ible; the difficulty is where to begin. But
happily we are under no necessity of selection. A case is before us, and
we take it as it comes. It is a "converted infidel" case, in the report
of a recent sermon--the last of a series on "Is Christianity Played
Out?"--by the Rev. Dr. Hiles Hitchens; the gentleman referred to in one
of our last week's paragraphs as wishing for an old three-legged stool
or something made by Jesus Christ. Dr. Hitchens, alas! cannot find the
stool, and has to put up with the creed instead; though, perhaps, he
gets as much out of the creed as he would make by selling the stool to
the British Museum.

Dr. Hitchens preached from the text, "The earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord"--a statement which, after the lapse of so many
centuries, has still to be couched in the future tense. The delay has
been excessive, but Dr. Hitchens is hopeful. He believes in the ultimate
and speedy fulfilment of the prophecy. One of his grounds for so
believing is this (we quote from the _Christian Commonwealth_), that
"Out of 20 leading lecturers, authors, editors, and debaters on the side
of Infidelity 17 have been brought to Christ within the last 30 years,
have left their infidel associations, openly professed the religion of
Jesus, and engaged in Christian work." The last he named, we are told,
was "the case of a National Secular lecturer, of whom the sceptics were
greatly proud, who has recently been received by, and now lectures for,
the Christian Evidence Society."

We leave the consideration of these "facts" for a moment, and deal
in the first place with Dr. Hitchens's peculiar logic. It is truly
Christian. The species is unmistakable. Seventeen Freethinkers have been
converted to Christianity! Wonderful! But how many Christians have been
converted to Freethought? Ay, there's the rub. For every specimen Dr.
Hitchens produces we will produce a thousand. Not only were the rank and
file of the Freethought party very largely brought up as Christians, but
its leaders are of the same category. Charles Bradlaugh was brought up
as a Christian, so was Colonel Ingersoll. Can Dr. Hitchens produce two
names among his "converts" of the same weight, or a half, a quarter, or
a tithe of it? Every leader of Freethought in England, we believe, is a
convert from Christianity. As to the "leading" men Dr. Hitchens refers
to, we presume they are the persons initialed in the late Mr. Whitmore's
tract, and those among th