THE RELIGION OF ROBERT BROWNING.

New Zealand Tablet, 19 November 1914, Page 36

THE RELIGION OF ROBERT BROWNING.

To the Editor. ‘ Sir, —The paper on 1 The Religion of Robert Browning ’ read before the members of the Auckland Newman Society contained some startling conclusions, if one is to judge by the summary of it given in your current issue. More startling still is- the apparent unanimity with which those who joined in the subsequent discussion concurred in those conclusions. We are then, it seems, to believe that Browning was not only possessed of definite Christian ideals but, in addition, of ‘ a keen sympathy with Catholic ideals and devotions.’ Browning certainly was no agnostic. Moreover, ho . believed in the Divinity of Christ. But, all the same, he was an expounder of religious indifferentism. ‘ One trims the bark ’twixt shoal and shelf, And sees, each side, the good effects of it; * A value for religion’s self, A carelessness about the sects of it. Let- me enjoy my own conviction, Nor watch my neighbor’s faith with fretfulness, Still spying there some dereliction ,y Of truth, perversity, forgetfulness.’ A man of the shifting mentality indicated in ‘ My Star’ was not likely to accept the advice: ‘ Go get you manned by Manning and new-manned By Newman,. and, mayhap, wise-manned to boot By Wiseman . . . .’ It is well-known what Cardinal Wiseman thought of the author of “ Bishop Blougram’s Apology.’ Browning’s prejudice was all the more reprehensible because he knew Italy intimately. His description, of the ritual in St. Peter’s is spoilt for us .by the fact that he terms it ‘ buffoonery.’ 1 With all Browning’s professions of wide tolerance, he never reached higher than the standpoint of vulgar bigotry in regard to the Catholic Church.’ So writes Rev. John Rickaby, S.J., in The Month (February, 1890). I fully agree with the learned Jesuit, and’’l , hope, ‘-as. a well-wisher and admirer of the Auckland Newman Society, that I shall not be considered ungracious in my remarks. am, etc., . Tertium Quid. . Christchurch, November 14. , ,