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bless their united endeavours to make his ways known." The same holy flow of kindness took place almost every where among the pious, but in some cases it unhappily ran over; yet the darkness of a world, enveloped in a night cloud of indifference and sin, will plead the lasting excuse of those somewhat erring but devoted children of God, who, unlike the divines just mentioned, suffered cooperation to become assimilation, and thus laid the foundation of many dangers, though they unquestionably effected much good.

As the happy spirit of concord increased between zealous clergymen and pious nonconformists, there seemed only to be wanting definite centres of union in which they might associate for the common purpose of doing good, merging minor interests and opinions in the all-absorbing object of spreading a knowledge of divine truth. Such presented themselves in the progress of time, and have gone on with various fluctuations to this hour; but what sort of spectacle does the conduct of those offer to the world, who profess love on the religious, and hostility on the political arena, who are to-day declaring affectionate cooperation on one platform, and the next proclaiming a wish to annihilate the essence of our system, on another!

The question is then, what should be the conduct of the clergy at this trying period? Assuredly to do nothing in haste; to make a wide distinction between those who in a christian spirit agree to differ from them, and such as do not; to wait and see if opposition will not pass away; to strengthen the union of their own ranks; to redouble their diligence in their individual spheres-then will our Church rise in its due majesty and strength, and emerging from the clouds of controversy, reflect the beams of the Sun of righteousness in the clear heaven of light and love. If hostility should increase, it will be necessary to withdraw within our boundaries in peace; but we must labour in patience, argue with calmness, and do good to our opponents, not striking hastily if assaulted, because the second blow makes the contest. We should likewise earnestly pray for a return of the peaceful season, when friendships such as those just recorded, (which are not extinct, though perhaps necessarily diminished,) may again adorn and dignify the christian world, the only contest of whose different members ought to be, the one fabled of the vine and the olive, which should be most fruitful.—Pp. 415–418.

There is almost as much truth in these remarks as felicity of expression. The Calvinistic clergy are awakening from the strange delusion in which they have been so long dreaming. Magnifying their own peculiar views into the essentials of Christianity, they found themselves more attracted to Calvinistic dissenters, than to non-Calvinistic churchmen. In vain did their more consistent brethren point out the inconsistency and impolicy of their conduct; no words were too harsh to stigmatize those who were observant or quicksighted enough to perceive that such alliances could bring nothing but shame to the Church and triumph to her enemies. Time however has proved an efficient reasoner, and it is now seen clearly that the dissenters' hostility to the churchman is not diminished by their accidental agreement on some points of faith. As to the conduct of certain eminent churchmen towards Doddridge, this is to be referred to a very different principle. Doddridge and Watts were dissenters sui generis; they were men of great piety, great liberality, and certainly very far from factious and political dissenters. They wished well to the Church on the whole; yet, from inadequate views of the great duty of unity, would not join its

communion, because they could not agree with it on some minor points. Our own belief is that, were they now alive, and saw the proceedings of modern dissent, they would become churchmen. And though Mr. Sidney's prayer "for a return of the peaceful season, when the friendships of clergymen and dissenting ministers may adorn and dignify the christian world," is good so far as it goes, we would carry it further, and pray that the time may come when, as in primitive days, the whole multitude of them that believe may be "of one heart and of one soul;" when there may be no dissent at all, but christian faith may" be adorned and beautified," as alone she can be, in christian unity.

The rest of Mr. Sidney's volume is chiefly made up of correspondence; far from uninteresting, but not within our limits.

Mr. Walker's death took place July 19, 1761, in the 48th year of his age. It was occasioned by pulmonary consumption, produced, apparently, by his public exertions. This complaint rendered necessary a visit to the Hotwells, Bristol, a place at that time much resorted to by consumptive subjects; and hence he was invited by Lord Dartmouth to that nobleman's house at Blackheath, where he was treated with great affection and attention to the moment of his death. Mr. Sidney has printed several letters containing accounts of Walker's conduct and sentiments during his illness, from which it appears that he had, throughout, a very decided, but unpresumptuous, confidence of acceptance. After the funeral, Lord Dartmouth wrote to Sir Richard Hill as follows:

"Perhaps I may be the first to acquaint you with the happy release of our dear friend Mr. Walker. He died in peace on Sunday morning, and was buried in Lewisham church-yard yesterday. His behaviour during the last stages of his illness was the same which you have seen it before, if I may not say that as his suffering increased, his faith and patience increased also. Indeed as the outward man decayed, the inward man appeared to be renewed and strengthened day by day. For near a week before his death, his weakness was so great, that he could not speak but with pain and difficulty, and therefore said little; what he did utter was to praise the Lord for his mercies, and to express his entire confidence in his faithfulness and truth. His last breath was drawn without any struggle, and his countenance since his death is full of sweet composure and peace."-Pp. 555, 556.

Of the literary character of this work we can speak most favourably. It is written with great perspicuity, ease, and elegance, and certainly places Mr. Sidney in a very honourable rank among contemporary biographers.

Acts iv. 32.

ART. II.-Microscopic Illustrations. By C. R. Goring, M.D., and ANDREW PRITCHARD, M.R.I. A New Edition, amended and enlarged. With coloured Plates. Whittaker and Co. 1838. 8vo. pp. 248. AMONG the discoveries in science, which of late years have added much to our store of knowledge, there are none, perhaps, more important and interesting than those which have been developed by the microscope. With this instrument in our hands, and the book of Nature always open before us, inviting us to its perusal, and promising to all who will study it with attention the most satisfactory results, we can never be in want of a subject to engage our thoughts. We may become so familiar with the pages of almost any other book than this, that it shall cease to amuse the mind, and all its novelty will have passed away. Not so, however, with the book of Nature. Its resources are altogether inexhaustible; and its novelties so boundless that they will keep pace with every increasing effort of the understanding to extend its acquaintance with them. Taking the science of Geology, for example, which has recently made such rapid strides, who would have thought that among the thousands of objects lately disclosed to us, the very stones we every day tread upon contain organic remains-such for instance as those of the scales of fish-in such perfect preservation, and so abundant in flints, that it is difficult to conceive how they should have eluded so long the researches of natural philosophers! Strongly impressed with ideas such as these, we are more pleased than surprised at seeing works of a similar description to that whose title forms the heading of this article, issuing from the press. What true lover of Nature is there, who does not kindly welcome all the aid which can be afforded him in discovering its hidden treasures? The advantages derived from works like this are sufficiently apparent to all; and it appears to us, that we do not overrate their importance when we declare, that without them, many of the happiest results at which we have arrived, would have remained undetermined. We say, and in much sincerity, that we are sorry our pages are so few, and our press of matter so great, that our review cannot embrace one half the subjects treated of by the authors of the volume before us. Those parts of it, especially, which relate to the best method of constructing the microscope, and how it may be most successfully employed in examining the structures of the animal and vegetable kingdom, we must leave almost untouched; the extracts we are enabled to give being such only as will convey to our readers some general idea of its usefulness, and of the extent to which it may be applied.

The most perfect animal remains which the microscope has disclosed to us, are the various loricated Infusoria of the division Bacillaria. These minute

• See Natural History of Animalcules, page 59.

creatures are so inconceivably numerous that they cover many miles of surface with several feet of thickness; as instanced in the polishing slate and rotten stone of Bohemia. In Tuscany whole mountains consist almost entirely of the silicified shells of these creatures; thus combining with each other in infinite numbers, to counterbalance, as it were, their individual minuteness, and to teach the unthinking this useful lesson, that Nature, in all her operations, is never employed in vain, and that what are apparently her most insignificant productions, fall not beneath the notice of the profoundest inquirer after truth,

To the botanist the aid of the microscope is indispensable. In the investigation of our fossil flora, what does it not exhibit to us! How beautiful and delicate is the structure of the envelope of some of the fossil fruits-those, for instance, of our London clay-when viewed under this instrument! And how important is it, that, by its assistance, we can determine with accuracy the natural orders, genera, and sometimes the very species of the trees and plants of former epochs! How beyond all question is now demonstrated the vegetable origin of our coal! Preserved within a bituminous lump of coal, which has been deposited for thousands of years deep in the bowels of the earth, you may discern not only the woody fibre, its arrangement, and the disposal and form of the medullary rays, but even the most delicate of the vegetable organs, such as the spiral vessels and the beautiful terminations of those vessels! These are as distinctly discoverable as in the finest preparations of a recent plant. And what can be more amusing and instructive than the examination of the silicified woods, when formed into sections no thicker than the paper of a banknote! Thus rendered pervious to light, the organic structure of the wood becomes plainly distinguishable. And emanating from this, what can be a more interesting subject than the inquiry into the mode in which the silicifying process has been carried on, by which the constituent elements of the inmost and minutest portions are changed, whilst their form and situation and colour remain the same? In investigating also that extinct genus of plants, the lepidodendra, a similar idea is raised in the mind, as to what must have been the particular state of the earth with respect to atmosphere and temperature at the period of their growth, and what the changes which have since taken place, in order to bring it to its present condition.

Nor is it a matter of less importance in a scientific point of view, or less interesting, that by the same means we can perceive the fibrous structure of the muscles and nerves, the form and arrangement of the canals by which the internal cavities of the bones are lubricated and nourished, the glandular structure of that beautiful and complex apparatus by which the secretions are carried on; all and each of these requiring but the aid of one of our improved microscopes to render them distinctly visible. Again: how admirably developed by means of the microscope are the curious and complex structures of the eyes of insects, the crystalline lenses of those of fish, birds, &c., and many of the other parts of the visual organs. The eye-that useful and delightful portion of us, which furnishes all the endless variety of objects from which we derive so great enjoyment-resembles, in its peculiar formation and arrangement, an achromatic optical instrument. And if we descend to the lower classes of animals-nay, I would hardly say lower, lest some perhaps might imagine that in their small forms they do not evince as much perfection as is discoverable in beings of a higher scale, and have not all the functions which are necessary to life as full in operation as even man himself-if we enter upon an investigation of their minute structures, we can determine absolutely nothing without the microscope; and our knowledge of the very existence of many highly organized and active creatures is wholly dependent upon it.

Vegetable organography, upon which the modern botanist depends so much for his systematic arrangement, and with which the student is so greatly interested and amused, owes almost its very existence to the microscope. This observation will be found to apply in an especial manner both to the cellular and vascular tissues of plants. The membranous cellules of cellular tissue are

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sometimes not more than 1000th of an inch in diameter; and those of the ordinary size are about 1-200th or 1-300th. How, then, is it possible that we could become acquainted with their forms and arrangement but by the aid of the microscope? And so with respect to vascular tissue; it is absolutely indispensable toward acquiring an accurate knowledge of the structure and forms of these membranous tubes, and of the spiral or annular fibre which surrounds them.

A knowledge of the fructification, if I may so express myself, of that numerous and curious class of plants, the acrogens, could not be obtained without it; nor could the existence of many of them, such as the fungi, lichens, algæ, and some of the musci, be proved. By its power even the ashes of vegetables may be seen to contain the decisive characteristics of organic structure; and the long debated question of the antiquarian, as to whether the "fine linen of Egypt," in the times of the Pharaohs, were of linen or cotton fibre, seeing the latter is now indigenous to that country, is for ever set at rest.

In many of the larger portions of plants, such as the cuticle of their leaves, the stomata, &c., which require but a shallow magnifying power to display them, there is as great a difference manifested when these are viewed under an achromatic microscope, or under the old compound, as is perceptible between the most highly finished miniature, where the most delicate features and even the down on the skin are correctly depicted, and the mere black and white profile, where we see but the rude contour of the face. Surely, then, as works of art merely, instruments which can effect so much as this are justly entitled to a due share of consideration even from the most refined and polished minds.

ART. III.-Sermons chiefly intended to inculcate Universal Benevolence, delivered in the Chapel Royal, Dublin, before, and dedicated by ́permission to, the Most Noble the Marquis of Anglesey, K.G., &c. &c. &c. By the Rev. E. TIGHE GREGORY, A.M., LL.D., Rector and Vicar of Kilmore, Meath. To which are added, Education and Example, an Anniversary Sermon; with Two Letters to the Archdeacon of Kilmacduagh, on Pulpit Jurisdiction, &c. Dublin: Richard Milliken, Grafton Street, Bookseller to Her Majesty, the Lord Lieutenant, and the University.

Or these discourses the style is injudiciously ornate, and the substance rather sentimental than theological. Who, that seriously feels, or but desires to feel, the overwhelming greatness of the love that was manifested in his redemption, could bear to hear the blood of the Son of God entitled "the Atlantic of a world's hope?" To the page we cannot refer, for these remarkable discourses are not paged.

When Dr. Gregory does take in hand to speak of doctrines, it is in the most undefined manner possible. That a man can be justified without works, or before at least he has done good works, appears to him an impossibility, and therefore he would endeavour to prove by the Twelfth Article the defectiveness of the Eleventh.

The text of one discourse is, "But we preach Christ crucified." A part of the sermon is as follows:- Our blessed Lord took not on him the nature of angels, but took on him the seed of Abraham, the father of the faithful, as if to guard the christian world, through all time, against

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