The Dominion. SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1912. RIVAL ETHICAL SYSTEMS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1485, 6 July 1912, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1912. RIVAL ETHICAL SYSTEMS.

There was no _ need for Bishop Sprott to apologise in his address to the Anglican Synod on Tuesday last for overstepping the limits of parish apd diocese and making an excursion into the great world of modern thought in order to give the average man some'help in gra6pirig the bearing of recent criticism of the Gospel narratives on our social life and conduct, Dk. Spbott has a mastery of these questions which few men in New Zealand possess, and the community haß a right to expect some guidanco from men in his position in facing the great moral problems of tho day. That the newest, and possibly tho final, stage of New Testament criticism has an intensely practical aspect was shown by the Bishop in a very convincing manner in his comparison between Christian morality, and some of tho ethical principles which at present dominate human society in civilised nations. He certainly makes a strong point when, 1 in reply to those who contend that the Christian Ethic is impracticable, ho points out that

it is not tho Christian Ethio which is showing itself impracticable and unsuited to Iho modem world. On tup contrary, it is precisely tho hitherto dominant Ethic that is pvovine; itself impntctioablo. For what do ho ?co? Wo sco tlio Society, which has moulded itself in accordance v/itU tho principles of this dominant Ethic, everywhere tho victim of a, vast unrest. Internally, the States of tlio modern world ure rent by ula?3 hatreds and antngonisms, which threaten revolution. Externally, I hey arc filled with mutual suspicions aiid jealousies, that necessitate tho wasting expenditure of vast resource's upon huge mill ever-growing armaments, to tho impoverishing of masses of their citizens. Verily, it is tho dominant Ethic that is uiijuited to thto oko. U is wvcij.Hnß lis Impracticability baton our frightened oyoa.

What if tho alleged "interim Ethic" of ■lesus bo tho very Ethic which society •■"lis. if it is to bo saved alive! I believo that it is. If I am told that modern so" ■ .-iy wi I not and cannot adopt the Christian, Ethic as its rule- of life, mv replv is that of a physician who should "bo told that some fever-stricken patient cannot and will not conform to the laws of health; tho patient must die; society must bo dissolved. It is doubtful, however whether the Bishop makes adequate allowance for the fact that the dominant Ethic has to a vary largo extent been impregnated by Christianity, and there is no reason why it should not gradually move forward to a most completo realisation of the Christian ideal It may, of course, be s>id that tho'result of nearly 200Q years of Christian teaching is extremely disappointing, but after ajl 2000 years is a very brief period in the history of the human raco. Moreover, it is not quits fair to tako only the dark side °i.tho picture, forgetting the great things that have been done by that spirit of altruism which Christianity let loose upon the world, and which is so largely responsible for the abolition of slavery, tho growth of democracy, humanitarian legislation, consideration for the weak and the poor, and other movements and institutions in which the Christian Ethic has found practical realisation.

As a matter of fact, the dominant Ethic is partly Christian and partly Pagan, and it is possible that the near future will see a groat struggle for mastery between these two elements. Up till recent years the excellence of Christian morality was almost universally admitted—at least as an ideal to be aimed at, or as a counsel of perfection; but the Pagan pomt of view is now reasserting itsalf in certain quarters, and the moral ideals of Christianity are being subjected to the keenest criticism. That turbulent German genius Nietzsohe is exercising a greater influence after his death than during his lifetime. His books have been printed in various languages, and are now very widely read by all sorts and conditions of men. He is the most determined foe of Christianity and of modern democracy which he regards as the inevitable result of tho moral ideals embodied in the New Testament. Thero is a fascination about b.is daring and relentless attack on traditional ethical values and democratic government, and his eulogy of the Superman. "Will to Power," he says ; "and not the will to live is the motivo force of life." The weak , must go to the wall. He has no time for tho "God hypothesis'' or the 'narcotic of ' Christianity" which has enabled the serf population to enlist sympathy, obtain votes, and so dominate their destined superiors. To those in possession, the superiors, tho strong ones, ho says, "become hard," and into their mouths he puts tho words: ''Tho best things belong to me and mine; and if men give us nothing then we take them; the best food, tho purest sky, tho strongest thoughts, the fairest women." Nietzsche, as ono of his biographers tells us, condemned Christian morality from top to bottom, and ' declared that "this magnificent attempt on the part of the low and tho base to establish themselves as the most powerful on earth, must be checked at all costs." Tho connection which ho establishes between Christianity and Democracy is historically true, notwithstanding tho partial and temporary estrangement which at present exists, and if ever Christian moral values and tho Pagan values of Nietzsche and his school come to life and death grips the Democracy must inevitably range itself on the side of Christianity, which was from the first the religion of tho poor and the oppressed. , The weakness of the Nietzschean philosophy lies in the fact that it has no gospel for the mass of the people. It had no word of hope for Nietzsche himself when he lost health and friends, and felt tho bitterness of disappointment at the meagre success of his works. Ho gavo way to despair and died hopelessly insane. It is true, as a recent Times review of Nietzsche's works states, that on the negative side Nietzsche "has flung into modern thought some ferments which ought to cause a not unwholesome disturbance of ponventional appreciations. But on the positive and constructive side his , conception of the Superman as the goal of humanity is evidently false and narrow, buch a being can never find a place as a permanent element in human society . . He knows well that a world of Supermen is a sheer impossibility—there will still bo the masses of men, 'moles and dwarfs,' whom Nietzsche relegates to 'belief and slavery' and who he fondly supposes will stay in their places liko a piece of mechanism which repeats tho game movements unvaryingly bo long as its store of energy endures. How profound is the gulf which separates this conception from tho real movement of life." The review further points out that Walt Whitman anticipated all that was human and real in the doctrino of the Superman. Of Life immense in passion, pulse and power/ Cheerful, for freest action formed under tho laws divine, The modern Man I sing.'

But Whitman love,d tho common people—even those whom Nietzsche would kick aside as "weak and botched"—and he saw their greatness, actual or potential. I saw the face of the most smeor'd and slobbering idiot they had at the' asylum, And I knew for my consolation what they knew not, I knew of tho agents that emptied and broke my brother, The same wnit to oloar the rubbish from tho fallen tenement, And I shall look ogain in a scoro or two of ages, And I shall meet tho ical landlord, perfect and unharmed, every, inch as good as myself. Tho Lord; advances and yet advances. Always tho shadow in front, always the reach'd hand bringing up the laggards. Tho" Times review goes on to say that

"there is one thins certain about the teaching of Christ, tliqt it did something tor the common man which had never been attempted before by any religion or any philosophy. It took this common man, just ns ho was, and showed that in his soul nro being tried out all the Teally great issues of the universe.. Wealth, intellect, royalty, even austere morality— these are but trifles compared with the experiences Hint lio within the reach of every artisan or fisherman—nay, of every thief aud harlot. Was thi3 a denioj of life? Surely not, but tho most tremendous affirmation of it that ever was mado on earth. Nietzsche's is a paltry thing by comparison."

•Nietzsche's eospel will not work when put to tho teat of life in the world ns wo find it, . It must, however, also bo admitted that the prcsont state of social bitterness and industrial strife, with great nations facing each other armed to tho teeth, shows that tho dominant Ethic is very far from perfect; but it is capable of improvement; it is not wholly bad. The civilised world in this twentieth century appears to have arrived at. a crucial stago of its existence. Nothing is (oo sacred for criU<'.inrn| and K.ysteirm of ethicn, like everything else, aro callod upon to

justify themselves both in theory and practice; but history encourages us to believe that the clock of civilisation will neither stop nor bo put back, but that the best elements of our race will continue to assert themselves and carry the nation on to the gradual realisation of its highest ideals.