which you cannot escape. Into it by perfect submission, through it with implicit obedience, out of it with purified passions and entire love.' He sees the key in your hand. He sees the experience in your face, and so he trusts you..........There are no nobler lives on earth than those of men and women who have passed through many experiences, and now go about holding their keys, some golden and some iron, and finding their joy in opening the gates of these experiences to younger souls, and sending them into them full of intelligence and hope and trust. This is what Jesus does for us by His resurrection. Having the keys of death and hell, He comes to us as we are drawing near to death, and He opens the doors on both sides of it, and lets us look through it, and shows us immortality. Not merely He lives for ever, but so shall we; for us, too, death shall be not an end but an experience; and beyond it for us, just as for Him, stretches immortality. Because He lives we shall live also. TELL-TALE LIPS. I HAVE observed that lips become more or less contracted in the course of years in proportion as they are accustomed to express good humour and generosity, or peevishness and a contracted mind. Remark the effect which a moment of ill-temper and grudgingness has upon the lips, and judge what may be expected from an habitual series of such movements. Remark the reverse, and make a similar judgment. The mouth is the frankest part of the face; it can't in the least conceal its sensations. We can neither hide ill-temper with it, nor good; we may affect what we please, but affectation will not help us. In a wrong cause it will only make our observers resent the endeavour to impose on them. The mouth is the seat of one class of emotions, as the eyes are of another; or, rather, it expresses the same emotions, but in greater detail, and with a more irrepressible tendency to be in motion. It is the region of smiles and dimples, and of trembling tenderness; of a sharp sorrow or full-breathing joy; of candour, of reserve, of anxious care or liberal sympathy. The mouth, out of its many sensibilities, may be fancied throwing up one great expression into the eye-as many lights in a city reflect a broad lustre in the heavens.-Leigh Hunt. OCCASIONAL NOTES FOR READERS. The Churchmanship of John Wesley, and the Relations of Wesleyan-Methodism to the Church of England. By JAMES H. RIGG, D.D. London: Published for the Author at the Wesleyan Conference Office.-This may be regarded as a companion volume to The Living Wesley, by the same author. In the former book, Dr. Rigg drew a portrait of John Wesley apart, as far as possible, from the work he did. In the present book, Dr. Rigg examines the opinions of Wesley upon a matter of more than historical interest. Of course, even if it could be shown that Wesley was always and consistently the High Churchman modern High Churchmen love to paint him, and that he considered separation from 'the Establishment' an eighth deadly sin, it would not follow that the Connexion he founded, especially in altered circumstances, was not justified after his death in taking the step he, however strongly, disapproved. Much less would it follow that, the decisive step being once taken, it is now the duty of Methodists to retrace it. In his Early Christianity, Bishop Hinds enquires, 'But what if, in the lapse of time, any Christian community, although pure in faith and practice otherwise, should have been irregularly formed or continued?' And he decides that the members of such a Christian community would not 'forfeit the blessings of the Christian covenant' because of the initial error. Suppose, for argument's sake, that our fathers forsook the national Church contrary to the judgment of their spiritual Father, it does not follow that it is either expedient or practicable to reverse their action after so long a time. The practical question for Methodists is their present position; and our growth, our organization, the claims of our converts, and the favour shown us by the Great Head of the Church, peremptorily forbid our yielding up our inheritance. heartily welcome the firm words in which the President of the Conference declares We that the return of the United Societies to the Establishment is hopeless and undesirable. With him we say, 'Wesleyan Methodists decline, without thanks, though with all respect and goodwill, all overtures whatsoever for re-union, or (which is the same thing) for absorption. They must abide in their "lot" till "the end of the days."" Dr. Rigg, however, shows that the admissions we have made for argument's sake are unnecessary. Rightly distinguishing between Wesley before 1738 and Wesley after conversion, Dr. Rigg proves that he held none of the views which distinguish High Churchmen or Ritualists, and that he regarded the State Church as simply a political institution. Further, Wesley deliberately performed certain acts-e.g., the ordination of ministers-which inevitably tended toward a separation from the Establishment; and others,-e.g., the Enrolling of the Deed of Declarationwhich provided for separation, should it ever occur; and that he repeatedly expressed his sense of the greater importance of the progress of the work of God than of the union between Methodism and the Church of England. No doubt Wesley was intensely anxious that the separation should never take place; and his influence prevented it during his life-time. He hoped the English Church would recognize and adopt Methodism; but that hope proved fallacious. was earnestly desirous that Methodism should not sever herself from the Established Church; and his desire was granted. The Methodists were thrust out by the bishops and clergy. If the sin of schism has been committed, it lies at the English Church's door. He The reader of the Churchmanship will not fail to mark its author's fairness. He conceals no fact that bears against himself, he is anxious solely to arrive at the truth. He has written a book interesting to Methodists, which every Methodist Preacher and layman would do well to read, and which ought to set at rest the controversy as to Wesley's Churchmanship, and to stay those invitations to return to the Church of England, like a wandering sheep to its proper fold, which have in them as much of insult as of Christian charity. Frank and free mutual recognition there should be between all sections of Christ's Church; from none can we claim less, and from none can we accept more. And to all sister Churches we strive to do as we would be done by. The History of the English Bible. By the REV. W. F. MOULTON, M.A., D.D., Master of the Leys School, Cambridge. London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin.-A full and complete History of the English Bible, at about one-third the price of Canon Westcott's. It is difficult to conceive how any Englishman can be uninterested in the subject, and no one can ask for a better guide than Dr. Moulton. This history has no need to fear comparison with the work of other labourers in the same field. It is cheap and good. A Pledge that Redeemed Itself. By SARSON. London: Wesleyan Conference Office.-Sarson has written a healthy, pure-toned story, with enough, but not too much, of the religious element. Without any improbable incidents, the narrative is not dull. In its pages are found humour, pathos and well-drawn character. We can quite believe that its personages have been etched from life, and that by a cunning hand. Thoughts on the Lord's Prayer. For the Younger Ones. By F. E. LONGLEY. London: F. E. Longley.-Both matter and manner are suitable for those for whom this penny tract is designed. The exposition is not always accurate, however; for instance, 'Hallowed be Thy name,' ought not to be 'generally understood' to mean the promise, 'we will hallow Thy name.' It is primarily a prayer, and only a promise by implication. A Talk with the Boys about Tobacco. London: S. W. Partridge & Co.-Certainly boys have no business to smoke; and this tract tells them so very forcibly. But some of its assertions are too sweeping. Nothing is really gained by overstating a case. ASTRONOMICAL NOTICES FOR APRIL, 1879. RISING AND SETTING OF THE SUN AND PLANETS FOR GREENWICH. April 1st. Increase of distance for the month Mercury will be stationary twice during the month,-on the eastern side of the Sun, April 7th, at 6h. in the morning, when the apparent motion changes from direct to retrograde; and on the western side, April 29th, at 7h. in the evening, when the motion changes again from retrograde to direct. On the 17th, one hour before noon, it will be in inferior conjunction with the Sun, a little northward of his disc. It sets nearly two hours later than the Sun on the 1st, and may be seen as an evening star, about ten degrees westward of Venus, and very nearly the same declination. Looking out a little before eight in the evening, toward the west the observer will easily recognize Venus, and directing the eye to the right of this about twice the distance of Castor and Pollux, Mercury will be detected. On this same day, one hour before noon, it will be at its greatest distance from the ecliptic northward, and on the evening of the 23rd it will be in the plane of the ecliptic. Venus is conspicuously the evening star. On the 24th it will be near the Moon. At noon on that day it will be within 8 min. of a fifth magnitude star in Taurus, not in Capricornus, as erro neously given in the Nautical Almanac. It is approaching the Earth, but will continue gibbous till near the middle of July. Mars is a morning star. On the 15th, at 8h. in the evening, it will be near the Moon. It is westward of, and approaching Jupiter. The distance on the 1st will be more than 20 degrees. The conjunction of the two planets will occur on the 9th of May, when the distance will be less than one degree. Jupiter is the brightest of the morning stars, though Mars has the advantage of being at a greater angular distance from the Sun. It will be in conjunction with the Moon at midnight on the 16th. A seventh magnitude star in Aquarius, numbered 7897 in the British Association Catalogue, will be very near this planet on the 26th. The conjunction in Right Ascension occurs at 7h. in the evening, when the distance of Jupiter's centre from the star will be only 1 min. 8 sec. of arc; at 4h. next morning, the planet being above our horizon, the two objects will have the same declination, and the distance will be three minutes and a half, so that the star will look like a new satellite to the planet. J. ROCHE, PRINTER, 25, HOXTON-SQUARE, LONDON. THOUGHTS FOR ASCENSION DAY. F the solemn and impressive ceremonies of the Great Day of priest into the Most Holy Place. The whole ritual culminated in the symbolic acts he performed there. Arrayed-not in his glorious dress, but in simple garments of white linen, scrupulously devoid of ornament, he had slain the bullock for his own sin. Then, with the golden censer filled with live coals from the altar of the MAY, 1879. N |