No. 33. (New Series.)

lite racy (3tube

AND RATIONALIST REVIEW.

[ESTABLISHED 1885.]

M A RCH i , 1899.

Monthly : Twopence.

Contents.

He who tries to think clearly is more likely to succeed than he who does not try to think at all.

T he New Forward Movement. By C. T. Gorham . 33 Corollaries of Agnosticism. By Charles E. Hooper. 34 T he Need of a Religion. By Herbert Flowerdew . 34 A THEIST Up to date. By Amos Waters . . 35 Let us Not I’ray. By F. J. Gould . . . 3 6 Insurgence in Excelsis . . . . -37 Eternal Questionings . . . . . 3 7 Berkeley no Pyrrhonist. . . . . 3 8 Professor J ames on Immortality . . . 3 8 The Bible and the Higher Critics . . . 3 9 Random Jottings . . . . . . 4 0 A Poet on the Gospel Story . . . . 4 1 Common-sense Christianity . . . . 4 2 Signs and Warnings (g le a n ed fr om the R e lig io u s P ress) 42 Rationalism in the Magazines . . . . 4 3 T he Descent of Knowledge . . . . 4 4

XTfoe INew jforwarb iTDovement. T he righteous man struggling against adversity is a sight for the gods. We are content that the spectacle of Rationalism confronting, with a stoic brow, the armies of the aliens should be a sight for men. But we would like the men to be in sympathy with, rather than hostile to, our aims. I f the sympathy lead to assistance, it will be so much the more valuable. An ounce of help is worth a pound of sympathy. Every great cause is, in its early stages, very much in a minority ; and what that minority has to do is to work that it may convince the majority. Sometimes a good cause is hopelessly damaged by becoming the creed of the many. There is a “ going over to the majority” which means the death o f simplicity and earnestness. Rationalism is not popular enough to be in danger o f such premature decay. It will be long before the Rationalist can say that his warfare is accomplished. Though he may win intellectual victories, his foes are many and stubborn, and they have to be conquered by very slow degrees.

In our last issue we placed before our readers an outline o f a scheme by which it is hoped the operations of the Rationalist Press Committee may be greatly extended. Few will deny that the work is worthy of support. Free ventilation is as necessary to healthy beliefs as it is to healthy homes. Whatever private views one may hold on religious or philosophical matters, it cannot be seriously disputed that the endeavour to popularize opinions in which one sincerely believes is not only legitimate, but laudable. Sincerity of belief does not, of course, guarantee accuracy in the statement of fact. But the Rationalist, as believing that reason is man’s highest faculty, and believing, therefore, that reason should have the freest possible scope, is bound to submit to the severest tests which the reason of others may impose. Does he scorn the Christian theology ? He must be prepared to make good his objections. Does he believe in a Divine Father, an atoning Son, a sanctifying Spirit ? I f he can square such beliefs with the honest dictates o f his reason, who shall deny his claim to be rational ? Reason developes, not always on one line, but in many diverse directions; the judgment is biased by numberless influences, derived from heredity, training, environment. Such influences are often strongest where unperceived by those whose opinions they mould ; but the Rationalist should be the most alert to perceive and allow for them.

There is no need to dwell on the fact that all theological dogmas cramp and debilitate the reason. Millions of living witnesses, the frequenters of our churches and chapels, would lead fuller, nobler, and even pleasanter lives if their religious faith were, not necessarily destroyed, but sweetened and widened by a free exercise of the reasoning faculties. But the reason will not be for ever chained. It takes its revenge by showing an invincible hostility to creeds and dogmas. It obeys no alien authority. Its one authority is Truth, so far as truth may be known.

The work of the Rationalist implies full reliance on the reason, assuming the reason to have an initial supply of fact with which to “ chew the cud of sweet and bitter fancy.” In this respect the Rationalist Press Committee has, in the past, done work which has not been devoid of value. To the best of its power, and with very narrow resources, it has striven to instil into people’s minds a respect for fact, a love of inquiry, a disdain of dogma, a higher conception of ethical duties. All this it hopes to carry forward on a wider scale in the future. The one thing needful is the adequate support which alone can justify its larger aspirations. Partial movements receive only partial support. Rationalism, in the best and truest sense of the term, is a movement which ought to be national. Wealth, like the golden shower of Danae, ought to descend upon the new organization. But the rosy prospect fades before the sober colouring of the actual. Progress is slow, and it were foolish to be oversanguine. Rationalists are a sturdy band, not easily discouraged. There is money behind the movement, and there are brains. I f the money were not forthcoming, it is to be hoped the brains would continue to be exercised occasionally. But the funds are indispensable to a satisfactory propagandist campaign. An attempt is now being made to organize one. Will not our friends come forward ?

We may call to mind the example of certain great organizations for the promotion of Christian knowledge. They began in a humble way— all big things do— in a gathering together o f three or four energetic spirits bent on both spiritual and material profit, and their efforts have (especially in the latter sense) been “ abundantly blessed.” Surely the same energy, patience, and skill which have been manifested in the propagation of religion, of a faith which has shown itself so largely tinctured with superstition, are at the command of Rationalists also. That religion is one of man’s strongest motives to action is undoubted ; but has man no other strong motives? Is faith in our own powers less noble, less inspiring, than faith in the unverified supernatural ? Has not faith in Man been one grand element in the influence of that faith in God which moves man ? Is the effort to check superstition, to spread the light o f reason, to steady and enlarge the ethical impulse, worth no sacrifice or struggle? Never was there a time when it was more necessary to cast the dry light o f reason on questions of religion. When grown men and women are content to have their beliefs manufactured by the priest, to grovel before bits of wood and images, to believe their salvation depends upon a wafer, it is time they should be shown the instability of the dogmatic foundations of their creed, and be recalled to a nobler intellectual ideal. At the end of the nineteenth century the Reformation of the sixteenth is being effected over again. When the work has been accomplished, we trust it will prove to have been thoroughly done. But it will never be thoroughly done without the aid of the Rationalist. The fictitious authority alike of a Church and of a misunderstood collection o f