Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

the latter. In such a saying the selfish element crops out; 'the mind annexes truth to itself, not itself to truth; loves it as its own creation, as the reflection of itself and its labours.' Perhaps there is nothing finer in all Mozley's writings than the close of this essay, in which, in contrast with the intellectualistic search after truth, he shows how, in the case of the Christian, Truth finds him out, not he it-a new state of being, a higher life into which a transition and a death conducts him.' The other point in this essay is the way in which Mozley answers the charge that theology is anthropomorphic. He shows that there are two and only two possible media under which we can think the Highestnature and man. Take the former as your medium, and it gives you a vast, infinite, but a mechanical principle, an impersonal, unmoral God. Take man, high humanity, as the medium, and all the highest qualities in man's moral nature he transfers to God-not, of course, in a literal, matter-of-fact form, as he himself has them, but in a transcendental, supernatural, and incomprehensible way! The essay on Design is calm, close reasoning from end to end. It shows how design is the only interpretation of which the facts of nature are capable, how their construction adheres to the facts, cannot be separated from them.' Granting the truth of evolution and of the transformation of species, what guides these processes, what presides over them? It must be either chance or intelligence, for no third is possible. Put aside, he says, the philosophical figment called Laws, and think only of movements of matter. Suppose we could see these going on for countless ages, but going on with an ever-growing and expanding order-a rudimental world shaping itself gradually into intricate system, and disposing itself into multitudinous forms and beautiful mechanisms-suppose we could witness this spectacle, but with faculties that could annihilate the large intervals of time, and enable us to see the work of ages as we now do that of minutes, what would be the impression on our minds? Could we resist the conviction that there was an ordering mind working behind and underneath the process?

[ocr errors]

The University Sermons are, no doubt, the ripest fruit of Mozley's mind. They are the mature product of his thought, after he knew what life was, what men are, what he himself was. They contain the reflections of one who has observed men and himself, has thought much on life and its issues, and now is taking stock of his experience. Everywhere he seeks to be true to the facts of human nature, but the facts he values are those which lie not on the surface, but in the depth of the soul. They have not, indeed, the high and delicate spirituality of Newman's best sermons, the severe sweetness, the plaintive music, the piercing tenderness. But they bear the impress of a meditative, original and profound mind, intent to utter the truth it had found in his own way and in his own native style. Nowhere are human motives more searchingly laid bare, and all the impositions men practise on themselves more brought to light. This is especially seen in the

on Our Duty to Equals,' on the Unspoken Judgment of Mankind.' In these the virtues which are exalted, striking, and which command men's praise, are probed to the core, and shown to be hollow compared with the plain, common-place duties which no one observes, but which are solid, and endure the fire. These sermons are very searching ones, yet you feel that there is no exaggeration in them. They are simply and rigorously true. The moral of them is this: We do not do justice to the spirit of the Gospel by making it enthusiastic simply, or even benevolent simply. It is sagacious too. It is a Book of judgment; man is judged in it;' and 'Our Lord is Judge.' The sermon on Nature' is in a different vein, but it is one of the most original and suggestive, touching lines of thought seldom ventured on from the pulpit.

In all these discourses the method is one-they lay firm hold of some of the more hidden aspects in the visible world, or in human nature; and make these the standing ground, which yields far-reaching views onward and upward to the Divine. This is seen in the sermon on Mediation or the Atonement. Believing firmly in the atonement as a fact, he does not attempt, any more than Scripture does, to explain it as a theory. Those rationalised theories of it which have done so much to shock the conscience of men, and to discredit theology -these he has no word of defence for. Sin he felt to be a great mystery, and the remedy for it, the power that is to cancel it, that he felt to be not less a mystery. They were truths which he could not get to the bottom of, and did not try to. But in human life he found certain facts which seem to throw a partial light upon the mystery, and these he was thankful for. After dwelling on these facts, and turning them heavenward, he concludes with the following deep but little-heeded reflection. The human heart accepts mediation. It does not understand it as a whole, but the fragment of which it is conscious is enough to defend the doctrine of mediation on the score of morals. Have we not, indeed, in our moral nature much to do with fragments? . . . Justice is a fragment, mercy is a fragment, mediation is a fragment; justice, mercy, mediation, as a reason of mercy, all three; what indeed are they but great vistas and openings into the invisible world, in which is the point of view which brings them all together.'

[ocr errors]

This is but a hint at the argument as Mozley maintained it. To see its full scope the sermon must be thoughtfully studied and reflected on. To minds dominated by the one thought of material infinity, this doctrine, and indeed all truths of Christianity, must seem visionary and unsubstantial. To these, what they term the cosmic emotion' may suffice for a religion, and seem the only real form of it. Others who are so absorbed in the sense of present life that they cannot see any grounds in themselves or others for the hope of a future life, may try to rest satisfied with the so-called Religion of Humanity. Men must go down into themselves, face their own hearts

among their secrets, before they can know what it is in man to which Christianity appeals. Amid the Babel of conflicting systems, one would be content to stake the whole issue on this, and to abide by that system, which most truly interprets man to himself, which takes fullest account of what is most deep and most permanent in him. To the understanding of this permanent element no writings of recent time afford more help than those of Canon Mozley.

J. C. SHAIRP.

L

SONNET

ON A DROWNED FRIEND.

ET not the Waters keep their hapless dead

Hither and thither hurled, we know not where

To keep alive the clinging sense of care,

And haunt a few poor hearts with hope and dread!
May kindliest mould enwrap thy youthful head,
That none may ever mourn thy timeless lot
Without the solace of one quiet spot

Where Love hath laid thee to thy lonely bed.

Let earth's most pleasant green above thee wave!
That so, when Time which steals away our woes
Hath reconciled the sigh, and dried the tear,
The sad, yet sweet and gentle thoughts of those
To whom in life thou wert so very dear,
May sleep like quiet sunbeams on thy Grave.

January 1880.

P. P. A.

A

ANCIENT BUDDHIST REMAINS IN AFGHANISTAN.

FGHANISTAN has had the misfortune of being the only road into India from the North. From the earliest ages it has been the path of conquest. The history of Semiramis is now doubted; still, as early as 736 B.C. Tiglath Pileser penetrated as far as Ariarva-that is, Aria or Ariana, the old classic name of Afghanistan-and an inscription states that this country, as well as Arakutta, or Arachosia, paid him tribute. About the year 516 B.C. Darius Hystaspes extended his rule as far as the Indus, and that river was then explored by a fleet under Scylax of Caryanda. It was down the Cabul river that Alexander came towards the Indus. Still earlier than either of these conquering monarchs, we have conquering emigration. It is supposed that the movement of the Aryans into India, carrying with them the primitive form of the Hindoo religion, took place about 3,000 years B.C. The Mahometan faith first appeared in Afghanistan about the end of the seventh century, and finally passed into India, converting and conquering as it went. Baber belonged to Ferghana, on the north of the Hindoo Koosh; his conquest of India was made from the present Cabul, where he had reigned for twenty years. Nadir Shah, of cruel renown, had to pass through Afghanistan to India from Persia. He crossed the Indus at the end of 1738. In 1752 Amed Shah, the founder of the Dooranie dynasty in Cabul, crossed the Indus with a conquering army, but he did not pass beyond the Punjab. That gives the last wave of the tide coming south. Now the current of the stream has turned. It flows back on the old channel, and Afghanistan is still the path of conquest.

From the Chinese, that great literary nation, we are now receiving most valuable contributions regarding the ancient history of India. From them we learn that early in the second century before Christ, there was a warlike migration of some of the Scythian races from the provinces on the Jaxartes to the south. One of these hordes was known as the Su; they were forced before another called the Great Yuchi, while a third behind pushed them both forward. These tribes seem to have come slowly. The sure but certain movement of a glacier would perhaps describe this conquering invasion, which at last took possession of Afghanistan, and reached the Indus. The government of Bactria, which had been Greek from the time of Alexander, was swept away, and about the beginning of the first century before the Christian era, gave place to what is known as the Indo-Scythian dynasty, which extended geographically at last from the Hindoo Koosh to the Punjab.

The existence of a Scythian race in this region is so far of import

among their secrets, before they can know what it is in man to which Christianity appeals. Amid the Babel of conflicting systems, one would be content to stake the whole issue on this, and to abide by that system, which most truly interprets man to himself, which takes fullest account of what is most deep and most permanent in him. To the understanding of this permanent element no writings of recent time afford more help than those of Canon Mozley.

J. C. SHAIRP.

SONNET

ON A DROWNED FRIEND.

ET not the Waters keep their hapless dead

LE

Hither and thither hurled, we know not where

To keep alive the clinging sense of care,

And haunt a few poor hearts with hope and dread!
May kindliest mould enwrap thy youthful head,
That none may ever mourn thy timeless lot
Without the solace of one quiet spot

Where Love hath laid thee to thy lonely bed.

Let earth's most pleasant green above thee wave!
That so, when Time which steals away our woes
Hath reconciled the sigh, and dried the tear,
The sad, yet sweet and gentle thoughts of those
To whom in life thou wert so very dear,
May sleep like quiet sunbeams on thy Grave.

January 1880.

P. P. A.

« НазадПродовжити »