CONTENTIONS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21198, 23 June 1934, Page 12

CONTENTIONS

XXXII.—THAT THE SPIRIT OF MAN IS SAFE ONLY IN THE EUROPEAN TRADITION (SPECIALLY WRITTEN FOR THE PRESS.) [By the REV. CHARLES PERRY, M.A.]

—Safe, that is, from degradation. The European tradition is that the proper study of mankind is man, his language, his history, his literature, his art. One who is living in this tradition to-day can say with the Roman poet of long ago: "I am a man, all that concerns man interests me." For it is always to be remembered that the classical and pagan interest in human nature was not interrupted by the advent of Christianity, but reinforced and broadened. Latin and Greek authors were interested mainly in the human nature of the upper classes; Christianity taught the intrinsic value of every human being. So the tradition has come down from the ancient world through the middle ages to our own time, gathering volume on its way. The kings of thought and of artistic expression have brought their glory into it so that it has an accumulated power like a swollen stream, and to be a cultivated person is to be gladly i borne along on the bosom of it. | Ancient universities, literary academies, salons of art, political sen- i ates all find their origins in this European tradition and still derive their strength from it, while thousands of men of all classes and in all countries, unconnected with public bodies, in the seclusion of their homes and the quietness of their ! leisure hours steep their spirit in the culture of the past. False Ideas of Progress This beneficent, life-giving-stream, however, meets with obstructions; this cult of human nature, while not yet really endangered, is opposed. The European tradition encounters to-day, first, a false idea of progress far removed from loyalty to human nature, and secondly, a neglect of the past which produces careless thought and manners, and in a word, vulgarity. The false idea of progress has become specially powerful since the so-called industrial revolution of the nineteenth century. The period immediately before it had seen the European tradition at its height. Literature and art and statesmanship flourished under the "enlightened despots" of Europe. In England, Pitt and Fox loved their Virgil and their Horace, while Pope declared again that the proper study of mankind is man. The classical ideals were admired as in the Renaissance three centuries before the classical models were imitated. The tradition held on its way.

spirit are comparatively uncherished. ; His being is more important, surely, than his possessions, his life of more value than his meat and raiment. Social reformers must continue their good work but beware lest they neglect the kernel for the husk of the tree. The European tradition that the proper study of mankind is man, that the improvement of human nature by civilisation, and especially by education, „has, on the contrary, a very definite and noble objective. It is nothing less than the perfection of mankind. It is impossible to disentangle Christianity from the European tradition; no historian has ever, thought of trying to do so, and Christianity teaches that every man is capable of taking a place in the new and perfected mankind, capable of citizenship in the heavenly city. While, then, the false idea of progress which belongs to an excessive industrialism has no objective, the old European culture, true to its concern for human nature, aims at its ultimate glory. Denying the Past It was not surprising that the new idea of progress produced a philosophy, of materialism among us in the nineteenth century. It was to be expected that it would do the same thing in Russia, for Russia is living now. in the nineteenth rather ! than in the twentieth century. The new idea of progress has much to offer towards the improvement of the environment, the general conditions of man, but little to himself. But some will think that a much more serious indictment may be made against the new culture which neglects the spirit of man for scientific and mechanical pursuits. It is that it turns men away from history. It is reported that Mr Henry Ford once said, "History is bunk." He may never have said it or he may have said it as a joke or as an advertisement. It does not matter. There are, without doubt, many who do not merely put the past in opposition to the future—which is a foolish thing to do, since human history is continuous—but do worse. They deny the fathers that begat them. The European tradition is not in all things binding, but there is no better guide in directing and training the spirit of man. The stream must not be lost in the sand. The Spirit of Man In his inaugural lecture at Cambridge, Lord Acton said: "History is a most powerful ingredient in the formation of character and the training of talent and our historical judgments have as much' to do with hopes of heaven as public or private conduct." If' we remember that the articles of the Creed are mostly historical statements v/e shall see much force in this. But then history is of the old tradition, history is concerned with mankind. Who ever heard that the study of physical science or of mechanics had any great part in the formation of character or was connected with hopes of heaven or, indeed, had any influence on the spirit of man? -L houghtful men will recognise that while, we learn to subdue the forces of nature to our will, that is not the same thing as to control human nature; they will lay the emphasis constantly on man, his character, his development, his destiny, as the European tradition has ever done. They will tolerate the new idea of progress as it is seen in much modern conversation and writing; but they will know that it is not necessarily progress at all since it is only so much change in the environment of man and progress must be of the spirit of man towards perfection.

But the nineteenth century saw the advent of a series of inventions which made England, and afterwards other countries, begin the pursuit of wealth on the wheels of machines. The mass production of food and clothing, the increase of speed on land and water, the idolatry of statistics contributed to the new idea of progress which threatened the old loyalty to the spirit of man. To What End? This new idea of progress has a grave defect. It is without a definite and considered objective. No one can say where the changes in science and mechanics will lead us. The globe on the surface of which we find our habitation is slowly becoming cooler and will not forever be hospitable to mankind. All material things, we are led to believe, will come to dissolution and leave not a wrack behind. "Spirits are not finely touched but to fine issues"; but there does not seem to be any fine issue in this for the spirit of man, and meanwhile the improvement of the appurtenances of life is not enough if the man who lives, his character, his nature, his