New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-06-02


to have any Authorization, which has no definite !
sanctions, has no ascertaned hopes, has no ter
rors How can we imagine that religion
which is figuring upon gauze, can have come
from heads and hearts cOnversant with human
nature AS it is7 This cannot be; so flimsy re-
lgicn, and so powerless au ethics, must have
had their rise in, or must have been suggested
by, A SHALLOW PHILOSOPHY. Will not this
appear if we look into it 2"
The reviewer still further brings his batteries
to bear on the Essay lists on the ground of mis-
directed biblical criticism, and incOherence OF
thought which "not merely offends common
sense, but which is too egregious, too astound'
ing to admit of statement of it in formal
manner"
The present state of mind in q considerable
portion of the Established Church, according TO
the reviewer, is truly deplorable, in spite oil tue
20 aids to faith" administered to doubling Souls
by philosophers like COleridge and Maurice. line
justification which is indispensable for screening
from view the prodigious contradictions of Essay
ism, will find large number OF the younger
clergy Of the Episcopal Church only too wen
prepared 70 accept and welcome 1t. 1t saves
them:-it is--shall we call it IA god
send. The English ioiy, ten thousand to one,
rejected the mummercs Of Tractarianism; and
the more intelligent of the clergy we're them
selves soon sick of it. Ritualsm, after its nov
city is gone is adhered to only by the inert, the
mindless, the feminine; bat while it prevails 1t
is sure to open the door TO infdeity. Those upoi
! whom it does not take effect as narcotic be
I cone, under is influence, mOrbdly sensitive
! toward disbelief The exploded Tractarianism
| left very many Of the clergy in mental condl-
ton of exhaustion; they felt their peril on the
side of universal disbelief even with atheism on
the path in front Of them. COleridge, and then
the always well-meaning Mr.. Maurice, and
train of writer's following this same sentimental
| guidance, came in TO the rescue; they saved the
;nyalids from their fears. But this was done by
shedding over the entire field of Christian belief
a thick mist--a mist, we venture to say II,
through which no clear-headed render OF this
class of books has ever been able to make his
way: it is a cloud, it is an impenetrable fog, be-
meath the shadow of which you may lie down and
sleep, or may wander in despair until nlghtial'
In the mysteries Of this orthodox mystlfcatlon,
very many Of the younger clergy of the Church
of England have long been schooIed. Within
and beneath this shadow their religious and their
intellectual early years have been passed But
the Mauricemist will not avail, when, as now,
the rough east wind of Essayism comes with tor
nado force, sweeping the field; tougher ma
terial ia now needed; and the Essayists come
- Sbo n
cloak that will stand any weather; they say-ii
YOU would keep your Christianity, and keep your
clerical status, you must keep both dry under
? oar patented mackintOsh. BE sure that Reason
and Christianity can never again walk side by
: side. Hold them apart, then. Let the one never
confer with the other; ruin to the weaker of the
, two may eosue, even from FIVE minutes chat.
How is this to be done Learn to think OF
q Christianity altogether an idea, beautiful
phantasy Learn to dsengage your thought.
from the historical, with which faith has nothing
. to do On Sunday and saints days, and always
). when you the surPlice, be spiritual, be I'M
reasoning; isolate yourself from the real; live
a (during those sacred hours) live in the region OF
b. faith -
4 ! The Edinburgh reviewer, On the other hand,
enterfans much much higher Idea IN: position and
character of the Essays and Reviews IA IA
thinks that the clamor which they have called
forth is due in great measure TO the sinister
{ and malicious notice which appeared in the
, Westminster Review" soon after their publ.
cation.
The volume, as we shall afterward have occasion to
remark, was varied in character and unequal in
execution might have been anticipated from series
published under these auspices. 1t read at
BY those students who took interest either il the sub
ecs or the writers of the respective essays; and few
notices Of it, containing the usual mild adnixture Of
praise aud blame appeared IN some OF the weekly Jour
mails. So passed tie Spring and Summer. No sound
of alarm broke the peace either of the Universities
/ Of the Church.
1t was ot till the close Of the Autumn that there was
heard from an unexpected quarter the first mutieing
OF coming whirlwiud. II Il not practice 10 al
lude dJec ~ to contemporaries. But un the pro ent
OCCASION the justice Of history requires that should
in than one instance break through this rule In
well-knOwn Review advocating the EXTREMIST opin-
oDs both theological and political an article appeared
biity Of the whole subsequent agitation II evidently
proceeded from the hand Of writer who while r, tain
ig certain amount Of religious sentiment Iepudiaed
all belief IN Christian RevelniOn and who combined
with profound ignorance of nearly all that had
written on the questions At issue almost Iauatcal
desire 10 inyege those who stood secure posi-
tons TO the narrow edge Of the precpice the mid
| way Of which be himself Was standing In an argu-
meit, not destitute Of pathos ability, but poisoned
by sinister intention tTanspp have esca ed
the notice Of any but those who were willingly de-
eeived the Reviewer first parodied the book by eXsg
gerntOn, by afnpliicaOn, by suppression by making
every writer responsible Tor what every other writer
had rad not said, either the subjects discussed or
not discussed, and then raised cry OF mingled exuta.
toD and remembrance to the phantasm which lie bad
cOnlued up-Cf exultatiOn ut the supposed novelty Of
10 call "A al of nrsf