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Leader (1850-1860), 13th July 1850, Edition Town of 1, Page 376

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      Untitled Article

      idvancing civilization , is now actually receiving is a novelty Monte Cristo , translated by an snterprising speculator ! Also , we observe , Kaspail ' s work on Medicine undergoing he same process . Meanwhile , Spain has her own poets : — Don Ubaldo Pasaron y Lastra has published Poesias y heyendas " full of the warm South ; ' * Senobita Dona Gertrudiz Gomez Smith ! the

      de Avallaneda ( admire , oh , pomp and trailing grandeur of such names ) , whose tragedy of Alfonzo Munio made an uproar in Madrid some years ago , has also written a lyrical tragedy , Saul j some of the lyrics we have seen and admire , but when we are to see the whole tragedy is a matter of speculation , Spanish books 8 O seldom making their appearance here until forgotten in their native land .

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      BUSHNELl / S THREE DISCOURSES . God in Christ . Three Discourses delivered at Newhaven , Cambridge and Andover . With ft Preliitfinary Dissertation on Language . By Horace Butfhneli . -London : John Chapman , 142 , Strand . Eveby book that now issues from the press on the subject of religion , bearing any mark of sincerity or depth of thought , may be referred to a single class . They all protest more or less vigorously against the principle of religious dogmatism . This is the

      pervading characteristic of all honest , religious literature , both here and in America , both within and without the pale of the Church . The ' * sound learning " Dr . Hampden leads to the same conclusion as the evangelical sentimentalism of the Archbishop of Canterbury—the one declaring that " doctrines ' * are altogether " matters of opinion , " and the other deprecatingly exhorting the Tractarian Purist , to give a ** favourable construction" to what were once considered as vital principles of religion . The most distinguished writers amongst the clergy for the last few

      years , the Arnolds , the Whateleys , the Maurices , the Hares , and Sterlings , have all stood forward as the champions , in different degrees , of a freer theology . A considerable number of the clergy ( and the number constantly increasing ) are beginning to find the chains of orthodoxy too heavy to be borne , and are openly seceding ; whilst a still greater number are loosely attached to the Church by the ties of intcrest , and the bonds of habit . The Earl of Arundel and Surrey was quite justified in the dark foreboding he expressed in the House of Commons of the

      near approach of a Now Reformation— " ex oris parvulorum . " No supernatural gift of prophecy is needed to foretell the approaching revolution in religious opinion . New thought , like an electric current , is passing rapidly through the minds of men , which are dnily becoming better conductors by the diffusion of Knowledge . To pursue our metaphor , the electric telegraph that is being laid across the straits of Dover may bring us far other and more interesting

      intelligence than the fate of cabinets or the fluctuations of the Bourse . Almost every steamer that crosses the Atlantic is freighted with the first fruits of a new-born literature , which is gradually but surely displacing the effete traditions of churches . The free theology of Germany and its deep insight into the realities of spiritual life is everywhere felt in its influence on religious opinion , and perhaps ( singular as the assertion may appear ) the best part of Tructarianistn itself is derived from a perversion of

      the noble Catholicity of Novahs . The book we are about to notice is strongly marked with the impress of American genius—it is fresh , vigorous , and original . Mr . Bushnell commences his work with a very clear and profound enquiry into the philosophy of language , and its relations to the dogmutic touching of Churches ,- —bringing to bear upon the subject much matured thought and sound erudition , ilo curries his learning , however , very gracefully , and n « vcr allows his authorities to control his own individual thought . He avails himself of the learning of William Von Humholdr , of Frederick

      Schlffjjul , of Home Tooko , oi Locke , and oi many ot'ioiH , as illustrating his own theory of language in particular points , without compromising tho originality of his own conceptions . Poihaps , however , in this * part of his work , ho will ho considered as owing more to his distinguished countryman Emerson than to any of these writers , as he appears to have adopted tho essential idea of language so beautifully propounded in the treatise called ' Nature , " of that writer . Each regards external Nature as a vast pictorial alphabet by which the overcharged soul finds utterance in trope and metaphor . "NVe can hardly be expected to go very deeply

      into this part of the book ; and we shall only notice so much of it as has a direct bearing on the general purpose of the argument—merely observing that it is not for those who have not sounded the deep waters of criticism , or been exercised in the same severe school of thought , to pronounce a theory having in some degree a mystical character altogether fanciful . Spiritual culture and spiritual energy are required to constitute men fair critics in such matters . Spiritual

      things can only " be spiritually discerned . We must not reject one leading idea of the book , —the " correspondence " assumed between spiritual impressions on the mind and outward objects in nature , because we may have seen the word " correspondence" somewhat fancifully used by the followers of Swedenborg . Nor must we quarrel with Mr . Bushnell because he chooses to call this subtle power of the mind , which certainly exists ( of seizing outward objects to express its inner life ) , by the name of the " Divine Logos . "

      One great object , then , of this book is to show that language being in its nature an imperfect expression of spiritual facts , all dogmatism must partake of the crude and imperfect character of the vehicle , and , therefore , is of less authority than is commonly eonceded to it . Emerson somewhere says , that the popular belief in C hristianity is founded rather upon metaphors and figures of speech than on the essential meaning of the scriptures ; and on this point Mr . Bushnell evidently agrees with him . Theologians are

      apt to assume that the faith of the soul can be expounded by an exact terminology , and to regard words , not as the signs ( more or less perfect ) of spiritual ideas , but as the essential ideas themselves . Starting with this false assumption , a logical religion is built up—Christian truth is lost in mere polemics . But language is , as has been said , an imperfect instrument of thought in all that regards spiritual expression . There is everywhere abundant evidence that it is so . Perfectly sincere men appear from their

      language to disagree on points of vital importance , when no such disagreement really exists . Dr . Whateley ( we think in his " Bampton Lectures" ) reminds us that the word " misunderstanding , " which in its first sense implies our not understanding an adversary—in its secondary meaning implies a disagreement or dispute with him . In poetry and oratory metaphorical language is assumed to interpret the inner life to which , of course , it is only an approximation , and the same latitude , and no more , may be conceded to the verbal expression of a religious faith . It would be just as reasonable to afiix a

      definite meaning and require a strict acknowledgment of the sense of the poetical inspirations of Milton or Isaiah , as it is to apply this rule to the tender raptures of John , the rhetorical eloquence of Paul , or even the holy wisdom of Christ . In short , religion cannot be written or spoken in words . In the great majority of religious disputes , it will be found that words and not ideas are the subjects of contention . Language is capp . liie of defining only such ideas as are absolute and necessary , or which are directly derived from the senses . In supersensuous things , words , Mr . Bushnell tells us , are " related to truth only as form

      to spirit . " Logic , in perfect strictness , can prove nothing not previously known by insight . It is a mere form , by which our insight is roused and excited . If a conception of truth did not previously exist within us ( potentially ) logic would never elicit it . Your dextrous " logicker , " as Mr . Bushnell calls him , forgets that his conclusion is , in fact , always contained in his premises , and that after working his brains in this mechanical word-mill nothing is produced but what is put into it ! And this juggling with words is called reasoning , and is in fact the process by which all the doctrines , as they are called , of the Church are worked out !

      We quit tins part of the book most reluctantly , having , we fear , given but a very feeble idea of the uncommon power the writer possesses of laying bare those Protean forms of sophistry that so often exist unchallenged in the consecrated phrases of scholastic dialectics . A keen , clear eye for realities—a healthy and natural appetite for truth—and a fearless frankness of language everywhere show the characteristic genius of the nascent literature of his country . Ho goes out on adventure with the world of thought witli the same fearless energy and selfsustaining faith that carry so many of his countrymen into tho untrodden solitudes of the «• Far West . " Iu our next wo shall notice the Discourses to which this Dissertation is an introduction .

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      JAMES ON SOCIALISM . Moralism and Christianity ; or , Man ' s Experience and Destiny . In Three Lectures . By Henry James . London : J . Chapman . This is one of those numerous specimens of American transcendentalism which exasperate the logical and captivate the mystical . Underneath its metaphysical jargon and uncouth phraseology there are , however , some ideas boldly stated . The first lecture is " A Scientific Statement of the Christian Doctrine of the Lord , or Divine Man , " which those familiar with recent German philosophical writings , or with their American tradtecers , may find commonplace enough , but which to the mere English reader will be startling and extravagant . In the second lecture , *• Socialism and Civilization in Relation to the Development of Individual Life , " there are some Btrange things , — amongst them a bold denial of sin being more than an offence against society : — " Society pronounces me an evil man , by virtue of my having violated sundry of her statutes . But what shall statutes say for themselves that are capable of violation ? Shall they pretend to be divine ? This were blasphemous . For who ever heard of God ' s statutes being violated , of God ' s will being frustrated ? The imagination is childish . The divine power is perfect , which means that it never encounters opposition . Yet I have heard theologians aver that God has given man power to obey or disobey His statutes at pleasure . Wherefore then should they represent God as complaining ? If He have given man power to obey or disobey , as he pleases , then the exercise of this power in either direction , must be grateful to Him . If He leave me free to obey or disobey Him , you defame Him when you make Him resent my exercise of this freedom . If you give your child permission to go to Cambridge or Roxbury as he pleases , and then denounce him to the constables for going to the latter place , you make yourself unworthy of the child , proving yourself not a parent but a tyrant . The child would despise you if he were not your child , and the legitimate heir therefore of your meanness—if you had not first defrauded him of his fair spiritual proportions by begetting him . No ! 6 ince the world has stood , the law of God has known no violation . " The contrast between Socialism and Civilization is viewed from such abstract considerations that few readers will be edified or touched by his arguments . Almost the only clear statement made is the following : — "If the evils I have described be real , —if civilization be fraught with these and all other forms of hindrance to the divine life , —then clearly civilization stands condemned by its fruits , and has no title to prejudice the promise of Socialism . Socialism claims to be nothing more than a remedy for the physical and moral ills which inhere in civilization , which result from its very genius . The whole promise of Socialism may be thus summed up : —It promises to lift man out of the harassing bondage which he is under to nature and society , out of that crushing responsibility which he is under to his own body and his fellow-rnan , and so leave him subject for ever to God ' s unimpeded inspiration , —leave him , in fact , the very plaything of God , a mere pipe for the finger of Deity to play what stops it pleases . It proceeds upon a double postulate , namely , that every creature of God , by virtue of his creation , is entitled , —1 , to an ample physical subsisttence , that is , to the satisfaction of all his natural appetites ; 2 , to an ample social subsistence , that is , to the respect and affection of every other creature of God . Whatever institution violates these principles by nonconformity , it pronounces tyrannous and void . "

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      ANIMAL MAGNETISM . Physico-jihysiological Researches on the Dynamics of Magnetism , Electricity , Heal , Light , Christallization , and Chemism , in their relation to Vital Force . By Baron Charles Von Reichenbach . Translated by Dr . Ashborner . Balliere , 1850 . ( Second Notice . } The existence of a force in relation to magnetism was discovered by Faraday some time after the first publication of these experiments by Reichenbach . It is called Diamagnetism , and is an action from East to West , not from North , to South . Reichenbach endeavoured to make bodies turn from east to west when suspended freely in the air . Faraday came to the same result , namely , that they ought to do so ; and went farther , that is , he caused them , when suspended between the poles of a horseshoe magnet , to cross it . An ingenious friend has caused them to turn from east to west , by merely having the suspended body very long and very light . We are here again , after a little scepticism , brought back to realities , and have to confess that , after all , Reichenbach and Miss Reich el have been before orthodox science . We do not care to follow the translator into a description of n divining rod , which found out water , as all such rods do , and twirled round three times in a house , to find out three murderers , and showed the road they took , scented out their haunts , twirled round on the chairs and beds which they had used , and regularly hunted them down . Our readers will see that the translator quite mistakes the nature of Reichenbach ' s en-

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      376 tKfte VLt&tttX . [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 13, 1850, page 376, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1846/page/16/