Dr. Osborn so truly showed, Methodism is pervasively and perceptibly salting and leavening other Churches, the salt of Methodism itself must not lose or lessen its own pungent savour, the leaven must not let its vital spirit die down or evaporate. Should Methodism begin to content itself with becoming a respectable fixture in the country, the dry rot would be in its bond-timber, the leprosy in its walls. Thank God! there is no sign of such a stolid hallucination amongst the men whom our tribes sent up to the great council of the Church, names 'famous in the congregation, men of renown.' The outpourings of that memorable morning breathed the quintessence of Methodism; and we could not but feel that those free, full-hearted interlocutions were the pledge and the prelude of revival, and with a heart heaving heavenwards, exclaim, 'Surely His salvation is nigh them that fear Him; that glory may dwell in our land.' young. But Many practical suggestions of great value were submitted: such as Mr. Bowden's, with regard to children's meetings, and providing Leaders with notes of removal to be filled up by them, with the exception of the Superintendent's signature; and Dr. Osborn's, as to the private pressing of the claims of Christ on individual members of our congregations, old and for these we must refer our readers to the newspaper-reports. The reception by Conference of a deputation from the Ministers of other Nonconformist Churches in the Conference town has happily become one of the Agenda. But this year a special interest attended the introduction of a deputation from the Primitive Methodist Conference. If no other advantage had accrued than the drawing forth of Dr. Pope's speech in reply to the tasteful and fine-spirited Addresses read and spoken by the two deputations, the time devoted to this most refreshing interruption of the routine of business would have been well laid out. The Ordination Charge worthily and characteristically closed the official deliverances of the Ex-President. Those deliverances are already collected in a volume, which will be nobly monumental of a Presidency far more productive than any former one of highly original prelections, and will permanently enrich the literature of Methodism. But our limits compel us to reserve the estimate of the substantial and peculiar worth of the Ordination Charge for our review of the inclusive volume. We cannot, however, suppress a regret that Dr. Pope's speeches in Conference, and some even of his obiter dicta, should not accompany his larger, and only because larger, more weighty and documentary deliverances. It is marvellous how events and responsibilities reveal, develop and evolve, and by evolution consummate, a man! The scholarly recluse, suddenly called forth from library and lecturehall to arduous and multiform public service, is found, to his own surprise, perhaps, as much as that of others, to possess facilities, resources, aptitudes, which seem to have been accumulating with compound interest all the while they were unused. The subject of Educational Attainments of Candidates and the cognate question of a fourth Theological Institution are of the gravest and most urgent importance. It will never do for Methodist Ministers to be inferior to Day-school Teachers, either in general culture or special training for their work. The question is not that of culture as against calibre or character, but of the necessity of superadding, in these times, at least a modicum of culture to calibre and character. Our BOOK AFFAIRS were never in a more prosperous condition than at present, notwithstanding the depression of trade. During the year, Grants have been made by the Book-Room to various departments of the Work of God, to the amount of £4,300: to the Annuitant Society, £3,000; to the Home Missions, £500; to the Worn-out Ministers' Fund, £500; and to the Work of God in Ireland, £300. A considerable addition has also been made to the capital stock. As Dr. Jobson justly said: 'Wesleyan literature is progressively widening its circulation year by year, and that not only in the Wesleyan-Methodist community, but far beyond it, and that both at home and abroad....... Three millions of tracts have been sold in the year. The WESLEYAN-METHODIST MAGAZINE has a circulation exceeding most of the more popular reviews and magazines of the time.' In fact, nothing is wanted but the circulation of our literature, as of old, in every Circuit throughout the Connexion, as an essential part of the Work of God. We thank God and take courage. We have reached our limits, and can only add that the first combined Pastoral and Representative Conference of British Wesleyan Methodism began, continued, closed, in the most auspicious manner. We know not how to express the sentiment of the scene more fittingly than in the last but one of the Songs of Ascents: 'Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.' Yes, that perfumed unction of our High Priest and Head which ran down so copiously on Ministers and Laymen will reach the farthest outskirts of the Connexion. And as the sun-smit snow on Hermon, and the plenteous dew on the 'mountains round about Jerusalem,' found a way to every valley in the Holy Land, so that heavenly dew which distilled so graciously on the heights of our Israel, has been borne back with them by Pastors and Representatives of God's people, to the remotest districts of our land, to fertilize and beautify the heritage of God. 716 NOTES ON CURRENT SCIENCE: BY THE REV. W. H. DALLINGER, F.R.M.S. : ON May the 6th last there was a transit of Mercury across the solar disc. In this country the vast majority of observations were without result from the cloudy state of the sky; and at many observatories there was not even a momentary apparition of the phenomenon. At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, very careful preparations had been made; and in addition to the ordinary mounted instruments always in use there, the instruments that had been employed in the observations by the several expeditions sent to observe the transit of Venus were mounted and thus there were not less than fourteen instruments placed in readiness, to each of which a competent observer was assigned. But with the exception of an interval of a very few moments, the sky was so clouded as to exclude the sun during the whole time of transit. But such of the observers throughout England as did get a longer or shorter view of the transit are by no means at one as to the details visible. Several agree, with more or less of identity in the minutia, that a bright spot was visible in the centre of the planet's disc as it was crossing the solar disc. This spot is described generally as minute, but slightly diffused, with an intense star-like nucleus. But this was not seen by all; and the Astronomer Royal cautioned these observers that such a phenomenon might be attributable to reflections. Some, again, saw a bright halo round the planet, much brighter than the ordinary surface of the sun, and with an inner and much brighter ring close to the surface of the disc: others who saw this estimated it as much less brilliant than the luminosity of the solar envelope. But there were others, again, who did not observe it at any time during the visibility of the transit. At Paris and other continental observatories, the observations also varied on account of the state of the sky: yet some good results are said to have been obtained. But whatever failure may have attended the European efforts generally appears to have been compensated by the excellent weather, and consequent excellent observations, secured in America, where the transit was observable from its first to its last condition. And one notable fact is that our want of accurate knowledge concerning the orbit of Mercury made itself manifest in the inaccuracy of the predictions of the times of contact. The nearness of the planet to the sun makes exact data as to the orbit of Mercury extremely difficult to obtain. At the Naval Observatory at Washington, Professor Newcomb states, the planet came into view twenty seconds sooner than the time predicted by Leverrier, and more than a minute sooner than the time marked for it by the American tables. This fact is most important. The object sought in observing the transit of Venus is of course to ascertain, by the accurate measure of its parallax, the exact distance of the sun from the earth. At present, this is not by any means the direct object of the careful observations made on the transit of Mercury. They are rather to enable us to determine accurately the data required in relation to his orbit: and this for many reasons; not the least of which is that by doing so we should have a means given us for determining the truth or fallacy of the supposed existence of a small planet inside the orbit of Mercury—that is, nearer to the sun-which has been hypothesized as the planet Vulcan Some very curious coincidences of observation have been made (so often and so independently) of the transit of small round spots across the sun's disc, that it was thought that mathematical calculations might be based upon them, and as a result of these, predictions of their recurrence made. This was done; but the 'planet' was not discovered at the predicted time. Now, it is well known to those who are interested in astronomical matters that the planet Neptune was discovered by mathematical, and not by optical, research. The celestial bodies all act and react on each other as centres of attraction, besides being all attracted to and held in their places by the sun. But the action of planets and satellites upon each other produce 'perturbations' in the orbital paths of each of them, which, when their orbits are accurately known, are easily discoverable. Until the discovery of Neptune, Uranus was the outermost planet of the solar system; but on very careful observation of his path it was discovered that he manifested irregularity of movement wholly unaccountable by the influence of any known body in the system. It was at once inferred by two mathematicians (Professor Adams and M. Leverrier) that not only must there be an unknown planetary body outside Uranus, producing the disturbance by its attraction, but that it was possible to discover where that body is. Mr. Adams placed the results of his calculations at the disposal of the Observatory in Cambridge, on the 29th July, 1846. Leverrier sent his to the astronomers at Berlin, on the 23rd of September in the same year. The German astronomers, furnished with new and accurate starcharts, found the planet Neptune that same evening; and the places assigned for it by the two mathematicians were not one degree apart. Le Now, if we can discover very accurately all the data of Mercury's orbit, we can detect and measure any perturbatious that any Intra-Mercurial planet would produce, and thus, as certainly as in the case of Neptune, declare that it exists. verrier, indeed, believed that the perturbations of Mercury are to be explained in this way: the planet advances to its nearest place to the sun, he believed, too rapidly to be explained by any known disturbing cause and this quickening would, it is thought by some, account for the hastening of the time of transit, as observed by Professor Newcomb as stated above. But it should be noted that it by no means follows that such a disturbing body need be a planet at all it may be a group of meteors, or an aggregation of meteoric matter. An angel came and touched him while he spoke : The golden bowl is at the cistern broke; And trembling stands the soul to take its flight. And through the darkness gathering round his brain, The gloom is gone! It grows for ever light! SELECT LITERARY NOTICES. Way-marks: Placed by Royal Authority on the King's Highway. By the Rev. Benjamin Smith. London: Wesleyan Conference Office.-Mr. Smith has a most felicitous manner of illustrating and applying Scripture precepts; and the Book of Proverbs is a peculiarly rich field for this kind of Biblical criticism. These Waymarks will prove a valuable guide to youthful travellers on the King's Highway. Precious Seed and Little Sowers. London: Wesleyan Conference Office.This is a touching and very beautiful story of a little girl's mission. Child religion is most simply and attractively portrayed. We strongly recommend the little book, feeling sure that its teaching will be precious seed in many a young heart. The Homiletic Quarterly. No. 7. London: Richard D. Dickinson. 1878.The principal article of this number is an ably-sustained Clerical Symposium,' subject: What Method of Preaching is most calculated to render Divine Truth effective in this Age of Popular Indifference and Philosophical Scepticism? Most Preachers might read it with advantage. We have also expositions of Judges, James, Hebrews, etc., and a great number of Sermonic Outlines by Preachers of all denominations. The number is a valuable one, and the periodical one of the best of its class, Expository Lectures on the Second Epistle of St. Peter. By Rev. Thornley Smith. London: R. D. Dickinson. 1878.This is, in our judgment, the best, as it is the most original, of Mr. Smith's Expositions, superior even to his work on Jeremiah. Mr. Smith wisely and serviceably chooses the less beaten paths of exegesis. As a commentary this is a thoroughly good piece of work. Direct and careful grammatical exegesis is made the basis, and on this is built sound and solid homiletic teaching. There is a judi cious boldness, a firmness of nerve in it, not so characteristic of former works by the same author. Once or twice, indeed, he seems to us rather risky in his interpretations. The book is much enriched by choice excerpts from a variety of writers of different theological schools, from the tiresomely quaint and painfully punning Adams up to Isaac Taylor. It is compact and concise, and will be really useful to the Biblical student and the Preacher. The Christian Creed: Its Theory and Practice. With a Preface on some present Dangers of the English Church. By the Rev. Stanley Leathes, M.A. London: Hodder and Stoughton.-This is in the main a very sensible, seasonable, fine-spirited, homiletic exposition of the Apostles' Creed: not only elucidating bat contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. Not massively eru dite and theological, like the tome of Bishop Pearson, nor glowingly, loftily eloquent like Dr. Barrow's masterly expatiation, bat quietly edifying and instructive, and bear ing helpfully on the present state of religi ous thought. It is a book for moderately cultivated and reflective readers. We are sorry, however, to find the devout and amiable author joining in the sneering depreciation of the popular theology, without letting us know what precise tenets he classes under that vaguely depreciating designation, or with what theology be wishes to contrast it. By far the greater part of Mr. Leathes' own theology is widely and intensely popular. If by the popular theology be meant the theology which is most popular, as contrasted with the fashionable theology, and the theology of fastidious intellectualism, we are quite sure that the despised theology is very much nearer the teaching of our Lord and His Apostles than the changeful compounds which some would substitute. Faith and Philosophy: Discourses |