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"Then, if Christ be not God, the adoration of Christ must be idolatry. Out of this grows another mystery. How will you account for the dark fact in the divine conduct, that our religion, which was intended and predicted to destroy all idolatry in the world, has spread a wider and deeper idolatry than ever prevailed before? How account for it, that the God of love has permitted numberless millions of his holiest and humblest servants, who fervently sought illumination from him, to live and die in this fatal sin? More mysterious still: How can it be consistent with the wisdom and sincerity of God to have employed such language in his word concerning his Son, as is highly adapted to seduce the the world into the sin of adoring him, when all this tremendous enormity of delusion might have been prevented by inserting in the sacred book one simple term which may be found in every Unitarian publication-that Christ is nothing more than man? Mysteries darker than these cannot be found under the sun."

In the year 1832 Mr. Rhodes married Miss Hester Knight, of Devizes. This lady, who, to use his own language, "had generous affection enough to share the lot of so afflicted a person," was herself no ordinary character. By her clear intellect, and bright vivacity of thought, feeling, and speech, she brought sunshine into every shady place" she visited. With every faculty and energy, and a heart fully devoted to Christ, she entered warmly into all her husband's self-sacrificing labours, and gave a new spring to his usefulness. As she is now a spirit in heaven, it would only be affected refinement to conceal an interesting fact which preceded their marriage. She was a sincere inquirer after truth, but had not "so learned Christ" as to feel perfect accordance with the doctrinal faith held by Mr. Rhodes. Her sympathies were with the Arians, "whose grand mistake," again to quote his words, "arises from not distinguishing between what is said in the Scriptures of Our Lord in reference to his inferior and official character as man and as Redeemer, and the proofs of his absolute divinity. They fix their attention exclusively on the subordinate terms and characters which the Scriptures ascribe to him, and then assert that these do not amount to the assertion of his proper divinity, which is perfectly true. They would be right if nothing more nor higher were said of him. They would be right if it were right to form our whole view of his character from only a part, and that the inferior part, of what is revealed. But as it is, they do the same injustice to their Saviour that we should do to man, if we took our whole conception of his nature from his body, which is weak, mortal, and perishing, and left out of view or denied his soul."

This difference led to a prayerful examination of the Scriptures. For years the inquiry went on, and the letters written by Mr. Rhodes, under these circumstances, and on this subject alone, would, if printed, fill a thick octavo volume. They teem with learning, eloquence, and close argumentative thought; and were it not that those who withhold from the Saviour the full ascription of divinity have since very generally shifted the ground of debate, and are now engaged in discussing a previous question, the question of inspiration, these works might take their place amongst the standard instructions of the church. The effect was what might have been expected to follow an inquiry conducted in such a devout spirit, and with so much perseverance. Before they were united in life they were united in faith. "Mean thoughts of Christ," said Mr. Rhodes, "are, in my view, the frost and snow of the heart; while they remain our nature cannot bloom with the best affections and delights of piety. I could not live and breathe for a week in the cold Lapland region of the soul to which they belong." He never had to live for an hour in such a region. To borrow language which has been used to describe a similar instance, henceforth his life, and that which was identified with it, "flourished in the clear glow and effulgence of the gospel scheme."

In connection with the extracts which have just been given, the following letter must be felt to be peculiarly interesting. It was written to his wife when she was away from home in the summer of 1837 :

"My dear heart in the truth and the life, which are immortal, and change not.' So George Fox usually addressed his wife. I have finished his life of 650 folio pages, since you have been gone. It afforded me much amusement; but its chief impression is that of the highest veneration and delight for so holy and noble a servant of Christ. I had hitherto

regarded Penn's as the most beautiful character which that sect has produced, and perhaps it is the most beautiful, because his mind was more cultivated and polished than that of his friend; but Fox's character is by far the most venerable and magnificent. He reminds me of the inspired Tishbite in his stern majesty and fidelity, but he seems to have surpassed him in all the patient, gentle, compassionate, suffering, and laborious virtues. If inspiration has been granted since the apostles departed from the world, I think he possessed it. I have read few things more truly sublime than some of his letters to Charles the Second. What from the pen or lips of man can exceed this?—

"TO THE KING, The principle of the Quakers is the Spirit of Christ, who delivers them from the sins against law which it is thy office to punish, and from many more sins which thy power cannot reach. We save thee from thy awful work of punishing evil-doers, so far as our principles are embraced. If all thy people followed us, and obeyed the Heavenly and Immortal Master that we obey, thou and thy magistrates would have no crimes to punish. This is from one who desires the eternal good of the king and of all his subjects; in Christ Jesus our Lord,

'G. Fox.'

"I will give the closing sentence of William Penn's most sweet and beautiful preface to this volume. Many sons have done virtuously; but thou, dear George, hast excelled them all.'

"You remember that I was reading Channing when you left me. I have finished and returned the first volume, but have not yet closed the second. When you return I will give you my opinion of this fascinating writer. Great power and beauty are displayed in his pages; great refinement and elevation of mind; and many Christian virtues are exhibited in the most serious and beautiful light. For his personal qualities he must be

a delightful and delighting man, with whom I should greatly love to have a long month's debate on the solemn topics on which we differ; for it has filled me with sadness, though it has not impaired my admiration, to see so much splendour and excellence combined with a total melancholy absence, or rather decided and eloquent rejection, of those views of the Gospel and of Christ which form the consolation of my heart and my hope of blessed immortality. Here my admiration is turned into pity and profound regret. How a mind so fervent, so full of compassion, so radiant with pure aspirations, can find repose in the cold negations of the Socinian creed, and with a good con-cience can employ its powers to seduce and enchant others into the adoption of the same moonlight and powerless sentiments of piety, is to me passing wonderful and sad. To those who receive the New Testament as it is, willing and grateful to be taught by the Father of their spirits, and not to dispute his teaching, and have found peace for eternity in the love of their Redeemer, how affecting it is to read the statements made in these beautiful pages! That the sole terms of divine forgiveness are penitence and improvement in virtue-that holiness is originated by our own minds-that the attainment of religion is as easy to our nature as the attainment of knowledge that the atonement is a fiction of human device, and of course that the Saviour of the world is only the most excellent and dignified of mortals. Alas for our hopeless race, if this be the Gospel-if this be all that the God of heaven has provided to redeem and save them! What a deception and mockery of the deep misery of all souls it would be to call this the great salvation! By serious and thoughtful persons, whose views are fixed by prayerful meditation on the Scriptures, and by deep and mournful acquaintance with themselves, these volumes may be read with advantage; while to others, who have no tender and awful reverence for the word of God, with little experience of a penitent heart, and who are disposed to indulge in unholy freedom and daring of thought on the things of religion, these pages will prove like the serpent of Paradise, full of beauty but full of danger to their souls. I pray for this excellent and admirable man, that through divine illumination and grace he may add unto his virtue, faith' in a Divine Redeemer-I pray that his heart may be brought into tune with the music of heaven, with the song of the adoring and loyal universe, towards Him who made the whole and redeemed a part. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round the throne, and the living beings and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.' That heart which is not gratefully responsive to this temper of heaven, whatever other graces may adorn it, is not fit for the kingdom of God, where all delight to honour the Son, as they honour the Father."

Camberwell.

CHARLES STANFORD.

SELECTIONS FROM " ESSAYS BY GEORGE BRIMLEY."

A VOLUME of critical essays has lately been published, of rare beauty and excellence, written by one who lived unknown to the great world, who died in early manhood, but whose memory is fondly cherished by a circle of ardent admirers and friends. One who seems to have known him well thus writes of him :

"He was a man whom God had richly endowed-of exquisite fineness of faculty, of large breadth of sympathy, of a most generous spirit, and full of truth and sincerity. His elegant culture and brilliant conversational powers made him one of the rarest of companions; and the respectful consideration he ever manifested for the convictions and feelings of those from whom he differed, permitted such as were most widely separated from him, by ecclesiastical or political views, to become his intimate and confiding friends. He was so kindly and unpretending, even when most splendid in discourse or most triumphant in argument, that his inferiors never felt his superiority, until reflection afterwards taught them to appreciate the truth and power of his criticism, and the variety and depth of the thoughts with which he had penetrated their minds. That he became all he was, that he accomplished all he did, may well surprise the friends who now know fully what a struggle with a 'cruel malady' he had to maintain ever since he was twenty-two. If sometimes nearly subdued by depression or pain, he soon rose up manfully and victoriously; and, to the last, kept a heart of courage, and a genial enjoyment of the world, society, and art. Those who knew him best, feel that his departure has made vacant a place that cannot be filled again; yet, while walking now in the shadow of death, they are not without the gladness of the great hopes which break forth from the truth he himself confessed with dying lips-now inscribed on the cross that marks his resting-place-Mercy and Truth are met together."

The wish to render his "a life too short for friend ship, not for fame," seems to have prompted the publication of this volume. It consists of articles selected from a much larger number contributed by him, whilst he lived, to "Fraser,” the "Spectator," and the "Edinburgh Essays." It would be difficult to praise too highly the simple and graceful style, the fine tone of feeling, and the keen perception of, and true sympathy with, whatever is good and beautiful, which characterise these Essays. A few extracts will serve to illustrate these quali ties better than any lengthened review could do. To these, therefore, we at once proceed :

THOMAS CARLYLE.

ment of politics; others feebly bemoan their irreparable loss, and bear an outward seeming of universal irony and sarcasm. Mr. Carlyle has no right, no man has any right, to weaken or destroy a faith which he cannot or will not replace with a loftier. We have no hesitation in saying, that the language which Mr Carlyle is in the habit of employing towards the religion of England and of Europe is unjustifiable. He ought to have said nothing, or he ought to have said more. Scraps of verse from Goethe and declamations, however brilliantly they may be phrased, are but a poor compensation for the slightest obscuring of the hope of "immortality brought to light by the gospel," and by it brought to the hut of the poorest man, to awaken his crushed intelligence and lighten the load of

For good or evil, Mr. Carlyle is a power in the country; and those who watch eagerly the signs of the times have their eyes fixed upon him. What he would have us leave is plain enough; and that, too, with all haste, as a sinking ship that will carry us-state, church, and property-down along with it. But whither would he have us fly? Is there firm land, be it ever so distant? or is the wild waste of waters, seething, warring round as far as eye can reach, our only hope ?-the pilot stars, shining fitfully through the parting of the storm-clouds, our only guidance? There are hearts in this land, almost broken, whose old traditional belief, serving them at least as moral supports, Mr. Carlyle and teachers like him have undermined. Some betake themselves to literature, as Sterling did; some fill up the void with the excite- his misery.

SORROW, A PART OF THE DIVINE PLAN.

God has created us with large capacities the foundations of the universe were laid. for sorrow, and has placed us in circum- And Mr. Tennyson, finding himself in a stances which give those capacities ample world where sorrow alternates with joy, employment. It is, perhaps, quite as sen- and in a nation whose humour even, has sible to inquire what possible meaning lies been supposed to have a serious and saturin this arrangement, as to ignore the fact nine cast,-having heard, too, we may altogether; and quite as religious to pre- presume, of a text in a certain book which sume that it has some beneficent meaning, says, "Blessed are they that mourn, for and is not without a gracious design in they shall be comforted,"-and having himtraining men to virtue and blessedness, as self lost a friend, who was as the light of to attempt to baffle the arrangement by his eyes and the joy of his heart, has not drowning the voice of nature in pleasure thought it an unworthy employment of or in action. If all life but enjoyment and his poetic gifts to bestow them in erecting action is morbid and unhealthy, the world a monument to his friend, upon which he has been strangely misconstructed. The has carved bas-reliefs of exceeding grace mere comfort and serenity of the human and beauty, and has worked delicate flowers race seem not to have been leading objects into the cornices, and adorned the capitals in its design. Had the Epicureans been of the columns with emblematic devices; consulted at the creation, they could, no and upon the summit he has set the statue doubt, have suggested several improve- of his friend, and about the base run the ments. As a late eminent judge remarked, sweetest words of love with the mournthey would have it rain only during the fullest accents of grief-the darkest doubts, night; and with Porson, when Parr, "the with the sublimest hopes. The groans of schoolmaster run to seed," pompously despair are there, with the triumphant asked him, "Mr. Professor, what do you songs of faith, and over all, in letters of think of the existence of physical and gold, surmounting the mingled posies which moral evil ?" they would reply, "Why, doc- tell of all the moods of the human mind tor, I think we could have done very well through its glass of mourning, is the scroll without either." Unfortunately, neither on which one reads from afar, "I am the Epicurean, nor stoic, nor egotist of any Resurrection and the Life. Blessed are school or sect, was taken into counsel when the dead that die in the Lord."

THE MORAL IMPOTENCE OF SECULARISM AS COMPARED WITH CHRISTIANITY.

In fact, with the exception indicated us ever regard that highest social law which above, and that only amounts to a differ- says, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as ence of degree, all its motives are in thyself." What has positivism (secularforce now; and added to them are all ism) to offer as a corrective to selfish pasthose sentiments, hopes, and fears, that sions and short-sighted lust of present spring from a belief in God, and a con- gratification, that can do in place of these? fidence of life beyond the grave. We can speak of self-interest, of love of country, of attachment to friends and relations, of the closer ties of family and love between man and woman, of the charms of knowledge, of the influences of art, of the sympathies inspired by generous actions, as well as the positivist (secularist). But we can speak, too, of a personal Being of infinite love, purity, and power, to whom we are responsible, and who, we are taught to believe, watches our course with a tender interest for which no name is sufficiently expressive but those which denote the dear est earthly relationships. We can speak, too, of a life hereafter, and are taught to believe that the formation of character is of infinite importance, because character is eternal, and what is done or thought here bears fruit of weal or woe beyond the limits of time. Even these mighty moral forces are continually found insufficient to keep us up to our imperfect sense of duty, to make

If a practical test of the positive creed be wanted, there is one ready at hand. Let any one follow to the grave the wife, the child, the parent he has loved and lost, and seek to comfort himself by the reflection that the loved one is absorbed in the grand être-in the totality of organised life existing through all time in the universe! No! whatever speculative difficulties may beset and bewilder us when intellect is busy, and feeling and action suspended for a while, we shall all be glad, when bereavement and sorrow cast their shadows over our path, to take refuge on the faith of our childhood; and the words of our burial service, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord," will fall upon the ear with assurance all the more sure from the doubts with which we have struggled, and the clouds of speculation that have hid the great moral verities for a time from our overstrained eyes.

COMMUNISM NOT THE SOCIAL THEORY OF THE

PRIMITIVE CHURCH.

THERE is a very general impression, one sanctioned by antiquity, that the early Christians renounced their personal property and established a perfect intercommunity of goods-that social inequalities were unknown in the apostolic church-that, as a rule, its members sold their possessions, poured "the price of the things that were sold" into the treasury of the church, and became pensioners on a common fund. This, like all popular beliefs, has some ground on which to go. One or two passages in the Acts of the Apostles, if taken by themselves, apart from the limitations which the context supplies, justify the belief. Those who do not habitually compare Scripture with Scripture, remem bering that God has given us "here a little and there a little" in order that we may bring "the little here" and "the little there" together, are quite naturally led to a wrong conclusion. If we would avoid their error, we must not be content with noting what a few disciples in one nook of it are doing, and inferring that the whole brotherhood are similarly engaged; nor what the whole assembly does on any one day, and argue that their mode of action, like the Medo-Persic law, changeth not: we must combine the scattered features of the scene, gather into one the separated portions of the apostolic plan; and when the whole is before us, we may hope to form a correct conception of what the church was and should be.

The proof passage* advanced by the advocates of "Christian Socialism" or "Christian Communism," is Acts iv. 32, 34, 35. "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. . Neither was there any among them that lacked; for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet; and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need." This, it must be confessed, seems to establish that absolute equality was established among the Christians, and that all private property was disposed of for the benefit of the community. Yet there are some considerations which might make us pause before accepting this as the true interpretation of the passage. Let us glance at two of them before passing on to the Scripture argument.

1. Such a social arrangement, even if possible, would not have been desirable. For the infant church to start on the understanding that every rich man who entered its fellowship should renounce his wealth, and that every poor man should share it-to place all on one level, and to sustain all out of one common fund, would have been to create innumerable difficulties. It would have been to put another" stone of stumbling," another "rock of offence," in the path of the rich-a path which, as our Lord's mournful words indicate, are only too full of obstacles and impediments. It would have been a virtual invitation to the selfish and indolent among the poor-like the loaves and garments and gratuitous education with which certain charitable vicars and priests win at least children to attend the services of their church. The broken trader, the lazy fisherman, the impoverished and unscrupulous of every class, would have seen no small attractions in a society whose members, however poor and unworthy, were placed on a level with the laborious and honourable. So long as the apostles were present to "discern spirits," the worst effects of such a system might have been staved off; but when left in the hands of uninspired men, it must have become an open gateway for the most corrupting influences. Christianity would have suffered fearfully, had she committed herself to this unnatural and perilous communism. The honourable, the diligent, the rich, would have been deterred from her fellowship; the bankrupt, the indolent, the worthless, would have been won to it.

2. But again: such a social arrangement, even had it been desirable, was *This rather than Acts ii. 44, 45, because the statements of the earlier passage are here given in a more expanded form.