We

to aim at is the perfection and holiness of God," are liable to be understood as importing more than is consistent with the truth. advocate the doctrine of Christian perfection; which includes entire holiness of heart and life. But the perfection of a Christian must not only in degree, but also in many respects, fall short of "the perfection of God; " and it is only in certain respects, and according to the degree which the nature of man and the grace of God render possible, that a standard of perfection and holiness is prescribed to us in the Word of God. It is true that our Saviour said, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect." But these words are to be interpreted in harmony with their context. Christ had been enjoining upon his disciples benevolence towards their enemies, and had enforced his teaching by referring to the example of their Father in heaven, Who maketh his sun to rise upon the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and unjust; and closed his remarks on this topic by the words, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." That is, "Be ye, in this respect perfectly good, kind, and benevolent to your enemies, like your Father in heaven." Can it then be truly said this is impossible? We think not. If it be not, then some may attain unto this perfection, and, without being deceived, may say, that by God's grace they are thus able to obey the command of Christ. The preceding remarks we conceive are sufficient to illustrate the manner in which it may be proved that all which God has enjoined upon us is possible unto us; and therefore it is improper to weaken the force of exhortations to conformity to the moral excellence of God, by representing the enjoined conformity impossible of attainment, and those who by God's grace profess to be able to obey the Divine precepts as deceived and destitute of the truth.

Although we in some respects hold sentiments differing from those held by the author of the volume before us, especially in reference to those which are usually designated Calvinistic, we have pleasure in stating, that we have read this work with considerable gratification. It contains many admirable elucidations of different passages in the Holy Scriptures, ably exposes the sophisms by which important truths are attempted to be invalidated, and completely refutes the dogmas of those who deny the fall of man, the incarnation, and atonement of Christ.

THE BOTTLE: A Poem to Illustrate the Etchings of GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. By CHARLES MACKAY, LL.D.

THE DRUNKARD'S CHILDREN. A Sequel to "The Bottle." By CHARLES MACKAY.

Also EIGHT PLATES, by GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. Published by D. BOGUE.

THESE works are intended to impress the mind with the horrible consequences of intemperance. The poems impressively describe the progressive course in intemperance, misery, and crime of a family, who but for the sin of drunkenness, might have enjoyed a good reputation

and happiness. A young man and a young woman are described as dwelling together in the enjoyment of domestic joy, until he became addicted to intemperance. His wife imitates her husband in this evil practice by which they become deprived of all which they had possessed, become houseless, and have to obtain a precarious livelihood by vagrancy. Evil succeeds evil, until in a fit of passion the husband kills his wife-and he loses his reason. A son becomes a gambler and thief, is tried and sentenced to, transportation, and prematurely dies. of consumption, induced by his irregularities. The daughter is driven into the streets, for a time subsists on the wages of iniquity, ultimately is abandoned by her companions in crime, and, in a state of awful desperation, commits suicide. The engravings represent the children led to the gin shop; practising card playing and other species of gambling; the apprehension of the boy in a threepenny lodging house, on a charge of felony; the brother and sister standing at the bar of the Old Bailey; their separation; the boy dying on board a convict ship; and the girl throwing herself, from one of the bridges, into the river Thames. Such representations, alas! truthfully depict, what have been in many instances, the awful consequences of the debasing and horrible crime of drunkenness. We wish that the poems and the engravings may be widely circulated; they cannot fail to produce highly beneficial results, in deterring from the indulgence of a vice which brings in its train the horrible crimes and miseries which they so impressively represent.

THE HAPPY HOME. No. I. The Friend of the People. II. The Ship of Heaven. III. A Bunch in the Hand, and More on the Bush. DAVID BOGUE.

In the preface the author states that he "writes for the English and Scotch operative, for the mechanic, the daily labourer, and the artizan. He does not constitute himself their patron or their censor; he will be content if he can earn the name of Friend." The three numbers of the work now before us are highly interesting and instructive. Important lessons are conveyed by descriptive narratives which are welladapted to engage the attention of readers. We would, however, re

commend the author to avoid the use of words which are not likely to be understood by most of those for whom he professedly writes. For example, the word, ship, would be intelligible to all; but the meaning of the word, " argosie," will, by many, not be understood. It is a cheap, neat, interesting, and useful work.

THE WATER CURE JOURNAL, and Hygienic Magazine. Edited by W. M'LEOD, M.D. July 1848. 8vo. J. GADSBY.

CONTAINING Well written articles on Physiology, the evil effects of stimulating drinks, and the practice of Hydropathy.

THE PEACE ADVOCATE, and Correspondent. July 1848. Royal 8vo. 8pp. CHARLES GILPIN.

A VERY useful publication.

66

THE EXPECTED GREAT COMET.

As the world is looking out for the immediate return of the great historical Comet of 1264 and 1556, after an absence from our system of 292 years, the following summary of particulars, stated in a Lecture upon the Science of Astronomy delivered by Mr. Henry Althans, jun., before the Hackney [London] Literary and Scientific Institution, may not be uninteresting. The illustrious messenger has lost much of his dignity by coming a few months too late. "Why tarry the wheels of his chariot?" when Europe is in a blaze. The world would not wait for his coming, it seems, to be revolutionized. Had he made his appearance in January, the doctrine of portents would have gained as much as the credit of science will if he come later by his periodical return -- On the 5th day of March, 1556, this eccentric wanderer was first perceptible in the sign Libra. Pursuing its celestial course with great velocity, it touched the left wing of the sign Virgo, passed below the knee of the constellation Bootes, when it ascended to the northern pole of the ecliptic, (its inclination being 32 degrees 6 minutes) towards Andromeda, where it lingered, but receding towards the northern Fish, it was there lost. Its perihelion (or nearest point to the sun) was passed on the 21st day of April, just two days previous to its final disappearance. Whilst it remained within the circle of those topical stars which never set, the comet was visible all night long; and throughout its course, the apparent magnitude of the head was uniformly as large as Jupiter to the naked eye. Its motion ran contrariwise to the succession of the Zodiacal signs, and within the space of four days, it completed seventy degrees westward, and thirty degrees northward, directing its path towards Saturn (then in Aries) but apparently slackening its speed as it approached that planet. At first its heliocentric motion was retrograde at last direct. In the intermediate course it was most swift, fifteen degrees daily. The nucleus (or body) presented the aspect of a bright globe of flame equivalent to a half-moon, but the rays and colours varied and interchanged like the flickering of a flame agitated by the wind. The tail was moderately long and much attenuated; at first presenting a martial (red) aspect, but subsequently dissolving into a pale and livid complexion the stream of rays was denser near the head, and more rarified towards the extremity of the tail, which at first pointed eastward, but as the comet mounted to the north, the train took a southerly direction. This eccentric member of the solar system, has been conjectured to be identical with that mighty comet which startled Europe in the year 1264, so particularly described by Palæologus, Zuinger, Calvisius, Matthew Paris, and other chroniclers of the period. That portentous visitant was first discernible near the sign Taurus, behind the planet Venus; and it raged during the whole summer season, until the 7th day of October. It was originally observed in the twilight of the evening, but speedily passing the sun on the 6th of July, at a rapid rate, (the place of its perihelion being 21 degrees of Capricorn,) it re-appeared shortly before the morning twilight towards the 8th degree of Cancer, whence it retrograded very quickly into Gemini, threading its way between Canis and Orion, but ultimately retreating into the latter constellation. Its movement from east to west was more than equal to 50 degrees of latitude and hardly 5 of longitude. The inclination of its parabolic orbit to the ecliptic was 36 degrees; and the distance of its perihelion (that of the earth being 1) was 0,4450. At first it followed the morning star, but subsequently preceded that brilliant orb. The train or tail was very long and broad, resembling a fan in shape, emerging from the eastern horizon before the dimmer nucleus, and, when fully ascended, stretching itself upwards, and shooting its rays to the meridian, the comet occupied in length one-half of the heavens, presenting a fearful apparition to the eye of the superstitious spectator. As

it swept along through space, the tail diminished daily in breadth, but proportionately increased in length and brilliancy.

66

Contemporary historians relate many terrible calamities as befalling the nations of Europe during the year 1264; among other strange coincidences, it is related in the Libri Chronicarum (printed at Nuremberg, A.D. 1493) and confirmed by other writers in the middle age, that on the first appearance of this blazing star, the sovereign Pontiff, Urban IV., was seized with an alarming distemper, which confined his holiness to his apartment during the entire period that the comet prevailed; and on the very night that the comet disappeared the Pope expired. In 1556, its appearance was accompanied by similarly strange sublunary events. The victorious emperor, Charles V., to the amazement of the world, suddenly resigned the crowns of Germany and Spain, and betook himself to a monastery, where he shortly died. It was in a paper read before the Royal Society of London, about the middle of the the last century (vide Philos. Trans. vol. 47), that Mr. Dunthorne hazarded the supposition that these two celestial strangers were identical,--a conjecture also countenanced by the eminent French astronomer, M. de Lalande. This hypothesis has recently found a sanguine advocate in Mr. J. R. Hind, the discoverer of the new asteroid. But its return during the current year (1848), although indorsed by these high authorities, is very problematical; for the cautious Dr. Halley has expressly included the comet of 1556 along with five others of whose elements he was sceptical; as the observations handed down by Paulus Fabricius and the older astronomers (which formed the basis of his computation) were made neither with good instruments nor mathematical precision, so that great difficulty was experienced in harmonizing their conflicting accounts. Adequate allowance should also be made for the amount of the disturbing forces which this eccentric traveller may encounter through its approximation to other heavenly bodies in its lengthened journey through the realms of space. Besides, we possess exact details of its path only during one-fourth of the fifty days it was last visible. As for the elements of 1264, founded upon the Latin manuscript of a Dominican friar preserved in Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, they are open to grave exceptions, and form but a sandy foundation for the calculating astronomer of the nineteenth century. Is there not also a palpable difference of several degrees between the elements of the two? Considering, therefore, that the cometary revolutions are subject to extensive fluctuations, since these frail bodies are so susceptible of opposite attractions from powerful neighbouring orbs-weighing the difficulty of proving identity after a lapse of 292 years and the laxity of previous observations;-above all, reflecting that the orbits of only three of these singular bodies are satisfactorily settled, whereas probably 800 appearances are known, and the elements of nearly 100 recorded;-may we not reasonably pause, and, with the sagacious Halley legitimately doubt, before yielding assent to a prediction, not wholly gratuitous, nor placed beyond the range of possibility, but yet depending too closely upon conjecture, though seeking to ally positive calculation and observation in its support? But, in spite of mathematical discrepancies, imperfect instruments, and conflicting data, should the approach of this comet crown the other wonderful occur. rences of this eventful year, it will afford another astronomical triumph; as the comet will then have completed its twentieth revolution round the sun since the creation of the world."

learn to be silent.

SPEAKING WELL.-He that will speak well must first It is the property of a noble and god-like mind to pardon. God is a thousand times more ready to give, than man is to receive.-Arndt.

BIOGRAPHY.

MEMOIR OF THE REV. THOMAS TOWNEND.

(Concluded from page 326.)

To an intimate friend, whose son had been for three months laid up of fever at school, Mr. Townend addressed letters of sympathy and condolence, from which the following are extracts :—

"Darlington, Nov. 3, 1841.

"MY DEAR SIR,-I have just received yours of the 2nd inst., and am sorry that symptoms wear an unfavourable aspect. How often are we made to feel that this is a vale of tears, and

'Sighs might sooner cease, than cause to sigh.'

Yet, all this is but a part of that wise and gracious discipline, which is to train us for that world where all tears shall be wiped away. Then we shall have to thank God for ever, perhaps, most of all, for the most severe.

"I know the heart of a parent under circumstances similar to yours. It was not without a pang that I resigned my lovely Eliza Ann, though but an infant, to the cold embrace of death. When Jonathan lay at Edinburgh confined of a dangerous fever, and Samuel at Leeds of an inflammation of the lungs, Mrs. Townend and I watched the days of restlessness and nights of delirium with intense anxiety. Yet the rod is in the hand of a Father, and every stroke is designed, not for his pleasure, but for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. When my heart is overwhelmed within me, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.' Prayer is our refuge-rather the God that heareth prayer, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick;' if not to the healing of the body, at least to the everlasting happiness of the soul. I doubt not this will be the case with your dear F. If God should take him away, it will be both in wisdom and love, and I trust that you and Mrs. will be enabled to say, though it should be with bleeding hearts, 'It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.' It would be to sin against God and violate the law of Christian love were I not to pray for you; and more precious than all the treasures of earth is that benevolence and tenderness of spirit which not only rejoices with those that do rejoice, but also weeps with those that weep. He who has most of this spirit is but a faint shadow of Him who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.' 'Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

"Darlington, Nov. 27, 1841.

"MY DEAR SIR,-I begin to entertain hopes that Providence intends to raise up your dear F. from the gates of death. Mrs. D. informed me, last evening, that she hid a brother who lay a month in such a state of weakness (to which he had been reduced by a fever), that they daily expected his dissolution, and yet he recovered. I am glad, however, that you have been enabled to resign him into the hands of your heavenly Father, who sees the end from the beginning and numbers the hairs of our heads. He, who made man immortal, and redeemed him by the blood of his dear Son, has not left him the plaything of chance, the sport of circumstances, tossed on the waves of uncertainty; but so controls and directs all events by unerring skill and infinite goodness, as to make them work together for good to them that love him. However high and dreadful the wheels of Providence may appear, however perplexed and intricate their working, they are, notwithstanding, full of eyes, and move straight forward, constantly tending to one great end, the glory of God, and the everlasting welfare of all who trust in him."