whose eminent talents are directed with unequalled disinterestedness to measures of permanent welfare to those states in which he has influence, and over whom his counsels must ultimately prevail. The Emperor of the Brazils, with equal zeal for the welfare of his country, feels himself perplexed by the ruined state of the public finances. The report of the minister of this department to the assembly of the empire, makes the deficit of the national income to meet the expenditure, 7,400,000 mitrees, being one-third of the entire revenue of the country, and that no means of retrenchment exist by which this deficiency can be re moved. He does not even hint at any precise measure by which the evil may probably be removed, but only calls upon every member of the assembly for his best exertions to help his country under circumstances which if not removed may prove her ruin. The rupture which had taken place between the French government and Buenos Ayres, seems to be in a fair way for settlement: all the most urgent points of dispute are arranged by a convention between the French commander, Viscomte Venancourt, and the government of Buenos Ayres, and the remaining ones are reserved for future treaty between the administrations of the two countries. St. Lawrence Newland, R. Lord Chancellor " D.&C.of St.Paul's, g St. Benet, Gracechurch, & Middl. London D.&C. of Canterb.alt. St. Leonard, Eastcheap, R. Williams, HamiltonJ. Buckland Dinham, V. Williams, J. Brown Llantrissant, V. Somerset B.&W. Glamorg. Llandaff Preb. Buckland Dinh. Essex London { UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE. OXFORD. The Rev. James Russell Phillott, M. A. Somersetshire; Rev. George Wells, M. A. Diocese of Chichester; and James Henry Hughes, B. A. Wiltshire; have been admitted Probationer Fellows of Magdalen College. Edward Green and Henry Cope Onslow, Diocese of Chichester; Thomas Harris, Warwickshire; George Ayscough Chaplin, and John Montague Cholmeley, Lincolnshire; have been admitted Demies of the same College. At the Visitation of Abingdon School, the following gentlemen were elected to Scholarships at Pembroke College : Tesdale Foundation - Mr. H. Percival Skelton, Mr. Martin Hawkins (founder's kin), Mr. Badcock, Mr. Thomas Goodlake. Wightwick Foundation-Mr. Strange. Notice is hereby given, That an election to the Scholarship founded in Pembroke College, Oxford, by Sir John Phillips, Bart. for natives of the county of Pembroke, will take place on Wednesday, the 21st of October next, in Pembroke College. Candidates must be between the age of fourteen and twenty, and are required to produce, at the time of election, an authentic copy of the register of the parish, signed by the parson, churchwardens, and overseers of such parish for the time being, where they were respectively born, within the said county. Persons intending to offer themselves as Candidates are desired to notify the same to the Master of the College ten days previously to the day of election. Pembroke College, Aug. 22, 1829. MARRIED. At Charles Church, Plymouth, the Rev. Charles Keven Williams, M. A. Fellow of Pembroke College, and Master of the Grammar School at Lewes, to Amelia, only child of J. Lampeer, Esq. Paymaster of the South Devon Militia. At Wingham, Kent, the Rev. Richard Sankey, M. A. Fellow of Corpus Christi College, to Mary Thomason, eldest daughter of the Rev. Richard Boys, M.A. senior Chaplain to the Hon. East India Company at St. Helena. MARRIED. CAMBRIDGE. At Cheddleton Church, Thomas Pell Platt, Esq. of Child's Hill, Hampstead, M. A. and Fellow of Trinity College, to Anne, youngest daughter of John Leigh, Esq. of Consall, in the county of Stafford. At Cantray, Inverness-shire, Robert Grant, Esq. M.P. M.A. and Fellow of Magdalene College, to Margaret, only daughter of the late Sir David Davidson. At the Collegiate Church, Manchester, (by the Rev. John Clowes, M. A.) the Rev. N. W. Gibson, M. A. Chaplain of Trinity College, to Mrs. Hodgkinson, daughter of William Simmons, Esq. NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. "On the Unlawfulness of Baptizing in Private Houses" in our next. We beg "J.S." to accept our thanks, and also our friend at Bath. We hope "R. P." has not forgotten us. We are always happy to hear from him. THE CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER. OCTOBER, -1829. REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ART. I.-A New System of Geology, in which the Great Revolutions of the Earth and Animated Nature are reconciled at once to Modern Science and Sacred History. By ANDREW URE, M. D. F. R.S. Member of the Geological and Astronomical Societies of London, &c. &c. &c. Professor of Physics and Lecturer on Chemistry in the Andersonian University. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green. 1829. 8vo. Pp. lv. 621. Plates, VII. Wood Engravings, 51. Price 21s. GEOLOGISTS do not think much of this work as a book of science, because it is chiefly a compilation from its predecessors, and as such contains so many opinions, and so many statements, that it is almost impossible to form any new decision upon the great questions which interest the student in geology, by the light it throws upon those subjects. What however causes us to undervalue it in that respect, induces us to think very highly of it in another point of view; for the variety of information which it affords, and the pleasing style in which it is written, recommend it greatly as a summary for such as are content to take their notions upon these abstruse questions at second-hand. It is with reference to this consideration that we have deemed it a fit publication to be noticed in these pages, more especially as it certainly, in great measure, fulfils the promise of its title-page, and reconciles the great differences which geologists and divines have found in the interpretation of the Mosaic history of the earth. We owe, therefore, no apology to our readers for thus stepping aside from our usual path, to wander awhile in the rocky wilderness of geological speculation. It is most marvellous to see how the ignorance of man will exalt itself against the knowledge of his Maker-how the dark absurdities of human reason will presume to enter into competition with omniscient wisdom, and how the thing created dares to say unto Him who made it-"The authentic history of thy works is a fable." To such follies as these has the perversion of the study of geology given rise: and it is singular that such fruits should have arisen from such a stem: for if there be any portion of natural history which, more than the rest, is calculated to afford an illustration of the truth of Scripture, it is that portion which weak-minded and wrong-judging men have prostituted to the cause of infidelity. Why this should be the case it is difficult to conceive. "The undevout astronomer" has long been styled a madman; and no less so the botanist who, gathering from the diluvial soil the specimens which he needs, sees not in the flower he cherishes, the name and the power of that God, who, in the words of the historian,, said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed after its kind, and the tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth: AND IT WAS SO." But no sooner does the geological sceptic look out, than all this wonderful and wonderworking system is declared a thing of chance; and instead of putting faith in the word which tells him, that "in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," without seeking to know what and when that beginning was, we find him doubting, or affecting to doubt, whether the world ever had a beginning at all. He will not be satisfied unless we tell him how long the days were in which the Almighty worked his will upon the elements which He had made, --unless we measure for him, with the shallow hour-glass of human ignorance, the very duration of the twilight which ushered in the dawn of earthly existence; unless we calculate the weight in ounces of the "dry land" which appeared, and fathom with reckless presumption the depth of those waters whose "gathering together" God called "seas." The error lies here:-the writings of Moses state the occurrence of two great events in the history of our planet-its creation in "the beginning"-its destruction for a time by the deluge which occurred in the time of Noah. Now geologists have no right in common sense to speculate upon that which occurred before the latter epoch.* What can we know of the primal features of the globe? What can we build upon, as data, in our best arguments respecting what might have One of the controversial inquiries of the present day is, the cause of the excavation of valleys-one party siding with the late Mr. Conybeare in his arguments respecting running waters—the other, enlisting under the banners of Dr. Buckland, (with at least reason on their side as well as Scripture), who say that valleys owe their form, depth, and direction, to diluvial action. We were much delighted lately to hear the sensible way in which the President of the Geological Society, the learned and eloquent Professor Sedgwick, endeavoured to reconcile the discordant and jarring differences of the " Fluvialists" and "Diluvialists," by shewing how little either knew of the matter, and how foolish it is, in clever and accomplished men, to let subjects of speculation awaken feelings of uneasiness where, under such circumstances, peace had been a better result, though born of ignorance. |