The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-05-18

But when one looks into his first sermon
and into his several recensions of it, he
finds nothing to warrant all this pother.
Dr. Newton has, apparently, fallen in
lately with some expositions OF the res
direction which were new to him. He
adopted them and went to preaching
them before he had mastered their i'm
port. He might have done so without
creating remark, had he not felt that
he was propounding startling views. and
in consequence must assume startling
manner.
DIR. Newton as we understand him,
seems to harmonize the somewhat dis
crepant accounts of the resurrection of
Jesus by adopting the view that he rose
and appeared in his spiritual body, not
in that material body with which he
was invested before his crucifxion. He
believes the accounts as to the essential
fact. and thinks that the disciples saw
Jesus "alive after his passion" The ap-
pearance was real and is to be taken as
an after-death life. He thus holds, of
course, that the resurrection of Jesus to
visibility was supernatural occurrence.
He thinks that more difficulties are es-
capped by discarding the theory of a
physical resuscitation. This is matter
OF Interpretation. and, as explained by
DR.. Newton, tho not entirely self-con.
sistent, does not involve unbelief. 1t
may be heresy, from the Episcopal point
of view; but technical heresy is often
actual faith and truth.
Too much may be made of the ap.
pearance of one swallow. Yet it is note
worthy that, as Grant Allen has shown,
SO many of the great names in science
should be of men who came into her
temple from without the charmed circle
of those trained in schools; and that
craftsmanship and literature also have
been enriched from sources beyond their
own craft. And now attention is called
to the fact that the initiative to the vast
structure Of Pentateuchal criticism was
given by a scholar who was not theo.
logian,-Jean Astruc. The latest i'm
portant document discovered, the Syr-
lac text of the Gospels. was brought to
light by woman. Mrs. Agnes Smith
Lewis. scholar of Halle, whose special
ity is philology and not New Testa.
ment criticism. Prof. Blass, is the author
o. the latest theory as to the Acts, that
the variants in the codex Bez@ are from
a first draft of the work. while our copy
of the book is the finished form in which
it was sent to Theophilus. But both are
from the hand of Luke. This solution
of long standing difficulty is hailedwith
peculiar satisfaction by some eminent
scholars.
We wish i'll to no one. But we note
the way of that Providence which from
seeming evil is still educing good; and
are able to adjust our belief to the fact
that what is an apparent i'll is real
good. So we construe the disaster that
has overtaken Oscar Wilde, and the loss
of standing OF M. Zola. They belong to
strain in literature and art that is not
only rotten, it rots. So long as careers
like theirs move along prosperously,
and large public following. and the
praise of many writer's supports their
vice while pretending to admire their
art, the decentralization is steady and
deadly. 1t is blessing, nor much in
disguise either, which brings out the
truth, that there is fatal correspond
ence between the corrupt author and
the bad man, ard rolls him and his rub.
bish into an indiscriminate heap of gar,
bage.
james Martineau has passed his
ninetieth birthday in apparently undi-
minished vigor of mind and in we'll pre-
served health of body. A large part of
the Christian world sends him fraternal
greetir e. He has been burning and a
shining light. and his ascending star has
won admirers all around the world. His
has been both protracted and pene-
trating radiance. The highest themes
have engaged thought, and on them he
has touched with illumination the high
est points. Much of the effect of his
work is due, no doubt, to the unrivalled
affluence of his style. He almost revels in
rhetoric. On the dryest and toughest
subjects DR.. Martineau's mind with diff
ficulty restraints itself from breaking
into poetry. The charm is in the natur
alness, the inevitableness of the corus.
cation. The moment the splendid ma
chine begins to revolve the sparks shoot
up, and the varying briIliance lasts to
the end.
In philosophy, theology and ethics,
where DIR. Martineau has done his work,
there is no chance for any man to say
the last word. The themes are too vast
and in their larger relations too impene
trable. AS critic of others theories no
one in any age or country has shown
greater skill. When, late in life, DIR.
Martineau began to fulfill long grow
ing desire Of his admirers by putting
into permanent form some constructive
pieces of work, his limitations appeared.
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