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    THE CHFJKCH BEFORE THE REFORMATION".*

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    WAKEFTELD ELECTION COMMISSION.

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    Untitled Article

    man ne is almost powerless until he has possessed himself of the contents of books . It is true that the wear and tear of daily life , the contact of man with man , that takes place in the worldly career of the ordinary human worker , tends to wear off what is frequently taken for originality . A clever boy , educated at home , allowed to dive into everybook the library contains , and accustomed to listen to his elders' conversation * of ten shows apparent signs of strong original fancies . He goes to a public school , and lo ! in a half-year he is transformed into the ordinary schoolboy type , with nothing of the infant phenomenon about him . A vbuth at college is the delight and wonder of his

    set ; there never was such a genius ! Find him ten years later , at the bar , or in the civil service , and nine times out often there is nothing remarkable about him . The truth is , that in both these cases the originality was spurious ; it was , probably , the exact reverse of what it was mistaken for—viz ., imitation . The pebble which shows a strange form and rough edges while it lies quiet in the sand , soon becomes rouuded like its fellows when well jostled by the sea of life . If the quality be not spurious , but true , it will appear again—true originality survives through everything , nothing destroys it ; but the plant may be developed , and its fruit brought to a rarer perfection , by that educational culture which is only tobe derived from the study of books .

    " Man the worker , ever working something new , " will continue to invent , to create , to coin , and to seek new delight from the eontemplatiwn of novelty , as long as this world lasts ; and since the creative faculty must be admitted , we think , at least not to have diminished up to the present time , we must conclude not only that it will not retrograde , but that its strides will become the more gigantic in proportion as the human mind is enlarged . -. If it be the fact , that knowledge impedes the coinage of the brain , it would follow that such societies as have had the least opportunities of mental culture would produee the greatest instances _ creative genius . The absurdity of this reasoning , if pushed to its legitimate conclusions , is so obvious that we must be excused from followingiU _ " . . .

    . .. . , , If what is said against top much reading , is directed only against the cramming of young men for . examinations , we have nothing to complain of ; but we think we recognise a remnant of that old doctrine , that ' - England has done well enough ; what do you want ' uidre—were Welbixgton and Nelson doubly-first , hot-pressed examination men ? - Whenwill youreducational tests produce men like those ? And so on . But . neither Wellington , or Nelson would have beeu-one whit less of a genius if he had knownrmore . "We Jo not deny that originality may exist without education , but we do most ' emphatically ' resist the conclusion that the one impedes the otlier ; that knowledge , b antagonistic to inspiration , and genius extinguishable by mental culture . ^

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    To the Editor of -Tub Leader , and Saturday Analtst . Sik , —To proceed at once to the subject of this letter , mny I ask if you have attentively read the evidence given before the Commission of Inquiry at Wake field ? It is an easy thing to write ^ lea < ler 9- ^ against-indwiduals , Jju ^ understand the true position of affairs at Wakefield , and without knowing the characters of the witnesses he cannot come to a fair conclusion respecting the facts . _ You say , " The certificate is not a formal document , to be granted of right . " I maintain that every witness who willingly gave certificateand

    information of all he knew , had a full right to the , the promise of the Commissioners entitled him to demand it . There may be exceptions , such as in the case of men who at first denied all knowledg e of bribery , and only acknowledged the truth after they had been convicted of perjury . _ You state likewise that Mr . Lcatham gave contradictory evidence before the House of Commons Committee , and before the Election Commission . If you will read the evidence in both places . you will find that before the House of Commons Committee he stated sill that he had supplied--and that was the question—but added that he did not know what his friends had done . He afterwards found what had been snent . and went to the Inquiry Commissioners , and plainly

    the error . Strangers even can judge of the relative merits of the two candidates to receive certificates , by simply comparing their evidence before the Commissioners . All the abuse heaped on Serjeant Pigott cannot disprove facts ; and the statement he has since made only proves him a more discriminating and juster judge ,, and not one who would say , " We can't give Mr . A . his certificate , and therefore , to balance them , we will refuse Mr . B . his . " . Amidst all our virtuous indignation , let us do justice ; and I hope the Leader ( above all papers ) will not condescend to assist the Tories in blackening their opponents to enable themselves to appear a little whiter . As a subscriber and well-wisher from the first day it appeared , I feel a great interest in the Leader , and , with many other subscribers , hope it will never condescend to aid retrogression , by assisting the Tories to disseminate their false statements and false principles . I am , Sir , yours respectfully , Wakefield , June 2 , 1860 . W . [ We insert this letter , though contrary to rule , as the writer considers he has a case ; and we can but desire the truth , and the whole truth , of such matters , should be made known . Of the article in the paper alluded to we know nothing whatever , nor had we any " local" communication on the subjecti—Ed . 1

    stated it . You say he spent : G t , ' .. » 00 ; but you ignore the evidence ot his ugent , who said that u sum of money had to be ^ returned to JMr . Leatham , that would reduce his expenditure to £ 2 , 700 . ^ You say the two candidates were equally bad . To test tins , contrast their conduct before the Commissioners . The one denied all knowledge of any expenditure beyond what had been reported to the auditor , until he waa compelled ( through the evidence of a Leeds banker ) to acknowledge that he deposited a security tor £ 5 , 000 , to defray election exponnes , and deposited it in another town , and at a bank where he did no ( or next to no ) burtinesa . This

    candidate was examined three times—mo unsatisfactory did his evidence appear to the Commissioners . The other candidate at once stuted what he knew , and wasTrievcr recalled . ^ Tli © flight of the chief witnessoa and actors on the one side proved thero was something to kcop back , and the systematic " don ' t know" on the part of all the witnesses on that side proved extensive collusion ; and , add to thia , heavy pecuniary offers to more than one of tho most active agents and witnesses on both sides , either to withhold evidence or " away "—together seem trt prove satisfactorily which aide wa 8 the worac . Tho Liberals gave tiioir evidence fully and explicitly , determining , as they had been dragged nto the disgrace that they would do all in tlieir power to redeem

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    fTlHANKS to the enterprise of Messrs . Clark and their staff of - * - translators , the clergymen and ecclesiastical students of England have had presented to them , in their own vernacular , every really valuable contribution , from the orthodox point of view to the external and dogmatic history of the Church which the land of biblical scholarship has furnished in recent years . We must infer , from the continued issue of their " Foreign Theological Library , " and from the further engagements to their subscribers to which

    the publishers are committed , that their venture is successful . And this success is more significant than at first sight would appear , for it is in marked contrast to the incompleteness and cessation of the publication of other theological collections . The Calyin Society , indeed , completed its work . To it there was a natural limit when all the writings of Calvin had been produced . But , not to speak of .. the Wyclijfe Society , which we believe only furnished a couple of volumes , the Spottiswoode , Parkou , and Woodrow Societies' publications lapsed'long ere the- full contemplated

    programme had been reached . The secret of the success of the Foreign . Theological Library . we believe to ~ be simply this , it has included nothing whieh is not ? intrinsically worthy . In the other quarters , there was gradual falling off and ultimate failure , because this very important point was forgotten . _ . „' ., The volume before us is by the author of the " History of the Old Covenant , " vyhich some weeks since was the subject of our comment . This book is not itself one of the issue of the Foreign Theological Library , but an " extra volume , "—really , though not formally , a member of the series . It must necessarily be judged by a rather hi ^ h test . We have had several translations in recent considered whole

    years of German works on Church History as a , besides not a few reproductions of books on separate eras or leading religious teachers . Not to instance the latter , which are not strictly - ^ elevimt-to-oiir ^ resenfrfrh ^^^ ing to five volumes , although entitled a " Compendium of Kcclesiastical History , " the manuals of Guericke and Hase . and the great work of Neander , extending to nine volumes . More than that , a large portion of the English reproduction of Herzog's " Real kiicyclopsedia , " now in progress , is devoted to the history of the Church and its literature . The question might well be asked , therefore , " With such recent importations from the land of ecclesiastical and dogmatic studentswas there more wanted ? " We believe we must

    , answer , yes ; for there are specialities about this book which none of the others possess , and which are sufficiently important to enable us to accord to Professor Kurtz a merit all his own . The works ot Neandor and Gieseler , being on a so much larger scale , must be iud' -ed by a different standard , and do not compete with tlic manual of our author . Hase , again , confined himself almost exclusively to the outward history of the Church . Guericke chose al | ll ( j ? £ . definitely the history and development of dogmas . Kurtz differs from each , by combining pretty equally those features to which each devotes his almost sole attentiou . Theirs , again , must be regarded as concise yet flowing narratives . This is rather a handbook for reference than a book for reading . Its logical , but perhaps sometakes

    what intricate , subdivision into a number of sections , awayall possibility of interest to the continuous reader , llus mukes it all the more valuable and handy to him who wants to refer to a fact , and requires an arrangement suitable for the easy teaching of what ho wants . What we say is tantamount to the assertion that we must test this manual rather by the bibliographical than tho literary standard . Bibliography is the literature of literature . Junt in this sense , as a handbook to Church literature , is the manual before us valuable to the student of Church Hiatory . The student in this department , who has all works of thia class in | iis library , from Moalieiin downward * , is probably tho man of all others who will derivo most benefit , and save most time , by adding Kurtz to his " * Criticism of the normal description is precluded by tho oharaoter

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    June 9 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 545

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    •• JtMoryoftho Christian Ohuroh to the Rofrnnatwn fcroiu tho German of 1 ' roiUor KURTZ . With E . ne » dut ( on 8 and Addition- by the Koyeroud Auukd ] Si > bU 8 ubim , A'h . D . Edinburgh : T . and I . Clark . 1800 .

    The Chfjkch Before The Reformation".*

    THE CHURCH BEFORE THE REFORMATION " . *

    Wakefteld Election Commission.

    WAKEFTELP ELECTION COMMISSION .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 9, 1860, page 545, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2351/page/13/