activity. In short, one can clearly distinguish in the tone of these offers the presumptuous parvenu, the literary aristocrat, the literary second-class man, the literary mechanic and journeyman; amongst whom literary adventurers, prolétaires, and pick-pockets, ply their trade." "It were well worth while to collect all the 'rejected addresses,' and catalogue not only the printed but the written works, as a contribution to the secret history of our own time, to be handed down for the benefit of posterity.". How great the influence on the thought of generations has a right-minded, intelligent, and Christian publisher! Suggesting works, issuing them, arranging for their circulation, he becomes in many cases the real author. Such a man was Perthes; and his country and evangelical religion evinced the benefit, in nobler and holier thought and faith.

When Perthes settled in Gotha, he was in the heart of Rationalism. Hence his own thought and that of his numerous correspondents were led to the engrossing topic. Clearly apprehending the fundamental principles of evangelical religion, Perthes could grapple with Rationalism. He believed that science, and commerce, and national progress, could never cure sin; that nature and its varied studies could not give the idea of a personal God; that the Son only could reveal the Father. He rested, therefore, on revelation, not on philosophy-on a personal Saviour, not on a Christianized consciousness. But his was no sluggish pietism. His activity in business reproved that; therefore his religion was benevolent. He assisted Falk's scheme of philanthropy, by which so many children-the debris of the battles of Jena, Lutzen, and Leipzig, left at Weimar-were reformed; Baron Kottwitz's scheme in Berlin for improving the degraded factory people he cordially aided; and he stretched his help to the refuges for orphans and criminals in the

Lower Rhine. As in Hamburg, so during his residence in Gotha, Perthes made his religion a labour of love and usefulness to men. He wished men of thought to become men of action, and theologians to be pastors, lest the pursuit of mere science should risk personal and popular Christianity.

His family spread out from him on every side. One son was in the ministry, a second in university service, a third in his own business. Three of his daughters were married in Gotha, another not far distant. A step-son and stepdaughter and four children by his second marriage increased his domestic care and his felicity. Trials and death, as is usual among so large families, broke their ranks and saddened his spirit; but the man of faith was sanctified by all. From 1837 to 1843 he frequently resided at Friedrichroda, about nine miles from Gotha. It was a small village in one of the beautiful valleys to the north of the Nuringian forest, and suited, from its quiet and rusticity, to the enfeebled vigour of Perthes "the aged." Not that he liked solitude, for his little cottage was often filled with guests, but that he was benefited by the rural walks and undisturbed happiness he had there with his wife and children. The villagers grew fond of the warm-hearted stranger, and gave him the freedom of Friedrichroda.

Laden with honours, having received civic, academic, and royal degrees; rich in children and grandchildren; provided for in the world; and humbly believing in his Redeemer,-Perthes felt that his days were numbered. He was left almost alone by the companions of his early life. Frequent deaths reminded him of his own. "A certain inward feeling tells me," he wrote to a sister-in-law in 1842, 66 that my life will not last more than two or three years. I have long fought the battle of life; I dare scarcely hope for

the crown of life; but I know that the prayer, God be merciful to me, a sinner,' will be accepted of God."

"Whenever Perthes needed strength and comfort, he sought them exclusively in the Scriptures. Not one of the religious works to which he had owed so much during life, satisfied his present need. Formerly he had preferred the Epistles of St. Paul to all other portions of the Bible, nor did he lose his love for them, but his love for St. John's writings increased."

His dying bed had a halo of heaven about it. His devotion was much expressed in the last words of our Lord to his disciples and the prayer recorded in the Gospel of St. John. Hymns and prayers were frequently on his lips. On the 18th of May the doctor informed him that his time was come. "About six o'clock in the evening, an intimate friend, the court preacher, Jacobi, came in. Perthes opened his languid eyes, and stretched out his hands to him, saying, 'For the last time; it will soon be over, but it is a hard struggle. About seven, Jacobi and the doctor left him; at eight his breathing became slower and deeper, but without occasioning any distress. His whole family stood round. Perthes then folded his hands, and for a short time prayed aloud, but his speech had now become inarticulate; only the oft-repeated words, 'My Redeemer-Lord-forgiveness,' could be distinguished. It had now grown dark. When lights were brought in, a great change was visible in his features; every trace of pain was gone, his eyes shone, his whole aspect was, as it were, transfigured, so that those around him could only think of his bliss, not of their own sorrow. The last sounds of the world that reached the dying ear were, 'Yea, the Lord hath prepared blessedness and joy for thee, where Christ is the sun, the life, and the all in all.' He drew one long last breath; like a lightning flash, an expres

sion of agony passed over his face, and then his triumph was complete. It was within a few minutes of half-past ten. Immediately after death a look of peace and joy settled on his face. Early in the morning of the 22d May, he was buried in the church-yard of Gotha, and his favourite hymn was sung around his grave:

'What can molest or injure me, who have in Christ a part?
Fill'd with the peace and grace of God, most gladly I depart.""

CHAPTER XI.

CHARLES G. TOWNLEY, LL.D., THE LAWYER.

"Without faith it is impossible to please God."-HEBREWS xi. 6.

"Return, return,

From all thy wanderings, home!

From vanity and toil,

To rest and substance come!

Come to truth from error's night;

Come from darkness unto light
Come from death to life. undying-

From a fallen earth to heaven!

Now the accepted time is flying;

Haste to take what God has given!" SPITTA

SCEPTICISM is referable chiefly to two sources, the one intellectual, and the other moral. The first rests on a professed insufficiency of evidence to convince the judgment, and the second on a prejudiced will. The first includes the thoughtful doubt that desiderates rational convictions; the second is the refusal to credit testimony, it is the disobedience of the mind to the truth. The one is entitled to our earnest sympathy and respect, for it is ready to argue in the desire for discovering truth; the other merits rebuke,

for it is the disinclination of the mind to the truth-the refusal to examine candidly and fairly the evidence offered. It is this, to which our blessed Saviour referred when he said, "Because I tell you the truth, ye will not believe me." This is the most common form of unbelief. Still, there are some of the first class who are thoughtful inquirers. They may have their prejudices who has not but they are to be reasoned with. Pride of learning or corruption of religion may have induced their scepticism; but when they are taught the insufficiency of human acquirements, as compared with the wisdom of God and the beauty and simplicity of the truth as it is in Jesús, there is great hope that they may turn to the living God through faith in his Son,

What is the best cure for scepticism? Dr. Nelson of America has suggested two modes of cure-the powerful and the all-powerful remedies. The first, or the powerful remedy, meets the scepticism caused by ignorance, and presents the Evidences of Christianity for candid examination; the second, or the all-powerful remedy, meets the scepticism of the heart, and urges the trial of Christianity-of experience as the test of its truth. The one convinces the judgment; the other purifies the affections; and both, by the blessing of God, make the intelligent Christian.

The scepticism of Dr. TOWNLEY, whose case we would now present to our readers, had its cause and cure somewhat in the order sketched above. He was born May 9, 1781, in London, of a wealthy family. Several influences conspired to give, in early life, a sceptical tendency to his mind. His parents were ungodly, and "his home was the scene of the ball and of the masquerade, of the rout and of the card party, -of the most fashionable and attractive assemblies in the neighbourhood." His tutors sowed the seeds of infidelity in