scarcely known they possessed. Yet, alas! this habit became in his case a fatal snare, and proved his utter ruin. Proud of his abilities, and anxious, on every occasion, to display his attainments, he sought opportunities of exhibiting his wonderful tact in making the worse appear the better cause. His companions and friends seeing the pernicious bent of his mind, withdrew from his company, after in vain remonstrating with him upon the unfortunate habit which he was fast acquiring. If not cured by reproof, one would have thought he might have been reclaimed, by finding none with whom to engage in idle controversy. But evils indulged blunt the best perceptions of the soul, and pride and ambition, when cherished, become ruling passions; and just as one class of persons, who were necessary to feed these passions, eluded him, another was sought, from whom the desired gratification might be obtained. And so far did this cherished and growing evil cafry him, that the interval between morning and afternoon service on the Sabbath was employed in this favourite exercise. Then, and especially on Sacramental occasions, he used to join himself to the little groups of pious country persons who, on a fine summer's day, were seen assembled in the open fields to spend that portion of sacred time in recounting what they had heard. It soon became a particular amusement to Mr B. to start some difficulty, and carry it on till he had put to silence the chief men in these little companies. Principle became more and more vitiated, and every amiable and proper feeling became still more feeble, as he saw pious parents put to blush before their children, by whom they had hitherto been revered as their leaders and teachers in matters of Religion. But as right principle and pious conduct are a present reward, so bad principle and ungodly conducted; yea, many strong men have been slain by her: are a present curse, and may ever be taken as forerunners of coming evil. Sooner or later the sin of such men will find them out. God's Word cannot fail, just because God's power cannot fail. Every profane Esau has the true and all-powerful God against him. Every one who jests with divine things, and makes a practice of desecrating the character of God, and of trampling on the best feelings of his fellow-men, must expect, if mercy prevent not, to be in his turn made the jest of a God of burning jealousy and eternal justice. Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish." "I will mock when your fear cometh." "I will laugh when desolation cometh upon you." were ever and anon returning upon them, they began to ridicule the services of the sanctuary, and to strengthen their sinking fortitude by the repeated laughs which these unhallowed jests called forth. How true is it, that evil men and seducers wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived! They glory in their own shame, and drink in iniquity as the ox drinketh water. His conduct was, as might be expected, fatal to his reputation in the place of his nativity, and he had as much shame left as to make him leave it without delay. He had had a prosperous business, but now it was gone; he had had a good name, but now he was so infamous, that he could not bear to live among his former companions. Sabbathbreakers are perpetually deteriorating in character. There is an overwhelming load of guilt accumulating on their heads, and a perpetual evidence gathering on their own character, shewing that it is not moral principle or piety that keeps them what they are, but a mere combination of circumstances, the removal, or change, of any one of which, might as completely and effectually break them down, as in the case of this poor man. On leaving the place of his nativity, he repaired to the metropolis of Scotland, where, for several years, he dragged out a miserable existence. He wrought at his business for some time, and might have done well, but under the influence of habits of intemperance, all his feelings and affections were perpetually assimilating to a lower and a still lower grade of companionship. All labour was at length given up, and those haunts of wickedness and scenes of dissipation and wretchedness, which, alas, are fearfully numerous in our large cities, became the places of his most frequent and favourite resort. And who that repairs to these scenes of desolation and death ever returns? "She hath cast down many wound Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death." But now his last, his worst, companions must be encountered,-disease, poverty, mental wretchedness, and an untimely death. "If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?" How can the transgressor escape when God maketh inquisition for blood? "If he that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses, of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace." When laid on the bed from which he never again rose, he was visited by one of those pious country persons whom he had much grieved and offended by his conduct. From this Christian friend I had the account of his sufferings and the state of his mind in the last stage of his earthly career. This friend had been indefatigable in seeking him out, and when he found him, no less kind and attentive in visiting him. The bodily state of Mr B. was loathsome beyond description, but his mind was still more wretched even than the body was loathsome. His pious friend presented the Lord Jesus to him, in all his freeness and fulness, as Saviour of sinners, and able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him." He assured him, "that the blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin." But the poor unhappy man could take no comfort from any thing he said, and found no consolation either in the character or work of the Blessed Redeemer. He was, to all appearance, left to eat the fruit of his own doings, and was filled with his own devices. Remorse and despair had taken possession of his mind, and the very thought of God caused terror, and the very name of Jesus creat "the These new sources of low gratification, this wicked and worthless employment of talents, that might have been turned to a very different use, soon came to an end, and we find him seeking in the ale-house what he could no longer obtain on the sacred hours of the Sabbath, and among the happy little companies of God's dear people. But where all scoff at divine things, the chair of the scornful is no high place, no great dignity; and such a clear and indelible impression of this is engraved on our common nature, that the very qualification for which clubs of such profane persons elect their chairman, is that he excels all his fellows in the iniquities to which they are addicted, and that he has ability, boldness, and tact to utter the unhallowed jest, in cases where every other among them would feel abashed and dispirited. Horrid ambition! How like the character of Satan, as drawn by the immortal Milton, "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven." In this new field he soon attained such notoriety and boldness, as to engage in deeds so impious, that we cannot even think of them without feeling an inward horror. One Sabbath morning, when they had risen from their profane revels, they in one band betook themselves to the neighbouring hills to spend the holy day in amusements, with the viewed the greatest uneasiness. His emphatic answer to all of recovering from the inebriation of the past night. Knowing that it was the Lord's day, they attempted in every way to ward off the solemn impressions which that was addressed to him was, "I know all that as well as you do, but I can find no relief from it." During the last visit which his truly Christian friend ever paid him, the sufferer begged him not to speak to him any more of these things, as he felt as if the flames of hell were kindling in his soul already. This was his final attempt to exclude the last lingering rays of the Sun of Righteousness. What an awful illustration of that passage of the Word of God:-" If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins; but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." DISCOURSE. BY THE REV. GEORGE BURNS, D. D., "God is witness."-1 THESS. ii. 5. opinion of the public, which is generally capricious and fluctuating, possesses a powerful influence on the great majority of mankind; and though now and then, a few daring spirits may be found bidding defiance to its decisions, yet these very men are actuated by the secret wish, that the singularity of their conduct may ultimately procure that suffrage in their favour, which they now affect to despise. But what is the approbation of the wisest and the best of men? What is the love of an earthly parent, though endeared by every tie of nature, and bound by every claim of duty? What is the highest estimation of the whole world of mortals, compared with the smiles of that God, whose determined in their judgment wholly by external appearances, they frequently overlook secret virtue and unobtrusive goodness, and too often that praise which is due to the deserving is lavished on the specious but artful pretender to excellence. The judgment of God, however, is unerring and impartial. He "overlooks not the meanest or most obscure of his servants; he marks the good purpose of their hearts ere it ripens into action; and he rewards, with approbation and love, the most secret and inconsiderable office of tenderness towards the humblest suffering member of the Redeemer. He is deceived by no fallacious ap SUCH was the appeal made by St. Paul in vindica-"loving-kindness is better than life?" Men are tion of his conduct as a minister of the Gospel. He, and his fellow-labourers in the same cause, had been injuriously treated by the Jews, in different parts of Macedonia. They were charged with insincerity and unworthy motives, in their attempts to convert men to the faith of the Gospel, and every effort was employed to oppose or to check the influence of their labours. Impelled, therefore, by the boldness of sincerity and the energy of Christian zeal, the apostle maintains his superiority to every thing disingenuous and unworthy; and declares before the searcher of hearts, that, however open his principles and conduct, as an apostle of Christ, might be to the misrepresen-pearances nor outward attractions; he is detertations of weak or designing men, in the eye of Omniscience they could not fail to appear in their genuine and undissembled colours. "For our exhortation," says he," was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile. But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts. For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness; God is witness." It is not intended to view the words of the text merely in reference to the circumstances of St. Paul, and of his brethren in the ministry. It is proposed to view them in a more extended sense, as of universal application, and of universal influence. 1. Consider the effect which a conviction of the solemn truth that "God is witness," is calculated to have on the principles and conduct of good men. The presence of one whom we esteem and love, and whose good opinion we are consequently anxious to obtain, operates as a powerful incentive to the performance of deeds which challenge his approbation. To a dutiful child, the eye of a beloved parent watching his steps, and prepared to sparkle with indignation, or to beam with complacency, according as his conduct is despicable or praise-worthy, acts with a powerful and unceasing influence on the whole of his feelings and deportment in the world. Hence, it has been given as a rule, by some ancient moralists, that, in order to excel in virtue, we should constantly act as if we we were under the immediate inspection of some great and distinguished personage. Even the mined in his judgment by the motive, and not by the action, and the grounds of his decision being thus sure and infallible, he can never fail to 'judge righteous judgment.' The good man, then, while he acts under the impression of the solemn truth that "God is witness," has a constant. incentive for acquitting himself with dignity, in the thought that a Being, who marks, with the nicest discrimination every lineament of excellence and every feature of deformity, inspects his conduct; he feels himself impelled in his progress to the perfection of excellence, by the conviction that the most secret wish of his heart, and the feeblest effort of his life, after resemblance to God, and the enjoyment of his favour, is not unnoticed or overlooked; and he is sweetly but powerfully animated in all his Christian labours, by the assurance and hope that that great Being, who now looks with the tenderest sensibility on all his weaknesses and wants, shall, on the great day of final retribution, pronounce the decisive sentence, with all the majesty of the judge, mingled with all the compassion of the father. But let us contemplate the effects which are produced, by a sense of the divine omniscience, on the conduct of the Christian, in the opposite conditions of prosperity and adversity. Not only does it lead to the exercise of temperance and self-government, and to the moderate use of temporal advantages; it likewise enables him to taste the full enjoyment of prosperous circumstances. To men who overlook or disregard the presence of God, the events of life, however pleasing for the moment, appear fluctuating and transient; and being destitute of that confidence which reposes on a wise and be nevolent providence, they want provision for a day of adversity, and live in the constant apprehension of a reverse. They dread the vengeance of heaven, which they have done nothing to avert, -they tremble at every event of providence, lest it should prove the instrument of their destruction, -every prosperous circumstance in their lot is mingled with reflections, and with fears, which equally conspire to annihilate enjoyment. But from such sources of disquietude and alarm, the man who realises the inspection of God, is happily delivered. To him the face of nature is enlivened and beautified, for he beholds God in every thing; the pleasing emotion of gratitude to the giver, mingles with the enjoyment of the gift; enlightened trust in the continued protection and favour of God, increases his relish for present manifestations of love,-and the assurance that sources of comfort and happiness will be discovered amid the darkest and most discouraging dispensations of providence, disarms futurity of its terrors. But let us suppose the scene reversed, let us Suppose the Christian beset with calamities, oppressed with penury and disease, or called to mourn the loss of friends who soothed his sorrows and ministered to his wants. He knows, and rejoices in the conviction, that "God is witness," that though he may be neglected by men, he is not overlooked by God, that "a friend who sticketh closer than a brother," compassionates all the peculiarities of his personal and relative afflictions, and that, though his "friends may be put far from him, and his acquaintances into darkness," God still lives to whisper in his ear, while he realises, in his blessed experience, the gracious promise, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee!" O Christian! are you the victim of those hidden sorrows with which the world cannot sympathise, and is your spirit ready to sink within you? Be not discouraged, for yours is "the joy with which a stranger cannot intermeddle." "God is witness!" He listens to the sigh which escapes from your bosom; he marks the tear as it drops from your eve; "in all your afflictions he is afflicted." Are you loaded with the reproaches of the profane? behold "God is witness!" He observes your sufferings in a good cause, and "the reproaches of them which reproach you fall upon him.” Do you bewail the power of corruption within you? "God is witness!" He marks every struggle of the spirit for the victory over the flesh, he stands by you in the hour of conflict, and will, ere long, make you "more than a conqueror through Him that loved you." Do you mourn in secret for the abominations which are done in the land? behold! "God is witness!" "He turneth the hearts of men as the rivers of water, their secret sins are in the light of his countenance," and ere long his justice will be triumphantly displayed in the punishment of those who violate his laws. Do you deplore the hidings of your heavenly father's countenance? "Hope thou in God, for thou shalt yet praise him." He is witness still! "For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies | will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer." But perhaps you tremble for the ark of God, clouds and darkness may seem to be gathering around your beloved Zion; the commotions abroad in the earth, with all their desolating influence, may threaten, for a time, to arrest the splendid march of the Prince of Peace, and to perpetuate the reign of ignorance and error, of misery and vice, in the universe of God. But behold! a gleam of hope shoots forth athwart the gloom which shrouds the face of creation! "God is witness!" "He rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm." He superintends the diversified agency of human passions, "making the wrath of man to praise him.” He overrules the opposing claims of human policy, and the collision of jarring interests, for purifying the moral atmosphere, for leading the nations to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, for removing corrupt institutions, which the perverse ingenuity of man has opposed to the progress of truth, and for securing the ultimate and everlasting triumphs of the cross. "Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and my God hath forgotten me." "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, she may forget, yet will I not forget thee. have graven thee upon the palms of my walls are continually before me." Behold I hands, thy 2. Consider the statement of the text, in its bearing on the principles and conduct of bad men. So much does a sense of shame, and a dread of human punishment, influence the conduct of men, that secresy is generally resorted to as a shelter for crimes. Concerning the thief and the impure, it is affirmed in Scripture, that "the morning is to them as the shadow of death; if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death;" and the ungodly, of every description, according to the same infallible testimony, "love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." Conscience sometimes checks them in their course, but its admonitions are disregarded, and at length it ceases to reprove. The guilt of sin, as a violation of infinite obligations to God, is overlooked, and the awe with which the threatened vengeance of heaven should impress the minds of men is repelled or overcome. If reputation be preserved entire, if the vengeance of human laws be escaped; or if, in any way, the object in view can be attained without exposing to the dangers which intervene, every thing is imagined to be gained. Would this conduct any longer be presented to our view, if men acted under the conviction that "God is witness?" The consciousness of his inspection and the consequent dread of his frowns, would act as a constant and powerful dissuasive from sin in every form. It would act as a watch on all the thoughts, and words, and actions; it would lead to right conduct, in opposition to all the allurements of sense, and all the hopes of concealment; it would banish vice, in all its debasing and malignant characters, from the intelligent and moral creation. The reason is obvious. It removes the causes of evil which lie deep in the human heart; it commands the principles of conduct, and directs them in their operation; it purifies the fountain of action, and opens a channel for the streams of virtue and of happi ness. But it is not merely the simple conviction that his conduct is observed, which has such a tendency to overawe the sinner, and to paralyse the energies of his corrupted heart. The character of the witness gives to the acting principle additional and overpowering force. The representations given of the Divine Being in the inspired record, are every way calculated to impress and to alarm the sinner. He is declared to be a God of holiness, a Being who seeth impurity even in the brightest angels, and who cannot look upon sin without detestation and abhorrence. And does such a pure and holy Being contemplate the impurity of the sinner's heart, the sins which he commits in secret, and the various enormities which disgrace his conduct in active life? What a solemn thought! Enough to make the stoutest heart to tremble, and to unnerve the energies of the most deep-rooted corruption. Evil thoughts may be indulged, and their guilt may be unknown or overlooked, the language of impurity and profaneness may be uttered, and no horror felt for its aggravations,—deeds of dishonesty and baseness may be committed in secret or in darkness, and exultation felt at the thought of their concealment; but an eye like a flame of fire darts through the covering which veils the guilty heart, penetrates its secret recesses, and detects the impurities with which it is stained,—an ear which listens to the gentlest whisper that escapes from the human bosom, attends to every idle word which drops from the lips of depravity,—and a Being to whom "the darkness and the light are both alike," marks the most hidden deeds of the sinner's life with the most scrupulous care. And shall it not strike terror into the breast of the most daring profligate in the midst of his misdeeds, to reflect that that God who "understandeth his thoughts afar off, " who knoweth every word on his tongue, by whom "all his actions are weighed," and against whom his sins are committed, is a Being of spotless holiness, armed with vengeance against all the workers of iniquity, and only prevented by the long-suffering patience of his own nature, from overwhelming them at once with everlasting destruction! Sin may be palliated so as to lose its deformity in the eyes of men, and hopes may be indulged by the sinner, that the denunciations of wrath shall ultimately prove mere empty threats to keep him in awe; but in the sight of a pure and holy God, sin must ever" appear exceeding sinful," and sooner shall heaven and earth pass away, than the justice of the Eternal shall fail to execute vengeance on the impenitent offender. This naturally introduces another idea on the same branch of the subject, namely, the intimate connection between the character of God, as present witness and future judge. The same authority which tells us that God now observes the conduct of men, assures us also, that he shall one day bring them to a strict account. Thoughts of evil may pass through the mind, the language of impiety may be uttered and forgotten, and deeds of wickedness may elude the keenest vigilance of men, but these thoughts, words, and actions, are all registered in heaven, and "God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it hath been good or whether it hath been evil." What a solemn thought! that nothing escapes the eye of Omniscience, and that nothing shall be forgotten or overlooked at the day of judgment! Eventful period! when every evil thought which the heart conceived, every idle word which dropt from the lips, and every unhallowed deed which the eye of man never beheld, shall be disclosed, and proclaimed before assembled worlds. Characters which have passed from the earth unsullied even by the breath of calumny, shall then be exhibited in the most gloomy colours, and from the decision of the Judge there shall be no appeal. The truth of the representation which shall then be given, cannot for one moment be questioned, for the Judge now scans the most concealed parts of that conduct on which he shall then decide, and his faithfulness and impartiality are equally above suspicion. Tremble, then, ye ungodly and profane! for an infallible Witness, to whom all hearts are open, now follows you with his searching eye, and all your thoughts, words, and actions, stand on record till the day of judgment. "There is nothing hid which shall not be revealed, nor covered that shall not be made known." "There is a day when God shall make manifest the hidden counsels of the heart; when that which hath been spoken in darkness, shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ears in closets, shall be proclaimed upon the house-tops." O could I exhibit to your view an impenitent sinner just about to appear in the presence of the Witness and Judge of his conduct, how would it silence for ever the whispers of infidelity! how would it make the illusions of sense to vanish! how would it cover with gloom the gayest scenes of life! I contemplate him stretched on the bed of death,-every look he speaks the agony of his inmost soul,-he struggles for breath to utter the language of self-reproach and self-condemnation, with the sullenness of black despair (for the hour of mercy is fled for ever) he yields the contest to the king of terrors, and is hurried into the eternal world! But Oh! could we follow him to the land of souls, and contemplate him standing in the presence of his Judge, how still more awful would the sight be! The throne is erected," the Judge of quick and dead" is seated on his tribunal,-around him are assembled unnumbered worlds, the poor, selfcondemned criminal, with shame and confusion of face, appears before his Judge, he calls on the rocks and mountains to fall on him and cover him from the wrath of the Lamb,"-his request is denied, and no shelter is found, the sentence of condemnation is passed, and--but here compassion to human sensibility compels me to stop. To behold the spectacle of misery, and to listen to the howlings of despair which succeed, would be too much for human nature to endure; for it is too much for mortal speech to describe, for human thought to conceive. The presence of God, as witness, may now be disregarded by a gay and a thoughtless world, but ere long, his appearance as Judge triumphant, shall command the awe of countless myriads, and fill the breasts of ten thousand generations with one pang of consternation and dismay. Thus, reader, have we called your attention to the influence which an impression of the divine presence and omniscience is calculated to have on the feelings and conduct of good and bad men. Be entreated to lay your heart open to its salutary operation. If a Christian indeed, let it prove in your experience an incentive to holiness, a zest to the enjoyments of prosperity, and a source of consolation and support in the midst of sorrows. If still among the number of those who are living in pleasure, and "dead while they live," O be persuaded, ere “the day of your merciful visitation" expire, to "stand in awe" of Him who sees and hates your conduct, to dread that vengeance which is denounced against your evil thoughts and words, as well as ungodly deeds, to view, in the light of a heart-searching witness, the length, and breadth, and depth of your deficiencies, and "to flee for refuge to the hope set before you in the Gospel." CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY. No. I. PROPERTIES OF LIGHT. BY THE REV. JAMES BRODIE, In the account given in Scripture of the work of creation, after the brief and general statement that "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," we are informed, that the Lord said, "Let there be light, and there was light." The sublimity of the language here employed, has called forth the admiration, not only of Christian authors, but even of Heathen critics, the most celebrated of whom speaks of it as the brightest example of the true sublime that he had ever seen. But if the language merit attention, the fact it describes is yet more worthy of regard, and a small portion of our time will not be unprofitably spent, in considering the properties of the wonderful substance thus called into being. The priority of its formation leads us to consider Light as the primary requisite for the preservation of the present constitution of the globe, and, accordingly, science has shewn that it is one of the most powerful agents in nature, and that without it, neither plant nor animal could exist. Its essential nature has not yet been discovered. Opinions of very opposite kinds are entertained by the learned, respecting its origin and propagation, while the laws which it obeys, and the effects which it produces, are but imperfectly understood. There are, however, certain general qualities which have been fully determined by observation and experiment. Of these, the following may be termed its primary properties : 1. It radiates as from a centre, that is, it is sent forth equally, in all directions, from the shining body. When a candle, for example, is brought into a room, the objects above, below, and on either side of the flame are alike illuminated, nor can we discover any part of these objects on which the rays do not fall, unless they be intercepted by some other body coming in between. As a necessary consequence of this property, the intensity or strength of Light is diminished in proportion minated is removed from the flame. to the square of the distance to which the object illuOne candle ap pears as bright, when brought within a foot of the eye, as four do at the distance of two feet, or as nine at the distance of three. 2. The rays of Light proceed in straight lines. This property may be demonstrated to the eye by causing Light to pass through small holes into a dark room filled with dust. It is also proved, by the fact, that objects cannot be seen through bent tubes. 3. Light moves with prodigious velocity. It has been ascertained that the rate of its motion is nearly 200,000 miles, (a distance equal to eight times the cir cumference of the globe,) in a second of time. 4. The particles of Light move independently of surrounding objects, and of each other. Sounds and odours are transmitted through the air; even electricity, the substance that bears the nearest resemblance to Light, requires a conducting medium; Light alone penetrates the void of space; and each separate ray continues its course unaffected by the stoppage or reflection of those around it. 5. When Light falls on any object a considerable portion is absorbed or lost, but the greater part is reflected. The manner in which this reflection takes place depends on the nature of the surface on which the light falls. When that is highly polished, as in mirrors, the rays are reflected with such regularity that they form a perfect image of the body from which they originally proceeded. In this case, it has been observed, that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection, that is, if two lines are drawn from the mirror, one to the original object, and the other to the place where its image is seen, they form, on opposite sides, equal angles with the surface of the mirror. In order to see the image, the eye must therefore be as far on the one side of the looking-glass, as the object is on the other. Mirrors have been in use from the earliest ages. Before the invention of glass they were simply plates of metal, highly polished. In the book of Job (chapter xxxvii. 18.) the sky is said to be " strong as a molten looking-glass," in allusion to the solid mirrors then employed. In Exodus xxxviii. 8, we are told, that the Jewish women dedicated their "looking-glasses" to the service of the sanctuary, and that Moses made of them "the laver of brass and the foot of it of brass." When a comparatively rough surface is exposed to Light, the rays are reflected irregularly, and instead of forming an image, in one particular spot, are diffused in all directions. Every part that is illuminated becomes a centre, from which Light radiates all around, and thus, the object is visible from every side. This irregular or diffusive reflection enables us to judge of the form, size, and position of all those bodies, which do not themselves emit Light; and by it, more especially, we are guided in our labours and journeyings. The only natural mirror is the surface of water in a calm. There we see a perfect picture of the sky and scenery around, but so soon as the breeze begins to rise, and the surface becomes rough, Rocks, clouds, and trees, in wild confusion run, These observations will enable us to see the force of the Scripture expressions, which describe Adam as made "in the image of God," and the believer as changed 66 |