Miscellanies, 171 



Christianity, and derived from them that consolation which they are 

 so well fitted to inspire. It is a proud triumph of the christian faith, 

 that the greatest chemical philosopher of modern times, should not 

 only have added his testimony to its truth, but should have spent his 

 latest hours in impressing his convictions upon others. There per- 

 haps never was an individual who rose more quickly than Sir H. 

 Davy to the highest objects of ambition. Placed in the chair of 

 Newton, at the head of the Royal Society, honored by the special 

 notice of his sovereign, associated with the highest ranks of society, 

 and distinguished over ail Europe, as the most successful of modern 

 inquirers, he yet found that tiiere was something beyond all this, af- 

 ter which his soul aspired, and before which all earthly gfory dis- 

 appeared. 



" Religion," says lie " whether natural or revealed, has alvvays the 

 same beneficial influence on the mind. In youth, in health and 

 prosperity, it wakens feelings of gratitude and sublime love, and pu- 

 rifies at the same time that it exalts } but it is in misfortune, in sick- 

 ness, in age, that its effects are most truly and beneficially felt ; when 

 submission in faith, and humble trust in the Divine will, from duties 

 become pleasures, undecaying sources of consolation ; then it creates 

 powers which were believed to be extinct, and gives a freshness to 

 the mind, which was supposed to have passed away for ever, but 

 which is now renovated as an im.mortal hope 5 then k is the Pharos 

 greeting the wave-tossed mariner to his home, as the calm and beau- 

 tiful still basins or fiords surrounded by tranquil groves and pastoral 

 meadows, to the Norwegian pilot escaping from a heavy storm in the 

 Nortli Sea, or as the green and decoy spot gushing with fountains to 

 the exhausted and thirsty traveller in the midst of the desert- Its 

 influence outlives all earthly enjoyments, and becomes stronger as 

 the organs decay and the frame dissolves ; it appears as that evening 

 star of light in the horizon of life, which we are sure is to become 

 in another season a morning star, and it throws its radiance through 

 the gloom and shadow of death." 



We v/ould strongly recommend this volume, not only to the study 

 of scientific men in general, but especially to those who are just en- 

 tering upon their philosophical career. At that dangerous period 

 when presumption and scepticism are the attendants of knowledge, 

 it will not be an unprofitable lesson to read in the lives of Newton 

 and of Davy, that in minds of the highest order, humility and pietj 

 me the genuine offspring of true science. — Dr. Brewsfer^s JournaL 



