pure and gentle spirit passed away to the church above. The mournful family repaired from his death-bed to his wife's chamber, and at her request thanked God that he had been taken away before her, that she, not he, had to endure the pain of parting. Then she requested her maid to bring to her the "Christian Year," and turning to the last two stanzas of the hymn on Good Friday, she said, "I know these were in his dying thoughts": "Lord of my heart, by Thy last cry, Let not Thy blood on earth be spent Lo, at Thy feet I fainting lie; Mine eyes upon Thy wounds are bent, "Wash me, and dry these bitter tears, may hide." JOHN WATSON. ART. VII.—ATOMIC. CONSCIOUSNESS is the invisible radix from which springs the 6 glorious flower we call the soul. The faculties are the complement of petals; whilst the external senses are the conductors of nourishment, or "food convenient" from the universe to the root-principle. Thus our mental faculties are the resultants of an ultimate power; whilst the organs of the senses are the soil in which consciousness is planted; at first as a little seed, developable by time and circumstance; the seed being quickened and enlarged by influences from without; for, as the old axiom has it: There is nothing in the mind that was not first in the senses.' Now, the true glory-tints of this flower are derived from the Sun of Righteousness; whilst the delicate odour-element is elicited by "the dew from on high." Without this light, the real glory remains latent; and without this dew, the whole thing remains comparatively sapless and insipid. But with this light and this dew, the flower becomes a plant of renown, even though growing in a dry ground. Angels delight to visit it, and God Himself looks down well pleased upon its heaven-reflecting hues. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like it; and one day it will be taken away to be placed in "Abraham's bosom." In order to its coming to anything grand and perenniel, the soul in this world must re ceive quickening and adornment from "the powers of the world to come;" seeing that the "dry light," and dry air of nature, require supplementing by the vivific spirit and glorifying influences of grace. Once the soul-seed was sown in nature and in God; but now, God must be sown in the soul. The whole lump of our humanity must be leavened with the spirit of Christ, and the truth as it is in Him. True, indeed, is the saying, that a Christian is the highest style of man. GOD's words are things-man's things are too often words. IF you would maintain a sound mind in a sound body, you must read much, think much, believe much, and doubt much; eat well, sleep well, work well, and hope well. "Heart within, and God o'erhead." AN individual is to be appraised, as to what he is, by his beliefs and his aspirations. We are just as great, or just as little, as our thoughts, emotions, and desires are. HOPE largely, expect moderately, do your duty, and wait. If you do not get what you yourself wish for, you do get what God wills, which is infinitely the better thing. THE world makes me what I make the world; in other words, returns me what I put into it. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," is true morally, religiously, intellectually, physically. Action implies reaction. We are hit every moment of our lives by the rebound of our doings. Our present is ever a reflection of our past. IF I go into eternity with unclean hands, I cannot wash them there. "Let him that is filthy, be filthy still." IF you will, nature is the visible side of the invisible. The natural is the supernatural in sight; and the supernatural is the natural out of sight. "All are but parts of one stupendous whole." Is not this too much the way ?-Conscience proposes, but passion disposes. CREATION all but flashes out with Divinity; and is as an expressive countenance, at once revealing and concealing the soul. WHEN the fortuitous is felicitous, we call it providential; but when it is the opposite, we call it bad luck. Now, if there is a God at all, he must be all in all; so that nothing can fall out contrary to his appointed order, or outside the sphere of his omnipresent consciousness. TIME is photographing us for eternity. The type and features we put on here will constitute our finished selves there. There is no repentance in sheol. We are now filling our chambers of imagery with pictures among which we shall have to dwell for ever. Death turns us out of the world into ourselves. Immediately that the flesh drops off the spirit, the spirit drops into the heaven or the hell of itself, and "the door is shut; nay, locked, by Him who hath the keys of death and of hell. "He shutteth, and no man openeth," by any logic, or any fact, as yet discovered. "PLATO," and "ARISTOTLE," are the two poles of the world's philosophy. BRIEF NOTICES OF BOOKS. Systematic Theology: A series of Lectures delivered to the Ministerial Students at the Primitive Methodist College, Elmfield, York, by John Petty; with introductory Essay on Mr. Petty's Theological and Literary Character. Edited by COLIN CAMPBELL MCKECHNIE. London: G. Lamb. THIS is an admirable little volume, a rich theological repertory, neat in appearance, handy in size, and reasonable in price; though we are disposed to think it would not have suffered in general esteem had a superior quality of paper been used. The volume contains thirty-five lectures, touching with brevity, and yet with fulness, on all the main doctrines of the Christian faith. It appears the young men placed under Mr. Petty's care had to be trained with reference to the short confession of faith prefixed by the Primitive Methodist Conference to its Consolidated minutes; and this condition determined the course of the lecturer. The young men not having previously had any great educational and a posteriori, and in our judgment Mr. Petty undervalues the former, and over estimates the latter. The quotation given from Bp. Hamilton on p. 39, states with considerable clearness the nature and application of a priori reasoning with reference to the primary truth of theology. A posteriori reasoning is little better than drawing a general conclusion from particular premises. The seventh lecture is devoted to the Trinity. The discussion is conducted upon scriptural grounds, and is stated fully and clearly. While concurring in the exclusion from the discussion of all philosophic speculation, we think a judicious use might have been made of the patristic and other lines of argument which, while founded in Scripture, serve to strengthen the particular form of argument adopted in the lecture. Lectures eight to eleven are devoted to the doctrine of the person of Christ, and constitute a clear and valuable exposition of Scripture teaching on this question. These lectures are preeminently positive in character, they postulate the author's views, and by the positive statement of truth, rather than by specially applied argument, invalidate all opposing theories. only polemic in which he indulges is directed against Dr. Clarke's views on the Sonship. The four lectures devoted to man's first condition and fall will repay careful study. Redemption and its benefits occupy some twelve lectures. Mr. Petty holds strongly by Methodist doctrine, giving special prominence to the universality of redemption, the necessity of repentance, the witness of the Spirit, and sanctification, devoting to this latter theme no fewer than four lectures. We are hardly disposed to admit, as The Mr. Petty appears to put it, that sanctification includes regeneration. We have been wont to think sanctification comprehended in regeneration potentially, and following it in order in the devolpment of the spiritual life. However, what he has to say concerning the completeness and instantaneousness of sanctification is well deserving attention and thought. The seven lectures concluding the course are devoted to the doctrine of the last things, and the expositions and arguments are conducted with the utmost reverence and care. These lectures are free from all parade of learning, and what is still better, they are not disfigured by those common French and Latin scraps which furnish the surest evidence of a half-cultured mind. They are written with a simplicity which is in itself a power, and are characterised by that plainness which is the highest adornment of style. Taking little direct notice in these discussions of modern theological speculations, Mr. Petty was evidently well enough acquainted with what men had thought and written in his own time as well as in generations past, and laid under contribution in doing the work he had accepted an extensive knowledge of theological literature, though confining his reference, as was rendered circumstances, within comparatively necessary by the limited range. dently desirous that the young men Mr. Petty was evi committed to his care should understand the practical relations of theological truth to human life and experience. It is a special excellence of these lectures, and one that, in itself, would have been a sufficient reason for publishing them, that every ex position and discussion furnishes evidence, of the manner in which theology ought to influence the practice of men. There is also another excellence in these lectures to which we desire particularly to invite the attention of young ministers, and that is the counsel given at the close of some of the lectures respecting the manner in which certain truths in Theology should be presented in pulpit teaching. We specially refer to the lecture on the existence of God, to that on the Trinity, and to those in which the duration of future punishmentis considered. Sage counsels these, furnished by a ripe experience, which, if attended to, will help to make any young minister a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing and rightly presenting the word of truth. The introductory essay is a fair and appreciative estimate of Mr. Petty as a theologian and also of his literary ability. Surrounded by disadvantages, he succeeded in gaining for himself a honourable, theological, and literary reputatíon, and inscribed his name upon that list of worthies, who by overcoming great difficulties, made themselves men. We thank Mr. Petty's family and the editor that they have given to us this volume, which we have no hesitance in pronouncing the best theological work that has yet appeared in Primitive Methodism. It takes its place by the side of Mr. Bastow's rich and valuable Bible Dictionary in the front rank of that literature which has been created by that useful part of Christ's universal church to which the lamented author belonged. X. Y. Z. Son of Thunder; or, a Life Sketch of THIS is one of the books which all our young preachers, travelling and local, ought to read as a means of preserving and nourishing the spiritual power for which our early ministers were distinguished. It is on this ground alone we recommend it. Chas. Bayliss was destitute of culture to a painful degree; but he was a good man, "full of faith and of the Holy Ghost," burning with zeal, "in labours more abundant," and, in the early part of his career, extensively useful in evangelising the semi-heathen villages near to which he lived. We do not wonder at his bearing the sobriquet Ironsides, for his religious enthusiasm, fearless courage, and physical energy, would have admirably fitted him to form one of the rank and file of Cromwell's celebrated regiment of that name. Mr. Middleton has written this book under serious disadvantages, but he has nevertheless done his work well. A Good Wife; or, Brief Memorials of WEATHER. FOR a man to tell the world what he thinks of his deceased wife is a delicate task, and yet Mr. Ratcliffe does this here with unexceptionable propriety. His fulness of affection for her who has gone does not betray him n one instance to say what can give |