ÆT. 65.]

PRESENTED WITH A SILVER SALVER.

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Church at the Gravel Pit, the Pastor received from his affectionate People a valuable silver salver, as a memorial of the past, and with a view to perpetuate the memory of a long and happy union. The present was accompanied by a Letter signed by the four Deacons and is dated March 6, 1839

"Rev. and dear Sir,-It is with sincere pleasure we forward to you, on this day, the accompanying token of affection, referring you to the inscription for its design and intention.*— Though aware that the inclosure itself would be of little intrinsic value to you, the Church and Congregation were desirous of embodying this expression of their feelings in a form that might show to your children's children the esteem and regard in which you are held by those who have known and loved you longest and best.

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Praying that every blessing may still attend you, we beg to subscribe ourselves, on behalf of the Church and Congregation, dear Sir, most truly and respectfully yours," &c. &c.

A copy of Dr. Smith's reply has been furnished by Mr. Underhill, one of the Deacons :

"My dear Brethren,-This morning I was favoured with your Letter, accompanied by a magnificent present from the Church and Congregation which you represent.-Astonished indeed I was at such a token of affection. The delicate kindness breathed in the Letter, and the value of the present as a perpetual possession to my family, but still more as the expression of the generous sentiments entertained by the body of my Friends, are such as I cannot meet by any equivalent in language. The reflection overwhelms me when I think upon the privations and sorrows of many of the Redeemer's most faithful servants, of whom the world was not worthy.' It seems almost incredible that my providential lot should be such a contrast; that I should be favoured with the Friends and Children whom the Lord has given me. I dare not hold forth to you, or to my own mind, any expectation of being able to show love and zeal corresponding to the degree of your kindness. My only refuge is the footstool of mercy. You will, I

The inscription was as follows:-"This tribute of affectionate regard was presented by the Church and Congregation assembling at the Old Gravel Pit Meeting House, Hackney, to the Rev. John Pye Smith, D.D., LL.D., on the thirty-fifth anniversary of the formation of the Church and his acceptance of the Pastoral office-As a memorial of their high esteem, and their unfeigned gratitude to Divine Providence for having so long continued to them his invaluable services."

am assured, unite with me in renewed supplication that, whatever days it may please our God to add to this memorable one, the thirty-fifth of our existence as a Church, they may be more distinguished than any part of my life has been, by devotedness to His service, love to the Sacred Community in connexion with which He has granted me such peculiar mercies, and a renewal of consecration more earnest and active to your highest welfare.

"That the richest blessings of the everlasting Covenant may rest upon you, and upon every family and every person in the Church and Congregation, so that our union upon earth may be exalted into the perfect holiness and happiness of the Redeemed in glory, is the prayer and hope of,

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My dear Brethren, your grateful Pastor, John Pye Smith."

Part of a Letter written this year to a Lady who had been early bereaved of her husband, will not be without its use to other mourners of that class, and indeed to Christian mourners generally :

"My dear Madam,

The torrent of affliction has flowed so deep and high, and has overwhelmed your soul, so that it is no wonder if you feel a prostration of mental power, a kind of inability to summon up and to apply the obvious considerations which your Heavenly Father has provided for your support and consolation. But perhaps there is danger of your yielding too much to this order of feelings. You may entertain a kind of mysterious delight in them, a disinclination to their being in the smallest degree abated, almost regarding it as an act of impiety to counteract them in any degree. There is a luxury of grief,' which the deeply afflicted are prone to indulge; but which is really injurious to the Christian's own mind, and is sinful in the sight of God. He has endowed you with a mind of large capacity, happily cultivated, and I am persuaded-governed by the grace and Spirit of Christ. He has seen it right that you should be exercised with this severe trial, in order to give you the opportunity of deeper self-acquaintance, of knowing what is in your heart,' of honouring HIM by a duteous approval of what He has done, of proving the strength of your devotedness to Him by those higher exercises of love which omit the creature and pass directly to the sovereign dominion of the CREATOR. HE needs not such a test for His own information. He fully knows, and from eternity has known, every thought and motion of your mind, and how you will direct your thoughts and affections towards Him under this heavy affliction. The object of the trial is to promote your own satisfaction, in the evidences of sanctification and the reception of consolation from Himself. By inspired authority, they are accounted happy who endure.' You are called forth to that discipline of endurance. It cannot but be unutterably painful: but in that very proportion its benefit is to be sought and humbly expected. Thus early in your course of life has the Lord laid this trial upon you; and this very circumstance confers a higher interest upon the dispensation. Those who partake of the saving benefits of the sufferings and righteousness of Christ, must also in some way taste the fellowship of his sorrows. In their humble measure, they must resemble Him in this respect-that 'He was made perfect through sufferings.""

ÆT. 65.]

ADVICE TO ONE OF HIS SONS.

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The chapter may close with a brief piece of advice given to one of his sons:-"Diligence, wise economy, and pertinacious (sit venia verbo-) perseverance, in subserviency to spirituality of mind and prayer,- must be your characteristics and, be assured, we never forget you and those at your hearth."

CHAPTER XXIII.

PROGRESS OF GEOLOGY-MOTIVES TO STUDY GEOLOGY-RELUCTANCE TO ENGAGE IN CONTROVERSY-RENEWED ATTENTION TO GEOLOGY-LECTURE TO YOUNG MEN ON THE CREATION AND DELUGE-INCIPIENT CONTRIBUTIONS TO GEOLOGY-LETTER TO THE REV. INGRAM COBBIN -BECOMES A FELLOW OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY-HIS SOLICITUDE FOR THE PROGRESS OF GEOLOGY-DEFENCE OF THE SCIENCE AND ITS PATRONS-PROGRESS OF INQUIRY-CONGREGATIONAL LECTURE OF 1839-SCRIPTURE AND GEOLOGY'-LETTER TO CHARLES LYELL, ESQ. -TESTIMONIES RESPECTING THE SCRIPTURE AND GEOLOGY'-PERMANENT VALUE OF THE WORK.

It has been noticed in an early page, that at the commencement of his office as a Tutor at Homerton, DR. SMITH included among the duties which he avowed himself ready to undertake, a course of Lectures on the principal subjects of Natural History;' explaining that term as it was then understood of the Natural Sciences, among which he particularized Geology and Mineralogy. His Note Books, and the recollection of successive races of Students, bear ample testimony to his fidelity and zeal in keeping his engagement. The course on mineralogy was at the outset more extended, and perhaps in the whole more complete than that on geology; chiefly because the latter had not then arrived at sufficient maturity and definiteness, to allow the Tutor to dwell upon it with that confidence which he seemed to need upon all subjects which called for discussion at his hands.

As time went on, the wide fields which the new Science disclosed added greatly to the number of very able investigators, the results of whose labours, and whose sagacious con

ÆT. 65.]

PROGRESS OF GEOLOGY.

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jectures, were given to the world in volumes replete with learning and eloquence; imparting to Geology an attraction, we may indeed say a fascination, almost unprecedented. Few comparatively, even of the class of persons inclined towards scientific pursuits, have strength of wing to follow in the upward track of the Astronomy of Newton and La Place; few have the patience or the tact to verify for themselves the discoveries of the Modern Chemistry; and to succeed in either of these departments there were expenses to be incurred for apparatus, an amount of mathematical training was needed, and much time would have to be consumed in the closet:-but Geology, in the popular estimation, could be carried on as a healthful exercise, or even as a mere recreation in the open air, with the fewest and plainest tools, and to a limited or a large extent according to every one's means and inclination. The Curious. or the Indolent, as well as the Scientific, could pick up fossils. A Cabinet of any size, as well as a Museum, might be furnished, and often with no other cost than that of a little personal toil, from a new and seemingly inexhaustible storehouse which the ETERNAL ONE had long ago filled with His hidden riches, but which was only beginning to be unlocked. Each explorer, according to his particular taste, could gratify his love of Botany, Conchology, or Natural History; for the strata were stocked with treasures suited to each. To all this must be added, that laudable desire for becoming acquainted with the Science, which arose from its capabilities of application to the useful or profitable purposes of human life. There was also a peculiarity which drew general and particular attention more powerfully than any of the motives above-named. In the earlier stages of its history, Geology appeared to stand in direct antagonism with the received views of the Mosaic account of the Creation and Deluge; and as these views were deemed not only the fair but the only possible exponents of the Sacred Text, if they were disturbed or displaced, their basis (it was thought) must be endangered. This was seen and seized upon with no little avidity, by a very considerable number of persons, of widely different degrees of culture, but who agreed pretty closely in an aversion to the Scriptures: and as such an aversion rarely exists without drawing much of its nutriment and zeal from the passions, Geology was studied by some, and paraded by many, CHIEFLY-as might be inferred