LITERARY NOTICES. 



559 



better to avail themselves of the ab- 

 sence of St. Joseph to get a few lessons 

 in religious liberality by holding " dea- 

 con meetin's " and listening to the read- 

 ing of " Scotch Sermons." 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Scotch Sermons, 1880. New York : D. 

 Appleton&Co. Pp.346. Price, $1.25. 



This book is a surprise, and as gratifying 

 as it is unexpected. Its title is anything but 

 inviting. Of all branches of literature ser- 

 mons are generally and justly pronounced the 

 dullest, and of the class of sermons, everybody 

 would expect to find the Scotch the driest. 

 This is what sharpened surprise and pro- 

 duced actual astonishment when we looked 

 into this unpromising volume. We have 

 been accustomed to regard Scotch Presby- 

 terianism as the narrowest and most intol- 

 erant and intractable form of Calvinistic 

 orthodoxy, which would be the very last to 

 yield to the liberalizing tendencies of the 

 time, but we have been much mistaken. 

 The mechanical law that action and reaction 

 are equal and opposite seems to hold rigor- 

 ously in the theological sphere, so that the 

 counter-impulse now displayed in the Scottish 

 Church is, perhaps, more vigorous^ compre- 

 hensive, and fruitful than is to be found in 

 any other religious body. 



This volume, dedicated to Dean Stanley, 

 consists of twenty-three sermons, preached 

 by various men, located in various places, 

 and all clergymen of the Church of Scot- 

 land. Its editorship is anonymous, but its 

 editor declares that it " has originated in 

 the wish to gather together a few specimens 

 of a style of teaching which increasingly 

 prevails among the clergy of the Scottish 

 Church. It docs not claim to represent 

 either the full extent of that teaching or 

 the range of subjects on which, in their 

 public ministrations, its authors are in the 

 habit of discoursing. It may, however, 

 serve to indicate a growing tendency and to 

 show the direction in which thought is mov- 

 ing. It is the work of those whose hope 

 for the future lies not in alterations of ec- 

 clesiastical organization, but in a profounder 

 apprehension of the essential ideas of Chris- 



tianity ; and especially in the growth within 

 the Church of such a method of presenting 

 them as shall show that they are equally 

 adapted to the needs of humanity and in 

 harmony with the results of critical and 

 scientific research." 



There is, of course, considerable ine- 

 quality in these productions, coming as they 

 do from such diverse sources, but they are 

 all of a superior character, and there are a 

 unity and a harmony in the views advanced 

 which show that the liberalizing movement 

 in the Scottish Church is broad, consistent, 

 well defined, and well matured. The writers 

 treat their respective topics independently, 

 but with a remarkable concurrence of opin- 

 ion, which shows that the more expanded 

 views are the result less of any effort at 

 agreement than of an unconscious growth 

 of rational conviction. 



But these sermons are not less remark- 

 able for their free and catholic spirit and 

 advanced principles than for the intellectual 

 power which various of them evince in deal- 

 ing with the present phases of religious 

 thought. They are not the mere impatient 

 protests of men chafing under the infiuence 

 of an outworn system, but they are philo- 

 sophical in temper, constructive and con- 

 servative in tehdency, and evince a masterly 

 grasp of the questions that are now tasking 

 the best minds of the age. There is no 

 timidity, no panic about imperiled faiths, 

 and the old errors are repudiated with de- 

 cision, but without harshness or bitterness. 

 It is ably shown how religion is the gainer 

 by being freed from the false beliefs that 

 have been so long associated with it, and so 

 widely mistaken for it. 



These sermons are, moreover, remarka- 

 bly free from that' jealous antagonism to 

 Science which in these days characterizes so 

 much of our mediocre literature of theology. 

 Science is neither fiercely denounced as 

 leading to materialism, nor coldly compli- 

 mented and left to go her ways. Her re- 

 sults are cordially accepted as a great reve- 

 lation of truth, and of truth which is also 

 of the highest religious importance. In- 

 stead of shrinking with horror at the scien- 

 tific doctrine of development as something 

 which threatens to sweep away all religion, 

 these clear-sighted men recognize that this 

 doctrine is at the basis of religion itself. 



