SABBATH OBSERVANCE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5301, 7 February 1879, Page 4

SABBATH OBSERVANCE.

Mr Sidky's Sermon.— No. VI. Aft I wish to finish this discussion with thiß discourse *, and as there are still three or four things to which I wish to refer, in the papers of Mr Colenso, I feel that I must be .careful of words. From our previous reflections we have seen that the design of the fourth commandment was to secure rest for man, from worldly cares and avocations, as well as an opportunity for the worship of God, the study of Hiß Word, and familiar acquaintance with the things of the unseen world. From the precepts of Christ we have also Been that, as moral duties often conflict, the lower must yield to the higher. The life, health, and well-being of a man are higher ends, in a given case, than the punctilious observance of any external service. Hence, our Saviour plainly lays down the general principle for the guidance of his followers, that "it is right to do on the Sabbath whatever mercy or a due regard to the comfort or welfare of ourselves or others may require to be done, and whatever is necessary for the due celebration of religious worship, or for attendance thereon. Those positions are to be held firmly against all gainsaying. All this we have already considered, and I now simply repeat them, as it will be necessary again to refer to them "in the course of this lecture. With this brief recapitulation of some of the most important principles that rule Christian action, I now proceed to the points in controversy. The I. Is the vigorous attempt made by Mr Colenso to coerce the consciences of men by' his appeals to public opinion. He asks, what man among those who signed the petition for the withdrawal of the Bteamers from the port on the Sabbaths, would be contented to wait till the Monday for the receipt of his letters by the mail, when it arrives on Sabbath ; or who would be contented to go without milk for their children's breakfasts, &c. To these questions I answer, first, that they tire partly unfair, as they imply that we are called upon to renounce what is necessary ■fend merciful. Mr Colenso and his class would; make, the laws of life as hard as iron for others, that they might vindicate their own license. But the Christian's position necessitates no such thing ; and tie «i scarcely simple enough to leave such toett. to lay down law for his conscience. This is the Pharisaic art, which would lay burdens on others which they themselves would not touch with one of, their fingers. We have not so learned the law of Christ. And I answer, secondly, on the more vital part of the question, that the principle of the appeal is essentially vicious. It proceeds on the ground that the opinions of men, on the, questions of morals, is a rule of duty for men and the Church of Christ, If these are to determine what is right, and wrong) apart altogether from the will of God, then we shall soon bid farewell to all morality and to all religion.' Touch the heart cores of many a multitude, and get them to answer whether it is right to cb^at and to steal, and they will answer you, "undoubtedly, if a man can do it without detection ; or, is it right to torture a dumb animal, and they will say yes, if its owner chooses ; or, is it right to live in a condition of polygamy, or free love, or carry through the operation of arbitrary divorce, and they will say, unquestionably, if it be the pleasure of the parties to do so ; or, is it right that elections should be carried on on the Sabbaths or the business of courts, or of the country, and they will say, quite 1 right, if the people wish it. If the opinions of free thinkers and atheists are to regulate moral conduct, then we may very aoon bid adieu to all morality and to ' all' religion. No Christian could hold office, or be engaged in any of j the affairs of such a community. In its ■essence, it is an utterly tyrannical maxim, and aims at the complete* excision of the religion' of Christ from society. Thank God things have not yet quite reached this j pass among us. We have not yet legalised what is wicked. We have not accepted what would be tyrannical against true men. Other nations, or considerable sections of them lay down, and act on some or all these grounds ; and so they profit by it ? Do they make life or property or freedom any more secure ? Do they make better and nobler men by the principles on which they act? They do the very opposite, they make national and human life mean and weak by their abandonment of moral principle,, It seems to me if we wish to ante-date perdition and unhinge the bonds of bociety> we have simply to give scope to the principle, that human opinion, in matters of morals, becomes the rule of duty. Good men and true who think, feel, and act according to the laws of their nature, will be slow to do that, They know that the laws, which bind taen to God and to duty, are just as inexorable a's the law of gravitation ; and thore is no transgressing of them, either by men or by society, except at enormous cost.; Wherever a good man finds the law of God placing restriction on his. desires or actions, as in the matter of bußinessj letters on the Sabbath, he will obey; and know, ajj multitudes in the largest business communities in the old country do, that it is well, to obey. It is such men that form the salt or preserving element in all societies. But for them society as now affected by many influences would go; very much faster to perdition than it is allowed to do. . This brings me to the broader question of the names of authors quoted by Mr Colenso, as favoring his views. He tells us that Luther and Melanchton and Calvin and' Norman M'Leod and, Walter 0. Smith and others hold the same positions on the Sabbath with himself. Not one of these men agree with very much of what Mr Colenso advances in these papers. If they could speak from the dead, or from other lands, their protest to many of his views on the Scriptures, and the law, and other elements as vital as these, would be vastly louder and firmer than mine. Very respectfully, no doubt, every one of them would decline his acquaintance. On some points of thought about the Sabbath, there is a seeming agreement, but it is far more in appearance than in reality. The difference between him, and some, or all of them is •very great. Alford would keep it as sacredly as any one who places it on a moral basis, and Norman M'Leod insisted strenuously oh the teaching of certain Verities 1 on .that day, which Mr Colenso .wishes- placed in the grave. lam not in a, jpppition.to test the circumstances in owjuch those men wrote the passages set opposite their names, nor the connections "in which they occur. Every scholar knows how vital these things are to reach a c man's ' true sentiments. There is nothing easier than to manipulate extracts, like statistics, to serve the purpose of a parti- < sail., ;oertainly, in the instances in which ; I haye j verified the passages, I have not iu f6uhd Mr' Colenso above the infirmity of ,Berving his purpose through them. Let 1 me indicate this to you, in the light of the passage quoted from Tennyson, to which my attention has been directed by an esteemed friend. The verses quoted are ..these— " And forth into the fields I. went, And Nature's living motion lent The pulse of hope to discontent. I wondered at the bounteous hours, The slow result of winter showers— *■ You scarce could seeJflTit grass for flowers. I wondered while I paced along ; The woods were filled so full of song, There seemed no room for sense of wrong. The purpose for which these verses are quoted is to show the sufficiency of nature for the. rest and the refreshment of the " : '''s6iril, -aid; even' its higher power for that "' purpose than the ministrations of the ' ' divine word. I do not hesitate to state '. cthat this is an utter distortion of the sen- '" : tjment of the poem. Its true teaching .. runs in the very opposite direction. The .. poem is of considerable length, named V-"The. two voices," and narrates the struggle of a human mind with. doubts and difficulties, increased by affliction. It j opens by -a suggestion of the Tempter, £ ;; 'which contains the key-note of ■ the whole Argument — " Thou art so full of misery, , ' Were it not better not to, be,"-

The writer disputes the •suggestion, and then follows a long discussion full of the most exquisite metaphysic, expressed in the most felicitous verse, traversing the whole region of life and death. He makeß beautiful allusion to Stephen and hiß dying prayer, when God's glory smote him on the face. To this the Tempter rejoined with sullen answer — " Not that the grounds of hope were fixed, The elements were kindlier mixed." The writer again- replies. He makes no appeal now to revelation, but only to the deeper intuitions of his own soul, which speak to him of a something lying away i beyond the regions of sense and sight. | His opponent seizes on his advantage — " The still voice laughed, • I talk,' said he, • Not ■with thy dreams.' Suffice it thee, Thy pain is a roality." The writer again responds— " But ttiou • said I* haat missed thy mark, Who eought'st to wreck my mortal ark By making all the horizon .dark." " 'Tis Hfe whereof our nerves are scant. Oh life, not death, for which we pant, More life and fuller that I want." The writer then says— " I ceased and sat as one forlorn, Then eaid the voice in quiet scorn— ' Behold, it is the Sabbath morn.' " And I arose, and I released The casement, and the light increased With freshens in the dawning oast. Like softened airs that blowing steal, When meres begin to uncongeal, The sweet church bells began to peal. On to God's house the people presfc ; Passing the place where each must restEach entered like a welcome guest. Then follows a description of a father, mother, and child walking together, and the verse rings on — These three made unity so sweet, My frozen heart began to beat, Remembering its ancient heat. I blest them and they wandered on ; I spoke, but answer came there none. The dull and bitter voice was gone. A second voice was at mine ear, A little whisper silver clear, A. murmur, " Be of better cheer." And as it tells of the " Hidden hope," the writer proceeds — So heavenly toned that in that hour From out my sullen heart a power ' Broke, like the rainbow from the shower. To feel, although no tongue can prove That every cloud that spreads above And veileth love, itself is love. Then follow the wordß quoted by Mr Colenso— And forth into the fields I went, &c. Which are followed by two exquisite verses— So variously seemed all things wrought, I marvelled how the mind was brought To anchor by one gloomy thought. And wherefore rather I made choice To commune with that barren voice, Thau him that said, " Rejoice ! Rejoice ! Instead of its being nature that brought repose and joy to the soul of the writer, it was the Sabbath, with its pealing bells and its moving multitudes going to the house of prayer, that brought up the old memories in his heart, which gave him power to see and feel the beauties and good of the world. This is a very common truth. The mind, that is calmed and braced by the solace of God and his holy Sabbath, is far the most competent to trace the beauty and good of his world and grace. It is wonderful that men commence so often with the barren voice rather than with him that says rejoice. I might have proceeded to shew a similar application of the passage, quoted from Wilberforce'a Practical View. The sentiments attributed to many of these men, in the way their words are quoted, are utterly unlike what the men themselves were. Let this suffice to shew that the coercion which Mr Colenso would impose on the consciences of men by public opinion is neither well founded nor applicable. 11. I now pass on to the subject of the Scottish Sabbath, which Mr Colenso denounces a"s the most wretched thing in the world. In proof of this, he quotes certain passages from the Ecclesiastical Records of former ages, without the slightest reference to the character of the times, and places these in bold contrast with his absurd imagination that the law of Christ says to a man, he is to do as he pleases in those things, as if that were an established verity. Such a course of action may serve the purposes of a hot partisan, but can never promote the cause of truth. It is not needful that I employ many words to set this Bubject in its true light. From the days of Knox, the people of Scotland generally have been a bible loving people. The creed of her Church was formed on a purely biblical ground. The ministrations of her sanctuaries were arranged, so as to secure a large distribution of God's word to the people, and the quickened incitement of their feelings towards its verities. The first consideration in connection with them was to excite and command the thoughts of men by God's truth, and to warm their hearts and lives by its holy power. The conduct of her schools was placed on the very same foundation, and zealously carried on for the same ends. The children of all classes mingled in them and competed with each other, the sons of the, poorest having as much opportunity to excel as the sons of the more favored classes. Hence, in the course of ages, the people became remarkable for their quick intelligence, manly freedom and unbending independence. They were always ready to insist on their rights, and- were willing • to surrender to others their rights, and to God his, when they were satisfied that they were due. In the midst of this pervasive force of the nation there has always been an alien element, working to other objects. These persons had a special dislike to the manly independence of the people and to their constant appeals to the scriptures. They wished these changed to a regard for human convenience and the will of man. The constant effort «f these parties has been to muzzle or muffle the force of God's truth. The success or failure of this party has always been proportionate to the degree of Christian life pervading the strictly religious circles. The devout part of the nation has always accepted those views of the Sabbath which I have been endeavoring to illustrate and enforce. They have accepted the day as the Lord's Day, set apart by him subordinately for man's advantage, by securing to him recuperative rest, education in divine truth, and the living impression of the things belonging to the unseen world. Teachers and people have been very largely at one, on these conceptions of , God's day, and have joined with each other in securing their embodiment. Certainly it has been as much the wish and will of the people as of their teachers. They have refused to suffer any aggression upon their rights and liberties, and have often unfurled their banners for King and for covenant. The devout circle of that nation have been as distant from the sentiments of Mr Colenao, which concentrate their essence in the maxim, that a man is only and always to please himself in such considerations as it is possible to conceive. And they are so now. Their maxim has ever been to the law and the testimony. If they do not correspond to these it is because there is no truth in them. And if any one wishes to see the fruits of these things in a law abiding, a largely intelligent and a resolutely independent people, he will do so in the various parts of Scotland. True, there has always been a circle, as I have said, among them who would welcome a change in these conditions. Li religious and other matters they would prefer to see a people more subordinate to the will of the ruling circles and more pliant to a worldly Bpirit. For that they Have wrought by every assiduous art. And through nothing more subtilely than by their endeavor to change the conception of the Sabbath. To that circle Dr. Norman M'Leod belonged. He was a genial, generous, imaginative and impulsive Celt, ready to do kind things when the doing of them did not rub against deeply cherished prejudices. Hence, he was a great favorite in human circles, although, from the same causes, little trusted in the counsels of his Church, where discrimination of judgment was

needed. It is beyond all question that ho had little love for the firmness of the people in the matter of religious convic* tion or practice. He loved the pleasurable himself, and would very willingly have brought it to be a rule with men, although he stopped far short of the sentiments of Mr Oolenso. It is here that we find the application of the words, quoted by him from a speech of M'Leod's on the Sabbath. "We do not keep the day . . . . we do not attempt to keep it, even in regard to work. Our ' servants and our ministers all do what no persons living under the 4th commandment would have dared to have done. This is simply a notorious fact. What effect has this '< I think it has this effect, very strongly, of weakening morality." It is probable that M'Leod spoke for himself, and for many of the circles in which he moved in using the words j but that he spoke to the clergy generally, and j for the devout people of Scotland, it is , quite certain he did not. They would not accept his confessions ; and, I have very little doubt, would there and then j tell him of the fact. That such conduct as is described weakens morality, as it weakens religion there can be very little doubt. Morality concerns itself with our duties to our fellow men, and religion with our duties to our God ; and if we are perpetually trampling on either, to secure our pleasure, no doubt, we must weaken the energies of both. That that follows from the conscientious carrying out of the divine law, men have not to learn. All experience proves the very contrary. Let the sentiments of Mr Oolenso, or even those of M'Leod, get dominance, by which men are simply to content- themselves with appearing at Church and taking part in its services, and thus to givo themselves to exercises of amusement and the chase of pleasure ; thereby dissipating every thought planted in their i minds and every feeling which would carry them out in subordination to the divine will, and we shall soon see how that weakens morality and religion also. A more deadly bane it would be hard to find. It is something new to hear, that the morality and religion of pleasure seekers are higher than those of reverent worshippers ; and undoubtedly it is not true. In spite of all that is said by men of opposing views, the religious faith and practise of the Scottish nation in the worship of God and the training of their households by their inimitable summary of divine truth, the Shorter Catechism, is thoroughly justified by its fruits. But what of the protest lodged by the Sabbath alliance, against the excursion of the Queen to Loch Maree on the Sabbath, which so excites the rage of Mr Colenso. Was that right or the contrary 1 Had I been in Scotland I would have signed it. Holding by the truth, in common with a large part of that nation, that the Sabbath forms part of the moral law of God, and was given to man for purposes of rest, spiritual enlightenment and blessing, I believe it was no more lawful for the Queen to violate it than for a subject. Nay, it was incumbent on her, for the very reason tbat she was Queen, more carefully to keep it. As given by God " for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well" it was above all important that ahe should not trespass on the rights and liberties of others in such a matter. .No one is at liberty to steal if he wishes, and no more is a Queen. By the common consent of Scottish Christians she is just as little at liberty to profane the Sabbath. In signing such a protest, I should not think myself, as I know Dr. Robertson and his associates did not think themselves, less loyal to Her Majesty, or insensible to her many virtues, than those who would have her to pursue her pleasure. Patriots and Christians, of the type of Hampden, can never be sycophants. But I must proceed 111. To the Book of Sports, and Mr Oolenso's strictures upon my references to it. In the close of a discourse, some months ago, I stated " The right keeping of the Sabbath has always been a distasteful thing to men of a despotic spirit, and many have been the expedients to I which they have resorted to prevent it. In no one of these, have they shewn I greater skill, to hinder liberty and intelligence, and those conditions of society, which tended to conscientiousness, than j in the conversion of the Sabbath into a day of pastime. Charles I. proclaimed the Book of sports to reconcile the English people to their distress. By this j they were required to spend the large part of the day in amusements ; and those who complied with the edict were specially rewarded for so doing, while those who refused were subjected to pains and penalties. In thiß work he was powerfully helped by Laud, if he was not directed to it by this prelate, for reasons of a kindred character." Mr Colenso quotes this passage, that he might " cut it up" as he says ; and proceeds.,to tell the Hawke's Bay people, that Mr Sidey is wrong in his history, and in the charges which the passage contains, and so in his conclusions. He says, the Book of Sports was first issued by James I. ; the people were not required to observe them ; they were not enforced with the view of hindering liberty and intelligence, and that Laud, in 1618, was quietly and unobtrusively living at his College in Oxford, and had nothing to do with the forming of them. Is not that vigorous speech. Did the honest I man really think he had me on the thigh ; I or was he carried away by the prospect of , display, in the idea that no one would follow him. I said nothing about the origin of the Book of Sports, but only epoke of their proclamation by Charles, and did Charles not proclaim them? Even Mr Colenao says, he was obliged to republish them. It was to the times of Charles that I was referring and not to those of James. Hence many of Mr | Colenso's strictures are utterly beside the I mark. But let us glance now at the times of ; James, and Mr Colenso's statements about j them. He says Laud was quietly living | at his college at Oxford, when the Book of Sports was first produced. Where does Mr Colenso discover that fact? Does he draw it from his imagination, like many others 1 In every authority I possess I find that Laud was attached to the mission of James, as secretary or in some such capacity, when he went into Scotland in 1617, and was still an attendant on the King, in Lancashire, when Morton, Bishop of Durham, produced the Book of Sports. Laud was then believed to have been consulted about the book, and to have had | considerable influence in its production. The circumstances that led on to it are thus described : The Popish recusants I abounded more in Lancashire than in any other county in England. It was the policy of their leaders "to keep the people from church by dancing and other recreations, even in the time of Divine Service, especially on holy days and the Lord's Day, in the afternoon." This gross abuse the Bishop tried to redress in his primary visitation, which led to the petition to which Mr Colenso refers, and to the \ King's consulting of Morton to secure j their wish, without permitting some of the gross diversions, like bull-baiting, in I which multitudes engaged. The Book of Sports was the consequence. If anyone will take the trouble to examine " Hallam's Constitutional History," who had little admiration of the Puritans, but is a profound writer, he will see satisfactorily ; that even with James I. the purpose^ was | not so much to grant relief to the afflicted CathoUcß and High Churchmen, who loved sports more than worship, as to help him on in his conflict with the British Parliament. For the first time in English History ifc was resolved to compel James to rule constitutionally. James waß as resolved to rule despotically. He ; propounded the doctrine of the Divine j right of Kings, in a much more arbitrary sense than it had ever been thought of previously. In his looking for help to carry on th^a, object, he was attracted to [ Laud, who. Jjyad typen enlarging on the I Diving Right of Episcopacy in. a way

little heard of for many a day, and believed he would find a sure ally in Laud, who put great force, as we shall immediately see, on holidays and holiday Sundays. Even in the first conception of the Book of Sports things are scarcely in the position put by Mr Colenso. While one account says it was withdrawn by the King's clemency, another says it was enforced with great seventy. We pass from this correction of Mr Colenso's history to the period to which I was referring — the proclamation of the Book of Sports by Charles I. Mo3t students of English History are familiar with the prominent features of these times in the events of the Star Chamber and the cropping of Puritans' ears, &c. The chief fountain-head of them all was the resolute determination of Charles to carry out the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, and Laud's resolution to carry out the Divine Right of Episcopacy. The influence of Laud was predominant in the Court. He introduced radical changes in the government and administration of the Anglican Church throughout the period of his influence. TJnder Abbot, his predecessor in the primacy, the Divine Right of Episcopacy was not asserted. Ministers ordained by Presbyterians and Independents were instituted to offices. Until Laud came on the scene there was none of that offensive |assertion of Apostolical succession, which has largely abounded since. Laud scrupled at nothing to extirpate every seed of dissatisfaction with the Anglican Church as then administered. All this is familiar to most men who interest themselves in these matters. And it is remarkable that one of the very early acts of Charles, after Laud's elevation to the primacy, was the proclamation of the Book of Sports. The occasion which called it out is thus described: While Lord Chief Justioe Richardson and Baron Denham were on the Western Circuit,- they were importuned by the gentry in Somersetshire "to make a severe order for the suppression of all wakes, ales, and revels on the Lord's Day." These revels being numerous, and set up to obtain funds for the repair of churches, and the parish clerk and other things, by the sale of ales on Sabbaths and holidays. The Judges issued such an order, and required the minister of every parish to publish it on three Sabbaths of , the year. Next year complaints were , made to the Justices that the order was violated. It was again re-issued. Laud complained to the King of the Judges proceedings as a violation of episcopal jurisdiction. Richardson was summoned to the Council, and was reprimanded, as well as peremptorily enjoined to revoke his order at the next assizes. Through Laud, some of the clergy moved in favor of the revels, because of their civilising influence, and others sternly refused to countenance them. Justices of the Peace petitioned for their suppression, as thw led to a great profanation of the Lord s Day, to riotous tippling, contempt of authority, quarrels, murders, and other evils prejudicial to the peace and good government of the country. The answer to this petition was the proclamation of the Book of Sports, and the encouragement of everyone who favored them, and the suffering of those who did not. Hallam thus states the case :— " Besides reviving the prosecutions for nonconformity in their utmost strictness, wherein many of the other bishops vied with their Primate, he moat injudiciously, not to say wickedly, endeavored, by innovations of his own, and by exciting alarms in the susceptible consciences of pious men, w? raise up new victims whom he might oppress. Those who made any difficulty about his novel ceremonies, or even who preached on the Calvanistic side, were harassed by the High Commission fcCourt as if they had been actual schismatics. The most obnoxious, if not the most indefensible, of those prosecutions were for refusing to read what was called the Book of Sports, namely a proclamation, or rather a renewal of that issued in the late reign, that certain feasts or wakes might be kept and a great variety of pastimes used on Sundays after evening service. This was reckoned, as I have already observed, one of the tests of Puritanism. But whatever superstition there might be in that party's Judaical observance of the day they called the Sabbath, it was m itself preposterous and tyrannical in its intention to enforce the reading m churches of this license, or rather recommendation, of festivity. The precise clergy refused in general to comply with the requisition, and were suspended or deprived in consequence." Mask balls and private theatricals and morice dances became the order of the day on Sabbath, and were carried sometimes into the churches, and a fearful tide of loose degeneracy and profligacy ensued, as any one acquainted with the timeß full wsu knows. „. « But what of liberty and intelligence * Were these sports intended to hinder these ? Let Hallam again bear witness, "Besides the advantage of detecting a latent bias in the clergy, it is probable that the High Church prelates had a politic end in the Book of Sports. The Church of Rome, from which no ecclesiastical statesman would disdain to take a lesson, had for many ages perceived and j acted upon the principle that it is the policy of governments to encourage » love of pastime and recreation in the people, both because it keeps them from speculating on religious and political matters, j and because it renders them more cheerful and less sensible to the evils of their condition." Laud and Charles took the , lesson because they sought the end. Will that suffice to vindicate nay statements tothe thoughtful of the district, and toillustrate again the self assertion and illdigested information of Mr Oolenso. He says the principles of the Book of Sports are sound. I say they are thoroughly rotten and unworthy the acceptance of any free nation. Mr Colenao would prefer to have the Book of Sports proclaimed by, authority among us, or the spirit of the Continental Sunday introduced, rather than one kept in the religious spirit of a devout people. Very probably he would. A people trained under such influences would afford a very much more favorable element for the weak, watery, unscientific, and free-thinking sentiments he loves to air, than one taught to understand and hold by the word of God. It furnishes a demagogue with the very ground he seeks. As I said in my former lecture bo I repeat now—" A holyday Sabbath is the ally of despotism. Wherever the Romish or Parisian Sunday has prevailed for generations it has made the whole lives of peasant populations a prolonged childhood." There are still a number of topics in these papers to which I could have wished to give a little attention, such as the views advanced on church finance, and the object sought by Christian ministers when they entreat men not to forsake the assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some is ; education, both in its relation to the State and the Church ; and the warm appeal to Sabbath - school teachers and Christian preachers, &c, Ac. Had other engagements not been pressing hard upon me I should have had some little satisfaction in giving some attention to them. Now, however, I cannot spare the time. Nor does the thing seem very urgently needed. Enough, .it appears to me, has been adduced to shew to any sane man capable of reflection or of action upon these subjects how utterly absurd and degrading are those views urged upon their acceptance in these papers. No one will imagine that I have the smallest personal feeling to the author of these papers, if my criticism has been a little sharp on his sentiments. Before the world I can say I have none. But when God's truth is involved one must contend for it over every consideration. . The time has come, I believe, in the words of Charles Hodge, "that blatant atheists, whether com* munists, scientists, or philosophers, should know that they are as much and as justly the objects of contempt as of indignation to all. righ^minded men. By right-

minded men is meant men wlicr think, feel, and act according to the tows- of their nature. Those laws are or&Mned r administered, and enforced by God, and there is no escape from their obligation, or from the ponafties fl.ttn.ched to thoir violation." Had my voice any weight to reach the author of the papers we have been condemning, I would urge on him with all kindness, and in the love of God and man, the duty of confining his writings to matters of natural history and the Maori language, in which he may possess some fitness to benefit his fellowcreatures, but he should eschew the subjects of Christian truth, the Christian Scriptures, and the Christian Sabbath, as matters for which he has no neal aptitude, to write either by natural gift, or culture, or experience. ;