"KITCHEN ENGLISH."

NZ Truth, Issue 265, 23 July 1910, Page 7

"KITCHEN ENGLISH."

Mr W. F. Howlefet, of EsefcahuiHU has . farwarcfedi tk> us iihe following correspondence, relative to Me James McCaEbe and his "Hatftonalist" lectures :— TO THE ED22OU. Tane, Eketahuna, 12th July, 1910. , .Dear Sir,— "N/Z. Times" retarns en- • closed, with « note, also enclosed. Do you care to print it •? W. F. HOWLETT. Wellington, July 10, 1910. "The New Zealand Times-." Editorial Department. My Dean Sir^— T&' I puft&ished your com-, municatton I would be compelled to ;read a cartload of letters m reply, and find' time to receive at least one hundred callers. Need I tell you that fihese are' terrors I shjdinld from, especially as "the McCabe controversy" is making groat demands upon my time and patience?— Yours, THE EDITOR. To this reply from the "N.Z. Times" Mr Howtett attaches the following com\ment :— ""iNote that 'I would be compelled' is 'kitchen English-' In literary English wo write, 'I should be compelled. 1 A man competent to write leaders doesn't wrfito 'kitchen Easglish eveli inadvertently ; hq tftinlfs m the literary dialect."

(If "Truth" were inclined to be hypercritical it could go a stop f.urtbsi' by remarking that "these are terrors I shrink from" is indent, if not 'kitchen 'English,' Ehd that tl>c correct form of I expression would be "fcfcosoare terrors from which I shrink.")

The following is the letter referred to by Mr Howlett as having been forwarded to the "New Zealand Times" :■?-

" Sir,— While staying m Wellington for the purpose of attending Mr McOabc's lecture, I found that his su&ject was so much misunderstood that I think a few words of. explanation may be us&lul to your younger readers. Let me say first m- frhe plainest terms that yon live m an intellectual backwater, where most men hoW the sort of beliefs that were obsolete m London, Paris, Vienna, when I was a boy.

The following brief sketch of HaeckeTs ideas is much as I should have written when m the sixth form at school m 186 S. Western religion, whether Christian or Jewish, or even Mohametan, is based on three ideas : Gojd, free-will, the soul. Haeckel denies all three.

"God," to take Him first, means a personal director of things, Now, •ftis a mere matter of opinion whether tthere is any such person, and almost a matter of certainty that if there were, we could not know anything about Him. The. parsons deiiberately mislead their congregations. They turn their eyes up and groan about "poor heathens" when they ought to know that the whole Buddhist world, denies His existence. This they carefully conceal from their "flocks." The whole Chinese and Japanese world deny Him. In fact, He is a purely western invention. I have no quarrel with a parson who believes m God, so long as he is sufficiently educated to ■ know, and honest enough t o admit, that giant mimis m all ages ihave denfed His existence. 1 have a very ; large jquarrel . with Matthew Arnold, who: continually professes belief m God, and then defines Him as a '■ tendency." He was really, I suppose, just as much an atheist as Hacckel, but he was an inspector of schools and had to conciliate Ms masters.

Free-will is quite an open question. Men who believe we arc automatic are called detetminists. They believe that, there is no such thing as moral responsibility. Nearly all the men at the top are dotermraists. 'Sha subject is not elementary. The late "Parson Andrew" said he coura not reconcile determinism with a good moral life. To me there is no tliltt-. culty; When I behave myself it is because I like a clean soul, just as 1 tub myself because I like a clean body. That is all. I can see m it. I don't always behave;myself any more than your most pitfus , Christian ; I don't always lceep myself clean ; the most advanced hygiemsti sefme:.times forgets to clean his teeth; -buti when I : do the motive is not ethic But aesthetic, so far as I can tell. If,, however, a parson believes m free-will, that's all right, provided he has been taught/- as he - ought to Save been,, that' determinism is a respectable belief, and not to be scoffed at by young men so : > poorly educated that they can't even- read the literature of the subject.

The soul, again, is a western notion, The Jews had no idea of it, and tne celebrated verse m Job, "I know that my Redeemer liveth . .■. and though at-' ter my skin worms destroy this body, yet m my flesh shall I see Qod' ' is an impudent fake. If you don't believe me, ask the next parson you meet. Uroasquesfion him, and make him show you any learned commentary he likes. The best Romans considered it an open question : I name only LBeretitts, Uicero, Seneca. The whole Eastern world rejects it. TDhe ordinary parson cannot understand the difficulties Inherent m the idea, and if you ask him any pointed questions he says that what he calls the "soul" is a sort of bogey or spook that lives inside you. You are like a piano, and the spook like a fellow who plays the keys. When inside the body this spook can only feel, see, think by the use of the body. When the body sickens and dies, the spook, although it seems •to get quite enfeebled and silly, really is going strong, and when the body dies it flies out, and immediately can see, " feel, think Without using any body. Where it goes, the parson can't tell. It doesn't go to heaven, or else the judgment day would b"e a farce. By this time the parson has got so hot, he retires and tells his lady devotees that you are not a gentleman; As to more difficult questions, taice only this: When docs the soul begin, ? At conceptioii, or birth, or when? And if it is sown or i?iv!lanted m our frame by "Cod." r\:ii'v.-e conceive the Deity com..pilvl i. •■, ;■;, ;U1 ac t by mere human, often Iji'iiUi!, violation?,

The sum of the matter is this, ttoat there are many religions ; all save one must be failse ; you or 1 have a perfect right to profess any one and deny all the rest. I met a lot of parsons m Wellington,: of the better type, not mere country sky-! pilots, all good fellvws, .self-deceived, I: fhmk, but still, men of integrity. Wot' ene said a harsh word to me. 1 believe' inine English bishops out of ten woulrf^ 'indorse this present screed. W. P. HOWLETC Tane, Bketahuna.