presence. whelming objects to which we have adverted, nu- that man has lost, in part, that light of reason and merous, august and overpowering as they are, are not intelligence with which he was originally invested, the universe-they are only a few detached apart- and that he is now "born like the wild ass's colt." ments of it, and, perhaps, bear no more proportion to 2. This amazing universe demands the serious the whole, than a single star to all the myriads of contemplation of every rational being, and of every stars which lie within the range of telescopic vision. Christian. It contains a sensible adumbration of the Of the universe in all its extent, as it really exists, Divine attributes of the eternity, immensity, omman will never be able to form an adequate concep- niscience, omnipotence, wisdom and benificence of tion. Yea, it is highly probable, that there is not a Him who presides over all its scenes and movements. single intelligence, even among the highest order of To overlook this amazing scene, or to view it with created beings, who is acquainted with every region indifference, is virtually to "disregard the works of of universal nature, and the objects it contains; and Jehovah, and to refuse to consider the operations of that the greatest part of creation, with its scenery, his hands." It is a violation of religious duty, and movements and inhabitants, is known only by Him implies a reflection on the character of Jehovah for who formed it by his power, and fills it with his any Christian to imagine that he has nothing to do with God considered as manifested in the immensity Had the limits of this paper admitted, I might have of his works; for his word is pointed and explicit in adverted to the motions which are going forward directing the mind to such contemplations. "Hearthroughout this mighty universe. For all the my-ken unto this, stand still and consider the wonderful riads of globes and systems to which I have alluded, works of God"-"Great is the Lord, and of great are in rapid and perpetual motion, and we have no power, his understanding is infinite"- -"He hath reason to believe that there is a single quiescent body made the earth by his power, he hath established the in the universe. We have here planets revolving world by his wisdom, he hath stretched out the heaaround suns-planets revolving around planets-vens by his understanding"- "Praise ye the Lord, suns performing their revolutions around suns-suns from the rising of the sun to the going down of the revolving around the centres of systems; and, in all same, for the Lord is high above all nations, and his probability, every system of creation revolving around glory is above the heavens"-"The Lord hath prethe centre and grand mover of the whole. The rate pared his throne in the heavens. By the word of the of these motions, in every known instance, is not less Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of than several thousands of miles every hour, and, in them by the breath of his mouth"-"Let all the some instances, thousands of miles every minute. earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the The fixed stars, though to a common observer they world stand in awe of him; for he spake and it was appear nearly in the same positions with regard to done, he commanded and it stood fast"-"Great and each other, are found, in some instances, to have mo- marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty"— tions far more rapid than those of any of the plane-“Declare his glory among the heathen, and his wontary globes, though their magnitude is immensely ders among all people"-"Thy saints shall speak superior. The star sixty-one Cygni, whose appa- of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power." rent motion is five seconds annually-and conse- No Christian, therefore, can consistently set aside quently altogether imperceptible to a common ob- the contemplation of this mighty universe as one eleserver-yet at the distance at which this star is ment of his religion, and as one mean by which his known to be placed, this motion is equivalent to views of the great Object of his worship may be exone hundred and twenty billions of miles every panded, and his devotional feelings rendered more year, or three hundred and twenty-eight thousand ardent and elevated. millions every day-motions altogether incompre- 3. This subject teaches us that, notwithstanding hensible by human beings, but which display the the greatness of God's universal kingdom, he does amazing and uncontrollable energies of Omnipotence. not overlook the minutest concerns of his creatures. This subject suggests a variety of important re- We are apt, at first view, to imagine that, since God flections, of which I shall briefly advert only to a has such a boundless universe to superintend, there is a danger of being overlooked amidst the immen1. All the vast systems to which we have alluded sity of his works. Such an apprehension arises from are the workmanship of an infinite and eternal Being, a consciousness of our own limited powers and capaand proclaim the glory of his perfections. It is im- cities. Our knowledge and observation are confined possible that such an amazing universe, arranged to a certain measure of space, and to a limited numwith such exquisite order, and all the bodies it con- ber of objects; and we feel that we cannot attend to tains moving with such regular and rapid motions, many different objects at the same time; and, therecould have formed itself, or been produced by the fore, it sometimes happens, when we reflect on the fortuitous concourse of atoms;-and the very sur- Divine Being, that we can scarcely forbear ascribing mise that such a thing was possible, is one of the to him something that approximates to the same imwildest hallucinations that ever entered the human perfection. But we are certain that the knowledge mind, and contrary to the first principles of reason- of the Deity is unlimited, and absolutely infinite. ing, that every effect must have a corresponding While he sits enthroned on the magnificence of his cause. That such a notion was ever entertained by works in the distant regions of his creation, and gobeings endowed with rational faculties, is a proof verns the affairs of unnumbered orders of intellectual existence, he also exercises the minutest superinten few. * * Professor Bessel of Konigsberg has lately de-dence over every world he has created, however ditermined the annual parallax of this star, which pa-minutive in comparison of the whole. His eye rests rallax makes its distance to be sixty-two billions, four on the humblest and the minutest of its objects, and hundred and eighty thousand millions of miles. his spirit watches over it as vigilantly as if it formed the sole object of his physical and moral administra-plate the universe as it really is, we beheld plans and tion; so that neither man, nor even the smallest mi-operations which are in perfect unison with the imcroscopic animalculæ are overlooked amidst the mul- mensity of his nature, with his boundless power, his tifarious objects of the Divine government. Man is uncontrollable agency, and his universal presence. every moment supported by his power, and his thou- Wherever we turn our eyes we behold the Creator sand wants provided for by his overflowing goodness. acting like himself, and in no case is this more He shares of the Divine beneficence in common with strikingly displayed than in the grandeur and magniall the bright intelligences that people the amplitudes ficence of the orbs of heaven, and the immense spaces of creation. For the happiness bestowed on the un- with which they are surrounded. So that nature, numbered myriads of beings that people his domains revelation, our abstract views of the attributes of the can never diminish the resources of him who has all Divinity, and the facts which exist in the material the treasures of the universe at his disposal, and who system, all conspire to show the harmony and con. is the centre of all felicity. Within the range of the sistency of the Creator in all his ways and works. moral government of God-if he is obedient to his 5. This subject affords a striking view of the wonlaws-every intelligence may rest secure, and con-derful condescension of the Divine Being towards fident that he is not overlooked amidst the immensity man, especially in regard to the redemption of a of being; for the presence of Deity pervades the in- fallen world. This sentiment seems to have been finity of space, and his knowledge extends to the deeply impressed upon the mind of the pious psalmist most minute movements both of the material and the when contemplating the nocturnal heavens. Viewing moral system. This is an attribute peculiar to the the resplendent orbs every where around him in the Most High, which flows from the immensity of his canopy of the sky, his thoughts seem to have taken nature, and the boundless knowledge he has of all a flight into the region of immensity, and, by the his works, and which gives us a more glorious and guidance of his rational powers, and the assistance of sublime idea of his character than if his regards were the spirit of inspiration, he takes an expansive view confined to one department of his empire, or to one of the multitude, the magnitude, and the grandeur of order of his creatures; and, in nothing is the Divine those magnificent globes which roll in the distant Being so immensely separated from man, or from any tracks of creation. Overwhelmed with his views of other rank of intelligent existence, as in the display he the immensity of creation, and of the perfections and gives of this wonderful and incommunicable attribute. grandeur of its Creator, he breaks out in the language 4. Such a universe as we have faintly described, of astonishment and wonder, "When I consider the and such a universe alone, is accordant with the de- heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the clarations of the word of God, and with the attributes stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou with which he is declared to be invested. Some art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest pious persons are apt to be somewhat sceptical in him?" In no dispensation of the Almighty is this regard to what is stated respecting the magnitude Divine condescension so strikingly apparent as in and grandeur of the universe, as if the facts stated the economy of our redemption. Though countless were either beyond the reach of human intellect to myriads of worlds and intelligences are under his suascertain, or beyond the power of Omnipotence to perintendence, and are incessantly celebrating his accomplish. But the oracles of inspiration warrant praise in the loftiest strains; and, consequently, our entertaining the sublimest conceptions of the do- though all the apostate inhabitants of our world minions of the Almighty. "Great is our Lord and might have been for ever annihilated without being of great power, his greatness is unsearchable"-missed amidst the immensity of creation, yet, amaz"Who can utter the mighty operations of Jehovah, ing to relate! this joyful announcement was made to who can show forth all his praise ?"" Canst thou our rebellious race" God so loved the world that by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever beAlmighty to perfection?""The heavens declare lieveth on him might not perish but have everlasting his glory, and the firmament showeth forth his handy life." This is the most wonderful event, and the work!""He doth great things past finding out, yea most important message ever announced to our and wonders without number""Thine, O Lord, is world. What displays of Divine love and mercy the greatness, and the glory, and the majesty; for may have been made to other worlds, and other orall that is in heaven and earth is thine, and Thou art ders of beings, we are not in a situation to determine. exalted far above all"-" Behold, the heavens and We dare not affirm that in other regions of the Divine the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee!"-"All empire similar displays have not been made; for we the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing have never traversed the depths of immensity to asin his sight," and "He doth according to his will in certain all the dispensations of the Almighty in every the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the province of creation. But we may boldly affirm, earth; for his kingdom ruleth over all." A universe, that the mission, and the death of Christ were the vast, boundless, and incomprehensible, is just such most wonderful events, and the most astonishing as we ought naturally to expect from a Being who is displays of mercy and love that were ever made to infinite, eternal, and omnipresent; whose power is our sublunary world. As the Apostle of the Genuncontrollable, whose wisdom is unsearchable, and tiles has declared, there is "a height and a depth, a whose goodness is boundless and diffusive. All his breadth and length in the love of God which is in plans and operations must be, like himself, vast, Christ Jesus, that passeth knowledge." When we boundless, and inconceivable by mortals. Were we consider the depths of misery from which it raises to find the plan of the universe circumscribed like us, the heights of felicity to which it exalts us, the that which was represented by the ancient astrono- boundless nature of its operations, and the everlasting mers, we should be apt to think that the Creator of duration of all its blessings, we have reason to exthe world is a limited being. But when we contem-claim with the enraptured poet, "O goodness infinite! goodness immense! heavens and a new earth appear wherein dwelleth righteousness! All such doubts are dispelled when we consider the immensity of the universe, and the perfections displayed in its structure and movements. For they evidently declare to every beholder that "THE LORD GOD OMNIPOTENT REIGNETH," and that no event can be beyond the limits of his power to 6. From a consideration of the immensity of the universe, the Christian may derive hope and consolation in the prospect of all the scenes of futurity. accomplish. Since Jehovah has reared so vast and magnificent a 7. From this subject we may learn that it is both fabric, it affords a sensible evidence that "nothing our duty and our interest to yield a willing obedience can be too hard for the Lord," and that he is able to to the laws of Him whose universe we have been perform in our behalf "exceeding abundantly above contemplating. All the luminaries of heaven are all that we can ask or conceive;" that all his gra- arranged in beautiful order, and perform their revolucious declarations will most certainly be brought into tions with perfect exactness and harmony. We may effect; that his promises to his people will be fully also rest assured, that all the intellectual beings with accomplished; and that no power nor obstacle what- which they are replenished, are under the government ever can interpose to prevent the execution of his of moral laws, which regulate their affections and designs. For his power is irresistible, his wisdom conduct, otherwise disorder and misery would be the is unerring, and the emanations of his goodness are necessary result, and the intelligent system thrown diffused "over all his works." To this source of into a state of anarchy and confusion. The moral encouragement and consolation we are frequently di- laws of God are intended to promote the happiness rected in the Scriptures for the confirmation of our of his rational offspring, and to preserve the intellifaith and hope. "Happy is he who hath the God of gent universe in harmony and order; and, therefore, Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his the violators of the Divine law must necessarily God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that suffer punishment, in one shape or another, either in therein is, who keepeth truth for ever." To this this life or in the life to come. And how can they source of confidence the desponding Christian is di- prevent it? All the moral laws of the Almighty are rected in the hour of perplexity and distress. "Lift fenced with sanctions; and who can resist the will up thine eyes to heaven, and behold him who hath of Him who rules a universe so vast and boundless? created these orbs! Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and Who can stand before his indignation, or abide the speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and fierceness of his anger? His counsel shall stand, my judgment passed over from my God? Hast thou and He will do all his pleasure; and, therefore, no not known, hast thou not heard that the everlasting happiness can be enjoyed but in his favour, and in a God the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, cordial submission to the revelations he has made, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching and to all the laws and ordinances which he has apof his understanding: He giveth power to the faint, pointed. "Blessed only are they who do his comand to him that hath no might he increaseth strength," mandments; and no good thing will he withhold &c. As an evidence of the permanent security of from them that walk uprightly." the saints, we are directed to contemplate the lumi- In fine, the immensity of the universe affords evinaries of the sky," the host of heaven that cannot be dence that its Creator has resources for the communumbered." "Thus saith the Lord who giveth the nication of happiness in all its diversified forms, and sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the to all the orders of intelligent existence, throughout moon and of the stars for a light by night; if those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me for ever." But these "ordinances" still remain, the stars of heaven still shine with undiminished lustre, and have never ceased to perform their varied revolutions, and will continue to do so, notwithstanding partial changes, so long as the eternal God exists. Therefore the promises of Jehovah are secure to all the spiritual seed of Israel, while ages numerous as the drops of ocean are rolling on. When, therefore, we lift up our eyes to the starry firmament, and compare its rolling orbs with the de- THE First Annual Report of the Registrar-General clarations of the holy oracles, we behold the faith- of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, recently published, fulness of God established in the very heavens, and contains a mass of statistical information of the most we descry the agency of a power which is more than valuable kind, and which is destined to become more adequate to bring into effect every promise and every valuable by comparison with similar statistics relatdeclaration found written in the word of God, "to ing to subsequent years, which the Registrar-General afford us strong consolation, and an anchor to our will be enabled henceforth to furnish annually. As souls both sure and steadfast." Do we feel doubtful this Report, in its present shape, is not likely to that our frail bodies, after having been reduced to come within the reach of many of the readers of the dust and putrefaction, shall be reanimated, and array-Journal, we beg leave to string together a few exed in more glorious forms that the moral world tracts from it. an interminable duration; and, therefore, supremely happy must they be who have this Almighty Being as their father, their friend, and their exceeding great reward. Broughty Terry, near Dundee, Scotland. From Chambers' Edinburgh Journal. REPORT OF BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS IN will be ultimately regenerated, and righteousness It appears that the total number of marriages soand praise spring forth before all nations?-that the lemnised in England, according to the rites of the globe on which we dwell shall be renovated, and new established church, during the year ending June 30, 1838, is 107,201; and the number solemnised during the Committee on Parochial Registration in 1833, by the same period, not according to the rites of the the Actuary of the National Debt Office, that the established church, is 4280; making the total num- extent of difference which then existed was utterly ber of marriages which have taken place in England, unknown; that tables for the use of the poor, in referduring the year, to be 111,481. Out of this number ence to the sickness and mortality, and in reference there were 5575 males and 16,563 females married to the regulation of their friendly societies, could not below the age of twenty-one years. then be constructed for two districts differing in chaThe number of births registered in England and racter, from the want of such information as an imWales during the year ending June 30, 1838, is proved system would afford; and that if two socie399,712, namely, 204,863 males, and 195,849 fe- ties of poor men residing in districts of a totally dif males. The number of deaths registered, during the ferent character were, at the same time, to apply for same period, is 335,956, namely, 170,965 males, and tables to guide them in preserving their societies 164,991 females. The following Table shows the proportion out of 1000 registered deaths which have occurred at various ages during the year in England and Wales:Females. Total. 214,54 Ages. Under 1 year 1 and 2 3- 4 5 10 128, 48,51 46,27 46,07 25,91 34,16 Males. 234,66 193,72 128,85 47,57 49,47 27,3 37,48 solvent, he should be under the necessity of giving the same tables to both, though knowing perfectly that the rates which were adequate in one case were inadequate in the other.'" All this information, however valuable and important as it unquestionably is, is but a subordinate result of the national system of registering births, marriages, and deaths, lately come into operation in England-the great and primary object of that system being henceforward to collect information as to the date and every other circumstance connected with the birth, marriage, and death of every individual in England and Wales, and to deposit and preserve such information, in a systematic manner, in one central office in London, where, at all times, and under proper regulations, it will be easily accessible to all classes of the people. We shall, in conclusion, briefly describe to our readers the method adopted by the Registrar-General for registering births, marriages, and deaths. He has divided the kingdom into districts, to each of which he has assigned a superintendant-registrar, and one or more registrars. Under the Poor-Law Amendment Act, the whole of England and Wales has now nearly been formed into distinct unions for the administration of relief to the poor; and these divisions of the country for parochial purposes have generally been found convenient for the purpose of registration In allusion to the value of this table, the Regis-likewise. Generally speaking, the clerks of those trar-General says, "In the abstract of deaths (the poor-law unions, who are for the most part solicitors registration of which even for this first year has been and men of respectability, have been appointed to the effected with signal success) I have entered into office of superintendant-registrar of births, marriages, more minute details exhibiting enumerations of the and deaths, for their respective unions, as have also deaths of persons of each sex at every successive the relieving officers of those unions been appointed year of age. Such details are of acknowledged the registrars, who act under the direction of the value, as data for determining the laws of mortality, superintendant-registrars. These local registrars are as bases for calculations materially affecting the in- required to inform themselves carefully of every birth terests of millions. Tables exhibiting the proportion and death which shall happen within their respecof deaths at every successive year of age are among tive districts. It is left to their discretion to employ the most important materials from which are deduc- such lawful means of procuring this information as ed the true principles on which should be founded may to them appear best. Having received intellithe systems of life-annuities and of life-insurance, gence of a birth or death, the registrar proceeds to and the rules of friendly societies established for the the house where it has occurred, and enters it in a use of the poorer classes." register-book kept for that purpose. Every registrar Besides the above abstract of deaths for the whole is required, quarterly, to make and deliver to the suof England and Wales, the Registrar-General has perintendant-registrar of his district a true copy of contrived, by dividing the kingdom into twenty-five all the entries of births and deaths, registered by him, divisions, to exhibit the difference which prevails in in the register-book of births and of deaths, upon blank the proportions in different parts of the kingdom, and forms furnished to him for that purpose, which copies, to compare town with country-agricultural districts after having been examined and compared by this suwith manufacturing and mining districts the hilly perintendant-registrar with the register-books, and with the low and level-the maritime with the inland certified by him, are transmitted by post to the Regis-the eastern and northern with the western and trar-General in London. The process which these cersouthern parts. "Nor (says he) are these divisions tified copies undergo in London is thus described by matters of merely curious speculation, but may be the Registrar-General: The duties performed under made the source of important benefits, especially to my more immediate direction upon the receipt of the the poorer classes. It was stated in evidence before certified copies, after the termination of each quarter, at the general register-office, are, 1st, the examination; 2d, the arrangement; 3d, the formation of alphabetical indices; and, 4th, the compilation of abstracts (to which last we have already alluded.). The old parochial system of registration in England was in many respects exceedingly defective. In the first place, the registers kept by the parochial clergy were registers of paptisms and burials only, and fur1. After such preliminary arrangement as shall nished no evidence whatever of the precise time of prevent the confusion and intermixture of papers, the birth or death of an individual. They were also, each leaf of the certified copies, and each entry there for the most part, kept in a careless manner, and in on, is subjected to a strict examination. If any era- numberless instances they were found materially sure, interpolation, informality, omission, or error, or obliterated or destroyed. Mr. Matthews, a barrister, defect of any kind, is thereby detected in any entry, in his evidence on this subject before the Parochial it is immediately noted, with a reference to the entry, Registration Committee in 1833, said, at the last in a form furnished for that purpose; and all such York assizes he happened to be present upon the defects as require explanation, or may at any future trial of the cause of "Doe and Hungate," a case of time cast doubt on any matter recorded in the regis- considerable notoriety in that county, where a large ter, are made the subjects of immediate inquiry: a estate was at stake; and upon Mr. Sergeant Jones letter is addressed to the person who registered the stating that an obliteration appeared in a register defective entry, and his explanatory reply is pre- which was produced, Mr. Justice Alderson, who served in the office, ready to be referred to in the tried the cause, observed, Are you surprised at event of explanation being deemed requisite at any that, brother Jones? I am not at all surprised. I future period. have had much experience, and I never saw a parish registry book in my life that was not falsified in one way or other; and I do not believe there is one that is not." * 2. After the examination of the certified copies of a quarter of a year, the leaves are arranged, paged, and bound in volumes, for preservation and reference, regard being had in such arrangement to locality, so The expense and delay, too, consequent upon pro that entries registered in the same district shall never curing the certificate of a birth, marriage, or death, be far apart, and those which belong to the same in cases where the parish where the event occurred county shall, with few exceptions, be found in the was not known, were enormous, and formed not the same volume. * * The certified copies so arranged least of the evils of the old system. In such cases a and bound are kept deposited in fire-proof cases. search has frequently been abandoned as fruitless, 3. A separate alphabetical index is made for refe-after having been made in half the parishes of Engrence to the births of each quarter, another for the land. marriages, another for the deaths, being twelve sepa- All these objections, however, will now, for the rate indices for reference to the births, marriages, future at least, be completely removed by the operaand deaths of the whole year, containing for the first tion of the new system of registration. year of registration, ending June 30th, 1838, 958,630| In concluding this notice, we would wish to imentries. The alphabetical arrangement is that of press upon the English readers of the Journal the surnames, and it is carried out even to the last letter necessity and propriety of their affording every of each word and where the surname recurs often, facility in their power to the local registrars in the the alphabetical arrangement has been extended to work of registration, for we are aware that some the name also. degree of prejudice towards the measure exists in I need not enlarge upon the advantages derivable England, and that some persons have carried this from the facilities afforded by such indices. Ob-feeling to so great an extent as to refuse the necessary viously desirable as it is that important records like information when called upon by the registrar: an the certified copies of registers of births, marriages, offence which the law has made a misdemeanour, and deaths, should be placed in one central public punishable with a pecuniary fine. There cannot be repository, the advantage of such accumulation the slightest doubt that it is the interest of all classes, would be comparatively slight, if easy reference to more or less, that such important events as the births, any of the millions of entries which will be collected marriages, and deaths of the population should be in a few years were not afforded by a systematic correctly registered and preserved; and we are arrangement, and a complete method of alphabetical wholly at a loss to conceive on what grounds any indexing. The immense saving of time, labour, and individual can refuse to comply with the provisions expense, which is thereby effected, cannot be appre- of a law which has in view objects of such national ciated by a mere comparison with those cases in benefit and importance, more especially as he can which (the place of the register of baptism, burial, fulfil those provisions at no expense, and at the most or marriage, under the old system, being known and trifling amount of trouble possible. We indeed reaccessible) little trouble was incurred in obtaining a gard the English people as highly favoured by the copy of the entry required. But it must be remem- establishment of such an efficient system of registrabered, that cases have occurred where the register tion amongst them. Scotland has nothing of the of a baptism, burial, or marriage, being required for kind. Nobody can tell how many children are born, legal purposes, no person living has been able to how many persons are married, or how many die, state in which of all the parishes in the kingdom the annually in Scotland. There are, of course, parish baptism, burial, or marriage, had been registered, or books, but these are on a most imperfect scale. Of whether it had been registered at all. * * * In such births no note is taken, and only such persons as a case, with no indication but the surname sought, please, register baptisms. There is a register of and the probable period of the birth, marriage, or proclamations of regular marriages, but no corresdeath, the search, which previously was a hopeless ponding record of the solemnization of these martask, may, with respect to entries in the new regis-riages, except at the pleasure of the parties. Of ters, be accomplished in a few minutes." irregular marriages, no note whatever is taken. We VOL. XXXVIII.-JANUARY, 1810. 26 |