The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-19

decay, and he conceived the splendidly
insolent idea Of arraigning human CIV
1lization in the stead of himself, and
accusing religion of all the evils which
are especially attendant on the lack
of it. Few men have ever planned or
carried out so brilliant and so hopeless
a campaign, but in the valley of hui
initiation to which he has gone down
intellectually, there can enter no
thought of satisfaction at his UNIQUE
revenge upon the world.
If it were worth while to arraign his
Inconsistencies, it would be interesting
to note what he says of BiZet's music
in the light of the fact that his tests Of
art are supposed to be physical and
not psychical. He finds that melody
makes the spirit free, that it gives
wings to thought, and makes of the
philosopher better philosopher" The
grey heaven Of obstruction thrilled as
1t were, by lightnings; the light strong
enough for all the filigree of things;
the great problems ready to be
grasped; the universe surveyed as from
mountain summit. Answers fall into
my lap unexpectedly; a little hail
shower of ice and wisdom, of solved
problems, Bizet makes me productive.
All that is good makes me productive
l have no other gratitude, nor have I
any other proof of what is good. In
other words. the amount of intellectual
stimulus a thing affords is the supreme
test of its value-a contention which
would come more gracefully from one
who conceived of psychological evolu-
ton as the matter of chief Importance
Besides his arraignment of Wagner the
volume under consideration contains
The Twilight of the Idols" a number
Of iconoclastic papers and paragraphs
in which the author, sdisposes Of Soc
rates and all the great wise men" as
declining types, SCOTS at Reason, in
Philosophy" arraigns Christian NOR
atty as a.nti-natural; finds the German
nation unworthy of consideration: set
ties Renan, Saint Beuve, the Imitatio
Christi, George Eliot, George Sand, Car
lyle, Emerson, Spencer, and sthe labor
question in paragraph apiece.
The last essay in the book is entitled
THE Anti Christ; an essay towards a
criticism Of Christianity" and is a very
curious piece of literature. The author
posits a real world which is apparent
ly material one, though he is by no
means consistent materialist Every
thing which differs from this ."real''
world of his is not only false but cor
rupt. Nietzsche alone possesses the
touch-stone of reality. Pure spirit is
pure lie." In Christianity neither
morality nor religion is in contact with
any point of actually" christianity.
a form of mortal hostility to reality
which has not hitherto been sur
passed" God is a decadent, Christ is
a symbolist, screams this strange phil
osopher who is singularly unphiloso-
phic, who uses the language of Billings
gate, and regards invective as argu-
ment. II am from Jehovah is base
imposition. II am" from Nietzsche is
proper self-assertion, is the upshot of
some hundred pages of raving. Chris
tianity is antimatural in that it would
take the world from the strong and
give it to the weak. The world was
meant for the few, of whom the writer
is chief. Sympathy is a mortally dan
gerous disease. To be sound is to be
pitiless. To be pitiless is to be noble
The fact that the consensus of human
opinion is on the other side is only one
argument the more in the mind of
this man for his own point OF view, for
the vulgar are habitually in error and
| to be against them is almost a proof