635 "CONSIDER THE LILIES OF THE FIELD." ENGLISH PRIZE POEM, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, 1867, BY W. H. ELLIS, B.A., OF TORONTO, GRANDSON OF REV. WILLIAM ELLIS, OF THE MADAGASCAR MISSION. O WEARY child of toil and care, Trembling at every cloud that lowers, From every hill-side's sunny slope, The Wild-flower blooms in yonder bower, All heedless of to-morrow's storm; No busy shuttle plied to deck With sunset tints the blushing Rose: The Water Lily, pure and white, Floats idle on the summer stream- The gorgeous Tulip, though arrayed Of labour hath no share. They toil not-yet the Lily's dyes Nor India's rarest gem outvies The little Blue-eyed Grass. For God's own hand hath clothed the flowers To-day a thousand blossoms fair, From sunny slope or sheltered glade, But thou shalt live when sinks in night O faithless murmurer! thou mayest read Heaven will supply thine every need: 636 TOPICS OF THE MONTH. THE chivalrous Garibaldi, the hero of Italy, is shut up in prison-arrested by the Government of the country which he was on his way to serve, by restoring to it its ancient capital and scaring away that which has for ages been its curse-the Papal conspiracy against the freedom and civilization of the world. His cry was, "Forward, Romans; break your chains on the cowls of your oppressors, drive the priests and foreign mercenaries out of Italy, and your country will bless you.' He supposed he would thus put the top stone on Italian independence, and make his country the most glorious under heaven. Yet there cannot be a doubt that Ratazzi did rightly and wisely in ordering his arrest. Perhaps the convention of September ought never to have been made, but being made it must be kept. No pretext must be given to France for interfering in Italian affairs again. Italy has need of peace; broils inust be avoided, and the Roman difficulty must be allowed to solve itself without violence; and this it will soon do. A Government which, like that in Rome, is upheld by foreign mercenaries, is self-condemned, and it will now be the duty of the Italians to insist that the temporal authority of the Pope shall not be imposed on the Roman people against their will by French recruits. Garibaldi must go back to Caprera, and not launch any more enterprises in Italy, except at the call of its lawful and constitutional Government. The rescue of Fenian prisoners from the Manchester police van, by an organized force, armed with revolvers, and ready to shoot down all who may stand in their way, is a very serious business. It is not probable that the Fenian conspiracy has any very extensive ramifications in this country, or that it will venture on any demonstration except in the half-dozen large towns where the Irish mostly congregate; but half-a-dozen such outrages as that reported from Manchester may very seriously affect our national credit, and injure the national prosperity. For these daring law-breakers there can be only swift and heavy punishment; but how dares Fenianism to lift its savage head amongst our quiet and orderly civilization? It supplies numbers of needy adventurers with money; but they could do nothing if the Irish people loved us and loved our laws. We have alienated them, and it is hard work to win their confidence again. Give them tenant right and sweep off the Irish Church. These acts of justice must be done, and done quickly, but there will still be needed long years of good government, a generation of generous landlords, and persistent private kindness, before they will bless us with that warm-hearted affection which would have been as great a source of strength to us as their hate is now our weakness. The Pan-Anglican Synod has met at Lambeth, and may have done great things of which we are ignorant. The only visible result is, merciless ridicule of the Bishops. There were 78 of them present. All the Scotch Bishops, for, as the Times observes, people of a doubtful position in society accept all invitations, 23 Colonials, 21 Americans, 9 Irish, and 18 English10 of the Home Bench refusing to attend, including the Archbishop of York. They resolved that the best way of promoting union would be found in prayer and the cultivation of a spirit of charity. To which we devoutly say Amen, and trust we may henceforth ourselves reap the benefit of a little more charity in the Bishops and clergy of the Establishment. They also promise to seek "to diffuse through every part of the Christian community that desire to return to the faith and discipline of the undivided Church which was the principle of the English Reformation." The Ritualists say that is exactly what they are doingstriving to return to the faith and practice of an undivided church. From the ends of the earth these Bishops have assembled, and creating themselves into a synod with a greatswelling name, have discussed "letters mandatory" and points of ecclesiastical etiquette; but the divisions that are rending the Church, the assaults upon the Christian faith, the evangelization of the masses whom their ministry at present leaves untouched-every one of the great religious, ecclesiastical, and social problems of the day-they have passed over without a word. They dared not touch them. They have declared to the world that they would fain aggrandise the authority and profit of their office, without being able to perform any of the more important functions that belong to it. BRIEF NOTICES OF BOOKS. The Apologetics of the Christian Faith. By the late W. H. HETHERINGTON, D.D., LL.D. With an Introductory Notice by ALEXANDER DUFF, D.D., LL.D. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. THE subject of these lectures is one of the most important and difficult with which a theological professor can deal. In order to its successful treatment, it requires an extensive acquaintance with literature, a power to appreciate the force of any currents of thought tending to weaken or undermine faith, a broad and generous spirit capable of defending the truth without asperity or bitterness, an inspiring confidence by the candour which it displays and the freedom with which it prosecutes its inquiries. The objections to be encountered come from so many sides that the man who has to grapple with them must needs possess considerable versatility. He will have no success with those who take their stand on purely philosophic grounds, unless he possess a metaphysical subtlety equal to their own; but he must also have other qualities to meet those whose scepticism arises from historic difficulties; while those of a dreamy, imaginative, romancing character like Rénan, on whom hard, dry reasoning falls almost powerless, must need a still different power wherewith to confute them. Dr. Hetherington, like many of his fellow-countrymen, was best fitted to meet objectors of the first class. He had a clear, cool, logical mind, but his logic was apt sometimes to be rather hard, and his style somewhat dry and uninviting. These lectures are a posthumous publication, and might probably have been recast with, we should hope, the omission of some passages if he had himself prepared them for the press. We do not suppose that they will exert any very material influence upon an age like ours, which has too little sympathy with the particular style of thought by which they are characterized; still they are able, learned, and scholarly-sometimes too narrow and dogmatic in their tone, occasionally needlessly severe, but revealing considerable metaphysical acumen, great logical force, extensive reading, and a large acquaintance with some branches of the subject. The first division is devoted to Natural Theology. Dr. Hetherington gives more prominence to the à priori argument than has been the practice of most modern theologians, and he certainly employs it with remarkable skill and ability. He does not attempt to base any decided conclusions upon it, yet he insists that it has its own distinctive value, and that it is only in connection with it that a posterior reasoning acquires its full force. The chapter in which he combines the two arguments, and developes their united results, is remarkably able, and constitutes a strong, we should say an impregnable, foundation for the truth which he desires to establish. In the second part, which relates to Revealed Theology, he does not advance anything particularly new; but he discusses the subject of revelation and inspiration with great fulness, follows the history of speculation on the important questions involved, exhibits the characteristics of some modern schools of thought, tracing them to their respective sources, and examining their claims. We fully agree with him in his aversion to that excessive theorizing about the mode and degrees of inspiration by which some of the defenders of revelation have, in our judg ment, often weakened their own cause. We are not so satisfied with some of his judgments on particular men. Dr. Pye Smith, who is dismissed in a single sentence, as holding a theory almost identical with that of Dr. Henderson, deserves much more respectful and thoughtful attention than he has received; and indeed the real merit of these two divines, and others who sympathize with them, is hardly appreciated. Coleridge and Schleiermacher are discussed at greater length, and the former, in particular, meets with kinder treatment than we might have anticipated. On Mr. Maurice our author is severe, maintaining that he does little more than reproduce Schleiermacher, and that he has but little title to the laudations which he has received. Mr. Morrell comes in for a still more emphatic condemnation as a servile disciple of the German, in whose philosophy there is not a single thought which can be called his own. It would lead us further than our limits would allow were we to attempt a discussion of these opinions; but we cannot help saying that a more generous criticism would have carried more weight. We especially regret to see the very severe attack upon Mr. Macnaught. His book exerted but little influence; and, considering the subsequent history of the author, the strong censures upon him might with advantage have been omitted. As a whole, the book is but imperfectly adapted to meet our modern forms of scepticism; but it is a valuable review of the course of thought on the important subject of which it treats. Personal Recollections of the Hon. G. W. Gordon, late of Jamaica. By the Rev. DUNCAN FLETCHER. London: Elliot Stock. MR. FLETCHER, the author of this brief sketch of Mr. Gordon's life, was an intimate friend who thoroughly knew the man, and whose testimony to his personal worth is therefore most valuable. If anything could add to the guilt of the shameless injustice with which Mr. Gordon was treated, it is the cruel way in which his character has been assailed by the defenders of Governor Eyre. The admirers of the chivalrous gentlemen who displayed such remarkable promptitude and energy in suppressing a rebellion after every appearance of it had ceased, might surely be content with the blood of the man martyred in defiance of all law and justice, to quiet the fears of the panic-stricken governor, without seeking to filch from him his good name. If indeed Mr. Gordon had been all that his calumniators assert, it would avail nothing towards mitigating the harsh injustice of the treatment he received. We are not in the habit of arraigning men before courtsmartial, and hanging them, either because their pecuniary affairs are embarrassed, or because their religious life is a piece of hypocrisy, or even because their political utterances are somewhat strong and decided. If, therefore, the utmost that has ever been alleged against Mr. Gordon were proved to be true, the damning guilt of Mr. Eyre would remain the same. This little book, however, which is in perfect harmony with the testimony of men who have personally known Mr. Gordon and on whose judgment we can place perfect reliance, proves that Mr. Gordon was a man worthy of honour and esteem, alike in his social, political, and religious life. It proves, on the other hand, that Mr. Eyre's feeling against him was not of recent date, and lends additional weight to the suspicion that personal spite had not a little to do with the proceedings taken against him. There is no special literary merit |