professed. It is the want of this adaptation which forms, in our opinion, a serious defect in our congregational music. But we have marked another evil in the music of our churches, and one which appears to us of much greater magnitude. It is that which arises from the careless and tasteless selection of the tunes. We refer not to the introduction and repetition of new tunes, though to many this is a serious offence. The style of modern compositions (we speak of these generally) may not be altogether suited to our taste, we may greatly prefer the more sober and solemn of the days of our fathers; but it may not be so with others in the church; they may be more pleased with the light and showy of our musical compositions; and while we do not approve their taste, we can submit to it in the hope that time and cultivation will improve it. The evil of which we complain is not a mere error of taste; it is an error of judgment, and not unfrequently of heart,-one which can be traced, not simply to a want of knowledge, but to a spirit of vain ostentation.-It consists in the selection of inappropriate tunes. It is well known that every tune has its own character; it is bold, or solemn, or tender, or cheerful, or mournful. And while, perhaps, it may require a little more than ordinary knowledge of music to mark and correctly decide the distinctive peculiarity of a tune, yet the possession of that knowledge is of the greatest practical advantage. Who of us, in our intercourse with our friends, would express our joy in sighs, or our sorrow in laughter? Would the mother, whose feelings to her babe are communicated only by tones, give utterance to her fondness by shrieks, or to her happiness by sobs? And is it less a violation of propriety for the Christian, in his intercourse with God, practically to deny or to neglect these first principles of nature? Such improprieties in music may be ascribed to the incompetency of precentors, and the people may satisfy themselves, that as the blame is not theirs, they are not personally concerned. We are of a different opinion.-If the people themselves were improved in the art of music, as they should be, would the improvement of the congregation not tend to that of the leader? Would it not be the interest and study of the precentor to keep before the people in the things of his calling? And, in the improved state of the psalmody, would not the devotional feelings of the worshipper be raised and strengthened, and otherwise happily promoted? AIRDRIE. NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. NATURE AND REVELATION HARMONIOUS: of years; and has reached a circulation a Defence of Scriptural Truths, assailed in Mr GEORGE COMBE's Work on "the Constitution of Man, Considered in Relation to External Objects." By C. J. KENNEDY, Paisley. Edinburgh: William Oliphant & Sons. THE "Constitution of Man considered," by Mr George Combe, has now been before the world for upwards of a decade of upwards of 100,000 copies. The great doctrine which pervades it, may be said to be made up of the following views:-That the world and human nature are capable of rectification by the mere development of their own elements that man has been left by his Creator to find out for himself the method of placing his faculties in harmony among themselves, and in accord ance with the external world: that time | divine truth, and put him into an attitude and experience are necessary to accom- of defence. plish these ends: and that the human There is too good ground to fear that race are in a state of progress towards it has been silently sowing the seeds of the full development of their powers, antiscriptural opinions on a very extenand the attainment of the highest happi- sive scale; and that the minds, even of ness of which their nature is susceptible, not a few professing Christians, have which they will be sure to reach under been poisoned by its insidious and dethe auspicious guidance of phrenology, structive philosophy. whose light has at length arisen upon a Is it creditable to the friends of scripdarkened and besotted world, and is tural christianity, that such a work has destined to diffuse among our race the been allowed, for so long a period, to happiness of perfected humanity. We produce mischief throughout society, are not conscious of mis-stating, in the without any attempt being made to proabove sentence, in the slightest degree vide a fitting antidote? We humbly the scope and object of Mr Combe's think not. We have long desiderated work. It must be apparent to every the publication of a reply, which, within one at a glance, that a system which is based on these principles is irreconcileably at variance with divine revelation. And, accordingly, such sentiments as these are openly avowed and defended by the framer of the system :-That man when created was mortal: that he had at his creation the very same dispositions and tendencies as he has now: that in his original condition he was a savage, and that it is on the principle of the gradual development of the inherent powers of his nature that he has reached civilisation and refinement through the intermediate states of barbarism: that there are some tribes of human beings who cannot, with their present cerebral development, adopt christianity: that religion is only a subordinate means of human improvement, and that the size and proportions of the cerebral organs must be enlarged before religious teaching can have any effect that supernatural influences for transforming the character are not to be expected that all human suffering is punishment consequent on disobedience to the "natural laws:" and that it is by obedience to these laws that the improvement of human character is chiefly to be secured. Such a system sets at nought the fundamental truths of scripture, - derides the doctrine of human depravity, and treats as a fable the remedial economy of grace. : The book in which it is propounded and advocated, is all the more fitted to be injurious, that it is characterised by great ability that its deleterious views are mixed up with a large body of sound, valuable, and interesting instruction: that it wears the semblance of respect for the claims of scripture and is generally marked by great caution in the statement of principles, which, were they seen in all their bearings, would at once startle the unwary reader, who is on the side of a narrow compass, should seize on the salient points of this system, and, not only exhibit its antiscriptural character, but expose the hollowness of the foundation on which it is reared. We consider that the gratitude of the christian community is due to the association, under whose auspices the work named at the head of this notice has been issued, for supplying so important a desideratum, and committing the defence of bible truths, when assailed by a skilful and acute opponent, to an individual who proves himself to be furnished with "the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left." Mr Kennedy is an expert dialectician. His spirit is calm and dignified: the tone of his argument is that of a Christian: his book is not defaced by a single vituperative epithet; and the perfect ease with which he fetches his illustrations from the facts of science, and lays almost every department of knowledge under contribution to supply him with the requisite data, shows him to be not a whit less accomplished as a philosopher, than as a student of scripture. The theory of Mr Combe is here, in its leading points, fairly met, and, in our opinion, conclusively demolished: and altogether a counteractive to the sceptical tendencies of the "Constitution of Man" is here furnished, which makes it very desirable that the little treatise should be circulated as extensively, if possible, as the evil which it seeks to remedy. The first three chapters are devoted to a well-timed refutation of Mr Combe's theory-identical, so far as it goes, with that of the "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation," a work which has obtained a large share of public notice,that" the world contains, within itself, the elements of improvement, which time will evolve and bring to maturity" Ex amining the data which Mr Combe ad- "Here we find much that is hypothetiduces from geological science, as the cal,-much that we might be fairly entifoundation of this theory, in the shape of tled to question. But, supposing all this a few sentences culled from Sir Hum-to be correct, one conclusion is quite lephrey Davy's "Last Days of a Philoso- gitimately drawn from the data assumed, pher," Mr Kennedy shows that the data namely:-That in this state of the globe do not warrant Mr Combe's conclusions, no forms of life, such as now belong to which, while opposed by true science, are our system, could have inhabited it. As overthrown even by Mr Combe's own yet life was not. Boiling waters and concessions. Quoting Mr Combe's ac- burning ground were quite incompatible knowledgment, that creative power and with life. Molten granite, from whose wisdom were employed in originally con- surface all the materials which enter into ferring on nature the specific qualities the composition of living bodies would and constitution which belong to it, he have been thrown off in vapour, had been says:cooled down, it is supposed, at the exte"Here we have divine agency recog- rior parts; but it is also supposed that the nised. That such agency is indispen- heat was still too intense to admit the sable is admitted. It must be had re-existence of animal life, in such forms as course to somewhere. The point in dispute is the where, the place that is to be assigned to this agency. Is it only at the commencement of the entire series of causes that operate in the universe? Or is it both at the commencement, and at other parts of this stupendous chain? If we are to decide this point by an appeal to the facts of geology, we must appeal to the entire mass of those facts, so far as we know and can apply them,-not to a few isolated facts selected to serve a specific purpose, to support a favourite hypothesis. We must dare to look at the whole discovered evidence. We must hear the witnesses patiently, before we decide the case. To ascertain whether creative power is put forth at a given era, we must interrogate the intelligible phenomena belonging to that era. We must receive the recorded testimony that lies inscribed before us. Mr Combe having cited his witnesses, brings them forth to establish his case. Possibly what they say may be sufficient to make out ours. If so, we may save the time, and spare the patience of our readers, by resting our arguments chiefly on the testimony cited by him, leaving out much that might be adduced in favour of our own view from other quarters. Let us attend to the statements on which Mr Combe builds his hypothesis. "The globe in the first state, in which the imagination can venture to consider it,' says Sir H. Davy, appears to have been a fluid mass, with an immense atmosphere revolving in space round the sun. By its cooling, a portion of its atmosphere was probably condensed into water, which occupied a part of its surface. In this state, no forms of life, such as now belong to our system, could have inhabited it.' we now see in the world around us. All the forms of life, therefore, were yet to be originated. They necessarily belong to a subsequent era. This hypothesis, whatever may be its defects, annihilates the atheistic notion of an Eternal Series of living beings. An incandescent world was no place for beings whose corporeal structure must have been instantly dissolved and dissipated by the intense heat that then every where prevailed around them. Creative power must therefore have a place, not only at the commencement, but also during the progress of the mundane system. "Let us continue our examination of Mr Combe's evidence. "The crystalline rocks, or, as they are called by geologists, the primary rocks, which contain no vestiges of a former order of things, were the result of the first consolidation on its surface. Upon the further cooling, the water which more or less had covered it, contracted; depositions took place, shell fish and coral insects were created, and began their labours.' Here creation is admitted, distinctly admitted. How could it be denied? What but creative power and skill could produce the simplest shell-fish or coralline? Inanimate matter may assume new forms; changes in temperature may reduce aeriform matter to liquids, and liquids to solids; crystalline rocks may be disintegrated, and their materials may be recomposed, so as to form rocks of a different class. All this may result from the operation of mechanical or chemical causes whose existence is known, and whose influence may be ascertained; but life is neither a mechanical nor a chemical phenomenon. It is an object of a different class, and must be traced to a different origin. Chemical or mechanical causes may occasion the extinction of life. This "Or take one of the corals. In it, in addition to all that we have noted in the case of the shell-fish, we have its labours, which, insignificant as they may appear to the superficial thinker, form part of a stupendous and magnificent plan, which is as yet only developed in part-which includes the eventual formation of new abodes suited to the highest classes of terrestrial beings. they often do; but they never produce life. | Then we have the mysterious chemistry The living being, in its humblest modifi- by which the animal has the power of cations, possesses functions, and performs abstracting from the waters, appropriatoperations, which no mechanism, no ing to itself, and secreting from its body, chemistry can explain. In animal struc- the calcareous matter which forms its tures, we see the most admirable adap- shell. In addition, we have its organs tation of mechanical contrivance to the and powers of sensation-its voluntary maintenance and exercise of living func-motions-the apparatus necessary for its tions and acts. In them we likewise see nourishment, growth, and reproduction. the harmonious play of the most wonder- These comprise a combination of pheful chemical agencies. But we see some-nomena, so extensive, so varied, so thing more; something far superior; complex, so harmonious, so perfectly something which demands for its produc- adapted to the circumstances of the tion the intervention of the Creator to animal, that nothing but mental imbesuperinduce it on the mechanism and the cility or blind perversity could ascribe chemistry which such structures embody their origin to any other cause than and combine. Living substances have creative intelligence, power, and benequalities which raise them above that com- volence. plete subjection to mechanical and chemical forces which we see in the various forms of inorganic matter. They resist decomposition; they exhibit remarkable diversities in their temperature; when the temperature of surrounding objects sinks, their temperature does not sink to the same extent; they possess, in various degrees, the power of self-restoration,-a power that belongs not to inanimate bodies. If to these we add sensation and voluntary motion, which all animals possess, it will clearly appear that life includes what no causes purely mechanical can fairly explain. There is thus a wide interval between the simplest animal and the highest class of inorganic substances. Creative power is necessary for effecting the vast transition. We refer, not to the continuation of the species, but to their original production, to the formation of the first individuals belonging to the species. We fearlessly maintain, that causes merely mechanical or chemical, could not originate their structure, or communicate to them living powers. Be it observed, that the animals of the primordial era, though undoubtedly low in the scale of organised being, still were perfect animals, as perfectly adapted to the condition of things under which they had to live, as those now existing.' 66 They appear to have been chiefly zoophytes, mollusca, and crustacea. Take a shell-fish, or one of the class which would seem to have been among the earliest forms of life. In its structure we have most striking proofs of designing intelligence. If it is of the univalve class, how wisely is its arched or convoluted shell fitted to protect the animal from injury! If it is a bivalve, we have in the mechanism of its hinge and the form of its edges, convincing evidence of the same wise and benevolent design. "In each animal we have a complete system of creative arrangements. In the combined operation of their united influences, we may see the vestiges of an allcomprising plan, including within its stupendous range numerous successive eras and multiplied concatenated worlds. To such a plan successive evolution is essential. But what is the mode of evolution? Here we would check our presumption, and tread with awe as on holy ground-with awe, and yet with firmness; for the light that guides our steps is clear-the voice that calls us to proceed is distinct. Entering the depository of archaic forms, we see inscribed on all the objects that lie scattered in profusion before us, this legend-"The hand that made us is divine."" After showing that the successive changes in the surface of the globe preparing it for man, which Mr Combe adduces to support his theory of the development of inherent energies in the world itself, prove, not successive developments, but successive creations, and that they are spoken of as such by Sir H. Davy, the authority quoted by Mr Combe: Mr Kennedy employs the following apt illustration : "The sum of the whole historic outline is this:- Five successive races of plants, and four successive races of animals appear to have been created; at last man was created.' Here we are told, not of natural We would fain allude to the manner in which the author treats the different points discussed in the other chapters, but for this we have no space; and we content ourselves with very warmly recommending the treatise to the perusal and the patronage of our readers. energies progressively developed, but of prior to the time when, by new acts of creative power repeatedly put forth. This creative energy, he once more re-moevidence gives no support to Mr Combe's delled it in order to fit it for being the hypothesis, viz. that the physical de- abode of man, his noblest sublunary partment of the world contains within creature." itself the elements of improvement;' but, on the contrary, it ascribes the successive improvement of the world to successive creative acts, storing it with varied organic forms, at eras widely removed from each other. We have here reiterated interferences by the Deity, to roll back the tides of destruction, and call forth into being new forms of life, rising above each other in excellence, but at successive and remote eras, to occupy and adorn the still improving world. THE WOMEN OF ENGLAND, their Social London: Fisher, Son & Co. "To argue for successive development MRS ELLIS, as an authoress, has long as Mr Combe does, is no more just than been before the public. Her works, in it would be in a Canadian Indian to the course of a very few years, have argue, that the white man's dwelling passed through numerous editions, contains within itself the elements of fact which demonstrates how highly they improvement; because, when it first are appreciated. The volume before us arose near the forest, it was a rudely is the first of a new issue of Mrs Ellis' thatched wigwam; then appeared as a whole works, to be designated the "Engmud-plastered log-house; next, having|lish Woman's Family Library;" and the been successively improved, became a very neat and handsome manner in which convenient but rough building of stone, it has made its appearance, reflects much well roofed with tiles; and, last of all, credit on the publishers. We have great presented the aspect of a splendid man-pleasure in recommending this interestsion, built of polished stone, and covered ing volume to the attention of those for with a glittering metallic roof. Here whom it is intended. Though specially there is improvement, successive im- addressed to the "Women of England," provement; but how absurd would it be it will be found applicable to the female to ascribe this improvement to the dwell- sex of every country where the English ing itself, as if, by a process of develop-language is the medium of communicament like that which converts an acorn into an oak, the rude wigwam had been converted into a magnificent mansion. So far from containing within itself the elements of improvement, the dwelling contains within itself the elements of decay. It ever and anon needs to be repaired. Its improvement is entirely owing to extraneous, not to inherent, energy. Time developes in it no further excel- SKETCHES from SCRIPTURE HISTORY. lence. Time, on the contrary, developes By the late WILLIAM SCOTT, Esq. in it ever-growing defects. If entirely left to itself, it would make progress; Edinburgh: W. Blackwood and Sons. 1846. but its progress would be towards ruin. THIS is the production of a man who Similar to the progress of the white man's possessed a highly cultivated mind, and dwelling, is the progress of the world, who loved his bible. It is far, however, according to the data which we have from commanding our unqualified praise. been examining The world's Former We regard the first sketch, "the Robe of has, at various times, restored and re- Christ," and the seventh, "Emblematical modelled it, adding to its beauty in a Character of our Lord's Miracles," as diversity of ways, clothing it with ver- fanciful, and, indeed, absurd. The obdure, and filling it with sentient inhabit-ject of the author, in the first, is to point ants. To divine power and wisdom, not simply to the qualities with which God originally endowed it, are we to ascribe the successive improvements of the world, tion. The work is designed to diffuse happiness and comfort throughout our domestic circles, and Mrs Ellis has accomplished her task in a manner creditable to herself, as well as fitted both to profit and to please the reader. It ought to be in the hands of every intelligent female in the British empire. out the meaning, or mystery, shadowed forth under the form or texture of the Saviour's robe; and, in doing so, he gives it as his opinion, that "the scriptures, |