صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني
[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

Essayists now find in the numerous Magazines and Reviews the best field for their writings, and few essays are published independently; those of Hazlitt, Lamb, and Foster, however, belong to this period. Ruskin has acquired a wide reputation as an able writer on the principles of Art. Carlyle may perhaps be best described as a satirist, his works being rather directed against the follies and fallacies which pervade human conduct, than towards the construction of any definite moral or social system of his own. Written in a very peculiar style, which in his own hands lends additional emphasis to his views, and probing to the bottom important questions, which are often indefinitely solved or taken for granted, his works have been of essential service to his countrymen, and have exercised a wide influence over the progress of thought in Britain. The various works of Isaac Taylor have enjoyed an extensive popularity, to which their depth of thought and eloquence of expression well entitle them. It would be improper to conclude without referring to the Encyclopædias, Dictionaries, and other serials which exist in such abundance, and employ so many literary labourers at present. Of these there may be mentioned as the most important, the "Encyclopædia Britannica," the "Penny Cyclopædia," and the "Cyclopædia Metropolitana; " the various Dictionaries edited by Dr Smith; and the numerous Libraries and Miscellanies which have at various periods been issued by Constable, Murray, Longman, Bohn, and other enterprising publishers.

SELECTIONS.

I. WILLIAM PALEY.

WILLIAM PALEY was born at Peterborough in 1743, and after the usual preliminary education, which he received from his father at Giggleswick, in Yorkshire, he removed to Cambridge. At the university he greatly distinguished himself, and was fortunate enough to form a connection with a son of the Bishop of Carlisle, which procured him ample preferment when he entered the Church. In 1785 Paley issued his "Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy," which, from its clearness and good sense, obtained a very high degree of public esteem. Five years after, he published his "Hora Paulinæ," the most original of his works, in which, by pointing out numerous incidental and undesigned coincidences between the Epistles of Paul and the Acts of the Apostles, he brings out, in the clearest light, the genuineness of both, and thus introduces a new and very powerful argument for the truth of the Christian Revelation. In 1794 appeared his "View of the Evidences of Christianity," one of the most popular of his works, and for which he was rewarded with valuable Church preferment, especially with the lucrative living of Bishop-Wearmouth; and in 1800 he issued his "Natural Theology," which he composed during the quiet intervals of a painful disease, and for which he had been obliged to study anatomy. His malady still increased in violence, and cut him off in 1805. As a writer, Paley is distinguished (as Dr Chalmers has well remarked) by his having no nonsense about him he never mystifies his readers with metaphysical jargon; never indulges in professional declamation, but goes straight to his point, which he establishes with irresistible cogency of argument. Hence, though some minor matters have been sometimes considered objectionable, his works are pre-eminently fitted for ordinary readers, and for the purposes of instruction.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

1. EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF CHRISTIANITY FROM THE MANNER OF OUR SAVIOUR'S TEACHING.-(" EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.")

Next to what our Saviour taught, may be considered the manner of His teaching, which was extremely peculiar, yet, I think, precisely adapted to the peculiarity of His character and situation. His lessons did not consist of disquisitions; of anything like moral essays,

EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF CHRISTIANITY, ETC.

413

or like sermons, or like set treatises upon the several points which He mentioned. When He delivered a precept, it was seldom that He added any proof or argument; still more seldom that He accompanied it with, what all precepts required, limitations and distinctions. His instructions were conceived in short, emphatic, sententious rules, in occasional reflections, or in round maxims. I do not think that this was a natural, or would have been a proper method, for a philosopher or moralist; or that it is a method which can be successfully imitated by us. But I contend that it was suitable to the character which Christ assumed, and to the situation in which, as a teacher, He was placed. He produced Himself as a messenger from God. He put the truth of what He taught upon authority. In the choice, therefore, of His mode of teaching, the purpose by Him to be consulted was impression; because conviction, which forms the principal end of our discourses, was to arise in the minds of His followers from a different source, from their respect to His person and authority. Now, for the purpose of impression singly and exclusively (I repeat again, that we are not here to consider the convincing of the understanding), I know nothing which would have so great force as strong, ponderous maxims, frequently urged, and frequently brought back to the thoughts of the hearers. I know nothing that could, in this view, be said better, than "do unto others as ye would that others should do unto you;" "the first and great commandment is, thou shalt love the Lord thy God; and the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." It must also be remembered, that our Lord's ministry, upon the supposition either of one year or three, compared with His work, was of short duration; that, within this time, He had many places to visit, various audiences to address; that His person was generally besieged by crowds of followers; that He was sometimes driven away from the place where He was teaching by persecution, at other times thought fit to withdraw Himself from the commotions of the populace. Under these circumstances, nothing appears to have been so practicable, or likely to be so efficacious, as leaving, wherever He came, concise lessons of duty. These circumstances, at least, show the necessity He was under of comprising what He delivered within a small compass. In particular, His Sermon upon the Mount ought always to be considered with a view to these observations. The question is not whether a fuller, a more accurate, a more systematic, or a more argumentative discourse upon morals might not have been pronounced, but whether more could have been said in the same room better adapted to the exigencies of the hearers, or better calculated for the purposes of impression? Seen in this light, it has always appeared to me to be admirable. Dr Lardner thought that this discourse was made up of what Christ had said at different times, and on different occasions, several of which occasions are noticed in St Luke's narrative. I can perceive no reason for this opinion. I believe that our Lord delivered this discourse at one time and place, in the manner related by St Mat

thew, and that He repeated the same rules and maxims at different times, as opportunity or occasion suggested; that they were often in His mouth, and were repeated to different audiences, and in various conversations.

It is incidental to this mode of moral instruction, which proceeds not by proof, but upon authority, not by disquisition, but by precept, that the rules will be conceived in absolute terms, leaving the application, and the distinctions that attend it, to the reason of the hearer. It is likewise to be expected that they will be delivered in terms so much the more forcible and energetic, as they have to encounter natural or general propensities. It is further also to be remarked, that many of those strong instances which appear in our Lord's sermon, such as, "if any man will smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also ;" "if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also;" "whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain ;"though they appear in the form of specific precepts, are intended as descriptive of disposition and character. A specific compliance with the precepts would be of little value; but the disposition which they inculcate is of the highest. He who should content himself with waiting for the occasion, and with literally observing the rule when the occasion offered, would do nothing, or worse than nothing; but he who considers the disposition and character which is hereby inculcated, and places that disposition before him as the model to which he should bring his own, takes, perhaps, the best possible method of improving the benevolence, and of calming and rectifying the vices, of his temper.

If it be said that this disposition is unattainable, I answer, so is all perfection. Ought, therefore, a moralist to recommend imperfection? One excellency, however, of our Saviour's rules is, that they are either never mistaken, or never mistaken so as to do harm. I could feign a hundred cases in which the literal application of the rule, " of doing to others as we would that others should do unto us" might mislead us; but I never yet met with the man who was actually misled by it. Notwithstanding that our Lord bade His followers "not to resist evil," and "to forgive the enemy who should trespass against them, not till seven times, but till seventy times seven," the Christian world has hitherto suffered little by too much placability or forbearance. I would repeat once more, what has already been twice remarked, that these rules were designed to regulate personal conduct from personal motives, and for this purpose alone.

I think that these observations will assist us greatly in placing our Saviour's conduct, as a moral teacher, in a proper point of view; especially when it is considered, that to deliver moral disquisitions was no part of His design-to teach morality at all was only a subordinate part of it; His great business being to supply what was much more wanting than lessons of morality, stronger moral sanc tions, and clearer assurances of a future judgment. The parables of

ADAPTATION OF THE COVERING OF BIRDS, ETC.

415

the New Testament are, many of them, such as would have done honour to any book in the world: I do not mean in style and diction, but in the choice of the subjects, in the structure of the narratives, in the aptness, propriety, and force of the circumstances woven into them; and in some, as that of the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the Pharisee and the Publican, in an union of pathos and simplicity, which, in the best productions of human genius, is the fruit only of a much-exercised and well-cultivated judgment. The Lord's Prayer, for a succession of solemn thoughts, for fixing the attention upon a few great points, for suitableness to every condition, for sufficiency, for conciseness without obscurity, for the weight and real importance of its petitions, is without an equal or a rival.

From whence did these come? Whence had this man His wisdom? Was our Saviour, in fact, a well-instructed philosopher, whilst He is represented to us as an illiterate peasant? Or shall we say that some early Christians of taste and education composed these pieces, and ascribed them to Christ? Beside all other incredibilities in this account, I answer with Dr Jortin, that they could not do it. No specimens of compositions which the Christians of the first century have left us authorize us to believe that they were equal to the task. And how little qualified the Jews, the countrymen and companions of Christ, were to assist Him in the undertaking, may be judged of from the traditions and writings of theirs which were the nearest to that age. The whole collection of the Talmud is one continued proof into what follies they fell whenever they left their Bible; and how little capable they were of furnishing out such lessons as Christ delivered.

2. ADAPTATION OF THE COVERING OF BIRDS TO THEIR CONDITION. (“NATURAL THEOLOGY.")

The covering of birds cannot escape the most vulgar observation. Its lightness, its smoothness, its warmth, the disposition of the feathers all inclined backward, the down about their stem, the overlapping of their tips, their different configuration in different parts, not to mention the variety of their colours, constitute a vestment for the body, so beautiful, and so appropriate to the life which the animal is to lead, as that, I think we should have had no conception of anything equally perfect, if we had never seen it, or can never imagine anything more so. Let us suppose (what is possible only in supposition) a person who had never seen a bird to be presented with a plucked pheasant, and bid to set his wits to work, how to contrive for it a covering which shall unite the qualities of warmth, levity, and least resistance to the air, and the highest degree of each; giving it also as much beauty and ornament as he could afford; he is the person to behold the work of the Deity, in this part of His creation, with the sentiments which are due to it. The commendation which the general aspect of the feathered world seldom fails of exciting, will be increased by farther examination. It is one of

« السابقةمتابعة »