The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-04-21
Literary Notes.

in the pages of Good Words magazine which,
so far as we are aware, has the confidence of or
thodox British Christians That there is much
that is unorthodox, according to Presbyterian
views OF orthodoxy no one can help feeling who
reads these chapters. The writer holds the pop
ular ear, and therefore all the more dangerous
are his teachings, inasmuch as they promise to
be so widely disseminated. Mr.. Hughes is, we
believe a member of the Established English
Church but it is to be hoped that such latitude
narianism of opinion in regard to the union of
the human and Divine in the person of our
Lord, does not prevail in the Establishment. 1t
assuredly is not in accordance with its authori-
tative utterances. 1t is not the humanity of
Christ that Mr.. Hughes takes up, as connected
with His dirinity; the trinitarian controversy is
not the matter in hand at all. 1t is an effort to
defend Christ's character and Christianity in
general, from the slur often cast upon them by
the world of effeminacy-"a distinct belief that
this weakness is inherent in our English reli-
gion-that our Christianity does appeal, and
must appeal habitually and mainly to mems
fears-to that in them which is timid and
shrinking, rather than to that which is cour-
ageous and outspoken. The conscience of
every man recognizes courage as the foundation
OF manliness, and manliness as the perfection, of
human character. Was Christs own char
acter perfect-not only in charity, meekness,
purity, long-suffering, but in courage ?" This is
Mr.. Hughes question, which from the nara
tives of the Evangelists, he shows has been es-
tablished with a sublime conclusveness never to
be accorded to the bravest men that ever lived
He has no doubt of the Godhead of the Son of
Man, as attested by His life, His teachings, His
miracles, His awful DEATH and glorious resur-
rection. But he seems as utterly befogged as
the author of Ecce Homo, as to Christs own con-
sciousness of His mission He denies that He
had even glimmering of it when He stood in
the temple among the doctors. He thinks " His
human nature must have shrunk back and tried
every way of escape from the call which was
haunting Him VI He argues that the tempta-
ton finally convinced Him that the voice
within had not been alying voice y! Evidently
Mr.. Hughes believes that Satan discovered be-
fore Christ Himself absolutely did, that He aoas
the Christ This is Just the line of thought fol-
lowed out by the author of Ecce Homo. and if
Cannon Farrar in his Life of Christ does not ac-
cept it, he comes very near to it as does also
reth. These four writers all seem to deny either
the existence of the divine nature in our Lord
until the actual commencement of His public
ministry or at least, His own consciousness of
Its presence; all of which we take to be entirely
at variance with the simple teachings of the sa-
cred narratives. We once heard Presbyterian
minister say in the pulpit that there was a
time when Mary knew more than her divine
Son." but the declaration was looked upon as
rank heterodoxy by the well-instructed congre
cation before whom it was made Would it not
be subscribing the cause of sound dogmatic the
olOgy and gospel truth, for some one of the logi-
clans of our Seminary to take up this popular
book, so praised even by staunch religious Jour
mails, and show just where the admixture of error
comes in?
Mr.. Henry James, Jr., has stirred up quite
hornets nest of critical invective about his ears
by his recent Life Of HaVthor7ae, contributed to
the Marley Series (HarPer d Brothers, Franklin
Square, Ne,O York-75 ce1,ts) That Hawthorne
should be included in this group of E,,glish
Men of Letters, is little out of the wav
Washington Irving has even better right. in
asmuch as many of his earlier works were actu-
ally written and published in England during
his long residence there. Hawthorne only wrote
one of his books-The Marble Fau,,-on Eng
lish ground. But this question aside Mr.. James
seems by general consent, not to be the right
man in the right place this time He has lived
so long abroad especially on the Continent
that he has the reputation of being much dena-
tionalized, and therefore the very points that
give Hawthorne's writings The exceptional
en- arm they possess-as portrayals of curious
phase of life now forever passed away. and as
sprung from =" a crevice of the immitigable New
England granite are not such as commend
themselves to SO cosmopolitan and intensely con.
ventlonal writer as Mr.. James Nevertheless
although no end of reviewers stab him with
their sharpest Of pens for his condescendino
patronage of the three or four beautiful taI1
ents Of trans Atlantic growth which the world
at large recognizes yet this life is about the
most satisfactory gathering.up of facts about the
great sRomancer, and discriminating. incisive
crlticism1of his several works, that has been
given to the public. 1t is better than Mr.. La
throPs Study inasmuch as that author's.yerv
nearness to his father in law, proves in itself
tammel and bar to clear, unpreiudiced in
sghtS kHawthornes own Note Books. of which
there are six, afford the truest mental picture Of
the man that could possibly be given. Mr..