1849.] A Religious Household. 451 loathed or dreaded by those who would ever meet him with the most trustful affection, but are too sure, alas, of a repulse! What does that man need so much as to feel, though the world to which he is ever ready to do homage knows nothing of this, that there is always upon him one eye which marks all, which is never withdrawn, from which no walls or darkness can screen him, — one all-present Witness and Judge, from whom there is no escape? O, how much does he need to feel those most merciful restraints which religion would lay upon his passions, that blessed guidance she would give them! But if this be true in a single case, it is true universally. Home, where it is the most attractive and admirable, where it approaches nearest to all that home should be, never does so by reason of any arbitrary appointment of the Creator. As in every other sphere of life, so there, human beings are left to make their own happiness, or discomfort, or positive misery, by the manner in which they regard and use the means with which He has furnished them. Let bad passions be smothered abroad, but let them have free vent at home, and most miserable, most repulsive, will home be made. Keep away from it the influences of religion and piety, keep out of it all thought of God, all regard to Christ, all reference to eternity, and hours and seasons sooner or later will come in abundance, when in vain, even in the fullest warmth of mere natural affection, will be sought that which can give the needed comfort and strength. But let religion become the fireside companion, entering and hallowing every domestic joy and trial, taking each member of the household by the hand, and binding all in her embrace, the unavoidable differences of opinion, the graver questions of conscience, the apparent clashings of duty, will all be promptly settled and harmonized. An impulse within, full of mighty energy, will be felt, helping each to master himself that he may bless others; mutual affection will render required sacrifices easy; disinterestedness and generosity will take the place of selfishness; and the love of God and of Christ, the welfare not for time, but for eternity, of those there associated most closely in life, will animate the thoughts and deeds of all. We look upon home, and the relations of home, as providentially established for the highest and most glorious purposes. We believe that religion alone, the religion which Christ taught, reveals these purposes. We dread the effect of those tremendous influences which, through the materializing tendencies of our age and of society, especially in our larger towns and cities, are so strongly and increasingly at work to exclude religion from home, to diminish its power by banishing its presence from domestic life, to tempt parents to forego the high priesthood to which God has consecrated them, and leave the religious culture of their children too much to other hands, to break down or leave no place for the family altar. We know no questions more important just now for the members of the religious community, so called, very seriously to consider, each for himself, than these :— What is the state of our families? What is the character of our homes? Are they religious homes? Has piety, has devotion, her chosen seat there? Is the presence of religion welcome there? Is the voice of praise and prayer heard there? Is the domestic altar raised there, that around it may be gathered day by day the objects dearest to our hearts, together to acknowledge, adore, and bless our Father in heaven? Can we, do we, delight to turn away from the follies and vanities of the world, its perplexing cares and jading rivalries, its comparatively paltry, yet wearing and harassing pursuits, its disappointments, reverses, trials, and find there the serene trust, the sweet peace and calm, which the spirit of true piety breathes, wherever it rests? Do we, inmates of the same home, when we are gathered there, accustom ourselves to feel that we have made God our portion, and Christ in very deed our Saviour, and heaven only our higher home? Are we there engaged as becomes the aspirants for that higher home, in our thoughts, conversation, recreations, reading, general intercourse, improving and improved, blessing and blessed? If these questions can be affirmatively answered by any who share the same home, most happy are they. But if, on the contrary, husbands and wives, parents and children, never join heart and voice in thanksgiving and petition to Him who made and blesses them, if there be in the home no higher themes of communion than those which are wholly "of the earth, earthy,"—if its members regard and treat each other only as creatures of sense, only as inhabitants of this world, only as beings of time, if they seek together no other or better bliss than what this present imperfect state can give,alas for them! Alas for parents who flatter themselves that they are doing all they are required to do for their children by having them educated for this world alone, when the 1849.] Bushnell's Discourses. 453 blight of disease may already be on them, and the arrow of death already winged, and a judgment to come awaiting themselves! Alas for husbands and wives, if, in this holiest relation to which the heart can pledge itself, they are faithful only to what this world demands of them, giving each other no aid in their preparation for the world to come, nay, as sometimes seems the case, retarding, hindering each other in that great work! Alas for any for whom home has no higher charm, no holier influences, no more precious blessing, than what, without religion, without eternity, without Christ, without God, may be there! F. A. F. ART. VII. BUSHNELL'S DISCOURSES.* THE main strength of this book is expended on the doctrines of the Trinity and the Atonement; and more in explaining what they are than in direct arguments to support them. We shall therefore confine our remarks principally to these two subjects; not by way of controversy, for that is not the spirit in which the work has been prepared, but reviewing the whole matter calmly, and with the purpose of amending whatever we may find defective in our own views or position. But lest we should have no other opportunity to do it, we would here say, that, if in respect to the Trinity and the Atonement the work should be found not to accomplish what it proposes, there are other ways in which it may prove both interesting and useful. There is a freedom and freshness of thought, a generous enthusiasm, an exemption from every species of theological rancor, which always indicate an honest purpose and a consciousness of strength. Old theories are upset with an ease which seems more like "play" than "work." An incidental paragraph sometimes brushes away an elaborate system of philosophy, as on the human will (p. 62), and on Brown's theory of cause and effect (p. 66). Valuable suggestions are constantly meeting us, and seeds of thought are scattered profusely on every side. We think God in Christ. Three Discourses, delivered in New Haven, Cambridge, and Andover, with a Preliminary Dissertation on Language. By HORACE BUSHNELL. Hartford: Brown & Parsons. 1849. 12mo. pp. 356. - 4TH S. VOL. XI. NO. III. 39 Dr. Bushnell much more rich in furnishing materials for thought than skilful in elaborating them. The work is evidently, so far as the author is concerned, an original one. Every important idea in it may possibly be found elsewhere, but we see in their coloring and the attitude under which they present themselves unquestionable evidence that they are his, and not another's. The action of his mind in bringing them out, the freshness of his language, the joy with which he welcomes them, and the strong features which they bear of his mind and the experience through which he has passed, afford proof enough of their paternity. We should be glad to make a few remarks on the style, which in most respects is clear and vigorous, and often exhibits rare felicity of expression, but is marked by some peculiarities that we should be sorry to have adopted by minds of less power. Such expressions as the following give us a sensation of discomfort, sufficient to draw us for a moment from the subject:-"That any one need be alarmed or stumbled by them" (p. 11). "Our two unlanguaged men (p. 19). To understand or conceive the man" (p. 10). "Were there no other cause to differ our piety from that of the Apostles" (p. 349). "A mere logicker" (p. 50). "Speculating, logicking use (p. 64). Unfructifying logicker (p. 57). Some authority may, possibly, be given for these and similar forms of expression, or perhaps Dr. Bushnell claims the right to use such words as he pleases; but we must say that they clog us in our way through a book, and really annoy us when used by a Christian scholar. Another criticism we must be permitted to make. On page 82, we find this passage: "So far from suffering even the least consciousness of constraint or oppression under any creed, I have been readier to accept as great a number as fell in my way; for when they are subjected to the deepest chemistry of thought, that which descends to the point of relationship between the form of the truth and its interior formless nature, they become, thereupon, so elastic, and run so freely into each other, that one seldom need have any difficulty in accepting as many as are offered him. He may regard them as only a kind of battledooring of words, blow answering to blow, while the reality of the play, viz. exercise, is the same, whichever side of the room is taken, and whether the stroke is given by the right hand or the left." We cannot but think that there is some moral danger in 1849.] Language. 455 this exceeding ingenuity, when applied to the most solemn matters of faith. We cannot conceive, for example, how Dr. Bushnell could seriously assent to the Athanasian creed, of which the second article is as follows: "Which faith except one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly." But we shall stop here only long enough to express our hearty and grateful appreciation of the Christian tone that pervades the work. Whatever may be said of it in other respects, it evidently is the offspring of a devout and catholic mind. The signet of the Master is there. Even when the writer refers, as on p. 110, to "a new liberal theology, . . . the last fruit of reason, a completed model of inefficiency, perhaps time will say," we are more inclined to smile with him than to be angry. For if he mean us, we have felt too deeply the power of our faith, and have seen it triumph too often in suffering and death, to be disturbed by such an expression. The religion from which such fruits of holy living and dying as we have witnessed spring must be a living branch of the true vine. And he would probably admit this, even while speaking so lightly of our theology. The leading idea of the book may be inadequately, but perhaps intelligibly, expressed in few words. Language, except in relation to a few abstract ideas, is made up of terms borrowed from objects of sense. There are, except in these cases, no words which stand directly for intellectual or spiritual ideas, no words which directly carry or transfer a thought"; "they only offer hints or symbols, to put others on generating a thought." This power of language borrowed from material things, to express spirituál ideas, arises from some mysterious correspondence between the outward world and the soul. The idea of God, like all other spiritual ideas, must come to us by means of something external. Language can reveal him only by virtue of something external, which may serve to awaken the idea in us. If, therefore, he would express himself to us at all, he must do it through something outward. The creation and the incarnation are in this way manifestations of God. The atonement, in like manner, is an objective expression of the Divine mercy and forgiveness, as employed for the redemption of a sinful world. These things, the creation, the incarnation, and the atonement, (which is but one phase of the incarnation,) are to be regarded, not so much as ultimate facts, revealing the essence of the Divine |