to usurp the public functions of the ministry. In 
 woman, more largely than in man, the religious element 
 of character prevails. With fewer temptations to beguile, 
 and fewer incumbrances to clog her steps, with spiritual 
 sympathies more exquisite and earnest, inclined by her 
 very weakness to lean on Almighty power, and by the sub- 
 mission of her sex to bow to an Infinite wUl, she is more 
 accessible to Divine impressions, more eager to accept the 
 promises of the Gospel, more anxious to obey its precepts. 
 From the days of Lois and Eunice there have always been 
 multitudes of "holy women, who trusted in God," exem- 
 plaiy in Christian graces. But there is another aspect in 
 which, among ourselves, we may regard the religious life 
 of woman. Debarred by Protestant principles and practices 
 from conventual devoteeism, she yet lingers on the thresh- 
 old of the temple, and evinces her attachment to the offices 
 of piety, constrained by a spirit of ceremonial obligation, 
 if not by the convictions of a reasonable service. Demon- 
 strative in reference to earthly emotions, she displays the 
 outward workings of celestial love ; possessed of ardent 
 sensibilities, she delights in the sesthetics of worship. We 
 believe that to woman's encouragement is mainly due much 
 of the mediaeval foppery and meretricious excess that has 
 encroached on the simplicity of our ritual observances. 
 Allured by that which appeals to the imagination, her 
 tastes are consulted and her sympathies awakened, while 
 her own zeal for the house of the Lord, uninstructed or 
 misdirected, finds a ready outlet in the resources of the 
 decorative arts. Her intellect has laboured as well as her 
 fancy ; and to the pleadings of her graceful pen may be 
 traced no small share of the prevalence of certain forms of 
 ecclesiastical opinion and usage. Not a few, led by vague 
 longings and unrealized aspirations, with aims and energies 
 
140 THE RELATIONS OF WOMAN TO SOCIETY. 
 
 perverted because dissatisfied with their performances, have 
 vainly sought repose in the seductive slavery of Romanism. 
 Here, in cloistered seclusion, they can withdraw themselves 
 from secular pursuits, and devote their days to prayer and 
 contemplation ; or, bound by sacred vows, though living 
 in the world, they can fulfil the active duties of charity. 
 The one, like Mary, professing to wait at the feet of Jesus ; 
 the other, like Martha, whose name and patronage such 
 early chose, busied in external acts of devout obedience. 
 ■ One effect or design of the Lectures to Ladies on Practical 
 Subjects, by a band of earnest and enlightened clergymen 
 and physicians, is to shew that in the bosom of the Pro- 
 testant church abundance of healthy aliment may be found 
 to supply the cravings of woman's heart. Another object 
 is to give precision to woman's purpose. The Rev. F. D. 
 Maurice shall explain our meaning and his own : — 
 
 " The more pains we take to call forth and employ the faculties 
 which belong oharaoteristioally to each sex, the less it will be intruding 
 upon the province which, not the conTentions of the world, but the will 
 of God, has assigned to the other. This confusion is sure to arise 
 when a notion gains currency that there is no specific work in which 
 women may engage ; that what they undertake for the good of tteir 
 fellow-creatures is a sentimental recreation, not a serious business, to 
 be pursued with just as much settled purpose, just as much in a regular 
 and distinct method, as any business to which we devote ourselves. 
 As long as that opinion prevails in England, till it is vigorously and 
 systematically resisted, some ladies will consider it a great hardship 
 that they are not allowed a free entrance into the College of Physicians 
 and the Inns of Court ; and others — taking directly the opposite 
 course, claiming a completely separate work for their sex, insisting 
 that, for the highest and noblest part of them, common donjestic 
 duties are earthly and unsatisfactory — will sigh for Bomish sisterhoods. 
 We are answerable for the growth of both feelings. As long as we 
 persevere in our frivolous mode of thinking and talking about the 
 duties and occupations of women, we shall foster them, and where 
 we have sown the wind, shall reap the whirlwind." 
 
 If woman's capacities adapt her admirably for the duties 
 of a nurse, there is every reason why those capacities 
 should be allowed their utmost exercise ; and if the duties 
 are to be fulfilled, not as a desultory or incidental venture, 
 but as a definite vocation, instruction is needed as much 
 as in the preliminary steps of any other profession. The 
 world may have ceased to eulogize, but its memory will 
 ever admiringly cherish and gratefully recal those thrilling 
 
THE RELATIONS OF WOMAN TO SOCIETY. 141 
 
 scenes at Scutari and Smyrna, which, renewing the ro- 
 mance of chivalry, when highborn maidens tended wounded 
 knights, have opened up fo female heroism paths unfamiliar 
 and forgotten. But SCss Nightingale's wondrous capa- 
 bilities, above all honour and all praise, were not the 
 offspring of a day, heaven-taught, matured at once, and 
 trained by intuition. For years she had worked and 
 studied in the school of Kaiserswerth. She left it a 
 nursing sister, equipped for any emergency, ready when 
 the occasion arose to incur the highest responsibilities, and 
 earn the highest triumphs. Surely no worthier reward 
 could be proposed for services like hers, than to redeem 
 the country, on which her name sheds glory, from the 
 disgrace of having no such institution as the one from 
 which the methods of that glory were derived. And if 
 those with gifts like hers find that education is demanded 
 to direct and utilize them, such an education cannot be 
 superfluous for others less richly endowed. It would be 
 to iU requite such labours and such labourers, if the im- 
 pressions produced were suffered to evaporate in idle 
 enthusiasm, if the example should cease to influence, or 
 the lesson lose its interest and value. The crisis was 
 peculiar, and may never recur ; but kindred necessities are 
 permanent, for the poor and the sick we have ever with us. 
 It would be worth an effort, and would be an honour to 
 Protestant Christianity, to remove the error and the 
 reproach that the establishment of sisters of charity has 
 any unavoidable connexion with the discipline or doctrine 
 of the Church of Rome. That Church, with her deep 
 knowledge of human nature, has encouraged and extended 
 the pystem; but, while we deplore her delusions, we should 
 with folly refuse to imitate her laudable institutions. Be- 
 sides, we are not driven to any such alternative. The 
 establishment at Kaiserswerth is Protestant, and the 
 objects themselves proposed are in the fullest spirit of the 
 apostolic age. It would be the merest bigotry and preju- 
 dice to discountenance the vocation, as savouring of creeds 
 and communions, as it would be puerile and weak to pro- 
 nounce it unfeminine and rpmantic. 
 
 To increase the list of useful occupations open to the 
 female sex will not only be a means of public convenience 
 
142 THE BELATIONS OF WOMAN TO SOCIETY. 
 
 and advantage, but still more will it promote the workers' 
 own best interests. In Great Britain there are to every 
 hundred men a hundred and four women; and in all accus- 
 tomed callings the supply exceeds the demand. Among 
 all ranks and classes is female labour sadly undervalued. 
 We need not allude to the lamentable consequences, to 
 the misery and almost inevitable sin, that attend the 
 scanty wages of the humble needlewoman. But can we 
 think without disgust of the treatment too often accorded, 
 or the paltry sums doled out in payment of their services, 
 to ladies of gentle birth and superior culture, entrusted 
 with the wearisome duties and weighty responsibilities of 
 tuition? The office of governess, which should be hon- 
 ourable, becomes itself degraded. Listead of the privilege 
 of the qualified few, it is in danger of becoming the ready 
 refuge of the destitute, and the careless calling of the 
 unqualified many,. The surest way to establish and assert 
 its rights is to unlock other avenues for female industry 
 and talent. Competition would be lessened, or at least 
 would be rendered more personal, more select, and more 
 ennobling, and an office of essential dignity would be 
 confined to those who will best fulfil its functions, and who 
 will claim and acquire the consideration they deserve. 
 
 If woman found her services more appreciated, better 
 recompensed, and more respected, she would learn the 
 more to respect herself. Such a feeling ceases not where 
 it commences. Ascending, descending, and diffusing 
 everywhere, it spreads through all degrees, and, alighting 
 on the other sex, appeals to it for confirmation. The in- 
 dissoluble bonds that connect society, and the common 
 welfare of the whole, demand that this feehng should have 
 the widest extension and warmest encouragement. 
 
f onbon : Statistical, Sfftial Spiritual. 
 
 " thou resort and mart of all the earth, , 
 Chequer'd with all complexions of mankind, 
 And spotted with all crimes ; in whom I see 
 Much that I love, and more that I admire. 
 And all that I abhor : thou freckled iair. 
 That pleasest and yet shook'st me, I can laugh, 
 And I can weep, can hope, and can despond, 
 Feel wrath and pity when I think on thee ! 
 Ten righteous would have saved a city once, 
 And thou hast many righteous. — Well for thee— 
 
 That salt preserves thee," 
 
 COWPEK. 
 
 " It is not good that man should be alone," is an axiom 
 of Divine authority. Beyond the limits of domestic life, 
 of which it is the source and sanction, it has a fuller mean- 
 ing and a wider appHcation. Man is a social being, and, 
 as such, in following his own instincts and interests, he 
 strengthens and secures the interests of those with whom 
 he associates. For society shields the defenceless, protects 
 the weak, repels the aggressor, curbs the strong ; calls out 
 the energies of all, and guides them to wiser, higher, more 
 useful ends. " Hominem imbecillitas cingit : nudum et 
 iufirmum, societas munit. Hebc morborum impetus arcuit, 
 senectuti adminiculum prospexit, solatia contra dolores 
 dedit ; hsec fortes nos facit, quod hcet contra fortunam 
 adyocare." Arts, manufactures, commerce, learning, laws, 
 all that has dignified, elevated, enriched the human race, 
 are the natural and necessary results of society. The off- 
 spring of society, they consolidate, enlarge, and perpetuate 
 that from which they sprang. We need pursue the thought 
 
144 LONDON: 
 
 no further, for the history of the world is the history of 
 society. 
 
 Bat in this age of great cities, the association of human 
 beings is not a source of unmixed good. Plethora, no less 
 than poverty, is the parent of disease ; the too abundant 
 aliment supplied may clog the machinery and impair the 
 processes of life. So, in the body politic and social, the 
 excess of materials may give rise to weakness and dis- 
 order. The richer the soil, the ranker the vegetation, the 
 more is the harvest of good fruit choked with the growth 
 of worthless weeds. The masses that compose our large 
 communities have elements of mischief peculiar to them- 
 selves. Their character, condition, and claims, demand 
 and deserve our earnest thought. As the chroniclers of 
 progress, having for our aim to extend the glory of God 
 by promoting the good of man, we think the subject to be 
 one fairly and fully within our scope. The vast metropolis 
 in which we dwell, its physical, moral, intellectual, and 
 religious aspects, will serve, it may be pleasurably and 
 profitably, to engage for a short time our consideration. 
 
 London, the chosen theme of poets, philosophers, 
 historians, statesmen ; London, the largest, wealthiest, 
 must populous city on our globe, which, without rivalHng 
 the magnificence of Babylon and Rome, its prototypes of 
 old, has the proud pre-eminence of being the emporium 
 of the world's commerce, the capital of a Sovereign on 
 whose dominions the sun never sets, the metropolis of 
 Christian England — would it were equally to the Christian 
 patriot his boast and crown of rejoicing I Our limits will 
 allow us to do little more than glance at the prospect 
 spread before us, leaving its minuter details for more 
 leisurely survey and study. 
 
 By London we understand the enormous aggregate, 
 composed of two ancient cities, six borough towns, and 
 numerous surrounding villages, occupying both sides of the 
 river Thames, in the counties of Middlesex, Surrey, and 
 Kent, and extending over an area of 78,000 acres, or 120 
 square miles. Of this vast whole, on the last day of March, 
 1851, the population was no less than 2,362,236, and we 
 are justified in asserting that at the present time, (1856) 
 2; 600,000 woi^ld be inadequate to express the number ; — 
 
STATISTICAL, SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL. 145 
 
 1,106,558 males and 1,255,678 females, dwelling in 
 305,933, houses, and constituting 533,580 families — such 
 were the astounding reyelations of the census. How many 
 bodies to sustain, how many fingers to employ, how many 
 hearts to influence, how many souls to save ! what hopes and 
 fears, whatloyes and hates,what griefs and cares, whatvirtues 
 and what vices ! what energies to be devoted to the cause of 
 order and industry and truth, or to be degraded by the service 
 of the powers of darkness ! We cannot linger on such sug- 
 gestions, but must examine more closely into the tremendous 
 facts whence they arise. In all England and Wales there 
 are only seven and a half times as many inhabitants as in 
 London alone. We have calculated that, if the same pro- 
 portion as to density of population obtained in the country 
 at large, the inhabitants of England and Wales would 
 exceed the entire number who now dwell on the face of the 
 globe. If, on the other hand, London followed the same 
 law as the surrounding country, its population would be no 
 more than that of Derby, or Exeter, or Cheltenham. In 
 London, moreover, the annual rate of increase far exceeds 
 the average. Here is the centre that attracts, the magic 
 circle that enfolds, the goal of ambition, too often the grave 
 of hope. Who is there who has not connexions in 
 London ? Who does not long to see its wonders for him- 
 self ? How many from every variety of moving cause are 
 guided for a time to experience its fortunes, or permanently 
 to reside within its precincts ! London ranks among its 
 inmates natives of every county of England and Wales, of 
 every part of the United Kingdom, and of nearly every 
 country in the world. During the last fifty years, the in- 
 crease of the population of England was 101 per cent. ; that 
 of London, during the same period, was 146 per cent. Of 
 the 2,360,000 living in London when the census was taken, 
 more than 900,000 were not bom in it. The foreign 
 countries most largely represented are France and Germany, 
 there being 5,000 adult French, and 9,000 adult Germans. 
 During the year 1855, nearly 85,000 births were registered 
 in London, an excess of 23,000 over the deaths for the 
 same period. What may not some of us live to see of the 
 fiiture development of this monster city ! or are we rather 
 hastening on to the completion of the cycle of progress, to 
 
146 LOKUON : 
 
 the commencing cycle of decline and fall ? To supply the 
 vast necessities of London, we find mention in the returns 
 of 9,800 butchers, of 12,100 bakers, of 2, 700 fishmongers, 
 of 5,200 milk-sellers or cow-keepers, of 4,800 green- 
 grocers. There are also 2,000 tobacconists, 7,891 licensed 
 victuallers and beershop keepers, and 5,000 others dealing 
 in drinlts or stimulants. EVom the calculations that- have 
 been made as to this "self-imposed taxation," we may 
 presume that the working classes of London expend 
 annually in beer, spirits and tobacco, five or six million 
 pounds. It were idle to speculate as to the glorious 
 results that might be achieved by the money thus spent. 
 
 London^ as the abode of royalty, as the seat of the 
 legislature, as the centre of unbounded wealth, has, of 
 course, much that is great and gorgeous — spacious streets, 
 stately squares, palaces and parks, mansions and monu- 
 ments of art, gay equipages, glittering shops ; but nowhere 
 probably beneath the sun are there such startling contrasts, 
 such social lights and shades, such destitution, such de- 
 pravity, wretchedness, and crime, lurking beneath the 
 smiling and splendid surface. Amid the happy and luxu- 
 rious homes of London, we know there have been found, 
 in a season of prosperity and plenty, 23,000 in workhouses, 
 6,000 in prisons, 4,000 in lunatic asylums, 3,300 in hos- 
 pitals. In every 20,000 there are 90 pauper males, 104 
 pauper females ; 46 male prisoners, 9 female prisoners ; 
 17 male lunatics, 18 female lunatics ; 16 male and 13 
 female hospital patients. While in Great Britain at large 
 there are to every 100,000 males, and to as many females, 
 respectively, 220 males and 40 females confitjed in prison ; 
 there are in London, respectively, in the same proportion, 
 450 males and 90 females. But it must be remembered 
 that some of these, having been convicted elsewhere, are 
 sent hither to work out their sentence. The numbers of 
 beggars, thieves, and prostitutes, it is less easy to reduce 
 to their true proportions. The census concludes its analysis 
 with enumerating 12,972 males, and 17,795 females, as 
 persons of no stated occupations or conditions. Many of 
 these, we may presume, belong to the depraved and dan- 
 gerous cl3,SRes of the community. With regard to the 
 numerous class who honestly obtain their living in the 
 
STATISTICAL, SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL. 147 
 
 streets, Mr. Henry Mayhew has published some curious 
 results of his persevering and patient inquiries. He divides 
 the London street-folk into street-sellers ; street-buyers ; 
 street-finders ; street-performers, artists, and showmen ; 
 street-artisans or working pedlars ; and street-labourers. 
 He estimates the costermongers, or street-dealers in fish, 
 fruit, and vegetables, at 30,000, men, women, and chil- 
 dren ; the street- sellers of green stuff at 2,000 ; the 
 street-sellers of eatables and drinkables at 4,000 ; the 
 sellers of stationery and books at 1,000; and the sellers 
 of manufactured and miscellaneous articles at 4,000 more. 
 After cautious calculation, it would appear that the aggre- 
 gate takings of the street- sellers amount to £2,500,000 
 per annum ; which would give the average yearly receipts 
 per head at £60, and the probable average weekly gains 
 of each eight shillings. To this list may be added 1,000 
 street-musicians, as many old clothesmen ; 1,000 bone- 
 grubbers and mudlarks, and 1,000 crossing-sweepers. If 
 this population be followed to their homes, a state of things 
 is revealed, of which few but policemen, or city mission- 
 aries, or the medical officers of the poor, have any adequate 
 idea. We will not dwell on the sickening details ; official 
 reports have abundantly exposed them, and popular writers 
 have graphically portrayed their horrors. 
 
 But there is an intimate and immediate connexion be- 
 tween the physical and social condition and the moral and 
 religious character, of a community : — 
 
 " The wretched state of his home [we quote Dr. Southwood Smith] 
 is one of the most powerful causes which induces a man to spend his 
 money on strictly sensual gratification. He comes home tired and 
 exhausted ; he wants quiet ; he needs refreshment : filth, squalor, dis- 
 comfort in every shape, are around him ; he naturally gets away from 
 it if he can. A clean, fresh, and well-ordered house exercises over its 
 inmates a moral, no less than a physical, influenee, and has a direct 
 tendency to make the members of the family sober, peaceable, and 
 considerate of the feelings and happiness of each other : nor is it 
 difficult to trace a connexion between habitual feelings of this sort, 
 and the formation of habits of respect for property, for the law in 
 general, and even for those higher duties and obligations, the obser- 
 vance of which no law can enforce. In the worst districts, and in the 
 most wretched hovels in these neglected districts, live, and from their 
 birth have lived, that proportion of the population, out of which come, 
 not only the pickpockets, the thieves, and those other degraded and 
 profligate persons who constitute the ordinary pests of society, but 
 
 l2 
 
148 LONDON : 
 
 also, in general, our great criminals, violent and reckless men, wlio 
 every now and then perpetrate in cold blood, with a savage callous- 
 ness, deeds which fill the whole country with disgust and horror." 
 
 There is also as close an alliance between poverty and 
 crime, and this is a consideration of vital importance in 
 any sm-vey of this great metropolis. In July, 1848, Lord 
 Ashley had an interview with two hundred and seven pro- 
 fessed thieves, who all declared that they were compelled 
 to thieve, from having lost their character, and with it the 
 means of obtaining work. At a public meeting, that 
 nobleman expressed his opinion, that ninety-nine cases of 
 crime out of every hundred were the result of want of 
 employment. He also stated from his seat in Parliament, 
 that there were thirty thousand naked, filthy, deserted, 
 roaming, lawless children, who formed the seed-plot of 
 nineteen-twentieths of the crime which desolates the me- 
 tropolis. The committee of the London Diocesan Board 
 of Education have observed in a recent report — 
 
 " It can never be too often pressed upon the attention of the wealthy 
 merchants and large proprietors of the metropolis, that there are 
 ■itill 50,000 children wandering in its streets, represented by the 
 voice crying, ' I perish with hunger ;' and that the number of juve- 
 nile delinquents under fifteen years of age approaches to 5,000 per 
 annum." 
 
 Children of misery, begotten in sin and nursed in degra- 
 dation, bereft of parental care, or bHghted with the ex- 
 ample of parental ungodHness, it would be contrary to 
 reason and analogy to expect a manhood or womanhood 
 of purity, or honesty, or submission to any law, human or 
 Divine. But there are influences other than accidental 
 which are brought to bear upon this class. Thieving, like 
 other trades, has its masters and appreiatices, its teachers 
 and its training. A city missionary thus reports : — 
 
 " I found, on my appointment to this district, a room in which 
 children of both sexes were instructed on the doU. The image of a 
 lady or gentleman was dressed up and suspended from the roof. A 
 purse was placed in the pocket containing sixpence. A bell hung 
 inside. The youths who could extract the purse without causing the 
 bell to ring got the sixpence. This instruction I have seen given. A 
 man who keeps these boys practises them on his own pockets, or those 
 of his female companion. In lodging-houses kept for the class, they 
 practise on each other, the most expert acting as teacher." 
 
STATISTICAL, SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL. 149 
 
 Another missionary says : — 
 
 " I could undertake easily to dispose of a thousand pounds' worth 
 of stolen property of any kind, money or goods, in five minutes' time. 
 Boys dispose of stoleu goods to these dealers as easily as men and 
 women." 
 
 One set of boys do nothing but steal provisions from 
 shop doors, and sell these provisions to lodging-house 
 keepers. Another pick men's pockets, but never touch a 
 woman's. Another set pursue the more difftcult branch of 
 picking TTomen's pockets. Others addict themselves en- 
 tirely to robbing tills. What a perverted manifestation cf 
 the great social law of the division of labour ! 
 
 There is another theme of painful interest, to which we 
 reluctantly advert, but on the present occasion we should 
 not be justified in ignoring it. About the close of the last 
 century, Mr. Colquhoun, a police magistrate, concluded 
 that there were fifty thousand in the metropolis living by 
 prostitution. If this statement were correct, and supposing 
 the increase to have been proportionate in every branch of 
 the community, the numbers of this fearful class would 
 now amount to nearly one hundred and fifty thousand. 
 But we have no hesitation in asserting that the truth, 
 terrible though it be, falls far below this estimate. Within 
 a few years, however, it has been stated, on the authority 
 of the secretary to the London Society for the Protection 
 of Young Females, that the number who wholly or par- 
 tially in this way obtain their hvelihood is not less than 
 eighty thousand. Of how many may we not truly afiirm, 
 "their poverty and not their vrill consents." To say nothing 
 of the unwholesome and degrading domestic influences to 
 which we have already alluded, which if with boys are bad. 
 are as to girls infinitely worse, in deadening and destroying 
 every moral sense ; there are multitudes better born, more 
 delicately nurtured, on whose young hearts the seeds of 
 good have fallen, whom stern necessity has driven into sin. 
 At a meeting held at a school-room in Shadwell, where 
 more than a thousand female slop-workers were present, 
 on the question being asked. How many earned eight 
 shillings last week ? not a hand was raised. How many 
 seven shillings ? The same result. Five had earned six 
 shillings; 28 had earned five shiUings ; 13 four and six- 
 
150 LONDON : 
 
 \ 
 
 pence; 142 three shillings; 150 half-a-crown; 71 two 
 shillings ; 82 eighteen pence ; 98 one shilling, of whom 
 88 said they were entirely dependent on their own exer- 
 tions; 92 less than a shilling; and 223 nothing. As 
 men of common sense, do we not know what of such causes 
 must be the consequence ? 
 
 Between the ages of twenty and forty, there are, in 
 London, to every hundred males one hundred and nineteen 
 females. The female servants in the metropolis amount to 
 one hundred and sixty-five thousand, of whom many from 
 caprice, or trivial misconduct, or illness, are constantly 
 thrown on their own resources. The earnings of those 
 who look to their needle for support are proverbially* Small. 
 It was ably remarked some time since by the Editor of the 
 Medical Times : — 
 
 " It is one of the greatest social evils of the day, that we have so 
 few occupations for the softer sex. Why is it that we are constantly 
 disgusted with the perusal of advertisements demanding every accom- 
 plishment that a governess can possess — or rather cannot possess — 
 for a reniuneration infinitely less than a cook or a lady's maid will 
 obtain in any one of the families of our nobility ? How is it that an 
 educated female, one, may be, brought up accustomed to every luxury 
 and comfort, can hardly obtain an honest livelihood in this large me- 
 tropolis ? How is it that our streets and gi'eat thoroughfares are, 
 shame to say, nightly filled with unfortunates ? It is, we firmly 
 believe, in some measure, at least, due to the fact that we have 
 reduced female occupations to a minimum degree ; and that, conse- 
 quently, competition is now so great in the few callings left, that those 
 whose practice it is to purchase in the cheapest market and sell in the 
 dearest are able to grind down honest industry to their own terms. 
 It is by increasing our female employments, and consequently rendering, 
 the service of this class more valuable, that we must seek to remedy 
 the present evil." 
 
 Of London as a whole, it has been truly said, that the 
 one half know not, and, it may be, care not, how the other 
 live. We know, lay daily observation, the large extent of 
 beggary, intemperance, and vice ; we know by official 
 reports the immense sums annually spent on police and 
 prisons ; and we also know, that whatever the exertions 
 of the Established Church, whatever the results that may 
 have been attained by any other combination of Christian 
 effort, heathenism is the religion of the great majority of 
 the operatives of London. IVom the evils proved let us 
 
STATISTICAL, SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL. 151 
 
 turn to the remedy provided, from the gloomy foreground 
 to the brighter scenes that lie behind it, and beyond. 
 
 To begin with lower considerations, we may remark, 
 that the sanitary state of London is, irrespective of any 
 recent improvements, far beyond what it was in centuries 
 that are past ; that it is superior to what, from the analogy 
 of other large towns, might have been expected ; and that 
 much has been done during the present generation, and is 
 still doing, to enhance and extend these advantages. At 
 the time of what is known in history as the Great Plague 
 of London, in 1665, we read, that even in the best parts 
 the streets were narrow, and the houses, built of wood, 
 closed inwards as the stories advanced in height, so as 
 almost to meet at the top. There were scarcely any sewers, 
 the ways were damp and wet, and nearly everything in the 
 shape of offal thrown into them. Certain corporate bodies, 
 the ecclesiastical authorities even, contended for the right 
 of sending their swine into the streets, to feed on such gar- 
 bage as they could find ; and the general domestic habits 
 of the citizens were uncleanly. The mortality occasioned 
 by the plague was, according to the pubUshed bills, sixty- 
 eight thousand five hundred and ninety-eight, and pro- 
 bably much more ; and we may conclude that at least a 
 sixth of the inhabitants was cut off. Now, if we bear in 
 mind that during the first visitation of Asiatic cholera, in 
 1832-33, the proportion of deaths was one in two hundred 
 and fifty-five, and during the still more fatal visitation of 
 1848-49 it was only one in one hundred and fifty-one, 
 we must be prepared to admit that a better system now 
 prevails. The Great Plague was closely followed by the 
 Great Fire ; and we must ever regret that the opportunity 
 was then lost, which would have converted this dty into 
 one as distinguished for its magnificence, and convenience, 
 and salubrity, as it is for its commercial and political 
 importance. 
 
 To the most useful measures which have lately been 
 commenced and carried out for amehorating the physical 
 and moral state of London we must refer in brief terms. 
 Some have been the effect of private association and ex- 
 ertion ; others, of legislative interference. The various 
 societies for improving the dwellings of the working classes 
 
152 LONDOK : 
 
 lead the way. This has been effected, first, by re-organ- 
 izing and renovating existing houses ; and, secondly, by 
 building, on approved plans, houses that should serve as 
 models of what the dwellings of the poor should be. Lodg- 
 ings on a large scale have been provided for families, for 
 single men, for single women, fitted with everything essen- 
 tial to the health, and comfort, and moral habits of the 
 inmates, and having particular attention paid to ventila- 
 tion, drainage, and the supply of water. A similar and 
 subsidiary benefit, for which we are indebted to Lord 
 Shaftesbury, has been'^sonferred by the act for regulating 
 the common lodging-house. To say nothing of the moral 
 tendencies of these measures, we can abundantly prove 
 their" sanitary advantage. During the cholera epidemic of 
 1849, among the two hundred and ninety-five inmates of 
 the several establishments belonging to the Society for the 
 Improvement of the Condition of the Labouring Classes, 
 only one case occurred ; and in the model institution known 
 as Metropolitan Buildings, Old St. Pancras Road, among 
 five hundred inmates there was not a single case. But 
 fully to appreciate these facts, it must be added, that the 
 establishments themselves are placed in districts where the 
 cholera extensively prevailed. Under the old system, the 
 common lodging-houses were hotbeds of epidemic disease ; 
 and, in 1849, they suffered severely from cholera. These 
 low haunts have been found so crowded as to give eighty- 
 six cubic feet only to each inmate ; whereas, in barracks, 
 eight hundred cubic feet is the allowance for each soldier. 
 In 1853, there were registered lodging-houses accommo- 
 dating about thirty thousand persons ; yet, during the 
 year, only ten cases of fever occurred. The mortality from 
 cholera,, in 1854, in every ten thousand of the population, 
 in the common lodging-houses under the superintendence 
 of the police, was only seven, while the lowest proportion 
 in other districts was not less than twelve ; and in Ber- 
 mondsey the mortality was as high as one hundred and 
 sixty-two in ten thousand. The results of the act have 
 thus been far beyond the most sanguine expectations. - 
 Again, to promote that cleanliness so essential to happi- 
 ness and health, have been instituted public baths and 
 washhouses for the labouring classes. The committee who 
 
STATISTICAL, SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL. 153 
 
 originated and organized the plan pubKshed, at the close 
 of the first five years of their labours, a report, which 
 shewed that during that period, at the seven estabhsh- 
 ments then opened, more than three millions had availed 
 themselves of the privilege ; the number who did so steadily 
 increasing. We would also allude to the purer supply of 
 water with which some districts that most needed it have 
 been furnished ; to the suppression of intramural inter- 
 ments ; and to a recent legislation by which, the metropolis 
 having been divided, to each locality a special officer of 
 health has been appointed. 
 
 How varied, moreover, are the means afforded for the 
 relief of sickness, and suffering, and want ! In ancient 
 Eome, with all the splendour of its palaces, and temples, 
 and theatres, there was not a single hospital. To Chris- 
 tianity is due the honour of introducing those benevolent 
 contrivances, which we now regard as the natural and 
 necessary appendages to society. In London there are 
 twelve large hospitals for the general relief of accident and 
 disease, some with royal endowments and princely incomes, 
 and all doing incalculable good. There are also some 
 eighty dispensaries or hospitals for special objects. To 
 complete the catalogue we must recount asylums for the 
 blind and the deaf and dumb ; for the fatherless children 
 and orphans ; for idiots ; for foundlings, or those discarded 
 by their parents, to whom they are a shame ; homes and 
 reformatory institutions for the outcast and the penitent ; 
 refuges for the destitute ; servants' homes ; sailors' homes ; 
 almshouses for the aged and disabled ; and every charitable 
 design that ingenuity can devise for meeting and mitigat- 
 ing the sad variety of woe. 
 
 Bat passing on from these outward and obvious benefits, 
 let us inquire what provision has been made for the spiritual 
 necessities of our great metropolis. The census informed 
 us there were in London 458 churches and chapels of the 
 Establishment, with sittings for 409,834 ; and among all 
 other sects, 639 places of worship, with accommodation 
 for 281,889. .This will leave 1,670,000 of the entire 
 population unprovided with a place in God's house ; or at 
 all events, supposing that half of them were legitimately 
 detained from Divine service, 835,000 would not have the 
 
154 LONDON : 
 
 power, if they had the will, to unite in public Christian 
 worship. To perform the offices of religion there are 1,305 
 clergymen of the Established Church, 503 Protestant 
 Dissenting ministers, and 585 priests and other teachers. 
 There are 138,600 children enumerated as receiving in- 
 struction in Sunday schools. Within the last twenty years 
 much has been done, by the zeal and activity of our distin- 
 guished prelate, and of private individuals, lay and clerical, 
 as well as by many excellent and earnest Nonconformists, 
 to relieve the pressure of this spiritual destitution ; but 
 how incommensurate have been the means with the end, 
 the results with the requirements ! The demand has been 
 too great for any ecclesiastical machinery, ordinary or 
 extraordinary, to supply ; the parochial system has been 
 virtually annulled, so incalculably disproportionate has 
 been the human produce of the parishes, with their mea- 
 sured and allotted area. In aid of established and existing 
 arrangements, a Scripture Headers' Association was founded 
 twelve years ago, for carrying the Gospel to the homes of 
 those who could not, or would not, come to hear it in the 
 sanctuary. In this manner 400,000 were visited last year, 
 of whom 100,000 declared that they never attended Divine 
 worship. We regret that, considering its character and 
 claims, the receipts of this society should not exceed 
 £10,000 a year. Some eight or nine years previously had 
 been instituted the London City Mission, in which all who 
 reverence their common Lord unite in obeying his impUed 
 command, " Go out into the highways and hedges, and 
 compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." 
 This society has more than three hundred agents, who 
 labour among half a million of the population. It has 
 special missions to cabmen, to the docks, to fallen females, 
 to Germans, to Italians, to Jews, to the fire brigade, to 
 the police, to public-houses and coffee-shops, to soldiers, 
 to the Welsh. Last year a million and a half visits were 
 paid, and S,500 copies of the Scriptures, and more than 
 two million religious tracts, were distributed. A most 
 valuable and important sequel and supplement to this 
 mission has been the estabhshment of ragged schools. 
 The noble president of the Eagged School Union has said, 
 ' We cannot tell where they were born, by God's blessing 
 
STATISTICAL, SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL. 155 
 
 they exist, by that blessing they will still go forward ; but 
 whenever you enter a ragged school, remember this — we 
 are indebted for nine-^tea&s of them to the humble, the 
 pious, the earnest city missionary." Since 1844, when 
 this union was formed, its progress and results have been 
 such as to excite the liveliest gratitude and admiration. 
 Who that, without visiting them for himself, may have read 
 of such districts as that of Pye Street, Westminster, or 
 Meld Lane, City, but will own that some peculiar system 
 was required to meet such peculiar conditions of depravity 
 and degradation ? And when the attempt was made, how 
 great were the obstacles, and discouragements, and perse- 
 cutions encountered ! We read of one noble pioneer in 
 this holy and hard-fought war, who had to stand his 
 ground against a charge of ragamuffins, "attempting to 
 stab a superintendent, bursting open the door, rushing up 
 the crazy staircase, leaping on the forms, overturning and 
 breaking them, blowing out the lights, crashing the window- 
 glass, smashing the tables, and falling pell-mell one over 
 another, screaming, cursing, and swearing." What these 
 schools have now become, through the patient and judicious 
 exercise of Christian power on all this misery and misrule, 
 we fear not to invite any to watch and witness. One of 
 our most popular writers, the conductor of Household 
 Words, has thus expressed his opinion of their value : — 
 
 " I do not hesitate to say, that an annual sum of money, contemptible 
 in amount as compared with any charges on any list, freely granted in 
 behalf of ragged schools, irould relieve the prisons, diminish county 
 rates, clear loads of shame and guilt out of the streets, recruit the 
 army and navy, waft to new countries fleets fall of useful labour, for 
 which their inhabitants would be thankful and beholden to us." 
 
 In sober prose, we can affirm that, in addition to the 
 numerous schools, day or evening or Sunday, educational 
 or industrial, in connexion with the union, there are in 
 London sixteen ragged refuges, with an average of five 
 hundred inmates ; that nearly five hundred former ragged 
 scholars have been sent out to the colonies, where they 
 have obtained remunerative employment and are doing 
 well ; that one hundred lads, under the fostering care of 
 the Eagged School Shoe-black Society, are constantly 
 enabled to obtain their living, and to save a portion of 
 
156 LONDON. 
 
 their earnings for their future advantage ; and that many 
 thousand youths, of both sexes, have been introduced to 
 honest occupations, of whom, during the last three years, 
 many hundreds have obtained prizes for good character, 
 in conjunction with long-continued service in one place. 
 Ragged schools are incomplete imless they lead to ragged 
 churches, and steps have been taken to secure this object. 
 It is the glory of the religion we profess, that it can adapt 
 itself to all circumstances ; that on every phasis of human 
 darkness, or difficulty, or distress, it can shed light and 
 comfort. So must those who would carry out the princi- 
 ples, and confer the blessings of religion on such as have 
 them not, be prepared to display a readiness of resource, 
 a versatility of purpose, a tact and temper worthy of their 
 high and honourable enterprise. The field is too wide, 
 and the harvest too large, that we should ever doubt or 
 dread lest the labourers be too many ; and they who reap 
 not in marshalled ranks, or bind not full sheaves, must 
 not be denied their poorer gleanings. 
 
 To many causes may we trace the social and spiritual 
 anomalies of London. The greatest sufferers are not 
 always the most to blame as the authors of those suffer- 
 ings. To such as have it in their power — and who, to 
 some extent, has not ?• — -to do good and to communicate, 
 we earnestly commend these vast and varied necessities. 
 Our topic has been trite, but it has a moral and a meaning. 
 We are not to refer events and circumstances to the per- 
 mission and providence of God, and leave Him to work 
 without those instruments which He deigns to employ, 
 and which He designs should serve. All honour to those, 
 in higher or in humbler spheres, who have obeyed the call 
 of duty, and gone forth to the help of the helpless ! Prom 
 the experience of the past, we may predict for the future 
 a glorious reversal of all our present disorder and disgrace. 
 Oh ! how soon shall it be said openly of the metropolis of 
 Christian England, as was said in vision of Israel's metro- 
 polis — "The. name of the city from that day shall be 
 Jehovah Shammah, — ^the Lord is there 1" 
 
€<e)MTE2]B®T2<0)FI^ 
 
 ABD 
 
 185 6-9. 
 
gtto. 
 
 ' The dew of heaven is like Thy grace. 
 
 It steals in sQence down ; 
 But where it lights, the favour'd place 
 By richest firuits is known." 
 
 Keble. 
 
 There are in nature many facts, of constant occurrence 
 and observation, -which, from their very familiarity and 
 apparent simplicity, we are prone to forget or neglect. Yet 
 if we were called upon to explain some of them, we should 
 find it more difficult than we had previously imagined ; 
 and if we give our attention to the task, we shall be forced 
 to the conclusion, that in producing one simple effect, 
 common and insignificant as it may seem, a variety of 
 important causes may be concerned. Now to those who 
 would study the Scriptures for themselves, or would induce 
 others to " read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them," 
 it is essential to understand and to be able to unfold 
 " common things ;" for these are pre-eminently the' things 
 from which the sacred writers derive their images and 
 illustrations, when they would exemplify spiritual truth or 
 enforce moral duty. Among natural facts there are few, 
 perhaps, to which more beautiful reference is made in the 
 Bible than to the phenomena of dew ; and it will not be 
 unprofitable to consider what dew is, and to learn what 
 lessons Divine wisdom has drawn from it. 
 
 It is only within a comparatively recent period that the 
 exact nature of dew has been properly investigated and 
 understood. It was formerly confounded with rain or fog, 
 or supposed to be emitted from the earth by night, and 
 thus was said to rise. The dew on growing vegetables 
 was set down as the condensed vapour exhaled by the 
 plant. Opinions still more fanciful have at times obtained, 
 
160 DEW. 
 
 as, for instance, that dew was connected in some way with 
 the influence of the stars: Those ' ' wise fools, ' ' the alchem- 
 ists, who spent their labour for that which satisfied not, 
 are said to have sought- to distil from dew the precious 
 elixir which would afford the means of preserving perpetual 
 youth and beauty. 
 
 In 1814, an ingenious physician. Dr. "Wells, gave to 
 the world, as the result of well-sustained experiment and 
 cautious reasoning, what has ever since been regarded as 
 the true theory of dew. It is simply this. During the 
 nights, the earth's surface, giving off by radiation the 
 heat it had acquired during the day, becomes colder than the 
 air above it, and consequently the air deposits upon it the 
 watery vapour it contains. In shaded places dew begins 
 to form before sunset, but it is not copiously deposited till 
 some while afterwards. The formation of dew is most 
 abundant just before sunrise, because at that time the 
 earth is coldest, not having yet been repaid by the warmth 
 of returning day the loss it had sustained by nocturnal 
 radiation. Dew is most abundant on calm, clear nights ; 
 none is seen on nights both cloudy and windy. If in the 
 course of the night, the weather from being calm and 
 serene become boisterous, and vapoury masses gather in 
 the sky, dew will cease to form, and that previously formed 
 will disappear or diminish. If the weather remain still 
 and clear, the deposition of dew continues all night. ■ 
 
 The theory being established, the explanation of these 
 diversities of result is obvious. Clouds act by replacing or 
 by preventing the escape of heat from the earth's surface; 
 and winds, by disturbing the air, destroy that difference 
 of temperature between it and the earth which is the 
 essential cause of dew. Any artificial screen or covering 
 will act in the same way as clouds. Thus tender plants 
 are protected from cold at night by matting, which inter- 
 feres with the radiation from beneath it. The condition 
 of the atmosphere as to moisture will affect the quantity 
 of dew deposited. It is more abundant immediately after 
 rain than during a long course of dry weather, and during 
 southerly and westerly than when northerly and easterly 
 winds prevail. Rain is foretold,when dew is uncommonly 
 copious in relation to the climate and season. Dew is 
 
DEW. 161 
 
 more plentiful in spring and autumn than in summer, 
 since at those periods there is a greater difference between 
 the temperature of the earth by day and night. Dew is 
 unusually plentiful on clear mornings succeeding cloudy 
 nights, and also on clear calm nights followed by misty 
 mornings. Heat of the atmosphere, other things being 
 favourable, will occasion a great formation of dew, and it 
 is consequently very copious in hot countries. 
 
 In Judea, where for several months together scarcely a 
 drop of rain falls, the abundant dews are no inadequate 
 substitute. In such countries, indeed, it is that the ines- 
 timable benefits of this provision are most strildngly appa- 
 rent and most gratefully acknowledged. In our own land, 
 we can scarcely appreciate the force of the phraseology of 
 Scripture: "The fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land 
 of com and wine : also his heavens shall drop down dew." 
 " God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of 
 the earth, and plenty of com and wine." Of Joseph he 
 said, " Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious 
 things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that 
 coucheth beneath." 
 
 The difference in the quantity of dew deposited on diffe- 
 rent substances depends on their varieties of temperature, 
 that is, on their powers of radiating or conducting heat. 
 If on a spring or autumn morning we walk through field 
 or garden, we shall find more dew on grass-plots than on 
 gravel walks, as the former are better radiators ; but if a 
 cloth or woollen fabric were exposed all night, we should 
 meet on it with the most copious deposit, since that would 
 both radiate more freely, and also conduct more slowly any 
 heat that might have accumulated beneath the surface of 
 the earth. The first condition recorded of Gideon's fleece 
 was an exaggerated action of nature's laws ; the second 
 was, for a special object, a miraculous interference with 
 their development. As to the uses of dew, it is sufficient 
 to say, that it fertilizes the soil and freshens vegetation ; 
 supplies moisture, often attainable in no other way, and 
 equalizes temperature ; and that in those climates where 
 they are most needed are these results and advantages 
 most conspicuous and important. 
 
 But let us turn from science to Scripture, and see how 
 
 M 
 
162 DEW. 
 
 the teachings of the one may be brought in aid of the 
 higher revelation of the other. Dew may be regarded as 
 an emblem of the operation of God's word, and of the in- 
 fluence of his grace. " My speech shall distil as the dew." 
 " I will be as the dew unto Israel." The truths of the 
 Bible, if rightly received into the mind, if accompanied by 
 the grace of the Holy Spirit, break up the hardened clods 
 of ignorance, indiiference, worldly-mindedness, and sinful 
 indulgence, and prepare a soil which, with diligent culture 
 and earnest supplication to Him who gives the increase, 
 shall yield plants of righteousness and fruits of holiness. 
 We may also learn that God employs a variety of methods 
 in calling to himself. To some he comes in the tempest 
 or the earthquake, to others by milder means of showing 
 mercy, dropping as the gentle dew upon the soul, and 
 drawing by cords of love. 
 
 Dew is an emblem of youthful piety ; but alas 1 it is as 
 true a type of the evanescence and decay of what for a time 
 was fair and promising. No sooner has the sun arisen with 
 burning heat— the sun of temporal prosperity, temptation, 
 or trial — ^than the glittering drops evaporate, and there is 
 moral drought and barrenness. How affecting is the ex- 
 postulation of Jehovah, ' ' Ephraim, what shall I do 
 unto thee ? Judah, what shall I do unto thee ? for your 
 goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it 
 goeth away." Then if this departure from the ways of 
 God be persisted in, if repentance be delayed, and offered 
 grace rejected, the voice of tenderness will be exchanged 
 for that of threatening, and mercy yield to judgment. 
 ' ' Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the 
 early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven 
 with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out 
 of the chimney." 
 
 Dew is also beautifully expressive of heavenly blessings 
 and of Christian graces. " The remnant of Jacob shall . 
 be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord." 
 In our public acts of devotion we pray for the ministers of 
 the gospel, that God would pour upon them " the continual 
 dew of his blessing." To encourage us also in the exer- 
 cise of that spirit of love which, as professors of the religion 
 of the gospel, should attend our every act of intercourse 
 
DEW. 163 
 
 with each other, and our every effort to enKghten and 
 evangelize the world, we are taught by the pen of inspira- 
 tion : ' ' Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren 
 to dwell together in unity 1 It is as the dew of Hermon, 
 and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of 
 Zion : for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even 
 life for evermore." 
 
 M 2 
 
Ikti^. 
 
 ' When the soft dews of kindly sleep 
 My wearied eyelids gently steep, 
 Be my last thought how sweet to rest 
 For ever on my Saviour's breast." 
 
 Kbble. 
 
 Throughout all nature we sLaU find, as a necessary and 
 admitted law, a succession of alternate states of activity 
 and repose. The fearful energies of the volcano and the 
 storm are soon exhausted, and a season of quiescence, pro- 
 longed, but uncertain, is required, that strength may be 
 gathered for another outburst. Earth's bosom is not ever 
 heaving with conyulsive throes, nor is her face ever smil- 
 ing, or her prolific virtue ever busy and awake. " It is not 
 always May," but the forces spent in spring and summer 
 must be suffered to accumulate afresh during the torpidity 
 of the winter. The vegetable and animal worlds are espe- 
 cially subject to the law of periodicity. "While the earth 
 remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and day and night, shaE 
 not cease." "The sun knoweth his going down." De- 
 pendently on this, or concurrently with it, leaves droop, 
 flowers close, and another direction is given to the move- 
 ments of the internal economy of plants. Domestic animals 
 seek their stalls, the fowls of heaven their roosts ; silence 
 and slumber prevail. Returning day is welcomed by their 
 recruited powers, and the gladdening sun quickens anew 
 their exercise and enjoyment. By beasts of prey this order 
 is. reversed, but they have equally their period of action and 
 rest. "Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein 
 all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young 
 
SLEEP. 165 
 
 lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. '■ 
 The sun ariseth ; they gather themselves together, and lay 
 them down in their dens." Man has higher objects to 
 fulfil than the mere supply of his animal wants, and the 
 day is given him in which to do his work. He "goeth 
 forth unto his labour until the evening ;" and then, to 
 give new vigour as well to body as to mind, he yields to 
 "babny sleep, tired nature's sweet restorer." 
 
 During sleep, the functions essential to life continue 
 their performance, but voluntary motion ceases, and the 
 senses refuse to receive and convey impressions of external 
 objects. Yet while the mind suspends its communion 
 with the outer world of matter, it is busily occupied with 
 the ideal world of fancy. The memory and imagination, 
 uncontrolled by the judgment and will, draw on their 
 treasured stores, revive forgotten impressions of the past, 
 suggest bright visions of the unknown future, and roam 
 through boundless fields of time and space. Can any be 
 conscious of such phenomena, and then deny or doubt the 
 immateriality and immortality of the spirit ? We may 
 hence conceive in some faint measure, how, when brought 
 to judgment, the memory will recall the transactions of a 
 life ; with what vivid minuteness it will present to its 
 astonished and affrighted gaze each word and deed, each 
 secret thing, lost sight of long before, but known and re- 
 corded by Him whose books shall- then be opened. We 
 may also darkly picture how, when freed from the burden 
 of the flesh, the spirit will soar to worlds unknown, and 
 penetrate the mysteries of eternity. 
 
 Sleep is not a luxury so much as a necessity. A Ger- 
 man writer has thus expressed it: "The masterpiece of 
 creation must, for a time, become a plant, in order to be 
 enabled to represent, for a few consecutive hours, this same 
 masterpiece of creation." That is to say, those vital pro- 
 cesses termed vegetative or organic must alone be in force, 
 while muscular and mental exertion are restrained. Those 
 who defraud themselves of sleep, or are by their employers 
 so defrauded, trenching on the privileges of the night, de- 
 voting the hom:s demanded for repose to the pursuit of 
 pleasure, or business, or study, are violating laws and 
 incurring penalties from which they will not escape. This 
 
166 SLEEP. 
 
 •will especially be the case if the practice is persisted in 
 before attaining maturity of strength and stature. Many 
 a fair form has been prematurely wasted through protracted 
 and unseasonable toil ; and many a noble spirit, that might 
 have laboured for God and humanity, has been crushed in 
 its development, and curtailed of its means of usefulness, 
 through ignorance or inattention as to natural require- 
 ments. But, on the other hand, how many misspend their 
 time, misuse their talents, and enfeeble their minds and 
 bodies, through immoderate indulgence in sleep. If they do 
 not turn night into day, they convert day into night, deny 
 its duties, and cheat themselves of its appointed blessings. 
 Some pass their Kves in a state of almost constant hyber- 
 nation, or else in a succession of waking dreams, forgetting 
 and forfeiting the dignity of their being, and frittering 
 away their seed-time for the harvest of immortality. Those 
 who are guilty of the worse than error of fnaking sleep an 
 end of existence, instead of a means to an end, are also 
 offending against natural and moral laws which cannot be 
 transgressed with impunity. Strength for fulfilling the 
 objects of life is by sleep tO' be spared and saved, or reco- 
 vered and repaid, not to be wasted and squandered so as to 
 incur the spendthrift's doom of misery and disgrace. We 
 may pray with good bishop Kenn, "that sweet sleep our 
 eyelids close ; " but the motive of our prayer must be, that 
 on awaking from sleep we may with greater vigour prose- 
 cute God's service. 
 
 Sleep, like health, is a blessing endeared and esteemed 
 by a consciousness of privation. Its absence is often a 
 symptom of disease, both distressing and dangerous ; but 
 how frequently it proceeds from a troubled mind or a bur- 
 dened conscience, from the pressure of worldly cares or the 
 excess of worldly pleasures. Rank and riches, the atmo- 
 sphere of courts, and all the contrivances of luxurious ease, 
 avail not to propitiate this humble but capricious guest. A 
 sleepless night, passed by a Persian monarch, was a link 
 in a chain woven by God's hand for working a deliverance 
 for his people, still commemorated by them in the feast of 
 Purim. A sleepless season may be an occasion of mercy, 
 when the guilty soul, amid darkness and sohtude, is led to 
 reflection, penitence, and prayer ; or the believing soul 
 
SLEEP. 167 
 
 enjoys communion with God, "who giveth songs in the 
 night." 
 
 Sleep is a type of false security and spiritual sloth. Eeal 
 safety sanctions security, but there may be security without 
 safety. We may sink to sleep on a mountain's side, and 
 dream not of danger, unconscious that an avalanche will de- 
 scend and crush us, or a torrent burst its barriers and hurl 
 us to destruction. So a careless sinner may be lulled in 
 treacherous peace, and steep his senses in forgetfulness, while 
 over him is impending a resistless weight of "indignation 
 and wrath, tribulation and anguish." But the gospel con- 
 veys to his ear at once a summons of alarm and a message 
 of encouragement — "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise 
 from the dead ; and Christ shall give thee light ;" or a soul 
 may have been awakened from the sleep of sin, but have 
 relapsed into a sluggish and drowsy condition. The bride- 
 groom's call has been obeyed ; but while he tarries, his 
 attendants are slumbering — duties are neglected, supphes 
 of grace unsought, and temptations suffered to overpower. 
 But "it is high time to awake out of sleep," for we know 
 not how soon the cry may- arise, "Behold the bridegroom 
 Cometh ; go ye out to meet him." To take another illus- 
 tration. For a Eoman soldier to sleep at his post was a 
 capital offence, and for a Christian warrior to yield to 
 slumberous ease is a dangerous and fatal error. " There- 
 fore, let us not sleep as do others ; but let us watch and be 
 sober." 
 
 Sleep is also a symbol of death. We call our burying- 
 grounds cemeteries, that is, sleeping-chambers ; and 
 believers when they die are beautiMly said to sleep in 
 Jesus. We must not, however, confound the Christian 
 faith with the dogma of heathen or infidel philosophers. 
 Death is not an eternal sleep, a sleep without dreams, from 
 which there is no awakening ; nor is it a sleep in which 
 the soul participates, except in so far as the state implies 
 a rest from conflict, toil, and sorrow. Natural sleep, which 
 furnishes the image, is not an extinction of being, only a 
 temjforary change in its expression ; and while the activities 
 of motion and sensation are in abeyance, the faculties of 
 thought retain their free and independent exercise. So in 
 the sleep of death, while the body reposes in the grave. 
 
168 SLEEP. 
 
 the spirit lives with God. Such a view of death is full of 
 consolation, and the period during which its influence shall 
 last, when compared with the immortal duration of the 
 resurrection day, is infinitely less than a single night-time 
 to the longest life. 
 
 Yet only those whose waking hours are spent with Jesus 
 will sleep with him. The condition at death will not he a 
 reversal of the character of the life. Of them that sleep in 
 the dust of the earth, some shall awake to everlasting life; 
 hut others shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt. 
 Be it ours "to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should 
 live together with him." 
 
% Snntrag tortl^ t\it ^htks. 
 
 " Waft, waft, ye winds, His story ; 
 And you, ye waters, roll, 
 Till, lite a sea of glory, 
 
 It spreads from pole to pole ; 
 Till, o'er our ransomed nature, 
 The Lamb for sinners slain, 
 Kedeemer, King, Creator, 
 In bliss return to reign." 
 
 Hebeb. 
 
 How striking a contrast to the voyager, when, after 
 leaving the high chalk cliiFs of Albion, he first sights 
 land again as he surveys the alluvial flats that border the 
 mouth of the Demerara river ! But not in soil and surface 
 only is the change perceived. He finds himself amid the 
 attractions, and with them the annoyances, of an equinoc- 
 tial latitude and climate. The luxuriance of tropical 
 vegetation is there, and nature is arrayed in gorgeous 
 hues ; but he can realize in a way unknown before the 
 force of the promise, literal or figurative, " The Lord is 
 thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite 
 thee by day, nor the moon by night." However bright 
 the skies, the soft and mellowing glories of the twihght 
 hour are known but to memory ; and amidst the prodigality 
 of living forms, there are not a few to injure or distress, 
 while so much is presented to delight and interest. If we 
 walk on shore, we shall meet among the human popula- 
 tion, representatives from every quarter of the globe — our 
 own countrymen, dominant not in numbers but in power, 
 descendants of the Dutch, to whose authority they had 
 succeeded, Portuguese from Madeira, Coolies from India, 
 scattered traces of the red or yellow aborigines, who have 
 everywhere retreated before the advancing civilization of 
 the white man, and, most interesting of all to the Christian 
 
170 A SUNDAY WITH THE BLACKS. 
 
 philanthropist, the sons and daughters of Africa, the off- 
 spring direct or intermingled of the Ethiopian race. 
 
 The writer cannot forget the emotions of pleasure with 
 which he found himself one sabbath morning among a 
 coloured congregation in Georgetown. On landing from 
 his ship, he had to traverse the principal streets of the 
 city, built in somewhat formal style, and bordered, after 
 the Dutch fashion, with miniature canals, though the fre- 
 quent streams and trees offered some alleviation to the 
 noontide heat and glare. He then passed through a pubhc 
 burying-ground, where, though no stone memorialized the 
 spot, rest the remains of a missionary, who fell a victim 
 to the prejudices of West Indian society, but whom we 
 now recognise as a faithful servant of Christ. Then, 
 crossing a bridge, he entered a garden, enclosing a place 
 of worship, a schoolroom and parsonage, set off by a beau- 
 tiful foreground of tropical foliage. The chapel was a 
 substantial building of wood, fitted up with some elegance, 
 and capable of accommodating one thousand six hundred 
 persons. On the occasion of our visit, it was well filled 
 by a company of negro worshippers, respectably dressed, 
 orderly, and devout ; in propriety of appearance and ear- 
 nestness of attention fit to compete with any Christian 
 assembly in our own land, while their hearty utterances in 
 praise and prayer ' betokened the warmth and vivacity of 
 their nature. Once they had been held in bondage to their 
 fellow men, but now were doubly free — delivered from the 
 curse of earthly slavery, and rejoicing in the Uberty of the 
 children of God. The act of meeting for religious service, 
 formerly a favour that could be suspended by the power 
 that conceded it, was now enjoyed as a right and esteemed 
 as a privilege. The building in which they met, costing 
 more than £3000, had been erected by their own volun- 
 tary offerings, and their minister was supported without 
 the aid of any society at home. 
 
 Some incidents will illustrate the extent and principle 
 of the liberality evinced, at a time too before emancipation, 
 when the influence of divine love had to overcome the sense 
 of human wrong. One sabbath morning, a black of unex- 
 ceptionable Christian character and usefulness followed the 
 minister into his house after service, requesting a private 
 
A SUNDAY WITH THE BLACKS. 171 
 
 interview. Having retired for the purpose, he began to 
 empty his pocket of dollars, saying, as he dived again and 
 again, and brought up handful after handful to lay on the 
 table, ' ' This money I had put by to keep for sick time or 
 old age, when I want money to keep me ; but, so long as 
 God's house is in want, I cannot keep it ; I must keep 
 God's house first. God so good to me, I cannot keep it 
 when God's house want it." The sum so carefully saved 
 and unselfishly bestowed amounted to forty-eight dollars 
 and two guilders, or rather more than ten pounds — a noble 
 offering for a poor slave. On one estate a meeting of 
 communicants was held among themselves, and the ques- 
 tion proposed, "What can we do ? God requires us to 
 give as we have ability, and he will not accept what we 
 are able to give, if it be not given with a willing heart." 
 This principle being established, each said what he would 
 give, and a time was appointed to gather their offerings. 
 One of them having proposed to contribute a sum which 
 every one knew was beneath his ability, they considered 
 the law of Christ infringed, which says, "It is accepted 
 according to that a man hath," and therefore they could 
 not think it right to take it. Upon this he offered to give 
 more ; but as it seemed to them that this promised increase 
 was reluctant and constrained, they dared not take it, as 
 being against another law, "It is accepted, if there be 
 first a willing mind." Full of trouble, the man brought 
 the money to his minister and besought his counsel. 
 Surely nowhere should we expect to find a higher regard 
 to the demands of duty and the supremacy of conscience. 
 From the despised and degraded African may we be con- 
 tent to learn a lesson of Christian morality and truth. 
 
 It may also have been anticipated (which inquiry will 
 confirm) that their zeal for the house of the Lord is not 
 content with seeking and securing their own advantage. 
 They first estabKsh themselves, and then provide for 
 others ; and thus assume the character of a missionary 
 church, spreading and sustaining around them stations for 
 teaching, and preaching, and aiding in the support of the 
 older and more organized institutions of this country. 
 Their own schools are flourishing, and among the children 
 may be remarked great quickness, shrewdness, and appli- 
 
172 A SUNDAY WITH THE BLACKS. 
 
 cation. It was also affecting to see the eagerness of the 
 aged, who, while slaves, were tinable to read, to acquire 
 the means of possessing for themselves that key to the, 
 treasures of God's word. 
 
 It was impossible to mix with such a people, without 
 reflecting on the guilt our country had incm-red in traffick- 
 ing, hke Tyre and Babylon, in the bodies and souls of 
 men, and without, at the same time, remembering the 
 largeness and inclusiveness of the blessings of redemption. 
 As one of the offspring of Ham, still ' ' a seiTant to his 
 brethren," was compelled to bear the cross up the ascent 
 of Calvary, there surely was virtue in the touch, and an 
 earnest of future exaltation. All are on an equality before 
 the throne of heaven, and in Jesus Christ there is neither 
 bond nor free. Eternity will efface the distinctions and 
 repair the ruins of timjs ; but in this life, the gospel has a 
 sovereign remedy for every social injury as well as every 
 moral evil." For our past relations with the blacks their 
 debtors we are, but on our heads they are heaping living 
 coals, by their exemplary Christian fidelity, consistency, 
 and charity. Already, in the developments of providence 
 is the curse being turned into a blessing, and the future 
 will doubtless witness and welcome a glorious reversal of 
 the destinies of the past. 
 
 The Ethiopian cannot change his skin ; but the darkest 
 stains of guilt can be removed, and the whole inner nature 
 transformed, by the washing of regeneration and renewing 
 of the Holy Ghost. Far more momentous than any out- 
 ward or adventitious circumstances, that distinguish and 
 divide the human race, is the purity of the affections and 
 conscience before Him who seeth not as man seeth, but 
 who looketh at the heart. No boasted superiority will 
 avail with him ; but as all alike must be judged according 
 to their works, so must all who would obtain his favour 
 seek it through Jesus, " the way, the truth, and the life." 
 No one cometh to the Father, but by the Son ; but all 
 who thus approach, whatever their colour or condition, 
 language or lineage, may appropriate and appreciate the 
 force and beauty of the common prayer, " Our Father who 
 art in heaven." 
 
Jl^triBxttik ^ustm. 
 
 "Justice hath her balances ; 
 Another world can compensate for all ; 
 The daily martyrdom of patience shall not be wanting of reward." 
 
 No one can study attentively the word of God, or the 
 history of the church and the world, without perceiving 
 and admitting how, in this Hfe, suffering is the result of 
 sin, and how exact and literal the correspondence often is 
 between the guilt incurred and the penalty inflicted. We 
 believe not in the Nemesis of poetry and fable — in any 
 special minister of heaven's vengeance, charged to punish 
 cruelty or wrong, injustice or impiety, and to visit evil 
 deeds with righteous retribution. But we do believe in a 
 Supreme Moral Governor, and we acknowledge the laws 
 which his government is pledged to establish and enforce. 
 "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." 
 " With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to 
 you again." "He shall have judgment without mercy, that 
 hath showed no mercy." "Whoso stoppeth his ears at 
 the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not 
 be heard." "His own iniquities shall take the wicked 
 himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his 
 sins." " The recompense of a man's hand shall be ren- 
 dered unto him." 
 
 Scripture will afford some striking proofs of our position. 
 After the death of Joshua, the war of extermination to be 
 waged by the Children of Israel against the inhabitants of 
 the land, was commenced by the adjoining tribes of Judah 
 
174 RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 
 
 and Simeon. In Bezek, which belonged to'the inheritance 
 of Judah, they met with the Canaanites and Perizzites, 
 whom they attacked and slew. . But Adoiii-bezek, the king 
 or chieftain of Bezek, fled ; so they pursued and caught 
 him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. "And 
 Adoni-bezek said. Threescore and ten kings, having their 
 thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat 
 under my table : as I have done, so God hath requited 
 me." We cannot but allow that the victorious Jews in 
 their treatment of their conquered foe were carrying out, 
 consciously or unconsciously, the Divine purposes ; they were 
 guilty of no wanton or causeless cruelty ; the confession ex- 
 torted vindicated the consistency of the proceeding, and 
 for ever it remains in attestation of the axiom, " Verily he 
 is a God that judgeth in the earth." In like manner, 
 Haman was hanged on the gallows that he had prepared 
 for Mordecai. So the presidents and princes of Babylon 
 were themselves cast into the den of lions, which in their 
 envy and subtlety they had designed for Daniel. 
 
 We may also allude to an incident in ecclesiastical his- 
 tory, which rests on sufficient evidence, and which may not 
 unfairly be assumed as an instance of Divine retribution. 
 At the close of the fifteenth century, the papal chair was 
 occupied by one who, as a man, sounded the depths of 
 moral depravity, and who, from his official position, brought 
 down a foul disgrace upon the Christian name. To recruit 
 his own exhausted finances, he conceived the plan of des- 
 troying a cardinal of high repute for wealth. The cardinal 
 was invited to a banquet, and a bottle of poisoned wine 
 was provided for his special use. By accident, or design 
 on the part of the attendants, the bottles were changed, 
 and Pope Alexander VI. died of the poison he had prepared 
 for another. We are hereby reminded of the declarations 
 of the word of God : " He made a pit, and digged it, and 
 is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall 
 return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall 
 come down upon his own pate." " Whoso diggeth a pit 
 shall fall therein ; and he that roUeth a stone, it will return 
 upon him." 
 
 But Scripture goes farther in its precepts and examples. 
 The penalty of sin may be paid, not by the actual transgressor, 
 
EETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 175 
 
 or by him alone, but by his Irindred or representatives. 
 The Lord announces it as consistent with his scheme of 
 administration, that he will visit "the iniquity of the 
 fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth gene- 
 ration." " The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the 
 children's teeth are set on edge." " The seed of evil-doers 
 shall never be renowned." When Samuel pronounced on 
 Agag, the king of the Amalekites, his sentence of death — 
 "As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy 
 mother be childless among women" — ^he was then, under 
 Divine instruction, punishing the treachery and injury 
 which, ages before, had been committed by the ancestors 
 of Agag upon the children of Israel. So again was Joram, 
 king of Israel, slain by Jehu, and his body cast into the 
 portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, in retribution 
 for his father Ahab's oppression and outrage. It is also 
 a matter of daUy observation that parents transmit to their 
 offspring their bodily and mental defects and disorders. 
 The sins of the father are reproduced in the child, and the 
 sufferings of the child recoil on the father, to whom are 
 due their origin and their endurance. Much of what is 
 conounonly called destiny or misfortune in the history of 
 famiKes may be better interpreted as the necessary accom- 
 plishment of God's revealed plans, as the simple assertion 
 of the meaning and reality of his own statute and ordi- 
 nance. How many, as they listen sabbath after sabbath 
 to the words of the second commandment, read in the 
 service of the sanctuary, have reason to join with personal 
 earnestness and appropriation in the response, ' ' Lord have 
 mercy upon us !" For " if a son seeth all his father's 
 sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not 
 such like, he shall not die for the iniquity of his father ; 
 he shall surely live." Ezek. xviii. 14, etc. 
 
 This subject may teach us several lessons of great 
 solemnity and interest. We may remark, in passing, that 
 although in reference to personal injuries the principle of 
 the Mosaic law was, " As a man hath done, so shall it be 
 done to him; breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for 
 tooth," we are instructed by the genius of Christianity 
 not to cherish a spirit of retaliation. Vengeance belongeth 
 to God ; he alone must, and he will repay, in the manner 
 
176 RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 
 
 that best suits his wisdom and justice. "We have no right 
 to assume an office which is alien to our ignorance, and 
 infirmity, and imperfection. Yet we assert that, in accor- 
 dance with his eternal purposes, and under the direction 
 or with the permission of his overruling providence, 
 offences against his inviolable laws often meet in this life 
 with their appropriate doom. " He that soweth to the 
 flesh, shall of the flesh reap cprruption." A youth of 
 debauchery entails an age of disease. Those who make 
 their bodies ministers of sin, shall have their bodies made 
 unto them the instruments of suffering. Those who wilfully 
 and persistently stop their ears, and shut their eyes, and 
 harden their hearts against the entrance of God's word or 
 the influence of his grace, shall have their senses and their 
 emotions irresistibly and judicially sealed. They who 
 despise the monitions of conscience, will find at last that 
 conscience ceases to admonish; they who forsake God, 
 will be forsaken by him. Neglect of duty and transgression 
 of law are alike cumulative and self-productive. Acts 
 become habits, and habits a slavery, binding in fetters 
 which ever tighten in their embrace. " Even as they did 
 not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them 
 over to a reprobate mind." "Therefore it is come to 
 pass that as I cried, and they would not hear, so they 
 cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts." 
 Those whose thoughts are wholly given to this world, to 
 its pleasures or its profits, shall be so fall of what they 
 desire and pursue, as to have no room for any hoher affec- 
 tions or higher attainments. " They shall eat of the fruit 
 of their own way, and be filled with their own devices." 
 They who by the practice of cruelty, or the pursuit of vice, 
 or the propagation of infidelity and impiety, shall have 
 laboured to destroy the principles, the purity, the peace, 
 the pleasure of their fellow-creatures, shall experience in 
 themselves the loss of all that makes life delightM or 
 dignified, or even endurable. If not devoured by the 
 anguish of remorse, they will be degraded by the inability 
 to know or love aught that is good or great. Or they may 
 be and often are prevented, by the forced inactivity of 
 physical, or the living death of mental disorder, from doing 
 anything, if they would, to make reparation for time and 
 
RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 177 
 
 talents abused and misappropriated. " They have sown 
 the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind." Those even 
 who are afterwards renewed and sanctified by the Spirit of 
 God cannot undo the mischief they already may have done, 
 and wiU be driven to acknowledge how bitter are the fruits 
 of those things of which they are affectingly but unavail- 
 ingly ashamed. 
 
 Yet the picture has a bright side as well as a dark one. 
 For, in the first place, warnings no less than encourage- 
 ments, threatenings no less than promises, are intended 
 to impress and to improve us. And, in the second place, 
 the converse of all we have insisted on and illustrated is 
 equally true. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall 
 obtain mercy." "A good man shall be satisfied from 
 himself." " He that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the 
 Spirit reap life everlasting." 
 
^£ms. 
 
 " 1 see, by faith, my holy home above, 
 Jerusalem ! 
 Adom'd so richly, by my Saviour's love, 
 
 With pearl and gem." 
 
 The more we examine tlie processes and products of 
 nature, tie more are we called on to acknowledge and 
 admire tte exquisite simplicity of all Iter God-giyen laws, 
 both, as to the methods in which, and the materials with 
 which she works. From elements surprisingly few she 
 obtains effects inconceivably multiform and numerous ; 
 and substances identical, or closely allied in their inherent 
 composition, are arranged in shapes the most unlike, 
 endowed with the most opposite properties, and have values 
 assigned to them, real or imaginary, whose variety is 
 almost boundless. 
 
 A familiar instance occurs in the diamond and common 
 charcoal. The one is a gem of purest ray and highest 
 rank of costliness ; -the other an object devoid of beauty, 
 nay, even to the touch defiling ; if in bulk commensiurate 
 with the former, utterly insignificant as to intrinsic worth,' 
 though when largely, or, it may be, sparingly employed, 
 according to the end in view, an article of great economic 
 utility ; and yet both are essentially the same, differing 
 only in their outward states and circumstances. 
 
 We may extend th^ principle, or argument, to the en- 
 tire range of bodies, which, from their excessive hardness 
 and density, their exquisite crystallization, their lustre and 
 their scarceness, are known as gems, or precious stones, 
 but which are made of little else than the ingredients of 
 simple clay or iiint. In the oriental sapphire and ruby, 
 the clay earth element largely preponderates ; while the 
 
GEMS. 179 
 
 amethyst, the cornelian, the chrysoprasus, the chalcedony, 
 the jasper, the onyx, and the agate, axe but flint in its 
 purest forms. In the topaz, the emerald, the beryl, and 
 the garnet, we have clay and flint earths combined in 
 various proportions, though in some of them we may also 
 meet the rarer earth, glucina ; in the hyacinth, or jacinth, 
 in addition to flint, we have the earth called zircon ; and 
 in the chrysohte we find magnesia. In every case the 
 colours, on which their peculiar beauties and distinctive 
 characters depend, are merely stains from without or from 
 within, caused by the introduction or infiltration of minute 
 quantities of metallic oxides. Pearls, though classed as 
 such, are not true gems, being, in fact, diseased deposits 
 from creatures that inhabit certain shells ; but these, how- 
 ever prized, are reduced by scientific research to the level 
 of common chalk. 
 
 From the analogies suggested by this formative law of 
 nature, we may even be taught a lesson of humility. As 
 . on all of human kind the sentence of return has passed, 
 " Earth to earth and dust to dust," so have all, whether 
 prince or peasant, sage or savage, illustrious or ignoble, 
 proceeded from a common origin, and been fashioned of 
 the self-same clay. " The precious sons of Zion," raised 
 to be "the stones of a crown" of glory, the settings of 
 " a royal diadem in the hand of their God," should espe- 
 cially keep in remembrance " the hole of the pit whence 
 they were digged." 
 
 Yet gems have prerogatives of finish, if not of fabric, 
 and have been from the earliest ages objects of human 
 pride and pleasure. Nor has Divine wisdom disdained to 
 use them freely, both as to positive and ritual institutions, 
 and in the images of .poetry and prophecy. The very 
 review we have given of- their etructural relationship may 
 also serve to enhance and exalt our conceptions of Divine 
 contrivance and skill. 
 
 In -the breastplate of the Jewish high-priest, gems 
 were adopted as symbols of the tribes of Israel. Amid a 
 gorgeous mounting of gold, and of purple and scarlet 
 embroidery, twelve glittering stones appeared, each en- 
 graven with the name of a son of Jacob. In the uppermost 
 row, a sardius, by which we understand a ruby, or a red 
 
 N 2 
 
180 GEMS. 
 
 cornelian, bore the name of Eeuben ; a topaz, that of 
 Simeon ; and a carbuncle, or deep-coloured ruby, that of 
 Levi. In the second row, Judah was inscribed on an 
 emerald, Issachar on a sapphire, and Zebulun on a diamond. 
 On a ligure, probably a hyacinth, was written the name 
 of Dan ; on an agate, that of Naphtali ; and, on an ame- 
 thyst, that of Gad : and these composed the third row. 
 And the lowest row displayed the signatures of Asher on 
 a beryl, Joseph on an onyx, and Benjamin on a jasper. So 
 Aaron and his successors, when they ministered in holy 
 things, bore on their hearts the names of the children 
 whom God had chosen, and the Lord accepted the memo- 
 rial. We may be equally sure that the great High-priest 
 of our profession presents, before the throne of his Father 
 and theirs, the memorials of those who believe on his 
 name, and to whom has been given the privilege to be 
 called the sons of God ; and we may rest assured that 
 they are precious in his sight, beloved and honourable. 
 
 Now are the seed of Abraham ' ' afflicted, tossed with 
 tempest;" yet, though forsaken, not forgotten; though 
 under displeasure for a season, to lae restored to everlasting 
 favour. But to gentile, as well as Jew, may the promise 
 be applied, in the peace and prosperity, and safety and 
 dignity that both shall alike enjoy in the kingdom of their 
 common Lord and Eedeemer, "the Holy One of Israel," 
 and " the God of the whole earth" — " I will lay thy 
 foundations with sapphires, and I wiU make thy windows 
 with agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy 
 borders of pleasant stones." 
 
 Yet more magnificent far is the vision of the new Jeru- 
 salem, the antitype of Zion's holy city, the heritage of 
 Messiah's ransomed church. " Her light is like unto a 
 stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as 
 crystal :" her twelve gates twelve pearls : her walls having 
 twelve foundations, " garnished with all manner of precious 
 stones," and inscribed, not with the names of " the .tribes 
 of the Lord," but, as denoting a new economy, with "the 
 names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." " The first 
 foundation jasper ; the second sapphire ; the third a chal- 
 cedony ; the fourth an emerald ; the fifth sardonyx ; the 
 sixth sardius ; the seventh chrysohte ; the eighth beryl ; 
 
GEMS. 181 
 
 the ninth a topaz ; the tenth a chrysoprasus ; the eleventh 
 a jacinth; the twelfth an amethyst." 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that in all the prophetic glimpses 
 and sacred portraitures of the heavenly world, gems are 
 the figures conspicuoiisly employed. When Moses and 
 Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders, went up 
 into the mount, and " saw the God of Israel, there was 
 under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire-stone." 
 And when Ezekiel, by the river Chebar, beheld through 
 the opened sky cherubic forms of dazzling brightness, 
 " above the firmament that was over their heads was as 
 the appearance of a sapphire-stone." Of all the gems, 
 ■ the sapphire has the widest variety of scope and tint, 
 ranging from purest blue to ruby red, or topaz yellow, or 
 emerald green, or amethyst violet ; and by giving this 
 natural fact its proper weight and meaning, we discern 
 sublimer charms and a richer expressiveness in the Scrip- 
 tural similitude. 
 
 So, again, how august and how lovely was the scene dis- 
 closed to the entranced and enraptured prisoner of Patmos : 
 " Behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the 
 throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper 
 and a sardine-stone : and there was a rainbow round about 
 the throne, in sight like unto an emerald." Until we 
 shall have solved the mystery of the " spiritual body," we 
 cannot presume to say how far heaven may be a material 
 creation ; and, if so, what world or worlds shall constitute 
 the mansions of the blessed ; and where, amid the regions 
 of space, the site shall be. Since motion round a centre, 
 system within system, is the established principle of the 
 universe, we may conclude there is, beyond our ken, some 
 common central point of rest and residue of power, and in 
 it may already have been set the inner sanctU'ary, the 
 t^irone of glory, the presence chamber of the great King, 
 the house of our Father. But whatever spot or sphere, 
 long "since prepared or now in course of adaptation, shall 
 be the residence of life and immortality, the " new heaven 
 and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness," we are 
 entitled to suppose that anything we here may have most 
 goodly, gorgeous, and graceful, shall there be reproduced, 
 intensified, and multipUed ; that forms most beautiful and 
 
182 GEMS. 
 
 perfect, even now profusely scattered, shall there prevail 
 as common types ; and that as, morally, nothing that 
 defileth shall enter, so, materially, shall, everything be 
 there that ministers delight. 
 
 Meanwhile, we are denizens of earth ; iand, unless in us 
 is being effected a process of spiritual qualification, we 
 shall be excluded from the privileges of the celestial city. 
 The freedom has been purchased for us at an infinite cost ; 
 but by us as petitioners must be attained, and to us as pro- 
 bationers applied, the benefits of the stupendous transaction 
 and sacrifice. If we would gain admission witMn its gates 
 of pearl, and walk in the light of its garniture of gems, 
 we must seek to appropriate the " pearl of great price," 
 and pursue the wisdom that "is better than rubies," that 
 "the topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal," and that "cannot 
 be valued with the precious onyx or the sapphire." " The 
 fear of the Lord, that is wisdom," with which "all the 
 things thou canst desire are not to be compared;" and 
 the kingdom of heaven, the gospel of Christ cordially 
 accepted and implicitly obeyed, is the goodly pearl for 
 which all that we have must be given in exchange. If 
 engaged in this holy merchandize, we must endeavouf , not 
 only to win, but to wear its spoils ; in other words, to 
 exhibit those Christian virtues of which gems are fitting 
 emblems. When a pope presented an Enghsh monarch 
 with four rings, each monnted with a different stone, he 
 thus explained the meaning of the gift : — " The green of 
 the emerald," said he, " signifies faith; the blue of the 
 sapphire, hope ; the red of the ruby, charity ; the yellow 
 of the topaz, good works." Without adopting so fancifttl 
 a symbolism, we must rememher that we are enjoined to 
 " adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things;" 
 and are even taught, for our encouragement, that "a meek 
 and quiet spirit is, in the sight of God," an ornament " pf 
 great price." Not only the collective church, but the 
 individuals who compose it, have set before them' their 
 duties as well as their dignity in the prophet's song of 
 triumph: — " I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul 
 shall be joyful in my God ; for he hath clothed me with 
 the garments of salvation ; he hath covered me with the 
 robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself 
 
GEMS. 183 
 
 ■with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her 
 jewels." Our concern, in fact, must be, not merely to 
 get to heaven, but while on earth to Uve to the praise of 
 the glory of the grace of God. 
 
 Yet the subject suggests a solemn warning. Gems can 
 be made by art so closely to imitate the workmanship of 
 nature as to deceive except on the strictest scrutiny. The 
 object that contrives them may be either fraud, so as to 
 obtain a money value far beyond their real merits, or else 
 the service of vanity, that would cheaply secure a specious 
 substitute for costlier and worthier adornments. In like 
 manner, may there be much fair pretence and showy pro- 
 fession, without the solidity and sincerity of Christian 
 character. To how miany, alas ! may spiritually be applied 
 the description and the doom of Tyre : — " Thou hast been 
 in Eden, the garden of God ; every precious stone was 
 thy covering — the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the 
 beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, 
 and the carbuncle, and gold: thou wast upon the holy 
 mountain of God. Iniquity was found in thee, and thou 
 hast sinned : therefore I will cast thee as profane out of 
 the mountain of God. Thine heart was lifted up because 
 of thy beauty ; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason 
 of thy brightness. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by 
 the multitude of thine iniquities ; therefore will I bring 
 forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, 
 and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth." 
 
 But for those who fear the Lord in truth, who dehght 
 to think upon his name, and to talk, because they have 
 tasted of his goodness and his beauty, the approving sen- 
 tence is recorded : " They shall be mine in that day when 
 I make up my jewels." 
 
^\iz ^auil^tm €xaBB, 
 
 -"Those crystal vaults 
 
 And all their spatbling balls, 
 
 Are but the porches to Thy courtSi 
 And paintings of Thy walls." 
 
 If the earth has its exotics, so have the heavens ; but 
 while the former may be transplanted and brought to us, 
 we must ourselves visit distant climes to see the beauty 
 and glory of the latter. On entering the tropics, and 
 passing from one hemisphere to another, not merely do we 
 meet with new and unaccustomed forms, of animal and 
 vegetable life, and with strange varieties of the family of 
 man, but the very aspect of the skies is altered. Nothing 
 strikes more forcibly the senses and imagination of a 
 wanderer, than to watch those stars which, from his earhest 
 years, he has known, and on which he has gazed as familiar 
 friends, gradually sink and finally disappear, while other 
 constellations rise to take their place and rivet his regard. 
 No group among these has attracted greater attention than 
 that described as the Southern Cross. Its close resem- 
 blance in shape to the consecrated symbol of the Christian 
 faith has invested it with peculiar charms, and has made 
 it the theme of poets and the instrument or object of a 
 sensuous devotion. We would not draw from it such 
 emotions as the early navigators or missionary fathers of 
 Spain and Portugal may have done, but neither would we 
 pass it with indifiference, or neglect it as a means to illus- 
 trate and impress the great and gracious truths of redemp- 
 tion. 
 
 The constellation embraces four stars, of nearly equal 
 magnitude, so arranged as to form a cross, yet not so 
 exact in outline as are two other crosses, of inferior bril- 
 liance, one on either side, and which we may fancy placed 
 
THE SOtTTHEHN CROSS. 185 
 
 as if to point us upward to it. It is also rendered the 
 more conspicuous from the comparative want of bright- 
 ness in that portion of the heavens immediately above and 
 • beneath it. The situation of the south pole is not deter- 
 mined by any star corresponding to our north polar star ; 
 but the head and foot stars of the cross, from their uniform 
 direction towards 1% have been called the antarctic pointers. 
 Thus it is a natural index of place, and a guide by which 
 to steer. In an equinoctial region it is interesting to turn 
 from north to south, and to see at nearly equal altitudes 
 those two glorious groups, the bear and the cross, dotting 
 out the compass line of the sky. llie cross is also an 
 index of time, a dial illumined by the hand of nature. The 
 two great stars that mark its summit and its foot having 
 almost the same right ascension, it is perpendicular when 
 passing the meridian. This is a circumstance well known and 
 profitably applied. It has been observed at what hour of the 
 night, at different seasons, the cross is erect or inclined, 
 and from no other group of stars can a calculation be made 
 so easily. The illustrious naturalist and traveller, Hum- 
 boldt, thus records his experience : — ' ' How often have we 
 heard our guide exclaim in the savannahs of Venezuela, or 
 in the desert extending from Lima to Truxillo, ' Midnight 
 is past, the cross begins to bend.' " It may happen, how- 
 ever, as happened to the writer, when first seen, to appear 
 disadvantageously from being in' an inverted or oblique 
 position, and it must be watched night after night to arrive 
 at the full idea it conveys. 
 
 Leaving this brilliant constellation to pursue its silent 
 revolutions round the southern pole, we may turn to that 
 cross which is ever present, not to fancy but to faith — 
 invisible, yet real and eternal. The believer needs no mate- 
 rial emblem to conduct him to the Saviour, nor must the 
 sinner and the sceptic expect a sign from heaven. Multi- 
 tudes have lived and will live without an opportunity of 
 seeing the cross of the south ; but Jesus was lifted up on 
 Calvary, and is now exalted at the right hand of the Father, 
 that the eyes and hearts of all might be drawn to him. In 
 all lands, at all seasons, and under all circumstances, is the 
 cross of Christ apparent to those who look for it, ever cul- 
 minant, and beaming with rays of love. Upon the sea of 
 disquietude and sorrow, across the trackless wilds of per- 
 
186 THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 
 
 plexity and danger, through the gloom of impurity and 
 ignorance it shines, pointing to peace and safety, to holiness 
 and joy. No clouds overspread and obscure it but such as 
 dim the mental eye ; no height, nor depth, nor distance is 
 beyond its reach. It never withdraws its light, and in its 
 token the uttermost ends of the earth may glory. 
 
 The badge of shame, the instrument of suffering, the 
 associate and expression of a penal curse, the cross has 
 become the sign and seal of the highest style of dignity and 
 bliss. It still must humble that it may exalt, it wounds 
 that it may heal, it condemns that it may deliver and con- 
 sole. The gospel principle is life out of death, pardon 
 through sacrifice, favour following self-abasement ; first 
 penitence, then peace ; first sorrow, then joy. The cross, 
 (meaning by that, of course, not the mere external emblem, 
 but the great atonement effected on it,) first faintly 
 ghmpsed, then seen more fully, more fixedly, more gladly, 
 with lowly and adoring confidence, exerts an influence far 
 above all human power and wisdom. It cheers and it 
 cleanses, it subdues evil habits and desires, it supplies right 
 motives, it strengthens good resolves, it sustains in the 
 paths of holy obedience. It establishes the fickle, it em- 
 boldens the feeble, it rebukes the presumer, it reclaims the 
 wanderer, it gives patience to the tempted and rest to the 
 weary, it inspires the dejected, it stills the discontented, it 
 arouses the indolent, quickens the active with growing zeal, 
 and opens the kingdom of heaven to all who believe. How 
 blessed in this vale of tears to have such a token glittering 
 through them — ^the very rainbow that encircles the throne 
 above ; and while the world is immersed in gloom, to be 
 able to lift up the head, to see the sign of the Son of man, 
 and know that redemption is accomplished. 
 
 The cross is not only the banner of triumph, but it is a 
 standard and rallying-point of conflict. Christians are 
 still crusaders, and though they wear no special dress or 
 badge, to distinguish and denote their master or their 
 mission, they are bound to confess the name by which they 
 are called, and to contend against the adversaries of their 
 Lord. The religion of the cross can dispense with the 
 crucifix ; but it cannot dispense with the surrender of the 
 heart, the homage of the lip, and the service of the life. It 
 
THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 187 
 
 is vain to adopt the cross as an ornament, unless the spiot 
 be clothed in the garments of salvation. The days are 
 past when they who profess the faith of the Crucified- One 
 are exposed to the cross, of martyrdom ; but whosoever 
 followeth Christ, and taketh not up the cross of self-denial, 
 is not worthy of him. Every day must this cross be 
 exhibited and endured, and they who are not faithful unto 
 death will not receive the crown of life. God forbid that 
 we should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 By thine agony and bloody sweat, by thy cross and passion, 
 good Lord, deliver us. 
 
|0^ '§nn^mB WiMn^ "Maxtxm. 
 
 " Berere the man, whose pilgrim marks the road, 
 And guides the progress of the soul to Grod." 
 
 "Wb learn, from a narrative written by himself, that 
 Bunyan married before he had completed his twentieth 
 year. The union was scarcely consistent with the world's 
 ideas of prudence. They came together " as poor as poor 
 might be," and began housekeeping " without so much as 
 a dish or a spoon" between them. The wife brought, as 
 her only portion, two small books, a dying gift from her 
 pious father. " In these," says John, " I sometimes read 
 with her, wherein I also found some things that were 
 somewhat pleasing to me. These books with the relation, 
 (that is, of his wife's father's godly sayings and doings,) 
 though they did not reach my heart, to awaken it about 
 my sad and sinful state, yet they did beget within me some 
 desire to reform my vicious life, and fall in very eagerly 
 with the religion of the times." Whereupon, he tells us, 
 he began to go to church twice a day with the foremost, 
 and devoutly say and sing as others did, yet withal retain- 
 ing his wicked ways. The work which thus commenced 
 in error, self-righteousness,, and formalism, was conducted 
 by God's good Spirit to a bright completion. 
 
 If to these books we m'ay refer as to a starting-point in 
 Bunyan's holy and useful career, it will be interesting to 
 examine their contisnts and character. The inquiry will, 
 at all events, serve to illustrate the popular religious lite- 
 rature of the seventeenth century. 
 
 The former of the books in. question is now an object of 
 rarity, but must in its day have met with an extensive 
 circulation. The copy we have had an opportunity of 
 seeing is the fifty-sixth edition, which bears no date, but 
 came out, probably, about the year 1680. It is a humble 
 tract of twenty-four pages, 24mo, printed in black letter, 
 and anonymous. The title is, " The Plain Man's Plain 
 
JOHN BUNYAn's wedding PORTION. 189 
 
 Pathway to Heaven. Directing every man how he may 
 be saved. Very seasonable for these times. Jesus saith 
 unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 
 
 Wlioso would know the way to heaven above, 
 Christ is the way, faith, hope, and love." 
 
 It is a land of sermon on the words of our Lord, " Enter 
 ye in at the strait gate," etc., Matt. vii. 13, 14 ; and it 
 ijegins as follows : — " The way to heaven is a strait and 
 narrow way, a hard way, and a thorny way, and whosoever 
 would be saved must walk in this way. It is the opinion 
 and fond conceit almost of all men, that they shall go to 
 heaven, and they hope to be saved as well as the best, 
 though they walk not in the way." The little volume 
 continues to its close to enforce the principles of the new 
 birth, of repentance, faith, and holiness. There is a sound- 
 ness in its teachings, a directness in its application, and a 
 terseness and aptness in its quaintness of phrase, that will 
 render it as " seasonable " now as eyer. We have selected 
 as examples some of its more striking passages. 
 
 " The way to heaven, although it be a hard way, and a 
 strait way, yet it leadeth unto a blessed life ; and what 
 though we be scratched in the way with briers and thorns, 
 and endure some hardship for a time, yet when we come 
 to heaven, it will surely make us amends at last." " Men 
 think if they do but come to church, and have a good 
 meaning, they shall be saved ; and how many deceive 
 themselves by this ! How many are there in England 
 who never in all their Hfe long so much as think of heaven 
 and the salvation of their precious souls ! Let the Lord 
 call never so loud by the voice of his ministers, or by the 
 voice of his words and works, by his mercies which should 
 invite men to come in, and by lus judgments, which should 
 affright them, how do they he sleeping in their sin, and 
 never awake ! But let the world call, and they presently 
 stir ; let but a door be opened how to get riches and be 
 gainers in the world, how do men thrust and throng, and 
 every one strive to go before another ! But the ministers 
 of God may cry and call till their hearts ache, for men to 
 go to heaven, and then they sadly complain to the Lord, 
 ' Who hath believed our report ?' " "If every one would 
 sweep his own door, the whole street would soon be clean, 
 
190 JOHN BUNYASr's WEDDING PORTION. 
 
 and if every one would repent of his own Bins, the sins of 
 the whole nation would be blotted out. If we be not holy 
 here, we shall never be happy hereafter." 
 
 The second of the books of which the modest dowry of 
 Bunyan's wife consisted, is a work of higher pretensions. 
 Its author was Lewis Bayley, a native of Caermarthen, 
 who, from 1616 to 1631, was bishop of Bangor. He had 
 formerly been minister of Evesham, and sermons there 
 delivered became the source and substance of the celebrated 
 " Practice of Piety ; directing a Christian how to walk 
 that he may please God," which was published with an 
 epistle dedicatory to Charles, Prince of Wales, afterwards 
 Charles I. The success it attained has been seldom ex- 
 ceeded. By 1673 it had passed through more than fifty 
 editions, besides having been translated and printed in 
 "Welsh, French, Hungarian, Polish, and other continental 
 languages. Its popularity was even made a matter of 
 complaint, for it was alleged that the common people re- 
 garded its authority as almost equal with that of Scripture. 
 Parliament at length interfered, with a view to prohibit 
 its reading and prevent its future publication. A kind of 
 persecution arose against it, and it is said that the jealousy 
 of party spirit, if it could not suppress its perusal, would 
 have concealed its author's name, as being too good a 
 book to be written by a bishop. It preceded by many 
 years the appearance of a work that has probably been still 
 more famous, the " Whole Duty of Man," the authorship 
 of which is involved in doubt. 
 
 Bunyan is by no means the only one who has attributed 
 personal benefit to Bishop Bayley's literary labours! Mr. 
 James Prazer, minister of Culross, in Fifeshire, who, bom 
 in 1639, was sorely tried on account of his Christian faith 
 and firmness, tells us, that after a youth of carelessness 
 he began seriously to reform and make a conscience of 
 every duty. And thus it came about. " One sabbath 
 afternoon I read in a book called ' The Practice of Piety," 
 concerning the misery of a natural man, the torments of 
 hell, and the blessedness of a godly man, and some direc- 
 tions for a godly life. The Lord so wrought, and my 
 heart was therewith so affected and drawn, that without 
 more ado, I thenceforth resolved to become a new man. 
 
JOHN bunyan's wedding portion. 191 
 
 and to live, not only a harmless life, but a godly and 
 devout life." Having attained to a hope of the gospel, 
 he states, " this hope produced a cheerful endeavour to 
 seek the Lord, which I did, and was labouring to do good 
 unto others, and to spread the knowledge of Christ ; by 
 which means I daily grew in the knowledge and love of 
 God. One of the books I most read was ' The Practice 
 of Piety,' which God did bless unto me." 
 
 Mr. William Blake, a woollen draper, of Covent Garden, 
 who founded a charity school at Highgate, delivered and 
 published an address or exhortation to the friends assem- 
 bled at his wife's funeral, in the year 1650. In the pre- 
 face to this he says : "I will tell thee what I was, and 
 now am, that thou mayst see God's goodness, calling poor 
 creatures out of darkness to himself. I was brought up 
 by my parents in my youth, to learn Hail Mary, pater- ■ 
 noster, the belief, and learn to read, and where I served 
 my apprenticeship little more was to be found ; but in that 
 time — I speak without any boasting — ^to the praise of 
 God's grace, he shined in some measure into me, minding 
 me of eternity, and my soul's condition, which I saw, and 
 I still do, to be very sinful. Well, I fell to reading the 
 ' Practice of Piety,' etc., and by these, or rather the Spirit, 
 I got a little persuading of God's love to my soul." 
 
 Bishop Bayley's book is doctrinal as well as practical, 
 the latter being based upon the former ; and, while it evinces 
 considerable erudition, its style is as clear and intelligible 
 as its spirit is in harmony with revealed truth. As pre- 
 liminary to the development of the plan proposed, we read, 
 " Forasmuch as there can be no true piety without the 
 knowledge of God, nor any good practice without the know- 
 ledge of a man's own self, we will therefbre lay down the 
 knowledge of God's majesty and man's misery, as the first 
 and chiefest grounds of the practice of piety." So these 
 are the topics that supply materials for the early chapters. 
 Then we find "meditations of the blessed state, both in 
 life and death, of a man that is reconciled to God in 
 Christ," presented in a strain of earnest sublimity. Next 
 follow "meditations on some hindrances which keep back 
 a sinner from the practice of piety." In this part of the 
 book are many striking sayings, such as the following : 
 
192 JOHN bunyan's wedding portion. 
 
 " Let not God's patience hinder thy repentance, but be- 
 cause he is so patient therefore do thou the rather repent." 
 " Despair is. nothing so dangerous as presumption. God 
 spared the thief, but not his fellow. God spared one that 
 no man might despair ; God spared but one that no man 
 should presume. Joyful assurance to a sinner that repents ; 
 no comfort to him who remains impenitent. Presume not, 
 if thou wilt not perish." " Evil companions, commonly 
 termed good fellows, are indeed the devil's chief instru- 
 ments to Jiindel" a wretched sinner from repentance and 
 piety." " God offereth grace to-day, but who promiseth 
 to-morrow ? Custom of sin breeds hardness of heart, and 
 the impediments which hinder thee from repenting now, 
 will hinder thee more when thou art more aged. Trust 
 not either late repentance or long life." " As nothing is 
 more sure tlian death, so nothing is more uncertain than 
 the time of dying." 
 
 There afterwards come in course a succession of hints 
 and helps to the practice of piety, personal, domestic, and 
 social. Having shown how it may be brought to influence 
 the whole of life, extending to its every engagement, hal- 
 lowing its relationships, and giving to its responsibilities 
 new strength and scope, so as to make our intercourse 
 vrith heaven as constant a care and as thorough a transv 
 action as are any of the businesses of earth ; a chapter is 
 inserted, most elaborate and earnest, on the perpetual 
 obligation and due observance of thie sabbath. The 
 remaining portions of the book are devoted to the subjects 
 of fasting and alms -giving, the worthy partaking of the 
 Lord's supper, the profitable use of sickness, and the pros- 
 pect of death. 
 
 The bride of Bunyan's youth lived not to share the 
 sorrows and the joys of his middle and declining years. 
 Clearer and deeper had grown his knowledge of the things 
 of God, and ampler were his means of access to man's 
 recorded wisdom, but we doubt not he ever loved and 
 often lingered on the books that formed his early and 
 exclusive store. As in them he found " things' that were 
 pleasing," so, from a review of these, may some of our 
 readers derive not only refreshment, but profit. 
 
mxth IPilkrs atttr pillar Saints. 
 
 " My grateful soul on Jordsin's shore 
 Shall raise one Ebenezer more ; 
 Then rise, and be myself above 
 A Pillar to record his love." 
 
 The custom of erecting pillars, as symbols of sacred 
 transactions and truths, may be traced to patriarchal days. 
 Thus Jacob, in votive remembrance of divine condescension 
 and favour, set up a stone for a pillar, anointing it with 
 oil, and saying, " This stone, which I have set for a pillar, 
 shall be God's house." So, when Joshua had made the 
 people of Israel enter into solemn covenant, to follow and 
 fear the Lord, he left,, as a standing witness and pledge, a 
 pillar of stone under an oak. And so, in perpetual thanks- 
 giving for divine protection and assistance, Samuel reared 
 a stone, and .called it Ebenezer. Such pillars were origi- 
 nally desigii.ed -as consecra,ted tokens of God's presence, or 
 as memorials ,of events worthy to be held in honour ; but 
 in more degenerate times they were in danger of becoming 
 objects of .idolatrous regard, or erections of mistaken and 
 mis-directed worship. 
 
 When a stately edifice first arose to the true and eternal 
 Jehovah, the approach to it was fianked by two pillars of 
 brass, which received particular and appropriate names. 
 For we read that Solomon set up two pillars before the 
 temple, " one on the right hand, and the other on the 
 left ; and called the name of that on the right hand, Jachin 
 (that is, ' He shall estabhsh '), and the name of that on 
 the left, Boaz, (that is, ' In it is strength ')." How much 
 of encouragement and hope would be conveyed to the 
 minds of pious Jews by these suggestive titles ! How 
 would doubt? be dispelled, and fears allayed, and murmurs 
 hushed, and activity awakened, as they thought of Jachin ! 
 
194 SACRED PILLARS AND PILLAR SAINTS. 
 
 How would feeble faith be cheered, and wavering confi- 
 dence confirmed, and gratitude for the past and joyful 
 anticipations of the future excited, as they turned to Boaz ! 
 
 By a natural metaphor, the church of God being repre- 
 sented as a temple, its hving members are spoken of as 
 stones, and those who occupy positions of peculiar emi- 
 nence, dignity, and trust, are distinguished from the rest 
 as pillars. St. Paul refers to his fellow apostles, Peter, 
 James, and John, as pillars in that spiritual building 
 which had Christ for its foundation ; while to faithful and 
 victorious followers of Christ the promise is granted, that 
 they shall be put as pillars in the temple of God on high, 
 and bear inscribed upon them a new and heavenly name. 
 The visible church,' as the depository of the sacred oracles, 
 and the upholder of Christian ordinances, is elsewhere 
 characterized as the pillar and stay of the truth. 
 
 One of the strangest developments of superstitious en- 
 thusiasm is that which has led its votaries, not to aspire 
 after real blessings figuratively described; but, by per- 
 verting a metaphor to a literal use, to create for themselves 
 an imaginary and illusory bliss. An instance may be 
 drawn from the example of those who have sought to evi- 
 dence religious fervour by assuming the immobility of 
 statues, or actually spending their days, not as pillars of 
 moral excellence in the social fabric, but standing apart 
 from the world, on material pillars of wood or stone. 
 
 The founder of the sect of pillar saints was one Simeon, 
 afterwards, when canonized, sumamed Stylites, (from a 
 Greek word, meaning a piUar,) who was bom about the 
 close of the fourth century after Christ, at a village on the 
 confines of Syria and CiUcia. A shepherd's son, his earher 
 years were passed in the field and the fold ; but as youth 
 advanced, he embraced a monastic life. , This soon became 
 insufficient to satisfy his morbid spiritual cravings, and he 
 quitted the cloister for the still more arduous vocation of 
 an eremite and ascetic. He now took up his abode in 
 desert caves, or on mountain tops, and sometimes fasted 
 for weeks together. But strangers would occasionally in- 
 trude on his sohtude, or wandering devotees would share 
 his fellowship ; and to avoid these interruptions, or it may 
 be to gain the reputation of conspicuous piety, he con- 
 
SACRED PILLARS AND PILLAR SAINTS. 195 
 
 ceived the idea of fixing Ms home on the top of a pillar. 
 The structure he chose was only thr(je feet in diameter, 
 but surmounted with a kind of rail or ledge, reaching all 
 round as high as the girdle. It would not admit of his 
 lying down, and the attitude he commonly maintained was 
 erect and motionless. The pillar on which he first estab- 
 lished his residence was six cubits, or nine feet high ; but 
 with the notion of rising nearer and nearer to heaven, in 
 body as well as in soul, he successively exchanged it for 
 pillars of twelve, twenty, thirty-six, and forty cubits in 
 height. In this singular way he spent nearly forty years, 
 defying the vicissitudes of the seasons, and the numberless 
 privations to which his self-inflicted lot exposed him. Far 
 and wide meanwhile had spread the odour of his alleged 
 sanctity, and the fame of his inflexible endurance, and 
 multitudes flocked to do him homage. He became an 
 object of curious and admiring awe and wonder ; and to 
 those who thus visited him he must have been indebted 
 for the supply of the simple necessities of his nature. At 
 length he died, at the age of sixty-nine, from a noisome 
 ulcer of the lower limb, induced or aggravated by his un- 
 intermitting voluntary hardships. His corpse was removed 
 by bishops' hands from the pillar on which it rested, and 
 escorted to Antioch, by 6000 soldiers, and interred with a 
 more than regal pomp. 
 
 These honours led to numerous candidates for similar 
 distinction, and the StyUtes who succeeded even surpassed 
 the performances of the original. One of them is said to 
 have inhabited his pillar sixty- eight years. The fanaticism 
 survived till the twelfth century, when it was ofiicially 
 suppressed. 
 
 Christia;ns are called to be saints, but not to wear the 
 garb of an affected and ostentatious godliness, or to cherish 
 a studied seclusion from the ways of their fellow men. The 
 planting of the Lord requires not for its culture the warmth 
 and shelter of the hermit's cell, and if it brave the blasts 
 of the chilling world without, it will attain a maturity and 
 vigour the greater in proportion to the fuller draughts of 
 grace that were needed to preserve it from decay. The 
 gospel imposes no restraint on the innocent enjoyments of 
 life, and the charms of social intercourse, while it strictly 
 
 n 9 
 
196 SACEED PILLARS AND PILLAK SAINTS. 
 
 prohibits all needless exposure to sinful temptations, 
 solemnly enjoins tlie,avoiding of all appearance of evil, and 
 enforces, as a simple compreliensive rule, "Whether ye 
 eat, or drink, or whatsoeyer ye do, do all to the glory of 
 God." 
 
 The noble band of confessors, who roamed in deserts 
 and mountains, and lodged in dens and caves, " destitute, 
 afficted, tormented," of whom, on scriptural authority, 
 " the world was not worthy," were involuntary victims of 
 unmerited wrong. The God they served abundantly sup- 
 ported and consoled them ; made light to arise in darkness, 
 and finally avenged them of their adversaries. But we 
 are not to imagine that by penances and privations, which 
 instinct and reason forbid, and Scripture nowhere sanctions 
 — still less by the specious humility that springs from 
 spiritual pride, by frigid formalism and unloving exclusive- 
 ness, or by wayward and listless apathy to the interests of 
 human kind — the favour of heaven is purchased, and the 
 Creator and Eedeemer praised. 
 
 It is a glorious prerogative of the religion we profess, 
 that it can be adapted to every detail of common hfe. It 
 invites us to diligence in business, and to a carefiil dis- 
 charge of the several duties to which our station calls us, 
 while,' at the same time, it teaches us to be, though in the 
 world, not of it ; and not only permits, but exacts, the 
 highest amount of self-discipline and self-converse. It 
 points to communion with heaven for strength to encounter 
 the conflicts of earth, and it commands us to evince its 
 influence by subduing sensual appetites, by forsaking un- 
 holy affections and tempers, by curbing excessive indul- 
 gences, and foregoing inordinate gains, by living soberly, 
 righteously, and godly, and looking not on our own things, 
 only or chiefly, but also on the things of others. So Chris- 
 tians, in their various spheres of active secular pursuit, 
 may be pillars to sustain the honour of their Lord and 
 Master ; while the secret of their consistency is a paradox 
 to those who are strangers to its power, for they see the 
 invisible, and are' dead, yet have a life, "hid with Christ 
 in God." Be it ours to know the meaning for ourselves, 
 and to enjoy the privilege it secures. 
 
ixXL 
 
 "0 may my lore to Thee — 
 
 Pare, warm, and changeless be, 
 I A Uving fire ! " 
 
 Ancient philosophers regardled fire as one of the 
 elementary bodies, or first principles ■ of nature. They 
 supposed it to be intimately connected with Hfe, or even 
 as the very essence of the soul. They probably intended 
 little more, and anticipated little less, than modem science 
 admits and approyes, — ^that heat pervades all substances, 
 determining their states and shapes, and that, proceeding 
 from the sun, its radiant centre, it quickens and sustains 
 the vegetable and animal creation. They may, indeed, 
 have unconsciously arrived at discoveries claimed by our 
 own day, in making the fiame the type of those processes 
 which we call life. We modems believe that fire is neither 
 elementary nor self-existent ; but that it is to us the visible 
 expression of changes and combinations rapidly talking place 
 amongst the particles of matter. Fire is not matter, but 
 is merely one of its accidents or conditions ; and matter is 
 itself indestructible. Yet bodies may be so altered by 
 means of fire as to be deprived of every adaptation for our 
 service, and hence are popularly said to be destroyed. Their 
 carbon and hydrogen, or other primary constituents, enter 
 into forcible union with^the oxygen of the atmosphere ; and 
 this is all that philosophy sees in fire. But we may view 
 the subject in many ways, and it may teach us several 
 lessons. 
 
 What a number of images, both secular and sacred, does 
 fire suggest ! It reminds us of the pleasures of home and 
 hospitality, of the simplest and purest satisfactions that 
 God in his wisdom and goodness has provided. Family 
 
198 FIKE. 
 
 relationships are divine institutions ; and man is framed for 
 social intercourse. The hearth is the bond of the house ; 
 and it should be the witness and the pledge of peace, con- 
 tentment and thankfulness. It is sad to have no home, 
 but worse to have one in name, and not in deed, bhghted 
 by unholy passions, where God's ordinances are disregarded, 
 and sobriety, righteousness, and love are xmfrequent or 
 unwelcome guests. 
 
 Fire is as much the image and the instrument of utility 
 as of enjoyment. The extent and variety of its applications 
 it is, which distinguishes civilized man from the unculti- 
 vated and child-lite savage. Without it the earth may 
 yield her kindly fruits, and flocks and herds may crowd the 
 fold and stall; but God's gifts would be wasted or abused, 
 and the modes of hfe of his intelligent and immortal crea- 
 tures would fail tb evince their superiority to the brutes 
 around and beneath them. Without it the ground we tread 
 may be rich in mineral produce, its caverns may be full of 
 treasure ; but to us these stores would be unavaiUng, if not 
 unknown. Without it man would be helpless, though 
 surrounded with instruments of strength : he would be poor 
 amid profusion ; what he possessed he could not enjoy ; 
 what he desired he could not procure ; what he contrived 
 he could not complete or apply. But a gracious God has 
 both adapted nature to supply man's wants, and has fitted 
 man to profit by the abundant advantages provided. It 
 was a heathen fable that fire was stolen from heaven ; and 
 we need have little doubt that in the first ages of the world 
 its use was taught from above ; at least it was a discovery 
 so early made, that we are not extravagant in supposing 
 a higher intelligence directed and determined it. 
 
 Fire, again, is an emblem not only of beauty and bene- 
 ficence, but of grandeur, sublimity and awe. When once 
 it has exceeded the limits of our control, it asserts its 
 supremacy and dignity : no longer a servant, but a master, 
 it seems to assume a vindictive triumph, and sets us at 
 fearful defiance. In its rapid and resistless career few 
 earthly objects are more terrible and impressive. As in 
 our own metropolis, less than two hundred years ago, it 
 may in a few hours reduce to ruins the accumulated labour 
 of ages ; or, as often happens in other lands, it may envelope 
 
FIRE. 199 
 
 the face of nature, forest or prairie, for mile upon mile, in one 
 wide-spread veil of desolation and deformity. This, its 
 grand and awful character, is especially presented to us, if 
 we turn from the social and secular aspects of fire to its 
 sacred and scriptural associations. 
 
 It has been frequently adopted to personify or proclaim 
 the majesty and attributes of God. Does he appear to his 
 servant Moses at Horeb, the sacred mountain ? it is from 
 out of a flame of fire in the midst of a bush, mysteriously 
 burning and not consuming. Does he manifest himself to 
 his chosen people, to 'onfirm and attest the authority of 
 his law? "the sight of the glory of the Lord was like 
 devouring fire on the top" of Sinai. Does he assure the 
 children of Israel of his constant presence and protection ? 
 it is "in a pillar of fire, to give them Hght," to go before 
 them and lead their way. Does he aijknowledge the ful- 
 filment of his own commands, accept the sacrMce he has 
 ordaiaed, and bless his faithful worshippers? "There 
 came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon 
 the altar the burnt-ofiering and the fat. And the glory 
 of the Lord appeared unto all the people." Does he 
 indicate his displeasure at unauthorized and unhallowed 
 offerings ? " There went out fire from the Lord, and 
 devoured" the sacrilegious intruder. When a stately and 
 solemn temple is erected in his name, and consecrated to 
 his service, how does he denote that he will have it as his 
 house of habitation ? What is the visible token of his glory 
 entering and abiding therein ? ' ' When Solomon had made 
 an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven." And, 
 when the days had come that God's oracles and ordinances 
 were no longer to be confined to one place or people, by 
 what external sign does the Holy Ghost accompany his 
 Pentecostal efiusion ? By "cloven tongues like as of fire," 
 appearing and alighting on the apostles' heads. Or, if we 
 look forward to a future consummation, we are assured that 
 "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, in flaming 
 fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that 
 obey not the gospel." 
 
 We need scarcely wonder, from the considerations I have 
 adduced, that by philosophic minds, unblessed with revela- 
 tion, fire should have been regarded as the visible expression 
 
200 FIRE. 
 
 of the invisible Deity, or should have been made the very 
 object of religious worship. Of all forms of idolatry this 
 is, probably, the least gross and revolting. Believing, as we 
 think erroneously, that the sun was an orb of glowing fire, 
 it was exalted by the ancient votaries of this delusion into 
 a chief Or central theme of adoration. Yet, though the 
 glory of the incorruptible God was not changed thereby into 
 a corruptible image, the act itself was equally offensive to 
 the Most High. When the Lord, clothed in a "likeness 
 as the appearance of fire," came vo, vision to EzeMel, the 
 last great abomination disclosed to "he eyes of the wonder- 
 ing prophet, in the very inner court of the temple, was 
 that of five-and-twenty men, with their backs towards the 
 temple and their faces towards the east, worshipping the 
 sun. And what is the indignant exclamation of Jehovah 
 at this outrage on the holy place? "Hast thou seen this, 
 O son of man 7 Is it a light thing to the house of Judah 
 that they commit the abominations which they commit 
 here ? Therefore will I also deal in fury : mine eye shall 
 not spare ; neither will I have pity." For Job, protesting 
 his own integrity, explains wherein consists the criminality 
 of such worship. "If I beheld the sun when it shined, and 
 my heart had been secretly enticed, or my mouth kissed 
 my hand, I should have denied the God that is above." 
 
 It was the duty of the virgin ministers of Vesta to watch 
 and trim the sacred fire upon her altar, and to keep it ever 
 burning. The fire was first lighted, and annually renewed, 
 from the direct rays of the sun ; and those who guarded it 
 were bound to the strictest purity of life. May we not 
 trace in this heathen usage a tradition from the divine 
 appointment with regard to the altar of bumt-offering ? 
 "The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall 
 never go out." And may we not hence derive a spiritual 
 lesson that concerns ourselves? Our love to God, our 
 obedience to his will, our zeal in his service, must not be 
 sufiered to languish and expire. It must be steady and 
 enduring, not fitful, flickering, inconstant, and ever threat- 
 ening extinction. And, that this may be ensured, it must 
 be kindled from above, fed with heavenly influence, and 
 watched with holy integrity of purpose. If our hearts glow 
 not with this sacred fire, we must remember that scripture 
 
FIRE. 201 
 
 presents other aspects of the subject, characters of awful 
 admomtion : " Our God is a consuming fire." 
 
 The punishments of a fiiture world are portrayed by the 
 terrific image of unquenchable fire. I believe not in purga- 
 torial flames, whereby the stains of sin may be removed, 
 as the metal is cleansed from its dross, and the soul be fitted 
 for the presence of infinite purity, and for the reception of 
 infinite bliss. The state of the soul on death is irrevocable 
 and unalterable. Nor do I deem it necessary to suppose 
 that the eternal sufierings of the wicked will be material, 
 that the description given is literal rather than figurative. 
 I believe that mental anguish may be, and even in this 
 life often is, far more intolerable than bodily torment. But 
 I admit the fact, and accept the warning, that "it is a 
 fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God ;" that 
 to those who sin wilfully after receiving the knowledge of 
 the truth " there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but 
 a certain fearful looking-for of judgment and fiery indig- 
 nation, which shall devour the adversaries." 
 
 Yet he, before whom " the rapt seraph adores and bums," 
 he who makes " his ministers a flame of fire," is seated on 
 a throne of glory ; and of his glory this is his own an- 
 nouncement: "I vrill be gracious to whom I wiU be gracious, 
 and wUl show mercy to whom I will show mercy." He 
 whose eyes are "as a flame of fire" is he who "liveth and 
 was dead," and who is "alive for evermore," that "who- 
 soever beUeveth in him shall never die." He, who of old 
 approved the offering made in faith, and answered it with 
 mystic fire, will now reveal himself to those who draw near 
 to him in the "new and living way which he hath con- 
 secrated," will now send help from his sanctuary, and 
 strengthen out of Zion, will now receive, forgive, and bless 
 all humble, penitent, and obedient hearts. 
 
^Mnrtm^ ffxh 
 
 " How I rejoice, when on my head 
 Thy Spirit condescends to rest ! 
 'Tis a divine anointing, shed 
 Like oil of gladness at a feast." 
 
 Watts. 
 
 It was a good land -wMcli tlie Lord God promised and 
 provided for his people of Israel ; a land of fertility and 
 loveliness, of varied scenery and abundant produce ; a land 
 of hill and valley, lake and forest, green pastures and quiet 
 waters; a land of wheat and barley, and vine and fig-trees, 
 and pomegranates and olives. How largely does the ohve 
 enter into the poetry of the bible! a tree ever " green, 
 fair, and of goodly fruit," slow in growth, and lasting for 
 ages ; the emblem of benignity and beauty and stability ; 
 and the source of the oil of social importance and of sacred 
 institutions. Among the ancients, the olive was the symbol 
 of peace, and the living representative of deified wisdom. 
 In our own day a large number of the inhabitants of 
 southern Europe are dependent upon its cultivation, prin- 
 cipally for the sake of the oil which the ripe fruit when 
 pressed or bruised richly yields. 
 
 In warm cKmates, as in the countries referred to in 
 scripture, oil is more extensively employed as an article of 
 diet or of luxury than with us. But it is of its use as an 
 outward application that I have now to speak. Friction 
 with oil was formerly regarded as an agent of medicinal 
 value, and is , still esteemed so in the east. It certainly 
 induces elasticity of the limbs, and increases muscular 
 activity : it assists the exercise of some of the bodily 
 functions : it may alleviate or avert certain diseases, and 
 tend to promote serenity of mind and length of days. 
 When the good Samaritan bestowed his compassionate aid 
 
ANOINTING OIL. 203 
 
 on the robbed and maimed wayfarer, gently bandaging his 
 parched and stiffened wounds, moistening and softening 
 them with oil and wine, we can imagine how soothing and 
 invigorating was the remedy and its result. But, when 
 the apostles sent forth by Christ " anointed with oil many 
 that were sick, and healed them," we are not to suppose 
 that there was any direct connexion between the means 
 and the end. The cures we believe to have been miraculous ; 
 the act of anointing symbolical. The bread and wine of 
 common life are adopted as emblems of the sacramental 
 blessing of salvation, visible signs of spiritual graces ; and 
 the oil so frequently combined with them in the domestic 
 allusions of the word of God is also made a type of 
 heavenly influence. When St. James directs that the elders 
 of the church should pray over the sick man, "anoint- 
 ing him with oil in the name of the Lord," we have the 
 same sacred right or significant- ceremony observed. The 
 prayer of faith it is which shall save iJae sick, ai;id the 
 Lord alone can raise him up. I think the church of Eome 
 by no means justified in deriving, as she does from this 
 passage, the sacrament of "extreme unction." The 
 miraculous gifts of healing have ceased, and the symbol 
 which accompanied them should cease also ; moreover, the 
 modem sacrament is administered to those apparently past 
 recovery, to soothe or sanctify their departure from the 
 world, not to procure or personify their restoration to its 
 duties and enjoyments. 
 
 Anointing with oil. was an act of great significance in 
 the ritual of the Mosaic law, and in the public observances 
 of that nation which had God for its patron and protector. 
 Persons or things were thereby set apart from a common 
 to a special use ; a sacred character was imposed, divine 
 influence sealed or secured. In the allegory of Jotham the 
 son of Gideon, the ohve is invited by the other trees to be 
 their king. But the olive replies, "Shall I leave my 
 fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and 
 go to be promoted over the trees?" God is honoured 
 when his creatures are dedicated to his pecuhar service ; 
 and man is honoured when chosen by him as the minister 
 of his word or the instrument of his designs. The oil or 
 fatness of the olive was the symbol selected by God to 
 
^04 ANOINTING OIL. 
 
 accompany and attest this dedication. Simple things' may 
 represent the sublimest truths. Jacob's humble libation 
 upon his pillar of stone at Bethel foreshadowed what would 
 afterwards become an act of the highest religious solemnity. 
 For the service of the Jewish sanctuary, a "holy anointing 
 oil," of costly materials and richest perfiime, was appointed. 
 The Lord himself prescribed to Moses the ingredients of 
 which it should be compounded, and the exclusive uses to 
 which it should be devoted. With it were to be anointed 
 all the sacred erections and utensils — ^the tabernacle of the 
 congregation, the ark of the testimony, the table of shew- 
 bread, the golden candlestick, the altar of incense, the 
 altar of burnt- offering, the brazen laver, and all the vessels 
 belonging unto each. Thus were they to be sanctified and 
 made most holy ; so that whatsoever touched them should 
 by the virtue reflected from them be made holy also. With 
 it were Aaron and his sons to be anointed, and consecrated 
 to the priestly office. This holy anointing oil was to be 
 reserved for its own objects : it was not to be touched or 
 trifled with by sacrilegious hands : it was to be used for no 
 secular purpose : its high prerogative was not to be invaded 
 or infringed. " Upon man's flesh it shall not be poured; 
 neither shall ye make any other Kfce it, after the compo- 
 sition of it : it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. 
 Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth 
 any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his 
 people." May we not learn from this, not only that God 
 chooses his own channels for communicating gifts and 
 graces, but that he is jealous of any intrusion on his 
 claims ? that what is devoted to him must be his entirely, 
 and that those who assume any peculiar functions in his 
 church must be characterized by peculiar purity of motive 
 and of conduct ? The priesthood of Aaron has fulfilled 
 its course. Under the Christian dispensation, God no 
 longer confines the method of his mercy to one lineage and 
 succession, nor are his ministers invested with exclusive 
 sacerdotal privileges. But the principle remains the same. 
 Ceremonial observances typify spiritual obligations ; out- 
 ward rites if abrogated must 'be replaced by the religion of 
 the heart and the conformity of life. 
 
 Prophets and kings also were anointed, to denote that 
 
ANOINTING OIL. 205 
 
 their authority to teach or to rule was delegated and 
 derived from him of whom they were the chosen servants. 
 When Saul, the son of Kish, the Benjamite, seeking lost 
 asses for his father, found a kingdom for himself, how does 
 God by his prophet make known his will concerning him 7 
 By the same simple and significant action. "Then Samuel 
 took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed 
 him, and said, Is it not because the Lord hath anointed 
 thee to be captain over his inheritance ?" Or, thirty years 
 later, we may follow the same prophet to the household of 
 Jesse the Bethlehemite. Armed with a divine commission, 
 he sanctifies and invites them to a sacrifice. Seven sons 
 successively pass before him, all of goodly countenance and 
 commanding stature ; but the Lord looketh not on the 
 outward appearance ; and neither of these had he chosen. 
 Another son there still was ; but the family of Jesse seem 
 to have forgotten him, or to have thought that he was 
 better employed in the labours of the farm than iii the 
 leisure of the festival. Yet no sooner had the prophet 
 said, " Send and fetch him," than the prophet's God said, 
 " Arise, anoint him : for this is he." " Then Samuel 
 took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his 
 brethren ; and the Spirit of the Lord cairie upon David 
 from that day forward." With greater pomp and cir- 
 cumstance was David's successor recognized and ratified in 
 his hereditary honours, when " Zadok the priest took an 
 horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. 
 And they blew the trumpet ; and all the people said, God 
 save king Solomon." 
 
 I may adduce from Old Testament history one other 
 illustration, which will show that prophets as well as kings 
 were, by divine ordinance, anointed to their office. Let us 
 imagine, if we can, the sublimity of the scene on Horeb, 
 when God encounters his despondent prophet, arrests his 
 attention by the awful display of tempest, earthquake, fire, 
 and recalls him to neglected duty by the still small voice. 
 The expostulation, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" is 
 followed by the command, " Go, return on thy way 1k) the 
 wUdemess of Damascus ; and, when thou comest, anoint 
 Hazael to be king over Syria ; and Jehu the son of Kimshi 
 shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel ; and Elisha the 
 
206 ANOINTING OIL. 
 
 son of Shaphat, of Abelmeholah, shalt tlion anoint to be 
 prophet in thy room." 
 
 The ceremony of anointing is still observed at the coro- 
 nation of Christian princes. When our gracious sovereign 
 was invested with the ensigns and the rights of royalty, 
 the officiating prelate poured oil on her head and hands, 
 saying over her the words, " Be thou anointed as kings, 
 priests, and prophets were anointed ; and, as Solomon was 
 anointed king by Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet, 
 so be you anointed, blessed, and consecrated queen over 
 this people, whom the Lord your God hath given you to 
 rule and govern." Ought we not, as a nation, to unite 
 with one heart in the prayer that followed 1 " Our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who by his Father was 
 anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows by his 
 holy anointing, pour down upon your head and heart the 
 blessing of the Holy Ghost, and prosper the works of your 
 hands : that by the assistance of his heavenly grace you 
 may preserve the people committed to your charge, in 
 wealth, peace-, and godliness ; and, after a long and glorious 
 course of ruling this temporal kingdom wisely, justly, and 
 religiously, you may at last be made partaker of an eternal 
 kingdom, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 Amen." 
 
 The subject has a high spiritual significance and value. 
 The prophet, the priest, the king of has redeemed people 
 is, as such, the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed of God. 
 " God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost 
 and with power." In him was the scripture fulfilled. "The 
 Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed 
 me to preach the gospel to the poor." Listen to his 
 gracious words, follow his instructions, reject not the 
 message he is commissioned to deliver: for he is "the 
 Lord's anointed." He is also the " High Priest of our 
 profession," "a great high priest," having "an un- 
 changeable priesthood," " called of God," "made with an 
 oath," and " consecrated for evermore ;" "a merciful and 
 faithful high priest," sympathizing, compassionate, perfect, 
 "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, higher 
 than the heavens ;" who " once appeared to put away sin 
 by the sacrifice of himself," and who " is able to save to 
 
ANOINTING OIL. 207 
 
 the nttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing he 
 ever liveth to make intercession for them." Enter the 
 tabernacle of mercy through the " new and living way 
 which he hath consecrated." Count not "the blood of 
 the covenant, wherewith ye are sanctified, an unholy thing." 
 Eely on his merits, refuse not his advocacy; for he is "the 
 liord's Anointed." Again, " imto the Son he saith, Thy 
 throne, O God, is for ever and ever : a sceptre of righteous- 
 ness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. God, even thy God, 
 hath anointed thee." " I have set (or anointed) my king 
 upon my holy hill of Zion. ' ' Eecognize his authority, submit 
 to his allegiance, obey his statutes, do him the homage 
 of faithful service ; for he is " the Lord's Anointed." 
 
 Oil is an emblem of temporal benefits and of evangelical 
 blessings : not the great Head of the church alone, but his 
 true and living members also partake of a mystical anoint- 
 ing. The psalmist, reviewing the mercies of a life, exclaims 
 with grateful emphasis,. " Thou anointest my head with 
 oil; my cup runneth over." As Christ was himself anointed 
 with "the oil of gladness," so does he promise for those 
 who mourn in Zion that he will give them " beauty for 
 ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise 
 for the spirit of heaviness." The sanctity and wisdom, 
 the life and light and love which flow down from the Father 
 and the Son through the Holy Ghost into the hearts of 
 believers, are compared to a divine anointing. " Ye have 
 an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." 
 " The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in 
 you, and ye need not that any man teach you : but the 
 same anointing teacheth you of all things." " He which 
 hath anointed us is God." Not merely so, but in virtue 
 of this anointing Christians are themselves constituted 
 kings and priests, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, and to 
 reign in life with Christ. " Ye are a chosen generation, 
 a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people ; that 
 ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called 
 you out of darkness into his marvellous light." 
 
^\it €xabsn d ^)^axm. 
 
 " The Head, that once was crowned with thorns, 
 Is crowned ivith glory now ; 
 A royaj diadem adorns 
 
 The mighty Victor's brow." 
 
 KliLLT. 
 
 There is no incident in the record of the passion of our 
 Lord and Saviour that does not claim the devoutest 
 contemplation, or should fail to awaken the profoundest 
 concern. Prom Gethsemane and Golgotha, from the 
 palace of Gaiaphas and Pilate's judgment-haU, every scene 
 and every sound unite in the appeal, with accents of 
 exquisite and emphatic pathos, " Behold and see if there 
 be any sorrow like unto my sorrow ;" while, as we look or 
 listen, the conviction arises, or ought to arise, that he who 
 thus was put to grief, was " bruised for our iniquities" and 
 "wounded for our transgressions." But some of the 
 details of the divine tragedy have been variously explained 
 or imderstood ; and on some it may be that a certain 
 amount of popular misapprehension prevails. 
 
 Let us take the elements of that attitude of suffering, 
 idealized by painters in the "Ecce Homo !"— words, con- 
 veying in the tongue of Eome the utterance of the Eoman 
 governor, if not the very language he employed, when 
 Jesus came forth from the hands of the soldiers, "wearing 
 the crown of thorns." Turn, for instance, to the head, by 
 Guido, which adorns our National Gallery, or to the 
 Correggio hanging by its side, so different in conception' 
 and expression, but equally intense in feeling and inimit- 
 able in power. In both, the brow is encircled by a rigid 
 band of interwoven twigs, bristling vrith stubborn spines ; 
 and in Guido' s delineation, not only is the crown of stouter 
 fabric, as comporting with the greater massiveness of feature^ 
 
THE CROWN OF THORNS. 209 
 
 but bloody stigmata denote the rudeness and violence with 
 which it had been affixed, and the wanton severity of the 
 pain it had imposed. 
 
 Now, I believe that such a portraiture, however impres- 
 sive in effect, and stamped in execution with a sublimity of 
 genius, is scarcely compatible with the original and actual 
 circumstances, and is putting a needless constraint upon 
 the sacred narrative. At the same time, if such subjects 
 are to be attempted at all, the artist's piety would lead 
 him to forbear any exhibition of the Redeemer that could 
 be suggestive of ridicule or shame, and would rather dwell 
 on points in the great humiliation that should depict most 
 forcibly "the sharpness of death," and make the directest 
 appeal to our penitential emotions. 
 
 Bishop Pearce conjectured that the word Jiranslated 
 "thorns" may have equally implied the herb aoaathus, or 
 brank-ursine, indigenous to us, and not uncommon about 
 Jerusalem. This plant is soft and smooth in texture, and 
 would have well admitted of being hastily plaited into a 
 wreath- Without, however, adopting such a hypothesis, 
 we may simply believe that the material used was some 
 prickly shrub growing on the spot, and that the fact of its 
 bearing thorns was an accidental aggravation of the evil it 
 inflicted, rather than the primary intention with which it 
 was chosen. What the precise plant may have been can- 
 not now be ascertained, nor is it essential for us to know. 
 Some think it was a species of acacia ; others, a species of 
 the buckthorn, the nabka of the Arabs, still called by botan- 
 ists the Bhamnus spina Christi. The nabka or rhamnus 
 is frequent in the East. Its branches are pliant, armed 
 with I^LOras, and its leaf of a deep green, like that of ivy. 
 It may have been purposely selected, as furnishing a wreath 
 that would approach in appearance the crown worn by 
 emperors and. generals. 
 
 There is little doubt that the Roman soldiers designed 
 insult more than injury, and were the instruments of 
 mental anguish rather than of physical agony. They could 
 have no interest in adding to the bodily sujfferings of our 
 Lord, though they would deride what they imagined to be 
 his false pretensions to regal authority. To them his claims 
 to the Messiahship were as nothing ; but they would, not 
 
210 THE CHOWN OF THORNS. 
 
 unnaturally, sport with what they had heard of his assumed 
 title of king of the Jews. The whole transaction seems to 
 indicate not cruelty so much as contempt and mockery. 
 Arraying the person with a tawdry or tattered garment of 
 imperial pm"ple, and placing in the hand a reed, in disgrace- 
 ful imitation of the rod or sceptre, the ensign of official 
 dignity ; to complete the counterfeit presentment they invest 
 the head with a worthless diadem, or a leafy chaplet such 
 as those that betokened victory and triumph. They then 
 pretend to render homage, laughing to scorn their insulted 
 victim. 
 
 It is not improbable that the soldiers had in view the 
 honour paid to successful commanders and conquerors, 
 which they either themselves had witnessed at Borne, or 
 with the histories of which they were famihar. Amidst a 
 profusion of civil pageantry and military pomp, the hero 
 would appear in a robe of embroidered purple, bearing in 
 his hand an ivory sceptre, and wearing on his brow a crown 
 of laurel. Of such honours a wretched travesty was now 
 performed ; and the actors, in seeking, it may be, only 
 their own amusement, were unconsciously fulfilling the pro- 
 phecy, that he, who when seen would present no beauty to 
 be desired, should be " despised and rejected of men." 
 
 We need not pause to criticize and cavil, and inquire how 
 a crown of mere thorns could have been extemporaneously 
 contrived, or care to object that the customary devices and 
 images would have been impracticable creations. But, at all 
 events, we are not taught by scripture that the crown 
 woven by Pilate's soldiers for the head of our blessed 
 Redeemer was intended by them as an implement of 
 torture ; and it is not found that in the age immediately 
 succeeding the apostles' any writer so regarded it. Yet 
 torture to the extreme was inflicted, in the pierced hands 
 and feet, the rankling crucifixion wounds, while woe unut- 
 terable and beyond appreciation was involved in the 
 mournful cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
 me ?" 
 
 It were weU if those who profess to be the followers of 
 Christ would often think of the crown of thorns, as 
 reminding them of what he endur,ed for them, and as 
 teaching the deportment they ought to cherish. HumiUty 
 
THE CROWN OF THORNS. 211 
 
 becomes the disciples of a Master who submitted to such 
 abasement ; nor have they reason to wonder and complain 
 if called to undergo rebuke or obloquy, or sneer or scoff, 
 for practical allegiance to the name they bear. The world 
 may plait its thorny crowns of indignity and infamy, causing 
 agitation and annoyance in proportion to the sensitiveness 
 of the individual sufferer ; but the real dishonour lies with 
 those who weave, not with him who wears the badge. There 
 is nothing meritorious in courting persecution ; hit, when 
 it cannot be avoided, it is better to display it openly on the 
 brow than to hide its tokens in secret, as if from gmlty 
 shame. The example of the God-man who died on Calvary 
 may surely stimulate to patience and forbearance ; and, the 
 more we are imbued with his spirit, the less will any offence 
 that may attach for his sake be deemed unwelcome and 
 irksome. 
 
 There are crowns, moreover, which oftentimes prove 
 thorny, that we must make for ourselves, and bind to our 
 brow by vrilling choice. The head is the seat of intellect 
 and reason ; and these must bend to provisions whose 
 simplicity they may despise, and to mysteries they cannot 
 solve. The lust of the eyes must be checked and curbed, 
 as well as the pride of thought and speech. Self must be 
 subordinated, ambition restrained, worldly advantage held 
 in subjection to moral advancement and divine approval, 
 reproach for Christ esteemed "greater riches than the 
 treasures in Egypt," all things counted biit as dross, in 
 order to know him and to gain conformity to him ; and a 
 wreath of penitent obedience, or a chaplet of charity and 
 faith and hope, regarded as a worthier aim and object than 
 a crown of earthly rank and power. He, whose pattern of 
 quietly enduring great contradiction of sinners should pre- 
 serve us from weariness and fainting, when in our httle way 
 we are similarly tried for his sake, can, by the love his 
 sacrifice inspires, enable us to cheerfully surrender all 
 pleasures, pretensions, and pursiuts, that would contest his 
 full authority. 
 
 The crown of thorns may also suggest to us the crown 
 of triimiph. He, who once, for us men and our salvation,, 
 drank of the brook in the way, now and for ever lifts up 
 the head. " He made himself of no reputation ; wherefore 
 
 p 2 
 
212 THE CROWN OF THORNS. 
 
 God hath highly exalted him. ' ' Unto him is giren a golden 
 crown, yea, "on his. head are uiany crowns," for he is 
 King of kings and Lord of lords . " He stooped to conquer : 
 but vain to us the victory over sin and death, and an infinite 
 waste of mercy the service of suffering by which it was 
 achieved, unless in heart and hp and life Tye acknowledge 
 his supreme dominiop. 
 
 As now he sits on high, in the glory of the Father, even 
 so we believe he will come to be our Judge. And the 
 belief should incite the prayer, "Help us, Lord, whpm 
 with thy blood thou hast redeemed. Number us among 
 thy saiifts in glory everlasting." 
 
Cl^^ §Hmtit0 gusl^. 
 
 " Th' historic muse, from age to age, 
 Through many a waste heart-siokening page 
 Hath traced the works of man ; 
 But a celestial call to-day 
 Stays her, like Moses, on her way, 
 The works of God to scan. 
 
 Far seen across the sandy wild. 
 Where, like a solitary child, 
 Ha thoughtless roamed and free. 
 One towering thorn was wrapt in flame. 
 Bright without blaze it went and came : 
 Who would not turn and see T 
 
 When God has a work to perform on earth, he always 
 adopts a wise and fitting method in the choice, education, 
 and guidance of those to whom, as instruments, he entrusts 
 its fulfilment. No mortal was ever called to a higher work 
 than Moses : none was ever more fully prepared and dis- 
 ciplined for the task assigned him ; and to none, when 
 summoned to his special mission, were more suitable and 
 striking indications accorded. Eescued by the king's own 
 daughter from the sentence of infanticide her father had 
 decreed, and indebted to courtly favour for instruction in 
 all the learning that even Egypt could impart, he is allowed 
 to experience, if not allured to appropriate and enjoy, the 
 sweets of earthly luxury and grandeur. 
 
 A third of his life having thus been passed, we find him 
 driven from the palace of the Pharaohs to the tents of the 
 wandering tribes of Midian, and, for a second term of 
 forty years, humbly but usefully employed in leading flocks 
 from pasturage to pasturage amid the wilds of the rocky 
 Arabia. From the solitudes of nature that were now his 
 home, and the samenesses that marked and filled his round 
 of daily duty, he turned to satisfy his spirit's craving in 
 
214 THE BURNING BUSH. 
 
 communion with himself and heaven. As indignantly he 
 mused on the wrongs of his brethren according to the 
 flesh, there doubtless stirred within him some prescience 
 of the destiny awaiting him : as trustingly and lovingly 
 he Hngered on the thought of the covenant made with 
 Abraham by one who could not he, he yearned for the 
 time when deliverance should arise, and the promise wake 
 to its fulfilment. As stiU he tends his flock, he roams to 
 scenery more stem, to silence more profound, to desert 
 wastes more dreary, to where the rugged peaks of Sinai 
 and Horeb invite to shelter, but inspire with awe. And 
 hither led, unconsciously or consciously, by hand divine, 
 he listens for that voice on whose as yet unspoken accents 
 his fancies and his hopes are brooding. 
 
 The hour at length arrives, which shall raise him from 
 lowly obscurity to be the prophet and protector, the law- 
 giver and the leader of his people ; and at this momentous 
 crisis his senses are visibly and audibly affected with a 
 strange and startUng revelation from above. The phe- 
 nomenon that met his gaze was fall alike of meaning and 
 of marvel ; and to us it may suggest and supply lessons 
 of high importance. As leaning on his shepherd's staff 
 he scans the mountain's slope, his eye rested on a tuft of 
 bramble that rose amidst the scanty verdure. Suddenly 
 the bush enkindles ; but, though the flame be steady and 
 intense, there are none of its common and natural results 
 — not a leaf is scorched, or a branch destroyed. An 
 occurrence so inexplicable and extraordinary at once arrests 
 his attention. " I will turn aside," he says, " and see 
 this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." It was 
 evidently no optical illusion or waking vision, but a real 
 substantive fact ; as far removed from the ideal as were 
 any of the desolate and solemn grandeurs of the scene 
 around. That a bush which grew before him had burst 
 into a blaze was palpable and undeniable ; that, in burning, 
 it had suffered no injury or diminution, was equally beyond 
 dispute ; and, since no Jannes or Jambres, had he strayed 
 to a spot so unlikely to yield him profit, could have thus 
 by his magic craft suspended nature's laws, the skill 
 exerted must have been more than human, and the object 
 proposed must have been worthy of the interference mani- 
 
THE BURNING BCSH. 215 
 
 fested. As Moses approaches, the mystery is explained. 
 " God called unto him out of the bush, and said, Moses, 
 Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw 
 not nigh hither : put off thy shoes from off thy feet ; for 
 the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover 
 he said, I am the Grod of thy father, the God of Abraham, 
 the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid 
 his face ; for he was afraid to look ijpon God." A mode 
 so wondrous had the Lord adopted of revealing his power 
 and presence, and in the person of the Eternal Word of 
 holding converse with his chosen servant. In the burning 
 yet enduring bush, Moses recognized a sacred symbol of 
 God's illustrious and exhaustless perfections, and of the 
 imperishable portion of those who enjoy his guardian love. 
 The miracle now exhibited was followed by many others ; 
 and the message that attended it was only the prelude to 
 a long-continued utterance of holy oracles. But the first- 
 made impression was indelible ; and when, forty years 
 later, the dying saint bestows his blessing, he gratefully 
 recalls and confidingly invokes " the good will of him that 
 dwelt in the bush." 
 
 A spo't, dignified by an event so memorable, has been 
 regarded by the faithful in all ages with emotions of 
 peculiar reverence. But, during the eighteen centuries 
 that elapsed from the days of Moses to those of the 
 empress Helena, who first sought to consecrate it to 
 purposes of Christian worship, it maj well be doubted if 
 tradition had preserved the exact locahty. The convent 
 of St. Catharine, at the foot of Horeb, which dates from 
 the reign of Justinian, is occupied by monks of the Greek 
 communion. At the eastern end of the conventual church 
 is a chapel dedicated to the Burning Bush, which none 
 are permitted to enter without uncovering their feet. The 
 walls of the chapel are decked with paintings ; and from 
 the roof hang thirty silver lamps, all hghted during 
 service. A marble slab beneath the altar marks what is 
 said to be the precise site of the sacred bush ; and three 
 lamps, kept ever burning, are suspended over it. 
 
 The mystery of the burning bush had doubtless some 
 hidden import ; and it well portrayed the actual condition 
 of Israel in Egypt. The meanness of the material selected 
 
216 THE BURNING BUSH. 
 
 — not a tall and graceful palm, but a stunted unshapely 
 thorn-bush — ^typified their abject state ; and the grandeur 
 of the preservation accorded denoted the signal character 
 of the faTOur and protection shown them. "The more 
 they were afflicted, the more they multiplied and grew." 
 The despised slaves of Egypt were the cherished sons of 
 God most high ; and Moses, whose shepherd-life made 
 him an abomination to the oppressors, was exalted to the 
 office of deliverer of the oppressed. The mystic flame 
 Bhone brightly, in token that he, who could and would 
 bring terror and destruction on his enemies and theirs, 
 was the glory and defence of his people — to the one, 
 salvation and light ; to the other, a consuming fire. 
 
 When we look upon the burning bush, we also see an 
 emblem, not only of the ancient ' ' church in the wilderness, ' ' 
 but of the collective body of Christ's disciples, who, in 
 every age of their history, though often perplexed and 
 persecuted, have never been forsaken and utterly destroyed. 
 In the days of imperial Eome, ten times was the furnace 
 heated, and ingenuity aided cruelty in devising victims for 
 its fury. "If the Tiber should rise or the Nile should 
 not rise, if earth should quake or heaven should stay its 
 course, if famine should afilict us or pestilence ensue, forth- 
 with we hear the cry, ' The Christians to the lions !' " 
 Such was Tertullian's bitter remonstrance and complaint. 
 But the church was endued with a secret charm, a heavenly 
 talisman, a principle of inherent vitality, which no assaults 
 of human violence could despoil her of or could extinguish. 
 The heathen raged, and the rulers of the earth took counsel ; 
 but the Lord and. his Anointed had, them in derision. 
 Rome papal, no less than pagan Rome, has ordained its 
 flery ordeals. Anti-christs without the church have 
 attempted its ruin and threatened its very existence ; and 
 anti-christs within its nominal enclosure have invaded its 
 purity and peace, and laboured to extirpate its living 
 power. Yet God's foundation standeth sure ; for this is 
 its seail and charter : " The Lord knoweth them that are 
 his." And these are predictions which have amply been 
 verified. " I will search my sheep and seek them out. I 
 will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause 
 the evil beasts to cease out of the land ; and they shall 
 
THE BURNING BUSH. 217 
 
 dwell safely in the wilderness." " Thon shalt hide them 
 in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man : thou 
 shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of 
 tongues." " I will be a wall of fire round about, and will 
 be the glory in the midst." The abiding spirit of Jesus 
 alone is that which strengthens and sustains the " remnant 
 .of his heritage." 
 
 And what is true of the church in its aggregate capacity 
 is equally true of the individual members who compose it. 
 However weak and worthless believers may originally be, 
 yet, in virtue of their mystical union with Christ, they 
 possess an ever-flowing spring, a constantly-renewing 
 element of hfe and energy. Dignified by his pervading 
 presence, defended by his upholding power, their hearts 
 overshadowed with a spiritual Shechinah, they are encou- 
 raged to resist and enabled to repel the combined aggres- 
 sions of evil. Vexed, they are not vanquished ; and, if 
 worn and wounded, they are divinely Soothed and healed. 
 Temptations fail to subvert their stedfastness : sufferings 
 serve to exalt their virtues. Though they walk in the 
 midst of the fire they, have no hurt ; for One is with them 
 — not apparently, but actually — ^who is the Son of God. 
 
 On the other hand, in the words of an eminent commen- 
 tator, " He in whose heart Christ dwells not by faith will 
 soon be consumed by the world, the flesh, and the devU." 
 As the love of God is unquenchable, so also is his holiness 
 and truth. And, as those to whom he is a friend and 
 portion are unharmed and undismayed, both now and ever, 
 so also is indestructibility affixed to the doom of those who 
 shall endure the flames of his eternal justice. Yet " who 
 among us shall," for who among us need, "dwell with 
 everlasting burnings?" 
 
#ttfoarbs. 
 
 ■*' Higher, and yet more high ! 
 Shake off the oumb'iing chain which earth would lay 
 On your Tiotorious wings. Mount ! mount ! Your way 
 Is through eternity ! " 
 
 Wherever we look arotmd us on the works and ways of 
 man, or on the processes and products of nature, we shall 
 meet with abundant examples and evidence of growth, 
 development, and gradual but constant progress. Not 
 merely must everything have a beginning, but many stages 
 must be passed, often long and slow and struggling, before 
 arriving at completion. 
 
 There was a time, or rather a period of eternity, for time 
 as yet was iiot, when God alone existed. And, when it 
 pleased him to create the world on which we dwell, many 
 and mighty changes took place ere the accomplishment of 
 what we may consider its final purpose. The first forms 
 of life which clothed it, were the lowest in the scale of 
 structure ; and it was not till plants and fish, and creeping 
 things and fowls of the air and four-footed beasts of earth, 
 had successively appeared, that man, the last and best of 
 God's creatures, came to close the long array. Every child 
 of Adam bom into this globe, thus provided and prepared 
 as his residence, has grae through the helplessness of 
 infancy, and the immaturity and inexperience of childhood 
 and youth, before attaining the strength and stature of 
 perfect manhood. One law, one type, one system every- 
 where prevails. 
 
 An acorn, tiny enough for an infant's toy, grows into 
 the "unwedgeable and gnarled" oak — ^the giant of the 
 forest ; a rill that a child might step and stem, widens and 
 deepens till it becomes the Amazon or Mississippi. Myriads 
 of humble animated forms, by constant accumulation of the 
 
ONWARDS. 219 
 
 minutest particles, have built up reef after reef, and island 
 after island, that stud the southern sea. The proudest 
 monuments of human skill, pyramids and palaces, castles 
 and cathedrals, have had their single foundation or corner- 
 stone, upon which they were progressively piled till the 
 top-stone arose to crown the whole. The loftiest efforts of 
 genius, triumphs of the painter or sculptor or poet, that 
 rivet all eyes and engage all ears with admiration and 
 delight, have been laboured into shape and beauty by 
 successive strokes of the pencil or chisel or pen. Villages, 
 the merest and meanest, increase to form populous and 
 mighty cities ; insignificant and weak communities grow 
 up tin they become magnificent and wide-spread empires. 
 
 Social improvements, as well as political institutions, are 
 the result of time and trial, and it may be tardy advance- 
 ment. Every object of ambition, wealth or fame or 
 learning, is gained not at once, but by degrees. Education 
 is eminently a progressive art, or rather not an art, but a 
 habit. The highest kind of knowledge claims no exception 
 to the general rule. The gospel message, beginning at 
 Jerusalem, has taken ages to visit the ends of the earth ; 
 and ages may yet elapse before all nations shall be covered 
 with its glory. The church of Christ, from a feeble com- 
 mencement, and through formidable obstacles, has reached 
 its present nominal extent. A simple incident may suggest 
 to a philosopher, or a mechanic, or a philanthropist, a 
 simple idea, which wiU go on developing itself until it lead 
 to the subUmest theory, or the most serviceable invention, 
 or the noblest and most needed reforms, the fuU meaning 
 and results of which even earth and time are unable to 
 embrace ; or a conception may require to pass through 
 many minds, before arriving at mature completion or 
 admitting of its utmost application. Some men labour, 
 others enter into their labours, and an incalculable number 
 partake of the fruits. 
 
 Lef us apply these principles to the illustration of moral 
 and Spiritual truth. As there is no royal road to human 
 knowledge, so is heavenly wisdom not to be grasped with- 
 out an effort, or to be gained but step by step. God's 
 method of instruction is the same as that by which we 
 attempt to store the memory and form the intellect ; precept 
 
220 ONWARDS. 
 
 must be upon precept and line upon line, here a little and 
 there a little. Character, whether for good or evil, is of 
 gradual formation. Practice is requisite for proficiency, 
 either in virtue or vice. Grace pursues the analogies of 
 nature. There must be life before there can be growth ; 
 and growth is essential to maturity and vigour. There is 
 "first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the 
 ear." The dawning light first faintly streaks the horizon, 
 but by and by it bursts into the blaze of perfect day. The 
 waters of life, issuing from the temple, at their source 
 scarcely deep enough to cover the feet, rise by degrees into 
 a river that cannot be forded ; "and everything shall five 
 whither the river cometh." The regenerate soul passes 
 from the condition of a babe or a child, fragile, unstable, 
 unsHlfiil, to the character and capacity of a perfect nian, to 
 "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." For 
 every age and stage of development suitable nutriment is 
 provided. There is the milk of the word, whereby growth 
 may be attained ; and, for those who are able ia bear ity 
 meat to give solidity and strength. Faith is the basis of 
 spiritual life ; but to this we have to add manly courage, 
 knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kind- 
 ness, and love. Jesus Christ is the corner-stone ; but the 
 building which rests upon him is to be fitly framed together 
 until it grow unto a holy temple. 
 
 This aspect of religious life and character is one of great 
 encouragement. Precocity there may be, spiritual as well 
 as physical ; but the more usual process is less rapid, and 
 maturity less early. The operations of the mind are not 
 suspended or inverted by the influence of grace ; and we 
 can no more look for depth of experience or advanced 
 attainments in holiness at the outset of a Christian course, 
 than we can expect a child to become intuitively and 
 immediately a scholar or a sage. The germs of piety are 
 earnests of the fruits of righteousness, and a harvest of 
 glory ; but sowing and reaping are divided by a long interval 
 of careful cnlture, unwearied watching and cea^less 
 preparation. Each day contributes to the result ; but each 
 daily progress is imperceptible, though not on that account 
 less real. We believe not in the possibility of sinless 
 perfection, while clogged with this body of death ; but we 
 
ONWARDS. 221 
 
 know not how near, even here, men may approach to the 
 angels, or what stages of development are opened to the 
 ■spirits of the just in the ever-growing life and light and 
 purity and knowledge of the fliture world. 
 
 The encouragement which this suhject affords is twofold, 
 both negative and positive. God despises not the day of 
 small things ; and we are not to despond on account of it ; 
 but neither are we to rest contented with it. We are to 
 press forward and persevere, leaving first principles, and 
 ever aiming higher, believing that he who has enabled us 
 to begin the "work of faith, and labour of love, and 
 patience of hope," will not forsake the purpose of his own 
 h^nds. 
 
 But we also hence derive a lesson of warning. As none 
 become at once eminently wise and good, so is the love 
 and practice of evil equally progressive. He, who begins 
 by walking in the counsels of the ungodly, will soon 
 hesitate not to stand in the way of sinners, and will 
 ultimately sit ip the seat of the scornful. The commence- 
 ment of sin, as of strife, is like the letting out of water. 
 The stream, shallow at first and slow, easy to check or 
 divert, swells into a torrent, rapid and resistless, still 
 gaining strength as it proceeds, and everything shall die 
 whither its influence extends. All holy resolves, all 
 wholesome restraints, examples, entreaties, endeavours, 
 conscience, judgment, affections, emotions, will yield to its 
 fatal power. One duty disregarded will lead to the neglect 
 of another ; one temptation unresisted will smooth the path 
 for fiiture compliance. Evil has a sad propensity to 
 multiply and spread. Its leaven permitted to work will 
 rest not until it has leavened the whole lump: "Where 
 lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin ; and sin, when 
 it is finished, bringeth forth death." When Hazael's 
 future course was predicted by Elisha, his answer was, "Is 
 thy servant a dog, that he should do this?" But the 
 prediction was fulfilled. Men may descend deeper and 
 deeper still in recklessness and callousness and infamy, 
 until by anticipation they realize the condition and the 
 destiny of the devil and his angels. The close of a sinful 
 career it is impossible to calculate or foretel. Wise is he 
 who retraces Ins steps before drawn on into that vortex from 
 
222 ONWAEDS. 
 
 which no power of his own can rescue him. And wiser 
 and happier he who shall be taught to say : — " Save me, 
 O God : let not the water-flood orerflow me ; neither let 
 the deep swallow me up. God, in the multitude of thy 
 mercy, hear me : let thy salvation, God, set me up 
 on high. 
 

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