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in the human mind towards "authority?" That it is the possession of this which has given to Romanism its perpetuity and diffusion? That it is the lack of this needful element which has deprived Protestantism of power to convert the world? That human nature has been too strong for even Protestantism to remain true to its theory, and has driven it back to authority so soon as some authority could be at all agreed upon? That the entrance into any one of the Protestant denominations is virtually a submission of the intellect to its great teacher as an 66 authority;" and that to seek such an admission is so regarded by the members of the denomination? The theory must be at fault if it is found impossible in practice.

'Besides,' continues he, what is it, in the vast majority of cases, which determines a man's religious associations and opinions, even amongst Protestants? Is it a candid and thorough investigation of the doctrines which he holds, a careful and impartial comparison of those doctrines with all others, and with the Scriptures? Is it not rather the chance of early association and the force of habit? Men are, as it were, born into the various Christian denominations as the Moors are born into Mahomedanism, the Hottentots into Fetishism, the Hindoos into Brahminism, and so forth. Indeed, many who proclaim the principle of free judgment are the first to be exasperated or chagrined at any one who exercises the right to differ from them. The exercise of the right by those who forsake other systems and adopt theirs seems right enough; but many seem to feel that the exercise of the right which diminishes their numbers is wrong enough. But a faith which has been inherited, and not rationally accepted, is a superstition and not a faith.

'I cannot accept,' concludes the earnest and conscientious man, the position of Romanism which Protestantism has successfully overthrown; yet I am confused by the discordant results which Protestantism has produced, and the uncertainty as to the true faith which it has rendered inevitable. I am like the Ethiopian Eunuch, to whom the deacon Philip was sent, I read the Bible, I desire to understand the Scriptures as I read them; but "how can I understand, except some one should guide me?" I want to know how far an authoritative interpretation of the Word is possible or right, and how such an authoritative interpretation of the Scriptures is compatible with the right of private judgment, that is, What are the true relationships between liberty and authority?' To a man in this mental state, what has the New Church to say?

(To be continued.)

J.

THE ROMANCE OF CHARITY.

WHILE most of the nations of Christendom, from mutual jealousy or motives of ambition, are spending millions of money to maintain millions of men, withdrawn from the ranks of industry; and many individuals are straining their invention to produce for their respective nations more deadly weapons of warfare; it is pleasing to see that there is a large and increasing class of persons who are true lovers of peace and friends of humanity,-who desire to walk more closely in the footsteps of Him who came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them.

In a work recently published by Strahan and Co., under the title placed at the head of this article, the author, John de Lieffde, gives, from personal inspection, an account of thirteen institutions, all of them on the Continent, and most of them in Germany, which have been established mostly for reformatory purposes, chiefly indeed to provide asylums for neglected and abandoned children, and for the restoration of juvenile delinquents to virtue and usefulness. It is worthy of remark that one of the first, if not the very first, of these institutions in Germany owed its existence to war. Not that the warlike spirit prompted, or the warlike class effected its establishment, but that war produced many of the unhappy objects and deplorable circumstances that led one of the peaceful and humane to think of it as a means. We know that the largely preponderating disposition, even in countries and among men called Christian, to fight with carnal weapons against flesh and blood, than with spiritual weapons against principalities and powers, is owing to the simple fact, that there is among men a much greater disposition to love themselves than their neighbours. It requires a considerable share of self-renunciation to see, or even to think seriously of individual and even national regeneration.

The Düssalthal Asylum was commenced as far back as 1816, by Count Adalbert von der Recke, Volmerstein. " Germany then literally swarmed with vagabond families. The long succession of bloody wars, which had devastated the Continent under the iron rod of the French conqueror, had ruined thousands of households. Vast was the multitude of widows and orphans, whose husbands and fathers had found their death through the fire of the enemy or in the cold snows of Russia. A young generation of swindlers, thieves, highway robbers, and malefactors of every kind, was springing up in consequence. The back streets, the lanes, and closes of the large towns were crowded

with them. The public roads were unsafe, the prisons were overpeopled. What was to be done to stem the current of this pernicious flood nobody could tell. Countless sums in the shape of alms were every day thrown out, in order to dam it up; but, instead of draining off the alarming stream somewhat, they only seemed to swell it into a deluge. It then became clear to those who had studied the great popular question that mere alms-giving was the worst of all remedies. Little hope could be entertained as to the adult and aged individuals. The juvenile population seemed, however, to promise all the greater success. The convicts that peopled the prisons of Prussia in those days amounted to upwards of 80,000. Of these one-tenth were children. Perhaps twice that number outside the prison were walking on the way to it. Indeed it was a multitude large enough to justify the alarming cries of those who saw nothing short of ruin impending over the whole population of Prussia. Among the few who, in those days, not only lamented over the plague but resolved, by the power of Christ, to try to cure it, was Count von der Recke."

The Count, who we believe is still engaged, though in another place, in his work of benevolence, was then, as the reader will conclude, a very young man. He commenced by boarding out a few children with respectable families in the neighbourhood of the family dwelling, but soon found that the children had been too much neglected, both morally and physically, to be proper objects of ordinary domestic training. He therefore resolved to found an institution, which received the name of "Redemption House," since become the common title of similar establishments in Germany. The House was solemnly opened on the 19th of November, 1819.

"It was evening. In noiseless quiet, the Count led the three children he had adopted up the little hill that separated the asylum from his house. He himself carried the lantern that illuminated their path. Behind followed the teacher, with the Bibles and hymn-books. After him came the housekeeper, carrying the ingredients for their first supper and breakfast. The children carried the fuel. Having entered the orphan-house (the Count relates), we walked in procession through all its apartments, singing hymns, and praising God. We set apart each room to its purpose. Then we knelt down at the footstool of Him who had worked in us to will, and was working in us to do also, and besought that the labour should result to His glory."

In 1822, the number of pupils had swelled from 3 into 130; and when the author visited the establishment, not very many years since, the number had increased to 272. Since its commencement, 1,012 pupils had been received; out of which number, 886 had been restored

to society. How greatly this bespeaks the triumph of Christian philanthropy may be guessed, from the condition in which the children enter the establishment :

:

"By far the greater portion of them are in the most wretched state, as to the body. They have lived from their childhood like savages. Some of them never slept in a bed, never sat on a chair. Sin in all its horrible ramifications, both secret and public, is spread through the deplorable company. Theft, falsehood, perjury, hypocrisy, perfidy, impudence, rank foremost in the list of their vices. Of religion they know scarcely anything. They can neither read nor write, neither pray nor sing a hymn. One boy of 18, and a girl of 17, appeared never to have heard of a Saviour."

Who can think of the happy change effected in these miserable children of neglect and sin, and effected by means which unite so much kindness and care as make the children happy while it makes them good, without regarding Count von der Recke with sentiments of love and admiration?

The good Count had, in the prosecution of his benevolent object, some of the worldly distinction and means that help to insure success and overcome difficulties for any undertaking. But some who followed in his wake were equally successful, though destitute of these united means of usefulness and success. Indeed, it is wonderful and encouraging to see how trivial the circumstances and how feeble the instruments that originated many of these establishments, that have done, and are doing so much to rescue the neglected and abandoned from the natural effects and spiritual consequences of their terrible condition. But trivial circumstances, like the falling of the apple, only produce great results in minds that contain the germs of great ideas. An incident of no uncommon occurrence, which makes but a slight or transient impression on ordinary minds, awakens in some strong-minded and large-hearted man reflections and longings that never rest satisfied till some practical good is wrought out, not only for the unhappy object, but for the class to which he belongs. But the same thought and feeling, though weak, are not wanting in ordinary minds, else the activity of the one would produce no reciprocal action in the others, at least for the time. Superior minds must belong to the age in which they live, or they can produce no good or lasting influence upon it. In every great movement, the chief mover must himself be moved by the spirit of the age in which he lives. The rays of intelligence in the minds of the many converge and meet in the mind of the one; and so the many are prepared to recognise the light when it streams forth from the one. It is only because the spirit of

love and truth, which in these new Pentecostal times is being poured out from on high, finds a reception in many hearts, that there is a sufficiently deep and wide-spread sympathy with that larger and more enlightened charity that is now already making its way to the root of our social evils.

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A remarkable instance of the power of Christian love, unaided by worldly position or means, is afforded in the case of Vichern, founder of the Rauhe House, at Horn, near Hamburg. The young didat," which in Germany means a theological student who has passed his examination at the University, and is licensed to take orders, had, as a Sunday-school teacher and visitor of the poor, became acquainted with the awful corruptions that pervaded all classes of society, but especially the lower; and he could find no rest till he had provided for Hamburg a Redemption-house, such as existed in other parts of Germay. As this "House" affords an excellent example of these institutions, we will present a brief account of it :

"On the first of November, 1833, Vichern, his mother by his side, entered the Rauhe House to begin the great work which the Saviour of the lost had prepared for him. Before a week had elapsed three boys came, and the year had not closed when there were twelve, with which the little house was quite full. This was the first family. Vichern slept with them in the same bedroom, and took his meals with them in the same parlour. Eight of them were illegitimate; four were brought up by drunken and criminal parents; one had been known to the police for ninetytwo thefts; one had escaped from prison. But Vichern and his mother were but too happy to have them. There was something for which to pray and to suffer, to wrestle and to toil. Certainly it was an arduous task for the young man, who had never had such work in hand before. But what he lacked in experience was made up by his kind mother's assistance. And true genuine love certainly imparts a wonderful talent for the work of training. The problem which was to be grappled with was, how to obtain the confidence of young liars and thieves who distrusted everybody; how to make obedience a pleasure to young rascals who had resolved to obey nobody; and how to reconcile with any orderly and decent life young vagabonds who claimed liberty of turning day into night, of running half naked about the streets, and of dining off potato-skins and other offal, with a pudding of tallow, such as is used for cleaning shoes, by way of additional dainty. The boys learnt from Vichern the existence of that love which is plenteous in forgiveness, which believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things,' and yet 'rejoiceth not in iniquity, but in truth.' Regular labour in the field and in the workshop soon came to be liked as a recreation, and the school training as an amusement. Freedom, too, was honoured as a queen. That ugly earthwork, which enclosed the place like a prison, was dug away amidst loud huzzahs. Everybody could run away now whenever he liked. But nobody did, or the few who tried came back of their own accord. They found after all that Ruge Hoos was the best place anybody could dream of.

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