LECTURES ON THE INCARNATION, LORD JESUS CHRIST. By Chaun LECTURES ON THE NATURE OF S BEING. By Chauncey Giles. To those who desire to know the New Church, without laboring hard deeply into the grounds of it, we car one of ninety-four, the other of one Giles writes in an easy way for peop As a controversialist he is neither de usual amount of appreciation and fa Perhaps he displays rather less cap the popular religion, than the older s setting his merits in that regard very misrepresents; following the establi should say of " the rest of Christend as we are glad to have him speak, o New Church had abandoned. His claims to respect as an interp ment, exceed those we must allow hi of the first mentioned book, is distin the rules of rational criticism which And as he has no need to resort to quotes texts as anybody else might passages appears little short of chil the art of modern criticism. A tex and is to be taken literally, whatever by Scripture that Jesus and Jehovah foolishness. None but the very your Nor is Mr. Giles eminent as a phi "laws" and "principles," he goes t uses frequently such words as "pro laws and principles seem for the mo the New Jerusalem Church, his rea forced analogies, and we should rarel word "assert" for the words "prove Occur. It would be hard to find a m that by which Mr. Giles deduces the from the gradual perfecting of organi ated being. No Darwinian ever ma Mr. Giles's merits are those of a borg; some disciples would not prob but, as we have already intimated, of ferent thing we have discovered. What he has to say is said plainly, directly, sincerely, in good English. His style is that of current literature, flowing and unaffected, sometimes beautiful. His aim is to make his hearers or readers understand his meaning. His pages are not overloaded with extracts from the writings of Swedenborg. He is copious in illustrations which illustrate his text without misleading his audience. Of the doctrines exhibited by Mr. Giles in these volumes, we cannot say much by reason of our limited space. A great deal, and, it seems to us, a great deal the best, of what they contain is held in common with multitudes of thoughtful people in the Liberal Sects. Their peculiarities do not recommend them altogether, either on the score of reasonableness or of spirituality. Indeed, they appear to run in some respects counter to both, as of course they must if they run counter to either; for spirituality and rationality are equivalent and convertible terms. The doctrines of the New Jerusalem Church have a high reputation in some quarters for spirituality; but their reputation for rationality does not stand so eminent; which gives rise to the suspicion that they are rather sentimental than spiritual. At all events they seem so under Mr. Giles's interpretation. His endeavor appears to be to meet the common demand for tangibility in faith; to bring matters of belief within the reach of sensible apprehension. The doctrine of the Lord, the Incarnation, the Atonement, the Salvation, has little advantage in point of reasonableness over the Orthodox doctrine, of which it sounds like a distant reminiscence; while it has not the same inevitable justification, in the fundamental premises of a theological system. And when he writes about the Nature of Spirit, Man as a Spiritual Being, Man in the World of Spirits, Man in Heaven and Man in Hell, he succeeds in presenting the whole subject in a manner much more likely to attract fanciful and sensuous, than broad and philosophical minds. Wilkinson somewhere remarks that children ought to be everlastingly grateful to Swedenborg for making the Bible a picture book. In the same sense the lovers of pictorial religion, the dwellers in a pictorial universe, the childlike people who require to have the seven heavens in miniature, and the Father God in human shape at their elbow, must feel indebted to such books as those that Mr. Giles produces. Thoughts of great beauty no doubt there are in his pages; fine reaches of intellectual perception; truths of rich import; statements of moral and spiritual laws, remarkably clear and comprehensive. The chapters on Death, Resurrection, Judgment, contain admirable suggestions, suitable for minds of any calibre and culture; but these, as we have said, are not strictly peculiar to the New Jerusalem Dispensation. They existed before its coming, and still exist outside of its circumference. The mingling of these delicate and high intuitions with the narrow literal and rather austere dogmatics of the system, gives to it a strange inharmoniousness of coloring, as if two systems were pieced together. The New Jerusalem Church is not to be reckoned among the "broad" or "liberal" churches. It prides itself on its ecclesiastical remoteness from other bodies. It cultivates, too, a spirit of sectarianism, which is singularly out of keeping with the fame of spirituality it has by some unaccountable means acquired. This, likewise, the readers of Mr. Giles's books will perceive. Some will take delight in it, others will not. * O. B. F. THERE are books that should be read only to make an acquaintance with the author; and that of Dr. Jennings is perhaps one of them. One thinks better of his time on finding that it has room for a man so utterly good, even though he be confessed a little dry. The spirit of his book is so excellent that we regret the necessity of giving it anything else but praise. Our suspicion is that the author has been in the habit of addressing social religious meetings; and the style of thought and speech current among "brethren of the church," does not always pass at par value in the intellectual market of "the world." The work consists of two parts, the first upon Spirit Degeneracy, its nature and remedy, and the second upon Physical Degeneracy. Some portions of the former might have dated from the early ages of the Christian era. We find here the spirit of those who "left all and followed Christ"; of whom none said that "aught of the things he possessed were his own, but they had all things in common." Here, too, is the same spiritual pathology, a world dead in sin, under the dominion of the Devil, for whose rescue God became flesh, and died upon the cross. And with the ancient believers, Dr. J. has the same looking forward to the speedy coming of Christ to set up his kingdom upon the earth. This event he confidently expects to take place in the next century. His expectation based (from "the human point of view," he explains) upon what, will the reader conjecture? Why, upon the incontestable prevalence of the great law of selfishness! To the mere "worldly" mind this logic may not seem convincing; but it has convinced Dr. Jennings. The desire of happiness, he tells us, is so controlling in the human breast, that when men perceive happiness to be attainable only by a right course, both with regard to themselves and others, they will instinctively pursue such course. In short, the desire of happiness, when sufficiently enlightened, will lead to the extinction of selfishness. Satan having cast out Satan after this fashion, Christ will appear, the millennial age having arrived already. whatever they may mean, - From "the divinity station,” -he bases his hope upon the providence of God as developed by the result of the late war, and upon the efforts of the American Temperance Union. Should we smile here, Dr. Jennings would never be able to understand why. 66 The second part is devoted to an exposition of the nature and treatment of diseases upon orthopathic" principles. Nature always moves in a right direction: this the starting-point of "orthopathy." Cholera, fever, plague, are only disturbances in the system, when Mother Nature tries to set things to rights. Like the spiritual, the natural world is in a bankrupt condition, though Nature always moves in a right direction! The great *The Tree of Life, &c. By Isaac Jennings, M. D. New York: Miller & Co., publishers. 1867. mass of humanity is but half vitalized; so that when any call is made by circumstances for any unusual outlay of force, Nature has to rally recruits from all directions: the most distant points must furnish their quotas to meet the emergency. Accordingly while she centres all her forces upon the most important points, rebellion is rampant in the provinces. The worst of it is that the old Dame is proud as well as poor, and will accept of aid from no quarter. "Hands off!" she cries to all kindly intruders, and retaliates upon every helpful effort by a longer process of cure. As the principle of Private Property is that form of selfishness which Dr. J. thinks at the bottom of all spiritual evil, so the use of stimulants produces all "natural" evil. Whiskey, tobacco, coffee, tea, animal food, spices (even caraway), are the Devil's agents in devitalizing this poor humanity, and in opening the way to all diseases that flesh is heir to. When these shall be exorcised, the inhabitants of the earth will no more say, "I am sick"; the new heavens and the new earth, arising from the regenerated stomach, will be established. Children, being no more born in sin, will attain the full stature of perfect men, and there shall be no more death! We must do the Doctor the justice to say that all this is advanced in a tone of unimpeachable gravity and dryness; indeed, to our ear, with somewhat of a solemn drone. As woman led man out of paradise, it would seem fitting that she should lead him back. But alas, Dr. Jennings says she must take leave of him at the door; for into the new earth woman, as such, cannot enter! From "femininity" comes effeminacy, which, though highly esteemed among men, is an abomination in the sight of God. Expressing bluntly our judgment upon the work, we should say that "The Tree of Life contains some science and some nescience, -some sense, and more of that which we forbear to name, nonsense. There is much practical suggestion in it about food and warm flannels, rest, patience, manners, and domestic service, etc. But we value it chiefly as material for some future Disraeli, who shall write upon the Curiosities of Enthusiasm. A. S. W. MR. MILL* approaches all subjects with such gravity and considerateness, weighs them with a deliberation so conscientious, and states his judgment so lucidly, that his very tone persuades. Practical questions in particular he treats excellently. Here he never fails to give what may be called the best average opinion of the time, strengthened by all the aids which large knowledge, wide experience, sustained interest and rare continuity of thought, can afford. In pure speculation we esteem him less. Indeed, we cannot help thinking him mistaken in accrediting himself with speculative ability. He has logical power, without a trace, so far as we discover, of metaphysical subtilty and insight; and therefore when writing Dissertations and Discussions. By John Stuart Mill. In Four Volumes. Vol. IV. Boston: William V. Spencer. 1867. about the mind he thinks it his tas somewhat other than itself. In the little with metaphysical problems. THE HERMITAGE AND OTHER PO We understand that Mr. Sill was! in Cambridge, with the intention of gratulate him that he appears in th cesses of that institution, and is ac profit of his fellowmen. He need n more convenient than a surplice, w sometimes throws him down. Once excellent brother who sat in the pu formidable surplice. As he struggle whispered: "Confound it, I can n never. It pinions the mind as well brethren are so completely cocooned Mr. Sill's muse has a liberal and p volume of a quite young man: but it a great deal from a maturity which Such a poem, for instance, as the particularly profound in sentiment, the lines are robust. They move o encumbered with epithets. All thr early fault of poets to keep charact variety of adjectives that encumber sickly sweet. And he has definite Dead President " ranks among the on Abraham Lincoln's death. |