On this page
-
Text (2)
-
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
THE HOME OFFICE AND THE " SAINTS " "g Plain truth uttered from the Home Office is a novelty so rare that it has naturally cast dismay far and wide . The Presbytery of Edinburgh proposed that the people of Great Britain should approach the Throne of Grace in order to beg immunity from the consequence of sin , while they were persevering in sin . And in order that their dictation might be adopted
by , the country , they proposed that Lord Palmerston should constitute himself a fugleman for the people in that illogical , not to say impious act of presumption . In accordance with the spirit that hitherto prevailed on such subjects , while an imperfect religion shrank from the light of science , it has been the custom to acquiesce in such demands almost as a matter of course . But there are circumstances which
render it peculiarly unsuitable at the present moment . Amongst the immediate causes of cholera is the general apprehension on the subject , which , like an hysterical affection , creates the very evil that it dreads ; and any national recognition of cholera as engendered by causes possessing a supernatural character would have given an excessive impulse to that proximate cause . The efficient causes of health and disease , in common with other questions of science , are better understood than they were , even ten years ago > especially in their general relations ; and there is a striking
absurdity in suggesting supernatural causes when the palpable causes are evident to all the senses , as they are to the cultivated judgment of our own day . To pray for exemption from cholera , while we permit its active incentives to lie around us , is to imitate the barbarism of those who view the comet with superstitious awe , or those who imprisoned Galileo for too great freedom in proclaiming the laws of positive science so far as he comprehended it . Wlen Galileo stood alone , with an establishment and society against him , it was easy to laugh at him , especially after he had grown old , had been imprisoned and coerced . But at present the Galileos are many , and the
adherents of Galileo , as a body amongst the educated classes of society , outnumber the leading members of any sect whatever in the United Kingdom . Every Minister , therefore , who . renders himself the servant of an obsolete superstition like that adopted by the Presbytery of Edinburgh , renders himself ridiculous in the eyes of that educated class—ridiculous and contemptible aa a man rendering subserviency to a low and debasing influence which he does not share . The difficulty of that subserviency becomes the greater , when a man ' s own intellect and conscience share in the contempt ; and at last this higher view hag become so powerful , that it utters from the Home Office a declaration of plain , truth .
Many journals have now noticed this letter ; and when they have done so it lias of course been in the sense and spirit of our day , with exceptions- —the exceptions also being a matter of course . A pious bi-weekly paper—pious , that is , after the old fashion which disparaged Providence , and ascribed to Divine authority all the mistakes and bad passions of mankind — that journal of old piety has of course attacked the Home Secretary . It was bound to do so
exofficio , as the organ of a superstition and a party in the Church of England , whoso existence is incompatible with tlio general recognition of the truth proclaimed from the Homo Office . That journal pronounces it " aa indecent ebullition of epicurean atheism . " At this rate ono might string epithets together without end . Wo might call the article " a disgraceful ofTervcsconco of Calvinistio dnemonism ; " but tho uso of epithets advances no argument .
In order to prove its candour , the Record calls to mind that it has paid tribute to Lord Pahnorston ' fl " versatile genius and consummate abilities ; " and there is one characteristic reason for the lovo which our contemporary bears him— . " tho Jbatrod with which ho was viewed by tho Papists , who regard him aa tho enemy of tho Jesuits throughout Europe . " It is this memory of hatred and enmity which peculiarly touches tho Christian boart of tho Record .
The letter it declares to bo " painful and disgusting ; " and wo do not wonder that it is ho to tho JRecord . It abolishes that canting conformity with long-enduring superstition , and puts an end to thoso forms wliich have too long disgraced this country ; tho JRecord and its party aro identified with tho maintenance of supcrfltitioua uses , and a oath-warrant is always " painful and disgusting "
to the condemned . We have no doubt that the final Hck which St . George gave to the dragon was pronounced by that scaly individual " painful and disgusting . " ' . " -& , •' The Record disputes the premises of the &amburgh letter . It cannot deny , of course , that the Maker of the Universe has established certain laws of nature for the planet in which we live , or that the weal or woe of mankind depend upon the observance or neglect of these laws ; " for , " says the JRecord , " it is no doubt true that Allaws
mighty God governs the universe by certain which it is our $ rivilege and duty to stttdy . " But here the censor uses his exclusive intelligence , altogether superior to that of the Home Secretary . " It is not true that in establishing these laws , the Lord has abdicated the sovereign control , or left his purposes to be carried out by the blind operation of second causes . " JN " , to repeat the phrase of our contemporary , " this sentence contains both truth and falsehood . " Does the Christian writer mean to say , that the Creator never works by second causes ; for if so , we have
to ask , what do theological wr iters mean by referring to " instruments" ? Are these instruments blind , or have they some partnership in the transaction ? O ur contemporary will not be inclined to affirm the partnership , and must be content with the passiveness . But there is a deep falsehood in the sentence which implies that Lord Palmerston had asserted the abdication in question : the implication is the reverse of truth . On the contrary , the whole spirit of the letter indicates the constant sustaining of the
universe by a living decree , under a law from the Divine Euler- —without a hint of " blindness , "without a hint of independent power in secondary causes , — -without a hint of anything but that there is a law , and that it must be obeyed under pain of direct consequences for disobedience . " Is it reverential , " says the JRecord , repeating this falsehood— " is it decent to speak of these second causes as omnipotent , certain to breed pestilence , and be fruitful in death ? " as if Lord Palmerston
had ever said that second causes were " omnipotent . " Of course they are not : it is the solemn levity and blind daemonology of the Record which associate the idea of omnipotency and of secondary causes . " Does Lord Palmerston suppose , " asks our contemporary , " that atmospheric influences , the excessive rains , the disturbance of the electric fluids , have had no influence on the progress and malignity of the cholera ? " Of course he does . Lord Palmerston knows as well as any one else , that excessive rains predispose to pestilence ; disturbance of " tho electric fluid "—if it is a
" fluid , " but our contemporary seems more fluent than accurate in his scientific nomenclature—is among the probable predisposing conditions ; and , of course , be would not deny , that an " influence " may have an influence . The critic wishes to escape from the more distinct examples of pestilential causes , such as specific gaseous exhalations , into the misty region of meteorology ; where still superstition may dally with science . But second causes have their effects , whatever may bo tho original law which gave thorn vital action . If you put your finger between tho joints of a door ,
and squeeze it , you know that your hand will get black and blue . If you take a doso of chloroform , you know tho consequences . There is an impiety in irrcvcrentially dragging in higher causes for comparatively simple effects . It is not wo , but tho Record , that drags " tho finger of God" into these questions . Second causes have their known effects , and we may anticipate thoso effects , without ascribing " ommpotonoy" to tho chloroform or tho door , as tho Record accuses Lord Palmerston of doing . Our contemporary , however , makes his
admis-: — ''' Shall thoro bo ovil in a city , and I liayo not < lono it V aro wonla before which the faithful trornblo . They do not , howover , discard moans . They will oven rocoivo Lord I ' almoraton ' B robuko « ih justly applying to many partfi of tho ^ country ; but th « y will not coaso to call upon our rulorH to ponnit a national prayer to ho offered up , iu » d a national fast to bo'observed , to nhow boforo God and tho natioiiH , that wo aro not all Epicuroan infidelo , or worshippers of blind olianco ; but that , oh for ub and our house , wo aro dotorminod to ervo tho Lord . "
Tho Record admits thafc wo must do certain things , but in connexion with prayer and dependence on God . Lord Palmerston did not deny tho connexion ; but ho Raid , do not lot us pray for immunity whilo we disobey . It is & ¦ in ^ ch more
trusting dependency on God which teaches us to obey his laws , thoroughly confident that whether the result be life or death , in the ordinary sense of these words , the true result will be life everlasting . The Record admits that LordPalmerston ' rebuke justly applies t 6 many parts of the country , but it says " they will not cease to call upon our rulers to permit national prayer to be offered up ; " another falsehood , implying that Lord Palmerston has prohibited national prayer . If the nation he moved to prayer , its prayers will rise , and no act of his as fugleman could give force or common life to that petition . ' But the fact is , that with a . better understanding of our duties , we are beginning to perceive that men may pray in act as well as in word- —better in act than in word ; and it is by acts conforming to the laws which , they should obey , that they earn the virtues of obedience in the divine blessing . That is the true faith uttered from the Home Office , confirmed by the whole array of intellect in the present day . And our day , let it be observed , is memorable if only for this , that whereas intellect and reli gion have been considered as things divorced , 'the great strength of living intellect has now been directed to reunite religion and science , and to make science the means of more distinctly comprehending and obeying the laws of God .
Untitled Article
CITY PROPOSAL FOE OBSEQUIES TO PRINCE ALBERT . It is an old fiction of allegorical moralists to represent some fatal influence as brought to a favour ite hero in the most tempting form . "When Sir Guyon visits the Bower of Bliss , a comel y lady presents to him a cup which she declares is to confer immortal youth , but which is really an incentive to corruption , and all its consequences . The poisoned chalice comes with flattering aspect , but not less bitter are the efforts of swallowing it . In like manner the City of London approaches a . hero of our own day—Prince Albert , with a complimentary proposal to raise a statue to him . The Lord Mayor is the lovely dame who confers this tempting dainty , but it is the well-known " poisoned Challis , " and it is probable that the virtuous and sagacious Prince will decline to quaff . There are indeed many reasons why a statue might be erected to Prince Albert . In the first place , we all like him , and we are disposed to have the portraits of those we esteem . Every U , omeo of our own day likes to have a photograph of his Juliet ; and Juliet of course desires to commemorate her Homeo , and why not Britannia her Albert ? The impulse is as pretty as it is natural . All Romeos are not goodlooking , and policy as well as modesty may sometimes throw hesitation upon compliance with the demand of tho too fond Juliet . But in tho present instance there is no such objection . Tho Prince cannot allege his ugliness or unseemly figure as a reason for declining tho invitation , and amongst Metropolitan statues it would bo agreeable , if only on the score of variety , to have a good-looking original . After the statue ot George tho Third , so remarkable for tho comprehensive extension of tho horse ' s tail—or that of Pitt , perennially extending his nose in tho direction of Gcorge-stroot , or that of tho Duko ot York , who is mounted bo high to be out of tho way of his creditors , it would not bo unplcasing to have tho effigy of a man who so frankly meets his countrymen face to face , and has lent an agreeable countenance to so many meritorious works . . . But reasons also present themselves against liaving a statue of tho Prince—at least you There aro many men to whom such a compnmont should bo paid . Indeed , when tho forpignor visits London , ho is struck with the conspicuous absence of Groat Englishmen from the prominent , thoroughfares of the Metropolis . Ho has rci a in history of our Shakespeare and our Milton , our Alfred and our Coour do Lion , our Uom- . well and our Blake , our Caxton and our W » W but when ho arrives in London ho finds us lw «« of those groat men , and discovers only a ? " . boadlo like his Majesty George tho Hard , oi clovor administrator as presiding genius ot hoi not-much-iroquontod square . In tins . f ™* statuesque sacrifice to patriotism seems , to . nav drawn tho lino at Major Cortwnghfc . lho 10 « » long list of track men to whom a statue is due , »« much older debt . Lot tho Prince bo placed m tU « list and welcome ; but how many hundreds cttgw ho would stand wo would rather leave to a readier arithmetician to reckon . We aro about to ereou
Untitled Article
1068 THE LEADER , [ Saturday ^
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 5, 1853, page 1068, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2011/page/12/
-