RENAN'S STRANGE MUSINGS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1903, 8 June 1892, Page 5

RENAN'S STRANGE MUSINGS.

The new volume of 4 Souvenirs ' whioh the author of 'La Vio de Jesus' is about to publish contains one of the most remarkable products of M. Kenan's pen (the Paris correspondent of the 'Standard' telegraphs). It takes the shape of a preface, 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 magnum opus of his old age, the • History of the People of Israel,' he says : —

WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN FIFTY YEARS.

In matters of philosophy we should trust to infinite goodness, and guard against unproductive eagerness. There is nothing to be gained by importunatine; 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 ! Wh-it will be the development of the inner germ of the Emperor William 11. ? What will be the outcome of the conflict of European nationalities ? What will be the fate of the 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 infirmity of time and space, a shabby creationism which cannot any longer satisfy even the imagination of a child. IF VIRTUE WERE A I'AYING 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 teeth of evidence. If it were quite clear that virtue was a paying investment, men of business, who are very sagacious, would long since have noted the fact and become virtuous. The inevitable ruin of professedly revealed religion must not involve the dieappearance of religious feeling. Chri stianity has made us too difficult and exacting. We demand nothing short of Heaven, and we 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 the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. Any erudite Israelite of the old eohool, who told me the story, added, by way of reflection: " Can you conceive auch a thing ? A man of such vast wealth to want his 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 oonsistent. Mankind, having the prospect of eternal life^vere bound to suffer Jiere below • but the brute creation, debarred from that privilege, had their recompense in this world. The lion whose services St. Anthony retained to bury St. Paul worked with abtonishing vigor 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 he made a meal, This was very fair to the Hod, 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.

IS THEKE A UELL ?

M. Renan proceeds to vindicate himself against the attacks made upon him by religious people whose feelings, principles, or prejudices he may have shocked. In some future ace the French will read, in some book published with the sanction of the Church, that he received one million franc 3 from M. De Rothschild, and as much from Napoleon 111., for writing 'Vie de Jesus.' 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 feel sure that there is a hell, for I prefer the hypothesis of a hell to that of annihilation. I imagine that if, in His severity, the Eternal were to send me to that unpleasant place, I would manage Co get out. Paradise seems a place where people must be very much bored. What I should prefer is purgatory, which I picture to myself as a place replete with a certain melancholy charm— a large park illumined with a polar light and interspersed with groves, where the loves commenced on earth will be purified, pending complete etherialisation. vVhat exejuisite romances will be completed there ! People must feel 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 feel any desire. Travelling to the various planets would suit me much better, but would hardly be to the taste of devout old women, who, we are told, will form the majority of the elect,"

A CONFESSION.

M, Kenan concludes this extraordinary preface with the following confession :—: — " Heavenly Father, I thank Thee for life ; It has beon 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 decided 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 be angered against Thee the most complete of absurdities."