of view, and unprovided for, the most precious part of his nature, his soul, his interests and destiny in the eternal world? Whether the Christianity we were describing is that of Mr. Mahew or not, it is that of the Bible; it is the only true Christianity, and that which our nature essentially requires. There may be morality, as it is generally understood, with out a reception of the gospel; there may be refinement of manners and taste without it, but morality and refinement without a gospel faith, are polished infidelity, not Christianity, the decoration of the dead, instead of a fountain of life.

We do not wish to fasten the charge of infidelity on Mr. Mahew, or those who think with him; but we much fear that they do not, in their beautiful Bible of civilization, seek direction on those all-important questions, on which it is the peculiar glory of the gospel to afford us all needful light. Let us, however, suppose for a moment that they admit the importance of these questions, we have then to test the ability of civilization to meet them; or, in other words, to make a man a real christian. Good government is an essential element of civilization, an allimportant bond of society. But it cannot christianize men.

It re

strains outward wrong, it regulates the external order of society, but it leaves the spirit of man unfettered and untouched. A man may perfectly obey the laws of the best human government, and yet be a rebel against God, and altogether unfit for heaven. Literature is another large element in civilization; and its province is that inner one from which law is excluded. It deals with the spirit is mighty and often imperial sceptre is swayed over the intellect, the heart, the soul. This then, perhaps, is the power that is to supersede the gospel, and do its work more effectually. But a part of our literature, not small in amount, and still greater in the influence it has exerted, is antichristian; destructive, both in its design and tendency, of Christian faith, feeling, and prac tice. A still greater proportion of

it is unchristian; not by direct hostility to Christianity, but as containing nothing of a distinctively christian character. The fiction which seems to be the chief article of mental diet, whether in costly three-volume novels for the wealthy, or in the weekly supplies of trash for the million, in London Journals and Family Heralds, may produce unhealthy excitement, render the mind frivolous, and stimulate the passions, but this is something widely different from purifying the heart, and saving the soul, and to the same extent unfriendly to such a result. There is, however, a large and valuable class of the productions of the press, adapted to make its readers acquainted with history and science, to enrich and adorn the mind, yet not adapted to make them Christians. These works are not unfavourable to a christian state of the heart, but it is not their object to produce it, though that object is in itself good. As we should not expect a man to become an astronomer by reading poetry, so it would be vain to expect men to be christianized by works of history, philosophy, politics, or science. So far as our literature is of a more directly christian character, it is so only from the infusion of Bible truth, which it it has received from the leaven of the gospel which pervades it. But this shows the necessity of the Scriptures. It is only this fountain that supplies a preservative, sweetening, purifying, influence. It is this which redeems our literature from a character of utter ungodliness, saves it from being wholly of that pagan spirit which some powerful minds have laboured hard to give to it, and makes it still reflect, in some degree, the infinite glory shining down from heaven.

The mechanical improvements of our age are a significant and splendid part or fruit of its civilization, greatly abridging toil, and multiplying productions for comfort and luxury. Now it were delightful, indeed, if the machinery of silk and cotton mills could, in addition to turning the raw material into exquisite fa

brics, work an analogous change in the hearts of the men who use it. We have, however, to deplore that, whilst the machinery is producing its wonderful material effects, the minds and hearts of those who direct it may remain, and too often do remain, in unremedied depravity and impurity. It has, indeed, been repeatedly alleged, that the tendency of this class of improvements, together with our extending and successful commerce, is to materialize the age-to make it more corrupt, luxurious, and unspiritual,—and war itself, with all its horrors and evils, has been welcomed as a means of counteracting the sordid worldliness which prevails. There seems, then, little hope of this part of our civilization christianizing the mass of our people. Probably, however, we have not yet named those agencies to which Mr. Mahew most confidently trusts. The fine arts are becoming the popular teachers. The masses are to be evangelized by painting, sculpture, and music. Let the people but be brought to admire and delight in these, and they will no longer remain vicious or immoral, but be charmed into the possession of at least a practical christianity. Sir Benjamin Hall has evidently this faith in music. What Orpheus did for savage and senseless natures in old times, military bands are to accomplish in modern ones. Quadrilles, polkas, and military marches, especially with religious strains occasionally intermixed, will purify the passions, correct the habits, and save the souls of the people! They are the gospel which the minister of the Board of Works evidently thought more suitable to be preached in the parks on the Sunday than the gospel of Christ, as, whilst authorizing the music, he forbade open-air preaching. The experiment of Sunday bands has been declared, in reports and public meetings, to have been very successful. If this means that large crowds have been attracted, the success is undoubted. Few are insensible to the charms of music. But where is the evidence of drunkards made sober, of evil habits of

any kind subdued, or practical christianity extended by this means? We have not heard of such evidence

being adduced from any quarter; and we hazard little in saying that no such evidence could be adduced. When Milton said, "For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense," he uttered an important truth, which it is little to the credit of Sir B. Hall's philosophy to have overlooked. On the Lord's day he suppresses, where thousands congregate, the preaching of those "words" of the Lord whereby they might be saved, and gives them strains of music instead, which convey no instruction, and can work no moral change. The people need salvation, and he gives them amusement. He withdraws the bread for which they famish, and gives a stone.

In the same spirit, systematic efforts are being made by the party represented by Mr. Mahew to secure the opening of the Sydenham Palace, the British Museum, and similar places on the Sunday, not doubting, apparently, that the inspection of works of art and taste will "christianize" the people. If this expectation be well founded, we shall find the inhabitants of Paris, Rome, Florence, and Venice, most highly christian, since in these cities there is a profusion of the finest works which have ever come from under the pencil or the chisel, and the people generally have easy access to these great productions, especially on the Sabbath-day. But

is it not notorious that instead of exhibiting this pure and consistent Christianity, the population of these cities is to a great extent infidel, still more superstitious, and leavened with a moral corruption, not the less deep in its taint because somewhat polished in its exterior? We deplore the grossness, the intemperance, the impiety, of the masses of our countrymen. We believe an art-education

really such-would diminish the coarseness of character which prevails amongst them; but we believe that comparatively few would obtain anything worthy of that name by the Sunday opening of the Crys

tal Palace and the like, and that the amount of real immorality would be rather increased than diminished by this proceeding. Right practice can result only from right principles; a pure morality must have a good foundation; whilst this Sunday anusement movement would violate the first principles of morality, dishonour and oppose that gospel which alone can teach and enforce a perfect morality, and foster that spirit of intidelity which is a fruitful source of all moral corruption and debasement.

Thus, we have failed to discover in what part of civilization its "christianizing influence" is to be found. Either the teachers of this new gospel do not understand the tendency of their own doctrines, and are, therefore, unfit to be trusted; or, if they do understand it, they incur the deeper criminality of opposing the only gospel which can elevate and save the people, and this under the mask of that gospel itself. The vo ce is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's; with Christian professions, they are doing the work of infidelity.

It would be easy to show, did our space permit, that whilst a personal Christianity can never be the result of mere civilization, civilization, in some of its forms, may be injurious to the christian character, and requires all the power of christian faith and principle to prevent its corrupting influence. Further, civilisation, apart from Christianity, is not self-sustaining. The vanished or faded glories of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and the Roman Empire, sufficiently attest this. It is one of the great lessons which the history of the world most distinctly and impressively teaches. On the other hand, Christianity is the parent of a true civilization. Let any one thoroughly consider its doctrines, and the effect which a cordial reception of them must produce on the mind and character, and ask himself whether the man so receiving them could possibly remain a barbarian? Such are the doctrines, and so transforming in their power, that the savage nature disappears under their influence, as darkness

disappears by the rising of the sun. The precepts of the gospel spring from the doctrines, as the flower from the bulb, and those precepts contain the essence of the most perfect civilization. Does it not lie imbedded, as jewels in a mine, in those two great commandments, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself," or in the passage already quoted, "Whatsover things are true," &c., or in the injunction, "Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowlege temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity"? Can civilization impress any grace or any nobleness of character which is not included in these requirements? The gospel begins with saving the soul. This is its first, and, in a sense, its only aim; and this is of infinitely greater consequence than any secondary results; for "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul"? But, the fountain cleansed, bright streams flow from it. When the soul is converted, the intellect, the affections, the principles, the speech, the conduct, the very manners, are purified and improved by the great change. A whole people brought fully under these influences, would be a people from among whom a coarse sensuality, and brutal habits, and repulsive manners, would be banished; amongst whom intellect, quickened to its fullest healthy activity, would produce its appropriate effects in all the myriad forms of utility and beauty; honesty and order would so prevail as to render needless those aids of our present boasted civilization-the policeman's truncheon, the prison, and the drop; and the affections would be so cultivated and developed as to make earth a heaven begun below.

And facts abundantly confirm these conclusions. Let Mr. Mahew and his friends ponder the views of the historian of "Civilization in Europe." Let them hear Schlegel,

* M. Guizot.

in his "Philosophy of History," declaring, "The religion of love established by the Redeemer has changed and regenerated, not only government and science, but the whole system of human life." Let them study the working of the Bible and Missionary Societies, and see how the most beautiful civilization of character has instantly resulted from the conversion of the soul; how the savage and the cannibal have become humane, gentle, and benevolent, whilst the intelligence and the arts of civilized life have been diffused with almost the rapidity of verdure and flowers on the coming of spring. Men like Carey, Knibb, Williams, Moffatt, and Morrison, open the fountains of civilisation, whilst Mr. Mahew and his class, admiring the breadth and beauty of the streams, imagine that fountains are no longer needed. Even now, Dr. Livingstone has just traversed the whole of the vast continent of Central Africa, an achievement which few could have accomplished, and which is expected to be of incalculable

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vice to commerce and civilization; but it is Christianity which has been the stimulus to this mighty enterprise. "I am not," he writes, SO much elated by the feat of crossing the continent being nearly accomplished, as might be expected. The end of the geographical feat is but the beginning of the missionary enterprise. That I may be honoured to do some good to this poor, degraded, down-trodden Africa, is a wish in which you will, I doubt not, cordially join." Yes! Christianity holds civilization in the hollow of its hand. Given to mankind near two thousand years ago, in its complete form, and denouncing a curse on any who should attempt to alter it, to add to it, or to take away from it, it is found equal to every emergency, it sustains every test, meets every requirement of the soul of man, ad. justs itself to every posture of the

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human mind, and not merely keeps pace with the progress of society, but anticipates and impels it. Its riches are unsearchable, its range is boundless, its efficiency is perfect, and, amidst the flow of ages, and the fluctuations of the world, it liveth and abideth for ever. Commit the interests of our race to civilization only, and degeneracy is inevitable; the enchanting visions on which the enemies of Christianity are gazing, will be found to be the mirage of the desert, and the goal reached at length will be a moral chaos instead of the millennium of their dreams. The hope of the world is still in the gospel of Christ. Its wider diffusion, and certain triumphs, whilst adding evermore to the nations of the saved in heaven, will also beautify and glorify the earth with scenes surpassing fable." "For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.' Whilst, then, the misguided intellect and philanthropy of our time are offering to the people illusory schemes of improvement, empty as shadows, and unsolid as the sea, let us rejoice that we have still "the glorious gospel of the blessed God"-an unclouded light, a precious balm, a sure foundation. Let us receive it to our inmost heart; let us surrender ourselves without reserve to its gracious power; let us publish its glad tidings with an earnestness which nothing can repress, and with the contidence which its divine appointment warrants, and thus be workers together with God, for the regeneration of the world.

Shrewsbury.

G. GRUNDY.

* Isaiah lx.

THE NEW YEAR, 1857. By the good providence of Him who holdeth our souls in life, we are spared to witness the beginning of another year. Should it not be to us the occasion of grateful retrospect, of serious self-examination, of unfeigned contrition and abasement over the iniquities of the past, and of deliberate and pious engagement with regard to the future? For what are our lives spared, but that we may glorify God in our bodies and spirits, which are his? Who has made us to differ from the great multitude of our fellow-creatures, that during the course of the departed year have been taken hence, and entered the house appointed for all living? Many of them were as young, as healthy, and, in some respects, even more promising for life than ourselves; but the wise Disposer, whose ways are judgment, and who doeth what he will with his own, hath removed them, while in mercy he hath spared us, because we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.

Still

our breath is in our nostrils, and we cannot tell what a day may bring forth.

"We yet survive; but who can say

Or through this year, or month, or day, I will retain this vital breath,

Thus far at least in leagae with death ?" Ah, how continually are we reminded that the spoiler is momentarily planting his dart in some bared human breast; and that among his heap of victims, survivors may always select one form beloved-the desire of the heart, the delight of the eye-of whom we had often said, "this same shall comfort us," but from whose precious dust is rehearsed the startling cry, "Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh." And, reader, whoever thou art, wilt not thou also apply thine heart to the wisdom of numbering thy days, lest surprise and calamity overtake thee, when the

harvest is past, and the summer is ended, and thou art not saved ?

As days revolve, and years pass unheeded by, it is well to pause, while another measure of time is being meted out for our use, and to reflect upon the great purpose and end for which our frail lives are proHow mistaken are the longed. millions of mankind concerning the true object of life! With them it is to feed, clothe, indulge, adorn the body, to heap up riches, to acquire celebrity, to gratify taste, to perpetuate a name! Dissatisfied with every fresh acquisition, or sated with the abundance of what they once believed could never cloy, they still prosecute the weary but beguiling search-after what? After substance amid shadows; after security, where the beacon-light tells of rocks, and shoals, and many a hidden wreck; after happiness, where indeed pleasure spreads her banquet, and mirth strives to exclude melancholy, and laughter rings the changes of an empty sound, but where real happiness was never yet found. The "epirit in man" is forgotten, is left to pine in wretchedness, is doomed to barrenness, and servitude, and death. Why do we live? To obey, honour, resemble, and praise God. To be the subjects of the King eternal, the servants of the one Lawgiver, the sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty-to interpret the mystery of godliness-to show that all we lost in Adam, is more, yea, is infinitely more than restored to us in Christ to vindicate the ways of God, in nature, in providence, and in grace-to approve ourselves unto all holy principles, noble sentiments, generous exercises, benevolent deeds, the beautiful, the sublime, the heroic manifestations of the excellence divine in a word, to live not unto ourselves, but unto Him that loved us, and gave himself for us. Oh time! how worthily do we fill up the little all we have of thee, in pur