sacrifice, and to present our offerings of prayer | and praise. He appears not as the high priest of the Israelites in the holy place which was but the shadow of the true, and before that light which was but the symbol of the Lord, but in the heavens themselves, in the immediate presence of the Father.

Instead, therefore, of lamenting that he is no longer a visible inhabitant of this world, the visible guide and instructor of his people, even the disciples who had enjoyed the benefit of his personal ministrations would, when duly enlightened on the subject, rejoice that they could look to him rather as their Advocate above. And what a motive of lasting comfort must it prove to all who have obtained like precious faith with them, that their crucified Saviour, who, from his own painful experience, knows how to sympathise with them in their troubles, is now in heaven on their behalf, and pleads for them before his Father and their Father, before his God and their God!

Having, then, such an Intercessor, with what holy boldness may we draw near to the mercy-seat! and to every suggestion of doubt or discouragement, with what justice may we adopt the language of St. Paul, "Who is he that condemneth? it is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again; who is even at the right hand of God; who also maketh intercession for us."

We can look to him, further, as the Head of his Church, and the Author of all spiritual blessings. When he led captivity captive, he received gifts for men; in consequence of his ascension, are shed down upon his people all the blessings which they need.

Let us hear his own words. "I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you: but if I depart, I will send him unto you." And this was not said or recorded for the sake of those disciples only, or with reference only to the day in which they were to be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire; the blessing of the Comforter, thus proceeding from the Father and the Son, is to be with his people for ever. Is there, then, among ourselves any humble Christian who is taught by the Spirit? any one whose mind has been enlightened by that Spirit to see the evil of his own heart, and who can truly thank God for his restraining and quickening grace, and for a scriptural hope that he is reconciled to God,the Spirit itself, by the love which he bears to the Saviour, and by the cheerful and conscientious obedience which he pays to the commands of Christ, witnessing with his spirit that he is a child of God? Behold in the ascension of your Redeemer the source of

these manifold blessings. He went up on high, that he might receive gifts for men; that he might communicate to you the Holy Spirit; that you might be quickened, renewed, sanctified, by the power of the Holy Ghost, and be made meet for an eternal inheritance.

Thus, also, has the great work of redemption been completed, by opening the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

We have in this fact of our Lord's ascension a convincing evidence of the truth of those gracious words by which, on the prospect of his death, he consoled his afflicted disciples. "I go to prepare a place for you: and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." He has entered into the heavens not merely to intercede for us, or to send down his Holy Spirit; he is there likewise as the Forerunner of his people. As by rising from the dead he became the first-fruits of them that slept, so by his return to heaven he has opened a way for all his followers, and is now preparing for their reception. Had it been possible that our Saviour should have given us no evidence either of his resurrection from the grave, or of his ascension to the right hand of God, how uncertain would have been the best prospects of man, and how vague his hopes! But with the knowledge of these great truths, we have a hope which is fixed upon a sure foundation, and prospects increasing in brightness as this world is receding. By his resurrection we are taught that this corruptible shall put on incorruption in his ascension we read the promise that his servants shall, ere long, be exalted to the same place, and be with him where he is.

And in dwelling on these prospects and promises, it is specially to be noticed that we are not to confine our views to the future condition of the immortal spirit only. Our blessed Saviour ascended into heaven with the same body which suffered on the cross, and was laid in the sepulchre: thus exalting human nature above the nature of angels. And it is an evidence to us, if we belong to Christ, of the honours which await this corruptible body: "this mortal shall put on immortality;" this "natural body" shall be "raised a spiritual body." It is in the completeness of our nature that we shall enter into his kingdom. Not only shall the soul be restored to its original purity, but "this vile body shall be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself;' a prospect, which, while it fills the believer in Christ with a lively hope,

III. This subject will furnish to the reflecting mind many valuable lessons. We may, in conclusion, briefly advert to it,

(1.) As suited to inspire us with a sure trust in the Captain of our salvation.

:

We speak of him as having gotten himself the victory. We behold him celebrating his triumph and over whom?-only over his own personal enemies, who would not have him to reign over them? It was a triumph over our enemies it conveys the assurance to us, and to all who are brought by the power of his cross into newness of life, that, mighty as are the enemies of our salvation, He that dwelleth on high is mightier. If, then, you belong to Christ, what have you to fear? Was he baffled in the conflict? or has he left us in doubt as to the issue? And shall you, who go forth not in your own strength, but under the guidance and in the strength of your Lord, deem the victory doubtful? What is the meaning of this triumph, thus celebrated by the acclamations of angels, but that he shall tread Satan under your feet shortly? What is the natural tendency of it as to its effect upon your own hearts, but to animate you in pursuing your appointed path, and to give you courage and confidence in the day of trial?

We behold not the Messiah, indeed, in the actual conflict; we hear not the shouts of triumph; but the evidences and effects of his victory are to be seen in his Church through all succeeding ages. Contemplate the progress of his Gospel. Look at the multitudes who have been brought from the bondage of sin into spiritual liberty, from the power of Satan unto God. See them in their conflicts with the world, the flesh, and the devil, moving onward with holy resolution, in defiance of every obstacle which their own evil hearts, their fears, their weakness, their temptations, their enemies, whether visible or invisible, can raise up against them. Observe them passing through the flood and the fire; rejoicing in hope; unmoved by the promises, and unawed by the menaces, of the world; bearing before them the shield of faith, and wielding with energy irresistible the sword of the Spirit. View them at last, when every mortal conflict is drawing to a close, animated and sustained by the sure and certain hope of a blessed resurrection and the life immortal. And what is all this but an evidence that Christ crucified is the power of God? What is it but a testimony continually offered to our minds, and seen through all periods of the Church, that our ascended Saviour is "the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle?" Every

(2.) The subject invites us in a most persuasive argument to have our thoughts and affections in heaven.

This is the use which our Church makes of it in the collect for the day; entreating of Almighty God, that, like as we do believe our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens, so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell. And St. Paul to the same purport exhorts the Ephesians: "If ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God: set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." The connexion between the ascension of Christ and this state of mind is one which every individual who is influenced by the spirit of love to his Redeemer will instinctively and spontaneously endeavour to maintain. He will find this habitual elevation of his mind very closely associated with his present happiness and his noblest hopes; and in the exercise of that faith which such a habit both requires and promotes, he will, by holy communion with his Saviour, seem already to dwell with him, and to have the world under his feet. He will feel that he is a stranger and pilgrim on the earth, and will learn to look to heaven as his only home.

(3.) This subject may teach us to look forward to another ascension yet in futurity, and call us to prepare for it.

The day is approaching in which that same King of glory, after coming in his majesty to judge the world, shall again return with triumph to his kingdom. When he went up to heaven leading captivity captive, he was surrounded by the ministering spirits who are sent forth to minister for the heirs of salvation; by angels who, never having transgressed, had not experienced, as we have, the fulness of a Saviour's love: but in that coming day, which shall gather together all the children of the kingdom, there will be associated with the innumerable company of angels that other company which no man can number, who "have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." The Messiah will then, indeed, eminently appear as the "Lord of hosts" and the " King of glory:" and the sacred song, "Lift up your

heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors," will express the joyous and triumphant feelings of the great family both of heaven and earth. Would you, my brethren, be witnesses and partakers of that triumph? Would you accompany your Saviour to his kingdom? Follow him in the path of his great humility. By his grace preventing, directing, and supporting you, fight manfully under his banners against sin, the world, and the devil, and continue his faithful soldiers and servants unto your lives' end. Every view which you can take of him in connexion with the event which we this day commemorate, suggests the promise of his never-failing protection on earth, and an entrance into his everlasting kingdom. The very words in which he seems to address us from his high and holy place are those of the written record, "Lo! I am with you alway." "Because I live ye shall live also." "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."

Sacred Philosophy.

BY THE REV. H. MOSELEY, M.A. Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in King's College, and Curate of Wandsworth."

No. VI.

THE ASTRONOMICAL

DISTRIBUTION OF TEMPERATURE ON THE EARTH'S SUR

FACE.

REVELATION does not clear up the mystery which Nature has thrown around that act-filled with the immediate glories of the presence of God-in which she had her origin, when the foundations of the earth were laid, and when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy (Job, xxxviii. 7). It concerns truths of infinitely greater importance to us; and we may gather from its silence, that whilst some few elements of natural knowledge are left to the exercise of our faculties of reason and observation here, the full manifestation of them is reserved to that state in which the glory of God, in his works of nature and providence, shall be the occupation and the happiness of eternity.

In numerous passages of Scripture there is, for instance, ascribed to the Almighty, in the great work of creation, the exercise of faculties and powers analogous to those which we are accustomed to associate with the operation of our bodily organs.

We read that in the beginning, when the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, the VOICE of God was heard in the stillness of the universe, and there was light; and it was divided from the darkness. Every subsequent act of creation was accompanied by a command, and their names, declared by the voice of God, were reechoed from the firmament of heaven, and from the dry land, and from the gathering together of the waters (Gen. i. 8, 10).

We are ourselves said to have been the work of God's HAND, by which we were fashioned as clay by

the hand of the potter (Is. Ixiv. 8), and clothed with skin and flesh, and fenced with bones and sinews (Job, x. 11).

He is represented to have measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and to have builded up the world as an architect. "Every house is builded," saith the apostle, " by some man; but he that built all things is God" (Heb. iii. 4).

His EYE is said to look to the ends of the earth, and see under the whole heaven (Job, xxviii. 24); and to have seen our substance yet being imperfect (Ps. cxxxix. 16).

righteous (Ps. xxxiv. 15); and when he planted the His EAR is described as open to the cry of the

ear, he is said to have heard.

Nevertheless, God is a Spirit (John, iv. 24). He is invisible; whom no man hath seen at any time, nor can see at any time; neither hath any man heard his

voice at any time, or seen his shape (Heb. xi. 27;

1 Tim. vi. 16; 1 John, xviii. 37).

Having no corporeal parts, or bodily nature, it is impossible to associate his actions with the operation of any bodily organs.

It may be, that terms expressive of these actions are used in Scripture only in a figurative sense-from a necessity of our ignorance, and, as it were, in compassion to it-actions of a like kind with those we ourselves perform being the only ones of which we can as yet conceive: or, it may be, that the actions ascribed to him are strictly such as we are accustomed to associate with the words used, only separated from those bodily organs through which we perform them.

May we not, however, venture to speculate so far as to assume that the second of these suppositions derives an independent probability from that image and resemblance in which man was originally created to God, and which is to be traced in a corresponding resemblance between God's works in creation and the works of man-between nature and art?-a relation of qualities, alike in kind, although infinitely removed in degree; the resemblance of that which is infinitely weak and imperfect to that which is infinitely powerful and perfect.

If thus it be, how wonderfully is art elevated by the reflection that it is but nature on a diminished scale, and operating with a less perfect skill; a thing done by a creature of God-a creature made in his own image, and operating upon matter governed by the same laws which he in the beginning infixed in it, and to which he subjected the first operations of his own hands-a creature in whom is implanted reason, but as the feeblest ray in comparison with the whole light of the sun, but still of a like nature with that by which the heavens were stretched forth; living power as that of a worm, and as a vapour that passeth away, but an emanation of Omnipotence; a perception of beauty and adaptation infinitely removed, but akin to that whence flowed the magnificence of the universe; and to control all these, a volition, whose freedom has, with an inconceivable separation, its analogy, and, afar off, its source, in that of the first self-existent Cause.

How full of moral dignity is the thought, that in every exercise of human skill, in each ingenious adaptation, in each complicated contrivance and combination of art, there is included the exercise of faculties which, though separated by an infinite interval, are yet allied to those in the operation of which creation had its birth! And how full of humility is the comparison, which, placing the most ingenious and the most perfect of the efforts of human skill by the side of one of the simplest of nature's works, shews us but one or two rude steps of approach to it! How full, too, is it of profit and instruction to see God thus in every thing around us, in every object of art, as well as in nature-to find him working with us in the daily operations of our hands, wherein, under different and infinitely inferior forms, and with an independent

A man may thus sanctify the daily exercise of his mechanical skill, hold converse with God as intelligibly in art as in nature, and live under as open a manifestation of his presence in his workshop as when he goes forth among the green fields and upon the hills.

And when he thus reflects on the manifest but infinitely remote analogy of his physical and intellectual nature to that of Him in whose image he was made, can the contrast of his moral nature escape him? Can he but reflect that, with all this dignity of the intellectual and physical being, there must once have corresponded an equal standard of the moral being? that, with all these faculties for the recognition and worship of God, there must once have united a corresponding elevation of the religious being?

The reference made in the commencement of this paper to those passages of Scripture in which the operation of God in creation is associated with actions which we can only understand to be performed by the agency of corporeal organs, has led us into speculations about which there may possibly be differences of opinion. There can, however, be none as to the propriety of using, under the sanction of those passages, similar terms in speaking of the agency of God in natural things, and leading the mind to a conception, however imperfect, of his wisdom and goodness, as manifested in that distribution of temperature on the earth's surface of which we are about to speak, by the analogous supposition of an ARTIFICER modelling in succession different parts of the surface of a globe. Let, then, an artificer be imagined to be occupied in sculpturing on the surface of a globe, a work of exquisite delicacy and beauty-a landscape into which there enter as parts mountains and valleys, rivers and lakes-a tissue of foliage, trees, herbage, flowers, fruits, and figures. For its perfection, let it be necessary that every part of it should be subjected to certain varieties of temperature, and that certain intensities of light should fall upon it; and especially at those places on the globe where he is at any time more particularly working, let there be required a powerful heat and a strong light. Let this heat and light be radiated from a furnace, before which, but at some distance from it, the globe is placed.

One-half of the globe will, at any instant, be receiving the light and heat of this furnace; and the opposite half will, at that instant, be receiving no heat, and be in darkness.

Of the enlightened and heated side, there will be one particular spot upon which the direct light and heat will fall; it will easily be distinguished from the rest by its greater brightness.

On all other points the rays of light and heat will fall obliquely, and the more obliquely as they are the more distant from this point,-enlightening and heating the surface, by reason of their increasing obliquity, less and less; until, beyond the boundary of the two hemispheres, the light and heat are wholly intercepted by the mass of the globe.

There are two methods by which the artificer may obtain light and heat on this unenlightened and unheated portion of his globe. He may alter the position of his furnace to the other side of the globe, or he may turn his globe round, so that the other side of it may face the furnace. In either of these cases the spot on the globe where the direct light and heat fall, and which is the most enlightened and heated, will be

The verb to radiate will readily be understood to apply to the emission of rays. There are such rays both of light and heat, and bodies in a state of combustion emit and radiate both. There are, however, other bodies which emit or radiate only rays of heat; of this class are all heated bodies when not heated to redness. This separate radiation of heat, or emitting of rays of heat, a property possessed in a greater or less degree by all heated bodies, will often be referred to in the following paper; it is here explained once for all.

continually varying the position of the furnace, this spot may be made to traverse the whole surface of the globe, so that every point upon it shall receive, in its turn, the direct light and heat.

But the artificer seeks to economise his labour; he is impelled to that economy by a law of his nature. То move about his heavy and cumbrous furnace will therefore not enter into his thoughts, and he will at once decide to effect his object of obtaining a powerful light and heat on the points of his globe, on which in succession he is about to work, by rotating it.

He will perhaps suspend it by a string from the ceiling of his room, or he will place it upon an axis by passing an iron rod through its centre, and supporting this rod at its extremities in such a way that it may turn on the points of support. But he will soon find that by this simple contrivance he cannot receive the direct light and heat on every point of his globe. Whatever is the position of the axis on which he has supported it, when he turns it round upon that axis, he will see the bright and heated spot to traverse, not the whole globe, but only one narrow circle or zone of it. That it may fall on other points than those included in this zone, the position of the axis must be changed.

Let us now imagine this change to take place in the position of the axis. From an upright position let it slowly and uniformly incline round its middle point until one extremity is turned directly towards the furnace; let it then revolve back again with the same uniform motion past its first position, and until the other extremity is directed towards the furnace. Whilst the axis is thus vibrating backwards and forwards, turning alternately its two extremities towards the direction from which the light and heat come, let it moreover be continually and rapidly rotating upon it. And to fix in the mind an idea of the relation of these two motions, let the sphere be supposed to rotate about its axis 365 times, whilst the axis itself is slowly making one of its complete vibrations.

It is evident that as the globe thus rapidly revolves, and turns the two extremities of its axis (called its poles) alternately towards the fire, the point of direct heat and light will traverse, in order, every point of it; and that it will have traversed every point twice when the axis has completed a vibration.

The artificer is now enabled to work on every point of his globe in succession under the direct light and heat of the furnace. But has every part of his work thus been equally heated?

This is another question, and an exceedingly complicated one.

In the first place, let it be observed, that as the one pole (say the upper one) inclines towards the fire, the region immediately round it does not at each rotation pass at all from the heated and lighted side of the globe to the cold and dark side, so that it receives the heat continually, that the region about the equator (which is mid-way between the two poles), and for some distance, more or less, from it, does pass at each rotation out of the heated hemisphere, and receives the heat only at intervals,—and that the region about the other (or lower) pole does not pass by its rotation at all out of the cold and dark to the heated side of the globe, and does not, therefore, receive any heat at all. Thus, then, by this arrangement, the regions about that pole which is in the act of inclining towards the fire will be receiving oblique heat, without intermission, until at length, in their turn, they receive also direct heat: whilst the equatorial regions receive their heat with a continual intermission; and the regions about the opposite pole receive no heat at all.

Moreover, let it be observed that, describing less circles at each rotation, the polar regions rotate

under the heat more slowly than the equatorial | regions do, and therefore imbibe more of its influence.

On the whole, then, it is evident, that by this arrangement the regions immediately about the pole which is inclining towards the fire will receive an immense accession of heat, and become intensely heated as compared with the equatorial regions; whilst the opposite polar regions will be receiving no accession of heat at all, and become intensely cold.

These remarks, which apply strictly only to those points which are in the immediate vicinity of the❘ poles and the equator, may be extended, with the requisite modifications, to the distribution of the temperature through all the intermediate regions.

Thus, instead of the artificer obtaining by this variation of the position of his globe, the same heat at each spot of its surface where in succession he seeks to work, and at the same time so ordering it that the other parts shall be protected from that extreme vicissitude of cold which might be injurious to the work which he has sculptured upon them, he will, in fact, work at some points under a heat intensely greater than at others; and precisely those parts which are thus subject to the greatest heat will be those afterwards to be subjected to the greatest cold. The distribution of temperature thus brought about will then be characterised by the greatest varieties of heat and extreme vicissitudes of cold; a distribution the most unfavourable to the purposes of the artificer.

How shall he equalise it? The polar regions accumulated more than their share of heat: first, because they received the oblique heat continually; never, during the inclination of the axis in one direction, passing out of the heated hemisphere, as the equatorial regions did; and, secondly, because, in addition to this continual oblique heat, they, in their turn, also received the direct heat of the fire, and rotated under it more slowly than the equatorial regions did. Both these causes tended to accumulate heat at the pole. Let, then, one of them be removed, and made to operate elsewhere; let the pole never receive the direct heat at all: and to effect this, let the axis never incline from its vertical into a horizontal position, but, inclining a certain distance towards the fire, let it return and incline an equal distance in the opposite direction, vibrating about its centre as before, not only from the horizontal into the horizontal position again, but from a certain inclined position into the same inclined position again. The direct heat will thus never be made to fall upon the pole, or upon a region for some distance round it, as it does upon the equatorial region; but the absence of this direct heat there, will be fully compensated by the fact, that this region never, for a long period, passes from under the influence of the oblique heat, as the equatorial region does at each rotation.

The degree of this equalisation will manifestly depend upon the extreme inelination of the axis; and such an inclination might be fixed upon as should make the equalisation perfect; that is, as the sphere rotates, the axis might be made to incline, until there had been communicated to every point in succession, from the equator to the pole, precisely the same extreme of temperature. Such an arrangement would probably be that best suited to the purposes of the artificer. But whilst he had so arranged it that the parts on which he is to work should all, in their succession, acquire the elevated temperature at which he might wish to work upon them, he could not by that arrangement have so ordered it that the opposite extremes of cold to which all would afterwards in their turn be subjected should be similarly equalised. When the axis takes its opposite inclination, the polar regions, which were before continually in the light and heat, will continually be in the cold and darkness, whilst the equatorial regions will continue to pass at each rotation into the heat. Thus the latter will be subjected to the

influence of the heat at each rotation, and the former will not. Whilst the polar regions had then acquired, during the first inclination of the axis, the same maximum degree of heat as the equatorial regions, they will now be subjected to a much greater maximum of cold. Thus, then, it appears that the arrangement by which the same maximum of heat is brought about in succession upon the different points of the globe, is necessarily one accompanied by unequal extremes of cold, and therefore great and unequal vicissitudes of temperature.

Let us now suppose that our artificer finds these vicissitudes of temperature destructive of his sculpture, and that, retaining the equalisation of maximum heat, he is desirous of diminishing them. He will at once perceive that they result from the inclination of the axis, and that they would be less if he could make the extreme inclination less. But that inclination was chosen as necessary to bring about the required equalisation of maximum heat; how, then, retaining this equalisation, shall he diminish the inclination? Thus: the axis was before supposed to incline uniformly. Let it now incline itself more slowly as it approaches the extreme of its inclination; the same effect will then be produced as though, inclining uniformly, it had inclined farther; for although the point of direct heat will not now so nearly approach the pole as before, yet, when it has approached the nearest to it, it will remain longer there.

It is true that, in order to preserve accurately the equalisation of the maximum temperature, under these circumstances, a very accurate adjustment of the motion of the axis will be necessary. But let us suppose that our artificer, by persevering observation and experiment, has arrived at a knowledge of the true law of this motion, so that without sacrificing the equalisation of the maximum temperature he may, to the greatest possible degree, diminish the vicissitudes of temperature inseparable from that equalisation. Already we have, it is true, supposed a case of admirable knowledge, discernment, and skill; more, perhaps, than it lies within the compass of the human understanding to realise. Let the imagination, however, pass on.

This well-measured and adjusted motion of the axis of the globe is to be given to it. By what complicated appliance of machinery shall it vibrate, with a motion varying from instant to instant, according to so perplexed a law, and, at the same time, rotate incessantly and uniformly? After an infinity of fruitless attempts to construct it, let our artificer at length perceive that the vibration of the axis may be wholly dispensed with, and yet that it may be brought precisely into the same positions with regard to the boundary of light and darkness, and heat and cold; and that the direct heat may thus be made to fall upon the globe precisely in the same way, if, its axis remaining always at its extreme inclination, and always parallel to itself, the position of the globe be continually altered, and it be made to move in a circle round the fire." An idea which will probably have been suggested to him by the consideration, that the parallelism of the axis being thus preserved, the superior pole will, in one position of the sphere in its circle, be made to point-with the supposed extreme inclination-directly from the fire, and in the opposite position in the circle directly towards it, and that the opposite relation will obtain with respect to the other pole.

Proceeding from this idea, and carefully examining the particulars of the two cases through all the intermediate positions, he will perceive that by this a arrangement he brings about precisely the required positions of the axis in respect to the boundary of light and darkness, and precisely that motion of the point of The fire is here supposed to throw out its heat equally in all directions.