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June 9, I860.] The Leader and Saturday A...
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WAKEFTELD ELECTION COMMISSION. To the Ed...
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THE CHUECH BEFORE THE REFORMATION.* mHAN...
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• IZMoruoftho Christian Church to tho Re...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Okiginality. A S Might Be Expected, A Re...
man—he is almost powerless until he has possessed himself of the contents of books . ¦ . « It is true that the wear and tear of daily life , the contact ot man with man , that takes place in the worldly career of the ordinary human worker , tends to wear off what is frequently taken for originality . A clever boy , educated at home , allowed to dive into every book the library contains , and accustomed to listen to his elders' conversation , often shows apparent signs of strong : original fancies . He goes to a public school , and lo ! in a half-year he is transformed into the ordinary schoolboy type , with nothing of the infant phenomenon about him . A vouth at college is the delight and wonder of his
set ; there never was suehagenius ! Find him ten years later , at the bailor in the civil service , and nine times out of ten there is nothing remarkable about him . The truth is , that in both these cases the originality was spurious ; it was , probably , the exact reverse of what it was mistaken for—viz ., imitation . The pebble which shows a strange form and rough edges while it lies quiet in the sand , soon becomes rounded like its fellows when well jostled by the sea of life . If the quality be not spurious , but true , it will appear again—true originality survives through everything , nothing destroys it ; but the plant may be developed , and its fruit brought to a rarer perfection , by that educational culture which is only to be derived ii-oin the study of books . . will tinue
" Mail the worker , ever working- something new , " con to invent , to create , to coin , and to seek new delight from the contemplation of novelty , as long as this world lasts ; and since the creative faculty must be admitted , we think , at least not to have diminished up to the present time , we must conclude not only that it will not retrograde , but that its strides will become the more gigantic in proportion as the human mind is enlarged . If it be the fact , that knowledge impedes the coinage of the brain , it would follow that such societies as have had the least opportunities of mental culture would produce the greatest instances of creative genius . The absurdity of this reasoning , if pushed to its legitimate Conclusions , is so obvious that we must be excused from following it . ¦ ' __ ¦ ¦¦ ;¦ ¦
, , ... . _ * If wliat is said against too much reading , is directed only against the cramming of young men for examinations , we have nothing to complain of ; but we think we recognise a remnant of that old doctrine that " England has done well enough - ; what do you want more—were Wellington and Nelson doubje-first , Jiot-pressed examination men ? When Will your educational tests produce men like those ? " _ And so on . But neither Wellington , or Nelson would have been one whit less of a genius if he had known more . We do not deny that originality may exist without education , but We do inostremp ' luittcally resist the conclusion that the one impedes the other ; that knowledge is antagonistic to inspiration , and genius extinguishable by mental culture .
June 9, I860.] The Leader And Saturday A...
June 9 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 545
Wakefteld Election Commission. To The Ed...
WAKEFTELD ELECTION COMMISSION . To the Editor of The Leader and Saturday Analtst . Sib , — -To proceed at once to the subject of this letter , may I ask if you have ¦ attentively read the evidence given before the Commission of Inquiry- at Wakefield ? It is an easy thing to write «« : iyafltii's- ^ ngafna t ; . v ^ li « ifh m . l . > 8 hiif . . it is impossible for a stranger to understand the true position of affairs at Wakefieltl , and without knowing the characters of the witnesses he cannot come to a fair conclusion respecting the facts . You say , " The certificate is not a formal document , to be granted of right . " I maintain that every witness who willingly gave information of all he knew , had a full right to the certificate , and the promise of the Commissioners entitled him to demand it . There
may be exceptions , such as in the case of men who at first deified allknowletlge of bribery , and only acknowledged the truth after they had been convicted of perjury . •• ' ., '• You state likewise that Mr . Leittham gave contradictory evidence before the House of Commons Committee , and before the Election Commission . If you will read the evidenco in both places . you will hud that before the House of Commons Committee he stated all that he had supplied—and that was the question—but added thai he did not know what . his . friends had done , lie afterwards found what had been spent , and went to the Inquiry Commissioners , and plainly stated it . You say he spent £ 4 , 000 ; but you ignore the evidence of his agent , who said that a sum of ¦ money had to be returned to Mr . Leathamthat would reduce his expenditure to £ 2 , 700 .
, You say the two candidates were equally bad . lo test this , contrast their conduct before the Commissioners . The one denied all knowledge of any expenditure beyond what had been reported to the auditor , until he was compelled ( through the evidence of a Leeds banker ) to acknowledge that he deposited a security lor £ 5 , 000 , to dufray election expenses , and deposited it in another town , and at a bank where he did no ( or next to no ) business . This candidate was exiunined three times—mo unsatisfactory did his evidence appear to the Commissioners . Tho other candidate at once stated whuff liei knowarid was never recalled ; .. „ ,.
, ^ Tho flight of the chief witnesses and actors on the one side proved there was something to keep back , and tho systematic "don ' t know" on the part of all the witnesses on that side proved oxteusive collusion ; and , add to this , heavy pecuniary offers to more than one of the most active iigonts and witnesses on both sides , either to withhold evidence or " away "— -together seem to prove satisfactorily which side was tho worse . The Liberals gave their evidence fully and explicitly , determining , as they had been dragged nto the disgrace , thut they would do all in their power to redeem
the error . Strangers even can judge of the relative merits , of the two candidates to receive certificates , by simply comparing their evidence before the Commissioners . All the abuse heaped on Serjeant Pigott cannot disprove facts ; and the statement he has since made only proves him a more discriminating and juster judge , and not one who would say , " We can't give Mr . A . his certificate , and therefore , to balance them , we will refuse Mr . B . his . " Amidst all our virtuous indignation , let us do justice ; and I hope the Leader ( above all papers ) will hot condescend to assist the Tories in blackening their opponents to enable themselves to appear a little whiter . As a subscriber and well-wisher from the first dayit appeared , I feel a great interest in the Leadee , and , with manyother subscribers , hope it will never condescend to aid retrogression , by assisting the Tories to disseminate their false statements and false principles . I am , Sir , yours respectfully , Wakefield , June 2 , 1860 . _ W -
[ We insert this letter , though contrary to rule , as the writer considers he has a case ; and we can but desire the truth , and the whole truth , of such matters , should be made known . Of the article in the paper alluded to we know nothing whatever , nor had we any " local" communication on the subject . —Ed . ]
The Chuech Before The Reformation.* Mhan...
THE CHUECH BEFORE THE REFORMATION . * mHANKS to the enterprise of Messrs . Clark and their staff of ^ - translators , the clergymen and ecclesiastical students of England have had presented to them , in their own vernacular , every really valuable contribution , from the orthodox point of view to the external and dogmatic history of the Church which the land of biblical scholarship has furnished in recent years . We must infer , from the continued issue of their " Foreign Theological Library , " and from the further engagements to their subscribers to which
the publishers are committed , ' ' that their venture is successful . And this success is more significant than at first sight would appear , for it is in marked contrast to the incompleteness and cessation of the publication of other theological collections . The Calvin Society , indeed , completed its work . To it there was a natural limit when all the writings of Calvin had been produced . But , not to speak of the Wycliffe Society , which we believe only furnished a couple of volumes , the Spottiswoode , Parker , and Woodrow Societies' publications lapsed long- ere the full contemplated
programme had been reached . ' ' r : — The secret of the success of the Foreign Theological Library we believe tojae simply this , —itjias included nothing which is not intrinsically worthy . In the ~ other quarters , there \ Vas gradual falling off and ultimate failure , because this very important point was forgotten . _ • _ ¦ . ¦ _ . „ .. ' , „ ..- - ,,-of the
The volume before us is by the author of the " History Old Covenant , " which some weeks since was the subject of our comment . This book is not itself one of tue issue of the Foreign Theological Library , but an " extra volume , "—really , though not formally , a member of the series . It must necessarily be judged by a rather high test . We have had several translations in recent years of German works on Church History considered as a whole , besides not a few reproductions of books on separate eras or leadingreligious teachers . Not to instance the latter , which are not strictly - ^ ele ^ anfcHso ^ ur-presen t-fcheme ^^^ stretchine-to five volumes , although entitled a " Compendium of
Ecclesiastical History , " the manuals of Guericke and Hase , and the great work of Neander , extending to nine volumes . More than that , a large portion of the English reproduction of Herzog ' s " Keal Encyclopaedia , " now in progress , is devoted to the history of the Church and its literature . The , question might well be asked , therefore , " With such recent importations from the land of ecclesiastical and dogmatic students , was there more wanted ? " We believe we must answer , yes ; for there are specialities about this book winch none of the others possess , and whjeh are sufficiently important to enable us to accord to Professor Kurtz a merit all his own . The . . works of Neander and Gieseler , being on a so much larger scale , must be the manual tue manual
iniWrl hv n . different standard , and do not compete with judged by a different standard , and do not compete with of our author . Hase , again , confined himself almost exclusively to the outward history of the Church . Guoncko chose ahnosh as definitely the history and development of dogmas . Kurtz differs from each , by combining pretty equally those features to which each devotes his almost sole attention . Theirs , again , must be regarded as concise yet flowing narratives . This is rather a handbook tor reference than a book for reading . Its logical , but perhaps somewhat intricate , subdivision into a number of sections , takes away all possibility of interest to the continuous reader . Huh mulces it and to him who wants to refer to tact
nil the more valuable handy a , and requires an arrangement suitable for the easy touching ot what he wants . What we say is tantamount to the assertion that we must test this manual rather by the bibliographicnl than the literary standard . Bibliography is the literature of literature . J twt in this sense , as a handbook to Church literature , is tho manual before us valuable to the student of Church History . The student in this department , who has all works of this class in his . library * from Mosheim downwards , is probably tho man of all other * who will derive most benefit , and save most time , by adding Kurtz to Imb
8 Criticism of tho normal description is precluded by the character
• Izmoruoftho Christian Church To Tho Re...
• IZMoruoftho Christian Church to tho Reformation . Prom tho Ger-Tttan of Professor Ku » TZ . Withi J 3 mond , itioa « ' and Addi on by ^ the lloyorond Ahraao Edkusubim , Ph . D . Kdinburijh : T . uud 1 . OlarK . 18 G 0 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 9, 1860, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09061860/page/13/
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