the gleaming arch and stretched the vast arcades upon the emerald sod in Hyde Park, and which has been filling all the important capitals of Europe and America during the last half-century with palaces of crystal, such as reflect in a magic globe the mind of thoughtful England, tasteful France, dreaming Germany, and ambitious Amer

ica.

"Strange thought,--a gardener tending lovingly upon a flower, suddenly rears a marvellous palace beneath a wondering nation's eyes, and rises up a belted knight beneath his sovereign lady's hand. If such a thing had happened in the old days, it might have been sung that the spirit of beauty in the flower had thus rewarded the gardener for his watchfulness."

The general plan of the Crystal Palace, erected after the plan of Mr. Paxton, was that of a parallelogram, 1,848 feet long by 408 feet wide, with a projection on the north side 936 feet long. The exhibition had four great departments: 1st, raw material; 2d, machinery; 3d, manufacturers; 4th, fine arts. These were subdivided into thirty classes, and this arrangement has been usually followed in the great exhibitions since held. The exhibition was opened on the 1st of May, 1851, by Queen Victoria in person, and was closed October 11, following.

There were 17,000 exhibitors, over 6,000,000 visitors, and the receipts above the ex. penditures were £213,305.

In this exhibition of 1851 the leading conception was that of a display of the industry of all nations. It was not a full realization of Prince Albert's idea, but was a grand beginning. A writer of the time says the whole affair was the sublime of the Bazaar. The price of admission on the first day was one pound; on the fourth day, five shillings; on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, one shilling; on Fridays, two shillings; on Saturdays, five shillings.

All classes of people were jubilant at the success of the great enterprise. The wind had not blown over their beautiful palace. Thieves did not break through and steal their treasures. The elms even of the park were not destroyed. Above all else the Exhibition had paid.

The marvellous palace of art in which the first World's Fair was held was removed,

when the fair was over, to Sydenham, a beautiful hillside in Surrey, eight miles or so distant from London, in the lap of some of the finest rural scenery of England. The first column of the new palace, as it was reerected in Sydenham, was raised in 1852, the inscription on which will tell its tale to future ages when the tooth of time shall have brought this noble fabric itself to the ground:

"This column,

The first support of the

Crystal Palace,

A building of purely
English architecture,

Dedicated to the recreation and instruction of the million,

Was erected on the 5th day of August, 1852.

"The original structure, of which this column forms a part, was built after the design of Sir Joseph Paxton, and stood in Hyde Park, where it received the contributions of all nations, in the year of our Lord 1851.

"I, your glass, will modestly discover to yourself That of yourself which you know not of.”

Palaces of surpassing magnificence have been raised by former ages. We have all read of the hanging gardens of Babylon, the colossal palace temples of Egypt. and the gorgeous structures of Nineveh. Some of us have seen the scattered fragments of Nero's golden palace on the Palatine Hill, and the other vast ruins which still speak so eloquently of the grandeur of Imperial Rome. But what were all these palaces, and how were they constructed ? They were raised by the spoils of captive nations to gratify the caprice or vanity of some solitary despot. To our age has been reserved the privilege of rearing a palace to the people, acting as humble instruments of that beneficent Providence which is guiding the race along the path of peaceful progress.

In the middle of the fourteenth century Chaucer wrote:

"As I slept, I dreamed I was
Within a temple made of glass,
In which there was more images
Of gold standing in sundry stages,
In more rich tabernacles;
And with jewels more pinnacles,
And more curious portraitures,
And quaint maniere of figures
Of gold work than I saw ever.

Moorish style,-Agricultural Hall, and Memorial Hall, or the Art Gallery. The government buildings covered about 2 acres. In these the functions of government in times of peace and times of war were illus trated.

Besides these there were the Woman's Pavilion, the Judges' Hall, a Swedish schoolhouse, a timber-framed building somewhat in the style of the sixteenth century, which formed the headquarters of the British commission. The total number of buildings within the enclosure was 160, and their cost was $1,600,000. The number of exhibitors was 60,000, derived from 37 nations, this being a threefold increase since 1851. The promenades in the main building were 25 miles in length.

Of these great exhibitions, that of Paris in 1867 had the greatest number of visitors, 10,200,000; Philadelphia, the greatest number of exhibitors, 60,000, with 9,000,000 visitors. There was only one of these exhibitions at which the receipts exceeded the expenditure; and that was the first, in 1851.

All of these exhibitions were again excelled by the magnificence of the last Paris Exhibition in 1889.

But this in its turn is far surpassed by the great Columbian Exposition at Chicago. There has never been so much time and money spent in preparing for an exhibition as in the case of this one. Every depart ment of art, industry, education, literature, mechanical and electrical science, agriculture and horticulture, will be seen in its highest perfections. A unique and important feature is that of the World's Congresses, which are bringing together and giving to the world the very best thoughts on every subject that interests and benefits mankind. Even the world's religions are to find generous representation here. Jew and Gentile, Mohammedan and Pagan, Orthodox and Heretic, Liberal and Spiritualist, every known sect and denomination, will meet on common ground for friendly discussion of the moral and spiritual interests of the human race. This is a vast advance over anything the world has seen before.

Ann Arbor, Mich.

MARY MOTLEY.

A radical is a liberal in earnest.- Gladstone.

COL. INGERSOLL AND THE RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS OF

TO-DAY.

III.

Col. Ingersoll rejects the divinity of Jesus Christ. But he says: "For the man Christ —for the man who, in the darkness, cried out, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?'— for that man I have the greatest possible respect. To that great and serene peasant of Palestine I gladly pay the tribute of my admiration and my tears. He was a reformer in his day. Back of the theological mask, and in spite of the interpolations of the New Testament, I see a great and genuine man." A man who can wring from a sceptic like Col. Ingersoll such a tribute as that certainly deserves it. Ideas of the relation of Jesus to God are rapidly changing, even among orthodox theologians. They are accepting the immanence of God in nature, and they see the impossibility of believing that the Infinite Power which throbs through every atom of this great universe should have been completely embodied in human form. They are studying the New Testament critically, and are comparing it with other sacred books; and they are beginning to see that Jesus was deified after his death by his disciples, as Buddha was deified by his followers. They are learning to doubt the infallibility of the New Testament writers, and so they are beginning to reconstruct their idea of Jesus and his relation to the Being he called God. At most, they hold that Jesus was filled full of the Divine Spirit,-as a bay is filled with the waters of the ocean. All that is in the bay is ocean, but not all the ocean is in the bay. So, we are told, all that was in Jesus was God, but not all God was in Jesus. Other theologians are leaving such speculations altogether on one side, and are arguing that Jesus was the greatest religious teacher of history, and as such we should accept him as our guide in morals and religion. Such tributes as that which Col. Ingersoll pays Jesus strengthen our conviction that he is worthy of our reverence and imitation.

Col. Ingersoll has rendered religion another good service by showing that belief is not necessary to salvation. He rightly insists that belief is the product of evidence; and, as different minds are differently constituted,

what is sufficient evidence to one man is not sufficient evidence to another. When a proposition is submitted to our judgment, we demand evidence to prove it. If the evidence adduced appears sufficient, we cannot help believing it; but, if it appears insufficient, we cannot help disbelieving it, and what we cannot help doing deserves neither reward nor punishment. If this simple fact were fully grasped and believed, people would no longer insist that faith in theological dogmas is necessary to salvation. Faith in goodness-in moral laws-is doubtless necessary to moral conduct. But faith in theological propositions is by no means necessary to moral conduct, as is proven every day; for many of the most orthodox' Christians are the greatest scoundrels, while many sceptics are the truest saints. Mr. Ingersoll, therefore, has done good service by insisting that faith in the deityship of Jesus or in his "vicarious atonement" is not necessary to salvation. Character alone can save a man from punishment, and faith in the inevitableness of retribution can alone prevent a man from committing sin. It is important, of course, to have correct beliefs on all subjects, if that be possible; for false faith is degrading. And it is important to have true ideas of Jesus; but, if a man does justly, loves mercy, and walks humbly before his God and fellow-men, he will not be condemned to hell by that God.

Finally, Col. Ingersoll rejects the inspiration of the Bible. He says: the "science" of the Scriptures must be given up; much of their moral teaching is low and degrading; their histories contain many errors; their theology is largely false; their miracles are myths. "What, then, is left?" he asks; and he answers: "Everything in the Bible that is true is left it still remains, and is of value. It cannot be said too often that the truth needs no inspiration. Neither can it be said too often that inspiration cannot help falsehood. Every good and noble sentiment uttered in the Bible is still good and noble. Every fact remains. All that is good in the Sermon on the Mount is retained. The Lord's Prayer is not affected. The grandeur of self-denial, the nobility of forgiveness, and the ineffable splendor of mercy are with us still. And, besides, there remains the great hope of the human race. What is lost? All the mistakes, all the

falsehoods, all the absurdities, all the cruelties, and all the curses contained in the Scriptures. We have almost lost the 'hope' of eternal pain, the 'consolation' of perdition; and in time we shall lose the frightful shadow that has fallen upon so many hearts, that has darkened SO many lives." I doubt if Rev. Dr. Briggs would require Col. Ingersoll to believe more than that about the Scriptures, in order to receive him as a candidate for the ministry in the Union Theological Seminary. Certainly, the wisest and most learned theologians and students of the Scriptures are studying them as they do other books, and are pointing out their errors as well as their truths. They are considered simply the record of the growth of religion in Israel, and not the only and infallible Word of God; and, if this fact had been recognized by Luther and the other reformers, and all Protestants, such sceptics as Col. Ingersoll would not be

so numerous.

I have written the above, not with any idea of refuting Col. Ingersoll's views, but for the purpose of showing that they barely touch the fringe of the religious faith of many thousands of intelligent and well-educated people, and that Agnosticism need not seriously disturb those who are capable of distinguishing the essential from the unessential in the Bible and religion. While Col. Ingersoll does incidentally attack the doctrine of God and the soul's existence and immortality, yet the chief force of his attack is delivered against a superstitious theology which would in time fall to pieces of itself. Col. Ingersoll yearns for a happy immortality and a good God as earnestly as other people do; and, so far from destroying our faith in these great articles of religion, he rather strengthens it.

Saginaw, Mich.

HOWARD MACQUEARY.

APOCRYPHAL AND OTHER BOOKS EXCLUDED FROM OUR BIBLE CANON.*

It is interesting and natural to inquire, Why does the Bible contain just the particular books it does contain, and no others? Were not others produced by the Jewish

This article is essentially Chap. XV. of Mr. Sunderland's new book on "The Origin and Growth of the Bible."

people during the thousand years of the Bible's growth? And, if so, why do we have none of them in our sacred volume?

Old Testament Lost Books. We find, on examination, that no fewer than sixteen books are wanting from the Old Testament which seemingly ought to be there, at least which are referred to in various places in the Bible as if they were equally authoritative with books which are included in the canon. So far as we know, all of these sixteen books, with one exception, are lost.

Their names are as follows:

1. The Book of the Wars of the Lord (referred to in Num. xxi. 14).

2. The Book of Jasher (Josh. x. 13 and 2 Sam. i. 18).

3. The Book of the Manner of the Kingdom, written by Samuel (1 Sam. x. 25).

4. The Books of Nathan and Gad concerning King David (1 Chron. xxix. 29). 5. The Book of the Acts of Solomon (1 Kings xi. 41).

6. The Prophecy of Enoch* (referred to in Jude 14, 15).

7. The Books of Nathan, Ahijah, and Iddo concerning King Solomon (2 Chron. ix. 29).

8. Solomon's Songs, Parables, and Treatises on Natural History(1 Kings iv. 32, seq.). 9. The Book of Shemaiah concerning King Rehoboam (2 Chron. xii. 15).

10. The Book of Jehu concerning Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xx. 34).

11. The Book of Isaiah concerning King Uzziah (2 Chron. xxvi. 22).

12. The Words of the Seers to King Ma

nasseh (2 Chron. xxxiii. 18, 19).

13. The Book of Lamentations over King Josiah (2 Chron. xxxv. 25).

14. The Volume of Jeremiah burned by Jehudi (Jer. xxxvi. 2, 6, 23).

15. The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah (mentioned repeatedly in Kings).

16. The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel (mentioned repeatedly in Kings).

Why were these books allowed to perish? Why were they left out from the Old Testament? If Scripture writers themselves referred to them as of equal authority with their own writings, how can a line be drawn between them and genuine Scripture? Indeed, what is it that constitutes genuine Scripture?

But these sixteen books are not all that we get traces of.

Extant Books.-A second list of eighteen

*This is very likely the same as the Book of Enoch mentioned later, under "Extant Books."

writings, now extant, generally known as the Old Testament "pseudepigraphal" books, must also be noticed. I give their names, together with the language in which each is preserved :

1. The History of Antiochus Epiphanes (Hebrew).

2. The History of Asenath, Joseph's wife (Latin).

3. The Epistle of Baruch (Latin). 4. The Book of Elias the Prophet. 5. The Book of Enoch (Ethiopic and Greek).*

6. The Third Book of Esdras (Greek and Latin).

7. The Fourth Book of Esdras (Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic).

8. The Ascension of Isaiah (Ethiopic). 9. The Book of Jasher (Hebrew).

10. The Book of Jezirah, or Creation (Hebrew).

11 and 12. The Third and Fourth Books of Maccabees (Greek).

13. The Fifth Book of Maccabees (Arabic and Syriac).

14. The Assumption of Moses.

15. The Preaching of Noah to the Antediluvians, according to the Sibylline Oracles.

16. The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs (Greek).

17. The Psalter of Solomon (Greek). 18. The Book of Zohar, or Light (Hebrew).

According to our standards to-day, the value of these books is not great. Some of them, however, we know exerted a good deal of influence upon early Christian thought, and were held in high esteem even by scholars like Origen.

The Old Testament Apocrypha.—Of much higher value is a third list, of fourteen books, known as the Old Testament Apocrypha. These are:

1. 1. Esdras. 2. 2. Esdras. 3. Tobit.

4. Judith.

5. The rest of the chapters of the Book of Esther, which are found neither in the Hebrew nor the Chaldee.

6. The Wisdom of Solomon.

7. Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach.

8. Baruch.

9. The Song of the Three Holy Children.

All of this book except a few fragments was lost until the year 1773, when it was discovered entire in Ethiopia. It has very recently been discovered in Greek, in connection with fragments of the apocryphal "Gospel of Peter" and "Apocalypse of Peter.