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igQ The Leader and Saturday Analyst. |Fe...
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KEASON AND KELTGION * T?ROM the title of...
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* Conciliation Rationolie dn Draft ot du...
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COUNT CAVQUR.* ; A NY account of the lif...
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* Count- Gavour. Mb Uifo and Garcor. By ...
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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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"~ # Profaoo To "Zoioiutea'a Bibliograph...
bably only gain by the discovery of the rank , place , arid real name of the writer , a volume or- so of tittfe-rtattle and gossip / the recent specimens of which forbid , us to hope for any addition : of the kind .
Igq The Leader And Saturday Analyst. |Fe...
igQ The Leader and Saturday Analyst . | Feb . 25 , 1860 .
Keason And Keltgion * T?Rom The Title Of...
KEASON AND KELTGION * T ? ROM the title of this book it would not be easy to guess its Jp object . The work is an elaborate attack on Christian doctrine , and especially on the Christian evidences . We can' no more question the author ' s profound convictions than his excellent intehtions ; his absolute fairness ariid charitable spirit than his learning and ability . Every one who without arrogance , vanity , or fanaticism utters what . he conceives to be the truth , deserves our respect , and as we discern nothing but noble motive in M . Disdier we applaud his courage and frankness . But we wholly disagree with him as to the matter in debate , We are familiar enough , from the arguments of the Unitarians and of other rationalistic sects , with the attempt to demonstrate that in religion reason should be
the chief guide . But tliey who take it for chief guide end by having no religion at all- It was Protestantism which first propounded the monstrous heresy in opposition to the principle of authority , that the empire of reason in religion should be unlimited and unconditional , and an exaggerated Protestantism preaches tLe heresy with such furious zeal that men rush back to authority to escape from the intolei-able din . . In truth , however , neither reason nor authority should have exclusive dominion in religion , _ or rath er they ought , to be banished therefrom altogether . Religion is the creation and the utterance of the heart , and of the phantasy ; its reign and its rapture are . in those vast , wondiwis , arid mysterious recesses of the soul , whither reason and authority -ean never corne . Religion spurns dogmas , and disclaims the sorcalled evidences which
are so ostentatiously paraded in its-favour . Just so far" then as the Christian : religion accords , with uiiiyersal religion , just so far as it springs from and appeals to the heart and the phantasy , just so fur and no further can it demand our recognition , our homage . As regards the supernatural and the miraculous , the Christian doctrine occupies exactly the same ground of probability or improbability as any other religious v doctrine . It is-: not ' always ; easy to ascertain what the Christian religion is . If it meansthe life and the words of Christ , then arise those questions which Strauss and others h & ye agitated . If it means the opinion of an individual , the creed of a sebt , the decrees of a Church , we are bewildered in the wearisome and : boundless chaos . If it means humanity ' s highest attainable
ideal , then it is convenient , but not cprreet , ; to designate that ideal by the general name of Christianity . Much of our modern culture , many of our grandest thoughts we have derived from the Greeks and Romans , - and not from the Gospel ; and not a little which is attributed to the Gospel belongs and has' always belonged to hum-a , n nature . Those are the best Christians—indeed , we believe them to be the only Christians worthy of Christ , who take the Gospel as food to the inner life , and who , dwelling in this imver life , shrink from controversy as a curse and a crime . They are pure and lofty beings , who would have been fervently and fruitfully pious , in every age , in every clime , aiid whatever the ritual Or the faith . Now M . Disdier overlooks this class altogether . He wanders
into the polemical , the . theological region , and thinks that when he has put to flight the ghosts and slain the giants he meets there , that he bus gained a marvellous victory , But every religion is vindicated as long as it is spiritually alive , morally potent and productive . So that if , by the most valiant and overwhelming logic , you could show that it is supremely irrational , ifc will boldly defy you by ' the-sinvple fact that it continues to exist . Men in the mass aro supremely irrational , so that the supremely-irrational is by itself not objectionable in their eyes . Passion , iimig'ination , and custom , influence and impel them 'infinitely more than Reason ' s frigid and pedantic dictates . We would debar neither M . Disdier nor any one from the criticul , the controversial . If , however , their aim is to overthrow superstition , let them war , not with its absurdities , but with its immoral
results . Mew may be induced to renounce the absurd , because it i £ the immoral ; but never because it is the absurd . The critic and the controversialist attack the absurd —• the 'prophet , in the . true sense of the word prophecy , attacks the unmoral . And this is how religious revolutions , religious revelatio , come . Religion , as the deepest and divinest of realities , is entwined with every tiring which a eonainunity is , and feels , and does . If , then , in tho affairs of religion we make ridicule or logic a test , how are we to sever what is religious from what belongs to the very ossence of the coininunity ? Your logician is a very limited animal , though M . Disdier ia unimpoaohable as a logician . M , Disdier is a Genevoae advocate . We know , from long residence , movo about Geneva than most Englishmen . As
tho city of Calvin , as a bulwark of the Reformation , as tho birthplaco of Rousseau , as tho gorgequia centre of tho aublimest scenery in the world , as notable from literary associations as well iva from tho industrial energy of tho people , Geneva would have enchfmtjecl ua , even if wo had wot dwelt thero at the season of our voung svtid wild rbmance . Now , intellectual infidelity abounds at Geneva , for it is within a few iniles of Fernoy , and it lias tho Voltairoan taint as mwoh as if ; Voltaire wero ^ atill lord at Ferney . NevertjholeBs religion ia bo much an everlasting- and ulmjghty force , that while the whole ideas of the Genovese wo sceptical their whole habits are religious ; In no pther Protestant , land is religion ho gladly and sorenely beautiful . T » io La'ke , tho Snitfro , tho Jura , tho far but fervent purple of Mont Blanc ' s majesty , ; muko a temple , even if no . worship or
worshipper were there . M . Disdier must be the most courageous of modern men to debate the credibility of the Christian religion , his broV hallowed , his path irradiated by environments so stupendous . Let it not be said that we are appealing to a silly and shallow sentimentalism . In these days sentiineatalismhas very various meanings . It may mean that you read Dickens , and are a simpering , selfish fool ; or it may mean that you are one of Nature ' s conservatives . There is a sickly sympathy for the woes of the ; present-Mhere is a chivalrous reverence for the deeds , the convictions , even the prejudices of the past . Of the first , Dickens is the poet , the orator , the representative . Of the second , Scott j who has a not unworthy successor iii James Han nay . A real , a lofty enthusiasm brushes sentimentality aside ^ It has a . right , a vocation , old as the universe ,
from all the gods , to do so . But that which is the duty of enthusiasm , may be the impudence Of criticism , and the blunder of controversy . In short , the sum of results which the world has conquered up to this hour , are not the weeds rotting on the soil , they are the soil itself . M . Disdier , though a good , an honest , a most estimable man , mistakes the weeds for the soih We do not condemn him ; we pity him . Even if a man is neither a critic nor a controversialist , he cannot be satisfied with the mode in which Christianity is now presented to mankind . We have a church , the richest in the world , and the poorest : the richest in only one sense , the poorest in every sense . We h-ave Little Bethel yelling and kicking with impunity ^ the policeman having no right to interfere . , We have Christ the self-sacrificing 1 ,. the crucified , presented every , Sunday as the safest
and most profitable investment , Heaven being placed at the head of the Insurance Offices . We have MivBinney , and , Mr . SSpurgeon , and DivCumming , and hosts besides , who teach us never to trust God unless he can bring the very best security , Lessing said , and it is more suggestive and salutary than clever , sayings u sually are , that the religion of Christ aud the Christian religion are 'by iio means the same thing . May we iiofc even say that they are the direct and deadly antagonisms of each Other ? How seldom now is Christianity anything more than a conventionalism , a cant , a mask , th % odour and emphasis of a commercial cry , the Ornament of a signpost , the embellishn-ien-t ' . of * the Time ' s advertising columns . Men like M . Disdier point to the imposture : we point to the foundations of immensity .,.-behind the imposture . That religion
cannot long continue in its present state is obvious to every man of foresight , insig-ht , iervour , piety . When priests are not prophets , prophets turn priests . The idiotic imbecility which the Bishop of London , an old college companion of ours , lias , sprawling and sputtering , recently flung on tlie floor of the House Of Lords , symbolises , our Christianity , though it does . not symbolise Christ , the Son of God , the Son of mavu Humbug , though more leniently dealt with than hypocrisy , is wopse than hypoci-isy . In these days we are not Pharisee ^ but we tolerate the Pharisees . Are we better than the Pharisees , my friends ? Verily , we are worse . Yet , hurling our most ferocious hate at humbug and' hypocrisy , kneeling lowly to the Infinite and merciful God , we tear ourselves iu anger from the critics and the controversialists , and wish that the outspoken , unselfish . Henri Disdier were not one of them .
* Conciliation Rationolie Dn Draft Ot Du...
* Conciliation Rationolie dn Draft ot du JPavoir . ^ Fnv Hntnu DisDiSH . Two Tolum « 8 . London ; Jphn Ohn . pn » n , n ,
Count Cavqur.* ; A Ny Account Of The Lif...
COUNT CAVQUR . * A NY account of the life of the great Sardinian Premier must be interesting at this time . Mr . Cooper , of the University of London , has here compiled , from " a continental source of unquestionably high authority , " as he states , a serviceable memoir " of one of tho moat remarkable ¦ and successful of living constitutional statesmen . " That Count Cavour should merit such a name is rather singular , for the traditions and example of the patrician family to which he belonged lay altogether in the opposite direction . His father hud become indeed conspicuous for immoderate stiffness and tenacious clearing to tho old state system . The family is pne of tho oldest and wealthiest in Piedmont , but it is believed came originally from Savoy . 'Count Cain Mo JBoiisO cU Cavour was born ab Turin , on 10 th August ; , i 810 ; and it is an id' that a sister of tho Emperor
Napoleon , the Princess Maria Puulino Borgheso , stood sponsor for him at his buplism . Ho was . educated by the Abbe Frezet ; and , as his second son , was destined by his father to the military career , and trained accordingly iii the Royul Military Academy at Turin . Ho was recommended thonco to the Court of Chariot ? Felix aa a page , but proved too independent for the situation . He studied mathematics , and was much encouraged by Plo . , the astronomer , but not by his family , who regarded his studious habits as unfitting-him for playing " a noble part in the world , i . e . at Court , or to « pe » d an iinmcnso fortune in a way Huitablo to his rank . " Living 1 alternately at the capital and on the landed ostatos of his family , tho Count acquired a practical knpwledgo of agriculture , and was the fh'afc lauded proprietor in Piedmont who miida trial of guano . At length
ho determined on a voyage to London , and remained hero many years , and thus grew thoroughly aoquaint ' od with the JHnglish nobility and institutions . Ho vitiibud our most important ituinufucturing localities , and acquired an ivmplo knowledge of the internal economy of ' jbho factories , and tho improvements made in machinery . He returned to Turin iu 18 di 2 , whore ho succeeded in estubliwhing 1 a great Agricultural Society , which , exists to this -day as tho Sooietti Agrqria , and in its Jpwnal ; down to the year 18 < t ^ , recorded tho improvements made from time to tiino in Eng-liuh . husbandry . lie also establitiliiid a first-class politiiiiil daily paper , XI JIUorc / imonto , through which thq nature of tho 33 ugh " ah constitution acquix-ocl tho popularity which it lias bujoo eujuyedin Piedmont .
* Count- Gavour. Mb Uifo And Garcor. By ...
* Count- Gavour . Mb Uifo and Garcor . By Babiu II . Oooi'Bn , B . A . ( Judcl and Olnss ) .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 25, 1860, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25021860/page/14/
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