Ignatius, however, must be disquieted and called up, to affirm the Popish doctrine of tradition.

It should have been mentioned also,-to make the matter still worse,-that, when on his way through Asia to the scene of his sufferings, this illustrious Father, in exhorting the Churches to be on their guard against Heresy, impressed earnestly upon them "to hold fast by the Traditions of the Apostles ;' sanctioning that twofold Rule of Faith, the Unwritten as well as the Written Word, which by all good Protestants is repudiated as one of the falsest of the false doctrines of Popery!-Vol. I. p. 21.

-thus

Where is the proof that Ignatius here made a distinction between the written and the unwritten word? For any thing that here appears, he might intend nothing but the New Testament Epistles themselves. Probably he referred to the Belief and the Lord's Prayer. But grant that he intended something unwritten. Ignatius was a contemporary of the Apostles; and he might safely speak of their verbal traditions, which they had themselves heard from the Apostles' own lips. Are we, however, hence to conclude that what Rome, at the distance of 1800 years, or say, if you will, of 800, would affirm, upon no evidence, to be Apostolical tradition, is actually such? No human ingenuity can make this very ambiguous passage countenance the doctrine of unwritten tradition, as received by the modern Church of Rome.

Then says our traveller :

Marvellous to me, most marvellous, were these discoveries;-a Pope, Relics of Saints, Apostolical Traditions, and a Corporal Eucharist, all in the First Age of the Church!-who could have thought it? Vol. I. p. 21.

Who, indeed? and who can think it, if it rest on no better evidence than this?

Barnabas and Polycarp our traveller hopelessly surrenders, as incapable of perversion. Of Hermas he says,

This Father, be it recollected, was one of those distinguished Christians to whom St. Paul sends salutations in the Epistle to the Romans, and among the moral precepts which in this work he represents his angel to have communicated to him is the following:-"The first thing we have to do is to observe the commandments of God. If afterwards a man wishes to add thereunto any good work, such as fasting, he will receive the greater recompense."

Here again was sheer Popery, both in doctrine and practice-Satisfaction to God by Good Works, and one of those Good Works, Fasting!—Vol. I. pp. 23, 24.

The young gentleman's "ignorance in all matters of religion" is once more exhibited in arguing for fasting, as a Popish practice, rejected by Protestants. It may be necessary therefore to tell him that Protestants do not reject fasting, nor do they deny the primitive authority of the practice. But if it had been our author's intention to discredit this observance instead of maintaining it, he could not have succeeded better than in quoting from an early Father a passage which denies its necessity, and formally excepts it from the commandments of God. As to "satis

faction by good works," we can no more read it here than in those words of our Lord himself, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." *

And this is all that our young traveller can extract in favour of Popery from the Apostolic Fathers! We shall take occasion, in our next Number, to see how he succeeds with later ages. We may remark that his work is characterised by the usual amount of low scurrility and graceless wit against the Protestant Clergy:-" Rich and roseate rectors!" Surely Captain Rock's biographer ought to know that the patriotic efforts of that gallant gentleman have rendered such beings impossibilities! Our young traveller does well to be abusive. Invective is the best substitute for argument, when the latter cannot be had.

Of the other works, we have only to say that Mr. O'Sullivan and Philalethes are excellent. We scarcely know what to think of the "Second Travels." We wish to see the faith of the Church of England better defended than the author of that book is capable of doing. We have sometimes thought him a Jesuit in disguise, and sometimes the Archbishop of Dublin; but the most reverend Prelate is so courteously cited occasionally, that we must abandon the latter conjecture.

ART. II.—Chemistry, Meteorology, and the Function of Digestion, Considered with Reference to Natural Theology. By WILLIAM PROUt, M.D. F.R.S. Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. London: Pickering. 1834. Pp. 564.

In most of the ordinary operations of Nature, the design of the Creator is sufficiently obvious; the adaptation of means to their end is readily discernible by the reasoning faculties of man. Such, however, is not the case with phenomena in general; but, though we can assign no reason for the results produced by various experimental operations, the changes effected by them are manifestly directed to certain ends. Since therefore, in cases where the intermediate phenomena can be traced and understood, a design is always manifest, it is natural to infer design in others obviously so directed, even though their intimate nature surpass the limits of human comprehension. This is Paley's argument, in the seventh chapter of his "Natural Theology;" and it clearly admits of a very extensive application to the phenomena of CHEMISTRY, which is a branch of knowledge dependent solely on experience, and which had not hitherto been considered in detail, with reference to the argument for design and contrivance in the works of creation. To supply this desideratum has fallen to the lot of DR. PROUT, as one of the writers for the Bridgewater premium; and he has placed

John xix. 15.

the argument in a somewhat more striking point of view than that in which Paley has left it. Admitting, generally, that the mechanical contrivance of the universe is better adapted to display the design of the great Contriver, he considers it not so well suited to arrest the attention of the observer. The employment of means utterly above our comprehension, though evidently most familiar to Him, is calculated to impress the mind with more exalted notions of his wisdom and goodness, than the more obvious beauty even of the most complicated mechanism.

The trio of subjects comprised in Dr. Prout's treatise have no very apparent connexion with each other, except in so far as chemical agency affects the operation both of meteorology and digestion; and, though arranged in three consecutive books, the writer has exercised no little ingenuity in discussing them on similar principles. His arguments in general are clear and well developed; but they depend in a great measure, at least in the way of illustration, upon a theory of his own, which, however plausible, is not at present established, if indeed it ever will be nor are we prepared to admit, that the undertaking in which he was engaged is likely to be furthered by broaching a new hypothesis, instead of deducing a definite inference from laws already defined. The purpose of the Earl of Bridgewater was not to elicit new discoveries in science, but, among other things, "by discoveries, ancient and modern, in arts and sciences, and the whole extent of literature," to exhibit the wisdom, power, and goodness of God in the works of creation. It is not our intention, nor would it accord with the plan of our Miscellany, to canvass the merits of our author's scientific investigations. In their present form, indeed, they furnish but an outline of his conceptions on the subject, and may or may not be reducible to practice. At all events, it will require many long years of scientific research to fix them upon any other than a conjectural or probable basis. Our purpose will accordingly be directed to lay before our readers the result rather than the grounds of the argument; and, in doing this, we shall not fail to produce some cogent proofs of design in the operations of the Deity.

A considerable portion of the first book is occupied with the author's theory respecting the divisibility and molecular constitution of matter, and the phenomena and motion of light and heat. From the principles laid down respecting the molecular operation of matter, he has deduced the following inferences :-First, that matter has not always existed in its present form; secondly, that it could not have existed in its present form by chance; and thirdly, and consequently, that it must have been the work of a voluntary and intelligent Being. Regarding the premises as established, we give the consequence in his own words :—

We infer intelligence in an agent from the fitness and adaptation to certain ends exemplified in his works. Thus, when we see a machine admirably fitted

for the office it performs, we infer that the maker of that machine must have possessed intelligence. Now if we judge of the molecular constitution of matter by this rule, we shall find that there is not only the most extraordinary fitness and adaptation to circumstances displayed in its arrangements, as far as we can understand them, but evidently much further; that is to say, the maker of this system must not only have possessed intelligence, but intelligence infinitely surpassing our own. Thus at the very beginning, the selection of the molecular form of matter out of the many possible forms which might be supposed to exist, may be considered as an instance of intelligence of the highest kind; for this alone, of all the forms that can be conceived, seems best adapted to the purposes of creation. Indeed, on what other supposition, than that of the subdivision of matter into minute similar parts, could all those endless operations, which we see constantly going on in the world, be imagined to take place? Moreover, the nature of the powers with which the molecules of matter are endowed is truly astonishing, and calculated in the highest degree to impress us with exalted notions of the intelligence and power of their contriver. Thus, what can be more wonderful, than that the self-same chemical forces differently directed should produce, not only all that endless change of property, of form, and of condition which we see around us, and which are so beneficial and even necessary to our existence; but likewise some of the most terrible displays of power in nature; as for instance, the utmost intensities of heat, of cold, and of light; the terrors of the thunderbolt, and the irresistible energies of the earthquake! Nor, on the other hand, are the cohesive affinities existing among the molecules of matter much less wonderful or important; for if similar molecules had not been constituted with self-attractive and self-repulsive powers, there would have been no aggregation of the same matter into symmetrical groups, no order or regularity, no separation or purity; in short, there would have been no common bond of union, and the whole would have been dispersed throughout nature, as accident or other circumstances might determine. Hence the present order of things could not have existed unless the molecules of matter had been endowed with both these properties; one of which, the chemical, as it were, goes before and imperiously determines what molecules shall be combined or separated; while the other, the cohesive, silent and unobtrusive, follows in its train, and industriously assorting and arranging its predecessors' labours, here perhaps forms a diamond, or there superintends the integrity of the atmosphere! Such are molecular forces as they obviously appear to us, and such the arguments deducible from them. But when we attempt to go further, and inquire into the intimate nature of these forces, we not only find much that is unknown to us, but much that apparently surpasses our utmost conception! And what a still more sublime idea is this calculated to convey to us of the wisdom and power of that Being who contrived and made the whole! When and where, do we naturally exclaim, did this Being exist? Whence his wisdom, and whence his power? There is, there can be, but one answer to these inquiries. The Being who contrived and made all these things must have pre-existed from eternity-must have been omniscient-must have been omnipotent-MUST HAVE BEEN GOD!—Pp. 89—91.

Dr. Prout's fourth chapter contains a summary account of the different elementary principles which exist upon the earth's surface, followed by a consideration of the principle upon which the atomic theory is founded; from which, and a general review of the entire subject, he reverts to the main subject of the treatise. His first illustration is well put, and others of equal force and perspicuity abound in the volume:

We are told by the inspired historian that after matter had been created and endowed with motion, the next Almighty fiat was, "Let there be light;" and

if we suppose this fiat to have included the other imponderable forms of matter, heat, &c., how entirely do the whole phenomena of nature accord with the sacred narrative! Light, and probably its attendant heat, are the most generally diffused and universal of all the subordinate agencies; so much so, that they are not confined to our globe or even system, but extend throughout the universe. Their laws and influences, therefore, seem to be as general and as necessary to the present order of things, as those of gravitation itself. The priority of existence also of light and of heat is self-evident; for until they existed, nothing else, as we are acquainted with things, could have had existence. Now all subsequent creations have been made with the most exact regard to the influences of these prior agencies. The globe, for example, which we inhabit, is placed at a certain distance from the sun, the great centre of our system and of light aud of heat; and where, of course, according to the laws which light and heat obey, they must act with a certain intensity. Hence it was necessary that the materials of this globe should have a certain degree of fixity, otherwise they could not exist. If indeed there had been no ulterior views, with respect to the destination of this globe; all that would have been requisite, would have been to have made it sufficiently firm to move through space; and for this purpose the more homogeneous and compact its composition had been the better. But what are the facts? Our globe, though stable, so far from being homogeneous, is composed of a variety of substances all differing from each other in their properties; some being solid, some fluid, some aeriform under the common circumstances in which they have been placed, and all beautifully adapted, both by their physical and chemical properties, to the purposes they fulfil in nature; and what is more, to the purposes they were designed to fulfil in nature; for on no other supposition would their properties be intelligible.

Thus water, within very narrow limits of temperature, is a solid, or a liquid, or a gas; and yet these very narrow limits of temperature, neither more nor less, are precisely those which exist upon the surface of our globe; where they are the natural and necessary results of its situation in the universe, and of the general laws which govern the distribution of light and heat. Had the properties of this body been other than what they are, or had the general temperature of our globe been different, water would have existed altogether in the solid or in the gaseous state, and its most important properties would have been unknown. Hence it seems almost impossible to arrive at any other conclusion, than that the temperature of the earth, and the properties of the water on its surface, have been mutually adjusted to each other. And further, since the temperature of the earth, as just stated, is the natural result of the general laws which govern the distribution of heat and of light; the inference must be, that the properties of the water, as the subordinate and later principle, have, at an after period, been adjusted to the prior temperature of the earth.-Pp. 150-153. When we see adjustments so wonderful, and such wisdom displayed in those parts of creation which are intelligible to us, we cannot imagine that the Being who made them all would act otherwise than with wisdom. Hence what we do not understand, or what may appear incongruous to us, we naturally and properly refer to our own ignorance. The phenomena of chemistry are so extraordinary, and often so unexpected, that little in general can be predicated of them, beyond what is actually known. The most experienced chemist, therefore, as compared with the Great Chemist of nature, is immeasurably deficient; and can only contemplate His wonderful operations with astonishment and awe, and own them unapproachable.-Pp. 154, 155.

We cannot resist the temptation of adding another extract from this division of the work, in which a common chemical process is made to furnish a striking proof of God's omnipotence :

Let us,

for example, consider what happens in a simple and familiar instance of chemical decomposition; as when a solution of lunar caustic (nitrate of silver)