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such and such an action. I cannot,' replies the Christian. 'Wherefore?' rejoins the other. Because I dare not.' 'Dare not! What restrains thee? what canst thou fear?' 'It would be,' replies the servant of God, 'an offence against the Almighty; and by it I should grievously insult my Lord.' In the proud sense of his emancipation, the man of refinement utters a loud laugh, and begins to catechise his childlike friend. 'Where is God,' he demands, that you can approach Him with your offence? Who is God, that you can insult Him? Is He a man, irascible, sensitive, passionate, and ambitious, like to us? Do you form of Him so weak, so low and superstitious an idea, as to suppose that you, a frail mortal, can inflict pain on Him, the Almighty?' Certainly not,' rejoins the Christian; in this sense I cannot offend God.' Why, then, not act as I do?' 'Because it would be sinful.' What, then, is sin?' 'An offence against God,—an infinite offence, which He must necessarily punish.'

But we have not yet made any advance, but have returned again to our former position; so that the impious contemner of God and of sin, exulting in his success in having, although blind, conducted his blind disciple to so exalted a height, in triumph claps his hands. But a deep pit, a yawning abyss, lies not far beneath this dangerous elevation; for the child of man, when once confirmed in the splendid idea that God cannot be offended, is at once in harmony with sin and guilt, and confidently trusts that he shall pass over this dread abyss. Standing, then, on this so awful precipice, and seeing well the necessity of seeking some other path by which we may arrive at the comprehension of

the guilt of sin, let us have recourse to a remarkable narrative, which, although it may appear fictitious, will yet lead us to farther objects.

Whilst atheism flourished under the protection of fashion, a noble youth of Toulouse had the misfortune to find himself among the advocates of this shallow infidelity; and, under his new preceptors, he made so rapid progress, that he was on the point of declaring his system of belief, or rather of unbelief; for the religion of these men, unlike that of the nineteenth century, consisted, not in the elevated and glittering formulas of pantheistic piety, but in the mere denial of a real and personal Divinity. Previous, however, to his ultimate determination, and in order to satisfy his many yet remaining scruples, he resolved to have recourse to an experiment of a peculiar character (a theognostic essay), that he might ascertain whether there dwelt on high a watchful and all-seeing God, who observed our every deed, and preserved a knowledge of them. With this intention the youthful Titan left the city in the dusk of eve, and stationed himself on a naked and solitary heath beneath the open heaven; he laid aside his Spanish mantle with his plumed hat, and drawing from his girdle the short dagger then worn by students, raised it towards heaven, and challenged, in these formal words, the Lord of the universe: If there be a God, either in the realms above or in the depths below, let Him come forward; let Him present Himself, and join with me in honourable combat; then shall I know that Thou dost really exist; then will I believe and acknowledge Thee.' As we should naturally expect, this audacity was ineffective,all yet remained still and tranquil. Then, struggling

between dread of spirits and heroic courage, this French Prometheus gave vent to his passion, stalked, like a second Roland, across the heath, and in words breathing more of madness than of sense, defied the omnipresence of the Almighty, scorned Him as a mere nonentity, and with haughty sneers renounced his service.

What, then, followed? Did the storm call up some thundercloud above his head? Did the whirlwind rise with its howling terrors, to dash his corpse against some rock? Did the lightning's dagger pierce his breast, or did the thunderbolt shatter his haughty head? No; even the heathen Jupiter, had he punished every blasphemy with a thunderbolt, would have been in constant occupation. But perhaps some hideous form, some frightful phantom, rose before the eyes of the dauntless hero, to bristle his hair in dread affright? Such, doubtless, would have clothed with new interest the narration, and would have excited anxious expectation; but such did not occur on this battle-field of Toulouse. What then? For surely something must have occurred to mark this scene. Let us hearken to the relation, as it was confirmed on oath by the hero himself, and from whom alone the preceding circumstances were obtained.

There appeared,' he says, 'a resplendent brilliancy in the heavenly vault, and, as it were, a sheet of paper of transcendent whiteness, which, gradually descending, fell at last at his feet. He seized the sheet, and raised it from the ground to read the writing thereon inscribed in golden characters; and these were the commencement of the fiftieth Psalm: Miserere mei, Deus · "Have mercy on me, O God." Suddenly, as if changed

into a new man, he fell upon his knees, struck his breast, and, bathed in tears, turned with pensive steps towards his home. The whole night he spent in sorrow and in penitent reflection; and, at the morning's earliest dawn, hastened to the house of God, to obtain, by dolorous confession, forgiveness from his Lord. His after-life was one of constant holiness.' Such is the narration of the learned James Lobbet, as it occurs in his Inquiries and Researches on the Gospels.

But here a question will arise, whether this apparition is to be considered as real and substantial, or as existing merely in the mind; and whether, in the latter supposition, it is to be viewed as an ordinary dream, or as a deception of the unslumbering physical life; or, in fine, as a warning mental figure of a higher order. Psychologists will undoubtedly contend that the conduct of the youth proved him to be rather a fanatic than a luxurious profligate; and that, as extremes are closely bordering, the departure from the wildest audacity would easily conduct to remorse the most dejected, which must soon end in a vision. Their view, they argue, is strengthened by this, that the young enthusiast did not bring home the golden illuminated paper which fell from heaven.

These objections, it is true, cannot be fully answered; yet may the history prove greatly useful and instructive. As to the presumption of standing on the naked heath, and, unaccompanied by other second save his own audacity, formally to challenge the Lord to combat, this is an undertaking too often repeated in every place and every time. "The dwellings of the unrighteous," says Job, "are full of abundance, and

they provoke God boldly." (Job xii.) "They have provoked Me to wrath with the work of their hands." (Jer. xliv.) Those who are the most abandoned in impiety, continually springing up from the cursed race of the philosopher or fool of Ferney,' challenge God to shew Himself, protesting their willingness to believe in the Invisible so soon as they behold His countenance; and whilst they live and act in shameless wickedness, they pretend that God, who is so far removed from man, cannot be heedful of his deeds, much less can He be offended by them. Such were their words in the time of holy Job: "The clouds are his covert, and He does not consider our things; He walketh about the poles of the heavens." (Job xxii.) They, on the other hand, who glory in a higher and a nobler mind, and in themselves have found the Allabsolute, speak of God and of divine things with religious elevation; yet they know no personal and superearthly God, who, in loving omnipotence, and by nought constrained, created them and the entire world: that God can be offended is to them also incomprehensible, since they themselves, with all their deeds and passions, are but so many manifestations of the Deity. They too would call on God to shew His personality.

In the night of our mortal life, there floats from heaven's vault many a white and shining leaf inscribed with golden letters. These leaves, collected, form the whole Divine revelation contained in the books of the Old and New Testament, so often styled by the Fathers, 'God's proclamation unto men.' And what would it proclaim? "Seek the Lord whilst He may be found;

1 Voltaire.