ENGLAND is now for the first time offering to the toiling portion of its people a fair modicum of the education which was in old time the exclusive privilege of the rich. In doing so it has acted with a keen eye to self-preservation, for the history of every fallen nation shows that the unaided ignorance of the masses has been a principal and fatal element in its downfall. This truth would seem to be not yet fully realized by all of higher education in the country; for the teaching that many of

A PROFOUND change has taken place in the world of thought, The pews are trying to set themselves somewhat above the pulpit. The layman discusses theology with the minister, and smiles. Christians excuse themselves for belonging to the Church, by denying a part of the creed. The idea is abroad that they who know the most of nature believe the least about theology. The sciences are regarded as infidels, and facts as scoffers. Thousands of most excellent people avoid churches, and, with few excepti

WAIVING the contradictory statements in the various books of the New Testament; leaving out of the question the history of the manuscripts; saying nothing about the errors in translation and the interpolations made by the fathers; and admitting, for the time being, that the books were all written at the times claimed, and by the persons whose names they bear, the questions of inspiration, probability, and absurdity still remain. As a rule, where several persons testify to the same transaction, w