show the superiority of such a constitution to one more democratic. We may, however, record our opinion, that the monarchical constitution of this country, with its distribution of power among the three estates of the realm, and the recognised responsibility of the advisers of the crown, presents the happiest combination of expedients we can conceive of for the due balance of power in a nation; and offers the highest constitutional security for the preservation of a people's liberties, and the due administration of law and government. The prerogatives of royalty are in civil matters (we cannot truly say the same of religious) mainly so adjusted and limited, as not to encroach upon the rights and privileges of the people; while the very end and essence of them, as now established by law, is to prevent the sudden overthrow of those rights and privileges by anarchy or usurpation. The cost of royalty, if needlessly large, is yet a small price for the immense advantages which society derives from such a monarchy as ours. Holding these views, we venture to believe, that the extract which immediately follows, and which exhibits some of the moral bearings of this subject with equal depth and interest, will not be considered out of place in this paper. It admirably estimates the prestige of royalty, and the moral influence of an hereditary monarchy, like that of Britain, on the character and social institutions of a nation.

"We are so constituted also, that the sight of felicity, when it is not mixed with envy, is always connected with pleasing emotions, whether it is considered as possessed by ourselves or by others-not excepting even the animal creation; for who can behold their harmless pleasures, the wild gambols of their young, rioting in the superabundance of life and excess of pleasure, without experiencing a momentary exhilaration ? As their enjoyments are considered too scanty and limited to excite a feeling of envy, so, from an opposite cause, the privileges attached to an elevated station seldom produce it. Happily for mankind, the corrosions of that hateful passion are almost entirely confined to equals, or to those between whom there exists some pretensions to equality; who, having started from nearly the same level, have recently distanced each other, in the chase of distinction or of glory. But when the superiority we contemplate has been long possessed, when it is such as renders competition hopeless, and comparison absurd, the feelings of rivalry are superseded by an emotion of respect, and the spectacle presented of superior felicity produces its primary and natural effect. We dwell with complacency on a system of arrangements so exquisitely adapted, apparently, to the production of happiness, and yield a sort of involuntary homage to the person in whom it centres, without appearing to disturb our pretensions, or interfere with our pursuits. Hence, of all factitious distinctions, that of birth is least exposed to envy; the thought of aspiring to an equality in that respect being instantly checked by the idea of impossibility. When we turn our eyes towards the possessors of distinguished opulence and power, so many glittering appendages crowd on the imagination, productive of agreeable emotion, that we lose sight of the essential quality of the species, and think less of the persons themselves than of the artificial splendour which surrounds them.

"That there is some illusion in these sentiments, that the balance in respect of real enjoyment is far from being so decidedly in favour of the opulent and the great as they prompt us to imagine, is an indubitable fact. Nevertheless, the disposition

they create to regard the external appearances of opulence and power with respect unmingled with envy, and to acquiesce with pleasure in the visible superiority they confer, is productive of incalculable benefit. But for this, the distinctions of rank, and the privileges and immunities attached to each, on which much of the tranquillity and all the improvements of society depend, would fall a prey to an unfeeling rapacity; the many would hasten to seize on the exclusive advantages of the few; and the selfish passions, uncontrolled by a more refined order of feeling, would break forth with a fury that would quickly overwhelm the mounds and fences of legal authority. By means of the sentiments to which we have adverted, society exerts a sort of plastic power over its members, which forms their habits and inclinations to a cheerful acquiescence in the allotments of Providence, and bestows on the positive institutions of man the stability of nature."-Robert Hall, Sermon for the Princess Charlotte: Works, vol. i. pp. 329–331.

We are unable now to recollect the authority on which we have inserted the notice of the invention of globes. It is inserted to suggest, to our more youthful readers especially, the gratitude we owe to God for the surprising progress of the age in which we live in all the sciences and arts-those instruments and ornaments of civilisation. It is impossible to estimate the value of the progress made within the memory of the present generation. Were all of us like Pascal, whose birth is noticed in our list, it might be of less moment; but constituted as we are, the advantage which we derive from the comparatively perfect character of all the machinery and appliances of education is incalculable. But though we cannot fully estimate it, we should cherish and express our gratitude for it, and remember the attendant responsibility. "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath." Matt. xiii. 12.

The Margrave of Brandenburg's declaration, and the Elector of Saxony's refusal to adore the consecrated wafer, belong to the history of the Augsburg Diet in 1530; and are, with the confession delivered by the Protestants at the Diet, thus described by Middleton in his Memoirs of the Reformers, vol. ii. pp. 183-186.

"He [Charles V.] arrived at Augsburg on the 15th of June, attended by his brother Ferdinand and Cardinal Campegio, whom the pope had sent with full power to stop the progress of the Lutheran heresy. Between these high dignitaries he would have entered the city, but was forced to yield to the custom of the Empire, the Electors of Mentz and Cologne going before him, while he was followed by the King and the Cardinal. The next was a high day in the Romish church, and called the Feast of the Holy Sacrament, when he put the reforming princes to the proof, by commanding their attendance, and requiring them to enjoin silence on their respective chaplains; but they took no notice of the order as far as it concerned themselves; and as to their chaplains, they declared that they would lay on them no such injunction, unless he on his part directed his preachers to abstain from discussing controversial points, until both parties had received a fair hearing. They refused to attend a procession of the host; and the Margrave of Brandenburg, lifting up his hands, exclaimed, 'I would rather this instant offer my head to the executioner, than thus renounce the Gospel and countenance idolatry!' That

intrepid Protestant also told Charles, that Christ had not instituted the sacrament to be borne in pomp through the streets, nor to be adored by the people; and that, in delivering the consecrated bread to his disciples, he had said, 'Take, eat,' but had never added, Put this sacrament in a vase, carry it publicly in triumph, and let the people fall down before it. The Elector of Saxony was equally firm. He had brought with him Melancthon, Agricola, Jonas, and Spalatinus. At the opening of the Diet, on the 20th, it was his duty to bear the sword of state, as grand marshal, before the emperor, when he went to mass; but he resolutely refused, although Charles threatened to confer his office on another. Consulting, however, with his divines, they represented the duty as a civil and not a religious ceremony, and persuaded him to attend his imperial master, by hinting that Elisha permitted Naaman to bow himself in the house of Rimmon, when the Syrian monarch leaned upon his arm. But though the Elector attended in his place, he and the Landgrave of Hesse remained standing, when the whole congregation prostrated themselves at the elevation of the consecrated wafer.

"The patrons of reformation requested Melancthon to draw up a statement which they might lay before the Diet, of the doctrines which they professed to believe. He commenced the undertaking with much diffidence, knowing its great importance, but was encouraged by the assistance of Luther, who was stationed for that purpose at the safer distance of Coburg, in Franconia. Melancthon was desirous that it should be signed by the divines alone, thinking that such a procedure would leave the princes more at liberty; but he was over-ruled, the princes considering that their own signatures would give greater weight to the document. When it was presented, the emperor refused to allow it to be read in a full Diet, but was persuaded to receive it the next day, in the chapel of the palace, which would only contain about two hundred auditors. Bayer, the Saxon chancellor, was provided with two copies, one in Latin and the other in German. When he advanced to read, Charles ordered him to use the former. 'Sire,' replied the undaunted civilian, we are now on German ground; and I trust that your majesty will not direct the apology of our faith, which ought to be made as public as possible, to be read in a language not understood by the Germans.' He then proceeded to read it in a voice so loud and distinct, that it was heard not only in the adjoining apartments, but also in the court-yard, which was crowded with people. As soon as the reading—which lasted two hours-was over, Pontanus, another lawyer, who held the Latin copy while the German was read, handed both over to the imperial secretary; and an offer was made to explain any obscurity, with an assurance that the Protestants were ready to refer the points in dispute to a general council. The emperor took the Latin copy, and descending from his throne, requested that the statement might not be published without his consent.

"This memorable document, known as the 'Confession of Augsburg,' may be divided into three parts; the first, containing articles on the undisputed points in divinity; the second, on those partly rejected by the Protestants; and the third, on such ceremonies and usages as they deemed it their duty to reject altogether."

In

Our list comprises some remarkable particulars belonging to the ecclesiastical history of Scotland. The earliest of these relates to the destruction of the cathedral of St. Andrew's and the religious buildings at Crail and the neighbourhood, after Knox's sermons. the previous excesses of the populace at Perth, the heads of the Scottish Reformation had no share. It was otherwise, however, at Crail, and Anstruther, and St. Andrew's, especially the last-mentioned

place, where Knox, who preached in opposition to the wishes of the lords, declaring "that he could not in conscience decline it, and that he would preach whatever might be the result, chose," says Cook, (History of the Reformation in Scotland, vol. ii. p. 118,) "as the subject of his discourse, that part of the evangelical history which records the ejection of the buyers and sellers from the temple, and represented it as affording a warrant for purifying the church by casting out of it the pageantry of idolatry." Sermons of this order, delivered with Knox's irrepressible energy, could not but inflame the excitable minds of a people constitutionally fervid and daring, and at this time involved in a great civil and religious revolution; for the consequences, therefore, even if they did exceed the preacher's wishes, he was in truth responsible. Knox has accordingly been painted in the darkest colours as the most turbulent and abominable of iconoclasts; and his name is a very by-word of reproach in the mouths of those who rejoice in altar lights, make postures and prostrations before crucifixes, and find the essence of religious truth and feeling in fonts and rood-lofts, images and crosses, chancels, choirs, sedilia, and credences.

But if every graven image found among the Canaanites was ordered to be burned with fire, (Deut. vii. 25, 26); if Hezekiah "did right in the sight of the Lord," when he broke in pieces the brasen serpent which Moses had made, because the children of Israel burnt incense to it, (2 Kings xviii. 3, 4); and if, as our Lord himself has told us, "it is better to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two eyes, or two feet, to be cast into hell fire;" surely the destruction of the monuments of idolatry by a people who had been deluded and enslaved by them, was a necessary and justifiable means of reformation. We say this, of course, in recollection that the papal superstitions had, till then, been imposed upon the people. Had these monuments been the private possessions of a religious community, contented to enjoy the protection of the law, without endeavouring to employ the authority of government or the force of arms in the service of oppression, the case would have been different. But situated as they were, the Reformers, whether in Scotland or England, had no remedy. They acted upon principles, which, however they may be decried by irreligious artists, or Tractarian fanatics, are not only sanctioned by the word of God, but, as history shows, belong to our very nature. Many centuries ago, as Mr. Wathen tells us in his interesting work on Egypt, a place of Christian worship was erected within a quadrangle of the temple of Medeenet Haboo; and an examination of the walls of the quadrangle shows that, to adapt the place to its new object, it was found necessary to cover with a coating of plaster all the memorials of heathen worship, with which those walls had been decorated. These happily have been rediscovered. We

say happily, because the old Egyptian mythology is an effete system, and the paintings may, therefore, be brought forward, without danger, to aid the researches of the mythological antiquary. But Romanism is not effete. In the time of Knox, and other Protestant iconoclasts, it was, as it still is, fiercely struggling for a supremacy, which it maintained by captivating the imagination,-or, at least, the senses,enslaving the intellect, and forcing the conscience. In his position, Knox acted not only with promptitude, but the truest wisdom. It is impossible to say to what extent the subsequent emancipation of the church in Scotland resulted from the timely, though violent, removal of the objects of idolatry.

In 1661, when James Guthrie was executed, we find the people of Scotland on the eve of another long and sanguinary struggle for their religious liberties. At this period, it was not, however, two religious parties contending for existence, but the people struggling against an arbitrary court, to preserve their church from the imposition of prelacy, and a Romanising liturgy. Mr. Guthrie, who was of an honourable family, and appears to have been a man of considerable learning and ability, had been professor of philosophy at St. Andrew's, where he gave sufficient proof of his being a good philosopher and an exact scholar. He is also described as a person of a very composed temper, and as having the greatest mixture of fervent zeal and sweet calmness of any in his time.' In common with the great mass of Presbyterians, he had been a stanch friend to royalty, and the cause of Charles II., when it seemed altogether hopeless: but this was overlooked at the Restoration. He was condemned for high treason on account of some pieces which he had written, to avert the oppressive measures which the court had just resolved upon, against the religious liberties of the nation (but in which pieces there was nothing inconsistent with his duty as a subject;) his declining to admit the king's competency to judge of ministerial doctrine in the first instance; and his attending meetings which, though offensive to the court, were expressly legalised by act of parliament. His indictment and defence are given, at length, in the appendix to "Wodrow's Church History," and more briefly in Crookshank's History. The real reason for his condemnation, is believed to have been the excommunication of the Earl of Middleton in 1650, the sentence on whom he had been appointed to read by a commission of the General Assembly. On the scaffold, where Captain William Govan also suffered with him, he is reported to have said,—

"I take God to record upon my soul, I would not exchange this scaffold with the palace or mitre of the greatest prelate in Britain. Blessed be God, who hath showed mercy to such a wretch, and has revealed his Son in me, and made me a minister of the everlasting Gospel, and that he hath deigned, in the midst of such contradiction