Omaha daily bee., 1912-06-30

al believer in and supporter Of the
Church Of England. He may repudiate
this position himself, but 1t IL that taken
up by one Of the strongest and best
played characters In the piece, Hal Nc
Fadden. who asks. at any rate. for some
established expression of reasonable
Christianity which might he Applied IN
the most vigorous and betieflciaf manner
not to the reorganization sof humanity
we want, and he seems to- ask for, no
revolutions. no turning of society upside
down so that some class 10 ssassays at
the bottom--but an Increased perneation
Of our social, and political life by the
principle of Christianity as set forth in
the direct teaching of Jesus Christ, the
greatest Reformer the world has ever
known. f.ts lss.$...
Christianity as thus defined, not
Heaven forbid-4the Christianity of the
fathers, Of the miracle mongers. the meta
physicians, the Puritans or the fetish,
worshipers, Ii, q, flying in the face, Of
nature, an opposition to the otherwise
ruthless results following the mathemat-
ical policy Of the survival Of the strong
est, greediest, selfishest or most meanly
adaptable. The impartial working Of
natural laws may have created man and
the nightingale. but. they have also. led to
the development of forms with monstrous
horns and armatures with spines and poi
son glands, or to the reduction Of some
sense organs and the enlargement and1ex-
aggeration of one or two others; to the
complementary degenerate male or the
dwacfed and wingless female: to giants
that become too cumbersome for existence
and minute forms too puny to serve Gods 5
purpose. In short. unopposed nature
would seem to be the devil. and Chris
tianity the attempt Of God to. ..abate that
devil and to shape the living forms on
this planet into accord with some Won
| derful scheme Of progress In the visifiea-
tion of matter. 49, 49, .l
Herein zangwelrs philosophy touches
the skirts OF another unauthorized pro-
nouncement--the remarkable Views ex-
pressed by Du Maurien in Peter lbbet-
son." write ,''unauthorized' because
"Out OF the mouths Of babes and sue
kings hast Thou ordained strength"
Hordes Of theoIoglans havei filled q thou
sand libraries with the useless, lumber of
their vaticinations Ut (, is melancholy TO
take up even the present edition Of the
Encyclopedia Britannica" ana see the
space allotted to Malachi or Joel, worthy
at most of a short paragraph. and mote
the scant treatment. for Sir Joseph Hooker
or Winwood ,Readel; pnaccountable re-
vivals and re-expositions Of Christianity
have taken place; and yet very few pro-
fessionai sxpo,fnders of religion have put
tinto print such fsr-reaching and in some
cases such consoling ideas as. those Of Du
Maurier. the caricaturist and the
draughtsman In pen and ink. and Israel
Zangwell. the school teacher OF London
birth. Polish origin and German name'
who is Theoretically a; Jew. but whose
writings are likely to assist greatly In the
re-birth Of Christianity.
There are two faults to be found with
the play, though they are not so marked
4 In its written fern as in its acting. One
j was the character and utterances Of the
missionary bishop Though we are. sup
posed to be contemplating such type
as existed ten or twelve years aso).
have known intimately not few. of the
great missionary bishops Of Africa and
have made, some ,acquaintance with those
of Asia and America, and ] cannot re:
member meeting any one OF such who
would have taken such middle nine
teenth.century view OF orthodox Chris,
tianfty as does the type somewhat carl
catured by Mr.: zangwelL think that
without In any way disturbing the