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by several ardent young men in London, foremost of whom was Sterling, had resolved to land, for revolutionary purposes, in the south of Spain. Sterling's cousin, a Lieutenant Robert Boyd, was to go with the adventurers. He furnished £5000, 'as the grand nucleus of finance;' a ship was bought; it was filled with arms and stores; and, on a certain day, was to drop quietly down the Thames.' Sterling went to take leave of a Miss Barton, a friend, and the sister of a college friend: this young lady looked so piteously that Sterling offered his hand, and resolved not to go to Spain. The ship was arrested on the evening it was to drop down the Thames. Torrijos, Boyd, and fifty picked Spaniards, reached Gibraltar by boats 'safe, though without arms.' Sterling was married in November of the same year (1830). A week or two after he fell into dangerous pulmonary illness, and long his life was despaired of. On his recovery, he set off with his wife to the West Indies, where he had been left with the third share of a very large property in the Island of St Vincent. Towards the close of 1831, Torrijos, Boyd, and their followers were apprehended; and orders were forthwith sent from Madrid-'Military execution on the instant: fusilade them all.' The fatal news reached Sterling in the beginning of the next year, and was the worst blow of his life. He wrote: I hear the sound of that musketry; it is as if the bullets were tearing my own brain.' Henceforth he lost all interest in politics. The tragedy made his isolation from his friends intolerable, and he returned to London. Coleridge's talk and Torrijos's fate, Carlyle thinks, led him to think of religion; and in 1833 he published a novel, Arthur Coningsby, full of 'Coleridgean moonshine,' as the biographer calls it. The same year he met with his old tutor, Mr Hare, then appointed Rector of Herstmonceux in Sussex. In 1834 he took orders, and became Mr Hare's curate, a step which Carlyle brands as 'rash, false, unwise, and unpermitted,'-a wedding God's truth to the devil's untruth.' Eight months afterwards, Mr Hare says, 'ill health,' but Mr Carlyle calls it dissatisfaction with the clerical profession and with Christianity, induced him to give up his curacy. Priesthood,' according to Mr Carlyle, had been found to be as great an illusion' as Radicalism.' It was at this time that Sterling met with Carlyle. They soon became warm friends. From a letter which Carlyle received from him in reference to Sartor Resartus, we extract the following criticism, which is true of that book, and of all Mr Carlyle's writings:

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"There is a want of sympathy with the

great body of those who are now endeavouring to guide and help onward their fellow-men. And in what is this alienation grounded? It is, as I believe, simply in the difference on that point-viz., the clear, deep, habitual recognition of a one Living Personal God, essentially good, wise, true, and holy-the Author of all that exists; and a re-union with whom is the end of all rational beings. . What we find everywhere [in Sartor Resartus], with an abundant use of the name of God, is the conception of a formless Infinite, whether in time or space; of a high, inscrutable Necessity, which it is the chief wisdom and virtue to submit to, which is the mysterious impersonal base of all existence-shows itself in the laws of every separate being's nature; and for man in the shape of duty.'

Indeed, the present volume goes far to make the belief inevitable, that the only settled point with Mr Carlyle is that there is no personal God.

A great portion of the following two or three years was, on account of delicate health, spent abroad. Literature was now his main occupation.

'Sterling's communications,' says Mr Carlyle, with Blackwood's Magazine had now issued in some open sanction of him by Professor Wilson, the distinguished presiding spirit of that periodical; a fact naturally of high importance to him under the literary point of view. For Wilson, with his clear flashing eye, and great genial heart, had at once recognised Sterling, and lavished stormily, in his wild generous way, torrents of praise on him in the editorial comments, which undoubtedly was one of the gratefulest literary baptisms, by fire or by water, that could befall a soul like Sterling's. He bore it very gently, being indeed past the age to have his head turned by anybody's praise; nor do I think the exaggeration that was in these eulogies did him any ill whatever; while, surely, their generous encouragement did him much good, in his solitary struggle towards new activity under such impediments as his. Laudari a laudato; to be called noble by one whom you and the world recognise as noble; this great satisfaction, never, perhaps, in such a degree, before or after, had now been vouchsafed to Sterling; and was, as I compute, an important fact for him. He proceeded on his pilgrimage with new energy, and felt more and more as if authentically consecrated to the same.'

After many voyages abroad, alternating with a shifting of residences at home, he settled in Falmouth. In 1843, just after he had begun to recover from the bursting of a blood vessel, both his mother and wife, the latter unexpectedly, died within a few

hours from each other. He bore this double bereavement manfully; and, perhaps, all the more so that his own life was precarious. His literary attempts were henceforth in rhyme. In the spring of 1844 the breaking of a blood vessel occurred again, and from this he was never more to rally. The Bible was now 'his chief favourite;' but this fact the biographer does not try to reconcile with Sterling's Carlyleism. On the 18th of September he died, at the age of 38.

The leading impression which we have got from this Biography is one of wonder, that Sterling, as a sceptic, should ever have been mentioned in connexion with the present crisis of Christianity. His was not the case of some gifted youth, educated thoroughly in Christian doctrine, being compelled by his own growing consciousness to quarrel with dogmatic Christianity as standing in the way of a genuine interpretation of humanity. Sterling was not only helpless against, but he was ready for, the temptations of such a companion as Mr Carlyle. The Devil could not have found an easier victim.

We may mention, in conclusion, that in this Biography of a clergyman and a thinker, Mr Carlyle does not once mention the name of Jesus Christ! He seems to have said to himself and to his acquaintances, what Voltaire once said, 'Prythee, let me never hear that man's name again,' as if Christ were a bore!

ORIGINAL POETRY.

ENDURANCE.

BEND to receive the cross, and lift it up,

And bear it on, and plant it on a hill, Take from thy Father's hand the bitter cup—

L.

Whate'er its mixture, meekly say, 'I will :' Art thou despised and wretched, poor and mean? For gentle deeds, repaid with wrath and wrong? Endure in faith, as seeing things unseenEndure in love, for love alone is strong: Sufferings sublime, and sanctify our lives; Sorrows refine our souls, and leave them pureSince all must suffer, he is wise who strives To suffer best. 'Tis Christ-like to endure; A rest remains, endurance is the road: Whose sorest thorns were bound about The brow of God.

THE SINNER'S CRY.

MERCY, Jesus! from thy throne
Hear a wretched sinner groan:
Mercy, Jesus!

By thy birth in Bethlehem's manger,
Mary's meek and sinless child;
By thy life, on earth a stranger-
By thy prayers upon the wild:
Mercy, Jesus!

I. C.

By thy human frame, that often

Hungered, thirsted, wearied, slept;
By thy soul, that woe could soften-
By thy pitying eyes that wept:
Mercy, Jesus!

By thy hour of deepest anguish,
Think on dark Gethsemane ;
By the time when thou didst languish,
Sick and wounded on the tree:
Mercy, Jesus!

Mercy, Jesus! in my blindness
See me sitting by the way;
'Tis to feel thy loving-kindness-
'Tis to see thee that I pray :

Mercy, Jesus! Mercy, Jesus!

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IT is impossible to look abroad on the world without perceiving that our modern science exerts a powerful influence on the Christianity of the present day. This was naturally to be expected, for Christianity has in no age escaped the influence of external circumstances. The religion of Jesus changes not in its doctrines or precepts; yet the opinions and lives of Christians have been largely affected by accident of time and place-like the fruits of the earth, substantially the same, yet varying from year to year, according to the nature of the season in which they have been produced.

The present age is remarkable for the number and variety of those influences which are brought to bear upon the Christianity of the day. Our science, our art, our literature, our philosophy, our commerce, are all making themselves felt in connexion with the interests of our religion. All of these are either the humble handmaids of Christianity, or else they are its powerful foes. In one aspect Christianity has nothing to lose, but much to gain, from their advancement; in another, it has much to fear.

From the cultivation of science in particular, our most holy faith has in one respect nothing to dread. There is no danger of any of its discoveries coming into collision with the doctrines of the Word. The book of nature and the book of grace have both the same author, even the God of truth, and there cannot therefore be any contradiction between them. The one is illustrative of the other. There is no danger either that the discoveries of science shall render valueless the revelations of the Scriptures, for the latter make known to us truths which nature could never teach. The light which we gather from the stars

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The discoveries of modern science are well fitted to enlarge our ideas of the greatness of God. Everywhere throughout this visible creation we see the proofs of his infinite power and of his matchless wisdom. Of old the Psalmist could say, 'the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork;' but what new significance have his words received after the discoveries of modern times in the starry universe? What new force and beauty has geology enabled us to perceive in these words of Moses, the man of God: 'Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.' The good man in ancient times was emboldened to trust in God for the fulfilment of all his promises, when he said that, according to his word seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, had not ceased;' surely then we, with our more extended knowledge of the undeviating regularity of nature's laws, which are but the expressions of God's will, should be able to say with a more perfect understanding and a more assured faith, 'For ever, O Lord,thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all are thy servants.'

A knowledge of the works of creation will often be useful in stirring up and nourishing proper sentiment in the bosom of the Christian. It is indeed enough for a Christian to glance at the visible heavens in order to be ready to say- What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?' but surely a deeper impression of the condescension of God will be produced after we have learned what science has to teach us respecting the immensity of the material universe. When astronomy has shown us the worlds that circle with us around the sun; when it has sounded the depths of the firmament, and discovered to us millions of before unseen stars, themselves suns and centres of systems; when it has led us beyond this firmament into the abysses of space, and has disclosed to our astonished gaze other firmaments and clusters of stars more glorious than our own, and so inconceivably remote, that the blended light of ten thousand times ten thousand suns falls on the earth, with so feeble a ray that the unas

sisted eye cannot discern it. When we have contemplated all this, with what unspeakable emotion do we read these amazing words: God so loved the WORLD, that he gave his only begotten Son,' that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life!'

It is astonishing how frequently good men look askance on the study of science, seeing that the Bible so often refers to natural phenomena. Our Lord sends us to the lilies of the field, that we may learn from them. The address of God to Job is founded entirely upon his works of nature; and many of the Psalms are hymns of praise to God, as the God of creation, and of providence. The 19th, the 29th, and the 65th Psalins are wholly, or in part, of this character, and the 104th; is, from beginning to end, a nature Psalm. In this last, the Psalmist takes a rapid survey of the whole field of nature; the earth and the sky, things animate and inanimate, pass successively under review, and are made the basis of a song of praise to the great Creator of all. In all this we have an example, showing us how every Christian may turn the whole field of nature into one of religious enjoyment and instruction. Altogether apart from the advantages of science, in an economic point of view, and from the benefits resulting from the study of it, as a branch of intellectual culture, it should be the source of peculiar enjoyment to the Christian. His contemplation of God's works, should not only instruct his mind but also delight his heart. Jonathan Edwards says, in speaking of his experience after his conversion, 'The appearance of everything was alteredthere seemed to be a calm sweet cast, or appearance of divine'glory in almost, everything. God's excellency, his wisdom, his purity, and love seemed to appear in everything,-in the sun, moon, and stars—in the clouds and blue sky-in the grass, flowers, and trees-in the water and all nature, which used greatly to fix my mind. Í often used to sit and view the moon for a long time, and in the day spent much time in viewing the clouds and sky, to behold the sweet glory of God in these things; in the meantime singing forth with a low voice my contemplations of the Creator and Redeemer.' The Christain poet too has beautifully expressed the same thing in the following lines:

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Can lift to heaven an unpresumptuous eye,
And smiling say, My Father made them all.
Are they not his by a peculiar right,
And by an emphasis of interest his,
Whose eye they fill with tears of holy joy,
Whose heart with praise, and whose exalted mind
With worthy thoughts of that unwearied love,
That planned, and built, and still upholds a world
So clothed with beauty, for rebellious man?'

It

While thus recommending the study of nature, we must beware of exalting it above its proper level. It can never be a substitute for the study of the Word. It brings to us no message of salvation. cannot beget those feelings which we ought to cherish towards a holy and an offended God. For this we must turn to the Cross. The most precious of all knowledge is 'the knowledge of Christ and of him crucified; the true wisdom is the 'fear of the Lord; and the right understanding, 'to depart

from evil.

A. H., C.

OUTLINES OF THE MAHOMETAN FAITH.

THE Koran, was delivered in portions from time to time, according to the excitement of Mahomet's feelings, or the exigency of circumstances. It was not given as his own work, but as a divine revelation; as the very words of God. The Deity is supposed to speak in every instance. "We have sent thee down the book of truth, confirming the Scripture which was revealed before it, and preserving the same in its purity.'

The law of Moses, it was said, had for a time been the guide and rule of human conduct. At the coming of Jesus Christ it was superseded by the Gospel; both were now to give place to the Koran, which was more full and explicit than the preceding codes, and intended to reform the abuses which had crept into them through the negligence or the corruptions of their professors. It was the completion of the law; after it, there would be no more divine revelations. Mahomet was the last, as he was the greatest, of the line of prophets sent to make known the will of God.

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inculcated in his angels or ministering spirits; in his prophets; in the resur rection of the body: in the last judgment and a future state of rewards and punishments, and in predestination. Much of the Koran may be traced to the Bible, the Mishnu, and the Talmud of the Jews, especially its wild though often beautiful traditions concerning the angels, the patriarchs, the prophets, and the good and evil genii. He had at an early age imbibed a reverence for the Jewish faith, his mother, it is suggested, having been of that religion.

The system laid down in the Koran, however, was essentially founded on the Christian doctrines inculcated in the New Testament; as they had been expounded to him by the Christian sectarians of Arabia. Our Saviour was to be held in the highest reverence as an inspired prophet, the greatest that had been sent before the time of Mahomet, to reform the law; but all idea of his divinity was rejected as impious, and the doctrine of the Trinity was denounced as an outrage on the unity of God. Both were pronounced errors and interpolations of the expounders; and this it will be observed, was the opinion of some of the Arabian sects of Christians.

The worship of saints, and the introduction of images and paintings representing them, were condemned as idolatrous lapses from the pure faith of Christ, and such, we have already observed, were the tenets of the Nestorians with whom. Mahomet is known to have had much communication.

All pictures representing living things were prohibited. Mahomet used to say, that the angels would not enter a house in which there were such pictures, and that those who made them would be sentenced, in the next world, to find souls for them or be punished.

Most of the benignant precepts of our Saviour were incorporated in the Koran. Frequent almsgiving was enjoined as an imperative duty, and the immutable law of right and wrong. Do unto another, as thou wouldst he should do unto thee,' was given for the moral conduct of the faithful.

·

Deal not unjustly with others,' says the Koran, and ye shall not be dealt with unjustly. If there be any debtor under a difficulty of paying his debt, let his creditor wait until it be easy for him to do it; but if he remit it in alms, it will be better for him.'

Mahomet inculcated a noble fairness and sincerity in dealing. 'Oh, merchants!' would he say, 'falsehood and deception are apt to prevail in traffic, purify it therefore with alms; give something in charity as an atonement; for God is incensed by deceit in dealing, but charity appeases his anger. He who sells a defective thing,

concealing its defect, will provoke the anger of God and the curses of the angels.

Take not advantage of the necessities of another to buy things at a sacrifice; rather relieve his indigence.

"Feed the hungry, visit the sick, and free the captive if confined unjustly.

'Look not scornfully upon thy fellowman; neither walk the earth with insolence, for God loveth not the arrogant and vainglorious. Be moderate in thy pace, and speak with a moderate tone; for the most ungrateful of all voices, is the voice of asses.'

Idolatry of all kinds was strictly forbidden; indeed it was what Mahomet held in most abhorrence. Many of the religious usages, however, prevalent since time immemorial among the Arabs, to which he had been accustomed from infancy, and which were not incompatible with the doctrine of the unity of God, were still retained. Such was the pilgrimage to Mecca, including all the rites connected with the Caaba, the well of Zem Zem, and other sacred places in the vicinity; apart from any worship of the idols by which they had been profaned.

The old Arabian rite of prayer, accompanied, or rather preceded by ablution, was still continued. Prayers indeed were enjoined at certain hours of the day and night; they were simple in form and phrase, addressed directly to the Deity with certain inflexions, or at times a total prostration of the body, and with the face turned towards the Kelba, or the point of adoration.

At the end of each prayer, the following verse from the second chapter of the Koran was recited. It is said to have great beauty in the original Arabic, and is engraved on gold and silver ornaments, and on precious stones worn as amulets. "God! There is no God but He, the living, the ever living; he sleepeth not, neither doth he slumber. To him belongeth the heavens, and the earth, and all that they contain. Who shall intercede with him unless by his permission? He knoweth the past and the future, but no one can comprehend anything of his knowledge but that which he revealeth. His sway extendeth over the heavens and the earth, and to sustain them both is no burthen to him. He is the High, the Mighty!'

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Mahomet was strenuous in enforcing the importance and efficacy of prayer. Angels said he, come among you both by night and day; after which those of the night ascend to heaven, and God asks them how they left his creatures. We found them, say they, at their prayers, and we left them at their prayers.'

The doctrines in the Koran respecting the resurrection and final judgment, were

in some respects similar to those of the Christian religion, but were mixed up with wild notions derived from other sources; while the joys of the Moslem heaven, though partly spiritual, were clogged and debased by the sensualities of earth, and infinitely below the ineffable purity and spiritual blessedness of the heaven promised by our Saviour.

Nevertheless, the description of the last day, as contained in the eighty-first chapter of the Koran, and which must have been given by Mahomet at the outset of his mission at Mecca, as one of the first of of his revelations, partakes of sublimity.

In the name of the all-merciful God! a day shall come when the sun will be shrouded, and the stars will fall from the heavens.

'When the camels about to foal will be neglected, and wild beasts will herd together through fear.

"When the waves of the ocean will boil, and the souls of the dead again be united to the bodies.

"When the female infant that has been buried alive will demand, for what crime was I sacrificed? and the eternal books will be laid open.

When the heavens will pass away like a scroll, and hell will burn fiercely; and the joys of paradise will be made manifest.

'On that day shall every soul make known that which it hath performed.

Verily, I swear to you by the stars which move swiftly and are lost in the brightness of the sun, and by the darkness of the night, and by the dawning of the day, these are not the words of an evil spirit, but of an angel of dignity and power, who possesses the confidence of Allah, and is revered by the angels under his command. Neither is your companion, Mahomet, distracted. He beheld the celestial messenger in the light of the clear horizon, and the words revealed to him are intended as an admonition unto all creatures.'Washington Irving's Lives of Mahomet and his Successors.

POPERY THE POLICE OF
DESPOTISM.

As I was one day viewing with a friend the city of Turin, admiring the beauty of the surrounding scenery-the Superga, the snowy Alps, the winding Po, and the beautiful Colline, sparkling with villas from bottom to top, Where,' said I, 'is the new Protestant church to be erected?" We were moving along at the moment a beautiful promenade, wide, and planted with trees, and destined at no distant day to be the finest street in that rapidly in

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