The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-02-12
Good Fiction a Strong Ally
of the Bible.
Realism That P0urS Out NOx-
iOuS Mental Sewage.
Two Books That Have Accomplished
Magnificent Results.


kopf OF Philadelphia to deliver lecture
on "uses and Abuses OF the Novel, in
which he said:
"It is not 200 years since the novelist,
like the actor, was regarded as q protii-
gate vsgrsnt, and his writings and society
were deemed dangerous to the best moral
interests OF society. What change since
then We have men and women of noble
birth who would rather see their names
among the iesst of the novelists than
among the greatest of the sristocrats.
"Cslamitous, indeed, would that day be
on which the novel would cesse-as IL
with one fell blow one of civilizations
strongest supports would be knocked
from unoer 1t. Next to the Bible know
OF no book whose loss would entail Q
greater sfiliction on human kind than
that OF the novel. Like the Bible. the
novel Is all mems hook. Often it's lessons
penetrate souls which even the Bible can
not reach. IL makes men see themselves
in the mirror OF the novel just vs. they
are, only under different names, and in
different environments. 1t discloses their
sims,s and shows tho eventual g bod or bad
end of the right or wrong course they are
pursuing. Take the novel from the peo-
pie and you take from religion one OF its
most faithful handmaids, and from. life
ono Of its sweetest delights and comforts.
"we have no need yet of living In daily
expectancy of hearing the death kneli OF
the novel. The day Of its doom is not yet
at hand. and never will be. Our love Of
fiction is part of the original endowment
OF our nature. IL has been the souls
Heirloom from the day on which the
imagination first awakened, and IL will
in its fairy world Of hslf-fsncy, half-resi-
ity. 1t will endure 40 Ions. ss our inborn
love of the good and the beautiful will
continue to seek expression either IN the
word of the painters brush or the
sculptor's chisel, or the posts or COM
poser ssor noveliS's pen, and as long as
the realm'of fancy will furnish the richest
field for the artists hand.
"There has never been a people with
out some sort of fiction. or the ancient
histories who can tell where fiction ends
and fact becinsf strip your Old 1ests-
mcnt of the pure or mixed inventions of
the imagination and you will probably
sacrifice upon the sltsr of historic accu-
racy all that precedes the records of the
pstrisrchs, even much OF tho stories OF
their lives, as well as much of the story
of Moses. Strip the New Testament of its
fiction and you rob Christianity of half
it's creeds.
"Remove the books Of fiction from the
collection Of books which constitute the
Bible, aud you will greatly reduce the
bulk of your Scriptures; but you will
also deprive it OF halt Its charm and
worth.
"The mission of the Bible 10 to help
men along the path Of godliness to God.
wha tever can help 1t in accomplishing
this is acceptable TO 1t, be 1t truth or
fiction. 1t is the failure OF properly
grssping the truth that makes 80 many
people accept with little favor the state
ment that there are books in the Bible
that had their origin wholly or in part,
in fancy instead of fact AS IL truth re-
vesled by tho imagination were less true
than that revesled by reason.
"Ihe novel is the peoples second Bible,
and more read than the first, and when
true to its mission, often more helpful.
When conceived In purity and presented
for purity know Of no greater purifying
medium than the novel. Whole parts OF
the Bible ara too abstract, too far removed
from our own time and needs, to take q
stronghold on any save the profoundly
taught and deeply pious. Tb novel oil to-
day, however, Is very close.
"Tbe good characters OF the Bible at best
only awe us. They seom not OF us. TEey
are of different world, supernatural, as
God. Try as hard as we may, We cannot
draw very close to them. The heroes OF
our nc wells, however, we take light To our
heart. We weep over their sorrows, and
In our perplexities return to them for
advice. In our surfeit Of pleasures they
lead Us into the hum bier walks OF life,
show us the blessings of busy hands, of
heslihful appetitcs, OF contented minds, OF
unstsined virtue, of guileless hearts.
preachers are not the only educators
who find The novel an invaluable aid to
their WORK: historians, artists, scientists,
statesmon, make use OF IL quite ss much,
and probably more so than tho reformed
Where the lar rest possible stage is needed
to portray . great and grievou- wrong, Il
is the stsge OF fiction, the auditorium OF
tire novel, that is used. A single novel
has often succeeded in Graduating public
wrongs when ptrlisments failed, when
pulpit, press and platform agitsted and
pleaded in vain. Don Quixote' ioered
knight crrantry out OF existence, and
Uncle Toms Cabin broke tho shackles
of the ncgro's head and feet.
"rhsre has come Of late change over
the spirit Of the novel. Its noble uses
have, In far too many instances, besp
yitiated by shameful abuses. From a
hsslthtuI, tertili,ing channel il has been
turned into q noisome and noxious sewer.