2. The Catechism of Trent, A.D. 1566. This catechism, published by authority of the council, Sessions xxiv., xxv., and officially endorsed is of very high authority in the Catholic church. In it we find the following: De vii. Articulo, Caput viii. 1. Quis est septimus articulus, quamque sententiam includit? "What is the seventh article, and what doctrine does it embrace?" Inde venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos, "Whence he will come to judge the quick and the dead." And it is added: Cujus Articuli, ea vis est et ratio, summo illo die, Christum Dominum de universo hominum genere judicaturum esse,"Of this article this is the force and meaning, that at the last day Christ the Lord will judge all mankind." 2. Quotuplex est Christi adventus? Sacrae literae duos Filii Dei adventus esse testantur; alterum cum salutis nostrae causa carnem assumpsit, et homo in virginis alvo effectus est; alternum, cum in consummatione saeculi ad judicandos omnes homines veniet. Hic adventus in sacris literis dies Domini appellatur, etc., etc. Thus rendered by T. A. Buckley (London 1852), "For the sacred letters bare witness that there are two comings of the Son of God, one, when for our salvation he took upon him the flesh, and was made man in the womb of the virgin; the other, when he shall come at the end of the world to judge mankind. This coming is called in scripture, the day of the Lord; of which the apostle saith, The day of the Lord shall so come as a thief in the night; and our Lord himself, But of that day and hour no one knoweth" (Cat. Rom. ex Decreto Concilii Tridentini, etc.). As illustrating and confirming the faith of the Catholic church on this subject, we may cite one or two additional authorities. The extended Catechism of P. Collot, doctor of the Sorbonne, translated and published by authority of Archbishop Hughes, has Article vii. 2. “What mean those words: Whence he shall come to VOL. XXIV. No. 96. 82 judge?"—"That at the end of ages he shall visibly descend from heaven, and shall come in majesty to judge all mankind, and render to every one according to his works." 2. "When shall he come down again? "At the end of ages, or at the end of the world, which is the same thing; for, when ages are at an end the world shall end too." 3. "For what purpose shall he come?"-"To judge all mankind. He came the first time to save men. The second time it will be to judge them." Archbishop Kenrick in his Theologia Dogmatica, Vol. ii. 413, says of gross Chiliasm: A foedo hoc errore semper abhorruerunt universi Ecclesiae Patres," which we prefer to leave untranslated. The Greek church, besides the Nicene Creed, and the decisions of the seven ecumenical councils, held prior to the schism between the East and the West, gives greatest prominence to the Orthodox confession, Ορθόδοξος Ομολογία, prepared by Peter Mogilas, the metropolitan of Kiev, A.D. 1642. This confession, questions 57, 58, teaches in strict harmony with the ancient creeds and that of the Catholic church. Orthodox Confession, a.d. 1642. Ερώτησις νή. Τί μᾶς, διδάσκει τοῦτο τὸ ἄρθρον τῆς πίστεως ; ̓Απ. Τρία πράγματα· πρῶτον πὼς ὁ Χριστος μέλλει νὰ στρέχῃ διὰ νὰ κρίνῃ ζῶτας καὶ νεκρούς, καθὼς δ ̓ ἴδιος λέγει διὰ λόγου τοῦ (Ματτ. κε. λα.), 6 Christ will come to judge the quick and the dead, as he himself testifies in his word (Matt. XXV. 31)." It cites also in proof, 2 Tim. iv. 1: "Who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom" (Libri. Symbolici Ecclesiae Orientalis, E. J. Kimmel, 1843). Enough has been said to show that the confessions of the church, ancient and modern, Protestant, Catholic, and Greek, give no countenance to Millenarianism, but with entire unanimity teach a doctrine wholly irreconcilable with the first principles of that system. In modern, as in ancient times, there have been found individuals of learning and piety who advocated this doctrine, but it has had no strong hold on the faith or life of the church, and it has uniformly exhibited a tendency to run into the most extravagant and foolish calculations and opinions. It is not intended by any means to charge all who embrace Millenarian views with such extravagances, but the history of the doctrine shows that in every age where it has prevailed, it has been thus distinguished. Modern Millenarianism, it might be easily shown, while boasting some gifted men, presents no exception to this statement. It may well be asked, can a system utterly destitute of any foundation in the common faith of Christendom, as expressed in all her great confessions, and directly opposed to it, have any just claim upon our regard? Purposely little has been allowed in this discussion besides the creeds themselves, and just what seemed necessary to make out a somewhat connected statement. No witnesses have been cited from the Middle Ages, as this was not a confessional period. But we may, in closing the Article, listen to one that speaks the language of Christendom-one standing midway between the earlier and the later confessions, and echoing them both, echoing the common faith of Christians through all the ages. The faith of Christ's believing ones is sometimes more truthfully expressed in such a manner, than in formal creeds, or doctrinal treatises, or learned dissertations. About the year A.D. 1250, Thomas De Celano, a Franciscan monk, in words which have awakened a response in the hearts of millions, Protestant as well as Catholic, and which enter into the worship of a large part of Christendom at this day, sang: Dies irae, Dies illa! Quantus tremor est futurus, Tuba mirum spargens sonum Mors stupebit, et natura, ARTICLE III. NATURAL THEOLOGY: THEORY OF HEAT. BY REV. EDWARD W. MORLEY, PITTSFIELD, MASS. PART 1.-THEORY OF HEAT IN ITS RELATION TO WATER. THE welfare of man is more closely dependent on the agency and laws of heat than on any other physical force. It concerns his most constant and imperative necessities. Houses and clothing are needful mainly because they protect us from cold. Food is required to produce the vital heat which is the condition of comfort and the source of motion, while it is itself produced by the heat of the sun. All the phenomena of climate and of the weather are controlled by the laws of heat. Every motion on the earth (except that of aerolites and the tides), and every dynamic power which man can create or direct, is ultimately the work of heat.1 As this agent relates to the more simple and tangible wants of man, we may expect that its laws will give very plain indications of the character of their Author. As it affects the material conditions of man at so many points, we should look for very copious evidence. This is true to such an extent that this Article will be confined to a single subdivision of the subject; namely, some proofs of the knowledge and goodness of God derived from the laws of heat as related to water. 1. The boiling-point of water affords proofs of the wisdom and goodness of God. There is no physical necessity that this should occur at two hundred and twelve degrees of the Fahrenheit scale. As far as we know it might have been made the same with the boiling-points of oil of turpentine, alcohol, or ether. We shall see the benevolence of the present adjustment by noticing some of the consequences which would follow if any change were made. 1 See Heat considered as a Mode of Motion: By John Tyndall, F. R. S., (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1863), pp. 446, 447. The amount of vapor given off at ordinary temperatures by any liquid depends on the temperature at which it boils. If the boiling-point of water were the same as that of alcohol, the vapor given off by the ocean would be two and a half times as much as at present. Such an excess of aqueous vapor would produce continual rains and inundations, and would make the air too damp for animal, and too cloudy for vegetable, life. If water boiled at the same temperature as ether, the vapor rising from the ocean would be more than twenty-five times as much as at present.1 In such a state of things no man could see the sun on account of the clouds; the rain would be so excessive as to tear up the soil and wash away plants; inundations would be constant, and navigation would be impossible in the inland torrents which would take the place of our rivers. In winter the snow of one day might bury the houses. If, on the other hand, water boiled at the same temperature with oil of turpentine, the vapor given off by the ocean would be less than one fourth of its present amount. In this case rain would be a rarity like an eclipse of the sun, the dryness of the desert of Sahara would be equalled in a large part of the globe, which would therefore be bare of vegetation, and incapable of sustaining animal life. Plants would be scorched by unclouded sunshine, springs and rivulets would be dry, and inland navigation would cease; for nearly all the rain would be absorbed by the porous earth. We see then that the boiling-point of water has been adjusted to various relations. It is adjusted to the capacity of space to contain aqueous vapor in a transparent state; if it were higher than two hundred and twelve degrees the earth 1 See Elements of Chemistry, Theoretical and Practical. By William Allen Miller, M.D., LL.D., Part i. Chemical Physics (From the Third London editition. New York: John Wiley, 1864), table p. 274. The tension of the vapor of water at 68° F. (the most suitable temperature mentioned), is 0.686; of the vapor of turpentine, 0.168; of the vapor of alcohol, 1.732; and of the vapor of .168 ether, 17.117. 25 nearly. .686 nearly; 1.732 = 2 nearly; 17.117 = The density of aqueous vapor is assumed constant. |