goodness of any Christians, by whatsoever other name they may be called, let us rejoice with them all in the portion of it which has been made clear to each. The good and wise of different denominations are learning to agree in this, that, since their Father suffers so many diversities of opinion among his children, he suffers them out of regard for their weakness and for benevolent purposes; and that we too must wait for their ending in meekness and trust. As it has been beautifully said by a Unitarian minister, however opposite may be the sides from which we start at the foot of the mountain, in approaching its summit we approach one another.

To return. We think that it was unwise in Mr. Sutherland to retain his niece against her will in a church which she had never either loved or heartily believed in ; because we hold it to have been utterly impossible for him to divine whether, under the mysterious providence of God, it was best for her soul that she should remain in it. But, urges he, " I, as a clergyman of the English branch of the Catholic Church, come before you with a statement of her doctrines. As a proof that these doctrines are true, I confirm them by the inspired word of God." To whose satisfaction does .Mr. Sutherland confirm them? To his own? Very possibly; and so, to his own, could Father Andrea confirm very many, if not all, of his, unless he is a much less clever controversialist than we take him to be;-but not to that of an unbiased, judicious, and enlightened mind, unless Mr. Sutherland is a much more clever controversialist than we take him to be, supposing the doctrines which we are now considering to be fair samples of what he would set forth as those of the Church of England.

The lawfulness of the control which he exerts over her he would justify, if he could, by his claim to belong to "an apostolic ministry, a succession derived from the primitive Church." We will not say so much as we might of the doubtful propriety of entitling the clergy of the Establishment - consisting in great part of younger sons of the nobility and gentry, put into orders that they may be genteelly provided for with family livings, and many of them extremely frivolous and incompetentan apostolic ministry, but will once more request the

opinion of Dr. Arnold, who says: "I am perfectly aware that my opinion about the pretended apostolical succession is different from that of most individual clergymen ; but I defy any man to show that it is different from that of the Church of England; and if not, it is fairly an open question....; and he is the schismatic who would insist upon determining in his own way what the Church has not determined." And again: "A succession, in order to keep up the mysterious gift bestowed upon the priesthood, which gift makes baptism wash away sin," &c. "This is intelligible and consistent, though I believe it to be in the highest degree false and Antichristian." If we could hope to add weight to Dr. Arnold's opinion by any suggestion of our own, we would offer the following. Granting the doctrine concerning it to be true, how can we discover, after the lapse of eighteen convulsed and confused centuries, upon whom this "mysterious gift" has descended? We do not deny that there may be men living ordained by the last of a long succession of men, the first of whom was really ordained by an Apostle. We do defy any man living to prove that he is one of those men. It may be replied, that, at any rate, God will accept the intentions of the Episcopalian who endeavors to do all things decently and in order. We believe that he will, and also the intentions of the non-Episcopalian who endeavors to do all things decently and in order.

For the right of any church to impose austerities upon its members, those who are in doubt about it can consult the fourteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. The observation may be hypercritical, but it has long appeared to us that there is much significance in the choice of his words in the text where our Saviour says, "If any one will come after me, let him take up [not a, but] his cross and follow me." His cross; not one of his own nor of his brother's choosing, but of God's, adapted, with the wisdom and tenderness of which he alone is capable, to the strength and to the weakness of its bearer. It will be unlike that laid upon any other, because he is himself different from every other, and requires a different exercise. It may be at one time heavy,

* Life, Vol. II., Letter CXCII.

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+ Ibid., Letter CCXLVIII.

at another galling, never intolerable. Not so that laid by man upon his fellow. God disciplines all men differently. Man would discipline all men alike. Even such modified mortification as that recommended by Mr. Sutherland, taken in connection with other labors and trials like those of Margaret, would probably in most instances result in a nervous depression of body and mind, and in some in consumption.

The Christian whose quick eye of filial love and gratitude is skilled to mark in all the circumstances which surround him but the workings of the gloved hand of Providence, pointing out to him a stepping-stone to heaven in every deed of righteousness which they throw in his way, and whose ear to hear in the words of every suppliant who comes to him for aid a commanding message of invitation from his Father, may find vigils enough appointed for him in labors of love for which the day was too busy or too short, by the bedside of the sick and dying, in sad company with the sleepless anguish of bereavement, or on his couch, when his prayers, confessions, and thanksgivings encroach unawares upon his slumbers, and fasts enough from indulgences forbidden by the health of his body or his soul, or by the greater need in which his brother stands of them. We have little faith in the efficiency of formal acts of self-denial for self-denial's sake. They are, we suspect, too apt to exhaust the energies required for self-denial for the sake of others. Still, if Christ refused to command them, it is not clear that he altogether refused to countenance them. Many holy men have believed them to be of use. Let each be in this respect a law unto himself.

Where the mistletoe grows, there are oaks. Though the natural connection between them may not be apparent, we are not surprised to find here, as well as elsewhere, associated with these doctrines and breathing the same atmosphere of superstition, a general gloom, sometimes softening into melancholy and sometimes darkening into horror, overhanging the idea of death, — death, to the good so often the deliverer, "the" solemn "consoler"! To represent him as "bitter and tremendous " is too often to render him so, particularly to the young. But that he is not necessarily or always so, we could, if our space permitted, bring beautiful and true instances to prove.

Finally, we take our leave of our author with most hearty thanks for the great pleasure and profit (or we are ourselves to blame) which we have received at her hands. That she is a woman of many sorrows, she pretty distinctly tells us. That she is one of many virtues, her works, unegotistical as they are, unconsciously testify of her in every line. We could perhaps wring from them, by cross-examination, some further interesting evidence concerning her to lay before our readers, and add by means of it another instance to the long, sad list of powerful and inquiring minds bowed, shackled, and brought under the dominion of their inferiors, by their union with too timid hearts and morbidly sensitive consciences. We forbear. We have no right to use what authors are so kind as to give us of their stores of reflection and experience, in obtaining what they do not. Such proceedings, though put in practice every day, particularly with regard to the writings of her own sex, appear to us too much upon a par with those of the beggar who avails himself of a charitable gentleman's giving him a shilling to notice where he keeps his purse, and pick his pocket. Her errors, if we are right in thinking them so, are those of her teachers, and cast no deep shadow upon her. They are but the harsh, unkindly rind, which may easily be separated and thrown away, leaving the rich fruit of much noble thought and feeling within, to render him who makes it his own, and digests it, the stronger and better for life.

E. F.

ART. III. THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS.*

In the boundless universe revealed or suggested to the eye of man, is there no material globe destined for the abode of intelligent beings save our own? Our own sun has eight large primary planets revolving about him; is

*1. The Plurality of Worlds. With an Introduction, by EDWARD HITCHCoсK, D.D., etc., etc. Boston: Gould and Lincoln. 1854. 16mo. pp. xvi., 307.

2. More Worlds than One, the Creed of the Philosopher and the Hope of the Christian. By SIR DAVID BREWSTER. New York: R. Carter & Brothers. 1854. 16mo. pp. 265.

ours the only one destined to be inhabited? The Milky Way contains thousands of stars apparently bound together by laws of attraction, and circling about the group of the Pleiades. Our sun lies near the centre of the Milky Way, and is therefore probably like the other stars composing this great assemblage. Is it the only one of that multitude which has planets? And if the others have planets, are they not destined for the abodes of intelligent creatures? Scattered over the heavens are spots of hazy light, shown by the telescope to be clusters of stars. Are these clusters smaller, and composed of smaller stars, than the Milky Way? Or are they not simply distant Milky Ways? If so, have they not their Pleiades, their suns, and those suns their planets, and those planets their inhabitants?

Such is the rapid and conclusive way in which human speculation reached the doctrine of the plurality of planetary worlds, of planets peopled by intelligent beings. The doctrine has found its way into popular literature, giving rise to many beautiful passages of oratory, many strains of noble verse. It has exalted our conceptions of the Almighty Power, and thrilled our souls with a wider sense of brotherhood with the sons of God. It has even sunk so deeply into the human heart as to become the inspiration of art, and Beethoven has written the choral song of the worlds, as they roll in their tribute of praise to the Redeemer:

"Welten singen Dank und Ehren

Den erhebenen Gottes Sohn." *

But, behold, here steps forth an anonymous writer, and with prolix and almost tedious discourse assails this doctrine, which has taken such firm hold of the human mind as even to modify our ideas of heaven. He lays merciless hands upon this fair fabric of speculation. He shows that, of the eight larger primary planets, only one gives us positive evidence of containing the three essentials of earth, air, and water. He shows that, among the stars, the double stars would require a very different planetary arrangement from that of the solar system; and the variable stars are not fitted to be steady dispensers of

* Worlds are singing thanks and honor to the exalted Son of God.

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