and accomplished,-spurning that old expectant system which David illustrated so exquisitely in one of his most familiar psalms, "I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me and heard my calling," they are ever adopting a sort of heroic practice for bring their projects to an issue. They would almost seem to be jealous lest the Almighty himself should get the start of them in effecting his purposes of mercy, justice and love, among the children of men. They aim at all re: formation in the condition of their fellowbeings, as if mere earthly and temporal inferiority and infirmity and suffering were the only evils worthy of consideration, as if there were no world but this world for the grievances of humanity to be redressed in, and nobody to redress those grievances but weak and impotent

man.

Coming to consider the daily walks of men of business, Mr. Winthrop commented in turn upon the mercantile, the professional and the literary classes in these earnest words

Turn with me now, once more, for a moment, to the business affairs of daily life, and tell me if here, also, there be not manifest need of a more Christian spirit, and of a higher and deeper sense of Christian duty and obligation. Do not the hourly transactions of a great commercial emporium, (not to speak particularly or invidiously of our own,) afford ample proof, as they pass under review in the columns of a morning or an evening paper, that more, a great deal more, of religious principle might fitly find a place in every department of human occupation? Look at the fluctuation of stocks and at the operations of some of those who thrive upon their rise and fall; consider the contrivances of the moneychangers, as they lie in wait to take advantage of the exigencies of the needy; follow the footsteps of a hundred speculators as they rush along in a wild pursuit of wealth for themselves, while they care not for involving their neighbours in ruin; reflect on the wretchedness and crime so often engendered by practices, compared with which the hugging of real bears and the goring of real bulls would be merciful towards their miserable dupes; mark the multiplying instances of embezzlement and defalcation, or recall the stupendous frauds, which have startled whole communities from the slumber of false confidence in which they had hitherto so fatally reposed, and into which, alas! a new penal statute, or an increased detective police, or a more frequent investigation of

books and balances, emboldens them so soon to relapse!

Passing from the Exchange, enter next the very halls of justice, and observe some of the processes for punishing crime, or for establishing right between man and man. Do not confine your attention, either to the prisoner at the bar, or to the parties to the suit. Attend to the witnesses; hearken to the jury; listen to the advocates themselves, and take note of the mode of cross-examination, and to the arguments and appeals of counsel. Is there all the old confidence that there is no trifling with oaths, no tampering with testimony, no systematic concealment or distortion of truth, no wholesale fabrication of falsehood, in the management of modern trials? Is there not even room for the apprehension that the contests of the Bar, in some parts of the country, if not here, are degenerating into mere struggles for personal success or pecuniary profit or professional triumph? and that the great competition among advocates will soon be-which of them can most successfully confound and brow-beat a witness, so as to make him seem to say what he never did say, or intend to say, or which of them can put forth the most cunningly devised fable for cajoling a jury into a verdict against both the law and the evidence?

It were almost a waste of time to point you to the Press, in this connection, with a view to enforce or illustrate the idea, that nowhere is a more Christian spirit so sadly needed as in the management of that tremendous engine for moral good or evil. In that little book, called "Bonifacius, or Essays to do Good," to the accidental reading of which our great Bostonian (Benjamin Franklin) ascribed so much of his usefulness in after-life, Cotton Mather quaintly enjoins upon his readers, that they should have a strict eye kept upon children, that "they should not stumble upon the Devil's Library, and poison themselves with foolish romances or novels, or plays or songs, or jests that are not convenient." And if such a caution were needed in New England a century and a half ago, when neither the Devil nor Dr. Faustus had found much of a foothold on our soil,-when the Printer's Devil, certainly, was confined within a very narrow circuit in our part of the world, and libraries and books and newspapers of any sort were as rare as they are now redundant,-how much more need is there of such a caution in our own times, when the Devil's Library is to be found, dog-cheap, at every corner of our streets, soliciting the attention of every passer-by by its proverbial brimstone-coloured covers! For one, I hardly recognize a greater danger to our religious or

our civil institutions, than that which comes from the sapping and mining process of a flippant, frivolous, licentious, and infidel literature. It is a danger inseparable from a country where free opinion, free discussion, and a free press are enjoyed, and the only defence or safeguard which can be contemplated for it, is in the inculcation of a deeper sense of moral and Christian responsibility upon the minds and hearts of our writers and publishers, prompting and pressing home upon their consciences some higher questions, as to their own compositions, or their own publications, than simply, Will they create a sensation ?--Will they sell? It is a hopeless undertaking to shut out from the sight of our readers, young or old, whatever is written and published. The very warning stimulates the curiosity; the very prohibition strengthens the temptation and points the way to the indulgence. Bible Societies, and Tract Societies, and Sunday-School Unions may do something towards diluting them,---I rejoice that they are doing so much,--but these poisonous and pestilent streams can only be effectually counteracted at their spring-head. Marah must be healed at its source. The miracle of Moses must be repeated, and it is only the righteous branch which was raised up unto David, which can make those bitter waters sweet.

Following immediately upon the above, in the printed address, is this lofty reproof of Mr. Henry Thomas Buckle, who is placed in most disparaging antagonism with the great author of "Cosmos," over whose bier two continents have so recently mingled their tears.

I cannot wholly omit in this connection, as a fresh evidence of what may be feared from intellectual presumption and literary pride and the temptations of genius, -that the learned author of one of the most remarkable productions of the English press at the present day, has not hesitated to advance the monstrous doctrine that Christianity has done nothing for civilization, and that "the religion of mankind is the effect of their improvement, not the cause of it!" How refreshing is it, in contrast with such a doctrine, to turn to what has been said by the greatest living minister of science, the Nestor of Natural History, in closing a chapter of his "Cosmos": "In depicting a great epoch in the history of the world,-that of the Empire of the Romans and the laws which they originated, and of the beginning of the Christian religion, (says the illustrious Humboldt,) it was fitting that I should, before all things, recall the manner in

which Christianity enlarged the views of mankind, and exercised a mild, and enduring, although slowly operating, influence on intelligence and civilization."

But what do you think, my friends, is one of the illustrations which this more recent writer affords us of his own ideas of Christianity and religion? Nothing less than an expression of scorn that any intelligent congregation of worshippers should be so blind to the inexorable laws of the physical universe, as to be found offering up prayers for dry weather or for wet weather!"

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A supplication to our Father in Heaven that the clouds may once more drop down their dews, to be expunged from our Liturgies, as a vain and foolish superstition!

"Oh, star-eyed Science, hast thou wandered there,

To bring us back the tidings of despair!"

A supplication to Almighty God for rain, by a people perishing from drought, a thing to be derided!

So, doubtless, thought that messenger boy, nearly two thousand years ago, who was sent forward to look toward the sea, while the old Prophet was prostrating himself in prayer, with his face between his knees, upon the top of Carmel. So, doubtless, thought that messenger boy, when again and again, even a fifth and a sixth time, he returned and replied, "There is nothing, there is nothing.--there is nothing." But that man of God knew in whom he had trusted. He never despaired of the efficacy of prayer even for rain. And lo, the seventh time, the little cloud was seen rising out of the sea, like a man's hand, and soon the heavens were black with clouds and wind, and there was a great storm. Even Ahab was compelled to admit that there was something of a shower, and hastened to betake himself to his chariots lest the floods should overwhelm him. And if any one of you, my young friends, finds the memory of that sublime narrative growing faint within him, go and listen to it, whenever you have another opportunity, in its magnificent rendering by Mendelssohn, in the great Oratorio of Elijah, and if you are not unblessed with a total insensibility to the power of music, you will find every chord of your heart trembling and thrilling and vibrating in rapturous response to that almost incomparable chorus,-"Thanks be to God, he laveth the thirsty land."

We can make but one more extract from this admirable Address. This refers to the unwarrantable admission of Paley that

the Christian and the Heroic character were at variance with each other. It will be recollected that this point was argued before the Young Men's Christian Association of Richmond with great ability by the Hon. W. C. Rives in reply to the assumption of Soame Jenyns that courage was not an element of the Christian character. Mr. Winthrop thus warmly defends the heroism of the followers of the Cross

No two things more different than the Heroic and the Christian character! I will not pause to ask where was Paley's remembrance of those earlier and later martyrs of Christianity, who submitted themselves without flinching to the fury of the lions or the raging of the flames. Was there no heroism there? I will not pause to ask where was his remembrance of Stephen or of Paul, of Ridley or of Latimer, of Cranmer, thrusting his right hand into the fire that it might be burned to cinders first and alone, because it had offended by writing a recantation of the truth, or of poor Lady Jane Grey, whose unshaken constancy to the cause of Christ has stirred the sympathy of so many hearts, and drawn tears from so many eyes, during the more than three centuries which have elapsed since her youthful form was laid upon the block. Was there no heroism there? I will not pause to suggest that the profound and eloquent moralist has pressed his contrast to an extreme, in speaking of the Christian character as ever necessarily "poor-spirited, tame, and abject," in the reproachful sense in which those epithets would now be understood. Let me rather ask again, is this discouraging and fearful contrast one of perpetual necessity? Is it written irrevocably in the book of destiny, that quick and jealous and quarrelsome men, inflexible in purpose, and violent in resentment, are forever to be the favourites of the world, are always to be the great men of the world? Is it written unchangeably in the book of destiny, that those who figure on the pages of history are to know nothing of religion, to believe nothing of religion, and to be actuated by motives more impetuous than any which religion can excite? I fear that not a few of those who aspire to be the great men of the world, even in this day and generation, may have shaped their course upon such an hypothesis. But have there not been those already, who seem to have risen up-to have been raised up, let me rather say to change the standard of human greatness, and who have changed it, since these passages were composed by

Paley, more than sixty years ago? Are there no figures even in our own American history, which lift themselves majestically before us as we speak, to attest the possibility that there may be such a thing as ingrafting the Christian character upon the Heroic character, and blending them into an harmonious and matchless unity? Shall we admit that the character of Washington was anything less than heroic, anything other than Christian? Was there no union of the Heroic and the Christian character in the youthful Kane, braving those repeated winters of disease and darkness in those "thrilling regions of thick-ribb'd ice," ever offering up his little prayer "Lord, accept our gratitude and bless our undertaking," or "Return us to our homes,"-and still reminding his despairing comrades how often an Unseen Rower had rescued them in peril, and admonishing them still to place reliance on Him who could not change!

Cross the ocean, too, and gather with your Saxon brethren around the tomb of the brave Sir Henry Lawrence, or the lamented Havelock, or the youthful Vicars, or unite in the homage which is everywhere paid to those lovely, living Sisters of Charity, with Florence Nightingale at their head, braving those burning climes, and breathing that tainted air, while they ministered to the bodies and the souls of those dying soldiers,—and tell me whether these are not examples which will illuminate the brightest pages of modern history, or of any history; and bear perpetual testimony that the highest heroism is no longer incompatible with the truest Christianity!

In dismissing this noble discourse we may take occasion to say to persons at a distance who would like to procure copies of it, that it is for sale in Richmond by Mr. James Woodhouse, who will be glad to fill any orders that may be sent to him.

The two new Southern weeklies, the Courant and the Field and Fireside, have entered fully upon the career of literary journalism, and have already justified the commendation we bestowed upon them in advance of their appearance. Mr. Caldwell has fulfilled all the promises of his Prospectus, and his paper must surely win its way to the favour of those, at the North or at the South, who appreciate thoughtful criticism, tender poetry and pleasant story-telling. Mr. Mann, in the

interest in the affairs of "The Virginia Company" for the colonization of America, an invitation has been extended to this people of the United States to join in the pious undertaking. A similar invitation in behalf of the Memorial Window to Wordsworth in the church at Rydal Mount, some years ago, resulted in a handsome contribution from literary men on this side of the Atlantic, and we cannot doubt that there are many persons in our country, who have been touched and soothed by some of George Herbert's tender Hymns, to whom it will be a privilege to unite in the testi

monial to which we have referred. Among those who have signified their approval of it in America, we may mention Prof. Longfellow, Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Hon. John P. Kennedy, Rev. Dr. Wm. Bacon Stevens, George L. Duyckinck and the Rev. A. Cleveland Coxe. Subscriptions should be sent, on or before the tenth day of November next, to Messrs. Duncan, Sherman & Co. of New York, who will acknow. ledge receipts, and forward the funds to England with the names of subscribers, and the amount of each subscription.

LOVE. ("L'Amour.") From the French of M. J. Michelet. Translated from the Fourth Paris Edition by J. W. PALMER, M.D. New York: Rudd & Carlton, 130 Grand Street. 1859. [From James Woodhouse & Co., 139 Main Street.

We had occasion, last month, to notice a highly entertaining original work by Dr. J. W. Palmer, and we are now presented with a volume which he has translated from the French of no less brilliant a writer than the historian Michelet. We have not seen the work in its native idiom, and all we can say, therefore, of the translation is, that it seems to be very faithfully and accurately performed. The question arises, was it worth while to make it? Candidly we think not. That Michelet is a man of rare intellectual qualities is undeniable. But when a Frenchman writes of the affections, of home, of the family circle, we doubt if his lucubrations are likely to profit English readers. M. Michelet's "L'Amour" may be adapted to France, (though not exactly to that class of whom Mr. Field speaks in the chapter we have given in preceding pages of this number of the Messenger,) but Heaven forfend that his "Love" should be the love which throws its silken bonds around devoted hearts in England or America. With many glaring faults of style, the book seems to us made up in equal parts of cold materialism and high-flown sentiment, by which

we are alternately disgusted and amused, while the exposure made in it of some of the most sacred mysteries of life is wellnigh appalling. We trust it will find but a small acceptance at the hands of the American public.

THE NEW AMERICAN CYCLOPÆDIA. A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge. Edited by GEORGE RIPLEY and CHARLES A. DANA. Volume VI. Cough-Education. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1859. [From J. W. Randolph, 121 Main Street.

This valuable work has now reached its sixth volume, and begun to afford the literary man much of the assistance which he has a right to expect of the complete series. Within the alphabetical range so far embraced by it, we think a more excellent compendium of knowledge can hardly be found in the English language. Of the articles contained in the volume now before us we may mention, as worthy of special praise, those on Cromwell, Cuvier, Dante, Edinburgh, and the concluding one on Education. A considerable amount of undiscerning censure has been bestowed on this important undertaking in certain quarters, but we think the critics have not been able to shake public confidence in the work, nor have they, so far as we have