many respects, of what is most striking on our own globe. And we cannot wonder at the pleasure which the telescopic observer feels in its contemplation, independent of the mystery attached to what, after all, can be only so partially apprehended. We again advise our readers to take every opportunity of making themselves acquainted with it. And though it may never happen to them to have access to those magnificent instruments, whose space-penetrating power transports us as it were to within a few hundred miles of the Moon (that is, magnifies it as much as if the distance were reduced in an equal degree), yet more ordinary means will prove quite sufficient, as has been already stated, to show to them very much of a surprising character. They may never have ocular proof of those minute changes which are still, in the opinion of many astronomers, in progress, and which might bear some resemblance as to scale with the eruptions of our Etna or Vesuvius; but they may see for themselves, and that with ease, what must have been once the furious energy—it is not too strong an expression-which has left such gigantic traces in every region there, and which now seems to be, at any rate comparatively, extinct. But such prospects, however striking in themselves, however singular, however beautiful with a wild and solemn beauty of their own, possess an additional interest from their connection with certain speculations of the day. They have a degree of bearing upon the disputed question between Scripture and modern Geology, which must render the examination of the Moon's surface of special attraction to believers in Revelation. They may here recognize, we venture to think, a powerful argument against those theories which assume that the former changes in the Earth's surface must have always proceeded at the same rate which now marks their progress. The fact is held up before them in the lunar sphere, that at some ancient epoch the forces which now work there so gently that we are scarcely agreed as to their continued existence, were capable of convulsing and transforming a great portion of the surface, and that from that marvellous activity they have gradually subsided into comparatively unbroken quiescence. Whatever uncertainty may hang over the primeval condition of that globe, or the aspect in which it first left its Creator's hand, there is no difficulty in tracing the progressive decay of the eruptive forces which at some early period began to mould its surface. No geological succession of terrestrial strata is more completely marked than the chronological sequence of the lunar explosions. Though of course we can form not the slightest idea as to the actual range of time which these changos may have embraced, their relative order and con tinuous decrease are so evident that perhaps it were no unreasonable stretch of fancy to suppose a providential permission—and even more than permission, guidance--in these discoveries. Galileo's noble ascription of his marvellous in. vention to the “illumination of the Divine favour"* may have contained a deeper truth than he, or any one then living, could have anticipated. That the heavens would more and more declare the glory of God in proportion as they were made more accessible, would be only a natural inference: that the telescope should become one day the means of showing the baselessness of some sceptical theories, nothing less than a prophetic eye could have foreseen. We do not pretend here to take in hand the general argument for Scripture against geological deduction; we do not even attempt more than to point out one incidental proof that certain scientific notions are less firmly grounded than their adınirers may suppose. That the Earth and Moon were coeval parts of one system, and notwithstanding certain specific differences, corresponding with their relative importance, have run a collateral and contemporary course, is surely no unfair or unphilosophical assumption. That the surface of our globe has been brought into its present condition by the operation, through all but in. finite ages, of the same forces acting, at the same amount and rate with those that are secretly and noiselessly doing their work around us night and day, may be the favourite assumption of a certain school of geologists, but most assuredly it finds no corroborative evidence in the aspect of the Moon. Everything there contradicts it. Everything there speaks in the most distinct language of decaying energy-of subsiding activity-of forces tending steadily to repose. Although at first sight the lunar surface may appear a confused and unintelligible wilderness, it will soon reveal to a practised eye so much at least of its past history as we require for our pur. pose. Ages may have rolled away, as far as appearances are concerned, since the first creation of the Moon; but we ven present rate of activity has its surface been brought into its existing condition; nor are even the traces of alternations of catastrophic and quiescent æras to be detected there. It is impossible to form an idea of the period which may have elapsed during the formation of any one of the grander features of our attendant; we know not whether those mighty gulfs were scooped out rapidly by a few terrific outbursts, or gradually excavated by a protracted course of ejection. On this ground neither disputant may claim the advantage. But those of the We would frankly admidesolat avoid the very kind superpe scenes noe would we do trace, and that with ease as well as distinctness, the progressive dying out of the struggles of the primeval fire; we read its story in the decreasing magnitude of the eruptions whose general sequence in time is ererywhere sufficiently apparent; we see it marked, beyond mistake, by the interference of smaller craters alone, and almost without exception with the outlines of larger ones, and the superposition of those of the minutest class over every kind of pre-existent formation. We would avoid the language of unwarranted confidence: we would frankly admit that there is much in those scenes of stern and rugged desolation (if such indeed they are) which we are little able to explain, and which may probably remain inexplicable by us even to the end of time. Much may donbtless bear more than one interpretation; much at present defies conjecture; but there seems no risk of error in our main assertion, that the present aspect of the Moon is not to be reconciled with the hypothesis of forces of equable intensity acting throughout interminable ages. The epoch of lunar convulsion is past; but it has stamped its traces too deep to be effaced save by the fires of judgment. Almost every portion of that globe bears witness to its former vehemence, and its gradual decline. Our readers will scarcely. need to be reminded how probable it is from analogy, and how suitable to the general harmony of creation, that some similar process may have been appointed for the Earth. As far as telescopic records extend, the surface of the Moon has now settled into a comparatively unchanged condition. As far as historical records extend, the same is the case with the Earth. Yet the Moon was once the theatre of far more intense activity. Surely he who infers that such must have been the case with the Earth also, has the strength of argument on his side. And though it cannot be proved that these more energetic were also more rapid processes, we are at least able to see that it will require much more than has ever yet been brought forward to establish, upon any such grounds, the fashionable claim of an exaggerated antiquity for our terrestrial globe. THE REASON OF THE CROSS. No I. To the cross of deepest woe." long dond his workpose, whate minds, ist ques. by Pontius Pilate in the days of Tiberius, did, by his life and death, originate a faith and a religion which is now pervading the whole earth,-is not denied by any one. The great question which is agitating and perplexing many minds, is, What rank, what character, what purpose, what value, should we attach to his person and his work? Scepticism, or more open infidelity, has long doubted or derided the supposed Divinity of his person, or questioned many of the facts of his history; but of late years that kind of opposition has almost ceased. The present tendency, among those who will not receive him in the character of a Saviour,-a Redeemer,-is, to admit all the chief circumstances of his life, as narrated by the Evangelists ;-but to adjust these facts into some new theory, which gives bim a high place among the Reformers and Regenerators of mankind; but refuses any higher estimation, or any loftier rank. We desire to meet these speculations by a fresh enquiry. We fix our eyes on the central event in the whole Bible, Jesus, hanging on the Cross. We remark the darkness spread over all the earth: we hear the fearful cry of the sufferer, “ My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"-we listen to the Centurion's confession, “ Truly this was the Son of God," - and with fixed attention we exclaim, “What meaneth this ?” We search the record, and there we find, that this wondrous sufferer, who thus“ laid down his life," was not long in reclaiming it; agreeably to his own words, “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” (John X. 18.) He was very soon “ declared to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead.” (Rom. i. 4.) And the greatest of all his apostles, compressing a rapid narrative of the whole transaction into a single sentence, declares that He, " being the brightness of His Father's glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Heb. i. 3.) These are stupendous and marvellous words, and we do wrong if we allow them to pass rapidly over the tongue, without any effort to understand them. They tell of a Height, an exaltation, which was relinquished; and of a Depth, of humiliation, which was voluntarily encountered; and they tell us, too, that“ these things the angels desire to look unto.” (1 Pet. i. 12.) And, so far from deeming this height and this depth to be subjects unfit for human investigation, the apostle prays, on behalf of his spiritual children, that they, “being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." It is, therefore, not the will of God that such questions as these, however vast, should be “ lost in silence, and forgot.” There was a Height, from which Christ descended ;-there was, also, a Depth, which He fathomed. Let us strive, with earnest prayer, for some understanding of these things. The first of the two will claim all, and much more than all, the space that we can give to it on the present occasion. Christ is “ the image of the invisible God.” He was “in the form of God, and was equal with God.” “In the begin. ning, or from everlasting, He was with God.” “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” Or, again to use Paul's most fervid and just description, “He was the brightness of His Father's glory, and the express image of His person.” How shall we arrive at a just understanding and appreciation of these wonderful words? There is something which is not allowable in this matter; and there is something which is allowable and laudable. We must not employ our own imaginations or inventions. We must not, in any way, think God to be “such an one as ourselves;" we must not, like the heathen, fashion a Jupiter or a Brahma out of our own foolish dreams. But we may learn whatever God has been pleased to teach. “Whatsoever things are written, are written for our learning;" and so long as we keep honestly and faithfully in this path, we cannot easily go wrong. Bearing this rule in mind, we return to the question, What shall we understand by Christ's being “ the brightness of His Father's glory”? The words do not explicitly teach us anything. We never saw “the Father's glory," and do not know what its “brightness" is. Yet these words declare much, and suggest a great deal more. We want to gain some idea, faint and inadequate as it may be, of that Height from which Christ descended,- of that Brightness which for our sakes He relinquished. How shall we do this :-taking the word of God, and nothing else, for our guide ? What was Christ's estate and condition, when He was “ daily the Father's delight, rejoicing always before Him." (Prov. viii. 30.) How shall we gain any knowledge of this ; taking care to draw every fact and circumstance from “the Word of truth”? It might happen to one of the sons of men to find his way to a far country—a so-called “ Celestial Empire," the sovereign of which was so magnificent and “lifted up" as never to be visible to the common people. His palaces might be so spacious, and their gardens so extensive and beautiful, as to |