his Preface: "Recognising the supremacy of God in every department of His works, and believing that dishonour has been done to his name by the non-recognition of his attributes in the artificial phenomena of the world, the author of the following treatise has felt constrained, by a solemn sense of duty, to submit to the public the views and feelings which, to his own soul, have invested mechanical inventions with a halo of light-even with the beams of reflected divinity." I. The first proof adduced to show that mechanical inventions are emanations of the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, is their INTRODUCTION into the world. The Creator has an agency in the rise and development of mechanical inventions, inasmuch as the elements of machinery, supplied by the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, are the product of his hand. The mechanical powers and moving forces were arranged by him for the use of man; the inventor, with the adaptations of a wonderful body, especially the hand, and with mental faculties of contriving, reflecting, reasoning, is the workmanship of God; and the industrial instinct in man, as the means of developing and pursuing the arts, comes from the same all-wise and divine source.

II. The GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT of mechanical inventions is an evidence that they are communicated in accordance with the purposes of God. We will here quote a few sentences from the book. "The relations of time in the successive developments of inventions, as well as the fact of their construction, furnish an invincible argument that the God of infinite wisdom has fixed the period, and that in the dispensations of his providence he has raised up the inventor, and so arranged concomitant circumstances as to open a channel for the application of the machine. This might be illustrated by the whole history of mankind; for the history of the arts reaches back to the expulsion from Paradise, and may be viewed as the record of man's intellectual and physical progress. And what is the history of the human family but the register of facts evolved in the exercise of God's physical and moral dominion in our world? It is freely admitted that there has been a disturbing element-the introduction of moral evil -which has changed the entire aspect of human history, opened the bitter fountains of sorrow, and given dominion to the "king of terrors." Besides, sin has been the moral cause producing vast physical changes upon the world, in accordance with the curse pronounced by the righteous Governor. But, amidst these convulsions, physical and moral, the reflecting mind will be able at all times to trace the overruling and directing providence of God. Universal nature bears the impress of infinite wisdom and Almighty power, while every page of human history displays the outgoings of a boundless beneficence, a beneficence, however, regulated by restraining circumstances in relation to labour, discovery, and invention, without which the introduction of sin to a world constituted as the earth was at creation would have involved the human race in physical as well as moral ruin. Truly may it be said that, 'were God to let the world alone, man would become a fiend; angels would flee as from another Gomorrah, and cease to minister to it; Satan, wearing the regalia of hell, would lord it over sea and land, and time commencing with Paradise would end with Pandemonium.'

"It is worthy of observation that, throughout the history of man's social progress, while the characteristics of the age imparted an impulse to the inventive faculties, the inventions themselves gave a new impulse to society. The triumphs of genius are thus the monuments of human pro

gression, each adapted to its respective age, and all tending to universal development. Could there be a more convincing proof of the hand of God in the history of inventions than the fact that each important discovery has been made at the very time in which it was most calculated to ameliorate the condition of the human family?" In proof and illustration of this, the author selects, as examples, the Mariner's Compass, the Art of Printing, the Steam Engine, the Spinning Mill, the Power Loom, the Railway, and the Electric Telegraph, and shows the peculiar relations of time and discovery to the whole subject.

III. The third point is, that the TENDENCY of inventions is a proof that they are of God. After making some remarks upon the primary command to subdue the earth and have dominion over it, our author proceeds to say that "It is not the fact of labour, as the law of existence, that has produced human misery, nor is labour in itself any evidence of a fallen state. It is the nature, the amount, and the aggravating circumstances in which labour must be prosecuted, that tend to characterize it as evil in man's estimation. The introduction of moral evil has deranged the nature, and increased the quantity, and aggravated the circumstances, of human toil. Its evils are not inherent, but may all be traced to the fountain of moral evil. In man's original constitution there was absolute perfection. The finished works of creation were all pronounced 'very good' by their Divine Author. Man's mental and physical constitution responded harmoniously to the works of nature, while the appropriation of what infinite goodness had provided was but the increase of human happiness. There was nothing in the primary law of labour repugnant to man's tenderest feelings. Activity was the most joyous part of his existence. He could run without being weary, and walk without fainting. In his system there was no weakness giving rise to suffering under exertion, and in his labour there was no disappointment to perplex or disturb his mental complacency. The duties assigned to Adam in Paradise were as pleasant to his entire constitution as the prospect of his luxuriant garden was to his organ of sight and perception of beauty.

"It was the curse-the blight of sin-that changed the entire aspect. of human employment. Beneath the frown of an angry God the elements of nature were convulsed; the earth became not only barren, but thorns and thistles sprung up as the indigenous productions of the soil. The original, spontaneous, vegetative powers of earth were arrested, so that to man, the offender, it could only yield its reluctant produce when moistened with the sweat of his brow. It is therefore clear to a demonstration that the evils of labour are not in its nature, but in the quantity necessary to subdue the soil thus blighted,-in the liability to fatigue and exhaustion inseparable from the shattered constitution of man as fallen,—and from the circumstances, relative and social, in which human toil must be endured. Labour is healthful and pleasant under proper regulations; all its embittering elements are the consequences of sin." Among the ameliorating tendencies of inventions in the arts, our author specifies-1. Their tendency to mitigate human toil; 2. To alleviate human misery; 3. To increase the sources of human comfort; 4. To prolong rational life; 5. To promote universal peace, and restore the human family to one blessed brotherhood; 6. To produce those physical changes upon the earth which revelation gives reason to hope shall yet be accomplished.

Thus far, the appeal has been made to facts in the history of inventions

The author next proceeds to state the Scriptural argument, in order tc show that the great truth he has been illustrating may not only be discovered and defended within the region of philosophy, but is also a truth clearly revealed in Scripture, and which ought to be studied and reduced to practice in the contemplation of artificial phenomena. We cannot follow him at any length in this branch of the subject, but will simply state the general course of his argument, which embraces a comprehensive reference to the Scriptures under the three following divisions:-I. Scriptural evidence that mechanical inventions are of God. II. The inspiration of genius for special objects and occasions, as recorded in the Bible, is an evidence that mechanical inventions are of God. III. The Scripture record of inspired genius devoted to the ordinary pursuits of social life proves that mechanical inventions are of God. The author concludes with a chapter on the sources of that difference of conception with which the mind views the works of nature as compared with inventions.

We have thus attempted to give our readers some insight into this instructive and delightful volume. The Messrs. Carter cannot have too much praise for their speedy reproduction, on this side of the waters, of this and similar works, which fill the public mind with great thoughts of God.

THE SMITTEN HOUSEHOLD. New York: Anson D. F. Randolph, 1856.

This volume makes provision for smitten households in various circumstances of earthly trial. It contains five discourses :-I. On the loss of a child, by S. IRENEUS PRIME. II. On the loss of a wife, by Wm. B. SPRAGUE. III. On the loss of a husband, by G. W. BETHUNE. IV. On the loss of a parent, by J. B. WATERBURY. V. On the loss of a friend, by C. M. BUTLER. At the end of each discourse is a selection of hymns appropriate to the subject. The names of the contributors to this interesting volume are well known throughout the church, and are sufficient to inspire confidence in the value of its contents. All households are liable

to the visitations of bereavement, and need the consolation of divine truth and love. The plan of this work is excellent; and we know of none of its class better suited to the wants of the public or more likely to receive a wide circulation.

WHAT IS FAME WORTH? A Tract for Students. Presbyterian Board of Publication.

Profitable and judicious meditations on the vanity of fame are contained in this little tract. Its train of thought starts with Ethan, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, who were almost as wise as Solomon, (1 Kings iv. 30, 31;) and yet "who these men were, and even when they lived, is matter of doubt and conjecture."

OUR YOUNG MEN. By W. A. Scorr, D.D., of San Francisco, Cal. Presbyterian Board. Dr. Scott continues to take an active interest in promoting the welfare of the rising generation. In this discourse he shows the influence of young men at home, in social life, and in all the prominent departments of business, and then points out and urges the duty of employers, of the press, and of the pulpit, in watching over and advancing the best interests of young men for time and eternity.

Statistics.

PRICE OF WHEAT IN NEW YORK FOR SIXTY-THREE YEARS.

THE lands on the Manor of Rensselaerwyck were settled soon after the Revolution. The tenants were mostly poor, and their preference of a rent payable in kind instead of money induced the reservation of wheat, fowls, and days' service with teams, as compensation for the use of the land. The leases were nearly all perpetual. Those first made reserved about ten bushels of wheat to the hundred acres. Subsequent leases reserved thirteen bushels. Each farm also paid "four fat fowls" and one day's teaming, or a load of wood. Originally large, the farms by subdivision have become reduced in size, so that the average wheat-rent for each is now about eleven bushels. The early settlers are said to have easily paid their rent from the crop of one acre. Wheat was cultivated more cheaply and with more certainty Most of the leases were made between 1786 and 1796.

then than now. For the first five, six, or seven years (according to the degree of the tenant's needs) the lands were free of rent. This brought the regular payment of the Manor Rents to the year 1793. The record of them, carefully kept since that time, furnishes us with a table of the price of Wheat in Albany, the first day of January in each year, for the past sixty-three years. The table has value to merchants and economists, as well as interest to the public:

As many as 25,000 bushels of wheat have been paid for rent at the Manor office in one year, besides coarse grains. Previous to 1830, from twelve hundred to eighteen hundred "fat fowls" were paid in annually. These are now industriously gathered up from farm to farm by forestallers, principally for the New York market. They are no longer brought to the office. Since the wheat-culture became uncertain in Albany county, (now some seventeen years,) rye, corn, and oats have been accepted as rent in lieu of that grain, and always at three cents a bushel over the market prices.—Albany Journal.

MILITIA OF THE UNITED STATES.

THE militia in the States and Territories amounts to the large aggregate of 2,469,725 men. This does not embrace the militia of the State of Iowa or of the Territories of Oregon, Washington, Nebraska, Kansas, and New Mexico, from which, we presume, no returns have been received. The returns do not appear to be at all complete, as the estimates of the force of some of the States are based upon data furnished several years since, in one instance—that of Delaware-as far back as 1827. The militia force of the District of Columbia is given for the year 1852, and is stated at 8,201.

THE RATE OF THE DYING.

IN a late paper it is stated that there are on the earth (1,000,000,000) one thousand millions of inhabitants. Of these, (333,333,333) three hundred and thirty-three millions, &c. die every year, 91,824 every hour, and sixty every minute; or one every second. Now I beg to confront these figures with others. If 333,333,333 die every year, the whole earth's population will be buried in three years, and a generation will dwindle down from thirty-three to three years, or one-eleventh of the present span. But, if 91,824 die every hour, not sixty only, but 1530, must die every minute, and instead of one we must have more than twenty-five deaths every second. Now, what is the truth? Simply this:-Thirty-three and a third millions die every year; 3802, and not 91,824, every hour; sixty-three every minute; and about one every second. Any boy of ten years old may verify my figures if he has been a year in a Ward-school.-New York Observer.

TELEGRAPHIC PROJECT.

THE Piedmontese papers state that it is the intention of the Mediterranean Telegraph Company, which is now sinking a cable between Sardinia and La Calle, on the coast of Africa, to continue its line to Melbourne, South Australia. After establishing branches from La Calle to Bugia, Algiers, and Oran, they will direct their main line through Tunis, Tripoli, Alexandria, Cairo, Suez, Jerusalem, Damascus, Bagdad, Bassora, Hyderabad, and Bombay. At the latter city the line is to separate into two branches-one going northward to Agra, (whence secondary branches will extend to Lahore, Peshawur, and be, therefore, at a short distance from Cabul and Cashmere,) Benares, and Calcutta ; and the other passing through Bengalore and Madras, and likewise ending at Calcutta. From that capital the line is to follow the northeastern coast of the Gulf of Bengal and the peninsula of Malacca; then pass over to the Sound Islands and the north of Australia, whence it will follow the eastern coast, touching at the numerous colonies there, and ending at Port Adelaide. The whole distance is calculated at about 20,000 kilometres, (12,500 miles.)

GROWTH OF RUSSIA.

THE astounding growth of the Russian power is in part shown by the following statistical data:-In the year 1462, the Russian empire covered an area of 100,000 square miles, and its population was 6,000,000. In 1584 the numbers were 7,500,000 square miles; population, 12,000,000. In 1689, 14,500,000 square miles; population, 16,000,000. In 1725, 15,000,000 square miles; population, 20,000,000. In 1825, 20,500,000 square miles; population, 55,000,000. In 1851, 22,000,000 square miles; population, 65,000,000.Kolner Zeitung.