THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8580, 30 May 1891, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW.

The Westminster for April is composed of clever and interesting articles on ■"■',*' live' - subjects. The first, entitled " The Rearguard of the Christian Army," shows howtheological controversy has advanced since its position was reviewed in the Westminster by George Eliot, thirty-four years ago. The writer of the present article looks upon Mr. Spurgeon as now the leader of , the " Puritanical" party, who "clamour for belief • in an'.'; eternal hell," and who ."accept the Biblical definition of the place of torment, and believe in the actual. existence of its flames and sulphurous fumes." The following is the conclusion of the article : —

■ It would be unjust to doubt the profound sincerity lof the bulk of those .who-;- preach what is termed " pure Gospel." It is the intellect and hot the heart of-Evangelicalism that is at fault. ; Bigoted devotees to narrow beliefs are not all 2>lawworms and Chadbands, though hollow insincerity and cant have made the name of Believer : almost synonymous With hypocrite. The commonplace that men are better than their' creeds holds good for Evangelicals. Dr. Arnold states in-a preface to a volume of sermons : — ''A good Christian, with a low understanding, a bad education, and ignorance of the world becomes an Evangelical." It is, only men of "low understanding," who, after ages of trial, attempt .to !; convince the world that the salvation of >■' humanity can alone be compassed by a "simple, faith," formulated by a credulous •-,. people, whose minds had no glimmer of the import ? of natural laws. Dogmas that stultify reason and stifle conscience, that caricature" the "moral and intelligent Ruler of the Universe," and "the loving Father," under the guise of a God who demands a son's death to propitiate his ,• wrath, and who punishes sin here and hereafter, surely challenge tup refutation of all who love justice and truth. Christian apologists are : beginning .to recognise the absolute necessity of repudiating the monstrous conceptions that reflect upon the goodness of: the God they profess to love and serve. The, signal : ;ripte:,.of/'-.rc(v'oit-'.haS' been . sounded within '" the camp/against beliefs : hitherto as essential to salvation. Even bishops are forced to bend beneath the inexorable sway of the Time Spirit. p Quasi - orthodoxy,■', .-warily; -striving against undue Rationalism on the* one hand, and superstition on the other, is modifying here, and propping up there, those, doctrines that it has virtually discarded There seems no lack of evidence that Christianity will eventually destroy its idols' by improving them. ; As shown in the past, the heresies of to-day. become the beliefs of the future:; " the down-grade" of one generation are the elect of the next. And so Evangelicalism will dwindle and fade— in fulfilment' of the ; apostolic augury of darkness in the latter times, but in obedience to ' the inviolable and .unceasing law of human evolution, • •"■;' In an article on " Woman and Negro Suffrage'- this story is given, which- we have no doubt is new to many of our readers : — We can well imagine what oppression and injustice this yielding up their right to legally ; speak for v themselves has brought upon women in the past from the evidence to that effect existing even now. : For, instance, in our own America, it was a woman, Anna Ella Carroll, of Maryland, who, alone • and unaided, evolved the plans which directed the movements of our'; generals :at the most critical period of our civil war, and which" ! finally .accomplished the defeat of the rebellion. - Her ideas and J maps were laid before, members of his Cabinet by Lincoln, .with his own hearty endorsement of ; their superiority to anything then contemplated iby the war department. All recognised, at once, their great value, but Miss Carroll was implored to keep it a profound secret that she had supplied these plans, as the jealousy of the generals and the pride of the soldiers would not'make it possible to induce them to move under plans furnished by woman. '■:■ To this Miss Carroll consented, agreeing to wait for her reward until her plans were accomplished. Tlieir successful result everyone knows. But few know that though all these facts have been sworn to by those who were in the secret, and presented time and again before the American Congress, testified to by. the greatest men of the nation, and accepted as valid by the Congressional Committee, M iss Carroll still lives, after twenty-five years of hope deferred, in old age and sickness, poor and obscure, while Grant, the agent who worked under her orders, has marched round the world carrying off. all the honours which, justly should- be shared with her! Thus j docs too great self-sacrifice of L woman be- j getingratitudc and arrogance in man. j

The next article is entitled "The Fetish of Charity," by Emily Glode Ellis, and is the second so named. Thesecoraintinicationa have been devoted to showing that "charity fosters in the poor cant, '..false''; pretences, indigence, improvidence, and neglect.' of parental duties," that "where charity interferes with greatest activity, pauperism inevitably increases. in duo proportion, while friendly and self-help societies either dwindle or expire." The whole article is an attack upon the English; charitable system, and also upon the efforts of voluntary charity. The writer, however, takes no note of the change which is coming over the whole system of charity. It is coming to be thought that everybody who needs aid or assistance in any way lias a right to get it from " the State," which is supposed to be able to do anything and to be possessed of illimitable wealth. In these days the State is coming to be regarded as the Providence, and as the real "miracle worker" for all men. We will all be wakened out of that delusion in no very long time. The Rev. It. A. Armstrongs B. A., contributes an article on Ibsen, without which no magazine would nowadays be complete. It is on a play of the great teacher's which is little known, entitled "Brand." > Brand is a young priest, and the leading idea of the play is thus stated : — Brand's rule, "nothing or everything," " nought or all," leads to a career full of such heroic struggle and pathetic loss, and failure as only language profoundly sympathetic, tremulous with human emotion, can hope to picture. ■ The maxim "nought or all" means, on the lips and in the mind of Brand, that no halfhearted service can ever bo ; acceptable to God. Give him everything, or you. might just as well— .bettor—give Him nothing. And for this perfect giving it is essential that a free and unconstrained will should always be partner in the gift. That which is rendered reluctantly :is not surrendered wholly. Therefore, whatever God demands must be yielded not only without the selfish detention of the smallest fragment, but without suffering the yearning affections to play around that which has been yielded lip after the sacrifice has been made. ;■:,-. The play is very striking.