7 SEPTEMBER 1867, Page 2

Mr. Gladstone made a fine speech at the meeting of

the S. P. G. at Penmaenmawr on Tuesday. He said very truly of the present time that "it is a period when, undoubtedly, more has been written and more has been said, in a form at least, that is serious and earnest, and that commends itself to the thoughts and the reflec- tions of men, with the purpose of greatly modifying and greatly altering the grounds of Christian conviction, to say the least, than has been the case for many centuries. But at the same time, a strong conviction remains in our minds, our understandings, and our consciences that Christianity is to continue to be that which it has been heretofore—the great medicine for the diseases of human nature, the great consolation for its sorrows, the great stay to its weaknesses, the main and only sufficient guide in the wilderness of the world. Somehow or other, even those who may upon intellectual grounds be questioning many of its titles, yet scarcely venture to impeach its moral authority and power." Mr. Gladstone need scarcely have put in that " in a form at least, that is serious and earnest." He surely does not doubt that what men like Maurice, and Jowett, and Stanley, and many others of differ- ent communions, write on Christian evidence and Christian history, is written not only " in a form at least serious and earnest," but in substance too. Has Mr. Gladstone himself looked into the con- troversy about the date of the books of the Pentateuch? If he had, a mind so subtle and keen could scarcely ascribe for a moment all these books to Moses, or fail to see that they are full of historical inaccuracies and inconsistencies. Still, the drift of his speech is most just and atrikiug.