molten mass, from earth's interior; and the settling of all things into quiet again, ere the creative energy was put forth anew.

That interpretation of Genesis, which leaves a gap between the first verse and the second, and considers that Moses does not include in his account of the creation any further reference to previous geological periods, seems to have received unexpected confirmation, since the death of Dr. Chalmers, by these later discoveries of De Beaumont and D'Orbigny. It has been apparently ascertained, on irrefragable evidence, that, at the close of the Tertiary period (i. e., immediately prior to the Adamic era), the earth passed through the greatest convulsion with which she had ever been visited; and that there was also at that time a very great change of temperature, by the reduction of her internal heat. Four of our great mountain ranges appear to have been then thrown up-the principal Alps, the Himalayas, the Persian and Affghanistan chain, and the Chilian Andes. Here, then, we find the natural history of the "thohu vabohu," without any necessity for taking a single footstep into the realms of speculation. The necessary result of such a convulsion would be to destroy the preceding animal and vegetable creation, and to send the waters of the oceans (Europe, for example, being then but an archipelago of islands,) hissing and steaming from their native bed into the carbon-loaded atmosphere. Thus the earth would indeed be "without form, and void," or, as the Septuagint reads, "invisible and unfurnished;" and darkness would necessarily rest upon the face of the "theom" or "deep "-literally “agitated, broken up mass." And when the command of God went forth, "Let there be light," the necessary result of the radiation of heat into space would be the precipitation of water, along with carbon, from the atmosphere to the earth; and light would penetrate through the lately impervious gloom, though dim and indistinct as yet, until, in obedience to the creative fiat, further processes of evaporation and precipitation had been carried onthe atmosphere upon the fourth day becoming again pellucid, and revealing the heavenly bodies constituted anew as "lightbearers" to the earth, marking its times and seasons, days and

years.

If every difficulty connected with Genesis is not cleared away, why need we marvel? God's works are never done in a hurry; and when prying curiosity is baffled, the exercise of faith is healthful to the soul. Seeing, however, that Science has already done so much towards clearing away any difficulties that attached themselves to the sacred text, we may look forward with hope for the time when all will be bright as the sunshine, which shone on earth's altered features when the "thohu vabohu" was no more. Confining ourselves to the subject of Geology and its collateral questions, we have thus far noticed only the preliminary treatise attached to Dr. Kurtz's "History of the Old Covenant."

It is only fair, however, as we have placed the title of that book at the head of our article, to say something of the work itself. The two volumes now published carry down Old Testament Church History to the period of the Exode. The work, if we may borrow an expression from our northern neighbours, is a most thorough one. It takes up all debateable points, historical, critical, philological, and exegetical; and treats them in a manner worthy of the great subject. There are some archæological questions upon which we dissent from the conclusions the author has arrived at, and think that he might judiciously have consulted our English Jacob Bryant, or even Algernon Herbert, in preference to some of the German authors he has referred to. But his views are stated with a calmness and absence of dogmatism that disarms hostility. And the whole work, as far as yet published, displays much patient investigation, and elaborate research; and gives evidence of sound views on questions of divinity, which are, at this crisis of the history of the German churches, most important of all.

STATE OF THE DIOCESE OF OXFORD.-II.

1. An Impartial Account of the recent Agitation in the Diocese of Oxford. With the Addresses to the Bishop, and his Lordship's Replies. London: Thompson, Burleigh Street, Strand. 1859. 2. A Letter to the Lord Bishop of Oxford; being a Rejoinder to his Reply to the Address of the Rev. E. A. Litton, and other Clergymen of the Diocese. By J. TUCKER, B.D., Vicar of West Hendred, Berks; and formerly Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. London: Nisbet and Co. Oxford: Slatter. 1859.

3. Counter-Thoughts on Church Matters in the Diocese of Oxford. A Letter, addressed by a CLERGYMAN OF THE DIOCESE to a Layman and Magistrate of that County; with Observations on a Pamphlet entitled," Some Remarks on the Visitation of Cuddesdon College, &c., by the Rev. R. Twopeny, B.D., Vicar of Norton Stoke." London: J. T. Hayes, Lyall Place, Eaton Square.

4. Observations on Our Address to the Bishop of Oxford. By R. TWOPENY, B.D., Vicar of North Stoke, in the county of Oxford, and formerly Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. London: Wertheim, Macintosh, and Hunt, 24, Paternoster Row, and 23, Holles Street, Cavendish Square. 1859.

THE "Times" newspaper of 6th April contains a remarkable document-a Remonstrance from Mr. Litton and other incumbents and curates of the diocese of Oxford. It is addressed to the three archdeacons, and twenty-four rural deans, who had stood forward in defence of Cuddesdon College, and given their indignant denial

to Mr. Golightly's statements, "as presumptuous and unfounded calumnies" against the Bishop of Oxford. The remonstrants say, "they have read with surprise and deep regret the address to the bishop of the diocese signed by the archdeacons and rural deans, and feel painfully obliged, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, to present counter-statement to the diocese." In doing so they wholly abstain from expressing any opinion upon Mr. Golightly's anonymous pamphlet, Facts and Documents, for they have no wish to provoke strife or controversy; nor have they the slightest feeling of ill-will to those who signed the address; their object is "to uphold, by God's help, that pure reformed religion which," they say, "we have received from our forefathers, and which is the glory of our church." This is the temper in which they write: and with this brief preface "they feel it to be their very painful duty to bring matters to an issue, that the church at large may know the truth and judge accordingly."

With all respect they appeal, therefore, first, to the archdeacon and the rural dean of Oxford, to say whether there are not, as asserted in the Facts and Documents, stone altars in six churches-which they name and three cemetery chapels, "within a ride or walk of their residences," and whether, if this be so, they really are prepared "to contend as earnestly as they can" against this peculiarity of the Romish system"-a pledge which the archdeacons had given in these words, in their address to the bishop? Secondly, They appeal to the archdeacon of Oxford and the rural dean of Cuddesdon to say, "whether or not it is a presumptuous and unfounded calumny" to repeat the charges made in the Facts and Documents, and brought, originally in the "Quarterly Review," against the College chapel? Whether it be "a presumptuous and unfounded calumny," that subsequent to the inquiry, three students of the College have joined the church of Rome; and whether another student is not entirely identified with the Directorium Anglicanum,-" which you consider," using the words of their own address, "a mischievous publication," -inasmuch as he is called by Mr. Purchas his "fellow-labourer and joint-compiler ?" Thirdly,-They appeal to the archdeacon of Berks and the rural dean of Abingdon, to say whether there is not a stone altar in the church of Radley? Fourthly, They ask the same archdeacon whether there is not a stone altar, i. e., a stone slab supported by blocks of wood, in the parish church of Wantage, set up within these last few years, through the instrumentality of the rural dean, the Rev. W. Butler, himself? Fifthly, they ask the archdeacon of Buckingham, and the two rural deans of Mursley (1st and 2nd portions) to say whether the brief account of the procession at Addington, with processional crosses and banners, given at page 14 of Facts and Documents, is an" unjustifiable misrepresentation," or the truth?

again

Sixthly, They ask the rural deans of Cuddesdon and Wallingford to state whether the following sentence (pp. 13, 14, of Facts and Documents) is, or is not, a "calumny :"-" A procession, with processional crosses, took place at the anniversary of Cuddesdon College, in 1855, and was so strongly objected to by some of the clergy, that the bishop promised that it should not occur again." And, lastly,-They call on each and all of the archdeacons and rural deans who have signed this address, "and examined the statements, and are well acquainted with this diocese," "to specify, one by one, what are the statements which they feel bound solemnly to declare are unjustifiable misrepresentations, and presumptuous and unfounded calumnies." This they do, "not making common cause with the author of Facts and Documents, but for the sake of peace, and the church's purity."

The address was signed by Mr. Litton, rector of St. Clement's, Oxford, and ninety-nine clergymen of the diocese; of whom the great majority were incumbents; the others curates licensed in the diocese. The three archdeacons and the twenty-four rural deans did not think it necessary to reply.

It was, therefore, almost of necessity, followed up by an address to the bishop himself. It bore the signatures of upwards of seventy clergymen of the diocese; most of whom, however, had signed the previous Remonstrance. Nothing can be more respectful than the tone of this address, nothing more moderate than the requests of the petitioners. It will be found in the pamphlet first upon the list, at the head of this paper. We have not space to reprint it here, which we regret the less, since his lordship's reply, contained in the same pamphlet, will take us step by step over the whole ground it occupies. To this reply we now invite serious attention. It is, as it was evidently meant to be, a manifesto of importance. It appears to us to be nothing less than an attempt to revolutionize the character of the church of England. If the principles it avows be accepted, and if the spirit it breathes be submitted to, the diocese of Oxford will assume a gaudy exterior of ritual show and splendour, and an obsequious and servile submissiveness, such as it has never worn beneath any protestant bishop. The question, however, with which we are concerned, is not merely the management of the diocese of Oxford, but a far more solemn one, the constitution and the doctrine of the church of England. We should be glad, were it possible, to discuss the subject without any reference either to the Bishop of Oxford or the state of his diocese. If this cannot be done, the fault does not lie with us. The bishop's reply to the clergy who signed the remonstrance and address is nothing less than a haughty challenge to the protestantism of the whole church of England. It is said that his lordship's principles are highly popular; so much the more important, then, it is to decide where truth lies. It cannot be on both sides; it cannot lie in equal

distribution with two parties who are directly opposed to one another on questions which each maintains to be of vital moment.

The clergy, seventy-six* in number, had ventured to approach their bishop with a respectful address on the present troubled state of his diocese. "We assure your Lordship," they say, "that we see with great pain and anxiety the dissatisfaction and distrust which exist in the mind of so many; and we fervently wish and pray to see peace, unity, charity, and purity of worship, prevailing among us in their stead." And their bishop thus opens his reply :-" My Rev. Brethren,-In your address which reached me at the end of last week, you speak of the present troubled state of the diocese, and of the dissatisfaction and distrust which exist in the mind of so many.' I entirely disbelieve, so far as regards 'the diocese' at large, that such dissatisfaction or distrust does prevail. It is confined to a small minority within it." Seventy-six parish clerks asking for an increase of wages could not have met with a more blunt reception. The bishop, who wished to be informed of the real state of things had an opportunity, such as seldom offers, for instituting a fair and searching investigation, and he might at least have been expected to thank his clergy for their zeal, while he showed them, if he could, that their fears were needless. He chose, however, to greet them in a style peculiar to the diocese of Oxford. Seventysix of his clergy assure him that a wide-spread dissatisfaction does exist he meets them at the threshold with the answer that he entirely disbelieves their statement. This opening sentence is a key to the whole reply, which is an elaborate defence of the practices, against which the seventy-six object. A few mild expressions of censure for the excesses of the other party, weigh nothing in the scale; they only make the rebuke which the protestant seventysix receive, more pungent and more plausible. But why does the Bishop of Oxford entirely disbelieve their statement? He

:

says:

"I have recently met, in consultation and otherwise, large numbers of our laity, and at every such gathering the very reverse of dissatisfaction and distrust has been manifested; and I have just received an Address of affection and confidence, which, with the names of the Archdeacons and Rural Deans and the names which have been privately sent me, (though for different reasons not appended to the Address), expresses the sentiments of almost five-sixths of our clergy. The true state of the diocese is this:-A small knot of persons have been actively endeavouring to disturb its peace by sending round to our churchwardens and others inflammatory pamphlets. By these means that quietness, in which we so earnestly desire to do God's work, has been disturbed; but, by God's blessing, the good sense and good feeling of the diocese have already to a great degree defeated, and, I trust, will altogether defeat, these unhappy attempts."

*Two signatures intended for the Remonstrance, were by mistake added to the Respectful Address, making the apparent total 78.