FATHER GEORGE TYRRELL

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 160, 31 March 1908, Page 9

FATHER GEORGE TYRRELL

HIS WORKS AND PERSONALITY. ' . '. (By A.Y.T.) Father Tyrrell belonged to a Jesuit house in England. The Roman. Church : seems to have valued his abilities, and to liavo reposed great trust in him. Ho appears to have been singled out to deal with the more delicate cases of conscience, especially those of an intellectual natjn'c. It was through this that lie had occasion to write, somo four or five years siuco, a confidential letter to a Roman Professor of Anthropology; extracts from which camo to light, last December two years, in a Milanese paper, and. becamo tho causo of his severance from tho Socioty in. Fobruary, 1906.

: Father Tyrrell has written many works, several of which have received-tho imprimatur of Westminster and Rome,' and "Lex Orandi" that of tho "Wesleyan Times" as well, which spoke of tho peculiar'pleasure-it had in recomineiiding that work of a Jesuit priest-to .'the .'world without reserve. Theso works are "all fresh and original; but it is. in his writings sinco his scveranco' from tho,'Society that "Father Tyrrell's , extraordinary abilities appear. These writings go through several editions. They seerii ! to liavo taken possession of the world'of thoughtful men, and Father Tyrrell has bccomo ono of those few personages, - like Pascal or ' Channing, who, while belonging to their, own communipn, belong to alias well. It is as being,a persohago of this description that wo shall endeavour to aiipraiso him. •' ~ , , ' ■ Fathcr'Tyrrell's works; like those of Pascal and Newman, mako an .epoch in themselves; a new departure; a new way of looking at, and' dealing wit'o, . spiritual., things. Ho is .'tike a; new' painter of', tho; first order, who,; dealing with tho samo subjects,.'imparts a' wholly_, new' .illumination to thorn., , He looks; out ,with discriminating gazo on the- ossen-, tial in the religion of. past' ages, and; yet is' libiio tho .less ; 'a child' of. liisi own; and "is, abroast with the inspiration, of the religion of the hour,'and with tho. inner outlook of its despair. - It was said of Nowman,, that though an .opponent, lie express Arnold's point of view better than'Arnold'could' himself and so I- should supposo that thero is no.earnest and thoughtful layman-of tho prOsoiit: day,. : who has ; religious'- difficulties, which Father Tyrrell "would fio.t kiibw' intuitively, or anyhow- 'realise' on demand, and that from within.- Of him tho 'saying in Terence -is 't-ruo in its inmpst ,senso'Homo sunij ■ hnmaiium nihil,a mo. alicnum. puto."; . He: is/one" of those r'aro characters in which .'and'- intellectual _ activity are held 'in equipoise, and the • acutest 'analysis aiid the broadest synthesis aro fused with emotion'. 'Ho'is.'nothing, if ho is not an. original thinker; he is'nothing; if bin-.thought is''not directed to living ideals 'with a clear and; definite-Vaim at. practical 'accomplishment;,' .-His " intuitive arid logical, pon'ors .ard exceptional,. but -i|i'' their cquipoise-!-shpuld wo say fusion hrc'uniqiio.,, lii :t-iiis:re-spect they may, perhaps, be likened to a boxer, 1 each l , of whoso . hands - possesses .Itho accbmplishriicnts .of; tho, otlior,. as, .well as of its own. In some subtlo way lie reminds ono of Pascal and Newman, alike , in. Btylo of thought and in expression; but he-is nono tho less - original, : .wholly;:Jiimself, ,and ; .'has taken no mannerisms from; either of them.

_i Liko Pascalj'7iiid<Newman,' Father;Tyrrell is at:homo'.in'' tlio' abysses (not- p.orlidps quito ■ so. much in tlioir patlietio' emotions',' in . Whinh .'respect'., Newluan.■.and^.'Liddpn',aro:alnrivalle'd). , . ':of..jmnia^.:squlsV«nd : ;'iiv^U^ fronts ''them: Like ■ both ■of them, , lie .'looks : out on, vast '.liorizons, • ,butho is'-, not. misty or .confliscdi'.'aiidilie; knows, .the.(.frontiers' of' his. knowledge, even when'dealing with tho illimitable. . A. passing, illustration »in iliis. hands,;'.; as with , Newman,- J lights, 'up :'-likp l! flash of lightning n,. whole lino,of. argumont,' and becomes tho argument: in'.itself. /It' is 1 hero whero bis intuitivo poV/ors ,come in..: Ho' posspsseb an,' ifony : alm'ost;.'as's tronobant■ asi that of Pascal;; but though tho p'oint-.is pier.'cing; it is not enyenomed witlvrust or poison. Ho is too muoh i possessed' with t-hb 'spirit of .tho.statement,- ''God.makes.Hjis smn to,shine. on .tho.:, just'.niid tho unjtisti,alike,". to feel: -bitter ajgainst'anypiie; ' Life is too.'short,' arid'; tlio demands' ofv'its^;Work : too.V'seriousv for hu'm'aii animosities/ oven, .-'.though 'thoy ; :bo tunied; on 'oneself; arid Father Tyrrell lias comoj to look; upon '.some kind; of.'crucifisi.oii as a,natural .accompaniment' of bearing, wit-, liess. to';tho-truth, and as Liddon observes, .'.'Jesus'Christ' has not beon;■ the. only person' crucified ; between. two thieve^.''k With. Pascal,; Newman;' and: Father Tyrrell alike, ' tho ■Visible Church . bulks largoiy.,'v;But,'i .Pascal: takes ; jtV for granted," and >,liiis • littlo' "to , say' about .went .further,: hiiving- to' d'efehclr;at, ; passionately.;> 'but. |f6r ; 'all thai',';.tlio';,oliiirch..was' to 'them chiefly : tho'. 'Body,; that;'mihistered;; to-'.individiial, souls, hardly,', though 'they; wouldn't';perhaps liayo, acknowledged this, the . social organism, whoso '.'corporato . existence .was * the', chief .aim ;in itself; . Aiid .this is , why their .writings aro so much- used by so many, whom tKojr would not perhaps hava' acebunted members of tho \ r is'iblo .Church. The, Visible., Church,' is there;. in-their -writings,' if tli'oy' look, for. it; but it ■ is not' l thrust, .upon' themand '.they fuid ; in thdse;',writings, light A and\guidanco for. tho' higher nieds 1 .of:, tile soul,.'which are hot to bo ; found. elsewhere. With' 'Pascal and Newman, 1 . tho ;soui;.'its tudes, : its' Jonelinoss, ; aro their'- supremo' interost. "Tho soul,", says 'Nowman, "is never so' littlo alone, .as when alone .with God." "I must die -alone!" cries Pascal,'.arid"froiii his meditations, 0110 'coilld suppose that-there Avas','llo 0110 .present to his - thoughts '-biit ■his soul and his God.But with ■'Father''Tyrrell ,' tho social organism is; possibly,, the supremo interest.;. Tlio ■ soul lives 'in/it' arid •for, it. . A -great, social organism is' tho. normal condition : of tlio religious,, : as -'.well as;-of ■ tlio national lifd : and 'development', ill' -which, as ,aman. shares its own. collectivo Inheritance; of .tho, past,; hp,;has;, somothing •to givo towards-it;.in .tho way'of inspiration/ -or criticism,-' or 'reform., ; It, is for : hini .th'o ideal of a' United .humanity' 'centred, in Christ, in one .choice 'Society.; of. tho;'pro-, .grossivo Kingdom of' God.■ ' . ;.-,To Father iTyrrell,;; holding,, such; -views, of tho Visible 1 Church, the suspension. of his functions as a priest must be .a great sorrow; but rtlio, role of a prophet yet-remains to him, and' inasmuch as .lie ,! continues to' publish he has takeii th'at office'upon him. And lie has 110 option, , for genius must out with itself,. and >is .always prophetic in- its utterances', whether it realises it or not, .and there'aro thousands of people, not least'so in his own comunmion', look;to Father. Tyrrell to interpret themselves to themselves and tlioir religious .difficulties, and to show them how to' deal witl\ tlieni. :So 'grave. 5 a responsibility lie daro not evade.

And to those of us to whom, -in this - bewildering ago, tlio Prophets, .aro' a supremo necessity—it is nothing to ns that Elijah-in-fringed upon tho office of tho.'Levitical priesthood, or that Aristotle was practically tiiriiedont'of the' Academy', or that Pascal's ."Letters" ivfero put' upon tho Index,'or that selfish luxury and: .well-bred indifference hail no use for-Wesley, or that'commonplace-con-ventionalities ' and ...frightened mediocrities .derived tho English ..Church' of the services''of Newman. It is i-ho Prophets we liavq to jook to, and not the authorities of the passing hour, who fail to recognise them,.oriiavo no use for .them, or know not how to deal with them.' Divino institutions, whilo. on earth, 1 aro . constantly is : need of, reformation, and of readjustment of old truths to put them in touch and speech with each m-.v ago .as, it comes.' ' But ; authority is, naturally, and for the most'part rightly, conservative, . and anxious to retain the conventional clothing''of Truth,' for' fear'that- in anew clothing it'might disappear. And so tho Prophots and mon of gonius, whether in the Jewish, or tho Early; or the Mediaeval, or Moderh Church, havo for tho most part,.'in their endeavour to reset old 'truths 'to - make them living factors in, their mvn' ago,- como under tho censure of those wl|sit'in Motas' soat. ' Attempts have been inado to suppress them, as ill tho case of Pascal ; or they havo. 'suffered lifelong persecution, as Jeremiah or Athariasius, or the Saints of Port Royal; or their names havo. been cast out as evil, as was that of Newman, or-ns"in'the etise of Fra Paolo Sarpi, one of the greatest of their'members, attempts , have-heeii made to .kill them, according to tho.'Divino saying, '"J'bc'timo comcth when ho that 'killcth you' will ■ think ' that- he doeth' God service." It. is more than probable, that tiio Traditionalist and the Modornist bold tho same tiuths inwardly. But the Modernist is forced tu look.

upon them from a scientific: outlook, nr possibly loso sight of tlicii) altogether. Wo all of us arc now living in a.world that is increasingly scientific, and however littlo scientific we are by nature, wo cannot cscnpo the influenco of it. And we, alike with serious and really scientific,souls, cannot bo too grateful-to the prophet who can put the moral and spiritual world in foeus with the scientific' outlook. Father Tyrrell is that prophet. Ho is probnbly engaged in the greatest-work of the time.. For there: can be no greater work than" to keep truly earnest and -scientific-, souls in touch with things Divine.' For men,of science, if: they aro not in touch with Christian, religion, however much they/ may regret it, or bo unconscious Of the fact-, are against it. Their influence among educated mon and women is enormous how, 'and is rapidly: increasing. ■ They are the intolleotual lights in tho world most, in ovidenee, and if they arc seen to stand aloof from the Christian .religion'...multitudes of moil and women will think they have judged tho Christian religion, and found it, sorrowfully or otherwise, -wanting. To those'who liavo found the Christ within them this will be as nothing. F.or no authority or argument could disprove tho. existence of the spiritual, any mora than of tho material sun, to those .who havp seen' it. But to' those who have not seen Christ it- would he a very gVuvo matter indeed. One cannot but feel then how momentous the .work is that Father Tyrrell is engaged in, and wish'him, from tile bottom on one's heart, God-speed. One will venturo to say further, that pas 3 a couplo of generations, and Father Tyrrell will bo found with Pascal among the "ornaments of the Roman Church, as . ono who had become an imperishable witness to Divine Truth, though the works of the former were on tile .Index, and tho latter is at present under sentenco of excommunication. any of the readers of this notice care for tho opinion of tho.writpr of it,-ho would say that tho works of Father Tyrrell which'wili' most repay the thoughtful mind,"and become permanent possessions, nro "External Religion/' more especially the last octavo,' "Internal Faith," "The Mcsh-abused. Letter," which in. substanco ,h not controversial, "Lex i Credendi," and • "Through Scylla aiid Charybdis." ' I have ; not read ■ tiiis last—: which .1 long, to -do as "soon as ; ,I can: gob it—but I mentionj.it on 'the authority of a friend, ' whoso ; opinion - r I. value more " than my own: :V.y