Cicero, erased to make way for the nonsense of some old monkish chronicler, exclaimed, as he saw a tradesman trudging off with a handsome moroccobound quarto, for a day-book, "Only think of the pages once filled with the poetry of Isaiah and the parables of Christ, spunged clean to make way for orders for silks and satins, muslins, cheese and bacon!" The old authors, of course, were left to their mutilations there was no way in which the confusion could be remedied. But the living began to prepare new editions of their works, in which they endeavoured to give a new turn to the thoughts which had been mutilated by erasure, and I was not a little amused to see that many, having stolen from writers whose compositions were much mutilated as their own, could not tell the meaning of their own pages. as It seemed at first to be a not unnatural impression, that even those who could recal the erased texts as they perused the injured books-who could, mentally, fill up the imperfect clauses, were not at liberty to inscribe them; they seemed to fear that if they did so the characters would be as if written in invisible ink, or would surely fade away. It was with trembling that some, at length, made the attempt, and, to their unspeakable joy, found the impression durable. Day after day passed; still the characters remained; and the people, at length, came to the conclusion that God left them at liberty, if they could, to reconstruct the Bible for themselves out of their collective remembrances of its divine contents. This led again to some curious results, all of them singularly indicative of the good and ill that is in human nature. It was with in credible joy that men came to the conclusion that the book might be thus recovered nearly entire, and nearly in the very words of the original, by the combined effort of human memories. Some of the obscurest of the species, who had studied nothing else but the Bible, but who had well studied that, came to be objects of reverence among christians and booksellers; and the various texts they quoted were taken down with the utmost care. He who could fill up a chasm by the restoration of words which were only partially re membered, or could contribute the least text that had been forgotten, was regarded as a sort of public benefactor. At length, a great public movement among the divines of all denominations was projected, to collate the results of these partial recoveries of the sacred text. It was curious, again, to see in how various ways human passions and prejudices came into play. It was found that the several parties who had furnished from memory the same portions of the sacred text, had fallen into a great variety of different readings; and though most of them were of as little importance as the bulk of those which are paraded in the critical recensions of Mill, Griesbach, or Tischendorf, they became, from the obstinacy and folly of the men who contended about them, important differences, merely because they were differences. Two reverend men of the synod, I remember, had a rather tough dispute as to whether it was twelve baskets full of fragments of the five loaves which the five thousand left, and seven baskets full of the seven loaves which the four thousand had left, or vice versa: as, also, whether the words in John vi. 19, were "about twenty or five-and-twenty," or "about thirty or five-andthirty furlongs." To do the assembly justice, however, there was found an intense general earnestness and sincerity befitting the occasion, and an equally intense desire to obtain, as nearly as possible, the very words of the lost volume; only, (as was also, alas! natural) vanity, in some; in others, confidence in their strong impressions, and in the accuracy of their memory; obstinacy and pertinacity in many more, (all aggravated, as usual, by controversy), caused many odd embarrassments before the final adjustment was eflected. I was particularly struck with the varieties of reading which mere prejudices in favour of certain systems of theology occasioned in the several partisans of each. No doubt the worthy men were generally unconscious of the influence of these prejudices; yet somehow the memory was seldom so clear in relation to those texts which told against them as in relation to those which told for them. A certain Quaker had an impression that the It was curious to see by what odd associations, sometimes of contrast, sometimes of resemblance, obscure texts were recovered, though they were verified, when once mentioned, by the consciousness of hundreds. One old gentleman, a miser, contributed (and it was all he did contribute) a maxim of prudence, which he recollected, principally from having systematically abused it. All the ethical maxims, indeed, were soon collected; for though, as usual, no one recollected his own peculiar duties or infirmities, every one, as usual, kindly remembered those of his neighbours. Husbands remembered what was due from their wives, and wives what was due from their husbands. The unpleasant sayings about "better to dwell on the housetop," and "the perpetual dropping on a very rainy day," were called to mind by thousands. Almost the whole of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes were contributed, in the merest fragments, in this way. As for Solomon's "times for everything," few could remember them all, but everybody remembered some. Undertakers said there was a "time to mourn ;" and comedians that there was a ❝ time to laugh;" young ladies innumerable remembered there was a "time to love," and people of all kinds that there was a "time to hate;" everybody knew there was a "time to speak," but a worthy quaker reminded them that there was also a "time to keep silence." words instituting the Eucharist were preceded by a qualifying expression, and Jesus said TO THE TWELVE, do this in remembrance of me;" while he could not exactly recollect whether or not the formula of "baptism" was expressed in the general terms some maintained it was. Several Unitarians had a clear recollection that in several places the authority of Griesbach's recension, was decidedly against the common reading; while the Trinitarians maintained that Griesbach's recension in those instances had left that reading undisturbed. An Episcopalian began to have his doubts whether the usage in favour of the interchange of the words "bishop," and "presbyter," was so uniform as the Presbyterian and Independent maintained, and whether there was not a passage in which Timothy and Titus were expressly called "bishops." The Presbyterian and Independent had similar biases; and one gentleman who was a strenuous advocate of the system of the latter, enforced one equivocal remembrance by saying, he could, as it were, distinctly see the very spot on the page before his mind's eye. Such tricks will imagination play with the memory, when preconception plays tricks with the imagination! In like manner it was seen that while the Calvinist was very distinct in his recollection of the ninth chapter of Romans, his memory was very faint as respects the exact wording of some of the verses in the Epistle of James; and though the Some dry parts of the laws of Moses Arminian had a most vivacious impres- were recovered by the memory of jusion of all those passages which spoke rists, who seemed to have no knowof the claims of the law, he was in ledge whatever of any other parts of some doubt whether the apostle Paul's the sacred volume; while in like mansentiments respecting human depravi- ner one or two antiquarians supplied ty, and justification by faith alone, had some very difficult genealogical and not been a little exaggerated. In chronological matters, in equal ignoshort, it very clearly appeared that rance of the moral and spiritual contradition was no safe guide: that if, even tents of the scriptures. when she was hardly a month old, she could play such freaks with the memories of honest people, there was but a sorry prospect of the secure transmission of truth for eighteen hundred years. From each man's memory seemed to glide something or other which he was not inclined to retain there, and each seemed to substitute in its stead something that he liked better. As people became accustomed to the phenomenon, the perverse humours of mankind displayed themselves in a variety of ways. The efforts of the pious assembly were abundantly laughed at, but I must, in justice, add, without driving them from their purpose. Some profane wags suggested there was now a good opportunity of realising the scheme of taking out of the commandments, and inserting 66 NOT it in the creed. But they were sarcastically told that the old objection to the plan would still apply; that they would not sin with equal relish if they were expressly commanded to do so, nor take such pleasure in infidelity if infidelity became a duty. But the most amusing thing of all was to see, as time made men more familiar with this strange event, the variety of speculations which were entertained respecting its object and design. Many began gravely to question whether it was the duty of the synod to attempt the restoration of a book of which God himself had so manifestly deprived the world; and whether it was not a profane, nay, an atheistical attempt to frustrate his will. Some, who were secretly glad to be released from so troublesome a book, were particularly pious on this head, and exclaimed bitterly against this rash attempt to counteract and cancel the decrees of heaven. The papists, on their part, were confident that the design was to correct the exorbitancies of a rabid Protestantism, and show the world, by direct miracle, the necessity of submitting to the decision of their church, and the infallibility of the supreme pontiff, who, as they truly alleged, could decide all knotty points quite as well without the Word of God as with it. On being reminded that the writings of the fathers, on which they laid so much stress as the vouchers of their traditions, were mutilated by the same stroke which had demolished the Bible (all their quotations being erased), some of the Jesuits affirmed that many of the fathers were rather improved than otherwise by the omission, and that they found these writings quite as intelligible, and not less edifying than before. In this, many protestants very cordially agreed. On the other hand, many of our modern infidels gave an entirely new turn to the whole affair by saying that the visitation was evidently not in judgment, but in mercy; that God in compassion, and not in indignation, had taken away a book which man had regarded with an extravagant admiration and idolatry, and which they had exalted to the place of that clear internal oracle which He had planted in the human breast; in a word, that if it was a rebuke at all, it was a rebuke to a rampant "Bibliolatry." As I heard all these different versions of so simple a matter, and found that not a few were inclined to each, I could not help exclaiming," In truth, the devil is a very clever fellow, and man even a greater blockhead than I had taken him for." But in spite of the surprise with which I had listened to these various explanations of an event which seemed to me clear as if written with a sunbeam, this last reason, which assigned as the cause of God's resumption of his own gift, an extravagant admiration and veneration of it on the part of mankind— it being so notorious that those who professed belief in its divine origin and authority had (even the best of them) so grievously neglected both the study and the practice of itstruck me as so exquisitely ludicrous, that I broke into a fit of laughter which awoke me. I found that it was broad daylight, and the morning sun was streaming in at the window, and shining in quiet radiance upon the open Bible which lay upon my table. So strongly had my dream. impressed me, that I almost felt as though, on inspection, I should find the sacred leaves a blank, and it was therefore with joy that my eyes rested on those words, which I read through grateful tears: "The gifts of God are WITHOUT REPENTANCE." -Eclipses of Faith. LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC SELECTIONS. CHRISTIANITY THE ONLY SAFETY OF NATIONS. I HUMBLY claim your forbearance, ladies and gentlemen; I claim it in the name of the Almighty Lord, to hear from my lips a mournful truth. It may displease you; it may offend, but still truth is truth. Offended vanity may blame me; power may frown at me, and pride may call my boldness arrogant, but still truth is truth; and I, bold in my unpretending humility, will proclaim that truth; I will proclaim it from land to land and from sea to sea; I will proclaim it with the faith of the martyrs of old, till the seed of my word falls upon the conscience of men. Let come what come may, I say with Luther, God help me, I cannot otherwise. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the law of our Saviour, the religion of Christ can secure a happy future to nations. But, alas! there is yet no christian people on earth-not a single one among all. I have spoken the word. It is harsh, but true. Nearly two thousand years have passed since Christ has proclaimed the eternal decree of God, to which the happiness of mankind is bound, and has sanctified it with his own blood, and still there is not one single nation on earth which would have enacted into its law-book that eternal decree. Men believe in the mysteries of religion, according to the creed of their church; they go to church, and they pray and give alms to the poor, and drop the balm of consolation into the wounds of the afflicted, and believe they do all that the Lord commanded to do, and believe they are christians. No! Some few may be, but their nation is not their country is not the era of christianity has yet to come, and when it comes, then, only then, will the future of nations be assured. Far be it from me to misapprehend the immense benefit which the christian religion, such as it already is, has operated in mankind's history. It has influenced the private character of men, and the social condition of mil lions; it was the nurse of a new civilization; and softening the manners and morals of men, its influence has been felt even in the worst quarter of history-in war. The continual massacres of the Greek and Roman kings and chiefs, and the extermination of nations by them-the all-devastating warfare of the Timours and Gengis Khans-are in general no more to be met with; only my own dear fatherland was doomed to experience once more the cruelties of the Timours and Gengis Khans out of the sacrilegious hands of the dynasty of Austria, which calumniates christianity by calling itself christian. But though that beneficial influence of christianity we have cheerfully to acknowledge, yet it is still not to be disputed that the law of Christ does yet nowhere rule the christian world. ** * * Every religion has two parts. One is the dogmatical, the part of worship; the other is the moral part. The first, the dogmatic part, belonging to those mysterious regions, which the arm of human understanding cannot reach, because they belong to the dominion of belief, and that begins where the dominion of knowledge ends-that part of religion, therefore, the dogmatic one, should be left to every man to settle between God and his own conscience. It is a sacred field, whereon worldly power never should dare to trespass, because there it has no power to enforce its will. Force can murder; it can make liars and hypocrites, but no violence on earth can force a man to believe what he does not believe. Yet the other part of religion-the moral part-is quite different. That teaches duties towards ourselves and towards our fellow-men. It can be therefore not indifferent to the human family; it can be not indifferent to whatever community if those duties be fulfilled or not, and no nation can, with full right, claim the title of your country is free; because here, at least in this, your happy land, religious liberty exists. Your institutions left no power to your government to interfere with the religion of your citizens. Here every man is free to worship God as he chooses to do. of a christian nation, no government | Well, of this danger at least the future the title of a christian government, which is not founded on the basis of christian morality, and which takes it not for an all overruling law to fulfil the moral duties ordered by the religion of Christ toward men and nations, who are but the community of men, and toward mankind, which is the community of nations. Now, look to those dread pages of history, stained with the blood of millions, spilt under the blasphemous pretext of religion: was it the intention to vindicate the rights and enforce the duties of christian morality which raised the hand of nation against nation, of government against government? No. It was the fanaticism of creed and the fury of dogmatism. Nations and governments rose to propagate their manner to worship God, and their own mode to believe the inscrutable mysteries of eternity, but nobody has yet raised a finger to punish the sacrilegious violation of the moral laws of Christ, nobody ever stirred to claim the fulfilment of the duties of christian morality towards nations. There is much speaking about the separation of church and state, and yet, on close examination, we shall see that there was, and there is, scarcely one single government entirely free from the direct or indirect influence of one or other religious denomination, scarcely one which would not at least bear a predilection, if not countenance with favour, one or another creed-but creed, and always creed. The mysteries of dogmatism, and the manners of worship enter into these considerations, they enter even into the politics, and turn the scales of hatred and affection; but certainly there is not one single nation, not one single government, the policy of which would ever have been regulated by that law of morality which our Saviour has promulgated as the eternal law of God, which shall be obeyed in all the relations of men to men. But you say the direct or indirect amalgamation of church and state proved to be dangerous to nations in christian and for christian times, because it affected the individual rights of men, and among them, the dearest of all, the liberty of conscience and the freedom of thought. And that is true, and it is a great glory of your country that it is true. It is a fact which entitles to the hope that your nation will revive the law of Christ even on earth. However, the guarranty which your constitution affords to religious liberty is but a negative part of a christian government. There are besides that, positive duties to be fulfilled. He who does no violence to the conscience of man, has but the negative merit of a man, doing no wrong; but as he who does not murder, does not steal, and does not covet what his neighbour's is, but by not stealing, not murdering, not coveting what our neighbour's is, we did yet no positive good; a man who does not murder has not yet occasion to the title of virtuous man. And here is precisely the infinite merit of the christian religion. While Moses, in the name of the Almighty God, ordered but negative decrees towards fellowmen, the christian religion commands positive virtue. Its divine injunctions are not performed by not doing wrong: it desires us to do good. The doctrine of Jesus Christ is sublime in its majestic simplicity. "Thou shalt love God above all, and love thy neighbour as thou lovest thyself." This sublime doctrine is the religion of love. It is the religion of charity. Though I speak with the tongue of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." Thus speaks the Lord, and thus he gave the law: "Do unto others as thou desirest others to do unto thee." Now, in the name of Him who gave this law to humanity to build up the eternal |