ation their close study. The evidence of Dr. Christison, and Dr. Malcolm, the Physician to the celebrated Perth Institution, with the criticism of Counsel thereon, are particularly worthy of attention. To the lawyer, it illustrates the application of the nicest rules of evidence. To the mental philosopher, and especially the phrenologist, the human mind is presented in a new and uncommon aspect. To the scholar, there is a rich repast in the classic oration of Mr. Duncan Macneil, than which we have seldom read an address more finished, sustained, and convincing. But it is to the theologian and the churchman we have chiefly at present to recommend the work, as experimentally illustrative of the power of divine truth and the simplicity of its doctrines, to illuminate the unaided mind of the poor and ignorant.

David Yoolow, the subject of the trial, appears to be the representative of a family which, for three centuries, have resided at Mill of Peattie, in Strathmore. David was early sent to the parish school, those hallowed nurseries of the church. Here he showed an ordinary aptitude for learning, and had acquired a knowledge of letters, when his progress was arrested by an accident. A fall on the ice produced a paralytic affection, which occasioned a permanent weakness of the limbs, and condemned him to be an exile for life from the world, and a perpetual prisoner to the fireside. He shunned society; and the very presence of a stranger produced a convulsive affection of his body. He was seen by and known to no one, excepting his few relations and the domestic servants. One companion, however, was constant with him, and the fruits of this holy intercourse saved himself from the brand of idiocy. His sole employment was reading and meditating on the Bible. He had reached the age of forty, when a sister who had hitherto cared for him died, leaving his person and estate under the care of trustees. To procure the management of his affairs, and to disqualify him from making a settlement of his property

to the prejudice of his legal heir, this judicial proceeding before a jury was undertaken. The many eccentricities and peculiar habits of the man were proved. His gross ignorance of the world, its engrossing affairs and every-day business, was established. He knew not of the Reform Bill. He did not know who was Prime Minister, or who the county Member of Parliairent. Like a child, he feared to be in the dark; and when he covered his face, he thought he was unseen by others. He amused himself by spelling words, such as d-a-r-k, darkp-a-r-k, park. He sometimes spoke as if he thought that the hills seen from his cottage window were the end or boundary of the world. But amidst all his ignorance of this lower region, he was learned in all that concerned the world of spirits, and of that knowledge which forms true wisdom. He had not since childhood been at church. He had not even heen visited by any Clergyman. But from the fountain-head itself he had drunk deep the pure waters of life. It was proved against him that idiots frequently show a wonderful memory for Scripture passages, not only being able to commit, but readily to repeat, large portions of holy writ. But the distinction was, that in their case it was a mere mechanical act of memory which seemed to sit sole empress of the brain, amidst the mental ruins strewed around. In these cases, Scripture was misapplied, ard none of the truths and principles of the Gospel were drawn out by the mind of the individual. In one instance mentioned, the person answered every question, of whatever kind, by Scripture quotation. How different from this was the case of Yoolow, will be best ascertained by quoting, at full length, the interesting evidence given by the Rev. James Flowerdew, the parish Minister of Eassie:"I this day visited David Yoolow, at Mill of Peattie. I found he possessed a very considerable acquaintance with the Scriptures. I shaped my questions to him, so that I might discover whether he knew the Scriptures mechanically merely,

proved, that he who, on all secular matters, was the scoff and byword to the servants during the week, was their religious instructer and family priest on the Sabbath evenings. Nor was the truth without its influences. It is proved that he would never permit a profane swearer to approach him; and he entertained high notions of truth, honesty, and fair dealing, so far as his secluded state permitted him to show these feelings. On this evidence, his Counsel powerfully argued that there was proof of capacity, that the mind had been permitted to enter only on the cultivation of one field of knowledge, from which it had reaped the richest harvest, that, if ignorant on other branches of knowledge, it was not from lack of capacity, but that he had been shut out from the world, immured to his homestead, and his mental powers never permitted to be exercised on any beside the one book, which maketh wise unto salvation. It was argued, that the mind which could master the truths of divine revelation could, with equal ease, have comprehended the less important affairs of every-day life. This argument prevailed; and a most intelligent jury, after two days' hearing of evidence, rejected the strong opinions of medical authorities, and returned a verdict, unanimously refusing to cognosce David as an idiot, in which verdict the learned Judge, the Sheriff of Forfarshire, acquiesced. We conceive that certain important truths may be drawn from this interesting trial.

First, the Papacy, which now is finding advocates in high places, blasphemously assumes that the Almighty has not chosen to reveal himself to his people in language which can be understood without the aid and comment of the Church and its priestly organs. Here is a peasant, without human aid, with nought be side God's own word, not only reading with the understanding, but able to become an instructer of others. This poor man found much difficulty to answer the simple questions as to the politics of the day, and as to the value of grain, and denominations of money, and other

the most simple questions, forming the very alphabet of the worldly man; but he found no such difficulty in discoursing freely of the divinity of the Saviour, a future state, or the other mysterious truths of revelation. How true it is, that God 'from the mouths of babes and sucklings perfecteth praise!" "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to bring to nought things that are."

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Some such a character as David Yoolow must have been before the mind's eye of Pollok, when he indited these beautiful lines :"The word philosophy he never heard, Or science; never heard of liberty, Necessity, or laws of gravitation; And never had an unbelieving doubt; Beyond his native vale he never look'd, But thought the visual line that girt him round

The world's extreme, and thought the silver moon,

That nightly o'er him led her virgin
host,

No broader than his father's shield.
He lived,-

Lived where his father lived, died

where he died,

Lived happy, and died happy, and was saved.

Be not surprised,- He loved and served his God."

Second, the antichrist, the rationalist, and the Socinian, impiously assert, that the divinity of the Saviour is not to be found in holy writ, but is a mere gloss of priestcraft. Those who say so have never sought for that truth; or rather, have gone to the Bible resolved not to find it, with the determination of making the text support the preconceived doctrine, and not to form the doctrine from the text. Here is a poor man, unaided by priestly or human hand, yet discovering legibly inscribed with God's own hand, throughout the inspired page, that "Christ is God," and giving the same proofs as have been given by profound scholars, though all to him unknown. He disputes not that it is a mystery, nor disbelieves because it is such; for "Great is the mys

tery of godliness," is the language of Scripture. He seeks not to penetrate the secret chambers of divinity; nor rudely draw aside the veil which, until the day of complete revelation, hides the holiest of all. He takes the mystery as a fact, and believes it simply because God has declared its truth. It is just the want of this humble and childlike spirit which raises up the Socinian and his numerous brotherhood of unbelievers. "Unless ye shall become as one of these little ones, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Lastly, the case of David Yoolow ought to encourage the Christian philanthropist not to lay limits on the power of divine grace, nor count any one too low in the scale of intellect to be beyond its influence. Here we have the scanty education of early years giving to this man a key wherewith he has unlocked the stores of wisdom. Had it not been for the little store of learning, got at the parish-school, which, like the widow's cruise, increased not, but neither failed, David must have set

tled down into hopeless and helpless idiocy,-a moping figure of wretched humanity, with a mind as disfigured as his body was distorted. But God ordered it otherwise; and the little reading, and the one book, saved the mind from total ruin, and found it occupation and gain. The Bible alone, like a lamp, steadily illuminated his mind, which, had it not been for this divine ray, would have been held in midnight darkness. Those who have devoted themselves to the cure of the insane, are here encouraged to use, as the most powerful and persuasive medicine of the distempered mind, the hopes and promises of Gospel truth. Whilst the world presents, to such a mind, one vast wilderness and trackless desert, the word of God speaks peace to the troubled soul; and whilst reason has lost its mastery in all that pertains to this vain show, yet, withal, the patient may be found sitting at the feet of Jesus, spiritually clothed, and, religiously, in his right mind.-Church of Scotland Magazine.

HAVING, in our last Number, given an abridged account of the life and labours of the eminent man whose name stands at the head of this article, we now proceed to call the reader's attention to his writings. By the members of that section of the church with which in life he was connected, these will be received with thankfulness, and regarded as an invaluable and abiding legacy, by which the lamented author, though dead, will continue to speak and to instruct for many generations to come. Wesleyan readers, whether in England or elsewhere, will long avail themselves of a bequest, in the

use of which they meet with no other drawbacks than those which they were prepared to expect by a proper recollection of the humanum est errare et nescire:" they will rejoice in that good Providence by which what they believe to be their scriptural opinions have been so clearly illustrated, and the advantages with which they are connected so forcibly argued. It does not, however, follow that only they who altogether agree with him in his views of some important points of Christian doctrine and discipline, will be able to derive instruction from his works. On proper occa

sions, when the subjects of controversy and dispute came fairly in his way, he did not avoid them; but, on the other hand, he did not seek for them, and never needlessly introduced them. He was a Wesleyan; and what a man like Mr. Watson was at all, he could not fail to be very decidedly. His Wesleyanism, therefore, is never concealed; but it is never obtruded. He was a Christian; and they who most differ from him will find in his writings that the subjects of agreement are far more numerous than those of difference. His system, whatever faults and defects it may be supposed to have, always assumes, and with great frequency presents, those vital and fundamental truths on which all Protestant Christians, not seeking to lay another foundation beside that which is laid, are completely and happily agreed. On the evidences and authority of divine revelation, on the divinity and atonemeat of the Son of God, on the deity and operations of the Holy Spirit, on Christian obligation and duty, on Christian privileges and blessedness, on the sublime prospects of eternity opened to men by the Gospel; on these, and similar subjects, all who profess and call themselves Christians - Calvinists, and Episcopalians, as well as Wesleyan Methodists-may study his works with equal advantage and delight.

And while on this subject, it is but common justice to say, that the reader who does not agree with Mr. Watson on all the numerous topics contained in his works will never find the points of difference treated offensively. We never knew a man whose character presented a more complete exemplification of genuine Christian charity. Not, indeed, of the charity whose origin and nature are unequivocally indicated by the contempt for truth which is its unfailing characteristic. He was no latitu inarian. For truth he had an ardent love, and diligently did he seek for it. He believed, too, that he had found it; and as he believed, so did he speak. But he was no bigot. He never forgot that

the same law which required him to love God, required, likewise, that he should love his neighbour; and he who properly loves his neighbour cannot be uncharitable. Besides, he had a very powerful conviction of the weakness of the human faculty, and its consequent exposure to mistake: while, therefore, he held his own opinions firmly, yet, believing in the general honesty of purpose with which others had arrived at conclusions different from his own, he felt himself bound every way to treat them with the respect which one man, and he a disciple of Christ, owes to his fellow-man and his fellow-disciple. And he did not forget this even in controversy, where it is so often forgotten. He always endeavoured to place the arguments and inferences of his opponents in the right point of view. He well knew that to the cause of truth no advantage is ever gained by misrepresentation, and never allowed himself to be guilty of it. Occasions there might be where he felt that his duty was to be severe, but he was never dishonest.

On these grounds, therefore, we are justified in recommending the Works of Mr. Watson to religious readers and students generally, to whatever denomination of Christians they may belong. Of that which may be called sectarian,using the word in its best sense, and by way of distinction alone,-they will only find what bears but a small proportion to the rest; and of that which is sectarian in the worst sense, they will find nothing at all.

It is not, however, to be denied that Mr. Watson's writings will be chiefly valued by those who are more or less closely connected with that body of which he was a Minister; and when we recollect the large and increasing extent of this class of readers,-to be found, as they now are, in all parts of the world, we cannot refrain from expressing our thankfulness for the additional provision and supply which these volumes furnish. Á Wesleyan, if he be true to the name which he bears,-a name, by the way, which he considers to be, like