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HUMAN IGNORANCE.-Ignorance lies at the bottom of all human knowledge, and the deeper we penetrate the nearer we arrive unto it. For what do we truly know? or what can we clearly affirm? of any one of those important things upon which ALL our reasoning must of necessity be built,time and space, life and death, matter and mind. Of matter and of mind, one philosopher has no less absurdly than irrefutably proved the non-existence of the first, and thousands have attempted to prove the annihilation of the last. Common sense, however, punishes all departures from her by forcing those who rebel against her into a desperate war with all facts and experience, and into a civil war, still more terrible, with each other and with themselves; for we retain both our bodies and our souls in spite of the sceptic, and find

"That parts destroyed diminish not the whole,
Though Berkeley take the body, Hume the soul."

But it is not to be wondered at that those workmen should blunder who know as little as their tools, and if untenantable theories should be the consequence of building by rules whose principles are erroneous, and with materials whose properties are not understood; for the tower of Babel is not the only monument of human pride that has failed from human ignorance. Alas! what is man? whether he be deprived of that light which is from on high, or whether he discard it; a frail and trembling creature, standing on time, that bleak and narrow isthmus between two eternities, he sees nothing but impenetrable darkness on the one hand, and doubt, distrust, and conjecture, still more perplexing, on the other. Most gladly would he take an observation as to whence he has come, or whither he is going, alas, he has not the means; his telescope is too dim-his compass too wavering his plummet too short. Nor is that little spot, his present state, one whit more intelligible, since it may prove a quicksand that may sink in a moment from his feet, it can afford him no certain reckoning as to that immeasurable ocean that he MAY have traversed, or that still more formidable one that he MUST; an awful expedition that is accelerated by every moment by which it is delayed; neither is the outfit less gloomy or less forbidding than the voyage itself; the bark is a coffin; the destination, darkness; and the helmsman, death.Colton's Laconics.

CHRISTIANITY A SOCIAL RELIGION.-Christianity has been emphatically termed the social religion, and society is the proper sphere of all its duties, as the ecliptic is of the sun. Society is a sphere that demands all our energies, and deserves all our demands. He, therefore, that retires to cells and caverns, to stripes and to famine, to court a more arduous conflict, and to win a richer crown, is doubly deceived; the conflict is less, the reward is nothing. He may, indeed, win a race, if he can be admitted to have done so, who had no competitors, because he chose to run alone; but he will be entitled to no prize, because he ran out of the course. "Who hath required this at your hands?" This single question ought to have made the ascetic pause before he weaved his horse hair or plaited his thong. Alas, how has the social and cheerful spirit of Christianity been perverted by fools at one time, and by knaves at another; by the self-tormentors of the cell, or the all-tormentors of the conclave. In this enlightened age we despise, perhaps, the absurdities of the one and the atrocities of the other; the day is gone by when saints could post to paradise by the smack of their own whip, as if virtue, like beauty, were only skin deep, and devotion, like a top, could not be kept up but by flogging; as though the joys of heaven, like the comforts of an inn, required to be heightened by the privations of the journey and the ruggedness of the road. But after we have laughed at these things, let us look a little seriously at ourselves. Are there no other words ending in ISM that are now creating as many self-tormentors as Catholicism has lost? are there no Protestants who are their own popes? and are there no dissenters from truth as well as from error?-Colton's Laconics.

DULL SCHOOLBOYS.-The child is not always the father of the man in scholastic successes. Scott avowed himself "no apt scholar," and as infinitely more indebted to Aunt Jenny than to the High School for his "bent of mind." Pope declared that he had lost at Twyford the learning gained from his old uncle the priest. Gibbon took two years to rise to the third form. Johnson and Mackintosh confess they should never have learned Latin if it had not been "whipped into them;" and Sir John Hunter, who, as a laird's son, was privileged to learn the classics at Glasgow, was so slow that the attempt was relinquished as a failure. The head of his class at school so often turns out a very mediocre specimen of intellectuality in the world, that we are in danger of imagining that men have become great_in spite of their "classical education," rather than through its aid.—New Quarterly Review.

DISTINGUISHED MEN ALWAYS HARD-WORKERS.-When we read the lives of distinguished men in any department, we find them almost always celebrated for the amount of labour they could perform. Demosthenes, Julius Cæsar, Henry the Fourth of France, Lord Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, Franklin, Washington, Napoleon-different as they were in their intellectual and moral qualities were all renowned as hard-workers. We read how many days they could support the fatigues of a march; how early they rose; how late they watched; how many hours they spent in the field, in the cabinet, in the court; how many secretaries they kept employed: in short, how hard they worked.-Everett's Discourse.

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ADVICE TO PARENTS.-Oh! be ever gentle with the children God has given you; watch them constantly; reprove them earnestly, but not in anger. In the forcible language of Scripture, "Be not bitter against them.” Yes, they are good boys," I once heard a kind father say, "I talk to them pretty much, but I do not like to beat my children-the world will beat them." It was a beautiful thought, though not elegantly expressed. Yes, there is not one child in the circle round your table, healthful and happy as they look on whose head, if long spared, the storm will not beat. Adversity may wither them, sickness cause them fade, a cold world frown on them; but amid all, let memory carry them back to a home where the law of kindness reigned, where the mother's reproving eye was moistened with a tear, and the father frowned "more in sorrow than in anger." ."—Recollections of Childhood.

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DEATH.-It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little child, perhaps the one is as painful as the other. He that dies in an earnest pursuit is like one that is wounded in hot blood, who, for the time, scarce feels the hurt: and, therefore, a mind fixed and bent upon somewhat that is good, doth avert the dolours of death. But, above all, believe it, the sweetest canticle is "Nunc dimittis," when a man hath obtained worthy ends and expectations. Death hath this, also-that it openeth the gate of fame, and extinguisheth envy.-Bacon.

PRAYER-A GOOD ONE.-Agar said, "Give me neither poverty nor riches;" and this will ever be the prayer of the wise. Our incomes should be like our shoes; if too small, they will gall and pinch us; but, if too large, they will cause us to stumble and to trip. But wealth after all is a relative thing, since he that hath little, and wants less, is richer than he that has much, but wants more. True contentment depends, not upon what we have, but upon what we would have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander.-Colton's Laconics.

THE PRESENT MOMENT.-There is no moment like the present; not only so, but, moreover, there is no moment at all, that is, no instant force and energy, but in the present. The man who will not execute his resolutions when they are fresh upon him, can have no hope for them afterwards; they will be dissipated, lost, and perish in the hurry and skurry of the world, or sunk in the slough of indolence.-Self-Culture.

THE DIAL OF AHAZ.-In one of the late numbers of the Athenæum, there occurs a summary of a very interesting paper, which has been read before the Asiatic Society by Mr. J. W. Bosanquet, "On the going back of the Shadow upon the Dial of Ahaz, in the reign of Hezekiah, King of Judah." Omitting the chronological questions discussed in the first division of this memoir, the result of which is to fix the invasion of Judæa by Sennacherib at the close of the year 690 B.C., the next object of Mr. Bosanquet's inquiry was, whether any astronomical fact occurred about that time which could have caused the shadow to go "ten degrees backwards." The author showed that, in the judgment of Hebraists, the precise meaning of the world translated" sun-dial" of Ahaz, is "degrees" or steps of Ahaz, as is also noticed in the margin of the authorised version of the Bible; and further, that in the earliest Targum, as well as in the work of an early Byzantine writer, statements occur to the effect, that Ahaz had built steps which would show the time of day. By argument, illustrated by diagrams, Mr. Bosanquet proceeded to prove that any very large partial eclipse, almost but not quite total, on the northern limb of the sun, occurring about ten, or a few more days from the winter solstice, and near the hour of noon, would produce the effect described by Isaiah, and in the Book of Kings, upon such steps as appear to have been used for exhibiting the sun's meridional altitude. Now, according to the calculation of Mr. Airey, such an eclipse as that required did occur at the very time deduced from the chronological hypothesis, viz., on the 11th of January, fourteen days subsequent to the winter solstice of 690 B.C.; but one difficulty occurs, in that the Astronomer Royal calculates the time of the central eclipse at Jerusalem to have been soon after eleven o'clock, which is too early for the phenomenon on the steps to have been produced. Mr. Adams, however, holds that, as the received secular variation of the moon is slightly erroneous, the eclipse in question might, perhaps, be advanced half-an-hour, but inclines to the belief that the error is not quite so large; he, however, hopes to arrive at more exact results, which he will communicate to the public through the author of this paper. Thus, although some uncertainty yet remains on the subject, Mr. Bosanquet fairly thinks he has shown it to be in the highest degree probable that this phenomenon of the going back of the shadow on the dial of Ahaz was dependent upon the solar eclipse which took place in the year 689 B.C.; and that this is the actual date of the thirteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah.

The Grabe.

[FROM THE GERMAN OF SEEWIS.]
THE grave it is deep and soundless,
And canopied over with clouds;
And trackless, and dim, and boundless,
Is the unknown land that it shrouds.

In vain may the nightingales warble
Their songs-the roses of love

And friendship grow white on the marble
The living have reared above.

The virgin bereft at her bridal

Of him she has loved, may weep;

The wail of the orphan is idle

It breaks not the buried one's sleep.

Yet everywhere else shall mortals
For peace unavailingly roam-
Except through the shadowy portals,
Goeth none to his genuine home!

And the heart that tempest and sorrow
Hath beaten against for years,

Must look for a sunnier morrow
Beyond this temple of tears.

The Sure Refuge.

"Thou shalt not be afraid for the pestilence that walketh in darkness.”

It is the joyous season, when the year
Fulfils the promise of the early Spring,

And Autumn hastes, in Summer's open hand
The rich ripe fruits to fling.

There is no cloud upon the peaceful skies;
Warmly the sunbeams wrap the flowery plain,
And in the fields the breeze is gently waving
The heavy golden grain.

But in the light there is a shadow walking,

Making the sunshine dark beneath its gloom

Leading from the fair homes where health was smiling,

Down to the lonely tomb.

Parting from a dear friend some happy morning,

We hope to meet when the bright day is o'er;
But ere the evening a sad message telleth

The loved one is no more.

Or in the dewy twilight we may leave him,

And leave perchance some pleasant wish unsaid-
Going in haste to tell it on the morrow,

We find that he is dead.

Sad mourners crowd each other in the streets;
At every step we meet some funeral train-
And the low sigh of sympathy is breathed
With a deep sense of pain.

And we are stricken with a trembling fear;
A fainting sickness falleth on the heart-
A weight of terror, which we cannot bear,
Nor bid it hence depart.

Where shall I find a quiet hiding-place,
A refuge where I may securely flee,

And rest in safety till this hour is past?-
My God alone in Thee!

It is thy messenger, this pestilence;

Why should I tremble thus to hear Thy word?
I know I need not fear, but I am weak-

Spare thy weak child, O Lord!

Surround me with Thy favour as a shield;
Let me cling to Thee with a firmer hold.
Oh let me feel Thy strong protecting arm
Around me closer fold.

Here I am safe, no foe can harm me now:
Though the dark river part me from my home,
Yet may I walk above the waters, when
Thou, Lord, dost bid me come.

What can I any more desire to know,

Than this Almighty Love that I am Thine;

And strength, and light, and life I must possess,
If Thou art only mine.

For Thou art God, and in Thee all things are,
And unto Thee all blessing aye belongs-

Our Maker, who can give us day, or cheer

The silent night with songs.

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Printed at 62 Argyle Street, by WILLIAM RANKIN, residing at 35 Charlotte Street, and Published by ROBERT STARK, at 33 Glassford Street; all in the Parish of Glasgow.

Sketch of the Rev. Brewin Grant, B. J.

FROM THE "ROCHDALE SENTINEL."

THE subject of our sketch is probably well known by name to the majority of our readers. He has been engaged during the present week in delivering three lectures at the Corn Exchange, Manchester, on the new phase of Infidelity called Secularism, in reply to the arguments of its chief advocates. The lectures were well attended. The audience on all three occasions consisted almost wholly of working men. We have rarely seen a speaker followed with deeper interest. His remarks told with very powerful effect. For full two hours his addresses, racy, witty, sarcastic, and convincing, were listened to with unflagging attention, relieved at intervals by hearty applause. Believing, as we do, that the spread of atheistic views is fraught with the utmost peril to the interests of the commonwealth, which are necessarily bound up with those of religion, we cannot but rejoice that they have found an antagonist who is endowed with the very talents which are requisite to unmask their sophistry, and hold them up to the scorn of the people.

Ministers of religion are often reluctant to meet the advocates of infidelity upon the platform, and the feeling is not without some measure of justification. Christianity has stood its ground for eighteen centuries, and is too old a veteran to take notice of every vapouring puppy who may aspire to win a little prestige by essaying a passage at arms. If it is, as it claims to be, eternal truth, it can well afford to let its assailants exhaust, without interruption, their small stock of enmity and ingenuity. The chief motive to an opposite course is supplied by the apprehension that error may do much damage before it confutes itself. This is true, but perhaps still greater damage would flow from an eager haste to confute it. When we know that our doors and windows are well bolted and barred, we can lie down to rest in peace. To sit on the watch all night would betray a suspicion that our defences are weak. If the appearance of an infidel lecturer were to be made the signal for a general onslaught by every Christian who can make a speech or write a pamphlet, the impression would probably be-"These men are in a sad fright about their principles; the jeopardy must be real." Besides, it must be remembered, that platform declamation is no test of truth. Oratory on the platform is much more a question of smartness than of principle. But though we are not among those who censure ministers of religion for their reluctance to engage in platform discussions with the advocates of infidelity, we admit the nuisance which such a course will occasion, if persevered in too long. Mr. Holyoake has imputed the silence of the clergy to their fears, forgetting that confidence or contempt would produce the same result, and has gone everywhere proclaiming himself a champion they dared not encounter. It was high time to put a stop to this nuisance, and Mr. Grant has done it most effectually. He has sought every opportunity of meeting Mr. Holyoake, or any other antagonist [of note], and when an opportunity for open discussion has been denied, he has tracked the steps of the recusant, addressed the same audiences, argued the question on the same grounds, and generally with the happiest results.

Mr. Grant is quite at home in controversy. Its dust and heat have no terrors for him. The hotter the furnace waxes, the more comfortable he appears. He can lecture well under the most pacific circumstances, but an assailant is necessary to put him quite at ease. Nature made him an intellectual pugilist, and he has improved upon her gifts, by very careful training. He carries all sorts of weapons, both offensive and defensive; a keen Damascus blade for those who are worthy of it, and a stout heavy mallet for wooden heads. His fire-arms are revolvers, each charged with half-a-dozen balls; the first discharge may end with a flash, or the ball may miss the mark, but no matter, three or four more follow in as many seconds, so that a thousand to one if he does not floor his man. In addition to these weapons for disposing of materials more or less solid, he carries about with him a pleasant

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