looking at him she said, 'Doctor, am I dying?' Upon his replying 'I fear you are,' she said, 'You did not tell me I should die.' He replied, 'We have done all we can to save you.' She at once exclaimed, 'Thanks be unto God Who giveth me the victory over death!' She then sent messages to her dear father and brothers by her sorrowing mother, saying, with much earnestness, 'Tell them all to meet me in heaven ;' then, turning to her distressed husband, she said, 'I would live in pain for you, if it were the Lord's will: He knows what is best; I leave all in the hands of the Lord: "though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."" Many other precious words could not be heard, as the 'silver cord' was being 'loosed.' Her last words, repeated in a whisper, were, 'Christ! Christ!' Thus, within a year of her happy marriage, and after four days of intense suffering, she sat down at 'the Marriage Supper of the Lamb,' early in the morning of October 13th, 1881. H. I. T. THE LAPWING. Usually complainers do least. The crafty lapwing will go up and down fluttering and crying, to draw the fowler from her own nest. We have some secret nest of our own, and we are loth it should be rifled and exposed to public view, and therefore we raise an alarm about other matters.'—This we may be doing without being aware of it, for self deceit is easy. We may be amusing ourselves with zeal for political forms, when in truth our own personal habits need reforming; or we may be exclaiming against the errors of the Church, while our own private life far more needs our attention. It is a pity to be cheating our own selves. Our author, however, is very shrewd in his judgment of complaints. Our own experience leads us to the conclusion that critics of others, and noisy talkers of all kinds, have usually some design of their own, and are working to their own hand. If we were to press them home we should probably discover that they are no better than they should be. Their pretence of being wounded and hurt by the sins of others is a crafty scheme for drawing away observation from their own failings. Lapwings are plentiful enough all around us, and not a few are still deceived by their practices. O Lord, save me from all deceit, and, above all, prevent my deceiving myself!* * Illustrations and Meditations; or, Flowers from a Puritan's Garden, Distilled and Dispensed, by C. H. Spurgeon. NOTICES OF BOOKS. The Character and Life-Work of Dr. Pusey. A Sketch and Study. By the REV. J. H. RIGG, D.D. T. Woolmer, 2 Castle-street, City-road, E.C. -We do not hesitate to say that this little book is one of the ablest works of its distinguished author. In six brief chapters Dr. Rigg sums up the Life-work of the man who has had, for good and evil, perhaps a greater influence on the religious life of our own time and country than any other teacher. With perfect fairness he acknowledges that 'Dr. Pusey was a good man, however lamentably in error; ' yet points out with characteristic clearness, force and unsparingness how great his errors were all the greater and more lamentable because of the goodness, learning and devoutness of their propagator. Every one who wishes to have a clear and fair impression of Dr. Pusey should read carefully this short but full sketch of his Character and Life-Work. Faithful Stewardship. A Charge delivered by the REV. C. GARRETT, ex-President, at the Ordination of sixty-three young Ministers at Hull, 1883. Wesleyan-Methodist BookRoom.-A Charge' so full at once of fervour and common sense, that it touched the heart and mind of all who heard it. Every Minister, young or old, might profitably read its counsels and warnings. It is thoroughly characteristic of its author, and is a worthy memorial of Mr. Garrett's Presidency. The Number Seven in Scripture. Compiled by S. A. BLACKWOOD, C.B. Morgan and Scott.-A very interesting and instructive compilation, illustrating the frequent and evidently intentional use of the symbolic num ber seven in all parts of the Bible. It is a pity, however, that the author has allowed his anxiety to increase the number of sevens' to lead him to such trivialities as the enumeration of 'seven things Nehemiah did,' one being 'he sat down'! Nor can we help a feeling of incongruity when we find the 'seven weepings of Joseph' classed with the seven sayings of Christ on the cross, as being alike of 'Divine design.' Surely this is reducing careful study of the Scriptures to something like childishness, and is more worthy of the old Rabbis than of sober nineteenth-century Christians. Joe Webster's Mistake. By EMILIE SEARCHFIELD. London: T. Woolmer. -A well-conceived story, inculcating unselfishness and submission to the Divine will. ASTRONOMICAL NOTICES FOR OCTOBER, 1883. BY A. GRAHAM, Esq. RISING AND SETTING OF THE SUN AND PLANETS FOR GREENWICH. Oct. 1st, New Moon. 5h. 54m. morn. 9th, First Quarter 10h. 20m. Oct. 16th, Full Moon 6h. 45m. morn 22nd, Last Quarter 11h. 19m. aft. Oct. 30th, New Moon, 11h. 57m. after. Decrease of distance for the month THERE will be two eclipses this month. One of the Moon on October 16th, visible throughout the continent of America, and partially visible in the western regions of Europe, Asia, and Africa. It begins at 4h, 42m., and ends at 9h, 6m, in the morning, Greenwich mean time. The Moon sets at Greenwich at 6h. 25m. in the morning, half an hour before the middle of the eclipse. An annular eclipse of the Sun on October 30th, 31st. It is visible as a partial eclipse on the eastern coasts of Asia, and the western coasts of North America, and in the Pacific Ocean to more than 20 degs. southward of the Equator. The line of central eclipse nearly touches the parallel of 10 degs, north latitude in the North Pacific, at about 152 degs, west longitude. Mercury will be in inferior conjunction with the Sun on the 7th, at 1h, in the morning. After that it will be a morning star, and may be seen with the naked eye before sunrise toward the end of the month. It will be in conjunction with the Moon on the 2nd, at 3h. in the morning; and on the 29th at 3h. in the afternoon. It will be in conjunction with Venus on the 4th, at 3h. in the afternoon, Mer 91,736,930 miles. 39 cury 4 degs. southward. On the 12th, an hour before midnight, it will be in ascending node. On the 15th, at 9h. in the morning, its apparent motion among the fixed stars changes from retrograde to direct. It will be in perihelion on the 17th; at its greatest elongation from the Sun, 18 degs. westward, on the 22nd, at noon; and at its greatest distance northward from the ecliptic on the 27th, at 8h. in the evening. Venus is an evening star, setting soon after the Sun. It can only be seen with a telescope. It will be in conjunction with the Moon on the 1st, at 3h. in the afternoon; and on the 31st, at 11h. in the evening. Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are visible throughout the greater part of the night. Mars and Jupiter will be in conjunction on the 19th, at 7h. in the evening, when the angular distance of the centres will be less than a degree. The appearance of the planets throughout the night will be very striking. Mars will be in conjunction with the Moon on the 23rd, at noon; Jupiter at 9h. on the morning of the same day; and Saturn on the 19th at 9h, in the morning. HAZELL, WATSON, AND VINEY, PRINTERS, LONDON AND AYLESBURY. Fo MARTIN LUTHER. OUR hundred years ago the home of John and Margaret Luther of Eisleben was gladdened by the advent of a little child, and there was great joy there, for he was the first-born, and brought to that humble dwelling a wealth which God, in His goodness, grants alike to rich and poor. They were poor but godly and intelligent folk-the miner and his wife. They knew that this child was God's gift to them, and hastened to make him, as the most precious thing they could offer, their gift to God; so on the day following his birth he was dedicated to the Lord in baptism, and since he was born on the eve of St. Martin of Tours-November 10th, 1483-they, in accorNOVEMBER, 1883. 2 I dance with the custom of the time, named him 'Martin.' Proud and happy and hopeful as they then were, how far their highest ambitions fell short of what God had in store for their baby-boy! He who lay now in that poor home should 'stand before kings,' and 'not before mean men,' the dynasties of ages should tremble, and the superstitions of centuries fall before the word of that little child. MARTIN LUTHER had rough work to do, and must learn betimes to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.' So God in His Providence sent him early to a rough school. Poverty and Piety are good teachers for any lad who has in him the makings of a brave and noble man; and Martin Luther learnt much from them in his boyhood that helped him to bear the heavy burdens of his manhood. John Luther moved from Eisleben to Mansfeld when his son was still an infant, and there Martin received his first schooling. At fourteen he was sent to Magdeburg, and shortly afterwards to Eisenach. Here he gained a good education free; but was often compelled to beg his bread by singing in the streets-a very precarious mode of subsistence. One day, wearied and disheartened, having been repulsed from several doors, he stood in profound despair, feeling that he could bear such a life of want no longer, but must hasten back to the frugal home at Mansfeld. Just then, however, a door opened, without his knocking, and a woman's voice bade him enter. That call opened a new and brighter life to the young scholar. To his dying day he never forgot the kindness shown him under that roof. And to-day as we commemorate the great Reformer's life and work let us not forget to pay our humble tribute of gratitude to the memory of Ursula Cotta-the friend and more than mother of Martin Luther. Nearly four hundred years have passed away since that gentle voice called the famished lad to find food and shelter, and better still, love and congenial company; but wheresoever the story of the Reformation is told 'there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.' Well might Luther say long afterwards as he thought of Ursula Cotta: There is nothing sweeter in the world than a good woman's heart.' Years after, when his own fame had spread far abroad, he had the joy of returning something of the kindness shown him at Eisenach by receiving into his own house at Wittemberg the son of his early benefactors, Conrad and Ursula Cotta. A few happy years passed away, and when eighteen years old he became a student in the University of Erfurt. Here his great powers soon showed themselves, and his friend Philip Melancthon declares that his genius was the marvel of the whole college. Here, too, he |