And, O, if such majestic works be given By His great power, who bled our souls to save, Miscellaneous. M. A. BEALE. THE ATMOSPHERE.-The atmosphere is a mere mass of fluid floating on the surface of the ball of the earth; it is one of the inert and inorganic portions of the universe, and must be conceived to have been formed by the same Power which formed the solid mass of the earth and all other parts of the solar system. But how far is the atmosphere from being inert in its effects on organic beings, and unconnected with the world of life? By what wonderful adaptations of its mechanical and chemical properties, and of the vital powers of plants to each other, are the development and wellbeing of plants and animals secured! The Creator of the atmosphere must have been also the Creator of plants and animals: we cannot for an instant believe the contrary. But the atmosphere is not only subservient to the life of animals, and of man among the rest; it is also the vehicle of voice; it answers the purpose of intercourse; and in the case of man, of rational intercourse. We have seen how remarkably the air is fitted for this office; the construction of the organs of articulation, by which they are enabled to perform their part of the work, is, as is well known, a most exquisite system of contrivances. But though living in an atmosphere capable of transmitting articulate sound, and though provided with organs fitted to articulate, man would never attain to the use of language, if he were not also endowed with another set of faculties;-the powers of abstraction and generalisation, memory and reason, the tendencies which occasion the inflections and combinations of words, are all necessary to the formation and use of language. Are not these parts of the same scheme, of which the bodily faculties, by which we are able to speak, are another part? Has man his mental powers independently of the Creator of his bodily frame? To what purpose then, or by what cause, was the curious and complex machinery of the tongue, the glottis, the larynx produced? These are useful for speech, and full of contrivances, which suggest such a use as the end for which those organs were constructed. But speech appears to have been no less contemplated in the intellectual structure of man. The processes of which we have spoken, generalisation, abstraction, reasoning, have a close dependence on the use of speech. These faculties are presupposed in the formation of a language, but they are developed and perfected by the use of language. The mind of man then, with all its intellectual endowments, is the work of the same Artist by whose hands his bodily frame was fashioned; as his bodily faculties again are evidently constructed by the Maker of those elements on which their action depends. The Creator of the atmosphere and of the material universe is the Creator of the human mind, and the Author of those wonderful powers of thinking, judging, inferring, discovering, by which we are able to reason concerning the world in which we are placed, and which aid us in lifting our thoughts to the Source of our being himself.- Whewell's Bridgewater Treatise. SWALLOWS. Many are disposed to think, from their disappearance in winter, they secure a retreat in some place of concealment, where they sleep or sink into a torpid state; out of which they are awakened by the influence of spring. I apprehend, however, their migration is annual and regular; and in this we may perceive the wise and beneficent direction of Providence. Of this I had the clearest proof in the immense bodies of these birds I perceived in my voyage to Alexandria, pushing their way in the direction of Egypt from Europe, during the month of October, and they may be compared to some of the vast caravans in the East. On the banks of the Thames, as well as in numerous other parts, they collect their forces, and make arrangements for migration. From the more hospitable regions they return to our climate in the beautiful season of the year; a fact which is expressly alluded to in the oracles of truth (Jerem. viii. 7). When they take a departure early, it is considered as a prognostication of severe weather approaching. This bird appears to be of a privileged kind, and was permitted to construct its nest in the cloisters of the sanctuary of Jehovah (Ps. lxxxiv. 3); and also ranked among those whose likeness, as an object of idolatry, was reprobated under the Mosaic dispensation (Deut. iv. 15-17). These scouts appear as if, like Noah's dove, they were despatched from the main body to spy and report on the appearance of the earth, and ascertain the longitude and latitude of their flight, before the general migration takes place. It is computed they fly upwards of sixty, the crow twenty-five, and the hawk forty-two miles an hour. The flight of the English eagle is 6,000 feet in a minute.-Rae Wilson's Travels through Egypt. MUSIC.-Luther is frequently and fervently thankful for being enriched with a love of music. He says, "It is one of the fairest and most glorious gifts of God, to which Satan is a bitter enemy; for it removes from the heart the weight of sorrow and the fascination of evil thoughts. Music is a kind and gentle discipline; it refines the passions and improves the understanding. Those who love music are honest and gentle in their tempers. I always loved music, and would not for a great matter be without the little skill I possess in this art." The amiable and talented Hooker, in the fifth book of his "Ecclesiastical Polity," speaking of music, says, "Touching musical harmony, whether by instrument or voice, such is the force thereof, and so pleasing effects it hath in that very part of man which is most divine, that some have been thereby induced to think that the soul itself, by nature, is, or hath in it, harmony.”—Hampshire Adver tiser. VERNACULAR DIALECTS.-In the Roman Church, the Latin language; in the Greek, the ancient Greek instead of the Romaic or modern Greek; in the Syrian, the Syriac instead of the Malabar; in the Abyssinian, the Ethiopic instead of the Amharic and other vernacular dialects,-are distinguished by the name of ecclesiastical; being the languages in which the Scriptures are preserved, in opposition to those in which the great body of the people talk and understand one another. In other Churches also the same evil prevails.-Professor Scholefield. London: Published by JAMES BURNS, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square; W. EDWARDS, 12 Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul's; and to be procured, by order, of all Booksellers in Town and Country. PRINTED BY ROBSON, LEVEY, AND FRANKLYN, 46 ST. MARTIN'S LANE. ON THE ORIGIN, NATURE, AND PROGRESS | sidering the sacrifice offered by the one, and OF DIVINE WORSHIP. BY THE REV. W. G. MOORE, Rector of West Barkwith, Lincolnshire. THE first account we have of any particular act of homage rendered to God, is given us in the words: "And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering; but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect." May we not suppose from hence that the acceptance of Abel's offering, and the rejection of that of Cain, was attributable to the nature of the gift presented by each, and to the state of mind exhibited by the worshippers in the nature of the sacrifice made? If, as there is every reason to suppose, the skins wherewith our first parents were clothed were those stripped from animals slain in sacrifice, the only mode of approaching their Creator acceptably after their apostacy was by blood. Sacrifices were, indeed, of two kinds; first, those strictly so called, wherein the offering made was totally destroyed by fire (and these again differed, as being, in some instances, peace-offerings, in others sin-offerings); and secondly, those which were simply oblations, or in acknowledgment of the Divine goodness for the continuance of life, and for the gift of those numberless mercies which made that life a blessing. In discriminating, therefore, between the nature of the tribute paid to the Almighty by Cain and Abel; in con VOL. VII.-NO. CXCIV. the oblation made by the other, we shall perhaps arrive at the real cause of the difference made between them by a just and jealous God. The one, Abel, drew near with a sacrifice at once expressive of his guilt, and of his dependence upon the sufficiency of that one great sacrifice for sin, which, in the latter day, should be offered up by the Son of God, and be effective to the release of all who looked to it in faith for the cleansing of their natural pollution, and the gift of perfect righteousness; the other, Cain, drew near with the first-fruits of the earth, which, however worthy of acceptance when preceded or accompanied by a confession of guilt, a deprecation of vengeance, and an acknowledgment of Divine goodness, would, when offered prior to any such confession or acknowledgment, prove only the pride of his heart. A sense of sin is the very first requisite in an apostate creature previous to his re-attaining the Divine favour; and it would surely, therefore, be the intention of the divine Being, in his constitution of a form of worship adjusted to the necessities of fallen creatures, to point out, first, how or in what way such sense of sin should be properly expressed, before he pointed out the means, or would dictate the manner, in which the concomitant feeling of gratitude or praise for daily mercies should be displayed. And as obedience was then the simple rule of life, the summary of the law given for human direction, the transgression of Cain seems to have been a reiterated and gratuitous rebellion against his Maker. This view of the subject is strengthened by comparing the passages wherein the form of worship is mentioned A A [London: Robson, Levey, and Franklyn, 46 St. Martin's Lane.] as used by Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and the patriarchs, with that expressly ordained at a later period, and concerning which there can be no doubt.* In the early ages of man's existence frequent mention is made of building an altar, and sacrificing to the Lord, though we have no recorded petition for a very considerable period. At the same time, we are naturally led to believe that as sacrifices were but the outward act, they could only be acceptable or otherwise as they were declaratory of the mind of the worshipper, and his desire to renew the dedication of himself, and all his substance (the just forfeit of transgression), to the service of the Almighty. Sacrifices, indeed, were only offered at some set time, upon some singular event in the lives of patriarchs, upon some signal mark of Divine interference, or upon some striking communication being made to them from on high; while prayer would be a daily duty, without which they could maintain no spiritual communion with the Fountain of light and happiness. The commendation pronounced upon Enoch for walking with God can only be clearly understood by supposing that he worshipped and served God in the prescribed methods, of which sacrifice was one; and in the habitual exercise of prayer and praise, which was the other. In short, the head of the patriarchal family was the priest, to discharge every religious service, according to those directions, which were as binding upon all, as, we can have no doubt, they were inculcated upon all. Thus it is said of Abraham, "I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment" (Gen. xviii. 19). As we descend the stream of time, we find that, independent of sacrifices, of the public acts of obedience and subjection paid by heads of families generally, and by individuals on some special occasions in particular, there were not only stated hours of prayer, but stated prayers for those hours. These were supposed to have been appointed by Ezra, to the number of twenty-two, which number was reduced by Gamaliel, the instructor of St. Paul, to eighteen. It was also a custom among the Jewish doctors to teach their disciples short forms or summaries, which were not put forward with the intention of render Vide Gen. viii. 20; xii. 7; xxii. 9; xxxv. 13; where we may observe that building an altar is synonymous with offering sacrifice. + That this was the case, we have proof in Gen. iv. 26: "Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord;" as also in Gen. xiii. 4, "Then Abraham called upon the name of the Lord." Compare also Ex. xx. 24; xxiv. 4; xxix. 11-22; xl. 29; Lev. i. 2-31. XV. 9. Such was Noah's sacrifice, Gen. viii. 20; Abraham's, Gen. ing public worship unnecessary, nor were they considered as in any way interfering with or prejudicial to it, but in order that each one of their disciples might have some petitions suited to his own particular wants and circumstances, perhaps also to his peculiar tenets. That prescribed forms of prayer were also in use in the Israelitish Church, may be learned from the Pentateuch; for the offering of first-fruits and tenths was to be accompanied by a confession of Divine bounty and goodness, and a declaration that the person presenting it had performed what the law required.* Among the psalms and hymns of David, many are (EUKTIKO) prayers for common use, solemn addresses to God, adapted to the wants of his people. Thus Hezekiah, it is said, "commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the seer; and they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped" (2 Chron. xxix. 30). It must not, however, be supposed, that because our Lord, in compliance with the custom of the Jewish rabbins, taught his disciples a form of prayer well deserving the title ascribed to it by one of the Fathers,+ "the God-taught prayer," he ever intended that its use should supersede that of every other; or that it should necessarily form a part of every other prayer. It was a brief compendium, intended to point out the leading subjects of human petitions; and as it comprises within few words all that God demands and men stand in need of, it cannot be too closely adhered to, whenever and with whatever form we draw near the footstool of our Maker. Tertullian says, with reference to our Lord's prayer, "God alone can teach us how he wishes to be addressed. The divine use of prayer, therefore, being ordained by God himself, and the dictate of his Holy Spirit, it ascends to heaven by his favour, commending to the Father what the Son has taught." Cyprian says, "Christ, among other salutary admonitions and divine precepts, in which he seeks the salvation of his people, himself also gave us a form of prayer, and taught and advised us what to pray for. He who breathed into us the breath of life, taught us also how to pray-one mark of kindness leading to the expression of others; so that while we address the Father by prayer and supplication taught by the Son, our prayers may the more readily enter into his ears." And again, "What can be more spiritual than the prayer delivered to us by Christ, by whom also the Holy Spirit has • Vide Deut. xxvi. 5-13. Where the address put into the mouth of the worshipper is, we may observe, in the singular number, that the prayer might be regarded as that of every individual, as well as applicable to the community. + Vide Psalms, passim; compare Jer. xxix. 13. 1 Cyril: Θεοδίδακτος εὐχή. been sent down to us? What supplication | in the Psalms of David and in the prophets of can carry along with it more the air of truth old, are certainly suitable to us, and the more than that which proceeded from the mouth of so as we live in days during which some of Him who is truth? So that to pray otherwise those grand events of which they spoke and than he hath taught, is not only a mark of sung, and for the advent of which they conignorance, but of folly." "We are not tinually prayed, have glided from the uncerthose," says a learned divine,* "who seek to tainty of the future to the certainty of the restrain, by a form of words, the spirit of past. prayer, or those praying with the Spirit; but With one observation I will close the subbecause we do not hold ourselves bound to ject. We have no authority whatever desuch a form, do we consider it improper or rived from Scripture to sanction the use in inconvenient to use it? If we may be per- public worship of extemporaneous prayer. mitted to address the divine Being in our And, indeed, is it not consistent with sound words, shall we, therefore, be precluded from reason to believe, that prayers read and known addressing him in his own? Can we imagine of all men; untainted by peculiar, or narrow, that our babbling will be more grateful to him or false views of divine truth; distrusting the than the words of Him who is truth, and momentary impressions of the enthusiast, or the which contain wisdom that cannot err? Vain cold display of the phlegmatic and formalist; repetitions of the same prayer, are, however, resting upon the practice of the primitive by no means countenanced, either by the Church; tested by the experience of the recommand of Christ, or the usage of the an- motest times,-should be better adapted to the cient Church." The practice is condemned edification, sound instruction, and consistent by our Saviour: "Use not vain repetitions, piety of all, who, whatever the varieties of as the heathen do; for they think that they their outward circumstances, have need of shall be heard from their much speaking" the same spiritual nourishment, than the (Matt. vi. 7). In fact, a momentary consider- prayers which must of necessity take their ation of what the true nature of prayer is, tone, be vapid or energetic, be precise or difwill refute the practice which has obtained in fuse, be scriptural or unwarranted by Scripone section of the Christian Church. It is ture, according to the feelings and fancies not the time consumed in the attitude of sup- and failings of a being like ourselves? Such plication, not the mechanical and continuous prayers may be well suited to individuals, in repetition of words, which constitutes prayer; the privacy of the chamber, but they are not but it is the aspiring cry of a broken and con- calculated for the sober and solemn and stated trite, or the overflowings of a grateful heart; worship of God in his holy sanctuary. Our it is the outpouring of a troubled mind, or the Church is wise and judicious, in being content lowly prostration of the humble and sincere. to express the great wants of mankind, to It is a combination of hope and fear, of peni- pray to God, and to praise him, in language tential sorrow and lively gratitude; it is the that the most fastidious must admire, the utterance of heartfelt desire, the impression of greatest sinner may with truth adopt, and weakness, the deprecation of wrath, and the to which the greatest saint may say, Amen. assurance of help in every time of need. If, then, in all ages of the Church some established rule and order for public worship has been laid down-and no one, as far as we can learn from Scripture, ever presumed to enter into the Divine presence without conforming himself to it-we are more than justified in following, we are surely required to follow, the practice of all antiquity, and to take advantage of such forms of prayer as have been handed down to us, more especially from the times immediately subsequent to those of the apostles; for, looking upon the great promises and leading truths of Scripture as belonging to the whole family of man, those beautiful petitions which we find Witsius in Symb. et Orat. Dom. Witsius and Whitby are at issue on this point. I should incline to the opinion of the former, borne out by what is recorded of the prayers of the apostolic age, that our Lord's prayer was not deemed a necessary part of our address to God, but was intended as an epitome, if I may so call it, of what prayer in general ought to be. In the Lord's prayer we have the outline; the body of the picture must be filled up according to individual wants and feelings. ON THE COMMUNION. HUMAN nature is ever in extremes; we avoid one error too often only to fall into its opposite. Thus it is in the holy communion to an extent most easily traced by its paralysing effects. We have abjured the Romish doctrine of transubstantiation; and we have done well, for, in the language of the 28th article of our Church, it "is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions:" but it is to be feared that Protestantism tends to an error equally dangerous, because equally repugnant to Scripture, and equally overthrowing the nature of a sacrament. In our anxiety to avoid superstition, we are bringing ourselves into contact with scepticism; in our abhorrence of the blasphemy and absurdity involved in the elementary change, for which the papist contends, we have simplified and explained away, and well nigh reduced, this most sacred and mysterious rite of our religion to a mere commemora tion of the sufferings of Christ in denying the bodily | presence of the Lord in his holy supper, do not many of us virtually deny the reality of his spiritual presence also? O, no wonder that the sacred table is so little thronged; no wonder that the generality even of those who do attend come so seldom, when the very essence of the sacrament is disregarded, and our souls incapacitated for its reception by the numbing influence of a cold and proud unbelief. I have spoken of these two errors as in direct opposition to each other; like most extremes, they may be traced to precisely the same cause-to that carnal mind, which, however developed, is, and ever must be, at enmity with God. To a carnal and literal interpretation of this divine mystery is owing the Romish doctrine of transubstantiation; and to the very same carnal interpretation, -that which led the Jews to strive among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (John, vi. 52); and which induced even Christ's own disciples to exclaim, "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?" (ver. 60.) It is the very same carnal interpretation which now beguiles Protestants into their besetting sin of rejecting too much. In both cases man errs, because his faculties are so under the dominion of sense, that he cannot receive the ideas of real and spiritual as existing together. On the one hand, the reality is debased into corporeal presence; on the other, so attenuated to meet our imperfect comprehension of spirit, as to do away with the reality of the Divine presence altogether. But let us remember it is not the doctrine of the Church of England I am thus contrasting with that of Rome: her doctrines may be overlooked, as well as too many of her ordinances set aside; but, blessed be God, they are untouched by the varying atmosphere around. The Church herself-in accordance with the Saviour's own words at its institution, with the apostolical comment, and with the writings of the early fathers, to whom, as nearer the fount, we naturally look for greater purity-maintains the real presence of Christ in the communion as administered at her altars. She asserts that "if with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive that holy sacrament, then we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood;" and, in the name of the communicants, she has appointed the officiating priest to pray that they 'may so eat the flesh of Jesus Christ, and drink his blood, that their sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and their souls washed through his most precious blood." To un "I thank thee, O Father," says our blessed Lord, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." Truly of the doctrine of Christ's presence in the communion it may be said, that it is revealed unto babes. derstand it requires the exercise rather of the moral than the intellectual faculties. It wants no peculiar acuteness of discrimination, no deep powers of reasoning; but it does require that inward disposition, without which no Gospel-truth can be received into the soul, a confiding humility, a child-like trust in the revelations of our heavenly Father, even although we may not comprehend how these things can be. The same God who has appointed the food which shall sup port our natural bodies, has appointed this sacrament to be the spiritual sustenance of our souls; and as loathing its wholesome food is a sure sign that there is some disease in the body, so not desiring this spiritual sustenance is an equally sure sign that there is some disorder in the soul. A growing appetite for its proper nutriment is in the latter, as in the former, the best proof of returning health, with this only difference, that being for healing as well as for support, we must begin even while still indisposed for it, certain that perseverance will work a cure, and create the wished-for relish. O, that men would but give the same credence to those who are most intimate with the ordinances of religion, that is so generally accorded to those most familiar with any mere earthly subject. An invalid from his birth will listen with interest to one who can tell him that he was for years in the same state, and by what means he was restored; he will easily believe the advantages of health, for he feels the weakness and pain of his own condition, and sighs for relief. But with the diseased soul it is not so;-it feels its misery, yet instead of seeking release, it perversely argues, that misery is its portion. In vain those who have made trial set forth the efficacy of the prescribed remedy; in vain they assert, "we were equally wretched and dissatisfied; we were worn by contending passions, and wasted by corroding cares; but by the grace of God we have been renewed, and we are happy." It cannot deny its own disease and pain; but it chooses rather to believe that there is no other state, than to give credit to those who can affirm from experience that health is attainable. That this should be the case with the openly careless and indifferent, is matter of less surprise; spiritual blessings sound to them like a description of the pleasures of industry in the ears of the indolent, in direct opposition to all their notions of enjoyment: but our own brethrenthose who have taken some steps in seeking renovation, who are constant at the house of God, and Sunday after Sunday unite in the same prayers-surely it might be expected that they would listen to fellowtravellers who have gone a little further on the same road, and would fain persuade them forward to a banquet the most delightful and the most invigorating of any set before us during our pilgrimage. It is not by an occasional attendance at the Lord's table that we can hope to participate in the full benefit of that holy sacrament; the very being contented with such casual observance is of itself a proof that we have not yet learned its value. Do any wish to learn? let them come, with a lowly and implicit belief that in some way, far, far beyond the utmost stretch of our grovelling apprehensions, Christ does really and truly communicate himself to us in this sacred ordinance; let them draw near-not once or twice-not now and then, but constantly. They will perhaps for awhile find no alteration; their dispositions will be equally perverse, their wills equally unruly, the communion equally unsatisfactory; but let them persevere in faith, and gradually they will feel the real presence of Christ in his appointed sacrament, by the gradual growth of their own souls in conformity to him. They will perceive, with an assurance tenfold stronger than mere words can give, that on every fresh participation their souls are more closely united to him, and receive new |