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No Refuge but in Truth By: Goldwin Smith (1823-1910) |
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BY GOLDWIN SMITH
TORONTO WM. TYRRELL & COMPANY 1908
COPYRIGHT, 1907 1908 BY THE SUN PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY COPYRIGHT, CANADA, 1906 BY GOLDWIN SMITH
CONTENTS.
PREFACE. I. Man and His Destiny
II. New Faith Linked with Old
III. The Scope of Evolution
IV. The Limit of Evolution
V. Explanations
VI. The Immortality of the Soul
VII. Is there to be a Revolution in Ethics? The Religious Situation
[Transcriber's note: Because "The Religious Situation" had its own
title and verso page, it was split into a separate e book.]
PREFACE. The letters collected in this volume appeared, with others, in the New
York Sun , to the Editor of which the thanks of the writer for his
courtesy are due. Appended is a paper on the same subjects commenting on one by the late
Mr. Chamberlain, since published in the North American Review . To
the Editor of the North American Review also the writer's
acknowledgments are due. There appeared to be sufficient interest in the discussion to call for
the publication of a small edition. The age calls for religious truth. Nine thousand persons communicated
their cravings to the Editor of the London Daily Telegraph . By their
side the present writer places himself, not a teacher, but an inquirer,
seeking for truth and open to conviction. The position of the clergy, especially where tests are stringent, calls
for our utmost consideration. But I submit that it would not be
improved by any attempt, such as seems to be made in a work of great
ability before me, to merge the theological in the social question.
Benevolence may still be far below the Gospel mark, and the Christian
faith may suffer from its default. But the increase of it and the
multiplication of its monuments since the world has been comparatively
at peace cannot be denied; while of the distress which still calls for
an increase of Christian effort, not the whole is due to default on the
part of the wealthier classes. Idleness, vice, intemperance,
improvident marriage, play their part. Let us not be led away upon a
false issue. There is nothing for it but truth.
I. MAN, AND HIS DESTINY.
Time has passed since I first sought access to the columns of The
Sun , ranging myself with the nine thousand who in an English journal
had craved for religious light. The movement which caused that craving
has gone on. The Churches show their sense of it. Even in that of
Rome there is a growth of "Modernism," as it is called by the Pope,
who, having lost his mediaeval preservatives of unity, strives to quell
Modernism by denunciation. Anglicanism resorts to a grand pageant of
uniformity, beneath which, however, lurk Anglo Catholicism,
Evangelicism, and Liberalism, by no means uniform in faith. The
Protestant Churches proper, their spirit being more emotional, feel the
doctrinal movement less. But they are not unmoved, as they show by
relaxation of tests and inclination to informal if not formal union, as
well as by increasing the aesthetic and social attractions of their
cult. Wild theosophic sects are born and die. But marked is the
increase of scepticism, avowed and unavowed. It advances probably
everywhere in the track of physical science. We are confronted with
the vital question what the world would be without religion, without
trust in Providence, without hope or fear of a hereafter. Social order
is threatened. Classes which have hitherto acquiesced in their lot,
believing that it was a divine ordinance and that there would be
redress and recompense in a future state, are now demanding that
conditions shall be levelled here. The nations quake with fear of
change. The leaders of humanity, some think, may even find it
necessary to make up by an increase of the powers of government for the
lost influence of religion. Belief in the Bible as inspired and God's revelation of himself to man
seems hardly to linger in well informed and open minds. Criticism,
history, and science have conspired to put an end to it... Continue reading book >>
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