own liberation, can not fail to observe the noble amount of growth. By the time when he commenced the Reasoner, he had improved still more. A treatise which he published while at Glasgow, entitled " 'Rationalism," was the first ripe fruit of. his mind's manhood. Though very open to criticism on some points, it is, as a whole, pervaded by a thoughtful, dignified, disciplined spirit, which contrasts pleasingly with the tone of his previous productions. The following passage will show the point from which the work is conceived:

"Because preference-shares yield no interest, and communityscrip finds no purchasers at this particular time, many persons, supposed to be well-grounded in Rationalism, have begun to despond. But that philosophy which is to elevate human nature and to be the guide and guardian of virtue, must not fluctuate with a joint-stock experiment; it must be higher than public opinion it must not be shaken by relative success or failure; nor peculiar to any social condition-but fixed as truth, as universal and enduring."*

Such were our Atheist's aspirations when commencing his new "Church of the Future." Before the Reasoner had been many weeks in existence, however, he began to surprise his readers by the tendency of his speculations. In the seventh number (p. 109) he announced that "Infidelity has been too long a mere negation. It has reached a new point- it interests itself in social questions-it identifies itself with a practical system of morality. Its negative theory must assert its positive influence, or the apathy of its present friends will be eternal.”

And in a letter to William Howitt in the same number he said: "To the doctrine of a Deity and prospect of immortality I have, and can have no aversion- indeed, I gladly see such conjectures strengthened, and admissible evidence belonging thereto matured. As an intelligent [i. e., intellectual] speculation, it (Theology) will ever be one of the most absorbing in which mankind can be engaged. I am by no means anxious to refute all the arguments of the religious. Many are of no consequence, if true, and many I have pleasure in finding well supported; but, as a whole, I consider them to be of less weight than experience is, and therefore, when they are opposed to the dictates of experience, I reject them. This is the sense in which the Reasoner is anti-theo

"Rationalism," p. 8.

logical. As this is the first opportunity I have had of expressing these conceptions, I fear they may lack firmness of outline. But should they leave you in any doubt, I shall be willing, on hearing from you to that effect, to attempt more explicitness."

This article brought down some anxious correspondents, one of whom held up his old Oracle articles to him, and thought his new views "quite opposed to those you formerly held; and if I fully understand your meaning, I think I can perceive a pretty considerable leaning to believe in God."

"To this," replied the editor," I answer, it is not a 'change,' so much as a more just and comprehensive view of Atheism, to which I have to plead guilty. . . . Those who regard Atheism as a mere negation of religion, regard it in its narrowest point of view. . . . Surely something remains beyond. . . . The Atheist, when in argument he has set up morality over religion, is bound to set it up in practice, to evidence to the world, in his own person and conduct, the value of his theory. If he no longer owns the authority of religion, he has to demonstrate that he owns the authority of reason and benevolence- he has to show, by his active endeavors to recover others from the darkness from which he has been relieved, that his Atheism has some vitality in it, and is not, as I have too often seen it, merely critical, cold and selfish. This is one of the enlargements of Atheism, which seems to be imperatively called for. Another seems wanting a moral ground, on which both Atheist and Theist can stand. each denies to the other a particle of reason on his sideas each maintains an infallibility of pretension to complete truththey both assume what is contrary to the nature of things, and exclude the common ground which must be established between them, where truth and error can join issue. There is no impassable gulf between contending men or contending opinions, but that dug by pride and passion. We all have a common starting-point. We have a common consciousness of impression—a common nature to investigate - a common sincerity actuates us - truth is our common object, and we have a common interest in discovering it.

So long as

so long

"In the department of physics (the most conclusive, be it observed, and where strictest reasoning can be applied), I find little argument in favor of Theism. But in the department of metaphysics, as respects man's nature and aspirations, there do appear

some few probabilities in favor of it. No sound system of metaphysics can be propounded which is not based on the admission of certain aptitudes of all men such as Adam Smith has treated in his Moral Sentiments.' Of these, the aspiration to higher qualities and character, and the ceaseless progression of man, seem to point to an after-life. That all that pertains to the feelings is to some extent delusive - men change so with circumstances, I am fully aware; but the probabilities, such as they are, in candor should be admitted."

66

Another enlargment of Atheism " was visible a few weeks afterwards. A correspondent writes: "Sir- I have been asked, how is it that the Reasoner quotes with approval Christian divines, such as Theodore Parker and others? It strikes me as unusual in a publication devoted to Naturalism. Does it imply, as Mr. Sanderson supposes, a leaning to Goddism?" To which the Editor replies: "It matters little where it leans, so long as there is truth in what it means. Skeptics should pride themselves on being eclectics-in selecting the good, wherever it appears."

[To be Concluded. ]

A THANKSGIVING HYMN.

BY FRANCES POWER COBBE.*

FOR life, for health I bless Thee,
For hearing and for sight,
For food, for clothing and abode,
For the rest of the dreamy night,
I bless Thee, O my God!

For all the friends I love on earth,
For all who grant me love,

For the sweet affections budding here
To bloom in heaven above,

I bless Thee, O my God!

This lady is the author of the justly-celebrated Essay on Intuitive Morals which has lately been published in Europe and America. She was for several years a correspondent of Theodore Parker; and when the latter was passing away she came to see him, and though they could not converse much, she gave into his dying hand some lilies of the valley, the flower which he most loved. This was her farewell.

URSULA.

BY HONORE DE BALZAC.

СНАРТER VII.

ON returning from mass, the old lady sent word by Tiennette for her son to come to her.

This little house had three chambers on the first floor. That of Madame de Portenduère and of her late husband were upon the same side, separated by a large dressing room, and connected by a little ante-chamber next the stairway. The window of the other chamber, always Savinien's, looked, like his father's, upon the street. Madame de Portenduère's chamber, the gloomiest of the I whole house, looked upon the court; but the widow usually sat in the parlor on the ground floor, which communicated by a passage with the kitchen, built at the bottom of the court; so that this room served both as dining-room and parlor. This chamber of the late Monsieur de Portenduère remained as it had been on the day of his death: only the defunct was absent from it. Madame de Portenduère had made the bed herself, laying thereon the Captain's naval uniform, the sword, the red cordon, the orders, and the hat of her late husband. The gold snuff-box, from which the Vicount took his last pinch, lay on the table, with his prayerbook, his watch, and the cup from which he had drunk. His white hair, framed and arranged in a single braid, was suspended above the crucifix, with the vase of holy water placed in the alcove. All the little knick-nacks that he used, his journals, his Dutch spitting-box, his spyglass, hung above the mantel-piece — nothing was wanting. The widow had stopped the old clock at the hour of his death, to which it ever pointed. The odor of his snuff still pervaded the room. The fireplace was as he had left it. To enter there was seeing him again, in seeing all these things that recalled his habits. His great gold-headed cane remained where he had placed it, as well as his large doeskin gloves, near by. Upon the pier-table shone a golden vase, coarsely sculptured, but of a thousand crowns' value, presented by Havana, when, during the war of American Independence, he had preserved it from an attack of the English, in contending with superior forces, after having sailed safely into port the convoy which he protected.