according to their age and capacities, drawn up between the pillars, while two or more instructors attend each class, and direct their questions and explanations to every little individual without distinction. A clergyman attends each class, accompanied by several laymen for the boys, and matrons for the girls. The lay persons are said to be often of the first distinction, and tables for writing are placed in different recesses." It is no wonder if the memory of the pious archbishop be still venerated at Milan. Our delight in recording such acts of Christian beneficence is increased by the circumstance of its rarity, and from the consideration that he is one of the few lights who gilded the gloom of papal igno

rance.

ON THE INEFFICACY OF MIRACLES TO PRODUCE A CHANGE OF HEART.

No. III.-WHAT IS A MIRACLE ?

VARIOUS modes of solving this question have been adopted by various learned and eminent men; and if my design were merely to furnish you with a critically accurate definition of the nature of a miracle, I could not probably do better than quote the language which they have employed. But as it is far more important to be comprehensible than learned on such a subject as the present, I shall merely describe a miracle as 66 any event which occurs con

trary to the laws of nature."

Upon this definition I will proceed to make a few remarks, the application of which to our present investigation will be apparent to every reader.

1. It follows from hence, that it is quite possible for an occurrence to be new and extraordinary to us, and yet not to be a miracle. An intimate acquaintance with the laws of nature, and the operation of those laws under a vast variety of circumstances, is absolutely necessary to decide many cases of this description, and it is quite needless to repeat what every one must have read and observed, concerning the amazement and wonder with which novelty evermore filling the mind of the ignorant and uninformed. Those individuals who have travelled most extensively and are best acquainted with the different forms of society and of nature, will be found among the least willing to deny an apparently marvellous assertion, because they have learnt from experience, that the actual occurrences in the world are often very extraordinary, and such as would be sure to excite the disbelief of those who had never witnessed any similar events. A miracle is not, therefore, merely a strange and astonishing occurrence, but one which is directly opposed to the laws of the universe. I may illustrate my meaning by simply stating, that the descriptions given by the travellers who have explored the cold regions of our globe, would seem miraculous to the inhabitants of the burning climes of the tropics, and yet they are well known to be most strictly natural and accountable. But, on the other hand, the resurrection of a dead man is so contrary to the constitution of the human frame, and the laws which regulate it in every part of the world, that no hesitation can be felt in calling such an event, in the strictest sense-a miracle.

2. But the most important point to be dwelt upon at present, is directed to those plausible objections which demand for every man some miraculous testimony in favour of the gospel. No proposition is more defensible than that miracles must be rare in their occurrence. I have before defined a miracle as

that which is contrary to the laws of nature, and beg you now to remember, that when we speak of the laws of nature, we only mean you to understand those ordinances, according to which the Deity is pleased to conduct the concerns of the physical universe. Our knowledge of these laws is derived solely from our observation of their daily and hourly operation. There is not more of poetic beauty than of philosophical reason and sound sense, in the idea which depicts the sorrow of mind to which our first father would be reduced, when, on the evening of the first day of his existence, he beheld the beauteous orb of light and heat sink beneath the ocean, and the mists of darkness supply its place. His ignorance of the laws of nature would tempt him to fear that he should no more behold this resplendent globe of fire, and it would not be until many successive revolutions had taught him the true meaning of its daily appearance and disappearance, that he would be able to watch the glories of an eastern sunset with feelings of calmness and composure. The allusion to this fact, will enable you to comprehend me when I maintain, that there is nothing in the operations of nature which partake of that character of necessity that would prevent the possibility of their being otherwise than they are. Most undoubtedly the universe as a whole is infinitely complete, but I am disposed to consider that we are far from being able to decide that the Deity could not have formed another world equally complete, but in every respect unlike that upon which we dwell. Bearing, therefore, ever in our minds that all things are possible with God, we shall soon be able to admit that the power required to create our world and appoint its laws, is not less than that which is required to act in opposition to them. I believe that it is quite as wonderful for an infant to grow up to manhood through all the varieties of body and mind which pass upon its frame, as for a multitude to be fed with a few small loaves; only the one is a constant the other a rare occurrence. I believe it is quite as wonderful that the human figure should be enabled to maintain its posture of erectness, as that the same human figure should walk upon the tempestuous billows of the ocean, as though they were a marble pedestal, only it is of more frequent occurrence. I believe it is quite as wonderful, that so complicated a structure as the human body, should be kept in regular and undeviating regularity and health, as that it should be restored from disease by a word or a touch. I believe it is quite as marvellous that dust should live, as that dust should live again. It is, therefore, the mere fact of the one series of events being constant in their appearance, and the other being rare, that entitles the former to the name of the law of nature, while the latter are described as miraculous; and not by any means must the idea be countenanced that there is any difference in the power required for the production of either.

We are now, therefore, led on to the opinion that any course of events which is often repeated," would from that fact become a law of nature, and cease to be miraculous. If Jesus Christ had lived for 1800 years and worked cures all the while, it would have been soon taken to be a part of the constitution of nature, that one being should be endowed with power to cure the maladies of all the rest; and the emotions with which spectators would have beheld the lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind see, the dumb speak, the paralytic restored to the use of his limbs, would have been as cold and apathetic, as formal and as business-like, as those with which the farmer watches the growth of his corn, forget

ting in the calculation of how much it will yield him, all the mysterious workings by which it is brought into being.

MIRACLES MUST BE OF RARE OCCURRENCE. It is the most idle and ridiculous thing in the world, for men in every age to require signs and wonders before they will believe, since it is quite impossible that an event should be miraculous for two generations. In proof of this sentiment I have only to refer to the history of the Jews. They were fed with manna forty years. Did they think it a miracle? No. They very soon thought it a great inconvenience, and, in course of time, loathed and were disgusted with that display of omnipotence, which vain reasoners of the present day would have us believe is capable of changing the heart, and subduing the rebellious passions into obedience to the Deity.

The point which I have thus endeavoured to illustrate may be stated in few words to be this: that as the laws of nature are nothing more than the repetition of certain acts on the part of the Deity, it follows that any act often repeated by him would be a law of nature, and therefore, that in a few years, the works that now are called miraculous would cease to be so, thus rendering it impossible that the instrument or means to be adopted for the conversion and sanctification of man, in every age, could be one supported by miracles of daily occurrence.

Among the multitude of topics for practical reflection which such a subject is calculated to present, I shall select but one, to which I shall request the attention of all, but chiefly of those who are professing Christians. I have endeavoured to establish that the power displayed in creation, is equal to that which has been manifested in any miraculous interposition of Providence. And now I desire most earnestly that each one would henceforth resolve to gather from every operation of the Deity, a motive to obedience and virtue. Never forget that the wisdom which dictated the glorious scheme of redemption, no less presided over the formation of the universe; and the goodness which prompted the sacrifice of the greatest being in the whole range of intelligences for the restoration of the human race, no less directed and still directs those various laws of nature which tend to the preservation of life. Let us not seek our motives to love and adore our heavenly Father merely from the strange and marvellous works which his hand has wrought, but also from those displays of his attributes which are occurring around us every day and every moment of our lives. I shall hereafter endeavour to explain to you the reasons which have induced the Almighty, on a few occasions, to act contrary to the laws of nature; but now it is my desire to persuade every one to take that view of the scenes which they are every day called to witness, which may increase their piety, and multiply the sources from which they derive motives to faith and humble obedience. As contrasted with one exercise of God's power and with one only, are we permitted to think lightly of the works of creation; and with the verse which gives us that permission, I shall now conclude, earnestly desiring that every one may feel and rejoice in the magnificent truth which it discloses. "Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but MY SALVATION shall be for ever, and MY RIGHTEOUSNESS shall not be abolished."

B. Z.

A FATHER'S DYING CHAMBER.
How solemn is the sick man's room,
To friends or kindred lingering near!
'Tis sad to pore upon the gloom

In silent heaviness and fear!
To hold the feeble hand in thine,
The start of every pulse to share;
With painful haste each wish divine,
Yet feel the hopelessness of care!
To turn aside the streaming eye,
Lest those dim orbs perceive the tear;
To bear the weight of every sigh,

Lest it should reach that wakeful ear!
In the drear stillness of the night,

To lose the faint, faint sound of breath!
To listen in subdued affright,

To deprecate the thought of death!
And when a movement chas'd that fear,
And gave thy heart-blood leave to flow;
In thrilling awe the prayer to hear

Through the clos'd curtain, murmured low—
The prayer of him whose holy tongue
Had never yet exceeded truth;
Upon whose guardian care had hung
The sole dependence of thy youth.

Who, noble, dauntless, frank, and mild,
Was for his very goodness fear'd;
Belov'd with fondness like a child,
And like a blessed saint rever'd!

I have known friends-but who can feel
The kindness such a father knew?
I serv'd him still with tender zeal,
But knew not then how much was due!
And did not Providence ordain

That we should soon be laid as low;
No heart could such a stroke sustain-
No reason could survive the blow!

MATILDA BETHAM.

Solution of Mr. ISAAC JAMES'S ENIGMA, inserted in No. 156 of this Magazine.

"Constant Reader" having kindly reminded me of my nearly forgotten promise to give the solution of the above-mentioned enigma, I now, with an apology for my tardiness, fulfil it. The solution then, is,-EARRINGS.

The first mention of earrings is in Genesis xxiv. 22. But should any of my juvenile readers not recollect when "adoration" was paid to earrings, I recommend them to read Exodus xxxii. 1-8.

S. J. B

RELIGIOUS COACHMEN.

COACHMEN, both upon our stages and hackney coaches, including "cab-drivers," form a very numerous class of useful persons: but it is believed very few of them truly fear God. "Can nothing be done to promote the spiritual welfare of coachmen ?" is an inquiry which we made last January (see page 36 of this Magazine). The article in which that inquiry was proposed, has originated the following letter from a stage-coachman in the country, of whom we hear, by several individuals, that he sustains the character of an excellent man and a Christian :

"MR. EDITOR-Sir, as I reside in the country, your Magazine is sent to me in monthly parts; therefore, No. 191, did not reach me till a few days ago, when I saw in it the conversion of a profligate coachman, to which is added an inquiry, by a gentleman who signs himself Benevolus. He says, while waiting an hour at that great coach inn, the Bull and Mouth, London, he asked one of the porters if there were any of the multitude of coachmen belonging to that establishment supposed to be religious; he replied, not one.' I know the above establishment well, and I sincerely regret to assure you that it is my fixed belief to be a lamentable fact, there is not one; but my reason for thus troubling you is, should you personally know the gentleman who signs himself thus, you would be kind enough to offer him my cordial thanks for his appeal joining his inquiry, which, by the mighty power of God's grace, through your widely circulated and much esteemed publication, may have the most beneficial effect. Your compliance will confer a great favour on yours, &c. "H. L. Mar. 5, 1836.

Shrewsbury Coachman."

Coachmen, generally, are most unfavourably circumstanced, amid various and powerful temptations, in relation to religion. Still, as our esteemed correspondent says, "the mighty power of God's grace" can renew and convert the souls of coachmen. We have known a few at least, who have manifested regard to things of salvation. The first we shall

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mention was a guard of the Oxford mail" from Birmingham; he appeared to be truly a man of God; and his sobriety and obliging demeanour secured him the respect of many. Besides, he was a blessing to his family, with whom he enjoyed much domestic happiness. Another was a coachman from London to a principal town in Kent: by his godliness he was taught sobriety, and thus he was enabled to purchase his own coach and horses, and became greatly respected. We know a horse-keeper in Kent, who appears to fear God; and in conversation a few weeks ago he remarked, he had secured the confidence and esteem of his present employers for the last eighteen years! Surely something may be done by christian zeal and benevolence, to promote a spirit of religious feeling among coachmen. We are obliged to H. L. for his thanks.

BENEVOLUS.

ANSWER TO A SUNDAY SCHOOL

TEACHER'S INQUIRY.

MR. EDITOR.-Your readiness to oblige those who need instruction and seek your counsel, encourages me to request the favour of your explaining, by some appropriate illustrations, the Latin phrases "a priori" and "a posteriori." I have frequently met with them in the course of my reading; but I do not clearly comprehend their meaning. I have no doubt you can give me satisfaction on this point, and your doing so will, I believe, confer a favour on many of my class in society, besides promoting our intellectual improvement, as the means of our advancement in personal religion.

A SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER.

"Sunday School Teachers" stand very high in our estimation, as among the greatest benefactors of their country and of mankind; and as the establishment of the Christian's Penny Magazine was designed, among other objects, for their welfare, to guard and fortify them against the temptations to infidelity, and to confirm them in the belief in the gospel of Christ, their reasonable requests shall ever be granted in the best way we are able, by means of our increasingly read periodical.

Sunday School Teachers should aim at the improvement of their minds, that they may be able, more efficiently, and with greater delight, to impart divine wisdom to their pupils: and few are able to conceive to what an extent this improvement may be carried, even by those who have but little time which they can devote to reading and study. Economy of time should be cultivated as well as of money; and by the aid of judicious Christian friends, large advances may be made in "wisdom and knowledge," which are to "be the stability of the times of Messiah" (Isai. xxxiii. 6).

"A priori," and "a posteriori," are, as our correspondent remarks, Latin phrases; and it should also be remarked, they are chiefly used in relation to some process or argumentation, or reasoning concerning truth or error. Logic, or the art of reasoning, ought to be studied by young persons; and for this purpose, "Pinnock's Catechism on Logic," or "Dr. Watts's Logic, or the Right Use of Reason," may be read by Sunday-school teachers; and they will find them, especially Dr. Watts's, admirably useful to strengthen their minds in discover. ing, understanding, and defending the truths of religion.

Dr. Watts, in his Logic, illustrates the phrases under consideration, in the following manner :

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Arguments are either certain and evident, or doubtful and merely probable.

"Probable arguments are those whose conclusions are proved by some probable medium; as, this hill was once a church yard, or a field of battle, because there are many human bones found here. This is not a certain argument, for human bones might have been conveyed there some other way.

"Evident and certain arguments are called demonstrations; for they prove their conclusions by clear mediums and undoubted principles; and they are generally divided into these two sorts:

"1. Demonstrations a priori; which prove the effect by its necessary cause; as, I prove the Scripture is infallibly true: because it is the word of God, who cannot lie. 2. Demonstrations a posteriori, which infer the cause from its necessary effects; as, I infer there hath been the hand of some artificer here, because I find a curious engine. Or, I infer there is a God, from the works of his wisdom in the visible world."

Dr. Wardlaw, in a note to his "Lectures on Moral Philosophy, on the Principles of Divine Revelation," gives the following instructive illustra

tion::

"An argument a priori, is an argument in which, from certain principles or premises, we draw a conclusion as to something that must be, independently of all opportunity of observing or ascertaining what actually is. For example:-assuming the existence of an intelligent Being, possessed of perfect wisdom, we conclude that, in the works of such an intelligence, there must, in every instance, be found the perfection of skill. We conclude this a priori; that is, previously to our at all examining, or having any opportunity to examine, the works themselves. The difference between this and the argument a posteriori, is manifest from their very designations. In the latter, we are supposed to know the works, and to infer, from the existing marks of skill, the previous existence and operation of a wise intelligence. In the former, we reason forward; in the latter backward: in the former, from what is to what must be in the latter, from what is, to what must have been."

REPUBLICAN PRIDE.-" ARE you the man," said an American coachman to duke Bernard, of Saxe Weimar, "that is to go in that carriage?" "Yes." "Then I am the gentleman that is to drive you."

REVIEW.

The Chronology of the Old Testament, and its Connexion with Profane History. By GEORGE SKENE, Esq. 18mo. cloth, pp. xii.-224. Edinburgh: Laing and Forbes.

INQUISITIVENESS and independence of mind remarkably characterize the present age; and this spirit of investigation is directed not only to the natural and civil sciences, but to those which are ecclesiastical and most sacred. All that we dread in this latter respect is lest the daring spirit of scrutiny, through the depravity of the human heart, should cast off the fear of God, and presume by mere strength of mind to fathom the Divine mysteries, and treat with contempt the sublime doctrines of salvation, by the mediation of incarnate Deity, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

the spirit of investigation, which searches the Holy | Scriptures!

Mr. Skene is evidently a serious inquirer after truth; and the spirit in which his little volume is written must command respect. In closing his work, he declares, "I am by no means blindly attached to any system, but merely desirous of removing the difficulties which seem to me to encumber the usual scheme of Bible Chronology, the sooner any errors I may have fallen into are detected and rectified, the nearer will my object be to its accomplishment." P. 208.

This passage exhibits the modesty and candour which characterize this instructive volume, which indicates considerable reading and independent thought, and will be read with interest by those who are competent to form a proper estimate of that difficult subject, the chronology of the Old Testament.

Mr. Skene's system is thus stated by himself:"The result, then, of all my researches in Hebrew chronology, has been to convince myself that the creation of the world took place three hundred and seventy-one years earlier than the date of B.C. 4004 generally assigned to it, one hundred and fifty-six years being added after the destruction of Solomon's temple, and two hundred and fifteen more to the interval between the time of Abraham and the Exodus." P. 207.

In looking at Mr. Skene's "Tables" of chronology, the first deviation from that of our common Bibles relates to the birth of Abraham, grounded upon Gen. xi. 26. "And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran." Mr. Skene insists upon the supposition that Abraham_must have been the elder son, born when his father Terah was seventy years of age, and that, as he lived to the age of two hundred and five, he must have migrated with Abraham to Haran, when one hundred and forty-five years old, and have lived in that place after Abraham left him to sojourn in Canaan, sixty years, until his son Abraham was one hundred and thirty-five years of age.

Difficulties certainly attend this subject; but it does not appear impossible to remove the greater part of them, by attending to several passages of Scripture, and considering the age and circumstances of several members of the family of Terah. From the age and circumstances of Lot and his sisters Milcah and Iscah, the children of Haran, it appears probable that Haran was the eldest and Abraham the youngest of the three sons of Terah. Abraham being mentioned first, seems to have been on account of his official character as a minister and prophet of God, a preacher of righteousness, whose ministry, after his divine call, had been effectual in reclaiming Terah and his family from the practice of idolatry; (Josh. xxiv. 1, 2) as well as on account of his being the head of a new dispensation in the church of God.

Abraham, the youngest son of Terah, born when his father was one hundred and thirty years of age, became eminent as a preacher of truth and righteousness, in Ur of the Chaldees. In the course of his ministry, as Stephen declares, "the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charron, (or Haran) and said, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I will show thee. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldean, and dwelt in Charran" (Acts vii. 2-4).

"Haran," however, "the eldest brother of Abraham, born when his father Terah was seventy years of age, and sixty years before Abraham, of another mother," (Gen. xx. 12,) "died before his father

Terah, in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees," (Gen. xi. 28,) at the age of about one hundred and thirty-five years, leaving three children, Lot his son and two daughters, Milcah and Iscah, the latter of whom, as the Jews say, was taken by Abraham as his wife, ten years younger than himself, and called Sarai, whom he afterwards called his sister, she being the daughter, or granddaughter, of his father but not of his mother, (Gen. xx. 12,) while his elder brother, Nahor, took the other niece, Milcah (Gen. xi. 29).

Terah believing the doctrine and mission of his son Abraham, not only abandoned idolatry, but resolved to yield obedience to the admonition of heaven, and accompany the minister of God. Hence Moses says, "Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-inlaw, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran and dwelt there" (Gen. xi. 31).

Haran was about three hundred miles, or half way from Ur to Canaan, and in the north-west of Mesopotamia. Thus removed from the idolatries of Chaldea, and the infirmities of their aged father increasing through fatigue, his dutiful children formed a settlement for a season, which Moses calls "a city." To this they gave the name of "Haran," or Charran, in commemoration of their elder brother, lately deceased at Ur, before they commenced their emigration. Their venerable parent having attained a greater age than most of his survivors, did not long survive this event, "And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years and Terah died in Haran" (ver. 23).

Moses remarks, "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house," &c. (Gen. xii. 1-3). Having, therefore, committed to the earth the mortal remains of his revered father, Abraham reflected upon the Divine promise, and determined upon obeying the command of God. Stephen says, "And from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land" (Acts vii. 4). Leaving Nahor, his elder brother, and those who chose to remain with him at Haran in Mesopotamia (Gen. xxiv. 10—16), “ Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him: and Lot went with him, and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came" (Gen. xii. 4, 5).

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Reviewing these circumstances in the history of Abraham, in connexion with those of the families of Haran, Nahor, and Lot, the difficulties attaching to the chronology of Abraham's life appear to vanish, and we think Mr. Skene will be convinced he is in error in his statement respecting the periods of the birth and call of the patriarch. We think also, that he has not sufficient data for his conjecture respecting the duration of the period "between the time of Abraham and the Exodus."

Mr. Skene seems to suppose that the declaration to Abraham, in the vision (Gen xv. 13), designed to intimate that his seed should be afflicted and in slavery during four hundred years. This, however, is not said, but the four hundred years are to be connected, not with "affliction," but with the "sojourning," both in this passage and in Acts vii. 6.

While we thank Mr. Skene for this well-meant and instructive volume, for much of it is truly in