cation. The whole tenor of M. Comte's writings confirms the conviction that his system does re-instate intellect in that sovereignty from which he pretends to depose her. And this is only one symptom of the affinity of Positivism for past or present rather than prospective doctrines. With reverted eyes, and gaze fixed upon the present and the past, it walks backwards along the line of advancement, and explores the future in the clouds of the evening, not in the promises of the dawn.

These conclusions acquire more than double force from the consideration of the Positive religion,--a creed at variance with the scientific principles and development of Positivism. Chaos is renewed when this notion, borrowed from the outrageous idealism of the Hegelian school, incorporates the mystical mythicism of Strauss, with the chimeras of St. Simonism and the dry formalism of science, and baptizes the conglomerate fantasy with the new name of the "Religion of Humanity." Doubtless the dreamy tentatives of French Eclecticism aided and expedited this unnatural transmigration and superposition of souls, which have only acted, however, as the solvent of the body they were intended to animate. But it is no Promethean fire stolen from heaven it is no Prometheus who has arrogated to himself the task of gods. The heterogeneous materials will not mingle; they are only compacted together. If the substance of the new religion is borrowed from Strauss,—if such a shadow may be dignified with the name of substance, its forms and vesture are taken from the Catholicism of the Middle Ages; and all its appetencies lead it back through the deepening mists of time to the darkness of primeval Fetichism. Fortunately for our exposition, the Fetichistic tendencies of Positivism are distinctly avowed by M. Comte himself. But is this to be the Church of the Future? Can we recognise, as a sign of the proud emergence of civilisation into the splendour of its brightest day, this recurrence to that worship of animals which degraded the ignorance and brutality of its ignorant and undisciplined infancy?

There are some poisons, and those the most active and deleterious, which can only be obtained by sublimation. In the same way, the essence of all the religious delusions of past ages may be concentrated in the scientific alembic of Positivism. Apart from the blasphemy of the fantastic dream, can a creed, so steeped in the wildest errors of the latest and earliest ages of the past as the Religion of Humanity is, be contemplated as on the whole an advancement in either speculative or practical knowledge? It is preposterous to ask the question in relation to practice. The social system which trusts to such a sanction is fatally pierced by the broken reed on which it leans. Whatever is admirable in M. Comte's incidental views loses its efficacy by

association with his general principles and his polity. Hence we see the founder of a system of Politics, claiming to be prophetic because asserted to be scientific, altering its text to conceal the failure of its oracles; proclaiming the definite institution of the French Republic on the eve of the inauguration of the Empire; fawning on the autocrat whom it had ridiculed as a charlatan; and trampling in the dust before his feet that liberty whose triumph it had heralded. In his earliest productions M. Comte was a political prophet. He has often boasted of it, and his friends have called attention to it. If prophecy be the test of science, Positivism is doomed by its own canon. If social action requires the sway of religion, and social re-organization the revival of religious sentiment, the scheme must fail from the imaginary and fallacious materials of its basis. Its Cosmology is defective, its Sociology chimerical and erroneous. The world has passed M. Comte in its onward progress. He has thrown up a mole-hill on the path of ages, to be crushed to the level earth beneath the wheel of advancing time. He must take his place by the side of Jerome Cardan, and Giordano Bruno, with those who dimly anticipated the advent, but not the complexion of the coming age. His is not the praise of Bacon

"Anticipator mundi, Quem facturus erat."

THE

NORTH BRITISH REVIEW.

AUGUST, 1854.

ART. I.-1. Alexandre Vinet-Notice sur sa Vie et ses Ecrits. Par EDMOND SCHERER. Paris, 1853.

2. Essais de Philosophie Morale et de Morale Religieuse. Par A. VINET. Paris, 1837.

3. Etudes sur Blaise Pascal. Par A. VINET. Paris, 1848. 4. Etudes sur la Littérature Française au dix-neuvième Siècle. Par A. VINET. 3 tomes. Paris, 1849-51.

5. An Essay on the Profession of Personal Religious Conviction, and upon the Separation of Church and State, considered with reference to the fulfilment of that duty. By A. VINET.

London, 1843.

6. Vital Christianity: Essays and Discourses. By A. VINET. 7. Gospel Studies. By A. VINET.

8. Pastoral Theology: The Theory of a Gospel Ministry. By A. VINET. Edinburgh, T. and T. Clark. 1852.

9. Homiletics; or, The Theory of Preaching. By A. VINET. Edinburgh, T. and T. Clark. 1853.

10. The History of French Literature in the Eighteenth Century. By A. VINET. Edinburgh, T. and T. Clark. 1854.

VINET is the most illustrious ornament of modern French Protestantism. Distinguished alike in Literature and Theology at once accomplished and profound-practical and meditative-he presents an example of noble qualities which are too seldom seen united. If there are others among the divines of French Switzerland more familiar to us, this arises in a great measure from the very refinement and dignity of the literary and theological labours of Vinet, which commend themselves rather to the cultivated than the popular Christian sympathy in all countries. We shall devote this article to a review of his life and writings; a task which, so far as we are aware, has not yet, in any connected form, been attempted in our language.

VOL. XXI. NO. XLII.

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The interesting and finely appreciative notice by M. Scherer will form the appropriate basis of our remarks, which-glancing as slightly as possible at the politico-ecclesiastical opinions that connected our author so closely with the religious history of his country-shall be concentrated on these higher pursuits in literature and Christian science, which claim the widest attention, as they must give to his name its most enduring fame.

Alexandre Rodolphe Vinet was born on the 17th of June 1797, in Lausanne, renowned for the beauty of its natural situation, and the interest of its historical reminiscences. His father held an official appointment in his native canton. From him the young Alexandre received his first instructions, which appear to have been inculcated with that undue rigour which so often defeats its end in such matters. Under the paternal discipline, the mind of Vinet developed tardily. We are not detained by any of those precocious manifestations of mental power, with which a mythical admiration has too frequently invested the youth of distinguished men. There are evidences enough, however, of that genial susceptibility-that intellectual blossoming, which was destined to ripen into such rich and fair fruits. The poetical talent, commonly characteristic of the Vaudois youth, displayed in him a peculiar vigour and fertility -so that songs, epistles, and even mimic epics flowed from his pen. Intended for the church, his studies were very early devoted to theology. Literature, however, continued long and powerfully to attract him-if it ever, in fact, lost for him its predominating charm. He abandoned himself with a rare enthusiasm to its marvellous enchantments, and lost himself amid its proud dreams and raptures. A story is told illustrative of his literary sensibility. While engaged in reading a tragedy of Corneille in the midst of a family, to one of the members of which he acted as tutor, the perusal affected him so intensely that he was forced to leave the room abruptly, and being sought out, he was found in his own chamber bathed in tears.

At the age of twenty, Vinet was called to Basle, as Professor of the French language and literature in the gymnasium or public school of that city. This would seem to have been before he had completed the full course of his theological studies, as it was not till after two years, on a temporary return to Lausanne, that he received appointment to the ministry. In the same year in which this latter event took place, (1819,) he married; and resuming his duties in Basle, devoted himself with laborious ardour to their discharge. An accident, the nature of which is not explained, interrupted for a season his activity, and laid the foundation of an infirmity which remained with him through life.