'Sin is selfishness

'Godliness is unselfishness;

'A godly life is the stedfast working out of inward freeness from self: 'To become thus godlike is the bringing back of man's first nature.' Vol. ii. pp. 344, 345.

In fact, in the mighty self-consciousness of which we read so much, Bunsen really did see every subject of thought, and every object of it in himself,-every Divine effluence, every gift, he believes in, because he either is it or has it. Nothing seems to have an existence apart from his apprehension of it. It is this which makes him despise the received interpretation of the words 'prophet' and 'prophesy,' because nobody can be more of a prophet than he is himself. By a process of taking the place of the Old Testament prophets, he assumes as much of inspiration as he will willingly grant to any other. Thus, when writing on a system of Bible criticism, he judges by putting himself in their place :

'The main matter is the foundation laid for the view of the whole, in all its bearings; and that, once obtained, admits of no break,-being the universal historical development of the consciousness of God in humanity, which in Christ has its personal centre. The magnificence of the Old Testament, when once one can understand it, is unique of its kind. I have begun to arrange the prophecies of the Seer of the New Jerusalem, and write them in order; he lived in the Babylonian exile, and, towards the end of it, after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, preached and exhorted to the return from the death-doomed Babylon; and I consider him to have been no other than Baruch. These prophecies are contained in disguise as a beginning of the Book of Jeremiah (chap. ii.—xxi.), and in that of Isaiah (chap. xi.—xxvi.), and also in two passages of the real Book of Isaiah (chap. xiii., xiv., and xxi. 1—10). Reading these in connexion, and placing one's own soul in the midst of that period so full of terrible judgments, and yet of hope,—one is admonished to recognise the eternal laws of God in the ordering of the course of the world, even in our own time, and in our own days; and one perceives that a similar mode of worldcontemplation may rightly belong to other and various dispensations.'Vol. ii. p. 366.

Yet, in adducing all this testimony, we grant that it does not represent the state of mind which it would necessarily present in an Englishman. He had a contempt for our English logic, as compared with the higher methods employed by thinkers in his country, and certainly they leave them more liberty. He is never so bound by a statement as not to use its apparent opposite when convenient, or when his feelings require it. Thus we find frequent references to the Hand of God,' and similar expressions; and of the Creation, one of his children records a conversation, where

'He said, it was wonderful, when one tried to follow the different steps of creation, to find it impossible to give an explanation, as it were, of the creation of man; it being absurd to say it was a perfecting of the animal,

as though man was a complete edition of the monkey; or, on the other hand, that he should come from the earth, because in his mechanism he is intimately connected with the inferior animals in short, that it was impossible to come to any conclusion, if one did not simply admit the incapacity of the human mind to measure the depths of Divine wisdom, and assign the whole impulse of creation to a Divine cause, towards which every created thing tends, as to its highest perfection, each at the same time being linked together in a chain of which man in creation is the last and highest.'-Vol. ii. p. 294.

Yet in philosophical argument,' he was not sure about allow'ing that God is a Being, and could not admit that God is a 'Person' (vol. ii. p. 473). Dr. M'Cosh, who has recorded his impressions of Bunsen in an important paper, tells this, and goes on:

"The question will be asked, How was it possible for one entertaining such theoretical views to love his God and Saviour, as Bunsen seemed to love them, supremely? Having listened to some of the most devoted disciples of the school of Hegel, I think I can understand this inconsistency, though I would never think of defending it. Bunsen had been trained in the first quarter of the century, when Schelling and Hegel ruled in the universities, and he had so lost himself in ideal distinctions and nomenclature, that his words were not to be interpreted as if the same expressions had been used by another man. He was for ever talking, in Kantian phrase, of the forms of space and time, and of the manifestations of God in space and time. 1 laboured to show that there were other intuitive convictions in the mind, as well as those of space and time, and, in particular, that we all had an immediate consciousness of ourselves as persons, and that this conscious personality, duly followed out, raised our minds to the contemplation of God as a Being and a Person. One evening, in his house, I thought I had shut him up to a point, but the conversation was interrupted by the breaking up of the large company. We met the next day, by appointment, to resume the discussion; but amid the flow of his grand conceptions, I never got him back to the point at which we had broken off.'-Vol. ii. pp. 473, 474.

The same gentleman says, that during five days that he associated with Bunsen, ten minutes of conversation never elapsed ' without his returning, however far he might be off, to his Bible ' and his Saviour, as the objects which were evidently dearest to him.' This is striking testimony; but yet we must observe, that the words, 'his Bible' have a peculiarly personal signification with Bunsen, and they mean constantly his works, his projects, and, in fact, himself. Dr. M'Cosh, who pronounces Bunsen one of the three great men he has known, Chalmers and Hugh Miller being the others, remarks upon what we scarcely call a great characteristic, though it may belong to great men :—

'I have referred to the fondness with which he dwelt on his contemplated publications. He was now, in his retirement, to give to the world the views on all subjects,-historical, philosophical, and theological,-which had burst upon him in their freshness when he spent so many of his youthful years in Rome. I confess, however, that interested as I was in his specula

tions as these came forth with such a warmth and radiance from his lips, -I had all the while an impression that he would require to live to an antediluvian age, in order to commit all his theories to writing; and also a very strong conviction that his views belonged to the past age rather than the present, and that some of them would not, in fact, promote the cause of religion which he had so much at heart.'-Vol. ii. p. 472.

The reader observes this growing passion for his own work, and faith in what it is to do for the world. Bunsen was profoundly convinced that he possessed the secret of the Second Reformation which was to save the world. With a simplicity that savours of flattered vanity, he exults in his success. 'I have never worked more successfully; never had I worked more, perhaps never more effectively.' His Bibelwerk is, in his opinion, 'perhaps the greatest, at all events the most responsible, literary enterprise of the age.' (Vol. ii. p. 433). He refers others to his works with the confidence of inspiration. He perpetually takes himself by surprise, by the rapidity and brilliancy of his thought. Dr. M'Cosh observes that, while Bunsen was personally respected by his countrymen, his speculations, philosophical and theological, carried very little weight in Germany, nor are they likely to have further influence among ourselves. He does not reason, he has too much contempt for opponents to take the trouble. It is so; it must be so.' 'No other interpretation is adapted to the age; my inner consciousness tells me this: these are his arguments. Very potent ones they often prove, backed by a powerful manner, but they collapse under his German-English. Indeed, such general influence as they did carry was due to a tone which seemed to nullify or hide the mischief of them. The reader cannot understand the contradiction between Bunsen's practical religion and his sceptical philosophy when they stand side by side on the page. In personal intercourse, the religious side would be so entirely uppermost, that the unsuspicious or favourably-impressed observer would pass the other by, or lay the imputation to prejudice. We suspect that the book will owe much of the popularity it wins from the general reader to the contributions from the letters and diaries of the female members of his family, most of them evidently from the pen of Baroness Bunsen herself, narrating the brilliant scenes of public interest in which his distinguished position brought them, and to the mention of names still prominent amongst ourselves. Yet his intercourse with our own worthiest notables,-Peel, Gladstone, Lord John Russell, and many others,-does not satisfy the curiosity it raises, being mainly allusions to meetings and conversations. He and Sir Robert seem to have been real friends; and it is said that, when on his death-bed, he called three times for Bunsen, who could not be summoned in time.

All that we have adduced from Bunsen's own pen will, we think, explain his part in the affair of the Jerusalem bishopric. That faith in external unity, that overriding of dogma, that patriotism which saw in England the one thing his country wanted—an effective and (comparatively) imposing Church, and a hierarchy that approved itself to him in its practice, and whose hidden strength he could ignore-all stimulated to that sanguine, confident determination to carry through the King's plan. His connexion with Frederick William began at Rome, in 1823, when the King and his two sons were making their Italian journey. It fell to Bunsen to assist Niebuhr in the task of lionizing Rome; and he so far recommended himself as to be appointed by the King, counsellor of legation, receiving many further gratifying assurances of favour. The intercourse became a friendship; they discussed politics and liturgies together, and in 1841 Bunsen was summoned, not unexpectedly, to Berlin on this notable scheme, his previous visit to England in a private capacity having pointed him out to the King as the person for unfolding his scheme to men of influence and authority there. Bunsen had evidently a natural taste for royalty, and the King's reliance on him was flattering.

'The mere fact of his being called by the King was a cause both of joy and triumph, when the circumstances are considered which interposed a barrier, seemingly impenetrable, to his return to Berlin; and could the image of his state of mind, throughout a condition of things the most gratifying to the best feelings, and calculated to be the most intoxicating to the natural man, be brought as distinctly before other minds as it exists in that in which it was habitually_mirrored, the most indifferent or censorious observers could not fail to be struck and edified by the childlike acceptance and transfusion of all that was good, and bright, and desirable, which befell him during this new dispensation, without the slightest taint of bitterness towards groups or individuals, who had contributed to swell the current which had for a long time set so strongly against him. Bunsen's inner consciousness expanded and dilated in the genial atmosphere of the King's presence, and his eminent power of being happy had rarely been more fully called forth, than in the intercourse with the King granted to him during the five weeks to which his stay was extended. In the golden Now of the beginning reign, Hope ruled the hour and grasped the future; and the complications, the contentions of principles, the clash of highest interests, which were not long in making themselves felt, were "hushed in grim repose." The demeanour of the King towards him exemplified throughout the sentiment conveyed in his own original utterance previous to the meeting, "I hunger and thirst after Bunsen!" On the 2d May, Bunsen was received in the most affectionate manner in the Palace at Berlin, and conducted by the King into that same inner chamber, to the same spot which he had occupied at the last interview on December 2, 1837, where, after a few words of kindness, the King's voice was choked as he alluded to the death of his father, and the degree of emotion in both needed silence in which to subside; then there followed a concise indication by the King of the commision to be entrusted to him.'—Vol. i. pp. 596, 597.

The points of the King's scheme are familiar to our readers, and the arguments by which it was enforced are known, or can easily be guessed by them. Conscious of failure, his living biographer passes over the history as concisely as possible, making, however, admission of delusion on Bunsen's part :—

'The subject of the commission entrusted to Bunsen cannot here be passed over, as having been one of great importance, both at that time and afterwards; but the comment shall be as short as is consistent with the endeavour to give a true representation of the amount of Bunsen's own views, which were infused into the design of the King,-worked out by him with such earnest zeal, clung to through life as far as he felt them to be of real use to the cause of Christianity, but furthered in their very beginning by a strong breeze of delusion, which acted variously on the several participators in the scheme, but which naturally flagged when their time was over.'-Vol. i. pp. 597, 598.

But at the same time adopting his tone of assurance :—

'Into this noble purpose of the King Bunsen entered with all his soul's energy; and if the word delusion has been unwillingly used, it applies not to the design, but to the effect of the exuberance of hope, picturing a grandeur of result such as human imperfection, whether in circumstances or individuals, has as yet only delayed, not defeated. Abundant have been the blessings diffused from the centre of Christian life which it was granted to Frederick William IV. to originate in Jerusalem; but the more real, the more spiritual, the more belonging to the "deep things of God," that work has been, the less is that establishment calculated to be "a renown in the earth." The day which shall "reveal the thoughts of all hearts” will reveal the work of revival and of sanctification which it has been allowed to effect.'-Vol. i. pp. 600, 601.

He arrived in London at a time which proved favourable for his negotiations. Both Lord Melbourne retiring from office, and Sir Robert Peel accepting it, entered with readiness into the King of Prussia's plan; and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishop of London (Howley and Blomfield) came into his views with the entire Evangelical party, Lord Ashley (now Lord Shaftesbury) at their head. Even Mr. Gladstone made an 'exquisite speech,' giving the toast,' Prosperity to the Church of S. James at Jerusalem.' 'Seeking some footing in practical realities,' Bunsen fraternised with Dr. M'Caul, head of the Jews' Society, which one is disposed to call an especial mistake, where all is a mistake. There was, however, one important exception to the general fusion, which gives a melancholy interest and prominence to a transaction which so soon sunk into the insignificance of utter failure. But the readers of the Christian Remembrancer in past years will scarcely require to be reminded of this melancholy episode in our history.

But if Bunsen was not happy in his schemes, his private and individual life is marked by a prosperity and felicity which constitute him almost an exception to ordinary humanity. His personal qualities all tended, without any clashing, to his