that these powers, being essentially human in their habits and sympathies, can enjoy such offerings of gratitude as one mortal would offer to be enjoyed by another.*

PROPOSITION XVII.-Even of more importance in a religious man than external acts of ceremonial worship, is his duty to cherish that feeling of dependence on the celestial powers, from which all acts of acceptable worship proceed. Nothing is more characteristic of a pious man, according to the Homeric idea, than the habitual deep impression, which he carries along with him, of the infinite distance between the divine and the human condition. Of this feeling the natural expression is prayer, (to which the gods generally, though not always, lend a ready ear,) as of its absence the natural indication is pride and arrogance, and a boastful spirit; qualities of mind altogether inconsistent with the condition of humanity, and therefore rendering man peculiarly obnoxious to the divine displeasure.

"Who knows, but that with the help of God (ovv daípovi) I may prevail ?" is the modest language of a Homeric hero when undertaking a difficult mission. Nothing is more conspicuous in the character of the wise Ulysses, than the humility with which he throws off all those compliments paid him by his admiring entertainers, in which they liken him to the immortal gods; a beautiful contrast to the sounding impiety with which Greek kings of the East in later days allowed altars to be erected to their honour, and caused the epithet OEOƐ to be stamped upon their coins! It is the most certain of all doctrines with Homer, that no man whose breast is possessed with this superhuman conceit will long escape the anger of the gods, with whose perfections he provokes an impious comparison. It is quite true that man does not stand at such an infinite distance from the divine nature in a polytheistic as under a monotheistic system; and therefore it is nothing surprising to find gods, of an inferior order, sometimes even made subject to mortal men for the nonce, as Proteus, Od. iv.; but with all this the grand doctrine remains, that with the gods in council, or with Jove as their natural head and representative, no mortal may dare to contend.

Is there, then, no difference between Christianity and the Homeric heathenism, in respect of the temper of mind with which the mortal looks on the immortal, the human on the divine? Assuredly there is. Hellenic humility rests solely on a feeling of dependence: Christian humility rests on this indeed also; but primarily and characteristically,-unless I am much mistaken, on a feeling of guilt, in the consciousness of sin before a perfect moral ideal. There is also to be noted a certain air of familiarity in talking to the gods, which, to an ear tuned by the perusal of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, is apt to appear irreverent. The deepest habitual awe and reverence for the divine power can be felt only under a system of strict monotheism.

PROPOSITION XVIII.-There is an essential distinction between good and evil in human character and conduct. Man is responsible for his sins; and the gods inflict punishment on the guilty, sometimes directly, sometimes by the hands of their fellow-men.

That the Homeric poems, making allowances for a few peculiarities belonging to the age in which they were composed, exhale a general atmosphere of sound and healthy morality, will be doubted by no one. Their

*The idea of vicarious atonement by sacrifice, so clearly indicated in the sacrifice of the scape-goat, (Lev. xvi.,) is not to be found in Homer.

VOL. VI.-FOURTH SERIES.

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morality as a whole is much better than their theology. The highest authority in moral matters, Jove himself, in a remarkable passage, distinctly repudiates the doctrine that evil comes from the gods, and throws it back directly on the self-originated perverseness of the human will. (Od., i. 32.) And not only the insolent and riotous suitors, but the companions of the sea-tossed hero, are represented as having suffered what they suffered as the consequence of their own folly. No less clearly is the truth enunciated, that the gods see with observant eyes the evil deeds of men, and recompense them accordingly. With regard to the particular gods to whom the function of retribution falls, though in cases of special sins against particular gods the punishment naturally comes from the quarter where the offence lies, yet in the common transactions of life, as already mentioned, it is Jove who grants maλivτira épуa, ["retaliation," "recompense," so much so, indeed, that even the mighty god Helios, (Od., xii. 376,) when sinned against by the companions of Ulysses, instead of inflicting vengeance by his own hands, betakes him to Zeus, and states his case, adding, that if justice be not done to him in this matter, he will leave the heaven, and, descending into hades, spend his beams henceforth on the dead.

PROPOSITION XIX.-The souls of men exist after death in the subterranean abodes of hades, or the invisible world; but in a dim, shadowy, unsubstantial state, by no means to be looked on with envy by those who behold the sun in the upper regions, and tread with firm foot on the stable earth. A few special favourites of the gods rise above this common fate of the vulgar dead, and partake in heaven, or in the isles of the west, of a state of substantial beatitude; while, on the other hand, a few atrocious monsters, or men of reckless and impious character, sinning daringly in the face of the gods, are condemned to excruciating woes in Tartarus, or hell. This terrible retribution, however, has no reference to common men, or common crimes, which are punished by the gods in the present life, the only proper theatre of human fates.

Homer was no Plato. A distinct and practical realist, he had no conception of any existence worth having, without a substantial body of flesh and blood. To him the Christian doctrine of the resurrection, so derided by the Stoics and Epicureans of the apostolic days, (Acta Apost. xvii. 18,) would have appeared the necessary condition of the immortality which the Gospel preached. I am scarcely inclined to go so far as Nägelsbach, (§ vii.,) who says that the dead in Homer, except when roused to a momentary revival, are to be considered as utterly exenterated of that consciousness which is our real self in this terrene state; but it is plain, from the whole of Book xi. and the other places where the dead are incidentally mentioned, that their state is so dim and cloudy, feeble and pithless, that for all the purposes which, to the energetic Homeric man, made life valuable, it was little better than absolute annihilation. When "darkness covers the eyes" of an old Hellenic hero, wounded in the red strife of war, the curtain has fallen on all his glory for ever; and nothing now remains of that substantial energetic organism called man, but, as it were, a cloud or a mere dream.

If this be Homer's general view of the state of the dead, we are not to wonder that he does not delay the punishment of the wicked to a future state, but rather completes their suffering in that state where they are alone capable of any substantial enjoyment. Homer has no hell for the mass of men, plainly enough, because he has no heaven. The instances of

Sisyphus, Tantalus, and a few others, mentioned in Book xi., prove no more a Homeric hell, with regard to the mass of men, than the deathless transference of Menelaus to Elysium (Od., iv. 561) proves a general Homeric heaven. Only for perjurers, some peculiar punishment of an awful nature seems reserved in a future life (I., iii. 278); but the passing allusion to the judicial functions of Minos, (Od., xi. 568,) and that in a place peculiarly liable to interpolation, will never, by any man who understands the poet, be esteemed strong enough to warrant the assertion, that he had any firm belief in a general state of retribution after death. The gods of Homer are too substantial to waste their wrath on such pithless phantoms as float in his hades.

THE REV. EDWARD BICKERSTETH.

OUR friendship (says the Rev. DR. STEANE, in graceful tribute to the excellence of the departed *) was not of long standing. I am indebted for it to the formation of the Evangelical Alliance, in which he took, as I did also, the deepest interest, and in which we were closely associated from the first. But it became to me the source of much spiritual benefit; partly in the personal communications which passed between us, but chiefly as it set before me a character so pure, elevated, and heavenly, as I had scarcely ever contemplated before, as I never can contemplate without feeling an ardent desire that I may more and more resemble it.

By nothing, I think, was he more distinguished than by the fervent LOVE TO CHRIST which glowed in all his actions, and breathed in all his words. If in every mind there be a master-principle which subordinates and harmonises all the other elements of character, this was that principle in his. He often reminded me of the venerable and primitive martyr, Ignatius, of whom it is reported that he cried continually, "My Love is crucified." Such seemed to be the constant affection which he bore to Christ. Everything with him was esteemed as fit to be done, or to be avoided, in proportion to its tendency to honour his Lord. It was impossible to sit with him in council, when important matters were to be determined, or to converse with him in the familiar intercourse of friendship, without perceiving how this consideration ran through all his thoughts, gave a complexion to his sentiments, and governed his decisions. That Christ should be glorified, was not simply necessary to his happiness; it was his happiness itself.

But if his love to Christ was ardent, it was not therefore either superficial or evanescent. It was, indeed, equally distinguished by its depth and its fervour. That it had its foundations in the convictions of his understanding, and the profound recesses of "the inner man of the heart," none can question who reflect on the unswerving consistency of his Christian life; and that it glowed and burned with almost seraphic intensity in its external demonstrations, was witnessed by all with whom he was accustomed to associate.

Nor was his love to Christ a mere sentiment. It was not spent in emo

*The Parting Prayer; or, Christ claiming eternal Union with His People. A Sermon preached at Denmark-Place Chapel, Camberwell, March 17th, 1850, on Occasion of the Death of the Rev. Edward Bickersteth, Rector of Watton; Honorary Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance. By Edward Steane, D D., Honorary Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance. London: Partridge and Oakey. 1850.

tions; but practically manifested in ways most proper to itself, and consonant with its nature. And especially I may advert to two ways in which it was habitually shown: I mean, in those abundant ministerial labours in which it prompted him to engage; and in his unfeigned love to the brethren.

*

I am little acquainted with the early history of my departed friend; but I may mention, that no sooner did it please God "to reveal His Son in him," than, like St. Paul, he "conferred not with flesh and blood," but devoted himself to the service of the Gospel. His original destination was not to the Christian ministry, but to that profession in which his eldest brother has attained, by his great abilities and learning, to one of the highest offices in the State: nor can a reasonable doubt exist that, had he also pursued it, he would have acquired large emoluments and honours. But, whatever were his prospects or ambition, he sacrificed them to Christ; and, having devoted himself to the sacred calling, he fulfilled it as one conscious of the solemn trust it involved, and above all things desirous to secure the approbation of his Lord. In addition to the regular pastoral duties arising out of his relation to a particular flock, he willingly took upon himself many public engagements, and laboured more than most of his compeers in the advocacy and conduct of religious societies. With some of them he was at different periods officially connected; and, at the call of the Church Missionary Society, he visited their stations on the western coast of Africa. It was a distinguished, and at the same time a befitting, mark of the high estimation in which he was deservedly held by his brethren, that he was selected as one of the Preachers on the recent occasion of the Jubilee of that great institution, the Archbishop of Canterbury being the other.

I remember on one occasion conversing with him on the propriety of Ministers when advanced in years retiring from their public duties; but he expressed little sympathy with the sentiment, and quoted the expression of the Psalmist, with far stronger feelings of approbation,-"They shall bring forth fruit in old age." To old age he was not himself permitted to attain; but he had reached a period when, if not a total cessation of labour, a withdrawment from some of its more arduous forms, is frequently sought: nevertheless, he laboured on till the Master, returning, found him still at his post, mindful of His parting words, "Occupy till I come.”

The sketch I am attempting of the character of my friend will, I know, fall far short of the reality in gracefulness and moral beauty; for, not to speak of my incompetency to do justice to my own conceptions of its worth, it must necessarily on such an occasion as the present be both rapid and brief. But I must not omit to say, how conspicuously was seen in him the grace of spiritual-mindedness. Though few men were better informed on public events, or more observant of their course, it was at once apparent to those who heard his conversation, that, notwithstanding the interest he took in them, his "citizenship" was not on earth. He viewed them in their aspect on the coming and kingdom of Christ, and as the unfolding of the successive scenes of that sublime providential drama of which that is to be the final and consummating act. Of this he delighted to speak, and of everything connected with it. His mind was supremely occupied with the truths and glorious prospects which the word of God reveals; and, entering into the society of his fellow-Christians, he led their conversation to the same hallowed and ennobling themes.

* The Right Honourable Lord Langdale, Master of the Rolls.

How wise he was in counsel, and how unassuming in manners; what power and fervency he possessed in prayer, and what deep insight into the things of the Spirit; how rich and varied was his experience, and how familiar his acquaintance with the revelations of eternal truth; how cheerful his temper; how confiding his faith; how his very countenance beamed with an inexpressible gladness, as though it had caught, like the face of Moses, a supernatural splendour from communion with God ;-all this I need not commemorate, since it was known to all. Of him, assuredly, it might be affirmed with truth, that his "body was the temple of the Holy Ghost;" and in him the declaration of the Saviour was verified,—“ If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."

A privilege it was to enjoy the friendship of such a man; and who that have numbered men like him among their friends, but must, when at length they are bereft of their society, feel that indescribable violence would be done to all the instincts of their nature, and all the noblest and purest aspirations which Christian faith has awakened in their hearts, if they might not look forward to a future world as the scene where their renewed friendship should yield its richest joys, and yield them for ever. O illustrious day! when the saints of God, congregated from all lands, and all ages, and all churches, shall constitute one flock! Differences existing now shall have no existence then. All erroneous, all defective views of truth will be rectified; all infirmities of temper, all causes of discord and separation, will be annihilated; and each one shall recognise in all the rest, what he will consciously enjoy in himself, perfect conformity to the adorable Object of their common and ecstatic love. Fulfil, O blessed God, the prayer of Thy once crucified and now exalted Son,-" Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."

BYRON'S GRAVE.

In the church at Hucknall, near Nottingham, and in the vicinity of Newstead Abbey, rest the mortal remains of the late celebrated Lord Byron. His place of sepulture has attracted many admirers of genius to the spot. Seeing this, the clerk of the parish was induced to give the visiters an opportunity of leaving their autographs, with any expressions of sentiment or opinion which occurred to them. Nearly two volumes were filled in this way during the life-time of this clerk. When he became ill, and was likely to need a grave, he was visited by a neighbour, Mr. Ward, an estimable Christian man, whose conversation and prayers were very useful to him; and he attained the grace to die in the peaceful assurance of endless life. Touched with emotions of gratitude, he was anxious to leave to Mr. Ward some mark of his dying respect and affection. He therefore bequeathed him the two volumes of autographs. They contain the names and remarks of many persons of distinction and rank; at the head of which, as the first entry, is that of the late Duke of Sussex.

The following observations are from the pen of the late lamented Richard Winter Hamilton, of Leeds :

"This sepulchre of perverted genius has a voice. It warns the pilgrim