BOOKS.

MAE-RICE ON SACRIFICE.* TIES reader who is acquainted with the works of Frederick De- nison Maurice will in these Sermons on the Doctrine of Sacrifice recognize many characteristics with which he is already familiar. The idea pervading the "Boyle Lectures"—that religious faith is a living principle, urging men to good and restraining them from evil, and more powerful, when conscientiously believed, in erro- neous religions, as Buddhism and Mahometanism, than in an effete and corrupted form of Christianity—will here be found more largely developed, for it is extended to all mankind. The earnestness of Maurice—the implicit and childlike reliance on Scripture and Christianity, not as a volume of the past or a thing of Sunday, but as a book for all time and a thing for every occa- sion—the deep thought—the large-souled sympathy with man as man, not as a member of some partial caste—the independent and penetrative spirit with which he looks through the hollowness of conventions and judges the questions of the day—will all be met with in a riper and more glowing spirit. The disregard of theological dogmas, the bold novelty in the interpretation of Scrip- ture texts—the novelty resulting from reverent literal adherence— are conspicuously exhibited in the volume before us.

As a whole, the work is not the anther's best, or in a theological sense the most satisfactory. The unsatisfactoriness is partly in- herent in the nature of the attempt ; which is, to unfold the ori- gin and nature of sacrifice, to trace its Scriptural history from the first offering of Cain and Abel to the Crucifixion, and to attach a meaning to the whole of deeper significance and wider operation than is generally entertained, or than many theologians would admit. Some of the' unsatisfactory feeling is doubtless owing to the rather -vague conclusions of the preacher, or to his stopping short of the conclusion to which his views appear to lead. The more critical resolution probably is, that Mr. Maurice aims at giving through feeling an explanation which seems to be the pro- vince of reason.

In all that regards practice or duty, the sympathy or feeling of mankind can be appealed to with most effect. In questions of doctrine, the intellect appears to be the proper judge. No pure precepts, no eloquent exhortations, can touch the mind on the great subjects of charity and repentance like the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. The parable of the Vineyard is less im- pressive to the popular mind, because it involves a conclusion that requires explanation before the untaught will admit its force. It is not to be denied that many doctrines may receive support from feeling ; but the doctrines must have a logical exposition, which we have not been enabled to deduce from these sermons.

The "doctrine of the sacrifice," as generally received, is logically clear and definite. It is this. By the Fall, the nature of man became utterly sinful ; through this sinful nature and original dis- obedience he was lost—condemned; nor could he be saved without abrogating the law of eternal justice. Christ, by taking mans na- ture upon himself and suffering death on the cross, redeemed man, or, more true logical expression, gave a way of salvation to such men as believed. All churches would add to this statement some dogmas of their own •;, additions would be necessary fully to ex- press the Christian seheme ; but it sufficiently explains the general idea of sacrifice : Christ died that -man by believing might be saved.

To this doctrine the preacher seems in part opposed. This idea of sacrifice he appears to consider derogatory to Clod, and a proof of man's natural superstition and hardness of heart. Instead of look- ing up as to a father, and bringing offerings in childlike faith and simplicity, and finding them a means of drawing man closer into " converse " with God, sacrifices have mostly been treated as a bargain—a " propitiatory " something, fur which something is to be received in return or at best as the payment of a debt. This was the spirit of Cain's sacrifice ; in this spirit the corrupted jews brought their offerings; such was the practice of the heathen world; such is the practice of too many Christians now. The first of the following extracts is from the sermon on David's sacrifice, that "of a broken spirit," which his countrymen could not compre- hend; the second from the opening sermon, on the sacrifices of Cain and AbeL " Did not they know that His purpose in taking them into covenant with Him was to reform them ; to separate them from their evil; to deliver them- from the adulterous, deceitful, slanderous tendencies of their nature ? Did they suppose that God wanted to be fed with their beasts ? Did they not know that they needed to be made right men by Hun? Oh, miserable delusion ! they fancied Him altogether such an one as themselves ; one who could be bribed as they were bribed. They had not yet learned, after all His teach- ing and discipline, that their duty and their blessing was to submit to Him, that he might make them like Himself. "Here was indeed a wonderful exposition of that falsehood which was leading the Israelite astray in all the periods of his history; the falsehood which turned him into an idolater in one generation, into an insolent de- nouncer of idolaters in another. He did not look upon God as his God, as his Deliverer, as his Judge, as his Reformer; he did not yield himself to Him as His subject, as His redeemed creature, to be purified, to be renewed. Be had never understood what it was to be sacrificed himself. But he could, if need were, produce a hecatomb of oxen to be sacrificed ; he supposed God's toleration of his sins was to be purchased, and that this was the purchase- money. The mockery of such a notion by the Psalmist is terrible, but not disproportionate to the monstrousness of the evil which it was condemning. It is that mockery which comes out of the burning heart of a man who knows God to be righteous and true, and who sees that men are making a

• The Doctrine of Sacrifice deduced from the Scriptures. A Series of Sermons by Frederick Denison Maurice, M.A., Ciaplain of Lincoln's inn. Published by Mac- millan and Cm, Cambridge.

god like themselves and are strengthening themselves in their lies and theft crimes by regarding. him as the patron of them. But the mockery is only a translation into words of that which is embodied in the whole law and rituni of Israel. The Psalmist draws out the inmost sense of the book of Leviticus, when he says, that 'if God werehungry, He would not tell them.' In all the institutes which that book contains, God is commanding a people, with whom He has already made a covenant, what they shall do in order to testi- fy that they are in that covenant, and that they have broken it. They are righteous for He has chosen them and united them to Himself; they have distrusted Him; they have forgotten that they are a righteous people ; they have chosen ways of their own. By their offerings of beasts they acknow- ledge that it is so; they take up their place as Israelites ; He accepts them. What pride and falsehood, to suppose that an act which was the confession of sin had some meritorious power ! ' —David's Sacrifice.

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"And thus, my brethren, the Bible brings this history [of Cain] to a teat which we may all use, if we will; by which we may prove whether it hi true or not ; by which we may rid ourselves of hard and artificial inter- pretations of it. We know—we positively know—what the Cain offering ite because we have presented the like ourselves. We have prayed, and then have complained, just as the Jews did, that it has all been in vain, that no good has come of it. We have made sacrifices, and we have wondered that we got no reward for them. Perhaps we have been angry that, being so good, we have not been more favoured by fortune and circumstances. Perhaps we have been angry that, trying so hard to make ourselves good, we have suc- ceeded so little. Perhaps we have had a general notion that God could not be persuaded to be gracious to LIB and to forgive us, in spite of all the sacrii flees we have offered, and that we must try others which are more costly. In all cases, the countenance has fallen; at all cases, we have gone forth with thoughts that were anything but gracious and brotherly to our fellow men. We have thought of them as more in the favour of Heaven, on one ground or another, than we were; we have felt envious and spiteful to them, if we have thane them no actual mischief. Assuredly, this is the Cain sprit in us all ; assuredly, we have often been led by it; and, if so, have we not had a proof, the clearest which could be given, that it was not an arbitrary Being we were opposing, but a righteous and gracious Being ? Was not our sin that we supposed Him to be an arbitrary Being, whom we, by our sage.- floes and prayers, were to conciliate ? Was not this the false notion while', lay at the root of all our discontent, of all the evil thoughts and acts w sprang out of it ? We did not begin with trust, but with distrust; we

not worship God because we believed in Him but because we dreaded

not because we desired His presence, but because we wished to persuade Him not to come near us."—Cain and Abel.

This view of the perverted idea of sacrifices is as logically dear as it seems morally sound. The representation of the author's con- ception—that sacrifice is an instinctive feeling in the mind of man, originating in the will of ;God, and designed to reconcile man to his Creator, not after the worldly fashion of bribes, but like the gifts of little children to a father—appears in various forms, and can-readily be grasped as a theory. The expositions of the suc- cessive sacrifices commemorated in the Old Testament—Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, the Passover, the seemingly formal &maw of the Mosaic law, and the more spiritual conception of its natizein the Prophets and the Psalms—frequently throw a new fight on the subject, and, whether new or old, received or startling, are dear in their conclusion. The frequent examination of the Cahrinistgb' doctrines throughout, but more especially in some of the twelve sermons on the sacrifice of Christ, where the Epistles are very closely handled, is not only clear, but certainly shakes the dogma more than we have yet seen it shaken. The doctrinal conclusion of Mr. Maurice on the great sacrifice of till, we must confess we cannot grasp. There are many passages of great power ; many touching or searching exhortations ; some extensions of the author's idea of the original nature of sacrifice, as we have already en- deavoured to explain it; but a distinct doctrine eludes us.

Strange, peculiar, heretical, as many suppose Maurice to be, he yet holds more implicitly and more literally to the whole Bible, than many of those who impugn him. Immediate Satanic infie. ence is a doctrine perhaps of the Church, certainly of many English Churchmen ; but few men of Mr. Maurice's intellectual standing in the world would avow it so plainly in the present day. "I do not think the word Diabolus is ever used in the New Testament without a direct reference to its derivation and meaning. There are other words, the Tempter, the Adversary, the Destroyer, which all point to the Spirit of Evil ; but they denote him by different characteristic'', each of which we have used to remember, and which we should not mix carelessly together. The Ammer, or slanderer of God and of the brethren, is the title which ap- pertains to this passage. We shall not enter into the sense of it if we Bab- atitute any other title for that. "Whatever our theories are about the existence or xuan-existenee of an evil will, about the personality or impersonality of that will, about the in- fluence of that will upon us,—we all know, as a matter of fact, that whispers; do come to us, certainly brought from no visible lips, which take the form of accusations, cruel and malignant accusations, against persons who may or may not have done us wrong; who may be our enemies, or who may be very dear to us. All the horrible suspicions and questions which have been wrought into men's brains and hearts, and which have destroyed the peace of their lives,—even if there has been some conspiring human 'icemen, UMW lago or Iachimo, to strike the spark, to light the tinder, has yet—we feel if, and we confess it by a hundred phrases—a deeper source. We say it is with- in us, and we say rightly ; but yet we know that down in those depths which the vulture's eye has not seen, there is a slanderous voice speaking to us—suggesting thoughts which we did not originate, which we shrink from, which being rejected return again; which may cense most anguish and torment to those who most resolutely defy them. I say boldly, these are facts. / do not try to explain them. The Scripture explains them to mo, by telling me of an accuser of the brethren—of one who seeks to divide us from each other; and I accept this statement, not trying to get rid ail by any analyses or refinements, because I can find no other which accounts so well for an awful individual experience, or so well connects it with that which goes on in every man."

The Sermons are prefaced by a "Dedicatory Letter to the Young Men's Christian Association," before which Dr. Candlish of Edin- burgh delivered some lectures, in London, attacking not merely' the views of Mr. Maurice on eternal punishment, but, it would ap- pear, his whole "scheme of doctrine." The letter is interesting from its plain, simple, autobiographic character, and from the spirit of calm charity by which it is distinguished ; a spirit rare

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in, controversy, and not perhaps eminently.,characteristic of his

antagonisteri this occasion. .;.-1 % ..