The Press. — London, England, 1858-10-30 00:00:00

1062 Lyd. Though brighter than a star is he, Thou rougher than the Adrian sea And fickle as light cork, yet I With thee would live—with thee would die. Although it is at once obvious that Mr. Gla dstone has, as the reviewer observes, " adopted " the literal style of translation," whereas Lord Derby has rather aimed at paraphrase, it appears to us, with all deference to the reviewer's judg ment, that the instances in which the original is, as regards the literal sense, " rendered with par ticular felicity," are quite as numerous in Lord Derby's as in Mr. Gladstone's translation, whilst the latter has been forced to deviate from literal accuracy quite as often as Lord Derby, and in more than one place has deviated from it more widely as well as more harshly. Where the very words of the original could not be reproduced, there can scarcely be a doubt which of the two has generally been more successful in rendering the thought, the feeling, and the spirit of the original ; nor can, in our opinion, the severer brevity of Mr. Gladstone's stanzas compensate for the freer and more harmonious flow of Lord Derby's verse. But— Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites : Et ?hula to dignus, et laic. It is at any rate refreshing to think that amidst the toils and anxieties of political conflict, our two illustrious statesmen can still find time, and have not lost the relish, for such sweet and pretty trifles. Before we part with this singularly rich number of the Review, we must allow ourselves to add a few words on the only remaining article—a bio graphical notice of James Watt, the inventor of the steam-engine. The personal history of this self-taught genius, especially during the earlier years of his life, while it affords ample materials for the study of the human mind and character, and of the conditions of their development, holds out but small encouragement to the scientific cramming which is now in vogue, and the fruits of which it is proposed to test by "middle class" and other newly-devised examinations. The re cital of the successive stages by which the wonderful contrivance that has immortalized the name of James Watt was brought to maturity, and of the practical difficulties with which the inventor had to contend at every step, will more particularly interest the scientific reader. But the stupendous results which, up to the present time, have flowed from the invention, cannot fail to be appreciated by all to whom the facts are presented as they are by the reviewer in the fol lowing summary:— The first steam-engine used in Manchester was not erected till 1790; it is now computed that, in that city and the district within a radius of ten miles, there are more than fifty thousand boilers, giving a total power of upwards of a million of horses! The etigtne of Watt has proved the very Hercules of modern mythology, the united steam power of Great Britain being equal, it is estimated, to the manual labour of upwards of four hundred millions of men, or more than double the number of males suppos Id to inhabit the globe. Even in this merely mechanical and dynamic point of view, this is marvellous enough, but when to this is added the consideration, which does not seem to have occurred to the reviewer, that not only the power of the hands of all the male inha bitants of the earth has been doubled by this in vention, but that it has afforded to the brains of the gifted few, ordained to be the guides and teachers of their fellow-men—yea, and to the very voice of Divine inspiration itself—the means of rapid dissemination of thought to a literally infinite extent; that day by day, to millions of minds, intelligence and instruction is conveyed at a rate which the power of steam is alone capable of accomplishing, we are enabled to form a still higher and more correct estimate of the unspeakable value of the engine first designed and executed by James. Watt, not for the material benefit only, but for the mental and moral ad vancement of the human race. Truth's Conflicts. A Series of Essays on some Great Questions of the I)xv. By the Rev Stephen Jenner, M.A., late Curate of Camden Church, Camberwell. London : Longmans. WE promised to take up this or i g i na l an d reflective work again in a notice of " Symbolism in Ecclesiastical and Christian Worship," a sub ject entitled to the large space it occupies in this volume. "There arc, it seems to me,' says Mr. Ruskin, " three distinct questions to be con- THE PRESS, OCTOBER 30, 1858. " sidered : first, what has been the effect of " external splendour on the genuineness and " earnestness of Christian worship; the second, " what is the use of pictorial or sculptural repre " sentation in the communication of Christian " historical knowledge or excitement of affec " tionate imagination." There are two extreme practices prevalent in ecclesiastical esthetics. There are the bare and barn-like buildings very common in Scotch country parishes ; and there are the ornate, picturesque, and designedly symbolical edifices which have sprung up of late in different parts of England. Both these are extremes. We think the House of God should be simple— severely simple—and yet beautiful and grand as means will allow or taste can achieve. In fact, there is still wanting the architectural ideal of a Protestant church. But it seems to us that sculptural or pictorial symbols in a place of Christian worship are as indefensible as they are essentially absurd. Let us take up what Mr. Jenner very admirably discusses, what are called paintings of our Blessed Lord. Are these either scriptural or useful, or in any sense instructive ? We answer, unhesitatingly, No. That picture, let it be by a Rubens, a Carlo Dolci, or a Raphael, is a mere creation of the painter's imagination. There is no evidence that it is in any degree a likeness or authentic portrait of the Son of Man. You may call it so, or you may consecrate it, but this does not make it so ; nor does it truly represent llim. He was God as truly as man. The object of our trust and adoration is not merely visible humanity, but Deity also ; and his sacrifice lay less in His outward, and far more in His inward and invisible agony. Who shall represent all this ? The painter's pencil cannot portray the whole Christ. This great achieve ment was reserved for the Evangelist's pen alone, and by it accordingly the Son of God is set forth in the sacred page, not as a profile, or a conjec tural image, or a creature of the fancy, but as He was, and is, and ever will be, and as He ought everywhere to be worshipped, "in spirit and in truth." What Mr. Jenner remarks as to the infec tion of error is applicable here, as all history testifies. The moment you introduce a picture of the object of worship into the House of God, you generate a taste and craving for this sort of thing. The moral atmosphere becomes infected ; a new and morbid appetite, often insatiable in its demands, is created ; and in a few years you will find increasing desires will be made, and while there are "craftsmen in Ephesus" they will be also met. Sudaria, holy coats, thorns, bits of the true cross, with Wondrous fertility make their appearance, and become candidates for homage, till the simple spiritual worship of the Christian degenerates into the dense and idolatrous offices of the Church of Rome. Men cease to walk by faith, which is the mark of the Christian. They cannot trust in the unseen ; they must have the hem of the garment to lay hold of, or a Madonna to kiss, or a picture to gaze at, or beads to count. Christianity is thus betrayed in its own house, and religion becomes a drama and the church an opera, and its minister a master of ceremonies. To see a coarse daub in a window or on a wall representing the First Person in the Blessed Trinity as an old man, the Second Person as a young man or a lamb carrying a flag, and the Third Person as a dove, is too like " changing " the glory of the incorruptible God into an " image made like to corruptible man and to " birds," &c. All such representations are untruths, and on this ground alone they are intolerable deformities in the House of God, which is the temple of truth. How to reconcile such pictures in the windows with the Second Commandment on the wall over the communion-table must be left to those disciples of the Great Durandus who can recon cile contradictions. Nor are these the only results. It would not be difficult (says Mr. Jenner) to prove, from the progressive decline of nations once great and illustrious alike by purity in religious faith and moral dignity of action, that the tendency of external splendour and a large use of material symbolism in places built for the worship of God, is to corrupt and debase the minds of the people, and to bring about that gross condition of cir• nality of conception and licentiousness of oonduct in which all that 151 truly noble and pure and elevated becomes at length buried The material and the sen suous take the place of all that is spiritual and pure. We have only to east our eyes over those countries where " Religious Art," as it is termed, has been sunned to its richest degree of ripeness, and to compare the moral con. dition of their inhabitants with that of those of other countries in which the most sever+) adherence bat! bowl - ,-- ,,,, ,,w. , , kept up to simplicity and truthfulness in °harsh archi tecture, in order to see that in the latter the moraleand, manners have been preserved most pure and uncorrupt. These remarks are most just. fervour pa h r i t s i art i e t s i c , andE v p e ic n tu b r i e r ;g ß ue usk an in d , j!I would hesitate to say, in stronger terms than we dc'es "t care to employ, I cannot answer for the eape. " rience of others, but I never yet meta Christian " whose heart was thoroughly set on the world " to come, and, so far as human judgment could " pronounce, perfect and right before God, who " cared about art at all. The fact seems to be " that strength of religious feeling is capable of " supplying for itself whatsoever is wanting in " the rudest suggestions of art, and will either on " the one hand purify what is coarse into in " offensiveness, or, on the other, turn what is " feeble into impressiveness. Probably all art ita " such is unsatisfactory to it." There is, at least, truth in this as a statement of fact. No material provision can fill up the lofty concep tions a Christian has of God. This chapter of Mr.. Jenner's work is very valuable and instructive, and especially seasonable at the present moment. In the words of its enlightened and thoughtful author, " Right views of God and right views of "ourselves are the two things which lie at the " basis of all true worship. Without that, our " worship, though most gorgeous, and grand in all " its externals, may be nothing but the grovelling "of superstition, and our devotions nothing but " acts of self-idolatry." We believe these wise, sensible, and scriptural views, unfolded in this volume in language exact and eloquent, are daily finding wider and deeper acceptance in the Church of England. Weak, watery, and senti mental curates may take offence at what strikes at the very foundation of the sensuous and gaudy symbolism which decorates, or rather de forms, their favourite shrines; but earnest and reflecting minds will thank Mr. Jenner for his just principles and sound reasoning, and rejoice to carry them into practice. In his next chapter the author proceeds to separate the apostolic doctrine of the Cross from that sensuous adoration of a piece of wood into which it has been carnalized by the Rurnish Church. We believe the true crucifix of the 53rd of Isaiah, and that they alone glory iu the Cross who lean on the infinite and perfect sacri fice of Christ, and reflect in their daily walk those divine fruits which spontaneously grow from it. It does seem to us almost unaccount able that a body of professing ministers of Chris tianity should so far apostatize from common sense, not to say Scripture, as to substitute a cross-beam of modern growth, or empty figure, for that moral glory and spiritual significance which are meant and contained in the apostolic allusions to the cross of Christ. It seems as if the inspirer of Romanism designed to render every doctrine of Christianity ridiculous, by con densing magnificent moral truths into material and sensuous shapes. That he has succeeded is too true. Infidelity has drawn its chief nutri ment from the Church of Rome. Even Moham medans have shrunk from its revolting idolatry. It is a question which the judgment day alone will adequately answer how far Voltaire, or Rous seau, or D'Alembert, or Hume, are the logical results of Roman superstition. To walk by i . faith, which is "the evidence of things not seen, is the mark and path of pure religion—to walk by , the imaginary and apocryphal embodiment of things unseen, is the brand of apostacy. The worst we wish Pio Nono and his ostentatious and gaudy sionate consideration of these truths. showman, Dr. Wiseman, is a serious and dispas- In his next article, on Controversy, Mr. Jenner presents one of the most sober and effective apologies for a much misapprehended and much abused word that we have yet read. We do most heartily commend this chapter to those feeble and sensitive Christians who entertain a traditional and sentimental abhorrence of con troversy. It is carefully discussed, logically argued, and illustrated by a variety and appo siteness of evidence that must carry conviction to all honest and reasonable minds. Mr. Jenucr remarks ; In their extreme anxiety for peace there are some persons who, though lovers of truth, will exert little or no Glare to secure the purity of truth. " Let u s have To controversy," is their cry. So strong, indeed, is their dislike to it that they will sometimes go ail far as to assert that where controversy is indulged in there can be no Curie , Unity. Wu wonder if 'foyer mare W liaqb pow