their congregational psalmody. If anything more needs to be offered in their justification, I leave the not difficult duty to be undertaken by some one more directly interested, and able to bring to the discussion of the subject the superior resources of personal musical knowledge and attainments. Should our nineteenth century Puritan, however, still find the gush of his devotion so cruelly chilled and sent back sorrowing into his lonely soul by this 'apostasy from religion to artifice,' he will perhaps pardon me for submitting for his earnest consideration the sensible suggestion of a member of the Church of England, to whom I shewed his letter, viz.: that he should betake himself to worship where when the minister says, Praise ye the Lord,' the people are bound to answer with a loud voice, The Lord's name be praised,' and where surely even the faltering lips and stammering tongue of poor Old Mortality' would find congenial and hearty occupation in the choral swell of general song, and in the multitudinous responses. Old Mortality repudiates paternal interest and responsibility in the expression, 'religion of taste.' I did not intend to impute to him the actual manufacture of that particular phrase. I employed those terms because they seemed to me to be briefly indicative of his totality of meaning. I thought that in so using them I did fairly. I think so still. He complains that his observations on religion and taste have been misunderstood and misrepresented. His own words are: 'It may perhaps be admitted (he is not sure of it) that there is a strong affinity, if not an identity, between moral goodness and moral beauty.' But if identical, how comes it that in presenting it we appeal to two entirely different principles of the mind? Are 'conscience' and 'taste' antithetical mental properties? Is taste a separate faculty at all? Does it perform a special solitary function? Is it not more a condition than a in faculty, a certain quantitative culture of the collective powers? I profess myself altogether unskilled metaphysical discrimination, but I have a pretty firm belief that to define too sharply the inward attributes of human nature is more productive of confusion than of clearness, and that our nimblest mental analysts with their tabulated lists of labelled faculties have simply reaped as their reward just so many differing systems of methodized pedantry, and no substantial scientific revelation whatsoever. Old Mortality distinguishes elaborately, in balanced Macaulaylike periods, between the religion of conscience and the religion of taste. I refuse to recognize any such antagonistic classifications of that supreme reality we call religion. Genuine religion is (if I may so say) generic, and admits of no specific diversities. Does the good Spirit of God, I reverently wonder, hovering tenderly in the neighbourhood of the sinful soul it loves, vacillate and pause, debating by which one of the many mystic gateways it shall seek entrance to do the blessed work of conviction, illumination, comfort? So that he receive it faithfully-it matters little, as it seems to me-in what tone or by what instrument the saving message comes to man. If by the charms of art, the influences of nature, the means of grace;' if by music or sermon; if in the cross-crowned minster with the beautiful symbolisms of its climbing architecture, and its enchantment of soft shadow and solemn lights, or in the lowly meeting-house, unpleasing, it may be, to the eye, but hallowed and enriched through a thousand immortal memories that have made it a gate of heaven;' if by the reproachful innocence that looks on us out of the untroubled depth and sweetness of a child's dear eyes-a human spirit is divinely touched, and the far-wandering one brought home to the close-folding arms of the Father, and restored to the kingdom of heaven, which is The Church of England. obedience, peace, and joy, it is scarcely worth while disputing whether a result so good and glad shall be described as 'religion of conscience' or 'religion of taste.' It was in a far different spirit from that which prompts the jealous logical fences of Old Mortality's rigidly defined religion, that one, who, after Christ himself, was the wisest, the most inspired, the most catholic of Christian teachers wrote as follows: 'FOR THOUGH I BE FREE FROM ALL MEN, YET HAVE I MADE MYSELF SERVANT UNTO ALL, THAT I MIGHT GAIN THE MORE. AND UNTO THE JEWS I BECAME AS A JEW, THAT I MIGHT GAIN THE JEWS; TO THEM THAT ARE UNDER THE LAW, AS UNDER THE LAW, THAT I MIGHT GAIN THEM THAT ARE UNDER THE LAW; TO THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT THE LAW, AS WITHOUT THE LAW, THAT I MIGHT GAIN THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT LAW. To THE WEAK BECAME I AS WEAK, THAT I MIGHT GAIN THE WEAK: I AM MADE ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN, THAT I MIGHT BY ALL MEANS SAVE SOME.' Into the large question of an Established Church of course I shall not enter; for, as Old Mortality truly surmises, we stand on quite opposite ground, and debate would be worse than useless. I did not seek by what I urged in my former letter to convince him: the utmost I hoped for was, that I might induce him to moderate his tone of envenomed severity. In that I deeply regret to perceive that I have been unsuccessful, for the thorns of sanguinary resentment are still sufficiently apparent, albeit this time, somewhat surrounded and decorated by the rose leaves of smoother speech; and to a mind in every way so competent to appreciate their value, but unfortunately warped by sectarian rancour, learning and culture, genius and energy, inspired by the purest motives, and devoted to the holiest uses, appeal in vain; and so powerfully is he still swayed by his implacable prejudices, that he has condescended to revive that effete and exhausted sneer at the Calvinistic creed, the Arminian clergy, the Popish ritual,' which always wanted 141 one thing only to make it telling, viz., truth. Our ancient friend waxes indignantly eloquent concerning certain 'fines, penalties, and exactions, 'which still remain uncancelled, and to which Nonconformists are legally amenable. I venture to think his pathetic warmth is somewhat superfluous. These alleged grievances are practically obsolete, and their nominal retention is mainly ascribable to the supineness of Dissenters. And, moreover, I ask, can the present generation of Churchmen be fairly made answerable for the ignorant injustice of remote predecessors? Does Old Mortality disparage the stately structure because, forsooth, the cobwebs are not quite all swept away ? He alludes to Messrs. Baines and Thorogood. I was taken when a boy to see one of those martyrs in prison. I saw no signs of suffering. He played the game of fives, I remember, and seemed to bear the 'durance vile' with a philosophic cheeriness worthy of the immortal Tapley. Nor were there wanting, I suspect, to his enforced seclusion compensations of a positive and peculiarly appreciable nature. The semblance of persecution and the notoriety procured him abundant sympathy, and doubtless brought considerable material grist to the commercial mill. In reply to my gentle insinuation, that the identification with the Church of England of so many men whom Christians of all denominations agree to venerate and honour might naturally create some disinclination to concur in his unsparing and stormy condemnation of it, Old Mortality asks contemptuously, What are the lectures of Arnold and the songs of Keble tome?' Ianswer, 'Nothing perchance to you, my dear Boanerges, peradventure less than nothing and vanity; but to other innumerable less emphatic though equally conscientious persons, very much; not because of their Churchmanship, but for all in their works and words which endears them to such as look for qualities in their teachers, that are quite independent of any ecclesiastical badge they bear.' I care more for men than systems, he for systems more then men. I commend to him those noble words of the Laureate : 'Our little systems have their day; They have their day and cease to be: They are but broken lights of Thee, And Thou, O Lord, art more than they.' more, I was never taught to revile the national church of my country; and I have continually before me the dear memory of a father, who sincerely loved the service of that church, and who would earnestly conform to the reverential movement, when in its truly congregational worship, priest and people bowed the head at the name of the Redeemer. And I am free to conOld Mortality charges me with fess that I have no such squeamish romancing. I am compelled to sentimental weakness for the sect return the compliment (or accusa- of my forefathers as can prevent tion), and to acknowledge myself me from attaching myself to that far his inferior in the art of sen- communion, wherein the purposes timental hyperbole. I never aspired of public devotion seem to me to be to produce a picture so vivid with most effectually consulted and realpicturesque contrast and chiaro-ized, and the deepest and most oscuro as that of the 'downcast urgent needs of the individual soul Dissenter, the village preacher,' appeased. who would be cheered in his lonely pedestrian wanderings,' whose dimmed eye would grow bright,' could he but see himself as he shines in refulgent transfiguration before the 'dying eye and guilty conscience of the pampered prelate. At the same time I will be more just than my opponent, and declare that though I seek in vain amongst the living representatives of Anglican episcopacy for the prototype of his distempered and passionate fancy, I make no doubt that there are multitudes of such humble servants and ministers of Christ as he has limned with a hand so loving (I have known some such myself), who by faithful if homely words of exhortation, and the loftier eloquence of earnest, consistent, and saintly lives "Allure to brighter worlds, and lead the way.' Old Mortality has referred to his Dissenting ancestry. He is proud of it: he glories in it. I respect him therefore. Speaking for a moment of myself, I may say, however, that I come of kindred lineage; yet though nurtured in Nonconformist principles, I was not instructed to stifle the spirit of catholic thought, or to narrow my spiritual sympathies to the small dimensions of any single sect. Nay, I shall now, sir, with your permission, take my leave in a controversial capacity of Old Mortality, and subside into those sequestered habits of thought, which to me are far more congenial than the public arena of journalistic debate; but in so doing I cannot refrain from recommending my much - gifted, but most inconsistent, capricious, and intolerant relative and friend, to transfer the exercise of his signal abilities from the stale and unprofitable fields of polemical warfare, to the ample scope and frequent opportunites which present themselves in the organizations and necessities of that Christian denomination into which he was born, with which he has identified himself, and of which he has proved himself so skilful and enthusiastic a defender. In a course of such worthy and enduring labours, I wish him the best success, and can have for him no more severe desire than is implied in that clause of the melting and majestic litany: From all blindness of heart; from pride, vain-glory, and hypocrisy ; from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness, Good Lord, deliver us.' Very faithfully yours, Correspondence-ÆEsthetic Cant and the Church of England. 143 ÆSTHETIC CANT AND THE | vividly, or too frequently, brought CHURCH OF ENGLAND. the true God." What wonder that half before us; for making every possible allowance for this institution having been found by us, in its present position, and exercising all the kindness and charity in our power, to scientious adherents, it is still there, the same palpable and unmitigated hindrance to the spread of the everlasting and glorious gospel of the Son of God. I beg that I may be fairly understood. 'How far we are about to adopt the imitative, the artistic, and what is called the aesthetic, in our plans and modes of worship, it is impossible to say; but unless the Dis-wards those who comprise its consenters of England take care, they will inter beneath a painted mausoleum the simplicity, the purity, and the moral grandeur of the worship of "the living and hearted Dissenters glide into the endowed communion, and that numbers of that body pass into the Romish church, where there is all this childish attempt to imitate the gorgeous though flaunting attire of the Babylonish usurpress. While she is by the decree of heaven preparing to lay aside her robes, shall we, as though in rebuke of that decree, put on her rags? Why should we as Nonconformists simulate practices which are repudiated by the wisest and best men in the Anglican church itself? I entreat with great deference the denomination to which I have the honour to belong, to guard against the emasculating, but as I trust ephemeral tendency of the times, and earnestly pray that Almighty God may, in Rejoice we may, and do, that so His great mercy, dispose us and others to perpetuate that true Christian worship, goodly a band of its intelligent which is as simple in its forms as it is en-members are anxiously and zealously during in its spirit.' J. P. MURSELL. DEAR MR. EDITOR,-Notwithstanding the special pleadings and fine sentamentalism of Old Mortality's Nephew,' I venture to ask for space in your next issue for a very few words. I do not desire to say that the Church of England is not doing service to the cause of Christ. That I think would be saying the Cross had lost its power, and that God had indeed forgotten to be gracious. But I do say this, that the good it does now-or that the good it ever has done-would be a thousand fold enhanced if achieved without the contaminating influence of the civil power. seeking to relieve themselves from some of the impediments which retard their progress in the evangelization of the world. But mourn we must that even they, instead of seeking to destroy the evil by casting it out by the root, seek rather to preserve and consolidate The first of which shall be to the parent stem, and fondly fancy' thank sincerely our gifted friend to realize their wishes, by pruning Old Mortality for his able and well the branches merely. Since in this timed, albeit in some respects pain-isle of freedom' there are some ful, essay on Esthetical Cant. If it were not, Mr. Editor, that I feel we as Protestant Dissenters, and still more so as professed followers of the despised Nazarene, are sadly too prone to forget, or purposely to overlook the grave responsibilities resting upon us in connexion with the existence in the latter half of the nineteenth century of the Christian era, of such a soul - destroying agency as is comprised in the Church of England, whilst in alliance with the state, I should not have added to the words already written on this subject. I do feel, Sir, that the present state of affairs cannot be too who scruple not to take God's Holy Word as a foundation whereon to base their arguments for human slavery; we perhaps aught not to be surprised that within our own beloved denomination there are those who fail to discover their unfaithfulness to their Divine Master, by yielding their assent to, yea while they venture to apologize for, the existence of an institution, which inevitably entails a spiritual bondage over which Satan himself must frequently rejoice, and over which all true right-hearted men cannot fail to weep. Whilst, however, the principle of a state - established religion is ever one and the same, whether its head reside in Rome or at Windsor, I am quite aware that its outward appearance may-and does -widely differ. Not the least so I apprehend if we view its working in one of our large provincial towns, and then see its application amongst a rural population. I presume it must have been in the former that Old Mortality and his Nephew note its doings and influence. It is in the latter that it is my sad misfortune to see it developed-yes to see it so developed, that I confess the fact of the true spirit of the gospel still living in our midst, would in the absence of every other proof, satisfy me that it was indeed of God and not of man. I have already trespassed upon your space too long or I would have given one or two instances, painful instances, of the evils I deplore. I fear, however, to many of your readers in some measure see and feel the same. Let us then, dear Mr. Editor, see to it that the final coming of the Son of God be not hindered by our lack of service; let us see that we rightly use every influence and power possessed by us, to hasten on the eventual triumph of the Redeemer's kingdom. Then, and not till then, can we consistently use the beautiful yet simple prayer He gave us for an example, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, even as it is done in heaven.' a and sustaining it when possessed. They awaken and strengthen faith, arouse and fortify hope, inspire and increase love. They are source of comfort in adversity, and a fountain of consolation and joy, when the soul is overshadowed with the griefs and sorrows of this earthly life. These doctrines convey the message of pardon to the guilty, of hope to the disconsolate, of rest to the weary; while they furnish a solid ground for the salvation of all who give them an honest and a hearty welcome. But while these doctrines are the vehicles of inestimable privileges, they impose on those who receive them high and dignified duties. All the doctrines of the gospel have their root in the love of God. They are the outgrowth of eternal benevolence. They are the unchangeable expressions of the benignity of the Divine nature. The cross is the crown of all the Divine mercies, and the cross lay in the bosom of the Father from before the foundation of the world. The cross is the great meeting point in all the wonderful arrangements of redeeming love. All the doctrines converge in it, and diverge from it. It is the life and stay of all. The Bible is the sum and substance of all theology, the gospel is the sum and substance of the Bible, and the cross the centre and essence of the gospel. The central ideas expressed in the cross of Christ are self-denying love and volutary self-sacrifice. 'He loved me and gave Himself for me.' 'He gave Himself for our sins.' Christ Jesus gave himself a ransom for all.' The doctrines which proceed from the cross of Christ, as the great centre of the gospel, are designed to awaken gratitude in our heart to God for all He has done for us through the death of His Son. Gratitude is to be the mainspring of duty. The duties imposed by the gospel are to run on the wheels of love. Works are to find their motive power in grace, and not in law. We are to give up ourselves |