delusion, which, I fear, is carrying forward thousands, and tens of thousands, to an undone eternity. I have closed the Series with an Appendix of Scriptural Authorities. I found that I could not easily interweave them in the texture of the Work, and have, therefore, thought fit to present them in a separate form. I look for a twofold benefit from this exhibition-first, to those more general readers, who are ignorant of the Scriptures, and of the richness and variety which abound in them -and, secondly, to those narrow and intolerant professors, who take an alarm at the very sound and semblance of philosophy; and feel as if there was an utterly irreconcilable antipathy between its lessons on the one hand, and the soundness and piety of the Bible on the other. It were well, I conceive, for our cause, that the latter could become a little more indulgent on this subject; that they gave up a portion of those ancient and hereditary prepossessions, which go so far to cramp and to enthral them; that they would suffer theology to take that wide range of argument and of illustration which belongs to her; and that, less sensitively jealous of any desecration being brought upon the Sabbath or the pulpit, they would suffer her freely to announce all those truths, which either serve to protect Christianity from the contempt of science, or to protect the teachers of Christianity from those invasions, which are practised both on the sacredness of the office, and on the solitude of its devotional and intellectual labours. To these Astronomical Discourses, I have added some others, illustrative of the connexion between Theology and General Science. The argument on which we have ventured in one of these Discourses, and by which we attempt to reconcile the efficacy of prayer with the constancy of visible nature, was called forth in opposition to the contemptuous treatment, which certain members of the British Senate thought fit to bestow on the proposal for a National Fast, at a time when the fearful epidemic of cholera had broke forth in various parts of the country. CONTENTS. A SKETCH OF THE MODERN ASTRONOMY. "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What ON THE CONTEST FOR AN ASCENDANCY OVER MAN, AMONGST THE HIGHER ORDERS OF INTELLIGENCE. "And, having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it."-Co- LOSSIANS ii. 15. . . .33 ON THE SLENDER INFLUENCE OF MERE TASTE AND SENSIBILITY "And, lo! thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instru- THE CONSTANCY OF GOD IN HIS WORKS AN ARGUMENT FOR THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD IN HIS WORD. "For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faith- fulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all are thy servants."-PSALM cxix. 89, 90, 91. 203 THE TRANSITORY NATURE OF VISIBLE THINGS. "The things which are seen are temporal."-2 COR. iv. 18. 263 ON THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH, "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new HEAVEN A CHARACTER AND NOT A LOCALITY, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy ON THE REASONABLENESS OF FAITH. "But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut |