be puffed up: another perhaps has more zeal or more love. The gifts of grace, like those of Providence, are often more equally bestowed than we are ready to imagine. Our great concern should be to improve our respective talents, to the glory of our great Master, that in the day of reckoning we may not be found wanting.

THE NEW PLANET.

We have seen his star in the East, and are come to worship him. Matt. ii. 2.

LATELY spending an evening with my esteemed friend Eusebius, a gentleman, whom I will call Euphemius, took occasion to remark on the recent discovery of a new plauet, by Piazzi, in Sicily, and called by him the Ceres Ferdinandez, about half the size of our moon, and performing its revolution round the sun in about four and a half of our years; he added, that he had just read, in a celebrated Philosophical Journal, of another planet, of still smaller dimensions, and equally slow in its celestial progress, which had been called the Pallas.

2. Both these, he observed, had been called Asteriods; and, from their having so long escaped the acute eye of the astronomer, he supposed it very probable, that our system might contain more, perhaps, even many more such little planets, to reward. by their discovery, the research of future philosophers.

3. The company heard this intelligence with much attention and Benevolus, who was present, endeavoured to give a moral improvement to the subject, which was worthy of his character.

4. Benevolus. How just is the observation of the venerable patriarch Job, "Lo! these are parts of his ways!" for when we have pushed our inquiries to the utmost, how little do we know of the immense works of the Supreme Being! and how infinitely distant are we from penetrating into his presence who dwells in light inaccessible, and is concealed from us by the splendour of his glory!

5. Eusebius. True, Sir; but we cannot worship an unknown God. I wish this star might be like that which the Magi saw, and which led them to the place where Jesus was! I long to contemplate the works of nature as well as grace through a Mediator, and to ecrown the head of my adorable Redeemer with rays of glory, drawn from all the discoveries of philosophy and science.

6. Benev. But I fear, Sir, you carry matters too far; and that, in ascribing these honours to the Son of Man, you derogate from those of the Supreme Being, who is his God and Father as well as ours.

7. Euseb. No fear at all, Sir. This is the Man whom God "delighteth to honour;" to whom he commands the worship of men, aud the adoration of angels.

8. Benev. 0, Sir, but you know those words are sometimes taken in a very lax sense in Scripture; and must not be applied to Jesus in the same sense as to the Supreme Creator.

9. Euseb. Indeed, Benevolus, I know of no Creator above him, or beside him: "All things were made by him, and for him; and without him was not any thing made that is made."

10. Benev. That, I confess, is Scripture language; but, I conceive, it requires much qualification in the interpretation. Without entering, however, into controversy on this point, permit me to ask, Do you not think, by thus referring all the glories of nature and of grace to our Saviour, you slight the divine Father, and are in danger of offending him by ascribing every thing to the Son.

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11. Euseb. God forbid that I should derogate from the glory of the Father or of the Holy Spirit. Most assuredly I cannot do this by honouring the Son; because the Father considers himself as peculiarly bonoured by this conduct and here I will venture to state to you what has often struck me in reading the Scriptures, especially the New Testament, namely, that there appears in God himself a peculiar anxiety, if I may so speak, to exalt on all occasions the divine Redeemer; a disposition not only different from, but even opposite to, that cautious temper which endeavours, by criticism and by carnal reason, to strip him of his glories.

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12. And I take the case to stand thus: Neither, in the plan of nature or grace, does the divine Father ever appear in an inferior character to that of Deity Su preme :

13. But it is otherwise with the Son; he humbled himself, he made himself nothing, and of no reputation; he was despised and rejected of men. Several things in the scheme of redemption appear, therefore, planned on purpose to counteract this, and to secure a due revenue of glory to the Son of God, as well as to reward the meritorious sufferings of the Son of Man. Let me be permitted to state a few of them.

1st. In his incarnation. God, in human nature, appears a mystery, dazzling to the faith of angels. When he bringeth his first begotten into the world, they are therefore assembled around his cradle, by that command, “Let all the angels of God worship him!" And was it not at this time they appeared to the shepherds? and (O! could a mortal eye have traced them!) no sooner had they paid their homage to their Infant Lord, than they fly, with harps still in their hands, and perhaps the same song upon their lips, to announce the joyful tidings to the Jewish shepherds.

2d. In his ministry. It might have well suited the modesty of the Saviour's character to have spoken, like the prophets his forerunners, and the apostles his successors, always in the Father's name. But, as some counterbalance to the meanness of his appearance, he speaks with the authority of a God and lo!" even the winds and the seas obey him!" Not only doth he work miracles, but he forgives sins in his own name, with a "Verily, I say unto thee!" And wherefore "hath the Son of Man power upon earth to forgive sins ?" Undoubtedly to prove the divinity of his character; for "Who can forgive sins but God only ?”

3d. In his resurrection and ascension. This was an angelic festival. The chariots of God were all assembled, as at Sinai, "The morning stars sang together;

and all the sons of God shouted for joy!" And whence this public exhibition of his glory? That his disciples might be well assured that he was received up to his former glories, "where he was before."

4th. In his mission of the Holy Spirit. Why was he to be sent by Jesus? Why take of the things of Jesus Was it not to aggrandize the character of the Son of God?

5th. In his exaltation at the right hand of God. Because he humbled himself to death, even the death of the cross, therefore hath God exalted him, "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess !"

6th. In his appointment to judge the world. For this we have the most express authority: "The Father judgeth no man; but hath committed all judgment to the Son;" for this very end, “That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father." Thus hath God provided for the honour of his Son; and seems in nothing to be so well pleased as in his being the universal object of love and adoration.

14. And permit me to add, that the New Testament writers themselves, appear to be actuated by the same spirit; and especially the apostle Paul, who seems to delight on all occasions to introduce, and even to reiterate, the name of Christ and seldom does he quote a passage from the Old Testament which speaks of Deity and his attributes, but he immediately applies it to his beloved Master. See, for instance, his Epistle to the

Hebrews.

15. St. Peter uses a style which, in any uninspired writer, would have been called Cant; for he speaks of his name, his person, his blood, his promises, as all precious, exceeding precious to the believer; and well am I persuaded, that the true and only reason which makes the language of inspiration appear too bold and presuming is, that we are not filled and animated, as the first disciples were, with the love of Jesus.

16. It is true, these terms may be assumed and abused by hypocrites; but go to the deathbed of the triumphant Christian, where hypocrisy and cant can have place no

more; hear the dear name of Jesus reverberating on his feeble lips, till the departing spirit takes up the dying sound, and flies with it to the realms of glory.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE STUDY OF NATURE.

Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice. Psalm lxv. 8.

CHRISTIANS, it is not a vain exercise to make nature and providence your study. You delight, we hope, to dwell on the page of inspiration, and by it you are directed to consult the volume of nature, and to read in it the wonderful works of God. Think not the employment below you; it was the delightful exercise of David, the son of Jesse, and king of Israel: a man who might have delighted himself with the ornaments of finery, and fared sumptuously every day. He is found contemplating the works of God, and admiring those beautiful changes in nature as the effect of the Divine Hand, which men, in general, totally overlook. "Thou mákest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.”

2. Pause here, and learn the propriety and the usefulness of David's employment. When light arose out of darkness, at the Almighty's command, the angels, the sons of the morning, sang together; man was not yet brought into being; and though he beheld not the first dawn of light, he no doubt, at first beholding the sun, was delighted with that emblem of perfection and purity. What a glorious change, when order rose out of confusion, when light sprang out of darkness, and the sun came forth from the womb of the morning, rejoicing as a strong man to run his race!

3. The same Almighty Power is unceasingly employ ed in overruling the changes of day and night. The operations of the Divine arm were not suspended when creation-work was finished. In the heavens he set the sun for a sign, and he marks his daily course. "Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice."