his mind is permeated, so to speak, with its facts and its reasonings.

Want of space admonishes us to lay down our pen for the present. But we intend to return to this Work in our next issue, and to furnish our readers with a few observations on the Author's Outlines of Moral Science.

Thoughts and Aphorisms on the Christian Life. Edited by the Rev. JOHN BAILLIE. London: JAMES NISBET and Co., Berners-street. While the celebrated Bunyan was laid in an English prison, thinking out his story of the "Pilgrim's Progress," there was another personage of kindred character pining on bread and water, in one of the prisons of the Romish Inquisition in Italy. That individual's name was Molinos. Like Bunyan, he offended the ruling powers by the eminently evangelical character of his notions on the subject of religion, and like him, resolved to turn his imprisonment to some account in the general interest of humanity. Though he was not up to Bunyan's mark, either in the originality of his genius or in the clearness of his views, he was further ahead of his Romish countrymen than Bunyan was in advance of his Protestant persecutors. Molinos' work was on the subject of "the Christian Life," and has been regarded as an extraordinary work, considering the circumstances under which it was produced. It was, indeed, disfigured here and there by some traces of Romish superstition. The mind of the

author, as his Editor intimates, though raised from the grave of superstition, was not freed from the grave-clothes in which he had been bound. An individual was required, who should free his work of certain blemishes by which it was disfigured. Now, that has been done by Mr. Baillie in the present publication. "The Christian Life is now sent forth nearly free from the cerements which originally covered it, and will, we doubt not, promote the cause of experimental Religion.

The Literarium. Vol. iii., No. 26.

This is a periodical intended to serve as an Educational Gazette and Journal of Literature, Science, and Art. As such it supplies considerable variety of matter. The following brief articles will convey some idea of the manner in which it is conducted :

LIFE IN MANCHESTER.

The Rev. Canon Stowell, delivered a lecture bearing the above title, before a very large audience, in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, on Tuesday evening, the 20th ult. The lecturer said that it was his intention to sketch the general and prominent characteristic features of 'Manchester Life,' not in the lower but in the middle and higher walks. The most prominent feature which distinguished the men of Manchester was an intense, energetic, determined attention to business and the occupation of ordinary life. There it was life in earnest, and he loved earnestness. Another distinctive feature in Manchester life was good common sense and sound judgment. Their Liverpool friends were disposed to imitate London and disparage Manchester-to speak of the 'gentlemen' of Liverpool and the 'men' of Manchester; but he would rather have a good, sensible man than a gentleman who set up for more than he was. Again, there was about Manchester men and Manchester life, a great deal of honesty and

unaffectedness, and disinterestedness, and unpretending kindness. There was also a great deal of public spirit, energy, and enterprise. Another feature of Manchester life was the zeal Manchester had shown, and was still showing, in the cultivation of the arts and in the increase of information and intelligence among all classes of the community. The last feature on the bright side of the picture to which the lecturer alluded was largehearted liberality and generous munificence. A person had only to make out a good case to meet with princely generosity and liberality. Turning to the dark side of the picture, the lecturer said that there was in Manchester a too intense and sustained application to business- -an absorption in its pursuits. Manchester life was largely-too largely a mere mercantile life, many having no idea beyond business. The spirit of competition led to speculation and commercial gambling,-to people trading without capital, and to an extent beyond their means. But, besides that, there was a great deal of actual gambling. He had heard it said that Manchester was looked upon as an authority in horse-racing and stakes. He concluded by alluding to what he very much regretted to see, the growing love for the excitement of diversions and amusement, and the growing taste for ostentatious display at entertainments. Against all these dark phases he earnestly warned his audience. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to the lecturer at the close.

Such articles as the following on the use of Time, especially with reference to mental cultivation, will be found to be valuable to readers of all classes;

TIME-HOW TO IMPROVE IT.-BY THE REV. ADAM BLYTH.

1. VALUE MOMENTS.

The smaller portions of our time are, perhaps, of all others, the most apt to be despised. An hour is wasted, because it is only an hour. Minutes are disregarded, because they are only minutes. Strange, indeed, that such a mistaken notion should be so common. How much depends upon the hours and minutes thus trifled away? Who will undertake to estimate their united value at the end of a day, a week, or a year? It must be acknowledged that we are inconsiderately prone to overlook the aggregate amount, in the apparent insignificance of these stray corners of time. We need to be constantly reminded that "sands make the mountain; moments make the year." How few put the question, "If I lose an hour, how shall I repay the debt ?" Nor should we forget here, that " of all the portions of our life, the spare minutes are most fruitful in good or evil. They are gaps through which temptations find the easiest access to the garden of the soul." In this view, it is sad to think of the multitudes to whom their leisure has proved their ruin. Yet how often are thoughtless and giddy persons heard to speak of their spare hours, in connection with the very amusements and pleasures that present such temptations to sin, Alas! how little do such persons think of the precipice on the brink of which they are sporting. How little do they reflect that they have in truth no hours to spare for such unworthy purposes-none for worldly vanities-none for the service of sin-none for the works of Satan-and that it is nothing short of robbery thus to employ them. Your spare hours, if such you call them, ought never thus to be trifled away, but, on the contrary, to be diligently redeemed for rational, and dignified and holy ends. Whatever be your outward lot in life, your condition is indeed truly pitiable if you are guilty of despising moments, or of throwing away any portion of your time in vain, or frivolous or sinful amusements. Assuredly you would not thus squander it if you remembered its hidden worth, or the infinite consequence which depends upon its right improvement. How

important the instruction of Scripture when thus applied: "Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost." Value moments.

2. STUDY ORDER.

The poet says, " Order is heaven's first law." And viewed in relation to the improvement of time, the observance of this law would not, in all probability, be earth's meanest boon. The disregard of this maxim, at least, it cannot be doubted, is one of the most prolific sources of wasted time. How many precious hours are every day frittered away, through want of systematic arrangement! If you would seek to obviate this waste, let there be a time for everything, and let everything be done in its time. In all your engagements let an hour be named, and let the utmost punctuality be observed. Let a regard to the value and importance of time, both to yourselves and others, be not only cherished in your memory, but be practically recognized in all the minutiae of life. Let each day, if possible, be divided into portions, according to the several duties you are called to discharge, and the relative importance attached to each. The economizing of time, it has been said, is like the packing of a trunk; “A good packer will get twice as much in as one inexperienced." You may see this illustrated every day in all the various walks of life-not more in the calm, steady, and systematic progression of some, than in the flurried, fitful, and unsatisfactory course of others, and in the relative amount of work which they each perform. Be impressed, therefore, with the importance of method in relation even to the smallest matters; and as no duty should ever be forgotten, so see to it that it be never wilfully misplaced. Let not one duty jostle out another. Let the law of order regulate your whole daily work. Attention to this practical but much neglected rule, will not only keep you from desultory habits, so ruinous in themselves, but enable you to make such progress in all your aims and employments, as would otherwise be perfectly unattainable. "One at once" is a valuable maxim. Study order.

3. AVOID DELAYS.

There is a natural propensity in many minds to forget the familiar adage, "Never put off till to-morrow what can be done to-day." With such persons the urgency of present obligation is entirely overlooked, and the dim and uncertain future is the world in which they live. To-day is forgotten in the prospect of to-morrow. To-morrow is always the fatal period to which the activities of their life refer. With them there is no present duty-the unborn future has carried it away. Their good intentions never assume a tangible shape; for the coming day to which they trust is always coming, but never comes. Thus they live regardless of the present, which alone is theirs, and pleasing themselves with the shadow, while they lose the reality. In the common affairs of this world such a habit is always pernicious, but in grave concerns of the immortal soul it is positively fatal. The words are strong, but nevertheless quite true, “Procrastination is the kidnapper of souls, and the recruiting-officer of hell.”

'Without delay," was the motto of Alexander the Great. Short and emphatic. Would that it were also the motto of the teeming multitudes who are now gliding so unconsciously down the stream of neglected time! Again we say, execute the work of every day with promptitude and vigour. Let not your life be ended before your work is finished. Opportunity is the blossom of time." Avoid delays.

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4. EARNESTNESS, THE SECRET OF SUCCESS.

Young man, whatever be your employment or calling in life, however humble or however elevated, be in earnest. Let not your proceedings be characterised by insincerity and lukewarmness, but let a vein of vigour

and zeal run through them like a golden thread. Be absurd, if you please; imbecile, if God has made you so; rash, if your temperament is warm; be anything or everything included in the list of human infirmity; but be not a sham! As sings the immortal bard,

Life is real, life is earnest,

And the grave is not its goal;

and if you palter with your avocation and coquette with visionary attractions, you will awake one day to a bitter realization of a life wasted and energies misspent. Live in realities; think, speak, act and write truths and facts: put all the immortal strength of your soul into duty, and perform it with might and persistency, and you shall then in " patience possess your soul," when no work remains to be performed, and when the voice of approval shall say, "It is enough, come up hither.'

Our readers will agree with us, in regarding the periodical that contains such articles, as being of some importance to the cause of general enlightenment.

The Desert of Sinai. By H. BONAR, D.D. London: NISBET and Co.

This is the title of a work, comprising a large variety of very intelligent Notes, of a Spring Journey from Cairo to Beersheba, by Dr. Bonar of Kelso. The notes were taken on the spot the pen and ink sketches were all executed in the presence of the objects described, to which, no doubt, is owing that air of reality and life with which the reader is struck in reading Dr. Bonar's production. The ample stores of information with which the traveller entered on his somewhat hazardous journey, enabled him to view the numerous objects in the course of his pilgrimage in their relation to Biblical History, and in this view, his work must prove of more than passing interest. We regret that want of space obliges us to dismiss this excellent work, somewhat summarily, but we cannot deny our readers the gratification of one or more quotations. We shall select a brief passage on

THE PYRAMIDS.

The Pyramids, with the exception of two small ones at Dashur, are built of limestone, not of brick. The limestone seems to have come partly out from the immediate neighbourhood of the Pyramids themselves, and partly from the Mukattem ridge near Cairo. The red granite which is found in the interior, and also in the surrounding tombs, is from Syrene in Upper Egypt, 500 miles farther up the Nile.

The view from the top was no common one. Some travellers have written that they were disappointed both with the view and with the Pyramids themselves. We were not with either. Seated on the top we had to take breath for some minutes after the ascent, which tries every joint and muscle in your limbs. Then we began to look about us. To the East, the yellow Mukattem cliffs, with the Desert behind them and Cairo at their feet, gleaming in the fair noon. Between us and the city there flowed the mighty Nile, whose waters we could trace far North and South for many a mile by the long line of moving silver, dividing the vast waste of dull unmoving sand. Along its banks rose numerous palm forests, and upon its bosom glittered the sails of a hundred river-boats, which, as they moved along, seemed in the distance like the white wings of the sea-birds.

To the West there lay the Lybian wastes on which the blue horizon rested. To the South rose the fourteen Pyramids of Sakharah, some ten miles up the Nile, where is the lately-discovered Necropolis with the mummy-pits of kings and gods. There is no doubt that the Pyramids were the tombs of kings, and the greatness of these structures shows how men strove to undo the humbling circumstances of mortality. To keep up the semblance of perpetual life, they caused themselves to be embalmed. To save themselves from the abasement of the "narrow house," they cased themselves in polished granite, and reared these enormous tombs. Faith, accepting the righteous sentence of mortality, as the wages of sin, and yet counting on a glorious immortality, in resurrection, said, “Let me bury my dead out of sight," but unbelief, rebelling at the punishment, and resolved to neutralise it, said, "Let us keep our bodies from decay and cover them with mighty monuments-that is all the life we know And thus, "the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory every one in his own house," so that when God would threaten Babylon, he tells her that she shall be cut out of her grave, "and not joined with them in burial"; and when He would warn Egypt, He says, they shall not lie with the mighty.

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The prophets nowhere make the slightest reference to these works of Egyptian pride, in their various predictions concerning Egypt, as if that which was the wonder of the nations was not worthy to be named. But perhaps it was to such structures that Job referred when he spoke of kings and counsellors of the earth, who built desolate places for themselves."

In looking from the Pyramids, it is old Egypt that comes up before your view,-old Egypt on both sides of the river. Modern Egypt, both in its Christianity and its Moslemism disappears. An old bridge seems to spring from the Pyramids, and to rest its first arch on the island of Rodah; from that it springs its second arch, which spans Cairo and rests on HELIOPOLIS; -the Pyramids, the Nilometer, and the Obelisk, forming links of an unbroken chain. It is all old MISRAIM everywhere, a land that seems never to die, or if it does, in its very death to rise up into a vastness that overshadows all modern grandeur. Gazing from the Pyramids, Cairo, fine as it is with its minarets and domes, seems but as a patch of mushrooms between two mighty oaks, or as a pile of white-washed houses between two old Cathedrals. Greek philosophy had its day of greatness, but old Egypt was still above it. Moslemism has had its era of grandeur, but old Egypt still towers above it. All the changes of the last two thousand years are but as modern additions to some old temple, which time after time moulder away and leave the ancient structure more venerable and more marvellous than before.

We have thus broken bulk, and now only have to refer the reader to the work itself, where he will find many passages of equal in

terest.

Our Christian Classics. London: JAMES NISBET and Co., 21, Berners-street.

This is the first number of a work intended to be a continuation of the "Excelsior," with a very much larger space devoted to Religious Literature. It consists of readings from the best Divines. Its contents are sufficiently varied and the articles are of solid interest. the succeeding numbers should evince the same discrimination in the selection and arrangement of the articles, the work must acquire a

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