" The purposes, in this stage of his progress, which Mr. Brownson lias in view are, the vindication of the reality of the religious principle in the nature of man; the existence of an order of senti - ments higher than the calculations of the understanding and the deductions of logic; the foundation of morals on the aosolute idea of right in opposition to the popular doctrine of expediency; the exposition of a spiritual philosophy; and the connexion of Christianity witli the progress of society.
" The work presents the most profound ideas in a simple and attractive form. The discussion of these principles, which in their primitive abstraction are so repulsive to most minds, is carried on, through the medium of a slight fic tion, with considerable dramatic effect. We become interested in the final ceeds, and the argument we take to be j opinions of the subjects of the tale, as conclusive, though of course every one ', we do in the catastrophe of a romance, may differ as to details. The mighty I A slender thread of narrative is made may differ as to details. The mighty theme is handled in a most masterly I to sustain the most weighty arguments style, and the • reasoning may fairly be: on the philosophy of religion; but the called 'mathematical.' There is nei ther rant nor cant, hypothesis or dog matism. Christianity is proved to be a 'rational religious system,' and the priest is exhibited in his true character.
conduct both of the story and of the discussion is managed with so much skill, that they serve to relieve and for ward each other." — Dial.
The Philosophical and ^Esthetic Letters and Essays of Schiller.
Translated, with an Introduction, by J. WEISS. Post 8vo. 7s. 6d. cloth.
" These Letters stand unequalled in the department of ^Esthetics, and are so esteemed even in Germany, which is so fruitful upon that topic. Schiller is Germany's best ^Esthetician, and these letters contain the highest moments of Schiller. Whether we desire rigorous logical investigation or noble poetic exp'-ession, whether we wish to stimulate the intellect or inflame the heart, we need seek no further than these. They are trophies won from an unpopular, metaphysical form, by a lofty, inspiring, and absorbing subject." — Introduction.
" It is not possible, in a brief notice like the present, to do more than inti mate the kind of excellence of a book of this nature. It is a profound and beautiful dissertation, and must be dili gently studied to be comprehended. After all the innumerable efforts that the present age has been some time making to cut a Royal road to everything, it is beginning to find that what sometimes seems the longest way round is the shortest way home; and if there be a d"sire to have truth, the only way is to work at the windlass one's self, and bring up the buckets by the labour of one's own good arm. Whoever works at the present well, will find ample reward for the labour they may bestow on it; the truths he will draw up are universal and from that pure elemen tary fountain 'that maketli wise lie that drinketh thereat."' — Douglas Jerrold's Magazine. "It is difficult, if not impossible, to John Chapman, 142, Strand.
THE CATHOLIC SERIES — (continued.)
give a brief, and at the same time faith ful, summary of the ideas affirmed by Schiller in this volume. Its aim is to develop the ideal of humanity, and to , define the successive steps which must ; be trodden to attain it. Its spirit aspires after human improvment, and seeks to indicate the means of realiza tion. Schiller insists upon the necessi ty of aesthetic culture as preliminary to moral culture, and in order to make the latter possible. According to the doctrine here set forth, until man is aesthetically developed, lie cannot be morally free, hence not responsible, as there is no sphere for the operation of the will.
" The style in which the whole volume is written is particularly beautiful, there is a consciousness of music in every page we read; it it remarkable for the con densation of thought and firm consist ency which prevails throughout; and. so far as we are able to judge, the translation is admirably and faithfully rendered. The twenty-seven letters upon the '^Esthetic Culture of Man,' form the most prominent, and by far the most valuable, portion of the work; they will be found full of interest and the choicest riches, which will abund antly repay any amount of labour bestowed upon them." — Inquirer.
" This is a book which demands and deserves study. Either to translate or to appreciate it requires a somewhat peculiar turn of mind. Not that any body could read it without profit, but to gain from it all that it is capable ol yielding, there must be some aptitude for such studies, and some training in them too To b« appreciated it must be studied, and the study will be well repaid."— Christian Ex aminer.
" Here we must close, unwillingly, this volume, so abounding in food for thought, so fruitful of fine passages, heartily commending it to all of our readers who desire to make acquaint ance with the philosophy of art. The extracts we have taken will prove what a treasure is here, for they are but a fraction of the gems that arc to be gathered in every page. "VVe make no apology for having so long lingered over this book; for, albeit, philosophy is somewhat out of fashion in our age of materialism, it yet will find its votaries, fit though few; and even they who care not for the higher regions of reflection, cannot fail to reap infinite pleasure from the eloquent and truthful passages we have sought to cull for their mingled delight and edification." — Critic.
The Philosophy of Art.
An Oration on the Relation of the Plastic Arts to Nature. Translated from the German of F. W. J. VON SCHELLING, by A. JOHNSON. Post 8vo. Is. paper cover; Is. 6d. cloth.
" This excellent oration is an appli cation to art of Schelling's general philosophic principles. Schellingtakes the bold course, and declares that what is ordinarily called nature is not the summit of perfection, but is only the inadequate manifestation of a high idea, which it is the office of man to penetrate. The true astronomer is not he who notes down laws and causes which were never revealed to sensuous organs, and which are often opposed to the pi-iina facie influences of sensuous observers. The true artist is not he who merely imitates an isolated object in nature, but he who can penetrate into the unseen essence that lurks behind the visible crust, and afterwards re produce it in a visible form. In the surrounding world means and ends are clashed and jarred together; in the work of art the heterogenjms is ex cluded, and an unity is attained not to be found elsewhere. Schilling, in his oration, chiefly, not exclusively, regards the arts of painting and sculpture; but his remarks will equally apply to others, such as poetry and music. This oration of Schelling's deserves an exten sive perusal. The translation, with the exception of a few trifling inaccurrcies, is admirably done by Mr. Johnson: and we know of no work in our language better suited to give a notion of the turn which German philosophy took after it abandoned the subjectivity of Kant and Fichte. The notion will, of course, be a faint one; but it is something to know the latitude and longitude of a mental position." — Examiner.
Works published by THE CATHOLIC SERIES — (continued.)
The Life of Jean Paul Fr. Richter.
Compiled from various sources. Together with his Autobiography. Transla ted from the German. 2 vols. paper cover, 7s.; cloth, 8s.
" The autobiography of Richter, which extends only to his twelfth year, is one of the most interesting studies of a true poet's childhood ever given to the world." — Lowe's Edinlmrifh Magazine.
" Richter has an intellect vehement, rugged, irresistible, crushing in pieces the hardest problems; piercing into the most hidden combinations of things, and grasping the most distant; an imagination vague, sombre, splendid, j or appalling, brooding over the abysses of being, wandering through infinitude, and summoning before us, in its dim religious light, shapes of brilliancy, solemnity, or terror; a fancy of exu berance literally unexampled, for it pours its treasures with a lavishness which knows no limit, hanging, like the sun, a jewel on every grass-blade, and sowing the earth at large with orient pearls. But deeper than all these lies humour, the ruling quality of RICHTER — as it were the central fire that pervades and vivifies his whole being. He is a humorist from his in most soul; he thinks as a humorist; he imagines, acts, feels as a humorist: sport is the element in which his nature lives and works."— THOMAS CARLYIJE.
" With such a writer it is no common treat to be intimately acquainted. In the proximity of great and virtuous minds we imbibe a portion of their na ture — feel, as mesmerists say, a health ful contagion, are braced with the same spirit of faith, hope, and patient en durance -are furnished with data for clearing up and working out the intri cate problem of life, and are inspired, like them, with the prospect of immor tality. No reader of sensibility can rise from the perusal of these volumes with out becoming both wiser and better." — A tins.
" We find in the present biography \ much that does not so much amuse and instruct, as, to adopt a phrase from the religious world, positively edify the reader. The life of Richter is indeed a moral and a religious, as much as a literary treat, to all who have a sense exercised to discern religion and mora lity as a thing essentially different from mere orthodoxy and asceticism. The two volumes before us cannot be se riously read without stimulating the reader, like a good sermon, to self-ame lioration, and in this respect they are invaluable.
" Richter is a thorough Christian, and a Christian withalarge glowing human heart. The appearance of his biography in an English form cannot, therefore, but be regarded as a great boon to the best interests of the country." — TaiPs Magaxine.
" Apart from the interest of the work, as the life of Jean Paul, the reader I learns sometliing of German life and 1 German thought, and is introduced to : Weimar during its most distinguished period — when Goethe, Schiller, Herder, and Wieland, the great fixed stars of Gernfany, in conjunction with Jean j Paul, were there, surrounded by beau- I tiful and admiring women, of the most refined and exalted natures, and of princely rank. It is full of passages so attractive and valuable that it is diffi cult to make a selection as examples of its character." — Inquirer.
" This book will be found very valu able as an introduction to the study of one of the most eccentric and difficult writers of Germany. Jean Paul's writ ings are so much the reflex of Jean Paul himself, that every light that shines upon the one inevitably illumines the other. The work is a useful exhibition of a great and amiable man, who, pos sessed of the kindliest feelings, and the most brilliant fantasy, turned to a high purpose that humour of which Rabelais is the great grandfather, and Sterne one of the line of ancestors, and contrasted it with an exaltation of feeling and a rhapsodical poetry which are entirely his own. Let us hope that it will com plete the work begun by Mr. Carlyle's Essays, and cause Jean Paul to be really read in this country." — Examiner.
" Richter is exhibited in a most ami able light in this biography — industri ous, frugal, benevolent, with a child-like simplicity of character, and a heart overflowing with the purest love. His letters to his wife are beautiful memo rials of true affection, and the way in which he perpetually speaks of his chil dren shows that he was the most at tached and indulgent of fathers. Who ever came within the sphere of his com panionship appears to have contracted an affection for him that death only dissolved: and while his name was re sounding through Germany, lie reiiKiiiu'd as meek and humble as if he had still been an unknown adventurer on Parnassus." — The Apprentice.
" The life of Jean Paul is a charming piece of biography which draws and rivets the attention. The affections of the reader are fixed on the hero with an intensity rarely bestowed on an his- John Chapman, 142, Strand.
THE CATHOLIC SERIES — (continued.)
torical character. It is impossible to read this biography without a convic tion of its integrity and truth; and thougli Ritcher's style is more difficult of translation than that of any other German, yet we feel that his golden thoughts have reached us pure from the mine, to which he has given that impress of genius which makes them current in all countries." — Christian Reformer.
Essays. By R. W, Emerson.
With a Notice by THOMAS CARLYLE. 3s. paper cover; (Second Series.) 3s. 6d. cloth.
" Among the distinguishing features of Christianity — we are ready to say THE distinguishing feature— is its humanity, its deep sympathy with human kind, and its strong advocacy of human wants and rights. In this particular, few have a better title to be ranked among the followers of Jesus than the author of this book." — American Christian Ex aminer.
" The difficulty we find in giving a E roper notice of this volume, arises •om the pervadingness of its excellence, and the compression of its matter. With more learning than Hazlitt, more perspicuity than Carlyle, more vigour and depth of thought than Addison, and with as much originality and fascination as any of them, this volume is a bril liant addition to the Table Talk of in tellectual men, be they who or where they may." — Prospective Review.
" Mr. Emerson is not a common man, and everything he writes contains sug gestive matter of much thought and earnestness." — Examiner.
" That Emerson is, in a high degree, possessed of the faculty and vision of the »eer, none can doubt who will ear nestly and with a kind and reverential spirit peruse these nine Essays. He deals only with the true and the eternal. His piercing gaze'at once shoots swiftly, surely through the outward and the su perficial, to the inmost causes and work ings. Any one can tell the time who looks on the face of the clock, but he loves to lay bare the machinery and show its moving principle. His words and his thoughts are a fresh spring, that invigorates the soul that is steeped therein. His mind is ever dealing with the eternal; and those who only live to exercise their lower intellectual facul ties, and desire only new facts and new images, and those who have not a feel ing or an interest in the great question of mind and matter, eternity and nature, will disregard him as unintelligible and uninteresting* as they do Bacon and Plato, and, indeed, philosophy itself." — Douglas Jerrold's Magazine.
" Beyond social science, because be yond and outside social existence, there lies the science of self, the development of man in his individual existence, within himself and for himself. Of this latter science, which may perhaps be called the philosophy of individuality, Mr. Emerson is an able apostle and interpreter." — League.
" As regards the particular volume of EMERSON before us, we think it an im provement upon the first series of essays. The subjects are better chosen. They come more home to the experience of the mass of makind, and are conse quently more interesting. Their treat ment also indicates an artistic improve ment in the composition." — Spectator.
" All lovers of literature will read Mr. Emerson's new volume, as the most of them have read his former one; and if correct taste, and sober views of life, and such ideas on the higher sub jects of thought as we have been ac customed to account as truths, are sometimes outraged, we at least meet at every step with originality, imagi nation, and eloquence." — Inquirer.
The Emancipation of the Negroes in the British West Indies.
An Address delivered at Concord, Massachusetts, on the 1st of August, 1844. By R. W. EMERSON. Post 8vo. 6d. paper cover.
rica of a potential voice, who can utter these words of reproof to his country, of justice to Great Britain." — Pros. llev.
" We need not tell any one who has the slightest acquaintance with his pre vious writings that Mr. Emerson is elo quent; and here he has a noble subject, into which he has thrown his whole soul." — Inquirer.
" It is really purifying to be able to turn, at this moment, to anything righteous and generous from an Ameri can on Slavery and Great Britain, so as to be relieved from the scorn and loath ing produced by Mr. Calhoun's Letter to the American Minister at Paris. Since Channing is no more, it is a satis faction that there is one man in Ame- Works published by THE CATHOLIC SERIES — (continued.) The Roman Church and Modern Society.
By E. QUINET, of the College of France. Translated from the French Third Edition (with the Author's approbation), by C. COCKS, B.L. 8vo. 5s. cloth.
" We take up this enlightened volume, which aims, in tho spirit of history and philosophy, to analyze the Rormmist principle, with peculiar pleasure. A glance at the headings of the chapters much interested ourselves, and we doubt not will our readers: — The Superlatively Catholic Kingdom of Spain; Political Results of Catholicism in Spain; The Roman Church and the State; The Roman Church and Science; The Ro man Church and History; The Roman Church and Law; The I toman Church and Philosophy; The Roman Church and Nations; The Roman Church and the Universal Church." — Christian Re former.
" The fourth lecture, entitled ' The Roman Church and Science' appears to us the most striking and luminous ex position we have seen of the condition of the Roman church, and ofits unavail ing hostility to the progress of mankind. Our space precludes the possibility of quoting the whole, or we should do so with great pleasure. It delineates, in vivid colours, the history of Galileo, his character, his discoveries, his philo sophical protest against the theology of Rome, the horrible persecutions which he suffered, and his effects upon the ecclesiastical power — changing the rela tive positions of science and the church, unfolding a theology more profound than that of Rome, a code of laws more infallible than that of the church, a grand and comprehensive system of ideas transcending in its Catholicity Catholicism itself " The four remaining lectures are severally entitled — The Roman Church and Law (in which the Inquisition is a conspicuous subject) — The Roman Church and Philosophy — The Roman Church and Nations— The Roman Church and the Universal Church. We cannot characterize each of these in particular: suffice it to say that there is a profound and expansive philosophical spirit breathing through the whole; every subject is compelled to contribute its entire force of facts and illustration for the construction of the one great argument which is the object and com plement of each — viz., that the Roman Church is no longer adequate to the enlarged needs and aspirations of man kind, that it has fulfilled the mission for which it was originated — that the ener gies it once put forth in the cause of humanity are paralyzed, that its decre pitude is manifest, and its vitality threatened, that it has shown itself in capable of continuing as the minister of God's will, and the interpreter of those divine laws whose incarnation in human life is the pledge of man's spiritual ad vancement and happiness, that it heeds not the signs ol the times, refuses any alliance with the spirit of progression, clings tenaciously to the errors and dead formulas of the past, recognizes the accession of no new truths, and hence prostrates the intellect, proscribes the enlargement of our spiritual boun daries, lays an iuderdict on human pro gress, compels us to look perpetually backwards, and blights our hopes of the tuture, and — in the words of Quinet — ' represents the earth as a condemned world formed for chastisement and evil.'
" Considered as a whole, the book be fore us is the most powerful and philo sophically consistent protest against the Roman Church which has ever claimed our attention, and, as a strong confirmation of its stirring efficiency, we may mention that the excitement it has created in Paris has subjected the author to a reprimand from both Cham bers of the Legislature, and excommu nication by the Pope." — Inquirer.
" M. Quinet belongs to the movement party, and has lately been conspicuous | in resisting the pretensions of the Jesuit and French clergy to the exclusive edu cation of the youth of France. He has grappled with his theme both practi cally, and in the philosophical spirit of history Rare merits are comprised in this volume a genuine spirit pervades it, and there are many pasa-, ges of great depth, originality and elo quence." — Atlas.
" These eloquent and valuable lectures." — New Church Advocate.
The Rationale of Religious Inquiry; Or, the Question stated, of Reason, the Bible, and the Church. By JAMES MARTINEAU. Third Edition, With a Critical Letter on Rationalism, Miiacles, and the Authority of Scripture, by the late Rev. JOSEPH BLANCO WHITE. 4s. paper cover; 4s. Gd. cloth.
John C'/iapman, 142, Strand.
THE CATHOLIC SERIES — COJltlllUed.
Sermons of Consolation.
"_This is a really delightful volume, which we would gladly see producing its purifying and elevating influences in all our families." — Inquirer.
" This beautiful volume we are sure will meet with a grateful reception from all who seek instruction on the topics most interesting to a thoughtful mind. There are twenty-seven sermons in the volume." — Christian Examiner.
Self-Culture.
By WILLIAM ELLEHY CHANNING. 6d. paper cover; Is. cloth.
Christianity or Europe.
Translated from the German of NOVALIS (Friedrich von Hardenberg), by the Rev. J. DAI/TON. 6d. paper cover.
32 Works pullisJted by John Chapman.
THE CATHOLIC SERIES.
(Uniform, in Tost Octavo.)
'** For Prospectus, explaining the Principles and Object of the Series, and for the Opinions of the Press, see pages 21 and 22 of the Catalogue.
Works already Published.
1. The Philosophical and Esthetic Letters and Essays of Schiller.
*. The Philosophy of Art. By F. W. J. Von Schelling.
3. The Destination of Man. By Johann 6. Fichte.
4. The Nature of the Scholar and its Mani festations. By Joliaun Gottlieb Fichte.
5. Essays. By R. W. Emerson.
6. The Emancipation of the Negroes. By R. W. Emerson.
9. The Life of Jean Paul Fr. Richter. 2vols.
8. The Roman Church and Modern So ciety. By E. Gurnet.
9. The Rationale of Religious Inquiry. By James Martineau.
10. The Mental History of an Inquiring Spirit. A Biography of Charles Elwood. By O. W. Brownson.
11. Sermons of Consolation. By F. W. P. Green wood, D.D. 1«. Self-Culture. By William Ellery Channing.
13. Christianity, or Europe. By Novalis.
14. The Mission of the German Catholics.
By Prof. G. G. Gervinus.
15. The Worship of Genius, and The Distinc tive Character or Essence of Chris tianity. By Prof. C. Ullmann.
16. Characteristics of Men of Genius.
17. The Vocation of the Scholar. By J. G. Fichte.
18. The Characteristics of the Present Age.
By Johann Gottlieb Fichte.
19. Memoir of Johann Gottlieb Fichte.
B Fichte, J.G. >S£ v.l The popular works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte.