Scripture Ellustrations, EASTERN SHEPHERD LIFE. I SAW at this place (Zib) a great many scenes of that shepherd life which is so often alluded to in Scripture, and which is so beautifully and constantly presented to a traveller in the East. They are well known to all; yet I cannot pass illustrations so striking entirely in silence. It was evening at Zib, and the bleating of the flocks attracted my attention. As I looked up the roadway, a cloud of dust announced the coming multitude. They were sheep and goats unseparated, and preceded by their shepherd carrying a lamb in his arms, who often turned round, and called the leaders by their names, and they, hearing and knowing his voice, quickened their pace at his words. He led them into the rude circular fold, made of thorns, almost in front of our tents; which they entered by means of the one only door, (John x. 1, 2, 7, 9,) at which the shepherd stood, counting them as they went in. Without was the dog, keeping guard; and at the door of the fold lay the shepherd him. self; none could enter into the door but by him. In the morning, they were gone early, even before we rose, which was about five o'clock; and on inquiry of our muleteers, who had been talking with the shepherd, they told me, through my dragoman, that he kept his flock at night in this sheep-fold for fear of robbers and jackals, (John x. 8, 12.) for they were his own sheep, (ver. 12,) and he was gone out to find pasture, (ver. 9,) with them by the side of a still stream, (Psa. xxiii. 2,) about an hour's distance. Now, although I had met with all these most interest. ing traits of Eastern shepherd life before, yet here they were all so wonderfully united, that I prefer to present them entire as I now actually received them, rather than mar their effect by disuniting them.-Woodcock. Biography. TRUE GREATNESS ILLUSTRATED. We invite the attention of Young Menticeship at the mason's banker. When to the history of one of the most im- he was little more than twenty-one, portant of the Commoners of England, his uncle died, and left his business at the present day,-S. M. Peto, Esq., and his capital jointly to him and to M.P. for Norwich,-as one that is not Mr. Thomas Grissell, also a nephew. only beautiful in itself, but full of valu- Their first work was Hungerford Marable instruction. That history is con- ket; their second the new Houses of tained in the following paragraph, Parliament, afterwards placed wholly extracted from the Builder, a highly in the hands of Mr. Grissell. They respectable London periodical publica- built the Reform Club-House, the tion: Oxford and Cambridge Club-House, the Model Prison at Clerkenwell, and many other large structures: the St. James's Theatre was completed by them in thirteen weeks. They also entered very largely into railway works, and to these, after the dissolution of the partnership, Mr. Peto confined his "Mr. Peto, now only forty-two years of age, left school at the early age of fourteen; and being apprenticed to his uncle, Mr. Henry Peto, the builder, worked three years at the bench, used the trowel for a year, and passed the remaining three years of his appren Peterborough. attention. We may mention more especially the Eastern Counties line, the line from Ashford to Folkestone, the Southampton and Dorchester, the Oxford and Birmingham, and, in conjunction with Messrs. Betts, the whole of the Great Northern line north of When we say that there were employed on his works at one time ten first-class locomotive engines, 2,300 wagons, 916 horses, and 14,800 men, some idea may be gained of their great extent, and of the energy and power required to keep all well in hand. There are many excellent traits recorded of Mr. Peto, but for none does he deserve more honour than for his continued and enlightened efforts to raise the character of the large bodies of men engaged under him. Mr. Peto has earned for himself a great reputation for enlarged views and liberality, and has shown how much we may advance our own interests by attending to the interests of others." Mr. Peto, beyond all doubt, stands at the head of the important class to which he belongs. He has not only no superior, but no equal; and the foregoing paragraph reveals the secret of his eminence. For seven long years did he mingle with the workmen, taking his full share in all the varied business of the establishment. By this means he obtained a complete ac quaintance with the art and mystery of building, which has been of the utmost importance to him in the whole of his subsequent career. He is not at the mercy of overseers, managers, superintendents, and the like; he carries practical intelligence into every part of his vast operations. The effect of this on the official hierarchy, conneoted with undertakings of such im mense magnitude, is greater than can be well conceived, and the advantage is corresponding. For the want of practical knowledge, many men of large capital have been injured, and not a few ruined. But while this eminent man finds his own account in his practical skill, so have the thousands and thousands whose honour it has been to execute his works. He is ever in full sympathy with his workmen. From having mingled with them in all their toils and trials, he can enter fully into all their feelings, views, and aspirations. High intelligence and genuine religion, blending with his experimental acquaintance, has made Mr. Peto what he is, as a Citizen, a Contractor, a Patriot, and a Senator,-respects in all of which he may be considered as presenting a model, and an example to that portion of his countrymen who form his own class. The practical bearing of the subject is obvious; it addresses itself alike to the old and the young, the poor and the rich, to all classes and conditions of men. Every youth, it is clear, cannot become a Peto in business, wealth, and position; but the ladder he has ascended, at a bound, is one of many steps, and each elevation is advantageous and honourable. The case shows that every young man, whatever his parental inheritance or commercial prospects, must lay the foundation well, by the acquisition of a practical acquaintance with that which is to constitute his profession; and it further shows that, on rising from the ranks of labour, every man ought to take for his guide the royal law, doing to those he employs as he wished, when an apprentice, or a journeyman, to be done to himself. This simple principle is the foundation of all social happiness; and to carry that principle to universal triumph is the special province of Christianity. It alone can and will establish the empire of right through all the earth; and it will be found that in this way, and in no other, can universal privilege be secured. Duty in one class will prove to be privilege in another. It will be a happy day for England that shall behold her Parliament largely filled with such men, and when the masterhood of the realm shall, in all its main attributes, bear the stamp and the impress of the character of Mr. Peto. He has a full perception of the dignity of labour, with its rights and its duties, and with this he combines a proper sense of the rights and duties of capital. The great Contractor can enter into every emotion of the 'prentice boy; the British Senator knows the heart of the British Workman. Popery. SPEECH OF DR. MURRAY. A FEW years ago, a small Volume of Letters, on the subject of Popery, was published under the signature of "Kirwan," distinguished by unusual ability, and remarkably suited to the Popery of the passing hour. It was not generally known who was the Author, but it now turns out to have been Dr. Murray, a Presbyterian Minister, of Elizabeth Town, United States. That gentleman, who is now in Europe, the other week made a speech in the General Assembly of the Irish Presbyterian Church, of a very effective character, bearing on the subject of Popery. Dr. Murray, on that occasion, performed the twofold part of an advocate and a witness: having been at Rome, he brought his observation to the work of vengeance. In some cases the language is rather strong; but as a whole, the speech is one of a most telling character, and will be duly prized by our readers. After some general remarks, the Doctor proceeded : I have been utterly amazed at some of the statements which my excellent brother, Dr. Edgar, has made in the report which he has read. I have been amazed to hear that in this country, and at the present time, Popish priests are allowed to whip mothers who would send their children to school, and to whip boys and girls who would dare to take advantage of education. (Hear.) If these priests were to lift a whip to either mother or child in the country to which I belong -if they would lift a whip to prevent a mother from sending, or a child from going, to school, no matter by whom that school might be taught-even though Satan himself were the schoolmaster-I should like to know the history of that priest in one week after he had laid his whip on the back of either mother or child. (Hear.) I am amazed that such vagabonds are permitted to live in Ireland. (Applause.) I am perfectly amazed that there should not be found an Irish mob, he dispensed the oil, and the man died, leaving his will as I have stated. A few days after the burial, the priest who attended on the man went to an ecclesiastical court, said his victim had committed a great sin, and that he wished a distribution of his property different from that which he had made; and the entire property of that man, on the oath of that priest, was swept from his family into the coffers of the Church. (Hear) This is what they do in the Papal States. The will of a dying man is set aside, on the testimony of a priest that the man, in his expiring moments, desired a different disposition of his property. (Hear, hear.) Let, then, this country fall into the hands of the priests-let them ob they have at Rome, and you will soon see what will become of your property. (Hear, hear.) every man with a whip in his hand, to flagellate the rascals who would dare to treat mothers and children in the way that has been described. Why, Sir, in our country, if a priest would whip a woman or child, the women would take their broomsticks and drive him out of the land. (Laughter.) What do you think Roman Catholic priests, who can whip women and children, would choose as their pattern and model, suppose they had the power to carry out their intentions and designs? (Hear, hear.) I think I am not wrong in saying that Rome would be their model. If I, as a Presbyterian, would select Scotland, they, as Roman Catholics, would select Rome. (Hear, hear.) Well, then, I have been at Rome (hear, hear)—I have viewed the pat-tain the power and the position which tern into which Roman Catholics, if they had the power, would mould this country; and will you let me tell you something about it? (Hear, hear.) Let me tell you a circumstance that occurred in Rome not long ago, in order to show you how the property of a man in the Papal States becomes the property of the priests. (Hear.) A man there who had married a lady of Spanish birth, by whom he had a large family, died, making his will, which was regularly signed, sealed, and delivered. He left all his property to his wife and children. Previous to his death, however—and I may say he paid very little attention to priests while living-he sent for one, "to fix" him up for another world. (Laughter.) You know that Roman Catholics, when about to die, are most anxious to be prepared for another world by the application of holy oil. The priest went to the man to perform this work. He confessed him, he gave him the wafer, Again, what would become of your liberty? You have, at the present time, liberty of speech and liberty of the Press. The liberty of the Press is not known there, and the liberty of speech is just as little known. I saw there a placard about Pietro Ercoli-a man thirty-five years of age, a merchant bearing a high character, and having a large family, and who had been brought before an ecclesiastical court, and condemned to the galleys for twenty years. For what do you think he was condemned ?-for stepping into a coffee-room and endeavouring to persuade a man who was smoking not to use cigars. (Hear, hear.) Why not smoke cigars ?—because the Church has its revenue in tobacco. (Laughter.) The conduct of this man was represented as an interference with the revenues of the Church, and POPERY. because he had asked a man not to smoke a cigar, he was condemned to the galleys for twenty years. (Hear.) There is no priest or bishop on the face of the earth who can call that in question; and with such a specimen of Romish liberty before the world, and placarded over the entire city of Rome, I need not say what would become of your freedom were the priests to exercise in this country the powers they desire to exercise, and that they do exercise where they have the power. Why, Sir, when I was in Rome, a man who was heard talking to a companion in a coffee-house-a man who, in an under-tone, was speaking against the Government, was overheard by a spy of the Government, and was taken into custody. Where that man was put nobody knows. (Hear, hear.) I was told by a person of influence, who had been living for years in the city, that the political condition of the city was never worse than it was at that hour. So much, then, for Rome as to its liberty. Let me now say a word as to its condition morally. I stated the other morning, when I was honoured with an invitation to the breakfast given to Dr. Duff, that there is neither morality nor religion in Rome. I went into the Pantheon, of which you have all read, and the figure of which must be before all your eyes. It is a building the foundation of which was laid during the reign of Paganism in the country; it is the temple where all the heathen gods were worshipped; and at the present time it is the temple of Popish idolatry. It is a circular building, and here and there, and all round the circle, are altars, at which mass is said probably once a day, one priest at this altar and another at another. I was, Men |