such as to reward labour, without affording license to indolence; the vast mineral treasures which have been lodged, from ancient time, beneath so much fruitfulness and beauty; the high physical energy of the British people, as the effect of a wisely adjusted combination of soil and climate; the flow of waters which has separated our territory so completely from the main land of the continent, giving our homes safety from invasion, not so much by a military force, often so fatal to liberty, as by our fleets, which cannot so well interfere with it; the vigour, in consequence, of those popular principles and feelings which may be traced in the root and impress of all our institutions; the wholesome action of our popular freedom upon commerce, and of our commerce upon popular freedom; the influence of the solemn sanctions and high hopes of Christianity on moral and spiritual habit in the mind of our people; the manner in which wealth so accumulated has conduced to power, and in which power so obtained has conduced to refinement and empire—all these, and more, are matters to be well considered, distinctly and together, if we would see clearly how it has come to pass that the descendants of men who had once their place as on the outskirts of savage life, have become a people whose conquests, blood, language, and civilization, are seen spreading themselves over nearly half the globe. If there be a providence on earth, must we not account the history of such a people as holding no mean place in the development of its purposes? This providence has been all to us that a dispensation of miracle was to the Hebrew nation. With this sameness of bestowment has come a sameness of responsibility, and will come a sameness of destiny, should we be found unfaithful to our trust. By the favour of the All-benevolent we have been raised, in some respects, high above all people; and should we fall by the Divine judgments, we may fear that it will be our lot to sink below the basest of kingdoms; for such is the manner of the Divine retribution. "We should not need to be reminded that there is a voice from earth, as well as from heaven, which is heard to proclaim that all flesh is grass,' and that 'the glory of man,' even when set forth in the most splendid exhibitions of national greatness, is as 'the flower of grass.' The same lot attends the solitary man and the associated man. Nations rise like billows, and so descend. This law of change pervades everything human. All things have their flowing and their ebbing. The flower blooms only to fade. Manhood attains to its vigour, only to be borne down, as to its second childhood, by age and its infirmities. Everything is either rising or falling, and rising only to fall. It is easy to mark progression of decay-but maturity? Alas! that is of short continuance. We scarcely recognize it, when it begins to vanish, and is gone. It is so with nations, it is so with everything concerning the history of nations."-pp. 350-354. One word as to the style. We have given this high praise, and should not add anything of a contrary nature, if Dr. Vaughan were a much smaller man than he is. All who are acquainted with his writings know that a great alteration, and an alteration decidedly for the better, has taken place in it since he commenced as an author. Still we think it, in some respects, capable of improvement. There is an occasional carelessness about it, which detracts from its excellence. It is sometimes unduly familiar, as for example in the very frequent use of "matter" and "matters," for a philosophical treatise. It is much too antithetical. And it is marked by an extraordinary employment of adjectives in the place of substantives; "the useful," and "the moral,” and “the just," and a vast multitude of other words of the same denomination, are continually occurring. We give a short extract as a specimen. "To stand in awe of the Infinite, to feel some craving toward the Everlasting, is not so much his choice as his destiny. Wholly to resist the voice which comes to him, as through a thousand channels, with its messages from the greater and the higher than himself, is no part of the possible in his history, except it be as the madness which is at length permitted to those whose doom is to be destroyed." Something of this kind may be good and forcible occasionally, but in the wholesale measure of it which characterizes the work before us, there is an indication of something like affectation. We make these remarks with the greatest respect for Dr. V., and the greatest anxiety for his increased usefulness in every sphere in which he may labour, and every work that may engage his powers or his pen. "The Age of Great Cities" is certainly, in many respects, the greatest work which he has published, and we do most sincerely and earnestly advise its thoughtful perusal. It would be a sign full of promise to our country, and to Christianity, if such works as this could be made to take the place of much of the trash which constitutes the reading of not a few religionists. CURSORY NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. THE Essay of the Italian critic Dominic Diodati, "De Christo Græcè loquente," printed at Naples in 1767, has become extremely scarce, so that, if we mistake not, a copy in the University Library at Cambridge was the only one known to exist in this country. Our learned friend, the Rev. O. T. Dobbin of Exeter, having however obtained possession of another, resolved upon having it reprinted, and has added to it an English preface expressive of his own views on the subject of which it treats. The object of the work is, first, to show that the vernacular language of Palestine, in the time of our Saviour, was the Hellenistic Greek, and then, as a consequence, that our Lord and his apostles, in their preaching, writings, and conversation, made ordinary use of the dialect in which we now possess the books of the New Testament. The author, though a Roman Catholic, is enlightened and candid; but his learning perhaps appears on the whole to greater advantage than his logic. The question he has undertaken to discuss is, regarded simply as an historical investigation, one of considerable importance; and that part of the Essay which presents a compendious account of the efforts made by the Syrian kings, aided by renegade high-priests, to abolish the language together with the religion of the Jews by cruel persecutions, is very interesting. We cannot however quite agree with our author that their violence and oppression were necessarily successful in the former object any more than they were in the latter. History does not, so far as we recollect, intimate that the Aramaan accents heard in Judah's vales did not outbrave the storm as unwaveringly as the altar on Mount Zion. To the modern inquirer the country of Belgium, analogous in size and in many of its political circumstances and relations, presents a familiar illustration of the state of Judea at the time of our Saviour's advent. The whirlwind of war brought in its train the French language, which is thus in partial use, particularly among the better educated classes, just as the Hellenistic Greek was in Judea when Paul conversed with Lysias, Acts xxi. 37; but the Flemish and Walloon retain their prevalence among the lower classes aud the bulk of the population, in the same manner as the Syro-Chaldaic and Samaritan then probably prevailed among "the common people" who heard Christ "gladly." It is true that some German neologians have endeavoured from this view of the subject to detract from the authority of the writings of the New Testament, by supposing them mere translations of Aramæan originals, or even only compilations from documents in that language; but their unwarrantable conclusions need not induce us to deny any part of their premises that appear to be correct. Two excellent papers on this topic, from the pen of Dr. Robinson, appeared a few years ago, in the American Biblical Repository. Those however, who wish to investigate this branch of history and criticism for themselves, will feel obliged to Mr. Dobbin for affording them the opportunity of consulting this rare and learned treatise, which advocates with considerable ingenuity the claims of the Hellenistic Greek. The reprint is carefully executed, and is creditable alike to the editor's accuracy and the publisher's liberality. (J. Gladding.) had either plain Though we can afford but little space for the notice of scientific works, we cannot refrain from introducing to our readers two books, that contain a mode of teaching astronomy, which is novel and interesting, and which renders it peculiarly easy of acquirement. "The Celestial Atlas" is a collection of ten maps, two of which exhibit all the stars and constellations which are at any time visible in Great Britain throughout the year, and the others exhibiting them as they appear in each of the four seasons. These Maps are of two classes. One class, containing four maps, one for each season of the year, represents the stars accompanied with the usual hieroglyphic figures of the constellations, not inverted as they are on the celestial globe, but in their natural position; and the other class, containing four corresponding maps, represents white stars sparkling on a black ground, unaccompanied with any figures, and just as they appear in the sky; so that the learner, who has studied the constellations as they are exhibited on the one map, may test and perfect his knowledge by tracing them on the other. "The Companion" contains all the necessary directions for using the Atlas, and for acquiring a knowledge of the names, magnitudes, and positions of the stars and constellations, together with some valuable and interesting essays on the fixed stars, and some conversations on the heavens, which are illustrated by engravings. Both volumes are very neatly printed and bound, and the various engravings are of the first order. The maps, which may be or coloured, are most accurately and beautifully delineated, so as to render them as ornamental in the drawing room as they will be useful in the library or the school. But the great merit of these beautiful books is the evidence they afford, that this noble branch of astronomical science, which has generally been thought abstruse and difficult, is really distinguished by great simplicity, and that a knowledge of it may be most easily and pleasantly attained. The author, Mr. J. Middleton, it appears, has tested the superiority and efficacy of his plan by having used it, as a teacher of astronomy, for several years, and we trust that its publication will induce both families and schools to make astronomy as well as geography quite essential even to a common education. The two sciences are here shown in their harmony and connexion, and the student is taught to survey the stars in their various constellations, positions, and magnitudes, just as if he were surveying the continents, kingdoms, and cities of the world. We have also peculiar satisfaction in recording our commendation of the volumes, because they are evidently written by a devout philosopher, who connects science with religion, and pervades his philosophy with the true spirit of Christianity; and we earnestly hope that his publications will be extensively used, and become the means of rendering many individuals acquainted with the wonderful works of God which are so gloriously clustered in the starry firmament. (Whittaker & Co.) The sixth volume of the uniform edition of the works of the Rev. William Jay, is occupied with his valuable course of twelve lectures, entitled "The Christian Contemplated," with the addition of another lecture, not in the preceding edition, on N. S. VOL. VII. 2 Q the most appropriate concluding text, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." This edition cannot fail to be popular with Mr. Jay's very numerous admirers. (C. A. Bartlett.) The recent departure of our admirable misssionary brother, the Rev. Robert Moffat, to the scenes of his self-denying labours in Southern Africa, was very naturally preceded by a series of "Farewell Services in Edinburgh, Manchester, and London." Accounts of the former were published from the local presses; but those held at Walworth, at Barbican Chapel, and at the Mission House, London, and also at the final parting and embarkation, we believe have not before appeared in print. The public are therefore indebted to the industry of our indefatigable friend, Dr. Campbell, for having collected into one cheap but neat volume these touching records of Christian sympathy and prayer, which we doubt not will be read by thousands with the liveliest emotion. We wish we could say that the portrait prefixed to this interesting little book gives to the spectator as good an idea of Robert Moffat's physical nature as the succeeding pages supply of his moral and intellectual character. We need not recommend this book for general circulation. (John Snow.) Dr. J. H. Merle D'Aubigné, author of "The History of the Great Reformation," and president of the Theological School of Geneva, delivered at its opening meeting, October 3rd, 1842, a Discourse entitled "Geneva and Oxford," in which he explains the formal principle of Christianity, the word of God only, as against tradition; the material principle of Christianity, the grace of Christ only, as opposed to human merit; and the personal or moral principle of Christianity, the work of the Spirit only, as opposed to sacramental efficacy. This popular yet powerful exhibition of the great questions at issue, in fifty small pages supplies the reader with the results of many volumes, and is in every way worthy of the character of its distinguished author. The Rev. E. Bickersteth has supplied a few pages of prefatory remarks in a purely catholic spirit, and with obvious anxiety for the support of the doctrines of the Reformation. (W. H. Dalton.) Art is scarcely within our range; yet when it is employed to commemorate worthy deeds, or to preserve the likenesses of worthy men, we cannot decline to notice its productions. Mr. George Baxter, the patentee of oil-coloured printing, has just given to the public a beautiful pair of Portraits of the Missionaries Moffat and Williams, fit companions truly. Mr. Binney observed to the former, in his late valedictory address," You and Williams sat together at your ordination; and I suppose you were together when you took leave of the brethren. Very similar were your labours, duties, and achievements. Both returned to England,-both went in and out among the churches, both had everywhere an honourable welcome,—both greatly instructed the world as well as the church-and both gave us a record and image of themselves in a printed book."-Surely then it was a happy thought to give their portraits in the same style and form, to recal the manly features of him who is not, and to preserve, in the memory of multitudes, the strikingly intellectual countenance of him who, we trust, still lives, though he is now separated from them by many a league. We can assure our readers this is well done by the novel and striking prints before us. The likeness of the lamented Williams is, we understand, most satisfactory to one who best knew his countenance; while that of Robert Moffat cannot be surpassed. Mr. Baxter's process gives to each print the force and character of an original drawing, and presents a delicacy of touch, and minuteness of object in the distant landscape, that are truly wonderful. (G. Baxter; Hamilton & Co.) "The Servant of the Aye," a discourse by the Rev. Caleb Morris, on the death of his lamented friend, the Rev. N. M. Harry, is alike creditable to the reputation of its author, and to the memory of its subject; and when we state, that by its sale the interests of the bereaved and afflicted family will be promoted, we feel assured it will not be necessary to add any further recommendation. (T. Ward & Co.) We regret that we have not yet been able to notice the Rev. Dr. Cox's "History of the Baptist Missionary Society from 1792 to 1842," which is a deeply interesting and instructive work. We assure our readers that we shall be able to prove this when we obtain an opportunity of reviewing it. (T. Ward & Co.) THE EDITOR'S TABLE. WIVES of England. By Mrs. Ellis. 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