was computed to be a good deal more than five thousand years at the birth of the Redeemer. * Their doctrine in general was, that as God spent six days in the works of creation, and rested on the seventh, and as one day with the Almighty is as a thousand years, From these considerations, it is concluded that, for more and a thousand years as one day; so, six thousand years than three hundred years, the expectation of the Millenwould pass over mankind in toil and suffering, after nium was cherished by the primitive Christians. The which there would be a Sabbath of corresponding length same opinion had been formerly stated by Mede and Burto be enjoyed by the better portion of the human race- net. It is likewise shown, that the first opposition to ä Millennium, or thousand years, of rest, peace, and hap- the doctrine respected not the authority on which it was piness. This opinion is expressed by one of their Rabbis maintained, but merely the nature of the enjoyments, with in these words:" As out of every seven years, the se- which it too soon became associated in the minds of the venth is the year of remission, so, out of the seven thou-less spiritual among the brethren. The delights of the sand years of the world, the seventh Millennium shall be Millennial Sabbath were identified with the grossest pleathe Millennium of remission." sures of a sensual paradise; and hence arose the school of the Allegorists, who endeavoured to find, in the vivid descriptions of that felicity which was to be enjoyed during the thousand years, a meaning more consistent with the purity and self-denial of the Gospel. The opinions of the Christian world were ever after divided on this subject; some professors adhering to the Jewish notions of corporeal enjoyment, others following the more reason The next step in the argument is to prove that the early Christians, the greater part of whom were originally Jews, continued to hold the expectation of the Millennium, and to fortify their hopes on the same grounds, and by means of the same general doctrine, which had been maintained in the schools of the Rabbim. St Barnabas, for example, the companion and fellow-labourer of the Apostle Paul, presents to us, in a commentary on the twen-able doctrine of Dionysius, the Bishop of Alexandria, who tieth chapter of Exodus, the following views in regard to it :-" And God made in six days the works of his hands; and he finished them on the seventh day; and he rested the seventh day, and sanctified it. Consider, my children, what that signified, he finished them in six days. The meaning of it is this, that in six thousand years the Lord God will bring all things to an end. For with him one day is as a thousand years, as himself testifieth. Therefore, children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, shall all things be accomplished. And what is that he saith, And he rested the seventh day? He meaneth this, that when his Son shall come, and abolish the season of the wicked one, and judge the ungodly, and shall change the sun, the moon, and the stars, then shall he rest gloriously in that seventh day."* 66 endeavoured to reduce the triumphs of the New Jerusalem to a rhetorical flourish, or at least to a spiritual allegory. But, it is worthy of remark, that neither party relinquished the hope of Millennial blessedness, nor ceased to connect it with the chronological positions already explained; namely, that it was to follow the six thousand years of sin and labour, as the seventh day followed the six spent in creation, at the beginning of time. It was not till the fifth century had elapsed, when, according to the lowest of the more ancient calculations, the seventh chiliad or Millennium must have begun, that the Christian teachers were led to discover their mistake, and to withdraw their belief from this Jewish fancy, by which they had been so long enthralled. I have stated—and I repeat the statement as an historical fact that as long as the prophecies respecting the Millennium were interpreted literally, the Apocalypse was received as an inspired production, and as the work of the Apostle John; but that no sooner did theologians find themselves compelled to view its annunciations through the medium of allegory, than they ventured to call in question its heavenly origin, its genuineness, and its authority. Dionysius, for example, the great supporter of the allegorical school, gives a decided opinion against the authenticity of the Revelation. "Several of our predeces Similar quotations are made from the writings of Justin Martyr and of Tertullian; both of whom held the same opinion, in regard to the time and purpose of the Millennium. Lactantius, too, who lived somewhat later, shows in various parts of his works that he inherited the tenets of the earlier fathers. "Because all things," says he, were finished in six days, it is necessary that the world should remain in its present state six ages, that is, six thousand years. Because, having finished the works of creation, he rested on the seventh day, and blessed it, it is therefore necessary that, at the end of the sixth Mil-sors," says he, "have wholly rejected this book; and, by lennium, all wickedness should be rooted out of the earth, and that righteousness should reign a thousand years." When the Son of God shall have destroyed injustice, and restored the good to life, he will sojourn among men a thousand years, and rule them with a most righteous judgment. At the same time, the Prince of the devils shall be bound with chains, and kept in restraint during the thousand years of the celestial government, in which justice shall prevail throughout the whole world, lest he should attempt any thing against the people of God. And when the thousand years shall be completed, then shall take place that second and public resurrection of all, when -the unjust shall be raised to everlasting torments. I then undertake to show, that the expectation just described was connected with the belief that the sixth Millennium was considerably advanced when Christianity was first given to the world. It is not easy to abridge -the quotations which I have adduced to illustrate the point now stated, and to prove that the faithful, during the three first centuries of our era, regarded themselves as living in the latter days, and as being those upon whom the end of the world had come. No competent reader, however I speak not of reviewers-will deny the fact, that, according to the chronological system which pre,vailed in those early days among Jews, as well as among Christians, the age of our globe, as the habitation of man, Catholic Epistle of St Barnabas, section 15. examining its contents, section after section, have found it obscure, void of reason, and its title forged. They said it was not John's; nay, that it was no revelation, being covered with so thick a veil of ignorance; and that none of the saints, or the apostles, or the godly men, who belonged to the church, was the author of this book; but Corinthus, the father of the noted heresy, who put out this treatise under the name of John, in order to gain credit and authority."—" I deny not that the author's name was John, and I think verily that the book was written by some pious man endowed with the Holy Ghost; but that it is the Apostle's, the son of Zebedee, the brother of James, who wrote the Gospel and the Catholic Epistle, I can hardly be brought to grant. The Evangelist had both the gift of utterance and the gift of knowledge. As for the other, I will not gainsay but that he saw a revelation, and also that he received knowledge and prophecy; yet, for all that, I see his Greek not exactly uttered, the dialect and proper phrase not observed. I find him using barbarous expressions and solecisms, which I do not think it necessary to repeat at present." On this delicate point I have refrained from giving any judgment; and it is, therefore, only by a forced and very men who had just obtained a new light,-" Then bath unfair inference that the historian of ancient opinions God to the Gentiles also granted repentance unto life!" can be charged with denying the inspiration of the Apo- Suffice it to remark, that the assistance promised by calypse. I have indeed stated, that Eusebius, who di- our Lord to his disciples, did not extend to all subjects, vides all the sacred books into three classes, includes the but simply to THE TRUTH which he had revealed, and Revelation in the second, as a treatise which might be which he commanded them to teach; and this superna read for instruction, but which was not fully inspired: tural aid was supplied not all at once, but gradually, and that Cyril of Jerusalem rejects it from his list of canoni- in a proportion commensurate with the necessities of cal compositions: that the Council of Laodicea, in the their situation. He assured them, at the same time, that fourth century, proceeded on the same principle, and re- the limits of his commission, as the Son of Man, did not fused to admit the Apocalypse as an authentic work. I admit of any revelation as to the period fixed in the counhave added, however, that, at a period somewhat later, it sels of Eternity for the duration of the present state of was almost generally received, so far at least as to be in- things. Now, as our Saviour did not communicate to serted in the lists of those writers who undertook to guide the Apostles any information respecting the duration or their contemporaries in the list of inspired tracts. Nay, end of the world, we ought to view their allusions to I have distinctly declared, that the determination to which chronology and other matters of human science, in the I had arrived respecting the apocalyptic visions as having same light in which we view their opinions in regard to no relation to our times, and as not being essential to the the constitution of the universe, and the structure of the regulation either of our faith or manners, is not meant to heavenly bodies. In the language used by their fore decide any question that might be raised in regard to the fathers in still more ancient times, they continued to authority of the Revelation, as an inspired work. Every speak of the firmament as of a plane surface, as a canopy novice in church history is aware of the objections, which, which might be drawn aside like a scroll, and as a coverfrom time to time, were urged against the authenticity ing which might be rolled up like a garment. They were of the book in question, as also of the reluctance with entire strangers to that sublime study, which has carried which it was received in several divisions of the Christian the works of God and the conceptions of man to an extent commonwealth; but it has not been usual among candid which borders on infinity. "But," I have added, "notmen to accuse the annalist of such controversies as hold- withstanding this ignorance, which they shared with the ing the opinions which he has merely undertaken to nar- men of this age, their doctrines on the still more imporrate, or to impute to him the errors which his subject tant subject of human redemption, are full of knowledge leads him to expose. and truth; because, in all that they taught on this head, they were guided by divine inspiration, and spoke and wrote like the oracles of God. I would, therefore, conclude, that although it were necessary to make a concession as to the private opinions of the Apostles in respect to the Millennium, the principles of our faith would not be thereby shaken; because the promise of our Lord did not extend to the communication of all knowledge, but merely to the recollection and understanding of all the truth which they had heard from his own lips, and to the fuller exposition of the same divine institutes, in proportion as they should, at a future period, be able to comprehend them." In another place I say, that "it is by no means clear that St Paul expected the second advent of the Re himself lived. On the contrary, strong reasons might be urged to prove that he did not entertain such an opinion. But, even if it were necessary to concede this point, respecting which he had not received any supernatural information, his authority as to all matters of faith, properly so called, would not be in the least affected." Again, as to the extent in which the Apostles shared the impression, common in their age, respecting the near approach of the end of the world, there is a great want of unanimity in the judgments of the learned. Grotius, Menarchus, Whiston, and others, were satisfied that St Paul, in particular, believed that the second advent might take #place in his own days, and would not be delayed beyond the lifetime of his younger brother. But the greater number of divines have rejected this opinion, as being utterly in consistent with fact, and as implying, of course, a degree of fallibility in the Apostle not easily to be reconciled with the idea of plenary inspiration, as that phrase is commonly understood. It is admitted, at the same time, that the language of this holy man was generally under-deemer during the existence of the generation in which he stood by his contemporaries in the sense of the millennarians, and even that it was employed by them in support of their views. In reference to this I have remarked, that it must forever remain extremely difficult to determine what were the precise ideas which the Apostles meant to express, when they used the language which the primitive believers interpreted so as to support their "It is manifest, at all events, that those who continue favourite doctrine of a Millennium. But let it be ad- to cherish the expectation of a Millennium, must consent mitted that the inspired servants of Christ shared in to relinquish the idea with which it was connected in an the impression which was almost universal among their cient times, namely, that it should stand in the same recountrymen, relative to the end of the world and the lation to the age of the world, that the Sabbath does to earthly reign of the Messias; does it necessarily follow, the six days of the week; and that its affairs were to be that our faith in the things which they were specially directed by the personal administration of the Lord Jesus commissioned to teach must be overthrown, merely because Christ, in virtue of his office as the King of Saints. The there may be reason to suspect that, in regard to a sub- former must be given up, because the seventh Millennium ject on which they were properly kept ignorant, they con- expired more than two hundred years ago; and the relintinued to think with the rest of the world? We know quishment of the latter follows as a matter of course, bethat St Peter was several years an Apostle before he was cause the second advent was uniformly associated in the Enlightened as to one of the most essential and charac- minds of the primitive Christians with the termination teristic purposes of Christianity, namely, that the Gospel of six thousand years." But if the two points now menwas to be preached to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews, tioned be abandoned, nothing will remain of the Millenand that the former, as well as the latter, were to be nial hypothesis. in its original acceptation, on which the blessed with all its privileges. Nay, the Apostles and church of Christ in these days ought to repose any hope brethren who were at Jerusalem, when they heard of the of a literal and visible reign of the Redeemer, during the transaction at Cæsarea, were disposed to "contend with long period of ten centuries. We shall, therefore, it may Peter," for having admitted heathens into the Church of be presumed, see the propriety of assenting to the views Christ; nor was it until they had listened to the details of those learned men, who, at the era of the Reformation, of the miracle, by means of which the authority to bap-ranked the Millennium among "Jewish dotages," as one tise a pagan family had been conveyed to him, that their of those hereditary impressions which clung to the house hearts were opened to understand the fundamental prin- of Israel even after they became Christians, and which, ciple of their own religion. "Then," they exclaimed, like like their refusal of salvation to the Gentiles, gradually gave way to the power of advancing knowledge, and to their clearer perception of the Divine purposes in the great scheme of human redemption, ing vessel, or carrying her voice of consolation into the cells of the prison-house. One of the most glorious features of the times is, that the poorest inhabitants of the country are now beginning voluntarily to interest themselves in the diffusion of education. This is manifest in a particular manner from the encouragement which has of late been given to the establishment of School and Itinerating Libraries, by means of which the blessings of It appears to me more honest to reject the Millennium, or, as St Jerome calls it, the "Fable of a Thousand Years,” openly and distinctly, than to join with the school of Dr Whitby, who explain it away by substituting for facts mere figures of rhetoric, and by expounding the language of Scripture on a principle equally inconsistent with gram-knowledge, at an astonishingly cheap rate, may be conmar and with common sense. I have thought it better to give an outline of my discourse, so far as doctrine is concerned, rather than defend it against the strictures of the Reviewer in the Journal, some of which I have not been able to comprehend. To prepare him for the study of this knotty point, I would advise him to read the chronological works of Jackson, Hayes, Faber, or of Dr Hales, and he will see the ground on which rests the "flimsy plea" that the system of dates adopted in the English Bible, was unknown to the church of Christ for many ages, and that it rests entirely on the authority of the modern Jews. I am willing to ascribe to haste the gross blunder into which he has fallen, when he attributes to me the assertion, that the "Apostle himself is given to Rabbinical delusion." I have merely said that St Paul occasionally makes use of Rabbinical allusions. But the supposition of haste will hardly account for the imputation with which he thinks proper to charge the author of the Discourses, who, he says, affects to show "that St John either did not write the book of Revelation at all, or that he has given us the idle, unauthorized imaginings of a disordered fancy, as glorious visions which he was commanded to write down in a book, that they might be to the glory of God, and for edification and encouragement to the Christian church." In reply, it will be enough to repeat, that I have not presumed to determine the question of authenticity in any point, but have left it exactly as I found it. veyed into every family in the land. The very moderate funds necessary for commencing such a library may be raised either by a public sermon and collection, or by private subscription, as local situation and circumstances dictate. Our attention has been more immediately directed to this subject at present, by having just received the "Sixth Report of the East Lothian Itinerating Juvenile and Village Libraries," together with a paper on Itinerating Libraries in general, by Mr Samuel Brown of Haddington, manager of the East Lothian Libraries, We rejoice to find that, under Mr Brown's able superintendence, these establishments are rapidly increasing in his own county. That the precise principles upon which he proceeds may be more generally known, we have pleasure in giving a place to the following paper by him, con taining his reply to certain queries which have been put to him on the subject; and we are farther authorized to state, that Mr Brown will willingly answer any additional queries respecting the practical operation and detail of his plans that may be made to him through the medium of the Literary Journal: ON ITINERATING LIBRARIES. "Q. 1. How many itinerating divisions of fifty volumes would be desirable to form one library? "The following enquiries were lately made to me respecting the plan of the East Lothian itinerating libraries,-the replies may perhaps suggest some useful information to perbourhood. I shall also be happy to give any additional insons who are disposed to introduce the plan into their neigh formation concerning that economical mode of diffusing I have had too much experience in the mystery of re-knowledge to any person who may wish it. viewing not to know its full value, both as to matter and spirit. In this field, accordingly, I am not less disposed to take than to give; and nothing, assuredly, would afford me greater pleasure, than an able critic entering into the history of the opinions which I have advanced, their grounds, both scriptural and chronological, and, the authorities on which they have been, in different ages, respectively impugned and defended. But-I am, sir, your faithful servant, [**We are not in the habit of giving a place to communications from authors with whose opinions we may, to a certain extent, have found fault, and who, we take it for granted, will, in nine cases out of ten, conceive our strictures to be unjust; but we were unwilling to refuse so learned and able a correspondent as Dr Russell an opportunity of defence, and having done so, we leave the question to our mutual judges-the public. That our review of his book was written in the spirit of candour and sincerity, we are sure; the degree of ability and research which we brought to the test, it is not for us to say. But this we can safely assert, leaving it to others to determine the fact, that notwithstanding the length of the above letter, we do not see that it materially affects any of the statements we made last Saturday.-ED.] EDUCATION IN SCOTLAND-ITINERATING LIBRARIES. OUR readers are aware of the interest we take in all subjects connected with the state of education in this country. We are happy to see the exertions now making in various districts to second the more extensive plans of national improvement in this respect which have been so auspiciously commenced, and are likely to proceed so prosperously. Greatly as we admire education, stately and full-robed, rejoicing amidst the classic splendour of her academic bowers, yet not less interesting is she when seen stealing unadorned into the sequestered hamlet and lowly shieling, or descending into the cabin of the small coast "For the commencement of a system of itinerating librar ries, four or five divisions would be a very good beginning, or even fewer. If that number were stationed each for they went the circuit, and in that time it is probable as two years in a place, it would be eight or ten years before many more divisions would be added to the establishment. Ten or twelve divisions could be easily managed by one per son, who felt an interest in the plan; and it would be better to divide the labour by different sets all over the country, than to oppress an individual with a large establishment. I prefer the divisions being two years in a place to a shorter period; as at first the lighter and more entertaining reading is chiefly in demand; and were the books changed every year, I should be apprehensive of too strong a taste being formed for amusing works; but when it is stationed for two years, the readers have time to read the more solid and useful books. "Q. 2. At about what expense can each division be procured? "I think a division of fifty volumes bound, or half bound, with bookcase, catalogue, labels, advertisements, and issuing book, may be procured from L.10 to L. 12; but the cost will depend very much on the kind of books wanted, and their being recently published. Very good divisions might be selected for from L.8 to L.10. As perhaps the principal hinderance to the introduction of itinerating libraries has been the trouble of setting on foot the first divisions, I would be willing to superintend gratuitously the getting up any any individual or society may wish, and to procure, at the number of divisions, with the necessary apparatus, which wholesale prices, any books they may require. "Q. 3. At about what expense per annum may each division be kept in repair? "If the books are bound, or half bound at first, I suppose five shillings per annum would both keep them in repair, and supply any volumes which may be lost, and which it might be difficult to get the reader to replace; if the books are in boards with linen backs, seven or nine shillings ayear will repair and bind them as they require. "Q. 4. How long, with care, may such books last? last. "Part of our books have been in active circulation for eighteen years, as at the commencement they were used as a Sunday-school library; and forty volumes out of fifty are yet fit for circulation, and will last a few years longer, so that twenty years may be considered the period they will "In forming an establishment of itinerating libraries, I would recommend the raising as much money from the friends of the institution, as would purchase four or five : divisions to begin with, and that they be placed in different stations, with an intimation that if the books are well read, they will be succeeded by other divisions every second year; that during the first year they will be issued to any person who will pay one penny a-volume for reading it; that in the second year, they will be issued gratuitously to any person above twelve years of age, who will take care of them. I consider it of great importance to allow gratuitous reading, as there are many young persons who are not able to pay even a penny a-volume; and others are not willing to pay until a taste for reading is formed in them." "As another means of raising funds and promoting the objects of the institution, I would recommend that, after its commencement, all the new books should be kept for at least one year, for the use of annual subscribers of five shillings, or such other sum as may be thought proper. I adopted this plan in 1822. Previous to that period, the greatest number of our annual subscribers was eight; they now amount to more than one hundred and fifty; and besides adding largely to our funds, this measure has introduced into a considerable number of the most respectable and influential families of the district, a number of religious and useful publications. I have allowed these subscribers the privilege of recommending books, to double the amount of their subscriptions, on condition that they are not, in the opinion of the committee, injurious to the interests of religion or morals; this privilege has been used by them with great discretion, and they have frequently assisted me in procuring very proper books. "In consequence of our having a number of subscribers at the neighbouring towns of Dunbar and North Berwick, new books are purchased with their own subscriptions for the use of these stations; besides which, the new books that have been one year at Haddington, are sent to North Berwick and Dunbar, so as to be double the value of their subscriptions; and the new books which have been at Dunbar and North Berwick, are kept another year for the Haddington subscribers. By this arrangement, all the subscribers have access to many more volumes than their own subscriptions would have purchased. And after this they are formed into divisions for general circulation. In a large town, as Edinburgh or Glasgow, a similar plan might be followed, by placing divisions within the reach of the different squares and streets of the genteel population, many of whom, I am persuaded, would subscribe for the use of the books for the younger branches of their families, as well as for themselves. “As it is of much importance to gratify the annual subscribers with the books they wish to read as early as possible, in the issuing-book for them, I have adopted the plan of writing the name of the book on the top of the page, and writing the name of the borrower below it, with the date when the volume is issued; and as a volume is frequently called for when some person has it, I also enter the names of the persons who want it, in the same manner; and when it comes in, it is immediately sent to them, and the date is affixed to their name. By this means some voJames are never permitted to stand idle in the book-shelf. The issuing book for the general readers is more easily kept. The names of the usual readers are arranged alphabetically, and the number of the book is marked opposite their name, and under a column for the month in which they are issued; and when they are returned, the number is merely crossed. It is very useful to call in all the books once a-year for mination, and to get repaired those which require it. | plan by which such societies can promote the interests of "Much of the success of such institutions will depend on "Manager of the East Lothian Itinerating Libraries. "Haddington." Whilst upon this subject, we may throw out a suggestion which is perhaps worth attending to. We have long been of opinion that a yearly report on "Education in Scotland" would prove a great stimulus towards its diffusion and advancement. A yearly work of this kind would be read by all classes with extraordinary avidity. It is not unlikely that the Journal of Education, about to be published under Mr Brougham's superintendence, may render such a report less necessary; and if so, Mr Brougham will add another obligation to the many which his country already owes him for his exertions in the cause of useful knowledge. In the meantime, however, our hint will probably not be thrown away upon Principal Baird, and the other natural guardians of a cause which does so much honour to them and to Scotland. RECOLLECTIONS OF A PARSONAGE. THE PROPS OF THE PULPIT. UNDER the above title, your imagination, gentle and intelligent reader, will naturally disport itself amidst the members of our General Assembly. You will think incontinently of our Inglises, our Cookes, our Chalmerses, our Thomsons, or such other Tuscan and Doric pillars upon which the church visible at present rests; or, in the retirements of former ages, you will discern those mighty shades which have long taken their place with the illustrious departed. Or, perhaps, in the grosser materiality of apprehension, you may even conjure up those beams and pillars on which our pulpits are outBut in all such efforts, wardly and visibly supported. you will come wide of the truth, and may probably express your surprise when told, that the " Props of the Pulpit" which are here meant, are nothing more nor less than old men and women who commonly cluster around our parish pulpits, to the exceeding annoyance of the precentor, and the great delight of every efficient and faithful pastor. It is quite possible that a very useless and inefficient minister may be popular ;-the walls of his church may perspire from door to door, and from floor to ceiling, enexa-compassing a dense and a gaping multitude, and yet all this while the speaker may be a mere dandy, with a high collar and a white handkerchief, a showy style and a retentive memory. But no such orator will ever clothe his pulpit stair-way with tartan plaids and shanter bonnets, with clasp-bibles and crooked kents. Till, however, such conquest has been made, and the venerable and pious" Props" I refer to have been attracted into their places, the speaker, though he may tickle the imagination, and gratify the ear, of his audience, is yet a great way from utility,-from that true and genuine efficiency, which bespeaks the operation of "Grace," through the It is not advisable to require any entry money in addition to the first annual subscription, as it is usually a hinderance to new subscribers. When an addition to the catalogue of the new books is printed, which should be once a-year, if it is sent gratuitously to the respectable families in the neighbourhood, it will usually procure more new subscribers than will pay the expense of printing it. "Besides the subscriptions from individuals, we have had occasional donations to the East Lothian Itinerating Libraries from different missionary societies, formed within the district. As the libraries have much of the nature of a Home Missionary institution, there is, perhaps, no instrumentality of our honest, and fervent, and devotional feeling and utterance. Take your summer excursion from "the Mull" to " Pomona," from Ailsa to the Bass, and mark, in your progress, the Sabbath ministrations of every minister in Scotland. Deaf though you were, and altogether incapable of ascertaining from the ear the power and the value of the respective ministrations, you may gather from the eye alone, from these "Pulpit Props," how the spiritual interests of each parish fare,-whether the incumbent preaches himself or his master, the very Gospel or the idle showiness of learning, ingrafted on vanity of worldly wisdom and conceit, gilt and glossed over with a show and a seeming of godliness. no ken the reason o' that, sir?" I immediately acknow- THE POETRY OF VISIBLE OBJECTS. By John Mackay Wilson. THERE is inspiration, there is poetry, in all that is It may be that the church you have visited is not beautiful, all that is vast,-in the blush upon the cheek crowded to the door, and that, even amidst a compara- of a maiden-in the modest violet and drooping lilytively limited number of hearers, you observe somewhat in the dewdrop on the rose-in the pale glances of the of an unexcited and inattentive aspect, as if no great ex- moon; in the glory of the sunbeams-in the conviction pectation had been raised, and no particular exertion had of an immortality-in a stupendous eternity—in the idea been made to excite it. But if you have the aged and of a God! all these are poetry, and last, not least, Reliwrinkled faces of threescore and ten immediately front-gion, holy, pure and undefiled religion-religion is the ing you, if you can mark, while the venerable and ve- poetry of Heaven! There is poetry in eternal ocean, with nerated man of God is composedly dividing the word of its thousand tongues; in the glorious and circuitous truth, a gradual and a solemn lifting and falling of the sportings of its hoary waves; in the blue beams of the hands; if the Bible lies half opened, and dog-leafed at the lightning, and the hoarse roaring of its voice; in the text, in the lap of age, and the eyes of the surrounding tranquillity of evening, when the music of the wild-dove "Props" are ever and anon raised in humble acquiescence welcomes the gloaming; in the reflection of sparkling to the face and the utterance of the pastor, then all is moonbeams on a waveless sea; in the works of nature right: such a parish has been blessed in its minister, and innumerable. such a minister has had, and will have, reason to rejoice in his pastoral labours. I had rather sit under such a ministry, than under all the fiery and scalding droppings from the lamp of the red-hot zealot, or blazing sentimentalist. Poetry is a living, a thrilling, an exciting something. Its principles are universal as motion in matter. It is the language of the soul; it is its actions. It is a grasping of the heart and its passions. It is, and is in, every thing that elevates a man from the prose around him. Poetry is enthusiasm; is every or any thing in which is beauty or power. It exists in the power of producing effect, and in the effect produced. The whole life of Napoleon, for example, was one great and glorious epic. His every movement was the poetry of action. There was poetry in every word he uttered; his very existence was a concentration of it. There are more noble and sublime instances of poetry in some of his addresses to his army previous to engagements, than in any production of the present age. Take but the following single sentence, and picture a host of spendidly armed and panoplied Mameluke cavalry covering the plain before them,-on their right hand the sacred river of Egypt, the mountains of Mohratam, the cities of Cairo and of classic Memphis, with the everlasting pyra Do you observe that figure which occupies the lowest step of the pulpit range? There she sits, with her little orphan grand-daughter at her feet, and there she has sat for many years past; she never desires to ascend higher, or to come into contact and competition with the persons or the privileges of the precentor or bell-man. Her heart is humble, yet it is feelingly alive to any acts of condescension or kindness with which it may be visited. Carefully, as the minister ascends to the pulpit, does she draw in the extremities of her dress, contract her body to leave the requisite breadth of stair-way for the well-known foot, which her very soul embraces in its passing. Her little Nancy, now no longer, through the intervention of female charity, an object of parish relief, sits on her gown tail, looks up the psalms and texts, and occasionally enjoys with a half-formed smile, the old woman's embar-mids upon their right, and his army eager for the charge. rassment in fixing her untempled spectacles firmly and graspingly on her nose. The history of that woman and her orphan ward is interesting, and on another occasion you shall have it; in the meantime, you must be content with a more limited notice of her next neighbour in the order of stair ascent, videlicet, Janet Smith. "Go" said he, pointing to the pyramids--" Go! and think that from the height of those monuments forty ages survey our conduct!" It were fruitless to follow him through his long line of glories and of victories. But who can contemplate, without astonishment, his descending a second time the Alps like a mighty avalanche, Janet is a queer body. I have never been able yet to sweeping away the resolute resistance of the Austrian find out with perfect assurance whether Janet is, or is squadrons on the plains of Marengo; and, in the midst not, truly religious. She is remarkably sagacious, that is of the strife and the swell of battle, think of the heroic certain, knows the Scriptures better than most clergy- Desaix, with his single arm, dashing aside the tide of men, and attends most regularly on the ordinances of fortune,-almost of fate; and as the last wave engulfed religion. But then, on the other hand, Janet's voice is the hopes of their enemies, the blood of the hero mingled loud when a proclamation has been made over her head; with the flood; and when, in the swift tumult of triumph nor are her commentaries always made in perfect charity. and pursuit, the echo of the brave man's warlike groan To young preachers, or stibblers, as she calls them, she is is borne to his leader, and that leader Napoleon, he exquite ferocious, cutting them up at the kirk-style, and, claims, in the whirlwind of conquest, of sorrow, and of indeed, all the way home to her hut in the clachan, at battle, " Why have I not time to weep for him ?" If there no allowance; and occasionally, if I am rightly informed, be not poetry in these things, where is poetry to be found? taking a pretty sound and protracted nap, even in the While his feet yet stood on the tottering ruins of Austria, midst of my very warmest addresses. For this I ven- and the glories of Ulm, green in the exultings of his tured, one day lately, to challenge Janet; contrasting her heart, he looked on the self-confident and combined legions vigilance and attention, when a young man had officiated, of the German and the Russ, and exclaimed, in the conwith her supineness and inattention under my own mi-fidence of his own inspiration, “ To-morrow these armies nistrations. "And d'ye no ken the reason o' that, sir," are mine!" As the sunbeams glanced on their glittering responded Janet, with a look that intimated in her own steel from the heights of Austerlitz, when, in the breathJanguage, “ that she had not her tale a-seeking;" "D'ye | less moment of onset, he rushed along the line like the |