British Quarterly Review, American Edition, Vol. LIII / January and April, 1871

by Various

We have on previous occasions given considerable space to the remarkable movement in Hindu thought which is known to us under the above title. Some of these lectures, notably that on 'Jesus Christ—Europe and Asia,' have long been before us, and offer a remarkable sign of the effect produced on Indian society, by the truth of Christ's life, and its sublime ideal of conformity with the will of God enshrined in the Gospels. The lack, the negation, the blank in the theology of Mr. Sen need not be wondered at. This is a very different phenomenon from a similar mental position when adopted by a professedly Christian teacher. These lectures and tracts will receive special attention in consequence of the recent visit to England of this remarkable man, whose obvious earnestness and passionate yearnings after the regeneration of India have produced so deep an impression. We do not in the least sympathize with the hasty disposition shown by some to accept Mr. Sen as a prophet of an undogmatic theism, nor with his somewhat arrogant address to English Christians from certainly very small acquaintance with them and their work. All that he knows of the higher life of faith and true holiness, and all the stimulus that his own moral nature and Hindu society have received of late years, are so conspicuously due to the indirect effects of missionary labour and Christian teaching, that his disposition to ignore the source of the new light that has flooded his soul is unsatisfactory in the extreme. At the same time, we do rejoice at the moral dignity and spiritual ideal and religious exercise which he is proclaiming to his countrymen. His protest against Pantheism, his grasp of the idea of 'the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man,' of man's sin, and need of regeneration, of man's dependence, and need of faith and resignation, of self-sacrifice and prayer, are very instructive. But let us clearly recognise the position assumed by him, that Hinduism and Mahometanism are themselves, in some purified form, to 'harmonize and form the future Church of India.' The words of Jesus or His Apostles are often quoted by him with respect, as something 'excellently and wisely said,' but there is no acknowledgment of fealty to the Lord, no Gospel but what he calls 'the Gospel of Divine mercy,' based upon his own intuitions and experiences.

'The true faith,' which is expounded in a series of apothegms arranged under a variety of headings, is intended to appeal to those who are accustomed to the style of some of the best of the sacred books. There is much that is most excellent and Christian in its tone of feeling, beautiful and attractive in form, lofty in conception and ideal, as were the meditations of Antoninus. He and his friends reveal the potent influence, the pungent leaven, the grain of mustard seed, that has been cast into the Oriental mind. They are feeling after God and finding Him. God has given them by His Spirit some faith. May it daily grow to more and more!

Christus Consolator. The Pulpit in Relation to Social Life. By Alexander MacLeod, D. D. Hodder and Stoughton.

Ad Clerum. Advices to a Young Preacher. By Joseph Parker, D.D. Hodder and Stoughton.

A Treatise on the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons. By John A. Broadus, D.D., Philadelphia. Smith, Elder, and Co.

The literature of homiletics is becoming almost redundant. It is singular that every man whose business it is to teach this difficult science is dissatisfied with the text-books and manuals that his well-meaning predecessors have prepared for him, and tries his hand at a new one. We cannot see any very sufficient reason for the work of Dr. Broadus. It is neither better nor more comprehensive nor more helpful than the well-known treatises of Vinet, Kidder, and Shedd. It is not so philosophical as M. Vinet's, nor so erudite as Dr. Kidder's, nor so rich and suggestive as Dr. Shedd's. It goes over the old ground in very much the old way, and tells some of the old stories, and gives much the same old advice. Those who can work by rule, and who thoroughly trust the rule-maker, will find the subject carefully and exhaustively but not energetically treated by Dr. Broadus. The contrast between Dr. Broadus and Dr. Parker is great. The 'Advices to a Young Preacher' are racy, caustic, and stimulating. They are not confined to the great theme, but wisely condescend to give useful hints on little things. The personal allusions to living men, the astounding eulogiums passed by Dr. Parker on some of his brethren, the withering satire pronounced on others, the conversational criticism on certain printed sermons, and the familiar epistolary offer to all and sundry to send the respected author a sermon to criticise, almost take the breath out of one's mouth, and certainly remove the volume from the range of ordinary literature. The specimen prayers introduced by the author, though very excellent in their way, appear out of place. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, the book is full of strong and wise advice. Here is caricature and broad farce, and extreme exaggeration and violent personal attack under assumed or blank names, all of which are strangely out of tune with the manly and reverent tone of the author when he touches the deepest themes. A preacher of such high reputation and undoubted success must be listened to by young preachers with great interest. Dr. MacLeod's volume has greatly delighted us. Seldom have the high functions of Christian truth, and the possibilities of the pulpit, been more powerfully or more candidly put. We wish that some of the unsuccessful men whom Dr. Parker grinds to powder, would ponder with the aid of this volume the sublime work which may even now be within their reach. Dr. MacLeod has described with singular power and freshness 'the preacher as an Elevator, as a Healer, as a Reconciler, as an Educator, as a Liberator, and Regenerator.' Under these several headings he has touched the sorest places in our social life, has carried a torch into some of the darkest chambers of human sorrow and need, and has shown the mission of Christianity and the function of its minister with conspicuous success. Dr. MacLeod is wise and stringent, moreover, in his condemnation of those who only preach fragments of the truth of God. His rebuke has a loving, helpful peal in it, which makes the heart soft, and calls aloud for higher effort and more consecrated zeal. There is neither common-place exaggeration nor rasping personality; it is full of wisdom, strong sense, and earnestness.

Culture and Religion in some of their Relations. By J. C. Shairp, Principal of the United Colleges of St. Salvator and St. Leonard, St. Andrew's. Edinburgh; Edmonston and Douglas.

The volume before us consists of five lectures delivered by the principal of the United Colleges of St. Leonard and St. Salvator, on a theme of high interest, at a time when the elevating process indicated by the rather vague term 'culture' bids high to supersede the divine claim and authoritative sway of religion. Professor Shairp, though dealing with the relations of culture and religion in a vein and manner suited to popular address, reveals on every page his own deep sympathy with the paramount claims of religious truth and the spiritual life of man, and a large-hearted appreciation of those aspects of 'culture,' which its exclusive advocates imagine never to have shed their light on deeply religious minds. With great dexterity, if, in the present case, such a term is applicable, our author shows that starting from a fair definition of 'culture,' 'it must embrace religion and end in it;' and on the other side, that Christianity is the great harmonizing principle of human affairs, bringing one region of human cultivation after another under its sanctifying influence 'to reconcile all true human learning not less than human hearts to God.' In lecturing on the 'scientific theory of culture,' our author exhibits the ideally educated man on Professor Huxley's theory, and quotes and criticises the celebrated comparison drawn by him between the liberal education he demands, and the acquaintance which an imaginary chess-player should possess with the laws of the mighty game with nature, on the success of which his fortune and his life depend. Mr. Shairp has shown with great beauty and force of expression, that if there were no other than the fixed laws of this game determined by scientific investigation, 'men would be more than ever driven inward, and their natural selfishness be tenfold concentrated and intensified;' that for the 'tender conscience' which Mr. Huxley postulates as an element in wisely playing this great game of life the 'theory' makes no provision; and indeed that such conscience, though the highest part of a man's nature, would be no help, but a hindrance, to any successful issue of the struggle. The scientific theory of culture leaves out facts of our nature which are as certain, though not so apparent, as any fact which science registers. With fine appreciation of all the excellencies of Mr. Arnold's theory of culture, which he designates as literary or æsthetic, Mr. Shairp contends that Mr. Arnold has erred in his estimate of what the spiritual energy really is in which our highest good is to be sought, 'has made that primary which is secondary and subordinate, and made that secondary which by right ought to be supreme.' He argues with much force, that the first great commandment 'cannot be made subservient to any ulterior purpose;' that religion is either a good in itself or it is not a good at all. We have not space to describe the remaining lectures on 'Hindrances to Spiritual Growth' and 'Combinations of Religion and Culture.' The volume is charged with weighty suggestions.

The Witness of St. John to Christ; being the Boyle Lecture for 1870; with an Appendix on the Authorship and Integrity of St. John's Gospel, and the Unity of Johannine Writings. By the Rev. Stanley Leathes, M.A. Rivingtons.

This is the third series of Boyle Lectures delivered by the Rev. Stanley Leathes. In the first and second series, the author dealt with the witness of the Old Testament, and that of St. Paul to Christ. In the volume before us, he pursues a similar method; and taking nothing for granted, not even the genuineness of the fourth Gospel, nor the inspiration of this, or of other portions of the New Testament, 'he does not assume that its conception is true, but he does affirm that if its message is fraught with substantial truth, certain results will follow, and—do follow.' In the appendix, there is an effort made to grapple with the question of the genuineness of the fourth Gospel, and to meet the difficulties raised by Dr. Davidson, the Rev. J. J. Tayler, and others. There is nothing special or peculiar in this argument, with the exception of the detailed effort which Mr. Leathes has made to show the abundant similarity of theme, doctrine, historical fact, and even form of expression between the three Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John. We have never seen this point so well elaborated elsewhere, and the obvious conclusion is that much too great a stress has been laid upon the supposed discrepancy of subject-matter and ethical tone discernible between these documents. We think that both Dr. Hengstenberg and the Rev. John Godwin have handled the Paschal difficulty more successfully than Mr. Leathes, but few writers have shown with more sufficiency and clearness the unity of the Johannine writings. In fact, everything turns in this discussion on satisfactorily showing the possibility, from a literary standpoint, of the identity of authorship of the Apocalypse and the fourth Gospel. The Tübingen school, Dr. Davidson, J. J. Tayler, and the most thorough-going opponents of the genuineness of the Gospel, admit, nay contend for the Johannine authorship of the Apocalypse. They uphold the external evidence for it against Lücke and others; they establish the relations between the John of the Synoptists and the Apocalyptist. If, then, by accumulation of independent evidence, the identity of the author of the fourth Gospel with the Apocalyptist is established, or a belief in it is shown to be perfectly rational, a great victory is won for the faith of Christ. We commend Mr. Leathes' argument to the profound consideration of students. The eight lectures deal with the credibility of the witnesses, the characteristics of John's teaching, the essentials of this teaching, John's appeal to the inward witness, the unity of John's writings, their authority, John's message to the age, and John's place in Holy Scripture. There is much fine and strong, though rather cold and artificial reasoning in these lectures. The reader feels a little too much as though he were under the authoritative commands of a drill-sergeant, or rather of a too officious guide, who tells him exactly where he must stand, or where he must not stand, in order to see some glorious panoramic landscape. The hand of the critic and the logician is always on the shoulder, and forcing head and heart into the appropriate and rational conclusion. Yet, with this drawback, every lecture leaves a healthy impression; and the testimony of the beloved disciple to our Divine Lord seems at length to be so strong and self-evidencing, that it matters comparatively little when, where, or by whom the testimony is given.