New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-06-02
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
TINE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN A STORM.

The leading article of this number OF the
North British Review is devoted to the Tres
ent Movement in the Church OF England anu
contains a series of elaborate comments on
the celebrated Essays and Reviews Inc
writer. who ia understood to be Mr.. Isaac
Taylor, speaks of the authors OF that volume aS
having made triumphant iurOad, with ilourl'h
of trumpets. upon the territory OF religious be-
Gef-a TRIUMPH, the news of which has been pro-
claimed with shouts throughout the domains OF
religious unbeliei." The work, however, is
amenabe to certain charges, which must be an
swered and set aside before it can take the
lofty place in sound public opinion which IL
claimed for it by its friends and advocates. FIRST,
il is open to the reproach of ltyty. If the essay
lists are right il their doctrine be true, and II
thsg kno,o 1t to be true, we applaud their cour-
age: and vet denounce their easy -gOing, captions, |
petulaDt. frivolous mood, and the absence through
ont their writings of expressions of sorrow and
of personal regret iu relinquishiDg what they re-
linquish when they discard the hopes of the Cos
pei. Expressions of sorrow Of the sort which
we ought to fnd Astounding in the writings OF
the Essayists IRE shord be able to cne, II 1t were
needful, from the letters of open spoken atheists.
If, indeed, it be so, that the supposed authority
of Scripture is an illusion-if it be so, Tint the
hope of a bright immortality s, at the best only
probable sucmise-if He who proclaimed tins
doctrine in His ministry, bched it in His
sepulchre-if the threatened future when mas
held mankind in awe, aud the promised future,
which the good have taken as their inheritance,
be-the one as well as the other--a dream; and
if this be the issue Of the trial OF the so-caled
inspired men; and if these writers-the Essaylsts
have prepared themselves, as they ought to
have done, with proof to this effect, then may
we well demand of them, not only that they
shall put away from tbem-which would be In
suferabe-the tones of jeering and of literary
ecotnsa, and of petty pedantry, and OF captous
insnuation. but that they should present them
selves in face of their countrymen in manner
indicative Of their own inward distress, 10 ind
ing themselves burdened with the duty of infct-
ing upon the Christian community greater
amount of moral damage than can be estimated
or thought Of 1t would be fitting the occasion
il each of the Essayists, in his turn, came on IN
dismay to make his protest against our faith IN
the Bible, with the doeful exclamation, Woe Is
me, that am destined TO preach this Gospel
The leyity of jssing aud rlbaldry is one sort;
the leyity of hearess inoonsideraeness is another
sort. The one is the fault Of the Inbred and
cOarse-minded; the other is the fault ,oi those
who have mind and breeding enough, but who
are wanting in SOUL"
Evasiveness is another accusation which is
forcbly urged by the reviewer. This usage OF
evasion should, perhaps, be attributed to thought
full tenderness toward the iDirm righteousness OF
the English mind; does it not spring from q
discreet recollection OF our educational preJudiees
If this be 1T, then we say aloud to the Essayists,
that. if they understand their countrymen in one
sense, they utterly misunderstood them IN an
other sense Yet this is species OF msunder
standing which those are very likely to fall int
vgbose eeotism has not received its due cOrrec
tion by q free intercourse with the open world
it is part of the illusion Of clOisters; it is tn,
dotng way of men who have spun out their man
hood within the dimne5s Of venetian biLds arc
- have been used to look out only upon the pave.
nent Of college quadraDges. Is it So indeed,
~ that we--EDglishmen as we are, fronting all
dangers in all climates, aud daring all enter
prises in the worlds of thought as well as OF
mechanic industry-must Low be dealt with so
are We luuctu DdDes III UNDERSTANDS
iDgi Let these conference.-the Essayists-
know it, henceierward let them know il
that their countrymen are tough. skinned
enough in mind to listen to even the boldest
things they can say and moreover, that we all
shall think better Of them after they have thus
spoken out, than can do now, while they
wear the mask. But if, after ALL these Essay
ists viii not be plain-spOken, we must be so for
them. There is another mode of accounting for
this evasiyenees which has become The character
istc of their writings. We touch here the dis
agreeable point of the subject before u.s. and as
there is 10 imperative reason for insisting upon
1t, word shall be enough. 1t is quite impos-
sible to imagine that any one of these clerical
writers be blind, either to the infelicty of
his position as minister of the Church Of En-
gland holding such opinions, or to the Ominous
fact that his persistence in that position will rem
der him tue object Of English resentment, which,
slow of utteraBce as it iS shall at length compel
him TO retreat from it,"
Nor can they escape the charge of struggling
10 the meshes of a shallow philosophy. Does
this theology of Essayism and this ethical
ystem-does this religion for the real
world-does it invite our respectful re.
gard by its exterior semblance Is il mani.
testify religion of power? Has it a robust as.
pect Is it apparently available for the work
1t VIII have to do Let the reader who has