The fear of God casts out every other fear. "Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments." Psalm cxii. 1.

By his providence even the sparrows are protected, and the hairs of our head are numbered. "Fear not," said our Lord, "ye are of more value than many sparrows." Luke xii.

In the name of Jesus, then, let us pray to have a perpetual fear and love of God engrafted into our hearts.

S. M.

How permanent is a Christian's joy! Its roots are strongly imbedded, like the cedar of Lebanon. No wind that blows can hurl it down. The very tempest that beats upon it only adds to its stability, and rivets it more firmly to its foundation. This joy grows not on earth, nor depends for its stability on aught that earth can bestow. It is planted in heaven, and is watered by that stream which makes glad the city of God. How then can it wither? Why need the Christian despond, even when all else is gone, if this is left? Why may he not smile amid the wreck of his earthly hopes, if he can look up and claim God as his portion, and heaven as his eternal home.Waterbury.

ASTRONOMY.

WE will now direct our attention to the great centre of our system, that vast globe placed by the Almighty architect in the centre of boundless space, to which our earth, though vast, is but one of a circle of tributary planets; and to which may be still more forcibly applied the saying of the Psalmist, that it is without foundation, and cannot be removed, for ever. Psalm civ. 5.

The Sun was commonly supposed to be a globe of pure fire. Dark spots may, however, be always seen on his surface, and the other parts of the sun's disk not occupied by spots are far from being uniformly bright. Its ground is finely mottled with minute dark spots or pores, which are in a constant state of change. The dark spots may perhaps represent the solid body of the sun itself, and the penumbra be a low strata of dark atmosphere, partly illuminated by the upper lucid atmosphere. If the body of the sun has a dense gaseous medium surrounding it, and dividing it from the luminous regions above, its atmosphere would effectually defend it from the heat generated in these luminous regions: and if the lower atmosphere were strongly reflective, (as it is if the penumbra of the spots are caused by it,) it would effectually preserve the body of the sun from the rays of light, and thus render even it habitable.

Although the sun is, as it were, the fixed centre of our system, still it has two motions, easily discernible; a rotatory motion (occupying 25 days 6 hours), and a circular one round the common centre of all

the planetary bodies. It has likewise another motion, which is towards the constellation Hercules. The intensity of the sun's light is such, that the most intensely ignited solids appear as dark spots on the sun when held between it and the eye. The sun's light has been estimated at 5563 wax candles, supposed to be placed together at the distance of one foot from the object, while the moon's is estimated to be equal to one candle at the distance of twelve feet. One pound of terrestrial matter at the sun's surface would exert a pressure equal to 27.9 pounds. An ordinary man, therefore, would not only be unable to sustain his own weight on the sun, but would literally be crushed to atoms under the load. The sun's diameter is 882,000 miles, his surface 2,445,000,000,000 square miles, and solidity 359,401,000,000,000 cubic miles, which is 60,000,000 times larger than our moon. We may therefore form an idea of his vast distance, when we reflect that the sun and moon both appear to us of equal magnitudes. His distance is 95,000,000 of miles.

The sun is a centre to other bodies besides the planets; we allude to Comets, the nature and motions of which are different to all the other bodies of the universe. Some have imagined them to be the abode of wicked and condemned souls, by suffering alternately the extremes of heat and cold. By some they are supposed to have their origin in concentrated light meeting in space from several suns; and others in mere vapour. Some are believed to have another sun at an immense distance, for their other focus. They move in every direction round the sun in orbits highly eccentric, and making every angle with the ecliptic. The number of comets is very

great, but uncertain; the elements of 98 of them only being determined with anything approaching a definite knowledge. Of these, 24 pass between the sun and the orbit of Mercury, 33 between Mercury and Venus, 21 between Venus and the earth, 16 between the earth and Mars, 3 between Mars and Ceres, and one between Ceres and Jupiter. These are so far known to astronomers, that they are able to calculate their returns, the periods of which are very various; Encke's comet revolving in three years four months, and Halley's in 75 or 76 years. Comets have often come very near the earth, and have occasioned no small alarms, though from their extreme tenuity we need be under little dread on their still nearer approach; for the comet of 1770 actually got entangled among the satellites of Jupiter, without their experiencing the slightest derangement.

The vapoury portion, or tail, as it is commonly called, is always in the direction towards the sun, so that sometimes it is in advance, sometimes behind, and sometimes surrounding the nucleus, or more solid part. In the first case the comet is called bearded, in the second tailed, and in the last case hairy. This arises from the attraction of the sun. Notwithstanding the great velocity of comets on their approaching the sun, their tenuity is such that their more vapoury parts are attracted by the sun, and advance before the nucleus; but as the nucleus is going in the same direction as its vapour is being attracted by the sun, the length of its tail or beard must be consequently lessened. On the comet's leaving the sun, however, its tail is then attracted in the contrary direction to the comet's path, and therefore it then assumes its greatest length. The tail of

the comet of 371 B.C. occupied one-third of the hemisphere, or 60 degrees. That of 1618 had a tail extending 104 degrees. That of 1680 Newton calculated to be 163 million miles. That of the great comet of 1769 was 48 million miles; and that of 1811 was 108 million miles long, and 15 millions broad. All comets, however, do not have tails, while some comets have several tails; thus that of 1744 had six tails, nearly 30 degrees long.

We now leave the consideration of our solar system, to take a glimpse of the vast expanse beyond, from whence our whole system appears no bigger than a point, and of such insignificance that its total destruction would not be noticed amidst the countless host that lie around.

The Fixed Stars are divided into various classes or orders, according to their respective apparent diameters. There are six classes or degrees of magnitude visible to the naked eye. Those which appear the largest and brightest are said to be of the first magnitude; those next to them in lustre and size are of the second; and so on to the sixth. Those that cannot be seen by the naked eye are called telescopic stars, and are said to be of the seventh, eighth, and ninth magnitudes, according to their appearance.

The nearest may be computed at 32 millions of miles' distance, which is further than a cannon ball would fly in seven millions of years. If our sun were seen from such a distance, it would not appear as big as a star of the first magnitude.

It is impossible that these bodies could receive and reflect, through such an immense distance, sufficient light to render them visible, wherefore they do not