THE NEW CAMBRIDGE PROFESSOR.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Allow me to say a word for my friend Mr. Birks. When Whewell was asked why the essay on "Matter and Ether had not attracted more attention, he replied, "Because there- are so few people who can understand it. Mr. Birks has- arrived by a leap at what the scientific world will take- another generation or two to reach." The new Professor- is a man of prodigious attainments, of the keenest intellect,. and of a large, catholic spirit. The only objection that anyone- could make to his appointment lies in the fact of his being not a " mild," but a very decided " Evangelical," — against which may be set off—by those who think it required—the fact that he has been visited with the greater excommunication by the Hildebrandist section of his party, for maintaining that future punishment will not involve all the horrors that are com- monly associated with it. His reply to the said excommunication, entitled " The Victory of Divine Goodness, Reply to Strictures," is as vigorous and refreshing an onslaught upon spiritual wicked- ness as could easily be found. His view of Future Punishment differs widely from my own. But it is impossible not to feel the utmost indignation at the way in which such a man has been treated for so trifling an offence against party discipline.—I am,. Sir, &c., 20 Warwick Square, S.W., May 13. SAMUEL MERTON.
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