The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-06-18 00:00:00

NOTICES.

The Gospel before the Age ; or Christ with Nicodemus.
By the Rev. Robert Montgomery, M.A. Baisler,
London.

Probably the first thing requisite in noticing this elabo-
rate work is an explanation of the meaning of the title,
which we cannot give better than in Mr. Montgomery's
own words, which we take from the dedicatory epistle to
to the Right lion W. E. Gladstone, M.P. Mr. Mont-
gomery says " I have affixed to this volume the title
"The Go:pel before the age," not to imply that the word
of God has not always been in advance by its infallible
wisdom, its regenerative power, its searching anatomy, and
faultless purity, of every theory, dogma, or science, which
the invention of man's reckless mind has propounded.
Such an implication would, indeed, be irreverent and ab-
surd, and tend to deny the prophetic omniscience of the
Bible as preeminently the book of man, where all he has
been, is, or can be, is seminally contained. But what I
mean by the expression " before the aze," as applied to
the Redeemer's language to Nicodernus is this—that both
theoretically and practically the age in which we live, to
a vast extent, treats the Gospel as if it were behind itself;
and hence no longer capacitated to grapple with the great
problems of the day, and satisfy the rising wants of the
world."
The interview and conversation of our blessed Lord
with Nicodemus form the groundwork of Mr. Montgo-
mery's contemplations, which are conducted after a two-
fold mode; first, we have the exposition, cr a detailed
analysis doctrinally and spiri•ually treating on the great
matters in general. which Christ with Nicode•o,us discus-
ses ; and under the second division is offered an applica-
tion of the subject to the present times.
The first part of the volume takes a comprehensive and
searching view of our Lord's language, in its pointed re-
lation to the individual temperament of Nicodemus, as
well as unto the primal truths of the gospel. and may be
considered, therefore, as a lengthened argument to prove
the fall and corruption of man, and his consequent indis-
pensable need of spiritual regeneration. As these are
doctrinal questions, we shall not be expeced to notice
them here, and we therefore pa,s on to remark a little
more fully upon what falls under the second division—
viz., that the sermon and appeal of our Saviour contain
much that is applicable to the principles and eventful
circumstances of our own times. -

In applying the principles contained in the words of
Jesus to what is passing at the present period of the
world's history, Mr. Montgomery first directs our atten-
tion to the prominent circumstances of the times, in the
following words :

" After allowing for diversities of individual judgment, and
the spe. ific bias of the mental taste, we imagine most will con-
cur in this,—that a restless appetite for some vague and I ast
amelioration, is that which is now stirring* and heaving the
great heart of society to its depths. And if we proceed to ana-
lyse this perturbed and feverish des re after son e undefined
state of satisfying good, we shall detect that a confidence in
man's own powers principles and energies to produce and pro-
mote it, lies at the root of all its actiogs. To an immense ex-
tent, as to all active operation on the conscience and the will
of the admirers of this world, the radical corruption and entire
apostasy of our race from all spiritual goodness and truth, is
either denied. diluted, or torgotten. S ill, though the doctrinal
fact of the fall may be unremembered, the moral consequence
of that fall is not unfelt and at this moment we perceive one
of its malign influences to be b died forth in a restless yearning
for an imagined millennium, when she loftiest dre tms of ages
and the benignest aspirations of the human spirit will at length
be realised Thus we have restlessness in the Political World—
producing theories and plans and systems ; restlessness in the
Intellectual World—unfolding itself in works of sentiment and
science, philosophy, art, and romance ; restlessness in the
Social World—in erpreting itself by false notions, forced effects,
mistaken views of life, and ertucat onal novelties, &c. ; and
above all, restless, ess in The Church—which seeks to relieve
itself in every mode of deliverance which controversy can sup-
ply, and under every extreme of improvement which ec lesias-
tical suggestion can discover, or sectarian arrogance contrive."

Each portion of this comprehensive classification is
discussed by Mr. Montgomery at considerable length,
and with great point and force, to demonstrate that every
panacea offered by men—however intelligent and enlight-
ened—irrespective of scriptural truth, for this ecclesiasti-
cal, social, political, arid intellectual restlessness. is a mere
" daubing of the wall with untempered mortar," because
the real w-nt of the age, and the only manner in which
that want can be adequately supplied, are, if not despised,
at least neglected. Taking the reply of our Saviour to
Nicodemus, " Except a man be born again," as his
groundwork, Mr. Montgomery argues that the " want "
of
.man—of every man in every age—and the remedy or
relief for that want, are clearly propounded in that
emphatic answer to the Jewish Rabbi,—that is, that
if any substantial, widespread, and permanent good is
to be effected amongst the community,—the corrup-
tian of man by sin, and the regeneration of man by
grace, must form the vase of every movement for the
amelioration of man's political as well as religious con-
dition, and that then man would not be considered as an
automaton of living flesh, to contribute to the gratifica-
tion of his more wealthy and ambitious fellow-creatures,
or treated as a being made for the enjoyment of a poli-
tical franchise, or for the fulfilment of duties in this world
only,
,but as a creature capable of becoming not only a
sacred ornam-nt to society, but " like " unto the angels
in the world to come. Of caurse such reasoning as this
will be sneered at, as the ravings of a wild enthusiast, by
those who desire to educate man as if all depended upon
cultivating the principles naturally engendered within
him,. along with the advantages of good examples and
right associatinna. But, nevertheless, such arguments
are founded upon a rock on which our f,,refathers—more
wise and holy than ourselves—were riot ashamed to base
their legislation. Let these truths be admitted, and the
folly and sin of attempting a system of education without
the inculcation of religious truths are admitted also—the
utility of church establishments is conceded—and the
necessity for such enactments and remedies as are funda-
mentally applicable to this debasement of the people is
obviously demonstrated. Deny these principles, and both
churchman and dissenter era at sea together. This brings
tha whole " case" into a nutshell, and proves, to any man
who is content to take scripture, and scripture only, as
his highest and holiest ant horitv, that though the school-
master is abroad—though mechanics' institutes and lec-
ture-rooms are in every town and village in the kingdom,
the gospel is notwithstanding " before the age," and
proves also that ell mere outward remedies applied to
man's internal malady of a diseased heart and sensualised
mind will, sooner or later, as has been invariably the case
heretofore, recoil upon those who use them, and leave the
"last state" of the political world "worse than the first."
This brief abstract will probably be considered sufficient
to put our readers in possession of the genius of Mr.
Montgomery's work, and as it is now quite unnecessary
to remark on the style of the reverend gentleman, we shall
conclude with the following extract :
" It may be asked what is the connexion between man being
"born again" by divine renewal, and the cure of his political
discontent, and the social disorganisation of the lower classes?
What is the connexion ! why, we may well answer, what is the
character of that age, and tl.e state of moral feeling in a coun-
try, when swh a question as this can be put at all ? Flow base
must that philosophy be, and how utterly incompetent to legis-
late for the conditions, or to interpret the real wants of fallen
humanity, that imagines spiritual religion to be anything less
than the actuating root of all public virtues, as well as of all
private excellences I Verily, the far-reaching wisdom of Burke
discerned no phantom, but described a substantive evil, when
he spoke of an " age of economists and calcUators." And
alas t in our low views of the sacredness of a state, as well our
blind ideas of religion as ti 'e finest and most effective guardian
of all our relative duties—how forcibly are we indebted to cer-
tain theories of Warburton and Locke ; and to their expanded
developments as found in the system of Paley, and the groveling
utilitarianism of Bentham.
In opposition to this let us main-
tain, that as the divine renovation of our whole being by the
transforming power of grace, is the true and only elevation of
man : so, in that elevation whatever tends to support law,
unction order, and strengthen government—is virtually con-
tained. 'I hus then can it be demonstrated, that he who most
clearly by the spirit can "see the kingdom of God" will be at
the same time most competent to comprehend and venerate the
kingdom of man also."

Remedies suggested for the Perils of the Nation, Lon-
don : Seeley, Burnside, and Seeley, 1844.
It can scarcely have eseard the notice of an attentive
observer of passing events how important a change has
come over the public mind, within the last few years,
with h respect to the policy to be pursued to secure the w
na-
tion's greatness and the happiness of the people.
Twenty
years ago, when the evils which afflicted any portion of the
community were under consideration,
the remedy pro-
pounded was either somesom wild project for the robbery of
the national creditor, some quixotic scheme of reform in
the representative
the system,
or
system of social arrange-
ment grounded uponUtilitarianPolitico-Economical
and Anti-Christian
doctrines of the olitico_ lal philosophers of the
day. As a nation we conceded' partial adoption of
the second and last of these remedialtinfusion of
We had the
Reform Bill, of which a great infus
We remodelled, in
into
We
aantctiaeoloicL,ld,ahneappoos:
the constitution was the result.
pular form, our municipal bodies.
Poporllced, in
sessions of the Established Church
fine, in a career of innovation and yielding to
judice and pressure, which has unsettled what wasaprrpLei-
onsly secure and healthy, without touching effectually one
of the evils of the national condition. The most fatal
portion of our I olicy however has been that which was
prompted by a recognition of the truth of those mischiev-
ous theories with which the public mind bad been previ-
ously indoctrinated by the professors of the Malthus and

M'Cullock school of philosophy. Placing before our eyes
the increase of the national wealth as the grand object of
legislative care, and the growth of capital as the prime
end for individual stru2gle, we proceeded to weaken the
1,9'.d of the poor upon property, and to drag the labouring
millions into a fierce contest with the power of machinery
at home and of cheapness of labour abroad, upon the suc-
cessful issue and painful maintenance of which was to he
their sole dependence against the horrors of starvation. We
passed a Malthusian New Poor-Law expressly on the
ground that the poor, under the operation of the old and
humane principle of the Elizabethan law, threatened to
eat up the land and the capital of the country. By tests,
which are alike unchristian and infamous, we drove the
unemployed labour of the agricultural d'stricts into the
already overstocked hives of manufacturing industry, un-
til at the present moment we have created a number of dense
and illregulated masses of population, absolutely dependent
for daily existence upon a precarious trade, and whom a
month's or a week's deprivation of a market for their toil,
must plunge into actual famine or impel to the outrage
and bloodshed of a rebellion. We did all this independent
of one thought for the moral well-being of those whose
social positron we were so fearfully deteriorating. We
introduced no props, no safety va've, into the social fabric
whose security we were undermining. We shut our eyes
to all the consequences of our measures, hugging ourselves
in the conviction that we were successfully accomplishing
our darling object of national and individual aggrandize-
ment.
From this state of frenz'ed error and criminal selfish-
ness we rejoice to know that a large and morally influen-
tial portion of the public have at length recovered them-
selves. One by one we now hear scouted the baneful and
noxious principles of the economists. We have no se.
toad Martineau lecturing to us of " preventive checks ;"
no second Chalmers descending from his pulpit and from
the dignity of his sacred office to teach the suffering la-
bourers that their miseries would be prevented if they
would abstain from marriage (.9—if they would abstain
from obeying the direct command of their Almighty
maker. Such opinions are not now obtruded upon the
world. The mania for further speculative reforms has
merged into Chartism, and is daily becoming weaker. In
the place of these has sprung up a deeply-seated convic-
tion, recognised, although indistinctly, even by the for-
mer propounders of Malthusian error, that legislation
should be more and more directed towards the ameliora-
tion of the condition of the poor ; and there are not want-
ing men of large and. comprehensive views, and eminent
both for their worth and station, who maintain that capi-
tal, too long the favoured object of protection, should be
made to relax the grasp in which it bo'de the labouring
masses; and that the state should assume towards the poor
of the la d that f *tering and parental care, which it has
thrown off to exercise the cold and harsh duties only of
avenger of crime, and protector of life and property.
Slowly, but at the same time most satisfactorily, be-
cause founded upon sound principles, this healthy change
in public opinion has been brought about ; and gratifying it
must be to the journalist to reflect how much of that change
may be attributed to the incessant action, upon the mind
of the reflect ng and rightminded portion of the people, of
an honest and fearl-ss press. Day by day, week by week,
and year by year, amidst obloquy and discouragement,
the pen of the journalist, and more especially of the con-
servative journalist, has been wielded in the cause of our
suffering and slighted poor; has dragged to light the ini-
quities of the mammon-loving philosophy, in accordance
with whose dictates those poor are ground to the earth as
things less valueb e in the eyes of legislation than a stone
or a machine. Thy by day it has routed the flimsy so-
phistries by .vhich crime and cruelty black as Erebus were
male to appear in the garb of ultra humanity towards the
victim whom it oppressed; and at length the whole un-
sightly fabric of error, with which the woad has been be-
fooled and the patience of men abused, reels beneath the
shocks dealt against it by its sturdy and persevering oppo-
nent. At length we are, as a nation, approaching that
point at whieh we shall be prepared to commence redress-
in.; those wrongs which we have committed towards God
and our fellow-creatures.
We must not, however, arrogate on the part of the press
more than its due proportion of praise for the promotion of
this good work. The pen of the jouraalist bee done much.
But other and valuable appliances have been brought to
the to 1.: of dissipating error and recalling the nation to
virtue. • reithful teaching of the church has not been
wanting—teat..;..; drawn from the only true guide for re-
gulating human actions and the principles which ought to
actuate human legislation. A few noble spirits in parlia-
ment have eloquently and perseveringly pleaded for the
cause of truth, justice, and mercy. And, besides these,
standing as beacon lights upon the path from the dark-
ness of error to the noonday towards which we trust we
are approaching, we hare a goodly array of names of ta-
lented and wise men who have grappled boldly with the
error and the wrong around them, and left their recorded
conclusions for our aid and guidance. We refer to such
men as the late Michael Thos. Saddler, who first routed
the professors of that infidel philosophy which teacbesthat
the creator has sent man upon the earth without ordain-
ing at the same time its ability to produce a sufficiency of
food for his support; to Alison, who has succesfully re-
futed the same notion ; to Bosanquet and others—the last,
but by far from the least, of these is the author of " the
Perils of the Nation" and of the work before U 9. To him
it was reserved to gather up the lessons of those who had
gone before him—to gather the evidence which his fellow-
labourers and predecessors in the same good work had
collected,—and to present to a startled nation, in one hi-
deous portraiture, the black array of its crimes and weak-
nesses, its grievous errors and maniacal follies. In the
" Perils of the Nation" the author effected this. He
pointed to us society as it exists in this favoured, this
wealthy, this powerful. this Christian England ; and men
recoiled at the picture and asked themselves " can these
things be?" Nor did he stet here. No: in that, his
first work upon the subject, he urged, for the first time in
the same bold and comprehensive spirit, the neesssity of a
national cfort for the removal of national evils so vast,
so deplorable.
Few who read that work in a proper spirit—who weigh-
ed its statements and reasonines—could have doubted the
justice and correctness of the views of the writer ; and few
there were who did not long to peruse the remedies pro-
posed by one who so eloquently a id faithfully pourtrayed
the evils. Those " remedies" are now before us, and we
purpose bringing them in detail before our readers. In
justice, however, to the writer and to the public who pe-
ruse our columns, we mu-t reserve for a separate chapter,
or chapters, the examination which we propose, our pre-
sent limits being far too scanty. In the meantime we
may briefly state that these remedies are a return to scrip-
tural principles as our guide in legislation and in our con-
duct ; new organization of the country into parishes of
such a size as would facilitate the working of an educa-
tional system under the eye of the clergy, and of church
extension, • the lightening of the labour market by the
withdrawal of women and children from men's employ-
ments; the cottage allotment system; improvement of
the dwellings of the poor; amelioration of the new poor-
law, and measures for the general improvement of the mo-
rals of the people. With respect to some of these reme-
dies the author may be regarded as rather quixotic; but
let no reader dismiss their consideration on this ground.
If the remedy is good in itself, the difficulty of its applica-
tion should net be permitted to stand in the way by men
grievously afflicted as are the people of this land. The
whole will be found to be ably argued, and suptorted by
a mass of valuable evidence bearing upon the subject.