the ascendency, and legislation is coming into a closer sympathy with the true interests of men. Prejudices, the growth of ages, are yielding to the force of truth. Selfish and oppressive laws are disappearing from the statute-book. The rights of the people are assuming a higher place in the action of governments. The control of affairs is passing from the hands of the few, into the power of the many, and, consequently, the labor of the latter is ceasing to be taxed, in order to sustain the pomp, and splendor, and magnificence of the former. The recent triumph in England, in favor of the laboring classes, over the long continued and oppressive policy of an idle and bloated aristocracy, is a sign of the times-is proof enough of the strength and the direction, which Christianity is giving to the currents of human legislation-proof enough of that overpowering sympathy with the injured and oppressed, which it is awakening in human hearts. A noble elevation was it, on which the late premier planted himself; and a fine spirit did he breathe, when, on retiring from office, after his memorable victory over a restrictive policy, which for ages had oppressed and starved the laboring population of Britain, he said: “I shall leave a name execrated by every monopolist, who maintains protection for his own individual benefit. But, it may be, I shall leave a name sometimes remembered with expressions of good-will in those places, which are the abodes of men whose lot it is to labor and earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow-a name remembered with expressions of good-will, when they shall recreate their exhausted strength with abundant and untaxed food, the sweeter because it is no longer leavened by a sense of injustice.” We see also the certainty of this triumph, on the part of Christianity, in the character of its principles. These are right--are the principles of benevolence, and are mighty. They will be inculcated wherever the gospel is preached; and will be embraced wherever it is believed; and when adopted, will as certainly control the conduct of men. In every heart in which these principles, therefore, find a lodgment, they will awaken an interest in man-will lead him, who is influenced by them, to overleap the barriers of cast and color—to pass by the boundaries of all selfish action-to take the part of the oppressed and downtrodden-and to look upon man, wherever found, and however degraded, as a member of the human family, and as possessed of the same rights and privileges, and to act for their elevation as social, intellectual, and moral beings. As these principles spread, the work of human improvement will go forward. Like the returning sun of spring, , they will thaw the icy selfishness which freezes up the sympathies of mankind, and cause the heart, like the smitten rock, to pour forth a stream of pure, benevolent feeling, which will gladden the face of a sorrowing world. Interesting man in man, these principles will, of course, affect nations in the same way when they gain an ascendency in their counsels. They will ally them closely to each other-make them feel that they are brethren--and by the sympathy thus awakened—by the fellow-feeling thus producedand by the thousand other ties growing out of these, will bind them together in the harmonies of an uninterrupted peace : and thus banish from our earth that terrible scourge, whose history is written in blood, and published to the world in groans. A striking instance of the cohesive attraction thus produced, has recently been seen. When some turbulent spirits endeavored to stir up England and this country to hostile action respecting a point of territorial jurisdiction, a voice in both nations, loud as many waters, and with a feeling of indignation, as deep as the ocean that rolls between them, cried out, shame burning shame on the thought! and thus rebuked the foul spirit from both lands. We say once more, that Christianity will triumph, because it is pledged to this result. It is committed on the point of filling the earth with truth and righteousness. This work, therefore, will go on. It cannot be arrested. “Men might as well plant their feet on the earth, and thus expect to stop its diurnal revolution,” as hope by any resistance in their power to stop the progress of this revolution, which Christianity is producing in the political condition of men, and which will ultimately place them on the high elevations of virtuous freedom, and in the enjoyment of an unbroken brotherhood of being with each other. This is its promised, glorious achievement, and it will be accomplished. No power on earth or under the earth can prevent it. The rulers, who will not yield to this gentle breeze in favor of human interests, will be swept away by the storm which their opposition will call into being “ Through this house, or over it," said Lord Brougham, in the English Senate, “this reform bill must pass. So we say to the nations of the earth on the point before us. Through each Cabinet—through each Hall of Legislation, or over it, this Reform Bill of Christianity must-WILL pass. The governments which take their stand against it, and attempt to prevent this elevation of mankind to the enjoyment of their rights and privileges, will be dashed in pieces like a potter's vessel. The work is of God, and they cannot succeed. Government is his institution. He ordained it for the good of man. It must and will, therefore, be made to exist for that great end; and, consequently, will be changed into those forms, and be administered on those principles which will best secure that end. Christianity will advance—will add one victory to another, until it thus brings into friendly relation to its main design every arrangement, and every influence of man's political condition. The whole of its promised work will one day be accomplished. The entire completion of its unfolding apocalypse will be seen, and the nations of the earth will rejoice in the light and glory of its achievements. ARTICLE V. RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF LORD BACON. By Rev. Samuel M. Hopkins, Avon, N. Y. What may have been the religious character of Lord Bacon, or whether he had any, may appear to some readers a question of very little consequence at the present day. He was the father of the inductive philosophy, and he was the degraded chancellor of King James. He served his generation and the world as a student of Nature; he dishonored genius and humanity as a courtier. This is to most people, The whole amount of that stupendous fame- We venture, however, to think it a question of some little in. terest, whether the great philosopher was or was not a good man. We write for those who believe the prophets; whose God is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; whose faith peoples the unseen world with the immortal dead; and who expect to mingle in personal intercourse with the spirits of great men and of just men made perfect. They cannot think it an obsolete question, or one ruled out by a literary statute of limitations, whether any great light of former ages set in the blackness of darkness, or not. We feel some personal concern in the inquiry, whether when Judas and Lord Bacon went each to his own place, they took the same direction. As those who profess to be seeking a better country, we may take some interest in knowing who of the emi. nent benefactors of mankind, once resident like us in the city of Destruction, are already dwelling on Mount Zion. It was Pliable indeed who asked, What company shall we have there? but it was Christian who answered, on the word of the governor of the country, There we shall be with seraphim and cherubim, creatures that will dazzle your eyes to look on them; there also you shall meet with thousands and tens of thousands that have gone before us to that place; none of them hurtful, but loving and holy; every one walking in the sight of God, and standing in his presence with acceptance for ever. And Cicero but gave utterance to the common sentiment of those who think of immortality, when he anticipated the happiness of meeting in the islands of the blest, not only his own lost friends, but the eminent patriots and sages of preceding generations. But on this subject, so far as Lord Bacon is concerned, no one has thought it worth while to attempt satisfying our curiosity. Bacon the philosopher, Bacon the fawning courtier and the corrupt judge, has furnished matter for large comment. Bacon, in the only character that is of any moment to him now, as a man, a sinner, a penitent, has been allowed to pass without notice. History and criticism have delighted to dwell upon his relations to science; his relations to God have not been thought worthy of attention even by biography. No auto-record has let us into the secresy of his soul. No contemporaneous hand thought it important to tell us how he walked before God, or how he met his end. The most the world knows of him, it has learned from the bitter couplet of Pope; and since that barbed shaft struck him a century ago, more noticeably still since the accomplished hand of a modern reviewer has stretched him on the ground, every passer-by feels entitled to spurn him; and making an apologetic bow to his genius, gives an unsparing kick at his character. His fate has been to have “the morals blackened, though the writings 'scape;"> to be at once exalted to heaven, and thrust down to hell. We are not about to undertake the canonization of Lord Bacon -we shall not try to set him on the same platform with those ninety and nine which went not astray; still less to class him with the great religious lights of the world, who had as much less genius as they had more faith; the seraphim of this lower sphere, whose office was not to know, but to love. But we think there is something remaining for that posterity which he left the guardian of his memory to do in his behalf. It is worth showing, that there was more of Lord Bacon than brilliancy of intellect and meanness of character; that there is at least as much evidence of his repentance and salvation, as of that of the crowned scholar, his only peer in the realm of thought, who also dragged the robes of genius in the dirt, and whom yet the Church would not willingly consign to infamy. In estimating the character of Lord Bacon, we cannot leave out of view, with any justice, the circumstances of his early life. There are men, who, starting from unfavorable positions, choose out a career of ambition, and school themselves in the art to rise. Bacon seemed born a courtier. “ At his birth, Nature and fortune joined to make him great." He was the son of a favorite Lord Keeper of Queen Elizabeth's. The all-powerful Burleigh was his uncle by marriage. His cousin, Robert Cecil, was early started in the road to distinction, and Elizabeth rendered his destiny inevitable, by pronouncing him in his boyhood, her little Lord Chancellor. a Experience teaches us that early impressions have often a decisive influence in fixing the character of the mind and the direction of its aims for after-life. A father's example, the tone of his familiar conversation, the character and position of his friends, the subjects that seem most to interest them, or even the casual remarks they let fall, frequently result in deciding the subsequent pursuits of a child, and the spirit in which they are followed. A passing remark at the fire-side makes of that unnoticed child, apparently occupied with his playthings or his books, a future statesman, soldier, or divine. We may easily imagine the sort of company to which the promising younger son of the Lord Keeper would be sometimes shown at Gorhambury, and the kind of conversation to which he would be an eager listener. Walsingham would be there, talking like a great minister, as he was, of the business of the Court, and not forgetting, like a good man, to throw in some reflections on the transcendent value of things unseen and eternal. The great Burleigh would sometimes bring his learned lady to pass a night at her sister's; and unbending from the solemn dignity of his official manners, would ask of his hopeful nephew's progress at Trinity College, and how he agreed with worthy Doctor Whitgift. At these times, too, Robert Cecil would be there; a forward, conceited, disagreeable youth, to talk largely of his prospects at Court, and engage in country sports with Francis; not always ended, we imagine, without a scuffle and a bloody nose. The conversation would turn on vacant posts, and important claimants urging their pretensions at Court, whom Elizabeth, according to her usual policy, was keeping long in suspense. His Lordship would repeat with some glee the good pun he had lately made her Majesty on the subject. Madam, said he, you do well to let suitors stay; for I shall tell you, Bis dat, qui cito dat ; if you grant them speedily, they will come again the sooner. Young Bacon would lay this up against the time when, under the operation of the same rule, he came to know “what hell it is in suing long to bide.” Or the Earl of Leicester might pay a complimentary visit with his splendid retinue; a fascinating instance, in the eyes of Francis, of a successful courtier's advancement; and when the Earl would ask Sir Nicholas his opinion of two persons whom the Queen seemed to think well of, with what a hearty laugh the fat old Lord Keeper would reply, By my troth, my Lord, the one is a grave counsellor; the other is a proper young man, and so he will be, as long as he lives. Or the Queen herself, on some royal progress, would rest a while at Gorhambury, and struck with the simplicity and moderation of the establishment, would say,—My Lord, what a little house you have gotten. To which the high functionary, with the prompt felicity of a practised courtier, would return_Not so, Madam, but it is you that have made me too great for my house. THIRD SERIES, VOL. III. NO. I. 9 a |