with discontent; while an ignorant and unlearned individual would be contented and happy. This objection is one of those in genious sophisms which wear the appearance of plain truth; but the premises being false, the conclusion drawn from them falls to the ground.

In this objection it is asserted, that ignorance is the parent of contentment and happiness. But from whence could such an idea arise? The idea is opposed to reason, experience, and revelation. But let us examine the proposition. In doing this, we must observe, that things are not always what they are called. The state of feeling enjoyed by an ignorant individual, here designated contentment and happiness, is not what men usually understand by those terms, but something externally like it, though in its real nature widely different.

It is commonly believed that the labouring classes, being in a state of ignorance, feel no wants except food and rest, and while they get a reasonable supply of these, they are contented and happy. Admitting the correctness of this opinion, as it regards their animal wants, and the contentment arising from the supply of them, will any reasonable being say that this is happiness, or that such a state is a fit state for a rational and intellectual being? If so, where is the difference between man and the bruteswhere is the distinction between the plough. man and his horses? Is there a man who would see his fellow-man in such a state of degradation, and not stretch out his hand to raise him to the station in existence which his bountiful Creator intended him to fill?

But the correctness of this opinion is denied. Man is an intellectual being; and as such, he cannot rest satisfied with mere animal enjoyments: however he may be sunk in ignorance, and degraded by sensual indulgence, he is still possessed of mind; there is something more than animal in his composition, and that something, being a living principle, will act; desires will rise beyond the mere cravings of animal nature, and he will endeavour to gratify those desires. If reason is clouded by ignorance, error will attend his actions, and that which was given him by his bountiful Creator for his good, will pruduce only evil; that which, if cultivated, would be a blessing to himself and all around him, will, in a state of ignorance, produce misery and ruin. Thus it is evident, ignorance cannot be productive of good in any degree; at best it can only generate a state of apathy and want of feeling, not to be desired by any means, but rather to be deplored. Such are the evils

of ignorance, and such is the true nature of that state of mind so falsely depicted in the objection. Knowledge cannot, therefore, be altogether useless, if it only in some degree corrects those evils.

It will, however, be easy to prove, that learning not only prevents the evils attendant on ignorance, but is fraught with the choicest blessings; for, while ignorance degrades man to an equality with the brutes, knowledge, acquired by education, and improved by the contemplation of general truths, and the comparing together of different things, elevates the faculties above low pursuits, purifies and refines the passions, and helps our reason to assuage their violence. Nor will such acquirements render the poor labouring man discontented with his station in society; it will raise him above low indulgence as a source of genuine gratification, but not above his condition in life; for the greater progress he makes in real knowledge, the more will he value his independence, and the more will he prize the industry and habits of regular labour, whereby he is enabled to secure so prime a blessing.

And here I would observe, that I am not contending for mere reading and writing: that system of education is lamentably deficient, which does not introduce the pupils to the elements of science, and train their minds to the pursuit of knowledge in after life; for indeed there is hardly any trade or occupation in which useful lessons may not be learned by studying one science or another. To how many kinds of workmen must a knowledge of mechanical philosophy be useful? To how many others does chemistry prove almost necessary? Nay, the farm servant or day-labourer, whether in his master's employ, or tending the concerns of his own cottage, must derive great practical benefit, must be both a better servant and a more thrifty, and therefore comfortable cottager, for knowing something of the nature of soils and manures, which chemistry teaches; and something of the habits of animals, and the qualities and growth of plants, which he may learn from natural history and chemistry together. In truth, though a man be neither a mechanic nor artisan, but only one having a pot to boil, he is sure to learn from science lessons which will enable him to cook his morsel better, save his fuel, and both vary his dish and improve it.

In the present age, all, or nearly all, admit the propriety of teaching the children of the poor to read, write, and cipher; but while they admit this much, a very great number are strongly opposed to a further extension of the blessings of education to

the poor. But I would ask, what benefit do the poor derive from such a partial and limited system of instruction, and what advantage is such a monopoly of learning to the rich? Will any one pretend to say, that the mere knowledge of letters will improve the mind, that to know that certain arbitrary marks or signs represent those sounds whereby we express our thoughts one to another, will expand our thinking faculties, and strengthen our reasoning powers? The art of reading is only the key to knowledge, and what is the use of a key to a person who does not know what it is to unlock, who neither knows the treasure to be obtained by it, of what it consists, where it is deposited, nor how it is to be procured? I contend that something more is necessary than what is frequently taught at present, if we would benefit mankind by education.

It has been said, that teaching the children of the poor to read is productive of evil, as they are thereby enabled to read pernicious works; and not being possessed of that judgment to discriminate between right and wrong, are led astray. To this I give my ready assent. But what is the reason? Are the poor naturally deficient in judgment? No; children are taught to read, but not to examine and judge for themselves; they therefore grow up in the habit of taking for granted whatever is laid before them; they admit, without scruple, every argument to be correct; and where they meet with conflicting opinions, from the evil bias existing in the human breast, they are sure to take the wrong side; and to this source the spread of infidel and revolutionary principles may be traced. If children are taught merely to read, infidelity and rebellion will be promoted; for while the best of men advance what they call education, the worst of men will take advantage of it.

A presumptuous political demagogue, well known by his inflammatory writings to the lower orders of society, amidst all his wickedness and folly, has shewn himself not so deficient of sense as not to perceive the effect that the intellectual improvement of the age will have upon the principle he advocates. He sees it, and I have no doubt he begins to feel it, by people beginning to be too wise either to purchase or read his weekly trash: he therefore places himself foremost in the rank with those who ridicule and oppose what they sneeringly designate "the march of intellect;" and he who wrote a grammar for ploughboys has now become the opposer of education. Of this the reason is obvious. He now finds that education, instead of making men believe his jargon, opens their eyes to see things in

their true colours. But he does not, he never did, and perhaps he never will, object to people being able to read. Teach them to read his trash, but do not teach them to detect his sophistries, and you most effectually aid his cause, and secure his approbation. In a free country, like this, the welfare of the state requires that all classes should be so educated that talent may be elicited and improved; but ignorance is as detrimental to a free state, as it is essential to a despotic one.

Nature is an impartial parent, and her gifts are not confined to a particular class. Her favours are scattered indiscriminately among her children. Natural talent and genius are to be met with among the poor as well as the rich; and if we see but little of it among the former, it is because

"Knowledge, to their eyes, her ample page,

Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er unrol;
Chill penury repressed their noble rage,
And froze the genial current of the soul."

It may be objected, that this is all very fine theory, but is only theory, unsupported by facts or experience; and some may be ready to assert, that experience proves the contrary, as the general diffusion of learning and knowledge has been attended with a most fearful and unprecedented increase of crime. To this I would reply, that, before we can appeal to facts or experience, we must see the children of the poor educated. I affirm, and none can deny the fact, that the poor have never yet been fully taught, and until that is done, and the experiment tried, no appeal to facts can be made.

What has hitherto been termed education, falls far short of what education ought to be, to produce any benefit to society in general. Every well-informed person must know, that there is a difference between an actual knowledge, and a mere acquaintance with elementary principles; and enough has already been said to prove, that elementary acquirement is only the means of obtaining real knowledge; and therefore, a person indulging in vice, and running to every excess, while possessed of mere elementary knowledge, will not affect our argument. Let, then, the stores of wisdom which have been so long withheld from the bulk of mankind be thrown open to all; permit all to come and partake freely of the pure streams of knowledge, seeing that thereby evils will be mitigated, good promoted, man exalted, and God honoured.

And who is it that objects to what is here proposed? Not the christian; because he knows, the more the mind of man is cultivated, and his intellectual powers are improved, the more able he will be to appre

ciate the value of true religion, and the more readily will he listen to the precepts of pure morality.

A cultivated mind alone can perceive the justness of the arguments, and force of the evidences, advanced in favour of Christianity, and detect the sophistry of its opponents. An ignorant man may believe divine revelation, but an educated man alone can give a reason for his belief.

A true patriot will not oppose education, because he knows anarchy and rebellion are the offspring of ignorance. Disaffected individuals may mislead an ignorant people, who are incapable of examining the arguments advanced in their inflammatory harangues; but in proportion as a man is taught, his reason will be exalted, his passions brought into subjection, his mind impressed with the importance of order and government, and thus his reason and interest will unite to make him a loyal and a peaceable subject.

Who then, I would ask, are the opponents to universal education? In some instances, a few mistaken individuals; but by far the greater number are infidels and political demagogues, who, conscious of the influence they possess over weak and igno. rant minds, oppose all improvement, knowing it must prove fatal to their power and interests. No true friend to his country would wish to be found on the same side with such infamous characters; or feel ambitious to be enrolled in the same cause, and to advocate the same principles? Yet such has been the case with all who oppose education, and such still will be the case with all who continue that opposition.

G. Y.

ESSAYS.-ON THE EVIDENCE, FROM SCRIPTURE, THAT THE SOUL, IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE DEATH OF THE BODY, IS NOT IN A STATE OF SLEEP, ETC.-NO. V.

(Continued from p. 254.)

II. THAT the soul, at death, is immediately happy or miserable, may be proved from metaphors and parables in scripture:

"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me," Psal. xxiii. 4. In this elegant metaphoric language, death is compared to a valley, which connects this with the other world. The soul of David, when leaving the body, walks through this valley, and enters upon a new scene of existence. It is neither lost, nor bewildered in the valley, but passes safely through it. Had king David thought of his soul falling asleep at

death, he might, in that case, have called it a boundary wall, which would have been a much more appropriate epithet.

"To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise," Luke xxiii. 43. The insult which some offer to common sense, by attempting to alter the punctuation in this passage, with a view to establish a favourite hypothesis, is a melancholy proof, that party prejudice too frequently assumes the office of sober reason. The time when the penitent malefactor should be in paradise, was the very day on which our Lord uttered these words. Paradise was the favourite term which the Jews used, to denote the heavenly state. It was used in allusion to the terrestrial paradise in which the first pair of the human race were put, when in a state of innocence, which was a state of happiness. Manasseh Ben Israel says, that "the experienced in the cabala unanimously declare, that one paradise is above, and another here below; and they speak the truth. There is a paradise above in heaven, and a paradise here below upon earth." There was evidently no time for the soul of this penitent to sleep, between his death, and his entering paradise, or heaven; for it was very near the conclusion of the day, when the soldiers broke his legs, to put an end to his earthly existence, Luke xxiii. 44. John xix. 32.

"For we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," 2 Cor. v. 1. In these words, the apostle has evidently an allusion to the tabernacle in which the Ark of the Covenant was deposited, and in which Israel worshipped Jehovah, when they were in a migratory state. If the original word karaλvon were translated, "taken down," which is one meaning of the verb Karaλvw, the allusion would be still more obvious. The reference is, in all probability, to the final taking down of the Tabernacle; and the removing of the Ark from it, to the Temple at Jerusalem. Here then, we have the striking analogy between the taking down of the Tabernacle, and the immediate conveyance of the Ark to the Temple; and the taking down of the earthly human frame, that the immortal spirit may be immediately conveyed to a mansion of heavenly rest.

"We are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." 2 Cor. v. 8. Barker's edition of the Bible, in 1585, renders the passage plainer to our purpose. "Nevertheless, we are bold, and love rather to re

Allen on Modern Judaism, ch. x.

move out of the body, and to dwell with the Lord." Here is no intervening period between the soul leaving the body, in which it had been lodged, and its being ushered into the presence of the Lord. The same door which is an outlet from this mortal life, is an inlet to life eternal. From this passage, Boyse argues and proves, that there is no intermediate state for the soul of the believer; but that, at death, it goes to dwell with Christ in the highest heavens, to enjoy a perfection of bliss.*

"Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place," Acts i. 25. These words were spoken by a Jew; and the best way to understand his phraseology, will be to compare it with that of the Jews: TopEvenvai tis TOV TOROV TOV idov," that he might go to his own place." It was common with the Jews, when speaking of the final state of any person, to say, "He went to his own place," i. e. " the place most suited to the habits in which he lived." They say of Balaam, ἄπηλθεν εις τον τόπον avre, “he went to his own place," and they affirm, that hell was his own place. When we are told by St. Peter, that Judas went to his own place, and when we compare these words with the awfully solemn sentence which Jesus Christ himself pronounced upon him, calling him a devil, the son of perdition, &c., it is not going beyond the boundaries of charity to say, that his own place was in the regions of hell. And it requires but little of critical acumen, to determine when his soul went there. It was immediately after he hanged himself. We are solemnly informed, that "the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God," Psalm ix. 17. And as there is nothing in scripture to contradict, but to sanction the belief, that this punishment takes place immediately at death, it is evident that the souls of the ungodly, at death, neither sleep, nor pass into a state of insensibility.

By

"For Christ hath also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit. whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water," 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19, 20. The two terms in this passage, which have perplexed commentators, are spirits and prison. The most judicious are agreed, that, by spirits, we are

Boyse on the Four Last Things.

to understand the departed souls of these antediluvians, to whom Noah, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, preached; but who, continuing impenitent, were destroyed by the deluge. Their bodies perished in the waters, and their souls were consigned to immediate punishment. The place in which they are retained is here called a prison. The language is forensic, and alludes to persons under sentence of death, being kept in prison till the execution of the sentence is inflicted. St. Jude uses similar language when speaking of the fallen angels. "The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day," ver. 6. Every one acquainted with the scriptures, and with systematic theology, knows, that by "chains of darkness," is meant the prison of hell; and by "the great day," the day of judgment. The legitimate inference from the above is, "That the souls of the impenitent antediluvians are reserved in the prison of hell till the day of judgment." With this state, sleep or insensibility is as incompatible as pleasure is with a body racked with the most tormenting pains. T. R.

Huggate, June 11th, 1831.

ON THE COMMANDING VOICE AND ELOQUENCE OF THE REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD.

THAT Mr. Whitefield was a man of most extraordinary eloquence, and of a powerful commanding voice, Dr. Franklin, whom all must allow to be a competent judge,

has not hesitated to assert.

In reference to the latter, he observes, that he has no doubt he could command a congregation of 30,000 persons. To this conclusion he was led by the following experiment. On one occasion, when attending Mr. Whitefield's preaching, Dr. Franklin receded from him to the greatest distance in which he could distinctly hear and understand what was delivered. He then travelled round the speaker, always taking his ability to hear and understand, as the line of that circle which he formed. ing fixed these boundaries, he proceeded, after the congregation had withdrawn, to measure the enclosed erea, which he found would contain the above number, without causing them to be immoderately thronged.

Hav

On the subject of Mr. Whitefield's eloquence, the same venerable philosopher relates the following circumstances. Having frequently heard of its magic influence, whenever the preacher had to advocate any

charity, he one day resolved to attend his discourse, but with a fixed determination to give nothing to the collection at that time, that he might thus prove himself above the common weakness of his countrymen. At first, the language of the speaker made little or no impression, any further than to excite Dr. Franklin's admiration. At length came a powerful stroke, that operated like an electrical shock. Scarcely had he recovered from this, before he was assailed with another, and his determination to give nothing began to soften. Another burst of eloquence came, and Dr. F. resolved he would give to the collection all the copper money he had in his pocket. Here he fixed for some time, till an impassioned torrent of thought and language attacked the pocket containing the silver, and before he had exactly adjusted the sum he intended to give, he resolved to surrender the whole. The speaker still continuing to assail, and the hearer to resist, remained equally balanced for some time. A flash of oratory at length so far excited Dr. F's. admiration, that, thinking such noble coruscations of mental energy ought not to be expended in vain, he came to the conclusion of rewarding it with a small piece of gold. The discourse continued, and so did Dr. Franklin, but not the money in his pocket, for at the termination of the service, when the collection was made, copper, silver, and gold all went into the hat together, and the philosopher went home penniless.

Present at the same discourse was another gentleman, who, having less confidence in his own resolution to give nothing, than Dr. Franklin had in his, went to the preaching with empty pockets. The fascinations of the preacher's eloquence, however, soon brought him to repentance; and when the collection was about to be made, he turned to an acquaintance, a Quaker, who stood near him, and asked him to lend some money. To this application he received the following reply: "I will lend thee money to-morrow, friend, but at present I fear thou art a little beside thyself." "This," says the relater," was probably the only person in the whole congregation, who was not affected."

DRINKING, AN ANECDOTE.

Mr. Editor,

Sir,-By giving publicity to the following affecting anecdote, on the danger of drinking spirits, you will greatly oblige,

EDWARD DYER. Blagdon, March 6th, 1831.

A GENTLEMAN, travelling in Essex some years ago, called at the house of a friend, where he met with a young minister, who was just going to preach in the neighbourhood. The good lady of the house kindly offered him a glass of spirits before he entered upon his work; which offer he accepted. That such mistaken acts of kindness are, in many places, far from being solitary, the writer knows from experience, and that they should ever be made or accepted, he views with the sincerest regret.

An elderly man, who was present, and witnessed the circumstance to which I have referred, approached the young preacher, and thus addressed him :-" My young friend, let me offer you a word of advice respecting the use of liquors. There was a time when I was as acceptable a preacher as you now may be; but by too frequently accepting of the well-designed offers of my friends, I contracted a habit of drinking, so that now I never go to bed sober, if I can get liquor. I am, indeed, just as miserable as a creature can be on this side hell."

About two years after this, the traveller, just mentioned, had occasion to call again at the same house, when, on making inquiry concerning the unhappy drinker, he learnt that he had been some time dead; and, no doubt, in consequence of his intemperance. He was informed that, towards the close of life, he had not drank to the same excess; but it was only because he could not obtain spirituous liquors.

This awful fact loudly says, "Beware of indulging in strong liquors ;" the habit of which insensibly steals on its victim, who is too often not aware of the danger, "till a dart strikes through his liver,” Prov. vii. 23.

MISSIONARY COMMUNICATIONS.-BAPTISM OF TWO JEWS.

ON Sunday, June 5th, I witnessed, with grateful feelings to the Lord of life, the baptism of another Hebrew convert to Christianity, at the Hebrew Christian Brethren's Chapel, Fountain Place, City Road, by the Rev. George Abrahams, a converted Jew; after a pathetic discourse from Ezekiel xxxv. 25, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you."

A most crowded congregation, consisting of Jews and Gentiles, Britons and foreigners, of both sexes, evinced, by the expression of their countenances, and the most perfect stillness, the lively interest they took on thus