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them, and then returned. When walking over the sands of the Mahanuddi river, I said to brethren Ram Chundra, Doitaree, and Jagannath, "Listen! I shall break caste, for there is no truth whatever in caste. If all are the sons of Adam, then whence came all these various castes? That Christ came into the world, died, and rose again, my mind fully believes. But Soondara Das Bábájee says, 'I am Christ's incarnation.' This I do not believe. Will Christ die a second time, or be born again ?" Then my companions gave various replies, and for the time silenced me; but I kept my thoughts to myself; and each returned to his own house. (To be continued.)

THE BIBLE AT THE FRENCH EXHIBITION.

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The following interesting letter is taken from a recent number of the Bible Society's Monthly Reporter." It was addressed to the Society in London by Mr. G. T. Edwards, the gentleman who had the charge of the Bible depôt at the Paris Exhibition.

I AM happy to say, that, on returning here from my short absence in England, I found that our work in connection with the Exhibition had not suffered in any way, but was still going on prosperously, and, I trust, with tokens of the Divine blessing. Our issues last week were 5,554 copies, while, up to the present time, they amount to about 65,000 copies, of which about 12,000 copies have been sold. In addition, nearly a thousand copies of the New Testament in French and English, and French and German, have been placed in the Hôtels and Pensions of Paris, and already many have spoken with joy of finding the Word of God when entering their bedrooms in this gay and pleasure-loving city. The military and police still come flocking to our depôt in the Park in large numbers; and the eagerness with which they receive the sacred volume, often commencing to read it ere they depart, shows that our large and liberal grants to them are duly appreciated. Strange to say, the number of priests coming to us, so far from diminishing, has of late considerably increased; and I must record, to the credit of many of them, that they have expressed warm sympathy with our

object. They see that we do not carry on our work controversially, but give the simple text of the Sacred Scriptures; and though they would, of course, prefer to see them accompanied with annotations, yet they see that if our books contain no notes in favour of their Church, they contain none against it. Sometimes a priest, on entering our depôt, has said, "Ah! Protestant propagandism!" To which I have replied, "If you search all through those hundreds of volumes you will not find the word Protestant; and if the reading of the simple text of Holy Scripture makes people Protestants, it is rather an awkward admission for you to make." Sometimes the reply is made, "But the Bible is a very difficult book: how can you expect the peasants to understand it ?" The saying of one of old meets this objection, that "In the Bible there are depths where elephants might swim, but there are shallows where lambs may wade;" and, at any rate, I have told our clerical friends who make the objection, that the best way to cause the Bible to be understood by the people is to gather them in the churches, and preach from it, and explain it to them; for one intelligent priest did not hesitate to express his regret, that in his church so many appeals were constantly made to the eyes and the senses, so few to the intellect and the heart. One question I have often found soften an objector: "Whether do you think it is better for the French people to read Voltaire and Renan, or the Word of God ?" for, as a Paris priest said to me, "I believe, though you have many Protestant sects in England, yet they almost all believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ and in the inspiration of the Bible, but too many in our country believe nothing, for France is full of scepticism." True, the priests of this country belong to two very diffferent schools, quite as sharply defined as High Church" and "Low Church" in England and our work is just the thing to bring this out. The Gallican priest, intelligent, courteous, and often learned, looks on the Bible with a friendly eye, and is often anxious to receive it; while the ultramontane, fierce, bigoted, and full of rage against heretics, treats the sacred volume with scorn and contempt, not unfrequently destroying it. Standing one day at the door of our depôt, I saw a priest passing who had obtained the Gospel of St. John at a neigh

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bouring place, which he was busily tearing to pieces. I could not help following him to remonstrate with him on his wicked act, leaving him with the assurance that one day he would have to answer for it before the judgment-seat of Christ. He seemed to be struck dumb at the unexpected appeal, for he made no reply.

Then, again, an excellent priest in the provinces, who wrote to us for a Hebrew New Testament, which he had sent to him by post, when acknowledging it, said that he honoured the Word of God quite as much as Protestants, and was the more anxious to make this known, as some of his brethren, curés in Brittany, had deprived some country-people there of Bibles which they had obtained at the Exhibition, and trodden them under foot. The good man concludes his letter with the words "Pray receive my Christian and priestly salutation, and may the Lord (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) be with you and remain with you for ever." Two priests of the Propaganda, going out to the East as missionaries, came to the depôt and asked for copies in Arabic, Sanskrit, and Chinese, which they received, with the expression of a hope on the part of the donor that they would preach the truths contained in those books, and which were preached at first by the Apostles of the Lord.

A few days ago an English Roman Catholic priest came and asked for an English Bible, which he received, his friend, a French priest, receiving another in his language; and thus it is that those who profess to belong to the only true Church come to those whom they have been taught to regard as heretics, to obtain that which their own Church does not supply, and without which there can be no true Church at all. Roman Catholic priests, doubtless, may have the Vulgate, the only authorized version of their church; but for vernacular translations they must look elsewhere, for their Church does not encourage them, and we never hear of Roman Catholic missionaries in any part of the world translating the Word of God.

I am

glad, therefore, that so many have visited our depôt, and seen how different is the course pursued by Protestant christians. The whole work carried on here has doubtless impressed the minds of many of them. As a priest said to me lately, "I must confess that your zeal is greater

than ours," for, strange to say, while the Scriptures and religious tracts are being circulated in the Park of the Exhibition by thousands of copies, the Church of Rome has met this by no counter movement, and, here at least, has certainly made no use of the printing-press. The only thing they have in the Park is a little bijou chapel full of images, altars and ecclesiastical furniture; and it is not a little interesting that the four men in charge of this place have all visited the Bible Society's depôt, and purchased the Word of God. Thus I trust the idea is being dissipated, which the Papal Church has industriously circulated, that Protestantism is a mere negation, without life or missionary zeal to propagate itself, and that something is being done to remove misapprehensions which have stood in the way of Romanists receiving the blessed truths of the Gospel of Christ. Priests surely will scarcely be so ready in future to charge us with circulating mutilated Bibles, after coming into our depôt, and, as many of them have done, turning to the list of books prefixed to our Bibles and Testaments, and finding that the number corresponded with what they acknowledge, excepting the Apocrypha, books not found in the Hebrew text, or in the Canon acknowledged by the Jews of Palestine. Even a priest of considerable learning in one of the colleges of Paris, on taking up one of our Bibles, said, "I suppose you do not admit the Epistle of St. James;" on which I asked him to go through the hundreds of volumes before him, and try to find one where it was omitted. He knew that the Epistle had been questioned by Luther, who styled it "a right strawy Epistle" (though the great Reformer is said to have retracted this expression), and thought we should all implicitly follow him; though he might have remembered, that not only Luther, but Erasmus and Cardinal Cajetan, of his own Church, also objected to the same Epistle. I told him, however, that we did not make a Pope of Luther or any other man, or allow him to fix for us the Canon of Scripture.

I feel glad, therefore, in being able to say, that, up to this time, nearly four hundred Roman Catholic priests have received the word of God from us, and, on the whole, those who have come to

*In a letter received since the above was in print, Mr. Edwards puts this number at 560.

us have been far from showing an unfriendly feeling. As far as the metropolis is concerned, this is doubtless, in a great measure, owing to the liberal and enlightened sentiments of the Archbishop of Paris, who, in his last charge, urges men to study God's three great books-Nature, Conscience, and Revelation; and who, I believe, is far from looking with disfavour on the work of Bible distribution in France. There would be some hope for the Church of Rome if her prelates more generally followed the enlightened policy of Archbishop Darboy; but alas! too many are committed to that fatal Ultramontanism which is sinking the Romish system deeper and deeper in apostacy and ruin. Meanwhile, may the Lord the Spirit bless the Word of Truth to the priests who have received it, that many, as of old, may become obedient to the faith!

LADIES' WORK FOR THE
FOREIGN MISSION.

WE are glad to find the appeal in aid of the poor christians and schools connected with our Mission in Orissa has been responded to, and that some of our churches are busily employed. We hope that others from whom we have received no communication are also labouring for the same object.

It is unlikely that Mrs. Miller will take the box, as first intended, the charge being so heavy for luggage overland. She is sending her own baggage round the Cape. As the goods are delayed for the present we trust our friends will work in right good earnest that a greater number of articles may be contributed. Signed, M. STEVENSON, J. E. WILKINS,

Derby, Dec. 17, 1867.

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Secs.

Foreign Letters Received.

BERHAMPORE-G. Taylor, October 17.
CUTTACK-T. Bailey, October 15, 30.

Contributions

RECEIVED ON ACCOUNT OF THE GENERAL BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY, FROM NOVEMBER 20th TO DECEMBER 20th, 1867.

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Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the General Baptist Missionary Society will be thankfully received by T. HILL, Esq., Baker Street, Nottingham, Treasurer; and by the Rev. J. C. PIKE and the Rev. H. WILKINSON, Secretaries, Leicester, from whom also Missionary Boxes, Collecting Books, and Cards may be obtained.

THE

GENERAL BAPTIST MAGAZINE.

FEBRUARY, 1868.

THEORIES OF CREATION.

BY THE REV. GILES HESTER, SHEFFIELD.

IN all ages of the world, the works of God in Creation have attracted the attention of thoughtful and inquiring minds. The very appearance of nature is adapted to awaken curiosity, and engage the faculties of the mind in ardent investigation. The world, with its innumerable objects of beauty and sublimity, and the canopy which overarches it with such splendour and magnificence, are evidently fitted to make impressions on the most barren natures. Sometimes this canopy has the appearance of a sapphire dome inlaid with golden fires. Sometimes it is partially covered with floating fleecy clouds. At one time it is filled with streaming light flowing from the great orb of day-at another time this vault is lit up with the rays of the silvery moon and the fainter splendours of the twinkling stars. The creation, in all its aspects and in all its details, is calculated to arrest the attention and call out the imagination of every observing mind.

It is quite natural, therefore, that the important inquiry should often present itself Whence came these things? Whence came the earth on which we live? Whence came the VOL. LXX.-NEW SERIES, No. 14.

glorious orb of day? Whence came the silvery moon and the shining stars? Whence came the innumerable organisms which meet us in every part of the globe? Whence

came man with his wonderful faculties and ever expanding capacities? These questions have been asked by all civilized nations, and their mental struggles can be traced in the memorials of their civilisation which they have left behind. Some of the more daring and speculative spirits have endeavoured to answer these inquiries. Both eastern nations and western nations have had their cosmogonies. They have all had their own peculiar theories in which they accounted for the origin and existence of the universe.

In speaking of the theories of creation as developed in heathen nations it is necessary to bear in mind that most probably many of them have been coloured and modified by the Divine Revelation given to Moses. In consequence of the migrations of the great races of the East the traditions of one age and country have been removed and transplanted in another. The theories of some oriental nations con

tain seeds of truth mixed up with the most extravagant errors and the wildest absurdities. Hindooism, Budhism, Parseeism, all have their cosmogonies, or accounts of the origin of the world and universe. According to the traditions of the Egyptians and Chinese water was the earliest element. The Mexicans and Peruvians also call the first age of the world the age of water.

In the earlier ages of European civilisation Egypt was regarded as the great school of philosophy and cradle of the arts. Geometry, astronomy, mechanics, architecture, and the kindred sciences were cultivated there. Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Inquiring minds from the western nations went into Egypt for instruction in science, philosophy, and art. The most distinguished of the Greek philosophers visited Egypt.

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his predecessors. Instead of regarding some elementary form of matter as the origin of all things, he conceived the existence of a supreme and eternal mind as distinct from matter, and by which the elements of nature, called chaos, had been reduced to form, order, and beauty. This universal mind or intelligence he called Nous. This thoughtful philosopher was greatly persecuted for his opinions. He was ahead of his age. It required all the eloquence of Pericles to prevent his sacrifice to popular rage. He was sentenced to pay a heavy fine and quit Athens. He died at the age of seventy-two.

These philosophers all belonged to the Ionic school of Grecian philosophy. There was another school called the Eleatic. It derived its name from Elea or Velia, a Greek colony on the western coast of southern Italy. This school of philosophy was founded by Xenophanes, who fled to the Italian shores when his country was conquered by the Persians. Xenophanes was a pantheist. He con

ceived the whole of nature to be God, and denounced the Homeric description of the gods as abominable. His system of philosophy appealed more to the senses than to the intellect, and it became popular. It has had followers up to this day.

The celebrated Pythagoras belonged to a third school of philosophy. He had a great thirst for knowledge, and travelled into the East to have the yearnings of his soul gratified. He visited Egypt with the view of studying philosophy. It is a matter of uncertainty what his notions were with regard to the origin of the world. The most distinguishing feature of his philosophy was the belief in the transmigration of souls. His contemporary Xenophanes relates that Pythagoras seeing a dog beaten interceded for the poor animal, saying,

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