"that he has any wish or right to enter," that is, the question of commencing meetings of the Society with prayer. If such liberty were not now conceded, we could understand and sympathize with his zeal; but as it is, we must be pardoned for saying, especially when his remarks are taken in connection with his revered father's course of action, that it would have been more decorous not to have revived an obsolete controversy, in which those who think with him have gained the day, and not to have placed on record his own petty squabbles at Devizes with some unlucky deputation who ran counter to him. It has been our own privilege to attend meetings of the Bible Society in sundry places when opportunity offered; the meetings have been opened with fervent and earnest prayer for God's blessing upon the work; and if this is Mr. Plumptre Methuen's only stone, we think it would have been better taste to have dropped it, than to have cast it at the Society from behind his father's broad shield.

It will be seen from the foregoing extracts, that Mr. Methuen and his sons, however fondly knit together by mutual love, and however great may have been the reverence with which they regarded their father in his earthly relationship to them, were not at one with him on sundry important religious topics. It is certain, we are told, that as to the effects of infant baptism he was lower than Mr. Gorham; his views of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper were very low; and so on. The mention of this discrepancy of opinion leads us to remark upon one important use which this memoir and autobiography will serve. In the compass of one volume we have the experience of the father, and we have also the experience of the sons. A very important subject may thus be approached from two points of view. If the sons had turned out ungodly, irreligious menwhich they have not-the question would be too painful to deal with; but, plainly and confessedly, in sundry respects the writer of this memoir does not sympathize with his father, much as he revered and loved him. Some insight into the cause of this may be gathered from the chapter entitled " The Father." As it is probable that our article may fall into the hands of many persons whose spirits are much exercised with that most difficult problem, how "to train up children in the way in which they should go," we think that, whether they assent to Mr. Plumptre Methuen's conclusions or not, they will, if so disposed, gather much profitable matter for contemplation while listening to this voice from the nursery and from the school-room. It is often possible to gather instruction from outside, which is equally, perhaps more available and at hand indoors, but is, for that very reason, overlooked; and with all our veneration for Mr. Methuen's character, it is not improbable that there is some

reason in what is urged. At any rate, the course pursued confessedly did not prove successful in so far that it did not answer the end proposed. We rejoice, however, in contrasting the tenor of Mr. P. Methuen's remarks with the bitter and taunting tone adopted by one, himself cradled in Evangelicalism, which we chanced to light upon recently in a periodical of high reputation. The flouting scoff was as offensive as it was uncalled for. It may be that in many instances the sons of eminent Evangelical men have diverged into other ways, and have followed the multitude in the fancies and crotchets of the hour; but no professed student of the word of God can be ignorant that piety is not a possession which the father can entail upon the son as he can a landed estate, or that in such matters the law of gavelkind does not hold. The grace of God, which shone conspicuously in Mr. Methuen, was not a hereditary possession, the boon to him of his earthly parents; so he could not in his turn transmit it: he could pray, he could labour, he could by example testify, he could watch, he could admonish, but he could not give that which is the gift of God.

There is one further point which we must briefly notice, as it concerns ourselves. For many years of his life, under the signature Пioris, Mr. Methuen was a frequent contributor to our pages. In an unlucky hour there was a change of editorship, and one of his contributions was passed by and never appeared. This damped his sympathy, and he ceased his cooperation; he even went further, and gave up our publication entirely, nor did he return to it till the obnoxious Editor had resigned his post. As Mr. P. Methuen admits that his father belonged to the "genus irritabile vatum," we must deal leniently with this instance of human infirmity; but perhaps the mention of the fact may show how arduous the labours of conducting any literary enterprise is, when even so good a man could feel so hurt. The deadly arrow rankled in his side, for the" rejected address" was found among his MSS., labelled with a note of the fact. We wish it were in our power to make any reparation. And now we would pass on to the closing scene of the pilgrimage of this servant of God, and we gladly submit to our readers a picture of that peace which God vouchsafes to his servants in their hour of trial. On the 15th of May, 1869, Mr. Methuen

"Took to his bed, which he never afterwards left. His mind was kept in perfect peace. His spirit, from first to last, rejoiced in God his Saviour. My brother Frank writes: 'It was, indeed, a high privilege to be with him, and minister to him in any way. Nay! I felt it was a continual lesson and sermon, as showing what is the end of a long life devoted to God's service.' In his latter years the words 'grace and peace' had been like a chime upon his lips. He

scarcely ever wished us 'Good night' without appending such pious desires. He now showed us that from the abundance of his heart, which was continually enriched with these treasures, his mouth had spoken. His face shone with Christian joy. His temper was sweet beyond belief, and his manner full of his native courtesy, gilded and jewelled with love. Once only, for a brief moment, did impatience come to the front, and make itself heard. His feelings were sorely tried when he became entirely helpless, like an infant of days,' with all those enfeebling years pressing upon him. Native modesty rebelled, for an instant, against the hard conditions of his waning life. Yet one honest and decisive word from those who waited upon him, reminding him that his sons would not be satisfied unless his servants did their very best to ensure his comfort,—this was like the Saviour's command to the tossing waves of Gennesaret: 'There was a great calm.'

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As long as strength permitted, my father had been very regular in reading his Bible, and praying upon his knees. Now, of course, such holy habits were interrupted. Yet the sympathetic reader will not be surprised to hear that he went in the strength of that meat' through the swift remainder of his sojourn in the wilderness, 'even unto Horeb, the mount of God.' To use a pleasant and expressive phrase of his own,-' a bright Christian atmosphere was around him.' 'Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs,' were so congenial to his mind by familiar exercise, that they came at his bidding when the memory of secular things was palsied and uncertain, and we were not sure that he distinguished the faces of his sons. The text which he repeated most frequently and fervently was, Ps. cxvii. 2, P. B. version, 'His merciful kindness is ever more and more towards us.' The well-known hymns, 'Rock of ages,' and 'Jesu, lover of my soul,' were often upon his lips. He quoted also Heber's lines, which often wrought him into a tremour of enthusiasm:

"Ten thousand harps attune the mystic song,

Ten thousand thousand saints the strain prolong;
Worthy the Lamb omnipotent to save,

Who died, who lives triumphant o'er the grave."" (p. 434.) "To his faithful housekeeper, who watched him night and day, he said, 'I am a mass of weakness. The lamp of life is fast burning out, so that I feel I am on the borders of the eternal world. But Ï am accepted in the Beloved, and all is peace within. Through God's infinite mercy I know not what it is to have a doubt or fear. No cloud, not even the shadow of a cloud, ever passes over me.' The last words he ever spoke, so as to be understood, were from Ps. xxvii. This was on the day before he died. My brother Henry had then arrived, but was not sure he was recognised. My brother Frank had repeated the words, 'The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?' and then, being overcome by emotion, his voice failed him. Our beloved father at once took up the words that followed, saying, in a feeble voice, 'The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom then shall I be afraid ?'

"After this he never spoke distinctly, and on the next day, June 15, he departed to be with Christ, which is far better."" (p. 437.)

CONSISTENCY OF GEOLOGY WITH SACRED HISTORY.

Geology and Mineralogy, as Exhibiting the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God. By the Very Rev. Wm. Buckland, D.D., F.R.S., Reader in Geology and Mineralogy in the University of Oxford. With Additions by Professor Owen, F.R.S., Professor Phillips, M.A., LL.D., Robert Brown, F.R.S. 4th Edition. Edited by Francis T. Buckland, M.A., late Student of Christ Church, Oxford, H.M. Inspector of Salmon Fisheries. In 2 Vols. Bell and Daldy. 1869.

THE appearance of a fourth edition of the Bridgewater Treatise of the late Dr. Buckland, accompanied by additions, for the value of which the names which appear upon the title pages of this admirably executed work afford a sufficient guarantee, will be hailed with peculiar satisfaction at the present time.

The portion of this important work to which we propose to direct the attention of our readers is entitled, "Consistency of Geological Discoveries with Sacred History." Since this subject was discussed in a series of articles which appeared in the Christian Observer in the year 1834, and to which reference is made by Dr. Buckland (p. 26) as containing "a very able and comprehensive summary of the present state of this question," the science of geology has made rapid strides, and its conclusions on several pointshave attained a greater amount of certainty, and secured a corresponding unanimity of reception.

Amongst the points on which geologists are now generally agreed, that of the antiquity of the earth occupies a prominent position. Now, it has been commonly supposed that the text of the Old Testament Scriptures limits the duration of the world to some six, or (if we adopt the longer chronology of Hales and Jackson) to little more than seven, thousand years; and, consequently, that the testimony of Scripture, and the conclusions of Science, are brought into direct and irreconcilable antagonism. Different theories have been propounded, with a view either to remove or to account for this real or apparent contradiction, and different courses have been proposed with regard to the attitude which the advocates of revealed religion should maintain with regard to the alleged discoveries of science.

There are some who, whilst freely admitting the supremacy of Holy Scripture on all points connected with faith and morals, do not scruple to impugn the truth of its statements on subjects connected with history or science. There are few more able exponents of the views of this class of theologians than Dr. Kalisch, and the following extract from his "General Introduc

tion" to the Book of Genesis may be regarded as a fair exposition of the present stand-point of those who have abandoned the attempt to bring the conclusions of science into agreement with the declarations of Scripture. Dr. Kalisch thus sums up the final result of his review of the conciliations which have been hitherto attempted :

"We believe we have indisputably demonstrated, both by positive and negative proofs, that, with regard to astronomy and geology, the Biblical records are, in many essential points, utterly and irreconcilably at variance with the established results of modern researches. We must acquiesce in the conviction, that, at the time of the composition of the Pentateuch, the natural sciences were still in their infancy, and that the Hebrews were, in those branches, not materially in advance of the other ancient nations." (p. 52.)

We think our readers will agree with us that the conclusion at which Dr. Kalisch arrives carries on its very face its own sufficient condemnation.

Some persons, again, actuated by strong religious convictions, but impatient, as it seems to us, of that trial to which it is God's will that their faith should be exposed, and insensible also of the encouragement thus undesignedly given to the growth of infidelity, have resolutely closed their eyes and their ears against the evidence which has been alleged in proof of the antiquity of the earth, and ascribed to ignorance or to unbelief the convictions on this subject, now almost universally entertained by all who are entitled to speak with authority upon it.*

The third, and, as it seems to us, the only consistent, course which is open to us as believers alike in the authority of natural and of revealed religion, is to accept without fear or hesitation all that can be proved to proceed from a Divine original, under the full conviction that, whether we may or may not be able to discover the method of reconciliation, there can be no real discrepancy between the works and the word of God.

We propose to consider, briefly, the real nature and extent of the difficulty to which we have alluded; and we will then endeavour to show that there is no inconsistency between the statements contained in the first and second chapters of Genesis and the most recent discoveries of geology respecting the antiquity of the earth.

We observed in our Review of Cole's Letter to Professor Sedgwick, so long ago as June, 1834, that such persons "leave the infidel in full possession of the field;" and, without undertaking to decide which among conflicting expositions of the first chapter

of Genesis is the true one, we urged the extreme danger of insisting on a mode of interpretation which risks placing the authority of the Bible in direct collision with the evidence of the senses. (pp. 377, 378.)-ED.