On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (7)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
.
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .
Untitled Article
We have this week to record the melancholy and abrupt termination of an honourable career : Truth has lost a valiant soldier in Charles Hennell , the author of an Enquiry concerning the Origin of Christianity , and of a treatise entitled Christian Theism : works which , although they have obtained no very extended publicity , have , we believe ,
powerfully contributed to the progress of that spirit of truthful , plain-spoken , philosophic investigation into theological subjects observable in the publications of the last dozen years . Charles Hennell was a manly writer , elaborating- his views with care , and expressing them without equivocation . He has been called the English Strauss , but he merited
" Ni cet exces d'honneur ni cette indignite * ; " and his writings , if less erudite and brilliant , are less open to cavil , and more irresistible in their onslaught upon the hoary edifice of traditional dogmas . Charles Hennel was only forty-one years of age . But he had not lived in vain . We could have " better spared a better man ; " for he was of that race of Workers who feel " How dull it is to pause , to make an end , To rust unburnished , not to shine in use . As thouah to breathe were life I Life piled on life Were all too little . "
Aged forty-one ! What a life was before him wherein to fight that awful battle for which he had matured himself ! Arrived at the serenity of manhood , having left behind him all the turbulence and all the tentatives of youth , he stands , consciously strong , prepared to enter the arena , when , lo ! in another instant the great Shadow falls upon him , and sorrowing friends , and scattered grateful readers learn with mournful surprise that all is over !
Untitled Article
The talk of the day , as far as literature is concerned , seems mainly about Alton Locke , which has , indeed , " thoughts beyond the reaches" of a novel of the season . We believe that its authorship is pretty well ascertained , indeed , the secret from the first was not rigorously kept ; but we will only so far withdraw the veil as to intimate that the author is a clergyman of the Church of England ( all honour to him !) , and one of the small but energetic and thoughtful party , lovingly cheered by those who demand an effective church , but considerably dreaded by bishops , and those whose conception of the church as a " mother" is inalienably identified with that of the church as an " old woman . " This
fact of clerical authorship is not without significance . Apropos of Alton Locke , let us not forget to mention that its reviewer in the Athenaum winds up his hearty appreciation of the book with this plain-spoken adherence to the master principle of Socialism : " We believe that in * association' will be found the cure for the miseries produced by * competition ; ' that ' association' is the watchword of the new order of things which is beginning . The age of individualism is passing away . " We wish to take no unfair advantage of an
opinion promulgated by one of the contributors to fasten on the Athenamm the advocacy of a cause which , as a journal , it certainly does not avowedly support ; but we cannot help pointing to the indications of the progress of Socialist views which almost every day brings to light , even in quarters where one would least expect to find them . Let the Press fulminate as it will against Socialism , there is no disguising the fact that Socialist ideas arc gaining explicit avowal and illustration in the very Press itself which thunders at or scorns them . In
papers , in reviews , in magazines , in pamphlets , and in the endless fermentation of private talk , the principles of Socialism meet one at every turn . If any one could but hit upon some happy name which should intelligibly express what is now indicated by Socialism , without the drawback of obloquy which clings to that word , so that men who now hold back mainly because they are afraid
of being called Socialists , might frankly give in their adherence to principles which they do really entertain—if any one , we say , would invent such a word he would be conferring an unmistakeabie benefit . The effect may in some measure be estimated bv those who notice how willing many are to be called " Spiritualists" with Parker , Newman , Froude , Foxton , &c , who , nevertheless , would
shrink from avowing themselves to be" Infidels ;"though as far as the meaning in use of the word " Infidel" ( not its etymological signification ) can reach , so far does it apply to the " Spiritualists . " In Religion and Politics an epithet is an argument ; a nickname is the best of syllogisms . Call aloud from the housetops that such or such an opinion " leads to Atheism , " or that such a proposition means " pillage , barricades , and reigns of terror , " and your victory is certain , for you enlist upon your side the fears of thousands , and Fear is a summary Logician !
Untitled Article
THE MOSAIC SABBATH . Tlie Mosaic Sabbath ; or , an Enquiry into the Supposed Present Obligation of the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment . By a Layman . Chapman and Hall . Did not universal experience of the logical obliquity of theological polemics , especially on the part of the Low Church party , tell us too plainly that the demonstrations which would be irresistible to the honest intellect of man are perfectly idle and ineffective—that Truth , the plain straightforward Truth is never , under any circumstances , the object
soughtthat black is white , and daylight darkness , if the prejudice require it—that , in short , any proof , or culmination of proof which may be brought forward against an accepted dogma is flatly denied or shamelessly evaded by those who defend the dogma , —we should say to all Sabbatarians " Here is a little treatise of fifty pages which completely and for ever settles the whole question , and which has all the rigorous demonstration that the question admits . " the
Indeed , it would be impossible to believe integrity of the man who , after a careful reading of this pamphlet , still maintained the Sabbatarian argument , were it not that , unhappily for religion and for the world , the warp given to the judgment by religious feelings is so powerful as to deprive the intellect for the time of its natural freedom and activity ; so that contradictions the most flagrant , notions the most degrading , and logic the most pitiable , co-exist with great vigour of intellect and moral elevation in other
topics . We have little hope , therefore , of the author ' s making any impression whatever on Lord Ashley and his friends ; but to the waverers , to those who are still uneasy at finding any religious party strongly opposed to them , we cordially commend this treatise . It begins by proving that the Decalogue was addressed specially to the Jews , and was not intended as obligatory on Gentiles ; having disposed of this , he adds : —
" Such internal evidence is there that the Decalogue was intended solely for the use of the , Jewish people . Of the force of this evidence , in one of the instances of it , our Church makes once a-week an ample , though only an implied confession , by the voice of her officiating ministers , when , in performing the Communion Service , they proclaim from the altar , * God spake these words , and said , I am the Lord thy God ; thou shalt have none other pods but me . ' Now these are not the words which God spake and said . They are , * I am the Lord thy God , which have brought thee out of the land of house of thou shalt have
Egypt , out of the bondage ; none other gods but me . ' All that God thus said relating to his deliverance of the people to whom he spake from the yoke of their Egyptian bondage , is omitted in the commandment as given out from the altar ; and is so , most assuredly , for this reason , and for no other , that the suppressed passage relates only to the Jewish people Yet , this passage , being a part of the words which God spake , and occurring as it does in the very middle of the sentence which God spake , the officiating minister is , by the forms of the Church service , made to say , in effect , that which is false . True it is , that God did speak the
words which the minister repeats , but equally true is it that God spake others also : and what , I ask , would be thought of the witness who , in giving testimony to that which ho heard another person say , should state very faithfully a portion of what was said , but for a purpose of his own omit lo state the whole of it ? Now , the passage in the commandment omitted by the minister , because it relates only to the Jews , is omitted for the purpose of turning the attention of the congregation aside for the time from the inference which might otherwise present itself to them , that , the Decalogue was addressed to and intended for the Jews alone . "
The external evidence is all the same way . We extract tho following : — " The judgment or statute of the Fourth Commandment , in particular , seems to have been specially withheld from nil other nations , and exclusively reserved to the children of Israel ; for the Sabbath enjoined by that commandment was to be a sign , which was to distinguish them as a chosen people and a holy nation . In the thirty-first chapter of Exodus wo read : ' And tho Lord spake unto Moses , saying , Speak thou also unto the children of Israel , Raying , Verily my 8 abbaths ye shall keep : for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations ; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you . Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore ;
for it is holy unto you * ( v . 12-14 ) . ' Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath , to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations , for a perpetual covenant . It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever' ( v . 16 , 17 ) . * * *„? .. * . * " The language used in regard to the Sabbath is similar to that which is used in regard to other Jewish festivals . The covenant of which the Sabbath was to be the sign is spoken of as a perpetual covenant with the children of Israel throughout their generations—a sign between God and the children of Israel for ever . In like manner it is said of the Feast of Unleavened Bread : « Ye shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread ; for
in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt : therefore ye shall observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever' ( Exod . xn . 17 ) . Yet no Christian doubts but that , upon the promulgation of the Gospel , the Feast of Unleavened Bread , although directed to be observed as an . ordinance for ever , ceased to be obligatory upon the Jews , and never became obligatory upon Christians . By parity of reasoning , the duty of observing the Feast of the Sabbath , which was to be a sign between God and the children of Israel for ever * was , upon the promulgation of the Gospel , no longer obligatory upon that people , and could not become obligatory upon Christians , unless revived by anew command , which it never was . "
The question then arises : " Is the Decalogue rendered obligatory upon other nations by any passages of the New Testament r " The answer is a conclusive Negative : — " When * one came and said unto Jesus , Good Master , what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life ? * Jesus said * If thou wilt enter into life , keep the Commandments . He saith unto him , Which ? ' Alt the Ten , we may justly presume , would have been the answer , had Christ designed that the whole Decalogue should survive the Mosaic dispensation . Instead
of this he replied , ' Thou shalt do no murder , Thou shalt not commit adultery , Thou shalt not steal , Thou shalt not bear false witness , Honour thy father and thy mother , and , Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ( Matt . xix . 16-19 ) . Now , the Fourth Commandment is excluded from the list of those of the Ten Commandments which Christ enumerated as essential to be observed , and , consequently , there is the strongest reason for believing he intended that this commandment should not become obligatory upon all mankind when his Gospel would be preached to them . "
The way in which this argument is pursued by the author is a fine example of masterly induction , and the success is triumphant . We have space only for the following : — '•• ¦ " On the supposition that the Fourth Commandment did become obligatory upon the Gentile converts , it would inevitably follow that those converts did , in obedience to the commandment , observe a Sabbath . Is such the fact ? I am not here speaking of the sanctification of the seventh
day by prayer and religious instruction , but of a Sabbath in the proper sense of the word , a Sabbath observed by entire abstinence from work throughout the day , works of necessity and charity excepted . With this explanation of my meaning in the use of the word , I ask : Did the first converts from the Gentiles , the converts made in the Apostolic age of Peter and Taul , observe a Sabbath ? They did not . This the Sabbatarians know full well , and therefore never hazard a direct assertion that they did . . _ . _ . ... 11
Whether the Fourth Commandment remained in force with the converts made from the Jews , is a question in which we of the Gentile race are not essentially concerned , yet it deserves consideration . It is antecedently in the highest degree probable that no difference would be made , in this respect , between the two sets of converts . But we have no need to rel y on mere probability . The question is decided by the indisputable fact that St . Paul , himself a Jew , did not , after his conversion , believe that he continued under the obligation to observe the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment , and that , consistently with , the belief that he was no longer under such obligation , he , in his EpiMle to the Colossians , in the passage recently cited from it , forbids the censuring of any man on account of his not being an observer of Sabbath-days . "
Untitled Article
LIFE OF EBENEZEIt ELLIOTT . Life , Poetry , and Letters of Ebenezer Elliott , the Corn-law Jtht / nwr : with an Abstract of his Politics . J 3 y his son-in law , John Wat kins . Mortimer . In the slight autobiographical sketch that opens thiB volume wo have a picture of the poet ' s early life , which makes us deeply regret that it ceases so suddenly ; carried onwards in the same style it would have made a charming volume . As it is , the main features of tho poet ' s mind are distinctly drawn in these scanty pages , and they serve to make his
writings more intelligible . We cannot extend the same praise to the style in which his biographer has oxecuted the task , for , although he hns produced an agreeable volume , he has scarcely added anything in the shape of biography to tho brief sketch just mentioned . Criticism occupies an altogether disproportionate space , and the impatient reader demands biography , not anthetics . Probably , there was but little to tell ; and that little neoded the autobiographical form to make it interesting . Ebenezer Elliott was born at tho New Foundry , Masbro' , in , the parish of Roth erham , on the 17 th March ,
.
tntxbixixt .
Untitled Article
Sew . 14 , 1850 . ] W ^ t & ****«» ^ 693
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 14, 1850, page 593, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1853/page/17/
-