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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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RATIONALISM VERSUS THE BISHOP OF LONDON . Nov . 13 , 1850 . Dbau Sir , —I think the charge of the Bishop of London ought not to pass away without our noticing that it very strongly confirms the theolo . ; i < - 1 Rationalist in his position . Why , I ask , should the Bishop be so much afraid of the Rationalist , if he does not clearlysee that neither current Christianity nor the constitution of the Church will bear the investigation of the free and honest understanding of man—of men who rely upon reason rather than upon churches and creeds , Popes or priests , for their faith > It is too plain to be overlooked that the Bishop ' s charge weakness confession that
contains a confession of —a prevailing theological systems ( and of the Church of England in particular ) are incompatible with the free and legitimate use of the intellect—a confession that Rationalism is so strong in the truth , so powerful in argument , as to be able greatly to damage the Church systems , if not to destroy them . Now , this is very extraordinary , for it looks as if a good and sufficient reason could not be given for either the doctrines or practices of the Church , and this i « precisely one of the positions of the honest Rationalist , who disbelieves , for the want of a sufficient reason , in the face of much positive and presumptive evidence to the contrary of what he is required to hold
as true faith . Can it be possible that the Bishop or his clergy should be afraid of the Rationalist , unless he is well aware that the foundations of his system are rotten ? For only look , what powerful aids the Church has on her side . Surely , the eight or ten millions a-year ( if not more ) should do a good deal to sustain her drooping courage . Is she not countenanced by the bulk of the rank and fashion of mighty and glorious England ? She has the Universities in her hands , where she can train her sons to the use of every weapon in defence of the truth , if the truth indeed she has in her heart . Then , again , the strong arm of the law has been often invoked in her favour . And
her people through their ignorances and prejudices will form a bulwark around her , most probably long after the Rationalists have proved with indubitable evidence that she has not a leg of truth to stand upon . Thus , while the Rationalist has nothing but the truth for his object and reason for his guide , the Church has a thousand other helps , and some of them so potent , that if she held the doctrines of either Mahomet or Confucius instead of what she now teaches , it would be astonishing if with such helps she should not be able to sustain her ground . If , therefore , there is great strength in Rationalism ,
and much reason to fear its progress , there must bo a corresponding weakness in that upon which the Church ought primarily to rely , viz ., her proofs , and especially when her position and influence is so greatly strengthened by adventitious assistance . Were it not ill-natured one might easily have suspected that the Bishop was a nationalist himself , held in connection with the church only by the powerful attraction of the loaves and fa ' -hes ; or otherwise , but for the same reason , one might have charged him with infidelity , since he appears to have so little reliance upon Divine Providence . For how else can he have been led into such a betrayal of
weakness ? As a Rationalist I feel grateful to the Bishop for the encouragement he gives us , and for the confession implied " in his charge that " Magnaest veritas et prevalebit ; " for , in the face of so many obstacles and impediments , it is difficult at times to believe that correct notions of truth and duty will obtain their just supremacy in the world . I remain , dear Sir , yours faithfully , A Theological Rationalist .
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LORD LEIGH ON CALVINISM . Manchester , Nov . 2 , 1850 . Sir , —The recent death of Lord Leigh has called attention to his now almost-forgotten poems . Perhaps you may not refuse a place in your paper to the following beautiful and earnest protest against the horrors of Calvinism , which occurs in his poem called " The View " : — " But , gloomy Calvin , how could ' st thou prevail With thy dark doctrines , and ascetic pride , Where the ripe harvest smiles along- the vale . Where glows the vintage near Lake Leman ' s tide , And all is mirth and cheerfulness beside ? Why didst thou not to northern regions hie , Or in some dreary wilderness abide ! Why spread thy faith where heaven and earth deny The truth of thy heart-withering- creed of destiny !" Sijlva , by Chanpos Leigh . H .
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POLITICAL UNIONS . Lower Russell-street , Shelton , Nov . 3 , 1850 . Sib , —Cognizant as I am of the fact that a vast amount of ignorance exists among the masses in reference to progressive ideas , I feel deeply anxious that some plan of propagandism should be adopted by reformers generally , to make those ideas fully known and understood . Ecclesiastical reformers , wiser than ourselves in this respect , have long since developed plans and constructed machinery , than
which nothing can be more admirable or complete . In each section of the religious world the means employed for propagandism are pretty near the same . Preaching , lecturing , tracts , and schools—with these the world has been turned almost upside-down . And why should not these means be employed in spreading higher and nobler sentiments ? If adopted in diffusing a knowledge of political and social principles among the people , the condition of the entire community would soon bo improved .
'Hie old system of " open-air" preaching , suggested by Mr . Creed , cannot , in my humble opinion , be productive of much good . In ruder times it might , perhaps , have been serviceable ; but in these days men are controlled more by reason than by the harangues of street brawlers and demagogues . I regard the plan of no use whatever . Truth can gain nothing by being puffed off like a quack medicine . We have had too much of this already . If reformers arc to succeed , a higher tone- must be given to their proceedings , and a wiser mode of advocacy ado 2 > ted . We must " have more to do with the head and less with the passions . Respectfully yours , " \ V . "Woolley .
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EXHIBITION OF 1851 . London , Oct . 20 , 1850 . Silt , —A clergyman of the Church of England , with the approbation of his Royal Highness Prince Albert , proposes to give a prize or prizes to the amount of 100 guineas for the best essay or essays on the following subject : " In what manner the Union of all Nations at the Grand Exhibition in 1851 may be made conducive to the glory of God in promoting the moral welfare of mankind . "
As the proposer of the prize is very desirous that full scope should be given for the discussion of the subject , and that the candidates and the public may have security for the strictest impartiality in the award , he is anxious previously to the final arrangement to avail himself of the opinions of the leaders of the public mind , and will , therefore , be extremely obliged by any suggestions from tho editor of the Leader , or his correspondents , which may enable him to present the proposition before the public in a form most calculated to accomplish the object ho has in view . Ills wish is at present at least to be Clkuicus .
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Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to eniorce them —Edinburgh Jieview .
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The publishing season has fairly begun , and our library table assumes a somewhat formidable aspect in the amount of work —( for reading to a critic is work , and not a pastime j sometimes very laborious , too)—which it warns us must be gone through . There in all the coquetry of uncut temptation lie several books which promise a recompense of delight , books which make the critic ' s task not altogether laborious , plums in the vast expanse of dough , to make the bread a
cake" Many a green isle needs must be In the deep waste of scribblery ; Or the critic worn and wan , Never thus could voyage on . Day and night , and night and day , Drifting on his dreary way . " There lies , for example , the collected edition of the Poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning — a writer , to our shame be it spoken , whose acquaintance we have yet to make , but whose reputation lends a peculiar lustre , in our eyes , to these
two handsomely printed volumes . Into that " green isle" of poetry we shall curiously wander , and report thereon in due season . Then there is Craik ' s Romance of the Peerage , completing by this fourth , volume the first series of that valuable supplement to history . For a pleasant alarm , a delightful titillation of terror , there is Sir Francis Head ' s new romance , The Defenceless State of England , wherein , we are satisfactorily shown to be an inviting" prey to rapacious France . Indeed , the weakness of Kngland just now is a matter for deep
sadness to the reiiecting patriot . The Pope has only to send over a few bishops , and " yielding Englishmen" will straightway renounce their errors to fall repentant at his feet . So much for our spiritual defencelessness . France has only to cast a longing eye upon the broad lands of her " natural enemies , " and Frenchmen are forthwith billeted in London , placing Herne Bay in a " state of siege . " So much for our material
defencelessness . Dickens has nothing more extravagant in his Sketches by Boz , the new cheap edition of which smiles upon our table . In this , his earliest work , the student of belles lettres may be interested to notice how early all his qualities showed themselves . Inferior in many respects to what he has since written , the Sketches nevertheless present a perfect image of the man , and contain memorable drolleries .
Mr . BoHN has given a grave aspect to our Table by four works , all addressed to students—Kitto ' s Scripture Lands and Bible Atlas — the third volume of Plato—a translation of Horace—and one of Cicero ' s Offices . Beside them stands the new novel , Olive , by the author of the Ogilvies—a book to captivate all women by its picture of a woman ' s life . To conclude our enumeration of
works to be hereafter criticized , ] et us mention the seventh volume of Schlosser ' s very valuable History of the Eighteenth Century ( a volume comprising an elaborate account of Bonaparte ' s career , from the Directory to the Peace at Schonbrunn ) , and the magnificent Oriental Album , which Mr . Madden has published of The Valley of the Nile , illustrated by E . Prisse , with letterpress by St . John .
A correspondent in Germany informs us of two new works above the average merit ; one is a Life of Mirnbeau , by Pivitz , of Vienna ; and tho other a novel by Alexander Jung , called Der Bet Her in St . James ' s Park , which may interest our readers by its pictures of English life by a German . A new journal , of promise , has also appeared , called the
DeiUchcs Museum , edited by Pkutz and Wolfsohn : the virile energy of these editors may be estimated by the fact that they reject all contributions from Ladies ! The avatar of the female mind in German Literature is comparatively recent , but it would appear from this interdict that tho * ' evil " has grown serious , and needs " putting down . "
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It was only last week we referred to a proposal made for the union of Literary men to petition Prussia for Kinkkl'h freedom . We have now the satisfaction of announcing that he has procured his freedom for himself—he has escaped . We are never tired of reading what Frenchmen
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THE BISHOPS OP ENGLAND AND THE BISHOPS OF HOME . Nov . i : j , la . ' . o . Siu . —Having resided many years in Italy , and sojourned in its principal cities , 1 have had an opportunity of making enquiries into the revenues of the jnvlatos of that country . You will , perhaps , be surprised to know , as I was myself to hour , that all the bishoprics in the patrimony of St . Peter ( excepting the bishopric of tho Sovereign Pontiff ) and they arc vory numerous , amount to less in value than the single bishopric of London ! Tho prelate who now rejoices in that see , or rather regality , cannot deny , aithouuh ho will not confess it , that in sixteen years
is essentially of this world . The real foes of the Church of England are those of her own household , always the bitterest and the most treacherous . I am , Sir , your very obedient servant , Phove All Things .
hehi-s received from it £ 1 , 000 , 000 sterling ! ISo inconsiderable share of this « normnus wealth accrued to him niter tho passing of the Keforrn Bill , and after the formation of the jobbing Kcclosiiistieal Commission , in which ' Charl a James , " although so interested a party , did nothesitao to take a place ! Surely national indignation , which in so loud against external impression on tho part of tho comparatively poor Church of lt : < nu \ will compel the House of Commons to make renewed and searching enquiries into the intrigues and inconsistencies < it our m WlF ¥ t 4 H % 4 Vr i ^ d , I l ' ear , trutuldiu »; church ; erunibJifl ^\) ir i ^ Uoc \ J s * jryf ^ t t'r internal divisions mid 3 orr / Tpl ^ M 1 r « v ) lT ) C ^! ij ^ . frtoErtyin her worldly system she \^ v ^ ir ¦ " ¦ ¦ & / HA ( I V ' -TV
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Laws op ISntail . —One of the greatest evils arising frtun the English laws of settlement and entail , is that they present obstacles , direct and indirect , to the free transfer and transmission of land . Land ought to pass — as Mr . Milner Gibson well said , in 1817—as freely from hand to hand as hops or cotton , tallow or tobacco , or any other article of commerce . It is s » in almost every other country under tho sun ; even in the most despotic countries . And in consequence of this facility of transfer ,
the number of years' purchase in all the better couutiies of Europe is much higher than in England . According to the opinion of an cx-convcyaiiccr and actual Master in Chancery , the number of years' purchase in almost all the better parts of Europe is much higher than in England . Mr . Senior nil ' ges ihm the principal reason for the difference of value is the different huv of conveyancing . Our system , says he , diminishes the value , and , in the land plan , excludes all small puruuusers , — British ( ixarterlt / , No . 21 .
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 16, 1850, page 808, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1859/page/16/
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