The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-17 00:00:00

DISCOURSES.

It (the volume of Astronomical Discourses) was pub-
lished on the 28th of January, 1817. In ten weeks 6,000
copies had been disposed of, the demand showing no
symptom of decline. Nine editions were called for within
a year, and nearly 20,000 copies were in circulation. Never
previously, nor ever since, has any volume of sermons met
with such immediate and general acceptance. The " Tales
of my Landlord" (Sir Walter Scott's novel above referred
to) had a month's start in the date of publication, and
even with such a competitor it ran an almost equal race.
Not a few curious observers were struck with the novel
competition, and watched with lively curiosity how the
great Scottish preacher and the great Scottish novelist
kept for a whole year so nearly abreast of one another. It
was, besides; the first volume of sermons which fairly broke
the lines which had separated too long the literary from
the religious public. Its secondary merits won audience
for it in quarters where evangelical Christianity was
nauseated and despised. It disarmed even the keen
hostility of Hazlit, and kept him for a whole forenoon
spell-bound beneath its power.

- -
Greater feats, however, than merely bewildering
the sceptical wits of the Cockney critic lay in the
path of Dr. Chalmers, and were speedily achieved.
From being a distinguished luminary in the humble
Scottish Kirk, the great divine was soon raised to
the eminence of a " bright particular star" in the
circles of science, opulence, and grandeur ; courted
by men of letters, caressed by the hereditary
nobility, and countenanced by royalty itself; yet
all without detriment to the simple humility of
mind and earnest Christian benevolence of the
modest and unassuming, though eloquent and
powerful preaeher. A narrative of the life of such
a man, written with perspicuity and truth, must
furnish many a lesson of Christian virtue ; such a
narrative is that now before us. Need we, can we
say more in its commendation ?

Miss Corner's Scriptural History Simplified.
London : Thomas Dean and Son.

The object of this volume is to bring the leading
facts and events of Scripture history prominently,
yet simply, before the mind of youth. It is
arranged in answers to a series of questions which
embrace the history of man from the period of the
deluge to the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Romans under Titus. The book has evidently
been compiled with much care, and will be found
an admirable companion to the nursery or school-
room ; and will bear a fair comparison with the
other school-books produced by Miss Corner. This
one, we perceive, has been submitted to the revi-
sion of Dr. Kitto.

The Dublin University Magazine. Dublin :
James M`Glashan.

The January number of this favourite periodical
is of the accustomed excellence which has distin-
guished its career and maintained its popularity.
The number opens with a scene in " Our Winter
Garden," which is gaily bedizzened with poetic
fruit of rare excellence, and no inconsiderable
variety. To this succeeds the first portion of what
promises to be an interesting series of papers under
the title of "A Voyage to Van Dieman's Land."
The present part of it is written with much spirit,
and indicates great shrewdness and a vigilantly-
observant eye on the part of its author, who, as
yet, in his descriptive voyage, has got no further
than the summit of the Peak of Teneriffe, the diffi-
culties to be encountered and vanquished in
ascending which he describes with great spirit.
This is followed by a capital aper on our " Present
System of Cavalry Tactics,' in which the defects
of the system are clearly pointed out, and sugges-
tions are modestly made for the removal of those
defects. "Memories of the Count de Lally" is the
commencement of another biography of " Eminent
Irishmen," with which the readers of this magazine
have been so frequently charmed. Besides the
papers named, there is a collection of excellent
articles on various subjects in prose and verse, and
the number is appropriately closed by a smart
analysis of " The early Continental Campaigns of
the British Army." As a whole, the January
number forms a promising inauguration to the
year's magazine, and fully maintains its reputation.

Index to Familiar Quotations. Liverpool:
Walmsley.

The frequency with which quotations are used,
both in speaking and writing, gives them a more
than ordinary interest, for few will deny the ad-
vantage of being able to express an idea in the
words of one who has used the most appropriate
language. But, amidst the multitude of these
gems of thought, there is a strong desire to dis-
cover the authority made use of, not only for the
purposes of curiosity, but also to ensure the cor-
rectness of the quotation. Few, however, have
the means or the opportunity for the research, and
they have here a help and a guide in the labours
of Mr. Grocott,of this town. His relaxationfrom the
dry study of the law he has made not only pleasant
to himself; but profitable to others, by the produc-
tion of a book of which every one of the reading
public will gladly avail himself. He has wandered
through the ample stores of literature, collected
their gems, and arranged them with such me-
thodical precision, that the reader has but to select
a subject and find a quotation ready fitted for it.
His field of research has been ample, comprising
the Holy Scriptures, the matchless Shakspere, and
authors in prose and poetry, foreign as well as
British, and the materials he has arranged in
alphabetical form, giving parallel passages from
various writers, so that the reader may compare
them, and select according as his judgment or
caprice may dictate. It is no slight advantage
of this mode of arrangement that claims to priority
of particular forms of expression are thus brought
prominently forward ; and it is curious to notice
that several passages for which comparatively
modern writers have hitherto enjoyed the credit
were borrowed from earlier authors, and issued to
the world with merely a thin disguise. Mr. Gro-
cott's has been a labour of love, but it is one for
which many will heartily thank him, and we anti-
cipate for his little work a very extended patronage.

" More and More." A word to my Flock, at
the beginning of 1854. By the Rev. W. M.
Falloon, A.B. Liverpool :A. Newling.
The beginning of a new year has been appropri-
ately seized on by the incumbent of St. Bride's, to
offer an address to the members of his congregation.
The address is opened with following suitable
EXORDIUM.

Another year has opened upon ns all through divine
mercy ; it dawned with the sacred light of the Lord's
day, so that its earlier hours were hallowed ; if allowed
to travel through its appointed course of months, with
the same blessed day it is to close ; between these two
holy days, the first and the last of our New-year, what
changes may occur ! Changes national, political, spi-
ritual, ecclesiastical, congregational, pastoral, personal,
relative, and domestic ! Even before the buds of the coming
spring burst forth into beauty ; or before the summer's
sun ripens the fruit upon the trees ; or before autumn's
blast strips nature of its verdure, and introduces hoary
winter, what hopes may be blighted ! what expectations
shattered ! what eyes darkened! what tongues silenced !
what hearts rent and torn ! what families dismembered !
what souls lost! what sinners saved! what conflicts
endured ! what battles fought ! what victories achieved !
We cannot with intelligence look our New-year in the
face, without perceiving on its disc some faint outlines
which seem like the shadows of coining events ; and
though they do not as yet fully declare their intent, or
say to which of us they come, still the very uncertainty
wakes up within us varied anxieties ; these produce fears,
and these can alone be allayed by being at once committed
to the care of Him "with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning :" and so, dwelling in the secret
place of the Most High, and abiding beneath the shadow
of the Almighty, you may turn your eyes from the clus-
tering shadow§ of the future, to the bright lines written

on the blessed pages of inspiration, and gather to your
souls a gracious confidence as you read: " He shall deliver
thee in six troubles ; yea in seven there shall no evil touch
thee. In famine He shall redeem thee from death ; and
in war from the power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid
from the scourge of the tongue ; neither shalt thou be
afraid of destruction when it cometh. At destruction
and famine thou shalt laugh; neither shalt thou be afraid
of the beasts of the earth. For thou shalt be in league
with the stones of the field ; and the beasts of the field
shall be at peace with thee. And thou shalt know that
thy tabernacle shall be in peace ; and thou shalt visit thy
habitation, and shall not sin."

After a brief review of the past year's experi-
ences, and an earnest exhortation to perseverance
in Christian well-doing, he proceeds to express his
anxious desire to promote the well-being of his
flock, and states his apprehension that on this
point he may be misunderstood, and even misrepre-
sented, as expecting too much. He then advances
in the following eloquent terms his admonition for

MORE AND MORE OBEDIENCE,

Also, "more and more". obedience : " to obey is better
than sacrifice, and to hearken, than the fat of rams."
1 Samuel, xv., 22. Why so ? Because it is more pleasing
to God, and more profitable to others and to ourselves ;
it is a sorer trial to the flesh, and a surer test of principle.
A man may offer a costly gift, without much sterling
principle; but no man can or will persevere in a course
of quiet, unnoticed, self-denying obedience, without being
inwardly sustained by the grace of God : a man may give
large sums of money in the sight, and amidst the applause
of his fellows, who may be grossly disobedient in the
sight of his Judge, every day, in small matters, both at
home and at his business : his sacrifice will not cover his
sin ! Better for him far to seek to master and control his
temper ; to be patient and kind to those around him ; to
consider and consult for the feelings of others ; to be just
and true in all his dealings ; to hate " the false balances,"
and to love " the just weight," and so "to please God,"
rather than, omitting these "weightier matters," to please
himself, and to please his fellows by his handsome dona-
tion to some society or charity; perhaps, I might better
say, this ought he to have done, but not to leave the
other undone : worth is better than words ; serving is
better than sighing ; working is better than weeping ; it
is far more easy to shed tears on hearing or reading some
tale of woe, than quietly and cheerfully to go to the cellar
and relieve the case of wretchedness; to sit in the
cushioned stall of a concert-room, and fancy ourselves
religious whilst enjoying the thrilling sensations produced
by adoratorio, is one thing ; to leave the comforts of our
homes, and to seek out " the fatherless and widows in
their affliction," amidst narrow streets and uninviting
courts and lanes, is quite another thing : the one satisfies
the flesh ; the other pleases God. All this demands
effort, and the effort must be made, if we are to walk
so as to please God ; the spirit of self-indulgence, of ease,
and of slumber, must be broken in upon ; Christian prin-
ciple requires it ; the exigencies of the age demand it ;
the awful condition of perishing thousands in our own
town clamour for it ; swarming hourly, as they are, on
the brink of the " bottomless pit," and constantly falling
over and dropping in, before our very eyes," as it were,
and no hand of love stretched eagerly forth to save them!
Where is our obedience to God ? if the souls of professing
Christians were really in tone, if their hearts lived under
the mighty impulse of those words, "if ye love Me, keep
my commandments ;" and again, " if ye know these things,
happy are ye if ye do them ;" and again, "occupy till I
come ;" and again, " go, and do thou likewise ;" .do you
think that our jaols and penitentaries would be so crowded?
do you think that our ragged schools would be drooping
for want of teachers ? or our institutions languishing for
want of funds ? do you think our poor would be left unas-
sisted ? do you think we would be compelled constantly
to press and squeeze for paltry money, in order to main-
tain Christian objects, or to resort to the unfortunate
bye-path of "bazaars," and thereby deaden and destroy
the principle of Christian benevolence by getting some-
thing for what we give !(?)—Oh ! my dear brethren,
awake, awake ! let practical obedience be your enjoyment
and privilege ; this is the only world in which you can
work for God ; be busy, for " time is short ;" let us do
our part as a congregation; and in all these things,
" abound more and more."

Having exhorted to more love, and more study.
of God's word, he concludes by a pointed recom-
mendation of more prayer, which he does as
follows :