I called the crew to worship. While pointing out the way of life, and escape from eternal death, I felt greatly supported from above. The portion I read was on the last judgment. The 'hands' seemed very devout."

Monday.-"During the day my mind has been occupied with thoughts on entire sanctification, and I feel I possess that priceless gem, which is beyond earthly value. O may God grant me grace that I may never lose it! Lest I should be puffed up by present attainments, I will fix an earnest gaze on the cross of Christ, remembering that by my sins I brought on Him that agony."

Another Sunday.-"I have begun to intersperse advice, and words of explanation, both during the reading of the Scriptures and of the discourse. God is increasing my ability; but He wills that I should attain to greater holiness, so as to be more fully fitted for the Master's use."

Christmas-day at Sea.-"Although we are at a distance from home, deprived of the usual means of commemorating the present festival, we have enjoyed unexpected fine weather, equal to a summer's day; and are we not as well off at the close of the feast as if we had indulged the corporeal tastes with every customary luxury of the season? In the afternoon I called the crew, and, after singing an appropriate hymn, read and expounded Luke ii., closing the short service with prayer. Lord, give me increased zeal for the salvation of souls."

His secret intercourse with God was hallowed and transforming. One who sailed for a long time with him says: "He never came out of his closet without having received a blessing; if at any time he went in sad or burdened, he came out with his countenance beaming with holy joy."

In June, 1868, when he left London for his last voyage to China, his parting from his father and mother (who went to London to be with him as long as possible) was unusually touching and affectionate. Until the ship was lost to sight, his father could discern him signalling "Good-bye," and with many prayers and tears his parents commended him to "God, and to the word of His grace."

His nearest friends had not the privilege of seeing the close of his earthly life: but one who was with him to the end, a young sailor, speaking of his own sorrow from the death of his mother, says:-"The captain took me, when I was in sadness, into his own room to comfort me; which he did as well as man could do; for which I never forgot his kindness as long as he lived; and now, dear man, he is in heaven. 'I am going to heaven,' were his last sensible words. On the second Sunday in May he left this world of sorrow, and joined a brighter one of gladness. I have not the least doubt that he is gone to heaven. On the following day he was carried to the place of burial by his ship's crew, and laid where the officers and men are buried who fell at the taking of the Taku fort, in 1860."

The Rev. John Innocent, Missionary, in a letter to his father, gives the following account of his last days:

"Pacific Ocean, on board P. M. C. S. S.

'Great Republic,' June 3d, 1869. "My dear Sir,-It is to me a duty of painful interest to write you respecting the last days of your departed son. When with his vessel at Tientsin, China, he found his way to our little church on Sunday evening, and was introduced to several of my brother Missionaries. During the succeeding week he visited at our houses, and I had the pleasure of spending an evening with him at the house of my colleague, the Rev. W. N. Hall. We were all pleased with his conversation and religious deportment, and listened with interest to his account of his visits to some of the South-Sea Islands, and the work of Missionaries there. He came in and out among us as a Christian brother. We much regretted when the time came for him to leave. He was then in very good health, and seemed quite strong and cheerful. His vessel left Tientsin, and we heard nothing of him until about a week after, when the doctor was called to see a patient at Taku. On the doctor's return, he told us that it was Captain Williams, but that he thought the complaint was only slight, and that he would soon be better. I was then preparing to leave for England, and heard nothing more of the

case until my arrival in Taku, when I was asked to leave the steamer to read the funeral-service at the interment of a captain who had died the day before. I was greatly shocked to learn that our dear friend was referred to in this case; and with painful, solemn reflections, attended the funeral cortége to the little cemetery at Taku, and performed the last Christian rites over his remains. I learned from the steward of the ship, who, with the mate, had been most assiduous in their attentions to your son during his illness, that he was taken ill immediately after leaving Tientsin, in going down the river. The night before his death he was delirious, but on Sunday morning he was quite conscious and calm, and apologized to the steward for having given him so much trouble. Your

Astronomical Notices.

319

son then said to him, 'I feel I am dying; but I want you to know, and tell my friends, that I have peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ. I know that all my sins are forgiven.' These were words of joy to me, and I am sure they will be such to you, to know that your dear son, dying so far away in a heathen land, should send to you such a testimony."

The British consul of Taku also writes: "You have the consolation of knowing that your son died a good Christian his last words were, 'My Saviour is standing by my side. I am going to

heaven.'

Thus did this young disciple live and die, witnessing that "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.' He was thirty years of age. ELIZA SMEDLEY.

FOR OCTOBER, 1869.

and so imperfectly to represent the observations, that Encke set to work to find the exact elliptic path. He ascertained that when nearest to the Sun, or at perihelion, its distance from that luminary is very little greater than that of Venus; and that when farthest from the Sun, or at aphelion, its distance is somewhat more than that of Jupiter; in fact, that the least distance is about threefourths, and the greatest five and a half times the Earth's mean distance from

the Sun; and that it, consequently, revolves round the Sun in five and a half years; in this respect closely resembling the comet of short period discovered by De Vico in 1844, and another by Brorsen in 1846. On the 8th of March, 1858, a small comet was discovered by Winnecke, in Bonn: it was soon perceived that the orbit differed considerably from a parabola; the discoverer calculated the elliptic path, and found that he had accidentally lighted on the comet of 1819, at its seventh return after that period to perihelion. It must have returned towards the end of 1863, but under circumstances unfavourable for observation. As was expected, it has been seen and carefully observed in different parts of Europe for several months in the present year. Of course the orbit will now be determined with great precision, and it is hoped that astronomers will be able to render a satisfactory account of it in the future. The inclination of its orbit to the ecliptic is small, only eleven degrees; so that it moves in a plane only slightly tilted from those in which the larger planets move; and, as it comes very near the orbit of Jupiter, and lingers long in that region, this great disturber may one day twist it into a path very different from that which it now pursues. The perihelion passage in 1819 was on July 19th; in 1858 on May 2d; and in 1869 on June 30th: the periodic time from the most reliable orbit, was two thousand and forty-four days. When on this subject, it might be interesting to give a brief account of a few comets of short period: this must, however, be deferred, as the prescribed space is limited.

Mercury can only be seen this month

by the aid of a good telescope. It is a beautiful silvery crescent. It will be stationary on the 8th, when the apparent motion changes from direct to retrograde; and on the 28th, when it again changes to direct. It will be in inferior conjunction with the Sun on the 20th, at nine o'clock in the morning, a little below the Sun's disc, and consequently no transit. Had the phenomenon occurred three days latter, the planet would have been in or near the plane of the ecliptic at conjunction, and therefore between us and the Sun.

Venus is the evening-star. It will be quite close to Mars on the 6th, at halfpast ten o'clock in the morning, and near Saturn on the 26th, at two o'clock in the morning.

As Mars sets about an hour after the Sun, throughout the month, it will hardly be visible. Venus will direct the eye nearly to the spot in which this planet may be found.

Jupiter is visible through the night, and, from its splendour, may be easily distinguished among the fixed stars. It is in Aries, on the borders of Taurus, a few degrees south-westward of the Pleiades. An eclipse of the first satellite may be observed on the morning of the 6th, at 0h. 45m. 7s.; on the 13th, at 2h. 39m. 29s. morning; on the 14th, at 9h. 8m. 8s. afternoon; on the 20th, at 4h. 34m. morning; on the 21st, at 11h. 2m. 41s. afternoon; on the 29th, at Oh. 57m. 228. morning; and on the 30th, at 7h. 26m. 1s. afternoon. The second satellite will be eclipsed on the 18th, at 11h. 23m. 52s. afternoon; and on the 26th, at 1h. 59m. 248. morning. The third will be eclipsed on the 21st, at 8h. 46m. 328. afternoon; and on the 29th, at Oh. 47m. 49s. morning. At midnight, on the 30th, all the satellites will be on the east side of the planet in the order of their actual distances.

Saturn is just visible low in the southwest after sunset. It will be near the Moon on the afternoon of the 9th.

Neptune will be in opposition early in the month. It crosses the meridian on the 8th, at midnight, at an altitude of 44 degrees.