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    Xiraa3rl6,-.1855.] THE LEADER 583

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    The Church And Philosophy In France. Veg...

    Man at Rome . M . Lanfrey , cold and cultivated , it may be , no & yet exer- cised to . mental suffering , has nomercyon . the terrible _yearnings-of-the human heart after the unknown—he laughs at the philosophy which treat * not only of the " here" but of the "hereafter ;"—no respect for-enthusiasm . The I _convulsionists , who exhibited some of the most remarkable phenomena of I our mental and physical nature , are , in his eyes , nothing but " une canaille I e'hoiite ' e "—a shameless rabble ;—no appreciation of the simple statement of E the theory of a religion of the heart . He calls the sentence , " In vain do I we cry to God , ' Father , Father , ' if it be not in the spirit of charity that we H cry , " an " inoffensive platitude , " a « saying of La Palisse drawn up in II beatic style , " and so forth . His volume is full of similar extravagances , II and yet he is praised by unqualified admirers for his moderation . I We have chosen to notice his doctrine , before describing his work , in / I order to get rid of the disagreeable part of our business first . We have to II add that the value of his historical views is diminished by the fact that he H applies , with amusing perseverance , to all the personages whose character I he has to appreciate , one single criterium by which to estimate their fucul- I ties and their morality — especially their faculties . He who most dis- 1 believes in Christianity is with him the greatest man ; because he has I noticed that some of the greatest of modern men have been disbelievers . ym Even Montaigne is slightly depreciated , because it is not quite certain that I he had made _Sp his mind to reject all Catholic doctrines . Bayle , whose dis- 1 belief is ardent , laid down a principle which has " en / ante le monde moderne" I " the world" being of course put for France . Mcfhtesquieu is admitted 1 to be " une ame _falUe" only because " there is a mark of interroga- 1 tion secretly put at the end of his most resolute affirmation . " Voltaire- 1 an exaggeration partly to be explained by the extravagant and odious attacks _< m ft ° _^ . _, * J . , * j o I ? f \ % _- TieStl 7 f _, _r IS S P _^ ° _^ a - n ° St US a g ° r ? : _r - y £ g _w _^ I Dc Maistre for alluding to his physiognomy as a Christian might a bias- I p hemer for insulting the person of Christ : yet certainly he was comparable m personal graces to the Cardinal _Dubois whose " monkey countenance I is considered a fair object of remark ( p . 120 ) . _T \ e are the last to refuse I ? ur _^ titudo and respect to the claims of the greatest pioneer of intd- I lectual freedom , to the admiration of posterity But Voltaire himself , who I insulted everything respectable , from Joan of Arc to characters which even I those who do not beheve _, admire , would hardly have clanned to be treated | I hy hls _disciples with the pious respect reserved for saints . He was too I aggressive to be spared . . I M . Lanfrey s opinions of men are often still more strangely biassed We I sometimes almost doubt that he is serious The death of the Abbe Ter- I _rasson , " he says " was m itself worth a long life . Then he relates that when a man of the church presented himself before him to receive his last I confession this exemplary character said to him , Sir , ask Madame Luquet I ( his housekeeper ) , she knows all . ' The confessor insisted " Come , sir I have you been luxurious ? ' " Madame Luquet , have 1 been luxurious r 1 I inquired the patient "A liule , M . _PAbbe , '' replied she « A little , " re- m peated the patient . Verily a long lite is worth not much if it is worth only 1 that . The anecdote would read well in Boccaccio ; it is singularly out of ?| place in these pages . But it is in the appreciation of the English philosophers and the progress if of the English mind that M . Lanfrey—less sure of his ground—applies his I criticism with the sternest obstinacy . Our revolution is an " explosion of I fanaticism under Cromwell . " Hobbes , our great sophist , is accused of I _endeavouring to establish religions " sur une base inebranluhle , " but by I mistake toppled them over altogether ; Locke is treated with very little } respect _because under strong _suspicion of . not beingan anti ; Chri . tian By an inconceivable train of reasoning he is described as the continuator in politics of the work of Hobbes , and as a " narrow and superstitious Anglican , I because he speaks seriously of Sirens , and of the reasonable parrot of I mice I Maurice ! After this , is it , we are asked , astonishing that he could for a moment have supposed that Faith and Reason may be brought into agree- k ment ? We shall not , however , follow M . Lanfrey further upon this ground , I -which ho has evidently traversed hastily . Our observations , which he will m at once perceive are not written within the citadel of any dogma , tend to I make these truths evident—that men must not be classed according to the I opinions they profess , not be raised or lowered _^^ do o _^ ' ! belong to a particular school , and that it is quite as possible ioi the wisest ot I men to bo a Christian after a certain manner as for the most uncompro- f mising free thinker to be an idiot . I The intemperanoes of M . Lanfrey , however , do not prevent us from ; | admiring his book , which contains much that is interesting and valuuble _^ and I is written almost throughout with singular perfection . In his main object , i also , Ave cordially a' » _-ree He desires to enfranchise the country he loves & from the dreary tyranny of priests and bigots ; ho is an eloquent preacher in i- favour of toleration . He maintains the doctrine , which has Jew advocates on our . side of the water because it is more generally admitted , that Government and legislation have no business _whatever with _^^^^ _^^ 1 Science , that the Jew and the Mahoineclan , the Catholic , the 1 _rotestant , the _< Sceptic , and the Atheist are all equally entitled to their opinions , and he is especially vigorous in defending the conquests of Keaaon , because he thinks lie knows certainly what they are , and that they are infallibly true , iiis ! S account of tho long struggle of free thought with authority is preceded by a remarkable chanter , in which he proves—for the first lime irrefragubly , from documents not yet consulted—that the Revocation of tho Edict of I Nantes was no political act , but the direct work of the Church . It was bought for money from Louis XIV . Tho Assembly _GenrnU of the Clergy , 1 Which used to meet every five years , refused _aiibaiiliea with periodical perti- naoity , until its distinct _cLnancls iov _persecution were complied with We ! have no space to enter into the narrative , but can only _sny , that any history i Of that remarkable nct-tho _disgrace of France as well an of the Monarchy and tho Church-which ignores the documents brought forward by M . Lanfrey , _munt always 1 ) 0 incomplete . . The remainder of his work , though less novel in its facts , is full of _ingenious thought and brilliant writing . Few recent _worlca are better Worth y of _notice ; and indeed we learn , to tho credit of tho French public , that it has already made considerable noise as well iri the salons as in . the ' press .

    , _CHMSTIAiN * LIFE .. The Christian Life . Social and Individual . By Peter Bayne , M : A : J * ¦ * _Edinburgh James Hogg . TT - * ¦• • _t . - _U _*™ _; we' saw the- present work we were quite unacquainted with its authors name ; having read it , we feel bound to say . that Mr * Bayne is an acquisition to the cause of _Orthodoxy , and may be esteemed and enjoyed bv tho . s . ewho are not orthodox , likewise . He must not be offended , however' lf w _, e sav . that his book owes an immeasurable debt to the very writers against whom it is directed : in every page of it the influence of Carlyle is *? in _™ 8 ] lke tbe sun in water . Yet Mr . Bayne thinks all the leading ; doctrines ot _^ W gr , e _^ errors 5 he protests against his hero-worship , —against his view f P _hilanthropy ,-against his aspect towards Liberalism . At best , he seems * ° esteem _^ im as an indirect , unrecognisable aid to the good cause—a blind Sams ° n to . h . e employed against . irreligious Philistines—rather than as _atrustwoi'thy spiritual guide and leader . We can accept no . such -view of course ; bu * we can . cheerfully say that Mr . Bayne writes with kindliness , reverence _and propriety—that nothing can be more removed from the provincial _^ _cacity and dissenter pertness of the " Eclipse of Faith ' -inasmuch as Mr . Ba _^ ne writes not only with literary elegance , but like a Christian and like a gentleman . _^ ___ Mr _« Bayne once more tries a fall with the giants of new philosophy in the c _£ use of _* Ji e o _£ _&>** . He sees , thoroughly whence and how that faith is threatened . He sees that society cannot exist without a religion , and that * + _^ xl f n _° formS ft _^ g T i TT ¦ _£ ?* _F f _f _** 7 qUGS - _^ _"f L _° ? hP most _* n the t fir f * P _« J of _^ s _^ ork he deals with what he _^ _iPf 8 * _*« _* ° _^ _fj _™ P ° rtant solution of the great _questaon-how religion is to _^ b _££ g ht in * _° renewed activity in life aaain—ottered by the thinkers outside oi ine Church . In the Load , he exhibits in a series of essays , pictures of the lives and Christians of recent _times ,-W &> erforce , Howard , k instaiice , _ and thus deals both _speculatively and practically _^ ; angwer C arl le _ t £ at is O _ne thing which Mr . fi professes to teach ; -how to live a pure life in the ancient faith-is the secOnd thing which , by elaborate portraiture , he labours to show . The most - of Mr . Bayne ' s book is , that he combines with faith in dogmas » high appreciation of all that is newest , freshest and best , among the J f gP Wemayadd that , but for the solemnity of the subject , _jj _^^;^ towfrds Carlyle would be almost amusing . He is steeped in the Carlylian influence ; he has learned to paint in the Carlylian studio : he can-. _^ ical effecfc _^ But he _' testS i he argues , he decla - Insfc the _( _farl lian doctrines ! In all this we see a generous spirit pelIed ° to reverence where it cannot agree . We are much mistaken . If Bayne's orthodox friends will take as kindly to it . We fear h h honesty of his book will prevent its being popular . Like Lady m _* , 4 sacrifice _^ virtue in orde ° _^ o prcserve his _repu-+ at _" on " L ' nQw heaj . Mr B speak ; ng for himself . Viewing Pantheism an _} fmidamental basis of Carlyle's herS- worship , he thus expounds his views of . d forth _^ reply f _ hero-worship an erroneous doctrine . Mr . Carlyle cares little for metaphysical supports for his opinions ; he has long listened to the great voices of life and history ; but we think his early works afford us the philosophic explanation of his doctrine of hero-worship . On a pantheistic scheme of things , it seems unassailable . God being all , and all being God , and a great man being the highest visible manifestation , and as it were concentration of _* _e ™ jal £ _^ - _^ 2 _£ m _« _^^ t _^^^ _" _" _* _" _** & . not _^ Mr Ca f _^ thia nt . we liWae turn to the voices of hi 8 to an _' d the heart . We lh . d him tracing all worship to admiration and reverence for great men ; we find him asserting that the limits are not to be fixed for the veneration with -which to regard true heroism in a man . We think the very word « hero-worship" utterly inadmissible under any interpretation ; we assert , that no re-Ugion ever had its origin in the admiration of men . Such the point in dispute 5 we turn to history . . Two great classes may be distinguished among the leaders of mankind , ttiose vmo have exercised their influence by power not moral and th _™™* ° _™* ° _™^™^ o _£ t the mor _^ na _^ re _^ _^ an . _^^^ J _^^^^^^ _^^ fa nien ag N x Cx and Alexander ; by the _W _™ _"icli man as Mahomet _, Zoroaster , and Moses . The former were , viewed as we now regUr ( i them mere embodiments of force ; _tjheir soldiers trusted and followed _thcnh h ( ii . nutiO armies were in their hands as thunderbolts . The captain of banditti , w ] lose eve sees farther , and whose arm smites more powerfully , than those of his followers , exercises an influence in kind precisely similur . Anything analogous to worship is foreign to every such case ; a fact rendered palpable and undeniable by _ the simple reflection , that there is no feeling of an Infinite respect , ns duo to what is _umnilc , in these or the like instance * . A supple-kneed Greek nnght have . kneltto Alexander , "if Alexander wish ed _/' _^ bu no _^ _J _^^^^ t a n _^ t . There _^^ _SoS Z _^^ _Z _^ T _^^^ ZT _^^^ an _^^ , > intimately connected : this we have represented by Mahomet , ZoroaRt 0 an < 1 Mo 8 es > „ tfiei tho poillt ut LmsU (! COI 11 CM aivcctly _In-forc us . Worship clid oririn ' ato i ( 1 ouch of these cases . Whence did it arise ? Mark tho men in their work ) uud nat 011 to their words . Mahomet aro _«« and Haid , " Vo hnyo _IjocnworBlupping dumb illolts th | lt aro no _Kods . look up t 0 Allah ; ( hero is no god biit yviiau . iim worda Woronotin _vaia . Zoroaster arose and Haiti , " Y « havo w «> _'il «< i | U » «> _" » which your fathers know and followed ; 1 bring 3 ' "" " ¦ _*>™ « _^ J _™ \ J ! lBrnol aIld f heaven . " Men gnv _« car to him also . _J _^^ _^ _^^ _^^ _ln _^ said , « I am hath sent me unto you . hoy _-f _«»« wo , ; »; . fi () evcr h ( j _mtJ through the cloven _nurges , into 1 »« J ««) ¦ hJv . «« u 1 . , _^ _. _j ) Mahoniet , W 3 _^ _" _^" n _X"t _^ _^ ' _^ AH h V old M , « y obey thJ _comm-dmonta of _j hon ho po nted Y _. »« ,, _^ 1 «« _^^ Ood _, s hand _,, ad lrfl () C ( , words under the _™ ° « _^ _^ _«» _»« _^ J ° l _iy m , Suroly w « . nay 8 _« y with plainness and certainty , No . It _° _™ _** _£ _« _^^^ _"L _, v «« _worHhl _,,,,.., _! _, not tho Hont ; it _y «» _J _^ 1 _" * _/ " _, _^ alliance with an exterior , an infinite power , which > won hnn hw' "' fl _" 61 _" _^ , " ° t _, ' _" brollffllt - UH flro from ,, 0 « vcn I Such , in all a « e _« , h « _s been ho cry of n J _tj _^ o y looko _\ Ololr oyOH r « li « . t with j « y " _% "" _J _^^ rftIU , cd _themaelve _, _uudor hi- _B" _^ * J _^ _Xay _^ K bXv _* d to have eomo highly honoured , and moat loyally oboye _havojuwi _ys _^ _^ _^ breatU _^ down from heaven ; men _navo nut wuio « . _jii « . - _x

    Xiraa3rl6,-.1855.] The Leader 583

    _Xiraa 3 rl 6 _,-. 1855 . ] THE LEADER 583

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 16, 1855, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/scld_16061855/page/7/