17.—"Average Ability,"

He contends, could produce anything which has been produced by the writers for whom inspiration is claimed. I, in reply, ask any and every candid man who exercises the "right to examine every subject for himself" to compare the ten commandments of Mrs Brittan with the decalogue of Moses, and, to do the former as much justice as possible, endeavour to forget that Moses' pattern had been carefully studied before the competition was attempted, and then note the result. Yet, I presume, Mrs Brittan was a lady of rather more than "average ability." Montesquieu has said of Voltaire: "When Voltaire reads a book he makes it what he pleases, and then writes against what he has made." Too many follow his unworthy example in this matter of biblical criticism—if I may dignify it with such a term. A sense of justice does not seem to actuate those who desire to deny to the Bible the position of an inspired revelation of God to humanity. With them "the end seems to justify the means," no matter how irregular and contemptible the latter may prove to be. I cannot better bring my remarks to a close than by quoting Pollok's