The Dominion. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1911. A PESSIMISTIC BISHOP.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1240, 23 September 1911, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1911. A PESSIMISTIC BISHOP.

« If the cable message published in yesterday's issue regarding the address by the Anglican Bishop of Oarlisle (Dr. Diggle) in reference to the relations between the world and the Church to-day is not too abbreviated to give a fair impression of the Bishop's meaning, the utterance is certainly a surprisingly pessimistic one. It is not quite clear what is? meant by the assertion that "there is no incorporate relation between Christianity and the world to-day," and the assertion that the result of this is "a deadness, if not approach: iug death of Christianity" also wants a good deal of explanation. Dr. Diggle is ono of those straightout people with short, clear-cut vision, who seo things mainly from one point of view, and who express their opinions in superlatives, and without qualifications. These striking and dramatic assertions serve a good purpose in arresting attention and making people think, whereas carefully balanced judgments too often fail to make an impression. There have been prophets and preachers in every age who have declared that Christianity was dying, if not dead. The I daily life of professing Christians has always fallen so deplorably short of the Christian ideal, that ardent moralists in their impatience at the slowness of the upwa,rd movement have been driven to pessimism, and, like Da. Diggle, they' tell us in despair that Christianity has failed. But history, wo are told, is a splendid cordial for drooping spirits, and when we look back over the Christian era as a whole we see a steady progress in-the application of Christian ethics. To quote Dr. Schhiedel, a distinguished German scholar, the fundamental principles of Christianity "have actually permeated the world like leaven, and so far no prospect exists that anything better will be able to roplaco them." Striking witness to the wonderful way in which Christianity has ■ moulded European thought and action is given from a very different point of view by another German, Nietzsche, the brilliant philosopher, with his gospel of tho superman. He was a determined foe of Christianityj and also of democracy, which he regarded as the inevitable result of the moral ideals embodied in the New_ Testament. One of his most enthusiastic followers, Dr. Oscar Levy, states that Nietzsche directed tho whole' forco of his tremendous invective against' Christianity as tho mother of. democracy, and as the 'power which.has robbed the real,masters—tho ruling caste—of their rights. Christianity, he contended, enabled the serf population to enlist sympathy, to obtain votes, and to gain predominance over their natural and destined superiors. It is the acceptance of this religion of universal brotherhood that has made democracy in its modern sense possible. Nietzsche and his followers do not for a moment delude themselves with the belief that Christianity is a spent force. . Dr. Oscar Levy .writes: •

Democracy as a political creed. need terrify no ono; for political creeds succeeded each other like waves of the sea, whoso thunder is loyd and whoso end is froth; but tho .driving power behind democracy is not a pohtioal ono, it is religious—it ,is .Christianity. A mighty T6ligion still, a religion which has governed the world for two thonsand years, which has influenced all philosophies, all literatures, all laws, all customs np to our own day, till it has finally filtered into our hearts, our blood, our system, and becomo part and parcel of ourselves without our being awaro of it. At.the present moment we are all instinctive Christians.

These statements, of course, refer mainly to_ what may be called. the extensive influence of Christianityits jiermeation of social life. Its intensive that is, its cffcct on the personal life of tho individual is less marked. It is only the few who actually live tho full Christian life. As the Dean of St. Paul's says:—

Tho truo history of Christ's religion is in tho biographies of the Saints. Tho saints aro the runners in the sacred torch-race, handing on the flamo which was lighted in I'alestine nineteen hundred years ago, and which by God's prraco shall never bo put out. These truo disciples of Christ have never been very numerous. There has never been any inconvenient crowd at • the narrow gate.

The Bishop of Carlisle believes that one cause of the Church's weakness is to traced to the theological colleges, which, he says, "send forth men steeped in caste feeling, who are unable to speak and preach with conviction." This language is exaggerated, but there is no doubt that the Bishop has put his finger on a real weakness. The remedy, howevor, does not lie in the abolition of theological colleges, for the clergyman, like the engineer, the schoolmaster, or the lawyer, must receive somo special training for his life's work. Still something ought to bo done to bridge over tho gulf which too often exists between the mind of tho average layman and that of his minister. Taken as a whole, however, the clergy of to-day compare more than favourably with those of previous periods in our history. When one thinks of the state of affairs in England about the middle of tho eighteenth century and compares it with our own times the most pessimistic can find good cause for sober optimism. The great Bishop Butler is said to have regarded tho position of the English Church ,in his day as almost hopeless, and another writer, in to the evils likely to lead to the dissolution of the "present States of Christendom," mentions tho growth of infidelity; unblushing lewdness of both sexes; sordid self-interest as almost the sole motive of action, especially among politicians; contempt of all authority, divine and human, especially in the lower classes; and gross neglect of duty by the worldlyminded clergy. Archdeacon Black* burne, writing in 1754, states: Tho collective body of clergy, exceptin" a very inconsiderable number, consists of men whose lives and occupations aro most foreign to their professioncourtiers, politicians, lawyers, merchants, usurers, civil magistrates, sportsmen, musicians, stewards of country squires, tools of men in power, and even companions of rakes, and infidels, not to mention the ignorant herd of poor curates t-o whom the instruction of the common people is committed, who aro accordingly, in roligious matters, tho most ignorant common poople who are in any Protestant, not to say in any Christian, socioty upon tho faco of tho eajtli. What would Dr. Diggle have said had he been living in thoso bad old days', when Montesquieu declared that in France he was blamed for having too little roligion, and in England for having too much! In

fact, he wrote, "there is such thing as religion in England." The English clergy and people are certainly much more Christian under Geokge V than when Geokoe II sat upon tho throne. It would, however, be folly indeed to shut our eyes to the serious moral evils and social dangers of our own age; yet when wc take a broad and comprehensive view of things, we are justified in the belief that the worlcl is getting better, and is advancing slowly, but surely, in the direction of that "faroff divine event to which the whole creation moves."