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use of Watts's and other unauthorized catechisms - several of which are on the list of the Christian Knowledge Society.

A Funeral Sermon on the Death of Bishop Carr, by Rev. H. Stevens, Rector of Bath, gives some interesting statements of a dying saint. "Addressing one of the members of his family who was standing by his bed, he said: 'Seek first the kingdom... What if I had to seek Christ now!' Upon the reply being made, 'But you have sought him and found him,' he quickly answered, 'Say rather, He found me."" Bishop Burnet tells us that during twelve years' intercourse with archbishop Leighton, he never once saw him in any other state of mind than that in which he himself would like to die. Mr. Stevens speaks thus of bishop Carr. "Thus slept in Jesus one of the meekest and gentlest among men; the like of whom one had never met before, and may never meet again. For, after deliberate examination, I say with all confidence, that in five years' most intimate intercourse, I never heard proceed out of that mouth, now closed in death, one hasty word, one unkind word, nor one word spoken for mere display."

The Astronomer and the Christian, is the title of a Sermon in memory of Jeremiah Horrocks, by Rev. Hugh McNeile, D.D. (Hatchard's.) Horrocks was a wonderful young man, the pioneer of Sir Isaac Newton; and, had he lived, perhaps the Newtonian system would have been completed in his hands. He was an illustrious instance of the ardent love of science associated with the intenser love of God. Dr. McNeile has paid a just and beautiful tribute to his memory. The sermon was preached at Preston, when the parish church of Hoole in that neighbourhood was reopened, after being enlarged and decorated as a memorial to its former curate, the humble Jeremiah Horrocks, whom Sir John Herschel calls the pride and boast of British astronomy. A tablet, erected by the contributions of the clergy, bears the following inscription. If the reader would know more, we refer him to the sermon,-where he will find a very interesting sketch of the life of this the most eminent astronomer of the seventeenth century.

JEREMIAH HORROCKS,

Born at Liverpool, educated at Cambridge, the Curate of Hoole,
Died in the 23rd year of his age, 1641.

The wisdom of God in creation was his study from early youth;
for his wonderful genius and scientific knowledge, men
speak of him as

"One of England's most gifted sons,

"The pride and boast of British astronomy.”

Amongst his discoveries are-The nearest approximation to the
Sun's parallax,

The correct theory of the Moon, and the transit of Venus.

But the love of God in redemption was to him a yet nobler theme,
The preaching of Christ crucified a yet higher duty;

Loving science much, he loved religion more,

and, turning from the wonders of Creation to the glories of the Cross,
he expressed the rule of his life in these memorable words—
"Ad majora avocatus, quæ ob hæc parerga negligi non decuit."
In Memory of One

So young and yet so learned,

So learned and yet so pious,
This church in which he officiated,
Has been enlarged and beautified.

THE 2300 YEARS OF DANIEL.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

MR. EDITOR,-I have read with some interest the paper of your Correspondent G. S. in your valuable periodical; but I must confess that the many, and almost arbitrary interpretations given of the terminus à quo, or commencement of these 2300 years, lead me to think that there is a great mistake abroad on this subject. There are many sober commentators who interpret the "little horn" of the 8th chapter of Daniel of Antiochus; whose profanation of the Temple and its services is without a parallel in Jewish history; and this appears to me the correct view to be taken on the subject. It is moreover remarkable that Josephus, when speaking of this desolation, says, that "it came to pass according to the prophecy of Daniel, which was given 408 years before."

Now, the prophet Daniel having spoken of Alexander, and of the "four notable ones," or kingdoms into which his kingdom was divided, says, "OUT OF ONE OF THEM came a little horn ;" and in perfect harmony with this representation the Book of Maccabees tells 66 us, there came out of them a wicked root, Antiochus Epiphanes." So that I do not see that we are at liberty to interpret the prophecy of any other than Antiochus.

In the book of the Maccabees the period of the profanation is limited exactly to three years, and in this Josephus agrees; but it is manifest from what precedes, that the decree for the profanation had gone forth some short time previously, and this may account for the "three years and three months" specified by Josephus in his preface to the Jewish Wars.

Now, the language of the prophet Daniel is remarkable. He does not speak of days, as elsewhere, but of 2300 evening and morning, as if to distinguish them altogether from the day-year system, and to limit them to the number of sacrifices that were to

be suspended. These sacrifices, being evening and morning, would make the number of days to be 1150, the exact period assumed by Josephus:

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3

years of 354 days

1 Intercalary month

2 months or 29 and 30 days..

1062

29

59

1150 days.

This, or anything like this, is near enough for our purpose; and I doubt not, that if we had more precise information, we should find the number of days literally fulfilled.

The time, times, and a half, the 42 months, the 1260 days, are all definite enough, as pointing to the same event, whether calculated from 533 A.D., or 606 A.D., or any other date. Why should we foist in another period, which has no connexion with it? I will only add, how greatly the date of 533 may be questioned as the terminus à quo upon the mere authority of a letter from Justinian, which has been doubted by many as to its more important point: but if altogether genuine, the effect appears to me to be set aside by the declaration of Pope Gregory I., nearly seventy years later, who says, "Whoever doth call himself Universal Bishop, or desireth to be so called, doth in his elation forerun Antichrist." There was no assumption of this title, until the time of Phocas, by the popes of Rome. In fact, in 533, the seventh phase of the Roman power had not passed away; neither had the ten kingdoms, into which it was to be broken up, then assumed their full form and character.

I am, Mr. Editor, Your Constant Reader,

J. R.

NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

Original Papers Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Milton. Now first published from the MSS. of the State Paper Office, &c. Collected and Edited with the permission of the Master of the Rolls. By W. Douglas Hamilton. Printed for the Camden Society. 1859. Mr. Hamilton has rendered a service to literature by this publication. He has printed sixteen letters of state, written by Milton as secretary of Tongues, for the Parliament, for Oliver Cromwell, and for Richard Cromwell; and written in that rich Latin which may well be placed by the side of his noble English prose. Several of these letters are interesting from their subjects; the surrender of Dunkirk, the compliments to cardinal Mazarin, the letter to Charles X. of Sweden, the passport to the German divine, are evidences of the influence which the great Protector enjoyed, and exerted so vigorously, over the leading European states. But chiefly interesting, because they relate to the persecution of the Vaudois, are, the letter which is

addressed in May, 1655, to Louis XIV., and which administers to the French king a stern rebuke for having allowed his soldiers to countenance the massacre of the Vaudois, and for not exerting a decisive influence with the duke of Savoy to prevent and arrest this crime; and the speech drawn up by Milton for Sir Samuel Morland, which he was to deliver, as the envoy of the bold Protector, to the ears of the duke of Savoy. The latter, from its tone of eloquent indignation, and its fearful exposure in detail of the atrocities committed on the Vaudois by the soldiers, must have made the priests of Rome frantic with passion, and struck terror into the heart of the craven tyrant who had permitted such crimes. "Imò verò stupratæ virgines injectis in ventrem vi lapillis, miserè efflârunt animas, senes et morbis laborantes, mandati fuêre flammis, infantum autem alii in saxa contriti, aliorum cocta et comesta cerebra, scilicet horrendum scelus, nec prius auditum," &c. Well might he add, “that if all the Neros of every age were this day to rise to life, they would blush to see their crimes surpassed by cruelties far exceeding all they had devised."

We

We commend this work to the attention of men of letters, and not least to statesmen. For if our public records contain a rich treasure of such value to Protestant truth that a gentleman with even scanty leisure can extract such fragments, what will be our chance of these and such like ever seeing the light if the Master of the Rolls is suffered to nominate as calenderer a pervert and a Papist? This appointment has been made in spite of the indignant comments of every writer who values historical memorials or Protestant truth. have heard, but we can hardly credit it, that the appointment is defended by Lord John Russell. It requires, however, the sanction of the Home Secretary, and we cannot believe that any Home Secretary will be found to expose himself to a melancholy notoriety, by giving his sanction to such an act. The case must come before parliament, and men of all parties should unite in protesting against the appointment. That the invaluable records of this great nation, which has been the nurse of the Reformation and the champion of its interests, should be entrusted to a man who loathes the reformation, and would suppress every notice of it as a blot which ought not to be allowed to disfigure our annals.

1. An Introduction to the Evidences of Christianity. By J. O. Halliwell, Esq., F.R.S. Second Edition. London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts. 1859. 2. Dr. Paley's Works: a Lecture delivered by Richard Whately, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin. London: John W. Parker and Son. 1859.-We fear that there is but too much truth in Archbishop Whately's remark, that all attention to this subject (the evidences of Christianity) is, in the minds of some, connected with the idea of doubt: which they feel to be painful, and dread as something sinful; whilst others, themselves really believing that Christianity can stand the test of evidence, suppress all enquiry, being desirous of introducing mediaval legends of miracles, and unsupported traditions, and new dogmas of human device, which they hope to circulate, as it were, with the sterling gold. Imagine an advocate pleading thus: "My client is an innocent and a worthy man, take my word for it but I entreat you not to examine any witnesses, or

listen to any pleadings; for the more you enquire into the case, the more likely you will be to find him guilty." Such conduct could only be attributed to folly or to knavery; and yet this is, in effect, the language of many sincere Christians, and even of some ministers of religion. And as to the idle excuse, that it would be more than the labour of a whole lifetime to investigate all the reasons for and against the reception of Christianity, as his Grace observes, "it is very strange that it should fail to occur to any man of good sense, that it may be possible and easy, and, in many cases, highly desirable, to have sufficient reasons for believing what we do believe; though these reasons may not be the twentieth part of what might be adduced, if there were any need for it."... "Since it has pleased the All-Wise to create man a rational animal, and since on all subjects men are often led to reject valuable truths, and to assent to mischievous falsehoods, it is surely an important part of education that men should be trained in some degree to weigh evidence, and to distinguish good reasons from sophistry, in any department of life, and not least in what concerns religion."

Mr. Halliwell's concise and lucid essay is more particularly addressed to general readers, to whom we may safely say, it is a work of real value. From the testimony of independent witnesses, such as Suetonius, Tacitus, Pliny, and Celsus, it furnishes sufficient evidence for the reception of Christianity, without entering upon any of those intricate questions which are debated among critics and theologians. The first object of the writer is, to dispel the obscurity in which, under the terms of " ultimate facts," " elementary substances," &c., certain "children of the mist" have enveloped the first causes of animate and inanimate matter, and to shew, that if the existence from everlasting of a God of infinite power be not accepted as a truth, we are reduced to the absurd doctrine of self-creation, that being the ultimate result of every other theory. Should any person require such proof of the existence of God as the nature of the case forbids,-a mathematical proof, for instance, it is possible he may meet with disappointment; but should he therefore conclude that there is no God, we must class him with those singularly unfortunate members of society who have never been eminent for wisdom, and on whom argument is lost, and so pass on.

Admitting, then, that there is a God of infinite power, the absence of any revelation of his will would be an astonishing, and indeed an incredible circumstance; and since the gift of a revelation without miracles appears to be a moral impossibility, to reject such revelation because its truth rests chiefly on miracles, must be regarded as utterly unreasonable; and to reject it on the ground of its containing much the wisdom of which is not apparent to our minds, and much that is beyond our comprehension, must be regarded as equally foolish. How can a finite human being, without the capacity to comprehend either time or space, sit in judgment on the designs and works of an Infinite and Almighty Creator? Yet our difficulties are constantly growing less. Science and research are continually confirming statements which for ages have been unintelligible. For instance, we are told that "the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground," and this is literally true; for it has been satisfactorily proved that the Vol. 59.-No. 265.

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