raised to her praise, or crushed beneath the ponderous car upon which she sits enthroned. Around her, dying cries and agonizing, shrieks mingle with loud acclamations and frantic songs; her look withers the country and depopulates the city.

This is Natural Religion, and not as she came from the hands of God, the witness of his eternal power and Godhead; but as she is deformed by the passions of men, and debased by their corruptions; not as "the image of the invisible Creator," but as the idol of the fallen and depraved creature. Yes, this is Natural Religion, stained with gore, and foul with crimes; not depicted by fancy, but demonstrated by facts, - by facts drawn from all climes and from all generations.

But Reason was to have rectified these errors; Reason was to sit supreme, enshrined in the light of Natural Religion, the arbitress of human destinies. To her was intrusted the key of knowledge, to unlock and dispense the riches of the universe. She was to be the architect, rearing a structure of happiness and of virtue, under which man should repose, and a temple of religion, in which he should worship. She was to be the polar star, upon which fixing a steady eye, he might safely sail over the stormy sea of life, and find a port of rest at last. But the light of the star is obscured; the plans of the architect are marred; the key of knowledge is mislaid; the arbitress of man's fate is dethroned.

How is it she has lost her high prerogative, and suffered her authority to be overthrown? How is it that she has fallen from her pinnacle of glory? She was beguiled by sense. "The invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made: His eternal power also and Divinity." But when men became vain in

their imaginations, their foolish heart was darkened; and professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. But Philosophy is to restore the reign of Natural Religion, of reason, of conscience, and of virtue. Were Greece and Rome, then, barbarians? Were they ignorant of philosophy? or was the experiment not made? It was not in a desert, surrounded by savages, but in the centre of Athens, encircled by philosophers, that Paul stood amidst the monuments and upon a mount of idolatry,

although a court, and the highest court of justice, evincing how closely allied the civil government was with their debasing superstitions, and pointed to an altar inscribed:-"To the unknown God."

Such is the true character of every altar which reason and philosophy, and Natural Religion, unaided by revelation, have raised, although all do not bear the same inscription. These are the altars which the missionary of the Gospel is hastening to overthrow, to plant the cross in their place, and to proclaim to the poor idolater: "What, therefore, you worship, without knowing it, that I preach to you.”

And is it not to men like these, the mighty minds of departed ages, who sought after truth, but missed it, because they lacked the guiding ray of revelation, --- is it not to men like these that infidels of the present day appeal, acknowledging them as masters, and adopting their systems, - men who, if they now lived, would be ashamed of their professed scholars? If, among such men, Natural Religion, and reason, and conscience, and philosophy, all proved an unequal guard against the passions of a corrupt nature, and a guide, absolutely insufficient through the mazes of ignorance, to the throne of God, if, in such hands, the grand experiment altogether failed, what further pretensions have modern

philosophers, the opposers of revelation, to advance? They will not dare to tell you that it has been denied either time or space; it has been made nearly six thousand years, from the fall of man to the present time,it has been made by the intellectual giants of the olden time. They will not dare to tell you that the results have ever been different from those which we have stated. They will not dare to deny, that such is, at this moment, the aggregate of the experiment now trying, among all states, whether savage or civilized, which revelation has not reached.

I disdain to contrast the intellectual and moral influence of Christianity, wherever it extends, with the scenes of horror and degradation to which I have alluded; but I demand of infidel opponents to explain, if they can, by what fatality, or by what chance, it occurs, that their efforts to elevate the moral condition of man have never succeeded, and that those of Christianity have never failed.

COMPOSITION.

Copy third and fourth paragraphs. Then answer the following questions: (a) How does Natural Religion treat children? (b) Tell the part of the New Testament where St. Paul speaks of the altar "to the unknown God." (c) Name six "intellectual giants" of the olden time.

Memorize:

orb

"Let us ask these martyrs,* then, these monarchs of the East,
Who are sitting now in heaven at their Saviour's endless feast,
To get us faith from Jesus, and, hereafter, faith's bright home,
And day and night to thank him for the glorious faith of Rome."

obscenities

rectified

acknowledging

depopulates enshrined pretensions

handiwork

incorruptible debased

The three kings.

experiment alluded

LINES ON A SKELETON.

BEHOLD this ruin! Twas a skull,

Once of ethereal spirit full.

This narrow cell was Life's retreat,
This space was Thought's mysterious seat.
What beauteous visions filled this spot.
What dreams of pleasure long forgot.
Nor Hope, nor Love, nor Joy, nor Fear,
Have left one trace of record here.

Beneath this mouldering canopy
Once shone the bright and busy eye;
But, start not at the dismal void
If social Love that eye employed,

If with no lawless fire it gleamed,

But through the dews of kindness beamed, That eye shall be forever bright

When stars and suns are sunk in night.

Within this hollow cavern hung

The ready, swift, and tuneful tongue.
If Falsehood's honey it disdained,

And where it could not praise, was chained;
If bold in Virtue's cause it spoke,

Yet gentle Concord never broke,

This silent tongue shall plead for thee

When Time unveils Eternity.

Say, did these fingers delve the mine?

Or with its envied rubies shine?
To hew the rock, or wear the gem,
Can little now avail to them.
But if the page of Truth they sought,
Or comfort to the mourner brought,
These hands a richer meed shall claim
Than all that wait on Wealth or Fame.

Avails it whether bare or shod.
These feet the paths of duty trod?
If from the bowers of Ease they fled,
To seek Affliction's humble shed,
If Grandeur's guilty bribe they spurned,
And home to Virtue's cot returned,

These feet with angels' wings shall vie,
And tread the palace of the sky.

Questions: What is a ruin? Why is the skull a ruin? What are found in ruins? What was once in this skull? Mention some ethereal things. What is a retreat? Name some favored American retreats. What kind of visions fill youthful heads, and older ones? Are any left? Where are canopies seen? Name some you have seen. What shone from out

this canopy? What use must we make of our eyes? What will then be our reward? Where is the cavern? What use should we make of our tongue? What good things say? What evil avoid? What will be the result? How can "fingers shine with envied rubies"? What is all the same to those fingers now? How can our hands "comfort the mourner"? What society in the Catholic Church does this? What are "bowers of Ease"? How may we seek "Affliction's humble shed"? What is meant by "Grandeur's guilty bribe"? How will the feet of the just vie with angels' wings?

A TERRIBLE FIFTY MINUTES.

IN August, 1859, I arrived at Chamounix with one of my friends, a traveller like myself. For about five weeks we had been exploring Switzerland, so that we had plenty of time to get used to snow and glaciers. We had made several ascents, one of 14,000 feet.

We had ascended the Brévent, and we now had only the Mer de Glace and the Jardin to visit. We slept