The Press. — London, England, 1853-12-31 00:00:00

DECEMBER 31, 1853. land should grapple with this want, and give his countrymen the invaluable present of a work which, written with the nervous idiom of their mother tongue, might record. in gnively eloquent style. the history of Christ's Church during the last eighteen hundred years. In expecting that a man might be found competent to such a task, we look for no won derful literary marvel. We know ourselves who might if they had leisure) execute such at performance. But the pressure of episcopal and parochial duties in some, the responsibi lity of collegiate functions and want of health in others, would prevent them from the sacri fice of some years of sustained labour re quired by such a work. To produce a history of this kind its composer should have a philanthropiesl synthesis of his own ; and his mind should be rich in results of thought in ethics and metaphysics This intellect should be habitually prone to reflection ou Provi dence in history. Sound in his scholarship, he should be fluniliar with patristic divinity, and be able to realise with something of pie tonal power the conditions of those nations and social elements through which the Chris tian stream wound its course in the " dark ages." He should be a thinker, master of a flexible style. adjusting itself to the wants of disquisition or description. (liven a divine or nylons layman, with the learning and manly vigour of Hallam and the popular Ivey style of Paley, and with more moral ardour than either, such a work, then, might be produced. In suggesting such a combination we suppose tut phenomenon. Such a man would still be far below the level of Bishop Warburton or Bishop Berkeley ; and we do not think (whatever Lord .Tetfrey may have affirmed to the con trary) that the race of •' giant divines" has died out in England. . The remarks which we have made indicate the defects in the work now before us. Of its author personally we know nothing; but we respect his manly unaffected style, and honest learning. Ilis preface is possibly intended to disarm criticism. He probably seeks to gain no higher laurels than those which may be assigned to sound scholarship, sensible style, • and tact in compilation. The \Amite, as far as it goes, is highly incritorious ; and students in theology will find it very useful on account of its copious and ,judicious annotations. BM " the general readers " to wheat it is addressed Will turn from it as not being sufficiently readable, and, like ourselves, they will pro 1101111Ce it fitter for reference than perusal. Mr. Robertson does not excel in that logical generalisation requisite for depicting and cha racterising great cycles of history : his diction wants subtlety, and his narrative has not fluent animation. The general causes acting on the world, and the various phases of social life at each era, should have occupied more of his attention. Yet there is a columess and judicial equity in his remarks that give weight to many of his opinions, even where they want profundity or originality ; if he he without brilliancy as a writer, lee is also with out foppery or trickery ; and, although his matter is well selected, his manner, especially at the commencement of the work. which should indeed have been recomposed, is fre quently crude ; for example, the very first passage reads very weakly St. Peter is said to have founded the Church of Antioch, and, after lauvilet presided over it fnr seven years, to have left Eluding as his successor, while he himself penetrated into Parthia and other countries of the East, It seems inure reasonable to understand the date of Ital yhon in his East epistle (v. 13) as meaning the eastern rite of that name than as a mystical designati 4/tt of Pagan Lome. St. ltartholemew is said to have preached in Arabia ; St. An. drew in Scythia ; St. Matthew in Ethiopia. St. Thomas is reported to have preached in Pat-thin and in India. The Per• slim Church claimed him for its founder, and the native Church of Malabar advanees a similar The author shoul►l have prefixed some general considerations on the mode of ascer taining historical facts in the ages immediately consequent on the apostolieal era. His esti. mate of Origen is extremely able, though open to some critical strictures, as is the case with nearly everything written on that extraordi nary thinker. We wish that our space enabled us to extract the whole passage. Its con eluding remarks are a fair specimen of the author's style : Origen's views of the atonement are difficult to iimb . r. stand, and no less so to reconcile with orthodox belief. Ho THE PRESS. considers the Savi 's earthly death as representing sown thing which is spiritually repeated in the higher world, and which has its street tow aids the deliverance of the an g el s . On the necessity of grace his diet ins. is desc►iled as un sound; he allows. how ever, that. in order to beeonse or to 11.111/till go,sl. grace is necessary. as well as free.s ill. All 1 'sl •ut. he holds, is merely conrcti►e and r•• medial. At the end of the world all uninkind s ill have to pass through a tire. The purged spirits. will enter into paradise. a plat's. of training tor the eonsi iiiii Iltill4bll ; the wicked will remain in the " tire," w hich. however, is ma described as material, but as a mental misery. But their essitslitien is rot without hope. although thousands of years may elapse_ bet'ore their sittliTing shall have wrought its slue Viii•Ct 011 thew. OH the other hand, (bust who are ud• milled into bliss may abuse Unir frse•will, as in the begin• ring. and Illtiy consequently be dawned to their slyou►v in illetlesh. At tin. Modem's' kk kk kk swims the soul will dwell in a glorified organ, of which► the germ is in the p►•esent body. Its pleasures will lir purely spi• ritual ; even Satan himself will be turned it to gossl, sand sill not be eseluded front saltation. " tin s ' will be all in all.•• The reputation elf Origets lots had vehement am:annum anti 011-114.5 t rlopObitiislls i t serihill to hive Were e011414`11111441. nail 1111 111111 t ilelllll w,es Utttleileil to his 113111 e Icy as synod 114441 at 4 . 011,4111111110ri0. 111 the hi \ til cen tury : used it may petinipslec thought that the wisrhief of any part ienlar errors in 110440114. bl lilieN.eeedell by that teethe pen el . ).)' Inetllo4l of interpret jug Script Cur, v, Weis owed to him Its eompleteness and its popstlurit. lint with whatever abatements on the ground of his errors—however strong may be • NCIlm. orate eV it which his Sp.it.lll was titled to pivallee, ill the hands of others—we nicest think of Origen himself as at 1111111 who 110 t 41111) 414'%oted all the energies of his mined, attiring it tat N 11.41. Le conceived to lee the truth. hilt belie% VII his Views or truth to lee consistent with the traditi ttt al faith or th s -I•hurea: Iles peculiar opinions 1.1 , 415 t. las 11114e4 Ice ea ilirClelly ~aid ) (VIM% it wish tee overcome the il l Coo l itiftli.jtily phits.• soplay with the gnspee l ; he. desired in sell things tee hold fast the foundation or essential Christina doctrine ; he. pro. peened his own sleveidatiotimwith taimb.sty, NIA claimed for them no higher character than that of probable conjectures. His piety is as unquestioned as the greatness of his genius and the depth of his learning: he sulfured di for the ...Nospel. &mil may, indeed, al st let reckoned ass n martyr. %%idle he lived he was the ehief oppeelient of heresy in sill its vanietiem; the multitude of converts whom he brought Mel* 41 the Church from heathenism, Judaism, and cot , rupte-d folios oft isrist heftily. is a noble testin ttttt 'uuless luhis eallileSttleto4 and love• than tee his. controvernial ability. Wu may well say with the caudal Tillemmet. " that such a titan m 441411014 heretical opinions. bast could 11411 lee 14 llitlee he was utterly tree from that spirit which C 010411111% :Ile guilt Of heresy." _ _ Theologi►•al students will tintl the knitted annotations to this w► h une of the greatest use. It has a table of the various w o rks c ited, a nd is supplied with an excellent index. Its genuine scholarship and with. tesearch will obtain for its author considerable rel►utation. Old Enybend find New England. In a Series of Views taken on the Spot. By Alfred Bunn. lannhai : Bentley. A FINE subject, treated in one of his happier veins, by an able writor, takes at, once a - high rank among valuable literary productions. N4l matter how illustrious the national language in which it appears, it is not only felt to be worthy of that language, but is appmpriated with avidity into other tongues by a dozen simultaneous translations. Here, in Mr. Ilumes new work, we have the first of the requisites we have indicated, a thoroughly fine subject, suggestive, inexhaustible, exciting. and immense; liberal to profusion in the opportunities—armfuls of opportunities—with which it has rewarded our managerial saunterer in his " pretty considerable loaf " through the " empire cities" and various other wonders of the nion ; that last not least of the nations, that youngest born of history, that precocious hardy giant whose sudden maturity and eldritch genius are the problem, bewilder ment. and admiration of the whole world. Hut, eh! Mr. Bunn, Mr. Bunn! you are a right excellent comrade, you are a lively man with a noble allowance of that noble thing, good spirits ; and, certainly, you blunder nine times out of ten into approximation towards a very proper solid sort of view, which, taken roughly. and in the "you know what I meim " spirit, is perfectly correct ; but your reader writes again for you in his mind, or else he never wrote, and never will write, and cannot write at all ; but he can guess, and, just for the nonce, this is a capital hook, "as books go," and better than half the books that go, and go down ; it serves its turn very fairly, and there is nothing to regret in having parted with the price requisite to become owner of a copy. Still there are books which one reads when they appear, and of which one thinks tolerably well, or not badly ; they have not. to use an Ameriean slang phrase on au subject, they )rave not tiled " you ; and. again, there are books which one not only reads at first but re-reads long afterwards, books whielt no lapse of years scents to alter in value, except to ameliorate. There are, of course, sueh books. and tat all starts, •• grave and gay, anti lively and severe:" travels, and history, anti sketches, and nothing too light, which have tau far as they are concerned) " said the last word, - and in at manner never inure to be bettered, improved, or superseded. ln purchasing such productions you become master of a bunt:namable he simple. more en dining than that of land, superior to the telluric solidity of the very soil which we till ; for climates and soils IlnVO 111111eIV011e whole cycles tat' chain...es. have lost, and regained, and lost swain their speeitie cirhtes tar chanteteris ties, %%bile the qualities of certain h oo k s h a% retuaimvl ill every particular unadtemble, and show, even at the present time, no symptoms tat' reaching decay ; no, not though w e ' ,h ol d,' substitute dues a/caudal sancta Petri" for the renowned and much out-realised boast of thou ;frontlet ('‘9,itolinen." Decidedly, Mr. Butan's present essay on Old England and New England " is not ono of these. It professes, however, no morn than it effects, which is tine criterion of art it jana. fesses to enflame the it amuses hint very much at the first reading. lint it will mat amuse hint again ; ear, among other reasons, he will not read it again and, what We 4101114 if anybody will read it in ten years', or it' many will renal it in ten months. Now the worst is 'admitted. For the rest, an intelligent, observant, rattling writer has brought before the public his " views" bud impressions of one of the vastest and most exuberant subjects that modern titres afford. It is worth while to hear any 1111111 011 such a theme ; it is worth while, in fact, to listen to every man. Ma.. haunt will not be among those who will hem you. It is only empanel honesty to add that passages of this diversified anti pleasant baulk are tat' superior merit. It would be equally true to say that there are bpassages in it of the most slattern vulgarity oth of marina r and of matter ; things not worth writing at all, but adroitly written by others badly, soul now by Mr. Dunn written lignite only written worse. Some of his states manship 4•011It'S Under this description ; and almost sill his tuitional physiology (a dash of his at a difficult topic tat' whielt Ili' is profoundly it 11111 l belollgS to the same category. In plain truth, and to sum Nana, Mr. Bunn often diverts and gratifies and occasionally shocks and disgusts his reader oteeording to the latter's amount tat' intelligence un(l education) lay the uniform vigilance with which he, Mr. Bunn, plies the ctauumumplaee, the and the received. His jokes are frequently not at all bad : hile his (Tatham; are generally not worth a moment's considerution, except where they happen to be repeated tar plagitarimed opiniotas ; in Mavis case their value is, of course, as may be. 11'e suspect that lay this time we shall have staid enough to express the reader's own estimate of Mr. Bunn's haelleemal qualities ; but we cant praise the spirit, the temper, and the good dis position tat' his book, with smaller reserva tion anti with notch less misgiving. There is not, apparently, much rancour in Mr. liman's mind awe use the word in a courteous spirit) ; and, where he is ill-netured, why, in that spot others have been ill-natured helm° him : it is the most current tone. Where he stops and indulges a transient vertigo of ans. laaragement, tat' rant, tar id' emit, thousands have made the same halt on the same topics. His instinct by ma means ever fails tar misleads him, it hackneyed abuse, tar in prescriptive, enerable twaddle. )111' pietnrc would be cruelly incomplete if we emitted to say that Mr. Turveydrop's exchtmatimo's gone. That gentleman, by a transitive, regenerative, and secondary originality, had appropriated and made his own the thrilling load amaxitsF apos trophe of " IVoman ! lovely e; 1 7: 1 7 1 1::: words Mr. Bunn pmnounces the talis know not. But they are now, heneeforth anti : 1 14 14 7 . for evermore, his, and his only, be the sound "woman," or • wooman," that issuers from his lips. It is but right that the lesser magician . , in the same great business of " deportment