ence between Weber's experiments upon the effects of a free reed joined to a tube of variable length, and his own experiments on the same subject made and published independently. Weber had produced greater modifications of tone by such tubes, but had altogether overlooked the vowel quality which they communicate. Mr. Willis shewed the application of the principles thus discovered in the Chinese organ or Ching, and various other combinations, and exhibited Weber's experiment of the compensation of reed pipes. A meeting of the Philosophical Society was held on Monday evening, June 4,. Dr. F. Thackeray, the Treasurer, in the chair. A memoir, by J. Hogg, Esq. of Peterhouse, was read, containing descriptions of the classical plants of Sicily, founded on personal observations of the author, and compared with the mention of them found in ancient authors: Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Pliny, and the poets Theocritus and Moschus. Professor Henslow exhibited drawings illustrative of his memoir on the classification of mignonette. Dr. Clark exhibited and commented on a semi-double fœtus of a pig, similar in many respects to the monstrous human foetus described by him in the last part of the Transactions of the Society; and Professor Cumming performed a series of experiments illustrative of Mr. Faraday's recent discoveries in magneto-electricity. It was shewn, both by the common galvanometer and by one of gold leaf, that the galvanic current exercises a momentary power of induction upon a wire in its neighbourhood; that a similar effect is produced by a magnet suddenly moved transversely to the wire; also by a piece of soft iron moved so that its ends suðdenly acquire or lose a magnetic character by the action of the earth's magnetism, and, finally, by moving the wire itself so as to intersect the terrestrial magnetic curves. It was shewn also that a permanent deflection of the galvanometer needle was caused by the rotation of a brass disk under the influence of a magnet; and by the rotation of a cylindrical magnet round its own axis. The induced magneto-electricity was proved by its effects upon the nerves of a frog, to be capable of transmission through fluid conductors. The anniversary meeting was held on Tuesday, June 5, Dr. Haviland, Vice-President, in the chair. The Treasurer's accounts were read and passed, and the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, Rev. Prof. Sedgwick. Vice-Pres. Dr. Haviland. Rev. Prof. Cumming. Rev. Geo. Peacock. Treasurer, Dr. F. Thackeray, Secretaries, Rev. Prof. Henslow. Rev. W. Whewell. Council.. Prof. Miller. NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. The subject of "J. P.'s" communication has already been discussed in the Supplement to the Protestant Journal for December, 1831, pp. 953, 954; and more at length by the Rev. Professor Lee (in his Prolegomena to the Biblia Polyglotta Londinensia Minora, p. 29, of the folio Edition) who has shewn that the supposed testimony of Maruthas is inapplicable to the point for which it is adduced by J. P.; and before him, by Professor Wiseman of Rome. As we have mentioned the Protestant Journal, we take this opportunity of again strongly recommending it as a periodical ably written, and well suited to all who love our Reformed Church. We should have thanked “T. S." in our last Number for his very interesting communication, but we hope shortly to make amends, by aiding his argument in our own way. A Country Newspaper, "in the Dissenting interest," referring to the Article in our last Number on the Evils of Dissent, asks, "Where are our champions to refute such charges?" Echo says, "Where?" "R. C." has been received. On account of the extent of our Ecclesiastical department for this month, we are obliged to defer our Law Report, as well as many other articles now in type. THE CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER. AUGUST, 1832. REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ART. I.-Sermons, preached before the University of Oxford. By the Rev. EDWARD BURTON, D. D. Regius Professor of Divinity, and Canon of Christ Church. 8vo. Pp. 451. London: Rivingtons. 1832. A MORE beautiful volume of Sermons than this it has rarely been our good fortune to criticise. Dr. Burton is a character who would receive the respect of the wise and good under any circumstances; but in the present day such characters are rare as they are valuable. Had other counsels prevailed in the nation, Dr. Burton is one of those who would now be instructing the Church from a higher position; but malice itself must acquit the Doctor of all such ambition now. He is no politician-he has no connexion with the minister; -he is only an orthodox Christian, a profound scholar, a complete divine, a sincere, talented, and accomplished man. But there are higher rewards, even on earth, than the smiles of prime ministers and of these, not the least is the universal respect and approval of the wise and good. This blessing Dr. Burton eminently enjoys. The class, for whose approbation he writes, is one which formerly constituted the majority of the British nation, as it has always constituted, and continues to do, her moral strength and political energy: its ranks have been miserably thinned by liberalism and innovating ignorance; but (thanks to the providential guardianship which protects this nation) they are not prostrated, and never will be, until the sins of the nation call for those conspicuous judgments, which "begin at the house of God." It will be an evil sign for this country when she forgets her obligations to the University of Oxford. Resolute in the protection of our rights, by whomsoever invaded,-whether by factious democracy, or by insolent despotism,-whether by rampant fanaticism, or sceptered superstition, the University of Oxford has invariably been the steady friend-the bold and undaunted assertor of the nation's liberties, in the face of calumny, and even of peril. She has ever, as her learned professor now exhorts her to do, built the fair fabric of profound and elegant learning on the rocky foundation laid by the apostles and evangelists; and she has invariably committed the merits of her cause, under God, to the sure approval of that "sole philosopher," Time. She has appealed from the stormy and passionate determinations of the day to abstract truth and reason; and her appeal has been well confirmed. Her worthy son follows the track of his venerable parent; he writes not for ephemeral applause; and though we will not do him the injustice to believe him indifferent to the verdict of his audience, yet we do think that the great merits of that verdict, are, in the Doctor's opinion, its probable ratification with a dispassionate posterity. Above all, there is a tribunal where sermons must be tried, when other literature will perish in the wrecks of an universe; when "the fire shall try every man's work, of what kind it is." Conscious that he has done his best endeavour to meet that awful scrutiny, the preacher may be content to miss the general approval of men; and even find consolation, when his efforts may not always be rewarded with the favourable opinion of those whom he most deeply honours. Dr. Burton's sermons are, as all sermons should be, especially adapted to prevalent opinions. The accomplished teacher's excellence is stated, on Divine authority, to consist in bringing forth out of his treasure things new and old. The old is to furnish the matter; the new to enforce the application. It has been sometimes observed as extraordinary, that, since the preacher's themes and motives so far exceed those of every other orator, and preachers are permanently stationed throughout the country, the proportion of standard pulpit eloquence should be so small. The true explanation of this seeming fact we take to be, that the preacher's themes, though magnificent, and of universal personal interest, infinitely above every other, are still unrecommended by the charm of novelty. Let a new doctrine be broached, and celebrity is not long behind, though eloquence may lag. But the Christian minister, who has any sense of his obligations, dares not be novel. In Christian theology antiquity is truth. To "stand in the way," and "ask for the old paths," is what he must do, and what he must direct his flock to do. Hence, doubtless, many thousand sermons, heard with interest, and committed immediately to obscurity, are preached every Sunday, which, were they written on any topic but Christian faith and duty, would be received with admiration, and purchase their author a permanent name in the literature of his country. Such being the repugnance of men to old truths, though their souls' salvation may be therein concerned, it is the wisdom of the preacher to introduce them with that seasonable accommodation, which, binding them upon considerations of present interest, may procure for them acceptance and regard. -Veluti pueris absinthia tetra medentes The Doctor's sermons, accordingly, are mostly of a local or occasional character. We have only space for a few random extracts, illustrative of their style or doctrine. The following is a felicitous illustration of Socinian inconsistency. The text is Col. iii. 13. If Jesus Christ were a mere man, by no possible figure of speech could he be said to have forgiven the Colossians, to whom St. Paul was then writing: he could not have forgiven them any personal injury, for no intercourse had ever taken place between them; and the very hypothesis of his being a mere man precludes the notion of his forgiving them their sins, which is the attribute and function of God alone. I have a right to assume that there is some force in this argument, because the Unitarians have felt the necessity of altering the text, in order to evade the support which it gives to the doctrine of Christ's divinity. There are to be found in this passage some various readings, and some manuscripts read, not as Christ hath forgiven you, but as THE LORD hath forgiven you. The most distinguished of the Unitarian translators (Mr. Belsham) adopts the latter reading-Even as the Lord freely forgave you, so also do ye; and he prefers this reading because he interprets the Lord to mean God, and thus gets rid of the conclusion which would follow from forgiveness of sins being attributed to Christ. That there is nothing incorrect or unusual in interpreting the Lord to mean God, may readily be conceded; but this is not the sense in which the term Lord is interpreted by the same translator in another passage, containing a disputed reading. I allude to the well-known passage in the Acts, (xx. 28.) where St. Paul says to the Ephesian elders, Feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. Here the Unitarian translator substitutes the Lord for God, and reads, Feed the Church of the Lord which he hath purchased with his own blood; and the reason of his preferring this reading is, because he understands the Lord to mean Christ: whereas in the former passage he substituted the Lord for Christ, because he understood the Lord to mean God: so that in one place an argument for the divinity of Christ is to be evaded by interpreting the Lord to mean God, and in another place a similar argument is to be evaded by interpreting the same word to mean Christ.-Pp. 102, 103. On the atonement of Christ, scarcely more could be said in the same compass than what follows: The doctrine of the atonement is not a mere speculative doctrine, one which we may embrace, or not, as we please, and the rejection of which is to be classed among involuntary errors: if it be true, and if we believe it to be true, (for God has made the application of it to ourselves to depend upon our own faith,) then we shall rise again to everlasting life: but if there be no such doctrine, then we have no promise, and we can have no certain hope, that we shall rise again at all. Let a man reject the Scriptures altogether, let him deny that in Adam all die, and then he may not see the necessity or the fituess of Christ's atonement. But will he be a gainer by this miserable unbelief? He may not believe that death is the lot of all men in consequence of one man's sin: but from some cause or other knows that he himself shall die: and how does he know, without the light of Chris tianity, that from that death he shall ever rise again? Will abstract reasoning lead him to this conclusion? Let him look to the sages of Greece and Rome, and he will see them, as wise perhaps, or wiser than himself, lost in the ocean of perplexity, or wrecked on the shoals of atheism. Does he think that his own virtues will raise his body from the grave; and that these are sufficient to insure him the happiness of heaven? This is, in fact, the creed of those unhappy persons, who reject the atonement of Christ. They may not like to speak of the sufficiency of human merit, or of claiming heaven as a right; but if they do not look for redemption from sin and its punishment, through the righteousness and the death of Christ, they must trust to themselves: they must think, that what they have done well, will atone for what they have done amiss and let every one look into his own heart, and see, whether this is a belief which will open to him the happiness of heaven. There may be difficulties in the doctrine of the atonement: the very notion of it is fraught with mystery: but God has revealed enough to make faith an anchor of our souls, both sure and stedfast. That Christ having the Divine nature added to the human, should be perfectly free from sin, is not difficult to be believed: that having taken our human nature, he should be subject to death, is also a point which we might expect: that his divine nature should enable him to rise again from the dead, is agreeable to our notions of divinity: so that in these three positions, viewed separately and distinctly, human reason would find nothing which it might not readily adopt. That God should accept the death of Christ as an atonement for the death of all men, is undoubtedly an article of faith; it is one which, if God had not revealed it, we could never have discovered: the pride of reason may reject it, and the coldness of philosophy may reduce it to a name; but we have not so learned Christ; we know, that it is appointed unto all men once to die; and, after death, the judgment and who is there amongst us that looks into his own heart, that sees there a consciousness of sins for which he will hereafter be judged; that hears the comfortable assurance, that these sins may be washed away in the blood of Christ, who will not say with a thankful, though a fearful heart, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief?-Pp. 360-363. The following remarks are excellent, and admirably timed: One man preaches justification by faith only, and in so doing he is undoubtedly right he lays the only foundation which can be laid; but then he is not satisfied without condemning those who do not lay as much stress on faith as himself: he calls them legalists, or some such opprobrious name, and so he violates Christian charity. Others, again, see the evil effect of preaching up faith without works: but they are not satisfied with enforcing practical holiness themselves, they condemn the other party as hypocrites or fanatics, and so they violate Christian charity. We may see another instance in the opinions which are held concerning amusements. One man thinks it wrong to mix in society: he looks upon certain recreations as sinful; and there can be no doubt that to him they would be sinful he ought to abstain from them. But when he condemns the man who has not these scruples, he steps beyond the line of his duty; as St. Paul says, he is judging another man's servant: he violates Christian charity. This failing is easily seen by the man who allows himself these indulgences: he thinks there is no sin in enjoying certain pleasures, and St. Paul has told him plainly, that he may enjoy them; but he has not told him to ridicule or condemn the man who denies himself these pleasures for conscience sake. He has nothing to do with another man's conscience and if he blame him for not doing that which he thinks sinful, he is himself committing a sin-he violates Christian charity. Pp. 446, 447. I would confine the remarks which I have made to no party. I wish the term party could for ever be expelled from the Christian's vocabulary. It ought |