it produces, when indulged in, an unconscious self-deception; the pious emotions which are expressed with some warmth and tenderness are transferred to the reader's own mind, and soon the pleasing glow is mistaken for the outcome of genuine personal religious feeling. There is also a real danger to the religious life of many in that suspension of intelligence which afflicts them whenever they take up a religious or devotional work. Their wish to become as little children misleads them, and they forget that no spiritual gain is possible, unless the understanding (we do not say the strongly ratiocinative faculty) is co-operating with the heart. The St. James' Lectures on the Devout Life will have the effect of a punkah upon the close atmospheres of some religious circles. They will stir a wholesome current of intelligent thought; and the more earnest lover of devotional books will be thankful for fresh light which makes the work of his choice more intelligible. They will learn to give a fitting place to their books of devotion—to regard them as helps, but not to make them directories of their consciences, to use them as companions, not as masters of the devout life. As companions for quiet hours, they will be especially valuable in an age like our own, with its "provocations to mental restlessness" and "distraction," if those who read them will remember the caution urged by Dean Goulburn, that Holy Scripture is all-sufficient for the uses of spiritual life (p. 49). Our space does not allow us to speak of the lectures separately, still less of those widely circulated works of which they treat; but we cannot do less than thank all who have contributed to this thoughtful, temperate, earnest-spirited volume. We might think that one exaggerated the value of human aids to spiritual life, that another showed too great fondness for systematizing and subjecting the soul-growth to an over rigid bondage, that some of these manuals have been too unreservedly commended; but, on the whole, the spirit which pervades the lectures is as judicious as it is genial and sympathetic. He CANON BARRY'S BOYLE LECTURES.* The distinguishing feature in Dr. Barry's book is that he refuses to stake its truth on a single line of evidence. insists that the evidence for religion, whether natural or revealed, is cumulative, or rather, as he elsewhere describes it, and as we should certainly prefer to call it, converging. Whether we take the universal consent of mankind, or the law of causation, or the evidence of design, or the theology of the imagination, of the conscience, and of the affections, as Dr. Barry describes them, these six lines of proof all converge towards one common centre. On the very lowest assumption, even the most careless outlook on life suggests, to use Mr. Matthew Arnold's rather fantastic phrase, that there is a stream of tendency which makes for righteousness." But this taken by itself would only raise a faint presumption that a personal God is the source from whence this stream springs and towards which it flows. It is when we go farther and compare distinct lines of proof, as Dr. Barry has done, and see that they flow towards one common centre, that we conclude with something like certainty, that this centre is a personal God. The question whether a number of separate probabilities will together make up a proof is determined by these two conditions:-1. Whether the probabilities are seen to converge; and 2, whether the matter is one calling for practical decision, and in which, as Dr. Newman has pointed out, it is our duty to decide one way or the other. If the presumption does not point in one direction, or if the question is only one of speculative interest calling for no action of the will, in neither case may we hope to attain to anything like a state of conviction either as to the Being or Character of God. But if on the other hand He has not left us without witnesses, both within and without, all pointing on and up to Him as their author; and if a voice within or a call of duty appeals to us to act on even the feeblest presumptions, and to stretch forth our lame hands of faith, and to worship even at the altar of an unknown God rather than not worship at all; in this case religion becomes so highly reasonable that the attitude of agnosticism is morally inconsistent, and even intellectually irrational. It is the same inconsistency which Bishop Butler pointed out when he described the case of a man active and earnest in the affairs of this life, one of whom it might be said, as of Brutus, quicquid vult valde vult, who *Boyle Lectures, 1876. What is Natural Theology? An Attempt to Estimate the Cumulative Evidence of Many Witnesses to God. By Alfred Parry, D,D, Principal of King's College, London, Canon of Worcester, and Honorary Chaplain to the Queen. London: Christian Knowledge Society. + Compare the interesting passage in h s Grammar of Assen, "Where only two ways of alternative action are possible the practical decision may be the same, whether on demonstrative or probable evidence, whether on low or high probability. The difference will lie in the amount of enthusiasm we can throw into our action and the amount of sacritice we are ready to make for it." was nevertheless unable, because unwilling, to decide in matters of eternal interest. The sceptic, to be consistent, should carry his theories of Maya or delusion into common life, and if they fail him there, he should ask himself why he is prepared to leave, and how far he is justified in leaving, the whole question of the hereafter dependent on a perchance. We could have wished that Canon Barry had given greater importance to the will as a factor in all determinations which are moral as well as intellectual. Bishop Butler and Pascal, in dealing with the Pyrrhonists of their day, do not omit this element of will, without which a judgment never can rise into a conviction. While touching on the theology of conscience, Dr. Barry treats of it more from the intellectual side, as Syneidesis or Synteresis, not as the main-spring of moral action, and so the true source of belief in God. Since it is the state of the will and affections which conditions faith and makes it possible or not, we cannot but regret this omission in a work which is in other respects of great value as a clear and cogent statement of the converging proof of religion. THE CHRISTIAN CREED.*-We heartily welcome Professor Stanley Leathes' simple and useful lectures on the first and best of the Creeds. Recited, as the Apostles' Creed is, Sunday after Sunday, we know how readily the mind slips into a kind of slumber, and the familiar words are mechanically recited. A wholesome wish to question their meaning is preferable, Professor Leathes thinks, to an unreasoning acquiescence: "nothing can be worse than stagnation of thought; to teach a man to think for himself is the ultimate object of education." In the course of these lectures we meet with suggestions which we believe will be found helpful to many. Thus the word creation is often supposed to imply an act performed once for all. Professor Leathes would rather understand it of "an act in progress." There is no analogy" (the words must not be taken too strictly) "between God's making the world and a man's making a watch or any other complex piece of machinery. For as soon as a man has made a watch his work is done, and it will continue to perform its functions; but this is not دو the case with God's piece of mechanism, the universe. The universe when called into existence cannot go on of itself for a single moment without Him; nay, more, it is even now in process of formation (p. 51). Parallel to this thought is that which he presses on our notice respecting the judgment; that judgment (whatever else it may include) is "the manifestation of character"-"the true and inevitable issue of character will be revealed in the judgment to come" (p. 269); the meaning of the fact of responsibility will be “ revealed both to the personal conscience and to the world at large" (p. 245). THE JEWS IN RELATION TO THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD.+-This volume of Lectures is indicative of a wish to bring about a better understanding on theological subjects between the Jew and the Christian. The approach is here made in a kindly and impartial spirit. Though touching necessarily on controversial points, there is not the faintest trace of acrimony; there is even a straining after fairness of statement which seems now and then to fetter the writers and to produce some obscurity of language. Some of the lecturers are perhaps hardly possessed of the qualifications needed for the full treatment of so difficult a subject; but some on the other hand show not only force of reasoning but an unusually wide acquaintance with Jewish literature and modern Jewish thought. Looked at as a pioneer effort in a new direction, we think this volume worthy of all commendation. KINGSLEY'S SERMONS.-We have here, as it appears to us, the ripest fruit of Kingsley's genius. Even to those who most loved and honoured that generous and ardent soul during life-time, we believe that these sermons will come with an altogether unexpected force and beauty; and to those, if there are any such, who are still unacquainted with his writings, we could recommend no better commencement of their studies than the present. A man after God's own heart," is the thought that rises within us as we read the two Trinity Sermons, the sermon on the Comforter, that on Good Friday, on the Love of God and Man, on Courage, on Father and Child, on the Peace of God, and indeed many others in this golden * The Christian Creed. By Professor Stanley Leathes. London: Hodder and Stoughton. The Jews in Relation to the Church and the World. A Course of Lectures. London: Hodder & Stoughton. All Saints' Day, and other Sermons. By Charles Kingsley. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co. 1878 volume. The crudeness and the self-consciousness of earlier times have all but disappeared; it is a prophet who stands before us uttering in burning words the deepest and truest thought of our generation on the greatest of all subjects. NONCONFORMIST SERMONS, &c.*—The subject of the first of these volumes is the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the treatment is quite worthy of the preacher's great reputation. His skill is equally remarkable in dealing with critical questions, in setting forth the meaning of the text, in enforcing Christian doctrine, and in educing practical lessons. As might be expected, he loses no opportunity of combating sacerdotalism, and he cannot pass over in silence the question of Church and State, which now seems to have become an essential part of the Gospel according to the Nonconformists. Dr. Allon's sermons are long and elaborate, sometimes a little redundant through amplification, but all manifesting great ability, and showing a wide grasp of the subject of which they treat. The sermon on "The Vision of God" is full of excellent reasoning and noble thoughts. Its teaching is that man longs above all things to see God, and this longing Christianity promises to satisfy to the utmost. It promises "a full, undivided manifestation, a Divine Pleroma, a true Pantheism." This takes place through the Incarnation, which may be the supreme expression of something in the Divine nature, and which may be possible in virtue of some affinity of human nature with the Divine. This is the best sermon in the volume, but we would especially commend one on "The Voices of God," and another on "The Sorrows of Development.' Mr. Palmer's volume is not of equal value with Mr. Dale's or Dr. Allon's, and even more than the latter it is open to the charge of diffuseness and amplification. His object is to set forth the importance of the temptation of Christ in the scheme of Redemption. To be the Restorer of the race it was necessary that He should be tempted like other men. The subject generally is well discussed, and excellent lessons are drawn from it. 66 Mr. Mark Evans, as we should infer from the tone of his book, is a liberal Nonconformist-liberal in his theology, and also in his bearing towards the National Church. He is less orthodox than the other three writers, and, perhaps on that account, has more freshness and originality. He essays boldly some of the greatest problems of religion and of human life, and with as much success as some others have done. The ordinary beliefs of orthodox Christians are sometimes roughly handled, without a due appreciation of the truth which may be in them, and of their beneficial influence on those who hold them. There is, however, a great deal of truth well put in Mr. Evans' book. It is divided into six chapters on the "gospels" respectively of "Fatherhood," "Sonship," " Worship," "Sorrow," " Work,' The Hereafter." The fact of the existence of religious aspirations in man is the ground from which the author starts, and his inquiry is if reasonable satisfaction has been provided for these aspirations. Recent systems are reviewed, and are found as unsatisfying as the orthodox beliefs. First is what is called Christian Pantheism, which is said to rest on the law of beauty. Then we have Mr. Matthew Arnold with his "power not ourselves," the duty of obeying conscience and following the best we know. This is said to rest on the law of order, and as it does not satisfy man is called "a miserable burlesque of a gospel." A third is the physical science which promises to show the Deity through the microscope, or rather the no-Deity, for "in the vibration of indivisible molecules is the cause of all phenomena." After showing how these fail he points out that it is the religious sense which alone demands a conscious object for its reverence and love, and thus grasps the unseen and the eternal. Home life furnishes the ideal of fatherhood. It is the sacrament of the fatherhood of God. In the gospel of ideal sonship," we have the revelation of the Father. Jesus is the manifestation of ideal Bonship. If we imitate Him, realize His sonship in ourselves, we shall find the way to the Father. Christ is regarded as Himself the revelation in opposition to systems which are described as founded on what He said and did. The remarks on miracles are very good, and so are many other things in the volume, but a still wider grasp of the subject is required, and one that will do more justice to the" orthodox" beliefs. What we may call the practical part of the book is a summons to more The Jewish Temple and the Christian Church. By R. W. Dale. London: Hodder & Stoughton. 1877. home religion, more worship in the family where the home relations become sacraments of our relations to God. The father and not the priest should be the teacher of religion, and its true home should be the house rather than the church. GEORGE DAWSON'S PRAYERS AND SERMONS.*-Of these two volumes, the one containing the prayers and collects is very decidedly the best. There is not, so far as we can judge, a single community of a distinctively Christian character, in which these would not be pronounced catholic. We must make a reservation with regard to the majority of the Unitarian body, who of course would object to the phrase, through Jesus Christ our Lord," or its equivalent, which frequently occurs at the close of these prayers. "This we ask as disciples of Jesus Christ," is a common formula with them, but in Mr. Dawson's prayers, the commendatory clause (if we may so term it) is so used that it would satisfy the most orthodox of congregations, though there are a great many prayers in which it is omitted altogether. On the whole, we are not in the least surprised that the book is in its fifth edition; for while the devotional exercises which it contains are, as we have said, Catholic in tone and phrase, they are, in the recent somewhat peculiar sense of the adjective, intimately and decidedly, if not intensely, human. The only thing, indeed, which could for a moment be supposed by even the most jealous of orthodox critics to suggest the faintest flavour of what is frequently called unsoundness is a certain assertiveness in this particular. The "humanity" is abounding, overflowing; the speaker speaks, indeed, face to face with God, but he is never far away from the emotions and topics of the earth: the harvest, the sea, the sky; art, love, labour, frailty, patriotism; that mingled yarn of life of which Shakespeare said our virtues would be proud if our vices whipped them not. The moral tone, both of the sermons and the prayers, is often severe, but never strained. The spirituality, though constant, is not even stretched. In spite of the vicissitudes of his career few men changed so little as George Dawson did. We had some personal knowledge of him when he was about seventeen, and at that age heard him lecture. We also heard him lecture almost immediately before his very sudden death, and thought to ourselves, as we listened to him, "Except the rapidly-silvering hair, there is no change, save what happens to all artists as they grow older, a tendency to emphasize peculiarities." He spoke just as fluently, without notes, when a mere lad, as he did at thirty, at forty, at fifty. We have rarely detected him in even such half-certain signs of a breakdown of memory as are only visible to the expert eye. We watched with harmless amusement one special case-he had evidently forgotten the name of a river—there was just one blink of the eyelids, the river was passed over as " a certain river" (which did very well), and the lecturer went on with the usual consummate ease. George Dawson, as is well known, started from Nonconforming orthodoxy, and began preaching long before he had reached his majority. We recall in certain addresses of his at about that time many a sign of mental uneasiness. As a man, he was exceedingly free, open, and friendly-more so than any man we had ever happened to know among distinctly religious people. His confidence in himself was great, but not unwarranted; for he was also very cautious in statement, and attempts to trip him up always broke down. From the time at which he went to his first " charge" at Birmingham, his story is public and familiar. His sermon at the opening of the church built for him, the "Church of the Saviour,' was, one may say, modelled upon a tract by the Rev. J. Crompton, M.A. (once a Unitarian, and always a free religious thinker), entitled "Christianity without Sect" (printed at the Oberlin Press, Warrington). But Mr. Dawson never appeared to aim at strict intellectual consistency;-at all events, his sermons and his prayers abundantly prove that either he never reached it, or did not heed it. At one epoch in his career he was much under the influence of the later German transcendentalists, and he never unlearnt some of the lessons he learnt in that school. Without a good deal of "non-natural interpretation, such as is not to be learnt elsewhere, his deliverances upon doctrinal points cannot be made to adhere. By way of illustration, we need only ask any inquisitive student to attempt to make sense of some of the prayers, in face of the dicta contained in the sermons on the subject of miracles, and on that of the sufficiency of the natural light. The fact • Prayers. With a Discourse on Prayer. By George Dawson, M.A. Edited by his Wife. Fifth Edition. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co. Sermons on Disputed Points and Special Occasions, By George Dawson, M.A. Edited by his Wife. Second Edition. London: C. Kegan Paul & Co. is, though Mr. Dawson tells us that when once he had untied the “ parcel" of his early beliefs he could never tie it up again, he could never get away from use and wont, and out of pure affection for the essence of the things signified constantly employed signs whose strict value he did not care to measure. In the passage we are about to quote from one of his prayers, it will be observed that he thanks God for the commandment to keep the Sabbath. That he did not believe, except in the non-natural sense which, for example, Mr. W. G. Clark could not endure, in any such commandment, historically taken, is certain. Yet who would suppose this from his language?— "We bless Thee that we have escaped from what has been surrounding us all the week -those great tyrannical necessities of everyday life. Give us to see this day the things that are not seen-1 -the great mysteries of God. We bless Thee that this day the hammer rests, and the toils of men cease; and we would pray Thee that Thou wouldst make this nation wise to know the mighty blessing of the rest-day that Thou hast given us. Let us meditate upon the beautiful teachings of the commandment: Six days shalt thou labour, the seventh day shalt thou rest. For that commandment we thank Thee. We bless Thee for a day when the bondsman may not be ordered to work; for a day when the craftsman can cease from labour. Teach this foolish generation the importance of a day of rest, knitting up the ravelled sleeve of care' and binding up the wounds of labour and of toil. Let us keep this quiet day; blessed day for the spirit; the great teaching-day, wherein we receive lessons and give them, the day when we ask about eternal things; the day when we can gather round the Cross, and hear of those things that our busy world will not let us hear of on other days; a day to lay down the fishing-net, and to listen to what the Master may say unto us; to forsake the streets, and gather round the temple-steps. Bless us by making us wise; and make us thankful for this Sabbath-day, and enable us to keep it holy unto Thee." We quote the petition with the most unreserved sympathy, and wish "this foolish generation" would take it to heart. The sudden introduction of a quotation is truly characteristic, and the whole passage a very fair illustration of some of our comments. It must be remembered that both the Discourses and the Prayers are largely taken from notes, and extend over nearly thirty years. So much pains have been taken to mark all quoted words that it may not be unacceptable if we mention that we noted a line and a half from Wordsworth, about the burden of "this unintelligible world,” which had no inverted commas. |