MR. JOSEPH M'CABE'S LECTURES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 840, 11 June 1910, Page 13

MR. JOSEPH M'CABE'S LECTURES.

There is an old and well-worn saying: "If the mountain will not go to Mahomet, Mahomet must come to the mountain." Well, Mahomet is coming to tho mountain on the first of next month; in other words, Mr. Joseph M'Cabo (writes a correspondent), one of the highest representatives of English culture in the Old Country, will lecture at the Town Kali, Wellington, on that date and three following evenings. There are many, advantages attending residence in New 'Zealand, and one serious disadvantage, the mountain cannot go to Mahomet; that is to say, most New Zeaianders are cut off from the intollcctual lit'ii of tho Old Country, and the magnificent opportunities it affords for making progress in science and philosophy. It is difficult to keep ourselves up to date in these things. We cannot hear and see the mc-n who are protagonists in the world of thought and the battle of intellectual progress. That disadvantage will be removed to some extent by tho visit referred to. A mission of _ help is coming to Now Zealand, -n mission initiated b.y the Rationalist Press . Association of Loudon, and Mr. Joseph M'Cabo is the missioner. The Rationalist Press Association has already become a power in the Empire; it has achieved one of the greatest triumphs of modern times, it has spread broadcast throughout all English-speaking lands the greatestworks ill science and philosophy produced in our-, age, and that- by publishing them at a price within the means of the humblest. It is unnecessary to mention their titles and authors, as .copies . are to he seen in every bookseller's window in Wellington ; but, as specimens, we may enumerate Huxley's "Lectures and Essays," Darwin's- "Origin of Species," Haeclcel's "Evolution of Man," and in criticism, Matthew Arnold's "Literature and Dogma." As the name of the association implies, a chief feature of its work is the dissemination of modern views on religion, and this it has done by the republication of such books as Rcnan's '"Life of Jesus," and the same author's work on "The Apostles." With all this literature, Mr. M'Cabo, our coming lccturcr, is in full sympathy; indeed, he has himself contributed largely to the series published, the following being some of his writings:—"Hacckel's Critics Answered," "The Religion of Woman," and the "Truth about Secular Education." On this last subject indeed Mr. M'Cabe is particularly strong, and it will form tho topic of his first lecture here, so that all interested in the defence of our present national system of primary education should make a point of being present. The chairman for that 'evening will be his Honour tho Chief Justice. It may he mentioned as showing the . capability of the lecturer to grapple with his subjects that he was once a university professor; and, it may be added, he-would he a university professor still but for conscience sake. He is pre-eminently a modern man, and in some universities there is no room for a modern man. Let freemen gather at the Town Hall and give the ex-professor such a reception as freemen should. He stands for Civil and. Religious Liberty, as he has proved so well by his notable defemjo of Ferrer, martyred within tho past twelve months oil behalf of secular Education in Spain.