really ministered to men's spiritual needs. If the latter is meant, it of course follows that the Dissenter can attain spiritual life and enjoyment without the aid of what are now-a-days called "Catholic rites." And unfortunately for all exclusive theories the Christianity outside these artificial enclosures, is as vital, and efficient in social elevation, as that which is within them. The dark are enlightened, the sleeping aroused, the guilty forgiven, and the vicious reformed, quite as palpably under the agencies of Dissent, as under the services of the Episcopal Church. Nay, there is more in Dr. Magee's concession than meets the eye at first. Dissent has been a revolt against Church authority because of its want of spirituality, but if Dissenters cease to be spiritual, and strive to contend with the political power of the Church by political agitation, they are certain to be the losers. The glory of Dissent has been that it has supplied the lack of spiritual service, which the Church's feebleness had caused. For the needs of a sinful world, it has been "blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." But if it has these things without the benediction, and in spite of the ban of bishops, how can it have much faith in either.?

These observations are not intended to disguise the fact that there are evils in Dissent, and particularly in its divisions. These cause unhappy feelings and much waste of power. Yet Dissenters of this day do not feel that there can be no “alliances," or that there are "between them differences on first principles which no amount of brotherly feeling can heal over." Generally they admit that a "visible unity of creed, order, and polity" is a legitimate ideal of Christianity which all ought to labour for. Dissent is, after all, but a protest against false unity. Pope and Bishop have cried through the Christian centuries, Lo, here is unity! or, Lo, it is there! but the flock of Christ has not known their voice. Unity belongs to the future Church. It, and the "creed, order, and polity" which constitute it, will be "Divinely given" to a perfected fellowship of the saints. Meanwhile, the Church of England must be a powerful factor in the unification of Christendom at home and abroad. We fear that at present its forces are largely employed in the defence of ancient and illiberal prejudices. With the greater part of the wealth, social influence, and educational power of the country under its control, it limits and reduces the religious liberties of many of the people. Its agents are widely diffusing the doctrine that Dissent is a "sin," and "guilds" are multiplying in which every member is pledged never to enter a "schismatic place of worship." The clergy and their friends in

Dr. Magee does not refer to Scripture in support of his views, but we may remind our readers that the English Version of Eph. iv. 13,scarcely represents St. Paul's words, "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." But the same preposition eis which in the first clause is translated "in" is in the two latter translated "unto." There can be no doubt that μέχρι καταντήσωμεν οἱ πάντες εἰς τὴν ἑνότητα τῆς πίστεως means " until we all arrive at the unity of the faith." KaTavráw is used thirteen times in the New Testament, and always means, "to arrive at, to attain." In Acts xxvii. 2, and Phil. iii. 11, it is translated "attain." We ought to add that "into" for "in" is given in the margin English Version.

many villages have evidently set themselves to the work of "stamping out" Nonconformity, as the farmers some years ago brought the "Rinderpest" to extinction. The Bishop of Peterborough says this war must go on to the bitter end, and even “alliances " must cease, and all truce be denied. By territorial authority, by the monopoly of education, by petty persecution, by social ostracism, "Dissent" is to be weakened and damaged on every side, as it has always been. Yet the Bishop recommends caution in "denunciation:" for this always alarms the Dissenter who is disposed to yield to the flattery, or to cringe beneath the shadow of the Establishment. Meanwhile the appeal of those Christians who are called Dissenters, Methodists, and Schismatics generally, must be to" the Shepherd and Bishop" of their souls, who counts them in His "flock," though not of the "fold" of the Bishops.

W. F. S.

SIR RODERICK MURCHISON AND THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

To the great mass of Englishmen, SIR RODERICK MURCHISON is chiefly known in connection with the Geographical Society, founded in 1830 by a section of the Raleigh Travellers Club to which he belonged. He was present at its birth, and he showed such interest in its welfare that in 1843 he was chosen President. From that time to his death he used every means in his power to increase its usefulness, and extend its prestige by bringing it into relation with foreign Societies, and by lending it the weight of his social influence. In his first Address we see the germ of its numerous successors, a broadly stretched outline of the progress of geographical research over the world, with indications of what remained to be done, made with remarkable sagacity. In it he recognises the intimate relation existing between geology and geography, and by that means gave a scientific meaning and interest to scattered and unconnected observations. His painstaking analysis of the work of foreign travellers, and a generous recognition of merit wherever it could be found, have undoubtedly done much to give the Society the great weight which it possesses abroad.

The exploration of three regions in particular was watched by Sir Roderick Murchison and his fellow-geographers with keen interestCentral Australia, Central Africa, and the lands and seas lying round the North Pole. With regard to Australia he strongly urged on the notice of the Government the importance of forming a settlement on the northern shore of that great continent. The intrepid Stuart forced his way across the continent, and the settlement was established; an object

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It is not very long since we heard a Canon of Bishop Magee's own cathedral church expound the famous passage, John x. 16. Dr. Westcott did not fail to show the difference between auλn," the fold," and roíμrn, "the flock;" and how fatal had been the influence of the Vulgate, which had rendered both these words by one, viz., ovile, "sheepfold;" and thus had "exhibited the unity of the Church to lie in the uniformity of the outward enclosure, rather than in the common relation of the sheep to the Shepherd."

which," Murchison remarked, "has long been a dream of my own, and which I rejoice to see thus realised in my lifetime." At his suggestion, the Geographical Society gave a gold medal to the family of Burke, who had lost his life in the attempt to recross that continent, and a gold watch to his fellow-explorer King. To him also belongs the merit of causing the discoveries of gold to be more rapidly developed than they would have been without the prominence which he assigned to them...... Murchison's name will ever be associated with the history of the exploration of Africa. While Livingstone, Burton, Speke, Grant, Baker, and others were pursuing their investigations, shut out from civilization, and thrown upon their own resources, he in England was ever looking after their interests with anxious solicitude. Even when the wilds of Africa had closed over an intrepid explorer for years, he was the last to lose heart in the success of the enterprise. In the pages of Grant, Speke, and Baker we find repeated reference to the support which the knowledge of his care gave them under their privations and difficulties. We need merely refer our readers to the Last Journals of Livingstone for a touching proof of what this was worth to that illustrious traveller in the malaria-stricken plains in which he died. Murchison had unbounded faith in Livingstone, and we well remember the delight with which his last return was welcomed, after an absence so long that it was currently believed he was dead; and the pride with which he was introduced to the public at the meeting of the British Association at Bath, will remain a pleasant memory to those who saw it. Travellers, however, were encouraged not only by moral, but with material support. The Society itself contributed sums of money, and these were augmented by Government grants from time to time, which were obtained mainly by the tact and influence of Murchison.

Looking back upon his life not far from its close, Murchison found no part of it more pleasing in retrospect than his share in African exploration. Speaking of Livingstone he writes:-"I rejoice in the steadfast pertinacity in which I have upheld my confidence in the ultimate success of the last-named of these brave men. In fact, it was the confidence I placed in the undying vigour of my dear friend Livingstone, which has sustained me in the hope that I might live to enjoy the supreme delight of welcoming him back to his country." But this was not to be: he himself was taken away just six days before Stanley relieved Livingstone on the banks of Lake Tanganyika, and the great traveller, with his enterprise yet unaccomplished, received in the heart of Africa the tidings of his death. The best friend I ever had," he writes in his Journal; "true, warm, and abiding; he loved me more than I deserved: he looks down upon me still. I must feel resigned to the loss by the Divine Will, but still I regret and mourn."

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We now pass on to Murchison's work in relation to Arctic exploration. The return of Sir James C. Ross, in 1843, after an absence of four years, in the "Erebus" and "Terror," with a noble harvest of results, rekindled the passion for the discovery of the North-west passage. In 1845, Franklin and his brave companions sailed on their hapless voyage. When the ice of the frozen North had closed upon them, and the hope with which Murchison bade them God speed had gradually died away,

he clung to the idea that some of the lost ones might still be alive among friendly Esquimaux. After having failed to induce the Government to renew, in 1857, their search for traces of the missing ships, he appealed to his countrymen for their generous support in aiding Lady Franklin in the equipment of another vessel, the "Fox," which sailed that year under Captain M'Clintock. "My earnest hope," says Sir Roderick, in his Anniversary Address for 1857, "is that the expedition of Lady Franklin may afford clear proofs that her husband's party came down with a boat to the mouth of the Back River in the spring of 1850, as reported on Esquimaux evidence by Dr. Rae, and thus demonstrate that which I have contended for, in common with Sir Francis Beaufort, Captain Washington, and some Arctic authorities, that Franklin, who in his previous explorations had trended the American coast from the Back River westward to Barrow Point, was really the discoverer of the North-west passage." This hope was realised on M'Clintock's return in 1859 with proof that Franklin had really boated from sea to sea, and thus solved the problem of the North-west passage, which has cost the lives of so many brave men. Nor from that time to the day of his death did he miss any opportunity of urging upon the Government the importance of Arctic exploration; and though his efforts were not crowned with success during his life, there is every reason for believing that the expedition which lately left our shores would never have been planned had it not been for the pressure of public opinion excited by the Geographical Society and its late energetic President......

During the last four years we have lost not merely Murchison, but his old comrades-Sedgwick, Phillips, and Lyell; men of a different stamp to those of the present generation, and occupying to them the same kind of relation as that which exists between the grand seigneur of the time of George IV. and a gentleman of to-day. It may be that they were men of greater sympathies and larger ideas than their successors, and they did not lose sight of the beauty of nature as a whole as we moderns are in danger of doing. It is our lot merely to fill in the details of the picture which they outlined, and most of us are busy on our little piece of it without reference to what our fellow-workmen are about. They were philosophers; we are only scientific specialists.

He

SEDGWICK was in most respects the antithesis of Murchison. possessed genius and humour, and the art of pleasing in a high degree. He was full of fire, and his words winged their way to the hearts of those who heard him. He lacked, however, the robust health, the business-like qualities, and it may be added, the opportunity of pursuing his quest with a single eye, to make him a far greater geologist than Murchison. The work which they did between them was the classification of the older rocks. Murchison, in company with Geikie, was the first to identify the Laurentian group of strata in Europe. Sedgwick added the next chapter in the world's history by his investigation into the Cambrian rocks: Murchison carried it on in the Silurian. Their joint labours resulted in the addition of the Devonian, or Old Red, chapter. To the labours of both is due the classification of the Permian or Magnesian rocks which overlie the Carboniferous. Sedgwick

survived his old comrade, dying at the ripe age of eighty-seven, leaving behind him the Woodwardian Museum as an enduring monument of his labours in the University of Cambridge.

PROFESSOR PHILLIPS, born in the year 1800, at Marden, in Wiltshire, was the son of an officer of Excise who married the sister of William Smith, the revered father of English geology. His father died when he was seven years old, and young Phillips came under the care of his uncle. Before he was ten years old he passed through four schools, and laid the foundations of that wide culture for which he was so remarkable. In course of time he was transferred to his uncle's house in London. It was indeed Professor Phillips' lot to take up the work of classifying the Secondary rocks where it had been left by William Smith. In 1829-36 he published the "Geology of Yorkshire," and had just finished a new edition of this work a few days before his death. In 1871 appeared the "Geology of Oxford and the Valley of the Thames," a book on which the changes in the life of the Secondary period were treated with a masterly hand. These two works, together with the "Treatise on Geology," published in 1837, are those by which his name will be known in the annals of geology......Early in life he showed great gifts as a lecturer, and, after gaining considerable experience in the north of England, he held successively the Professorship of Geology in three universities,London, Dublin, and lastly Oxford. Phillips was active in more fields than that of geology only; he did good work in meteorology and astronomy, more particularly in the investigation of the planet Mars, and in the examination of the surface of the moon. He was the first secretary of the British Association, and to his tact and genial manners the success of that almost national institution, as the phrase goes, is mainly due......The even tenour of his life was unruffled by either hopes or fears, and he looked forward to its end with feelings of perfect equanimity. In a conversation a few days before his death, after expressing his satisfaction at having completed the new edition of the "Geology of Yorkshire," he remarked, "My work is now done, and the rest of my time I intend to give to the study of the beautiful works of nature in the Museumthe corals, the sponges, and the like." But this was not to be: within ten days of this he met with the accident in 1874 which terminated fatally. It is not a little singular that his predecessor at Oxford came also to a violent end. Hugh Strickland was killed by a passing train, Professor Phillips died from falling down stairs. The magnificent Geological Museum at Oxford is largely due to Phillips, and his name will always be associated with the wonderful gigantic fossil reptiles he discovered and described.

The most recent loss to geological science in Britain which we have to deplore, is that of SIR CHARLES LYELL, who died in February last, at the ripe age of seventy-eight, after the uneventful life of a student and a littérateur. From the time that he left Sedgwick in Provence, to the day of his death, he devoted himself to the task of collecting together and comparing observations which were made by other men, and more especially did he give himself up to the study of present causes, and their application to the past history of the earth. His works, passing through many editions, have popularised British geology more than any others,