twinkled with their usually humorous expression.

"He, he! my friend Triptolemus,' exclaimed the goblin, "you are marvellously gullible! All mortals are, for that matter. The devil finds easy work in getting them into his traps; and the wonder is that the Creator, who professedly is so desirous of their eternal good, should have exposed them to the wiles of a foe who is so capable of outwitting them!

"It really, friend Tub, puts my gravity to severe proof to witness the efforts of your theologians at the present day, who, finding that the good old doctrine of endless damnation is losing its savour among men, and bringing the goodness of God into question, put all their ingenuity on the strain in order to prove that, in the long run, the number of the saved of mankind will immensely exceed that of the damned!

"They come at this result by a marvellously curious process of numeration. First,' say they, 'all are saved who die in infancy. Then, all the heathen, Jews, Mahomedans, and so forth, who rightly

improve their advantages. Then, again, there is by and by to come a millennium -a thousand years' reign of Christ on the earth-during which everybody is to be righteous. Furthermore, this thousand years may mean'-mark, it may mean'just three hundred and sixty-five thousand years instead of one thousand!' For what reason it may so mean does not clearly appear-except, perchance, that it is very necessary to the hypothesis.

"And so, by this hocus pocus process of computation it is made out-quite to the satisfaction of those who wish to have it so -that the number of the finally saved of mankind will immeasurably exceed that of the lost. How stupidly blind must the herd of believers be presumed to be by the priests who manage their spiritual matters!

"Now, Mr. Tub, though a goblin of the lower pit, I am sorry to see your sacred book so poorly interpreted. Suppose, now, we even admit that a millennium is literally to take place-though this, by the great majority of Christians, is denied. Suppose, farther, that we admit its duration will be

just three hundred and sixty-five times as long as the literal description warrantsand that, again, is exceedingly questionable. Nevertheless, with so much granted, it still remains to be proved that everybody will be righteous during its continuance.

"Hear the following quotation, Mr. Tub, and judge how difficult would be their task who should attempt such proof. 'And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed from his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the

four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.'

"Hence you see, Mr. Tub, that at the termination of this boasted era of Messiah's reign on earth, a multitude equalling the sea-sands in number is to be added to the population of hell. When did that of heaven ever receive such an accession? Those wise heads amongst you, therefore, who are

so liberal in their calculations on heaven's side, must find some better data therefor than the Bible furnishes, or common sense either.

"But let us take them, now, on their own principles, Mr. Tub, and see, as respects Mahomedans, Jews, and heathen, to what result we shall fairly come. The Bible itself tells us that no man cometh to the Father except by Christ-his is the only name given under heaven among men whereby they must be saved; and the sacred record expressly adds, neither is there salvation in any other. Now these divines, Mr. Tub, profess to take this book as their authority. By the way, my friend, it is more read, and better understood, in hell than on earth. That heathens do not in this life come to God by Christ, is certain. That they are not here born again—or, in other words, born into the kingdom of Christ, is also certain. It is equally so, according to these gentlemen, that there is no change after death. Now, according to these principles, let them get the heathen to heaven if they can. He, he! Let them see

to it that it is not all a trick of the devil to prevent themselves from getting there.

"As to infants, we shall not dispute about their all going to paradise when they die; but I cannot forbear the remark that if God looked to the interests of his kingdom as sharply as the devil does to his, he would cause a great many more to die in infancy than now do-all, for example, who, living to maturity, he foresees will ultimately be damned. The devil would thus be defrauded of millions of souls which he now contrives to secure to himself.

"The elect in your younger days, Mr. Tub, would have scouted as an impious heresy the notion that more will be saved than damned; it was the essence of their comfort to believe that heaven is a snug little walled city, with jasper gates and streets of gold, where saints and angels shall have nothing to do to all eternity but to sit on great benches and sing psalms.

"And the company of the place, you may remember, was to be a number 'so fixed and definite, as to be incapable of increase or diminution.' Great comfort took the