POLITICS AND RELIGION

Bruce Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 2179, 1 July 1890, Page 3

POLITICS AND RELIGION

To the Editor.

Sltt,— ln the 'Southland News' of May the 6»;b appeared a condensed report of Professor Tyndall's remarkable letter, in which he attacks Mr W, B. Gladstone, and the editor mentioned incidentally at the close that Southland enjoys the distinction of having amongst her citizens a prototype of the great professor, a gentleman who has made it the chief business of bis life to expose the shortcomings and inconsistencies of the "Grand Old Man. 1 '

Allow me to say, Sir, in these nnpatriotic, sordid, and money-making timec, it is refreshing to see even one, stand boldly forward, and expose the shortcomings, which in my opinion is too mild a term to express what in sterner and more patriotic t>meu would assuredly have received, as Professor Tyndall puts it, " the reward considered righteous by Carlyle, and lost his traitorous head." I venture to add, tha 1 ; even in these present times outside of tho British Empire, after due warning to desist', this "übiquitous blast furnace of sedition " would have fuutid himself in a State prison, to await the good pleasure of whatever Government he had transgressed under, and serve him right every true Englishman should say. What wouid a Straff >rd or Pym have thought on a matter of this sort, v z., that this disruption of tbe Union is nothing but a cowardly wickedness. However we nay admire his abilities, which seem to me

to shino ni"iv in municipal aud financial

mutters, bis foreign policy more or less seems t" luive been a failure, not having the nerve neces.-ary, like a Pitt or a Beaconsfield. The lustre of his abilities is certainly tar nished to a very considerable degree by his present tactics. England at the present time, especially when the nations are bristling with armed men and Russia intent on doing mischief with regard to India, require men who will try to build up and strengthen the British Empire and not weaken it as Mr Gladstone seems to be

doing.

I am glad to see that an arrangement is being now made with the Ulster Loyalist Union, to send delegates to Australia and New Z-aland to neutralise the results of the Home Rule Mission. There is no doubt that the result of the < S na of such writers ac Profeßsor Tyndall, and the projected mission, will have a consider ible tff -ot ac the nut general elections. Th<>ae parties who have not read up for themselves will have an opportunity of hearing the other side of the question when the Ulster d> legates arrive. Serious grievances did exist, but all have been abolished, and IrtUud enjoys at the present time priv lrfges unknown to EaglanH, S o'lind, and the colonies. Messrs Di.lon and party came to these colonies, as is well known, to raise money, and their sensational aod untruthful reports of the imaginary wronga of Ireland gained them many aym pathisers, aud the evictions that they seemed to have made so much of, were in reality a paying game to the evicted, a special fund being put aside for the benefit of those selfmade martyrs. Mr Gladstone seems to me to be on a par with those Brummagen patriots who, according to Lord Wolsoley, supplied our uufortunate soldiers in E^ypt ana elsewhere with weapons of warfaie worse than useless English laws give a man serious punishment for stealing a few shillings' worth of goods. Those scoundrels who supplied our gallant troops with weapons not to be depended upon — penal servitude for life should have been their punishment. I am not aware if they have even been tried for it.

Another trend of the times is the gradual awakening to the necessity of a reform in religious thought. Close to our own door we have the Rev. T. E. Clouston, Moderator of the New South Wales General Assembly, pointing out with great foice the urgent need for reform, and winds vp — " And what, then, i 3to hinder the church from constructiug a creed equally suited to the necessities of the present day, and equally concerned with the problems of this age ? We occupy a different intellectual position amid the vast amount of historical oriticism and scientific investigation that the nineteenth century has witnessed. Why should not tho creeds of the churches be better adapted to our ideas, and our altered ways of thinking?" &c.

Then, again, at the bead seats of learning in England we find a Mr Green (Balliol College) described by a great authority as a man of giant intellect. A serious and highminded tutor, with views of his own, alikt liberal and firm, upon religion. The conventional form of religion never appealed strongly to him ; he told tu3 schoolfellows whn rallied him that he went out into the fields alone because he could worship G>d best there. An intense undeil^ing seriousness was the tuudamental feature of bis character. It was his object to convince the thoughtful under-

.raduate as to the points in conventional Christianity that were not historic, not reasonable, not defensible, and therefore not worth defending. No part of his faith re«ted on the miraculous and abnormal. What he valued was the example presented by- Jsus Christ of the very man in unicy with Girl, a thing apparently not miraculous or abnormal, ending with a most signifi :aot phrase — "The above instances are sufficient to shew how Freethought is increasing." Noble men like the Rev. Mr Strong, oi Melbourne, and others, surrender their charges sooner than teach what they cannot believe in. The vast funded interests con nected with the church prevent the matter from being set on a right footing worthy of the nineteenth century.

When a Tyndall or a Huxley turn their attention to a reform in theological thought worthy of the times, they will start about the matter unbiassed by such thoughts as tne venerable antiquity or the unbroken tradition of a thousand years. Due weiglit will be given to that if after passing the fires of criticism. (Witness Tyndall's attack on the idol of the Eotlish nation, the hitherto " Grand Old Mau.")

It is humiliating to a Freethought man who is ;i rational being compared to a " kixt o' whistles " who is satisfied with such logic as this. The reality of our faith ia not tested by the canons of reason but by the virtues of our Christian manhood.

Certainly our faith, whatever it may be, must be strengthened if satisfactorily tested by the rules of reason and an increased lustre shows itself in the virtues of our manhood. If there were only one religion in the world instead of such vjist number*, it would be plain sailing, as only one religion can be true. All the religions of the world are still in the Ptolemaio stage, as regards the infinite heavens surrounding U3. Taoy were one and all promulgated under the pervading idea that this little planet, our temporary home, was tha actual centre of things and that the stars were hardly m >re than pretty, mysterious lanterua lighted to spangle our night time. We now know our little earth to be, if nob insignificant, still certainly amid all its shining sisters, one of the youngest, smallest, and humblest. With the aid of the spectroscope we now know thoro exist stars enough within sight to provide every human soul with a world apiece — in fact, an ordinarily well-informed man of to-day knows no more of astronomy than the greatest minds in times recently gone by, and before G ilil^o's and Copernioua' time they were grossly ignorant. In the year of our Lord, 685, no less than 69 bishopu of the Christian Cuuroh assembled at Maoon to consider whether women had souls.

Toese, the head men in theology of the timt, after a stormy discussion came to the conclusion that women had souls, as the Son of Man was born of a woman.

Ail the best authorities now accept from Darwin that principle of evolution, viz , a continuous and ennobling asceut promising to lift the race, even in thia sphere of things, to unknown heights. Reasoning on the above lines, if in A.D. 585 we find the bishops in that state of darkness one can picture the state prior to that, when dreamers' fancying they were inspired have been the means of handing down an immenßO am iuut of mere superstition.

The sooner the churches can see their way to remodel their creeds the better. When the mass of people real y come to think, for themselves the reform will be seen of a body of highly educated men who have made tbeology apparently a study obliged to confess that they are in the wrong on certain points in religion. There are times when it is wrong to be silent, as that " Grand Old Lady" told the Czir of Russia when demanding urgent reforms. And surely thia ia a matter of vital interest. F.ir my part, according to the light that is in mp, 1 mean to stand by the views of the aforesaid Mr Green as being the more rational, and if carried out in its entirety as far aa a poor hum.au mortal can do in this world of troubled waters, one can confidently await for the finish and whatever hereafter maybe in store for human beings. — I am, &c, Scrutator. Seaward Bush, May 30.