495 The Wesleyan" New Test Act" an Old One. "Oh! Egypt felt Thee when, by signs unscared, "On Sinai's mountain, when Thy glory came "There is a voiceless eloquence on earth, Hill, flood, and forest, mountain, rock, and sea, 496 flows from "The Omnipresence of the Deity." On this poem, should he never produce another, he may rest his claim to immortality among our national bards, and cherish the assurance that fame will inscribe his name on a conspicuous tablet in her temple. From the preceding sketch it will be seen, that Mr. Montgomery is still a very young man, not having yet attained the completion of his twenty-first year. Through a train of favourable circumstances, but more by intrinsic merit, he has written himself into reputation; we hope he will have All take their terrors and their charms from Thee, the prudence not to write himself out of it. From Thee, whose hidden but supreme control Moves through the world, a universal soul." pp. 21 to 24, 4th edition. We would strongly caution him against venturing his character for trifles. Many The thunder storm which follows, is in who have been less successful would reperfect accordance with the precedinging hand to accomplish his overthrow. The joice at his downfall, and even lend a help lines. "Ye giant winds! that from your gloomy sleep Rise in your wrath, and revel on the deep; Light'nings! that are the mystic gleams of God, That glanced when on the sacred mount he trod; And ye, ye thunders that begird His form, Pealing your loud hosannahs o'er the storm! Around me rally in your mingled might, And strike my being with a dread delight; Sublimely musing, let me pause and see, And pour my awe-struck soul, O God, to Thee. "A thunder storm! the eloquence of heaven, When every cloud is from its slumber riven, Who hath not paused beneath its hollow groan, And felt Omnipotence around him thrown? With what a gloom the ushering scene appears! The leaves all fluttering with instinctive fears, The waters curling with a fellow dread, A breezeless fervour round creation spread, And, last, the heavy rain's reluctant shower, With big drops pattering on the tree and bower, While wizard shapes the bowing skies deform,— All mark the coming of the thunder-storm. "O now to be alone, on some still height, Where heaven's black curtains shadow all the sight, And watch the swollen clouds their bosoms clash, On the favourable impression which the preceding passages are calculated to make, the author need not hesitate to risk the character of his production. In the estimation of the writer of this sketch, they are so decisive as to preclude the necessity of any further quotation; though others of equal beauty every where meet the eye; but these literary carnations we must leave in their native soil. Several minor poems are included in the same volume; but what degree soever of merit they may possess, the whole is eclipsed by the overwhelming blaze which pinnacle to which he is elevated is hazardous in the extreme, and nothing but that grace which flows from the great source of Omnipresence," can enable him to preserve his station with honour, and transmit an unsullied reputation to posterity. 66 SIR,-I perceive from your answer to Correspondents, that you have received several letters referring to the subject of Mr. Tucker's communication, inserted in your number for February, col. 193, sarcastically called "The Methodist New Test Act." And your notice of them leads me to think, that some of them have been intended as answers to that paper, which was obviously intended to hold up the Methodist Conference to ridicule. Now, if you decline inserting those remarks, tending to annihilate that bad feeling which Mr. Tucker's observations were calculated to excite, it will manifest an unfriendliness towards a large and respectable body, of which I thought you incapable. Will you, sir, allow a word or two in your Magazine, for the purpose of shewing, that "The Methodist New Test Act," is not new, but perhaps as old as Mr. Tucker himself, as will appear to yourself and your readers, who will be at the trouble to refer to the first volume of Minutes, p. 42, from which it will appear, that "The New Test Act" has been in existence since the year 1749, or from the original proper settlement of Methodist chapels; for the doctrine of the Eternal Sonship of Christ, is as prominent in that statement of Christian | expressions. But how do these agree doctrine contained in Mr. Wesley's Notes on the New Testament, and first four volumes of Sermons, (as originally pub. lished,) as most other evangelical truths. The fact is, that it is such an old Test Act, that in many cases, from 1749 to the present time, the trustees might have locked their chapel doors against any man who preached a contrary doctrine. I shall say nothing as to the obvious right of a body of Christian ministers, to propose any theological question to the candidate for admission among them. Latitudinarianism in doctrine would be a queer rule to guide a body of ministers, when they examine a young man for probation, or full connexion, among them. March 18th, 1828. INSPECTOR. OBSERVATIONS ON THE WESLEYAN ME- MR. EDITOR, connexion. That the doctrine in question is stated by Mr. Wesley in his Notes on the New Testament, is true; and that it is also pointedly contradicted and refuted in the same work, is equally certain. By not always attending to the complex character of Christ as God and man united in one person, and to what Mr. Wesley calls, "the communication of properties between the divine and human natures, whereby what is proper to the divine nature is spoken concerning the human, and what is proper to the human is spoken of the divine," many who have written on the person of the Son of God, have fallen into contradictions and mistakes. with the following? On Acts ii. 23, he By confining the term son to the divine nature, the advocates for Eternal Sonship make Mr. Wesley declare, that he has killed the supreme, eternal God himself; and this absurd dogma is imposed upon every candidate for the Methodist ministry, as the sine qua non of admission! But, sir, the subject disputed, is found in Mr. Wesley's Notes: the fact is allowed. But Mr. Wesley tells us, that many of these were extracted from Drs. Heylin, Guise, Doddridge, &c. We find in them also much from Bengelius, Bishop Porson, and the Nicene Creed. Here our surprise abates. Different writers would have different views, and different modes of expressing the same views. We see also by Mr. Wesley's answer to Mr. Hill, that so far from attaching infallibility to the compilation he had made, he carefully left out of succeeding editions what was found objectionable in former ones. But now a set of men is risen up, who collect the objectionable phrases, scattered up and down in that otherwise excellent work; and these, though fully refuted by Mr. Wesley himself, are insisted upon as being doctrines of the Gospel. 499 Wesleyan Methodist New Test Act. Mr. Wesley's followers have widely departed from the doctrines which he taught. On John i. 1, he says, "The Word was God supreme, eternal, independent." What St. John calls the Word, these gentlemen call the Son. Again, in his Sermon on 2 Cor. v. 10, Mr. Wesley says, "All who speak of Christ as being inferior to the Father, though ever so little, do undoubtedly know him (like the Arians) after the flesh." I ask, Can that which is eternal be begotten, produced, or receive life, as the gift of another? Can that which is independent, depend like an effect upon its cause, like light upon the sun; or the flowing of the stream upon the fountain? Can the supreme God learn obedience by suffering, or become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross? And yet the writers on Eternal Sonship boldly assert all these absurdities, and gravely tell us, "If the Son were unbegotten, i. e. in his divine nature, the Father would be deprived of his pre-eminence." And again, "For if the second Person of the Trinity were co-ordinate and independent, in no good sense could he be the effulgence, the lustre, of the glory of the Father." See Watson's Remarks, p. 45 and 46. Institutes, vol. ii. p. 53 to 64. Here I join issue with the Conference. Mr. Wesley calls Christ in his divine nature supreme. Mr. Watson contends that he is subordinate, and learnt obedience by suffering. Mr. Wesley calls the second Person independent. Mr. Watson contends that he cannot be independent, because the Father is pre-eminent. Here, then, Mr. Watson speaks of Christ as inferior to the Father, and, therefore, in Mr. Wesley's judgment, he, and all of the same opinion, are downright Arians; and yet to the doctrines of these men, all must assent who become Methodist preachers. 500 applied to Jesus, is a title of absolute divinity; in other words, that God himself was delivered up, killed, and raised from the dead. It is amusing to see what ingenuity is employed in proving this doctrine from Scripture. The viiith chapter of the Proverbs is brought for this purpose. Unfortunately, the person there speaks in the feminine gender; and describes herself as a child growing up at her father's side. And yet this lady is positively declared to be the Eternal Son of God. Again, chap. Xxx. 4, is adduced with triumph. All the text says on the subject is, "What is his Son's name, if thou canst tell?” But, sir, the doctrine of the Eternal Sonship absolutely generates hypocrisy. The chairman of a district observed to me, that he neither did nor could believe this doctrine, but was miserable to hear it named at the Conference. And yet I have learnt from young men whom he examined, that he proposed the question with as much gravity to them, as though it had been an article of faith with himself. I have known candidates for the ministry questioned and tortured by their elder brethren, till, wearied and half stupified, they have reluctantly yielded a modified assent. I am intimately acquainted with one, who declares he can never reflect upon the examination he underwent, and the manner in which the subject was explained to meet his views, without feelings of the deepest regret. This, sir, is the way in which young men are made orthodox; and then the Conference rejoice to think that they preserve the body in purity, and keep the younger brethren from being corrupted by Dr. Clarke. A respectable preacher, who attends the Conference, told me recently, that no question excited such violent bitter feelings as the Eternal Sonship question did. And yet this source of mischief must be perpetuated by a positive law. I asked a preacher the other day, why they suffered such a law to pass, and, as honest men, did not oppose it? He replied, "Not one in a hundred thinks or cares any thing about it." The same hostility exists against the disciples of Christ. St. Peter, Acts iii. 13, "The God of our fathers hath glosays, rified his Son Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead." I ask, does the term son designate the divinity of Christ, as the advocates for Eternal Sonship de- But, sir, whatever be the consequence, clare? Was it the eternal God himself the Eternal Sonship must be maintained. that was delivered up, killed, and raised We are told, it constitutes a part of the from the dead? or was it the man Christ body of divinity on which our chapels are Jesus, who is here called the Son of God? settled. This is decidedly untrue. The It could be no other. This was the doc-doctrine is as amply refuted in Mr. Wesley's trine which the apostles taught, and to support which, they counted not their life dear; and yet, notwithstanding their testimony, and the sufferings by which it was attested, we are told that the term Son as Notes, hymns, and sermons, as any thing can be. How long, then, will trustees suffer themselves to be duped by such tales Watson's Institutes, vol. ii. p. 41. as these? How long will the preachers look on in silent sadness, and see their younger brethren wrung and tortured as they have been, to gratify a few men, who are determined by all means to shoot their arrows at a man, whose only crime consists in excelling them? How long will the Conference continue practices, the inevitable tendency of which is, to sink chairmen and candidates into a state allied to that of concontemptible hypocrites? How long shall laws exist which keep men of talent and piety out of the connexion, merely because they are too honest to assent to what is anti-Methodistical and unscriptural. A WESLEYAN METHODIST. ASTRONOMICAL OCCURRENCES FOR THE Sun enters the tropical sign Cancer on the 21st at 8 minutes past twelve at noon; on this day he arrives at his greatest distance from the equator, his declination being 23 degrees 28 minutes north; his continuance above the horizon is 16 hours 34 minutes, being a longer period than on any other day in the year; this occasions to the inhabitants of the northern hemisphere the longest day, which is the commencement of the summer quarter; after this day his declination decreases, and on the 30th it is 23 degrees 11 minutes north: his semidiameter on the 1st is 15 minutes 47 seconds and 5 tenths, and on the 25th 15 minutes 45 seconds and 6 tenths. The Moon enters her last quarter on the 4th at 2 minutes past eleven in the evening; on the 12th at 12 minutes past eleven in the morning she is in conjunction with the Sun, and turns her unenlightened side towards us; after this day she gradually presents her illuminated disc to the earth, and enters her first quarter on the 20th at 52 minutes past two in the afternoon; she then becomes more enlightened, and arrives at that part of her orbit which is exactly opposite the Sun, on the 27th, at 43 minutes past three in the afternoon, when she is full. She is observed to the east of, and at a considerable distance above Mars on the morning of the 1st; on the 14th she is in conjunction with Mercury and Saturn; she is noticed a considerable distance to the south of the beautiful planet Venus on the evening of the 16th; on the evening of the 22d she is seen gradually approaching Jupiter, which she passes before her next appearance; and on the 27th she is again observed above Mars. She is in perigee on the 1st, in apogee on the 15th, and in perigee again on the 28th. Mercury is an evening star, at his greatest elongation on the 27th; on this day his elevation above the horizon is 12 degrees, but owing to the great strength of the twilight he will only be detected by the very skilful observer. He passes Saturn on the 17th, and crosses the ecliptic in his descending node on the 28th. Saturn sets on the 1st at 59 minutes past ten in the evening, and on the 25th at 20 minutes past nine he is at first seen to the east of d Geminorum, but is soon lost in the superior splendour of the solar beams. μ The motion of the brilliant planet Venus is considerably slower at the present time, than it has been during the preceding sixteen months; her height above the horizon is, consequently, greatly diminished towards the close of the present month. She is observed on the 1st nearly in a line with a and ẞ Geminorum, and a little to the west β of u 1 Cancri, which she passes very near to, before her next appearance; she sets on this evening at 33 minutes past eleven. On the 2d she is seen to the east of μ 1 and 2 Cancri, forming a scalene triangle with them; after this day she is noticed to recede from them, directing her course above n and between γ and Cancri, she forms a scalene triangle with the two latter stars until the 10th, when she forms an isosceles triangle with them, & Cancri being the apex; she is also noticed above n Cancri, her distance from it being 18 minutes. On the evening of the 12th she is observed between γ η and 35 Cancri. Her position now becomes particularly interesting, as she passes the nebula in the Crab on the following morning; should the atmosphere prove clear on this and the following evenings, it will afford the telescopic observer an excellent opportunity of noticing her passage by this beautiful cluster of stars. On the 14th she is noticed a little to the east of Y and Cancri, receding from them; with these stars she forms a scalene triangle until the 17th, when she forms an isosceles triangle with them, y Cancri being the summit: after this day she is again observed to form a scalene triangle with these stars, and to direct her course to three stars in a line, a considerable distance to the east of her, marked 68, 71, and 78 Cancri, the latter star being the northernmost: on the evening of the 23d she is seen about 10 minutes north of 68 Cancri, and passes between this star and 71 Cancri on the following day: she afterwards recedes from these stars, and passes between 73 and 78 Cancri on 503 Astronomical Occurrences for June. the 27th. On the 29th she is observed between the former star, and 83 Cancri, directing her course to the sixteenth of this constellation. On the 13th she has 4 digits illuminated on her western limb, her apparent diameter being 34 seconds; and on the 27th she crosses the ecliptic in her descending node. During this month the noble planet Jupiter has a very slow motion towards and 2 Virginis; he finishes his course between them, being distant from the former star 30 minutes, and from the latter 1 de. gree. He sets on the 1st at 42 minutes past two in the morning, and on the 25th at 59 minutes past twelve at night. There are two visible eclipses of his first satellite, one of his second, and two of his third, this month,which happen in the following order: on the 3d at 47 minutes 39 seconds past eleven in the evening the second emerges from his shadow, the third also emerges at 18 minutes 21 seconds past ten in the evening of the 4th, and the first at 1 minute 50 seconds past eleven in the evening of the 7th; an immersion of the third takes place on the 11th at 10 minutes 22 seconds past twelve at night; and on the 30th at 14 minutes 32 seconds past eleven in the evening the first again emerges from the shadow of Jupiter. The motion of the planet Mars during this month is retrograde, he is at first noticed at the distance of 30 minutes to the east of Sagittarii, directing his course to the south of this star; his distance from it daily increasing; on the 7th he is in conjunction with it, the star being 42 minutes to the north of the planet: after this day he directs his course between 7 and w Sagittarii: on the 12th he is observed in a line with v and 30 Sagittarii, and on the 14th with 33 and 29 Sagittarii; on the morning of the 19th he passes & Sagittarii at the distance of 57 minutes, Mars being to the north; on the 23d this planet is observed between and w Sagittarii, being nearest the former star; on the 24th he is noticed in a line with 1 and 2 Sagittarii, on the 25th with w, 26, and 21 Sagittarii, and he finishes his course in a line with w, v, 33 Sagittarii. Those of our readers who observed the motion of this planet during the preceding month, will doubtless feel exceedingly gratified in noticing the change that has gradually taken place in his latitude. He rises on the 1st at 49 minutes past ten in the evening, and on the 25th at 8 minutes past nine. The Georgian planet is observed near the same spot as last month, his motion, which is retrograde, scarcely exceeding half a degree. and 504 On the evening of the 16th, at 17 minutes 14 seconds past eight, the star marked Cancri, which is of the fifth magnitude, emerges behind the obscure part of the Moon, the point of contact being 76 degrees from the vertex to the left; at 17 minutes 46 seconds past nine it emerges from behind the enlightened portion of her disc, at 118 degrees from the vertex to the right. The brilliant star Arcturus which was noticed on the 16th of May, forming the apex of an isosceles triangle, of which Jupiter and Spica Virginis were the base, is situated in the constellation Bootes. It is remarkable for having a greater proper motion, which is independent of the motion arising from the precession of the Equinoxes, than any other star in the heavens. Its annual change in right ascension, arising from its proper motion, is 1.26 seconds decreasing, and in declination 1.72 seconds increasing; and its change arising from the precession of the Equinoxes and the proper motion combined is 2. 73 seconds increasing in right ascension, and 19 seconds decreasing in declination. On the 9th its true situation in the heavens is 14 hours, 7 minutes, 51 seconds, and 64 hundredths of a second in right ascension, its distance from the north pole being 69 degrees, 55 minutes, 6 seconds, and 2 tenths; on the 29th its right ascension has decreased 18 hundredths of a second, and its north polar distance 2 seconds, and 5 tenths. A considerable distance north of this star in the same constellation, is observed a star of the third magnitude marked ɛ Boötes, it is also called Mirac; the true place of this star on the 9th is 14 hours, 37 minutes, 31 seconds, and 7 hundredths of right ascension; and 62 degrees, 11 minutes, 43 seconds, and 5 tenths, of north polar distance, the annual variation in the former instance being 2.61 seconds increasing, and in the latter 15.5 also increasing. On the 29th it has decreased in right ascension the same quantity as Arcturus, and in the north polar distance 3.3 seconds. When view ed with a powerful telescope this star appears double, and is a most beautiful object to the observer; one of the stars which compose it is of a light red colour, and the other of a fine blue; they appear as a planet and its accompanying satellite, their diameters being as 3 to 2; the blue star is the smallest. From a series of very accurate observations on this double star, during a period of nearly 23 years, Dr. Herschel has concluded that the small star revolves around the large one in 1681 years in an elliptical orbit according to the order of the signs. |