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    JESUS CHRIST

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    HERALDRY IN HISTORY , POETRY , AND ROMANCE . BeraUry in History , Poetry , and Romance . By Ellen J . Millington . Chapman and Hall . The bells are ringing out a merry peal , and from the church-tower floats the royal standard . We look up as we pass by , and perhaps wonder for a moment what the three lions mean . Knowing nothing of heraldry we settle the matter to our own satisfaction . Of course they represent three sovereigntiesand , consequently , knowing nothing to

    , the contrary , we jump to the conclusion that they symbolise the union of the three crowns of England , Scotland , and Ireland . But a little reflection soon casts this fabric to the winds ^ because there are also a single lion and a harp to be accounted for , and they must mean something or they would not be there . This is a question which arises so naturally , and which most of us have had to solve for the information of some fair friend when rambling near the precincts of royalty , that we cannot do better than give its solution in the words of our author : — all

    of blazonry seems to have proved him not merely an impostor , but a person of low birth and unknightly breeding . After the assassination of the Duke of Orleans by him of Burgundy , during the sanguinary dissensions between those houses which marked the turbulent minority of Charles VI ., the expression "le baton noueux est plane" became a common saying among the French populace in speaking of the event . "Without reference to heraldry , however , the expression is perfectly unintelligible , as it contains an allusion to the armorial bearings of Orleans and Burgundy . The former bore as his badge a knotted stick—baton noueux—and Burgundy , in token of hatred and defiance , assumed & plane for his device . He , nce , when Orleans was slain , arose the saying , " the knotted stick is planed . " But even nearer to our own times : —

    The favourite name given to Frenchmen by our sailors during the last war was " Johnny Crapaud . " " Crapaud " is the French for toad , and " Crapaud Franchor" was applied to the French by the Flemings some centuries ago , from some fancied similarity between the fleur-de-lis and the figure of the toad . Old Dugdale feelingly deplores the neglect into which , heraldic science had already fallen in his day , and the ignorance even of men who professed to be adepts . Gentlemen having frequently employed common painters to depict and marshal their arms , the differences proper to be observed between younger sons and their descendants had been , even in his time , too frequently disregarded , to the confusion of the laudable usage of bearing of arms on -which our forefathers set so high an esteem .

    Coachniakcrs' heraldry , such as Dugdale describes , interfered sadly with the heralds' fees , but in our own day the crowning confusion has arisen by ignorant die-sinkers and engravers usurping the herald ' s ealHug , and half the pretty crests which figure upon notes and plate in the houses of the suddenly wealthy are nothing better than stolen property , filched from books of heraldry irrespective of blood and descent , simply from some fancied or real similarity of names . Miss JVIillington ' s very excellent Heraldry may serve to correct much of-this evil , at the same time illustrating most pleasantly history , poetry , and romance , and beguiling many an Lour no Ies 3 agreeably to those who will make a study of its pages .

    It lias been remarked that the lions in our coat are the insignia of territories now lost to us ; the first belongs to Normandy , the second to Poictou or Maine , and the third to Aquitaine . Where , then , is tlie British lion ? He has no place in the royal standard . The lion rampant on the right of the upper three lions passant , is the Scottish lion of Alexander II ., and was derived from the arms of the ancient Earls of Northumberland and Huntingdon ; but the three lions having been adopted by Richard I . after his return from the Crusades , have ever since been the insignia of England . They have been retained as fitting tokens of the descent of our royal family and significant

    memorials of former power . The harp of ii , rm occupies the third quarter of the shield , to the right of which are the three lions repeated . Till the peace of Amiens the fleurs-de-lis of France was part of the royai standard , but by a special article in that treaty they were expunged , and the English shield became I . and IV . the three lions passant for England j II . the lion rampant for Scotr land , and III . the harp for Ireland . The arms of Hanover were borne on an escutcheon surtout , but with the accession of our most gracious Majesty , the salique law of that kingdom claimed its White Horse again , and we parted with it far more readily than we seemed inclined to do with the crown jewels which the Court of Hanover since laid claim to .

    A judicious study of heraldry will lead to something more than merely knowing how to blazon a coat-of-arms correctly—something more , even , than being able to recognise a family , or a branch of a family , by their armorial bearings , or to trace their genealogy or descent . The true value of heraldry is seen by studying it -with history . To elucidate this point Miss Millington devotes two chapters towards the close of her volume , charmingly illustrative of the axiom ; one upon " The Arms of Great Britain and Ireland , " the other upon "European Coats-of-Arms . ' These chapters possess much interest , and will induce many a lair reader to pursue the study further . With our ancestors the study of " coat-armour and biasing of arms " was inseparable from the cducauoko 01 aidoii

    tiou or a gentleman , ana tuo esc . s , by Dame J ulyana Bcrners , the accomplished Prioress of Sopewell , botli ia manuscript and print ,, was much prized in the early part of the sixteenth century . In that most valuable record of a past age , " The Lettci's of the l ? aston Family , " wo have an " inventory of the English books of Sir John Fastou , made the 5 th day of November , HG 9 . " The entire collection consisted of seventeen volumes —a noble library for a private gentleman in those days . Of these , six consisted of " books of blazoning and knighthood , " four of which appear to have been prepared b y himself , and aro fondly called " mine old boko ot blazoning of arms , the now bokc pourtrayed and blazoned , the blazoning of arms ana the names to bo found by lottor , and rv boke with the arms pourtrayed in paper . "

    The novels of Sir Waltor Scott , which present so ( rue and vivid a picture of luodieoval customs and manners , aro rich in heraldic allusions , and those who have road thorn will more easily form an idea of the high estimation in which that scionco was hold in former tiny a . Williiim do la March , whoae ' sobriquet , " the Wild Boor of Ardennes , " is familiar to every one who hns read Quentin Duvward , is described ng being a wild boar on his oaoutcheoiv , Tho mqok herald eont by him to Charles of Burgundy was immediately detected by tho Duko from tho falsq emblazoning of hia Uorald ' n tabard ; and his ignorance of tho ordinary rules

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    3 STo . 451 , JSTovember 13 , 1858 . ] THE LEAiDEK 1221

    Jesus Christ

    is his significant reply to the mother whom h < loved , and who had sought him sorrowing— " wisl ye not that I must be about my Father ' s business ?' Yet , as perfect man , " he was subject to his parents , and increased in wisdom and stature , and in favotu with God and man ;" A long period of time , including the youth and early manhood of the Saviour , is wisely , no doubt , concealed from our view . It is hot for mortalhand to lift the veil , and the many false gospels which , were promulgated in the first centuries of the Church to fill the void are so full of inconsistencies that , by the consentient voice of all denominations of Christians , they are cast aside as unworthv of a moment ' s consideration . Mr . Whitfield would thus account for the many years of seclusion to which we have alluded : —

    We cannot err in asserting that tb « study of the Scriptures must have been the frequent occupation of Jesus , and his equally frequent delight . His whole public history justifies this remark . In his assertion of his own claims , in his controversies -with his countrymen , in his moral instructions , in his doctrinal discourses , we are constantly reminded of his familiar acquaintance with the Hebrew historians , lawgivers , bards , and prophets . Their writings must have been his daily and his nightly study . By them his knowledge was

    enlarged , liis faith strengthened . They enabled him to perceive the - majesty and supremacy of the great Jehovah whom his nation worshipped , they fostered the growth of all kind and generous affections in his heart ; they deepened and enlarged his religious impressions ; they increased the fervency of that piety which was not so much an acquired grace in him as an original endowment of his soul ; they called iuto being the highest aspirations ; and they enabled him . to cement that sacred intimacy with his Father in heaven which was the great

    joy of his life , and which united with other aids to perfect the admirable beauty of his character . And yet we are told , " All things yveve made by him , and without him was not anything made that was made . In him was life , and the life w . ns the light of men . And the light shineth , in darkness , and the darkness comprehended it not . " And again , " Who being the brightness of his glory , and the express image of his person , and upholding all things by the word of his powers , when he had himself purged our sins , sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high . " Then , why are we to imagine the youth and boyhood of the Saviour

    JESUS CHRIST . Jesus Christ , in the Grandeur of His Mission , the Beauty of His Life , and His Final Triumph . By Edward Whitfield . Whitfielcl The Dean of St . Paul ' s , in his history of Teutonic Christianity , includes under that general denomination all sects which owe their rise and progress to the great separation w hich took place in the Western Church in the beginning of the sixteenth century . He " disenfranchises none who claim , even on the slightest grounds , the privileges and hopes of Christianity ; repudiates none who do not place themselves without the pale of believers and worshippers of Christ , or of God through Christ .

    The catholicity of Christianity itself provides lor this universal adoption of all who believe in Christ crucified into the great family of Christians . If some creeds liave more of the holy fire of the Divine Spirit engrafted in them than others , the same light shines in all—perhaps in some more brightly ; yet , whatever may be our individual predilections , we may not cast a stone at others , who , like ourselves , livo surely in glass houses . Let Trinitarians not despise those who difl ' er from them , but carefully weigh the evidence of the followers of Socinus and of Priestley ; more particularlylet them strive to fathom the refinements and subtilties of the latter , if they would hope to bring all

    bolicvcrs in Christ into one and the same fold , Tho volume noticed above is just such a one as we would recommend Trinitarians , both Churchmen and Dissenters , to subject to tho fullest analysis , They need have no fear that it will make them waver in tho faith of their adoption and oonviotion . With St . Cyril , they will still recognise in tho same porson tho perfect man and tho perfect God j man , wearied like themselves , sleeping in the ship , and God , stilling tho raging tempest of tho waves bj John

    his simple will . Wo know that , likp St . tho Baptist , the Godhead manifested in tho flesh had no need of human learning . The one spoke bv the inspiration of tho Holy Spirit , and he as no man ovor spoko bofbrc . Wo acknowledge at onco in tho boy Jesus disputing , with the Blders the manifestation of his Godhead : " Tho 'child grow and waxed strong in Spirit , filled with Wisdom , and tho Grnco of God was upon him . " And even at this early ago wo find him separating himscll from tho doatiny of a more man : " Wist yo not , "

    as passed in the study of the Scriptures , . seeing that "he was in the world , and the world was made by him , " aril that he " was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh inio the world . " The reader must not be startled by-tlie quotation which follows . Separate the Godhead ln , m the man Jesus and many of the realities iri the life of the great Exemplar are at once placed beyond the ken of finite knowledge : —

    Apart from all his connexions , separate from nil human intercourse , one great object would be before himdeliberately to prepare himself for his sacred office , to acquire self-reliance , and , above all things , to train himself to a full reliance upon the Great Doing who was sending him forth . Irresistibly impelled to this seclusion , as well as by the pressing urgency of his own spirit , as by that sacred influence which onlargcd and ennobled it , ho withdrew from hnman observation . The solitude of the wilderness and its wilt ! grandeur , in

    which he was eminently alone with God , most admirably ministered to these snered studies . Ueneath , the overhanging rock which guarded him by night in tho woody coverts which shaded him by dny , ho could converse freely with tl > o Author of all nature , no leas than with himself ; and there ho was instructed by o vision , in aid of hia own deep reflexions , to which his nicntnl agitation and tho scenery around him might hnva given ita form , but which was , no doubt , one of many lessons convoyed to him by tho Author of nil wisdom .

    Such is the cold and spiritless colouring thrown over one of the most beautiful and simple narratives connected with tho lifo of Christ . The power of tho Spirit which led him into tho wilderness is ignored ; the struggle and victory of his manhood over sin is passed by ; the ministering of tho angels blotted out . These could not bi ; reconciled with tho denial of tho doctrines of original sin and tho atonemont , even as in the former jii » funco human learning was called on to wnmiiifc " » o « ° * cinian denial ot tho prc-cxistcneo of Christ , oucii of our readers as care to investigato ( locpiy uio truths of religion will not idly cast iiskJo « o °° k which develops in all their pfowes tho doctrines ot an ofl ' shoot of the great reformation Anioi > iy » t tlio brotherhood of whiou have been numbered non of tho most profound and philosophical men id noquircmonts ; for " W wo are to bo qualified and prepared , '' W * W Iiorsl ° y 8 ueK <* ts , " to give an

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 13, 1858, page 1221, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2268/page/13/