Page images
PDF
EPUB

and well instructed in the Scripture, was yet blind to the light of God's grace, and he determined to try and bring him to a better frame of mind. To this end he spoke to him, and got Tauler to promise to preach a sermon on the highest good which can belong to man, which he was to criticise. The sermon was preached, and the stranger began to criticise it somewhat severely. Tauler objected to his criticism as the criticism of a layman, and was told that there is one Master greater than all the doctors of the Church, who can instruct even the most ignorant, and that he was as yet untaught by this divine Teacher. Then his mysterious visitor gave him a golden alphabet, or series of rules for selfexamination, and besought him to test himself by these. Tauler set himself with all earnestness to the task. Fully two years were spent in severe self-mortification that his body might be brought under subjection to his reason; he was counted a madman and was forsaken by his friends, and at last lay sick, almost dying, without having found the peace he sought. Suddenly, as he lay in his cell in deep meditation, he heard a wonderful voice speaking comfortably to him, and the peace he had longed for came. Then he essayed to declare to others the peace he had himself found, but when he went into the pulpit he could not speak for weeping.

ATOMICS.

IN the question of Christian Evidence one thing is abundantly apparent ;- the writers of the New Testament thought they were recording Fact and Truth, and that they were better able to judge than we are of the evidence on which these stand, is equally clear. On a review of the whole case, one cannot but see that were Christianity false, the circumstance would be a greater miracle than that of its being true. By its being "true," I simply mean its being Divine, sufficient, and final, as a medium of Revelation, and as an instrument of salvation to the world. The very "imperfection" of this grand system of facts, precepts, and principles, in point of style and method, on the one hand; and in the matter of its ignoring science and philosophy, technically so called, on the other, so far from being an evidence that it is merely Human in its conception and execution, is really the strongest of arguments of its being the work and word of Him who esteems Uses and Ends only; and knows to perfection the adaptation of means and appliances to the purposes which they are intended to realize. The inspiration, from whatever source, which conceived and penned Christianity, evidently knew the philosophy, psychological, moral, and religious, of Man; and therefore, the requirements and ne

cessities of Men. If such an inspiration ever belonged to carpenters, fishermen, and tent-makers, it is quite certain that it does so no longer. That this class of men should ever have possessed, as natural gifts, powers of spiritual instinct, of moral insight, of speculative thought, and of general inventive intellect, such as make the very gods of Philosophy and Theology of all ages appear as nobodies in comparison, is simply a moral impossibility. One hears much about the "grand thaumaturgic faculty of Thought;" but no such faculty of itself ever evolved the Christian Scheme. How could Clean come out of Unclean; or Power out of weakness? God can equip "things that are not," with power greater than that of" thaumaturgic Thought," and demonstrably has done so. Christianity and its Accomplished Facts are the standing witnesses of this. The entire structure of the Christian system stands on the Idea as the first stratum of its foundation,-that Life is a present Vanity and a future Greatness. And the men who first acted and wrote the system believed this, counting not their lives dear unto them so that they might make the world somewhat better by their teaching, and save their own souls alive by keeping their conscience void of offence towards God and towards men. A very unlikely sort of men to write and act Lies,-very!

BRIEF NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Christian Perfection. By ASA MAHAN,
D.D. New edition. With Pre-
fatory Letter by the Author, and
an Introduction by GEO. WARNER.
Stiff wrappers, 1s.; cloth, 1s. 6d. ;
gilt edges, 2s. 6d. London: Primi-
tive Methodist Book Room.
THE doctrine of Christian Perfection
is discussed in this volume with ful-
ness, perspicuity, and power. The
author has made this doctrine a sub-
ject of prolonged study, and, what is
more, has long lived in the experience
of its truth and blessedness. Hence,
he speaks with authority, and his
words carry weight. In reading the
book we feel we are in contact with a
man who is master of his subject, who
is giving utterance to deep and solemn
convictions, and who is supremely
anxious to bring his readers to his own

way of thinking. Dr. Mahan argues in favour of the Methodistic view of Christian Perfection solely on Scripture grounds. The question he seeks to determine is, What is the mind of the Spirit as expressed in the Bible? After a careful and dispassionate reading of this book, there cannot well be any doubt as to what is the teaching of the Bible on the doctrine of Christian Perfection, nor can there well fail to be generated in the heart of the reader a yearning to realise the glorious privilege. The work is written with simplicity and directness. From first to last there is scarcely a single rhetorical trope or embellishment. The author is so absorbed with his subject, and so intent upon convincing his readers, that he foregoes all the lighter aids of fancy, and deals with

truth in its simplest and severest forms. His style, though plain, is bold and manly. It has grip, and force, and feeling. The book is well calculated to make an impression for good on all who give it a thoughtful reading; and now that there is a revived interest in the subject of Christian Perfection in our own Connexion as well as in other churches, it would be well if special means were devised to secure for such a work a wide circle of readers. We heartily thank Mr. Warner for having placed this excellent treatise within easy reach of our people, and trust they will procure and read it without delay. In the event of a new edition, which we hope will soon be called for, a few more particulars respecting the life and character of Dr. Mahan would give additional interest to the work.

Commencement of the Second Christian Epoch, or, Christ is coming. Reorganization of the Universal Church of Christ, Public Laws, and Society throughout the world. By a Christian. THE author of this elaborate pamphlet is an amiable enthusiast, good to a degree, and clever withal, but profoundly ignorant of human nature and visionary to the verge of madness. Grieved to find the world plunged in utter confusion and wretchedness despite all the efforts hitherto made for its regeneration, he proceeds to reconstruct society after a model of his own, and to enact an entirely new system of civil and ecclesiastical law, by the operation of which every wrong will be righted, every misery removed, and every good secured. Notwithstanding the ludicrousness of this projected utopia, we heartily endorse some of the author's contemplated changes, as, for instance, his disposition of church property :—

'The property of the heretofore national churches is not that of the clerics of those churches, nor of the lay members, but of the whole nation, which gave to the churches certain national advantages and parochial sup-port, with the intention that they should be those of not a part only but the whole of the people; and owing to those advantages and support, the greater part of private endowment was the consequence, and their sanctuariesand school buildings erected, and when those national churches, being accounted failures, are abolished, the property of those churches shall revert to their respective nations.' p.40.

Although this is not very clearly ex-pressed, the meaning is tolerably plain, and we hope that long before the author's utopia is established, the property of national churches-that of the Church of England in particularwill be secularized, and applied to truly national purposes.

There are not a few of the laws of

this new moral world to which, had we any say in the matter, we should be disposed to take exception. For instance, it is enacted that

'Every nation shall declare the Church of the Holy Scriptures in their totality to be its national Church, and every soul in the nation, good and bad,. be declared members of it-like as a nation declares all the natives born within its boundaries its people-noneof the people shall be permitted publicly to have any say in the matter. This necessary principle of right gover-nance shall be strictly carried out. Every soul obeying the national laws. shall be equal in the sight of the nation, and every sect be utterly ignored, and all clerical titular appelations, other than those of the national church, be declared abolished and unlawful, and punishable, as a crime,

with stripes and imprisonment, p. 39. In a reconstructed and renovated moral world, where 'common sense,' as the author assures us, has to rule in everything, we should scarcely have expected a revival of the 'Act of Uniformity,' under the operation of which our Puritan forefathers suffered 6 stripes and imprisonment,' and even death itself.

The Scriptural Mode of Baptism. Sprinkling versus Immersion. A Dialogue. By W. ROSE. London: Primitive Methodist Book Room. NUMBERS of persons are troubled about what is the proper mode of baptism, and would give a good deal to be thoroughly satisfied as to whether the rite should be administered by sprinkling or immersion. To all such we cordially recommend this tract, in which the scriptural argument in favour of sprinkling is put in a clear and convincing light.

The Kernel of Truth Stripped of its Husk; or, the Soul and Spirit of Man and their Conscious Existence in the Intermediate State: containing Remarks on Henry Constable's work, entitled Hades.' By SILAS HENN. London: Primitive Methodist Book Room.

HUXLEY, Tyndall, Morley, and others of the same school, attempt by elaborate scientific reasoning to demonstrate that man has no soul, i. e., no soul distinct in nature from the body, and destined to an immortal existence. On the other hand, strange to say, a Mr. Henry Constable seeks to reach the same conclusion by an appeal to Scripture teaching. But let us do Mr. Constable justice. He is a Christian, and believes that though death is the destruction of human consciousness there will be a resurrection of manhood to eternal life by the power of

Christ. Still, by confounding the soul with the body, and making death to be the destruction of human consciousness, he practically places himself on a level with the unbelieving scientists of the day. However much we regret, we don't much wonder, that the philosopher's attempt to reduce man to a level with the brute; but that anyone of sound mind, who acknowledges the divine authority of the Bible, should honestly believe, as Mr. Constable seems to do, that the brute theory of human nature is a Bible doctrine, excites our astonishment. The present pamphlet is devoted to a refutation of Mr. Constable's ingenious mystification. By a wide induction and faithful interpretation of Scripture passages bearing on the question, Mr. Henn conclusively proves, first, that the soul is essentially distinct from the body; secondly, that though it is of divine origin and resemblance, it is not a part of God; thirdly, that it has all the elements and attributes of personal existence; and fourthly, that it will retain a perfect conscious existence between death and the resurrection. Holiness to the Lord; a Series of Tracts. By the Rev. LEWIS R. DUNN. No. I. Holiness: What is it? The Holiness of God. Holiness in Unfallen Beings. London: F. E. Longley, 39, Warwick-lane, E.C. THIS small contribution to a literature, now becoming popular, devoted to the promotion of better religious living, is adapted to its purpose. If the other nine numbers be equal to this first the series will be worthy of its object. issue, of which we entertain no doubt, It is written in a clear, sober, scriptural style, and its doctrinal sentiments are decidedly orthodox. Attentive readers cannot fail to be profited. To those distribution of religious tracts we who are accustomed to the gratuitous recommend it as worthy of extensive circulation.

THE

CHRISTIAN AMBASSADOR.

ART. I.-BISHOP BERKELEY AND HIS PHILOSOPHY. Life and Letters of George Berkeley, D.D., formerly Bishop of Cloyne; and an Account of his Philosophy, &c. By ALEXANDER CAMPBELL FRAZER, M.A., Professor of Logic and Metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh. Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1871.

PROSEC

ROFESSOR FRAZER has rendered a valuable service to biographical literature by giving to the world this interesting and instructive memoir of the life and writings of Bishop Berkeley. Such an exhibition of the career of the great metaphysician as this volume contains was greatly needed, since, notwithstanding the philosophical greatness and moral worth of Berkeley, as well as the powerful influence his writings have exerted on the speculations, of modern times, very little has hitherto been done to preserve and interpret the facts of his life. Many important facts are, doubtless, irretrievably lost. Professor Frazer has, however, succeeded in rescuing from oblivion a great many interesting papers and incidents, collected from English, French, and American sources. The Berkeley Papers,' consisting of several volumes, in some parts almost indecipherable through age and exposure, constitute the most valuable original material disclosed since his death. It is singular that so large an amount of hitherto unpublished manuscript of the great Bishop Berkeley should remain to be given to the world nearly a hundred and twenty years after his death,' in which there is, moreover, nothing that is not fitted to add to our reverence for him: not a line has been found that is at variance with the overflowing purity and charity which marked his life.'

6

The ancestry, birth, and early experiences of Berkeley are almost veiled in darkness. All the information now extant concerning them may be given in a few words. His father, William Berkeley, is said to have been a Royalist, who was rewarded for his loyalty to Charles I. by a collectorship at Belfast in the reign of Charles VOL. XIII.-NEW SERIES.

« PreviousContinue »