132 ON THE DEGREES OF THE ATMOSPHERE. at the time of the auroras, may afford us some light. I am of opinion that the idea, which is beginning to be accepted, that auroras depend upon discharges of atmospheric electricity in elevated regions is correct, and if so, it will be very interesting to determine the height of this meteor as seen from neighbouring places, and using the telegraph as an aid." Cosmos also gives a letter from M. Hansteen, of Christiana, to M. Quetelet, in which he says:— "Your last article on shooting stars and their place of appearance, has particularly interested me, on account of the idea taught by you, and approved by Sir John Herschel,* H. A. Newton, and Aug. De la Rive, that beyond the lower atmosphere in which we live-and which you call the unstable atmospherethere exists a second atmosphere, three times as high-and which you term the stable atmosphere-of different composition, much lighter, and therefore, so to say, more igneous. It is only in this latter atmosphere that auroras manifest their luminosity. The upper atmosphere in which auroras and shooting stars appear as luminous bodies, may be nothing else than a very rarefied hydrogen, very light and very inflammable. The period of revolution of Encke's comet, which diminishes one-tenth of a day at each revolution, suggests the existence of a resisting medium, which is accounted for by supposing the presence of a certain ether, the nature of which is unknown. May not this ether be very rarefied hydrogen diffused through space? The grounds for conceiving the earth's atmosphere to be only forty or fifty miles high were incomplete. It was supposed that at about that distance from the earth, the elasticity of the air and the force of gravity balanced each other. M. Quetelet now shews reasons for believing that an upper atmosphere exists, and he assigns to it a different composition. M. Hansteen's supposition that the ether, or fluid conceived to exist in space, is like the upper atmosphere of our earth, is worth consideration; but if so, that upper atmosphere must be capable of a requisite attenuation without being changed into another substance." Having quoted the foregoing views and remarks, I shall now draw attention to what Swedenborg says on the subject in the work entitled, "Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom." In No. 174 he says,— "The atmospheres, which are called æthers and airs, are alike in both the spiritual and natural worlds, only that those in the spiritual world are spiritual, and those in the natural world are natural. The spiritual atmospheres are discrete substances, or most minute forms, originating from the sun; and as they severally receive the sun, hence its fire, being divided into so many substances or forms, and as it were covered and enclosed in them, and tempered by these coverings, becomes heat, proportioned finally to the love of angels in heaven, and of spirits under heaven; the same may be said of the light of the sun. The natural atmospheres are similar to the spiritual atmospheres, in being also discrete substances of a very minute form, originating from the sun of the natural world; which sun they also * We are not aware that Sir J. Herschel has anywhere expressed such an opinion, and with the assistance of a friend, have in vain searched for it in his works.-ED. ON THE DEGREES OF THE ATMOSPHERE. 133 each of them receive, and treasure up in them its fire, and temper it and convey it as heat to the earth, which is the dwelling place of men, and in like manner the light." Again, n. 176 "The existence of atmospheres in the spiritual world, as well as in the natural, may appear from the fact, that angels and spirits breathe, speak, and hear, equally with men in the natural world; and respiration, like speech and hearing, is effected by means of the air or ultimate atmosphere; also from the fact, that angels and spirits see, equally as men in the natural world, and sight is not possible but by means of an atmosphere purer than air." Again, n. 178: "The atmospheres are active powers, the waters are the intermediate powers, and the earths the passive powers, from which all effects exist. These three are such powers in their series, solely from the life which proceeds from the Lord as a sun and causes them to be active." Again, n. 299: "The light and heat that proceed from the divine sun, cannot proceed in nothing, consequently not in a vacuum, but in some continent, which is their subject; and this continent we call the atmosphere, which surrounds the sun and receives him in its bosom, and conveys him to the heavens, where angels dwell, and thence to the world, the dwelling of men; and thus presents the Lord everywhere." Again, n. 152: "Were anything to be entirely withdrawn from the sun's influx through the atmospheres, it would be immediately dissolved; for the atmospheres, which are purer and purer, and actuated in power by the sun, contain all things in connection.” Again, n. 184: "Decrements or decreasings from grosser to finer, or from denser to rarer, or rather increments or increasings from finer to grosser, or from rarer to denser, like that of light to shade, or of heat to cold, are called continuous degrees. But discrete degrees are entirely different; they are in the relation of prior, posterior, and postreme, or of end, cause, and effect. They are called discrete degrees, because the prior is by itself, the posterior by itself, and the postreme by itself; but still, taken together, they make a one. The atmospheres, which are called æther and air, from highest to lowest, or from the sun to the earth, are discriminated into such degrees; and are as simples, congregates of these simples, and again the congregates of these congregates, which taken together are called composite." And lastly, in n. 183: "Since atmospheres are receptacles and continents of heat and light, it follows that there are as many degrees of atmospheres as there are degrees of heat and light, and as there are degrees of love and wisdom. The existence of several atmospheres distinct from each other by degrees, has been manifested to me from much experience in the spiritual world." It is a source of delight to find that natural philosophers are obtaining here and there slight glimpses of the true principles of the 134 ON THE DEGREES OF THE ATMOSPHERE. universe; and we may hope that the day is not very distant when such searchers after truth will be disposed to listen calmly to the voice of truth as it has been expressed from behind the veil. The source of the sun's heat is now seriously occupying the thoughts of our greatest philosophers, and let us hope they will not long continue to turn a deaf ear to what must eventually be received as the truth. THOMAS MACKERETH, Member of the British Meteorological Society. Eccles Observatory, November, 1864. MISCELLANEOUS. THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF THE POPE.-In our last we offered some remarks on this manifesto, and the list of the errors which the head of the Romish Church condemns and orders the faithful sons of the church everywhere to oppose. It was not difficult to anticipate the light in which it would be viewed by Protestant communities; but it was not easy to guess how it would be received in Roman Catholic countries. This was a matter of interest; for the kind of reception such a document meets with among peoples who acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope affords a means of judging how far the nature and extent of submission to his authority at the present day differs from what it was in former-even in comparatively recent times; how far, in fact, this authority is declining, for we cannot suppose it possible that it should increase. Regarding the Romish power as inimical to progress, both of civil and religious liberty, the result of the Encyclical is satisfactory and hopeful. We know there is a cause at work which has already deprived the severest judgments of the Romish power of their deadly sting, and which will at no distant period render them perfectly harmless. But it was hardly to be expected that the effects of a cause unseen and unacknowledged by the most liberal and enlightened, except in its fruits, should have already taken so distinct a shape. It was not to be expected that France would acquiesce so entirely in the dicta of the Pope as other Catholic nations; for Catholicism hangs much more heavily on the French people than on any other professing the Catholic faith. A nation which, by a decree, abolished religion and set up reason on her vacant throne, can never be Roman Catholic but in name, and can only be restored to a real national faith by a religious power rationally stronger than either Catholic or Protestant. Besides the religious condition of the people generally, a law which was passed in the time of the Consulate, forbids the reading by the clergy of such documents as the Encyclical. Some of the priesthood thought proper to disregard this law, and read the Pope's letter from the pulpit, in some instances enforcing its teachings and authority. Among these are a bishop and a cardinal-archbishop. The rank of these ecclesiastics has not, however, secured them from censure. The Emperor, by the recommendation of the Council of State, has issued a decree declaring that the Bishop of Moulins and the Archbishop of Besançons are guilty of an abuse of ecclesiastical powers in promulgating the Papal Encyclical, contrary to the law which prohibits the publication of any Bull, &c., without the sanction of the government. If This has created a great ferment. the Pope's letter had any especial reference to France, as some suppose it had, the result will show rather the weakness than the power of the Papal authority in the dominions of Napoleon III. Not only in France but in Austria has the Encyclical produced a strong feeling of indignation, and has called forth expressions of disapprobation. And in Italy, we are told, it has divided the priesthood into ten hostile parties, thus MISCELLANEOUS. bringing out into open manifestation an opposition which, though it no doubt existed before, was less decided and less violent. But the most singular case is that of Spain, the former seat of the Inquisition, and one of the most dark and bigotted of Catholic countries. We learn through the correspondent of the Times, that a Madrid paper enters into some details respecting the decision come to relative to the Encyclical letter. It says "The Council of State has held an extraordinary sitting to hear the reading of the report presented by the section on public worship on the Papal Encyclical. Several councillors have informed us that the report is exceedingly well drawn up, and so complete that more than three hours were occupied in reading it. The report first retraces the history of the country, with regard to the Papal bulls, and demonstrates that ever since Ferdinand V., the sovereigns of Spain have always zealously maintained the rights of the crown, and have never given their exequatur to any document emanating from the court of Rome which they regarded as opposed to those rights. It completely disproves the doctrine introduced in 1852, according to which the Concordat established a new mode of deciding with regard to the royal exequatur. It next shows that the Encyclical, as well as the syllabus, especially attacks either the rights of the the political rights of the nation, and concludes with praying of government to restrict the Encyclical, when published, by royal decree, and to suppress the paragraphs which the report designates as contrary to what has been granted to Rome with regard to religious communities, to education, and to the laws which the nation has enacted in the exercise of its sovereignty. As to the conduct of the bishops, the report recommends that all those be blamed who have published the Encyclical with out the authorization of the sovereign. At the demand of the several councillors the report was placed on the bureau, in order to be completely discussed at another sitting." crown or These are indications that the power of the Pope, even in Roman Catholic countries, is on the wane. In this instance it has put itself forth only to show that there is reaction against it in the minds of men. While the religion 185 itself is suited to the condition of certain minds and countries, there is no reason to wish the violent overthrow of the church which maintains it, but it is legitimate to rejoice that its domination over the souls and bodies of men is in the process of extinction. OLDHAM.-A course of important and instructive theological lectures was delivered to a numerous audience by the Rev. Woodville Woodman, at the Temperance Hall, Oldham, upon the following subjects:-January 17th, "The Genesis of Geology and the Genesis of Revelation; being a Review of the First Chapter of Genesis." January 24th, "The Antiquity of Man not Incompatible with the Scripture Account of the Origin of Man; being a Review of the Second Chapter of Genesis." January 31st, "On the Subtlety of the Serpent; being a Review of the Third Chapter of Genesis." It would be impossible to furnish a detailed report of the statements and arguments of the lecturer. In the first lecture Mr. Woodman proceeded to demonstrate that the literal teachings of the first chapter of Genesis were directly and irreconcileably opposed to the sciences of geology, astronomy, and botany; and that it could not be maintained with any success whatever, that it professed to record the formation of the physical universe. Mr. Woodman established the position to the apparent satisfaction of all present, that this chapter could not be interpreted as a geological history of creation; and if, said he, it contained any of the truths of a Divine Revelation, it was absolutely necessary that new and different principles of interpretation must be discovered and applied for an elucidation of its meaning. The existence of an internal spiritual sense, and the infallible efficiency of the science of correspondence in developing to the surface of the letter the deep, instructive, and hitherto lost meaning of Scripture,were frequently demonstrated. In the second lecture, Mr. Woodman quoted from Sir Charles Lyell's "Antiquity of Man" respecting the indisputable certainty that men had existed an immensely longer period than Biblical chronologists generally allow. He (the lecturer) regarded such statements, confirmed as they are with such irrefragable proofs, as totally demolishing the con clusions of Biblical literalists; but not in the slightest degree affecting the true and only teachings of the Word of God when the New Church law of interpretation was judiciously applied. The conflicting statements of the first and second chapters of Genesis were alluded to and commented upon, the impossibility of a literal reconciliation of them proved, and the capability of their explanation and removal attested when the true principles of interpretation were applied to them. The signification of the Trees in the Garden was explained, and the fact of their existence in man's soul, and their indispensableness to him, strongly pointed out. Though Mr. Woodman was labouring under a severe attack of cold in his throat, he satisfactorily established the allegorical nature of the Divine narrative, and exalted the Bible in the estimation of the audience. In the third lecture he pointed out that the expression "It was not good for man to be alone," if literally received, would of necessity imply the incompleteness and imperfection of that which God had previously created, and would logically be an impeachment of the perfectability of Divine Wisdom, and a proof likewise that the declaration that everything made was very good, was false. The formation of woman from the alleged rib of man, he said, was anatomically untrue. The curse pronounced upon the serpent had likewise been unfulfilled-that its food should be the dust of the earth; nor was it physiologically organised to secure locomotion by any other means than its belly. The lecturer energetically and perspicuously extracted from the external narrative its true, instructive, and spiritual signification. Many of the fallacies belonging to the popular theology of the present day were eommented upon and Scripturally exploded, and it was shown that everything was literally true recorded in the third chapter when applied to the internal phenomena of man's spiritual nature. The twofold significance of the serpent was explained, and illustrations given from quotations of the Old and New Testaments, and such light was thrown around the subject that the audience appeared delighted and instructed. According to the announcement upon the bills, questions were permitted to be put to the lecturer, and though many persons introduced instead of them the element of controversy, the general orderly harmony of the meeting was preserved. A vote of thanks to the lecturer was carried with acclamation, and appropriately responded to by Mr. Woodman. LEEDS.-On Sunday, January 15th, the Rev. E. Madeley, under the auspices of the National Missionary Institution, delivered three discourses; in the morning on-"Charity the end of the Commandments," and in the evening on "The Inestimable Value of Truth and Right Sentiments in Religion." At the close of each discourse there was a collection for the benefit of the General Infirmary, which proved to be the best collection we have had for some years. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered to a goodly number of communicants. On Monday, the 16th, the reverend gentleman visited many of our friends, and to those who were sick, he gave sweet words of consolation and encouragement for the bright future that is before us. He brought his visit to a close by a lecture on "The New Church Doctrine, not cunningly-devised fables, but sober, solemn, and Scriptural realities." The lecture was an excellent and beautiful exposition of the doctrines of our church. Our friends regret that the lecture did not command a better attendance. But it is sincerely hoped that the good seed sown may fall into honest hearts, and bring forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred fold. We are highly pleased, and beg to return thanks to the committee of the National Missionary Institution for their kindness in sending us ministers, because we think such visits are productive of good. The Committee of the Institution would do well to send its ministers as often as possible to those towns where a nucleus is formed for the reception of the holy truths of the New Jerusalem; by so doing the societies will be strengthened in the good which they are desirous of seeing accomplished. STAFFORDSHIRE POTTERIES.-The Rev. John Hyde has recently delivered three lectures here. The first, January 24th, in the Town Hall, Hanley, on "The New Jerusalem," was moderately well attended, the large room being more than half filled by a most respectable and attentive audience. At the second, on "The Word of God and its Spiritual |