REVIEW. English Mon of Letters. Froude's "Life of Banyan."

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 274, 20 June 1888, Page 4

REVIEW. English Mon of Letters. Froude's " Life of Banyan."

Mr.bfiits Mac.-millan and Co. have earned the gratitude of every literary student, by the happy thought which has been so admirably worked out in this charming seriesFor assuredly it was a happy thought that summoned tho leading liteiary spirits of tbe present age to pass under leview the personal characteristics-, the genius, and works ot the intellectual giants who have left the impress of their master minde upon the thought of the world, and have won for themsehes a distinguished place in the liteiaturc of their native land, and of those other younger countries who ate proud to claim a tull share in the heritage of AngloSaxon literature. Mr .John Motley, who undertook the onerous duties oi the editorship, has manifested groat judgment in apportioning the vai ious di\ isions. From the scholarly pen of Leslie Stephen we get our portraiture of Johnson and I 'ope ; Professor Huxley, appropriately reviews the gioundwoik ot eighteenth century scepticism as iepre«cnted by Hume, who contributed a? much as any other writer of the last century to the creation of (he school of thought to which the Pro fes-or belongs. If the choice of a biographer and interpieter for their beloved poet had beeh left to oui own Hums Club, who could they have suggested lor the fa-k more thoroughly qualified than Principal Slump"' And ho we might, <zo tlnough the li-t ot exponents of SooLi, (iibbon, Sholle\ , Goldsmith, Detoe, Thaekeiy. One of the mo>! inteiesting volume- of the senes is Mi .1 A. Proude's " Bunyan. 1 ' In the shongly marked chaiaetei ot the Bedloid tinkeiVand thcstukiug tunes in which In 1 lived, the authoi of '-C'-ai" tound a congenial theme. He has ghon a > i\ ld pic tun, of the lough uncultured associations which m early life gave ;i tone to Bun)anV genius and -applied most of the materials, out, ot which w.b eonstiucted that icmaikable l")ook which has delighted and henetited millions ot oui Kico during moie than two centuries, and which, in the opinion of Mr Fioude, has aflected the opinions ot the English lace during that peiiod moie than any book eveept the Bible. Mr Fioude ejlec ti\cly combat- Hie eommonlv accepted idea that Banyan was in \outh pai tieulaiy dis solute, lie -hows that tioin childhood the gifted I. id had aver) -en-itne conscience, and although he gave lum-elt up to plea-vie with gieat /e-t, and wa- at one time a kind ot leader among the )oung bloods ot the vilL-ure, >et " -innei though lie m.v ha^se been like the ie-1 of v-, his -m- weie not the sin- ot coar^ene-s and vulgarity. They weie the mi^ ot a \outh ot sen-i^'ive natute and peculiar gift*-, gi^s which hi ought special temptation with them, and inclined him to be caiele-s and despeiafe, vet fiom causes Miigulaiv. unlike thooe which aie usually opeiative in di-*i pated and uneducated bo\With regard to the military epi-ode in Buu)an'- life, the author aU> -ueees-fully combat- the supposition which Macaulay and C'ailyte accept as a matter of coui-e, that Bunyan fought on the ,-ide of the Roundheads. Hiouglit uf) in the Chinch ot Enghind, and with no stiong opinion-, religion- 01 political, of hi- own, it wa- natural that Bunyan should be diawn into the Royalist lanks, and an allusion in hi- w oiks to the siege of Leieestei makes it almo-t certain that this wa- actually the ca-e • " Close a^ the connection was in that fjieat stiuggle," ob-ei yes Mr Fronde, " between oh i? "and leligious hbeitv— -Hung as Rinnan was flung into the \ei\, centieof the 'conflict between the English people and the Ctown anil Church and aiistociaey %ictim as he wa- himself of intolerance and pci -edition, lie nevei but once took , im political pait, and then onl) in .signing an addic-s to Ciomwell. He nevci showed an\ active interest in political tjue-tions ; and it he spoke on -ucli question- at all aitei the Re-toiation, it was to advi-c sub mi-sion to the Stuait Covemment B) the -ide of the stupendous i— ue- ot human life, -uch mi-eiablo right- tit. men might pi etend in tin- woi let weie not woith coMtending foi. The only light of man that he thought much about wa* the right to be eternally damned if he did not la) hold ot gi.ice, king and -üb]C( t \\eie alike cieatuie- u ho'-e -lguiligance lay in theii individual immortal «-ouls." One of the most inteiesting pi-sauc in the book is that in which the authoi <ompaies the bteial acceptance ot Hiijlit ,il authoi it) and Chri-tian doctrine in P.unyan'- time \.ith tho toimal adhesion gi\et\ by the great bulk of Chn-tian pio fe.-^oi,- in the picsent day The gi.idual development of the leligiou- taeultv in Bun\an'- minil i- tiaced with a mastei hand, and the mental stiuirgles winch he underwent lecall the analogous experience of Martin Luthei. On hi- awaking fiom indiflerenre to a eon-eiouanes- of '-in, P>uuyan nanates he found Luther- commentaly on the E))istle ot the Calations, of all tho books he had ever met with, the mo-t fit foi a wounded conscience Of the breadth ot Bunyan"- gtnius Mi Fioudc has foimed the veiv highest opinion. "The Pilgrim's Pi ogre's, ' lie ob--eives, " though piofe.-^cdly an allegoric stoiy of the Piotestant plan of salvation, Iconceived in the wide spirit of humanity itself. Anglo - Catholic, Lutheian, Cal-vani-t, and Deist can alike lead with delight, and find their own theories in it if? Even the Romanist has only to blot out a few paiagraphs and he can discover no pin or model ot a Chri.-tian life to place in the hands of his children. The religion of the 'Pilgrim's Piogiess ' i-, the icligion which must be always and ever) where as long as man believes that he lias a ,soul and j is responsible for his actions ; .md thus it ithat, while theological tobo.- once devor.icd now lie on the book-shelves dead as Egyptian mummies, this book is wi ought info the mind and memory of eveiy well-con-ditioned English 01 American child ; while the matin cd man, furnished with all the knowledge that literature can teach him, still finds the adventures of Chii.stian as charming as the advcntuies of Ulysses oi .Eneas. He sees there the relle\ion of himself, the familiar features of his own nature, which remain the same from cia to era ; time cannot impair its interest, or intellectual progress make it cease to be tine to experience," We feel strongly tempted to make longer extiacts from this attiactive book, but space forbids ; moreover, we must not discount the pleasure that may be derived from its connected perusal. A sentence or two from the eloquent passages with which the author closes his work, and we have done : " The truth? which are most essential for us to know cannot be discerned by speculative arguments. Chemistry cannot tell us why some food is wholesome and other food is poisonous. The food is best for us which best nourishes tiie body into health and strength ; and a belief in a supernatural power winch has given up a law to live by, and to which we are responsible for our conduct, has alone, of all tho influences known to us, succeeded in ennobling and elovating the character of man." . . . . "So far a* we know, morality rests on a sense of obligation ; and obligation has no meaning, except as implying a divine command, without which

it would cease to be. Until * duty ' can be presented to us in a shape which will compel our recognition of it with equal or superior force, the passing away of the ' conviction of sin ' can only sorvo to obscure our aspirations after a high ideal of life and character. . . . Men of intelligence to whom life is not a theory but a stern fact, conditioned round with ondless possibilities of wrong and suffering, though they may never again accept the letter of Hunyan's creed, will continue to see in conscience an authority for which culture is no substitute ; they will conclude that in one form or other, responsibility is not a fiction bull a truth ; and, so long as this conviction lusts, tho ' Pilgrim's Progress' will still be dear to all men of all creeds who share in it, oven though it ploaos the ' elect ' modern philosophers to describe its author a-> a ' Philistine of genius.' "