Religion and Life

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23861, 11 January 1941, Page 4 (Supplement)

Religion and Life

By PHILEMON

IN "Memory Hold (ho Door," the autobiograpliy of John Buclian, ht have a most revealing hook, liut the author confesses his silence! about many of I lie deeper aspects I of Ids life. (lis aim, he says, has j been to record the impression made upon his mind by the outer world of men and affairs, rather than to analyse the effect these have had upon the development of Ids re- j ligious life and beliefs. But, he a,d<ls, "some day I may attempt the latter." We ran well imagine with what in- j -edit and charm Lord Tweedsmuir ' would have written of these deeper! things, hut his pen is now laid aside ami his lips are silent. |t js permissible, however, to read between the lines (if (he autobiography seeking for glimpses of the essential man, and as we do so there emne.s to view a most: j reverent spirit and the constant loyalty o! a freely ranging mind to the Christian faith. Early Upbringing He was born a. son of the manse 1 and, although he rose to high place and mingled on equal terms wit.li the fere- 1 most men of bis day, bis early uphring--lill g stood every test of contact with 1 1 bat larger life, and he died an elder of his Church. His father, a widely- 1 read and scholarly man of the older 1 school, held stoutly the prevailing 1 Calvinistie doctrines, and while in the ( pulpit, he preached "a simple and com- ' forting (1 ospel," lie could on occasion < "mount a gun on the dogmatic ram- j i parts in defence of bis fait hj." II is ! I mot her, whose i 111!ueuce u|ion hor 1 \ family was deep and enduriin';, i I cherished, on the other hand, a re- j ligion which "depended little upon 1r;

t dogma and much upon her generous | human instincts." Such instincts were | predominant m the lite ot her son and, speaking ot the Calvinistic teaching of bis youth, he says: "I never consciously rejected it : it simply faded out of the air." His cast of tnmd was foreign to that iorm of belief. At Oxford he moved in the most. | scholarly circles and made many I friends. Me pursued closely the philosophical studies be had alreadv begun a; Glasgow. and came powerfully under the idealism of T. 11. Green and K. A. ISradley. Reading and discussion had a solvent effect upon some of his earlier view s. He became increasingly sceptical of forma! dogma. 11. raided ijiieslions rather than provided answers, and these lie and his companions would "cheerfully dispute till dawn put out 'he ca 111 lies.'' |1 is intellectual s\ 111palbies widened, lie became recipient' of guidance from many minds and more tolerant of differing opinion. And yet it is clear that (he substance of bis faith did not fundamentally chance nor did he depart from his early standards of conduct. There still remained, he says, "a. largo spice of the Shorter Catechism in my make-up.' 1 He had strong faith in human nalll re and esi-a ped t he ey nieisni into winch many fall. The conception of mankind as "a herd of guzzling, lecherous little mammals" seemed to hint "the last impiety." He had no time for the "dull salacities" and "farmyard candour" of certain types of literature. Man, he held, might seem insignificant in the presence of the l\t ••rual, hut t here u as within him i hat j which was creator than the stars —"| j believe profoundly in his high destiny." j And yet lie fears lest, through false! doctrines of his nature and the worship I

of spurious gods, man should miss his way. "1 am of Blake's view," lit 1 says, "that man must have and will have I some religion; if he has not the re- | ligion of Jesus he will have the religion (of Satan and will erect a synagogue | to Satan." There lies the choice —the | religion of Jesus or ihe synagogue of | Satan, and lie pressed the fact home. \ ||e foresees the danger, it is indeed ! at our very doors, not of a return to I barbarism and the darkness of the past, but of what he calls "de-civilisation, which is civilisation gone rotten." The | picture which his pungent words summons up is terrible and the mind would fain avoid it. Vet he will allow no respite. Hope and Remedy Put there is hope and remedy for the ills of mankind. He is clear that it is not to be found in Humanism. With the idea that man may find within himself all the salvation that he needs he makes no terms. He discards all doctrines of the necessary progress and perfectibility of the race. They arc. he says, "essentially unj Christian." To put us on our guard be ip 10; os the words of Gladstone, which, he says, contain a "shattering" truth: "J am convinced that the welfare of mankind does not depend on 1 lie State and the world of politics. The real battle is being fought out in the world of thought, where a deadly attack is being made, with great tenacity of purpose and over a wide held, upon the greatest treasure of mankind--the belief in God and the Gospel of Christ." Then, in almost the last words he wrote, lie concludes: "T believe that civilisation must have a Christum basis and must ultimately rest upon the Christian Church." Such sound and stirring words deepen our regret that the further hook he pur-1 posed can never be written. i