the subsequent statement, that "we are forbidden by the Catholic religion to say that there are three Gods, or three Lords." Moreover, under this divided apprehension of the one glorious object of our faith and love, the Father, as the first person, is naturally exalted as the object of worship; and the Son regarded as subordinate and inferior. But subordination is inconsistent with the idea of Deity, and thus the worship of the Son is neglected, and in the end, all acknowledgment of His divinity perishes out of the mind. Thus it comes to pass that the public teachers speak of Him as simply man, and in some cases as not free from the imperfections of finite humanity. This internal condition of faith is not more disastrous to the progress of all spiritual religion on earth, than it is deplorable in its relation to the future. Heaven has been opened to the Church, and its judgments are made manifest. We now know that under the impelling forces of the higher life, hearts speak. They who have secretly thought of God as three personal Deities, in the spiritual world openly speak of Him as such. They who have lost faith in Christ as God, and regard Him merely as man, openly deride all idea of His Godhead; and thereby exclude from their minds the light that flows from Him as the sun of the heavenly world, to illumine the minds of the angels, and fill their lives with beauty and joy. In the prospect of this fearful jeopardy to those who have fallen into prevalent errors, and in view of the thousands who are being misled by their ensnaring falses, we may not, my brethren, be indifferent to the great mission which is placed before us. The bulk of men take their opinions from others. The excitements and multiplied engagements of modern life leave little time for careful inquiry or disposition for quiet thought. Men are captivated by the appearances of things, and fascinated by the prospect of an easy way to all knowledge. At no period therefore was it more needful to take up this new revelation of the Gospel of the kingdom of God, and to proclaim with meekness and self-distrust, but with fervent zeal and unwavering faith in the Lord, the great doctrine of His Deity and Godhead. the name at which every knee shall bow of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth-the Saviour that we love and in whom we confide-whose praise inspires the alleluias of the blessed and whose endless reign is the subject of prophetic announcement and angelic song-this Jesus we are permitted-at once our duty, our privilege and our glory-to declare unto the world. And we are called to this office at a time when we see Him crucified afresh and put to an open shame by the mistaken sentiments and the false teachings in which He is presented. Be it ours, my brethren, to catch the echoes of this angelic announcement of the everlasting gospel, and with the fervour and love of the angels and the urgency of their intelligence and zeal to extend its influences in the world. PASSING AWAY. How oftentimes I linger where Arise to grace the valley; When Spring in joysome form appears, Yet e'en this joy Hath its alloy, To mar my pleasant dreaming: The early dew On Flora's petals gleaming, Of early morn, and cannot stay To greet the warmer god of day: But while all round is peace and mirth, It falls, like glories of this earth, Passing away! Yet, bright as shone the ling'ring dew For drop by drop it formed a stream, Till in the skies Behold it rise Upon the rainbow's crescent: Emblem of peace, Too soon to cease: Like this life evanescent It disappears, yet it doth tell Jersey. In tenements of dust, whence man Again, I see the shrivell'd leaf Fall to the earth, to show how brief And, ruthless as the Autumn breeze, His frozen hand Is ev'ry moment stealing; And night and day, Alas! his sway Is countless ills revealing. Thus man upon Life's ocean bears Within his little field of bliss: Till his form sinks, like unto this, Yet though they pass from mortal eyes, And, transient though their earthly peace, To higher visions soaring; As angels sing To Christ their King— Our One true God adoring! Than ever man could find on earth, H. W. ROBILLIARD. CREATION. NO. I. As all created things must necessarily have a beginning, it must be of some interest as well as importance to know what that beginning was. All human knowledge is limited, and on a subject so vast, and at the same time so far removed from the present moment and the existing condition of things, what knowledge we have is at first sight so shadowy, and seems so much like conjecture, while conjecture in regard to remote ages may be made to appear so much like knowledge, that the difficulties in the way of obtaining true ideas of creation are proportionately increased. It will therefore be requisite for us, as we desire to have a rational ground of faith on this great subject, to examine as far as we reverently may the foundation stones of our belief in all their bearings, and to test, to weigh in a balance as it were, every item of information which I am enabled to present. The primary creation of the visible universe is the one first thought of, when the word "creation" is alone given as a title ;-and, were I to ask this most important question-" By whom was this creation effected?" an answer would probably be given in the first words of the Sacred Scriptures: "In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth." Yet the first announcement expresses a literal truth, for God is undoubtedly the Creator of the heavens and the earth. The subsequent part of the chapter cannot be understood literally. The wonderful reticence of the Divine Word on the subject of creation is the characteristic which distinguishes it from the sacred books of all other religions. It would imply that the pure severity of such a sentence as this first verse of the Bible did not satisfy the vitiated tastes of men who craved for a tale more highly adorned. And it is remarkable that the traditions of ancient nations on this point usually bear a direct relation to the character of their minds. Thus the contemplative and subtle Hindoo learns from the holy Vedas,— which, with the exception of the Bible, are among the most ancient books in the world,-that "Before the creation of the universe, the great Om or Brahm alone existed, reposing in silence from all eternity, and wrapped up in contemplation of himself. The world (says the Hindoo sage Menu) was then all darkness, undistinguishable, -altogether as in a profound sleep. But the self-existent, invisible God, making it manifest with the five elements and other glorious forms, perfectly dispelled the gloom. He desired to raise up various creatures by an emanation from his own glory; first created the waters and impressed them with a power of motion ;—by that power was produced a golden egg, blazing like a thousand suns, in which was born Brahma, self-existing, the great parent of all rational beings. The god Brahma, having dwelt in the great mundane egg through revolving ages, meditating on himself, at last split the egg into two equal parts, and from those halves formed the heavens and the earth, placing in the midst the subtle ether, the eight points of the world, and the permanent ocean." The poetic mythology of Greece, whimsical and inconsistent as the Athenians of old, is vague on this subject, being probably derived from the Nature worship of the Egyptians. The Scandinavian legend of creation is however, ghastly and terrible. According to it the universe was originally a chaos of vapours, inhabited by a race of Rimthursar, as evil and gigantic as the Titans of ancient Greece. But Bure arose, a Northern Saturn, and from him sprung Odin, with his brothers Vili and Ve. Odin and his brothers overcame the Rimthursar, as Jupiter and his brethren did the Titans, till at last Odin conquered their chief, Ymer, the northern Prometheus, and of his body made the earth;-of his bones the rocks, of his flesh the soil, of his blood the ocean, of his hair all vegetation, and of his skull the heavens. Here the whole imagery and tenor of the story of creation is stained, so to speak, with the habits and feelings of the times and nations which gave thêm birth. The few examples already adduced will serve to show how far the human imagination has failed in fashioning to itself any adequate or consistent idea of the plan of creation. Whatever remains of ancient symbolism they may contain, they read only like wild vagaries, unsupported by any external evidence. If we place the first verse in Scripture beside these fables, does it not, judged literally and impartially, shine out in "the pure simplicity of perfect truth?" There is also another feature in which it differs from the others, or rather one in which they all appear to minister to its glory. The religious systems before mentioned, and all others which can be traced to a remote antiquity, bear testimony to one only self-existent God, by whom, directly or mediately, creation was accomplished. The Brahmin believes in one Great Spirit, who alone has existed, and will exist for ever the Om, the Tut, the Sut, the Beginning and the End of all Creation. Plutarch also, the great philosopher and historian, thus explains the religious system of ancient Egypt with its animal worship. "Philosophers," says he, "honour the image of God wherever they find it, even in inanimate beings, and consequently, more in those which have life. We are therefore to approve, not the worshippers of these animals, but those who by these means ascend to the Deity: they are to be considered as so many mirrors that Nature holds forth, and |