Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 30:119 (Jul 1873)
Article: The Nation
Author: John Bascom

BSac 30:119 (July 1873) p. 465

The Nation1

Rev. John Bascom

Our obligations to a good book are so great, that it seems an ungrateful office to criticise it. Our first acknowledgments of excellence are lost sight of, when we come to dwell on an error, or point out a deficiency. Yet it seems to be the proper duty of a critic, with brief and candid reference to the strong points of a work, to pass to the consideration of such portions of the topic as he hopes to correct or enlarge in their presentation. While justice is a cardinal quality of criticism, the critique is not written for the author, but for the theme; and should bring to it some farther light. The Nation, by Mr. Mulford, has excited very considerable attention, and received highly commendatory notices. The ground of this appreciation lies in a very central and substantial merit: we wish in the outset to attach the highest importance to it, as we may seem later to overlook it. Mr. Mulford regards the nation as an organic force to be understood and explained in its own nature and growth. He is everywhere at war with a formal and mechanical conception of the state. Every theory is instantly brushed aside that refers its origin, form, or rights to outside, external conditions, things subservient to it; and the eye is directed to the forces of social, national life wrapped up in the nation itself. His presentation, therefore, has great unity and vigor, and rests on the cardinal and ultimate features of the case. His nation is spherical, knit together by one sufficient and central force. This is the aspect it bears, as concentered, through every layer of right, duty, and sovereignty, in the

BSac 30:119 (July 1873) p. 466

spiritual nature and conjoint growth of those who compose it. Yet, while thus ensphered in itself, it is united in a living way. It is not a single force, but a multitude of spiritual forces, organized in one consistent and complete life, that lie at the heart of the nation, taking its growth in an historic way under that control. The work, then, is one of a thorough and philosophic spirit, and follows its own bent without deviation or compromise. It would be strange if so radical and decided a method did not at once disclose many important truths, and also fail sufficiently to qualify and complement them. This, we think, is the fact. The theory, in substance correct, is too rigid and inflexible; is pushed beyond its true limits; does not accept sufficiently the modifying effects of external causes. While no living product can be understood without a full recognition of the wonderful powers of life, it also seeks explanation in the external circumstances which condition these powers, and sets up with them a complicated system of actions and reactions. A nation is the ...