, 1876-07-15
THE COURSES OF RELIGIOUS
THOUGHT.
(FYom tie Times

Under this title Mr.. Gladstone contrt-
butes to the Contemporary Revis,v for June
a Paper, to which he promises a sequel,
designed /" to indicate in a rude manner
what seem to be in our day the chief cur
rents of thought concerning Religion. :"
In. the present Paper he endeayours to
sketch these currents considered as effects
and facts, while in that which is to follow
he promises /" to touch the question, how
and why these currents have been put
into their present sharp and unordered E
motion. The latter will in some res
poets be the more interesting part Of this
contribution to the religious discussion of
the moment. But its foundation must be
regarded as having been laid in the OBJ
servations on the facts Of tho religious
world now before us and q Just, even if
rough, account of the actual course Of
religious thought in the presont day
would probably be OF more interest than
any speculation on its causes, even by 80
eminent q person as Mr.. Gladstone. For
this purpose Mr.. Gladstone takes the
77idcst. possible sweep within the limits
Of Christendom. He recognizes NJ the
outset that many persons are looking with
hope to the East, now being 80 rapidly
unveiled, for instruction, If not for q fresh
impulse. But he thinks it will be time
enough to entertain these onticipations
when we know more than we do at pre-
sent of the real nature OF Eastern religions.
For the present, at all events, " it is from
Christendom outwards that power GnG
influence r0di0te, rot towards it and into
it that they flow" The ouIy quarter in
which MahOmmedanism is gaining ground
appears to be among the Negro races Of
West Africa and 1t is not there that the
future d]estinies Of mankind are to be de-
termined. But, putting this vast couti-
nent OF religious life aside, Mr.. GlQdstone's
review ranges from Uitramonta0ism to
the barest nogation Of all belief, not mere
ly in Religion bus in the Unseen. lie
distributes the prevailing Religious
thought among five Schools. The first
consists Of those who accept the Papal
Monarchy, or the UItrQmontane School.
The second includes those who, like the
Eastern and Anglican Churches, with The
the " Liberal y and the "Old " Catholics,
reject the demands OF the modern Papacy,
"AO O4'O III tiC FISiD!tIbg y VIC
Church )" and he styles them the His
torical School," The third great division
includes those who, rejecting the Papal
Monarchy and the visibility Of the Church
believe in the great central dogmas Of the
Christian systematic Trinity and the
Incarnation. These he terms "the
Protestant Evangelical School. The
fourth School is i" the Thoistic, which,
" though rejecting all known expressions
of dogma, nevertheless believes in a
moral Governor of the Universe and in q
state OF probation for mankind, Lastly,
there is +" the Negative School, " the mem
bers of which, however they may differ in
detail, "agree in denying categoricalIy, or
else in declining to recognize or affirm, the
reign of a moral Governor or Providence
and the existence of a state of discipline
or probation" Under this head Mr..
Gladstone enumerates no fewer than
eight minor divisions of thought, which
he denominates-Q) Scepticism, ~ Athe-
ism, 3 Agnosticism, or Scepticism erected
into 8 dogmatic proposition, (4) Secula-
lism' % Revived Paganism, (6) Material