The Press. — London, England, 1857-01-10 00:00:00

JANUARY 10, 1857 have firmly believed that He has favoured them with some special revelation. Can a line he drawn between various classes of mystics ? Can we say of some their light was light from Heaven, and of others their visions were mere fantasy and illusion ? Are the saints of the Romish Church to be set above the saints of Cromwell's army, or the saints among the Methodists? the Holy Spirit descend on Mr. Irving's congregation when unknown tongues were heard, or are we to reverence it in the revelations of the mystic Swedenbourg? Why the mind, even when it seeks God most earnestly, should be liable to error, is a per plexing question. There may be presump tion, and so far sin, in the very desire for spe cial illumination. The most ardent faith must be content to aspire, and to seek for heaven in " Heaven's appointed way." The sermons of Tauler may be discussed in a more practical spirit. Tho translator admits that they are " tinctured with an asee " tistn which throws contempt on the affections "of ordinary life." Much of the preacher's spiritual teaching is eminently beautiful; but it proceeds all through on the principle that man cannot serve two masters,—God and the world; and that grace only grows iu the heart as earthly things are renounced. The whole spirit of Tauter's preaching is expressed in the following passage, coming after the quotation from Scripture, " Take no thought., saying What shall we eat, or what shall we drink," &e. : Children, once before the Son of God had said that no man could serve two masters—that is to say, God and mammon, or the riches of this world ; for he must love the one and hate the other. It is, indeed, a wonder pass ing our understanding how much is comprehended in these words. We ought to set them up before our eves as a mirror, and let them be our constant motto. How plainly does Christ here instruct us in the truth with plain un• varnished words and pertinent figures, when, forbidding us to be anxious about earthly and perishing things, He says, " Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature?" Therefore, ye of little faith, seek not what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink ; neither be ye of doubtful mind. Children, ye shall see by this discourse how far we are all in common from living according to the simple truth of things in all our earthly relationships. But know that there is an inward secret defect lurking under the cloak of ouranxiety about daily things, a sinful though unconscious covetousness, which is one of the seven deadly sins. And this sin, working silently and unperceived in the hearts both of worldly and religious people, is the cause of the greatest evils that afflict thin earth. Let each, for in stance, only mark narrowly in himself and others the marvels of ingenuity and labour invented and wrought on all sides, each striving to outdo his fellow for the sake of earthly gain. If we were to probe to the bottom the work ings of this false principle in worldly and in religious people, it would hardly be told how deeply its roots have struck, and how widely they have spread below the surface. Think what it implies to have so little confidence in that God who is able to do all things, when ye are striving. and toiling, and wearing yourselves out with anxiety, as if you meant to live for ever. All this comes from that evil prin ciple of covetousness. If one really looked into the matter, it were frightful to see how man seeks his own ends and not his neighbour's good in all things divine and human; his own pleasure, or profit, or glory, by all his words and works—nay, even gifts and services. Whatever force there was in exhortation of this kind at the time it was delivered, there must be much more force in it now. There is more desire for wealth now than then ; there are more worldly anxieties, and " more marvels "of ingenuity invented and wrought." And it is observable that, in this particular, the teaching of Dr. Tauter, in the ►piddle of the fourteenth century, is faithfully copied in pulpits in the middle of the nineteenth. We still hear earthly cares denounced, and still hear it asserted that we cannot serve God and the world, by pietists who in their own lives show no indifference to mundane goods. The truth seems to be, that the interests of society demand that men should pay great and earnest attention to their worldly welfare. This was in the main the view of Bishop Butler, when, in his "Analogy," he wrote of the certain ruin which overtakes men who are careless of the rules of prudence in their ordi na►y affairs. The point to be settled is, whether worldly prudence and true spiritual feeling are compatible with each other. With worldly prudence, as it is commonly un derstood and practised, there must be some cares, and selfish thoughts, and moral hard ness. The aim of spiritual teaching should be to show how the claims of Heaven and earth can best be reconciled ; and the ai►n of spiritual discipliie :should be to apportion to THE PRESS. each that share of the mind's attention to which each is entitled. That the pulpit does not possess greater influence over society than it has, is in great part owing to the impracti cable standard of conduct it sets up. It is impossible that in this active industrial ago men can be brought to despise the world, or to renounce self. For good or for evil, earthly things must largely occupy our thoughts, and occasion us great anxiety; and it is vain to listen to admonitions which the very nature of our state makes it impossible for us to carry into effect. The pulpit of our day might with great advantage be more practical than it is, and set forth a standard which men might hope to attain in conduct, trusting to other merits than their own to make amends for the sin and selfishness which they are conscious dwells within them, but which they feel that the condition of their being prevents them from wholly subduing. Dr. Taulees sermons are full of exquisite spiritual feeling, and may he studied to encourage the growth of spiri tual dispositions, though as a guide to prac tical conduct they can be of little service. They are so far from showing how the claims of God and the world can be reconciled—the great want of our day—that they expressly state that the latter must be abandoned, if the former are to be realised. Such renunciation is inconsistent with the whole constitution of modern society, and with the instincts of human nature. May not much of Our Lord's teaching on the text, " Take no thought for " to-morrow," be accounted for by the fact that he addressed men who were to be directly sustained by miracle, in the performance of a work wholly superior to the ordinary concerns of life? The volume is carefully produced, and may, we think, be consulted with advantage by all classes of serious readers. Under Green Leaves. By Charles Mackay. London : Routledge. WE have put some constraint upon ourselves on previous occasions in order that we might not be hasty in expressing marked disapproval of a poet who had undoubtedly composed some of the most popular songs of the day. Popularity, however, which acts differently on different natures, stimulati►►g some to higher efforts, and lulling others into carelessness, has had the worst effect of all on Mr. Mackay. It has induced him to suppose that the ap plause which followed a few lucky songs was sufficient to stamp him as a great poet, just as if a man who got cheered for a smart after dinner speech should forthwith imagine him self a Burke or a Chatham—or a schoolboy who distinguishes himself at a rat hunt should aspire to the honour of hunting the Quorndon hounds. Were Mr. Mackay merely a verse-writer, and nothing else, his feebleness would insure impunity. Who could take offence Where pure description held the place of sense? But he claims to be a political writer too, and, indeed, grounds his pretensions to considera tion very much on the semi-political character of all that he publishes. Of all kinds of radi cal, your pseudo-philanthropical radical is the most offensive,—the man who affects to be• lieve that all the upper classes are united in one vast conspiracy to crush and trample on the poor—who gives out that he is the poet of the million—who will lighten their sufferings by song, and call down vengeance on their oppressors. In these days this kind of twad dle is so manifestly insincere—so clearly put on for a purpose—so obviously the last device of a man who resolves to be the poet of the ignorant, because he never could be the poet of any other class, that we are astonished Mr. Mackay should find any respectable literary organ to back up his pretensions. This hypo crisy of sentiment is visited on Mr. Mackay's power of expression ; for anything more pithless and bombastic than the political pieces of the present volume it has rarely been our lot to encounter. The piece entitled •• Storm Approaching," in which Mr. Mackay predicts destruction by fire and water simul taneously for the whole existing state of 41 things, is a notable instance. Here arc the two last stanzas : When a fierce and a searching spirit Shall stalk o'er the startled earth, And make great thrones the playthings Of his madness nr his mirth ; When ancient creeds and systems, In the fury of his breath, Shall whirl like the leaves of Autumn When the north wind belloweth, And drift away unheeded, To the deep deep seas of death. The first large raindrops patter, The low wind moans met slugs. Awake, ere the tempest gather, Rulers and priests and kings, Ere the thunder clouds are opened That wall and flank the sky, Ere tile whirlwind leaves its caverns, And the shafts of vengeance fly— Look up, ye drowsy people, There's desolation nigh. Mr. Mackay would confound the hissing of a few ganders with the whistling of the forest oak : but the whole noise and fury of this production is evidently assumed and not real. The sentiments are as strained and laboured as the language, and differ as much from the true prophetic vein as the long face of an undertaker front the real grief of the widow or the orphan. What Mr. Mackay might do if he were to rely on his own natural powers, and discard politics, must yet remain undetermined. Ho has written some good verses, and in the pre sent volume there is certainly one poem which gives evidence of genius. " Lullings worth," a poem written in blank verse of six syllables, is decidedly touching, unaffected, and almost beautiful, and stands in marked con trast %shit the puny and lifeless compositions with which it is surrounded. The large ma• jority of these are as we have described them. We have indeed no sympathy with what it is now the fashion to call the spasmodic school, though a less expressive word could not well have been invented. But Mr. Mackay's pro test against them in a piece entitled " Mist," is ten thousand times worse, and his practical testimony in the shape of purely descriptive or objective writing tediously inane. " An gling," " The Eglantine," " The Briary Wreath, " are examples of what we mean. Flow, liver, flow, • Where the violets grow, Where the bank is steep And the mosses sleep, And the green trees nod to thy waves below : Flow on and make sweet music ever, Thou joyous and beloved river ! Now, really, when a writer of Mr. Mackay's reputation tries to persuade the world that such stuff as this is poetry, it is high time kr every one who respects literature to aid iu ex ploding the imposture. Mr. Mackay has been praised by journals of high repute. Surely they will now reconsider their verdict. If a writer, whatever may be his powers, chooses to publish such infantine babbling as this, he must take the consequences. If he will per sist in mistaking ease fur vigour, he must be told the truth, however roughly. Some healthy effort Nature usually requires in all her performances, and mere incontinence is a proof of weakness, and not of strength. To his other faults Mr. Mackay now adds those of plagiarism. Some of his poems are as much like Tennyson as if they had been written by Bon Gualtier. " The Trees "is one such ; and a poem styled " Cavelles," another. We defy any person to read these, and then say that the likeness is an accidental coinci dence. Persons of ordinary common sense have pretty well determined, without the aid of critics, in what plagiarism consists. When a great poet takes from a little one, it is merely genius claiming its lawful privilege. When a little poet takes from a great one, no such allowance can be made. A rich man may take a potatoc out of the cottager's dish, and it is merely an act of courtesy. But if the latter plunders his landlord's kitchen, we call it by a very different name. If Mr. Mackay is too old to wend, he would do better to retire from the service at once, than bring discredit on his profession by the continued perpetration of these fraudulent anilities.