Los Angeles herald., 1891-03-09
of the most remarkable social and in
dustrial 'advansements which historyre-
cords
AGNosrIc AND OTHER IsrLukxcEs.

tlhc piCScut dSe ls Ouc VI cxcltemeuJ,
inquiry and revolutionary sentiment. 1t
is not asviolent as the one which intro
duced and consummated the French
revolution, bat on wider theater pro-
positions of even more world wide inter-
est are being worked out.
The American magazines OF today are
not equal in intellectual ability to those
of the British nation near the opening
of the present century. 1t is question
OF grave doubt as to whether any ittera-
tear that ever lived was as brilliant as
Kit North. His Noctes Ambrosidns are
to comparatively contemporary litera-
ture what Homer's poems have been to
the literature of all ages. While, how
ever, the American magazine does not
reach the high standard of the British
and the North British reviews, they
have more enterprising and more
discursive tendency. They move quick
ly on the line of modern thought. Their
most interesting feature lies in the line
of inviting persons OF exceptional note to
express their views.
OF the later issues OF these periodicals.
tine North American Review and the
Forum figure principally. In the former
periodical Ouida and Brother Ignatius
appear on the question: HAS Christ
ianity Failed?" The lady is eloquent,
analytic, synthetic, parenthetic, per-
suasive and pervasive. One point she
makes with great insistence, and it
really attracts the attention of a logical
mind. She throws her eye over the
horoscope OF worlds, and she asks if this
world is the only world worth saving.
This is point, whether logically pre-
sented or not, we'll worth considering.
She accuses Christianity of being an
egotistical religion, and in this respect
she is probably right. Outside of the
Desert oblates, like st. Simon Stylites,
the Christian theologians adopt the no
tion that man, consecrated by the saving
blood of Jesus, is noble creature. He
is worm, but he is a noble kind of
worm. As the pious Watts puts the
proposition, man is creature, conse-
Grated by Christianity, of considerable
power and prominence. AS that amiable
ecclesiastic writes,
Were SO tall as to reach the pole,
And grasp the ocean as by a span,
must still be measured by my soul,
The minds the stature OF the man.
This is the egotistical, Christian view
of man. He is worm, but he is
pretty good kind Of worm, according to
Watts. He is something like what the
Regent d'Orleans thought of mankind
according to Macaulay. That brilliant
writer said that the regent thought that
man was Yahoo, but that a Yahoo was
very agreeable kind of an animal.
Ouida's notion of a man is good deal
like Macaulay's analysis of the Due
d'Orleans's estimate of men and things.
She considers that man is poor affair,
but that he is better without religion
than with 1t. She accepts the purely
prosaic aspect of the human race, which
is embraced in the lines,
Great fieas have little feas,
Upon their legs to bite 'en;
And little heas have lesser ieas;
And SO dd fatfnitum.
Most people would prefer to consider
mankind from the standpoint Of Brother
Ignatius.
But the writer in the Forum follows
the ideas of Cardinal Newman. The
cardinal and Mr.. Gladstone were fellow
Oxonians. Mr.. Gladstone says that
Cardinal Newman is entirely the most
eloquent man that ever handled the
English language. Cardinal Newman
dropped the Episcopal religion to
join the Roman Catholic church.
Mr.. Gladstone remained an Epis-
copalian. Such development is
eccentric. AS one might say, these gem
tlemen ride and tie on ecclesiastical ques
tions. But the point about Cardinal
Newman-the curious point about this
elegant school-friend of Gladstone-is
that Newman says that you must have
faith. Once in possession of that exotic
article, you can move mountains or
marbles, as the case may be. 4
OF course faith is the foundation of
the Mohammedan or the Mormon or
any other religion. The real point is,
if you haven't got faith, to get it and
hold on to it. You will then stand with
Cardinal Newman and other elegant
religionists on 'the beautiful Shore"
with only one more river to cross to
strike beatitude, eternal and sempiter-