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652 The SaturdayAnalyst mid'Leader. [Jul...
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THE MASSACRE IN" SYRIA. FEW more awful e...
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PRIDE AND CHRISTIANITY. " r T^HE desire ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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« Won By Tricks." *T*Here Is In London A...
lie has a splendid career open to him , and is already proclaimed by public acclamation as the future Premier who avill gather around him the wisdom , and gratify the aspirations of the . age . Whether this will be so or not depends upon himself . He is in-. one of / those rare positions in which a man of genius can be the ruler of . circumstances , but a single quirk or crotchet such as he has solicited informer times , will throw him quite out of gear . He must be brave us well as honest , straightforward as well as subtle . We do not predict , but we earnestly hope for his success .
652 The Saturdayanalyst Mid'leader. [Jul...
652 The SaturdayAnalyst mid ' Leader . [ July H , 1860 .
The Massacre In" Syria. Few More Awful E...
THE MASSACRE IN" SYRIA . FEW more awful events have occurred in any age than the great massacre of C hristians which has taken place , and is * we fear , still going on in Syria . We may hope that the loss of the Christians may prove somewhat less than the accounts at present received , lead us to suppose ; but as the captured town of Zahleh contained 10 , 000 inhabitants , who were exposed to all the horrors of torture , pillage , and murder , it is obvious that the calamity assumed appalling proportions . In the large village of Hashbeiyaj at the foot of Mount Hermon , the
slaughter is represented as nearly amounting to absolute extermination , although the Christians numbered about 4 , 000 . In other towns and districts the Christians were hourly expecting a similar fate when the last intelligence left ; and , although some English and French ships were on the coast , it will be some time before the fanatical Mahometan population can be brought to order and punished for their crimes . The Turkish Government may at last be frightened into active measures , but it is well known that the weakness of the Sultan makes his liberal intentions of no effect , and the soldiery on
the spot are accused of either doing nothing , or turning assassins themselves . The Christian Communities of Syria have long attracted a well-deserved interest , and Beyrout has been honorably remarkable as a centre from which civilized ideas were dispersed throughout a large and important district . Now , the Christian Governments of Europe must be content to witness the extermination of their brethren in Lebanon , or effectually lend them a helping hand . A-ll . ques-|
tions off minor difference / should be set aside . It-matters not whether the sufferers belong to the Greek Communion , or follow the Pope , or hold the tenets of Protestant ¦ Churches . They are equally entitled to commiseration and help- — -both help for their immediate necessities , and help that will for the future enable them to protect themselves . The balance of power in these regions must be reversed , and instead of the Christians being at the inercy of the murderous and mad Druses , Kurds > and Bedouins , the military strength of the latter-must—be—effeefeually-bFoken ^ and—the—former-wellUtr-med and trained to assist themselves . There cannot be a moment ' s hesitation as to the strong course our sympathies and our efforts should take , but we must not commit the error of undervaluing our difficulties , by ascribing all virtues to the sufferers and all vices to their oppressors . The Christians have so long been the victims of a proud and haughty race of fanatics , superior to them in military power , that it will not be an easy task to raise them from their low estate . There can , however , be no doubt of the practicability of accomplishing this , if the leading powers of Europe
will honestly undertake the task , and peek the good of the inhabitants , and not the aggrandisement of their own political power . We believe a large portion of the Christians hold their land of Druse chiefs , and that the whole social system under which they live is one of constant degradation and wrong . Now , the crimes of the Mahometans have made it the duty of Christian nations to take away their power : and , although no one would countenance a mere expedition of vengeance , they must be taught that their safety and existence depend upon their respecting the rights of others for the future .
It will ho a political mistake if the Greek Christians are allowed to look exclusively to Russia for support ; and it would have an excellent effect if Protestant England and Germany united with Roman Catholic France in a judicious course of action . It is only naturul and right thut Russia should interfere ^ and a little-nrmness on the-part of England and . Franca will prevent the Czar taking anv sinister advantage of the
unfortunate occasion . It would be unjust if we assumed that such outbursts of Mahometan fanaticism wore unaccompanied with delusions us to the acts or intentions of the Christians , and it is possible that they may have had some cause of anger . It is necessary that they should be made to respect the power of Christendom , but it is equally so that they should be mado to respect its justice und its good faith . The Court of Constantinople will ,
no doubt , be alarmed and grieved at events so dangerous to its continued existence ; andii , as we hope , the Sultan will wish to act fairly , the intervention of the Christian powers should distinctly appear as supporting , not overthrowing , his authority . The time may come when the Christians of Turkey will be able to make a successful revolt , and assume the government themselves , but a premature destruction of Turkish power would simply aggrandise Russia , without really benefitting- the oppressed followers of the faith of civilised men .
Pride And Christianity. " R T^He Desire ...
PRIDE AND CHRISTIANITY . " T ^ HE desire of power to excess caused the angels to fall ; JL the desire of knowledge to excess caused man to fall , " says Bacon , who liked the antithesis , or he might have simplified both the excesses into the one word—Pride . Hurt pride slaughtered Abel , sold Joseph , overwhelmed Pharaoh , hung Haman , and made the most zealous of the Apostles thrice a traitor . It is a vice more equally divided , perhaps , than any other between saints and sinners ; practised the most with the least self-consciousness ; and , where known , with the most self-justification . There is none which the preacher finds it so
difficult or so personally unpleasant both to himself and to his congregation to track in the subtilty of its windings , or boldly to rebuke in the brazenness of its confidences . Of all the fortresses of evil , it is the last which the preacher attacks , and the last which the human heart resigns , as the blessing on " the poor in spirit" is the last which the human race , even the best part of it , seems anxious to earn ; they do not wish , to see ' " those beautiful things which , " according to a fine proverb , we believe a Turkish one , " are vouchsafed to him who has rubbed his eyes with the dust of his feet " They prefer one of Chateaubriand ' s niaximsV in which certainly there is some truth , " It is good to _ put the face on the ground , but not to keep it too longJhere / " This last is one of the wisest and most modest , of those numberless prpverbs of human wisdom running eounter to an / I-contending with the maxims of diviner insight aphorisms doings all they can to counteract the teaching of texts . It is a pity when the father is aphorising all the week in one direction , that the preacher makes -so little use of his nobler armoury to uudo the mischief . We are not by any . means sure that the spiritual monitor does not sometimes deliberately encourage this vice , as one of his best aids against others ; a useful counter-poison , " to corrode The bad with bad , the .. spider withjrhe toad . " As the guard of sobriety , chastity , cleanliness , honesty , and regpectable appearances , keeping- out the legions of evil , only , after all , to sell the fortifications en . mmi < i to their captain . If -y ^ u-fiit-in -yoniyfivp . spated pewf and the other four seats arc occupied by your sanctity , your dignity , your decency , and your conformity , it is the Devil that is locking you all in , when you are locking the poor man out . Certainly , many of those who fancy themselves true Crusaders have no fancy . fpr going to the Promised Land with Petkr the Hermit , still less with Walter the Penniless , who led so many champions to the Holy Sepulchre . Imagine the horror of many a religious lady , if , on issuing from a church in which the incumbent had been addressing the words " my brethren" fifty times to the congregation in its totality , —if , we say , at the exit , a female pauper , trusting to the universal Christian relationship thus asserted by the preacher , and supposed to be allowed by his hearers , should dare to address to her of the satins the following words : "A penny , my sister , for the love of our common Father . " " Tumultuous heavings all her bosom 3 well , " not of sympathy , but of indignation ; and the only commandment illustrated is that eleventh English one , " Never forget your place , " and its postil or complement , "It is beneath mine . " Such a speech might easily be -without doubt an intentional impertinence , but we arc imagining it to be addressed—or something of the same strain— -in real simp licity of mind ; even then , would the effect be different , and would majesty bo less offended ? No , nothing in religion , or out of it , is to ' be taken literall y * except as it suits the manners of the age , and consequently its conceptions . Perhaps . Johx Pjsrjuam ' s friendsjvmejQQ $ Jv . eryjvr onjjjvhjen __ they ensconced him for rt short time in Bedlam for giving away all his money and the very coat off his back to impart to the pooiythough there are are few forms of madness so uncommon and so honourable to the disposition of the sufferer ; however , his is an awful warning to literal interpreters of biblical injunctions . . Nevertheless , there are many degrees of humility leas humiliating than poor John ' s charity was impoverishing , ana we tHink that professed , or ruther professing , Christians might aim at one of these degrees rather more than they generally
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 14, 1860, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14071860/page/4/
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