New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-12-18
SELECTIONS FROM THE MAIL.

! DR. SAVAGE'S METHOD OF DISCUSSION.
/ A COMPLAINT THAT IT re- UNCRITTcAL ILLOGICAL
AND LACKING SERIOUS DEPTHS.
To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: One who takes an interest In such things is
necessarily interested in the reports Of the sermons
lately preached by Dr. Savage on "Creeds" etc. for
Dr. Savage may be fairly regarded the sblest pull
Dit representative OF the Untarians and that means
of a highly intelligent and thoughtful class.
Making all allowances for the methods appropriate
TO the pulpit in the way of rhetoric and granting
that the reports in The Tribune necessarily In
adequate for critical discussion of his remarks.
there yet remains a OF surprised dsappont-
ment that the subject not raised to the dignity
OF a genuinely critical treatment
There be question my part as TO DR..
S&ages sincerity and responsibility. 1t Is evident
that he is speaking in the tone Of a convinced
pleader II Ia this fact which makes ones surprise
the greater that he should have failed to appreciate
the spirit that lies back OF the creeds which he
passionately attacks No doubt he Is fully ac-
quanted with their history. and the apparent lack
of a critical knowledge of II may be set down 10 the
necessities OF the occasion to the limitations OF
the reports but 1t Is impossible to escape the i'm
preston that on the whole there is air OF un-
satsfa ctoriness in his treatment due to something
uncritcal. illogical and lacking In serious depth.
This is most apparent when he comes TO the set
ting forth Of his own positive views OF religion
He closes with quotation from Matthew Arnold
(who, by the way, not an "agnostic," as Dr.
Savage calls HIM which Is utterly weak and unsat-
isfactory:
Pats T ma. mo mo Second s;sS ife'
More strictly. then the inward Judge obey.
Was Christ like US?
Can be such men as He.
Hath man no second lite!" In that case the very
first question that confronts the thinker is: What
do you mean by high? Certainly. DR. Savage is
well aware that this question has been the puzzle
OF philosophy. The summum bonum OF the Pla-
tonists and Epicureans and Stoics is yet like ball
tossed from idealist materalis from posltivst 10
intutionist II hath second life / know
what you when you tell me TO pitch II high;
but II not, what Is high? On the whole those
who really seem 10 have no regard for a second life
pitch their lives on what Dr. Savage would call
rather low level
The poetry Of Omar Khayyam and the creed OF
THE Blond Beast" the Germans call him. seem
to have the floor. And why not. II there
Sits no 3udg. in heaven ain to seer
The cre,d Of The Blond Beast" virtually Is this:
Keep odt Of tho police courts; do not mix up with
any quYotc orusades either for against the lower
dog in the fight. and then. In rational a way as
possible feed yourself whatever danes OF the
market you can afford. both literally and igura-
lively" Let US eat and drink for tomorrow we
die"
Was Christ man like usf
All. let US try II we, then too.
II there be no second life. no Judge in heaven
then Christ's life is TO me a horror and a
and a pity enough 30 TO drive a sensitive soul TO
madness at the fatality And tragedy OF IT, One
revots sgainst the terrific consequences that have
ensued from trying to live like II.
Let see. Christs whole conception OF life.
His own self-consciousness. was based the
absolute conviction that He was indeed sent into
this life from another to which He was TO return.
after He had done HIS Fathers will.
Rnt dapv ha fWn niaaa Whit His IA
was based and what resuts7 That He was the
victim Of delusion, In that case what do We see?
A peasant child Of vast genius brought up TO a
life Of drudgery, mistaking Himself. abjuring the
simplest as well as the greatest pleasures OF this
manhood cruelty betrayed BY a friend and horribly
put TO death by the Roman Governor, who had no
''delusions as to second nte and who. prob
ably lived on about as comfortably the aver
age man who has no judge in heaven.
can well understand a passionate attack on the
self -saorlhces for the sake Of what they believe
TO be a mistaken ideal But l cannot understand
convictions of Chr1st's soul and yet asks mo to
1--we or oven to Try 70 1--we Ike Him -.,
sanity and escape Sst out of The nightmare Of pessi
ism we must accept the Nicene Creed both as a
SSnasy ane ss. brave ana es.n men who
often threy ,hsmseyes ssanst me e6s
more than eighteen hundred years 1t has withstood
all the tests OF time and circumstance. HOW snal-
low it is to attribute ms to human weakness OF
It's survival 10 due simply TO the fact that there
is In 1t something that answers 70 me eternal
one iot or little OF the Nicene Greed be re-
n, O ,ss wss, SeT MIND Of
their final convictions In the light OF Cnrists IRE
as to the cosmos" as to Goo, as to His revelation
" MkorTistown n J.. bee il 1897.