the influence of the writings of the biographer of Knox and Melville.

What Thomas Carlyle has done for the memory of the hero of the commonwealth of England, that did Thomas M'Crie for the hero of the Scottish reformation. Lamartine's History of the Girondists, it is said, did much to precipitate the revolution of 1848. Scotchmen are not so mercurial as their Gallic neighbours, and are therefore not so easily moved by a book, even though the book should be a very good one. But it is only saying the truth, when we say that the ecclesiastical writings of M'Crie did very much to precipitate the disruption of the Scottish church. He it was who first led the higher and more earnest minds of the Scottish establishment out of that frigid zone of Erastianism, amidst whose wintry influences they threatened to become so miserably dwarfed. What Scotchman who had drunk in the inspiration breathed from the lives of John Knox and Andrew Melville, could fail for evermore to combat for those great principles of spiritual independence for which those heroes contended throughout a lifelong struggle with kings and princes? In point of fact, just to the extent that the leaders of the evangelical party in the Scottish church took these men for their models, did they succeed; and where they failed to do so, either through misapprehension, timidity, or false views, were they unsuccessful. Had they shared

as fully the political as the ecclesiastical sentiments of the reformers, there can be no doubt their position would have been less complicated, and their triumph even more complete. We are not making any revelation when we say that the power of the Free Church was not a little crippled in the very hour of its birth, by the attempt of certain leaders to carry into it men who had nothing in common with that noble band, who, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, left all to follow the fortunes of a sacred principle.

The stone-cutters of the metropolis of Scotland are a short-lived race; the peculiar fineness of the stone amidst which they work brings with it disease of the lungs and chest. Though a temperate mason, Hugh Miller was no exception to the general fate. After about a couple of years' labour, he felt the absolute necessity of relaxation, and resolved to return, for a time at least, to his native town. This visit to Edinburgh, though it introduced him to the acquaintance of none of the lions of the city, furnished him with the opportunity of observing what may be deemed the transition-era of the large towns of Scotland from the proud position which they held as the abodes of learning, piety, and virtue, into the refuges of that pariah race which now nestles in their midst, and whose existence forms so perplexing a problem to modern

civilization. The peril with which this large class threatens society is at once apparent, and has often been pointed out. "Let," said Dr. Chalmers, fully a quarter of a century ago-"let but some extraordinary convulsion take place in society, and it will speedily be discovered how feeble a barrier our civilization presents to utter social demoralization." "Dare we," says Isaac Taylor, "had we the infant human race in our arms, dare we turn ourselves to that careworn creature, modern civilization, sitting at her factory gate, and say, Take that child, and nurse it for me?" We are afraid, however, that these authorities, Hugh Miller included, have made a mistake in supposing that the class in question is so peculiarly the growth of modern times and of great cities. Our own opinion is, that all that modern cities have done has been simply to form centres for such a population. So far back as the age of Knox, we find this class in existence under the appellation of "sturdy beggars," and we have the authority of Fletcher of Saltoun for stating, that, at the period of the Revolution, not less than 200,000 of these waifs of society were scattered over Scotland. It is a melancholy reflection that, after all that has been done by the combined exertions of the philanthropists and the religious, this class should continue to outgrow, and seemingly overmaster, all the checks to which it is subjected.

The churches have of late years set about the re clamation of this class, and in the few instances in which superior men have devoted themselves to the work, the success has been most gratifying. Unfortunately, however, these home missions have fallen largely into the hands of preachers who have been unsuccessful in regular charges, and whose general mental power is not such as enables them to exert any salutary influence. Called to combat the dissipation and sensuality of a class in whom dissipation and sensuality have become chronic, it is not to be wondered at, should these intellectual weaklings be unable to effect much amongst a population so degraded. If home missions are ever to be more than a sort of decent house of refuge for those who have broken down in what is deemed the more regular work of the Christian ministry, a totally different class of men must be appointed to labour in that interesting and important sphere of evangelistic effort.

After a tedious voyage, Hugh Miller again set foot on the beach of Cromarty, and was received with the cordial greetings of his two uncles, his cousin George, and other friends and relations; and was soon again in the enjoyment of all the happiness of their united friendship.

CHAPTER VL

CHRISTIANITY.

WHEN Christianity appeared, it met a world in waiting. The superstitions which had sustained the nations, had degenerated into effete and sterile things long anterior to His coming, to whom the gathering of the people was to be. Even the representative people had done its work-its mission was accomplished-the purposes for which God had selected Israel from amongst all the families of the earth had been fulfilled, and the privileges which had been withdrawn from the race within the circle of the chosen nation were again to encompass a world, and again to infold in their ample embrace all kindreds, and tongues, and peoples, and nations. It was about to be made manifest it was not for themselves alone that Israel's Divine Father had gilded with the sunshine of his favour the hills of their inheritance, but that his way might be known on earth, and his saving health amongst all nations. Such an authoritative and inspired avowal of the cosmopolitan purposes which Judaism was intended to serve, might surely silence the