learns to manufacture sermons to pattern or plan, to measure out God by the theologian's rule, and to look at humanity through the coloured glasses of his sect. Two years of this training are considered sufficient to enable him to take his place among his brethren, and he goes forth with a very superficial knowledge of things, most frequently with false ideas of the dispositions and longings of men, and pretends to be a teacher. Thinking himself a very Paul, he now stands on the Mar's Hill of his little chapel, and cries aloud to all to repent; but, alas! few respond to his call. Still he labours on, preaching much on eternal torments and the power of the devil, and tries, not to make men free and strong, not to instil into minds open to receive truth noble and pure ideas of God and human duty, but to make all the bond-slaves of a system-the blind followers of a mere word-creed. Thus, he does not make men nobler or purer by his preaching, nor does he ennoble himself, but in a short time adds one to the long list of the class we shall take the liberty of calling ministerial hacks. Congregations easily become a reflex of the minister who controls them, and hence, while these pretenders to philosoply are in the ascendant, we have on the part of the people, an amount of dulness and stupidity that is really frightful. They have no real knowledge of religion; they can talk of "election," of "sanctification," and of grace," of "weak brothers and sisters," and "strong brothers and sisters," but of the religious life that Paul lived, of the religious thought that Christ expounded, they know nothing. They will pray, too, for the "unconverted,' and will string together words which have no meaning-prayers in which phrases learned by rote from the preacher hold a conspicuous part. If they have an intellectual man among them, who stands head and shoulders above them, they are ready enough to cry that his lofty head may be bowed low, for they hold in practice that intellect and God are wholly in opposition. The man of genius is a man of "gilded gingerbread;" and the writer and thinker who labours to spread knowledge abroad, and elevate men in the social and moral scale, is a dealer in the vanities of the world," who will one day discover his error, or find himself in Hell. 66 This is no imaginary picture, but a type of the vast mass of "saved Christians," who have effectually chased out the spirit of Christ's teaching by the "fetish" worship and "wordmongering" they have introduced in its stead. When preachers talk about the amount of scepticism among young men, they should think of the facts we have glanced at. It is true that many intellectual men of these days are sceptical, but to whom is it to be attributed? Shall we say, as some shallow minds assert, that it is the result of depravity of heart? or shall we not rather say that it results from the fact that there is little in modern preaching to satisfy the cravings of the intellect? Where a really great preacher makes his appearance they crowd to hear him; they are the followers of the real thinker, and are willing to listen if they hear aught worth remembering. But the great preachers, the men who do minister to the moral and intellectual wants of the age, are few and far between; and we look out anxiously towards the horizon of time for signs of the coming great man who shall touch the dry bones of the valley and inspire them with life, and shall replace the late physical demonstrations of Ireland and Scotland with a noble revival-a revival that will speak to the heart and intellect, and afford something like religious life to the men who pant for it, and find it not. J. G. WITCHCRAFT AND ITS OVERTHROW. THE beliefs regarding witches, of which we gave a summary last week, were varied in some respects in several countries, but the main points were the same in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, and the far North of Europe; and because of having attended the meetings, hundreds and thousands of accused persons were put to death. The charge once preferred, they had no chance of escape, for all the subtlety of reasoning was employed to controvert the evidence they gave to establish their innocence. This cruelty and gross perversion of all law, right, and common sense, could not go on for ever. If it continued there was but one result, and that involved the return of the European nations to savagery. Such a course was prepared by the Church, and had it not been for the few, the glorious few, the clergy would have triumphed, and the nations had been ruined. What that little band had to endure is not now to be spoken of, for it cannot be conceived or duly estimated. Reginald Scot was the first Englishman who undertook to come to close quarters with this demon doctrine, and, as it has been scoffingly said, he was "neither a clergyman nor college bred." The charge is well founded, for he was a self-educated man; but, as Anthony Wood confesses, he was one who read solid books, and who honestly formed his opinion from the evidence he had collected. He repudiated the whole theory, and his work contains many powerful and unanswerable arguments against it. When King James wrote his work upon Demonology, he called attention to " one called Scot, an Englishman, who is not ashamed in public print to deny that there can be any such thing as witchcraft, and so main"tains the old error of the Sadducees in denying of spirits.' The latter imputation was utterly false, for Scot believed in a spiritual existence as earnestly as any man of his age believed it; but the habit of lying was so inveterate in James that he could not avoid making a point by such means. When he became King of England one of "his earliest proofs of wisdom,' after succeeding to the English throne, was manifested in commanding that the work of Reginald Scot should be publicly burnt, and all the copies which could be got together were consumed. It was a source of great grief to this drunken monarch that he could not burn the author with the book, but happily the course of nature had put that out of his power; he destroyed what he could not answer, and his seeming victory has covered him with everlasting shame. Scot had made himself many enemies, who cried out infidel as he passed by them, and in this he shared the fate of every man who has done anything towards removing the fearful weight of ignorance and superstition from the minds of the people. All who led studious lives, all who endeavoured to discover the secret workings of nature, all who were labouring to make humanity stronger and freer, had to bear the same burden. Not a man can be named who toiled for the good of mankind during the time of the intellectual dawn that escaped this charge. The clergy were too ignorant to comprehend what the men had to teach, and accounted all that was beyond their reach as devilish. Had Layard made his Ninevite discoveries during that period, he would have suffered at the stake, as a man possessed by a devil, who had created all the carved stones in order to delude mankind. The facts would not have been listened to. They who had the best evidence to prove their innocence were the worst off, for, as it was triumphantly argued, "if * Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584. they were in league with the devil, it was only natural to believe he would "do his best to save his children." But when the hour of the end came, and the fires were no longer lit, there was great mourning over the degeneracy of the times. When the Parliament of England repealed the laws against Witchcraft, so far as they involved capital punishment, the Presbytery of Scotland was highly indignant, and officially denounced the wickedness of that proceeding. So late as the year 1785, says Arnot, it was the custom among the Seceders to read from the pulpit an annual confession of sins, national and personal, among which was mentioned the "Repeal by Parliament of the penal statute against witch"craft, contrary to the express laws of God." This was merely saying in public what others said in private, for there was a pretty general conviction abroad that the Divine displeasure would descend upon us, as a nation, because of turning from the true path in ceasing to burn witches. Thousands complained of the rationalising spirit of the age, which operated so fatally against the spread of godliness. A bitter writer has argued that the sorrow exhibited was because the stake was no longer employed; but he mistakes the feeling. Probably it is nearer the truth to say, that as citizens and men of feeling, Englishmen rejoiced at the cessation of the butcheries; but at the same time, as members of a religious community, they were technically and formally sorry. Their pastors had not consented to the abolition of the horrible trials and executions, and hence the protests and vapouring. Neither did the said pastors see how they were to give up witchcraft without surrendering the "Holy Scriptures," and, believing the latter, they concluded from them in favour of the former. They were at least honest men, for it is unquestionable that he who believes the Old and New Testaments, believes also in witchcraft, or he contradicts himself. We have, in this matter, a flagrant instance of the way in which the theories of theologians create a sort of mental Jesuitism among our people, causing them to play fast and loose with their perceptions of the truth, and setting their moral consciousness in a state of conflict with their religious beliefs. Men hold to the Biblical Witchcraft, while they deny the truth of the Witch theory as representing a fact of Nature. They believe, and yet disbelieve; assert, and yet deny. Science compels the denial, while the Bible enforces the belief. And thus a state of mind is induced, which if it were not sad, would be excessively ludicrous. But though, as a matter of faith, and because of allowing themselves to be creed-ridden, many accept the Witch of Endor story, there are none, or but few, who would wish to see the old system restored; as a matter of faith they consent to the theory, but are, nevertheless, glad that it is no longer a reality. It is with this even as with the penalties formerly enforced against Atheists, and the legal disabilities which attached to what the Churches styled "infidelity;" there are thousands who, as Church-members, still deny a man's right to reason on religious subjects, who yet are glad that these penalties and disabilities are falling into desuetude. It is but few who would wish to see restored the days of prosecution for religious heterodoxy. Thus, the moral sense of humanity vindicates itself in spite of the Priest; and the promise of a better day is given in defiance of Church systems and theological theories. + Criminal Trials in Scotland. P. W. P. SOUTH PLACE CHAPEL. SUNDAY EVENING LECTURES. BY P. W. PERFITT, PH. D. THE "SONG OF SOLOMON." (Continued from page 288.) HAVING indicated the course which theological writers have pursued, when treating of the Song of Songs, I shall now proceed to read it to you from the excellent translation furnished by Christian D. Ginsburg, unto whom I have been so largely indebted for the matter already laid before you. He treats it as a fine old poem, or rather, as a sort of chaunted drama. His first section comprises what are known as Chapter one, and the seven opening verses of the second Chapter. The remainder of the Poem occupies four more sections. The matter treated, is summarised at the head of each section. SECTION I. CHAPTERS I.—II. 7. The scene of this division is in the royal tent of Solomon. The Shulamite, separated from her beloved shepherd, longs to be reunited with him whom she prizes above all things (2, 3). She implores him to come and rescue her; for, though brought by the king into his royal tent, her love continues the same (4). She repels the scornful reflection of the court ladies when they hear her soliloquy (5, 6). She implores her lover to tell her where she may find him (7). The court ladies ironically answer this request (8).. Meanwhile the king comes in, and tries to win her affections by flatteries and promises (9-11). This attempt fails, and she opposes to the king's love her unabated attachment to her beloved shepherd (12-ii. 6). In an ecstasy she adjures the court ladies not to attempt to persuade her to love any one else (7). The Shulamite. 2 Oh for a kiss of the kisses of his mouth! For sweet are thy caresses above wine. 3 Sweet is the odour of thy perfumes, Which perfume thou art, by thy name diffused abroad, 4 Oh draw me after thee! Oh let us flee together! 5 The king has brought me into his apartments, But we exult and rejoice in thee, We praise thy love more than wine, The upright love thee. I am swarthy, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, As the tents of Kedar, But comely as the pavilions of Solomon. My mother's sons were severe with me, Where thou causest it to lie down at noon, Among the flocks of thy companions. Daughters of Jerusalem. 8 If thou knowest not, O fairest among women, And feed thy kids By the tents of the shepherds. Solomon. 9 To my steed in the chariot of Pharaoh 10 Beautiful is thy countenance in the circlet, 11 A golden circlet will we make thee, The Shulamite. 12 While the king is at his table 13 A bag of myrrh resting in my bosom 14 A bunch of cypress flowers from the garden of En-gedi The Shepherd. 15 Behold, thou art beautiful, my love; The Shulamite.16 Behold, thou art comely, my beloved, СНАР. ІІ. Yea, verdant is our couch; 17 Our bower is of cedar arches, 1 I am a mere flower of the plain, The Shepherd. 2 As a lily among the thorns, So is my loved one among the damsels The Shulamite. 3 As an apple-tree among the wild trees, 5 Oh, strengthen me with grape cakes, For I am sick with love! 6 Let his left hand be under my head, 7 I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, SECTION II. CHAPTER II. 8—III. 5. Here we have a second scene, which is also in the royal tent. The speakers are the Shulamite and the court ladies. The Shulamite, to account for the cause of the severity of her brothers, mentioned in i. 6, relates that her beloved shepherd came one charming morning in the spring to invite her to the fields (8-14); that her brothers, in order to prevent her from going, gave her employment in the gardens (15); that she consoled herself with the assurance that her beloved, though separated from her at that time, would come again in the evening (16, 17); that seeing he did not come, she, under difficult circumstances, ventured to seek him, and found him (ch. iii. 1-4). Having narrated these events, and reiterated her ardent affection for her beloved, she concludes as before, by adjuring the court ladies not to persuade her to change her love. |