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by some of those, too, who had had experience in the case of juvenile delinquents, that high walls and close fences would be found indispensable to our success, and that very few, if any, of the boys could be safely trusted to labour in the open field. We preferred to try, at least, another experiment, and we think the result has proved that to trust, with some degree of confidence, such boys even as these, is the best way to inspire faithfulness, and that, in very few instances, out of the great number in whom we have placed it, has this confidence been abused; while the few escapes that have occurred, (only four out of so many hundreds,) have been from the number confined within the walls of the building, and not from the boys who have been permitted to go beyond them." "The greater part of the boys who have been placed out as apprentices," continues our report, "have, by their subsequent good conduct and deportment, answered the expectations which had been formed of them, as the letters and documents published at the close of the report will, in several cases, abundantly prove."P. 223-4.

The Legislature of Massachusetts does itself the honour to pass the following law in 1850:

An Act concerning Truant Children and Absentees from Schools. "Be it enacted, &c., as follows:

"Section 1. Each of the several cities and towns in the Commonwealth is hereby authorized and empowered to make all needful provisions and arrangements concerning habitual truants, and children not attending school, without any regular and lawful occupation, growing up in ignorance, between the ages of six and fifteen years; and also all such ordinances and by-laws respecting such children, as shall be deemed most conducive to their welfare, and the good order of such city or town; and there shall be annexed to such ordinances suitable penalties, not exceeding for any breach a fine of twenty dollars provided that said ordinances and by-laws shall be approved by the Court of Common Pleas for the county, and shall not be repugnant to the laws of the Commonwealth.

"Section 3. The said justices of the peace, or other judicial officers, shall, in all cases, at their discretion, in the place of the fine aforesaid, be authorized to order children, proved before them to be growing up in truancy, and without the benefit of the education provided for them by law, to be placed for such periods of time as they may judge expedient in such institution of instruction or house of reformation, or other suitable situation, as may be assigned or provided for the purpose, under the authority conveyed by the first section of this act, in each city or town availing itself of the powers herein granted,"-P. 231, 232.

In France there are, at present, forty-one home colonies for children and young persons, of which twelve are penitentiary or reformatory colonies, founded and directed by private persons; four are penitentiaries connected with the State; and twenty-five are colonies of orphan and deserted children. The school at Mettray has been long known it arose in private benevolence. A projet du loi, in 1850, decreed the national adoption of this system in France. It provides for the separation of all juvenile from adult criminals, and that private associations shall be encouraged to form colonies pénitentiaires by the assistance and co-operation of the State, and that "if an adequate number are not established in two years, the Government shall interfere, and found as many as are needed at the national cost."

had left it, up had been no in

M. Wichern's Rauhe Haus, in Hamburgh, has been speaking to our deaf country since 1833, and still sends heralds to us. In 1837, it reported that, for a year and a half, no child had run away. It has found that no wall is precisely the strongest wall, where the right spirit is infused into the establishment. All who to that time, were in service; and there stance of relapse into evil habits. In the report of 1843, it is stated that sometimes nearly fifty children have visited their parents on the same afternoon, and all returned punctually at the appointed hour. Since the foundation of the institution, in 1833, one hundred and seventeen children had left it, of whom only five could be deemed failures, three males and one female having been imprisoned, and one female having become a vagrant.

Such, says the author of the present work, "are the results of nearly twenty years of patient labour; labour made sweet by the consciousness that it was God's work which was being carried on." The principles on which this labour should be conducted are thus laid down::

"It is unnecessary again to enlarge on the necessity which has been so often dwelt on, in this and the former volume—that in the beginning and carrying on the work, the teacher's mind should be so imbued by a spirit of love, and actuated by a principle of religious duty, that these should pervade the whole system, and bring the child's mind into harmonious action with it. Until the child's will is enlisted in the work of reformation, there can be no real CHRISTIAN TEACHER.-No. 60.

progress in it. Religious and moral instruction will of course be a prominent object in all establishments of this kind; that it should be instruction rather of the heart than of the head will be evident; and that it should rather consist in the instilling of sound principles of duty to God and man, than in the communication of dogmatic instruction, will probably be the experience of all who have practically engaged in the work. So much has been already said in the former volume, both on this subject, and on the importance of making the Bible a living reality to the minds and hearts of the children, that we need not further enlarge on this topic. The intellectual training should be directed rather to the awakening and exciting the mind itself to work on objects higher than those of sense, than to the mere infusing of elements of knowledge."Pp. 302-3.

We find that we should transfer this book to our pages, if we were to allude to all the subjects treated of in it, that strike us as thrillingly interesting and impressively important. It opens out a course of duty, which it is imperative on this country-its legislators, its magistrates, and its philanthropists-to pursue. May this volume, in its tenderness, piety, good sense, practical experience, and clear calm trust in the omnipotence of good, of God and the spirit of Jesus Christ applied to the soul of man, so command attention both for the Evils it describes and for the Remedies it suggests, that the Nation may be promptly stirred to remove from it the disgrace of the terrible cause it pleads!

ART. II.-BASES OF BELIEF.

Bases of Belief. An Examination of Christianity as a Divine Revelation by the Light of recognised Facts and Principles. By Edward Miall, M.P. London. 1853.

THE object of this work is not to prove the truth of Christianity, but to remove preliminary objections, of a philosophical character, against the possibility of any supernatural revelation from God, and as against the Christian revelation in particular. The difficulties it discusses are not historical, but metaphysical and moral; they relate not so much to the testimony as to the subject matter of the testimony. The Author seems to think that if all à priori barriers to faith could be taken out of the way, then Lardner and Paley would come in, and quietly repossess themselves of the ground from which they had been displaced only by a speculative scepticism. This, we think, is the great mistake of the book. If every page of it was assented to, Lardner and Paley would stand just where they did, and modern unbelief would feel, not only that it had received no answer, but that it had not even been considered. There is very little, in the present day, of philosophical anti-supernaturalism: at all events, that is not the form which the recent attacks upon Christianity have assumed-that is not the quarter from which danger has come, and is still to be apprehended that is not the weapon by which any stillopen wounds have been inflicted. The scepticism of the day is of two kinds, scientific and popular. The scientific scepticism is directed mainly against the original records of the revelation, against the character of the particular evidence. The popular scepticism is directed mainly against the prevalent Christianity itself, against the alleged character of the particular revelation. The one assails the testimony; the other assails the creed, and would accept it upon no testimony whatever. Now to neither of these forms of scepticism does our Author address himself in the slightest degree; that is, he attempts

neither to answer the particular historical difficulties that are raised against the gospel records, nor to recommend the prevalent Christianity to the hearts and consciences of those who revolt from it. He stands upon ground that is quite upon the outside of the particular character of the documentary evidence, of the particular character of the popular Christianity, and of the assumed relations between them. He does establish, and that triumphantly, the fitness of the New Testament as an instrument for the preservation and conveyance of a revelation from God; but in order to make good this ground, he has expressly to remove from the professed revelation everything of an authoritative character, everything that asks for the subjection of the understanding, everything that does not make its direct and sole appeal to the spiritual faculties. He does establish, and that triumphantly, the reasonableness of the Christian revelation; but, in order to do so, he has expressly to premise that Christianity is not doctrinal, not dogmatical, in no respect a disclosure of new truths to the intellect, but simply a manifestation of life to the conscience and the heart. Yet, in all this, he does not give the smallest sign that the problem which he has so easily solved is not the problem which is presented by the existing views of Christianity, which still he professes to hold, and by the existing views of the nature of the Scriptures, which still, in a certain sense, he professes to maintain. Wishing it to be believed that he retains orthodox views of the doctrines of Christianity, and that he retains his belief in the inspiration of the Scriptures, he gives to the world a defence of Christianity, which, quite invulnerable from the Unitarian point of view, Mr. Miall must know is utterly worthless, and beside the mark, in reference to the Christianity he and the world profess. He gives a triumphant defence of Christianity, but it is not his Christianity, it is not the Christianity of the Church, it is not the Christianity of orthodox dissent, it is not adogmatical Christianity in any form whatever. It is a defence which would not stand good for one moment in relation to the doctrines of any orthodox church, and yet this is a fact that is not avowed, nay, it is a fact that is expressly disguised; for, whilst offering a defence of Christianity, from the peculiar ground of a moral and practical

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