The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-23

A ur,Stnrr cd Free InenshA

We HyIBITt0 ~ u AcABsA ~
to the influence Of British rstionAlsm on
Britisb literature a. IL n depleted In the
two volumes Of Mr.. HaldAns's interesting
hook. The ~rationalism with which Mr..
Haldane dealt was mainly that Of the nine
teenth century. The work 70 which We
would now invite attention may almost.
be said TO stop where Mr.. HAldhne began
for the record OF speculative philosophy
In the nineteenth century 10 outlined with
relative brevity In the two volumes Collect
lively entitled A Short History OF free
Thought, Ancient and Modern, by JOHN M.
ROBERTSON PutnAms). II u the second
edition, revised, corrected and materially
enlarged. OF Mr.. Robertson's disquisition
that we have before US. The hrst edition.
originally planned n a mere sketch ro-
producing q couras Of lectures. was open to
so much criticism on the score OF omissions
that the author, on retrospect, determines
to rewrite the work before reissuing II.
That IL IL still an inadequate survey OF q
vast field he Is himself h first 70 admit.
The scheme, even when limited as Tar az
may be by q tolerably strict definition, In
wolves some approach TO a conspectus
OF the history Of human progress on the
aide of the intellectual life, and the I'M
mensity Of the undertaking may be inferred
from the fact that the late Lord Acton, q
prodigy OF erudihons who spent many
years OF his life In gsshering materials for
o History Of Liberty which would praoti-
cally have included . history OF free thought,
died without beginning b compile 1t. With
that Encouraging precedent In mind our
author was led to deem Il better 70 put forth
sven q slight record Of q connected kind,
written from o sociological standpoint.
thar to wait for The advent OF ont who
should unite with Lord Actions learning
and more untrammelled sympathies the
productive industry Of the hardly less
learned Mr.. Lea OF Pmladelphia. After
all, a concise history which, rightly con-
ceived, Is . different thing from tho optic
mes denounccdb by Bacous has advantages OF
its own, and Mr.. Robertson has striven TO
guard somewhat against the obvious dis
advantages by . habitual citation
Gin foot notes. Of authorities and by the
frequent brief discussionJ In paragraphs
printed in smaller ~type-which can be
skipped by tho unleisured reader-of dis
puted and theoretical matter.
Limited In space as he was BY his design,
the author necessarily has found It difficult
20 Get UP q definite standard Of inclusion
and exclusion. He says in q preface that
looking back he Is conscious OF some anomA-
lies. It would rave been on some counts,
for INSTANCE, not inappropriate TO name
as a practical free thinker Leonardo da
Vinci, who struck out new paths In 80 many
lines Of science. Yet Of the other hand
sone might be accused OF straining the
evidence in claiming as a free thinker q
mar not known to have avowe any obJec-
ton to the teaching OF the Church. DIM
cultiee arise also In the case of u a writer
as Cardan, who figured for orthodox
~apoloRists as a free thinker but who to
US seems to make more for credulity
for rational doubt. and in the case OF such
aswriter as the pro-ecclesiastica C~ampanellai
who. while writing against atheism. and
figuring only in politics as a disturberI
reasons on various issues in a
sense" Mr.. Robertson, on his part, does
but press the difficulty Of draw ing the line
and cheerfully admits hat his own work
offers ground for criticism on the score
Of being at once too exclusive and too
comprehensive. such structures can hardly
be avoided. We are reminded that
Paulus, a professed nationalist fought
for the Pauline authorship Of the Epistle
70 the Hebrews in tho very year in which
Tholuck, a re~converted Evangelical, gave
up the Pauline authorship as hopeless;
that when Schleiermacher, a believer
in inspiration, denied the authenticity
of the Epistle to Timothy the nationalist
Wegscheider opposed him and that Eich-
horn, a species Of nationalist, maintained
the Mosaic authorship Of the Pentateuch
long after the supenaturalist Water had
disproved it. Analogous anomalies are
noted in the book before us, but the author
does not pretend that all, ever Of the promi-
nent cases OF incidental free thinking on
the part Of the nominally orthodox, are
recorded; neither does he profess to be
able to detect all the cases OF undue con-
servatism among self-styled free thinkers.
The utmost that he has tried to do 10 to
note the general movement.
T.
What is meantby the term free thought'7
It is pointed out in an introduction that the
words free thinking" and free thinker
FIRST appear in English literature about the
end Of the seventeenth century. They seem
TO have originated there and then, as we
do not find them earlier in French or in
italian, the only other modern literature'
wherein the phenomena for which the words
stand had previously risen. The title Of
atheist" indeed, had been from time i'm
memorial applied to every shade OF seriou.
heresy by the orthodox, as when the early
Christians were so described by the image
adoring polytheists a round them; so, too, ir
Latin Christendom with the term infdeI1
the dpistos Of the New Testament. which
primarily applied TO Jews and pagans
wal easily extensible, as in the writings o.
Augustine, to all who challenged articles
OF ordinary Christian belief. all the infdel
or -faithless" alike being regarded as con
signed to perdition. The label OF -deist,
presumably ~self-applied by the bearers
began to come into Use in French abou
the middle Of the sixteenth century; an'
that OF naturalist, also presumably choser
by those who bore 10, grew into currency
about the same time. Apart from thes'
terms, those commonly used in French il
the seventeenth century were esprit for
and Iibertin, the latter being used in tn
--rg.... 1za,Ak.. - T1~,AsIlo