, 1872-12-01
THEOL0Gic THOUGHT.
Sermons BY the Rev. Horace Bushnell
---ilis Theory Of tins
kt0nameIt.

Sermons by the Rev. H. R. Haweis---
Views Of an English Broad
Churchman.
SERMONS ON LIVING SUBJECTS. By HORACE
| . BUSHNELL. New York; Scribner, Armstrong & Co.
| Chicago: ". B. Keen & Cooke.
| The venerable DR.. Bushnell, who has Just
completed his 10th year, has long been known as
8 source Of almost poetic inspiration and Of
spiritual life to two generations. Solong ago1849,
he tried enthusiastically for heresies said to be
uttered in work on "God in Christ" The re-
suit was an acquittl Of the intrepid thinker, and
q deeper growth in the Church Of the spiritual
liberty for which he battled. In 1851, he pub
lished "Christian Theology" in which he re-
asserted and reinforced his claim for
emancipation of modern religious thought
from the thraldom OF mere dog
ma,-the coat Of mail aud halberd
of antiquated scholastic warfare, and unfit for
| the freer movements Of later controversy. In
| 1858, Nature and the Supernatural appeared,
| in which his views we're most apt1y presented.
| Another well-known work is his treatise On
s'The Vicarious Sacrifice" which treats pecu-
1iar1y of his theory Of the Atonement. This lat
ter theory is repeated in the present volume and
| giyes an insight into DR.. Bushnell's habits OF
thought. He views Christ as the Divine Fathers
| image, If VIC will but look straigltly and purely
| therein, We may be changed into the same Like
nesa. In the fourth sermon OF this volume LIE
! says:
But I seriously doubt whether the more strictly
proper matter of our Gospel is capable Of any such
make impression by expression love, in purity IN
Divine beauty, in sorrow, in suffering well and wisely
Conceive what person may impress and DO, and be,
in tie phases OF tragicay great Life and how far of
we are from SO much as imagining the possibility Of
proposdonlzng thu, man. Besides what is Christ in
| His person, but Gods OWL formuzaton Of Himself
i. C., not the statement but the inaaga Of Himself
What than very bold rrevereuce, then, can be
| to substitute the reyelaton-for1n Or face Of God
| by any so prosy thing rs formula in words. Aud
the evidently is this true that all that Christ
was. and did, Is summed up IN character ct and
fea1inE Perhaps make up account Of Christ,
OF Whit he has done which is like this God is just,
and must be therefore He could not forgive sin with
making amends to lis govornment by some e1lihion
equivalent to the execution Of penalty He therefore
takes from His Son and His suffering what
Justly due from Us, and We are released, rather
justified. Is 1t, then, possible would ask for any
human creature to read this mortay dry record
this mere pile Of bricks, and not miss something most
DEAR in hearing him talk, and looking In his face, and
going with him out Into Gchsemane md up to Pilates
hall Of judgment7
Again, he says:
The thing we most want Is what we misa or lose ont
in toiling after these expected yanites, namely, Di
vine light in souls the light Of the knowledge Of the
glory Of God in such power to Light up faces. Come
what will Of preaching or not what will not the
grand law Of Christian power goes with faces. The
M ana @
must get expression, not through tongues and propo-
aitional wisdom, md the clater Of much argument,
but through living persons, seen in Nil the phaees
OF the better life they lead. The real sermons are
the great pure teenga The genesosities q holy
5eE asaeT Pas &eF' R 0 ;nibs sGs
be Tie best preacher. Into tits HELD then one aud a
high which came On tho rst disciples and Which comes
on ali when the Light Of the knowledge Of the glory Of
God shines their faces and 1adiates their persons.
More briefly gs.e good Itsing is the Gospe and thnt
cause he Lircs,-born into Life from above.
The twenty sermons here given us are under
the following topics: Mary, the Mother Of Jc-
sus Loving God is But Letting God Love Us;
Feet and Wings; The Go1aPol 1 Of the Fa4; The
edge OF God Religious Nature nnd Religious
Character !; The Property Right We Are to Get
in Souls The Dissolving Of Doubts Christ
Regener2tes ETen the Desires De- slngl9 Trial
ined; How to Be Christian in Trade; In and
by Things Ternora! Are GiTen Things Etornal;
God Organizing in tho Church Fin Etarnal So
cietv; Routine Observance Indispensable; Our
Advantage in Being Finite; Outside Saints;
Free to Amusements, and Too Free to Want
Them; Tho Military Discipline; The Corona
ton of the Lamb; and Our Relations to Christ
in the Future Life:
xS:e; I e; Holt & Williams Chicago: o0''' Ano''"'
These Thoughts for the times" consist OF
shorthand reports OF e1tempore sermons by
the Established Church. and . popu:.
lar preacher Of the liberal views OF
what Is known as the Broad Church. There are
in this volume fourteen discourses concerning
:-r.4 r.,1,;a IN +3,a T.stn val
Clergy; On the Idea md Science Of God;
Christianity, Its Ethics and Character; The Es-
eence and Doctrine Of the Bible; The Articles Of
Faith OF tho Church; Worship and Preaching;
Progress. These are old questions, but aIr,
HaWcis brings to their eluoidation fresh spirit
of untrammelled thinking, and the new light Of
modern scientific and religious inquiry. How
ever far the Church Of England may have pur-
uniformly been tolerant OF religious differences
of opinion within it's own borders. OF this free
dom, tho present volume is an instance:
Mr.. Hnweis breaches with tho unrestra1ned
Iberality Of our own Bcecher, whom he &C.
knowledgcs as in many things his guide. In his
profaco. AIr. Haweis states himself under oblga-
tionH for thoughts, theories, Illustrations, and
facts, to Froude; Herbert spencer Matthew
Arnold Lecky, Emanuel Deutsch, Dr. Hessey,
and Henry Ward Beecher.
His first sermon defines his position, and gives
the key to the volume. We must, he says If wo
are to proceed with any safety, distinguish be-
tween dogma and truth ,-betweon the wheat and
the chaR Of all past forms OF religion. Not thst
he quarrels with dogma, but with what he calls
:. fzed dogma" moi, With theology, but with
tpetriAcd theology" Among other dogrnas
which he combats is that accepted at the time
Of the Reformation, that the Biblo
is infallib1e. He says: "We hare
passed into very different age, and, if we Value
the Bible, wo do not value it for its infalibility,
because it is clearly seen to be not infallble;
that is not tho nature Of its value; that is not
an element in it's inspiration" Still, he adheres
Loyalty to it's inspiration. Further on, he says
that Conventional sermons arc exterminating
religion, and are driving educated and scientific
minds into opposition. :; that, if the Church can-
not utilize these, the best men Of the age, the
Church must go down. This age, like every
other, is trying to stamp out the new forms Of
faith anu knowledge; is trying, to silence the
men who are rising up and showing us the
wonderful ways of God is doing to them what
WIS done to Socrates, Galileo, Huss, savonaiola,
and even to jesus Christ, who was rejected by
-.