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But monstrous as are the chimeras of Hindoo science, I have been as much laughed at for crediting the facts of our system, as we are disposed to laugh at them for entertaining the follies of their own. To say that the sun, which is so warm, is further off than the moon, which is so cold; that the world, which is so heavy, is "hung upon nothing;" that, though every one sees it to be flat, it is round; that, though a child may tell it is perfectly still, it is whirling both round its own axis and the sun; that an eclipse of the moon comes of her getting into the earth's shadow, which no one ever saw; that an eclipse of the sun comes of the other luminary wandering between him and us, when it is plainly further off than he; and that the fixed stars are more than nineteen billions of miles distant; does appear an exhibition at once of boldness and imbecility not to be adequately scorned. They summarily dismiss all reasoning on our different methods of arriving at conclusions, by saying, "We trust the Shastras, which, as divine revelations, cannot err; you trust to instruments and calculations, which may easily mistake: our ground is sure, yours fallacious." We should entertain about the same opinion of him who should tell us he had just completed a survey of the moons of Uranus with chains and theodolites, as does the Bramhan of the European, who states that our astronomers can calculate the apparent size of the earth to an eye situated at the distance of the sun. The seven seas might be thought a weak point, as requiring nothing but travel to demonstrate their non-existence; but to all my objections about circumnavigators never seeing oceans of curds, butter, or toddy, they used coolly to reply, "That only proves that they have never gone beyond the sea of salt water." Of all phenomena an annular eclipse of the sun enabled me to perplex them most, as they could not account for it on the serpent-seizing theory, and were constrained to admit, that its appearances were such as would naturally result from the combination of causes to which ours ascribes it. It is perfectly true, that if you teach a man science, you annihilate his faith in Hindooism. Astronomy is as dangerous to the Shastras as the Vatican once deemed it to the Bible. But it can never be taught by desultory argument: its proofs must be exhibited in series, and then conviction is inevitable. This, how

ever, cannot be extensively afforded to the adult population. In dealing with them, my own experience utterly contradicts the opinion, that it is best to approach them first by exposures of the scientific blunders of the Shastras, and so destroy their confidence in these, the basis of their own religion, before advancing the truths of which you require their acceptance. The Shastras are equally assailable on moral as on scientific grounds; while in the one case your appeal is to the man's conscience, which decides for you; but in the other, is to facts he discredits, and to processes he can neither comprehend nor trust. The shortest way to his heart is to reason of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come,' of the consequent need of pardon and sanctification, the impotency of his gods to bestow it, and Christ's glorious power to create anew !—Rev. W. Arthur.

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THE RESURRECTION AND THE END.

THE magnificent rhetoric and reasoning of the fifteenth chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, has been firmly seized to convince us that it contains the principle of universal salvation. It is supposed to describe the common resurrection. But a very cursory inspection will prove that it is the resurrection of the just: simultaneous we believe to be the one resurrection; still it is of the just and of the unjust. It is not a different event, but the issue of that event is varied by character. There are those who are "accounted worthy to obtain the resurrection:" they are "the children of the resurrection." The apostolic writer speaks of them who "believe," who have

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hope in Christ," who are "not in their sins," who, when they die, "fall asleep in Christ.' The principle of interpretation is as applicable here as in a former case: universal is death, particular is deliverance from it as a penal evil: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Who are these, the "all" that shall "be made alive?" Mankind indifferently? "But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." They are "Christ's!" Hence every reanimated body "arises in incorruption, in glory, in power, a spiritual body." Yet what can be more general than this statement, confirming these

distinctive rewards? "So also is the resurrection of the dead." The last trump, the note of joy and victory,the apostrophe of defiance, the burst of triumph, the enforcement of perseverance, which crown and perfect the climax of this chapter, all show that this resurrection is the blessedness of personal character and specific title-all around is wail, dismay, and shame!

In the progress of this chapter-like an episode, but connected with the main argument occurs the abrupt and sublime announcement: "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." If the opponents of his Divinity be induced to hope countenance from this language in their attempt to cast him down from his excellency, they may be reminded that he is not, at least, now subject! He is now invested with illimitable, irresponsible sway! The unsubjected creature! The finite possessor of the throne of the universe? Do they so regard him? Thus do they address and obey and adore the temporary Independent? There is no more necessity to suppose his essential inferiority at the period in which he resigns his mediatorial kingdom, than to suspect that of the Father during its continuation: no more necessity to suppose that he ceases to reign generally when he has "delivered up the kingdom to the Father," than that the Father ceased when Christ was head over all. The Redeemer now possesses "the kingdom," a solemn delegation, a peculiar trust, to govern, guard, and save: in virtue of it, he now claims peculiar honours. All the subjects of his mediatorial charge

will he restore to him who committed

them to his hands. All the distinctive ness of those honours will he forego. He vacates but an intermediate, pending function. He but lays down what his “obedience unto death" acquired, claims

relative and assumed.

The surrender is to God,-that it may be economically understood, it is explicated, "even the Father,' ""that God," economical distinction has passed, explicated difference is no more offered,"that God," essential Deity, simple Godhead, "may be all in all." In the midst of this majestic abdication, the hope of

universal salvation is thought by many to be encouraged. All his enemies shall be under his feet. All things shall be subdued unto him. The enemy which shall be last destroyed is death. This, however, all takes place at the resurrection then is Christ's consummation. It is "the end." The kingdom is delivered up. Is it the style of mercy, is it an expression of conversion, that his enemies are put under his feet?" Can any find hope for themselves and for others in imagery like this? Are they to be regarded as "enemies" among our race at all? Death is not a being, but a condition,

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yet its personification is frequent, - it shall, as still personified, perish, the condition denoted by it shall cease. All live, and live for ever. The enemy which is to be last destroyed is destroyed. "The saying that is written" is, then, brought to pass, "Death is swallowed up in victory!" The wicked are not then to be destroyed. They are subdued by punishment. They must exist, for death is destroyed. They, therefore, cannot die. "Death and hades,"* death and all its certain or possible effects, "are cast into the lake of fire!" As hopeless is their salvation as their destruction. There is no Mediator. There is no gospel addressed to sinners. The kingdom is delivered up! Except in heaven, the burden of its acclaim and song, where the nations of the saved rejoice and sing aloud of it, salvation is a sound unheard through the universe.-Dr. Hamilton.

VALUE OF THE SCRIPTURES.

the politician and the legislator, the poet THE antiquarian and the naturalist, and the philosopher, the moralist and the divine, the man of retirement and the the man of fancy, all find in Scripture a man of the world, the man of reason and helper toward the discovery of truth and the understanding, a corrector and supthe attainment of happiness; a guide to the heart, a teacher of wisdom, a rule of porter of the imagination, a comforter of faith, a source of joy.—Hunter.

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THE MARTYR'S TREE.

THE old elm-tree at Brentwood in Essex, of which we give an engraving, is one of the deepest interest. Though nearly three hundred years old, it is venerable, not so much on account of its age as for the event it was set to commemorate; and the remembrance of which it has so long perpetuated. Opposite this tree, and but a few yards from it, is the spot of ground on which William Hunter was burned to death, A.D. 1554. It is much to be lamented that it should now form part of the burialground of a Popish mass-house, in which are taught those antichristian doctrines and pagan ceremonies which debase and enslave the human mind, and endanger the salvation of the soul: doctrines and ceremonies against which our "noble army of martyrs" fought with the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," not counting their lives dear unto themselves, so that they might but leave to us,

sealed with the testimony of their blood, those pure and simple and saving truths of the gospel for which they died.

As the particulars of William Hunter's martyrdom are contained in one of our cheap Narrative Series, No. 1596, we need only to quote a few of those particulars which give such a peculiar interest to the record we have already published of his sufferings:-1. His youth, being only nineteen years of age; 2. The constancy with which he resisted the most alluring offers, saying, "I cannot find in my heart to turn from God for love of the world;" 3. The encouragement he received from his pious parents, who could give up such a son to Christ and for Christ: his mother rejoicing that ever she was so happy to bear such a child as could find in his heart to lose his life for Christ's sake; and then, in the greatness of her faith, kneeling down and saying, "I pray God to strengthen thee, my son, to the end;" and, lastly,

as yet very imperfectly,) in order that they may be able to enjoy the care of a chaplain. It has been enacted, wisely as it should seem, that a convict cannot change his religion during his imprisonment; because, if that were permitted, it would easily give rise to grave abuses.

the earnest exhortations of the youth him- | testants are collected together, (though self "to all his acquaintance that they would forsake Popish superstition and idolatry. These are particulars which must ever give an interest to the tree, which still denotes the spot on which this youthful martyr " overcame" all the powers of Antichrist "by the blood of the Lamb and the word of his testimony, and when he realized the fulfilment of his own words, "For my little pain which I shall suffer Christ hath promised me a crown of joy."

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We feel unwilling to weaken the effect of these touching incidents; but in times like the present we consider it our duty to re-echo the last words of our martyrs, who cried with a loud voice, “BEWARE OF POPERY! BEWARE OF POPERY!" because we know that its doctrines are all the same now which they were then; its persecuting principles too are still the same; and its evil fruits are the same, whether we look at France or survey the state of Ireland, and contrast it with Protestant England.

CONVICTS OF FRANCE.

R.

THE following letters were addressed by a French Protestant chaplain to an English friend, 3rd August, 1847, and contain many interesting particulars:

You asked me to give you in writing some of the particulars which I gave verbally respecting my dear convicts, and I proceed to do so. But I must remind you how feeble is a narrative compared with the sight of the objects themselves. In a recital you do not see the torments, nor the sorrow, nor the tears of suffering, nor those of consolation, nor do you see the look of joy after that of anguish: but yet I will give you with great simplicity what can be conveyed and transmitted by words.

I will first describe the state of the prison and the condition of the convicts.

We have here about a thousand convicts, of whom about one hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty are Protestants. But there are not above half of these who are Protestants in reality. The other portion are persons who, for different reasons, almost always irrespective of conscience, have styled themselves Protestants, when asked to what communion they belonged. For, out of the total number of central prisons in France, there are, I think, two or three in which all the Pro

The punishments which they undergo vary from one year to five, ten, and very rarely twenty years: the average is from three to five years. They are employed in extensive workshops together at various trades: formerly under the supervision of lay keepers, but now, and particularly in this prison, under that of a body of fifty superintendents, members of a religious corporation, (friars,) who have a chief and some subordinate officers. The convicts are forbidden to speak to each other except about their work. But they whisper incessantly; and the same in the dormitory, which draws down upon continual punishments.

them

There is a Court of Justice for petty offences within the prison, which is held four times a week. The punishments which it has the power of inflicting are a reprimand, a small fine, and, in very grave cases, solitary confinement, with or without fetters. And this leads me to speak of the torture which still prevails, or rather which has been revived, in these prisons; for cruel punishments are too often inflicted.

The word torture is very strong; but I use it here in its full force. I have been told, (without, however, being able positively to ascertain the fact,) that it did not exist to the same degree before the arrival of the friars. They inflicted blows with a stick; but nothing approaching to the more refined chastisements which have been substituted for that description of punishment. There existed formerly here, and I am told that it exists still in some other prisons, the punishment of the piton, a sort of pillory. The man was fastened, in a standing position, with his arms extended as if crucified, to two rings fixed in the wall of the cell, and he was kept there several hours. Some of the prisoners have told me that it was a dreadful punishment.

Another, somewhat similar but more cruel still, consists in fastening the man in front of a wall, but with his hands behind his back, and tied to a rope which makes him raise his arms as high as he can bear. He is obliged previously to get upon a small bench, six inches in

height; and when he is so fixed the bench is drawn away, and the wretched man remains suspended, with the tips of his toes just touching the ground, for some hours. The place around him is soon deluged with his perspiration.

We have here only one of these infamous tortures, (for so I call them when they are too long and too frequently applied, and, above all, on slight or insufficient grounds,) which consists in confining the man in a cell, with his hands in fetters behind his back. It is this last circumstance which constitutes all the cruelty of the thing. At the end of an hour or two, the suffering in the arms thus twisted becomes such that I have heard many men in different cells utter constant cries, or rather howlings. It is impossible for a man to sleep or to lie down in this state. He is obliged to eat bread and drink water like an animal, only using his mouth. There are other details which must be left to the imagination of the reader, and which tend to degrade the unhappy prisoner beyond all conception. I have seen them sometimes, and especially in summer, with nothing but an apron about the hips. The intention of the law, I presume, is that this abominable punishment should only be inflicted in the last extremity, in violent cases, and especially where it has been well deserved. But in these unhappy establishments it is inflicted every day for the merest trifles, for an improper tone of voice, for a smile, and often even upon the false denunciation either of a friar who has his caprices or his hatreds, or of a superintendent selected from among the convicts. This torture is besides often inflicted during several successive days, or even for so long as six weeks or two months, only releasing the convict from his irons for one day out of two or even three. I have known many who have not been the most wicked, say to me, "Sir, I assure you that if I had had the strength I was determined to kill the first of the keepers who should come near me." I believe that many have died in consequence of this punishment. But all this is too horrible for me longer to dwell upon it. God will one day judge all these things; and I do not for my part cease to endeavour to inform the government upon the subject. As writing is now fatiguing to me, I must be very brief in that part of this letter which will turn upon a more agreeable subject. I am about to speak of my relations with

the convicts. Whether from a peculiar turn of mind, or in consequence of experience, my mode of teaching, especially among these men, is not theological, in the systematic sense of the word. In my private conversations with them, I find myself compelled to be surprisingly monotonous. All that I have said and done within about seven years, is almost comprised in these words, "Ask, and ye shall receive;" "How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." I recommend to all, therefore, whatever may be their spiritual condition, to pray constantly, to pray literally every hour, and I give them this formula all ready, "My God, give me thy Holy Spirit.' The effect has surpassed my expectation; and from the first I have seen one, two, three, six, eight, ten, and more, come successively, saying, with all the simplicity of complete ignorance, "Sir, you cannot imagine what is passing within me. I am quite changed. I am no longer undergoing punishment," etc., etc. Indeed two have used to me these words, which will appear the more extraordinary when one considers the sad condition of this place, "I am spending here the happy days of my life."

One of those was a German: "Ich verlebe hier die seligen Tage meines Libens."

I ought to add another particular of my method with them, which is, that God has granted me to love them tenderly, and not to believe them worse than other men; and further, that while cherishing the deepest concern on their account I often maintain towards them a cheerful and friendly deportment. The affection which binds them to me excites the jealousy of the Catholics, who, if they were at liberty to do so, would unite with us (I venture to say this because I have proofs of it) by hundreds.

When I arrived here, this vast establishment had only a single corner where the Protestant chaplain could converse with his convicts. The Protestant chapel served as a school during the week. I then went to see them in their workshops during their work, or I sat down with them upon their benches in the large court where they walked together. I did not like this, because the Catholics saw me too much, and perceived too much our reciprocal affection. And as the governor did not know how to find me an apartment, I said to him one day, "But has not the Catholic

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