The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-11-20

Rome, ana among them Such great
works as Gibbon and Mommsen. A
new six volume history is to appear.
1t is by r. H. ]. Greenridge. OF him
| have no knowledge. 1t is stated that
his purpose is to produce a general
history of the period in the widest
sense of the term, and book of refer
ence on a minute scale. If there is
any Macaulay or Green or Froude or
Lecky in embryo it will be agreeable
information.
In some of the many attempts to
write history in this country since
1865 there have been some conspic-
uouS failures. AS early as 1876, as
I remember, there were so-called
school histories of the United States,
that were produced in the Northern
States, that were burleSqueS upon the
very name of history when they
touched upon the war between the
South, fighting heroically and splend-
idly for it's liberties and independ-
ence, and the North seeking by war
of invasion and destruction to bring
into a condition of slavery and to
leave it smitten, robbed, devastated.
[ examined in the office of the State
superintendent of instruction in 1875,
several such works, and denounced
them at the time The South had per-
haps before this some very crude and
unfair specimens of history and biog-
raphy Notably there were two, and by
Northumberland Lost Cause"
and McCabe's Life of Lee. Ii otner
and subsequent works bearing on the
war had been as full of blunders as
those named, it would have been an
occasion for rejoicing if they had been
all consumed or lost at once A Lost
Book" would have been a most cheer
ing announcement to an advertise
ment or publication of another Lost
Cause" Mr.. McCabes Life of Lee"
is doubtless as vivacious as the Life
Of Peter Wilkins; Pollard'S Lost
Cause" is perhaps as reliable as
Froudes account of Henry the Eighth;
interest is aroused by Gen. j. F.. Jonn-
StOn'S exposure of the teeming blum
ders of John Esten Cookies history of
the first battle of Manassas, / am dis
posed to place the author of the "Vir-
yinia Comedians" not in the cate
cory of historical writer's at all, but
with those pleasant authors who il
lustrate past events, memories and
customs by entertaining fiction and
agreeable humor. One of the most
astounding feats of biographical COM
position is to make Gen. Pickett the
hero of the third days battle of Get
tysburg although it is positively known
that he was not even in the charge
of his division of Virginians. This
class of candidates for his fame
are strictly romancists, and might pos
sibly contest honors with Baron Mum
chausen or Dean Swift in his immortal
"Guliivers Travels" Such writers
probably stand somehow in this same
relation to true histories to be written,
that the Troubadours of the laugh
ing valleys of Provence and Langue-
doe in the Middle Ages stand to those
writer's who have truly recorded the
events of those historic periods If
the Virginian historical romances shall
aid the future historian of the great
est of wars, they will have rendered
him far greater service than they
have given to those who have lived be-
tween 1855 and 1904. lille sinistror-
sum, hic deXtrorsum abit; unus utri-
que error. That Latin sentence may
prove as satisfying to most readers
as the fantastic and absurd historical
romances referred to above are pleas,
ing to the brave soldiers who fought
in Virginia, and the descendants of
the glorious martyrs who fell at the
front for the right of elf-goVernment
and their own native soil. 1t is not
the fashion or vogue now to quote
even from Latin or Greek writer's, but
who cares for it?
One of the most eminent divines in
the seventeenth century was Rev. Will
liam Bates, ID. d. He was a very con-
scientiOuS, religious minister of the
Gospel. He was of the Church of
England, and under what was known
as the Act of Uniformity he with other
scrupulous and pious ministers with
drew, and became the minister of a
congregation of Protestant Dissenters
at Hackney, England. His withdraw
al occurred in 1862. He served at
Hackney until his death in 1899. in his
seventy-fourth year. His works were
first collected the year after his death,
and have been reprinted several times.
He was a minister of distinguishe
abilities, was deeply pious, conse-
Grated believer in the Divine Son, and
taught the Bible doctrine of holy liv-
ing, like Bishop Jeremy Taylor taught,
or Christian perfection as Wesley
taught in the succeeding century, and
Jonathan Edwards, the greatest of
American divines, taught and lived in
the same century. He gave examples
Of spiritual perfection, and said that
the Gospel proposes the most animat-
ing examples of perfection. 1t is in
teresting in 1904. to know what an
eminent, scholarly divine taught about
1860, as to the Bible doctrine of sane
tlt1cauon, so much neglected and even
ridiculed now. DR.. Bates said much
about spiritual perfection. / will cite
few passages:
We are commanded to be perfect
as our Heavenly father is perfect.
There are some attributes Of God,
which are objects, not of our imita ton,
but of our highest veneration. Such
are His eternity, immensely, omnipo-
tence, immutability. There are other
attributes, His moral projections
which are mitable-holiness good
ness, justice, truth. s This com
mand, as was before explained, is to
be understood. not of equality but OF
resemblance. IT should be our
utmost aim, our most earnest endeav-
or. to initiate the Divine perfection.
The true God commands us to
be holy, as He is holy; to be followers
of Him as dear children
So rich and full is he in setting forth
the great, primal doctrine of Christian
perfection or holy trinity that l might
easily fill column with citations from
his cumulative argument. / can only
give a few extracts taken here and
there: He instructs us to do by His
doings; and to suffer by His sufferings
He suffered for us. leaving us an ex-
ample. that we may follow His steps
An unholy Christian is a contra
diction so direct and palpable that