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1856.]

The Certificate System.

apply to any one who may be in a prominent position, whether he knows much of them or not; and receive a sheet of note-paper inscribed with the most outrageous and exaggerated compliments. Each person who is asked to give a certificate considers what good qualities the man ought to have in order to be fit for the place he is aiming at, or what good qualities the man would like to be thought to possess ; and incontinently sets his signature to a declaration that the man does

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possess the very highest degree of all these good qualities. A really profligate disregard of truth prevails in Scotland as to this matter. constantly finds men, even of esta blished reputation, asserting in written testimonials what, if you ask them their real opinion in private, they will confess to you is absurd and untrue. We all understand that in newspaper reports all sermons are eloquent and impres sive, all landlords are liberal, all county members are unwearied in their attention to their duties, all professors are learned, all divines are pious, all magistrates are worthy, all military men are gallant, all royal dukes are illustrious. We all understand what such statements are worth; nor does any man but the most verdant care a straw for the critical notices of the Whistlebinkie Gazette, which assure that Mr. Snooks, the local poet, is a much greater man than Mr. Tennyson; and that Mr. Green, our talented young townsman, has already surpassed Turner as a landscape painter. I don't suppose that you are much elevated when the Guardian of our county town declares, at the beginning of a month, that Fraser holds on its way with a ringing and jubilant wildness and manliness of fierceness and terror,' -whatever all that may mean, which I confess I don't know. But the Scotch system of exaggerated and (in short) false declarations, made by grave divines and highspirited gentlemen, as to the qualifications of Smith, Jones, and Robinson, ought to be put down. It deceives and misleads: it is calculated and, I believe, intended to deceive and mislead. I feel strongly

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on the subject, for I take a warm interest in the schools of this parish; and when I first came here, I was most thoroughly taken in by the flaming characters which several teachers brought, who afterwards proved shamefully incompetent. A lad of very deficient intellect and education, and quite devoid of common sense, applying for a teacher's place, comes with a long array of testimonials from clergymen and professors, which, if true, would prove him a prodigy of talent, industry, amiability, and all other virtues under heaven. An extremely bad preacher and wretched scholar, applying for a living (I had no end of such applications when this parish was vacant), brings with him testimonials which tend to show that the human race cannot be expected to produce many such wonders in a single century. The result of all this is, that written testimonials now mostly go for nothing-at least, with people of any experience. They are sometimes even regarded with suspicion. If a teacher in a parish school becomes a candidate for another parish school, and brings with him a very high certificate from the heritors and clergyman of the parish where he is at present, the fear is that they have given him this strong recommendation in order to get rid of him.

A story is told apropos of this. A teacher came to the parish of X, bringing an immensely strong certi ficate from the parish of Y, in which he was at present settled. On the strength of this certificate, the heritors of X elected him to their vacant school. It should be mentioned that the parishes of X and Y are many miles apart. The teacher began his work at X, and speedily proved worth nothing-a lazy, stupid, useless incubus on the parish. One of the heritors of X met a heritor of Y, and inquired, with some indignation, what on earth the heritors of Y meant by giving such a flaming certificate to an utterly incapable teacher? Why,' said Mr. Y, with great coolness, 'we gave that certificate to get you to take him off our hands; and, let me tell you, you people of X will have to give him a far higher cha

racter before you will get rid of him!'

I do not vouch for the story's truth and I believe that good nature, and unwillingness to give pain by a refusal, are the origin of most of these undeserved panegyrics. When a poor fellow asks you to give a certificate of fitness for some place for which you know he is not fit, but which he has yet set his heart on, it is hard to say no. The temptation is strong to stretch a point in order to say a good word for him; or at any rate to write a few sentences which, without meaning anything, sound as though they meant something in his praise.

And now, my dear fellow, I daresay you are wearied of all this gossip about our Scotch Peculiarities. I have a vast deal more to say, but I think I had better stop for the present. I hope soon to see you

here again. It is curious how arbi-
trarily the memory singles out little
incidents and keeps them vividly
alive, when worthier things have
perished. When I look back upon
your late visit to us, I am ashamed
to say that the thing which comes
out in strongest relief is, not any of
your wise and witty sayings, not any
of your philosophical reflections, not
any of the grand or beautiful
scenes on which we looked together.
None of these: but I see you yet,
with a doubtful expression on your
usually serene face, eating a plate
of oatmeal porridge, and assuring
my wife that you liked it. Well
I knew that in your secret soul you
would rather have read the very
dullest article in the Balaam-box.
Believe me,

Ever your sincere friend,
C. O. A. M.

Craig-Houlakim,
November 24th, 1856.

SONG OF THE BUCHANIERS,

AFTER THE AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

'HE day is past, the votes are cast,

THE

The great result is known;

No more of fear, but joy and cheer:
THE LAND IS NOW Our own.
Whatever powers to combat ours
And check our course were wont,
Both great and small, we put down all,
And first of all FREMONT.

We hate his fame, we scorn his name,
(As all that sounds like free ;)
We therefore have put Fremont down,
And hey, then! up go we!

We'll put the Northern presses down,
Their awkward voice we'll stifle;
We're not the men for tongue and pen,
We go for knife and rifle ;

For bludgeon and rope shall be full scope,
From Kansas to the sea;

We'll therefore put the Free Press down,

And hey, then! up go we!

We'll put free speech in Congress down,

In Bully Brooks' way;

The law of the cane shall make quite plain
What members must not say.

No man shall dare our plots declare,
Or show how black they be;

We'll put free speech entirely down,
And hey, then! up go we!

1856.]

Song of the Buchaniers.

And next we'll put religion down,

(Except what does for slaves,

That they should obey for ever and aye,
Which sometimes bloodhounds saves,)

For the parsons preach free-toil and free-speech,-
A vile iniquity!

We'll therefore put religion down,

And hey, then! up go we!

We'll afterwards put marriage down,
For the neighbouring Mormon powers
Have their own peculiar institution,'
And sympathize with ours;

The patriarchs old who had slaves, we're told,
Had also polygamy.

Can one be well and the other of hell?

So hey, then! up go we!

We'll put down all the Britishers

At Greytown or elsewhere,

For Britain's sons are a troublesome race,

To speak their mind they dare.

There breathes no slave where her flag may wave,

Her speech and her press are free:

We therefore must put John Bull down,

And hey, then! up go we!

We'll also put all learning down,
For scholars are our foes,

The men of thought set those at nought

Who can only reason by blows:

And learning gives us ill report,

It likes not slavery;

We'll therefore put all learning down,

And hey, then! up go we!

We'll put all decent envoys down,

And pack them straight away.

MIKE WALSH has claims to go to St. James,
To the Tuileries, Soulé;

And ATCHISON shall to Russia go,

(For the Czar fit company ;)

Thus will we put good manners down,
And hey, then! up go we!

34

VOL. LIV. NJ, CCCXXIV.

715

WHAT EVERY CHRISTIAN MUST KNOW.*

THE very small tract to which

I am about to refer is printed in our own language, published in our own country, bears the imprimatur of Paulus Cullen, Archiepiscopus Dublinensis,'-our farcical Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Act to the contrary notwithstanding. It was quoted, I am told, in a Maynooth debate. This, however, for the great majority of the reading and thinking public, is exactly equivalent to the performance of the rites of sepulture, and I am convinced that many of my fellow-creatures of the Anglo-Saxon race will be thankful to me for disinterring the tract in question, and will be as much amazed at it as I was.

Of its author, or compiler, the Rev. J. Furniss, I know absolutely nothing. I notice that in the hortatory passages there is often some apparent fervour and unction. I

should be glad to think that these
are his own, the ethics and logic
of his work another's; in short,
that he has the blessedness of not
understanding what he professes
to teach. I shall treat the tract,
therefore, without
kind of per-
any
sonal reference to him, simply as
a sample of Romish contemporary
teaching amongst us. When it is
recollected that Romish teaching is
almost invariably clerical teaching,
the many worthy and honourable lay-
men of the Roman-Catholic Church
will perhaps take less offence at my
words than they otherwise might do.
Let them judge for themselves; and
I am much surprised if their disgust
at their spiritual instructors' ethics
does not equal my own.t

Let me say at once that I am not about to enter into any dogmatic controversy. There is, even in the specialties of Romish theology, much which I should always wish to see

treated respectfully, gently, ten-
derly. There is much also which
utterly repels me. But I am not
going to discuss the suppression
of the Second Commandment, and
the dismemberment of the Tenth
to hide that suppression; nor the
number of sacraments; nor tran-
substantiation; nor Mariolatry; nor
saint-worship.
saint-worship. I leave Romanist
divines to reconcile as best they may
the enactment of the last new dogma
with the quod semper, quod ubique,
quod ab omnibus canon of Vincent of
Lérins. I shall assume all that can
be assumed of common ground be-
tween Romanists and other Chris-
tians Holy Scriptures-the Creed
-the Lord's Prayer. I shall endea-
vour mainly to confine myself to
what should be broad results of true
religion-common honesty, common
charity, common sense.

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Now the two principal portions of this tract appear to be, first, the Short Catechism, which being chiefly dogmatic I shall not dwell upon; and the Examination of Conscience, which is recommended to be read by some appointed person to 'poor children,' who 'when ignorant and unable to learn more,' are to be made to learn by heart the Seven Short Answers on Faith and the Sacraments.' We have therefore the right to expect that we shall find here Christ's Gospel in its purest, simplest form, in that shape in which it can best take hold of, enlighten, and hallow the rudest minds. I should indeed add, that the 'Moral Doctrines of the Examination' profess to be those of St. Alphonsus Liguori. Those who have read Mr. Meyrick's exposure of that canonized gentleman (an advantage which I have not yet had), will probably find it superfluous to read these pages further.

*What every Christian must Know:-Confession; Laws of God and of the Church; Rule of Life; Good Works; Sins; Conscience. By the Rev. J. Furniss, Priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. London, Dublin, and Derby Richardson and Son.

:

+ In order to prevent all misunderstanding as to my views, let me here state that I believe there is very much the same proportion of good men amongst Romanists as amongst Protestants-more shame for us. But I believe that Romanists are good, because they do not understand what Romanism is; Protestants likely to be better, if they do understand what is Protestantism. At the same time, those who are familiar with the habits of Irish Romanists will recognise, in the casuistry of which the tract before us is a sample, the roots of some of their worst and commonest sins.

1856.]

Romish and Protestant Teachings.

717

Inasmuch as want of space will compel me hereafter to give as short extracts as possible, I wish to avoid, as far as may be, the charge of selecting them unfairly, by giving in the first instance, without comment, a whole head from this Examination,' merely placing opposite to it, without present comparison, an entirely parallel extract from another work.

I. Lies are always sins; but it is not a lie for a servant to say that her master is not at home, meaning that he cannot be seen, because every one understands this. Lies which do great harm are mortal sins.

II. Calumny. To injure much or take away any one's character by a lie is a mortal sin, and you must recal the lie. You might say you were mistaken, or the like.

III. Detraction.-1. To injure much or take away any one's character by making known to others something very bad about him, which is true, but which was not known before you made it known. It is a mortal sin, unless you have some good reason for it, such as to ask advice, or tell his Superiors that he may amend. 2. It is sinful to encourage others who detract; for example, by asking them questions. It is wrong to be pleased with hearing the detraction through curiosity, but worse if you are pleased at the injury done to a person's character. 3. Superiors must not let their inferiors detract; parents must hinder children from detracting, and masters their servants. 4. If you commit the sin of detraction, you must repair it as well as you can.

IV. Rash judgment is a sin; and it would be very bad if, for little or no reason, you firmly believe or say something very bad about a person.

V. Unjust suspicions are wrong, but they are seldom great sins, except they are quite wilful, and about some very bad thing indeed, such as murder. If there is some foundation for a suspicion, it is not a sin.

VI. Telling a secret is wrong, and is very bad if it is a great secret, and telling it does great harm, or gives great sorrow. It would not be wrong to tell it to some one for a good reason, such as to ask advice.

VII. To read letters or private papers is wrong, and would be very bad if you think perhaps there is something in them the owner would be very sorry for you to know.

VIII. To dishonour or insult any one by striking him or calling him bad names or the like, or to scoff and laugh at people because they are pious and good, is sinful.

IX. Tale-bearing and whispering is bad, especially if you do some great harm by it, such as making friends into enemies.-(What every Christian must Know, pp. 22-24.)

'Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Our Lord and his Apostles teach us also

I. That we are to put away all lying, and to speak the truth. (Eph. iv. 25.)

1. That all liars shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. (Rev. xxi. 8.)

2. That we are not to judge our brother. (Rom. xiv. 10.)

3. That we are not to seek for the mote in our brother's eye. (Matt. vii. 3.)

4. That we are to put away all bitterness and evil speaking, with all malice. (Eph. iv. 31.)

5. That we are not to bring railing accusations. (2 Pet. ii. 11.)

6. That we are to refrain our tongues from evil, and our lips from guile; to seek peace, and ensue it. (1 Pet. iii. 10, 11.)

The duties enjoined are -1, religiously to speak the truth in private, and as witnesses in public courts of justice; 2, to abstain from harsh judgments of our neighbour; 3, to put the best construction on our neighbour's actions; 4, to be charitable in what we hear and say and think of him, and to abstain from aggravating his faults when we cannot defend him.

They sin against these precepts

Who falsely accuse any one; who give or suborn false testimony; who are guilty of calumny [n. 1, by calumny is meant a reproach falsely reported against a person when we are the spreaders of an untruth, or have just reason to believe what we say of our neighbour may be untrue] or of evil speaking [n. 2, by evil speaking we are to understand the relating of what is known or believed to be true when we do it not to the person concerned, or to his friend, in order to his being admonished of it, but to indifferent acquaintance; and that, even if it be done without a design to defame him, only for want of better matter to entertain our company withal]; who are guilty of talebearing, rash speaking, and censuring; who are ready to believe evil of others; who encourage evil speaking.(Hele's Select Offices of Private Devotion, ed. 1845, pp. 236-8.)

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