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    - . . ¦ ¦ ¦ - ¦ . — : — . w —~ ¦ Three books remaining on our table for notice must be dismissed in a few words . The first is a second series of Letters on the Philosophy of the Human Mind , by-Mr . Samtjel Bailey * Many of our readers already know Mr . Bailey through his previous contributions to mental science , and most of them will be . familiar -with his merits as a tliinker and writer . He is a good

    representative of the English school of philosophizing—sober , shrewd , and nitlepehdeitt , comparatively careless of scientific form , hut zealous for the preservation of . the reality in its fulness and integrity , indifferent to theories , but a great stickler for facts . Tlie perfection of form and epigrammatic terseness of expression that would attract many inquirers , only repel him . He has a natural suspicion of well-balanced epithets , sharp diversions , and symmetrical systems . He abhors personification as the very father of lies , and looks upon a metaphor ns the true root of all philosophic evil . The greater part of the present volume , li ^ e the previous one , is devoted to tracking the windings of this Protean evil , which , like the serpent in Paradise , still haunts the tree of knowledge . In

    Mr . Baixey ' s view , the omnipresent vice of personification , vitiates not only the phraseology , but the philosophy of almost all , and amongst them the most illustrious thinkers both in ancient and modern times . "We cannot quite agree with him in this , and . think that his praiseworthy zeal for the literality of philosophic expression sometimes carries him to an . extreme that is really unjust in his criticism of figurative language . The " faculties , " for instance , which he denounces as fictitious entities , are , in the mouths of most modern writers , not entities or even distinct powers at all , but simply names for different classes of mental operations . This applies also to his strictures on the word " Consciousness , " as used by Sir W . Hajulton . That distinguished

    thinker does not dream of making consciousness a separate power or entity , nor does his language in any case require such an interpretation . The doctrine Criticized is identical with that of the critic himself , but in this , as in other cases , ^ r . Baixey opposes where there is really nothing to fight against , and makes distinctions where there is no difference . In tilting against the peculiar phraseo logy of modern German writers he is more successful . Though evidently ignorant of the systems of ScHEiajir © and Hegel , he shows the absurdity and contradiction latent in the favourite formulas of the one and the figurative language

    of the other . Mr . Bailey ' s exposition of his own views is , however , more interesting- and important than his criticism of his opponents ' . A sincere love of truth animates his discussions , and naturally inspires respect even when the reasoning fails to produce conviction . The volume is pervaded too by a spirit of fairness , which is the more honourable , as Mr . Bailed tends io emphasize his own claims to originality . While doing full justice to himself , however , he is evidently anxious not to overlook the claims of others . We need scarcely add that the volume merits the attention of philosophic students , and is throughout well worth reading .

    We advance from philosophy to theology , from letters to sermons ; the re . maining volumes being Preachers and Preaching , by the Hev . H . Christmas , and Sermons , by the Rev . John Caibd . The aim of Mr . Cbjustmas ' s little book is to give a kind of history of preaching in England , and were his design well carried out , it would be a valuable addition , not only to theological but to historical literature . The true history of preaching would be a condensed and graphic outline of the various internal conflicts that have at different periods agitated the Church . Almost every period of struggle has developed anew kind of preaching , each party having naturally employed this living appeal "to the people as one of its chief instruments both of attack and defence .

    'Ihe volume before us , however , is very slight and superficial , giving in a meagre outline only such facts as most readers already know . The extracts , too , are in most instances hackneyed quotations from common handbooks , by no means the best specimens that might be given of their respective authors . Mr . Caibd's Sermons are just such as we might exipect from the author of Heligionin Common Life . Indeed , they more than fulfil the promise of that widely-oirculated discourse , which , notwithstanding its practical earnestness and ihttorical power , is often crude in thought , cold in feeling , and pedantic in expression . The majority of the aermons in the present volume are certainly superior to the more celebrated one—more matured and finished , both in tho and atle

    ught j . In general character , Mr . Caibd ' s sermons occupy a middle position between the two kinds of preaching most popular south of the Tweed We said just now that every struggle in the Church has developed a new style of preaching . This is true of the last great conflict . Puseyism has produced a style of preaching peculiarly its own-didactic in stylo ascetic m spmt , subdued in tone-sermons wholly unimpassioned or at most only flushed for a moment with the hectic hue of a morbid religious lite , Ihe actavo development of such a severe type of pulpit-eloquenco naturally quickened into new life the opposite extreme , and Mr bpmdEON is the result . The sermons most generally read and admired m this country just now are the late Archdeacon Mining ' s and Mr Spvkgkon ' 8 . Mr . C > uai > combines some of the characteristic qualities of both : the graphic appeal in illustration to the objects , events , and feelings of common hie of the one , the aubdued religious enthusiasm , delicate

    moral insight , and cultured taste of the other . What is most interesting La these Sermons , howe-ver , as coming from Scotland—the land of intolerant pLti and severe theology—is the genial character of the plea they urge . Mj Caied appeals not to the terrors of an ill-defined and doubtful law , not to the weak fears or selfish instincts of his hearers , but to their religious consciousness to the convictions aad aspirations of their moral nature , to the actual facts and every-day experience of life . There is scarcely a trace of a theological system , not a single doctrinal discourse in the whole volume . This Is a remarkable feature

    in the sermons of a preacher who i » followed by admiring crowds in the land of Calvinists and Covenanters . The singularity , however , is confined to the inclement regions north of the Tweed . The advanced parties in every church , in every religious sect or body south of that barrier line , show still more decisively the same teadency . Where life , and earnestness , and reality prevail , the appeal is on all hands growingly made , not simply to the written law in any book , however sacred , but rather to the living law written on the heart and conscience of men—in a word , to " the divinity that stirs within us . "

    This change is due not so much to the labours of clergymen and divines , but rather to the persevering efforts of secular thinkers and lay theologians , and especially to the regular action of the press , which presents the results of current speculation in the most concentrated and popular form . The press now discharges many of the functions of the pulpit—the pulpit , "b y universal admission , having fallen behind the requirements of the day . The press has , in consequence , been called by Mr . Cablyle the " lay pulpit . " That is , indeedj its true character . We have weekly to deliver our homilies , to " improve " current events ,, to look the facts of life in the face , and speak the truth to the best of our ability— -truth not always pleasant to speak or popular when heard . And if we may be allowed for" a . momen . t to refer to ourselves .

    we have taken our part in this lay preaching , honestly , without fear or favour . And looking back on our efforts , we may venture to hope that we have , to some extent , at all events , helped to produce the change above referred to . The Leader closes to-day the second period in its history . Its motto from the first has been " progress "—the advancement of our common humanity through the " free development of our spiritual nature . " The condition , of progress is conflict—the constant criticism of the old , and the investigation of the new . In the defence of free thought , free inquiry , free speech , we have had to fight many tattles , and oppose not only avowed enemies , but professed and real , but mistaken friends . At first the battles were fought with something of the recklessness and daring of youth , but never , we believe , in forgetfulness of the object in view , or ina spirit inconsistent with its attainment . With

    an assured position came naturally a calmer tone . Of late this has been less distinctive in . the character of the paper , because its aims were so far attained that its position ceased to be singular . The tone of journalism generally has changed . We have pursued the same course from the first . While reverencing- religion and respecting every form of conscientious belief , we have protested against the narrowness of creeds and the bigotry of sects . We have continually exposed the practical infidelity of much noisy religion , the practical viciou _ sness of much conventional morality . But we have done this , we hope , in a spirit of sincere loyalty to the higher truth—the central principles both of religion and morality . That we have accomplished all we wished it would be presumption to assert , but , on a review of the past , we feel that something has been done ; we have not laboured altogether in vain . The future must speak for itself .

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    The death of Mir . Henby Matthew Witt , at the Museum of Practical Geology , is a repetition of the sad case of Hugh Miller ,. It is the old story , indeed : an over-strained intellect snapping with a recoil the more dreadful because of that intellect ' s very magnitude and elastic force . Poor Witt vras but twenty-five years of age , and , with undoubted talent , possessed the additional advantages cf high spirit , capacity for work , a position consequent upon a successful start in life , ample means , and friends able and willing to forward his most ambitious objects . Morbid fears and gloomy forebodings , utterly without foundation in reason or fact , had been manifested by lam for some

    weeks . With respect to his pecuniary affairs , he entertained a delusion which was palpable to many among- his intimate acquaintance , and had even caused one or two * of them to feel anxious for the state of his mind . This delusion was accompanied by an incessant idea of breaking-down or being behindhand with literary work ; and the conviction of failure at length overwhelmed him , as we perceive by those last tragic words he wrote with pencil on a scrap of note-paper : "I have entered on a profession without capacity or means . " It is difficult to offer consolation to the mourners of this young man ; but at least we may venture to assert our firm belief that he was not morally accountable for the act which terminated a valuable existence .

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    The writer of the criticism on Miss Procter ' s Legends and lyrics , in the Leader of last week , fears that , in the hasty wording of a passage towards the commencement of it , the comparative truthfulness of other contributors of poetry to Household Words might seem to be called in question . This neither was , nor could be , in the least degree his intention . He merely meant to say that , the prevailing character of Miss Puoctku ' s poetry being more than usually subjective , the personal truthfulness of her nature camo proportionately the more in view .

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    ¦ - ¦ . . ' ' ¦ . ¦ . ¦¦ -. '¦ " . ?— \ . : ¦ ; -- . Critics are notthelegislatora . but the judges ana police of literature .. They ao not malcelawa—tbey interpret and try-to enforce them . —Edinburgh Renew .

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    616 THE IjE A D j& jta ,. [ No , 431 , June 26 , 1858 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 26, 1858, page 616, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2248/page/16/