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616 THE LEADii j v. [No. 431, Jtoe 26, 1...
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. . • ¦ >•¦ ¦ ¦' " JClfPnijUlT*.'. - -
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¦ 'W ¦ - Critics are not thelegialatora ...
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Three books remaining. on our table for ...
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The death of Mr. Henry Matthew Witt, at ...
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The -writer of the criticism on Miss Pii...
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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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616 The Leadii J V. [No. 431, Jtoe 26, 1...
616 THE LEADii j v . [ No . 431 , Jtoe 26 , 1858 .
. . • ¦ ≫•¦ ¦ ¦' " Jclfpnijult*.'. - -
Ktitxtim .
¦ 'W ¦ - Critics Are Not Thelegialatora ...
¦ 'W ¦ - Critics are not thelegialatora ^ but the judges and police of literature . They do not maXelaws—they interpret and tiy . to enforce them . —Edinburgh Jterietc . '' ¦¦ - ' ¦ ••¦ ' . . ¦ - ¦ . ¦ ' ¦ ¦ ¦ —¦—? ¦ ' ¦ '¦ . ' . ' ¦ ¦¦ .
Three Books Remaining. On Our Table For ...
Three books remaining . on our table for notice must be dismissed in a few words . The first is a second series of Letters on the Philosophy of the Human Mind , by Mr . Samuel Bailey . Many of our readers already know Mr . Bailey through his previous contributions to mental science , and most of them will be familiar with his merits as a thinker and-writer . He is a good representative of the English school of philosophizing—sober , shrewd , and independent , comparatively careless of scientific form , but zealous for the preservation , of the' reality in its fulness and integrity , indifferent to theories ^ but a great stickler for facts . The perfection of form and epigrammatic terseness of expression that would attraxt many inquirers , only repel him . He has a natural suspicion of well-balanced epithets , sharp diversions , and symmetrical systems .
He abJiors personification as the very father of lies , and looks upon a metaphor as the true root of all philosophic evil . The greater part of the present volume , like the previous one , is devoted to tracking the windings of this Protean evil , which , like the serpent in Paradise , still haunts the tree of knowledge . In Mr . Bailey ' s view , the omnipresent vice of personification vitiates not only the phraseology , but the philosophy of almost all , and amongst them the most illustrious thinkers both , in ancient and modern times . "We cannot quite agree with him in this , and think that his praiseworthy zeal for the literality of philosophic expression sometimes carries him to an extreme that is really unjust in his criticism of figurative language . The " faculties , " for instance , which he denounces as fictitious entities , are , in the mouths of most modern
¦ writers , not entities or even distinct powers at all , but simply names for different classes of mentaL operations . This applies also to his strictures on the word " Consciousness / ' as used by Sir W . Hamilton . That distinguished thinker does not dream of making consciousness a separate power or entity , nor does his language in any case require such an interpretation . The doctrine criticized is identical with that of the critic himself , but in this , as in other cases , Mr . Bauoby opposes where there is really nothing to fight against , and makes distinctions where there is no difference . In tilting against the peculiar phraseology of modern German writers he is more successful . Though evidently ignorant of the systems of Schelling and Hegel , he shows the absurdity and
contradiction latent in the favourite formulas of the one and the figurative language of the other . 31 r . Bailey ' s exposition of his own views is , however , more interesting and important than his criticism of his opponents ' - A sincere love of truth animates his discussions , and naturally inspires respect even when the reasoning fails to produce conviction . The volume is pervaded too by a spirit of fairness , which is the more honourable , as Mr . Bailey tends to emphasize his own claims to originality . "While doing full justice to himself , however , he is evidently anxious not to overlook the claims of others . We need scarcely add that the volume merits tlje attention of philosophic students , and is throughout well worth reading .
We advance from philosojphy to theology , from letters to sermons ; the re . maining volumes being Preachers and Preachingt by the Bev . H . Cumstmas , and Sermons , by the Rev . John Caibd . The aim of Mr . Chkistmas ' s little book is to give a kind of history of preaching in England , and were his design well carried out , it would be a valuable addition , not only to theological but to historical literature . The true history of preaching would be a condensed and graphic outline of the various internal conflicts that have at different periods agitated the Cliujch . Almost every period of struggle has developed a new kind of preaching-, each party having naturally employed this living appeal to the people as one of its chief instruments both of attack and defence . The volume before us , however , is very slight and superficial , giving in . a meagre outline only such facts as most readers alreadv know . The extracts , too , are
in most instances hackneyed quotations from common handbooks , by no means the best specimens that might be given of their respective authors . Mr . Cairo ' s Sermom are just such as we might expect from the author of Religion in Common Life . Indeed , they more than fulfil the promise of that widely-circulated discourse , which , notwithstanding its practical earnestness and rhetorical power , is- often crude in thought , cold in feeling , and pedantic in expression . The majority of the sermons in the present volume are certainly superior to the more celebrated one—more matured and finished , both in thought and style . In general character , Mr . Caied ' s sermons occupy a middle position between the two kinds of preaching most popular south of the Tweed . We said just now thai every struggle in the Churcli has developed a new style of preaching . Thia is true of the last great conflict . Puseyku has produced a stylo of preaching peculiarly its own—didactic in style , ascetic in spirit , subdued in tone—sermons wholly unimpassioned or at most only flushed for a moment with the hectic hue of a morbid religious life . The active development of such a severe typo of pulpit-eloquence naturally quickened into new life the opposite extreme , and Mr . Spuboeon is the result . The sermons most generally read and admired m this country just now are the late Archdeacon Maying ' s and Mr . Spukgeon's . Mr . Caird combines some of the characteristic qualities of both ; the graphio appeal in illustration to the objects , events , and feelings « f common life of tl * e one , the subdued religious enthusiasm , delicate
Three Books Remaining. On Our Table For ...
moral insiglit , and cultured taste of the other . What is most interesting in these Sermons , however , as coining from Scotland—the land of intolerant pieto and severe theologj—is the genial character of the plea they urge . Mr Caird appeals not to the terrors of an ill-defined and doubtful law ., not to the weak fears or selfish instincts of his hearers , but to their religious consciousness to the convictions and aspirations of their moral nature , to the actual facts and every-day experience of life . There is scarcely a trace of a theological system , not a single doctrinal discourse in the whole volume . This is a remarkable feature
in the sermons of a preacher who is followed by admiring crowds in the land of Calviuists and Covenanters . The singularity , however , is confined to the inclement regions north of the Tweed . The advanced parties in every church , iu every religious sect or body south of that barrier line , show still more decisively the same tendency . "Where life , and earnestness , and reality prevail , tke appeal is on all hands growingly made , not simply to the written law in aay book , however sacred , but rather to the living law written on the heart and conscience of men—in a word , to " the divinity that stirs within us . "
This change is due not so much to the labours of clergymen and divines , but rather" to the persevering efforts of secular thinkers and lay theologians , and especially to the regular action of the press , which presents the results of current speculation in the most concentrated and popular form . The press now discharges many of the functions of the pulpit—the pulpit , "b y universal admission , having fallen behind the requirements of the day . The press has , in consequence , been called by Mr . Carlyle the " lay pulpit . " That is , indeed , its true character . We have weekly to deliver our homilies , to " improve " current events , to look the facts of life in the face , and speak the truth to the best of our ability —truth not always pleasant to speak or popular when heard . And if we may be allowed for a moment to refer to ourselves , we have taken our part in tliis lay preaching , honestly , without fear or favour . And looking back on our efforts , we may venture to hope that we have , to some extent , at alL events , helped to produce the change above referred to . The Leader closes to-day the second period in its history . Its motto from the first has been " progress "—the advancement of our common humanity through the " free development of our spiritual nature . " The condition , of progress is conflict—the constant criticism of the old , and the investigation of the new . In the defence of free thought , free inquiry , free speech , we have had to fi ght many battles , and oppose not only avowed enemies , but professed and real , but mistaken friends . Atfirst the battles were fought with something of the recklessness and daring of youth , but never , we believe , in forgetfulness of the object in view , or in a spirit inconsistent with its attainment . With
an assured position came naturally a calmer tone . Of late this has been less distinctive in the character of the paper , because its aims were so far attained that its position ceased to be singular . The tone of journalism generally has changed . We have pursued the same course from the first . While reverencing religion and respecting every form of conscientious belief , we have protested against the narrowness of creeds and the bigotry of sects . We have continually exposed the practical infidelity of much noisy religion , the practical viciousness of much conventional morality . But we have done this , we hope , in a spirit of sincere loyalty to the higher truth—the central principles both of religion and morality . That we have accomplished all we wished it would be presumption to assert , but , on a review of the past , we fed that something has been done ; we have not laboured altogether in vain . The future must speak for itself .
The Death Of Mr. Henry Matthew Witt, At ...
The death of Mr . Henry Matthew Witt , at the Museum of Practical Geology , is a repetition of the sad case of Hugh Miller . It is the old story , indeed : an over-strained intellect snapping with a recoil the more dreadful because of that intellect ' s very magnitude and elastic force . Poor Witt was hut twenty-five years of age , and , with undoubted talent , possessed the additional advantages of high spirit , capacity for work , a position consequent upon a successful start in life , ample means , and friends able and willing to forward his most ambitious objects . Morbid fears and gloomy forebodings , utterly without foundation in reason or fact , had been manifested by him for some
weeks . With respect to his pecuniary affairs , lie entertained a delusion which was palpable to many among his intimate acquaintance , and had even caused one or two of them to feel anxious for the state of his mind . This delusion was accompanied by an incessant idea of breaking-down or being behindhand with literary work ; and the conviction of failure at length overwhelmed him , as we perceive by those last tragic words he wrote with pencil on a scrap of note-paper : " I have entered on a profession , without capacity or means . " It is difficult to offer consolation to the mourners of this young man ; but at least we may venture to assert our firm belief that lie was not morally accountable for the act which terminated a valuable existence .
The -Writer Of The Criticism On Miss Pii...
The -writer of the criticism on Miss Piiocteu ' s Legends andLyrics , in the Leader of last week , fears that , in the hasty wording of a passage towards the commencement of it , the comparative truthfulness of other contributors of poetry to Household Words might seem to bo called in question . This neither was , nor could be , in the least degree his intention . He merely meant to > say that , the prevailing character of Miss Phoctek ' s poetry being more than usually subjective , the personal truthfulness of her nature came proportionately the more in view .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 26, 1858, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26061858/page/16/
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