The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-11-24

"Runyan had come TO realise what was m cant
by salvation in Christ according to the received
creed OF the contemporary Protestant world.
The intensity of his emotions arose only from
the completeness with which he believed it
Man had sinned, and by sin was made a servant
OF the devil. His redemption was personal
act OF the Saviours toward each individual sin
ner. In the Atonement, Christ had before him
each separate person whom he designed to save
blotting out his offences however heinous thew
might be, and recording in place of them his
own perfect obedience. Each reconciled sinner
in return, regarded Christs sufferings as under.
gone Immediately for himself, and gratitude for
that great deliverance, enabled and obliged him
to devote his strength and soul thenceforward
to Gods service In the seventeenth century
all earnest English Protestants held this belief
In the nineteenth century, most of us repeat the
phrases of this belief and pretend to hold it.
We think we hold it. We are growing more
cautious, perhaps, with our definitions We
suspect that there may be mysteries in Gods
nature and methods which we cannot fully ex.
plain. The outlines of the scheme of saliva
ton are growing indistinct and we see it
through gathering mist" page 49,
Such is statement of Bunyans reli-
gious faith, given in tone indicating that
the writer considers it a superstition, or
at best an ignorant error 1t is added,
irrelevantly, so far as Bunyan is con-
cerned, and recklessly, as a matter of fact,
that only small portion at present, of
those who call themselves Christians,
sincerely receive it; the major part only
pretend to hold it," Then follows what
may be taken as an uncalled-for setting
forth, In way as positive as the subject
allows, of Mr. Froude's own vague theol-
ogy:
" Yet the essence of it will remain true, wheth-
er we recognise it or not. While man remains
man. he will do things which he ought not to
do lie will leave undone things which he
ought to do. To will may be present with him.
but how to perform what he wills, he will
never fully know; and he will still hate the
body of death which he feels clinging to him.
He will try to do better: when he falls. he will
struggle to his feet again. He Will Climb and nd
climb on the hill side, though he never reaches
the top, and knows that he never can reach it.
His life will be failure, which he will not dare
to offer as tit account of himself or as worthy
serious regard. Yet he will still hope that he
will not be wholly cast away, when, after his
sleep in death, he wakes again.
Now we do not feel at liberty to call
Mr.. Froude an infdel, nationalist. or an
agnostic; but we do feel warranted in
maintaining that creed which does not
recognise Christ is not Christian. Nor
will we argue the question: Which is to
be preterred-the theology Of call earn
est Protestants of the seventeenth cen
fury, or this platform of Mr.. Froudes,
In the nineteenth century? Much less
are we disposed to find fault with any
writer torexpressing in aproper place and
manner any views he may conscientiously
hold. But we must be allowed to give
ntterance to an unbounded astonishment,
that Mr.. Morley, or Mr. Froude himself,
should ever have thought that holding
such opinions, he had any call to write
the life of Bunyan, who was nothing if
not Christian, and who owes all that
he accomplished, and all the fame he en-
Joyed during his life, and that has crown
ed his memory for two hundred years.
solely to the precise fact, that he was
Christian holding the same form of faith
with call the earnest Protestants of the
seventeenth century"
Mr.. Froude may have honestly under
taken and finished this work unconscious
of the incongruity of his relation to it
80 obtuse sometimes, as to itself, NAV be
an intellect otherwise of remarkable per.
spicacity. But if, entertaining hostility
to the faith of Bunyan, he has purposely
assumed the mask of his biographer, in
order to assail it the more efectually,
charge more serious than that of literary
dishonesty would lie against him.
x
In introducing the Pilgrims Progress
which as work of artless art he admires,
he thus enters his coUeat against the &C.
ceptance of its spiritual significance: "In
the midst of changing circumstances, the
central question remains the same What
am /? What is this world in which
appear and disappear like bubble?
Who made me? And what am I to do?
Some answer or other the mind of man
demands and insists on receiving. Theo-
logan or poet offers, at long intervals,
explanations which are accepted as cred
IDLE for time. They wear out, and an
other follows, and then another Bun
vans answer has served average English
men and women for two hundred years
but no human being with Bunyan's in
tellect and Bunyan's sincerity can again
use similar language" Why say, Bun
vans answer? Why not say plainly
what is meant Christianity cam no loaaG-
er be accepted by men of average lntelh-
gence that it is worn out and is waning,
! to give place to some other form of reli-