The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-08 00:00:00

JULY 8, 1854, of the water ; and presently, as the sailor, who had recovered his treasure, was leisurely making his way back to the ship, we observed the huge sea-pirate with his fin, as usual, hoisted like a black banner, steering towards him. Half a• dozen voices immediately gave the alarm, and the swimmer coolly, without any apparent discomposure, threw his arm out behind him, striking the water with the back of his hand. In an instant the terrified fish darted off in a lateral direction, leaving the man to pursue his way to the ship. Again, however, after recovering himself, the enemy came up with the chase ; again the warning was given, the back stroke delivered, and the bully cowed. And this was repeated at least four times, before we got the Dutchman on board. The sailors have a saying, " Tell that to the marines," and we are afraid that some will think the last anecdote smacks too much of the wonderful. But we must not be too critical in inspecting the quality of nautical " yarns," and some of those in Mr. Mant's memoirs are calculated to while away an idle hour. 1. Sermons on National Subjects. By Charles Kingsley, Rector of Eversley. London : Griffin and Co. 2. The Light which Lighteth Every Man. By A. E. Russell, late Curate of Hurstmoneeui. London : Hope and Co. Timis volumes of parish sermons are of widely different character. In the first (in opposition to the title of "National ffermons ") that local and familiar tone is adopted which may sometimes be suitable to a particular congregation ; in the second, the common heart and understanding of men are addressed, and Gospel truths are put forward without reference to distinction of persons. 1. Mr. Kingsley is well known to entertain peculiar opinions. He is popularly regarded as a Christian Chartist ; not that we mean to say he advocates the " five points ;" but, while we believe he has high notions of the authority of the Church, he thinks that there is greater inequality in our social state than ought to prevail in a Christian community. Hence in these sermons there seems occasionally a dis position to array class against class, and to assume that the Gospel is not so much in tended for every rank and condition of humanity as for " the poor," as the labouring classes are affectedly termed by him. In treating of the first miracle of our Lord at Cana of Galilee, Mr. Kingsley says The poor need Him most, and therefore He began His work with the poor in Cana, as He did in St. James's time, when the poor of this world were rich in faith, and the rich of this world were oppressors and taskmasters. So He does in every age. Though no one else cares for the poor, He cares for them. With their hearts He begins His work, even as He did in England sixty years ago by the preaching of Whitfield and Wesley. Do you ish to know if anything is the Lord's work ? See if it is a work among the poor. Do you wish to know whether any preaching is the true Gospel of the Lord? See whether it is a Gospel, a good news to the poor. I know no other test than that. This is dangerous doctrine. If there is fear of corruption among the high, is there no fear of delusion among the low ? Are we to account Joe Smith a prophet, because the poor and ignorant believed him ; awl is Mor monim, for the like reason, the truest form of Christianity ? Surely Mr. Kingsley offends equally against sense and piety when ho de grades the teaching of our Lord to a level with the various forms of fanaticism which have obtained temporary success among the "poor." It is odd enough to find the rector of a quiet Devonshire parish attempting to revive the sansculottism of Camille Desmoulins. Mr. Kingsley's more direct political allu sions are equally indiscreet. His sermons are dated " Passion week, 1854." Was that a proper time to print the following passage ? Have we not close to us, in France, a fearful sign and proof from God that without the fear of good no people can be free? Three times in the last sixty years have the French risen up against cruel tyrants, and driven them out. And have they been the better for it? They are at this very moment in utter slavery to a tyrant more cruel and lawless than ever oppressed them before. The colloquial style in which he indulges does not seem to us well adapted even for a country congregation. "So you see," and " Now, as I " have often told you," are not necessary to plain speech. Paley, a good authority, thought that sermons should be adapted to the pecu liar character of a congregation. Undoubtedly they may with advantage take colour from local and temporary circumstances, but such preaching requires great tact and caution. WW -- W.IrMIIMMI THE PRESS. Scolding on particular subjects seldom pro duces good effect ; and we are afraid that if Mr. Kingsley had, as he intimates, some poachers among his congregation, he did not adopt the best mode of amending their lives by telling them that he knew what went to " the snaring of a hare, and the selling of a " hare, and the spending of the ill-got price " of a hare," as well as any one amongst them. 2. The author of the second volume presents it "as a parting offering to those dear friends " and brethren in English parishes " to whom it has been his privilege to minister. He has gone forth as a colonial missionary, and judg ing from the evidences of piety, zeal, and ability presented by this book, we imagine that few men have ever left our shores better qualified for the labours he has voluntarily undertaken. He is particularly earnest on two subjects, both nearly connected with mis sionary enterprise; the first, that there is an actual relation between God and man, which, though broken by the fall, has been knit toge ther again by the atonement ; and the second, that it is His will that all men should be called to salvation. These doctrines find expression in earnest and eloquent words, as in the fol lowing extract: — When the idea of the race of man, as forming that great society which Christ has redeemed from the curse, and all whose members God would unite in one Holy Catholic Church, has been lost, and men have sat down content with the assurance of their own election to eternal life, or with their own possession of those spiritual privileges which help them to the attainment of it, then God has punished them for their selfish use of His mercy to themselves — ay, and punished them after the manner of their sin. For while they have thus neglected to go forth to others in a spirit of noble ardour and self-sacrifice, their religion has dwindled down into a habit of sordid dreaming on the things they are to have when the Lord brings them to His heavenly kingdom ; and thus the very spirit of ardour has died within them, and their own souls have become parched and lifeless. Through the long, dull level of the dark ages, when men had sunk down into this condition or into a con dition worse than this, we have abundant evidence of the retribution with which God pursues this sin. In many a touching passage we are reminded of the nearness of our relation to God, and particularly in the following :- 13e sure of this, that if you would do real good to yotir fellow-creatures, to your neighbours, whethernearer or more distant, the root and centre of this well-doing must be an earnest faith in God—a belief that He is really present amongst us—that when Christ said, " Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world," this was no figure of speech but a solemn reality. And oh, if you could some times see the look He casts upon you, when, in your unbelief of His nearness, you have done some unbrotherly and heartless action, 1 think it would surely be with you as it was with His apostle of old—you would be fain to go away from His presence and " weep bitterly." Mr. Russell, though often eloquent and affecting, is always plain and practical. We have been much pleased with his sermons, and can recommend them for family reading as among the very beat we have lately met with. We may remdrk, however, that, in the pant graphs contrasting the progressive character of the discoveries of natural science with the fixity of religious truth, the author does not sufficiently take into account the fact that our perception of religious like that of natural or scientific truth may advance with know ledge and civilisation. Indeed, it is to be supposed that, .with every progress in that best kind of knowledge which brings us into closer communion with nature and our selves, some scales of error will fall from our eyes, and we shall be able more clearly to re cognise and more fully to appreciate the reality of religion. The Works of Oliver Goldsmith. Vols. 111. and IV. Edited by Peter Cunningham. Lon don : Murray. THESE 'volumes complete the edition of Gold smith's works in " Murray's British Classics." What we have said previously of the excel lence of the paper and print of this edition, along with its remarkable cheapness, wo can truthfully repeat. With respect, however, to the editing of these latter volumes our com mendations must, to some extent, be qualified. We think that Mr. Cunningham has printed a quantity of matter which does no credit to the name of Goldsmith, and which ought now to be treated as obsolete and uninteresting. In the third volume " The Bee " and Goldsmith's " Essays " (collected by himself) occupy little more than half of the space, while the ".117 1 ►,' c 641 last two hundred pages ate filled with " Unao knowledged Essays" and " Prefaces and In troductions." Turning to the fourth volume, we find the fragmentary life of Voltaire, the sketches of Bolingbroke and Parnell, the life of Beau Nash, one hundred and fifty pages of Goldstnith's reviews, including lengthened extracts from the criticised works (!), excerpts from his " History of the Earth," along with some minor publications and his miscellaneous letters. We must say that the true lovers of Goldsmith could dispense with the reprint of much that is here enumerated. To the " Unacknowledged Essays " Mr. Cunningham has prefixed the following edi torial note : These essays, from the British Magazine, the Bury Body, and other periodical publications, are attributed to Gold smith, on the authority of Isaac Reed, Thomas Percy, Thomas Wright, a printer, and James l'rior, Esq. Of the genuineness of some I have more than a suspicion. Those on taste and poetry (Nos. 14 to 20 inclusive) contain an appreciation of Scotch poets (Thomson, Armstrong, And Blacklock), of blank verse and of new systems of versifica tion, very unlike the ascertained writings and known opinions of Goldsmith. Others, however, have the weight of bullion and mint-mark of Goldsmith himself. This is an unsatisfactory introduction to a reader when he finds how much of the volume is taken up with matter of doubtful author ship ; and we think that the editor should have used more care in sifting the question as to Goldsmith's share in those papers. Mr. Cunningham's critical estimate of various ex ercises of Goldsmith's pen cannot be im plibitly trusted. He calls the " Life of Nash" an "adrnirabk biography," though it would be very difficult to cite from it three pages de serving such a term. He then refers in a dis paraging manner to the " Life of Bolingbroke " —a piece of writing which has really some remarkable features. It is compooed in a philosophical temper, and separates, with cri tical precision (not since followed), the faults and merits of Bolingbroke as a writer. Its conclusion is worth quoting : As a moralist, therefoh., Lord Bolingbroke, by having endeavoured at too much, seems to have done nothing ; but as a political writer few can equal, and none can ex ceed, him. As he was a practical politician, his writings are less filled with those speculative illusions which are the result of solitude and seclusion. Be wrote them with a certainty of their being opposed, sifted, examined, and reviled ; he therefore took care to build them up of such materials as could not be easily overthrown : they prevailed at the times in which they were written, they still con tinue to the admiration of the present age, and will probably last for ever. We lately found an essay of Southey in which he assails the merits of Bolingbroke as a political writer; but we could cite tributes to his powers in composition from the pens of Lorti Brougham, Lord John Russell, Mr. Dis raeli, and Sir Edward Lytton. It is true that Goldsmith had no inner knowledge of Boling broke, but, in spite of want of special matter, hie sketch of " the all-accomplished St. John " is very readable. Mr. Cunningham is mistaken in saying that the "amplest life of Boling broke ' is by G. W. Cooke. A much more copious one was published some years since in America. The general character of Mr. Cunningham's notes is influenced by too much reliance on " Croker's Boswell Johnson" and " Walpole's Letters." On particular portions of his sub ject Mr. Cunningham is thoroughly informed. We are reminded often that he has compiled the " Handbook of London," but where Gold smith's pen deviates into foreign or classical subjects the editor does not elucidate his author. When Goldsmith describes Voltaire's passion for " Mlle. G—u," an English reader would like a note telling that the charming Gaussin was referred to, of whom Voltaire has, in one of his dedications, drawn a picture that has been quoted by more than one as appli cable to Miss O'Neill. So also, at p. 62 of the " admirable " biography of Beau Nash, a very curious anecdote is related about " the late Earl of T—d," and the general reader would wish to know that Goldsmith had referred to Henry the eighth Earl of Thomond. We do not want a long quotation from Crabbe's poem (p. 232, vol. iii ), or to be told in a note (p. 233, idem) that the words, "and Tenterden is a town of taste," were " added in the second edition." Mr. Cunningham seems to have laid down no fixed rule about the exercise of his love for minutia', which he often inconsistently grad fies, while he leaves some obscure passage's wA f• 5•5 , • • ;60 ~~~