The Dominion. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1912. " ON THE SIDE OF THE ANGELS."

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1611, 30 November 1912, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1912. " ON THE SIDE OF THE ANGELS."

During reoent years a very significant ohange has taken place in the trend of modern thought as regards some of the fundamental problems of philosophy and religion. This change is Decoming more and more pronounced, and if it maintains its present 'direction there is good reason to believe that the intellectual world, after wandering for a while in the wilderness of Naturalism, will once more find itself definitely "on the side of the angels," as Beaconsfield would say. Some recent, and very _ remarkable, pronouncements—which we publish on page 9 of this issue—regarding the views of the three men who, it will generally be admitted, can speak with the greatest authority on these matters, _ givo ample support to this expectation. We refer to Dr. Rudolf Eucken (Professor of Philosophy at Jena, in Germany), M. Henri. Bergson (Professor 'at the College of France), and Dr. James Ward (Professor of Mental Philosophy and Logic at Cambridge, England). These men are probably the most impressive personalities in the ranks of present-day philosophers, and the foremost constructive thinkers of our' generation. To them thousands of thoughtful people throughout the civilised world are anxiously looking for light that will dispel some of the dark clouds which have obscured the intellectual and religious outlook during the past fifty or sixty years, and by a rather striking coincidence recent English mails have brought very interesting statements regarding the bearing of tho views of each of these men on .jMntomnorari religious thought.

These, and other' recent pronouncements of a similar character, assure us th/it, in spite of the pessimistic utterances that one so frequently hears and reads, the position of religion from the philosophic and scientific standpoint is decidedly more hopeful than it has been at any time in the last half-century, during which period a wave of arrogant materialism at one time threatened to sweep everything before it. We were in those days practically told that the universe was a closed system in which nothing really new could ever happen, and that every aspect of human activity was ruled by the iron hand of relentless necessity which left no room for moral freedom or the spiritual life. Against this depressing tyranny set up in the name of science and philosophy tho heart of man revolted from the outset, and in the course of time the intellect also began to find that the' mental atmosphero which' it had created for itself was too circumscribed and stifling. So tho search for a way back to freedom began, and vigorous assaults were directed against the mechanical theory of the universe. One of tho most effective of these attacks was made by Dr. James Ward, when in 1896-8, no delivered his famous Gifford -lectures on.' Naturalism and A gnosticism,_ in which the prevailing materialism was subjected to a searching criticism of a most destructive character, and this has been followed up by the "publication during the present year of The Realm of Ends, in'which: the same distinguished thinker states his case from a more constructive point of view. In an interesting review of this book Professor A- E. Taylor, of St. Andrews, one of the most , brilliant of the younger generation of British philosophers, .states that Dr. Ward presents us with a; powerful plea for a hopeful faith in a, genuine God and a genuine life to come, and unless he can be put to Bilence the "polite atheism" we were taught in our eager youth'as the'last word of a triumphant philosophy . "has gone the'way of.the' Naturalism to wnich his earlier Giffo'rd lectures gave the coup de grace." ■ It is too early to speak with, confidence as to the-precise bearing of Professor JlERGSOfi's philosophy on the religious thought of the age; In fact, he has.not yet-carried his work far enough to. bring: him into direct contact with theological ideas.. He has, however, provided an atmosphere congenial to'the life of the spirit. He has given us back our freewill, and, as one of the exponents of-his ideas states, "to prove that the will is free is to pro.vethat we have a spiritual as distinct from a material nature, that we are not merely mechanical arrangements of parts in a block universe, but living upholders of a- universe that is opento our creative activity." The intellectual world is waiting with interest for M. Bergson's forthcoming book in which he is expected to state his doctrine of, God. In his volume entitled Creative' Evolution, he refers to the Deity, as a centre from which new wonders shoot out like rockets in a firework display, and states that Gop is "unceasing life,action, freedom." Such an outlook —to cjuote from an address which we publish in another column —has nothing in common with the pessimismof the writer of Ecclesiastes who tells us that there is nothing new under the sun, implying, among other things; that the-evils, which nave always existed must always continue;' but it is quite in keeping with the magnificent optimism of the Gospel which declares that God is making all things new, ! and that men ana women also, if'they will, can renew the face of the. earth. ; Dr. Eucken deals with the religious aspect of modern thought more directly than either Dr. Ward or ■Professor Bergson. In giving his explanation of "what is driving men back to religion," he declares that there is an increasing _dissatisfaction with certain materialistic phases of modern civilisation. He writes:

He is but a superficial .obsorver of tlie times who can think that the movement of life to-day ia altogether against religion, and that only the denial of religion has the spirit of tie age with it. For, certain as it is that blatant denial still holds the public ear and is more and more permeating the masses, yet in the ivqrk of the intellect, and likewise in the depths of. men's souls,-the .case is different. Here, with ever, greater vigour, is springing up the feeling that religion is indispensable, the yearning for t religion. It would, however, be misleading to let it be inferred that Dr. Eucken is in full sympathy with the whole of the ordinary orthodox expression of Christianity. As a matter of fact he is a most unsparing critic of much that the average man regards as Christian. Our religious ideas and ideals will in the future as in the past have tq readjust themselves so as to meet the special social, intellectual, -moral, and spiritual'needs of each new age. . The capacity to do this—that is,. to' change the outward form, or _ expression, while maintaining the inner spirit—is v a sign, not of weakness and decay, but of persistent vitality. In explaining Eucken's "philosophy of life," Dr. A. J. Jones, after telling us that Eucken feels that we not only can, but must, be Christians if life is to have for us the highest meaning and value, goes on to state that "future ages may find in Eucken the greatest force in. the revulsion of the twentieth century (that is already making itself felt) from the extreme materialistic position, _ to take religion up again, and particularly the. Christian religion, as the only satisfying solution of humanity's most urgent problem;" Eucken tells us that without religion genuine optimism is impossible, and certainly his own utterances, taken'in conjunction with those, of Professors Ward and Bergson, are putting new energy and hope in the hearts of those who had, been oppressed with the thought _ thafj the higher values of life were in danger of being swept away in the triumph of the materialistic conception of Nature, which would hand us, body and soul, into the iron grip of a universal mechanism in which'there would be no place' for spirit or spontaneity. The world is under a deep debt of .gratitudp. to philosophers like Professors Ward, Eucken, Beroison, the late William James, of the United States, and others, who have shown us the way of escape from this dismal "nightmare theory."