asks "Does the State ever aim at the sanctification of its members?" and answers "Assuredly not." Surely the civil ruler and legislator, if Christian and devout, directs his earnest political efforts to the religious welfare of his countrymen. The author adds, that "the aim of the Church is distinct and independent of the object of the State." For reasons which we have given in our article on Mr. Gladstone, we greatly prefer F. Parkinson's statement that the ends of the two societies are in part different indeed, but in part identical. The divergence, however, between the author and ourselves, seems rather matter of words than of thought; as he says expressly (p. 37) that "if the eternal welfare of the subjects of a State could not be obtained without the loss of its temporal prosperity, eternal interests must take precedence of earthly ones."

Otherwise we heartily welcome the two pamphlets; and we think, indeed, that the second originates in a very happy thought, and is likely to be extensively useful. The author begins (p. 6) by arguing from the tenor of the "Quantâ Curâ," and from subsequent Pontifical declarations, that, when censuring the errors recited in the Syllabus, "the Pope claims intellectual obedience on the ground of his infallibility." Next comes a translation of the Syllabus (pp. 7-21). This is followed by a very clear exposition (pp. 21-26) of what it is which the Pope teaches, in condemning certain errors. The author then proceeds to set forth with great perspicuity (pp. 27-8) the absolute necessity—if revealed dogma is to be securely guarded-that the Church's infallibility shall extend beyond the mere teaching of the Deposit. "The Church," he says accordingly "may pass sentence on such philosophical principles, on such opinions of human science, as imperil the purity of dogma; and can exact intellectual submission to such pronouncements." And, lastly (pp. 29-34), he goes severally through the various propositions of the Syllabus. It is really surprising how clearly he sets forth their bearing in so short a space; and we must add that in this exposition (as it seems to us), he succeeds as nearly as possible in hitting the happy mean, between Mr. Gladstone's extraordinary misconceptions on one side, and any kind of unfaithful compromise on the other.

The Liberal Party and the Catholics. London: Longmans.

NE word will suffice on this ably and temperately-written pamphlet. The author is confident (p. 25) that "for years to come the battle-cry of political parties" will be the question of religious education. Surely he cannot doubt that Cardinal Cullen and Archbishop Manning will be to the full as staunch and energetic in that cause, as those other prelates will be with whom he somewhat invidiously contrasts the former. If irreligious education be (as he confidently thinks) involved in the essential programme of political liberalism, he need not fear that any Catholics will give the latter any kind of support.

Three Essays on Religion. By JOHN STUART MILL. London: Longmans.

WE

E hardly know so remarkable a fact in the history of philosophy, as the collapse of Mr. Mill's fame which has so speedily followed on his death. To us the reaction seems as exaggerated on one side, as his philosophical name was indubitably exaggerated on the other. But when his opinion became publicly known, that it would not be easy even for an unbeliever to find a better rule of conduct than "to endeavour so to live that Christ would approve our life"-nay, that not impossibly Jesus Christ was "a man charged with a special, express, and unique commission from God to lead mankind to truth and virtue "-we may well understand with what contempt his memory is regarded by some of his former admirers. His very particular friend, Mr. Morley, has published in the Fortnightly what we must pronounce to be a crushing criticism of his work.

In fact, we are bound to admit that it is by far the weakest thing he has ever published. His philosophical principles lead to antitheism by legitimate consequence; and his passionate attempts to construct some kind of religious edifice do more credit (if we may use the common antithesis) to his heart than to his head. Such attempts, we think, are due to that passionate emotionism, which was so very prominent and so very singular a part of his character.

It is certain that his writings had more powerful effect in promoting speculative irreligion than any other of his time, and that his great influence was predominantly directed against the cause of God. Without, however, attempting to deny this, we may say that the present volume has much confirmed an opinion which we have frequently expressed, that in several points he was distinguished for the better from the body of his brother irreligionists.

As to the contents of this volume, our time for discussing them will be at the appropriate period of the controversy which we are still carrying on against his philosophy. When we began that controversy, his was confessedly the greatest English name on his own philosophical side; whereas there is now hardly one which carries with it so little authority.

Characteristics from the Writings of John Henry Newman: being Selections Personal, Historical, Philosophical, and Religious, from his various works. Arranged by WILLIAM SAMUEL LILLY of the Inner Temple, &c. King & Co. 1874.

N noticing, some time since, in this REVIEW, a volume of "Miscellanies,"

1. Newman's writings,

took occasion to let our readers know that a more extensive and complete

volume was preparing by his own sanction, of far greater value, and likely to be more generally interesting to the Catholic public. Of this fresh volume we now propose to give some account, and we sincerely trust that it will soon be in the hands of a multitude of readers who may not be in circumstances to possess themselves of F. Newman's collected works. It is divided into four heads, "Personal," "Philosophical," "Historical," and "Religious ;" and the Religious portion is again subdivided into three sections, under the titles of Protestantism, Anglicanism, and Catholicism. These subjects are chosen from the whole range of F. Newman's published works, from the "Athanasius," and the "History of the Arians,” to “Callista," and the "Verses on Various Occasions;" and it will easily be understood that the task was one of no common labour and difficulty, both from the great variety of subjects to be handled and also from the close and singularly complete style of the author. For where arguments are condensed into a few phrases, or linked in a chain of perfectly connected rings, or set before the mind in one or two consummate, exhaustive illustrations, it is exceedingly difficult to make any selections or disconnect the series of passages of equal power and beauty. We begin, naturally, with the Philosophical portion ; as the "Grammar of Assent" is not merely the only great finished work of F. Newman, but is also a remarkable step in philosophical development. In the "Grammar of Assent," also, over and above the concentration of power, F. Newman has poured out the apparently exhaustless riches of his mind in the illustrations which he multiplies to convey scientific principles. Take, as an instance, the fragment given on the education necessary for insuring accuracy of mind:

"When the eyes of an infant first open upon the world, the reflected rays of light which strike them from the myriad of surrounding_objects present to him no image, but a medley of colours and shadows. They do not form into a whole, they do not rise into foregrounds and melt into distances; they do not divide into groups; they do not coalesce into unities; they do not combine into persons; but each particular hue and flint stands by itself, wedged in amid a thousand others upon the vast and,at mosaic, having no intelligence, and conveying no story, any more than the wrong side of some rich tapestry. The little babe stretches out his arms and fingers, as if to grasp or to fathom the many-coloured vision and thus he gradually learns the connection of part with part, separates what moves from what is stationary, watches the coming and going of figures, masters the idea of shape and perspective, calls in the information conveyed through the other senses to assist him in his mental process, and thus gradually converts a kaleidoscope into a picture. The first view was more splendid, the second more real. . . . . . Alas! what are we doing all through life, both as a necessity and a duty, but unlearning the world's poetry and attaining to its prose! This is our education, as boys and as men, in the action of life, and in the closet or library; in our affections, in our aims, in our hopes, and in our memories. . . . . To a short-sighted person colours run together and intermix, outlines disappear, blues and reds and yellows become russets or browns; the lamps and candles of an illumination spread into an unmeaning glare, or dissolve into a milky way..... It is this haziness of intellectual vision which is the malady of all classes of men by nature, of those who read and write and compose,

quite as well as of those who cannot-of all who have not had a really good education" (pp. 71, 72, 73).

Speaking of the origin of political watchwords, this inaccuracy is treated scientifically by F. Newman in a previous passage in the "Grammar” as "formalism," and the difference between assent and assertion is pointed out in a well-known passage. For instance, there is, first, the distinct intellectual assent direct, with the clear apprehension of the subject. Secondly, there is the assent indirect when there is submission to authority as a principle, without individual apprehension. Thirdly, there is the adoption of any proposition or set of propositions without appreciation, merely because others have adopted them, and used certain words as their signs.

"Such words are liberality,' progress,' 'light,' 'civilization'; such 'justification by faith only,' vital religion,' 'private judgment,' the Bible and nothing but the Bible.', Such again are Rationalism," 'Gallicanism,' 'Jansenism,' 'Ultramontanism,'-all of which, in the mouths of conscientious thinkers, have a definite meaning, but are used by the multitude as war-cries, nicknames, and shibboleths, with scarcely enough of the scantiest grammatical apprehension of them to allow of their being considered really more than assertions” (p. 76).

A very important passage with an exquisitely-drawn illustration, and branching out into very full exposition, too long to insert at length, is given upon reasoning in concrete matters :

"It is plain that formal logical sequence is not, in fact, the method by which we are enabled to become certain of what is concrete; and it is equally plain what the real and necessary method is. It is the cumulation of probabilities, independent of each other, arising out of the nature and circumstances of the case which is under review; probabilities too fine to avail separately, too subtle and circuitous to be convertible into syllogisms, too numerous and various for such conversion, even were they convertible. As a man's portrait differs from a sketch of him in having, not merely a continuous outline, but all its details filled in, and shades and colours laid on and harmonized together, such is the multiform and intricate process of ratiocination, necessary for our reaching him as a concrete fact, compared with the rude operation of syllogistic treatment. ... As true poetry is a spontaneous outpouring of thought, and therefore belongs to rude as well as to gifted minds, whereas no one becomes a poet merely by the canons of criticism, so this unscientific reasoning, being sometimes a natural, uncultivated faculty, sometimes approaching to a gift, sometimes an acquired habit and second nature, has a higher source than logical rulenascitur non fit. When it is characterized by precision, subtlety, promptitude, and truth, it is, of course, a gift and a rarity; in ordinary minds it is biassed and degraded by prejudice, passion, and self-interest; but still, after all, this divination comes by nature, and belongs to all of us in a measure, to women more than to men, hitting or missing as the case may be, but with a success on the whole sufficient to show that there is a method in it, though it be implicit " (pp. 82, 85, 86).

There are various opinions stated in the "Grammar" with which we cannot concur; but at this time, when countless questions, of real philosophy and false, are agitating all minds, and the more keen and thoughtful among us are likely to be the most agitated and disturbed, VOL. XXIV.-NO. XLVII. [New Series.]

Q

we could wish that the work were carefully studied by all competent persons. The marvellous summing-up on the passage headed, “Intellectual Abstractions" is an instance in point:

"As even saints may suffer from imaginations in which they have no part, so the shreds and tatters of former controversies, and the litter of an argumentative habit, may beset and obstruct the intellect,-questions which have been solved without their solutions, chains of reasoning with missing links, difficulties which have their roots in the nature of things, and which are necessarily left behind in a philosophical inquiry because they cannot be removed, and which call for the exercise of good sense and for strength of will to put them down with a high hand. . . . . Whence comes evil? why are we created without our consent? how can the Supreme Being have no beginning? how can He need skill if He is omnipotent? if He is omnipotent, why does He permit suffering? if He permits suffering, how is He all-loving? if He is all-loving, how can He be just? if He be infinite, what has He to do with the finite? how can the temporary be decisive of the eternal ?-these, and a host of like questions, must arise in every thoughtful mind, and after the best use of reason, must be deliberately put aside as beyond reason, as (so to speak) no thorough. fares, which, having no outlet in themselves, have no legitimate power to divert us from the King's highway" (p. 92).

And further on, in the "Grammar," we find what may be called the countersign to this passage, to which, in its full extent, Catholic students may well cling with reverent thankfulness of assent; for they, at least, will not follow the method of the world, asking, "what is truth?" and going out, like Pilate, without caring to hear the answer.

"The laws of mind are the expression, not of mere constituted order, but of His will. . . . . Since one of their very functions is to tell me of Him, they throw a reflex light upon themselves; and for resignation to my destiny I substitute a cheerful concurrence in an over-ruling Providence..... As if on set purpose, He has made this path of thought rugged and circuitous above other investigations; that the very discipline inflicted on our minds in finding Him may mould them into due devotion to Him when He is found. Verily Thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel the Saviour,' is the very law of His dealings with us " (p. 94).

It is obviously impossible out of a volume of more than four hundred pages, each one of which contains some or many pearls of suggestive thought, to do anything like justice to its contents. We should like to linger lovingly over its "Personal" portion, taken from the "Apologia," that consummate picture of a human mind and a human soul working out its own completion by co-operation with God's grace. And again, we could transcribe whole pages from the "Historical" section, in which an admirable choice of extracts has been put together. And we need scarcely say that the "Religious" selection contains some of the finest passages of F. Newman's writings-passages, as in "The Christian Year” (p. 286), "Faith in the Catholic Church" (p. 324), "Relics and Miracles" (p. 370), "A Bad Catholic" (p. 398), and the exquisite, tender extracts, "Maria Assumpta" and "S. Mary Magdalene," which will