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November 27, 1852.] THE LEADER. 1143
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COltGEI'S LIFE AKT) ACTS IN HUNGARY. My ...
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Butlkr's .An J\'!,( .)(Jy ¦« . Jvloj ) L...
any thing like equal ability on our side so impervious to argument . There is nothing orthodoxy cannot " reconcile . " A week or two ago we saw how the North British Review kirned the failure of the express object of the Bible—conversion of men—into a proof of its success ; its failure proved , its divinity ; it failed not because it was not good enough { tied is the cause of failure of human books ) but because it was too good . A similar facility in turning the corner of a difficulty is . visible in every chapter of Butler . " We have seen some examples , let us notice one more . That Reason is competent and called upon to decide in matters of morality and evidence Butler admits ; but the admission carries no danger to him because he quietly denies that there are any things discernible in Scripture by Reason which can be called contradictory or immoral . There are , indeed , some ugly passages ; things which elsewhere would be grossly immoral ; he is too adroit to deny that ; but see how he turns the
corner : — " Keason can , and it ought to judge , nofc only of the meaning , but also of the morality and the evidence of revelation . First . It is the province of reason to judg e of t he morality of the Scripture ; i . ., nofc whether it contains things different from what we should have expected from a wise , just , and good Being ; for objections from hence have been now obviated : but whether it contains things p lainly contradictory to wisdom , justice , or goodness ; to what the light of nature teaches us of God . And I lenow nothing of this sort objected against Scripture , (!) excepting such objections as are formed upon suppositions , which would equally conclude that the constitution of nature is contradictory to wisdom , justice , or goodness , which most certainly it is not . Indeed there are some particular precepts in Scripture given to particular persons , requiring actions wliicTi would be immoral and vicious were it not for such precepts . But it is easy to see that all these are of such a kind , as that the precept changes the whole nature of the case and of the action , and both constitutes and shows that not to be unjust or immoral , which ,
prior to the precept , must have appeared and really have been so ; which may well he , since none of these precepts are contrary to immutable morality . If it were commanded to cultivate the principles , and act from the spirit of treachery , ingratitude , cruelty , the command would not alter the nature of the case or of the action in any of these instances . But it is quite otherwise in precepts which require only the doing an external action : for instance , taking away the property or life of any . For tnen have no right to either life or property , but what arises solely from the grant of God : when this grant is revolced , they cease to have any rigid at all in either ; and when this revocation is made Icnoion , as surel y it is possible it may he , it must cease to be tin just to deprive them of either . And though a course of external acts , which without command would he immoral , must make an immoral habit , yet a few detached commands have no such nalztral tendency . I thought proper to say thus much of the few Scripture precepts , which require , not vicious actions , but actions which would have been vicious , had it not been for such precepts ; because they are sometimes weakly urged as immoral , and great w eight is laid upon objections drawn from them . "
The intellectual dishonesty of this passage is painful to contemplate . When madmen slay their wives or children , and declare that God commanded thorn to do so , we pity the unhappy hallucination which takes away from the deed its criminality , but wo do not consider the deed justified by morality ; and what is to prevent any man from pleading God ' s command for any " doing of an external action ? " Moreover , every one sees that upon latitude of reasoning like this there is an absolute impossibility of proving any immorality in Scripture , consequently the appeal to Heason is idle . And thus is argument useless with theologians . They pretend to court it fairly ; they parade the formulas of investigation ; they call Reason into the arena , and when Reason strikes they , tortoise like , retire within the impenetrable shell of assumption and are unharmed .
Reason emphatically says that the idea of a Mediator in the theologio sense implies an essential injustice ) in the Creator . Butler , however , is ready with his h-ualogy : — " The whole analogy of nature removes all imagined presumption against the general notion of a Mediator between God and man . For we find all living creatures are brought into the world , and their life in infancy is preserved , by the instrumentality of others ; and every . satisfaction of it , Home way or other , is bestowed by the like means . So that the visible government which ( rod exercises over the world is by the instrumentality and mediation of others . And how fur his invisible government be or be not so , it is impossible to determine at all by reason . And the supposition that part of it is so appears , to say the least , altogether : is credible Jis the contrary . There is then no sort of objection , from the light of nature ; , against the general notion of a nie'diator between ( Joel and man , considered : is n doctrine of Christianity , or as : \ n appointment in this dispensation ; since we find by experience that ( jod docs appoint meelintor .-i to be the . instruments of good and < 'vil to us—the instrunientn of his justice and his mercy . "
O pe > tent analogy , what will it not prove *! Reason , pie ; re * ing through Hi is " funeral notion" of " iiiHlnnnentiility , " simply asks : TVle-diator for what ! Mediator lo whom P Mediator hy whom P And Theology answers : Mediator for our iniperlee-tiems to I lie ; civate > r e > f those ) imperfections , by hiniHe'lf ! Is il , not nionslrou . s P ( jod make's man imperfect , and then in hit < ° wn person nie * eliates lo his e >\\ n nici-cy for that ini |)<* rleel ion ! IkVeluce'd thus | , o i ( . simple ) logical e >\ pressie > ii the * eloetriiu * e > f mediation becomes out rageous to Reason ; but , The > ole > gy line Is no eliflie-ult y in " re'eone-iling " that , or anything e'lse * . Nay , Butler any a thai , there ) in no Ibive * in the <> l > je'e ;| , ion tliul ,
• ho doctrine which represents nism as being in n lost and fallen stale is inconsistent with the : divine goodness . Our answer is tlinl , even the supposition Unit not < n 'ly iu : m but , the whole creation inusl , have been lost bill , for ( Joel ' s remedial inter'" I't'iicc , « iO «/(| f 1 lo f , f / ltV ( , [ tV ( . y iucoji .-iis / n // . with (/ od' . i goodness . And if ho , then "" ich less the former . " ft wa , R only ineM-ey saved e-ivafion from the wmtb of its Creator ! 'je > l , tho reader imagine ) that he place \ s 11 , youiifr e-Iiild of his own inn tooth full of various objeelM to elelig lit him , at the Name * time strictly enjoininnr HU 1 | , || , (> ^ 1 , 11 , 1 | jlV ( , , [„ , j | | , untonelied . Ho knows the lonel" < 'mh of l . lie child for jam , and will be * |> l < 'ane-el if the * child have * Hiilliciewit " "ml Ntrenfrl . l , I ,, ,. ; . j H | , | , | u , lemntation . That in a , " trial . " Hut now ^ 'Ppono a very artful , persuasive * lx > y bo allowe * el f , <> Join the eihild , uuel . te ) l' * i * rfc all h \ H e ' Joenienco and artifice in making the child disobe * y tho
paternal command ; suppose the child to succumb to the temptation and eat the jam ; what would be the father ' s feelings ? Ungovernable wrath at tho child or at the tempter P Would he disown that child and turn ifc into the streets , because its appetites were stronger than its sense of duty ? Add to this supposition the further supposition that the father knew beforehand how the boy would tempt his child , and how that child would succumb in spite of his " freewill" and " moral responsibility , " you have then an analogy" with the scheme of Man ' s original Sin which requires a Mediator ! We shall give but one more sample . It has generally been thought , by men not having " made up their minds , " that , considering the vital importance of belief in Kevelation as a necessary step towards salvation , Keason would suggest the necessity of that Revelation being universal , whereas fact declares that it is partial . To Butler this is no difficulty : —
" Then those who think the objection against revelation , from its light not being universal , to he of weight , should observe , that the Author of Nature , in numberless instances , bestows that upon some which he does not upon others , who seem equally to stand in need of it . Indeed , he appears to bestow all his gifts with the most promiscuous variety among creatures of the same species : health and strength , capacities of prudence and of knowledge , means of improvement , riches , and all external advantages . " Although Butler has written an elaborate Treatise , we will do his honesty the justice of doubting whether his mind ever clearly appreciated the nature and value of analogy , for in the instance just quoted , as in so many others , an ordinary logician would point oiit to him that , in truth , Monmouth and Ma ' cedon were of equal analogical force . God bestows
health , beauty , happiness upon some and not upon others , ergo , he may be presumed to bestow eternal salvation on some and eternal damnation on others . There is no respect of proportions in this distribution . Because a father gives a knife to Johnny and a ball to Tom , he is not justified to turning the unoffending Dick into the streets to starve ! And this element of " proportion" is violated in the ordinary analogy between temporal and eternal punishments . Vice is said to entail punishment upon the third and fourth generation ; and truly so . Drunkenness in one generation becomes gout in the second , scrofula in the third , consumption in the fourth , and so on . That is to say , Nature's laws are inviolable .
But what analogy is there—what pi'oportion is there between the consequence of drunkenness , L e . gout , and the consequence of disbelief , i . e damnation ? And let us ask if gout be the proper punishment on the child of a father's drunkenness , ought it to be extended to the child whose father never touched wine ? By which we mean , if damnation be the proper punishment for us who reject Kevelation , ought it to be extended to those who , never having heard of Revelation—Mahometans , Hindoos , and others—cannot have committed the sin of disbelief ? And finally , if disbelief be a sin , why was the Book not so convincing as to insure belief ? human books accomplish that !
We close here our remarks on this greatly overrated work , with tho hope of having done some service , by bringing it face to face with the religious questions of to-day . Next week we shall print a selection from the Xetters of Correspondents on this subject , and beg those of our readers who elesire to say a word in defence of Butler to do so now , as we cannot re-open the subject .
November 27, 1852.] The Leader. 1143
November 27 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 1143
Coltgei's Life Akt) Acts In Hungary. My ...
COltGEI'S LIFE AKT ) ACTS IN HUNGARY . My JAfc . and Acts in ILungary , in the Tears 18-1-8 and 18-19 . . By Arthur Oorgei . Two vola . ' ' Bogue . A Refutation of some of flic Principal Nisstalcmrnts in Gorget ' s " TJfe and Acts . " liy George Kinety , lute General in tho'Hungarian Army of independence . Cash ( lute Gilpin ) . [ SECOND AltTICTiK . *] No sooner had Corgei obtained the command of the army of the Upper Danube ' , than he began to elream of the . Dictatorship . Control was always hateful to him ; his instine ; ts were arrogant ; he * was , in this respect , a counterpart of Milton ' s Satan , to whe > in it ; weemed"llelter to re'irni in Hell than serve in Heaven . "
Ce'ii'gei denies that , be rve'r ehvame'd e > f e > btaining the * elictatorship for himself ; ami so far as you can inter from supeTlteia ! faefca , bin denial aeMMiis te > he justified . j < W instance , lie \ vre > te a . Letle'r to ( be Committee of Delenceem Ihe 11 th of . Ne ) veinbe r , 1 S-1 , S , in which Ik * threw out the iele'a of savin"" the country by a die'lale > rshi |) ; but then Ik ; ingeniously insinuate'd bis own name in erlose * e'Oimexion with that , idea . Jv . eeent eve'nts , Haul ho , have * ( aught , us tho necessity ed" unity ; and unity , Ik * eietntinueMi , e : tiu only be obtaiiu-d avImmi the e-onfidence * of tlie * nation " e ^ oncentratcH in w /« 1111111 . " in the * ne'xf ; paragraph hi * aelels , that those' men wlio have ; " placeel the
grea . le'nt purl , ofl . be * 11 niigai-inn army under Ihe orders of a nuvre private * inelivielual , " erould besf , determine * whclber tin lime for the ; elie'tatorslnp bad arrived . It is probable t hat , Corgei bad not . in 1 HIS , ye * l , shapeel enit to himself into cle-arness the * baton of I be' eliclatoras something to grasp at ; but , tlinf , il , bovereel . he fore ; him , lih <* ( he' elajj ; ge * r bedon * Macbeth , is 0111 V toe ) obvious fremi the * follow 'ing elaborate * e'd ' oi't , maele * in the' ejnie'tuele ; e > f K lageMifurth , to e * e ) nvine * e I be * re'nelei" ( bat , be waH nof , ambitieniH . TheTe * is a whe > le ) e * hfipter of sue'li writing . The re-aeler must mule'i'stand that ( u ' irge'i has de \ Mcribe * el he >\ v . Austria was waiting te > strike the * last decisive ; blow at I lungary , anel elestmy her- —a . fate * v \ bie'li , althexigh inevitable * , she * was bonnet in honour not lo await on her kne'en : — " I Hce'ined to have ! biu'ii elestine'el to be one * of its lust lenders ; anel though ne > - Ihing less tlmn a nal ionnl einthusiast , ye'l , the grandeur oi" ! he situation filled me to sucli si elegies with the * ieleu oi' iele'iitifying my personal honour us a i ' reei 111 : 111 with that of ( lie nut ion , I luit it soon !> cc : iinr my leading ; sen I inieiit . "It wns this idea evspe'eiiilly which ol'len niiiele ihe employnient ul' extre-me'l y strict- nay , even hiirsh nieiisure-s , jippeur lo me to \ ir . n . < lwty ; anel j ) re ) babl y tliei involuntary |; h ' : uning of this ielea ilirou ^ h tl' <> inystciioiis g loom wliieh e e ) nee * iile ; el the ; motive's of my lu'tions in addition to my renmrlcable ) t . ae'ituniity in < le'eisivo moments linel eiillcd into e xis ( . e * nee * tlie iilinost siijn'i-i ; l . i ( . ieniH e'onliele-ne'ei with wliierh the ; nation—so unilornily and to the last deceived in ivgnrel | e > it , s despe * ml , e < - <> i »« li-* See ) Louder , No . I ' M .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 27, 1852, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27111852/page/19/
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