The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1881-02-15 00:00:00

THOMAS OARLYLE.

SERMON BY THE REV. T. MEANS

On Sandal last tne Rev. T. Norm preached the
following important mem= at the Congregational
Chapel :

List week the grave cloud over all that was mortal of
one of the greatest men of him age, Thomas Carlyle, u
philosopher, poet, historian, usuist, moralist, ruts from
his labours, and his works do follow Mm. What kind of
Influence is likely to be wielded by his life and his writings
In the time to coma it may not be easy to determine ; but
that be has been a mighty power during hie long life, our
literature and our age-thought unity testify. There is
no nun in his generation or in his century who has eo
Influenced its thought and It. literature, and now that he I
Ls gone every organ of opinion is forward to express its
profound NOM of the greet loss which his countrymen and
his age have sustained, albeit he hie gone full of year'
and of honours. With Mr. Carlyle as the central
figure in Bean& literature, and as the mod origin,' and
profound thinker of his ago, the Christian pulpit has little
concern. His ph°e in literature and amongst the world's
great literary high priests, mast be left to his literary
compeers to settle. But when a great life bas been lived
and when his epirit has moulded and largely fashioned the;
thought of his age, and when he is likely to influence the
ages to come, the Christian Pulpit behove,' itself to ask
what manner of man be was, and whether his influence has
been, and is likely, In thought, to continue to be, healthful
and salutaryon the world's life. Those of you who have felt
an Interest in the ample and striking biographies of this
red 111A0, which have appeared in the daily peed, must
have been greatly impressed with the tender and line embe-
d.= with which the writers have severally wielded their
pme and done their mournful work 'No man could possibly
have inspired such veneration and tender affection, sad from
all classes of opinion, both in literature and politics, unless
he himself had been gifted with the rarest qualities both
of totalled and bead. There are few men who are
worshippers—at least for any length of time—of mere
Intellectual greatness; a man to be sincerely loved and
venerated by his appreciative fellow-men must combine
with sets a mind the highest qualities both of hurt and
life. And herein, as it seems to us. from what we have
gleaned of the life and writing. of Mr. Carlylk does the
true secret of hie potent 'Aid stabile influence over men lie,
anti. likely to lie in all future time. Some of his wear
books probably, and many of his opinioaseartajoly. will not
survive the necessities and advancing opinions of mankind,
but the spirit of his ifs land the grand idea of truth and
fidelity which inspired it, will live as a combat Inspira-
tion for all time, and gives him even now a claim to the
notice of the Christian teacher and preacher. The lneristian
tisaner will search in vain in the writings of Mr. C wlyie
for any authoritative statement of ChrlaUan ideas ce
truths. " The authentic Church Catechism," says he, "nt
our present °W in ier has not yet fallen to my hands.' It
w his misfortunes, es indeed it he been o t f many
other great men, in early life to entertain dificulties eta
the dogma. of our Christian faith. The doctrine. which'
the Christian Church, wisely or unwisely, I do not under-
take to decide, has formulated in her creeds, have often
shocked the And sensibilities and the deeper thinking of
our greatest intellect., and at a comparatively early eV
Mr. Carlyle broke away from the creeds of his maker
church and from the faith of his forefathers. To what
extent he did so I have not been able—wad I do not think
that any reader of his writings has been able—to define;
and I beeline to think that. however mach he deputed
from the mare shibboleths of religious parties and sects,
that in spirit he continued to be a sincere Cbralian
believer. Who but a genuine Christian believer could
have written thus?—" Man's unhappiness. as I construe,
comes of his greatness; it is because there is an innate in
him, which, with all his calming, he cannot quite bury
under the finite. Will the whole finance ministers, find
uphobiterem and confectioners of modern Europe under-
take, in loins auk company, to make are sbosblack
happy IThey cannot wooomplish it above an hour or two,
for ihe shoe lack also has a soul quite other than his
stomach, and would require, If you consider it for
sato=uurent sitisfaegion and *iteration, simply this
t. Mont .and.. n 2 hals,--flod's whole mini.
verse altogether to Mama. non
11 0 01 MN 40
religion in • man who pert. compeer :itsh their med.
wide. who wlll not sign himself a Waver in the legal
f„nufaries of their sect. will fail to see in Mr. 0 alele
ought else than • " loose:ear of the faith r but the man
who bendy' that 'skim is • " spirit" as well as a
se war," will see in all the work of this siren thinker
' gad writer nothing bat the spirit of • ramie' Christianity.
Mb. biased Me—The MIMI 15th. spirit he worked
su; ere what he did, but whits be basin... No
sasse who had not been moved to the centre and core
of his hang be the Christian ideas could have written
sr lived se he did. He would have become, brsseaulty,
a pea* • Madge Wiping of his rack an air 50e1463 oi