THE BASKET OF FIRST-FRUITS.-DEUT. XXVI.

Derby.

A HEBREW MELODY..

A flow'r, when offer'd in the bud,
Is no mean sacrifice."-WATTS.

Lo! a Syrian perishing,

Was our Father once on earth;
Vain His hope of cherishing

Israel's name, in lands of dearth;

Thus to Egypt's fertile land,
Roam'd a feeble, helpless band!

Soon the covenanted blessing,
(Our Schekinah lamp of glory,)
Every pilgrim tent caressing,

Make our lives a wondrous story,
Fame and wealth, and increase giving,
Far beyond all nations living!

Great, the sons of Egypt found us,

With a foeman's evil eye,

Fast, in cruel chains, they bound us

Sinew-wasting slavery

Bitter bondage, worse than dying,
Wrung forth Israel's tears and crying!
To our father's God, in anguish,

Lowly bent we in our sadness;

And, not long, he bade us languish ;

But with song, and pomp, and gladness,
Brought He us with outstretch'd arm,
Terror sign and mystic charm!

To a land of milk and honey,

Onwards through the desert pressing,
(Without price and without money,)
This good land, our tribes possessing,
His free boon, Jehovah gave us
In that hour he rose to save us!
Therefore, of the first-fruits springing
On thine altar, Lord, we lay;
Festive mirth, and joyful singing
Hallow this triumphant day!
Welcome to our social cheer,
Stranger far, and Levite near!

M. A. C.

Che Press—Signs of Progress.

TERRIFIC VIEWs of God, as TAUGHT BY MINISTERS OF THE POPULAR THEOLOGY.-When the traveller, in the dim and hazy twilight of the approaching morning, directs his anxious glance towards the objects of the surrounding landscape, he vainly endeavours to ascertain their real character, and the relation they bear to each other: the misty atmosphere invests them with false proportions, distorting them into unsightly abortions, or magnifying them into objects of terror; but as he journeys onward, the rising sun dispels the mists and darkness, and that which before appeared incongruous and chaotic, is revealed in its real character. In place of distorted images, he now perceives the various objects, which, in their grouping and harmonious relations, all contribute to form the gorgeous scenery that bursts upon his astonished and enraptured senses.

This imaginary sense is but a faint representation of the mental influence produced, through the medium of certain theological tenets, handed down from the rude and dark periods of the past, and still retained in the popular teachings of our religious guides; and of the successive phases which occur to the reflective thinker, in connection with some of the deepest problems bearing upon our present and future destiny, which have occupied and agitated the human mind from the earliest periods of thought.

In the remote ages of barbarism, men gazed at the phenomena of nature in wondering ignorance and astonishment. Those occurrences which science has revealed to us, as the ordinary working of the laws of Deity, were regarded by them as the manifestations of an angry Creator. In the lightning's flash they saw the arrows of his wrath, and in the thunder's peal they recognised the expression of his threatened vengeance. They created a God tyrannical and capricious, who could be appeased by sacrifices, and turned aside from his purposes by the superstitious, and too often, cruel ceremonies by means of which they sought to avert his displeasure.

It is a painful and humiliating reflection, that after the lapse of so many centuries, and amidst the diffusion of so much light and knowledge in all other departments of human research, so much of this old and barbaric element of ignorance and superstitious fear should be retained, and mingled with our theology; and that, while the discoveries of science and the revelations of mental philosophy are increasingly tending to disclose the progressive development of the works of creation, and the harmonious relations of the universe, as subservient to the benevolent and sublime purposes of the Universal Father; there should still remain a class of men, professing to be the expounders of religious truth, the revealers of the will and purposes of the Deity, and the guides to everlasting life, who yet commonly avow and hold forth, as essential elements of our belief, such monstrous views of that same Deíty and of his works, that, if it were possible

for us to look at them for the first time with an unprejudiced mind, and to exercise the reason with which our Creator has endowed us, we should recoil from them with horror, and shudder at the idea of associating the name of our Maker with such atrocious theories.

The Calvinist proves from the Bible that Christ died for the elect only, who will be moved to repentance by the Spirit, and saved; while the rest, not being drawn by the same influences, will be left to perish everlastingly. The Trinitarian assures you from the Bible that God consists of three persons, and that it was necessary for the second of these persons to endure suffering and death, in order to appease the wrath of the first person, so that man, who had sinned, might escape the punishment due to him, &c. And what is the effect of such doctrines, so far as they are believed, upon those who are the recipients of them? Will not the character of a people, to a very great extent, be reflected by the character of the God they profess to worship? And, if so, what may we expect as the result in our own case? No wonder that the worship of such a Deity should still leave us so full of hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness; no wonder that in place of brotherly love and practical Christianity, we should find a sort of wrangling and spurious doctrinal Christianity, leaving its professors in such intimate resemblance to the rest of the world, that it requires a very careful analysis of character, to discover any difference between them; no wonder that we should still have wars, and fightings, and mammon-worship, and the spirit of unforgiveness, and the seeking of our own good as the principal object in life, even though at the expense of the suffering of our fellow-creatures. In fact, the only wonder is, that, with such views of our highest model of goodness, we do not become much worse than we really are.

The testimony of Scripture assures us, not merely that love is one of the elements of the Divine character, but that he is the embodiment, and personification, and source of benevolence, goodness, and forgiveness: that, in fact, "God is Love."-Tract by a Scripture Reader.

PROGRESS IN RUSSIA.-The following extracts from the Russian Invalid, was lately forwarded by a Correspondent of a London Paper, in which it has appeared:-"Why are there so many still opposing the spread of elementary instruction among the lower classes? Why are there so many replying to every demand of this kind, 'It is yet too early?' The affair is very simple. A man who has been taught to read and write has had his eyes opened, and is perfectly capable of seeing when any one endeavours to cheat him. The opposers of instruction, then, may be divided into two classes; the first of whom have not yet done robbing the serf, and do not want to be interrupted in their philanthropic pursuits; while the others have completed their task of despoiling and ransacking dormant humanity, and are anxious to escape discovery. Finding themselves in this position, they all unite in the cry, 'It is too early,' and 'Wait, wait.' But no, ye gentlemen that oppose instruction, I tell you, upon my word, it is not too early, but would have been better commenced many a year ago.

"The enormous importance of acquiring a knowledge of reading and writing is not only known to those soldiers, working men, and industrial peasants already a little initiated in the rudiments of these mysterious arts, but has already dawned upon the obscured mind of the low serf in his native village. The poorest fellows in the broad wastes of Russia may be frequently overheard addressing a superior in full bitterness of spirit as follows:-'We are stupid creatures; but you-you are noble, are lettered.' Noble birth and a knowledge of the alphabet are notions inseparably connected in the mind of the serf.

"We will not here enlarge on the necessity, advantages, or disadvantages of providing the lower claases with the elements of reading and writing. The question, indeed, has long been decided, both by the will of the Czar and the opinion of all educated and enlightened people. Already Government exerts itself in taking off the bandage from the eyes of the ignorant, and enlightening him with the light of truth. The project is to leave the adults as they are, and occupy themselves with insuring the means of education for the children. The difficulty lies in the carrying out of this plan.

"Should Government establish schools on its own account in every hamlet and village of the Empire, millions of roubles would be required for such a purpose. Who, then, is to defray the expenses? The peasantry, if compelled to pay for the schooling of their children, are not unlikely, in many places, to raise opposition, and even declare their unwillingness to have their children taught at all.

"I therefore suggest the opening of a general national subscription in aid of the diffusion of elementary knowledge in Russia. An invitation to participate in the carrying out of this benevolent scheme would be jubilantly hailed by millions of patriotic voices, and lead to the voluntary contribution of a capital of not less than ten millions of roubles. With this sum not only the schools could be founded, but also books procured as well for the daily use of the children as for the reward of the diligent.

"During the late war the people not only sacrificed their sons and husbands for the good of their Fatherland, but willingly offered money, and a variety of valuable articles, to the amount of millions, for the better defence of the country. Will they now shrink from making sacrifices not less necessary for the development of Russia? Now, too, we have war. In the Crimea we were forced to contend with a foreign foe; but in the present day war must be waged against that old and internal enemy of ours, against inveterate ignorance. The struggle between light and darkness has broken out-a struggle much more dangerous and weighty than any hostilities with human powers. The external foe is a temporary foe; internal ignorance, however, is the old terrible and fiendish companion of our hearth. This is the thorn which must be extracted from the bosom of the Russian people. To do so is the wish of the Emperor, and meets with the sincere sympathy of all true sons of the country. The necessary preparatory measure for the abolition of ignorance being a knowledge of

reading and writing, we, then, do not doubt in the least, that everybody will contribute his mite, according to his means, for this end.

"I am happy in being able to add (writes the Correspondent) that the scheme suggested in the above has been actually put into execution in some distinguished circles of St. Petersburg. Within a very short time, the general subscription will probably be opened, and active measures taken by the Government to secure a successful result. The movement in favour of Gramotnost' (as the combined capability of reading and writing is expressed in one single word by the Russian) will be the more strenuously assisted by the Ministry, from its being likely to prove a useful auxiliary to the serf question. What Boyard, in fact, is foolish enough to imagine that he could possibly retain as bondmen, a peasantry who have been taught reading and writing for a generation or two? Our negro trafficking cousins, on the other side of the great pond, perfectly understand their business in hanging or feathering any prejudiced individual who should dare to provide the most silver-haired black man with the needful toy of a horn book.

FRASER'S MAGAZINE. In the August No. there is mention made of Swedenborg, and, as is the case in all the other references to him that we remember in that able periodical, the mention is intended to do him honour. We are therefore unwilling to pass the honour by without due acknowledgment.

This honourable reference to Swedenborg occurs in a very able— but a deservedly severe-article on Sir Archibald Alison's so-called "History of Europe," a work which extends to eight goodly octavo volumes. The writer shews in a very striking manner, producing his proofs from the "History" itself, the utter confusion of thought, the disgraceful ignorance of the subject, and the unblushing confidence which characterise this work. There are few literary and scientific subjects which the author does not feel himself called upon to discuss, and which he does not shew his incompetence to handle. And we rejoice to see his pretensions exposed; for nothing is, to our minds, more calculated to promote the spread of truth on all subjects, than a free and fearless exposure of pretentious ignorance, in whatever high places it may think itself secure. For errors of judgment, and for unintentional errors in fact, we can feel and express the greatest lenience; but for confident assertion on subjects which an author has never read; for estimates of writings and characters with which he is utterly unacquainted, no exposure is, we think, too severe. A periodical may give offence in some quarters by adopting a fearless, independent, tone. It may wound vanity, and mortify that form of selflove which seeks for the distinction of authorship without possessing one of the qualifications for it, but it will, we are convinced, do much good, and tend both to raise the standard of literary attainments, and to increase the accuracy of the productions which at the present day teem from the press.