with perhaps less love of admiration than was unhappily apparent in Mrs. More. Selfishness is as often manifest in the attention bestowed upon the pet cat or parrot of an old maid as in the more legitimate care bestowed by the married woman upon her husband and children; and I believe that the affection drawn forth in the latter case more often overflows upon other objects, than the 'unfettered' attention of the unmarried is bestowed upon the more extended and larger number.'

I cannot better conclude these remarks than with a passage I lately read in Mr. Scott's notes to the Pilgrim's Progress, on this subject: it is on the account of the marriage of Matthew and Mary; he says, 'The author availed himself of the opportunity, here presented him, of giving his opinion on a very important subject, about which religious persons often hold different sentiments. He evidently intended to say, that he deemed it generally most safe and advantageous to the parties themselves, and most conducive to the spread and permanency of true religion, for young Christians to marry; provided it be done in the fear of God, and according to the rules of his word. Yet we cannot suppose but he would readily have allowed of exceptions to this rule; for there are individuals who, continuing single, employ that time and those talents in assiduously doing good, which in the married state must have been greatly abridged or pre-occupied; and thus they are more extensively useful than their brethren. Yet, in common cases, the training up of a family, by the combined efforts of pious parents, in honesty, sobriety, industry, and the principles of true religion, when united with fervent prayer, and the persuasive

eloquence of a good example, is so important a service to the church and to the community, that few persons are capable of doing greater or more permanent good in any other way.' In another place, 'The apostolic rule, only in the Lord, is

he says, absolute.'

I remain, madam, your obedient servant,
CELEBS NON-VOLENS.

UNBELIEF not only includes distrust of God's promises, and want of dependence on Christ's merits, but also want of reliance upon the gracious aid of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is one great fruit of Christ's intercession, and the special promise he has made to his church. Without his aid we can neither perform the duties nor enjoy the privileges of the sanctuary: he alone can enable us to worship the Father in spirit and in truth: he alone can open our hearts to attend to the things which belong to our peace, and so clothe with divine energy the word of God, as to render it effectual to our conversion and sanctification: he must begin, carry on, and perfect the working of grace in our hearts.-Rev. S. Bunbury.

ASTRONOMY.

ASTRONOMY is acknowledged to be the most sublime, useful, and interesting of all the sciences.

By it we learn not only the bulk of the earth, the situation and extent of its different parts, but also the bulks, distances, degrees of heat, motion, matter, attraction, and general characteristics of the nearer heavenly bodies.

It may be advisable, in the first place, to give a general view of our system. Let us suppose, then, a globe of two feet diameter to be placed in the centre of a plain, and to represent the sun. Draw a circle 164 feet diameter, and on it place a mustardseed for Mercury; on a circle of 284 feet, place a pea for Venus; on one of 430 feet, a pea for the earth; on one of 654 feet, a pistol-shot for Mars; on a circle of 1000 to 12,000 feet, grains of sand for the asteroids; on a circle of half a mile, an orange for Jupiter; on one of 4-5ths of a mile, a small orange for Saturn; and on a circle of 1 miles, a small plum to represent Herschel.

To assist the imagination, let us suppose that a body were projected from the sun, with the swiftness of a cannon-ball, i. e. 480 miles per hour: this body would reach the orbit of Mercury in 8 years 267 days; of Venus, in 16 years 116 days; of the earth, in 22 years 205 days. From the earth to the moon it would take 20 days; from the sun to Mars, it

would perform the time in 34 years 137 days; to the asteroids, in 57 years 270 days; to Jupiter, in 117 years 137 days; to Saturn, in 215 years 74 days; and to Herschel, in 432 years 281 days; and to the nearest fixed star in about 7,610,350 years.

But the measure of great distances is best calculated by the velocity of light, which traverses 192,000 miles per second. Thus light would travel from the sun to Mercury in 3 min. 11 sec,; to Venus, in 5 min. 57 sec.; to the earth, in 8 min. 14 sec.; to Mars, in 12 min. 33 sec.; to Jupiter, in 42 min. 52 sec.; to Saturn, in 1 hour 18 min. 36 sec.; to Herschel, in 2 hours 38 min. 4 sec.; and to the nearest fixed star in about 5 years 104 days.

So prevalent was astronomy among the ancient world, that the Babylonians and Assyrians used to have their nativities cast, and then engraved on their seals, in the same manner that we now have our arms and crests.

Mankind were many ages in discovering even the true order in which the planets revolved round the sun: indeed it was a long while before they could be convinced that the sun did not revolve round our earth; and in each of these stages of improvement they formed their belief into systems, which they called after their own name, as the Ptolemaic system, the Egyptian system, the Tychonic system, the semiTychonic system, the Cartesian theory, and, lastly, the Copernican, or true solar system. Hipparchus was the first person that reduced astronomy to a system. He was born at Rhodes, and flourished in Alexandria in the middle of the second century before Christ. The Copernican, or true solar system, is the same as was taught by Pythagoras, a Samian

philosopher, 500 B.C. but in later times was lost. It was again brought to light by Nicolaus Copernicus, who was born at Thorn, in 1473, and was accepted and confirmed by the greatest mathematicians and philosophers that have since lived; and Sir Isaac Newton has established this system on such an everlasting foundation of mathematical demonstration, as can never be shaken. This system is in compliment to him called the Newtonian system.

The universe, throughout all space, was imagined to be filled with systems; but Sir William Herschel affixes limits. By a system is meant a number of bodies moving round one centre, such as the solar system. The moving bodies of these systems we call planets and comets. The name planet is derived from a Greek word, signifying wanderer, as the planets are always moving their places. Those planets which are near to the sun not only finish their circuits sooner, but likewise move faster in their orbits, than those at a greater distance from him. Their motions are all performed from west to east, in orbits nearly circular. Under the denomination of planets are now comprised Mercury, Venus, the earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Herschel. There are also four smaller planets, or asteroids, moving between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, viz. Ceres, Juno, Pallas, and Vesta. The bodies we call comets are very numerous. Besides these, there is an inferior sort of bodies in the solar system, moving round the planets, called satellites, or moons, of which our own only is visible to us without a telescope. Besides our own, Jupiter has four, Saturn seven, and Herschel six.

The Earth. We will begin by considering the