however, do not keep time alike. The Danish one is new to Mr. Lyell, and so of course more perfect than an old one formerly used by him. For instead of 16,000 as the age of a peat bog, the old one gave only about threescore years and ten, for Mr. Lyell in one of his former works tells of a hurricane which overthrew a plantation, and by this the ground on which it was levelled became a bog, and in that bog peat moss grew, and the generation that saw the plantation overthrown saw or digged peat from the same bog. Thus we have not the modest De Luc versus the self-confident Sir C. Lyell ; but Charles Lyell versus Sir Charles in the celebrated case of 70 against 16,000. We should like to be polite, but our reason seems insulted when such nonsense and twaddle is esteemed philosophy, and such men as Sir C. Lyell are held up as authorities in science. As to geological chronometers, we say, if in the hands of one man they indicate 6,000, in the hands of another 40 or 50,000, and in the hands of the same individual 70 or 16,000, we ask not in the name of science, but in the name of common sense, why use them at all?

We intended to have called attention to another point, viz., the giving or ascribing to law all the wisdom, foresight, and power of adaptation assigned by reason as well as common sense only to a personality; but our space forbids, though this is one of the most interesting points in the whole line of argument pursued by us in the discussion of this question. For if one fact be more clear than another in the science of geology, it is this, that all the preceding ages and conditions of the globe have been preparatory to as well as anticipatory of the present; that God, not law, was preparing a habitation and residence for man, a residence in which we see a manifestation of goodness, wisdom, and power, such as we cannot find in mere law, but which common sense as well as all true science have found in the infinite, personal, and holy God.

In conclusion we beg of our Christian reader not to be alarmed even if Sir C. Lyell prove by the modus operandi referred to, that our old father Adam had ten thousand grandfathers. We say, Wait. God is preparing the coming man, at least he has elected him, and in the order of Providence he will come, the right man at the right time. Whether his work will be both destructive and constructive we cannot say, but if by the exercise of our common sense we can prepare his way, let us do a little in the demolishing line. As to the constructive we think little as yet can be done, but much, very much, in the other, and even by common sense men. We must say that we were rather amused at Dr. Davidson, and especially at Dr. Vaughan, the Editor of the British Quarterly, to find that they were already beginning to square their chronology to meet the measurements of the peat bog chronometer. We think they had better wait a little for fear that they have to alter again. Let Mr.

Lyell, Professor Huxley, Carter, Blake, and Co., get the peat bog chronometer timed by the hatchet. the brick, the Delta, the old canvas, &c., then Dr. Vaughan may begin to adapt his chronology. As for ourselves, we will not give up a single dogma or tithe of a dogma; and as to our chronology, perhaps it will serve us our time without much alteration. G. R.

ART. IV. THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER IN RELATION TO POLITICS.*

THE political relations of the Christian minister are separable into two groups-the one connected with his citizenship, the other with his ministry. In becoming a minister of religion he does not rupture his connections with civil society, as some people foolishly imagine. He is as much as ever a member of the body politic, a citizen of the world, having rights to maintain and duties to perform in his political connections, which cannot be neglected without inflicting injury upon himself and others. Moreover, the ministerial functions which he has assumed not only allow his previous political relations to remain intact, they give birth to new ones. It is true the main business of the minister is to educate men for eternity, to mould and fashion, to discipline and culture, their spiritual nature, so that when their term of earthly existence expires, they may be qualified to realise those sublime destinies for which they are intended and capacitated; and if he lose sight of this end, whatever else is aimed at, he falls infinitely beneath the dignity of his office. But men can only be trained for eternity through the medium of their relations to time; they become prepared for the society of heaven by being taught to sustain aright their relations to the society of earth. And it seems impossible for the Christian minister to fulfil his functions faithfully in the great work of educating men for eternity without frequently impinging upon matters of a political nature, obliged, as he is, to give instructions as to how Christian men ought to act in relation to the political organizations with which they are connected.

To what extent and in what ways the Christian minister ought to concern himself with politics, cannot, I fear, be fully determined by an appeal to Scripture. In the sphere of politics, as in many other spheres of action, the Scriptures supply general principles which require judicious application to particular instances of conduct, rather than specific rules to be literally copied. It is, however, confessedly singular that the New Testament Scriptures are almost wholly silent respecting the relation of the Christian minister to politics, unless we regard as an exception the instruc* Substance of a paper read before the Preachers' Association at Sunderland. ED

C

tions given by Christ to his disciples as to how they had to conduct themselves when arraigned as criminals before the tribunals of earth. Even in Paul's pastoral epistles, in which the duties of the Christian bishop are mapped out with great fulness and precision, not a word is said of a political complexion, further than requiring that Christians should be counselled to pray for and render obedience to the civil magistrate. This reticence is to be explained, in part, by the condition of the Christian church in that early age. Insignificant, feeble, isolated, having no recognised position in civil society; branded with infamy, persecuted, downtrodden by the powers of the world, there was little left for it in its political relations but meek submission and passive suffering, which duties are frequently inculcated. Further explanation is also furnished by the principle I have already hinted at-namely, that in many spheres of human action the Scriptures do not supply specific rules, but general principles, thus allowing scope for the exercise of an enlightened discretion, the operation of a judicious expediency, The abstract furnished to us of Paul's life, as well as the fragmentary notices given of the other disciples, suggests some useful hints as to how the Christian minister ought to act in his political relations, and were he placed in exactly the same circumstances as Paul, he could not do better than copy his example in many points. But Paul's mission was peculiar, his relations to the governments of earth were peculiar, and the instances now are very rare when Christian ministers are so circumstanced as to be required to act towards civil government as he did. As far as his example should affect us in political matters, the question is not so much how he acted in the peculiar circumstances of his eventful life, but rather how he would have acted had he been placed in such circumstances as Christian ministers usually occupy in this age and country. To determine how far, and in what way, the minister of the Gospel should concern himself with politics, due attention and importance should be given in the first place to the manner in which the question is treated in several passages of the New Testament, particularly in the discourses of Christ and in the life of Paul; but as the question presents itself now-a-days, there is little hope of settling it satisfactorily, unless we exercise a free judgment upon it, restrained only by considerations of what is prudent, becoming, and congruous.

The few observations now to be made on this subject will be confined to the three following points: Political Research-Political Opinion Political Action: the two first points being merely preliminary to the last.

First, POLITICAL RESEARCH.-To what extent the Christian minister should pursue studies of a political nature must, we presume, in some measure, be left to his constitutional proclivities,

his mental aptitudes, and to the position he occupies; but I would venture to lay it down as a sort of axiom in thought and safeguard in conduct, that in no case and on no account ought political studies to take precedence of theological studies. It is of importance, however, that the Christian minister should acquire a competent knowledge of politics; and (that our observations here may have something like logical sequence), it is desirable that he should, in the first place, obtain some acquaintance with Political Science. Politics is a science as much as ethics or mathematics; indeed, properly speaking, it is itself one main branch of ethics, involving in its manifold ramifications questions of the highest moral import, and, in its practical outgoings, testing, in a thousand different ways, the moral principles by which men are governed. At the very threshold of political science, questions will have to be examined, and, if possible, resolved, such as these :-Does civil government originate in the nature of man, or in a factitious compact? Whence does it derive its authority? from the will of the prince, acting as God's vice-gerent; or from the suffrages of the people? What is the end of civil government, the benefit of the governing or the governed? Is it within the province of government to meddle with the religion of its subjects: if so, how far? Is the education of the people the work of government? Which is the best form of government-the monarchical, the aristocratic, or the republican? In other words, should the governing power be centred in one individual, or confined to one class, or distributed amongst the whole community? What are the mutual duties of the governing and the governed? I do not say that the Christian minister ought to go deeply into these and cognate questions, so that he should seek, by logical thought, to elaborate them into a system of political science; but it is desirable that he should comprehend their scope and bearing, and have a general knowledge of what may be and what has been said on their different issues. Unless he have some intimacy with the principles of political science his knowledge of politics acquired from other sources will be shallow, confused, and contradictory. Of all the books that have been written on political science, there is, perhaps, no one more deserving to be carefully studied by the Christian minister than "Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity:" for, although that work is principally designed to develope and elucidate the laws of church government, it discusses with philosophical profundity and scientific exactness, the fundamental principles on which all government is based; and, moreover, its discussions are conducted with such warmth and beauty of religious sentiment as at once to delight the imagination, to purify the heart, and to fan the flame of devout feeling.

Historical Politics is the second branch of political study on

which the Christian minister would do well to bestow some attention. The political history of nations is their true history, far more deserving of research and study than the military achievements and dynastic revolutions to which historians have hitherto devoted an exorbitant share of attention. To understand historical politics completely, the history of all nations would have to be studied; for, although the principles of political science are the same and unalterable in all times and places, it is found that there are no two nations whose systems of political government are exactly alike. It is not to be expected that the Christian minister, whose thoughts must be chiefly directed to other subjects, should give himself to the thorough study of historical politics, but it will be of service to him in many ways to acquire, as time and opportunity admit, a general knowledge of the political history of the leading nations of the ancient and modern world. If he can do no more, it is, one may say, imperative that he become acquainted with the political history of England (he being an Englishman, we presume), a more marvellous history, one more highly fraught with lessons of practical wisdom than any other. The Christian minister, whose happiness it is to be a citizen of the British commonwealth, and whose lot it is to exercise his ministerial functions amongst the British people, cannot, without incurring disgrace and suffering disadvantage in many ways, remain ignorant of the political history of his country, the more so as the means of information are numerous and easy of access. All the histories of England develope to some degree the growth of her political system; but this is done in the most comprehensive and philosophic manner in "Hallam's Constitutional History," a work of whose merits it is difficult to speak too highly.

Contemporary Politics is the third branch of political study requiring the attention of the Christian minister. It is reported of the pious John Newton that, when asked why he spent any of his time in reading the newspapers, he answered, half in jest, half in earnest, that his principal reason was to find out how his heavenly Father governed the world. Flippant as the answer of the pious divine may at first glance appear, it is nevertheless fraught with deep significance. The hand of God is to be seen in the events of the present times, as well as of the past. The heavings of the nations, the revolutions which are transpiring, some by convulsive throes and the terrible carnage of war, others by progressive and peaceable processes, are all ruled by the Almighty in subordination and subservience to the establishment and universal prevalence of the reign of righteousness. The advantage which the Christian minister (if he be a man of clear vision), may and will derive from the study of contemporary politics, is so obvious that nothing more need be said of it.