their gods, instead of being created by them; they are literally carved out or moulded of wood or stone, brass or iron, silver or gold, and set up by the hands of those who idolise them; or they are mere mortals, distinguished as much by their vices as their virtues, and deified by a popular and vulgar erro. And is it for such gods, and for such idolatry-is it for Apollo, or Jupiter of Olympus, or the Apis or Ox of Egypt, Mr. Herttell, that we are to exchange our pure and celestial faith? For you may be assured, sir, that, if Christianity were once done away with its altars destroyed: its pastors put down, and driven out of its sanctuaries: its bible nullified, perhaps every copy of it burnt as a sacrifice to the Genius of Infidelity: All this accomplished, I say, and then believe me, that another Moloch, with altars steaming in blood, would soon come again; and all the vain omens, and the false oracles, the follies and superstitions, of Egypt, of Greece, and of Rome, in their darkest days. Here would be Diana of Ephesus, and her idolatrous Temples; and there should we see Demetrius with his brazen and impudent front, as well as his brazen gods and idols, arranged on his shelves, for sale to the simpletons of a wicked and idolatrous generation. Not even a solitary Temple, inscribed "to the unknown God,,' like that which Paul found at Athens, would enliven the scene. But thick moral darkness, and poisonous and contagious moral pestilence, rely upon it, my friend, would fill the world, and spread over it all

the horrors of vice and licentiousness, crime, cruelty and corruption. There is by far too much of all this now-much more, and ever has been than is consistent with a sound and healthy state of the body politic; but how much more of it would there be if the divine light of the gospel should be extinguished? Then indeed would the glowing picture which Milton has applied to the spirits of another world, be realised on earth. Then "devil with devil damned" would hold "firm concord.". At every fire-side, and in every nook and corner, would be seen, in vivid aspect, the malign influence, the all-blasting and deadly effects of that infernal "concord," born of night and hell-that foul brotherhood and unity of Satan and his earthly satellites. Then instead of beholding a sober, intelligent and virtuous people, going forth on their holy Sabbath, to do homage, by a rational dovotion, to their Divine Creator and Benefactor; then, instead of beholding the same people engaged, between the periods of divine worship, in the pur suit of industrious and honest enterprise; we should behold a far different and a deeply deplorable state of things: For if the Sabbath, as now established, were abolished, the people would still have, must have, in the nature and fitness of things, to say nothing of religious service, certain and frequent resting days. Neither the body, nor the mind of man, can bear constant application to labor: And if God had not expressly commanded Moses to keep the Sabbath holy, as well as to labor six days,

Moses would have reached the acme of human wisdom in devising the same measure. The six days labor are as indispensable to the temporal prosperity, as the seventh day of rest and holiness to the Lord, is to the physical, spiritual and eternal welfare of man. Do away the Sabbath, then, with its pure, rational and Christian devotion, as now observed, and what should we behold? The circus and its gladiators, resounding with the shouts of victory obtained by brute force, or the long loud laugh of folly at the monkey exhibitions of the equestrian and. the mountebank! The doors of theatres thrown open to receive heedless and vicious multitudes! Bar-rooms crowded with the bloated and the blaspheming votaries of the bottle and the bowl! Nor is this all or the half of the horrors that would flow from the downfall of Christianity and the Christian Sabbath. Those unhallowed haunts of brutal lust and revelry, which Solomon so happily describes, as leading their inmates down to the gates of hell, and which even the present improved state of society cannot effectually root out, would be multiplied ten, if not a hundred fold, and without reserve, or the slightest show of decency and decorum, would open wide their portals at noon-day for every beastly debauchee to enter boldly and steep his polluted soul in the dregs of eternal death! The Faro Bank, and the Billiard Table; and Lucifer's most potent instruments, the cards and the dice-box, would take the places previously occupied by the

work-bench, the bible and the prayer-book. The Memoirs of the Cardinal DE RETZ, which teach the philosophy of intrigue and venality-and their kindred volumes, The Prince of Machiavel, the Letters of Chesterfield, and t Mer s of such licentious beings as De Grammont and De Maintenon, would supplant the science of Bacon and Newton, the Metaphysics of Locke, the pure politics of Fenelon (in Telemachus) Harrington and Sidney, and whatever there is of truth in the Moral Philosophy of Paley and Brown. The libidinous and bacchanalien songs of Anacreon and their counterparts, both ancient and modern, would be hailed as welcome substitutes for the chaste strains of Milton, Gray, Collins, Cowper, and our own Bryant, Halleck and Sprague. Instead of that beautiful vision of the Prophet Isaiah being realized, when the Lion and the Lamb shall lie down together, and children play safely upon the hole of the asp; the Lion of corruption would stalk abroad, scattering poison at every step from his haggard and frightful mane: children would themselves be transformed into asps, to sting with filial impiety and ingratitude, the bosoms of their parents; and even parents would lose sight of the ties which bind them to love, cherish and protect their children! Husbands and wives-but stay my pen, whilst I shudder at the thought!-there would be neither husbands nor wives! The sacred ties of matrimony would be dissolved-the sexes would degenerate into tyrants on the one hand, and slaves

on the other :-For we must recollect, that "wives, submit yourselves to your husbands," or, in other words, WOMAN, submit yourself to the will of MAN, was too much the law and the practice both of the Jews and the Gentiles, until CHRIST, by the voice of inspiration, uttered through Paul, added the re deeming and equalising clause-"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it." Thus did the blessed Saviour rejoice the hearts, and wipe the tears from the eyes, of the afflicted and the miserable: And thus did he redeem and elevate the enslaved and the oppressed, without taking a solitary right from the tyrant and the oppressor. To WOMAN, he said, BE virtuous, free AND HAPPY: To man, be just und good: And as wOMAN was thus emancipated by the Divine Author of Christianity from the tyranny of MAN; so would she sink again into slavery and degradation, if Christianity were abolished, and the foul system of Infidelity substituted for it. She would lose all the privileges to which she is entitled and which she now enjoys; she would fall from her high sphere, bereft of dignity and virtue; and amid the general wreck of manners and morals, a mongrel race of satyrs would arise, to make the sun turn pale, and the moon and the stars to hide their diminished heads, at the awful depravity of human nature! O glorious era! O brilliant and beautiful reign of Infidelity, Infatuation, Intoxication and Abomination! [L.] This is no fanciful picture, Mr. Herttell; no mere figure of rhetoric,