THE NEW THEOLOGY AND OLD LANDS

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 89

THE NEW THEOLOGY AND OLD LANDS

INTERVIEW WITH DEAN FITCHETT. Speed, gradually annihilating distance^ has made even the uttermost ends of the earth familiar to the multitude. Travellers are many, and their printed impressions legion. The views of a scholarly and obeervanfc personality, however, cannot fail to bo ofj the greatest interest, and a representative of the Times interviewed Dean Fitchett concerning some of the burning questions encountered on his tour. Naturally the first question related to the Rev. R. J. Campbell, said to have set the theological world by the ears with his ."New Theology." The Dean had attended come of his services at the City Temple, and had also been present at the lectures delivered by the Rev. R. J. Campbell on Thursdays. The City Temple was always full. The Dean described the preacher ac possessing a.n attractive personality; a refined, ffisthetic face; a strong delivery, and a melodious and persuasive voice. He •was a capital preacher. As to this New Theology? Well, the Dean would say this for it : If was not . new, and it was not theology. In spite of these tenets being by no means new, tne Rev. R. J. Campbell fcemed to be convinced with the idea that they were, and also that he had invented or evolved them. The general tone of his theorising was an aggressive one. He was fond of apostrophising new preachers, whom he liked to see flocking to the City Temple, where he would lecture down to them as if from an ecclesiastical eminence. His statements certainly caused controversy outside his church, and during a course of these sermons it was no uncommon thing to hear pamphlets ' being cried in the streets: "Mr Campbell reviewed and answered." Mr Campbell and his statements had been well advertised, and the press was ever on the alert to make the most of any diotum that might" have a tendency to heresy. There was, however, no heresy whatever ; and far from being. as stated, set by the ears, the Dean believed that the bulk of the religious world was blindly unconscious of Mr Campbell 'or his beliefs. A certain type who still held views that obtained in the middle ages might have been startled by Mr Campbell into a state of uneasy surprise, but little more had been effeoted. A good deal had been made of Mr Campbell's statement that the real spirit, of Christianity is exemplified by Socialism ; and in saying that Socialism is Christianity the theory was advanced of the sacrifice of the indvidual to the community. This, as far as church teaching went, was a mere platitude. The Dean then dismissed Mr Campbell and hia doctrine, and turned to ITALY. When in. Rome the Dean was much interested in the Nasi trials which were then proceeding. Nasi was said to have stolen 3,000,000 j|re, and used it for political purposes. lE was well known that this celebrity rewarded his supporters on a large scale, cwid squandered enormous sums on a. Utxge suite of hangers-on. Anyhow, he had spent it. The chief defence was rather a oommon one. He had only done &s others had done. Nasi had been once OT twice expelled from the House, but Sicily re-elected him, and brought a good deal of pressure to bear by refusing to pay any taxe*. and the Sicilians altered the" names" of their streets, and re-named them after the members of the Nasi family. This person was popular throughout Southern Italy, and tradesmen named their goods after him. The Dean possesses Nasi s signature, and considers the miserably inadequate sentence passed against him as representing the low standard of political morality existing in Italy. Prom an outsider's standpoint the condition of Italian politics was about the worst to be met with in civilised lands. They were a mass of corruption. As to Sicily, it had presented itself to a united Italy, but had developed into a sort of Ireland — always ready with "another injustice" and groaning of grievances. The Italian monarchy was popular, and the King and his family were highly esteemed. On the occasion of the birth of the Princess Rome was a ma« of flags and enthusiasm. ANARCHY. There was still a danger, and Socla'hm and anarchy were always smouldering. An •^anarchist outbreak occurred when the Dean was in Italy, and the police and troops wer& called out. It caused a panic. Rome was vrjell-policed, the streets were orderly, but the, slums were unsafe, and the Campagna w^s still d-angcrous ; no one knowing Rome* and its environs would trust himself tlhero unguarded at night. No, there werve not only brigands and professional robbS-rs, but a peasant, if Tie caught you unarmed^ would not think twice about " holding; vou\up." THE EARTH^TAKE'S AFTERMATH. In Italy the v^orking classes were -very poor, and in southern Ita'y the villagers strickeu by the eai^thquake were wretched and deserted. The" pinch of poverty had driven the of t«VDth sexes to America, and now none but a few old hungry-looking men end women hobbled among the dilapidated and filthy JSftaee?'* The poverty

[ in sunny Southern Italy wes the worst in all Europe. The Dean revisited Pampeii and its neighbourhood, and there found whole villages overthrown by lava streams half a mile wide that had poured down the flanks of the volcano, bearing all before them. Where 10 years ago he had found vineyards was now howling desolation, and after 18 months in which to cool the lava wa« still smoking. Vesuvius was reeking. The old cone had been blown completely off, and the height of the mountain had been reduced by about 150 ft. POMPEII. Recent excavations &--t Parnpeii lis-d la-i<3 , bare many objects of interest — houses, courts, baths, and walls rich with paintings ! of a valuable kind. Large statues were absent, but there vsre many figures in stone or bronze. There was the typical j Roman villa in good preservation, with its '< tiled floor and surrounding- its own court- 1 yard. " What strikes you about Pompeii,'' j said the Dean, "is the contrast between 1 the old civilisation and the new. In Pompeii itself there - are magnificent temples, a forum, fine architecture, and well-developed art. In the surrounding villages is filth and squalor, and the meanest of mean dwellings. The difference between the old and new civilisations is as wide as the divergency j between an Englishman and a savage." LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. The Dean spent a month in Egypt, apparently to very good purpose. In reply to a question concerning the Nationalist movement, he replied that there was " nothing in it." It had been for the most part j engineered by r.he moneylenders, some \ Turks, and perhaps a "lew Frenchmen. I These moneylenders at Cairo had been accustomed to lend sums at enormous interest to the fellaheen, whom they reduced almost to beggary ; but under British influence a | bank commenced to lend money at a moderate percentage, and the small farmers, j knowing on which side their bread was but- j tered, patronised the bank, threw over the , usurers, and prospered, though the peasants were far from rich. This, of course, constituted a grievance with the moneylenders. There were certain Nationalist newspapers which openly advocated throwing off British < control, but the larger number of. the people, fully aware of the advantages that accrue to them under the British regime, 1 wished for its continuance. This was, in- , deed, the opinion in the East. " Ask a Moslem in Palestine (if you can get him to epeak to you)," said the Dean, " his views on the British order of things, and ten to one he will say he would be only too glad if Great Britain took over the Government of Palestine. Turkish rule means Anarchy , and a polioy of bakeheesh which finds its ' way to the Pasha." And the Khedive? " His is a very difficult position, and he conducts himself with circumspection. He has political advisers supplied by Britain. The Nationalist newspapers ask: What is the good of that to us? The Khedive is popular, and drives about with a large escort, but he would be nothing without the British. He, however, is very popular in Cairo, and his people are devoted to him. No publio demonstration was so enthusiastic- as the anniversary of the Khedive's accession. The streets were impassable. By this the people seem to empha- | cisc the faoi that they regard the Khedive , as their real sovereign,,'* The Deaa t?«n4 on to s»y that the fallaheen were no xmg^r crushed, but were improving &{- saund. The Nationalist newspapers still continually brought up the i punishment of the murderers of Captain ' Bull, which they stigmatised as a great political arinfe. The Dean believes the murder fco have been committed on angry impulse, and to by no means represent any rampant discontent with British rule. 1 CHURCH MATTERS. J In the course of a sermon at A\l Saints' 1 on Sunday morning Dean Fitohefct said that during his English furlough he had naturally given close attention to church matters. Of spiritual decay in the Church j of England, of deolining vigour or lessened influence, he saw no indication whatever. Next to the agencies of secular government the Church of England was still the greatest institution in the country, not only the institution most deeply rooted in the national history, but the institution everywhere most in evidence. The dome of St. Paul's crowned the highest point in tho great metropolitan city ; take that away, and London would seem to bo no longer London. So throughout the provinces ; alike in town and hamlet the Church lifted its banner high. Its annual income of over seven millions sterling from voluntary contributions in England and Wales snowed both the range of ite activities and its hold upon the people. He found a righ level of preaching ability ; of tho average English church parson it might be said with emphasis that he was a man of his own time, not a belated survival from the Middle Ages. Freedom of speech was the rule, freedom of thought, freedom of disoussion. Everywhere within the Church there was a willingness to look facts in the face, the facts of history and of science, together with the ugly and difficult problems presented by the facts of our modern social organisation. Referring to educa- ! tion. the Dean eaid that, tho Church had j anticipated the State. Durim? the first 50 ■ years of its existence the Church Society | for Promoting Christian Knowledge , founded in England 1600 free day schools. This was before the State gave any attention to the subject. Other Church societies had continued the good work, and the ' Church day schools now numbered 12,0,00, with 30 training colleges. Its e-orvioes in this field alone made the Church of Eng- i land perhaps the greatest contributor to the intellectual life of the nation. Continuing I the Dean said that in Melbourne he had ( learned some encouraging facts about the prospects of union between Anglican 6 and ] Presbvlerians. At conferences held between Archbishop Clarke and his clergy on the one hand and the Presbyterian leaders on the other there had been reached a degree of approximation which at one time would have seemed quite beyond hope. At Al' Saints' Church on Sunday evening Dean Fitchett precched on this subject to a large congregation, explaining that he had borrowed the title from a course of Cathedral sermons by Bishop Gore, of Birmingham. He said that on his return from Europe he had felt surprise at the general intecec-t taken here in teachings associated with the name p£ the Rev. R. J. Campbell, of the City Temple, London. So far as he tad noticed in England interest in Mr Campbell and his teachings gxisted chiefly amongst tae

bodies, in one of which Mr Campbell was a distinguished minister. The notion that his theology was new, and also daaigerous, would b« limited to persons who in matters theological were unintelligent. Such persons existed in all communions, their ignorance was no discredit to them. They had accepted Christianity not as a theology, but as a life. But in the Nonconformist churches more than elsewhere these persons were liable to scares and panics. They had made the infallible accuracy of Scripture in every part their corner etone, and this position criticism had made no longer tenable. In the words of Biehop Gore : '• It has become more and more diffioult to maintain the authority of the Bible as a standard of doctrine apart from the authority of the creeds and mind of the Chuich. And still more, it has become impossible to maintain the proposition of the infallibility of a.ll the statements of Scripture, simply because they, are in Scripture." Then many congregations in England were preoccupied by revivalism and politics. They were centres of political organisation and electioneering agencies. Revival teaching and revival hymns were usually based on the most antiquated and obsolete theology. Teaching in these congregations would be out of touch with the best religious thought of the time. The judgment of such religionists on questions o( orthodoxy and heresy was worthless. Pusey and Keblo would be condemned as sacerdotal ists and Papists in disguise. Charles Kingsley and Frederick Denniston Maurice, with whom Mr Campbell was in close theological affinity, woiil<f be thought rationalists and perhaps infidels. People of this kind had been compelled to listen to Mr Campbell. He was a Nonconformist minister, occupied a representative pulpit, had an attractive personality, was a captivating preaoher, has had an Oxford training, possessed the gift of lucid exposition, but unhappily presented what he had to say in an aggressive and alarmist manner. He hacf completely stirred the back-waters of religious thought in his own and kindred denominations, but his teaching was strictly a reaction againet" the antiquated, out-of-date Protestant orthodoxy. He had much to say that was true and good, but he pushed it to extremes and paradoxes. At this point came in the newspaper pre 36, which knew nothing whatever about theology, but thoroughly understood the virtue of a good headline. Exaggerating sensationalists in the secular press had- greatly aggravated the Nonconformist scare about Mr Campbell. The Dean then cited Sir Oliver Lodge as one who was thought to accept the New Theology, and quoted his profession of faith: "I believe in one infinite and eternal Being, a guiding and loving Father, in Whom all things consist. I believe that the Divin© Nature is specially revealed to man through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lived and taught and suffered in Palestine 1900 years ago, and has since been worshipped by the Christian Chuych as the immortal Son of God, the Saviour of the. world. I believe that the Holy Spirit is ever ready to help us along the way towards goodness and truth; that prayer is a meanS of communion between man" and God; and that it is our privilege, through faithful service, to enter into life eternal, the communion of saints, and the p_eace of God." The Dean contrasted this with Huxley's Agnosticism, and quoted Carlyle's remark to Froude : " The Agnostic doctrines were to appearance like the finest wheat flour, from which you might expect the most exoellent bread ; but when you came to feed on it, you found it was powdered glass, and you had been eating the deadliest poison." Huxley's scientific acquirement and dialectical keenness had brought him only to this: that he professed as respects the existence of God and a spirit-world, "I do not know." The position of Sir Oliver Lodge, a man of equai rank^ in science, showed how much Christianity had gained during the 30 years between. There was nothing to fear in the so-called New Theology. Christian faith had again and again adjusted itself to new knowledge — to astronomy and its teaching respecting the infinite scale of the universe ; to geology and the age of this planet ; to biology and creation by development. It had suffered nothing in accepting science. It had gained Tather by being disburdened of things wrongly believed. In closing, the Dean mentioned that his address was merely preliminary, and that next week he would deal with the New Theology notion of the immanence of God and it 3 doctiine of sin.