for the manifestation of religious excellence, how does the training of our youth correspond with this idea? What united, and systematic, and enlightened course of instruction do our children pass through, to educate them for usefulness in this world, and for salvation hereafter? We fear no satisfactory answer can be given to these very important questions. Something is done-let us grant a good deal, in some instances, is done for the religious instruction of our children; but the distance between us and the point which might without difficulty be reached is yet immense, and it is with a very faltering purpose that that distance is being lessened. We divide our may children into several bands:There is, first, those who are receiving a thoroughly excellent religious education. The parents of such children are deeply in earnest with them; and, far from chaining down their minds to the rigidities of a mere formula, their instructions are impregnated with spiritual life; and, with sanctified intelligence, they endeavour to make all the precious lessons and motives of scripture to bear upon the hearts of their dear children.

This class is not, however, very numerous. They are not confined to any one section of the community, but are found both among the rich and the poor, the learned and the illiterate; but withal their numbers are small, and they stand out among us as bright patterns of what we may all become, but, at the same time, as gentle monitors of our neglect.

A much larger class are those children whose education, though not neglected, is indifferently attended to.

The parent is sincere in his attempts to instruct his children; but we cannot but wonder at the strange methods which he adopts, and at the little influence which his experience of the world and his own heart, and of the power of the truth, have had

on the tone of his religious instructions. Good is done by his lessons, however defective; but how much more valuable would they become, were they divested of their hard formality, and the trumpet of the gospel blown with the heart-stirring energy of one whose pulses leaped at its glorious strains.

But perhaps a still larger class than either of the two already mentioned, are the children of the indifferent. The parents of these children may not positively neglect their religious instruction, but neither do they habitually attend to it. It is attended to on Sabbath evenings, if nothing else comes in the way; but sometimes it is an evening sermon, at other times the call of a friend, and at other times a very trifling complaint, which ever and anon jostle aside the holy lessons of religion; and what instructions are communicated, are mainly for the purpose of satisfying an uneasy conscience, and the Bible or Catechism is thrown aside, with a scarce disguised satisfaction that the work is over. We are prepared to say, from a somewhat extended observation, that the numbers of this class are very considerable; and that a large body of baptized children, neither at home nor at Sabbath-school, are receiving a religious education at all sufficient for their wants as ignorant and perishing souls.

Further, a large number of those, especially of the third class we have mentioned, are receiving their religious education at other schools rather than those of our own church. Simply, because we have not cared for our own young, they have wandered, some to this school, and some to that, but beyond our superintendence, and are receiving instruction, which may, often is, very excellent, but which is sometimes very defective, and which, at all events, it was our duty to supply. This evil we have reason to believe, during the last five

years, has much abated, but it is still a crying sin.

May we suggest what might be tried to remedy these evils? We would suggest, then, 1st, that ministers might bring the duty of " training up their children in the way they should go" more pointedly before the attention of their congregations; and lay out in ampler detail the nature of a good religious education.

We

2d, Ministers might be more frequently in their Sabbath schools. The influence of an earnest minister in a Sabbath school is incalculable. Teachers and scholars are alike impressed by it, and almost invariably those are the best schools in which the pastor is most often found. Many ministers are deterred from entering their Sabbath schools, by the idea that, if they go at all, they must become superintendent. do not think this is the province of the minister at all. Let all the mechanical parts of the service be delegated to other hands. Let only the minister be found during some portion of the meeting in the school to watch its progress, become familiar with the teachers and children, and give a general impulse to all that is going forward, and a new spirit would shine out from all these little congregations of the young.

3d, Care might be taken to have all the children of the church at the Sabbath-school of the congregation. The elder, with the roll book in his

hand, might, at a given age, require the attendance of the children, or receive a satisfactory excuse. One thing ought not to be omitted, to ascertain by actual investigation that they are well taught somewhere.

4th, Means might be taken to circulate among the members fresh information as to improved methods of teaching. There are a number of periodicals and systems of lessons prepared for Sabbath teachers, but these are equally necessary and useful for the parents. A person, in becoming a parent, does not necessarily become all at once an efficient teacher, and it derogates from a parent's influence, when the child is forced involuntarily to contrast the awkward lessons of the fireside with the interesting instruction of the school.

Other suggestions might be made; these may suffice for the present, but we would earnestly urge upon all the members of the church, with our ministers and elders, to make a thorough examination of the actual situation of each child in the congregation-to remember the immortal destinies before them, and that for these children, by their connexion with the church, God has in some measure made them responsible, and never to relax their efforts in advancing the religious education of their children, while there are any untaught to be reclaimed, or any heights of perfection to which they may attain. J. J.

THE capture of the ark of God by the Philistines was a heavy calamity to the Israelites. When the tidings of it were brought to Eli, he could not survive the stroke. As a patriot, his heart was wounded when he was told "Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been a great

slaughter among the people." Who can tell the anguish of his soul when it was added, "Thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead?" But when it was further told him, "and the ark of God is taken," fell from off the seat backward, by the side of the gate, and his neck

""he

broke, and he died." His daughterin-law, when she heard the same tidings, was more affected by the thought of Israel's desolation than of her own widowhood, and said, "as her soul was in departing-for she died"—"The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken."

The ark was in captivity, "in the country of the Philistines, seven months." During that period the Lord grievously afflicted the cities of Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron whither the ark of God was carried: SO that "the Philistines called for the priests and diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the Lord?" They directed them "to give glory unto the God of Israel," and to take the ark of the Lord, and to put jewels of gold as a trespass offering, in a coffer, by the side thereof, and send it away," and they did

So.

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The return of the ark was welcomed with joy and gratitude. "They of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it . . . and they offered burnt-offerings and sacrifices the same day unto the Lord." But their joy was soon turned into mourning, by reason of the trespass of the people, and the swift destruction with which it was visited. "He smote the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the people fifty thousand, and threescore and ten men; and the people lamented because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter." The number said to have been smitten, and supposed to have been slain, has occasioned considerable difficulty. Beth-shemesh, although styled "a city of Judah," was not possessed of that extent and gran

deur which we associate with the

city." It partook rather of the character of a village; and, if so,

then the number before us is surely overcharged. The fact of an error in our reading is generally admitted; but the extent of the error, and the mode of correcting it, are points on which great diversity of opinion exists. We may mention four different views taken of the passage. (1). Some retain the number, but do not suppose they were smitten to death; but that they were visited by some epidemic, which, beginning at Bethshemesh, extended through the country, until this great multitude was afflicted. (2). Some suppose the number to be "five thousand, threescore and ten," for which rendering they plead the Syrian and Arabic versions. (3). Others read “ one thousand one hundred three score and ten," which they obtain by the arrangement of the various numerals in the order in which they stand in the original,

(4). Others again regard "threescore and ten" as the true number, for which Dr Kennicott claims the warrant of three Hebrew MSS., and the authority of Josephus, who thus describes the event," Now it was, that the wrath of God overtook them, and struck seventy persons of the village of Beth-shemesh dead, who, not being priests, and so not worthy to touch the ark, had approached it."

In regard to the first of these, it seems to be set aside by the fact, that "the smiting" is restricted to "the men of Beth-shemesh: " and the narrative naturally suggests the idea of an immediate and a deadly visitation. In regard to the second, the number (5070) is still too great for such a place as Beth-shemesh; especially since it was not desolated by the infliction. Indeed it would seem that they were only a portion-a small proportion-of its inhabitants who were destroyed; for it is added, "the people lamented, and the men of Beth-shemesh (not the remnant that

was left, as we might have expected to read; if the destruction had been well nigh complete), the men of Beth-shemesh said, who is able to stand, &c. The third view is ingenious-perhaps too ingenious. Even its numbers are improbably great. It requires, further, that the " fifty" should be translated fifties, or rather two fifties=100; whereas the plural form of the word is necessary to its being rendered "fifty"-the singular form being only "five." Besides, we have no sufficient authority for supposing, as it requires, that the lesser number was ever put before the greater the tens before the hundreds, and the hundreds before the thousands. This objection, by the way, lies equally against the common translation, for the threescore and ten is in the original the first numeral in the series, whereas in our translation it is the last. We seem then driven to some other view of the passage. Let us see whether that which reduces the number to seventy, can be maintained on the principles of honest interpretation. Even supposing that the three Hebrew MSS. to which Dr Kennicott refers, are overborne by those in favour of the common reading, and discarding Josephus as an authority, we do not think there is any great difficulty in reconciling it with the common reading; and there is no difficulty in so stating the case as to enable ordinary readers to judge of its merits. We have already hinted that in our translation the order of the terms in the original is inverted. The words as they stand

in the original are in this order, and are then literally translated, "seventy men fifty (a) thousand men." May we not, then, regard this as intimating at once the real and the relative numbers of those who were slain by the Lord?

It is no uncommon thing in announcing the great mortality of any visitation in a town or village, to mention not only the numbers who have died, but the proportion they bear to the entire population. Suppose a village with a population of 1400, and that of that number seventy are cut off by a sudden calamity, it would not be unnatural to describe it thus

"There were smitten seventy persons, five per cent-five in the hundred-of the whole population." Let us just suppose that Beth-shemesh was such a place, and that the destruction was seventy persons, that is just the rate referred to-five per cent, or fifty in a thousand: he smote of the people seventy men, fifty in a thousand.

This view seems recommended by its simplicity and consistency. It is not the less really an illustration of "the severity of God;" for it allows the visitation to have been co-extensive with the trespass. It leaves the solemnity of the inquiry undiminished,-"Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?" and we are still instructed by it to seek

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grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire." J.

ATHEISM AND INFIDELITY DETECTED.

THE necessity of applying epithets of opprobrious sound to any set of men, is a most unpleasant necessity; yet, how can an argument be conducted if apt designations must not be employed? Renouncing, then, all offensive intention, as well as unkind feeling, it must be said that there exists among us, and almost in the consolidated form of a distinct faction, what may fairly be called the infidel and atheistic party,a party powerful by its intelligence, and by its extensive possession of the periodic press (not to say its political influence). Fine distinctions and nice shades of opinion not regarded-and, amid the urgent affairs of life, they cannot be regardedthose must needs be called infidels who, notwithstanding a ceremonious bow to the worship of the land, invariably array themselves against every mode of positive religious belief. Nor, again, can we scruple to call those atheists who choose, on every occasion, to display their singular ingenuity, in exhibiting the fallacy of whatever evidence is advanced in proof of the being and perfections of God. Writers may say,

"Far be it from us to deny the existence of an intelligent first cause; nevertheless, this argument, and this, and this, usually urged by theologians in favour of the popular dogma, is manifestly inconclusive." A manly ingenuousness would assuredly exchange so thin a disguise for a candid avowal of disbelief.-Spir. Despotism.

APOSTLES STILL RULING THE CHURCH.

IN the collected epistles of the apostles, we can have more complete and abiding intercourse with them than any one church

could enjoy while they were still living. Their mind, in its fullest inspiration; their heaven-directed judgment, in the most difficult cases submitted to them; the light of their example, in their most perfect works of faith and labours of love, are, by these writings, diffused through the whole church, and can be made the common property and privilege of all its members. There is nonothing in the conduct, nothing even in thing in the government of the church, the heart, of its members, but may be brought at any time, at all times, to their searching words and inspired decisions. lived, but each one could employ only one They spake in many tongues while they tongue at one time. They speak more ferred, and speak in them all at the same tongues now than at Pentecost were contime. They ministered the word of Christ to many churches, as they travelled from place to place, while they lived. They minister that word now to all assemblies, however separated from each other by distance or language, as often as in such assemTimothy and Titus, and the elders of Epheblies they are read. They counselled sus and of many other places, while they lived. They counsel every devout and faithful minister of the church now; they walk with him in all his pastoral avocations; they furnish his study with the richest treasure, of which he is the steward; they direct him in all his difficulties, comfort him in all his trials, help and cheer him in all his labours. They stood not aloof, in official pomp and grandeur, from any of the flock while they were on earth. They have become the constant friends, the bosom companions, of all the instructed part of the flock now: they minister to