REVIEW.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 142, 16 June 1888, Page 3 (Supplement)

REVIEW.

English J^ea of Ltittors,

FWtide'a " Uio of Biiiiyan."

IteSS MacMillan and Co. have earned jugratitude of every literary student by jisiaiipy thought which has* beeti S6 admi?. jily worked out in this charming series; Itfasibretlly it wW a happy thought bhat linHbonßd. the leading literary spirits of tap'reaent age to pass under review the pmal ■ characteristics, the'genius, and itjf of the intellectual giants who'have | Aide impress of their master minds upon \ 'ithought of the world) and have won for I ffielves a,,' distinguished place in Jihe /itlir'e* of't'iieir native land, a'hd of:those ' Asi jqanger countries who are proud to Siii'ilijtt share in the heritage of Aiiglotan literature. Mr John Morley, who trodertaUhe onerous duties of the editorihipt IjS manifested great judgfhent in ttpottiohingthe various division's. Frorii msohoMj/ pen of Leslie Stephen we get far porMfcure of Johnson and Pope; Proteof Hiixley, appropriately reviews tta groundwork of eighteenth, cenliiry scejiticisin as represented by Hume, jrlio.contributed, as lnilch as any other miter of the last centnry to the creation of lie school of thdught to ivhich the Prolasor belongs. If the choice of a biograjfeaflainterpreter for their beibved poet y beeh left to bur own Burns Ciubj who diila they have suggested for the task yore thoroughly qualified than Principal Hivt And 30 we might go through the irtwdxpoheribs of Spobi, Gibbon, Shelley, : SiliMithl Defoe, Thacke'ry. M '._ of. . the most ..interesting mm .oi the series is Mr J. I 1 ■Koado's •■; "B.uhyan." In the Mjfiiiirked character of the Bedford |W| and tbe striking times in which he, W, the author of'" Caesar" found a *»»?nial !th|Sßj He has given a vivid pit of the r6uj>h uncultured associaf!which in.early life gave a tone to Wans genius and supplied most «we materials, out of which was ttrncted that remarkable book which f delighted • and benefited millions wrrace during nidre than two centuries, W which,, in. the opinion of Mr Froude, *»teted the opinions of the English ««raring that period more than any |* except the Bible. Mr Froude effec-; iß'iitR 001"^ 3 c commonry accepted idea IBiJt r?^ w^S in pafticdlary disIBy ff ?*°-ws fchafc fl' om childhood the iWlad had a very sensitive conscience, ; although .he gave himself up to ;;^,™n great isest, and was at ohe w-< u~ of ,lea(^ er among the young ;«sottbe village, yet "sinner though haVa been like the rest of us, his fe'T 6 thei "^of coarseness and [ffi They were the sins of a youth j ■JfflUYe nature and peculiar gifts, gifts ™ brought, special temptation with;^nd inclined; him to. be careless and >■•"{?', yfet fr<sih causes singulary unlike **m are usually operative in dissiKs educat(idb°ys-" |BJy^arii to ths nrilitary episode in HrHriw' 8' ■ ?utaor ??so successfully IK « ; hf supposition which Macaulay I Lj^f accept as a matter of ii£Sv-jiUIV?n fought on the side IK tv • Brought up in the lliiijj^iffgland,. and with no strong IKn T ails'or political, of his own"; IS-.'^^y™ should be drawn imwrtx r'dnks>and an allusion' in ifc«7 t0 ™c siege of Leicester makes it 111:^ that this was actually the I lisfc faS the connection was in that i Iw? *' ofaerves Mr Froude, " beIfcl'Slj'S'^o."B liberty-flurig as il'eoiifii ?u n ° mto fche vefy cenfcre. of il^Sff ' nebll tllß English people life °^? -nd Church and aristocracy ii'tew*- was himself of intolerance Iffffil °n he ™rQt hiit ? nc° t6.°^ ljl,i|^!.Pf'fVand then only in sighing iljlic'ff * v.rPniwell. He never showed 'If' * 1^" lnlf "^ in P^HQal .questions ; lil^fiiE 0 on suen questions at all 1 IKiah. J? [M> &"M to advise liiUli hU T Tt- G.ovei"nmet?t- By. thS lllf' ißi«6uuP en"ous issues of human life, ill ,]J ra.™ Hghts as iHeil niight preiJlraiiiijß''j™■■'world wera not worth lllr kH; , 0 olilJ' rignb of man lilr to k" 8 b taUch aboufc wa9 the liNwki et- erinlly damned if h. e Il^al'lf Pfrace. King and subwHl^ttnL *e;crestttres whose sicnifijranee K»id U ai immortal soul ? /* ■ jW^ij?,?o^ interesting passages in WSt% l't' w!licli the autharcomlir%'ar) ral ,acceP^»ce of Biblical Itlrlll'ui - - -phristiari . doctrine in ll^ul" 116 vith the formal adhesion ■Pk-HJ^**; bulk of Christian proI» e p;pfeseht day, The gradual lir'nVj -the *"eli Sifc>«s faculty in HII ■■■.• r.18 traced with a master

hand, and the mental struggles which he underwent recall the analogous experience of Martin Luther. On his awaking from indifference to a consciousness of sin, Bunyan narrates he found Luther's com» mentary on the Epistle of the Galations, of all the books he had ever met with, the most fit for a wounded conscience.

Of the breadth Of Bunyan's genius Mr Froude has formed the very highest opinion. "The Pilgrini's Progress," he observes, " though professedly an allegoric st6ry of the Protestant plan of salvation, is conceived in the wide spirit of humanity itself. Anglo - Catholic, Lutheran, Calvanist, and Deist can alike read with delight, and find their own theories in it it. Even the Romanist has only to blot out a'few paragraphs, and he can discover no purer model of a Christian life to place in the hands of his children. The religion of the ' Pilgrim's Progress' is the religion which muSt be always and everywhere as long as man believes that he has a soul and is responsible for his actions ; and thus it is that, while theological folios once devoured now lie on the book-shelves dead as Egyptian mummies, this book is wrought into the mind and memory of every well-con-ditioned English or American child ; while the matured man, furnished with all the knowledge that literature can teach him, still finds the adventures of Christian as charming as the adventures of Ulysses or, He sees there the reflexion of himself, the familiar features of his own nature, which remain the same from era to era; time cannot impair its interest, or intellectual progress make it cease to be true to experience."

We feel strongly>tempted to make longer extracts from this attractive book, but space forbids ; moreover, we must not discount the pleasure that may be dorived from its connected perusal. A sentence or two from the eloquent passages with which the author closes hi 3 work, find we have done: "The truths 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 the body into health and strength ; and a belief in a supernatural power which has given us a law to live by, and to which we are resporisifole for our conduct, has alone, of all the influences known to us, succeeded in ennobling and elevating the chaiaetei;,,pf man." . . . . "So far as we know,

morality rests on a sense of obligation ; ahd obligation has no meaning, except an 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 cf it with equal or superior force, the passing away of the ' dortvicfidn* of sin ' can only serve 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 endless possibilities of wrong and suffering, though they may never again accept the letter of Bunyan's creed, will continue to see in conscience an authority - for. which culture is no substitute ; they, will'conclude that in one form 6i"other, responsibility is not a fiction but a truth ; and, so long as this conviction lasts, tho ' Pilgrim's Progress ' will still be dear to all men of all creeds who share in it, even though it pleaes tho ' elect' modern philosophers to describe its author as a ' Philistine of genius.' "