lar to the above. The followers of the Christian faith declare, that "there is not a thought of the heart, but God knoweth it altogether." 3. That "the universe will not contain God," and that "the whole world is full of the Deity," are the expressions of antiquity implying the omnipresence of God. Uninformed and barbarous people believe that the Great Spirit pervades all things. They see his frown in the storm, and his smile in the sun-beams. The Christian gives his lofty assent to this attribute, by the inquiry,"Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I go up into heaven, thou art there? if I lie down in the grave, thou art there also." 4. God has existed from eternity. For from whom could He have derived His being? By Him all things were made, and the heavens are the works of His hands." Before Him there was nothing. Could Deity proceed from nothing? Material forms required a God to call them into existence. Did absolute inanity produce the Almighty Mind? God and eternity are coeval. Infinite duration is but "the years of the Most High;" with whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." The heathens held, that Jupiter was the father of the gods and of men; and that he arranged the confused elements of chaos, and produced from them the varieties of matter. But the eternity of "the great First Cause” is so evident, from the three attributes we have been considering, that it is not intended to investigate the theogony of idolatrous and heathen nations. 66 The effect of this essay has only gone to place the Christian's God on an equality with impotent divinities, who, in the absence of revelation, were originally set up by man, to supply the place of the true Deity. At present we shall go no further. Enough has been said to impress the mind with lofty ideas of that Being who "spake and it was done, who commanded, and it stood fast."-"He sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; he stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in." "He is always the same, and His years shall not fail." ZELIM. ON PROFESSORS OF RELIGION MARRYING FOR MONEY. "Don't seek for money: it is a shocking reproach to a man of God, to be hunting after pelf, and getting a wife merely for the sake of her possessions. I scruple not to say, that those who marry for money, are committing adultery as long as they live."-DR. ADAM CLARKE. So says this celebrated author, in the ninth section of Advice Concerning Marriage, in his "Letter to a Preacher," 4th Edit. p. 54. a piece which abounds with very important and interesting matter. The latter clause of the above extract is very strong-to many it is a hard saying; and there are those, who, for want of entering into the spirit of the sentiment, deem it erroneous;-but it is true, and consonant both with scripture and reason. The propriety of Dr. Clarke's advice is not confined to the ministerial character, but commends itself to every man's conscience about to enter into such a responsible alliance. That there are numbers of all classes who precipitate themselves into the marriage state solely with a view of obtaining filthy lucre, cannot be controverted; such are highly reprehensible, and must be unhappy in their new situation. To aid in endeavouring to prevent such improper marriages, especially among professors of religion, will not be considered intrusive by persons of correct judgment. It is universally admitted, that marriage is a most important institution. "There is no union," says Jay, "the quality of which is so intimate the obligation of which is so binding-the consequences of which are so momentous." The If this step be well taken, incalculable benefits are produced; but if a person becomes "unequally yoked," the results will be truly calamitous. How multiplied and complicated are the miseries of human life, through indiscreet marriages! sexes are urged by different motives to approach the hymeneal altar;—to enumerate them is foreign to my design, as I am not writing an Essay on marriage, but a few thoughts "on professors of religion marrying for money," to which my remarks will be confined. The love of money, regarded as an inducement to a connubial life, is.certainly highly contemptible. Where unanimity of sentiment, suitability of age, and genuine piety, are accomp I knew a professor, some time ago, holding an office of some importance in the church, who declared to me, when speaking about his getting a wife, that he would not have the best woman living, however pious or amiable she might be, unless she had money. What would become of pious industrious females, who have no property, were this principle generally indulged?Well, agreeably to this good brother's resolution, he was shortly after wedded to an ancient dame of handsome property-not belonging to any religious body, and who did not pretend to experience in divine things. The old lady and he could not, however, live long together without litigation, for she soon found out the state of her husband's pulse,-so that, as the latter termed it, there was always a jarring string" between them. After some time spent in looking after each other, and being at continual war about tenporal matters, they parted. Thus ended this unfortunate connexion, without the husband being able to convert the wife, which he had frequently talked of doing before he had her, or even converting the property to his own use, as, in this instance, the lady proved too deep for him, and had taken unusual care in securing herself. 66 nied with property, it is not only well, but very desirable, but when a man is united to an opulent woman, who is destitute of the three former requisites, to "get her possessions" he does not marry the woman, but the money! It is much to be regretted that fortunemarriages are so prevalent,-it has been, and is still, a growing evil; and shall I commit a breach of charity in adding-very much so among religious people? That persons, professing to be the disciples of the blessed Jesus, should thus be influenced, is extraordinary! Such a line of conduct cannot be reconciled with the word of truth. How many are there, in almost every denomination of Christians, who have, in this instance, disobeyed the voice of God and nature! I allude not to any particular sect-that would be invidious. Allow me to ask, Can a member of any religious body, whether in the venerable establishment, or among the Dissenters or Methodists, be ignorant of the sinfulness of marrying for money, and of the dangerous consequences that are attendant thereon? To say,nothing of the plain declarations of scripture, (but which God forbid should ever be put in the shade) the doctrines, rules, and discipline of every church or society of Christians, must go directly to disallow or forbid the practice. And whenever any individual breaks these sacred boundaries, should he not immediately be treated as a transgressor? Who can tell the disastrous influence such a bad step may create? But the fact is, the persons who generally violate the laws of God and of the church in this way, are those in authority, or in respectable circumstances, and hence, the matter is too often either overlooked or but very slightly noticed the effect of having "respect of persons." I have painfully witnessed several instances of this among different classes of professors, who having pretended to justify their conduct, further investigation has been suspended. When we see a Churchman, a Baptist, a Methodist, or an Independent, mar- A sense of the importance of this rying a rich individual, who is a mem- subject, and that it might be once ber of no religious society, or a person more brought into view before those making no profession of Christianity," who name the name of Christ," and what can be said, but that the property of the woman was his sole object. Does not this prove a hunting after pelf, and can such expect any other than disappointment and misery? Such an example as this is exceedingly injurious, and the more conspicuous the character stands in the church, the more is such an inroad on Christian duties to be deprecated. Is it to be wondered at, if those persons who look up to such men as patrons and instructors, are staggered, or turned out of the way, or, if unmarried, fall into a similar error as it respects this important step, and thereby render their future lives uncomfortable? It is absolutely necessary that circumspection should mark every part of the Christian's walk in life. He should carefully avoid putting a stumbling-block in his brother's way,--but by letting his light so shine before men, they may rather be led to glorify his Father who is in heaven. be instrumental in preventing, however partially, the evil on which I have freely animadverted, have produced the preceding observations. J. S. BROAD. Bristol, Dec. 10th, 1825. OBSERVATIONS ON THE COMET OF 1825. | from the northern to the southern side MR. EDITOR. SIR.-The following remarks relative to the late comet, with the annexed diagrams, may prove interesting to some classes of your readers. I have been led to this communication, from observing that nothing of consequence has yet transpired concerning it; a circumstance not a little remarkable, when it is known that it was the largest comet that has appeared since the memorable one of 1811. I first observed it on the morning of Sunday, September 18th, at 2 A. M. in the direction E. by S. at an altitude of about 22°. Its light was at that time somewhat intense, but the nucleus was not well defined, and the train extended over not more than 30 of the heavens. The nucleus became afterwards more distinct, and had the appearance of a star of the third magnitude. And on the 8th October, at 12, midnight, which was the last opportunity I had of observing it, the train appeared like a white flame, 10° in extent, shining brightly at intervals. Figure 1, shews the direction which the comet took in its passage amongst the stars, and it exhibits seven positions accurately noted, to which are annexed the corresponding times :— Time. No. Figure 2.-The positions in figure 1, are here transferred to a portion of the terrestrial sphere, and they will shew, with the assistance of the globe, all the places over which the comet passed vertically on those days. It may not be impertinent to state the method by which this may be seen. Mark the position on the globe, and observe its latitude; over every place in the same parallel, the comet passed vertically on the day answering to the position. Figure 3, is intended to convey a tolerably accurate idea of the comet's appearance on the 8th October. I am, Sir, Yours, &c. Jan. 13, 1826. ZELIM. Additional Observations, from the Philosophical Magazine. "On the supposition of a parabolic orbit, this comet must have passed of the ecliptic about the 22d of August; but it was not visible to the naked eye until the 7th of September, when it was seen in the constellation Taurus, near Aldebaran and the Hyades; at which time its distance from the sun was 1.871, and from the earth 1.407. On the 12th of the same month, at 1 A. M. its anomaly was 69° 34' 38", its distance from the sun 1.8229, and from the earth 1.2391, having also a geocentric longitude of 60° 40′ 19′′, and a southern latitude of 6° 34′ 29′′. Again, on the 17th, the comet's distance from the sun was 1.767, and from the earth 1.105. It continued thus to approach the earth in a lateral direction till the 12th of October; when, by computation, it appears to have come nearest to the earth, at which time it was a very conspicuous object in the heavens; when, at midnight, its distance from the sun was 1.525756, and from the earth only .61471: its geocentric longitude was 35° 8' 11", and latitude 35° 51' 35" south. Hence, it was then in the southern part of the constellation Cetus. Therefore, at this time it must have been vertical between the parallels of 20 and 21 degrees south, a little before two o'clock that morning, according to the respective meridians. From this it is clear that the comet must have been a very striking object to all the known parts of the southern hemisphere, and the low northern latitudes. After the 12th of October, the earth and comet gradually receded from each other, so that on or about the 17th of November, the comet must have been too far from the earth to be visible, even under the most favourable circumstances of southern latitude. Although the relative motions of the earth and comet were now such as rapidly to increase their lineal distance, yet the comet continued to approach the sun till the 11th of December, when it passed its perihelion point at a distance of 1.2295 from that body. "The earth and comet will continue to recede from each other, till about the 20th of January; and as the heliocentric motion of the latter body is retrograde, and being at the same time in an opposite part of the heavens in respect to the earth, the two bodies will for some time move nearly parallel to each other, and towards the same infinite distant point in space, |