Gladstone

confe es to “ the wide-spread disparagement” of the Christian Bible (he might have said of all Bibles), based on the following grounds: (1) “ that the conclusions of science as to natural objects have shaken, or destroyed, the a ertions of the early scriptures with respect to the origin and history of the world, and of man its principal inhabitant. (2) That their contents are, in many cases, offensive to the moral sense, and unworthy of an enlightened age, (3) That man made his appearance in the world in a condition but one degree above that of the brute creation, and by slow and painful but continual progre has brought himself up to the present level of his existence, (4) That he has accomplished this by the exercise of his natural powers, and has never received the special teaching, and authoritative guidance, which is signified under the name of Divine Revelation, (5) That the more considerable among the different races and nations of the world have established from time to time their respective religions,and have in many cases accepted the promulgation of sacred books, which are to be considered as e entially of the same character with the Bible. (6) That the books of the Bible in many most important instances, and especially those books of the Old Testament which purport to be the earliest, so far from being contemporary with the events which they record, or with the authors to whom they are ascribed, ure comparatively recent compilations from uncertain sources, and therefore without authority.” The combination of history and legend—often so strange—and of the probable with the incredible, in our Bible, caused it long since to be called “the English Epos.” Yet some hold that it “maketh music in our memories,” for our earliest childish language was fashioned from its words, and childish thoughts nourished by its narratives. But so is it also with the Hindu and his Vedas, the Buddhist and his “Three Baskets of Light,” and not le with the Arab and his Koran. Our beliefs, after all, like our country, are the accidents of our life; and it behoves us as reasonable beings to remember this. Let - None 325