his enemies, when you know that he cannot do it if he would, and should not if he could? I like that saying of old Dr. Johnson's that he loved a good hater. I shall never try to love a bad man, for if success attended the effort, then it is a sure thing that I should soon come to carc but little for the good ones. Stevens hated his enemies, as all men have done; and I have always felt that Jesus did not love the Pharisees or any of those who, for a pretence, made long prayers."

"You are right," said Lester, "and it was while endeavouring to give my people the proper meaning of that celebrated sentence, that I gave offence to one of my wardens. He had been used to the old translation, and although I showed him its incorrectness, and although he professed to believe that the Scriptures are Inspired Writings, he actually protested against my giving the true rendering; because,' as he said, it makes people altogether doubt the Book, and thus helps to spread unbelief.' So that if I preach from the Book as it is, I must do violence to my knowledge of the original; and if I retranslate it so as to omit the false meanings which are suggested by our translation, I lay myself open to the imputation of desiring to overthrow the Scriptures."

There is, however, no difficulty, George, for who are they that call you to account? What do they know of the matter? The fact is, that the majority of men neither know nor care anything about the subject. All they know is that it is considered respectable to maintain certain theories about God and the Bible, and they go on maintaining them without either understanding or attempting to discover the actual truth in relation to them."

Walking and talking the two friends reached the end of Crosswood, and were somewhat astonished to find that a crowd of people had gathered upon the edge or corner of the common, just where the broad London road branching off presents so noble an appearance. Advancing towards the crowd, they heard the loud voice of a man who was addressing the people, and who was evidently in earnest. He was what is called a "local preacher," and the gathering constituted what is known in religious circles as "a camp-meeting." When Lester discovered what it was he felt inclined to turn back, but, being hurried forward by the Doctor, who had hold of his arm, he reached the outer circle, just in time to hear the following closing words of the preacher.

"And now, my friends, just let me tell you this plain truth, which it seems to me as I must tell. You must believe if you want to be saved, and if you won't believe you will just be damned, and that's all about it. There is no mistake that hell-fire for ever will be your allowance, so you'd better be smart in deciding. Jesus has come to you all to-night-will you turn him away empty-handed, and not give him your souls? If you are stupid, and won't give up your souls to him, then the devil will have them. "And don't go about to say that you are too poor, for he likes the poor best; he don't like rich men; remember the needle and the camel, they can't be saved; don't say that you are too tired, for he won't ask you to work out your salvation, and he just don't want you to be doing anything; don't say that you are too dirty, for he will wash you whiter than snow; and don't say that you are too great a sinner, for it's sinners he wants--he don't want saints, if he did, then he wouldn't get any, you know that well enough, the worse you are, the more will he rejoice. Even if you have murder'd a father or a brother, a mother or a stranger, and will go to him, if you will only believe, then shall you be saved; and should you die this very night, you will wake in Paradise clothed in shining robes, to be at peace in heaven with the Lamb for ever and ever,

But should you stubbornly refuse to believe, should you harden your stony hearts against the Lord, as the wicked infidels have done, should you madly refuse the mercy now offered to you, and which may never be offered again, should you speak against religion as that wretched Stokes has spoken, or should you talk against the Bible as the poor blinded rector of our town has done, and is constantly doing-"

Here there was a loud groan, and many ejaculated "May the Lord turn their hearts," to which others added the "Amen."

Yes," continued the preacher, with great emphasis, " and may the Lord turn their hearts, for if in mercy He does not do so, they are lost souls; and unless you all refuse to walk in their stubborn ways there is nothing, nothing, nothing, but damnation for you. Think of that, my dear friends-nothing but a brimstone HELL for ever and ever, where you shall still burn and burn, and never be burned. So just think now, if you won't have faith in Jesus, and believe that he is the God of Salvation, you will burn in flames for ever. Don't swallow the Devil's poison, and go on to believe that you will save yourselves by good works without faith, for God hates your good works, which in His sight are only filthy rags. He would rather have the greatest reprobate and sinner that ever lived, but who at length gets faith in Jesus, than the most moral of men who has not the sound form of believing. Come, then, and be saved while there is time; don't stand there to be damned. I tell you plainly, as the Lord Jesus now bids me, that the hour will soon be here when it will be too late, and if you go to the burning, if you are lost it will not be laid to my charge."

This burst of insane dogmatism was followed by the hymn, "Come to Jesus," which was loudly shouted, not sung, by at least three hundred voices, after which there was the usual benediction, when the company broke up into many small parties, each of which marched away, singing some of the wellknown Methodist hymns. Lester's presence had not been observed by the preacher, nor, indeed, by any of the crowd, for the darkness was gathering fast, and as yet no star shone out in the heavens. With the Doctor, but more heart-sick, he turned silently away, walking quickly, so as to get far ahead of the smaller parties before speaking. At length he turned to his companion, and asked

"What do you think England is coming to, now that such mad discourses are delivered by uneducated men to ignorant crowds gathered on the road-sides ?"

"Think? Why, that the Church is solely to blame! If the people are ignorant, whose fault is it? If they cannot detect the blasphemy that underlies such discourses, the well-paid clergy are responsible for having permitted them to grow up in such a state of ignorance."

Granted, Doctor, but what can be done to repair the evil? I have long seen that it's no use merely dwelling upon the cause, I want to find the remedy, and if anybody can show it, then I would not care for the costs; it should have me as its friend."

"There is no remedy other than this, to educate the people up to a much higher standard than was formerly dreamt of. Give them real knowledge, and the scales will fall from their eyes. It is of no use to attack their prejudices, because, unless they first get knowledge, it's impossible for them to avoid suspecting the assailant. If, however, they get real knowledge, there will be no more need to attack their false ideas than there is to disprove the theories of witches, giants, and fairies. The shell of in

tolerant bigotry and narrowness will be cast when the robe of knowledge is put on."

Ah, yes, Doctor, but what else will be cast off with it? Will not Faith in God, and, indeed, all religion, go with it? They may learn more of the world and its wonders, and come to believe less of God and His goodness. I both see and feel that the first result of such education will be the repudiation of all religious claims. And if so, what of it? When a body is diseased we frequently administer a medicine whose first effect is to produce nausea and other unpleasant sensations. That, however, furnishes no reason against its use; the ultimate effects are curative, and that is all we care about. who is the infidel Stokes,' the preacher connected with yourself?"

But

Personally, I do not know him, but I intend to pay him an early visit. I have heard that he is a confirmed Atheist, which, however, may not be any nearer the truth than it is when they say that I deny the Bible. It is really quite dangerous to repeat what one hears in Crosswood."

And yet," said the Doctor, "you want me to come and reside here.” 'Yes, I do; and I don't think what the people should choose to say about you will hinder your coming."

"Certainly not, George; for if I require boots, clothes, or servants, they will readily supply my wants if I carry the cash in my hand. Why, then, am I to trouble about their idle talk? But come, the night has closed in,

and I must not leave the rectory without giving an hour or so to Ella.

haps she can persuade me to come."

Per

Lester hurried forward, but whether it was to hint his hopes to his sister, must, for the present, remain untold.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PAPYRI.

So much has recently been spoken and written about the ancient writings of the Egyptians, that the following passages from an essay by Mr. Goodwin, better known as one of the Seven Essayists and Reviewers, cannot fail to be interesting to our readers. After having given an account of the Sallier and other papyri, of a date anterior to Abraham, he thus proceeds :

I have now to present to the reader an author to whom Penta-our and Enna would have bowed as a venerable sage, and have acknowledged themselves but children in comparison with him. Rise up, Ptah-hotep, king's son, provincial governor, or lord-lieutenant in the reign of Assa, sovereign of both Egypts. It will be asked, when then did King Assa reign? Perhaps, no more can be certainly affirmed of him than that he belongs to one of the earliest Egyptian dynasties (Lepsius places him in the 7th). Speaking vaguely, he may be placed about 3000 B.C. The work which bears the name of Ptah-hotep, may not, perhaps, be quite so old as this. The papyrus which contains it was obtained by M. Prisse d'Avennes while making explorations among the tombs of the early Theban kings of the eleventh dynasty, the ancestors or predecessors of Amen-em-ha, the founder of the twelfth dynasty. In the course of one of these explorations, an Arab employed in the work of excavation, produced a papyrus which he pretended to have got from a third party, but which there is every reason to believe he had found in the tomb under examination. It is in hieratic characters, but extremely different in appearance from those of the nineteenth dynasty. A little attention, however, shows that the writing is essentially the same, and, any one

acquainted with the works of the Ramesside period, will quickly be able to identify the symbols and groups. The forms of the characters are bold and massive, and at first sight appear clumsy; but when the archaic forms have been mastered, the manuscript appears to be not less carefully written than the best of the later epoch, if, indeed, it does not surpass them in this respect. Mr. Heath was the first to call attention to the contents of this papyrus, in an essay published in the "Monthly Review," 1856, entitled, "On a Manu"script of the Phoenician King Assa, ruling in Egypt earlier than Abraham." It has since formed the subject of an able Etude by M. Chabas, of Chálonsur-Saône, a distinguished French Egyptologist, published in the "Revue Archéologique" during the present year, to which I am indebted for the extracts I am about to give. Mr. Heath has also lately published a translation of the whole, containing some valuable hints, but which will require, as we believe, considerable revision before it can be considered as representing with accuracy the opinions of Ptah-hotep, whose name Mr. Heath converts into Aphobis.

The Prisse papyrus contains eighteen pages of writing, the first two being the conclusion of a work. Then follows an erasure of the size of a page or two, the papyrus having been carefully scraped, as if with the intention of inserting a new text. After this come sixteen pages, which comprise a complete work, entitled, "The Instructions of the Magistrate Ptah-Hotep, under His Majesty the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Assa, Everliving."

The author of the fragment on the first two pages, whose name is not given, and who may or not have been Ptah-hotep, says, 'When the king of both Egypts, Our-en, died, then the king of both Egypts, Snefrou, became the king of the whole land. Then was I made a magistrate.' We have here mention of one of the oldest kings of Egypt of whom any contemporaneous monumental traces remain. The tablets of king Snefrou, at WadiMegara, in the Sinaitic peninsula, recording his conquests over the Arabs, are thought to be the earliest historical monuments in existence. Whether, however our papyrus goes back to this date may well be doubted. It may, very probably, be a production of some writer of the court of the Antef kings, of the eleventh dynasty, who put his own maxims into the mouth of a sage of former days, just as we find Enna, of the court of Seti II., writing the instructions of Amen-em-ha. There can be little hesitation, however, in recognising, with MM. Chabas and de Rougé, this MS. as the most ancient book in the world, unless, indeed, we accept another, said to be of the same epoch, now at Berlin. The contents of both works in the Prisse papyrus, that of which we possess but the last two pages, and that which fortunately remains entire, are much of the same kind. They were collections of proverbs or maxims upon moral and social subjects. The obedience of children to their parents is particularly dwelt upon. We shall borrow a specimen from M. Chabas :-" The obedience of a docile son is a blessing: he who is "obedient walks in his obedience, and he who listens to him becomes "obedient. It is good to listen to everything which produces affection; it "is the greatest of blessings. The son who attends to the words of his "father will become old thereby. God loves obedience; disobedience is "hated by God. The heart is a man's master for obedience or for disobedience, but a man through obedience causes his heart to live; to listen to "instruction, to love to obey, this is the fulfilment of good precepts. The "obedience of a son to his father is joy. A son of whom this can be said "is agreeable in all respects, docile and obedient; he of whom this is said

"has piety in his bowels; he is dear to his father, and his fame is in the "mouth of the living who walk upon the earth.

"The rebellious one, who obeys not, accomplishes nothing at all; he sees wisdom in ignorance, virtue in vice. Every day he commits all sorts "of frauds with boldness, and therein he lives as one dead. His

are contradiction; he feeds therein. That which the wise know to be "death is his life every day. He goes on his way, loaded with curses daily. A son, teachable in God's service, will be happy in consequeuce of his "obedience; he will grow to be old, he will find favour; he will speak in like manner to his children. Precious for a man is the discipline of his "father. Every one will respect it, as he himself has done. That which he "says to his children concerning it, oh ! let their children repeat it, feeding on "that which proceeds from thy mouth, the true seed of life to thy children."

Ptah-hotep continues his instructions by saying:-"It is thus that I "would gain for thee health of body and the king's peace, in all circum"cumstances, and that thou mayest pass the years of this life without deceit. "I have become an ancient of the earth, I have passed a hundred and ten years of life by grace of the king, and the approbation of the ancients, "fulfilling my duty towards the king, in the place of their favour." The scribe adds" Finished from beginning to end, as it is found in the "original." Enough has been said to convince the reader that we have in the papyri something more than the mere dry bones of the Egyptian language, and to prove their importance towards the completion of our knowledge of this wonderful people. The value, however, of the monumental and sepulchral records must not be underrated. These have yielded the most brilliant results to the labours of antiquaries. Through their assistance the names of whole dynasties of forgotten kings have been recovered, and great progress made towards the completion of the chronicles of Egypt, of which the fragments of Menetho give us but a bare and defaced outline. The late researches of M. Mariette in the Serapeum, or tomb of the Apis gods, have been particularly fruitful in materials for this purpose. From them M. Lepsius has restored the twenty-second and some part of the twenty-first dynasties. The annals of the reign of Tothmes III. on the walls of Karnak, which have been successfully translated by Mr. Birch, are a noble record of the splendour of the Egyptian monarchy at the commencement of the eighteenth dynasty.

The labours of Egyptologists during the last thirty years have been vigorous and well directed, yet how much remains to be done before Egypt's "place in the world's history," not chronologically merely, can be defined and appreciated. The names of her kings have been collected from the stones of their palaces and tombs with unwearied industry, and now the Königbuch of Lepsius presents lines of monarchs more interminable than that which the witches' cauldron disclosed to Macbeth; but for us the most of them are but ghostly nonentities-as shadows they come, and so depart. The works of Sir Gardner Wilkinson are in everybody's hands; and here the Egyptians as painted by themselves move and gesticulate before us; yet how silently! Who has not felt, in surveying the minute details of Egyptian life which those interesting volumes present, the wish that these people could speak for themselves, and tell us something of their thoughts and feelings?

It is through the hieratic papyri that we once more hear the voice of these ancients, speaking more or less intelligibly, and as man with man. The heart of Satou is found. By-and-bye these sepulchral utterances will be plainer to us than they are yet. Penta-our and Enna will yet walk and talk