BRITISH PERSONALITIES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 150, 27 June 1931, Page 1 (Supplement)

BRITISH PERSONALITIES

DEAN INGE OF ST. PAUL’S (By T.C.L.) I 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, them he is a striking, arresting personality, very much like what you have conjured him up in your mind to be. Ho has tho face of an ascetic, a dreamer, a seer —as in truth he isMundane things seem apart from him, yet he regularly discourses on then* from the pulpit and the forum of the Press with a freedom and a stseming recklessness that would not bo acceptable from any other 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 organised religion, although hr occupies a high and honoured position in it. Tho Bible and its teachings are good enough for him. The Bible recog nises no institution, no organisation, no trappings and trammels. The primary consideration is the spirit of Christian ity, expressed in tho heart and life ol the community; organisation is but see ondilry. Popes and arch-bishops arc excrescences. These are the views which he expounds. So perhaps it is not sur prising that his “bete noir” is Anglo Catholicism, and that he is often in open conflict with its leaders. The High Church celebrates Mass iu accordance with the Roman custom and is trying to make its peace with the masses. The movement fills him with dismay. As for tho Papacy—well, he considers it but a relic of medievalism; it is “in its Byzantine period of decay;” nothing, he argues, can save it. from dissolution.

His views on the growth of democracy aro 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 pian, 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 sense less love of money-making had created the masses and the great towns. It is all a mistake, he believes.

“What wo 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 tho egotism and luxury of the sick, and the insatiate greed of the poor. This glorification of productive industry, whose end we are approaching, begaif 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 rattier than in goods. If men lived according to the Bible, they would not only put an end to militarism, but also tc 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 ot hyper-capitalism. This is what the iconadastie Dean preaches from the pulpit of St. Paul’s, and what is more, is endorsed by an increasing number of die-hard followers. Incidentally the Dean outlines a scheme for the salvation of humanity, after the deluge which he sees ahead. “Tho 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 emotional ism 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. Tho 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 organisation. otherwise it will certainly be ex ploitcd in denominational interest. Thirdly, it must include some purely disciplinary asceticism, such as abstin ence 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 pos sible. Sixthly, every member must pledge himself to give his best. work. Seventhly, there must be provision for ‘lominunity life, like that of the ol*l monasteries, for both sexes, lutellee *ual work, including scientific research, “oold be carried out under very favour able conditions in these lay monasteries and convents. Lastly, a distinctive dress, not merely a badge, would probably be essential for members of both His teaching spunks of the need for reform in educational ami civilising life, of unadulterated goodness, of the philosophy of absolute values. And it is teaching that appeals to the old con servative elements, who see iu tho*

modern economic and social system ami’ tendencies nothing but unhappiness, dis • content, and failure. There is, however, another ami a greater section whi.h believes that the great problem of the 1 day lies in the fact that, the Church* has hitherto been a Church or capital rather than of the people, that it. has I thought more of upholding the interests] of capital than of protecting ami 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 Doan Inge occupies a strong and singular position in English spiri j tual life and has an influence that isj hard to over-estimate. He is almost* stone deaf, and there are those whoi -ay he prefers to remain stone deaf to, and aloof from, a sordid, degenerating world.