66

this admirable essay should have run through so many editions without effect; and yet there in those mischievous follies which it seeks to are good men who indulge, to the present hour, brand. Why should this be? Why should piety choose to sun herself in the grotesque garb of absurdity? Why should these good men make like the speech of poor Peter in the Judgment a point of using that barbarous dialect, which, Hall, still bewrayeth them?

by an imitative antique construction. In this manner the Scriptural expressions, instead of appearing as distinguished points on a common ground, as gems advantageously set in an inferior substance, are reduced to become an ordinary and desecrated ingredient in an uncouth phraseology." We may be allowed," he adds, "to doubt how far such language can be "Known indeed for what he is, the Chrisvenerable, after considering that it gives tian should be; nor will the obliging world be slow to furnish him with the means. not the smallest assurance of striking or Very different, however, are those signs which have elevated thought, since in fact a vast been selected as a badge of discipleship by the quantity of most inferior writing has ap- good people to whom I refer. They may honor peared in this kind of diction; that it is not integrity, inculcate the necessity of faith, and now actually drawn from the sacred foun- endeavor after purity; but they make their stand upon language. They resolutely translate tains; that the incessant repetition of its everything into their own peculiar patois; and phrases in every kind of religious exercise insist upon being known by their inveterate atand performance has worn out any solem-tachment to a phraseology, which the rest of nity it might ever have had; and that it is the very usual concomitant and sign of a servilely systematic and cramped manner of thinking. A grand ancient edifice, of whatever order, or if it were of a construction peculiar to itself, would be an impressive object; but a modern little one raised in its neighborhood, of a conformation for the greatest part glaringly vulgar, but with a number of antique windows and angles in imitation of the grand structure, would be a grotesque and ridiculous one. Let the oracles of inspiration be cited continually, both as authority and illustration, in a manner that shall make the mind instantly refer each expression that is introduced to the venerable book whence

it is taken; but let our part of religious language be simply ours, and let those oracles retain their characteristic form of expression unimitated, unparodied, to the end of time."

Though in the preceding parts of this series of articles we have ventured, somewhat peremptorily, our own views, we have chosen, on the present delicate subject, to use the authority of this great writer. We dismiss the topic, with another quotation from a high literary authority of the evangelical Dissenters of England. The London Christian Spectator, for September, has the following humorous passages upon it :—

"John Foster has enriched our Christian literature with an essay 'On the aversion of men of taste to evangelical religion.' It is to be hoped that some men of taste' have read this treatise with advantage; and much more is it to be desired that all religious men would read it too, and see how significantly it holds up the mirror to themselves. It cannot be, that

mankind either wholly repudiate, or are content to employ according to the proper signification of the words.

What, indeed, would any but the initiated be able to make of some of the choice barbarisms which, in certain circles, are the mode? Take, rogatory, Will you engage?' as a sample, that brief but significant interWhat thinkest thou, O innocent reader, may the meaning be of this inquiry? Does the questioner ask the questionee to impawn his honor, or to stake his reputation? To enlist a company of soldiers, or to draw some welcome guest into a party of pleasure? To win a lady, or to gain a friend? To make a contract, or to fight a battle? Nothing of the sort. He wishes him to offer

prayer to God. This is the way in which he proffers the touching request, addressed by Paul to the Thessalonian Christians, Brethren, pray for us.'

"In the same brogue, a religious service was devotion the Almighty was asked to presence once an opportunity;' and at meetings for himself' with his worshipers. The midst of us' was improved into our midst,' and even, as I have been informed, our little midst,' 'Minds' when the assembly was not numerous. were 'solemnized,' instead of anniversaries and matrimony; doctrine became marrow,' and all who did not worship in the cave of Adullam,' were very dark!' The cares and struggles of a poor man's life were nothing, if he did not name them his experience;' and when he died, the event had always to be duly improved,' as the harvest annually was-to the great satisfaction of a farmer, on one occasion, who had a short crop. All must be done, however, in a

prayerful' way; and, if possible, by a talented' man-who would call attention' to the subject, much as one might call spirits from the vasty deep.' There is warrant enough, I am sorry to say, now-a-days, for this last phrase; for the London Times' itself, which calls so many names in the course of a year, 'calls attention,' I do believe, the oftenest of all. Has the Thunderer been to school, I wonder, in the conventicle? If so, I commend to his consideration the example of the late George Robins. George, who, in penning his advertisements, dealt, as is well known, rather exten

sively, like my friend Heavyside, in adjectives, was once upon a time, as the story goes, at a loss for one. Put in "important,' "" Mr. Robins,' said the agent at his elbow. No,' rejoined the man of experience in posters, not that word; I leave " "important" to the Dissenting ministers.' It is to be hoped that this remark was not leveled at Tritissimus; whose pulpit topics, I observe, are almost always declared to be interesting and important.'

"Quitting, however, this field of observation, as savoring somewhat, says Discipulus, of hypercriticism, there are two words yet behind, which appear to be regularly employed in a sense it must sorely puzzle the uninitiated to understand, and even the initiated themselves, I suspect, to define. These words, good reader, are Cause' and 'Interest.'

Already we feel that the word has been invested with a dignity, to which it can make but slight pretensions. Do what we will, it smacks strongly of the purse and the till; and even young Pliable, perhaps, has an eye in his lovemaking to the deacon's savings. Yet is this very term, used apparently in some pseudo-religious sense, continually on the lips of Christians. Flexible Redtape, for instance, has been at a watering-place preaching for some society.' Pliable greets him on his return with the question, 'Is there a good "interest" there? What can he mean? Is it the meeting-house, or the worshipers, or the doctrine, or the minister, or the imagery, or the pew-rents, or all these in one? Let Redtape and Pliable, and the simpler but better men who make use of it, answer this question; and let them beware how they repulse the scoffer from the very thresholds of their churches, by the use of words and phrases which the scoffer must needs hear with infinite relish. Piety is piety, and money is money; but a 'cause' and an interestwhat are they?"

"A cause,' what is it? Shall we impannel a jury of the metaphysicians to answer that question for us? Shall we invoke the shades of Hobbes, Cudworth, Newton, Leibnitz, Locke, Kant, Hegel, and the rest, and bid them troop into the jury-box? In the first place, then, will these have to agree upon some theory of causation. Now shall the learned court have its There is something of persiflage here; ears filled with their vocal endeavors to express but there is much sense also. Both that hypothetic quality, which has puzzled them writers, from whom we have quoted, perall; as energy, faculty, influence, capacity, abil-haps overstrain the subject; but there is ity, virtue, force, power, possibility, fitness, apt- important suggestion enough in what they itude-but no, enough, enough, dear sirs; you go too far about. To the matter in hand. say to commend it to the attention of What is a 'cause?" Christian readers. The substantial realities of Christianity must abide forever; but these mere accessories, never profoundly important, often egregiously defective, should occasionally be subjected to severe revision and amendment. In proportion as our glorious faith is simple, and pure, and sublime, should we be jealous of any petty and distorting adjuncts; its very dignity may give a grotesque importance to the latter, which may render them more attractive than its substantial attributes, to the eyes and criticisms of cavilers. The sculptures of Phidias comport with the frieze of the Parthenon, but the toys of children carved there would have a somewhat different effect.

"Put John Walker in the witness-box, and swear him. Now, sir, upon your oath, remember, what is a "cause?" A cause is that which produces or effects anything-in fact, the efficient.' 'Is that all? The word is used likewise, in spite of the logicians, to signify the reason, the motive to anything.' 'For nothing further?' 'Yes. The lawyers have a kind of tendre for another signification of the word, which they have made peculiarly their own; and a "cause" with them means no end of consultations, parchments, pleadings, and fees.' Has the word no other sense? "The word is sometimes used to denote a party.' You may step down.'

In

"Let 'cause' pass therefore for what it is worth. There yet remains interest.' Against this word Veridicus entertains a particular spite. It reminds him, he says, in the unpleasantest manner of an investment he once made in the Quicksilver Quicksands,' which has never yielded him a single farthing of interest' in years more than he likes to count. common fairness, however, we must not lay too much stress on this truly inveterate grudge. There may be other meanings of the word beside the usurer's. The Reverend Flexible Redtape, for instance, is said to have a large interest' in the lucrative trade of a respectable house in the city. Dr. Pliable has an undoubted 'interest' in the continued prosperity of the 'Town and Country Stars.' His youthful son, moreover, aspires to an interest' in the affections of his rich deacon's daughter. Said rich deacon, again, who desires to serve God and Mammon, has an interest' in believing that religion and respectability are well nigh convertible terms. But beyond these last-named meanings, we may scarcely advance a step.

HOW TO ADVANCE.-The advance of the world depends upon the use of small balances of advantage over disadvantage, for there is compensation everywhere and in everything. No one discovery resuscitates the world-certainly no physical one. Each new good thought, or word, or deed, brings its shadow with it; and, as I have just said, it is upon the small balances of gain that we get on at all. Often, too, this occurs indirectly, as when moral gains give physical gains, and these again give room for further moral and intellectual culture.

THIS

THE BELLS.

THIS fine poem of Poe is well known, but it is well worth a frequent perusal. Next to his Raven, it is, unquestionably, the best production of his pen. There are some of the peculiarities of his bizarre genius in it-peculiarities that every healthful mind must dislike-but they are, in this case, resplendent with fine reliefs of thought and rhythm. Few poems in our language afford a better example of correspondence between sentiment and sound; and, when read well-as we have heard it recited by Russell-the illusion of the bell-ringing becomes almost magical. The querulous critic of the North British Review, from whose tirade on American poetry we recently quoted, says :-"In the death of this young poet and romancist, America has suffered a loss which will be more appreciated fifty years hence than it is

now."

And all in tune,

What a liquid ditty floats

O, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells;

How it dwells

On the Future! how it tells

Of the rapture that impels

To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,

Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,

Bells, bells, bells

To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

Hear the loud alarum bells-
Brazen bells!

What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency
tells!

In the startled ear of night

How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,

They can only shriek, shriek,

Out of tune.

In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,

To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats In a mad expostulation with the deaf and fran

By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of Bishop Wilkins, in 1630, re-issued the