Classical Theology.—Xxxii.

of the Ionic order , which was not the case then . The doors aud panels were made of burnished cypress wood , and the staircases and seats of vine wood highly polished . Its decorations were most perfect productions of antique science aud art , of rare excellence—resplendent with the lustre of unstinted gold and littering gems was its

g whole interior . Two hundred aud twenty years it took to finish it , although , as Pliny records ( vii . 28 ; xvi . 40 ) , —" all Asia was employed . " The image of the goddess at full length was composed of ebony , a wood not given to decay , but which nevertheless hacl to be propped up at last , the ravages of time having become apparent even

there . It was affirmed that the statue had been made iu heaven , and was the gift of Jupiter . It may have been the gift of some earthly Jupiter ( or ruler ) , but the ancients themselves did not really confess to any heavenly material artistic skill beyond that of the earth . This undoubtedly wonderful Temple of Ephesus ivas destroyed by fire ( the incendiary work of Erostratus ) , and several times afterwards rebuilt and ruined .

The Crusades And The Crusaders.*

THE CRUSADES AND THE CRUSADERS . *

ME . EUCAH ' handsome volume modestly purports to be nothing more than a book for bo _ ys . In a picturesque manner he gives a clear , popular account of the leading outlines of the crusades , such as must be fraught , with interest and instruction to that large class of individuals who arc typified as the " generalreader . " The crusades ,

however , form a subject so frequently discussed , that it can scarcely be attributed as a reproach to Mr . Edgar , that he has failed to exhibit the merit of novelty . His plan is so slight and limited that he has not been able to enter into the real philosophy of the crusades—the great questions connected with the movement , the nature of

the authorities and the quaint and curious features they present , and the latest historical manifestations of the crusade spirit , it may be worth while , at this dull season of the year , briefly to indicate a few points , the discussion of which did not enter within the scope of Mr . Edgar ' s plan . . Because the church sanctioned the crusades , because the force of religious names ancl of reli gious associations formed their inspiration , because the plea for them was

one oi : piety , it came to bo tne fashion to adopt either ot two distinct ideas . These sides aro not unfairly represented in the pages of Chateaubriand , and in the Erench Eucyclopa'dia . It has been argued , on the one hand , that the exploits performed were pious and honourable ; that tho armies of Christendom marched under the immediate protection of the Most Hihthat the

g ; cause of the holy and apostolic church was incalculabl y promoted ; . that from being broughtin contact with Grecian arts and literature , the European mind ivas enli ghtened and advanced . On . the other hand , it has been urged that the worst passions of the human mind were gratified ; that the maturity of Europe was checked ; thatliermost

fertile lands were left uncultivated ; that her best treasure and noblest blood were most profusely squandered . M . Midland , who has industriously travelled in the track of Gibbon , giving full quotations where he only found references , and whole narratives ivhere he only found allusionshas arrived at certainlless prejudiced convictions

, y than we find in the " Decline and Eafl , " or in the ' ¦ ' Philosophical Dictionary . " Heallows that while the flower of Europe was perishing on the plains of Palestine , profound quiet pervaded the West ; that robberies ivere much less

frequent ; that civil wars and neighbouring feuds ceased : that it was thought a crime to draw the sword save in the cause of Jesus Christ . Of the abstract justice oi the wars of the crusades we entertain no doubt . All publicists would decide that there was a casus belli . Lord Bacon has a curious tract on the subject— " De Belle Sacro . " Their principle was clearly and definitely

laid down by Pope Urban at the Council of Clermont . The Moslem had committed vast incursions against Christendom . Kindred nations had implored Western alliance and assistance . Countless barbarities had been committed on Christian men belonging to European communities . The misfortune was , that the enthusiasm was

neither properly bounded uor judiciously directed ; that a great statesman was wanted to direct the movement , and a great general to lead the forces . Had these been supplied , more important conquests would have been achieved in a less time and ivith a scantier expenditure of blood aud treasure ; and those

large sections of mankind with whom the success of a cause constitutes its righteousness , would have spared their contemptuous pity . Those who have attacked the crusaders , and even those who have defended them , have shown a strange ignorance of the genius of the eleventh century . Assuredly , as we have before said , it is not the

men of the eighteenth century that are to sit in judgment upou this era . These writers of cold hearts and narrow minds , with their want of faith , of earnestness , ancl of charity , are neither competent judges nor upright jurors . The great and wise Neander lias a profound and beautiful remark—which may well be applied to such men as GibbonVoltaireHume and Berington—in his

, , life of the heroic Abbot who preached the crusade of the king and the emperor . " Lowest in the scale of excellence , and false in the highest degree to the primitive nobilit y of man . stands he who in coldness of intellect looks down upon these times in a spirit of affected compassion , that proceeds , not from the overpowering influence of genuine

¦ retdilg on the mind , but from the circumstance of his assuming that onl y xo be the real , which is in truth the very lowest degree of seeming , ancl thus regarding as a delusion- what is here the beautiful , the labouring , and the venturing for an object which exists , ancl is of value in the heart alone . " These crusaders of whom we write

, were , indeed without part or lot in all that enormous information and material prosperity which Hoods our land . But they ivere of large heart ancl simple faith ; but they looked with reverence on the invisible and the awful ; but the ) - believed the simple objective truths of Revelation , and ive would fain believe acted up to what of light was

theirs . To them their course was a matier not of calculation , but of feeling . A developed civilization had not brought its accompaniments of indifference and of scoff . The world then exhibited the phenomena of national disinterestedness min gled with a national sensibilit y , of wliich the chain of modern circumstances may never allow the exhibition of a counterpart .

A fairer estimate would indeed have been arrived at if these authors had drawn a distinction between accidentals and essentials , if they had been at the pains of separating from the good that evil with which good is ever commingled , and had investigated what portion of the evils they deplore was reall y due to the crusaders , what to the adverse

force of circumstances , ancl what to those who have been lightly ancl carelessly reckoned in their ranks , though in reality they possessed nothing of their virtues , and knew nothing of the spirit thatanimated them , who disdained their piety and serenit y , and were distinctly repudiated by them in return . History shows us clear lines of demarcation between the proper