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acting in compliance with the express injunctions of Christ and his disciples ? At the same time allow me to draw your attention to the concluding verses of the chapter from which your text is taken . " Winding up with this : — " And now , before concluding my letter , I desire to ask you a very serious question , and one to which I publicly demand a distinct and definite , answer . " At the twenty-second page of your Sermon , which appears to contain the pith of your argument , you say that you < would suggest to those whose hearts are right
and judgments mature , and who fear God , to aid tne Wardens ( for this thing is too heavy for them ) , by fprr aine some organization for the vindication of the law . This means , in plain Eng li sh , that yon would suggest a voluntary congregational collection for the purpose of assisting the Wardens to enforce the minority church rate in the Ecclesiastical Courts , for the repairs of the parish churches . You thus refuse to accept a voluntary collection for repairing the church , but you ' would suggest' that one be made to assist you in compelling others to do that which you will not allow to be done voluntarily . . _ ..... . _„ ... the
• 'Now the question I ask is this : —Are you . are Wardens , or are both , the promoters of this law-suit ? For if you be the . promoter of this suit , or if you incur any share of pecuniary responsibility in this most arbitrary measure , you have , in thus asking your congregation to ' aid the Wardens , ' not the Vicar , ' by forming some organization for the vindication of the law , ' committed an act which I shall leave the public sense of truth and common honesty to characterize by its proper name . " There is one bit of information for which we thank Mr . Coninghany because ( as Christianityclaims to be the religion of the Poor ) it affords a pleasing illustration of the Apostolic Church . A rather dissolute gentleman in Rome once said : —
" Pallida mors cequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque turres ;" and we know that " Pale Death does kick with impartial foot at the palace door no less than at the hovel . " But if all men are equal in the eye of Death , they are not equal in the eye of the clergyman- —to worms they all go , rich and poor , but not with the same Christian consolation ; so Mr . Coninffham tells us , at least : —
" You apeak of a cemetery ( the only place where rich and poor do meet on equal terms ) as a spot * where charity should bide and melt in sympathy with the tears of bereavement . ' What are we to think of your pure and ' Apostolic church , ' which tolerates a practice ( chiefly confined to some of the metropolitan parishes ) by which an extra fee of fire shillings is required , for ' desk service , ' whereby the poor who cannot pay are deprived of half the burial service ? May I not in turn quote ( Matt , xxiii . 4 ) ? "
Mr . Goulty ' s letter is more theological ; it exposes the vicar ' s misquotations of Scripture , or rather hia misapplication of texts , with great effect . The reader may imagine what use the vicar would make of Scripture— " for his purposes "—when we tell him that the text " God is love" is chosen as the demand for church-rates , " Love" being proved in the apostolic words to be the "fulfilling of the law ; " and the law to be fulfilled the vicar quietly assumes is the law of church-rates I !
When we think of Mr . Bennett ' s treatment by his bishop , when we see trivial ceremonials and symbols sufficient to outbalance all the good of active piety and real clerical work , and when , on the other hand , we see the Vicar of Brighton left undisturbed by his Bishop , we can understand the agony of that cry "The Church in Danger , " for the cry is a reality . The sooner it is put out of danger by the most summary of methods—being put out altogether—the better will it be for Religion , the Church , and the Community .
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THE FIRST ANGEL . The First Angel . A Nov «; l in 2 vols . Ssunders nn < l Otley . The writer of this work is much cleverer than the work itself . One cannot turn over its pages without feeling that either from youth and inexperience , or else from having chosen a department for which he in unfitted , this writer is wasting talents on an immature Work . The best passages are those of reflection ; as we might expect from one who had cultivated his intellect and whose artistic
tenden-< u ; s were not strong . There are also touches of description which show an artistic and even poetic leeling , so that we are driven to the conclusion that the writer is very young , and has not yet seen enoug h of the world , reflected enough on his own experience of it , nor sufficiently studied the great models of dramatic art , to enable hiii ? to ' put a readable probable Kfcory together . All that relates to t he mere writing is superior to the generality of novels ; all thut relates to the story , to pictures of life and portraiture of character belongs to the Circulating Library , atid that not of the best . In
support of our praise take this hit of English landscape : — " There is a large market town in one of the midland counties of England , formerly a place of strength , and the scene of many stirring deeds in the olden time . A fine river flows beneath the site of the ancient fortress . Its banks are broad green meadows , -with gentle slopesscarcely so much as hills—rising at a little distance , where many jovial old English mansions lift their red
faces over the large shrubberies of antiquated gardens , and among groves of trees planted a century ago . The river runs east and west , and these mansions , fifty years since , were chiefly on the southern side , with a north aspect , therefore , looking towards the town ; but one of them , in consequence of a bend in the stream , had its face turned nearly to the west , so that the setting sunbeams fell full upon it in summer evenings , turning the windows into fiery beacons , and pouring rubies upon the large sloping lawn in front when the dew began to fall . "
Here again is a passing touch : —• " The sun was going down before them , in the pale splendour of autumn , for the great eye of the universe , like human eyes , grows pensive and sometimes mournful in its beauty when the season of gay life and glowing joy is past , and the cold winds of death are coming . " The reflections have a tendency to lengthen into essays , but they are always well expressed and worth reading . Here is one on an old subject : — " It is interesting to observe the very different paths by which men are led from time to time to the
renunciation of their habitual opinions in matters of religion . It is seldom , perhaps never , that a system , or even the centre of a system , is renounced at once . The decay is usually gradual , and begins at the extremities . There is a feeling of repugnance towards some doctrine or form which the system contains , or a desire for some other doctrine or form which it excludes . The repugnance or the desire engenders thought and leads to enquiry—the eternal source of change among those whose faith , like that of most of us , has been a habit , and not a choice , a thing to be received , not a thing to be sought for .
" For , in truth , few men enquire seriously into the foundations of their faith till they begin to be dissatisfied with it ; and the dangers of such enquiry are not at all exaggerated by those who would have men sleep upon authority , lest they should awake into scepticism . To dig down through our habitual belief , in search of that base of truth which has never yet been sought , and haply may not be there ; to subject to calm deliberation opinions which were not calmly deliberated when we adopted them , but received on hearsay , or from an authority whose trustworthiness is itself one of the opinions to be enquired into ; to examine the proof of theorems which we have acted upon improved , as if they were
axioms ; and thus , after the temple of our faith is built and garnished , to look for the first time at its true foundations , not knowing beforehand whether they be rock or sand , —this is indeed a perilous undertaking . Many are the souls who , at first sight of instability at the bottom of their favourite edifice , have fled in terror or in bitterness , and henceforth built themselves no temple at all . It must always be so while men are taught to believe before they enquire rather than to enquire in order that they may believe . 11
Perhaps there is nothing more difficult than to predicate of any individual what it is that he will not believe , from a knowledge of what he will . One man , Avho sees no difficulty in the Athanasian creed , is confounded by the idea of baptismal regeneration ; another can believe that God made the world , but cannot believe the truth of a miracle ; a third accepts the irreconcilable doctrines of God ' s omniscience and man ' s free will , but rejects the Trinity because it involves a contradiction : so mysterious are those strange and wonderful beings whom we call our souls . "
The foregoing extracts are sufficient to make us desire to see the author ' s next attempt , though we counsel him eitherto some severe revision of his own capabilities to see if they really lie in the path of fiction , or else to more careful study of his art and its requisites .
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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Chancery Infamy ; or . A Plea for an Anti-Chancery League . Uy II W . WiKton , Secretary to the Chancery Koform Ahdiiciatioii . Fifth Thousand . Kffingham Wiltjon . Chancery Reform . The Equity Jurisdiction of the Court oj Chancery . A Lecture . Uy William Carpenter . EfliiiKhnin Wilson . Perhaps of all the monstrous abuses in England none equals in enormity and unreasonableness the indefensible condition of Chancery Courts . Chanc .-ry has become a word of terror ; the synonym of lifelong delay and ruinous expence . The romance of Chancery exceeds thut of all other courts . As nobody but those interested in the abuses can defend them , the public will be glad to learn that an Anti-Chancery League has been established , of which Lord Krukine is the President , and which if it have courage must eventually succeed in putting an end to the present anomalous state of things . The two pamphlets at the head of this notice are worthy the attention of every reformer . We shall return to the subject . The British Journal of Ilomampathy . No . XXXV . 8 . IIi f ? )>) ey . This quarterly journal though professedly advocating IlomoBopnthy will interest readers not prepared to adopt thut system . Dr . Maddcn's article on Uterine Diseases , for example , though read befom the lloiuoeopathio congress is one to engage tho attention of all practitioners . Besides that article , which is almost a treatise , the present number contains papers on the Theory of llomojopathy and on Pneumonia .
The History of Greece , from the Earliest Period to the Roman CoZawst ; ioitk a Sketch qf its Modern History to the Present Tim . Adapted for schools and families . By ' ^ J ^™*^ Miss Corner's books are well known . She does not treat the subject in a very lively style , nor does she aim at an ambitious style ; but her books are painstaking compilations , clearly expressed . The present volume contain ! in small compass a view of Greek history from the Pelasgians to the Roman Conquest , with a bird s-eye view of modern history . Every page is built up from Grote , Thirlwall , the Library of Useful Knowledge , and Dr . Smith's Dictionaries of Greek Biography and Antiquities , so that the results of the best modern scholarship are given . Questions are added to each chapter , and a full chronological table is added .
The Peace Advocate and Correspondent . Giipin . This little journal is devoted to the advocacy of peace . With the object we fully concur . To recommend the infusion of physical force in this paper plainly would not do , but a little more force of some kind would greatly encrease the efficacy of the articles . There in a strong sentimentality in them which repels the business sens © of many whose suffrages must be won before the peace question can obtain legislative sanction .
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The Miscellaneous Works of the Right Honourable Sir James Macintosh . Complete in one vol . Longmans add Co , The Daughter of Night ; a Story of the Present Time . By S . W . Fullom . 3 vols . H . Colburn . The Life of Jesus Christ in its Historical Connection and Historical Development . By Augustus Neander . Translated from the fourth German edition . By John M . Clintock and Charles E . Bluementhal . H . G . Bohn . The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus , Bishop of Casarea , in Palestine . Translated from the Greek by the Keverend C . F . Cruse , A . M . With notes selected from the edition of Valesius . H . G . Bohn . The Hand of God in History ; or , Divine Providence Historically Illustrated in the Extension and Establishment of Christianity . By Hollis Kead , A . M . W . Collins . Lectures on Social Science and the Organization of Labour . By James Hole . John Chapman . Transportation not Necessary . By C . B . Adderley , M . P . J . W . Parker . Knight ' s Pictorial Shakspere . Part 7 . ( Taming of the Shrew . ) C . Knigrht .
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NOTES AND EXTRACTS . Religious Differences . —I remarked , more in thought than openly , that difference of opinion in religious matters had always sown dissension among men , and made them enemies ; nay , that the first murder had been caused by a difference in the mode of worshipping God . —Goethe's Conversations with Eckermann . The King ' s Library . —It is a curious fact that George IV . sold the library o £ his father in an underhand manner to the nation . The books were not alone priced by the Emperor of Russia , but they were actually consigned to St . Petersburg ; when Mr . Heber , of doubt-Lord
ful fame , hearing of the negotiation , prevailed on Sidmouth to induce the King to retract it , which was done by the modern Snrdanapalus , upon the Ministry consenting to make up the money he bad sold them for . This was actually done out of certain funds furnished by France under the Restoration for the compensation of losses by the Revolution ; and the Baron tie Bode , whose case has been so often before the public , was one of the sufferers by this sleight-of-hnnd proceeding . The amount deducted for the King was , however , subsequently made good out of the droita of the Admiralty ; but not until rhe House of Commons of the day had called the Ministers over the coals for this transaction . — Quarterly
Review . Re-read Great Works . —I read some pieces of Mo . Here ' s every year , just as , from time to time , I contemplate the engravings after the great Italian masters . For we little men are not able to retain the greatness of « uch things within ourselves ; we must , therefore , return to them from time to time , and renew our impressions . — Goethe ' s Conversations with Kckermann . Manly Sports . — " All strong exercise is more or lens dangerous , " I replied ; " in digging , rowing , running , we may sprain , strain , and rupture , if we do not break limbs . There is no end to finding out dangers if you look for them . Men have died of grape-stones sticking
in the throat—are we never to eat grapes again , or are they to be carefully picked of their stones first ? And as for Courage , which is the strength of soul I speak of , some men are born with it under a lucky star , and , the phrenologists say , under a good constellation of bumps . But even then it will require exercise to keep it in repair . But if men have it not naturally , how is it to be acquired except in thev demand for it ; that is to soy , in danger ? nnd to be laid in in youth , while the mind in growing , and capable of nerving , so as to become a habit of the soul , and to uct with the force and readiness of instinct ? " " Mamma will Kay it is to be found in good
books , good principled , religion , and so on , " snid Euphranor . " And there may be found the long-concoct « - < l resolution , that , after all , the struggles of natural fea , r may nerve a man tp be a martyr at lust . Hut while it succeeds in one , it fails in a thousand . For here comes the ancient difference between resolving and doing ; which latter Is what we want . Nay , you know , the habit of resolving without acting ( as we do necmsarily in facing dangors nnd trials in books and in the closet ) ia worse for us than never resolving at all , inusmuch as it gradually Knaps the naturul conneoiron between thought and deed . " - — liuphranor .
IIoi > -m ); n or Soiionci :. —Would to God f ( exclaimed Goethe ) , we were all nothing more than good hod-men . It is just because we will be more , and carry about with us a great apparatus of philosophy nnd hypothesis , that we upoil all . — Goethe ' s Conversation * with licktrmemn .
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Jan . 25 , 1851 . ] « & * UtalWV . 87
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 25, 1851, page 87, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1867/page/15/
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