applied. This prodigious power, however, may be applied safely, and even beneficially. In the operations of Nature it is probably an important agent; and it is capable of being applied advantageously in the operations of art.

BROUGHAM.

WELLINGTON'S ARMY IN PORTUGAL.

A VARIOUS host they came-whose ranks display
Each mode in which the warrior meets the fight;
The deep battalion locks its firm array,

And meditates his aim the marksman light;
Far glance the lines of sabres flashing bright,
Where mounted squadrons shake the echoing mead ;
Lacks not artillery breathing flame and night,
Nor the fleet ordnance whirled by rapid steed,
That rivals lightning's flash, in ruin and in speed.

A various host-from kindred realms they came,
Brethren in arms, but rivals in renown-
For yon fair bands shall merry England claim,

And with their deeds of valour deck her crown.
Hers their bold port, and hers their martial frown,
And hers their scorn of death in freedom's cause,

Their eyes of azure, and their locks of brown,
And the blunt speech that bursts without a pause,
And freeborn thoughts, which league the Soldier with the Laws.
And, O! loved warriors of the Minstrel's land!
Yonder your bonnets nod, your tartans wave!
The rugged form may mark the mountain band,
And harsher features, and a mien more grave;
But ne'er in battle-field throbbed heart so brave
As that which beats beneath the Scottish plaid;
And when the pibroch bids the battle rave,
And level for the charge your arms are laid,
Where lives the desperate foe that for such onset staid.

Hark! from yon stately ranks what laughter rings,
Mingling wild mirth with war's stern minstrelsy,
His jest while each blithe comrade round him flings,
And moves to death with military glee:

Boast, Erin, boast them! tameless, frank, and free,
In kindness warm, and fierce in danger known,

Rough Nature's children, humorous as she;
And HE, yon Chieftain-strike the proudest tone
Of thy bold harp, green Isle !—the Hero is thine own.
SIR WALTER SCOTT

BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF THE GOSPEL.

To ascertain the effects of the Gospel upon mankind, we must of course summon History as our witness. Yet on this subject the testimony of History, though reliable as far as it goes, must necessarily be incomplete. The grand design of the Gospel is to convert and save souls: but what cognizance can History take of the precise extent to which mankind have been savingly converted? Conversion is a change effected upon the soul and within it; whereas it is only of outward and visible changes that History can apprize us. Nor even as regards the latter can it show us the whole truth. The scenes where spiritual religion yields its most abundant fruits are not those which History frequents courts, camps, and the high places of the earth. Its sphere of triumph is the secluded walk of private life. Its hopes and consolations are most fully known and felt by the bereaved, the sick, the dying. In fact, it is only when the Gospel has become so widespread in its influence as to act upon the usages and institutions of a country, that its effects can engage the attention of the Historian. And hence, whenever he does bear testimony to the power of the Gospel, that testimony may be fairly held to mean a great deal more than it expresses.

Yet, though History does not and cannot acquaint us with all the effects of the Gospel, or even with its noblest triumphs, it does tell us enough to prove that the Gospel has really changed the world. For what are the actual effects of the Gospel as certified by History?

One of these effects is a marked improvement in men's

physical condition. Wherever Christianity comes, its benign influence is soon seen in the increase of men's måterial comforts and the altered features of the scenery around them. Go with the traveller to some barbarous coast which is beginning to be dotted with missionary settlements, and mark what meets your eye. You travel through the region which is still Heathen, and find it as much a waste as the minds of the inhabitants-no cultiva

tion, no houses, no industrial arts. But when you reach the missionary settlement, what a pleasing contrast is presented! Yet these native Christians who, as you approach their neat and thriving village, come forth to welcome you as brethren, were but lately in no respect superior to the roving and savage hordes whose territory you have just left. A few short years ago, there was not among them, more than among the neighbouring tribes, any trace of civilisation, any sound of children busy at school, any spectacle of cultivated fields and smiling hamlets. Why is it now so different? Why, but because the Gospel has come down like rain on the desert, and caused it to bring forth and bud!

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Another effect is a benign change in the usages of War. The Roman Empire, which ruled the world at the time of Christ's advent, was a very Moloch in war, an aggressive and ferocious Power, a strong and terrible Beast Daniel foresaw it in his vision-" with great iron teeth wherewith to devour and break in pieces." The temple of Janus, always open in time of war, was shut only thriceand shut but for brief intervals during the long period of seven hundred years. Scipio Africanus, who took Carthage, not only set that great metropolis on fire, but allowed it to burn seventeen days in sight of his Roman legions, and crowned the atrocity by selling as slaves 700,000 of the inhabitants. Even Titus Vespasian-whom the Roman historians denominate "the darling of mankind," on account of his mildness-massacred during his war with the Jews a million and a half of that ill-fated people, besides suffering 11,000 more to die of hunger. But no sooner did the imperial eagle bow before the cross of Christ than all such

barbarities terminated. The first Christian emperor, Constantine, set the example of sparing prisoners taken in war, and accepting a ransom for their lives; and every subsequent age has witnessed a constantly growing desire. and endeavour to mitigate the horrors of war. During last century, the gallant general who defended Gibraltar received the thanks of the British Parliament for his humanity to the enemy; and in our day there is nowhere to be found a more humane class of men than those who lead our fleets and armies to battle. Heathens and Mohammedans-Indian sepoys and Chinese mandarinsmay still plan and perpetrate cold-blooded massacres ; but in Christian countries nothing would now provoke a hotter outburst of public indignation than a needless effusion of human blood.

How much, again, has the Gospel done for the cause of civil liberty! Wherever it has been received in its purity, the people have become free; security of person and of property has been established; and a way opened to every man to rise, through his virtue and industry, to wealth and station. Was it so even in the most enlightened states and cities of antiquity? Was it so in Athens when that city, though far ahead of all the world in literature and art, had its 400,000 slaves, and only 30,000 freemen?

it so in Rome when, even in the palmiest days of the empire, the rulers were afraid to give a separate and distinguishing dress to the slaves, lest it should be seen how few the freemen were? Or is it so even now in any Heathen or Mohammedan country-ay, or in any country where a corrupt form of Christianity prevails? The only free countries in the world are Christian countries; and the freest countries are those which are most purely Christian.

Equally beneficial has been the influence of the Gospel upon the administration of justice. In ancient Greece and Rome, the courts of law were a continual scene of open, undisguised iniquity. No suitor had the least chance of success, who was without the means either of bribing or of intimidating the judges. But in what Christian land is

such a thing heard of as an attempt to tamper with the public administrators of the law? An unrighteous judge would be instantly crushed by public opinion. So entirely spotless and above suspicion is the integrity of those who occupy our seats of judgment, that no man hesitates to peril all he has, even to his life, upon their decision.

Another example is furnished by the marriage-relation. Prior to the advent of Christ, God's ordinance of holy wedlock had suffered awful perversion. Polygamy and arbitrary divorce preyed everywhere upon the vitals of society. Women were degraded from their rightful position of helps meet for man into that of mere slaves and drudges; and all the domestic relations were completely disorganized. But the Gospel brought and applied a remedy. Affirming marriage to be a Divine institution-defining it to be the union of two persons in wedlock, and only two, and inscribing on every nuptial altar the solemn words, "Whom God hath joined together, let not man put asunder"-it introduced and achieved a moral reformation which is perhaps without a parallel in the social benefits it has conferred on the world.

A final example may be taken from the influence of the Gospel on the cause of charity. In ancient Heathendom practical beneficence was all but unknown. Among the Greeks and Romans there was no provision for the poor; or, if a gratuitous distribution of corn was sometimes made in the great towns, it was only a concession for political purposes or a bribe to voters. And still more careless was ancient civilisation of the worse evils of disease, ignorance, and vice. Among all the splendid remains of ancient architecture, amphitheatres, temples, palaces, triumphal arches,-there is nowhere to be found the ruins of an hospital or other benevolent asylum. It was left to the Gospel of Christ to set itself directly, and with all the sanctions of heaven, to the blessed task of abating poverty, healing disease, enlightening ignorance, and opening to the wretched the gates of mercy; and it is only in Christian lands that Philanthropy is an express voca