that though the people made a large profession, | laws either of God or of man-in the greates many of them were grossly ignorant, and otherwise seriously defective. It is said, "Some few he found intelligent; yet many, of whom he had better thoughts, were very ignorant, having patched and kept up a sort of profession, without ever making it their business to learn. This obliged him to lay aside his former designs, and wholly to apply himself publicly and privately to teach them the plain ground of revealed truth, as it might please the Lord to direct and furnish him." He states, that while abroad in Holland he had been acquainted with not a few of the common people, who not only knew the principles of religion, but who were tolerably well versed in the controversial parts of theology, and that he had expected as much of his charge at Dalserf; but that, though many of them made a great profession, he found them exceedingly ignorant; and that he records this without meaning to disparage those who feared the Lord, and who were docile and tractable. There can be little doubt that many other parishes were in the same predicament as Dalserf. The result shows, that persecution, instead, as many imagine, of being uniformly a good to the Church of Christ, is often most injurious, and in ways which at first would not be thought of. The absence of regular instruction, and the temptations to a party profession, would just bring about the state of things over which the excellent Mr Hogg mourns; though after all, perhaps, his standard of attainment may have been a high one. The profligate example, too, of the Court party must have been very adverse. Their manners formed upon the French Popish model, in which open debauchery, obscene stage plays, and gross Sabbath desecration, bore a prominent part. Indeed, it seems to have been their labour to run directly counter, in every possible way, to the stern morality of the Commonwealth. They were anxious not only to shun every trace of connection with the spirit and manners of Cromwell, but to proclaim their deadly hostility to them, though religion and morality, yea decency, should be sacrificed in making the proclamation. There is little doubt, too, that long-sighted priests encouraged such courses as the best mode of breaking the power of evangelical religion and the Presbyterian Church, and of preparing the way for the re-establishment of Popery, which they seem always to have kept in view. No religion is more suited to the taste of a profligate than the Popish; and the progress of the efforts of James affords melancholy proof, how speedily a nation, by a course of sin, may be ripened for the welcome of Popery, with its promise of easy absolutions. Taking these different causes into account, we need not wonder to be informed by Fletcher of Salton, a few years after the Revolution, that hesides many wretchedly provided for, there were 200,000 persons-a fourth or fifth part of the entire population of Scotland-begging from door to door; that a large proportion of these were vagabonds, who lived without any regard to the crimes-oppressing the people-rioting in years of plenty "men and women perpetually drunk, cursing, blaspheming, and fighting together." Such were their beggary and wretchedness, that two Acts of Parliament were passed, and four proclamations issued, to build houses of correction, and establish a system of poor's rate like that of England. A few years ago it was estimated that there were 55,000 persons in Scotland dependent on parochial relief, and 10,000 regular mendicants. Putting these together we have about a 40th part of the entire population in the character of paupers. How different the state of things in the days of Fletcher, when a fourth part were at once beggars and criminals! And what could be the grand cause of this, if not the persecution of the two unhappy Stuarts? It would be well for men to remember for what they are responsible in the generation which follows, as well as in that to which they directly belong. were Such was the miserable moral condition of Scotland at the Revolution; and great were her other difficulties, political and ecclesiastical. Some have spoken to the disparagement of Scotland, as compared with England, in the management of the Revolution. She has been represented as intolerant, and disposed unnecessarily to resort to arms, and so as indicating an inferior civilization; but supposing the charges well-founded—which we do not concede-it is to be remembered that the circumstances of the two countries were widely different, and fully explain the difference of feeling and conduct. Though there had been much oppression of the Presbyterians or Puritans of England in the reigns of Charles and James, yet it was not to be compared, in extent and severity, with the bloody persecution of Scotland; hence there had not been nearly the same amount of provocation. Indeed, Baxter and other Presbyterians had been labouring after a peaceful comprehension of the Puritans in the southern Establishment. Then the English Episcopal Church was not, like her Scottish sister, imbued with Popery; on the contrary, many of her sons had written nobly against the Church of Rome; and the people, as a whole, had deprived James of his crown for his attempts to establish Popery. There were no parties to come into collision in the south. It was otherwise in Scotland. Not only was there all the provocation which the memory of thirty years of bitter sufferings could supply, but the Episcopal party in Scotland still retained their Popish leanings. They not only did not use their exertions against Popery, but their Bishops, with two exceptions, sent the most adulatory address to James, after his design to establish Popery was quite notorious, merely because an adverse wind detained the Prince of Orange in Holland, and gave them the hope that James might not be disturbed. That James had a much greater number of friends, proportionally, in Scotland than in England,-that the Popish party regarded Scotland as their stronghold, partly from the remains of the pre fendal system in the north, and the almost inex- was for defence, not aggression, that the Presbytinguishable loyalty of the people to their royal terian volunteers enrolled themselves, and that family, and chiefly from the Popery of some great many others took arms. A few weeks after the families, and the semi-Popery of the Episcopal landing of the Prince of Orange, and before any Church, is evident from the fact, that the Popish ecclesiastical arrangements were made, there was Pretender, through the next sixty years, in his some mobbing of Popish priests and places of worsuccessive attempts upon Britain, almost always ship, and the armed Presbyterians called upon the looked to Scotland as his great hope and confi- Episcopal curates quietly to leave the churches dence. It is plain, then, that it was a much more which they had so long usurped, or submit to difficult matter to carry through the Revolution forcible ejectment; but even according to the peacefully and satisfactorily in Scotland than in testimony of Sir Walter Scott, there was no bloodEngland. The first duty was to protect the Con- shed, nothing that could be called persecution, in vention or Parliament in declaring that James the sense to which Scotland had been so long acbad forfeited his title to the throne; and this was customed to it. "Now," says he, in his "History done, not by the regular troops, but by nearly 2000 of Scotland," "since these armed nonconformists Presbyterian volunteers, who were raised in a few had been, to use their own language, for nearly days, and constituted the Cameronian regiments. twenty years, proscribed, forfeited, miserably opEight hundred were raised in one day, by the Earl pressed, given up as sheep to the slaughter, interof Angus, without beat of drum. The city of communed, and interdicted of harbour or supply, Glasgow, which was always distinguished for its comfort or communion, hunted and slain in the Protestantism, on this occasion sent 500 men to fields, in the cities imprisoned, tortured, executed Edinburgh. At an earlier day, in 1568, the same to the death, or banished and sold as slaves;" "and city sent out 600 young men to the battle of Lang- as many of them avowed the same wild principles side, a battle which decided that the Protestant which were acted upon by the murderers of Archprinciples of Regent Murray, and not the Popish bishop Sharpe,-it might have been expected that government of his sister, Queen Mary, should a bloody retaliation would take place as soon as vail; and at a later day (1715), sent forth 500 they had the power in their own hands. Yet it men for sixty days, and offered to the Government must be owned, that these stern Cameronians of the day permanently to support them in behalf showed no degree of positive cruelty. They exof the Protestant line of Brunswick, against the pelled the obnoxious curates with marks of riotous Popish Pretender. The conditions upon which triumph, tore their gowns, and sometimes comthe Presbyterians proffered their services, show at pelled them to march in a mock procession to the once their principles and the religious character of boundary of their parish. They plundered the the struggle: "That all the officers of the regi- private chapels of Catholics, and destroyed whatment should be such as, in conscience and pru- ever they found belonging to their religion; but dence, might, with cordial confidence, be submitted they evinced no desire of personal vengeance. to and followed, such as had not served the enemy Nor have I found that the clergy who were exin destroying, nor had engaged, by oaths and tests, pelled in this memorable month of December to destroy the cause now to be fought for and de- 1688, although most of them were treated with fended; but that they should be well affected, of rudeness and insult, were in any case killed or approved fidelity, and of a sober conversation;- wounded in cold blood." What a contrast is the that the cause they were called to appear for was treatment thus candidly confessed, of the Presbythe defence of the king's majesty, in the defence terians towards the Episcopalians, to the treatof the nation, the recovery and preservation of the ment of the Episcopalians towards the PresbyProtestant religion, in opposition to Popery, Pre- terians; and yet the Presbyterians constituted lacy, and arbitrary power, in all its branches and the vast majority of the country! Even in the steps, until the government in Church and State cases of insult referred to, the deed was not, as be brought to the lustre and integrity established with the Episcopal Church, the legalised deed of in the best and purest times." Colonel Black- the Presbyterian Church or of the State, but an adder, a gentleman of eminent piety, whose diary ebullition of the passion of the populace. What and letters have been published (from which the can account for this milder treatment, save the above extract is taken), was an officer of the regi- more widely diffused influence of Christian prinment raised under Angus. It afterwards became ciple and views of toleration, far more enlightened the 26th regiment of foot, was distinguished in than the Presbyterians of this period generally the Protestant wars of the Continent, under Marl-receive credit for entertaining? horough, and for a long time was marked for the religious character of its origin. Thus it appears, that it was the Church of Scotland which bore a leading part in carrying through the Revolution of 1688 in Scotland; and but for her influence, the Revolution, in all probability, could not have been accomplished. But though arms were taken up, let it not be supposed that any intolerance or persecution was practised. It CHRISTMAS. IT is the dead of night, And o'er the silent plains the crescent moon Sheds silver light, that not obscures the glow Of thousand stars, nor more than half reveals The shadowy forms of giant hills, that rise Calm and majestic towards the dark blue sky. See, where, upon a soft and gentle slope, The moonlight rests, a simple band is seen They speak of David's promised seed-the Son, Of righteousness and peace!" But, see, yon star The wondrous radiance! Mute and trembling stand He stands revealed-an angel from the skies. "Glory to God! All glory in the highest! Then straight they spread their plumes Of rainbow tint, and sought their native sky. Uprose the shepherds, nor their footsteps strayed, Till, at the feet of their new-born Redeemer, They breathed their fervent prayer. Then all around Judea's hills the tidings they proclaim Of Christ announced by messengers from heaven. NOTES ON EGYPT. BY THE REV. ALEXANDER DUff, D. D., One of the Church of Scotland's Missionaries to India. PART III. THE most absorbing object of attraction at present in Cairo is the celebrated magician, the fame of whose exploits has been made to ring through the cycle of European literature. To our regret, he was absent at the time of our sojourn; but, having conversed with many who had been witnesses of his performances, we feel warranted in making these the subject of special remark. The alleged feat, for which he is chiefly distinguished, is that of producing, in a magic mirror of ink, the image of any person, absent or dead. For this operation the only qualified person is a boy not arrived at the age of puberty, or an unmarried woman. In the boy or virgin's right hand the magic diagram is drawn, and ink poured into it. The magical apparatus consists of a chating-dish with live charcoal, bits of paper on which are written incantations, frankincense and other aromatic drugs. After incantations and incense have been burned in the lustral fire till the room has been filled with smoke, painful at once to the visual and respiratory organs, and after repeated mutterings and incantations, the subject of the experiment is asked if he sees any thing in the ink. Should the process promise success, the reply is in the affirmative. Next follows, in answer to successive queries, a series of images—viz., a man sweeping with a broom, seven flags of different colours one after the other, tents and soldiers, a bull and sacrifice, the grand Sultan riding on a horse, alighting in his tent, and partaking of a cup of coffee. At this stage, when all these preliminaries are terminated, the visitor is asked to name any one, absent or dead, whose image he wishes to be exhibited in the mirror of ink to the eyes of the person holding it in the right hand. And then it is, that true images of individuals, said to be altogether unknown and unheard of by the operating magician and the subject of the operation, are alleged by respectable European authorities to have been really produced. This is the exploit which, of late years, has exercised the ingenuity of so many literary and scientific savans in Europe; many of whom have pronounced it mysterious and utterly inexplicable; while some have not scrupled to refer it to supernatural, and others, to subternatural or satanic agency. On this latter subject, we would first remark, that the fact of the exploits being mysterious and inexplicable is, of itself, no proof whatever that it is either of a supernatural or of a subternatural character; else must the vast multitude of feats, performed in all ages by the "joculators, jugglers, or tregatours," of the east and of the west, and which have never been satisfactorily explained, be pronounced superhuman too! It is not many years since a Brahman at Madras was wont to exhibit the unwonted spectacle of sitting from twelve to forty minutes on the air, about four feet from the ground. He himself confessed it was a custom which, by ordinary but peculiar means, he had gradually acquired:-yet who has succeeded in unveiling the mys tery? Then also must the huge aggregate of inexplicable phenomena, so devoutly believed in days of ignorance to have been the result of secret connection with the agencies of the invisible world; but which have since been amply accounted for by Sir David Brewster and others, on principles of natural magic, be still held to belong to the class of Divine or of satanic influences! The extraordinary phenomena manifested, during the sitting of the Commission appointed to survey the king's house at Woodstock after the death of Charles I., and which, at the time, were viewed by not a few of the learned, and universally by the unlearned, as the undoubted effects of supernatural powers, were at length fully ascertained to have proceeded from the ingenious contrivance and invention of "the memorable Joseph Collins of Oxford, who, having hired himself as Secretary (to the Commission), under the name of Giles Sharp, by knowing the private traps belonging to the house, and by the help of pulvis fulminans and other chemical preparations, and letting his fellowservants into the scheme, carried on the deceit without discovery to the very last." The mere inexplicability, therefore, of any feat, however marvellous, is not enough to precipitate us upon the supernatural—as offering the only adequate solution. This were not to untie, but to cut, the Gordian knot-not to tread patiently in Baconian paths, but to rush blindfoldly. into the universal solvent of the dark ages--not to arouse the inductive energies of the soul to inquire, but, by the lazy whispers of credulity, to lull these energies asleep. Is it that we doubt the existence of supernatural agency? God forbid. That such agency has been "the senses of all around, that this was indeed the very "Seed of the woman," who was destined to "bruise the serpent's head," that this was indeed the very personage whom prophets in every age had foretold, as mighty King," who would come into the world to "destroy the devil and his works;" and take unto himself the kingdom which had been so basely usurped, as well as the power and the dominions? And were not all these ends great and noble, wise and good?ends every way worthy of Him, one chief part of whose design was to extirpate all error, and sin, and false dependences, that poor, sinful, deluded men might return, and learn to trust in Himself, who alone is the Fount of pardon and grace, holiness and peace, wisdom and happiness? Compare with ends so glorious, the only end which has ever yet been served by the alleged preternatural feats of the Egyptian magician-to wit, the replenishment of his own coffers, and the gratification of a few inquisitive Europeans! Surely reason must have wholly fled the breast of the man who can tolerate any hypothesis which necessarily involves or leads to such a comparison at all. repeatedly exerted, let Egypt land itself, the Red Sea, | emphatic demonstration might be afforded to the very and the wilderness-let Judea, with its lakes and rivers, its mountains and plains, its cities and villages-let all of these together tell, how often the Lord of Nature extorted from all her elements a confession of his presence and supremacy. It is because of the intensity of our belief in such miraculous interpositions, that we are filled with holy jealousy, whenever these are, wittingly or unwittingly, confounded with the juggling tricks and cunning artifices of ingenious but deceiving men. The magician himself sometimes asserts that he operates under the influence of " good spirits." Now, good spirits act only according to the commission they receive from God. "Nec Deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus," was the test proposed even by a Pagan. Among all the recorded miracles of Scripture, is there one which may not challenge the most rigorous application of such a test? Which of them, in their general or specific end, object, and design, was not worthy of the God of creation, of providence, and of grace? But what end, worthy of God, is answered by the alleged preternatural feat of the Egyptian magician? To have his own treasures replenished with the wages of his wonder-striking performance-and to gratify the aimless, if not lawless, curiosity of a few Europeans, who give no proof of having at heart the vital interests either of God or of man-is this an end worthy of the interposition of Deity? At other times, the magician seems to allege that he acts with the assistance of "evil spirits." Now, evil spirits can only act as they are permitted by God. Under the ordinary dispensation of Providence these are allowed, for purposes of trial and probation, to exert various agencies, which may be resisted and defeated by watchfulness, prayer, and other ordinary means of divine appointment. Under an extraordinary dispensation of Providence, these may, for other and higher ends, have liberty to put forth preternatural powers, which can only be resisted and defeated by the forthputting of other preternatural powers of resistless might. If ever such license was granted to wicked spirits at all, it doubtless was, when the great redemption of the Israelites from Egypt was to be achieved by Jehovah through his servant Moses; and the immeasurably greater redemption of a world of lost sinners was to be consummated on Calvary by a greater than Moses-even Him who was "Jehovah's fellow." If, on the former occasion, a more than ordinary latitude in aping true miracles was conceded to the foul spirits of darkness, was it not that by means of the celebrated public confession extorted from the lips of their instruments, the magicians, "Surely the finger of God is there"-their own utter inferiority and helplessness might be visibly demonstrated in the eyes of Pharaoh, his lords and counsellors, and the whole body of the people?-was it not that, on so grand a stage as the city, which was at that time not the metropolis of Egypt merely, but the central seat of idolatry, the very throne of Satan's earthly dominion, Jehovah's absolute supremacy over the gods of heathenism, and all the "principalities and powers" of the invisible world, might be gloriously vindicated? If, ou the latter occasion, an unwonted license was given to the same wicked demons to convulse the bodies and infuriate the spirits of men, was it not that-by the public confession of their subjection and final doom, "Art thou come to torment us before the time?" From such general considerations alone we could not for a moment hesitate in pronouncing the pretensions of the magician himself to the assistance of familias spirits, whether good or bad,—pretensions which ha sometimes been acceded to by others with an easines, of credulity that reflects little credit on this boastfu age of the march of intellect-wholly apocryphal. On his claims we could not hesitate to return the verdict, not simply "Not proven," but that of "Disproven." There are, however, considerations of a specific character which ought to arouse the vehement suspicions of even his most credulous admirers. 1st, What are those lustral fires, aromatic fumigations, written spells, mutterings and invocations, but the ordinary apparatus wherewith the juggling impostors of every age and clime have endeavoured, by intensely occupying more than one of the senses of the spectators, to render their tricks and artifices more difficult of detection? 2dly, Is it not a circumstance of prime importance, that all the antecedent images-brooms and flags, tents and soldiers, bulls and sacrifices, sultans and coffee-are, as to number and order of succession, in every experiment almost uniformly the same? This being the case, what boy or girl in all Cairo, likely to be subjected to the magical operations, may not previously become as familiar with the nature and succession of these expected images as the pretended familiar spirits themselves? 3dly, It is a fact, known and notorious to such of the permanent European residents as have been at pains deliberately to investigate the matter, that the magician has a multitude of willing agents in his confidence; that between these and the native attendants of any stranger of rank or consequence who might be desirous of witnessing the magical exploits, as well as the native servants of the hotel or other place of residence, a busy and constant intercourse has often been detected; and that particular boys, apparently selected at random and without any previous mutual understanding, have been shown to have been passing the street or purchasing articles in a neighbouring shop, under peculiar circumstances, which could leave room for no other conviction, than that they were there by preconcert and design, at the precise juncture of time when their ser vices would be required: all of which ascertained facts go the full length of proving that there is collusion, to at least a certain extent. 4thly, It has been admitted by Mr Lane, and other admiring eulogists of the magician, that his attempts have often failed. By European residents at Cairo who had been repeatedly present, and who, when not personally present, had ample opportunities of learning the result in other instances, we were positively assured, that the cases of total failure 30 greatly out-numbered those of real or apparent or partial success, that the former constituted the general rule the latter, the rare or occasional exceptions! Nor is this all; there are other circumstances which tend to throw still farther light on the real character of the whole procedure. The instances of the apparent or partial success have usually occurred, as in the case of Mr Lane and others, when the character, habits, pursuits, studies, home connections, and topics of conversation of the visitors, have been more or less known to vigilent and intelligent natives around them; when the boy, or subject of the operation, has been secured through the instrumentality of some one directly or indirectly under the influence of the magician; or when | the interpreter, or inedium of communication between the partics, has been the magician's own hired servant. The instances of total failure, on the other hand, have usually occurred in cases where the inquiring party has been a new or unexpected visitor-and when both the boy and the interpreter have been provided by that party. We had long converse with a Christian youth of uncommon intelligence for his years, and of sterling integrity of principle, who had been purposely so selected; the magician himself, on examination, could not help pronouncing him, as to age, &c., a fit person. Full well did he know previously what preliminary images, flags, tents, and such like, ought to have appeared in the magic mirror of ink; but when duly interrogated, he was constrained to answer, that he saw nothing. The magician then declared that the sky had become unpropitious, and the experiment was suspended for a more favourable day. The day having arrived, the same youth again submitted to the operation-still he could see nothing. The sky had again become unpropitious; and when it was proposed a third time to repeat the experiment with the same youth, the magician peremptorily refused! The young man, however, added, in substance, the very weighty and important remark, that, his head having been kept so long over the chafing dish, in which were burnt the aromatic drugs, before any question was asked, he found a tendency to giddiness, and a sort of stupifying sensation growing so strongly upon him, that he felt almost resistlessly tempted to say, that he saw what he really did not see, in order to be the more speedily delivered from the magical pillory of torture. We had also long converse with one of the most enlightened Europeans, and certainly the best Arabic scholar in Cairo, who had often volunteered his services as interpreter, on very purpose to satisfy his own mind as to the facts of the He assured us, that he undertook the task under a decided leaning to the persuasion, that, if all the previously reported facts were really substantiated, without a clue to any collusion, or other modifying or explanatory circumstance, he could not well see how they could be accounted for, except by reference to preternatural agency. After repeated trials, his firm and case. unalterable conviction was, that, be the art or artifice what it may, it had upon the face of it indubitable signatures of a juggling imposture. Among these, he strongly as-erted it as a fact, that many of the questions were leading ones-that many of them were put in the suggestive form, such as (instead of asking the youth, What do you see?) asking him, "Do you see a flag," &c.; and that many of them were moulded in an alternative form, so that, on the mere principle of guessing, the answer ought to be as often right as wrong. In this latter department of interrogation, the results were peculiarly decisive against the claims of the magician. No sooner was it detected by the shrewd interpreter than he resolved to subject it to an experimentum crucis. A certain personage was called for, really unknown to the magician, but well known to the principal visitor to be of uncommon stature. Instead of putting the question, as moulded by the arch-operator into somewhat of the usual form, (such as, Whether is he tall, or otherwise?-laying, it might be, a peculiar emphasi on the one word or the other, to guide the answer, it was shaped in some such form as this, "Is he somewhat diminutive in stature, or exceedingly diminutive?' The reply was, "Exceedingly diminutive!" In like manner, another, distinguished for obesity, was made out to be as lean as an absolute starvling! In short, the blunders were not only multiplied, but so uniform, and often so ludicrous, that at length the magician was heard to declare, that he would never more exhibit his art to any one, if the gentleman now referred to were made the interpreter. Now, though there may be authenticated facts on record not explicable by any one of the data now farnished, we would gravely appeal to the reason and common sense of men, whether these data are not enough to cover the whole with more than the suspicion of deception?—whether they are not amply sutlicient to demonstrate, that the feats of the Egyptian magician are in no way to be distinguished from the universally acknowledged tricks of legerdemain, and the delusive artifices which have been practised by other clever impostors, in different ages and in different climes? We, at least, have fully concluded in our own mind, that the wonder-exciting delusion of this modern pretender is in no wise to be exempted from the decision of Thomas Ady, given about two hundred years ago in his book entitled, A Candle in the Dark against Witches and Witchcraft." "The craft of jug gling," says he, "to them that are not acquainted with it, breeds great admiration in the beholders, and seemeth to silly people to be miraculous; and yet, being known, is but deceit and roguery-so that the beholder cannot but blush and be ashamed to think he was so easily cozened, and did so much admire a ridiculous imposture." ON REGENERATION. EY J. GRANDPIERRE, DIRECTOR OF THE MISSIONARY Translated from the French. MORAL philosophy has aimed at the regulation of the manners and the reformation of the outward conduct of man; Christianity alone has undertaken to change |