DEUXIÈME CAUSERIE

Monsieur,

In your second lecture you quoted from Plato a remark that " tous les poètes sont inventeurs, et qu'en conséquence, si un homme n'est pas inventeur, il n'est pas poëte," and you applied it to prove, that as many Protestant writings are rather paraphrases of, déductions from, or copies of the Holy Scriptures, than purely original compositions, their authors hâve no claims to the title of poets. The remark is very striking, but is it well founded ? Height of presumption as I know it is, to dispute such an authority as Plato, I ivill thus présume, for having read somewhere that every one is born either a Platonist or an Aristotelian, I may consider m} self as not born a disciple of Plato, and therefore at liberty to wage war against him, inthis one particular at ail events.

" To see what others cannot see, makes a poet," is a définition which seems to me nearer the truth than that of Plato, when we remember that " there is no new thing under the sun," and I think, Monsieur, that you rather warranted my view of the matter when you suggested,

that in the six thousand years during which men hâve thought, a new idea runs the risk of being a folly. What are the works of the greatest painters ? We call them wonderful créations, but are we strictly correct in saying so ? Are they not rather glorious représentations of the facts of the past, whether sacred or secular, so that we see starting from the canvass, vivid with a présent reality, the stories and scènes of long ago ? Are they not exquisite images of the myriad changes of nature, silently recaUing on dull November days, the azuré sky, the briUiant sunshine, the balmy airs of summer ; or portraying to one stifling in the beat and dust of a crowded city, the seabreakingin tiny wavelets upon the pebbly shore, and " ringing hke service bells a long way ofF?"

I believe, Monsieur, that there is more poetry in truth than in fiction, in reality than in fancy, and that therefore, Protestants bave the advantage of Roman Catholics, because to them " 'tis first the true and then the beantiful, not first the beautiful and then the true." Legends of Saints and mystic imagery mayinterest the fancy in the days of happiness and health, but when the mind, subdued by sickness or by sorrow, would seek for some soothing thought in poetry, it turns from the fancies which bave no foundation,from the misty labyrinth which even to those who bave the due seems to lead nowhere, to take refuge in the simple truths on which Milton founded bis immortal verse, which drew from Cowper's tortured heart bis " deathless singing," which inspired Kirke White and Bishop Heber, and which bave unloosed the tongues and pens of many, in words that, according to your own éloquent définition, Monsieur, are certainly poems, although not in verse,

Monsieur,

In your lecture a fortnight ago, to whicli vve listened with much interest, tliere was one assertion which, though defended by the ablest authorities, I cannot suffer to pass altogctlier unchallenged ; and availing myself of your permission of freedom of discussion (of course looking at the matter in no wise in a controversial light) I must confess I find it difRcult to agrée with those critics, who hold that the spirit of Protestantism is unfavourable to the developement of the highest class of poets.

I could hâve entered into this opinion, if painters, not poets, had been the class to which exception was made : for doubtless there is much in the gorgeous cérémonial of the Roman Catholic Church, and in the splendour of its services, which tends to educate the eye, excite the imagination, materialize the idéal ; and from this school hâve sprung most of those wonderful works of art which, as it bas been said, seem born less of genius than of inspiration.

But of poetry it is far otherwise : truly it is wordpainting, but this is surely not checked, but fostered by the spirit of a System which makes use of preaching as one of its most powerful agents. The humble walls of a " conventicle " bave often resounded with words far more stirring to the soûls of the worshippers, than the most exquisite picture or chiselled symbol ; and the more fervid the protesting spirit, so much the more vivid do we find the colouring of thèse word-paintings, pourtraying the awfulness of doom on the one hand, or on the other, seeking to allure by hopes of bliss and beauty immortal, beyond what eye can see or hand may trace.

"Look! we cry exultingly (nous autres Protestants)

\o our critics, as we point to Milton, our's is not a vain boasting, hère is tlie son and champion of our cause !"

"Truly," they reply, " he is a king among poets, but he is ' presque Catholique.' "

On what grounds, we ask with surprise, do you thus adopt him ? Milton was from his earliest years educated in the Protestant faith ; his father was disinherited for professing it, and was likelynot only to screen his son from Cathohc influences, but also to teach him a reason for the hope that was in him.

But his writings are unorthodox, his flights of fancy too bold, he treats of sacred things in words far too familiar for thèse simple believers !

We answer : "His pictures indeed are vivid, his images startling, but they are not graven images. It is thèse the Protestant faith forbids ; but she does not assume to herself entire control of interprétation, or shackle her sons with boundaries beyond which, even in imagination, they may not pass. Milton's greatest work " Paradise Lost " bears upon it traces of the times in which he lived — troublons times — full of wars and rumours of wars ; but it is not easy to discover in what way he bas earned forhimself in it the accusation " bad Protestant." In his description of the Prince of Darkness, that grand soliloquy beginning " O Thou that with surpassing glory crowned," he doubtless soars beyond the limit révélation bas assigned, and involuntarily extorts from us a kind of admiring pity for one who, though now " the enemy and the accuser of mankind," was once among the angels, and for whoni there is "no place left for repentance, none for pardon left."

This feeling of pity, however, though certainly heterodox, might be forgiven in either Protestant or Catho-

lie, if only for the blessed contrast it draws between liim, and those, wlio surrouiided by his snares, and in constant danger froin his assaults, bave still, no matter how great their fall, ever before them an open door of hope !

And in ail the glowing pictures Milton gives us of " this fair world," we see that he owes them, not to curions art or gorgeous pageantry, but that he is Naturels own pupil. taught by the thousand forms of beauty with which she strews the flooring and decks the canopy of her universal temple : she interprets to him the sermons in her stones ; she realizes to him more fully what Eden was, " before man's disobedience, and the fruit of that forbidden tree, brought death into the world and ail our woe " : and she inspires him at last to break forth into that glorious hymn, which is the voice, not of Catholic, not of Protestant, but of ail created beings :

" Tliese are Thy glorious works, Parent of Good,

Almiglity, Thine, this universal frame,

Tlius wondrous fair; Tliyself how wondrous then!

Unspeakable, who sitt'st above thèse heavens

To us invisible, or dimly seen

In thèse Thy lowest works ; yet thèse déclare

Thy goodness beyond ail thought and power divine."

* * * * It seems to me that it is rather Puritanism, in its varions forms, than Protestantism that is opposed to poetry. Protestant religion assumes to be in strict accordance with the Bible in ail its fulness, not taking

one set of doctrines therein set forth to the exclusion of the rest, nor accepting as certain truth any doctrine that cannot be found therein. Now the Bible having been adapted by the Creator to every âge, to every character, and to every country, allows large scope for the exercise of the poetic mind.

I freely grant that Protestantism as it exists in France and Switzerland is not favourable to the progress of poetry, but Protestantism in the Church of England is surely différent. No one who lias seen our beautifully restored cathedrals can accuse us of having no perception of the beauty and poetry of religion even in its externals, or neglecting the coraraand of God to bring together of our best to beautify the place of His sanctuary, and to make the place of His Name glorious ; neither can I perceive that worship in such cathedrals is in any degree opposed to true Protestantism, even if this ù moulded on the assertion of our Lord, that " God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

If the Bible contains the most perfect poetry that ever was written, — and who that bas read the Book of Job, the Psalms, the prophecies of Isaiah, &c., and the Book of the Révélation can deny it ? — surely the poet who in faith and practice is most conformed to the image of his Divine Master who inspired it, is likely more nearly to attain its height of beauty and grandeur than he who, overlooking it, moulds his life according to the teachings of a corrupt church ; and will not the poetry of the latter be but the créature of his own diseased imagination and that of others, while that of the former shines as it were by light reflected from the mind of Christ, the Word ?

But whilst I deny that it is impossible for a good

Protestant to be a great poet, I readily grant that there hâve been more great Roman Catholic than great Protestant poets, and for this simple reason : that from the sixth to the sixteenth century the church was wholly given over to Popery, therefore during that period no Protestant poets could exist, and since then not a quarter of Christendom bas embraced the Reformed Religion.

I think I know no définition of what the aim of Christian, nay more, of Protestant poets ought to be, equal to that given by Keble. First, he addresses them as

" Heirs of more than royal race, Fram'd by Heaven's peculiar grâce, God's own •vrork to do on earth."

Then after reminding them from Whom they hâve received the gift of poetry, he says to them :

" He hath cliosen you, to lead

His Hosanna'a hère below ; — Mount, and claim your glorious meed ;

Linger not with ein'and woe."

And for them he prays —

"Lord, by every minstrel tongue, Be Thy praise so duly sung, That Thine angels' harps may ne'er Fail to find fit echoing hère."

Can any Christian poet find a higher aim than this — fitly to écho the songs of angels — and is there anything in this aim contrary to the spirit of true Protestantism ? I think even the most narrow-minded Protestant would answer — No.

But, to pass on to another point, Keble does not

think that a Heathen will find a higher aim ; let us see what he says on this subject :

" But sliould thankless silence seal Lips, that miglit half Heaven reveal, Shotild barda in idol-liymns profane The sacred soul-enthralling strain, (As in this bad world below

Noblest things find vilest using), Then, Thy power and mercy show,

In vile things noble breath infasing."

Does he not seem to look upon heathen poetry as a profanation of this good gift, and as a vile thing ?

On one point I think everyone will readily agrée with me, namely, that Protestants, as such, can and do Write beautiful poetry. This is well and fully proved by the hymnology both of our own and of the Lutheran Church, which is as abundant and beautiful as can be found anywhere throughout the world.

A. Me C.