The Winslow mail., 1914-11-07
THE WORLD SET FREE
Continued from page 3


away from the temples and hierareNes
and symbols in which men had sought
to imprison it, that it was already at
work anonymously and obscurely in
the universal acceptance of the greater
state. He gave it clearer expression,
rephrased it to the lights and perspec-
tives of the new dawn.
But if we return to our novels for
our evidence of the spirit of the times
1t becomes evident as one reads them
in their chronological order, so far as
that is now ascertainable, that as one
comes to the later nineteenth century
and the earlier twentieth century the
writer's are much more acutely aware
of Secular change than their predeces-
sors We're. The earlier novelists tried
to show life as it is" the later showed
life as it changes. More and more Of
their characters are engaged in adapta-
ton to change or suffering from the eff
tectS of world changes. And as we
come up to the time of the last wars
this newer conception of the everyday
life as reaction to an accelerated de-
velopment is continually more mani
fest Barnet's book. which has served
us so well, is frankly a picture Of the
world coming about like a ship that
sails into the wind. Our later novelists
give a vast gallery of individual con-
6icts. in which old habits and customs,
limited ideas. ungenerous tempera-
ments and innate obsessions are pitted
against this great opening out of life
that has happened to us. They tell US
of the feelings of old people who have
been wrenched away from familiar
surroundings and how they have had
to make peace with uncomfortable COM
forts and convenienceS that are still
strange to them. They give us the dis
cord between the opening egotisms of
youth and the i'll defined limitations of
Il changing social life They tell of the
universal struggle of jealousy to cap
ture and cripple our souls, of romantic
failures and tragical misconceptions Of
the trend of the world, of the spirit of
adventure and the urgency of curiosity
and how these serve the universal
drift. And all their stories lead in the
Slu SllueI W udJIDlDeSS ullSS0u OF nap
piness won, to disaster or salvation.
The clearer their vision and the subtler
their art the more certainly do these
novels tell of the possibility of saliva.
ton for all the world. For any road in
life leads to religion for those upon it
who will follow it far enough
1t would have seemed strange thing
to the men OF the former time that 1t
should be an open question. as 1t is to-
day, whether the world is wholly
Christian or not Christian at all But
assuredly we have the spirit, and as
surely have we left many temporary
forms behind. Christianity was the
first expression Of world religion. the
first complete reputation of triDalisin
and war and disputation. That it fell
presently into the ways of more
ancient rituals cannot alter that. The
common sense Of mankind has toiled
| through 1000 years of Christening
experience, to find at last how sound /,
| A meaning attaches to the familiar I.
| phrases Of the Christian faith. Thel
| scientific thinker, as he W1dens out to
| the moral problems Of the collective
| ,ife, comes inevitably upon the words
| Of Christ, and as inevitably does the
| Christian. as his thought grows clearer,
arrive at the world republic.