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and rolls them with his horns May 25, 18...
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clark's summer in spain. Gazpacho; or, S...
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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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Newman's Phases Of Faith. Phases Of Fait...
dren is in any wise to be retained , as most agreeable to the institution of Christ . ' I was unable to conceal from myself that I did not believe this sentence ; and I was on the point of refusing to take my degree . I overcame my scruples by considering , 1 . That concerning this doctrine I had no active disbelief on which I would take any practical step ; as I felt myself too young to make any counterdeclaration : 2 . That it had no possible practical meaning to me , since I could not be called on to baptize , nor to give a child , for baptism . Thus I persuaded myself . Yet I had not an easy conscience ; nor can I now defend my compromise : for I believe that my repugnance to Infant Baptism was really intense , and my conviction that it is unapostolic as strong then as now . The topic of my ' youth ' was irrelevant ; for if I was not too vounsr to subscribe , I was not too young to refuse
subscription . The argument that the article was ' unpractical ' to me , goes to prove , that if I were ordered by a despot to qualify myself for a place in the Church by solemnly renouncing the first book of Euclid as false , I might do so without any loss of moral dignity . Altogether this humiliating affair showed me what a trap for the conscience these subscriptions are : how comfortably they are passed while the intellect is torpid or immature , or where the conscience is callous , but how they undermine truthfulness in the active thinker , and torture the sensitiveness of the tenderminded . As long as theyare maintained , in church or university , these institutions exert a positive influence to deprave or eject those who ought to be their most useful and honoured members . "
It then began to dawn upon him that all his dreams about becoming a minister of the Church were hopeless ; for even should he learn to accept the doctrine of Infant Baptism , the greater difficulty of Baptismal Regeneration remained behind : — " Besides the great subject of Baptismal Regeneration , the entire episcopal theory and practice offended me . How little favourably I was impressed , when a boy , by the lawn sleeves , wig , artificial voice and manner of the Bishop of London , I " have already said ; but in six years more , reading and observation had intensely confirmed my first auguries . It was clear beyond denial , that for a
century after the death of Edward "VI . the bishops were the tools of court-bigotry , and often owed their highest promotions to base subservience . After the Revolution the Episcopal order ( on a rough and general view ) might be described as a body of supine persons , known to the public only as a dead weight against all change that was distasteful to the civil power . In the last century and a half the nation was often afflicted with sensual royalty , bloody wars , venal statesmen , corrupt constituencies , bribery and violence at elections , flagitious drunkenness pervading all ranks , and insinuating itself into colleges and rectories . The prisons of the country had been in a
most disgraceful state ; the fairs and wakes were scenes of rude debauchery , and the theatres were—still , in this nineteenth century—whispered to be haunts of the most debasing immorality . I could not learn that any bishop had ever taken the lead in denouncing these iniquities : nor that when any man or class of men rose to denounce them , the Episcopal Order failed to throw itself into the breach to defend corruption by at least passive resistance . Neither Howard , " Wesley , and Whitfield , nor yet Clarkson , Wilberforce , or Romilly , could boast of the episcopal bench as anally against inhuman or immoral practices . Our oppressions in India , and _ our sanction to the most cruel superstitions of the natives , led to no outcry from the Bishops . Under their patronage the two old societies of the Church had gone to sleep
until aroused by the Church Missionary and Bible Societies , which were opposed by the Bishops . Their policy seemed to be to do nothing until somebody else was likely to do it ; upon which they at last joined the movement in order to damp its energy , and get some credit from it . Now what were Bishops for but to be the originators and energetic organs of all pious and good works ? And what were they in the House of Lords for , if not to set a higher tone of purity , justice , and truth ? And if they never did this , but weighed down those who attempted it , was not that a condemnation ( not , perhaps , of all possible Episcopacy but ) of Episcopacy as it exists in England ? If such a thing as a moral argument for Christianity was admitted as valid , surely the above was a moral argument against English prelacy . "
A year after taking his degree he studied Paley s Horas Paulina ; which produced a considerable effect upon him : — " About this time I had also begun to think that the old writers called Fathers deserved but a small fraction of the reverence which is awarded to them . I had been strongly urged to read Chrysostom ' s work on the Priesthood , by one who regarded it as a suitable preparation for holy orders ; and I did read it . But I not only thought it inflated , and without moral depth , but what
was far worse , I encountered in it a deliberate defence of falsehood in the cause of the Church . A vague memory remains on my mind , that he has a sentence which sums up his doctrine as ku \ ov \ pevfoq koXov X $ { a & , ' a nnc lie is a fine thins :. ' It is certainly to this effect . I rose from the treatise in disgust , and for the first time sympathized with Gibbon ; and augured that if he had spoken with moral indignation , instead of pompous sarcasm , against the frauds of the ancient Fathers , ' his blows would have fallen far more heavily on Christianity itself .
" I also , with much effort and no profit , read the apostolic Fathers . Of these Clement alone seemed to me respectable , and even ho to write only what I could myself have written , with Paul and Peter to serve as a model . But for Barnabas and Hermas I felt a contempt so profound that I could hardly believe them genuine . On the whole this reading greatly exalted my sense of the unupproachable greatness of the New Testament . The
moral chasm between it and the very earliest Christian writers seemed to me so vast , as only to be accounted for by the doctrine in which all spiritual men ( as I thought ) unhesitatingly agreed , that the New Testament was dictated by the immediate action of the Holy Spirit . The infatuation of those , who , after this , rested on the Councils , was to me unintelligible . Thus the Bible in its simplicity became only the more all-ruling to my judgment , because I could find no articles , no church decrees , and no apostolic individual , whose rule over my understanding or conscience I could bear . Such may be conveniently regarded as the first period of my creed . "
The interest of this first section is purely preparatory . It was necessary to the force of the succeeding sections that we should distinctly understand the ground from which the opinions were reared , that we should see the timid trustingness of a faith first putting forth its feelers in quest of truth and shrinking back again alarmed at its own temerity , before we saw it rising and rising , strengthened by sincerity , emancipated by courage . As a picture of one phase of a religious mind it is transparently beautiful ; as a preparation for the phases which succeed it is artistically effective ; as a mere chapter of autobiography it is interesting . In succeeding numbers we shall proceed with our analysis of its contents .
And Rolls Them With His Horns May 25, 18...
May 25 , 1850 . ] © ft * 3 Lt 8 , tttX + 207 __ __
Clark's Summer In Spain. Gazpacho; Or, S...
clark ' s summer in spain . Gazpacho ; or , Summer Months in Spain . By William George Clark , M . A . J . W . Parker . Gazpacho is a Spanish soup made of bread , potherbs , oil , and water . ' * Its materials are easily come by , and its concoction requires no skill" ; hence the name chosen by Mr . Clark for his unpretending and agreeable volume . Impossible to be more unaffectedly modest than the author of this work ; and , like many other modest people , he turns out on acquaintance to be a charming companion , better informed than many who have loud pretensions .
Mr . Clark took but a rapid survey of Spain . It was a tour of mere pleasure ; and his book pretends to give no more than a faithful reflection of Spain as it appeared to him . It presents no formidable statistics , no political speculations . He does not settle the ' * European question . " He does not enquire into the commercial and agricultural resources of the country . An English gentleman with an open eye , a keen perception , a gay , humorous spirit , a manly straightforwardness , and the best of all travelling requisites , the disposition to be pleased—this is what we see in Gazpacho ; and this gives the narrative its peculiarity .
In Burgos he bethought him of the necessity of taking a siesta , but , although Burgos is generally as silent as the tomb , the posada in which he found himself happened to be the one noisy place to be found there : — " Stairs creaked , doors banged , kniyes clattered , women screamed , and , worse than all , an incense-smoke of fried oil and garlic spread into every nook and corner . Your true Castilian never does anything quickly and quietly . He knows no medium between apathy and fuss and the tumult of the one ( when he is roused ) equals the quietude of the other . When the « he is a ' she * the same holds true , a fortiori . Now , in this
establishment , the entire personnel was female . Sleep was impossible , so I resolved to dine with the Santander diligence at two . The waitresses , with a ferocity quite appalling , flung on the table a profusion of strong meats , entirely unknown to the Cis-pyrennean cuisine . Every kind of meat was brought to a horrid uniformity by a thick disguise of garlic . But ( as I afterwards discovered ) even garlic is nothing when you ' re used to it . The passengers contrived to eat enormously , maintaining the while a stately and dignified reserve . As for me , if I did not satisfy my appetite , I at least received a lesson in manners : I had dined with half-a-dozen Dukes Humphrey and their duchesses . "
Bull-fights and Spain are as inseparable in thought as beefsteaks and an Englishman ; accordingly , Mr . Clark gives us his animated description for the thousand and first time . But he also describes another kind of bull-fight , which will have more novelty for the reader : — " One day I was present at a funcion do novillos—a kind of juvenile bull-fight , in which young beasts are brought to be bullied , and if possible killed , by young men . It is a kind of parody of a real bull-fight—nothing nf its nomn and circumstance , and danger : a larcc
instead of a tragedy—very grotesque and ludicrous . For instance , a man in night-gown and night-cap is brougnt in upon a bed , shamming Bickness , and is p laced in the middle of the arena . Then a young bull , with his horns sheathed in corks , is let in ; of course he rushes at the only prominent object—the bed , and turns it over and over , the sick man taking care so to dispose the mattresses and bolsters , that the animal may spend his fury upon them and not upon him . . . , 11 At another time several men are set upright m round , wicker baskets , about five feet high , with neither top nor bottom . The bull charges these , one after the other ,
knocks them down , and rolls them along with his horns . It is great fun to watch the evident perplexity of the beast when he sees their spontaneous motion . Then , when his back is turned , the attendants jump over the barrier , and set the baskets on their legs again ; and the same joke is repeated till one is tired of it . " As we before indicated , the tissue of the work is slender enough , but it is embroidered by a gay and humorous fancy . The writer's animal spirits never flag ; and , without straining after " fun , " there is a constant play of humour in the pages . Here are some specimens of what the volume contains : — _ M ^ ^ V J H _ 1 _ * A . \— I— 7 — I * . _ - » u _»
—SPANISH NEWSPAPERS . " The Heraldo was then publishing a series of verbose epistles from Italy , the writer of which illustrated the marches and operations of the Spanish forces by a profusion of passages , parallel or divergent , from the Latin classics , showing at every step his own consummate ignorance and assurance . I remember , in one letter , he invoked our old friend Soracte in feigned rapture , as Mount Socrates beloved of Ovid and Prospertius ! In the Clamor I read another series of letters , written by a Spaniard from London , in which facts and inferences were equally false . The intelligent traveller gave a
glowing description of Regent's-park , crowded every afternoon with the carriages of the nobility , each drawn by four horses ; of the Opera , where brass buttons and applause were strictly forbidden ; of the placards in the streets , announcing that 'the Reverend Wilkinson would repeat , for the fourth time , his favourite sermon on Justification by Faith , ' & c . Among his statistical facts he mentioned that 3500 persons had committed suicide in London alone during the year 1848 , and proceeded to account for it after his fashion . In conclusion , he proved to his own satisfaction , that * the English are far from being so advanced in political and social progress as—Nosotros !'"
THEATRE AT MADBID . " In default of a soiree , there was always the theatre to go to . There was only one company then playing , of inferior actors ( for all the stars at that season wander about to enlighten the provincial darkness ) . Be the acting never so bad , it is always a good lesson in Spanish . This company had adjourned during the summer , for coolness , to the Circo del Barquillo—the Astley ' s of Madrid ; an edifice with wooden walls and canvas roof . All the arrangements are decidedly veterinary . Stalls and loose boxes are fitted up as dressingrooms for the nonce , and there is a very pervading odour of sawdust . The entre " e behind the scenes ( that hopeless ambition of the London youth ) is here accorded to the whole audience ; and between the acts the kings and queens of the stage walk about in their royal robes l de smokin
in the adjoining yard , sipping emona or g cigarettes , utterly regardless of dramatic effect . The comedy in Castilian is generally followed by a dance , and that by an Andalucian farce , then another dance and another farce to conclude . As fresh pieces are produced every night , the actors have no time to learn their parts , and thus they repeat , like so many parrots , after the prompter , whose suggestions are audible to the whole house . Apparently the spectators are not critical , and seem to care very little what is done on the stage , except during the ballet . The chief attraction at that time was La Senorita Vargas , a stately southern beauty , with a latent ferocity in lier dark eyes that made her look rather like a queen of tragedy than a dancer . Who knows whether she may not become a queen in reality some day ? Germany has a few thrones left still . "
A DAY IX THE ALHAMBItA . " Thus , with a book or pencil , one may spend a long day in the Alhambra with much ease and comfort , and not without profit . Strange contrasts meet one ' s observations . Above , in the branches , are the uncaged birds singing with all their might ( a singing-bird is a rarity in Spain ) ; below , a gang of convicts ( no rarity ) are at work , clanking in their chains . Take the path to the left , ~ and you find a Spanish soldier of the —th line regiment , keeping guard under the Moorish arch , and an image of tbe Virgin Mary , under a sentence from the Koran . Pass on , and you stand before the heavy unfinished ' palace of Charles V ., with its stupid unideal plan ( a circle inscribed in a square , like a figure out of Euclid ) , and its recurrence of unvarying ornament . A Court of and
little side door admits you to the Myrtles a new world . You have trod on the magic carpet of Hassan , and have been transported eastward through space , and backward through time , to the city and the reign of Haroun Alraechid ! You pass on through the Court of Lions , the Hall of the Abencerrages , & c , names familiar to you from childhood : the whole place , the realization of many a dream , appears itself scarcely less unsubstantial—so delicate and fragile , that it seems fitted only for the charmed atmosphere of fairy-land ; the fierce storms of this earth will surely crush it to atoms ;—the fierce heat crumble it into dust . Indeed , the Court of Lions has suffered from an earthquake , and is rudely enough supported by beams , and held together by cramps . May man and time deal tenderly with the remnant ! '
STIIANOJ 3 IGNORANCE . " He told me some quaint stories illustrative of the ignorance and prejudice still lingering in the land : for instance ; one day he was in company with some respectable persons of the middle class , when the conversation turned on an event which had just occurred at Granada . A young man of the Jewish persuasion had avenged the cause of Shylock , by running off with the daughter of a Christian . ' What a shame , ' said one ; ' very likely the poor innocent children will have tails . ' Some sceptic present interposed with a doubt as to whether Jews had tails really or not . The majority held that it was unquestionable ; but , as one or two still questioned it , the dispute was referred to Scnor Vazquez ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 25, 1850, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25051850/page/15/
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