them is as to what they will give us in the place of what they would demolish. They disparage, they scorn that which we account blessings. They would cast to the winds the restrictions which our time-honoured (but time-worn, as they would have it) religion lays on human passions. They would deprive human nature of its consolations and hopes beyond the present state. They would set men loose from all restraint. The only complaint we have to make is, what will they give us in the room of all this? For we cannot do without the one or the other, either our restrictions or our hopes and consolations. If the world has continued as it has been for centuries, if it has been such a scene of strife and discord and injustice and hatred and bloodshed, even despite the restraints of religion and the checks of conscience, it is not likely to be much better if these restraints are removed; for, unhappily for the theory of these philosophers, human crime (if we may believe facts and the most authentic records) was never more deadly than now, or human passion more fierce than in this most enlightened age. But, no matter: reason, intellect will do all. It will mend all this. It is to introduce a new era of happiness and liberty and enlightenment. It will bring men that philosophic calmness which the age sighs for. It will make all men brethren. It will chase away all our superstitious fears.

Fine and beautiful theory! But, alas! we must be so ungracious as to declare ourselves rather sceptical about its practical working. I suspect it will be found that men will, spite of all, have their doubts and fears and misgivings. Men will be apt still to inquire, "Whence am I? Whither am I going?" Men will still be apt to be a little disturbed at the thought of death, and to ask, "What lies beyond the grave"? They will still have their fears that the soul may be more than matter, that man is more than the beast that perishes, and that there is some ground for what even a heathen suspected (strange that a heathen should whisper an admonition into the ear of a professed Christian!) that there is "the particle of the divine air-spirit in man." Men will still suspect that man has to do with another world, another state of existence. Suspicions of his immortality and accountableness will continue still to cross his mind. Men will still continue to hear "the still small voice," which no efforts, at least as yet made (and six thousand years is a long time for that), have been able to silence. Alas! we have no doubt as to the success of the great experiment. If we find that men under the darkness of heathenism itself, when they had only reason to guide them, if reflecting men could not attain to this philosophic indifference about all except this world; if we find, from the recorded experience of the wisest of them, that they believed there was something more than mortal in man; if this calm indifference as to the future and the unseen could not be attained by them who had not the light of revelation, and were not under the awful responsibility which the possessors of it imposes, there is not much chance, I conceive, of this intellectual repose, this philosophic calmness for them who have had the startling discoveries which revelation makes to disturb their intellectual repose. No, no: there is a restless something within man which prevents him calmly reposing

Man

on the infidel scheme. It does not answer. has not, as yet at least, discovered the art of putting a veto, an inhibition, on the thinking faculty. He cannot, as yet, make a covenant with himseit that he will think no more about the future, about death, about eternity, no more than he who has perpetrated some wicked deed can shut up his mind, and forbid the thought of it ever again to intrude. In vain: it will come back again. And, in like manner, all the efforts of man can never silence that still small voice which God has planted in the inmost shrine of his bosom. The infidel may launch him out of the haven in whica he rests; but he launches him on a wide, restless, stormy sea. In vain he tells him that his fear are childish. The "ipse dixit" of the infidel will not satisfy him of that. He will still suspect that the wisest have not been for ages duped by childish fears. He will still be startled by the mon strousness of the infidel creed, and suspect, after all, that wicked men would hardly have given up all that was dearest to them, and life itself, to pro mote a system which condemned and reprobated them in this world, and held out hell to them as their portion in the next; and that it was as little likely that good and holy men would have been guilty of fabricating the most deliberate lie, and acting the part of the most arrant and unprincipled cheats.

Miscellaneous.

INDIAN'S OPINION OF ENGLAND.-When th Ojibbeway Indians were lately in London, some piou men endeavoured to convert them to Christianity efforts which their chief declined thus: "Now, m friends, I will tell you that when we first came over t this country we thought that where you had so man preachers, so many to read and explain the good book people; but as we travel about we find this was all we should find the white people all good and sobe mistake. When we first came over, we thought the white man's religion would make all people good, an we then would have been glad to talk with you; b now we cannot say that we like to do it any mor My friends, I am willing to talk with you, if it can d any good to the hundreds and thousands of poor an hungry people that we see in your streets every da when we ride out. We see hundreds of little childr with their naked feet in the snow, and we pity then for we know that they are hungry, and we give the money every time we pass by them. In four days give our money only to children. We are told the have given twenty dollars to hungry children-w the fathers of these children are in ale-houses wher they sell fire-water, and are drunk, and in their word they every moment abuse and insult the Great Spir You talk about sending black coats among Indians; now we have no such poor children amon us; we have no such drunkards, or people who abus the Great Spirit. Indians dare not do so. They pra to the Great Spirit, and he is kind to them. Now think it would be better for you teachers all to stay s home, and go to work right here in your own streetwhere all your good work is wanted. This is m

advice.

I would rather not say any more."

th

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DEATHS OF EMINENT CHRISTIANS*.

No. XIII.

WILLIAM CECIL, LORD BURGHLEY.

(Died 1598, aged 77.)

He was secretary of state in the reign of king Edward VI., and lord high treasurer of England in the reign of queen Elizabeth.

His resignation in his last illness was remarkible, in which, while he testified a most cheerful ense of the signal blessings he enjoyed in his life, le showed not only a satisfaction, but an earnest lesire of dying. He comforted and instructed is children with much tenderness, but without betraying any weakness: he prayed fervently, and never showed any discomposure at the approach of death; but, as he lived with the charity, he died with the constancy of a Christian. The following particulars are recorded by a faithful domestic:

He had the favour of his prince, the love of his people, great offices, honours, livings, good children, and all blessings the world could afford him; yet he contemned the world, and desired nothing From "Last Hours of Christian Men; or an Account of the Deaths of some eminent Members of the Church of England;" by the rev. H. Clissold, M.A. London: Scciety for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

No. 930.

but death, either because he had lived long enough, and desired to be in heaven, or else because he could not live to do that good for his country he desired, or rather as it is most likely both; for he had seen and tasted so much of the sweet and the sour of the world as made him weary to live; and knew so much of the joys of his salvation, wherein was his only comfort, as gave him cause to desire death, when it was God's good pleasure, as he often said; but how or whatsoever it was, the sign was infallibly good. He contemned this life, and expected the next; for there was no earthly thing wherein he took comfort, but in contemplation, reading, or hearing the scriptures, psalms, and prayers.

About ten or twelve days before he died, he grew weak, and kept his bed, complaining only of a pain in his breast, which continued at intervals till within one night before his death. At six of the clock at night, the physicians finding no distemper in his pulse or body, but assuring his life, affirming it was impossible he should be heart-sick that had so good temper, and such perfect pulse and senses; yet at seven of the clock following he fell into a convulsion like to the shaking of an ague. Now', quoth he, the Lord be praised, the time is come'; and, calling his children, blessed them, and took his leave, commanding them to love and fear God, and love one another he also prayed for the queen, that she

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VOL. XXXII.

might live long, and die in peace. His last recorded words were, that "he was assured God had forgiven his sins, and would save his soul." The last will and testament of this great and good man is worthy of all observation: the following is a transcript of the preamble:

"Considering by the goodness of Almighty God I have been created a reasonable creature, and thereby ordained to serve him, and born of Christian parents, and christened in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and, consequently, brought up and instructed, in my younger years, in the knowledge of the gospel of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which was more clearly revealed in the times of my young years than it had been many years before; being thereby taught that there was no other means for the salvation of the soul but by the death and resurrection of Christ the Son of God, wherein I do put my whole confidence and trust, and do desire the assistance of his Holy Spirit to have grace to be thankful for the same, and to have a desire to obey his will and commandments, as far forth as the infirmity of my flesh will suffer, in living religiously and virtuously; whereunto adding the inevitable certainty of the death of my body, though I am uncertain of the time; and yet by the increase of time and infirmities of my body necessarily induced to look shortly, by order of nature, for my worldly end; and that, whatsoever worldly goods God hath given, or rather lent unto me, I do certainly know that, by death, I must leave them all to the world; and that, whatsoever godly and spiritual graces and gifts have been by God's special grace bestowed on me, I hope, certainly, by God's goodness and mercy, though my body shall be committed to earth, yet to enjoy the fruits thereof in heaven, after this mortal life, if I shall use and dispose them in this life to God's glory, acknowledging them to have proceeded of his mere goodness, and that more plenteously than to many others-upon all these and many like considerations, I, being at this present time occupied with the cogitations of my mortality, and yet of whole mind and memory (for which I humbly thank God), do determine"*, &c., &c.

A meditation on the death of lady Burghley, his wife: "There is no cogitation to be used with an intent to recover that which never can be had again, i. e., to have my dear wife to live again in her mortal body, which is separated from the soul, and resteth in the earth dead, and the soul taken up to heaven, and there to remain in the fruition of blessedness unspeakable, until the general resurrection of all flesh; when by the almighty power of God (who made all things of nothing) her body shall be raised up and joined with her soul, in an everlasting, unspeakable joy, such as no tongue can express, nor heart can conceive. Therefore my cogitations ought to be occupied in these things following: I ought to thank Almighty God for his favour in permitting her to have lived so many years together with me, and to have given her grace to have had the true knowledge of her salvation by the death of his Son Jesus, opened to her by the knowledge of the

* Memoirs of the Life and Administration of William Cecil, lord Burghley; by the rev. Edward Nares, D.D., pp. 483, 489, 492.

Juvenile Reading.

THE FALL OF JUDAH+.

"The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
"Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strewn.

"For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed on the face of the foe as he pass'd,
And the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heav'd and for ever grew still.
"And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there roll'd not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
"And there lay the rider, distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail;
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.
"And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord."

BYRON.

NEXT evening, when we had taken our usual places, one of us-I do not recollect who it wasasked grandfather how many years the ten tribes of Israel were governed by kings of their own.

Grandfather.-For two hundred and fifty-four years. In the year of the world 3029 they revolted from the house of David, and chose Jeroboam for their king. In the year 3283 Shalmaneser carried them into captivity. He does not seem to have supplied the land with inhabitants in their place, at least it was thinly peopled until the time of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who sent colonies there from different parts of his dominions. These colonists were idolatrous people. Some of them worshipped the sun: some worshipped the lower animals, or images in the shape of them: some

* Ballard's Memorials.

† From "The Battles of the Bible." Edinburgh: Patou and Ritchie. Young people are usually much interested in narratives of wars and sieges and conquests, and they will frequently search large histories very anxiously in order to come upon such accounts. But in this respect, as in all others, the bible stands at the head of all books. In it are related the wars of the Lord-those combats in which his peculiar people were engaged, either as victors when com missioned and aided by him, or as sufferers when undergoing the just punishment of their sins. The volume from which we have made an extract above well describes those stirnag events, and inculcates many of the lessons which we should derive from them. It will be a favourite we think with juvenile readers.-ED.

had gods in the form of a pillar, and some in human likeness: others kept fire continually burning on their altars, to which they did homage. Vile deities these were, and vilely were they served. The poor ignorant people took their own children and burned them in the fire, and things even more abominable still they did in honour of their gods. Because of their wicked idolatrous practices, the Lord sent lions into Samaria, who killed some of them.

Marianne.-Why did lions come among them? They did not know any better. The Israelites did know better; and no lions annoyed them, though they worshipped idols.

Grandfather.-True, they did, but not like these people. They professed to regard the God of their fathers, though they did not worship him as they ought. The idols they looked on as something between them and Jehovah. These nations who now inhabited Samaria were entirely ignorant of the true God, and showed their ignorance by speaking of him as the God of the land. They sent to tell the king what a grievance the lions were to themwhat terror they kept them in, and what havoe they had done. They said that they knew that these lions had come upon them because they knew not how to serve the God of the land. They wished the king to send a priest to teach them to worship him. Here was a people sunk in debasing idolatry seeking to be instructed in the truth. Let us learn from them to value the instruction with which we are favoured, and try to extend the knowledge of the true God to those who as yet know him not. The king of Assyria, agreeably to the request of his people, sent a captive priest to teach the Samaritans to worship the God of Israel. They attended to the teaching, and did homage to the Lord, but not as to the one living and true God. They worshipped him along with their own false gods. It was long before their idolatry was entirely overthrown; but in the end it was so. Two hundred years after, the Samaritans no longer worshipped idols. Josephus tells us that when the Jews were prosperous these people claimed kindred with them; but they were careful to deny all connexion with them when they were in a low state.

Marianne. That is very bad, if it is true. Are there any of these people now?

Grandfather.-There are very few, only two or three hundred people like the Jews, they worship in the synagogue every sabbath day. George. I have been expecting a battle. long in coming to-night.

It is Grandfather. We have come now to war. In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, son of Ahaz and king of Judah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against him, and took the walled towns. Hezekiah, in great fear, sent to offer to pay anything the king of Assyria might ask. Sennacherib demanded three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold, which is nearly two hundred thousand pounds in our money. To raise this large sum Hezekiah was obliged not only to take all the treasure out of the temple, but even to take the gold plates off the doors and the pillars. Marianne. Then Hezekiah had been a bad man, when he stripped the temple of its gold. Grandfather. He was not a bad man. He

was one of the best kings that ever reigned in Judah. He purged the land of idolatry, and caused all the people to come up to Jerusalem to worship. The character given of him by the sacred historian is this: "He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him; for he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments which the Lord commanded Moses."

Marianne.-Why, then, did he take the gold and silver out of the temple, and why were the Assyrians allowed to come against him?

Grandfather.-The gold that he had taken off the doors and pillars of the temple he himself had put on, and he would intend to restore it when the means were in his power. As to why the Assyrians were suffered to come against him, trouble, we know, sometimes comes on those who sincerely seek God, that their faith may be strengthened and their hearts purified. Yet we may regard the invasion of the Assyrians as a punishment on the king of Judah, who a short time before had displeased the Lord by ostentation, of which you will read an account afterwards; and a punishment, too, on the people of Judah, who, though they were obliged outwardly to appear devoted to the true God, still loved idole in their hearts. The Assyrian who came against them was a rod in the hand of God to punish a hypocritical nation, as Isaiah tells us.

George. Well, did Sennacherib take the bribe, and go away?

Grandfather. He took the bribe, certainly; but he did not go away. Hezekiah made himself poorer, but not safer, by parting with his gold. Sennacherib sent a large army, under three of his generals, to complete the conquest of Judah. Hezekiah held a council, and it was agreed to prepare for defence. They repaired the walls of the city, made weapons of war, darts, and shields in abundance, enrolled the people, and instructed them in military operations. Besides, to annoy the enemy, they stopped up the fountains all round. The three Assyrian generals advanced to Jerusalem, and called for Hezekiah to speak with them. He sent three of the chief men of the city to hear what they had to say, but charged them not to say anything in reply. Rabshakeh, Tartan, and Rabsaris were the names of the Assyrian officers. Rabshakeh was spokesman. He

commanded them to surrender : he mocked at their weakness; said they had no soldiers among them, and need not trust for assistance from any other nation, for the great king of Assyria had conquered them all. He said, too, that he had a commission from God to destroy Jerusalem: "Am I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it." When the three rulers of Judah heard this, they feared lest it should make the people unwilling to resist the Assyrians. So they ventured mildly to remonstrate with Rabshakeh: " · Speak, I pray thee," they said, "to thy servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it; and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that are on the wall." Rabshakeh saw at once of what they were afraid; but it only made him