The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-15 00:00:00

THE SABBATH MORN.

'Tis Sabbath morn I—The solemn sound of bells
Is borne upon the quiet holy breeze,
From hallow'd churches, that in yonder dells
Lift up their heads, half hidden by the trees :
The birds, methinks, sing with a sweeter lay,
And the sun, too, shines brighter on the Sabbath-day !
The streamlet with a clearer ripple flows ;
The very flowers a richer perfume yield :
Even the cawing of the stately crows.
That undisturb'd strut o'er the new plough'd field,
seems musical to me; while in the grove
With a more dreamy sound the rustling branches move!
All toil is o'er :—I miss the blacksmith's stroke—
The anvil's ring—the carter's noisy song—
The forge's roar, and e'en its wreath of smoke
Now curls no more yon fir-tree boughs among—
Tbe noisy mill, too, for a time doth cease ;
And all things tell alone of rest and holy peace !
But now the hells are silent ! and appear
(Within that sacred building, old and grey)
The honest Rustics, who are met to hear
The Word of God, and keep His holy day !
'Tis sweet to see the group assembled there—
The youth, and timid maid, and those with silver hair !
Through the stain'd windows the glad sunshine streams
Upon the Gothic pillars, worn and old,
And on each fretted arch, until it seems
That they are built of precious stones and gold ;
And casting on the floor, in colours faint,
The shadowy outline of some rudely pictured saint !
Though few they are and simple, there that raise
Their voice to heaven responding to the prayer—
Nor pealing organ mingles with their praise—
Yet think not thou that God the less is there!
For He bath said, " Wherever two or three
Are gathered in my name, there in the midst I'll be."
Oh! there is something in a Sabbath morn;
As if a charm to this sweet time were given,
To wean the mind from all that's earthly born,
And lift the heart adoringly to heaven,
}taking the spirit strive to break the chain
That binds it to this life of chequer'd joy and pain .

WILLIAM BYRNE, in Hogg's Instructor.

REVIEWS OF BOOKS.

..._
Me London Quarterly Review, No. 1. London :
Partridge and Oakey.
In the present publication we have a new com-
petitor in what used to be considered the highest
-walk of periodical literature. The tone of the new
aspirant is bold, and although it occasionally dog-
matises in a style with which we cannot entirely
sympathise, in many particulars the number gives
token of intended good. In a paper devoted to
Dr. Forbes' " Memorandums in Ireland" we find a
Considerable amount of wholesome truth, leavened,
even although it undoubtedly is, by a spirit of re-
ligious sectarianism. The effects of Maynooth
training upon the Irish nation and priesthood are
well put at the conclusion of the paper referred to ;
the reviewer, after glancing at the fact that, prior
to the establishment of Maynooth Collec.e, the
Irish Romanist ecclesiastics, being framed at
French seminaries, presupposed them to be pos-
13essed of a respectable social position ; and by the
ielevated tone of secular education and feeling ex-
isting in the French seminaries, and among French
society, ensured them a certain amount of intel-
lectual culture, and a degree of constitutional in-
dependence of the Romish Pontiff, and the councils
of the Vatican : he then proceeds thus to glance at
the results of

TEE MA.TNOOT ENDOWMENT
The British governmentlT
conceived that, with these
advantages, they (the priesthood) also contracted those
political feelings in regard to England which prevailed
132 France at that period ; and that they returned with
principles of dissatisfaction towards the British sovereign
and constitution. They therefore, in an evil day, deter-
mined to endow a Roman Catholic College in Ireland, to
prevent the necessity of sending the youth of the country
to France for their education. The erection and endow-
-meat of Maynooth College was the result.
And how has this precious do-evil-that-good-may-come
system worked ? and what has been its effect upon the
Irish Catholic priesthood ? In the first instance, so
meagre was the government allowance, and so wretched
the accommodation, that none but the lowest of the
people would avail themselves of it; and the candidates
for the priesthood were selected out of the hedge-schools,
moue being accepted but such as could be depended on for
-servility to their ecclesiastical superiors. These were
placed under the most rigid ultramontane discipline and
Instruction, being taught to look to the Holy Pontiff as
their lawful sovereign in all things ; their obedience to
the British sovereign (the heretic) being subordinate to
that due to the Pope. We know this to be the case, be-
cause we have heard it avowed by men of education, as
Bell as by others ; and it is practically manifested at
Taany public dinners, where the heath et
the
Poe. is
frequently drunk before, and sometimes to h stupdted
exclusion of, that of the Queen. It was also proved at the
time of Smith O'Brien's abortive attempt, by the mass of
letters promising him support, from most of the leading
Catholic ecclesiastics in Ireland ; and the recent extension
of the grant to Maynooth to £.30,000 has made the matter
worse instead of better. The candidates for the priest-
hood are still selected from the same class, only in greatly
augmented numbers, so that not only are priests educated
there for Ireland, but for England and the colonies, and
the United States of Ameri
disaffected men are ca, and a mass of low-bred
British do disseminated into every portion of the
minions.
The truth of the above remarks is too obvious to
?equire the aid of argument, and too self-evident
to admit of denial ; yet, in the face of these im-
portant and startling truths, we have men—sena-
tors—Protestant Christians, who are so besotted
1)y the chicanery of a pseudo-liberalism, as to
advocate and assist in the perpetuation of an in-
stitution so monstrously perverted—so practically
dangerous to our religious and civil liberties, as the
Popish College of Maynooth.

Christianity in China : the History of Christian
Missions, and of the present Insurrection.
London and Liverpool : W. S. Orr and Co.
For long and numerous years it has been a well-
founded complaint among men of business, as well
as among literary men, that almost nothing is
-known of the history or of the political or social
institutions of the Chinese. It is, no doubt, quite
'true that from time to time books have been
written and published purporting to convey
authentic intelligence relative to the past and
Present condition of that immense yet carefully
secluded empire ; but, on examination, these books
lave generally been found mere repetitions of each
ether, the earliest displaying little beyond acknow-
ledged ignorance on the subjects treated of, the
later remarkable for nothing more than the indus-
try with which the previous ignorance had been
repeated, if we except the absence of that ingenu-
ousness which led the original authors to declare
the very imperfect nature of their information.
For upwards of three centuries the inquisitive
operations of European commerce and the benevo-
lent exertions of Christianity have been directed to
the establishment of the Christian faith among the
-Chinese people, and to an understanding of their
social and commercial laws and customs, with but
little practical effect in either instance ; and we see
only slender ground for expecting that much infor-
mation on those subjects will be obtained from the
work whose title stands at the head of this notice.
It is a readable collection of such scraps of infor-
/nation as are to be met with in missionary reports,
in newspaper paragraphs, and in commercial mani-
festoes, arranged with comprehensible continuity ;
but it is greatly deficient in system, and is des-
titute of generalisation or originality. To those
who wish to possess, in a condensed form, the
Chief points of floating intelligence relative to
China and its affairs, which are to be met with in
a great number of isolated publications entitled to
varying degrees of credit, the book will prove a
welcome boon ; but it will not avail much to those
vho wish to acquire systematized information on
the subjects of Chinese policy, laws, or social
customs.

Benedictions; or, the Blessed Life. By the Rev.
John Cumming, D.D., F.R.S.E. London :
John F. Shaw.
e popularity of Dr. Cumming as an author
2nct a preacher is too well known and too widely
!klinitted to derive enhancement or to sustain
Injury from what may be expressed concerning him
111 either capacity through the channels of ephe-
meral criticism. His success as an eminent teacher
17)1. Christian truth, and a devoted advocate of the
in Nerests of his Master's kingdom, are fully attested
4the zealous affection of an extensive, intelligent,
attached congregation ; while his merits as an
ai,„(11. have been recognised by the extensive and
t—c'stomexampled rapidity with which his works
face ,eell sought after and bought up. In the
1),.41 such testimony, little remains for u. s to do
1,e%J_141 stating that the work before us is in all
"T^ a fitting companion to its predecessors.
'ne MI:11%T
are e, ions contained in the present volume
tatio;72ry Practical in their tendency and appli-
follovin',!i! Specimen of which will be found in the
"qvice as to the
if We &clic „
r othulci OF MERCY AND LOVE. OWMto rid of that selfishness which thinks of
er's, however' however little, and nothing of a
not vyh h
ally es, it ,e,r eat—which is ever jealous lest it do
defer to i", and ever afraid lest you do not
its due—how eaatlelul that not a little, which it thinks is
yon illustrate What coul,t
3'our heart beat, how truly would
/ion as Christianity-. 1,,,‘ "tl7 LB teaching, that in propor-
idoes the desert hewn to over the mass of mankind,
blossom even sthen -- rejoice and the wilderness to
horrid state, which some„llut when we fall into that
1172112M011 )5Cnn,..." Th k worldare4
Il the very perfection of
othlag for me, and I

care nothing for the world,"—we shall feel it•sounds very
grand, but it is very miserable. We knowthere is no
happiness in any such feeling. There is no -help for us
but to love, if we would be happy. Hate men, and you
will be more miserable than they ; love men, and they
will be blessed by your love, and its reflex operation will
bless yourselves also. Look upon the 'world's goodness
with thankfulness to God ; look upon .the world's sins
with compassion and with prayer ; look upon the world's
injuries with forgiveness ; and pray that the Spirit that
builds up the Christian character with-all that brightens
and beautifies here below may make you merciful, and
give the benediction now, and the fulfilment of the pro-
mise then—" For they shall obtain mercy." Thus will
you tread one of the fairest paths of the blessed life.
The present volume is published uniform with
the other works written by Dr. Cumming, and,
like them, it is a beautiful specimen of the typo-
graphical art.
The Universal Library, Nos. 23 and 24, contain-
ing the Mutiny of the Bounty and Ritson's
Robin Hood. London : Ingram, Cooke, and Co.
This very handsome and cheap issue of English
and foreign authors continues to increase its
claims on public favour. Ritson's collection of
poems, songs, and ballads, relative to the cele-
brated Robin Hood, with all the historical notes,
beautifully printed, and besides that tastefully
embellished by clever wood-cut engravings, for
so small a charge as the cost of one number of this
series. Could we say anything further to recom-
mend the Universal Library than that such num-
ber is a fair specimen of the work ?

Comte's Philosophy of the Sciences ; Translated
by G. H. Lewes. London : Henry G. Bohn.
This is a book of no ordinary pretension ; what
its claims to occupy the position it seeks to hold
may be, we shall be better able to point out as we
proceed, than we can hope to be at the mere thres-
hold of the edifice its author endeavours to rear.
At the very commencement of his work, Mr. Lewes
tells us Auguste Comte is " the greatest thinker
of modern times,—the man whose doctrine is to
the nineteenth century something more than that
which Bacon's was to the seventeenth and eigh-
teenth centuries." Such, indeed, may be the posi-
tion M. Comte is entitled to hold ; but, if so, we
greatly fear Mr. Lewes will do little to either place
him or maintain him on so honourable and pro-
minent a pedestal. Few injuries are so fatal to
fame as those inflicted by the laudations of inju-
dicious friends, and no hurts are more dangerous
.to reputation than those occasioned by indiscreet
adulation. M. Comte is a savan of no inconsider-
able acquirements and merit, and his speculations
are at least bold, if they are not also always charac-
terized by philosophic caution. His philosophy has,
no doubt, been received by a crowd of admiring
followers ; may we venture to express a hope that
they have not all been as indiscriminating in their
faith as Mr. Lewes has been unhesitating in his
praises of that philosophy which he shows himself
by no means well fitted to expound.
The task which Mr. Lewes has imposed on him-
self, that of popularizing a series of very abstruse
and comprehensive theories, is, indeed, a difficult
one, and to have been only moderately successful
in the accomplishment of it would argue capabi-
lities of no mean order, the possession of which it
would be wrong entirely to deny to that gentle-
man. What we chiefly blame him for, is having
permitted himself to be blinded and carried away
by an unreasoning admiration of his oracle. We
can easily understand, and readily sympathise with
a poet led captive by the intensity of his feelings,
whether those feelings lead him to an adoration of
the genius of a brother poet or induce him to an
equally enthusiastic worship of some imaginary
excellence ; but we cannot permit the same lati-
tude of inference and deduction in framing what
purports to be a philosophic essay. It is too much
the fashion of the present day to dignify rhapsodies
with the name of philosophy ; and, although we
feel bound to admit this has not by any means
been the general character of the works published
by Mr. Bohn, in his Scientific Library, we must be
forgiven in thus freely protesting against the pro-
mulgation of ill-considered opinions under the
guise of philosophic cogitation.

The Dublin University Magazine for November.

Dublin : James Sl`Glaslian.

The November number of this magazine, like
most of its predecessors, contains many interesting
and instructive papers. It opens with a clear
biographical summary of the dashing career of
Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, in which the
chivalrous exploits of that intrepid soldier are set
forth and commented on in a style at once pleasing
I and instructive. In this biography the writer
dwells with gratified partiality on the general
bravery and numerous gallant deeds achieved by
the " Irish Brigade," which for a long period cut
so conspicuous a figure in the wars of Europe.
The Earl of Lucan's biography is followed by a
poetical effusion on " The Battle of Lough Swilly,"
which is in turn succeeded by a curious contribu-
tion entitled " Pig Lore." In the course of this,
which, notwithstanding the singularity of its title,
is an erudite article, the writer glances at and
indicates, rather than discusses, the various in-
cidents of. honour accorded to the pig in ancient
times ; peeps slyly at the unmerited disgrace it has
fallen into among certain tribes and people ; refers
with considerable gusto to the " Dunmow Gam-
mon," and other similar festivals, once popular in
England, and treats of its universal appreciation
in Ireland in the following strain :