Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-06-20

series from lllG pen VI L eiul 1HiiiiSA
More and published under the title OF
the "Shelburne Essays will make their
appeal principally to students of lltera-
ture and philosophy. Ranging in sub
iect from The Forest Philosophy OF
India" to the concluding papers Oh
Socrates and Plato Mr.. More's obser-
vations show ready sympathy Whlch
is in the main unshaded by his personal
convictions. AS mere analysis OF facts
and their relatively, the latter quallty
is admirable in an essayist. From the
human standpoint however, the reader
is often piqued as the author mats
some expression of personal OPINION
lust short of stating his own conVlc-
lions on the basic claims of the world
ancient faiths.
A confessed recreant to his child
hood faith Mr.. More pursues consls-
tently the attitude of sympathetic IN
quiry. There are minor exceptions, as
when he repeatedly champions the losI
Cause-as he deems it-of the Jansenlsts
in their memorable defeat at the hands
of the rising Jesuit power In the
Church of Rome. His despalrlng cry
for a revival of the faith of st. Angus
tine will meet, of course, with instant
rejoinders as to what that falth realiy
is. The modern tendencies in the
church he finds to be hopeiessly
Pelagian a view which curiosity
echoes that of Father Benson in It's
prediction of humanitarian socialism as
The future dstillatiOn of the Christian
religion. Both critics lament their Wis
ion, the priest from the assured posi-
ton of a positive faith, the other WIN
the less impassioned voice of the MS
torian. g
In his characterization of Sir Thomas
Brownies life work as one of the In
Vulnerable protests of the Inauguration
against the imperious usurpatlons Oh
science" Mr.. More strikes the Keynote
of his volume. Only the religious
Imagination has power to halt these IN
roads, he comedies, and he reVeres It's
usefulness while reluctantly withhold
ing his intellectual assent to its mas
terry of the mind. His attack thus Is
essentially damaging to the ratlondl-
istic position which he lnsecureiy oC-
cupies without in any way posltlVeiy
UNFOLDING any school of authoritative
faith His conclusions are of the
greater value of the student, Whlle
leaving much to be desired by the read
Ell of definite convictions, Whetner
Catholic, Protestant, pagan or atnelst.
The Indifference of modern youth 10
Bunyan is deplored in the Illuminating
essay on the inspired cobbler. Mr. More
is severe on the Puritan's fatal loss OF
the true sense of the infinite as some
thing that escapes the understanding
and can be only grasped, II ever
BrdSpeQ (lOIe IIle dSIOSllC NOiiSNSS1"4A|
i'm types and symbols" But he is gen
erous in his praise of the evangelical
passion which alone produced "Pll-
grims Progress" with its enrichment
of literature and spiritual allegory. Yet
he adds that the stern Puritan unW1t-
tingly prepared England for the natur-
al religion of the eighteenth century,
against which Sir Thomas Browne en-
tered his hammered, lifelong protest.
AS a product of transition" he feels
that Bunyan will have always less
meaning for men as time ages, whereas
Pascal is likely to be remembered more
and more as one of the pure voices OF
faith"
This distinction, again, he holds due
to the presence or absence of what
may be called the religious imagination,
For Pascal the community of genera
ton with generation by tradition makes
easy the conception of mankind as spir
itually one instead of an innumerablA
company of repelent personalities; Tor
him, too, the sacramentarian offices OF
the church introduce a certain lrratlon-
al and saving element into dogma. I'M
door is left open for the healing minis
try of ignorance-the knowing that we
cannot know (sic)-and for the super
stitious eye of love. In this twilight
of humanity moves the imagination.
leading the soul upward on ways be-
vond the calculation of the reason
Morality is not weakened, but becomes
a discipline and not an end; it is taught
to be the handmade and not the mis-
tress of the spirit"
This is the essayist'S nearest APP
proach to a positive confession of faith