THE SON OF GOD A HEAD OF GRACE TO ANGELS. 66 OUR blessed Saviour, in speaking of the state of redeemed men after the resurrection, when they shall have their perfect consummation and bliss, declares that they are to be as the angels of God in heaven." They are to be as free from earthly passions, as nearly admitted to the presence of the Lord, as resplendent with celestial glory, as those winged messengers, of whom God informs us that he makes them "a flame of fire." "Just men made perfect" will thus be one with the "innumerable company of angels," united in brotherly communion with them. They will worship one Lord, be informed by one spirit, be engaged in one eternal work of rapturous praise. There is hence a delightful tie of connexion between angels and man. But this, I am inclined to think, is not the only tie. I am inclined to believe that the "elect angels," that those who continued in the Divine favour, when Lucifer and his associates fell, stood by the especial grace of the Son of God. That this grace depended on the incarnation of Christ, or was assured to angels by that which assured salvation to fallen man-namely, by the taking of the manhood into God-I do not see that the Scripture reveals. But I think that the Scripture does intimate that the eternal Word is the head of power and stability to the faithful hosts of heaven. For had these been left to their own unassisted strength, they would equally with others, by the natural inferiority and deficiency of creatures, have come short of the Divine will, and have fatally apostatised. That they were not so VOL. V.-NO. CXXVI. PRICE 1d. destroyed with their fellows, doubtless they ascribe to the unsearchable grace of God. And it is no unreasonable notion, that to all created beings that kindness should flow in one channel, by Him who is the brightness of the Father's glory; to us through a veil of flesh, to others more openly from the wellspring of his Deity.* I may refer to the following passages (among others) of Scripture as most strongly confirming the view I have expressed. "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in onet all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom we also have obtained an inheritance" (Eph. i. 10-11): "It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell: and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven" (Col. i. 19-20). "And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power" (Col. ii. 10). These quotations, I am inclined to think, prove sufficiently that the Son of God is a head, not only of authority and rule, but also of influence and grace, to angels as well as to men. The redeemed of our race indeed, as I have already hinted, seem alone to raise the song, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing:" but every creature in heaven as well as on the earth is represented as joining in grateful praise, "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, "Qui erexit hominem lapsum dedit stanti angelo ne laberetur:" i. e. he who raised up fallen man gave to standing angel grace that he should not fall.-St. Bernard. † ανακεφαλαιωσασθαι, gather together into one head, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever" (Rev. v. 11, 13). The Lamb is equally the object to each of thankful and affectionate reverence. I confess that this view has always appeared to me as exalting more gloriously the divine Son upon the central throne of the universe. Upon his head are many crowns. All creatures are united in obligation to him. From him stream forth on every side, to all the beings his word has formed, the living waters of health and felicity. And both angels and men can look upon the misery into which their fellows have wilfully plunged, and can equally ascribe their own safety to the same omnipotent hand. "Through all eternity to" him "A joyful song they raise; But, O, eternity's too short To utter all" his "praise." And this constitutes a very delightful tie between the seraphs round the throne and the pilgrims upon earth. Their ready ministrations for our welfare, their careful attendance on us, their defence of the saints, assume a higher character. These are not merely the services of those who do their Master's will in an indifferent matter, but the zealous prosecution of an object in which they have the highest interest. Angels are interested in the glory of the Son of God. They are concerned to add gems to that crown in which themselves are shining. They have a brotherly feeling for us as members of the same household; and therefore very willingly and joyfully do they bear us in their hands, lest at any time we dash our foot against a stone. If it be considered a cause for gratitude to be introduced into high and illustrious society, surely that we are brought to the fellowship of angels adds another to the many and most mighty obligations we lie under to the Lord Jesus Christ. He raises the poor man from the mire, and sets him with the princes of his people. He carries those, whom he might justly have doomed to be companions of devils, to stand with angels and archangels in his heavenly presence. Let us, when we reflect on this wonderful condescension upon his part, remember that it becomes us to cultivate now those dispositions which may befit that august assemblage. Let us strive to emulate the angelic host in meek submission to his will, in ardent zeal for his service, in affectionate adoration of that love, which, when we were enemies, reconciled us to God. by an ignominious death. C. Sacred Philosophy. ASTRONOMY. BY THE REV. H. MOSELEY, M.A. Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in King's College, and Curate of Wandsworth. No. XIII. THE TROPICAL RAINS. Ir, by any powerful rarefaction, a mass of air were rapidly carried up from any point in the earth's surface to great elevation in the atmosphere immediately above that point, that elevation, being accompanied by the requisite degree of cold, would immediately cause the condensation of vapour and the abundant formation of clouds, and, possibly, the plentiful descent of rain. This is precisely that which occurs continually over that region which is at any instant the region of direct sunlight the region where the sun's rays are at any instant falling perpendicularly, and which coincides with the bright spot on the artificer's globe. The earth, heated under that burning radiation, so elevates the temperature of the incumbent air, that, replenished by the surrounding medium, it rushes up in a perpetual stream towards colder regions deposits, as it ascends, cloudy vapour spreading a veil between the earth and the sun - and at length attains a region so cold, that its moisture accumulates in drops, and it descends under the form of a continual rain. That surely is a most beautiful provision of the goodness of God, by which it is so ordered that over the spot where the direct rays of the sun would otherwise fall with an unendurable heat, there should always be spread a covering of vapour, and that this spot should always be drenched in rain. A perpetual shower traverses the torrid zone, deluging, in succession, every region of it, accompanying the point of direct sunlight, and thus completing its journey with the year. Although the most abundant descent of the rain thus takes place at that time of the year when the direct sunlight is actually traversing any spot, yet do the rains begin to descend long before that time. The column of descending rain is of considerable width, and spreads over a large area; and although the flood of waters descends most abundantly in its centre, yet are there plentiful showers round its circumference, and upon its skirts; and these descend upon regions far remote from the spot where the sun is vertical. Thus, when the the point of direct sunlight is traversing either tropicthat is, when the sun is said to be in that tropic-the column of descending rain covers an area extending far beyond that tropic, and there too are felt the tropical rains. Twice in the year the point of direct sunlight, and its accompanying deluge of rain, thus passes over every point within the tropics; once when it is approaching the nearest tropic, and once when it is receding from it. Thus, every year there would be every where within the tropics two rainy seasons, were it not that by reason of the great dimensions of the column it appears never wholly to desert a belt of the earth extending four or five degrees on either side of the equator; throughout this region there are said to be few days in the year without rain. Beyond it, from the lat. 5° to the nearest tropic, extends a region which is every year wholly deserted by the column of rain, as it passes to the more distant tropic; here then the wet and dry seasons are distinctly marked. From the fifth to the tenth parallel is a belt which the sun passes over with remarkable rapidity, going and returning from the tropic, and bringing with it two seasons of excessive rain. Beyond this belt the sun lingers over the region immediately about the tropic, and the rain of the rainy season is there continuous. It is a great mistake, however, to suppose that these rains continue at any place incessantly. The rotation of the earth sweeps a belt of its surface underneath the column of rain every twenty-four hours; but it is only during a certain portion of the twenty-four hours that any place in that belt can actually be passing through the column. This period is immediately about the time of noon at each place; that place then passing nearest to the point of direct sunlight, and to the centre of the column. "A day in which the rains fall without interruption from morning to evening, is of much rarer occurrence between the tropics than with us: the sun usually rises in a cloudless sky; two hours before noon the clouds begin to appear; and at noon the rains set in. They then frequently pour down in torrents for four or five hours; but towards sunset they cease, the clouds suddenly disappear, and not a drop of rain descends during the night." The point (or rather the ray) of direct sunlight has been spoken of as the centre of the column of descending rain. This is not, however, strictly the case. The cause of the tropical rains has been explained to be, in the first place, the extraordinary heating of the earth's surface under the direct rays of the sun; and, secondly, the heating of the immediately incumbent air by contact with it; which air, rising rapidly to higher and colder regions of the atmosphere, becomes condensed, and gives out its vapour. Now this heat of any point of the earth's surface is not greatest at the instant when the direct ray is in the act of passing over it, or at the time when it is receiving the greatest heat. It continues to receive more heat than it radiates, and therefore to accumulate heat for some time after the direct ray has passed; so that the greatest heat, as we know by experience, is no where attained until noon has for some time passed. The greatest heating of the earth's surface is thus not immediately under the direct ray; and the greatest rarefaction of the air, and point of the most abundant production of rain-that is, the centre of the column of rain-are, for the same reason, not under the direct ray, but some distance behind it. It is thus explained why the rain of every day of the rainy season does not commence until noon, or terminate until some hours afterwards. The following is the description given by Humboldt of the phenomena which attend the approach of the greater rainy season, as observed by him in South America in latitude from 4° to 100: "Nothing can surpass the clearness of the atmosphere from the month of December to that of January (when the point of direct sunlight is at its greatest distance). The sky is then constantly without clouds; and if one should appear, it is sufficient to excite the whole attention of the inhabitants. The breeze from the east and the east-north-east blows with violence. The immense plains (called llanos), which in the rainy season display a beautiful verdure, gradually assume the aspect of a desert; the grass is reduced to powder, and the earth cracks; and the alligator and the large serpents remain buried in the mud till the first showers of the year awaken them from their lethargy. About the end of February, and the beginning of March, the blue of the sky becomes less intense; the hygrometer indicates greater humidity; and the stars, veiled at times by a slight vapour, lose the steady and planetary light which before distinguished them. "The breeze at this period becomes less strong and regular, and is often interrupted by dead calms. The clouds accumulate towards the south-south-east, appearing like distant mountains, with strongly marked outlines; and from time to time they detach themselves from the horizon, and traverse the vault of the sky with a rapidity that little corresponds with the feebleness of the winds below. At the end of March the southern region of the atmosphere is illuminated by gleams of lightning (the point of direct sunlight is now rapidly approaching); and the breeze then passes frequently, and for several hours together, to the west and south-west. This is a certain sign of the approach of the rainy season, which begins at Oroonoko about the end of April: the sky becomes obscured, the azure disappears, and a grey tint is spread uniformly over it; at the same time the heat progressively increases; and soon dense vapours cover the heavens from one end to the other. The plaintive cry of the howling monkeys begins to be heard before the rising sun. The atmosphere is at length convulsed by frequent thunder-storms; the rains descend in torrents; and the rivers, rising rapidly above their banks, overspread the plains with extensive inundations." * The rainy season of these regions is their season of greatest heat; and it is this union of heat and moisture which is the secret of the marvellous luxuriance and abundance of their vegetation. When a small depression of the temperature of the air causes it to deposit moisture (or brings it to the dew-point), it is said to be nearly saturated with moisture, and is humid. When, on the contrary, it bears a great depression of temperature without depositing moisture, it is wanting in it, and has a tendency to take it up wherever it is found it is then parching and dry, and, as it were, thirsty. The observations of Humboldt shew that the vapour of the atmosphere between the tropics approaches much more nearly to the point of saturation than that in the temperate zone. And we may thus understand why it is, that in this, our region of the earth, which is emphatically the region of clouds, and where the fall of rain is distributed much more continually over the year, the annual quantity which falls is greatly less than within the tropics. In the island of St. Domingo, there falls on an average a quantity of rain which would, if all collected together, be sufficient to cover the surface of the ground 120 inches thick; in Calcutta, 70 inches; in Rome, 36; in London, 23; at St. Petersburgh, 16. THE WIDOW'S SON RAISED: BY THE REV. R. B. KINSMAN, M.A. LUKE, vii. 13.1 "And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not." No one who ever read the writings of the evangelists will dispute the fact, that Jesus of Nazareth went about doing good; for there is not a page which does not proclaim the gracious and merciful dealings of that divine Being towards his redeemed children, in language too plain to be mistaken, and by example too bright to be misapprehended. The gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth were such as never man spake -the mighty works that he did bore testi This extract is made from the Treatise on Physical Geography, published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, p. 41. As we ascend higher into the atmosphere there is a marked diminution in the humidity. This is said to be the cause of that beautiful deep-blue colour of the sky which strikes us when we look at it from high mountain-summits. It is thus, too, explained why clouds rarely form round the tops of rery high mountains, but on their sides. Fleecy clouds are, nevertheless, sometimes seen floating on the tops of the Andes, at an elevation of 25,000 feet. The Gospel for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity. mony to the fact, that he came forth from God. | bereaved widow, bowed down in body by the weight of many years; bowed down, however, most of all in heart and spirit by the weight of her heavy affliction, and exclaiming in the poignancy of her grief, with the shepherd-king of Israel, "My son, my son, would to God I had died for thee, my son, my son!" Little does she think that her mourning is to be turned into joy, and the spirit of heaviness to be exchanged for the garment of praise. Little does she imagine that the God of mercy, who delivereth in all time of our tribulation, was near; and that He who careth for the widow was nigh at hand to see her sorrow and to pity her sad estate. But the Lord did see her affliction. He "saw her, and he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not." O what words were those!-Weep not! when the child of my bosom is snatched away from me? Weep not! when the hope of my life is gone? Weep not! when the staff of my old age is broken; when my father, my mother, my husband, my only son, my all, is taken from me? Thus might she have exclaimed, had any merely human lips uttered these words. But the countenance of Jesus was never beheld by the child of suffering and sorrow without inspiring hope and confidence; and no word ever fell from his lips on occasions such as these unaccompanied with that balm which healeth up the And he it was who thus addressed the sorrowing daughter of Nain. "And he came and touched the bier, and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother." But on the present occasion there was one circumstance which added much to make the scene more than usually distressing. "Behold" (these are the words of the evangelist, words which are beautiful in their simplicity)-broken-hearted and comforts all that mourn. "behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow" the child of many prayers and many tears; the joy in health, the solace in trouble, and the staff in old age,-all was taken away. He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Was not this a sight indeed which called aloud for compassion? A disconsolate widow, following her only son to the grave, cut down, like a flower, in the midst of his days, and with all his proud hopes and fond projects laid in the dark and silent chamber of death. Had she possessed another son, she might then have hoped that the survivor might in some measure supply the loss of the dead; but when all our hopes and joys are centered in one, the loss of that one defies consolation. The Almighty, when he would depict the bitterest sorrows that can betide the miserable, exclaims, "O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in the ashes; make lamentation and mourning as for thine only son" (Jer. vi. 26).* So great was the loss and so deep the grief of the poor widow of Nain. No words can describe the one, and no tears assuage the other. 66 We may picture to ourselves the poor • Vide Hall's Contemplations in loc. He who was with God before the world's foundations were laid, and was God, who made the heaven and the earth and all things therein-he it was that said, "Young man, arise." He himself commands; and to the surrounding multitude gave ample proof of his Divinity and Godhead. As one having authority, he speaks but to command; and he who once said, "Let there be light," the same almighty Word says, "Young man, arise," and, lo, in an instant the vital spark returns, and "he that was dead sat up and began to speak." And once again shall that omnipotent voice be heard. And the trump of God shall send forth a loud and piercing sound, and from hill to hill shall it be reechoed, and onward, in an instant of time, to the uttermost parts of the earth and the sea shall it be carried; and before the Judge of all the earth, in obedience to the heavenly mandate, "Arise!" shall be gathered all the kindreds of the earth. But to return to the touching picture before us. What a moment was this for the poor widowed mother! What an ecstacy of delight, when she presses to her anguished bosom the darling of her heart, now rescued from the gripe of death, and numbered again amongst the living! O how speedily was the fountain of her tears dried up! how soon before that healing Sun of Righteousness did every lowering cloud disappear, and the raging storm and tempest cease! It must have been an awful moment too: we cannot conceive of it; nor can we describe the feelings or depict the countenances of the awed, though admiring, multitude. Hear the brief but solemnly eloquent words of the evangelist: "And there came a great fear on all and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and that God hath visited his people.' Although they did glorify God, yet the only inference which that perverse and stiff-necked generation could draw was, that a great prophet had risen up amongst them. They knew not, and if they had would not have acknowledged, that He who had proved himself omnipotent was none other than "God manifest in the flesh." Yet, notwithstanding this, fear seized them; a dread, from whatever cause originating, penetrated even their hearts whilst they beheld, if not the presence, at least the power of an almighty Being: they were filled with wonder; and the mighty deed that had been performed proclaimed that one whose commission was Divine had risen among them. The report was quickly circulated throughout all Judea, and all the region round about; yet few believed on him. They had eyes, and yet they saw not; ears had they, yet they heard not; and hearts, yet did they not understand. And now let us apply this affecting account to ourselves. 1. While we contemplate with thankfulness the merciful benignity of the Redeemer in raising the widow's only son, let us not forget the inestimable benefits which he has conferred upon each of us in his having, by his own most precious blood, obtained eternal redemption for us; nor fail to remember that the Lord of life and death, before whose dread presence the heaven of heavens shall one day tremble, became accursed for us, was wounded for our transgressions, was bruised for our iniquities; that the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. Are we apt, after reading such portions of holy writ as the one under consideration, hastily to condemn the hardness of heart and the unbelief of the Jews? Let us search well into our Again: Do we reflect, while contemplating that awful moment when the Son of God said unto the young man, "I say unto thee, Arise," that to many, if not to all of us, may with equal force and equal truth the same words be addressed? Dead in trespasses and sins; dead to God and heavenly things; immersed in pleasure, or devoted to the pursuits of time, and insensible to that which is unseen and eternal; grasping at the shadow, and losing the substance, we too much resemble the lifeless corpse. Ignorant of that knowledge which alone maketh wise unto salvation; untaught and unmoved by events daily brought before us; listless and unheeding, we pass on in our pilgrimage, never considering or, if ever for a moment it rushes with the force of truth upon our minds, hastily dismissing the subject, viz. the shortness at the most, and the always uncertain tenour by which we hold our existence here below. Seldom do we think of that holy Being, in whose presence without holiness no mortal shall ever appear; and of that merciful Redeemer, who has done and suffered so much for us men and for our salvation; and of that blessed Spirit, who sanctifies all the children of God, and who, by the still small voice of conscience, pleads with every son of Adam, whose resistance of that heavenly influence by which our redemption can alone be sealed has not been so obstinate and persevered in as for ever to exclude him from the paradise of God. Let us, however, far from being driven by despair to remain in our sins, let us remember that to all whose characters too nearly resemble the account just given, the Gospel speaks in such encouraging tones as these: "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." It exhorts and beseeches them to be no longer aliens, but through the great Mediator to be reconciled to God, and become heirs of everlasting life; to "lay aside every weight, and the sin that does so easily beset them :" to turn unto the Lord, and say unto him, "Take away iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips, giving thanks unto his name." And in prayerdeep, sincere, and faithful prayer for God is a spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in "spirit and in truth”—and offered up through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord, using such simple words as be |