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    1068 THE LEAD E R. [Saturday,

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    THE HOME OFFICE A2*D THE "SAINTS" Plain ...

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    CITY PROPOSAL FOR OBSEQUIES TO PRINCE AL...

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    1068 The Lead E R. [Saturday,

    1068 THE LEAD E R . [ Saturday ,

    The Home Office A2*D The "Saints" Plain ...

    THE HOME OFFICE A 2 * D THE " SAINTS " Plain truth uttered from , the Home Office is a novelty so rare that it has naturally cast dismay far and wide . The Presbytery of Edinburgh proposed that the people of Great Britain should approach the Throne of Grace in ofder to beg immunity from the consequence of sin , while they were persevering in sin . And in order that their dictation might be adopted

    by the country , they proposed that Lord Palmerston should constitute himself a fugleman for the people in that illogical , not to say impious act of presumption . In accordance with the spirit that hitherto prevailed on such subjects , while an imperfect religion shrank from the Ught of science , it has been the custom to acquiesce in such demands almost as a matter of course . But there are circumstances which

    rerder it peculiarly unsuitable at the present moment . Amongst the immediate causes of cholera is the general apprehension on the subject , which , like an hysterical affection , creates the very evil that it dreads ; and any national recognition of cholera as engendered by causes possessing a supernatural character would have given an excessive impulse to that proximate cause . The efficient causes of health and disease , in common with other questions of science , are better understood than they were , even ten years ago , especially in

    their general relations ; and there is a striking absurdity in suggesting supernatural causes when the palpable causes are evident to all the senses , as they are to the cultivated judgment of our own day . To pray for exemption from cholera , while we permit its active incentives to lie around us , is to imitate the barbarism of those who view the comet with superstitious awe , or those who imprisoned Galileo for too great freedom in proclaiming the laws of positive science so far as he comprehended it . When Galileo stood alone ,

    with an establishment and society against him , it was easy to laugh at him , especially after he had grown old , liad been imprisoned and coerced . But at present the Galileos are many , and the adherents of Galileo , as a body amongst tho educated classes of society , outnumber the leading members of any sect Avhatever in the United Kingdom . Every Minister , therefore , who' renders himself the servant of an obsolete superstition like that adopted by the Presbytery of Edinburgh , renders himself ridiculous in the eyes of

    that educated class—ridiculous and contemptible as a man rendering subserviency to a low and debasing influence whicli he does not share . The difficulty of that subserviency becomes the greater , when a man ' s own intellect and conscience share in the contempt ; and at last this higher view has become so powerful , that it utters from the Home Office a declaration of plain truth . Many journals have now noticed this letter ; and when tliey have done so it has of course been in the sense and spirit of our day , with exceptions—the exceptions also being a matter of course . A pious bi-weekly paper—pious , that ia .

    after tho old fashion which disparaged Providence , and ascribed to Divine authority all tho mistakes and bad passions of mankind — that journal of old piety has of course attacked tho Home Secretary . It was bound to do so , ex ~ ojficio , as tlie org ^ an of a supers tition and a party in tho Church of England , whose existonco is incompatible with tho general recognition of tho truth proclaimed from tho Homo Office . That journal pronounces it " an indecent ebullition of epicurean atheism . " At this rate one might string epithets togothor without end . Wo might call the article " a disgraceful effervescence of Calvinistic diemonism ; " but tho use of epithets advances no argument .

    In order to prove its candour , the Record , calls to mind that it has paid tribute to Lord Palmorston ' s " versatile goniiiM and consummate abili - ties ; " and there is one characteristic reason for the love winch our contemporary bears him—¦ " ( he hatred with which he was viewed by the Papists , wlio regard him an the enemy of tho . Jesuits throughout . Europe . " It is tin ' s memory of hatred and enmity which peculiarly touches tho Christian heart of tho Record .

    Tho letter it declares to be " painful and disgusting ; " and wo do not wonder that it ih ho to the Record . It abolislios that canting conformity with long-enduring superstition , and puts an end to those forms which have too long disgraced this country ; the . Record and its party are identified with tho maintenance of superstitious uses , and a path-warrant is always " painful and disgusting "

    to the condemned . We have no doubt that the final kick which St . George gave to the dragon was pronounced by that scaly individual " painful and disgusting . " ¦ The Record disputes the premises of the Edinburgh letter . It cannot deny , of course , that the Maker of the Universe has established certain laws of nature for the planet in which we live , or that the weal or woe of mankind depend upon the observance or neglect of these laws ; " for , " says the Record , "it is no doubt true that Almighty God governs the universe by certain laws which it is our privilege and duty to study . " But here the censor uses his exclusive intelligence , altogether superior to that of the Home

    Secretary . " It is not true that in establishing these laws , the Lord has abdicated the sovereign control , or left his purposes to be carried out by the blind operation of second causes . " JNow , to repeat the phrase of our contemporary , " this sentence contains both truth and falsehood . " Does the Christian writer mean to say , that the Creator never works by second causes ; for if so , we have to ask , what do theological writers mean by referring to " instruments" ? Are these instruments blind , or have they some partnership in the transaction ? Our contemporary will riot be inclined to affirm the partnership , and must be content with the passiveness . But there is a deep falsehood in the sentence which implies that Lord Palmerston had asserted the

    abdication in question : the implication is the reverse of truth . On the contrary , the whole spirit-of the letter indicates the constant sustaining of the universe by a living decree , under a law from the Divine Ruler—without a hint of " blindness , "without a hint of independent power in secondary causes , — -without a hint of anything but that there is a law , and that it must be obeyed under pain of direct consequences for disobedience . " Is it reverential , " says the Record , repeating this falsehood— "is it decent to speak of these second causes as omnipotent , certain to breed pestilence , and be fruitful in death ? " as if Lord Palmerston

    had ever said that second causes were " omnipotent . " Of course they are not : it is the solemn levity and blind dsemonology of the Record which associate tho idea of omnipotency and of secondary causes . " Does Lord Palmerston suppose , " asks our contemporary , " that atmospheric influences , the excessive rains , the disturbance of the electric fluids , have had no influence on the progress and malignity of the cholera ? " Of course he does . Lord Palmerston knows as well as any one else , that excessive rains predispose to pestilence ;

    disturbance of " the electric fluid "—if it is a " fluid , " but our contemporary seems more fluent than accurate in liis scientific nomenclature—is among the probable predisposing conditions ; and , of course , he would not deny , that an "influence " may have an influence . The critic wishes to escape from the more distinct examples of pestilential causes , such as specific gaseous exhalations , into the misty region of meteorology ; where still superstition may dally with science . But second causes have their effects , whatever may bo tho original law which gave tliom vital action . If

    you put your finger botweon tho joints of a door , and squeeze it , you know that your hand will get black and blue . If you take a dose of chloroform , you know tho consequences . Thero is an impiety in irrevorentially dragging in higher causes for comparatively simple ' eflbcts . It is not wo , hut tho Record , that drags " tho finger of God" into these questions . Second causes have their known efTeetn , and wo mjiy anticipate those effects , without ascribing " omnipotency" to tho chloroform or the door , m the Record aeeuHOH Lord Palmorston of doing .

    Our contemporary , Jiowever , makes his adinia-Hioim : — , ? ' ^ H M" > ro I >« ovil in a city , iukI I have- not clono it V are woi < 1 h before which tho faithful tremble . Tiny do not , however , discard inoaiiH . Thoy will even r « - ceivo Lord I ' alinorH'ton ' H rebuke an juntly applying to many partN of tho country ; but they will not coano to call upon our rulora to permit a national prayer to bo offered up , ami a national i ' unt to bo obiwrvod , to nIiow before ( Jod and tho nationH , that we aro not all . ftpicm-can iniidoln , or wornhipporH of blind chance ; but , that , an lor uh arid our Iiouho , wo aro determined to florvo tho Lord . "

    Tho Record admits that wo must do certain tilings , but in connexion with prayer and dependence on God . Lord Pnbnerflton did not ; deny tlio connexion ; but ho said , do not lot un pray for immunity whilo wo disobey . It is a much mow

    ning to perceive that men may pray in act as well as in word—better in act tJaan in word ; and it is by acts conforming to the laws which they should obey , that they earn the virtues of obedience in the divine blessing . That is the true faith uttered from the Home Office , confirmed by the whole array of intellect in the present day . And our day , let it be observed , is memorable if only for this , that whereas intellect and religion have been considered as things divorced , the great strength of living intellect has now been directed to reunite religion and science , and to make science the means of more distinctly comprehending and obeying the laws of God .

    trusting dependency on God which teaches us to obey his laws , thoroughly confident that whether the result be life or 'death , in the ordinary sense of these words , the true result will be li fe everlastine The Record admits that LordPalmerston ' buke justly applies to many parts of the country , but it says " they will not cease to call upon our rulers to permit national prayer to be offered up ; " another falsehood , implying that Lord Palmerston has prohibited national prayer . If the nation be moved to prayer , its prayers will rise , and no act of his as fugleman could give force or common life to that petition . But the fact is , that with a better understanding of bur duties , we are begin-

    City Proposal For Obsequies To Prince Al...

    CITY PROPOSAL FOR OBSEQUIES TO PRINCE ALBERT . It is an old . fiction of allegorical moralists to represent some fatal influence as brought to a favourite hero in the most tempting form . When Sir Guyon visits the Bower of Bliss , a comely lady presents to him a cup which she declares is to confer immortal youth , out which is really an incentive to corruption , and all its consequences . The poisoned chalice comes with nattering aspect , but not less bitter are the efforts of swallowing it . In like manner the City of London approaches a hero of our own day—Prince Albert , with a complimentary proposal to raise a statue to him . The Lord Mayor is the lovely dame who confers this tempting dainty , but it is the well-known " j ) oisoned Challis , " and it is probable that the virtuous and sagaciotis Prince will decline to quaff . There are indeed many reasons why a statue might be erected to Prince Albert . In the iirst place , we all like him , and we are disposed to have the portraits of those we esteem . Every Romeo of our own da y likes to have a photograph of his Juliet ; and Juliet of course desires to commemorate her Itomeo , and why not

    Britannia her Albert ? The impulse is as prettyas it is natural . All Ilomeos are not goodlooking , and policy as well as modesty may sometimes throw hesitation upon compliance with the demand of tho too fond Juliet . But in the present instance there is no such objection . Tho Prince cannot allege his ugliness or unseemly figure as a reason for declining the invitation , and amongst Metropolitan statues it would bo agreeable , if only on the score of variety , to have of

    a good-looking original . After tho statue George tho Third , so remarkable for the comprehensive extension of tho horse's tail—or that of Pitt , perennially extending his nose in tho direction of George-street , or that of tho . Duke of York , who is mounted so high to bo out of tho way of his creditors , it would not be unpleaHing to have tho effigy of a man who ho frankly meets his countrymen face t & face , and has lent an agreeable countenance to so many meritorious works .

    Hut reasons also present ; themselves against having a statue of tho Prince—at Joust y <'; - Thoro aro many mon to wJiom sucli a compliment should bo paid . Indeed , when tho foreigner visits London , ho in sl . ruok with the conBuiciioiis absence of Groat Englishmen from the nroninumI thoroughfares of tho Metropolis . Ho hun read in history of our SliakoHpearo and our Mill <<>» > our Alfred and our Cumr do Lion , our kromwell and our Make , our Caxton and our VVnU ; but when ho arrivos in London ho findtf us l « ir « of these groat men , and discovers only n crowned beadle like his Majesty Goorgo the Third , < " * clover administrator iw presiding goniiiH of h <» " ° not-much-frequented square . In tin ' s ' o 1 in 11 ' ^ Hfcatuofiquo sacrifice to patriotism hoomh to um » Tiiere

    drawn ( lie line at Major Cartwnght . »» long list of such won to whom a statue w < lu « N «« much older debt . Lot tho Prince bo placed in m « lint and welcome ; but how many hundreds down ho would stand wo would rathor leave to a rowiim arithmetician to reckon . Wo aro abo ut to ovtov

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 5, 1853, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05111853/page/12/