Review. Poems: by Frederick George Lee. (Houlston and Stoneman, Paternoster-row.) THIS is a small, but really choice volume of verse. It tells, for itself, that the author has studied his art, instead of depending solely on his genius. The following four stanzas are so excellent, both in spirit and style, that one can scarcely help envying Mr. Lee the authorship of them : "SPEAK GENTLY TO THE ERRING!" SPEAK gently to the erring- With which the dark temptation came In some unguarded hour: Ye may not know how earnestly They struggled, or how well, Until the hour of weakness came, And sadly thus they fell! Speak gently of the erring- Speak kindly to the erring- That innocence and peace are gone, It surely is a weary lot That sin-crushed heart to bear; And they who share a happier fate Speak kindly to the erring Thou yet mayst lead him back, Deal kindly with the erring one, As God hath dealt with thee!" CRITICAL EXEGESIS OF GOSPEL HISTORY, ON THE BASIS OF STRAUSS's 'LEBEN JESU.' A SERIES OF EIGHT DISCOURSES; DELIVERED AT THE LITERARY INSTITUTION, JOHN STREET, TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD, AND AT THE HALL OF SCIENCE, CITY ROAD, ON SUNDAY EVENINGS, DURING THE WINTERS OF 1848-9, AND 1849-50. BY THOMAS COOPER, IV. THE MIRACLES. (Continued from last number.) WHAT we termed the 'mixed miracles,' related in the Gospels, remain for investigation; namely, those relating to the Sea-Feeding the MultitudeTurning Water into Wine- Cursing the Barren Fig-Tree. It will, perhaps, be possible, to make greater, and yet satisfactory, haste, with the discussion of these, than of the narratives already reviewed. 1. Miracles relating to the Sea. Peter's miraculous draught of fishes (Luke, 5 ch. iv.) first presents itself, and need not occupy us long. This narrative depictures Christ as endowed with supernatural knowledge, or supernatural power: knowledge like that attributed to the Deity, who knows, at all times, all the fish, in all seas, rivers, and lakes: or power to compel shoals of fish from the depths of the sea into some particular locality of the waters. Which kind of miracle this is understood to be, we may leave the orthodox to determine. Whoever receives the narrative as literally true can scarcely fail to regard it as a proof of Christ's divinity; for he is described as possessing something beyond human consciousness. But is the attribution of such a miracle to him worthy of him as the Divinity? Was it necessary for him to inspire his followers with the indescribable awe and fear they must have felt towards him, had they really witnessed such a miracle? These are questions we can merely leave for reflection. The narrative of an interruption of the order of nature, here given, ceases to be historical in our view— not only because it involves the supernatural-but because its chronology is very diversely placed by John, who gives it at the close of his gospel, and as occurring after Christ's resurrection. Granting even that John's narrative relates to another event-though that to us is incredible, from its resemblance to this in Luke-the fact that this miracle is made, by Luke, the occasion of Peter's becoming Christ's disciple, and that it is not related by Matthew or Mark when they describe the calling of Peter, compels us to view it as legendary. The first two evangelists simply describe what there is no reason to doubt is an historical circumstance-Christ seeing Peter and Andrew, and calling them to forsake their nets and follow him, with the saying "I will make you fishers of men." The third Gospel embodies a new and legendary feature the miraculous draught of fishes-and then makes Jesus address Peter saying "Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men.” The miraculous stilling of the storm which had arisen while Jesus slept is narrated by the first three Evangelists, (Matth., 8 ch. 23 v. Mark, 4 ch. 36 v. Luke, 8 ch. 22 v.) and is intended, according to their own words, to represent Jesus to us as him whom "the winds and the sea obey." Thus, to follow out the gradation in the miraculous which has been hitherto observed, it is presupposed, not merely that Jesus could act on the human mind and living body in a psychological and magnetic manner; or with a revivifying power on the human organism when it was forsaken by vitality; nay, not merely, as in the narrative of the draught of fishes, that he could act immediately with determinative power, on irrational yet animated existences, but that he could thus act even on inanimate nature. If possible, this is a still higher assertion of Christ's divinity. But is the narrative historical? How then come the narrators to differ? Mark, as is so often his case, knows exactly where Jesus slept—it was in the "hinder part of the ship," and "on a pillow!" Matthew and Luke have no such particular knowledge. The distressed disciples, according to Matthew, say "Lord, save us we perish;" according to Mark, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" according to Luke, "Master, master, we perish." Lastly, according to Matthew, Jesus first reprehends his disciples, saying "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?" and then arises, rebukes the wind and the sea; and when his companions witness the miraculous calm, they exclaim "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey him!" But according to Mark and Luke, Jesus rebukes the wind first; and it is when the calm has taken place that he reproves his disciples. Mark, it may just be noted, alone knows the words Christ uttered to the storm-" Peace, be still!" Scarcely a word of comment is necessary on such a narrative: it is not 'inspired truth'-because it is told differently. Its divergencies give it a legendary feature; and it was a mythical story that was almost sure to arise among a people whose old history told how Jehovah had 'rebuked the Red Sea,' and how Moses had been the instrument in that partition of the waters. Jesus, as the Messiah, must have fulfilled his types; but the legend must adapt itself to circumstances: a drying up of the sea would have been unnatural to the character of Jesus— while his frequent companionship with the fishermen on the lake rendered it easy to conceive that he had "rebuked" a storm, and that the winds and waves had obeyed him. What curious questions might be asked when we turn to another narrative, where Jesus is described walking on the sea towards the ship in which his disciples are tossed, by night, and the storm as miraculously subsiding! It is omitted by Luke; but the three other Evangelists have it. (John 6 ch. 15 v. Matth. 14 ch. 22 v. Mark 6 ch. 45 v.) Was the body of Jesus exempt from the law of gravitation, since he does not sink, nor even dip into the water, but walks erect on the waves as on firm land? Was he an etherial phantom? That was the doctrine of the old Docete; but it was deemed heretical. Had Jesus the power of exhibiting this property of his body, then, —whatever it might be,-when he was baptised, but refrained from using it? Did he thus increase or reduce his specific gravity by an act of his will? These are questions we do not expect to hear answered; but analysis will enable us to answer a primary question-Is this narrative historical or legendary? 6 Observe, first, the strange feature in Mark-that Jesus' would have passed by them.' This close kinsman of the Apocryphal' evangelists, would represent walking upon the sea, as so natural and customary with Jesus, that without any regard to the disciples, he pursued his way across it, unconcernedly : he would have passed by them'! But Matthew has also his share of wonder. With him, though not with Mark or John, Peter also makes an experiment in walking on the sea, but not a successful one. 6 66 This trait," says Strauss, "is rendered suspicious by its intrinsic character, as well as by the silence of the two other narrators. Immediately on the word of Jesus, and in virtue of the faith which he has in the beginning, Peter actually succeeds in walking on the water for some time, and only when he is assailed by fear and doubt. does he begin to sink. What are we to think of this? Admitting that Jesus, by means of his etherialized body, could walk on the water, how could he command Peter, who was not gifted with such a body, to do the same? or if by a mere word he could give the body of Peter a dispensation from the law of gravitation, can he have been a man? and if a God, would he thus lightly cause a suspension of natural laws at the caprice of a man? or lastly, are we to suppose that faith has the power instantaneously to lessen the specific gravity of the body of a believer? Faith is certainly said to have such a power in the figurative discourse of Jesus just referred to, according to which, the believer is able to remove mountains and trees into the sea,-and why not also himself to walk on the sea? The moral that as soon as faith falters, power ceases, could not be so aptly presented by either of the two former figures as by the latter, in the following form: as long as a man has faith he is able to walk unharmed on the unstable sea, but no sooner does he give way to doubt than he sinks, unless Christ extend to him a helping hand. The fundamental thought, then, of Matthew's episodical narrative is, that Peter was too confident in the firmness of his faith, that by its sudden failure he incurred great danger, but was rescued by Jesus; a thought which is actually expressed in Luke xxii. 31 f. where Jesus says to Simon : Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. These words of Jesus have reference to Peter's coming denial: this was the occasion when his faith, on the strength of which he had just before offered to go with Jesus to prison and to death, would have wavered, had not the Lord by his in tercession procured him new strength. If we add to this the above-mentioned habit of the early Christians to represent the persecuting world under the image of a turbulent sea, we cannot fail, with one of the latest critics, to perceive in the description of Peter courageously volunteering to walk on the sea, soon, however, sinking from faintheartedness, but borne up by Jesus, an allegorical and mythical representation of that trial of faith which this disciple who imagined himself so strong, met so weakly, and which higher assistance alone enabled him to surmount." (To be continued.) NATIONAL EDUCATION.-I have ever observed it to have been the office of a wise patriot, among the greatest affairs of the state, to take care of the commonwealth of learning. For schools, they are the seminaries of state; and nothing is worthier the study of a statesman, than that part of the republic which we call the advancement of letters.-Ben Jonson. CONTROVERSIAL DIVINES.-Some controverters in divinity are like swaggerers in a tavern, that catch that which stands next them, the candlestick, or pots; turn everything into a weapon: ofttimes they fight blindfold, and both beat the air. The one milks a he goat, the other holds under a sieve. Their arguments are as fluxive as liquor spilt upon a table, which with your finger you may drain as you will. Such controversies, or disputations (carried with more labour than profit) are odious; where most times the truth is lost in the midst, or left untouched, and the fruit of their fight is, that they spit one upon another, and are both defiled. These fencers in religion I like not.-Ben Jonson. BEN JONSON'S OPINION OF SHAKSPERE.-I remember, the players have often mentioned it as an honour to Shakspere, that in his writing (whatsoever he penned) he never blotted out a line. My answer hath been, "Would he had blotted a thousand"-which they thought a malevolent speech. I had not told posterity this, but for their ignorance, who chose that circumstance to commend their friend by, wherein he most faulted; and to justify mine own candour: for I loved the man, and do honour his memory, on this side idolatry, as much as any. He was (indeed) honest, and of an open and free; had an excellent phantasy, brave notions, and gentle expressions; wherein he flowed with that facility, that sometimes it was necessary he should be stopped: Sufflaminandas erat, as Augustus said to Haterius-his wit was in his own power, would the rule of it had been so too-many times he fell into those things, could not escape laughter: as when he said in the person of Cæsar, one speaking to him, "Cæsar, thou dost me wrong," he replied, "Cæsar did never wrong but with just cause," and such like; which were ridiculous. But he redeemed his vices with his virtues— there was ever more in him to be praised than to be pardoned.-Gifford's Edition of Jonson's Works, Vol. ix. page 175. WORKS OF THOMAS COOPER, To be had of JAMES WATSON, 3, Queen's Head Passage, Paternoster Row. s. d. THE PURGATORY OF SUICIDES. A Prison Rhyme. In 10 Books... (To be had also in 18 numbers, at 2d each; or in 6 parts at 6d.) 3 6 THE BARON'S YULE FEAST. A Christmas Rhyme. In 1 volume, sewed,.. WISE SAWS AND MODERN INSTANCES. A series of Tales illustrative of Lincolnshire and 5 0 1 6 Two Orations against taking away Human Life under any circumstances,. THE MINSTREL'S SONG AND THE WOODMAN'S SONG. The Poetry and the Melody by 0 6 1 0 06 PART 3 of "COOPER'S JOURNAL," containing 5 Numbers, in a Wrapper, Price 5d., is now ready. Also, Parts 1 and 2, containing 4 Numbers each, Price 44d. each. OR Part 1, Price 6d. (containing 6 Numbers,) is now ready, of CAPTAIN COBLER; THE LINCOLNSHIRE INSURRECTION:" An Historical Romance of the Reign of Henry VH. Also, now Publishing in Weekly Numbers, at One Penny. Seven Numbers are now ready. London: Printed by WILLIAM SHIRREFS, 190, High Holborn ; and Published by JAMES WATSON, 3, Queen's Head Passage, Paternoster Row. OR, UNFETTERED THINKER AND PLAIN SPEAKER FOR TRUTH, FREEDOM, AND PROGRESS. "AND though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple! Who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?"-Milton's Areopagitica. No. 16.-Vol. I.] FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1850. [Price One Penny. 'FRIENDS OF ORDER' IN FRANCE—WHO ARE THEY? "The 'good old times'- -all times when old are good- Great things have been, and are, and greater still A wider space, a greener field, is given To those who play their tricks before high Heaven.' Have wept enough-for what?-To weep again! Byron's Age of Bronze. COULD anything in the world make us sympathise with anarchy, and take delight in the horrors of civil war, it would be the present conduct of that party in France who call themselves par excellence the Friends of Order.' These very respectable people are now striving, might and main, under the false pretence of preserving peace, to bring all law and liberty as they should exist in a Republican government into hatred and contempt. Like certain officious busy bodies at public meetings who are continually 'rising to order' and shouting for 'silence', they merely add to the noise, and sow the seeds of increased turmoil. It is just this party who lay the foundations of revolutions, and pave the way for scenes of violence and bloodshed. They march about with an olive-branch in one hand, and a two-edged sword in the other. They shade their faces with the one, while they brandish the other in the faces of their neighbours. Their idea of 'order' appears to consist entirely of the right to order everybody to obey them, and to enforce obedience in the event of resistance. Of such a delicate texture are their nerves that no one must talk above a whisper, but themselves. To argue with them is out of the question; they will not listen to argument. The bare mention of Reason throws them into a delirium tremens; and the sight of a newspaper, advocating the cause of labour and poverty against the monopoly of capital and bloated wealth, raises visions of guillotines and headless trunks. They have faith in nothing but cannon balls and bayonets, except when employed by their enemies, and then, of course, these are the instruments of impious rebellion. Without knowing, or giving themselves the trouble to find out what Socialism means, they assume that it is hostile to civilization and humanity, and by base misrepresentations, exaggerations, and petty persecution, by a venal press and a hireling policy, in short, by a reign of terror, these canting apostles of a tomb-begotten Conservatism seek to perpetuate class tyranny, and keep the Many in subjection to the Few. The expression of opinion unfavourable to their notions of 'order' and 'law' must be instantly crushed, and thus we read day after day of journals seized, editors fined and imprisoned, |