New-York tribune., 1886-03-21

.oinod worry hearty hatred for what he called the
colossal froud Of UItramontanism, and n speculat-
i've tbouah perhars not always a practical, disre-
gard for Professionalism as form OF rellglon restoe
upon the authority of discreditcd book NIs'
Ward asserts that in certain very real sense he
is n Christian" She only say this by using INC
word Christian in a sense of her own. lie does pay
Christianity few compliments for the service it
has done the world: but there is no ambiguity about
his verdict upon It, that, like Mosasm and Islam
ism It's day is over and its teaching Is not true
No fixed system is true. There never has been any
rev yelation. The Christian virtues have been sus-
tanned heretofore by a series Of Illusions and pous
ictions suited to the infancy of mankind but cilt
cal scientific and philosophical culture is putting
an end to them, and Amel questions with his usual
restless pcrsistency what will be the result AS
usual he reaches no positive answer. In the carrier
years of his Journal the conflict between crllclsm
and faith causes him the keene5t distress IN
curry is fatalr he writes, If it suppants la''h'
Unbelief is death" And he adds " IL Is |us'
here tlat NV danger liesv He finds himself gravl-
tating toward the type of suffering represented ny
Faust: HSpectre OF my own conscience, ghost ol my
own tornenr image of the ceasecss struggle OF the
sonl which has not yet found its true ahment lts
pesce its fath-art thou not the typical eXampe ol
life which feeds upon itself because u mas no,
found its God, and which, in its wandering il!GhC
acroes tbc vorlds carries within it, like a comet,
nm incvtincnisbable flame of desire. and the agony
Of incurable disilluslon" Here, Mrs. Ward thinks
IN the mixture of the faith which clings and asplrcs
with the intellectual pliancy which allows the
mind TO sway freely under the pressure OF HE ana
experience, he is the representative OF the modeIn
spirit He speaks for the life of to-day no other
single voice has yet spoken for it in his conradc
tion, his fears his despairs, and yet in the con
start st1aining toward the unseen and the ideal
which gives fundamental unity to his inner life,
he u the type of a generation universally touched
with doubt and vet as sensitive to the need OF faith
rs any that have gone before it, And the accom-
pished essayst and translator believes that as hui
manity carries the endless pursuit OF truth
through tie ways of religious evolution 1t Will pay
more and moro respectful heed to voices like TINS
voice Of the lonely Gencvcsc thinker, WHO found
peace ad rest through his own sore trials and pro-
claims TO us now IN new words the II l@htJ hopes
which make us men,
Did Amiol find peace and restf No. II the pub
ished extracts from the Journal fairly represent its
total contents the complete rejection Of dogma NJ
which he arrived IN tie maturity of his intellect
brought neither satisfaction to his heart nor repose
70 his intellect At most hc schoo!cd himself into
melancholy submission TO the incy table gazing
into the future with stole resolution, interrupted
by freauent oUtbur>ts Of despair. Every motive OF
hope or religious 10Y was gradually destroyed by
the corrosive abuse of the critical faculty" which
be 50 often lamonts IS lis greatest danger "What
IS my real faith s' he writes in 1865.
What is my real faith Has the universal or at
any rate the very general ana common qoubt o
science invaded mc u my tuTnY nave dciehGea
the cause Of TIE immortality of the sOnl ag2inst
those who questioned H. and vet when ! nave re
duccd chem 90 silence, ! have scarcely known
whether at bottom WAS NOT after al On their sdc.
try 10 do without hope: hut n Is possible that
Inv. I,.
o-h.rIncu. IlUs' Pc sustained and c.n~aied nF Il
belief bv the belief i'm pardon and iiAmortHIty-
that Is TO say by rel gious belief Of the Christian
tyne. Reason ana Thought E0E 'rtl dHe iAq'c,o'
ana nerves They must have thor sleep, aPI ms
sleep is the relapse into the tTahu0l q CH.Gh05r
into the COmGou h0po. II taxes 50 much th"it 60
maintain oneself ia an cycort!onal point OF view
that one falls back into pre- uil't bN uur cNi aus
foIl inst qs t'c man q lc .tlrGs indefinitely always
ends Dy sinking to the ground and -'assunln- Tie
horizontal position. What ls +" bNcou.l "i M NItn
everything leaves Us-Ec2lth. ioY affections, me
freshuc,s of cnsatiou memory, c.r.ritE 10Y WORK
when the sun s'c'us . rs 10 have lost rs warmth
and lie Is strpIe e0 o ali r., charm What IS to be-
come Of Us w,t.nH' l.itt
Later he oxclaim-: d" long for all that is inlpos-
siblo and inaccea5ioej for trlo religion, eor.ous
sympathy the ideal lfc; for paradise, trmor-
tality, holiness. faith, Inspiration, and know not
what besides And can neither stilo these aspi-
rat:ons nor deceive myself as 10 tho possibility q
satisfying them lie arrives IL time at q still mole
positive abandonment Of the idea of Immortality
willie Ic sorrowuuy confes,e4 That the consolotion
Of that idea has been toe strength of generations.
Next ho Lnds il impossible 10 believe IN p divine
Providence caring fos the individual man. Iet
every act of surrender Of faith TO the critical faculty
IL followed by q crF of pain: Sacrifice is almost
easy when We believe it laid upon us, asked Of us
rather Ly fathe:ly God and watcAful IToyi-
dence but know nothing Of this religious JOY.
The mutilation Of the scl which is going on in me
=
body" Toward the last, as he seems 70 have cast
aside one by one the remnants OF inherited beliefs,
speculation and uncertainty are less prominent in
bis diary, though they are never entirely over
como A year before lIs dcdtA he declares: The
whole Semitic dramatuIgy has come 10 seem to me
a work OF the Imagination. Religious psychol-
ogy has become a simple phenomenon, and has lost
its fixed and absolute value. -. 1t seems to me
that what remains 10 me from all my studies Is
new phenomenoogy Of mind an intuition OF
universal mctamorphoss. All particular conVic-
tious ali oAnite principles, al cieurcut formulas
and fixed ideas, are but re]udlc"s, useINI IN
practice, bat still narrOwncss Of the mlnd. The
absolute III detail is absurd and contradictory. All
political religious, aesthetic or Literary parties are
protuherances, misgrowths OF tlought; livery
special belief represent stlitenln2 ana thlckcMu2
Of thought Thus speculation landed Inn at last III
universal scepuc.z!u. .
With all this il Is easy to find in his Joprroi ey
preSSons which, if they stood alone. would seem to
be those of an ardent and humble believer They
are i'm part the indications Of natural religious
temperament in part the traces of what Mrs. " ard
calls relgious ancestry Perhaps be would have
referred them to the moments when treason and
Thought grow tired and relapse into the tTadl-
tions of childhood" as oycrstraiued muscles find
relic! in sleep. such occasional expressions show
that the yeaTnuG heart was often stronger tlau thc
rehelIiors intellect. But anayzed faithfully,
Amicrs creed was s;ocisn. He retained nothing OF
religion but belief in good God and IN the duty OF
submission to the order OF the universe Sln j.
revolt against order Union with God is meek
acceptance ,f the inevitable, in confidence that
whatever He has ordained is IN harmony with the
general order of things To descend without
murmuring the stream of destiny, to pass without
revolt through loss after loss and elimination after
diminution with no other limit than zero before us,
this is what is demanded of us Amiel knew,