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Why ? Because bone gives solid support to the muscles ; the mollusc has muscles , ergo , he must have bones . Ami lest any one should think this might be answered by saying the mollusea have—for the most part at least—shells , we will substitute actinia for mollusea . Actinia , or acaliphre , have no shells , no bones . Are their no-bones diffused ? Naturalists observe that nerveless animals move and feel , and conclude that they must have nerves i , but plants move and feel , and no one pretends that they have nerves . Page 625 , this extraordinary passage , obviously reprinted without alteration from the first edition . deservesnotiee : — " The composition of the skull of fishes is one of the most difficult studies connected with their history ; nevertheless it
is a subject of very considerable importance , and has recently occupied the attention of the most celebrated continental anatomists . " In a work dedicated to Professor Owen such a passage m ^ well excite surprise . A note informs us that Geoffroy Sfc . Hilaire , Spix , Rosentbal , Meekel , Bakker , Bojanus , and * t ) ken , are the anatomists referred to ; but Professor Jones must have peculiar notions of the word " recently , " if these writers are recent . Geoffiroy St . Hilaire ' s speculations bear the date o 1824 ; Spix ' s of 1815 ; Meckell 826 ; Rosenthal and Bakker (?) , Bojanus 1818 ; and Oken 180 / -43 . Agassiz and Vogt , the only recent writers we can think of , are not named .
Page 615 , the effect of animal heat upon the instincts and affeetions , is made the subject of a somewhat absurd speculation . Fishes and reptiles , because cold-blooded , are said to be " utterly careless of their progeny ; ' * but " no sooner does the vital heat of the parent become sufficient lor the purposes designed by nature * than all the sympathies of parental fondness become developed . " It is unnecessary to refute such a speculation in any more elaborate way than by opposing two facts , with which Professor Jones must be perfectly familiar : there are fishes who build nests , and take great care of their young ( the Hassar and Goramy ) ; and there are birds wh"b do not take care of their young ( . Cuckoo and Cow ^ bird ) .
Page 601 , the passage declaring that man's organisation is constructed on principles the most aberrant and remote "from those of other animals , seems to us so monstrpus , that we prefer ; supposing it misprinted , or that we do not Tightly apprehend the meaning of its language . We must not let our parting word be one of objection , however , as that would convey a wrong impression of our estimate ofthe book . We cordially commend ^ it to every lover of natural history as the best , and properly considered , the cheapest work , of the kind in our language -
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notes the anatomical coincidences of the genus . Tbe species belong * to each are still very numerous , and disputes are still as bitter as in the da ™ of Bellannme and his twenty-four adversaries . Now for the book . We open at page 3 , vol . I ., and read , " In I 555 the Jesuits first made their appearance on the coast of Abyssinia ; " and two pa » e <* further on , " But tbe mission of the Jesuits failed , and they were fonnailv recalled by a bull dated from St . Peter's , a . d ., 1550 . " Again , at p . 16 in . the same volume , " The great military captain ( against the Albisenses ) was Simon de Montfort , lord of a fief near Paris , and in right of his mother an English lady , Earl of Leicester . " Simon de Montfort , generalissimo of ' the French forces led against the Albigenses , fell in an assault against Toulouse in the early part of the thirteenth century . The first earl of Leicester was created by Henry III . in the year 1256 , several years later . There can be no glory in claiming such an A poly on for a countryman ; such inaccuracies should be from this work if it be desi
expunged gned as a standard of reference Nor are we prepared to arrive at tbe conclusion with regard to the theological doctrines of the Albigenses with which Mr . JVIarsden expresses Irimself satisfied . He asserts of the Albigenses , for example , " that Roman Catholic writers have handed them down as heretics of the Mankhsean Sclool , and that many Protestant writers have adopted and given wider circulatiou to the charge . " " Mr . Elliott , ' 1 he proceeds to say , " has , I think , clearly re-established , their orthodoxy . " It is difficult at this distance of time , and without more positive documentary evidence than we at present possess to determine precisely " what were fheir articles of belief . " Dr . Schmidt maintains , in his learned treatise , that the Albigenses held Manichscan doctrines , and the testimony he adduces seems to justif y his conclusion . Still , ifc is difficult to asce rtain what their creed really was ; it is not improbable that MSS . in the public library of Toulouse , if carefully examined , would throw more light on the discussion ; but these still lie buried in the dust of that
ancient institution , and are likely long to remain there undisturbed . But we are not left altogether in ignorance . Even the enemies of the Albigenses leave us sufficient materials to draw a not unfavourable picture of them . It is impossible to deny to this persecuted sect great purity of manners ; excessive zeal , amounting , in many instances * to fanaticism , and an tinphilosophical contempt of the Church of Rome . We may regard them as the firs * Protestants ; the earliest asserters of the liberty of thought against the spiritual tyranny of the middle ages -. they were pioneers clearing away the ignorance and superstition which choked up the avenues of the mind ; the heralds of a bright day of intelligence after a long night of anarchy and darkness—a light , like the false Aurora of the East , destined to be swallowed up in a still deeper cloud . Of the Church of Rome Mr . Marsden has an able sketch . He traces her gradual rise to power , the means she adopted , the subtleties she indulged
— CHRISTIAN CHUHCHES AlsTD SECTS . HistoryofChristian Chiurches arid Sects ; from the earliest A ges of Christianity . ~ By "Rev . J . ; .. lfc Maursdenv tyLAi Richard Bentley . Thjbres are no less than ^ fori ^ yHfour Christian Churches and septs enumerated hy ^ pSifo ^ Maicsden in the 1 work before 11 s . We do not object to this variety Mr : ^ s 0 cid | ion ::- ^ -t'hi 3 division of labonr in the * ' spiritual vineyard . " Nor do wefe ^; ^ th many earnest liu ^ morbid thinkers , that the interests of religion and pjfety suffer from this multiplicity of Christian communities . It is essentialtoo the | elucidation of truth that ¦ ¦ there should be many seeking after it , . ajicl ^ ^ at |^ ese niiquiring spirits should possess different interests , different feelw ^^ m ^ i ^ ir t ^ habitsi . of thought . So long as the question , "What is truth ? ' * re ? p ^ ns ; : ;^ ianswered with inatheniatical piecisioii , so long as it can only be atiproacbed by a series of approximate probabilities , the more minds that
am engaged in discovering it , the better . One inquirer derives assistance friptn the other ; th $ energies of each are mutually stimulated ; the intellect is sayed from stagnation—the lowest condition to which it can be reduced . ^ jrMr . Mairsd ^ n resolved , he tells us , to execute the present work ( which " Owes its existence , and something of its character , to the suggestions of Mr . Bentley" ) with the utmost impartiality . The task was not easy . I > ivest ourselves of prejudice as we may—of all conscious prejudice , in fact—we cannot eradicate those qualities—semi-mental , semi-sentialwhich force us to regard adverse opinions and tenets from a personal and singular point of view . Mr . Mavsden has very conveniently cleared the way for himself . Anticipating a charge of loose generalisation on account of the omission of some minor or rather iminimiun bodies of Christians , he prepares
tq meet it by observing— " It has , unfortunately , been the aim of ecclesiastical writers to enumerate sects which either never had a distinct existence of their own , or were merely private quarrels , or eddies in the current of unfixed opinion , which disappeared as soon as they existed . " Thus he disposes of the unmanageable societies . He then proceeds to explain that the primitive Church , notwithstanding the innumerabl e sections into which it seemed broken up , consisted in reality of only two parties—the " orthodox " and the " heretical" Christians—the latter being subdivided into the Arians and the Gnostics . Mr , Marsden continues to say , * all the controversies of the Reformation hinge upon the question of sacramental grace . " This simplified arrangement of disputed points -will doubtless surprise many who have been accustomed to hear one profession of Christians vomiting forth , the bitterest laneua <» e
agamst another profession of Christians upon dogmas that seemed hydraheaded , and to produce new subjects of discussion and invective , as , one after another , each dogma seemed to perish in the melee . They will naturally he led to ask why the spirit of charity has been allowed to suffer violence and brother to rise up against brother if the points of difference be so few ? Again , " Qat ^ jons of church governments , " we find a little further on , " " . range themselvqs , under three great types- —absolutism , mixed government , and pure democracy . " Were these premises borne in mind , the study of Church history would be less perplexing to the student ; and the real unity of the Church would frequently appear beneath external , and perhaps
needless and unjustifiable differences of form and name . At least it is a fooliah % > ng to multiply and exaggerate the differences , —after all far too many — Which unhappily disturb the great Christian family . We perfeotly agree with Mr . Modern ; but fear that the fable of the chameleon and the clown will , notwithstanding , be re-acted day by dny . It matters little whether there be * JP ^ vW " uwdre ( * points of difference—all these discussions , these shades ^^ pT ^ T * - doctrine would have a beneacial rather than nn ambiguous ™* J "JPO * jronnkmd , wpuld men but use forbearance and cease to constitute themselves ) Wte& and masters of their fellow creatures * opinions . Mr . M « rsuen , m m « * ea * to , clarify Christians of many denominations under one head
m the materials she moulded , the organisation she employed ; all and every part of her complex machinery—employed to maintain the theory— ' * that since to the pope all spiritual power had been delegated by Christ , so too all temporal power was ultimately vested in him for the good of the Church . " He follows out the result of this doctrine ; describes the security and corruption of the Church when her ambition seemed achieved ; depicts the ferocity with which , awakened to the consciousness o danger by the denunciations of I ^ uther and Calvin , she stretched forth her hand to eradicate their menacing apostacy . We are also shown how prostrate she lay at the close of the nineteenth century , and the strength she has since regained : — " In the history of the world there has been nothing more surprising than the sudden renovation of the Church of Rome . During the last half-century she seemed to be at the point of death ; she has reinstated herself in her long-lost dignities , and asserts and wield a power far less , it is true , than that which she once had , but immeasurably greater than that which she professed during the two previous centuries . "
We have not space to notice the fortunes of the Churches of England , Ireland , or Scotland , the Independents , the Wesleyans , or the other important bodies of Christians , that find a space in " these encyclopaedic volumes . " Mormonism is not entitled to be termed a Christian sect . It stands in the same relationship to Christianity with Mahommedanism . In both instances the founder of a new faith professed himself the author of a new revelation : while , at the same time , the Holy Scriptures were treated with a certain measure of respect , some of the doctrines prevalent amongst its professors arc such that devout Christiana must hold in abhorrence , and others are childish and absurd . It is a question of their future . It is questionable whether the
Mormonites will be more dangei-oua as one of the United States , or as an independent government ; for , if their demand to be admitted into the federal Union be rejected , they will , no doubt , proclaim themselves a sovereign state . They may be crushed , or perhaps exterminated ; but it seems not beyond the reach of probability that they may long continue to hang upon the outskirts of civilisation to spoil and " devastate—the MahomecUns of the AVcstcm World , " We enn see no cause wherefore they should be crushed or exterminated . Their doctrines and practices are the result of discontent mul ignorance . Why should not their union with the great confederacy bring them to reason ? Patience 13 required . The sword of persecution ia not the arm of truth .
The Oxford Tractarians . are treated under a separate bend as the Anglo-Catholics . About the ,,,, year 1833 , saya Mr . Marsden , a cry was raised that the Church of England was in danger . A conference was held at the residenco of a privato clergyman , when a resolution was passed for the support of Church principles , nnd a tract prepared entitled the ' < Churchman ' s Manual . " This was the first tract of a series which reached the ninetieth number to be interrupted by the violence of the storm it had raised . The Christian Observer , with snored gnll , stigmatised the teachings of these tracts . " The decrees of the Council of Trent , " it wrote in April , 1834 , " we not more undisguisedly Popish than these Oxford tracts . " The hdinburrjh Review , in a paper Written by Dr . Arnold of Rugby , also denounced them . Tract oighty-8 « ven put forth tho doctrine of Reservation . " The prevailing notion of bringing forward the doctrine of the atonement , " it said , " explicitly and prominently on all occasions , is evidently quite o ]) posed to what we consider the teaching of scripture . " The unequivocal and naked ox-
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203 THE LEADER . [ No , 310 , Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 1, 1856, page 208, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2130/page/16/
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