it:-every morning may a grateful offering be presented to God; and that it may be acceptable before Him who is of " purer eyes than to look on iniquity," it must also be presented in the name and for the sake of that Redeemer, who, while our conduct calls every day and hour for condemnation, is "worthy to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." Rev. v. 12.

As the orb of day is in the natural, so is he in the spiritual world, and hence is called "the Sun of righteousness." Malachi iv. 2. In our system there is but one sun, and, according to Divine revelation, there is but one Saviour. "I," " he says, 66 am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me." John xiv. 6. "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed," is the charge of an inspired apostle, "do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto God and the Father by him." Col. iii. 17. And, again, it is written, "Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts iv. 12.

The sun in the firmament appears unimpoverished by the abundant influences already dispensed. At this moment he shines as brightly as he did when he beamed on the Saviour while he went about doing good; on

Noah when he entered with his family into the ark, or on Adam, when in days of innocence he walked amidst the beauties of Eden. In like manner, though all believers from primitive times, who enjoyed the institutions of Christianity; all who had the types and predictions of the former dispensations; and all who participated the privileges of patriarchs, received from the fulness of Jesus, it is still undiminished; he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. To Him, therefore, I may go, as confidently as if none had gone before; for he who has always been the great, the overflowing source of light— the light of knowledge, of purity, of hope, and of joy, is so still. Any other appeal will assuredly fail; but an application to Him, in the exercise of faith, will infallibly succeed. Truly, the light is good; and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun; but he that seeth the Sun of righteousness, and believeth on him, hath everlasting life.

Nor let the freeness of the solar influences be forgotten. That glorious orb receives no offering at the hand of man; his beams fall on the whole human family, "without money, and without price." And on these terms all spiritual blessings are offered to us. It is "not by works of righteousness that we have done," but according to the mercy of God alone, that we can be saved.

Titus iii. 5. At his foot the proud and presumptuous Pharisee is rejected, while the penitent and believing publican goes down to his house justified. He asks of every suppliant an open hand and a grateful heart; they alone honour Him who waiteth to be gracious; they alone receive the boon.

Next to the sun, the moon is to us the most interesting of all the orbs of heaven, and the constant attendant of the earth on which we live. She is the nearest of all the heavenly bodies; being only about 240,000 miles distant from our globe. Seen through a telescope, her surface presents a variegated aspect, being diversified with mountains, valleys, rocks, and plains, in every form and position.

The light of the moon is probably only equal to the light of one candle placed at the distance of twelve feet from the object, and consequently the light of the sun is more than 300,000 times greater. The lunar rays, when collected in the most powerful mirrors, have no sensible effect on the thermometer. Indeed, they seem to produce cold, according to the experience of practical men. M. Arago was assured by the gardeners of Paris, that in the months of April and May, they had found the leaves and buds of their plants, when exposed to the full moon in a clear night, actually frozen, even when

the thermometer in the air was many degrees above the

freezing point.

Another fact is also remarkable.

Men on board a

ship, while lying down in the moonlight, with their faces exposed to its beams, often have their muscles spasmodically distorted, and their mouths drawn awry; and others have been so injured in their sight, as to lose it. for several months. Fish, when eaten after having been hung up during the night in the light of the moon, have occasioned great pain and violent sickness. Ages ago Plutarch said, "Everybody knows that those who sleep abroad under the influence of the moon, are not easily awaked, but seem stupid and senseless ;" and the testimony of modern observers confirms the declaration. In his Letters from the East, Mr. Carne says, "The moon here really strikes and affects the sight when you sleep exposed to it, much more than the sun, a fact of which I had a very unpleasant proof one night, and took care to guard against it afterwards; indeed, the sight of a person who should sleep with his face exposed at night, would soon be utterly impaired or destroyed."

Decomposition goes on more rapidly when substances are exposed to the beams of the moon, than when the solar rays are acting upon them. Meat exposed to

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them soon becomes putrescent. A knowledge of such facts will throw much light on the words of the psalmist, "The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night." Psalm cxxi. 6.

A contrast to these circumstances must, however, be observed. Among the Hindoos the moon is spoken of in the masculine gender, and is believed to have a very favourable influence on all fruits and vegetables used by man. "Whilst the sun burns," they say, “the

moon cools." From the time of the new moon to its becoming full, all plants and all kinds of young grain are said to gain more strength than at any other time. In places where the young rice plants have failed, the farmer says, "I must put down some plants there in the new moon," from the idea that they will derive much nourishment from it. Before the time of reaping, it is often said, "The moon will bring forth the ears." Such ideas strikingly accord with the blessing pronounced by Moses on Joseph, which included "precious things put forth by the moon." Deut. xxxiii. 24.

There are yet some other circumstances recorded in Scripture, to which it will be well to allude. In the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, Joshua said in the sight of the people: "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou,