The Press.
London, England, 1856-06-14 00:00:00

568 THE PRESS. SATURDAY,
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possible to understand the sentiments of the would be inclined to take critical objection to Butler touched the strong points of Plato's
Fathers of the Church. Mr. Butler, the his sermons and writings is their want of a philosophy. He first dwells on its favorable
author of these lectures, was a man pf great harmonious creed. We recognise in his philo- side :
gifts. He had a soaring mind, whicli could sophic dialect the language of many conflict- Platonism is essentially a system of moral discipline or
expatiate without effort either in philosophy ing schools; his results of thought cannot be purification; it was in that light its author saw it, and to
or poetry. His nature had much of that distinctly tabulated ; and from the weapons that sole purpose his labours, however diversified, were
dedicated. This is the point, too, in which false impres-
sions of its value, of the real nature of its merits and its
subtle plasticity and ethereal aspiration which his genius forged both Romanist and
which are commonly associated with the Rationalist might have snatched some ready alone
are likely to prove of highest practical importance.
The merits of the Platonic practical philosophy are clear
Hellenic type, and he had also that purity of made aids for their own modes of warfare.
hceanengag
pounders. sated of every scholastic divine whose ten-
eoaf
character which wo like to find in ethical ex- But the same may, to some extent, be predi-
and commanding. They perpetuate the value of r
lessons
to this day; they unquestionably render Platonism
its records among
It is a pity that Mr. Archer Butler did not dencies take him into pure metaphysics, and thenoblest
asT
pat whenn_hese merits consist, in the and most
unosteeevcautpiniegdimmutable basis
studieshtethhaigt
live to complete fully his " History of Ancient whose super-subtlety of intellect may give a
h
Philosophy.' It is in the second of these double edge to his arguments. inspiration.
which this system assigns to the principles of moral truth,
volumes that his talent is displayed, for the We have said so much because the name of in the moral aspect under which it contemplates the
greater part of the first is rather cursory and Archer Butler has gained deserved distinction, Creation and the Creator, in the grandeur of its conceptions
of the destinies of the human soul, and in the untainted
comparatively superficial, and he passes over and is one that will last in the religious purity of its practical morality. These' are high claims to
too many topics to dwell deeply upon any of literature of our time. Such eloquence, such our reverential admiration; they are claims which in
them. Thus in some respects we have been verve, such academic grace of diction, com- every age have taught the noblest and purest spirits of our
reminded of the showy fault of quasi- bined with so much of lofty aspiration and race to recur with veneration to the memory of Plato.
literary omniscience which characterises nearly intellectual enthusiasm, are seldom united in For all truths, whencesoever derived, are mutually consis-
all the "Scotch sdhool " of literary men.tent; theyd gladly countenance eachother ; and no certainty
tifi int or one mind. The union of scienc ellected knowledge will ever place the
But the lectures on Plato in the second with a sentimental character is often very candab
idunsce of revealed
mindn above
welcoming
e with joy the corroborating
volume of this work are obviously the result of charming; and it was his blended profundity attestations of philosophy.
special study and conscientious labour. Mr. of thought and tenderness of soul which gave And then he observes, with uncommon pro-
Butler penetrated deeply into the spirit of the to Archer Butler much of that personal fasci- fundity, on the unfavorable side :
Platonic writings, and there has been no pre- nation withheld from men wanting his genius,
vieus work in English literature where a scholar though equalling his talent. The defects of the Platonic system of humanity are not,
and divine can find more valuable help for however, less certain than its merits •, and the tone of
mastering A work of this nature cannot receive ads- general encomium which I have so long employed in
the most brilliant of all moral
quote exposition in the columns of a journal ; speaking of its excellencies may justify me in noticing its
philosophers.
course cannote recommended to
That we do not exaggerate the value ofbehalf, you will not attribute to narrowness or bigotry the
the book clubs. But we must record our
these writings of Mr. Butler may at once be exceptions lam next obliged to subjoin. . . . In the
seen in the simple fact of the distinguished
gratification at the symptoms of a nascent first place, then, there runs through all the views of Plato a
school of moral philosophy in England worthy want of any distinct apprehension of the claims of Divine
Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge
of. better days; and these lectures on Plato justice in consequence of human sin. Even in his strongest
undertaking to edit them. Ably, closely, and
will. doubtless.. find many readers in the references to punishment, it is still represented mainly, if
fully has Mr. Hepworth Thompson performednot entirely, under the notion of a purificatory transition, a
Universities. We shall give some specimens
his task. His notes of themselves prove, even severe but beneficial xiseclicic. This arses partly from
of Archer Butler's power of statement After .
if we did not know it otherwise, that the . . his conception of the Divine character, partly from hie
avowing his desire "to catch and portray the theory of the human soul itself. From the former,
Regius Professor has most of the qualities
himself for a historian of ancient philosophy. " features and expressions of the Platonic inasmuch as he considers the attribute of indignant wrath
" habits of thought," he says : or its results inapplicable to Deity—from the hitter because,
Mr. Thompson states that he had no acquaint- in considering the soul essentially in its higher elements
ance with Mr. Archer Butler, but " that his I know that these discussions can scarcely hope to be divine, he could only look upon the misfortunes of its
" (Mr. Butler's) masterly ' Letters on Develop- popular. I avow that I cannot rid you of the burdensome bodily connection as incidental pollutions which might
necessity of patient meditation, if you would think as Plato
" ment' had led him to consider their writer delay, but could not ultimately defeat, its inalienable rights.
thought ; the depths of the ocean cannot sparkle with the He must be a very uncandid critic who can censure Plato
" amongst the most gifted spirits of his glitter of the surface, nor the student who would enter the severely for these misconceptions; but he would be a very
" generation." When Archer Butler coin- regions of the 91Nocropes TOE; Orroc, the philosophy of the imperfect expositor who should not mention them as such.
bated John Henry Newman, it was, indeed, real and absolute, expect to be entertained with the brilliant There is probably no single point in the moral relations of
" Greek against Greek ; " and in the polemic varieo
ties of
h. the
himself
fastl new
ltheory off associtiodnbeorl of
belonged
. the Creation for which we are so entirely indebted to reve-
contest waged against Rome in recent years, 1
g.ft of conveying tehemposrotfoanonndeesot troths it nn the emnogset airyte IDatio.n as
dthis oft thTehenormity
tofdsiint
.and thieblseetvheriettythoef
there was no such signal triumph as in those vehicle of fancy, of being livelier among ideal abstractions demands of iffmenniv.ine jus
ustlinceetTaye be is
edepmneosnstrated ac-
admirable letters, which, as Bishop Thirlwall than most men could contrive to be in the scenes of a cordant with the antecedent notices of the moral reason;
said, " ought to be in the library of every romance ; yet even Plato himself has in some respects sur but there is a wide difference between proving a revealed
" student of divinity." fered by this very perfection. The forms of Grecian art principle, and discovering it before it has been revealed.
A work, therefore, from such a writer, in are too exquisitely wrought for our dull sensibilities—the
We are not then to blame Plato severely for overlooking
parallel motion of philosopher and poet is too rapid and that mystery of Divine righteousness which even the
which Plato is treated of, ought to be welcome perplexing for our slow faculties—we cr.nnot read the two reiterated and explicit intimations of inspiration can
to every classical scholar. Let us see what testi- languages together—we mutilate this mighty mind to bring scarcely persuade ourselves practically to realise. But we
mony is given in its favour by the learned and it within our grasp, and, vexed at feeling that life has era- are to censure those (and it is for this reason I mark the
acute editor. Mr. Hepworth Thompson says:— porated, take revenge by talking of it as the mind of a matter distinctly) who labour by unwarrantable glosses to
dreamer and a phantist. In truth there never were written dilute into the disciplinary chastenings of a wise benevo-
They may be considered as a perfectly independent cone
pages less marked by the negligent vagueness of reverie fence the stern simplicity with which the Scriptures de-
tribution to our knowledge of the great master of Grecian than those of Plato. The severest control governs his
wisdom. Of the dialectic and physics of Plato, these are re the awful anger of a. rejected. God. These teachersf
highest flights—the 'sublimity is ever in the substance of
the only exposition at once accurate and popular with have abounded in every age, and in one remarkable eradio
the thoughts, not in their accidental connections, nor is
which I am acquainted—being more accurate than theour English Church history were. so closely. and avow. y
there a sentece of what a modern critic would call deal-
French, and incomparably more popular than the German,connected. with Platonism (especially in. its later and more
motion from beginning to end of his writings. Serenest mystical forms) as to have thence derived their cr inary
treatises on those departments of the Platonic philosophy, when loftiest,
he rises without effort or perceptible mos
The author's intimate familiarity with the metaphysicaltitle. Gifted with extraordinary powers of abstract contem-
writings of the last century, and especially with the Eng-tion—
plation, and a solemn grandeur of style, they abound with
Ye cannot see noble thoughts nobly expressed, but they arc all marked
fish and Scotch school of psychologists, has enabled him The stirring of his wings, and )et he soars.
to illustrate the subtle speculations of which he treats in a with the characteristic defect of Platonised Christianity—
manner calculated to render them more intelligible to the These singular perfections, however, are the excellencies a forgetfulness, or inadequate commemoration, of the most
English mind than they can be made by writers trained of a Greek, and of all Greeks the special excellency of tremendous proof this part of the universe has ever been
solely in the technicalities of modern German schools, or Plato. The lecturer's work of cold analysis is necessarily permitted to witness of the reality of the Divine hatred for
by those who disdain the use of illustration altogether. very different. He cannot even lay the body itself on his sin—the fact of the Christian Atonement.
dissecting-table, when, though lifeless, it would at least be
Mr. Archer Butler is now no more, and Mr. entire ;he must take it limb by limb, and the limb itself A learned eye will at once recognise in the
Hepworth Thompson would not in any case few can recognise alter it haa been disfigured to be ex- wording of that passage all the marks of a
commit himself to such eulogistic opinion if posed, and its internal result of beauty lost in tracing out lecturer who can, so to speak, carry his sub-
he was not warranted in his words. He its tissues and arteries. ject, instead of being carried by it.
admits the inequality of the volumes in some It is related that a mathematician once asked We would be glad to quote more extensively
places, and in his introduction uses critical what " Paradise Lost " proved. There may from these lectures, but we must satisfy our-
freedom in discussing his author. We hinted be some persons who would desire to measure selves with the knowledge that they are sure
ourselves, in reviewii.g Mr. Archer Butler's Plato by a rule of three test, and who would to be appreciated ; and portions of them, we
sermons (second series), that the productions desire to " take stock of him." We need not have no doubt, will become a classbook in our
of that accomplished man were occasionally argue with those sages, but we may say that universities. Of late years moral philosophy
vague in their aim. He saw a subject in so Plato fulfils a sublime utility in philosophy. has been much cultivated in education.
many lights, and he had such subtlety of The genius of his works triumphantly pro Mr. Butler was the first professor appointed
apprehension, that he was led sometimes into tested against the falsity of Materialism. He to the chair founded by Provost Lloyd, in
wandering from the proper theme of his dis- may be said to have proved that there was a 1837, at Trinity College, Dublin : and we are
course. There was a struggle in his nature as soul in man, as far as it is possible that spi- happy to conclude our notice by citing the
to whether his mind should be ruled by the ritual fact can be ascertained without the aid closing words of Mr. Hepworth Thompson's
faculties of a poet, of an orator, or of a of revelation ; and, secondly, the fantastic modest preface :—" It is no slight honour to
philosopher. His range of faculty was greater errors of his speculations, and the impractica- " the great Protestant University of Dublin
in breadth than in height or depth, and his bility of his theories, show how absolutely "to have furnished the first, or one of the
powers did not mass themselves together. necessary a Divine revelation of some kind " first, examples in recent times of an upright
In saying that, we must recollect that he was must be for the moral happiness of man, for " and intelligent history of Platonism, written
cut off in the prime of life ; and if ho had lived an humble, unlettered Christian who can read "by an uncompromising defender of the
to be threescore, Mr. Butler might have been his Bible, and feel its wondrous truths, stands " catholic truths, as well as the historical
more definite in his positive conclusions. on an immeasurably greater height of spiritual " evidences, of Christianity." And we may
His genius, knowledge, and character com- knowledge than the most learned of ancient add from ourselves, that we are glad to see
mend our willing admiration ; where we sages. But let us seo with what power Mr. such a work receiving so cordial au imprimatur
I