moral law of God. Therefore, in opposing Ultramontanism, as it surely
ought to be opposed, care ought to be taken by those who are not
prepared to go all lengths with Caesar, to select their weapons of
attack, not from his armoury, but from their own.

How ridiculous it is to see some estimable man who subscribes to the
Bible Society, and takes what he calls 'a warm interest' in the
heathen, chuckling over some scoffing article in a newspaper--say
about a Church Congress--and never perceiving, so unaccustomed is he
to examine directions, that he is all the time laughing at his own
folly! Aunt Nesbit, in 'Dred,' considered Gibbon a very pious writer.
'I am sure,' says she, 'he makes the most religious reflections all
along. I liked him particularly on that account.' This poor lady had
some excuse. A vein of irony like Gibbon's is not struck upon every
day; but readers of newspapers, when they laugh, ought to be able to
perceive what it is they are laughing at.

Logic is the prime necessity of the hour. Decomposition and
transformation is going on all around us, but far too slowly. Some
opinions, bold and erect as they may still stand, are in reality but
empty shells. One shove would be fatal. Why is it not given?

The world is full of doleful creatures, who move about demanding our
sympathy. I have nothing to offer them but doses of logic, and stern
commands to move on or fall back. Catholics in distress about
Infallibility; Protestants devoting themselves to the dismal task of
paring down the dimensions of this miracle, and reducing the
credibility of that one--as if any appreciable relief from the burden
of faith could be so obtained; sentimental sceptics, who, after
labouring to demolish what they call the chimera of superstition, fall