PERSONALITIES MET

Southland Times, Issue 21430, 26 June 1931, Page 4

PERSONALITIES MET

, DEAN INGE OF ST. PAUL’S. (By T.C.L.) Sitting at a banquet table along with two or three hundred other men more or less in the public eye, Dean Inge does not stand out prominently, but meet him in the environs of St. Paul’s, or in the pulpit of that noble edifice itself, then he is a striking, arresting personality, very much like wnat you have conjured him up in your mind to be. He has the face of an ascetic, a dreamer, a seer—as in truth he is. Mundane things seem apart from him, yet he regularly discourses on them from the pulpit and the forum of the Press with a freedom and a seeming recklessness that would not be acceptable from any othei cleric, however high-placed he be, by a people even so easy-going and tolerant as the English people undoubtedly are. The fact is that Dean Inge has been given a special dispensation, and occupies a singular place in the mind and life of the nation. He says things that no other public man would dare say, at times provoking his fellow countrymen almost beyond endurance. He exposes their foibles, and flagellates them at every opportunity. Even his own church is not immune from his attacks. He is a Puritan in his outlook on religious life, and he can see nothing good in organized religion, although he occupies a high and honoured position in it. The Bible and its teachings are good enough for him. The Bible recognizes no institution, no organization, no trappings and trammels. The primary consideration is the spirit of Christianity, expressed in the heart and life of the community; organization is but secondary. Popes and archbishops are excrescences. These are the views which he expounds. So perhaps it is not surprising that his “bete noir” is Anglo-Catholicism, and that he is often in open conflict with its leaders. The High Church celebrates Mass in accordance with the Roman custom and is trying to make its peace with the masses. The movement fills him with dismay. As for the Papacy—well, he considers it but a relic of mediaevalism, it is "in its byzantise period of decay”; nothing, he argues, can save it from dissolution.

His views on the growth of democracy are equally pronounced. Their very extravagance directs attention to them and stimulates thought and criticism, mostly hostile criticism. Those who know him intimately say that he is personally a very kindly and humane man, but if he had his way he would establish a system in which there would be no place for the proletariat. For their increase and their growing power he blames the capitalists; their senseless love of money-making had created the masses and the great towns. It is all a mistake, he believes. _ _ "What we are witnessing,” he says, "is nothing less than the decline and downfall of the social order. We live in a continual state of civil war; it will go on as long as this dreadful industrialism goes on. We are destroying ourselves. Shocking are the egotism and luxury of the rich, and the insatiate greed of the poor. This glorification of productive industry, whose end we are approaching, began with the Reformation. We find in Calvinism and Quakerism the genuine religious basis of modern business life, which, however, has degenerated sadly now that, the largest fortunes are made by dealing in money rather than in lf men lived according to the Bible, they would not only put an end to militarism,, but also to its analogue in daily life—the endeavours to exploit one’s fellow men for the sake of gain. Instead of that there is war, war of all against all.” . . , , The good stock of the nation is slowly dying out, and the proletarian masses are increasing like rabbits. There is only one remedy—“eugenics”—natural selection, the extinction of what is worthless, a return to primitive economic methods, and the destruction of hyper-capitalism. This is what the iconoclastic Dean preaches from the pulpit of St. Paul’s, and, what, is more, is endorsed by an increasing number of diehard followers. . . Incidentally the Dean outlines a scheme for the salvation of humanity after the deluge which he sees ahead. “ The time may come,” he explains, “when the educated classes, and those who desire freedom to live as they like, will find themselves oppressed, not only in their home life by the tyranny of the Trades Unions,, but in their souls by the pulpy and mawkish emotionalism of herd morality.

“Then a league for mutual protection may be formed. If such a society comes into being, the following principles are necessary for its success: First, it must be on a religious basis, since religion has a cohesive force greater than any other bond. The basis will be a blend of Christian Platonism and Christian Stoicism, since it must be founded on that faith in absolute spiritual values common to Christianity and Platonism, with that sturdy defiance of tyranny and popular folly which was the strength of Stoicism. Next, it must not be affiliated to any religious organization, otherwise it will certainly be exploited in denominational interest. Thirdly, it must include some purely disciplinary asceticism, such as abstinence from alcohol and tobacco for men and from costly dresses and jewellery for women. Fourthly, it must prescribe a simple life of discipline and duty, since frugality will be a condition of enjoying self-respect and freedom. Fifthly, it will enjoin the choice of an open-air life in the country, where possible. Sixthly, every member must pledge himself to give his best work. Seventhly, there must be provision for commuity life, like that of the old monasteries, for both sexes. Intellectual work, including scientific research, could be carried out under very favourable conditions in these lay monasteries and convents. Lastly, a distinctive dress, not merely . a badge, would probably be essential for members of both sexes.”

His teaching speaks of the need for reform in educational and civilizing life, of unadulterated goodness, of the philosophy of absolute values. And it is teaching that appeals to the old conservative elements, who see in the modern economic and social system and tendencies nothing but unhappiness, discontent, and failure. There is, however, another and a greater section which believes that the great problem of the day lies in the fact that the Church has hitherto been a Church of capital rather than of the people, that it has thought more of upholding the interests of capital than of protecting and advancing the interests of the workers, and that the clergy have associated with the gentry instead of with the working class masses. But whatever his views, there is no doubt that Dean Inge occupies a strong and singular position in English spiritual life and has an influence that is hard to overestimate. He is almost stone deaf, and there are those who say he prefers to remain stone deaf to, and aloof from, a sordid, degenerating world.