New-York tribune., 1908-08-01
Nh Frederic Harrison on Life and
~ Religion.

Frederic Harrison. svo. PIP xxxvi. AS The
Macmillan Company.
SATIoNAL AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS BY Fred
eric Harrison. svo, PIP. 4Se. The MaeInliIah
Company
In coIleztng<and freshly editing essays first
,ublisled twenty-five or thirty years ago Mr.
Frederic Harrison contrasts his happy lot with
,hat ofa<party politician who in some important
contest.rmay have put his money on the wrong
ho-ss> An unwfse partisan might well hesitate
IN after years 10 print the speech made on the
sur Of the moment; whereas. the lapse of a
generation only justifies Mr. Harrison's view OF
,solitical events. a view which has had behind 1t
principles and convictions maintained through
a long life. Whether his philosophical and theo-
logical 6elfverances little the worse for
exposure TO the seasons difference may be
question. but not for the author. What Mr..
Harrison has to say IN these vaiedictory vol
unes about religion and the life of reason shows
him sta nGing where q public teacher, he has
always stood blithe and unashamed.
The first concern OF English patriotism to-day
is wth the insoluble and ever present problem
OF empire. From being the dominant nation in
the state system of Europe. England has been
translated into nondescript world power. AS
an Englishman Mr- Harrison views with shame
!rhe effacement Of Old England. and as a patriot
e foresees the calanlities in which its inevitable
dissolution may cuiminate saying:
L Is not merely the sinking OF heart feel when
! find ancient England besnliTched INTO a mon mon
x-el empire, when / listen TO the blasphemous
spagger OF the imperialism of the canteen, when
thnk OF n al ns vSnfnres ID over the globe
II Is not merely matter OF degraded feehng ana
cenTicton that this pGrre empire is doomed to
early cissolution-is incapable OF beng maze per
our political progress backwards. and may possibly
lead Us down into cruel ruin
Such an inheritance of evil omen incapable
=. ling permanently held or yet OF being sud
denly Quilted" must be wisely faced and re-
s,,cea in time Of equal urgency with the ques-
.fon Of er1pre is the problem centring in the in
ls7,e-riaI system and Mr.. Harrison is sure that
r,ntil there has been q root and branch social
revolution 70 reform the daily lot OF the vast
working ma jority this earth will not be home
worthy Of civilized man Not much exception
can be taken 10 the Socialist Indictment against
our vicious economic SYSTEM but when 1t comes
10 reconstructive schemes the remedies usually
prouosed are futile. The neglect Of other than
lInaterial aspects OF well being. the embargo
personal initiative the vague Utopias Of social
dsnl-would they not If applied in practice bring
s.ivilization 10 an end? The root difficulty with
1.-The evils Of economic and imperial aggrandize-
Inent is selfshness. The one cure for selfish
ness is religion The religion alone worthy Of
regard in our social extremity is the religion Of
Positivism. the religion OF Humanity Among
the notes Of the new faith we find a grasp Of
the whole field Of human history intense SYM
pathy with every son and daughter Of the hu-
man family: above ALL q trained knowledge of
.the vast results OF science the will and the wis
dom 10 use this knowledge TO the furtherance of
a higher civilization.
How ny Harrison came to be the exposltor Of
the new religion, which is simply the incor-
poratfon Of Christianity with science and philos-
oPhy" is told with some minuteness in .,rba
Greed OF a Layman-' Young Harrison went IN
V1loFd IN 1890 entering at Wadharn College at
mai Tine an ultra evangelical citadel High
ana Low and incipient Breads" were AT 1os-
serheads- German criticism and the theses of
corlte Darwin and Spencer were getting rec
iognltlon The youth found himself more ana
--OrS estranged from the religious beliefs oF his
--ilohcoo- AS boy he used 10 pray earnestly,
--'eH' ana morning; he honestly believed that
me Almighty would enable him to get .oo,7
sCoI7 N i cricket match If only he besiege5 +t,o
1lIohe OF Mercy with the needfuI rarsis+
Gays Mr.! Harrison: This sounds IN mo No.. -,
.1,t, Ieei shame IN setting it down
-1I5ush complete break with the traditiopoi
go " @S not made until 1860 there can ba no
uo19' that the religious convu1siop 80 80
~. -1eU Win Poignant regret UnIfka co., -
= contemporaries who relinouisba5 - 81
ne appears to have had M 60 -
7;,is between two worlds or oe -,
--stehlng 10 the retreatina +;5 " "isIIuI
faith Ioes OF the sea Of
7--. -"1'lohs to theological discuss;o,, .4o
iallt negadons Of Mr. Har1ison,s Inc
very attention in the SOS the -, , en-
y 'ie nineteenth century debates
- .i.em now would seem 10 serve tbe w.
- history rather than of prophec,, for -.
- lI-e simple layman can scaroeIv ba g.,
os .. III an attempt to identify the, fabric
W. oeilef with a scholastic theoloe,,
. -'H al ooduracy almost picturesque ,,,r d.
us Oy the Either-or logic. Orthodoxy
u~edis ~ with an anthropomorphic God and eeo-
=. "or1d or-surrenders. The RthIa is
(-'--er coos truth or dubious couniIs1ion of
oriental documents" Tha inor;-,,,, -.
might think this hard saving. VET +t;. a,
C4Seiy the pass 10 which the Posittvist ,,orId
''e a man so unillumined as to profess soma
SUI q orthodoxy. Is there no wav het1raan
e Two distinctions. and must we saw that
e- al inspired writer is a sort of funnel or
mere is no inspired writing? Or. TO o,,ote Mr.
harrison regarding the brilliant promises of
heavenly glory, are we to say that these are
eiIher made material or they ara haseless
1ahcies? What seriously detracts from the
worth of these essays in theological criticism is
tie persistent ignoring Of the claims of any in
expectation Of the Christian faith other than
onat Interpretation from which the author re-
VOTED Not Tertullian in ali his vfgor was more
1i'"l-Llng TO acknowledge the rights of ''Pla-
IONIC, dialectical Christianity" Fer men hold
Ing 70 a Greek" theology Mr. Harrison has
-ihe scorn 4 church harboring such a system
: 01canoid' it is guilty of solemn or cynical
hypocrisy What the Church has won in lib
CITY II has lost in honesty" To all of which
lie christian scholar might make answer that
oet4l theology has lived since Alexandria He