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Forsake us not, 'midst worldly strife,
Where wealth, power, sin, contend.

O make us humble, useful, loved,
Whilst we are pilgrims here;

And when to heaven we are removed,

May bliss await us there!

SELECTIONS.

BIBLICAL ASTRONOMY.

G.

The Hebrews, even in patriarchal times, were acquainted with certain of the lesser heavenly bodies. Job speaks (ix. 9) of Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades. The heavens would naturally attract the attention of these early tenants of the earth, especially in Arabia and Palestine, the rather because, as shepherds, they passed much of their time in the open air, watching their flocks by night as well as by day. While engaged in the musings to which such a position would naturally give rise, they would, under the influence of a creative imagination, easily be led to form the stars first into groups, and then into the shapes of animals. Hence rose the signs of the zodiac. The word which, in the common version, is rendered Arcturus, means probably the Great Bear. The sons of Arcturus (Job xxxviii. 32) are the stars that accompany it, now called the tail of the bear.' Herder renders the words in the passage last referred to- Lead forth the bear with her young.' The passage speaks of the constellation as conducted round and round the pole as by some unseen hand, like a mother with her children. God is made to appeal to this phenomenon as a manifestation of his majesty and power, and as far above the skill of man. Who ever looked on that beautiful constellation, and marked its regular revolutions, without feeling that its position and movements were such as the Almighty Creator only could produce?

Orion was a constellation which was conceived of as a mighty and impious giant bound upon the sky: hence the expression, Canst thou loose the bands of Orion?' (Job xxxviii.31). According to eastern tradition, this giant was Nimrod, the founder of Babylon. By the aid of a telescope, about two thousand stars have been seen in this constellation; and, in what is termed 'the sword of Orion,' there is a nebula, almost visible to the naked eye, which is computed to exceed the sun in size two trillions two hundred thousand billion times. Surely, if Job found in the starry heavens evidence for the power, providence, and majesty of God, we have incomparably greater reasons for so doing with the sublime views which astronomy has in our time laid open.

The Hebrew word rendered Pleiades, denotes a custer. The name is given to the cluster of stars in the neck of the constellation Taurus, of which six or seven may be seen by the naked eye; but as many as two hundred have been counted by the aid of a telescope.

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The morning star was known (Isa. xiv. 12. Rev. ii. 28). In Job xxvi. 13, is mentioned the crooked serpent;' the Dragon is still one of the constellations; it lies between the Great and the Little Bear, spreading itself as it were, in windings across the heavens. The Zodiac is also mentioned in Job xxxviii. 32, under a name which signifies dwelling places or lodgings, because in them the sun appears to dwell one after another. Of the separate signs, only one is mentioned, namely, the Twins (Acts xxviii 11). by the terms 'Castor and Pollux.' The chambers of the south,' in Job ix. 9, may indicate the stars hidden in the southern hemisphere, or rather in a southerly direction, in the dark recesses of the south. In Job xxxviii, 33, Jehovah asks, 'Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? We are apt, in the knowledge of astronomy which we now possess, to think that Job's knowledge was most in significant, even when it was true. And, certainly our acquaintance with these 'ordinances' is sufficiently great and accurate to foster within us the most deeply felt piety; but, after all that Tycho Brahé, Kepler, Newton and others have taught, we have: learnt to small purpose, if we are not convinced that what we know is, relatively to what remains to be learnt, only little more than was known to the patriarchs of old. And those who condemn the Bible, because it does not teach as much as the Méca nique Celeste of La Place, in effect condemn that work itself, which, there is every reason to believe, will, in process of time, have to give place to more comprehensive as well as more exact views of the vast and immeasurable universe of God. A work which sets forth the highest truth of its age-especially, if, like the Bible, it applies that truth to the great purposes of religion-will be regarded by all wisely judging men as "a pearl of great price," and a possession for ever," notwithstanding any changes which may be brought by the constant advances of a ceaselessly progressive civilization.

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About A.D. 1500, Copernicus had satisfied himself that the sun. is the centre of the solar system. In 1610, Galileo, having invented a telescope, discovered Jupiter's satellites, and the moonlike phases of Venus. These discoveries supplied additional arguments for the truth of the Copernican system. This system Galileo defended in his writings, which were, on that account, condemned as heretical by the Inquisition, who, on the generally received opinion that the Scripture taught that the earth, a stationary body, was the centre of the world, accounted the new opinions to be contradicted by, and hostile to, the Bible. There thus appeared to exist a contrariety between Scripture and science. This contrariety has been met by drawing a distinction between religious and physical tenets. The former it is the object of the Bible to teach. In the case of the latter, it merely reproduces what in any period it finds prevalent. "On this point," says.

Professor Whewell,-" Indications of a Creator," p. 5,-"it is reasonably held that the phrases which are found in Scripture respecting astronomical facts are not to be made use of to guide our scientific opinions; they may be supposed to answer their end if they fall in with common notions, and are thus effectually subservient to the moral and religous import of revelation.

"The meaning which any generation puts upon the phrases of Scripture, depends, more than is at first supposed, upon the received philosophy of the time. Hence, while men imagine that they are contending for revelation, they are in fact contending for their own interpretation of revelation, unconsciously adapted to what they believe to be rationally probable. And the new interpretation which the new philosophy requires, and which appears to the older school to be a fatal violence done to the authority of religion, is accepted by their successors without the dangerous results which were apprehended. When the language of Scripture, invested with its new meaning, has become familiar to men, it is found that the ideas which it calls up are quite as reconcilable as the former ones were with the soundest religious views. And the world then looks back with surprise at the error of those who thought that the essence of revelation was involved in their own arbitrary version of some collateral circumstance. At the present day, we can hardly conceive how reasonable men should have immagined that religious reflections on the stability of the earth, and the beauty of the luminaries which revolve round it, would be interfered with by its being acknowledged, that this rest and motion are apparent only."-People's Dictionary of the Bible.

NEW BOOKS.

The True Grandeur of Nations: an Oration delivered before the Authorities of the City of Boston, July 4th, 1845. By CHARLES SUMNER, Esq., Boston, Massachusetts. London: William Smith. WE wish to bring this eloquent oration under the notice of our readers. It is an elaborate discussion of the subject which is now engaging so much of the attention of the Christian word,-the subject of war. All the bearings of this monster-evil upon the men who are employed in it, and upon the nations that support it, as well as all its relations to Christian duty, are handled with a power of argument and beauty of illustration, which are worthy of the great theme-and which must produce a most desirable effect upon the remaining advocates of the trial" of nations "by battle."

After defining war as "a public, armed contest between nations in order to establish JUSTICE between them," Mr. Sumner proceeds to consider first, "the character of war, or that part of our nature in which it has its origin." This he proves to be the lowest which is possible. "Reason," he says, "and the divine part of our nature, in which alone we differ from the brutes, in which alone we approach the Divinity, in which alone are the elements of JUSTICEthe professed object of war-are dethroned. It is, in short, a tem-porary adoption by men of the character of wild beasts, emulating. their ferocity, rejoicing like them in blood, and seeking, as with a lion's paw, to hold an asserted right." The effects of this abandonment of all that is noble, and adoption of all that is base in humanity, are next described with remarkable ability. They are-the severance of all the relations of friendship and trade, between the two nations engaged in war; the turning their white doves of commerce, which bear the olive of peace from land to land, into

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ministers of destruction; the snapping of those threads of social and business intercourse which have become woven into a thick web, that affords comfort and support to myriads; the prohibition of those communications between friends which now give expression to so many human affections and desires; the breaking of the hearts of tender wives, mothers, sisters, brothers, who have fondly looked for support and blessing from those who fall amid the cannons' roar, and, above all, they are murder, robbery, rape, and arson, the very crimes that fill our prisons and ensure at home our unqualified condemnation. This portion of the subject has been treated by Mr. Sumner, at greater length and with greater effect, than is usual. He who can look upon the picture of the atrocious though natural consequences of war, which has been drawn by him from the histories of the conquest of Genoa by the Austrians, and yet remain an advocate of war, must be beyond the power of moral suasion, and destitute of all the best characteristics of our nature.

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From these heart-stirring descriptions of the miseries of war, our author turns to "its incapacity to secure or advance the object at which it aims," and adduces as evidence of this, the fact, that in many of the great wars which have desolated the world, "peace has been gladly obtained on the basis of the condition of things before the war-the status ante-bellum. He instances the last American war with Great Britain. Under this head he also draws a parallel between national war as a means of establishing justice in the present day, and the civil wars of Rome, and particularly the judicial combat or trial by battle, in the middle ages; for the suppression of which within his jurisdiction, he passes a most deserved eulogium upon St. Louis. The influences and prejudices which are most powerful in keeping alive the war spirit, are next, briefly, considered in succession. They are those which are founded on the belief in its necessity on the practice of nations, past and present; and those which are engendered by the Christian Church; by the army itself, particularly its idea of honour; by a selfish and exaggerated love of country, leading to its physical aggrandizement at the expense of other countries; and by the costly preparations for war in time of peace. These topics are all treated with a freedom and candour which do infinite credit to the writer. His remarks upon the point of honour, deserve the especial attention of our naval and military men; and those upon preparations for war in time of peace, ought to be read, marked, learned and inwardly digested by the people at large. Surely, when they are aware that the war expenditures of this country bear the enormous proportion of 74 per cent. to the general cost of supporting the Government, they will, if from no other, yet from a pecuniary motive, demand the abandonment of our costly system of national defence. Mr. Sumner has produced good reasons why the standing army, the navy, the fortifications, and the militia of the United States, should be considered not as preservers of the country's peace, but provokers of its wars, consumers of its wealth, and corrupters of its morals; reasons which, we think, it will be hard for any one to resist, and which it will not be difficult for any one to apply to our own war establishments. In conclusion, he brings the great Christian doctrines of love and forgiveness, to bear with such power upon the subject, that

we would fain hope, in his hands, they will shake the very foundations of the old fortifications, behind which the advocates of war have, as a last resource, entrenched themselves; and that they will have no sooner fallen than the American people will obey his sum mons, clothed in such majestic language, and beautiful moral sen→→ timents, to join in efforts for the abolition of war, and of all prepa rations for war, as indispensable to the true grandeur of their country. How can they withstand his appeal?

"Let it not be said that the age does not demand this work. The mighty conquerors of the past, from their fiery sepulchres demand it; the blood of millions, unjustly shed in war, crying from the ground, demand it; the voices of all good men demand it; the conscience even of the soldier whispers Peace.' There are considerations springing from our situation and condition, which fervently invite us to take the lead in the great work. To this should bend the patriotic ardour of the land; the ambition of the statesman; the efforts of the scholar; the persuasive influence of the press; the mild persuasion of the sanctuary; the early teachings of the school. Here in ampler ether and diviner air,' are untried fields for exalted triumphs, more truly worthy the American name, than any snatched from rivers of blood. War is known as the Last Reason of Kings. Let it be no reason of our Republic. Let us renounce and throw off for ever the yoke of a tyranny more oppressive than any in the annals of the world. As those standing on the mountain tops first discern the coming beams of morning, let us, from the vantage ground of liberal institutions, first recognise the ascending sun of a new era! Lift high the gates, and let the King of Glory in-the King of true Glory of Peace. I catch the last words of music from the lips of innocence and beauty;*

'And let the whole earth be filled with his glory.'"

The utterance of such sentiments is noble at all times, how espe cially so before a people, who, when they heard them, were raging for war with Mexico and England! May they learn the lesson which has been so eloquently taught them, and may Mr. Sumner reap an abundant reward for venturing at such a time upon so ungracious a task.

INTELLIGENCE.

OPENING OF A PLACE FOR UNITARIAN WORSHIP AT SOUTHAMPTON An endeavour having at length been made to call the attention of the inhabitants of this flourishing and increasing town, to a consideration of those simple and sublime truths by which Unitarians are distinguished from other bodies of professing Christians, a brief statement of what has been done may not be unacceptable to our readers. For the last two years a small number of persons have regularly met together for worship, at the house of a friend; and,. the British and Foreign Unitarian Association, and Southern Uni tarian Fund Society having from the evidence laid before them deemed it expedient to make the experiment, on a larger scale, a

*The services of the choir at the Church; where the Oration was delivered, were performed by the youthful daughters of the public schools of Boston.

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