A REMARKABLE PREFACE BY M.RENAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8842, 2 April 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

A REMARKABLE PREFACE BY M.RENAN.

AM OLD MAM'S MUSINGS. Tins new volume of " Souvenirs" which tho author of " La Vie do Jesus" is about to publish contains one of the most remarkable products of M. Kenan's pen (a Paris correspondent writes). It takes tho shape of a proface, and, both ethically and theologically, gives the reader a deeper insight into the workings of the writer's mind than has been obtainable from any of his previous writings. After mentioning incidentally that his excuse for indulging in purely literary matters at a time of life when he should give himself up to the exclusive consideration of eternal truths is that he has completed the mci'jiium opus of his old age, the " History of tho People of Israel," ho says : — WIIAT Wll.l, HAPPEN I.N" FIFTY YEARS. " In matters of philosophy we should trust to infinite goodness, and guard against unproductive eagerness. There is nothing to bo gained by importuning truth, and daily trying to evolve it. Dear children, how many things will you not know in forty or fifty years which I shall never know ? What will be the development of the inner germ of tho Emperor William 11. ? What will be the outcome of the conflict of European nationalities ? What will be the fato of tho Papacy ? And will the Socialist movement lead to anything? Alas ! I must die before having seen any of these things. In France the army and the Church will be swept away by the general torrent, but that will not matter; the work of eternity will proceed. Science especially will continue to astound us by her revelations, which will replace, by the infinity of time and space, a shabby creationism which cannot any longer satisfy even tho imagination of a child." "IF VIRTUE WERE A PAYING INVESTMENT." "I am convinced that some day virtue will ultimately be found to have been the best course. It is meritorious to affirm duty in the tooth of evidence. If it were quite clear that virtue was a paying investment, men of business, who are very sagacious, would long sinco have noted the fact and become virtuous. Tho inevitable ruin of professedly revealed religion must not involve the disappearance of religious feeling. Christianity has made us somewhat too difficult and exacting. We deinaud nothing short of heaven, and wo want to be quite sure of it. Let us be content with smaller profits. In the Jewish Consistory a few years ago M. de Rothschild was warmly supporting tho doctrine of the immortality of the soul. An erudite Israelite of the old school, who told me the story, added, by way of reflection, 'Can you conceive such a thing ? A man of such vast wealth to want Ins share of the Kingdom of Heaven into the bargain ! Surely he might leave that to poor devils like you and me.' The Middle Ages were more consistent. Mankind, having tho prospect of eternal life, were bound to suffer here below ; but the brute creatiou, debarred from that privelege, had their recompense in this world. The lion whoso services St. Anthony retained to bury St. Paul worked with astonishing vigour to dig the grave. As a reward St. Anthony gave him his blessing, the result of which was that the lion immediately encountered a sheep, of which ho made a meal. This was very fair to the lion, but was justice done to the sheep? Clearly not. We fear that, in the organisation of the world, there is no trace of justice for the sheep."

HOW THE " VIE DE JESDS" CAME TO BE

WRITTEN'.

M. Rcnan proceeds to vindicate himself against the attacks inado upon him by religious people whose feelings, principles, or prejudices he may have shocked. In some future age the French will read, in some book published with tho sanction of the Church, that he received one million francs from M. de Rothschild and as much from Napoleon 111. for writing the Vie de J6sus." He mentions that some pious person living at Nantes sends him every month a letter couched in these words : " There is a hell and M. Renan adds :—

" I should be very glad to foel sure that there is a hell, for I prefer the hypothesis) of a hell to that of annihilation. I imagine that if, in Hie severity, the Eternal were to send mo to that unpleasant. place I would manage to get out. Paradise seems ii place where people must bo very much bored. What I should prefer is Purgatory, which I picture to myself as a place replete with a certain melancholy charm— a largo park illuminated with a polar light and interspersed with groves, where the loves commenced on earth .will be purified, pending complete etherisation. What exquisite romances will be completed there ! People must foel in no hurry to leave it, considering, above all, the unattractive character of Paradise—an abode of bliss for which its monotony makes it impossible for me to foel any desire. Travelling to the various planets would suit mo much better, but would hardly be to the taste of devout old women, who, we aro told will form the majority of the elect." A CONKKSSIOX. M. Renan concludes this extraordinary preface with the following confession : — " Heavenly Father, I thank Thee for life; it has been gentle and precious to me. I have not been without sin ; but, whatever those may say who call themselves priests, I have never committed any very wicked act. I have loved truth and made sacrifices to it. I have desirod the coming of Thy day, and still believe in it. When my early beliefs crumbled away, instead of weeping and conceiving anger against Thee, I made up my mind to make the best of it. To weep would have been cowardly ; to bo angered against Thee the most complete of absurdities."