had been, and was enabled to retire with a princely fortune, about 1851. He now devoted himself to philanthropic objects, especially those in connection with his native town. It will not be necessary to trace very minutely his career of usefulness; suffice it therefore to say, that in 1856 he was raised by his fellow-townsmen to the office of mayor. In consequence of eminent services he rendered to the town in the first year of his mayoralty, he was re-elected to that office for the next year, and at the end of that term for the third time. Three successive elections to the highest office in any important municipality must be a distinguished honour which is secured by few. Sir John obtained his knighthood from the Queen on the occasion of her visit to Birmingham to open Aston Park, in 1858. On this, as on other occasions, Sir John was unbounded in his munificence in entertaining and feasting not only the great and the noble, but the poor and the needy. He Sir John was a member of the Methodist body, and when the great outbreak took place in 1849, he sympathised with Methodist Reform; at least so far as to connect himself with that mild attempt at expostulation and conciliation which was distinguished as "The Mediation Movement." was liberal in his support of Methodistic as well as general objects, and was from the first, we believe, an honorary member of the LOCAL PREACHERS' MUTUAL-AID ASSOCIATION, and was appointed one of its trustees, which office he sustained until his decease. We have not been able to ascertain any particulars respecting Sir John's religious life. That life, in his case, may have been a hidden one, and his walk with God known only to the few. It may be found by and by, when the characters of all will be revealed, that among those to whom the great Master will say, "Well done," will be John Ratcliff, late Mayor of Birmingham. Sir John died on September 1st, 1864, aged sixty-six, and his remains were interred in a vault at Edgbaston Church, on Saturday, Sept. 10, to await the summons of the trump of God. Religious Incident and Inecdote. SABBATH DAY SCENES IN THE LIFE OF A LOCAL PREACHER.-No. V. "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” . Ecclesiastes xi. 6. Such is the plain duty of every servant of God; but particularly of such as sustain the relationship of parents; and if the seed is sown in faith, the undying word of the Eternal must produce impressions, the depth of which only eternity will fully disclose. Some years ago I visited a man in his last illness, whose life had been a continued course of profligacy and vice. In his youth he enlisted into the army, from which he was discharged in a few years, in consequence of illness, contracted through habitual dissipation and crime. He then connected himself with a company of strolling players, and for a considerable time with them led a vagabond life; after which, as if determined to fill up the measure of his iniquity, he, with a female companion, opened a house of bad repute, where, for a number of years, such acts of infamy were perpetrated, that it became a hideous plague-spot in the locality where it was situate. The latter part of his history came under my own observation, the former part I had from his own lips. But his companion in crime died a fearful death; the house was broken up, and he, after a time, prostrated by sickness, found a home with a poor but decent family, and until his death existed on the relief afforded him by the parochial authorities. In these circumstances I found him, dark as nature's night spiritually; but expressing himself as desirous of becoming reconciled to that God against whom he had so grievously sinned. For some weeks I visited him as often as possible, and felt a deep yearning for the salvation of his poor sinstained soul. I read to him, prayed with him, and spoke to him of Jesus, the sinner's friend; but he did not appear to see the way of salvation, until one afternoon, about a week before his death. As usual, I had prayed with him, and endeavoured to direct him to the Saviour; after which, taking out my Bible, I opened at Isaiah, 1st chapter, and read the 18th verse: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Scarcely had I read the verse, when suddenly stretching out his arms, and raising himself up in bed, his eyes sparkling with a suddenly imparted spiritual light, he exclaimed, "Stop! stop! my mother read that to me when I was a boy at home!" I shall never forget the thrill of joy I experienced as I recognised the operation of the Holy Ghost in this truly spiritual awakening, and the resuscitation of the seeds of divine truth deposited in his heart in boyhood's days by a pious mother, who probably went down to the grave mourning, and almost without hope as to the salvation of her child. From that afternoon until his death, he with much simplicity appeared to trust alone in the merits of Christ for acceptance; and I cherish the hope that, through the mercy of God, I shall meet him before the throne, a brand plucked from the burning." 66 Oh! how my heart rejoiced within me that Sabbath evening, when preaching from Isaiah lv. 7. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." D. Astronomy. PHENOMENA OF THE MONTH. JUNE. Hail, lovely June, the noontide of the year, The nightless month, the carnival of flowers, The floral culmination of the Spring." FOR Once we feel inclined to criticise the poet whom we have taken to be our companion through the months. If we liken the year to the day, and the months to the different duodecimal parts of the day, June will not fall to the noontide of the year, but will answer to the two hours before the noontide. Our companion is also premature in designating June "the nightless month," that term being much more applicable to July, when the late twilight of evening stretches on to the early twilight of the morning, and none of the "blackness of darkness can be recognised even at the noon of night. But the latter part of June and the first fortnight of July comprises the period of the year that may be termed our nightless season-when the light that bathes the earth is at its maximum, the maximum of heat being generally a little later, reaching sometimes into the month of August. Light seems to be a mere effect or an idea rather than a substance. Yet modern research shows that it partakes of some of the qualities which distinguish different kinds of matter. It can be subjected to analysis, and is therefore a compound: it can be separated into different kinds of rays, which exert various and sometimes opposing influences; it can be deprived of at least one of its constituents: it can be intensified to blinding brightness, and focussed to burning heat; and it can be dispersed and softened to the mildness of evening twilight. It can be used as a mechanical agent, and its power as such is manifest throughout the visible creation. All these characteristics tend to prove its existence as a distinct creation of God, separate from all the objects in which it has been supposed to inhere only as an influence or a quality: and when the fiat went forth, "Let there be light!" the Omnific Word was in fact as effectual in creating the thing commanded as when that Word made man. What then is light? To this question no scientific man has ever yet ventured to hazard a reply. The mode and conditions of its existence have often been theorised upon and illustrated; and this is all that can be done. Light travels at the rate of nearly two hundred thousand miles in a single instant of time-so the best and most able astronomers assure us. But, say they, light exists in all space, is actually dispersed abroad or scattered profusely everywhere-is a Auid present everywhere, and ready for action everywhere to make manifest all the objects of sight so soon as the presence of the Sun is felt and acknowledged. How much is this accordant with the scriptural fact of the creation of light! The idea seems to be that light, spoken into being, was made at once to permeate and occupy not only the atmospheres of all worlds but the intervening spaces between them, independently of the presence or absence of the Sun or of any material luminary; and that, thus scattered abroad, it is brought into action by the influence of the orb which was given to rule the day. Long before scientific questioners of nature formed a theory of light, the psalmist beautifully and truthfully pictured in a brief sentence all that wise men have since thought they have with much toil and labour discovered: 66 Light," said the sweet singer of Israel, "is sown for the righteous." Compared to seed, it is represented as cast abroad unsparingly, in preparation for a harvest of good more glorious and happy than anything we see at present; and this great truth, so consistent with science, spoken almost before the birth of what the world now calls science, is a revealed truth, and, like all other divine revelations, it is made for the comfort and encouragement of God's own people the righteous-for them the light is now sown, and in the ages to come they shall inherit it, and dwell in light everlasting,—a truth as beautiful as it is glorious. The effect of light on the colours of flowers-so beautiful this month-is a deeply interesting subject of study. It has its influence on the fashion of the human countenance, as seen in the comparison sometimes forced upon us between the pale and languid face of the dweller in the back street of a erowded city, and the ruddy and vigorous health that marks the features of suburban and country people. In the production of beauty, so far as it is dependent on colour, and in the VOL. XV. sustentation of life, light plays a most important part. Earth's sun-kissed bosom teems with lusty life; Beauty, Heaven's signature, is everywhere. The Sun rises on the 1st of June at nine minutes before four and sets at five minutes after eight; on the 15th it rises at sixteen minutes before four and sets at sixteen minutes after eight; on the 21st, the longest day, it passes out of Gemini into Cancer, the length of the day being increased only twenty minutes from the 1st of the month; on the 30th the sun rises at twelve minutes before four, and sets at eighteen minutes after eight, the decrease of daylight in the interval after the 21st being about four minutes. The moon is full on the 9th at nineteen minutes before ten in the morning, and new on the 23rd at three minutes before eight in the morning. On the first Sunday it rises at five minutes after three in the afternoon and sets at twenty-one minutes after one in the morning; on the second Sunday it does not rise until nineteen minutes before ten at night; on the third Sunday not until nineteen minutes before one in the morning; and on the fourth Sunday it sets a little after nine at night, being visible more than an hour after sunset. Mercury is best seen at the beginning of the month in the morning, rising on the 1st at ten minutes after three o'clock. Venus is a morning star, arriving at its greatest brilliancy as such on the 13th, rising in the early morning all the month. Mars is still visible in the evening, setting after eleven at the beginning, and before eleven at the end of the month. Jupiter rises at four minutes after nine on the 1st and at six minutes before seven on the 30th. It will soon be the most conspicuous object among the stars of our evening sky. Saturn is visible throughout the evening, rising in the afternoon and setting in the early morning all the month. Uranus is invisible, and Neptune does not rise until after midnight. G. B. C. N Poetry. LOSS IN DELAYS. SHUN delays, they breed remorse; Take thy time while time doth serve thee; Creeping snails have weakest force, Hoist up sail while gale doth last, Time wears all his locks before, Seek thy salve while sore is green, one (Southwell, A.D. 1590.) Literary Notices. S. W. new THE CHRISTIAN MONITOR; OR, SELECTIONS FROM PIOUS AUTHORS. Partridge, 9, Paternoster Row. MONTHLY issues of almost all kinds of literature are so numerous that can hardly think any candidate for public favour has a chance of notice. Here is one, however, that really deserves a hearty welcome. A devout reader of the best religious authors of Great Britain and of America, for the last thirty years, has been in the habit of making choice extracts. Having often been himself blessed in the re-perusal of his "Selections" a desire arose "to print them in a collective form, in large type." The desire is gratified; and the public may benefit by reading what is thus presented, in monthly numbers, at twopence each, with illustrations; commencing with the month of March. Each number contains thirty-two pages of valuable and interesting matter. There are anec dotes, facts, principles, moral and religious aphorisms, gems of sacred thought, full of beauty. Here is a monthly bouquet, indeed, of beautiful and odoriferous flowers, that will never lose their perfume. THE GARDENER'S WEEKLY MAGAZINE AND FLORICULTURAL CABINET. Conducted by SHIRLEY HIBBERD, Esq., F.R.H.S. London: E. W. Allen, Ave Maria Lane. A JOURNAL of practical science in gardening and floriculture, published in quarto size, weekly and monthly, at the charge of a penny for the one, and of five-pence for the other, cannot fail to be attractive to the lovers of flowers and of gardening. The number now on our table is the third of the seventh volume. It abounds with instruction and information, illustrated now and then by a diagram in the department of scientific gardening, or by the graceful figure of a flower. Historical facts and amusing narratives, add to the interest of some of the articles. THE WORLD'S MAGNET, AND LAST MISSING LINK. ONE of the oddest farragoes that ever left a literary workshop has reached us, in the form of a pamphlet of 32 pages, bearing the above title, sent by "the author for review." It is printed by "Dixon, Cambridge," and sold by "Tressider, London." It contains a considerable number of interscriptions, designed as emendations by the author in his own hand. It contains an argument against the translation of Holy Scripture out of the originals into any other tongues except the Latin and Arabic; another argument to prove the absurd notion that the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden was alcohol! Then, an old story about an old portrait and a roll of bank notes of the value of £10,000 found in its frame; then a page about the eminent orientalist Sir Wm. Jones. After that, a scheme for the orderly reading of the Scriptures, with special distinctions of saints' days and holidays; then a fanciful nomenclature for days and months, drawn from the Latin and English versions of Scripture. Then eleven pieces of religious poetry-some of them gems, but one at least mangled and marred shockingly. A few elements of the Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew tongues besprinkle some of the pages. Is that enough? We wish the author better occupation for his time and talents. We advise him to aim more at real utility and less fancifulness, and to guard against excessive cerebral action. He may do good service to society if he be but prudent and wise. MUSIC FOR THE MILLION, published by Dixon, of Cambridge, we cannot recommend, because of its evident design of giving currency to a crotchet and a delusion. The recipes for making beverages without alcohol-four in number-by the same publisher, will serve a worthier purpose. They are given upon a sheet of writing paper, together with a piece of poetry, at a halfpenny each copy. OLD JONATHAN, a penny monthly, published by Collingridge, makes his appearance for March with a well executed portrait of Sir S. M. Peto, Bart., accompanied by a brief but interesting memoir of the worthy baronet. There are also three other engravings, illustrative of different subjects, and twenty columns of letterpress, comprising a large number of excellent articles, all thoroughly religious, and some of them in favour of total abstinence, upon a folio sheet of the best printing-paper. It is entitled to rank next to the "British Workman." We can speak in no higher terms of any similar publication. SUNDAY SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS. By the Rev. ALFRED TAYLOR, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church, Bristol, Pa. Pp. 198, extra fcap. 8vo., cloth, toned paper. London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co. WE gladly introduce this volume of portraits to our readers as one of the most valuable little works that ever came under our notice in Sundayschool literature. The style is clear, terse, and racy; abounding in illustration and instruction. The delinea tions of character are discriminative— accurate-lifelike. There are fortytwo chapters of less than four pages each, on an average requiring from four to seven minutes-generally about five-for reading. Each is complete in itself. "All appeared originally in the Sunday School Times'" (in America). There are five that portray superintendents; fourteen, teachers; eight, scholars; the remainder, speakers. We recommend it to every Sunday-school library; and we promise every reader a treat in the reading, spiced with a little healthy mortification-or shall we say humiliation ?-all for his good, and the good of his school. THE COTTAGE PREACHER: A book for those who are deprived of the privileges of the Sanctuary. By the Rev. HENRY WATTS. Pp. viii. 208, 12mo. London: E. Stock, 62, Paternoster Row. AN unpretending little volume of thirty short sermons, neatly got up, in ornamented red cloth, with gilt title. The paper is thick and strong, and the type clear. A modest preface giving an account of the origin and completion of the work, forms a suitable introduction to discourses that are well worth reading, and adapted to the school, the cottage, the barracks, the camp, the sick-room, or on ship-board. We have seldom read a similar work with equal satisfaction. Not that we agree with all that it contains: we do not. The author appears to be a minister of the Particular Baptist body. He believes in Particular Redemption, Effectual Calling as distinguished from a general call to salvation; the Final Perseverance of the saints, and "the Imputed Righteousness of Jesus." Of these things, therefore, he speaks, using such phrases as "the finished work of Christ,” and others that are commonly heard in the Calvinistic ministry. Not that he runs into controversy, or gives offensive prominence to Calvinistic phrases. He is so sincerely godly and earnest in setting forth Christ and his grace, that he has no taste for mere controversy. Yet his creed sometimes leads him unconsciously into a misinterpretation and |