The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-07 00:00:00

" HUMBOLDT TO VARNILAGEN.

" BERLIN, Oct. 27, 1834.
" I tun going to press with my work—the work of my-
.

.
life. The mad fancy has seized ine of representing ill
s:ngle work the whole material world—all that is known to
us as the phenomena of heavenly space and terrestrial life,
from the nebula, of stars to the geographical distribution of
mosses on granite rocks, and this in a work in which a lively
style shall at once interest and charm. Each great and
important principle, wherever it appears to lurk, is to be
mentioned in connection with facts. It must represent an
epoch in the mental development of man as regards his
knowledge of nature. The prolegomena are nearly ready,
containing—The inaugural lecture entirely re-cast (I deli
vered it viva voce, but dictated it the same day) ; the picture
of nature ; inducements to the pursuit of natural philo-
sophy obe found in the spirit of the age, which are three-
fold-1. Podsie descriptive, and vivid pictures of scenery in
modern travels. 2. Landscape-painting, visible represen-
tations of exotic life—its origin—when it became a necessity
of life and a source of exquisite delight; why the ancients,
wish their desire to gratify the senses, could not have pos-
sessed it. 3. The vegetable kingdom, classification accord-
ing to the characteristics of the plants (not botanical garden
fasion), the history of the physical description of the
world; how the idea of the universe—of the connection be-
tween all phenomena, has been becoming clear to different
nations in the course of centuries. The prolegomena form the
most important part of the work, and contain, first, the general
heads. They are followed by one special part comprehend-
ing the detail (I enclose part of a tabulated list) :—Space—
the physics of astronomy—the solid portion of the globe—
its interior and exterior—the electro-magnetista of the in-
terior —Volcanism, i.e., the reaction of the interior of a
planet upon its surface—the arrangement of matter—a
short Ueognosy sea—atmosphere—climate—organic life
—distribution of plants—distribution of animals—races of
man—languages—and so on, to show that their physical
organisat'on (the articulation of sound) is governed by in-
telligence (the produce and manifestation ef which is speech).
In the special part all statistical results, as exact as in La-
place's Exposition du Syst(Thre du Monde.' As these de-
tails are not capable of being treated from a literary point
of view, in the same way as the general combinations of
natural science, the pure facts will be stated in short sen-
tences, arranged almost tabularly, so that the student, in a
few pages, may find under the head of Climate, Terrestial
Magnetism, &e , results, in a condensed form, which it
would take many years of study to acquire. Uniformity
of style (i.e., harmony in the whole as a literary produc-
tion) wilt be attained by short introductions to each chap-
ter in the special part. Ottfried Muller has followed this
plan with great success in his admirably-written work on
Archxology.
" I wanted you, my dear friend to have from me perso-
nally a clear idea of my undertaking. I have not succeeded
in compressing the whole into one volume, and yet
it would have left the grandest impression in that
abbreviated form. Those two volumes will include
the whole. No foot-notes, but rotes at the end of each
chapter, which may be passed over, but contain sound
erudition and additional details. The whole is not what has
hitherto been commonly called Physical Description of the
Earth,' as it comprises all created things—Heaven and
Earth. I began it in French fifteen years ago, and called
it a Essai sur la Physique du Monde,' In Germany I in-
tended at first to call it Buck von der Natur,' after those we
have in the mfdddle ages by Albertus Magnus. All these,
however, are too vague. My title at present at present is
Kosmos. Outlines of a description of the physical world,
by A. V. H. ; enlarged from Sketches of Lectures delivered
by him in 1827 and 1828. Cotta.' I wanted to add the
word KOSMOS to force people indeed to call the book so, in
order to avoid their speaking of it as H's physical descrip-
tion of the earth, and so throwing it into the class of such
writers as Mitterfacher. Weltbeschreibung (description of
the World), a term analogous to IVeltgeschichte, (history of
the World), would, as an unusual word, be confoundded
with Erdbeschreibung, (history of the earth). I know that
Kosmos is very grand, and not without a certain tinge of
affectation ; but the title contains a striking word, meaning
both heaven and earth, and stands in contrast to the ' Giia,'
(that rather indifferent earthy book of Professor Zeune,
true Erdbeschreibung). My brother, too, is for the title
Kosmos ;' I was long in doubt about it."

Christ in Life ; Life in Christ. By J. C. M.
Bellew. London, 1860. Chapman and Hall.
Bvo., pp. 397. (Second notice).
It has been well observed by a very eminent
critic that no oratory can be printed entire—that
every speaker, every preacher who is not absolutely
dull and phlegmatic says something far more
through his tones, or eye, or gestures than his
bare words can tell. True as this remark is in its
general bearing, it applies with particular force
to such a man as Mr. Bellew, who as a
preacher is perhaps unrivalled in all that
regards manner and the graces of oratory and
elocution, and dissevered from which the most
powerful passages and the noblest imagery lose
half their vitality and force. To those who heard
all or any of the sermons in the volume before us
the power of association belongs, and in reading
them they will be enabled again to call up vividly
the remembrance of the voice, eye, and manner
which invested them with so great a charm. Those
who were hearers then will now become readers
with a far higher degree of gratification necessarily
than persons to whom these sermons are presented
for the first time. But still even the latter may.
peruse them alike with pleasure and advantage, for
in all that Mr. Bellew writes there is a healthy
vigorous tone and a wide catholic spirit of love and
charity towards all men, that must find a respon-
sive echo in the breasts of all true-hearted Chris-
tians. As a striking proof of what we mean we would
refer the reader to the sermons respectively entitled
Friendship, Tenderness, Fidelity, Integrity, and
Brotherly Kindness and Charity. No man, we
apprehend, can read any of these discourses with-
out being strongly impressed. with a sense of their
truth and beauty. From the last of the sermons
we have named we quote one passage which
forcibly struck us at the time we heard it :
" In ancient Rome a being st:od helpless and alone in
the midst of the great amphitheatre, surrounded by the
Senate, the patricians, the flower of the Roman youth, the
heroes and the orators of the eternal city. Appeal he had
none, but he raised his hand aloft and cried—' I am a Ro-
man citizen,' and straightway the assembled multitude rose
as one man, and the blue vault above echoed the shout of
sympathy which like a nation's anthem rose to Heaven.
So should it be with us. The stranger, naked, hungry, and
destitute, may have no appeal to make to us, while he stands
in the midst of the great theatre of life, but when he lifts
his helpless and beseeching hands to us, he is a liar who
says, ' I love God, but love not thee as my brother also I ' "
Let me insist once more upon the unlimited, unreserved
principle of this new commandment, that he who loveth
God loves his brother also. Christ says that to one of the
least of these, even a stranger, this debt of humanity is due.
Now, among Christians there is a very general principle of
endeavouring to do good ; but limiting the boundaries of
their charities to their pews and their churches, and those
with whom they have especial and particular sympathy.
To deny the inclination of the heart to benefit those whom
opinion, or circumstance, or affection place near us, would
be absurd. It would not be absurd only, but not so to act
would be wicked."
One of the sermons that we commend most
earnestly to the attention of the thoughtful inquirer
is that which bears as its title " Superstition and
Unbelief," and takes as its subject the parable of
Dives and Lazarus. The following passage, which
occurs towards its close, is well worth quotation :
" The evidence of our Saviour in this parable shows the
folly of superstitious belief. It proves to us that the agency
of the dead would be useless and insufficient to create true
religion in the heart, and to promote its conversion to God.
It is moral blasphemy to God to entertain such a supposi-
tion ; for what would be its logical result, but the confes-
sion that man, an inferior agent, and the mere creature of
God himself, by a revisitation of the world, could, through
the terrors awl excitements of an unnatural agency, pro-
duce in the hearts of those living on earth, those convictions
regarding God, judgment, and eternity, which God himself,
the maker of man, the creator of the universe, the supreme
lawgiver, the great instructor, the divine enunciator of
whatever is naturally, reasonably, eternally requisite for
the conversion of the soul,. had shown himself unequal to
effect by the practical failure of his own ordinances in pro-
ducing that desired result."
Of a very different. character, but equal excel-
lence, is the sermon entitled " Thoroughness."
What a noble simplicity is there in • the following
words
" Whatever we have to do, let us do it well, let us do it
thoroughly, lct us do it as if our hearts were in the work ;
no matter how commonplace, no matter how trivial, no
matter how minute, Whatever lieoiuu re 4104 t1a011.14 bp

done in a becoming manner ; and when I incite you to
avoid display and cultivate devotion, when I remind you
that the service of Christ belongs not to us, his priests, but
equally and co-extensively to you, his people, I am sure,
after what I have just related to you, no prope? right-
minded person can mistake my motive, or fail to see that I
have honestly and heartily but one aim—to impress
thoroughness upon your lives, uron your acts, upon your
hearts."
It is evident, from a very cursory examination of these
sermons, that Mr. Bellew is endowed with an ardent
love of nature and of life in all their myriad forms
and phases. His travels in the Holy Land, and
other parts of the East, seem to have left the most
vivid impression on his mind. They cast a glowing
light throughout these pages, and some of the de-
scriptions of Eastern scenery which occur in the
course of the sermons devoted to the aspect of the
Saviour's character, exhibited by the various earthly
incidents through which he passed (" Christ in
Life"), arc marvellous instances of what is now
popularly known as "word-painting." The ser-
mons, which bear the titles of " The Seal of Earth,"
"Our Leader," and " The Mental Agony," contain
some very striking illustrations of this remark, and
we only regret that want of space compels us ne-
cessarily to forbear quoting the passages at length.
What we have said already will, however, be suf-
ficient, we hope, to show what a high
,opinion we
entertain of Mr. Bellew's new volume, and tend to
secure for it a wide and influential circle of readers.

Bible ,Fervants, and Jr but they Teach us. By the
Rev. John Letts, Domestic Chaplain to Earl
Ferrers. London : Seeley and Co.

This is exactly the book for a master or mistress
to give to a domestic of either sex or of any age.
It consists simply of narratives of the lives and
characters of those personages mentioned in the
Old and New Testaments, as having held positions
of trust and cubservience to those placed in autho-
rity over them ; the individual peculiarities of each
being carefully noticed and judiciously commented
on, and the lessons to be drawn therefrom practi-
cally considered and enforced. The language in
which Mr. Letts' timely little volume is written is
simple but earnest—just such as the nature of the
work demands—and we do not doubt that it will do
much to strengthen the ties of mutual respect and
esteem, which ought, at all events, to bind master
and servant to each other.