CHRISTIANITY. Bible. The discrepancies alleged to exist have been found, on calm and critical examination, to be no discrepancies at all; while geological discoveries have been shown to be highly corroborative of the truth of the scriptures. It has been contended that geological facts point to a period of existence anterior to the Mosaic account of the creation, and that, therefore, that account cannot be correct. But Moses does not specify when the act of creation took place. He informs us that the present mundane system was formed about 6,000 years ago; but before he describes the present order of things, he tells us that " God created the heavens and the earth," This act of creation, he informs us, in the first verse of Genesis, took place "in the beginning," but what period is meant by "the beginning "is not specified. It might be thousands or even millions of ages before those works took place which are described in the subsequent verses; and thus furnish abundant time for those dynasties of being which geology shows had occurred previously to the introduction of man into our world. This subject has been discussed with great ability, and with signal advantage to the Christian cause, by Drs. J. Pye Smith, Hitchcock, Harris, and others; and to the works of these authors those who are disposed to investigate it are referred. The study of geology, when rightly pursued, cannot but impress us with the Almighty power, infinite wisdom, and boundless goodness of the Deity; and geology as a science is perfectly accordant with the text-book of the Christian. Geography, Natural History, Electricity, Chemistry, Physiology, &c., &c., are all interesting, and when studied in a proper spirit, will lead the mind up to God. And on them all Christianity looks with a friendly eye. The connection between science and religion, and how the former may be rendered subservient to the lofty and benevolent aims and purposes of the latter, is beautifully shown by Dr. Dick in his "Christian Philosopher wish to study with profit the works of God. -a book eminently worthy the perusal of all who mute delight, in rapt astonishment and love, when the philosopher and Angels stand and gaze in Christian are united: when science in her strings of silver, and religion with her thread of gold, are woven into one garland, to be cast at the feet of Him on whose head are many crowns." · 4. Christianity is the encourager of literature. It has been observed, "The paramount object of science is truth-of literature beauty: science seeks to convince the understanding-literature to captivate the heart. God loves beauty as well as truth, and he has implanted the same love in man. He has accordingly made the Bible fascinating as well as truthful. Teeming with conscious power without any straining effort to develop it, the Bible is in reality the greatest contribution to the world of literature. We may, without presumption, venture to claim for it as a literary production what we also claim for it as an authoritative word-the cheerful and submissive allegiance of the intellect, as well as the loyal and unfaltering credence of the heart. From the Bible, the orator and the poet have both culled their most appropriate similes, their most beautiful images, and their sweetest flowers." You will all remember the testimony of Sir Wm. Jones, who was as much famed for his learning as for his other high qualities. "I have regularly and attentively read the Holy Scriptures," says this distinguished man," and am of opinion that this volume, independently of its Divine origin, contains more sublimity and beauty, more pure morality, more important history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than can be collected from all other books, in whatever language or age they have been composed." "The greatest pleasures with which the imagination can be entertained," observes Sir Richard Steel, in a number of the Tatler, are to be found in sacred writ, and even the style of scripture is more than human." "The human mind," says Bishop Lowth, nothing more elevated, more grand, more glowing, more beautiful, and "can conceive more elegant, than what we meet with in the sacred writings of the Hebrew 66 bards. The most ineffable sublimity of the subjects they treat upon is fully equalled by the energy of the language, and the dignity of the style. Some of these writings, too, exceed in antiquity the fabulous ages of Greece, as much as in sublimity they are superior to the most finished productions of that celebrated people." Cowley tells us that "all the books of the Bible are either already most admirable and exalted pieces of poetry, or are the best materials in the world for it." And Sir Richard Blackmore says that "for sense, and for noble and sublime thoughts, the poetical parts of scripture have an infinite advantage over all others put together." These are surely testimonies of no mean quality, borne not by pigmies but by giants in literature; and the number of such testimonies might be multiplied to almost any extent. Nor need we wonder that judgments like these should be given by men of literary taste and discrimination. The Bible is emphatically the book of books, as well as a literary composition as in other respects. Its power and sublimity are unrivalled, and its beauties are inimitable. Is it, then, extraordinary that those most eminent for a love of literary pursuits should be found among the most ardent admirers of the Bible? It would have been very marvellous had it been otherwise. The Bible, and the Christianity of the Bible, fully sympathize with all that refines, and elevates, and ennobles the tastes and habits of man; and are therefore friendly to the promotion and advancement of literature. Only let your literature be of a kind to purify and lift up, and not to debase and pollute, and Christianity will give to you its approving sanction, bestow upon you its blessing, and say to you, "Go on and prosper." 5. Christianity is the promoter of peace. "Blessed are the peacemakers," is the authoritatively pronounced judgment and benedictive decision of its Divine founder. Into the discussion of the question, "Is war under any circumstances lawful?" we are not about to enter. Were we to do so, our present views would certainly lead us to take the affirmative side. That the tendencies of Christianity are, however, of a peaceful character, cannot, we think, for a moment be questioned. "So soon as Christianity shall gain a full ascendency in the world," says Dr. Chalmers, "from that moment war will disappear." To the correctness of this opinion we unreservedly subscribe. When Christ was born, angels sung "Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, good will to men." Yes, the gospel breathes peace on earth, good will to men. It is the "gospel of peace," and he who is its great revealer and author, its sum and substance, is the "prince of peace." War is always an awful thing, and cannot be contemplated by the sensible and considerate but with feelings of repulsion and horror. What does it mean? It means wholesale carnage and slaughter, limitless pillage and violence, unbridled profligacy and licentiousness. It means to send large numbers of souls-too often unprepared-abruptly into eternity; to scatter desolation and wretchedness, lamentation and woe, misery and death, in every direction. It stops civilization, and social and national progress; blunts and destroys the purest and best feelings and affections of which our nature is susceptible; rends the tenderest and most sacred ties; fills the hearts of numbers of parents and others with agonizing grief; makes widows and orphans; often paralyzes trade; raises the price of food and clothing; increases the national burdens; and produces evils of a physical, social, moral, and religious bearing, beyond calculation, and almost without end. It is, as by universal consent, placed in the same category with pestilence and famine. A greater calamity cannot surely befall any nation than for a necessity to be laid upon it to engage in war. Now, if Christianity ruled all hearts, war would cease. Men would learn that they were brethren, and would live in peace. Swords would be converted into ploughshares and spears into pruning-hooks. By the silken cords of love would men be held together, and strife and contention would be known no more. The Saviour's "new commandment" is that men should "love one another," and of all that is preceptive in the New Testament, concerning the duty of man to man, this is the very gist and essence. For men to hate and destroy each other is utterly subversive of the spirit and purposes of the gospel, and presents a palpable and dark antithesis to the teachings of the Christian lawgiver. It is not the vulture but the dove that is emblematical of the gospel spirit. "Follow peace with all men," is the benign and beautiful course marked out for the followers of Christ, by the finger of inspiration, and which is symbolized not by the sword but by the olive branch. Peace promotes civilization, commerce, the progress of arts and manufactures, the physical and moral elevation of the people; and furnishes facilities and inducements for the exercise and employment of whatever is adapted to insure progression in what is good and great. On peace Christianity ever smiles benignantly, and rejoices in all the blessings-and they are many-which follow in her train. 6. Christianity is also favourable to the freedom and spread of commerce. -Men are necessarily mutually dependent. It is so in any given community, and it is equally so among the different nations of the world. No one is satisfied with what he himself produces. Man has sometimes, and not inaptly, been designated an exchanging animal. And the further men are removed from a savage state of society, the more sensible do they become of the advantages of reciprocal help. Christianity teaches and fosters those principles and views which lead to the development and practical exemplification of this reciprocity. From this arrangement numberless benefits flow, subserving to an extent not to be described the best earthly interests of the human family. And we must beg to state that in our judgment, commerce to be right must be free. We must have freedom in this as in other matters. This view is, we think, as much in harmony with the Christian Scriptures as with the writings of M'Culloch or Adam Smith. If the converse of this be true, we have the system of Christianity to learn afresh. The liberation of commerce in this country, we regard as the attainment of a glorious boon. It will signalize the age in which it occurred; and future generations will look back on the accomplishment of the work as one of the most splendid and extensively beneficial achievements ever effected by that potent and wonderful motive-power-moral suasion. The principle of free trade we hold to be sound and true, and whatever will not bear its application must itself be unsound and false. It But we must bring our remarks to a close. If what has been advanced be correct, the ennobling and elevating tendencies of Christianity cannot, we think, be questioned. It is, indeed, the brightest and loveliest, the most pure and noble, the most exalted and benevolent system ever presented to the universe. It is the friend of social order and advancement of liberty, of science, of literature, of commerce. "It enjoins temperance and chastity, and the due exercise of the bodily and mental powers, and so improves the health and vigour of the whole physical and intellectual system. favours the cultivation and progress of all useful arts, extending man's dominion over all material things, and placing within his reach the riches of the universe." It involves us not in uncertainty as to those matters which have a direct bearing on our highest welfare. It gives us the most noble and exalted views of the attributes, and character, and government of the Deity. It furnishes us with the most powerful motives to the practising of all that is virtuous, amiable, and excellent. It teaches us how we may obtain the smiles of our Maker, and be brought to dwell with him for ever. It is the opponent of all that is evil, and the friend of all that is entitled to our praise, or worthy of our admiration. "Soft peace she brings, wherever she arrives; The observation of Addison in reference to the immortality of the soul, may with perfect propriety be applied to Christianity: "If it is a dream, let me enjoy it, since it makes me both the happier and the better man." Christianity, however, is no "dream," but a blessed and delightful reality. What is the amount of our indebtedness, as a nation, to Christianity? "It is no inflated egotism, it is no exhibition of foolish, ostentatious boasting, to say that we are a nation, great, powerful, prosperous, rich, and free." It is undeniable that we hold a distinguished position among the peoples of the earth. To Christianity we owe it all. It is Christianity that has raised Britain to her present altitude of greatness, and prosperity, and freedom. It is by the free circulation, by the power and influence of that blessed word-that God-inspired, life-imparting book, which infidels scout, and which Romanists would lock up from the people, that the mighty work has been achieved that our country has been raised to her present dignity and honour. The Bible lifts up, purifies, and blesses. Time was when this now happy land of ours was a land of superstition, of darkness—a land devoted to heathen idolatries and heathen cruelties. How great and glorious has been the change! and the Bible has made it. To us has been given this treasure of infinite value. Let us not forget that privileges create responsibilities, and that the greater are our privileges the more weighty are our responsibilities. Oh, then, how great must be ours! My young friends, important is the position you sustain. Of that position endeavour to form a correct and scriptural estimate. You are acting for eternity! Every step you take you tread on a chord that will vibrate through eternal ages. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Sow good seed-sow betimes-sow plentifully, that yours may be a blessed and a "bountiful harvest." Great things are before you. Let noble deeds be yours. Pursue with quenchless ardour and indomitable perseverance the beautiful, the noble, and the true. Despise what is mean and grovelling, what would dissipate and debase your minds, as unworthy of your nature. Promote religion, and she will promote you. Remember she is a tree of life to those who lay hold upon her. In your hearts give her a place, cherish her, and in your conduct exhibit her excellencies; and amidst all your studies and avocations she will be your best and truest friend. "Live, love, and hope," said the sage, to one who applied for his advice as to how he should conduct himself. “Live, love, and hope," would we say to the young men whom we now address. Live, but not to yourselves or for yourselves. Live to Him whose you are, and whom it is your greatest wisdom to serve. Live to answer the great purposes of your being, to promote the good of those around you, to honour God, and to gain heaven. And while you thus live, let your every thought, and word, and deed be imbued with love. "Let love through all your actions run." And in all your labours and prayers, and in all your difficulties and discouragements, let your hearts be sustained and inspired with hope. Hope will be as an anchor to the soul, and if you add faith to hope you will be invincible, and in the cause of truth will go forth "from conquering unto conquer." Again would we say, "Live, love, and hope." To you do the churches look. Let it not be in vain. Be up and doing. Sustain well and honourably your different positions and relations. Live down infidelity, and shame it out of being. Let the excellency of your principles be demonstrated by the goodness of your conduct. Things are moving on. Truth and error are in conflict, but truth shall prevail and triumph, and the world shall be ultimately happy and free. And you, if you have acted well your part, shall receive a reward rich, glorious, and honourable. Dewsbury. L. S. MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES, ANECDOTES, &c. THE DRUSES OF MOUNT LEBANON. BY A. AMEUNY, A NATIVE OF SYRIA. Ar a meeting of the Ethnological Society, held in London, April 15, A. Ameuny, who is a native of Beirut, in Syria, described how, when a boy, he was carried by his mother into the Druse country to visit an aunt who resided there, when he visited also a princess of the Druses, the mother of their present chief. This visit, and the strange report current at Beirut, with regard to the character, manner, and mysterious religion of the people, made a deep impression on his mind, and the desire of making himself better acquainted, especially with their religious opinions, haunted him continually. After the conquest of Syria by Ibrahim Pasha, in 1831, the Christians of Syria had more liberty, and Mr. Ameuny had opportunities, which were wanting before, of intercourse with the popu lation of Lebanon, which was further facilitated by his acquaintance with the American missionaries; thus, during five years, he was in constant and familiar communication with them, passing the summers in their mountains, and receiving their visits at Beirut in the winters. In one of his visits to the mountains, in 1848, he first saw one of their religious books, but did not obtain possession of it then. In the following year, however, when Ibrahim invaded the country of the Druses, he obtained several of the books of the Druses from the Egyptian soldiers, who had carried them away as plunder. These he read and studied eagerly, not deterred by the discovery that, so jealous are this people of their secrets, that it is considered one of their most sacred duties to murder any one, not a Druse, who is known to possess, or to have read their books, or to have gained any knowledge of their mysteries; yet he found that their most secret and important mysteries were not committed to writing at all, and he came at last to the conviction, in which the most learned of the American missionaries shared, that those mysteries are never likely to be known to any but the initiated, who are bound by the most solemn and terrible engagements not to disclose them. He found, however, that a distinguishing article of their religious belief was an exaggerated doctrine of predestination and fatalism. He ascertained further that, among other articles of their less secret doctrines, they held that God created seven species of creatures, who have inhabited the world in succession-angels, devils, genii, &c., and, lastly, men. God took upon himself the body of Adam, or veiled himself with the substance of Adam, and gave through him a revelation for the benefit of mankind; he did so at different times afterwards, through Noah, Moses, Christ, Mohammed, and Hakem, the latter of whom the Druses regard as the head of their sect. God, they say, created all the souls of men at one time, and whenever a person dies his soul enters the body of an infant; in fact, the Druses believe in the transmigration of the soul, but not into animals. In the time of Hakem, the fate of all these souls was decided those who believed in him were to be saved, and those who did not believe were to be damned without hope of mercy. Mr. Ameuny gave a sketch of the history of the Druses since the time of Hakem, and then proceeded to relate a number of anecdotes, many of them amusing, and nearly all from his own personal experience, illustrative of their manners and character. He described the Druses as a fine race, generally tall, robust, broad-chested, and well formed; their complexion rather fair, generally with dark eyes and hair, though the occurrence of blue eyes is not unfrequent. The num |