struction, is exceedingly to be deprecated and repudiated; for of all minds in whom it is desirable to produce divine impressions, and to originate Christian faith, those who are under the influence of unsanctified learning are the most repulsive to the power of divine truth. "Knowledge puffeth up, but (aya infallible, she cannot undergo any change, unless she first give up the assumption of infallibility, by which she distinguishes herself from all other churches, and in the renunciation of which she must blot out her own existence from under hea. ven. Popery, therefore, is the same that it ever was: it is unchanged and unchangeable in its nature, and in oкodoμet) love buildeth up." its principles; although flexible and accommodating in its movements, and endued with a subtlety of adaptation of itself to every time and occasion. That apostate Church has lived down all the glorious reformations of religion which have taken place in Christendom at different periods of time, and has rejected from her pale, and pronounced eternal destruction upon, all those holy and eminent servants of God who have been the honoured instruments in his hand of effecting such reformations. But great wrath is in store for this mystery of iniquity. She is doomed to utter destruction. Ere long, and this prophecy shall be fulfilled: "And the seventh angel poured out his víal into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great, and the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found." Such is the desolation reserved for "mystical Babylon:" meanwhile a voice is heard from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." : A system of education, rightly and religiously conducted, would afford a noble auxiliary to the cause of Christianity in the world. But that education which is unconnected with the serious perusal of the sacred writings, and void of religious in The one is an empty inflation, the other is a solid and stable erection. Far easier, humanly speaking, is it to convert twenty ignorant and illiterate ploughmen from the error of their way, and to bring them from a course of licentiousness to holiness of heart and life, than one infidel, who, following the pride of human reason and human learning, and rejecting the light of divine revelation, has excluded from his creed the existence of one God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and the certainty of any future state of existence after the termination of the present life. "I thank thee, O Father," said our divine Teacher, "Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." Human learning, however deeply stored in the intellectual capacities, will make no individual a better parent, or husband, or servant, or subject, unless it be accompanied with true religion, which exemplifies itself in humility, meekness, and love. Nay, it only gives greater power to the depraved heart to effect mightier mischief in the world. And thus we often see men by wit destroying wisdom, by ingenuity supporting vice." Sunday-schools have indeed contributed much to the improvement of mankind, by instructing the rising generation to read the word of God, and to understand the first great principles of Christianity; and if the imperfections which still remain attached to some of these institutions were but removed, they would more largely diffuse the blessings of Christianity among the rising generation. While the children ought regularly to be taken to some place of religious worship on the Sabbath-day, they should also be allowed to read the holy Scriptures and other devotional books only, and to attend to religious instruction; and not to acquire the art of writing and arithmetic, which are mere mechanical operations, more fitted for the employment of an allotted portion of time during the interval between one Sabbath and another. Then, indeed, would these institutions become still greater blessings to society at large. The Bible Society, which has for its object the circulation of the holy Scriptures in various languages and dialects in every part of the world; and all Missionary Societies, which are constituted on the principle of preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Heathen; and Tract Societies, which have for their object the diffusion of divine truth in small parts and parcels; should meet with the unqualified approbation of all who truly love our Lord Jesus Christ, and desire and seek the universal extension and permanent establishment of his kingdom in the world. Temperance Societies, which are now greatly multiplying in this kingdom, if rightly conducted, might afford desirable facilities for promoting the progress of true religion as well as morality in the world. They already extensively prevail in America, and have considerably stayed the progress of inebriety and demoralization in that country. They certainly have awakened the attention of mankind to the awful and alarming effects of intoxication, and have developed the horrors of that system of iniquity by which so many thousands of our species every year are precipitated into eternity, totally unprepared to meet the scrutinizing eye of the Judge of the whole earth. The profuse quantities of intoxicating liquors every year made and distilled; the immense sums of money expended in the purchase of these ample commodities; the thousands who, falling a ready prey to their deleterious effects, either sink slowly but surely by this hidden and imperceptible poison, into the grave; or by the intemperate use of intoxicating drink fall awful victims to sudden destruction and misery; and, above all, the loss of so many thousands of immortal souls, drowned in everlasting misery and perdition: all these alarming topics have been exhibited with clearness, and dilated upon with energy and eloquence, on the platforms of Temperance Societies, to the astonishment of all, and the reformation of many. Yet still these Societies, as at present constituted, are liable to very serious objections. They are associations composed of all shades of morality, and all varieties of religious opinion, from the pious and orthodox Christian down to the Sceptic, the Deist, and the Atheist,-a strange and unnatural combination of persons, which it would be difficult to find recognised or sanctioned in the sacred Scriptures. Their public Meetings also are generally begun and concluded without prayer; and in the pledge which the members of the Society have signed for abstaining from the entire use of all intoxicating liquors, there is no recognition of God or of his grace to enable them to overcome their besetting ein. It is a thing proposed to be done without prayer, without God, without his word and ordinances, so far as the constitution of this Society extends. The grounds also on which sometimes public speakers defend Temperance Societies will be found unfavourable to their progression and success. When a speaker asserts that it is unscriptural and sinful to take ale or wine, he then weakens the cause which he desires to advocate; but while he maintains the simple ground of Christian expediency, and that it becomes professing Christians to do all they can by their advice and example to stop the progress of intemperance, he assumes an attitude which commands respect and attention. To say nothing of our Lord himself having made water into wine, it is evident that wine, under the New Testament, was allowed to be drunk, providing it were only taken in moderation. 66 If this position be denied, how can we interpret the following texts?— "John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners." (Matt. xi. 18, 19.) The sacred historian here asserts that the Son of man came drinking, doubtless drinking liquors, which, if taken too freely, would intoxicate; and therefore it was that his enemies called him a wine-bibber or drunkard; and that the Greek term (owoTorns) wine-bibber" means a drunkard, is evident from the following text :— "Be not among wine-bibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh; for the drunkard and the glutton come to poverty." (Prov. xxiii. 20, 21.) Now the translators of the Septuagint render the Hebrew words 2 by owoTorns, the very same word as is used by the Evangelist in reference to our Lord. "Likewise must deacons be grave," (un owo modλw πрoσexovTas,) not given to much wine." (1 Tim. iii. 8.) "The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers" (μŋ O TXA dedovλwμevas); "not given (or enslaved) to much wine." (Titus ii. 3.) From the preceding texts it is clear, that Deacons and aged women might take wine in moderation, but not to intoxication. When, therefore, the advocates of Temperance Societies thus unhappily base their claims on the ground of the sinfulness of taking intoxicating liquors in any degree, rather than on Christian expediency, they often pour out a flood of vituperation upon all ranks of professing Christians, and upon the laborious Ministers of religion, who may happen to differ from them in opinion and practice, and some of whom, under great labours and often infirmities, may, like Timothy, "take a little wine for their stomachs' sake." While, therefore, these proceedings are publicly tolerated in the constitution of Temperance Societies, great and incessant prejudice will continue to exist in the minds of many excellent persons against them; and they will VOL. XVII. Third Series. unquestionably fail of producing the extent of good which they were originally designed to effect. Reviewing all the splendid machinery which is now in rapid movement among the faithful for the diffusion of the light of divine truth in the world, we cannot but admire the success which has already crowned the efforts of the Christian church in her attempts to evangelize the human race. Extensive revivals of true religion have already taken place in England, in North America, and in the West India islands, (from which we trust every vestige of slavery ere long will be swept away,) and also in the South Sea islands, and other parts of the globe; and we are ready to hail these auspicious appearances as the bright and cheering dawn of the latter day's glory. But in contemplating these events, we cannot forget the many fair and promising aspects in the religious horizon, which have at different ages appeared, and then faded away, and set in awful and terrible darkness. Thus we have seen the first dispensation of mercy to man terminating in a deluge of destruction; and the second dispensation replete with fuller manifestations of the divine glory, winding up in the destruction of the Jewish city, and temple, and nation. We have also seen the great revival of religion in the days of primitive Christianity, succeeded by a long and dreary night of ignorance, error, and superstition. All these events admonish the Christian church to renewed watchfulness and diligence, lest the glorious manifestations of the divine presence and power which she has witnessed, and still witnesses, should, through her unfaithfulness, disappear, and become lost to the world. We may be inclined to think that such an event cannot happen, since the art of printing is known, and innumerable copies of the Scriptures are now dispersed abroad, translated into many living languages and dialects of the earth, and also many eminent Ministers have been raised up to proclaim the truth. But while we look at Germany, let us rejoice with JULY, 1838. 2 L trembling. From her shone forth the morning rays of the Reformation, and diffused themselves over Christendom. Yet, alas! the light which was in her has become darkness; and instead of the pure evangelical doctrines taught by Luther and his coadjutors, a new system of theology, or rather scepticism, denominated " Neology," has been invented by the subtlety of schoolmen, to the counteraction and subversion of the great and important verities of the Christian faith. Nor are we to disregard other features of the times which seem to portend that the period is fast has tening, when the line of demarcation between good and evil will be more strikingly defined and fixed, and when the mighty and decisive conflict will commence between the contending principles of good and evil, in which the former will triumph over the latter, but not without much trial and tribulation to the saints of the Most High: "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly." If there be any truth in the calculations of the interpreters of prophecy, the destruction of Antichrist may take place about the year 1866 or 1896, and to that period we are fast hastening, although vitæ summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam. Popery and infidelity are certainly putting forth their energies to attempt some mighty achievement against the kingdom of Christ; and insubordination among certain classes of society, which threatens the subversion of civil government, seems ready to break forth and come to the aid of these antichristian powers; and therefore the saints should gird on their armour, and prepare for the day of battle, which is to precede the future glorious state of the church,- -a battle which is to be fought, not with carnal weapons, but with spiritual armour, which is "mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every (vonua) reason ing to the obedience of Christ." Before, however, this event takes place, we must look for some great movement among the Jews,-a people hitherto preserved distinct from all others, although dispersed among all the nations of the earth, and destined ere long by Almighty God to act some very important part on the great theatre of the world. There are prophecies respecting their glory and greatness, as a people and nation, which have never yet been accomplished, but which will most certainly be realized, and which the Lord will hasten in his time. Almost all the Prophets in succession predict, that they shall return to their own land; that God will put upon other nations all those plagues with which they have afflicted them; and that they shall be a holy people, and never more be forsaken or desolate. Whether they may return as repenting Jews to their own country, performing those things only which Moses commanded their fathers, and there receive the doctrines of Christianity and be saved, or whether they may return as believing Christians who have been made the happy partakers of the power and saving grace of the Gospel, it is not possible for us to determine; but in whatever way their conversion is effected, it will be a glorious era of the Christian church. How will the saints of the Most High exult, when the Jews, with the fulness of the gentiles, shall be brought into the fold of Christ, and when "all flesh shall see the salvation of God!" Then "the Lord shall be King over all the earth," and there shall be 66 one Lord and his name one." The King Messiah shall reign, and "shall have" his "dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth." In his day shall the "righteous flourish, and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth." His " His "kingdom shall not be left to other people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." And as all these glorious achievements over the powers of darkness and the enemies of the cross of Christ are to be finally effected by a copious and universal outpouring of the Holy Spirit, let Christian believers be incessant in their application to the throne of grace for a mightier effusion of that Spirit, who, when he descends in his fulness, will usher in the glorious millennial reign of the Prince of peace; and then "the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the de sert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God." THEOROS. March 12th, 1838. EPITAPH ON THE LATE THOMAS THOMPSON, ESQ. MR. THOMPSON died at Paris, in the year 1828, and was interred in the burying-ground of Père la Chaise. A friend, who has lately returned from that city, has favoured us with the epitaph of this very eminent and good man, having copied it from his grave-stone.EDIT. Here lies the body of THOMAS THOMPSON, ESQ., F. S. A., of Cottingham Castle, Yorkshire, formerly a Merchant and Banker at Hull. He was Member in three successive Parliaments for the borough of Medhurst, in Sussex. He sought honour by humility none to help them, committed his soul to God, who gave HIS SON unto death to redeem him. He died on the 14th of Sept., 1828, aged seventy-four. REVIEW. The Life of William Wilberforce. By his Sons, Robert Isaac Wilberforce, M. A., Vicar of East-Farleigh, late Fellow of Oriel College, und Samuel Wilberforce, M. A., Rector of Brighstone. In Five Volumes. 12mo. pp. 396, 464, 568, 397, 412. J. Murray. BIOGRAPHICAL Works may be divided, for the most part, into two classes. In one, the principal object is to describe individual feeling and behaviour, and to trace the developements of individual character. In such relations as these, external events are considered no farther than as they may serve to illustrate the principal object. They are but as the back-ground to the portrait. The other comprehends those narrations in which the individual, having been connected with some event, or some series of events, remarkable in the general history of mankind, is viewed, for the most part, in those external associations, and considered as originating and guid ing the movements of society; or as sometimes, it may be, overmastered by them, and swept by the eddying wave far from the shore to which he was directing his course, and on which he hoped soon to have secured a sure footing. In this case, even the principal figure is but a part of the entire group, and individual character furnishes the specimen, by the legitimate analysis of which, the principles which compose the prevailing public opinion may be detected, and their tendency ascertained. The vessel that scuds before the wind enables the spectator on the shore to describe the direction of the war of elements in the midst of which she moves along, |