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750 THE LEADER, [Literary
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G-illespie attacks, may hold their place...
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THE NAVIES OF THE WORLD; their Present S...
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THK ENGLISH BIBLE. History of the Transl...
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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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In Which Skill Is Needed Can Be Earnestl...
own merit , and recognise the sound truth that' it is better for a man to honour his profession than to ie honoured by it . '" . For my " own part , I never made any distinction' between the two names , and shall employ them indiscriminately , until some new Jules de JJovere arrive to enrich the Dictionary of the French Academy . " M . Robert-Houdin , in the course of his practice , derived great reputation by his construction of automata . In that of the throat of a mechanical nightingale he showed wonderful ingenuity . He has recorded the growth and progress of the idea , and its final accomplishment . In the Paris Exhiexhibit
bition of 1844 , he was permitted to some specimens of his skill , which had the good fortune to please Louis Philippe . M . Robert-Houdin soon af ter built a theatre in the Palais-Royal , in which at first he encountered some difficulty . But at length appeared the bill for the " First Representation of the Fantastic Soirees of Robert-Houdin . " It is dated Thursday , July 3 , 1845 . The rest of Ms life consists of a series of successes . Tet he had to work hard for them . He tells how be invented second sight . It depends on the cultivation of memory , which is capable of indefinite improvement ; He had his losses and crosses , too . A theatrical agent seduced him to a trial at the Brussels Theatre , where he was cheated . On a
subsequent occasion he was engaged by Mr . Mitchell for the St . James ' s Theatre , London ; from that gentleman we are glad to find that lie experienced great courtesy and liberality . Fie performed also at Manchester , and Buckingham Palace . On his return to France he gave up his theatre to his brother-in-law . But he still continued Ms studies and experiments . In 1855 , he presented at the Universal Exhibition several new applications of electricity and mechanism , and was awarded a prize by the jury . In 1856 he was employed by the Government to go to Algiers , that he might out-conjure the Marabouts , and thus deprive of prestige the superstitions that frequently induced the Arabs to revolt . His success was splendid . With this , the crowning deed of Ms life , ¦ we close our review . The rest must be sought in the book itself . '
750 The Leader, [Literary
750 THE LEADER , [ Literary
G-Illespie Attacks, May Hold Their Place...
G-illespie attacks , may hold their place without interference with the Mosaic theology;—they ' . are related as discretes , not as concretes ^ and run parallel and not antagonistic to each other . This , we have thought good to state at once , as the shortest way of settling a very foolish dispute . The geological eras niust be considered as subsequent to the fatal Adaniic lapse . Let Mr . Gillespie subscribe to this , aud his mind will be no more troubled with thick-coming fancies . Rather let' him ., hold , with Plato and Wordsworth , the doctrine of the soul ' s pre-existence , and interpret physical facts by its light . Nor in this-are we prescribing a hard task : for Mr . G . has himself suggested the expedient .- But we arc not sure that lie has interpreted the dogma rightly . At any rate , on other points he is liable to the charge of inaiiicbeism .
fiat . The creative act , being eternal , still continues and the Providence by which man and nature are sustained from hour to hour is but another name for an Eternal Creator , " whose generations have no end . "
According to Dr . Kurtz , the imfallen man had the power of " clearly and without error recognising not only the essence of created tilings , as they then existed , but also the history of their origin . They were transparent to man , nor did he require to use violent means in order to investigate . them . " Thus a mere survey of the animal world sufficed to enable him to name the creatures . lie also named Eve , but Dr . Kurtz pauses to remark that it was
God himself who named Heaven aud Earth , and Day and Night . The giving of names is a revelation of the Giver . Man , ' nevertheless , had not thoroughly known the nature of the serpent , " more subtile than any beast of the field , " or " he would not so readily have credited its smooth speeches . " He was ignorant also of the- nature of the Tree of Knowledge till God had revealed it . Wherefore the learned Doctor doubts whether
primaeval Adam was intuitive of the entire universe . AH along , too , evil is presumed as preexisting . Dr . Kurtz ascribes a prophetical character to the Biblical _ account of Creation . It was given to the first man in a vision , the peculiarity of which consists in .-this- —" that the Spirit of God , who knows neither past nor future , but to whom every thing is eternally present—partly and temporarily
elevated the spirit of man , who—though , bound to time and ' space , is breath of his breath , and his offspring—above the limitations of time , and enabled him to share his power of beholding the past and future as if it were -present . " Here the theologian gains ahnost a philosophic insight , but not altogether . The " days" of the Mosaic record are with him natural days . Hut he equivocates as to the commencement of Creation . God , he
says , " created it in time , or rather along with time . " The latter is a philosophical truth , the former a popular error . He holds ,. however , that the words , " without form ami void , " do not refer to an eternal chaos ; and tliat the idea of a creation out of nothing is a fundamental principle of the Old Testament . In conclusion , and in favour of the philosophical interpretation , let it be noted that Job describes the sun , moon , and stars as existing before the foundation of tho visible earth , and as admiring witnesses of its formation .
It is the aim of Dr . Kurtz to render the Mosaic account consistent with astronbxny , as it is that of Mr . Gillespie to harmonise it with geology . Between science and religion peace must be declared , for the age is intellectual , and insists on concord . The way , however , for accomplishing this result ia constantly missed . Philosophy is the only reconciling power , and the combatants refuse her fbr arbitrator . The work , accordingly , is ill-done ; and incompleteness reigns , instead of pox'fect order . Dr .
THE THEOLOGY OF GEOLOGISTS , as exemplified in the cases of the late Hugh Miller , and others . By William Gillespie . —Edinburgh .: Adam and Charles Black . HISTORY OF THE OLD COVENANT . From the German of J . H . Kurtz , D . D ., Professor of Theology at Dorpat . Vol . 1 . Translated , annotated , and prefaced by a condensed abstract of Kurtz ' s " Bible and Astronomy . " , By the Rev . Alfred Edersheim , Ph . D . The Same ; Vol . II . Translated by James Blartia , B . A . — Edinburgh : T . and T . Clark . Geology has been needlessly brought into collision with Theology , by a misapprehension of the Mosaic account of Creation . Plain enough it is tliat the
phrase " In the Beginning" is a mere Hebraism for eternity ; and that therefore the Six Days' Creation but represents an infinite procession of developments , independent altogether -of the law of time . Nevertheless , commentators still hold to the unphilosophical statement of the Origin of Creation in Time ; though Coleridge , arid all competent authorities , declai'e the contrary . The former even opens his " Friend" with the axiom , " There never was a Time when there was Nothing , " Milton , also , in his " Christian Doctrine , " declared that Moses by " the Beginning" signified Eternity "—it being a more Jewish carnal expression for the idea than the more refined Greek term by which we are now aocustomod to recognise it .
Mr . Gillespie , not accepting this interportation of the Mosiao text , accuses Mr . Miller of heterodox statements in regard to the geologic periods of palcoozoic , secondary , and tertiary formations ^ inasmuch as they would prove that daring all time , since " the " Beginning , " the diyine- economy in relation to animals has been one of warfare and suffering ; -which he regards as incompatible with the doctrine of unfallen man in Paradise . Men have as yet looked in vain for tho site of Paradise
on this planet . They would have acted more -wisely had they recognised it as included in the heavens and cai'th which the . Eternal oreated in 44 thq Beginning , " and not in time ; and forborne fkrthor inquiry . Praoticaliy , for every xi \ axi } his birth is tho original sin which has to be expiated by . his death ; and'his tronsferance from , an eternal state to a temporal condition is tho toll which , in all cases , necessitates the redemptive process . Tho geologic positions , therefore , -which Mr .
Kurtz creeps whore he might soar—gropes whore he should enlighten . Religion , however , in his opinion , may believe in the stars being inhabited ; though astronomy bo incapable of pronouncing about the nature and destiny of their spiritual tenants . The latter , ho says , " only aflbrds isolated and unsatisfactory ghmpses of tho physical constitution of these stars . On the other hand , the Bible , which is an exclusively religious revelation , cannot and does not teach anything about the nature and constitution of the stars . But it
con-¦ tains indications that those stars are tho abodes of angels . Dr . Kurtz goes through the evidences of googony , which he . prefers to geology , in support of his opinions . But enough has boon stated for tho purpose of this review . Over and over again , tho Scriptures declare tho Divine Creation to consist of Noiuneno , and the phenomenal universe to bo the product of human perception in communion with tho intelligible world , as the product of an eternal
The Navies Of The World; Their Present S...
THE NAVIES OF THE WORLD ; their Present State and Future Capabilities . By . Hans Busk , M . A . Witli Illustrations . —Koutledgc , "Warnes and Jioutlodgp . This work is evidently written to supply a sudden demand . The relations between England and France , interpreted by Mr . Busk in " a Pickwickian sense , " - supply the motive for the publication . The fortifications and dockyard of Cherbourg lend their aid ; and the article in the " Conversations Lexicon , " on the Navies of England and France , serves for both impulse and matter . There is also an opinion that the agency of steam in the construction of war-ships will henceforth render
superiority nvseamanship of less importance than formerly . We must , therefore , preserve an absolute numerical superiority in ships and men . Progressive improvement in the state of our navy from the sixteenth century to the present left little to be desired ; but a sense of security led to the relaxation of effort . The expense of steam for a large fleet is . enormous . Nevertheless , the application of steam to the entire navy of every firstrate Power is now assumed as a fundamental condition of its strength . In this respect , the French must for some time be placed , at disadvantage , owin £ ? to the distance of the mines from the various
ports , j . hey arc , indeed , compelled to keep on hand one year ' s consumption , to guard against contingehces . In this country tho maintenance , constantly and during peace , of a large body of men suitable for manning the navy is a problem hard of solution . But it is proved that in naval resources noiic of the Powers of the world , with the exception of France , are at all equal with this country . Every effort is making . in our dockyards to place our royal navy once more in a position ot pre-eminence . Our author evidently writes in dread of what he names " French national vanity , "
and stillj thinks- the phrase of " faithless Albion not obsolete . He quotes a highly-decorated French officer who had served with us in the Crimea , who at a table d'hote remarked that the islanders- " had once arrogant pretensions to the dominion of the ocean ;—but , bah ! there is an end of all that now —the destiny of France is irresistible ; to attempt to oppose it is impious—it is opposing the will of God . " Strange things are said at tables d'hOte ! We may point to this book as some sort of reply to them . It is ably compiled , and contains a large store of accurate information .
Thk English Bible. History Of The Transl...
THK ENGLISH BIBLE . History of the Translation of tho Holy Scriptures into the English Tmitfue . With Specimens of the Old English Version * . l $ y Mrs . II . C , Conaut ; edited , and with an introduction , by the Kev . C . 11 . Spurg-eon . —Arthur Hull , Virtue nml Co . t . Tuia authoress of this work has already distinguished herself as a translator of Neaiirtvr ' s Practical Commentaries , and writes upon the subject of her book in a learned and sober spirit . lho introduction by Mr . Spnrgeoii duos him groat credit . It is free from Jiinaticism and bibliolatry .
It ia the opinion of this gontlemnn , n « well ns ot the authoress , that a new translation of tho XiibUi is imperiously needed ; and the proof that » t must bo so is implied in the history . It could not be othorwisc , in the order of ovonfa . l" 0 "' Die , as we have it , was influenced by tho kmgcralt oJ its projector ; and its faults nro tho necessary results ' of the platform invented for it by Jnmou , in order to save tho Church , imri of the defective knowledge of tho translators iu the oriental
Mrs . Conant happily expresses thw fact when , she states that tho " common version , was tlit . last great effort of tho infant period of JJibhcnl science fn England . " That science has since attained something like maturity . A new or a ot sac ed learning Commenced with tho second quartox ot the seventeenth century . Tho works of Walton , CastoU , Lightfoot , I ' ococko , may be ™ ° » \™ J * illustrativeof this : while in tho eighteenth ^ "tmy those of Mill Bontlcy , and others , abound m
social-1 ' m The conoiusion to which a thorough investigation of the subjeet has conduotod the outUorcss and Mr . Spurgoon , and tho ovidenoo hero adduced , will go far to substantiate tho demand for ft now and falthfUl version , truly conduotod by scholars
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 18, 1859, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18061859/page/18/
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