Scotia, with its infamous Kirk? If the Kirk is the twin sister of the Spanish Inquisition, how is it that she can defy a pang of torture or a drop of blood to lift against her the accusing voice of persecution?

That a boy named Thomas Arkenhead was hanged in Edinburgh about the beginning of the nineteenth century for doubting the inspiration of the Bible, if not invented for the occasion by the lecturer, is but a pious fraud, fabricated in some jesuitical factory. If the Kirk had been given to such cruelty she would have had a more worthy victim in Hume, the historian. If the Kirk was so intolerant, why did she allow secession from her ranks and other religious bodies to be formed and exist in peace at her side? That her manner was somewhat stern, her discipline rigid at times, we honestly admit, but we tell Col. Ingersoll that the old Kirk has helped to make Scotchiman a name of respect the world over, and some of Tom Paine's admirers would not suffer in character by a rigid conformity to her lessons.

Impotence of Infidelity.

But I must come to a close. I do so by saying that neither the tirades of Col. Ingersoll against Christianity nor the discoveries of science can overthrow our religion. The fool may say in his heart there is no God, but it is only in the fool's heart that that sentiment is written. The geologist may bore to the centre of earth; he can't find it written on the rocks of bygone generations; the astronomer may sweep the spacious firmament with his telescope, and after he has examined all from the morning star to the most distant sentinel of the sky, on the vast star-spangled banner of night, he can't find it written there. The chemist

may analyze matter and reduce it to its primal elements, but on any of its atoms he can't find it written there.

To science, in her numerous walks and works in the fields of nature, mind, and morals, we say Godspeed. Every achievement she performs, every discovery she makes, and all the results of her explorations can not overthrow the Bible, but only serve to fill in that wide outline which meets the eye on the first page. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Science can never wipe out that grand piece of information, but science can show us how many, great, and marvelous are the works of Him who created the heavens and the earth and all things therein.

"THE whole hope of human progress is suspended on the ever-growing influence of the Bible."-- Wm. H.Seward. "THE Bible is the only cement of nations, and the only cement that can bind religious hearts together.”—Chevalier Bunsen.

"BIBLE Christianity is the companion of liberty in all its conflicts, the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims."-De Toequeille.

"WE are persuaded that there is no book by the perusal of which the mind is so much strengthened and so much enlarged as it is by the perusal of the Bible."-Dr. Melville.

"If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us, and bury all our glory in profound obscurity."-Daniel Webster.

"WE account the Scriptures of God to be the most sublime philosophy. I find more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history whatever."—Sir Isaac Newton.

“THERE never was found in any age of the world either religion or law that did so highly exalt the public good as the Bible."-Lord Bacon.

"I BELIEVE in God and adore Him. I have a firm belief in the history contained in the Old and New Testaments and in the regeneration of the human race by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ."-Guizot.

"THE Bible gives strength in conscious weakness, joy in the hour of deepest sorrow, and hope triumphant when the earth and all it contains is slipping from beneath, and eternity waits for our coming.”—President Fisher.

"By the study of what other book could children be so much humanized? If Bible reading is not accompanied by constraint and solemnity, I do not believe there is any thing in which children take more pleasure."-Professor Huxley.

"LET us cling with a holy zeal to the Bible, and the Bible only, as the religion of Protestants. Let us proclaim, with Milton, that neither traditions, nor councils, nor canons of visible Church, much less edicts of any civil magistrate or civil session, but the Scriptures only, can be the final judge or rule."-Judge Joseph Story.

"In a word, destroy this volume, and you take from us at once everything which prevents existence becoming of all curses the greatest; you blot out the sun, dry up the ocean, and take away the atmosphere of the moral world, and degrade man to a situation from which he may look up with envy to that of the brutes that perish."-Dr. Payson.

WATSON'S REPLY.

Paine's Popularity and Habits-A Curious Side-Light Thrown upon Him in "Men and Times of the Revolution."

“About this period, the notorious Tom Paine arrived at Nantes, in the Alliance frigate, as Secretary of Colonel Laurens, Minister Extraordinary from Congress, and he took up his quarters at my boarding place.

"He was (Tom Paine) coarse and uncouth in his manners, loathsome in his appearance, and a disgusting egotist, rejoicing most in talking of himself, and reading the effusions of his own mind. Yet, I could not repress the deepest emotions of gratitude toward him, as the instru ment of Providence in accelerating the declaration of our Independence. He certainly was a prominent agent in preparing the public sentiment of America for that glorious event. The idea of Independence had not occupied the popular mind, and when guardedly approached on the topic, it shrank from the conception, as fraught with doubt, with peril, and with suffering.

"In 1775 or 1776, I was present at Providence, Rhode Island, in a social assembly of most of the prominent leaders of the state. I recollect that the subject of independence was cautiously introduced by an ardent Whig, and the thought seemed to excite the abhorrence of the whole circle.

"A few weeks after, Paine's "Common Sense" appeared and passed through the Continent like an electric spark. It everywhere flashed conviction, and aroused a determined

spirit, which resulted in the Declaration of Independence, upon the 4th of July, ensuing. The name of Paine was precious to every Whig heart, and had resounded throughout Europe.

"On his arrival, being announced, the Mayor, and some of the most distinguished citizens of Nantes, called upon him, to render their homage of respect. I often officiated as interpreter, although humbled and mortified at his filthy appearance, and awkward address. Besides, as he had been roasted alive at L'Orient, and well basted with brimstone, he was absolutely offensive, and perfumed the whole apartment. He was soon rid of his respectable visitors, who left the room with marks of astonishment and disgust. I took the liberty, on his asking for the loan of a clean shirt, of speaking to him frankly of his dirty appearance and brimstone odor, and I prevailed upon him to stew, for an hour, in a hot bath.

"This, however, was not done without much entreaty, and I did not succeed, until, receiving a file of English newspapers, I promised, after he was in the bath he should have the reading of them, and not before. He at once consented, and accompanied me to the bath, where I instructed the keeper, in French (which Paine did not understand), gradually to increase the heat of the water, until le Monsieur serait bien bouilli. He became so much absorbed in the reading, that he was nearly parboiled before leaving the bath, much to his improvement and my satisfaction."