New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-06-08
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
Cpv copnON,S NEGOTIATIONS.


Tha notes contained in this small volume-the
hook consists of short aud often fragmentary notes
rather than of connected essays-are described In
the Preface as the fruits of meditation and In
onirv.D during General Gordon's stay In the.h Holy
Land last year. They have been revised and put
together for the press by some of the authors
friends not only with his sanction but by his ex-
press wish and injunction" in the hope that they
may promote religious inquiry and show forth
GODS dwelling in u.s." The first few pages, devoted
TO the topography of Jerusalem. interesting ana
ingenious but need not detain us. The most sig
niiicant of the reflections are grouped under lhe
head Religious" and begin with prayer tiia' 'ne
Almighty Father will vOuchsafe to reveal hlhseh
unto us in these pages so far as they are III az
corlance with his word" Whatever may pe
thought of the intrinsic value of General GordohS
remarks. there can be question about their I'M
portance as indications of character when mas
suddenly become Of consequence TO the world
The KEYNOTE of his religious method is sounded
in the opening observations upon the necessity of a
close and continuous Study of the Bible. How few
forget TO take their daily meals" he writes; yet
we starve our souls though they require their por
ton which is the Word of God" We spend TOO
much time over the words of man, over sermons,
commentaries, opinions of preachers explanations
of texts: and 1t may be for this reason that there
are so many theological differences. To know the
Bible is the secret of life and understanding Not
reading the Bible is the root of all ignorance. Like
many another devout and absorbed student of the
sacred Scriptures. General Gordon shows marked
fondness for the Interpretation of symbols, and
for the acceptance of these Interpretations, which
may be only fanciful suggestions as the revelations
of heaven and the rules of conduct. When he has
found a parallel he is satisfied that he has proved
a proposition. In his application OF the analogIes
Of the Old testament to the New, in particular, he
pursues a line Of reasoning-or perhaps we ought
TO say dormatizing-which curiOusly reminds us of
the exegetical exercises of the patristlc schools
The events of Scripture, according to his view, aIe
so closely connected that if we study them
properly, "by God and the Holy Ghost" we shall
discover a fixed series of occurrences, regularly re-
peated. from the first three days of creation all
through the history of the Church and through our
individual lives indeed. if we studied well we
might even learn through these repetitons the
things to come. The topics to which he especially
applies himself are the sacraments of Baptism and
the Holy Communion. both of which ought to he
studied in connection with Genesis. Water. he OBJ
serves "must be the connection OF Baptism WITH
some event prior to the fall and that event is crea-
ton the calling forth of the earth out of the
waters by the word of God and Holy Communion
in like manner is connected, by the act of eating
with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
We need not follow him in this course of nterpre-
tation, because, although his analoges are ingen-
lous, his method is of venerable age and can be ap-
piled to the support of countless variety of theo-
logical opinions. But now and then the fervOr
of General Gordons belief IN his con
illusions pushes him to remarkable statements
He leans to Liberalism if not to positive ma
teriasm in some of his readings, and the
combination of the mystical and the materialisic
tendencies is times very curious. He says that he
was troubled for years to know what Baptism
meant" and while this part of Is Reflections is
not entirely clear. it would seem that one of his
difficulties was about the physical effect OF the
water. Somehow think both Baptism and Holy
Communion have very much to do with the body,
for the elements in each sacrament inseparable
from the body, the elements in one case being
trternally in the other, internally, applied Il
think in BAPTISM the adult who wishes to be free
of his carnal nature and who believes in Jesus and
is baptized does receive the Holy Ghost in his body
The elements in one by which he obtains the
benefit to his body being bread and wine, the ele |
lnents 10y which be puts off the body Of his flesh in
the other being the wafer. The elements i'll both
sacraments are material and both are Sanctifed to
the body by the Holy Ghost. one for sustenance of
life in Christ, the other for resurrection from the
dead in Christ the new Adam" This is quite in
Garden of Eden were sacramento trees endued
for a time with mystic prOpert es. and that when
Eve ate the forbidden fruit, she was poisoned
by evil introduced into her actual body that the
poison affected every portion of her body and that
ia her fall it the body of man which was
poisoned ana not the SOUL which however, became
dormant or dead, owing to its oneness with the
body Holy Communion is antidOte to the
poison an actual substance to be eaten, taken
into the poisoned body, assmilated with it, and
which actual substance is hidden TO be eaten by
Christ, and is the vehicle or conduit by which
Christ imparts his divine attributes TO that poisoned
body; just as much the forbidden fruit was the
vehicle or conduit by which Satan impaired his evil
attributes TO that body and poisoned It," Still
more striking is General GordOns panheistic esti
mate of the soul: Il believe that the Divine
breathing into Adam (which breathing made him
differ from all animals was the breathing into him
of certain eXistcnces of Gods nature; that these
fxistences or souls were of God, as existing and
derived from him. and consequently Gods that in
time each of these souls ncarnated in bodies,
but that through the fall these bodies with which
they were clothed were sinful and had carnal de- |
eires that the only difference between Christ and |
man is that in the case of Christ, he was the full
ness of the Godhead in a sness body, and that man
Is of God equally though nferiorly som in sinful
flesh or body; that the fall caused the death or |
dormant state to fall all these souls, in which
state they would have remained, unless Christ |
offered his body as substitute for their bodies
1t Is impossible to read these " Reflections" with
out receiving vivid impression OF the sincerity,
the earnestness. the pety, the high-mlndedness of
tie writer. To HIM an active and peryading Provi-
dence is the first of realities in all the affairs of life
the Almighty and his creatures are in continuous
contact every event is but a part of a divinely
ordered chain of events of which there exists in
sDired explanation legble by the devOut reader the
Holy Ghost is perpetually instructing God led
the chosen people through the wilderness by visible