But Dr. Porter was a successful anthor as well as publisher. In all, he issued sixteen different treatises, some of them possessing rare merit. His books, like his sermons and addresses, were characteristic. Without indulging in learned dissertation or logical formulas, he wrote for the popular mind on current topics with which he was familiar, especially those relating to his own Church; several of his volumes being popular expositions of the economy, doctrines, usages, and history of Methodism. His Hints to Self-Educated Ministers, and Revivals of Religion, abound in wise and helpful suggestions, especially for young preachers. The Compendium of Methodism and Compendious History of Methodism were happy conceptions, and merit a long lease of life. Though much has since been written on the subject, these books have not been superseded.

Though at the close of his Book Agency in New York he retired from regular work, he was not inactive. Some of his best books were written at this period. As one of the secretaries of the National Temperance Society, he made many addresses; he performed many side services, preached many sermons, held religious services, and pushed the sale of his books. With much physical vigor, he retained unusual mental activity. He spoke and wrote with the sanity of earlier days. In vigor, finish, and flow of thought his article in this Review on “Making the Appointments" was not surpassed by his earlier productions. The love of evangelistic work was with him a ruling passion. Each year he delighted to assist regular pastors in special services, in which he preached much and conducted many social meetings. After the death of his wife, in 1886, which was a severe blow to him, he found special comfort in this work. During his last year, when on the verge of four score, he preached more than a hundred sermons. His final effort was a three weeks' campaign in Philadelphia, from which he returned home extremely ill. Though hopeful himself of recovery, the physicians gave no encouragement. The forces of nature were spent. The pilgrim had reached the end of his journey. The disease was heart failure.

But the last four months of his life, passed on the verge of the two worlds, were among his best. The quiet and glow of sunset were about him. The storms had blown over, the clouds were dissipated; and in his evening sky the blue and gold

predominated. Abundance of peace was given him, and with a subdued and gentle spirit he awaited the coming of the chariot. While he desired to remain a little longer for his family's sake, he was yet constantly ready to mount and ascend. During these days of waiting he experienced unusual pleasure in the society and communications of Christian friends. The preachers were dear to him. The greeting of his Conference, sent a few days before his death, brought tears of joy to his eyes. It was the first time in fifty-eight years he had failed to respond to the roll-call; and now in his absence he read with eager interest each item of the doings, as reported in the press.

But the end was at hand. On the 16th of April, 1888, he arose in unusually good spirits, persuaded that his condition was improved. In this he was entirely mistaken. After a light breakfast he read as usual a chapter in the Bible, and then turned to his paper. After dozing over it for a few moments, his attention was withdrawn as though attracted by a ray of light from the other side. It was the end. Without returning again to consciousness, he passed to the paradise of God. the presence of his children and friends, final words of consolation were spoken by his ministering brethren, and what was mortal of this eminent servant of God was deposited beside the dust of his wife, amid the unsurpassed beauties of Greenwood, to await the blast of the archangel's trumpet.

In

So fell and passed from our ranks "a prince and a great man," one of the greatest, as said Dr. Olin, in the Methodist Church. James Porter owed much to the Conference and the denomination which furnished him an opportunity, a mission, a platform; the Conference and the denomination owe an unceasing debt of gratitude to the great Head of the Church for the loan of a life so long conspicuous, and devoted to such varied and influential service.

D. Sherman

ART. V.-RELIGION AND THE LAW OF CONTINUITY. THE existence of matter is continuous. If an atom should disappear from the universe, or if a new atom should appear, we should have in each case a break in the continuity of material existence. We do not expect such a breach to occur.

Phenomena are continuous.* A moving body does not instantaneously change its velocity by a finite amount, since this would require the acting force to be infinite. A cannon ball does not immediately take up its great velocity when the expansive force of the charge is applied, nor does it immediately lose it upon striking the rampart. It both acquires and loses its rapid motion by passing in a very short interval of time through the infinite number of intermediate velocities. If it should pass instantaneously from rest to finite motion, or from finite motion to rest, we should have an instance of discontinuity in the phenomenon of motion. When chemical reaction occurs between two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen, the transformation into one molecule of water seems to be instantaneous; but doubtless a finite portion of time is required for the reaction, so that the new phenomenon of one molecule grows out of the old phenomenon of three atoms through an infinite number of successive stages, each of which gives warning of the stage to follow. It would thus seem to be true of all phenomena that there is no break of continuity between the disappearance of the old and the appearance of the new, but that the old is shaded into the new by imperceptible degrees of change, each element of which foreshadows its successor. It is doubtless safe to say that we expect no phenomenon to begin or end abruptly. We expect that it shall neither come nor go without warning, but that it shall be a product of the past and a factor of the future.

Law is continuous. If at any time oxygen and hydrogen should change their combining proportions and unite in equal weights to form water, we should have a break in the continuity, not of existence or of phenomena, but of law. Or if

*The Principles of Science, W. Stanley Jevons, p. 616.

+ Credentials of Science the Warrant of Faith, Josiah P. Cooke, p. 274. [Professor Cooke supposes that crystals may appear without warning.]

at any time gravity should change the direction of its action to one at right angles with the line joining the gravitating particles, we should have another conspicuous breach in the continuity of law. We do not expect such breaches to occur, and we demand that they shall not occur.

Now, we have learned by experience not to expect a break in any of the continuous phases of nature. We expect material existence to continue uninterrupted, however much its forms may change; we expect varying phenomena to pass successively through all the points between the extremes of their variation, and not to go by leaps; and, finally, we expect the laws of the visible universe to be rigidly continuous. We expect and demand that the processes of the universe shall, under like conditions, be the same every-where and always. We expect and demand that the state of the universe at any one instant shall be the outcome of the state immediately preceding and the forerunner of that immediately following. We expect the state of the universe at any instant to be both the historian of the preceding instant and the prophet of the one next succeeding, and, consequently, the historian of all the past and the prophet of all the future. Now, we are led to expect and demand all this by virtue of what is known as the law or principle of continuity. La Place has said that a perfect knowledge of the universe at any one instant would be the key to a perfect knowledge of the universe in all its parts and in all the stages of its duration, past as well as future.t

*

By the law of continuity, then, is meant the uninterrupted progression of the phenomena of the universe according to the principle that the progression at one point of the universe will, under like circumstances, be the same at any other point; and the progression at any epoch of duration will, under the same circumstances, be the same at any other epoch. This law

* "Nous devons donc envisager l'état présent de l'univers, comme l'effet de son état antérieur, et comme la cause de celui qui va suivre."-Théorie Analytique des Probabilités, La Place.

"Une intelligence qui pour un instant donnée connaîtrait toutes les forces dont la Nature est animée, et la situation respective des êtres qui la composent, si d'ailleurs elle était assez vaste pour soumettre ces données a l'analyse, embrasserait, dans la même formule, les mouvemens des plus grands corps de l'univers et ceux du plus léger atome: rien ne serait incertain pour elle, et l'avenir, comme le passé, serait présent a ses yeux."-Théorie Analytique des Probabilités.

means the oneness of the universe, both in space and duration, and it demands that every phenomenon shall be related to all other phenomena, whether simultaneous, past, or future. It carries with it what is ordinarily meant by the expression, "the uniformity of nature," and includes, besides, the unbroken flow of the phenomena of the universe in all of its parts and in all stages of its history.* Now this principle of continuity is the foundation of science, for it is the warrant of all induction; and by induction alone does science increase the possibilities of human knowledge. Any system that proceeds in harmony with this law is to that extent scientific; and any system that demands a real breach of the law is necessarily unscientific.

It is the purpose of the present article to inquire into the bearing of this law upon the Christian religion, with the view of ascertaining, if possible, whether the Christian system is of necessity unscientific. I do not undertake to inquire whether it is, as a matter of fact, a system of truth; but whether, by necessity, it rests on an unscientific foundation. In order to avoid unnecessary complications, I shall in this investigation assume the unlimited application of the law to the visible universe, although I am unable to see that the law, as we conceive it, is not apparently violated whenever it encounters the volition of a finite being. It is easy to see that the law can account for the natural bridge of Virginia; but what of the Brooklyn bridge? Nevertheless, since scientific opinion is divided upon the question as to whether volition itself may not be a link in the chain of continuity, I shall leave the entire question of volition out of the account, and proceed on the hypothesis that the principle of continuity is of universal dominion. Let the only limit, then, to the application of the law to the universe. in all its parts and in all stages of its duration be our ignorance of what the law and the universe really are.

Let us now proceed to apply the law of continuity to the visible universe, as both the law and the universe seem to us, remembering that in the present stage of knowledge we can. not reach absolute conclusions. By the visible universe I shall mean the sensible masses distributed through space, such as the sun, planets, stars, comets, and the nebula.

The Correlation of Physical Forces, Grove, 6th ed., p. 181, et seq. The Principles of Science, p. 619, et seq.