Light V1 May 1881 - Iapsop.com

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A Journal devoted to the Highest Interests of Humanity, both Here and Hereafter.
No. 19. SATURDAY, MA.Y 14, 1881. PRICE TwoPBNCJt.
CONTENTS.
Tiie Jlellri1111 of the FRtare ......... 145 I Kr. Newton Ct-ooland'1 New !look. US
·fteOueol Kn. Fletoher .........•• 146 , Thonght-Beadingb7 Kr. Washing·
boportut to Kedieal Men ......... J-16 l ton lniaav: Biahop.... . . • • • • • • • • 1411
Tiie 8pim...u...a of llcienoe ... . ... 1'4 ! Spirit Teiachinp. B7 K. A. (Oxon) 149
l!enlou Spbita; _and the " Plea- I =·""'1lam bi Bl«h P1- ... ••• 160
- of tlie Table " •••••............ 1''1 enta with -sealed Blatea • • 151
BoMI b7 the Wa7 ........•............... as 8 te who LoYe Drlnlc •..• •••..• 141
.&&ir.e of the Bon. Pel'CJ WJDd· Our Oontemporariea ••• •••••••••... 151
.... K.P. • • • • . . • . . . . • . . . • . • • • 148 Loudon and ProTinclal Bocletiel.. 152
THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE.
We recently noticed a volume which deals with the engrouing
111bject of the Faith of the Future,* and now we find three
o&her volumes all dealing with the aame subject in various ways.
Two of the authors, Hr. Binneyt and Hr. Farmer,t diatinctl7
advocate the cl.aima of Spiritualism aa a factor in that remodelled
Faith. Hr. Crozier's§ object ia rather "to separate as far as
poatible the non-euential and tra.naitory elements of religion
from the elleJlt.i&l and perennial." Bia aim ia to cleanse the
old mher than to formulate the new; as he says, "to unite
religio111 thinkers of all clauea in a common stand against
Xateri&liam and Atheiam." Carlyle, Emerson, and Herbert
Spencer are the teachers whom he selects for analysis, and hia
cloee and well-auatained argument ia a very considerable con·
tn"but.ion to the attainment of the object he aets before him.
Oar read.era, however, are hardly likely to be in much sympathy
with Haterialiam or Atheiam, and we may, therefore, turn to the
TI>lumea that more immediately concern ua as Spiritualists.
Hr. Binney traveraea well-wom ground in his attempt to
llhew that the ai.mple and practical teachings of Jeana Chriat
l5Jrd. onl7 a very slender foundation for the lofty theological
mpentructure that has been built upon them. Outside of the
Churches few will differ from his ooncluaions ; and even within
the pale of the Christian Churches there are many, that are not
the alavee of Church ayatema, that are not bound in the fetters of
a creed that ia enforced by relentleae anathema, who will aaaent
to many of the author's propositions, even if they cannot accept
all his concluaiona. It ia idle to expect auent from those who
have grown up in orthodoxy, whose minda have beoome warped
t.o fit the groove in which they have been trained, and over whose
thoughta-if, indeed, they have ever thought on subjects
l'lllpeCting which to think ia sin, in their estimation-no breath
of doubt has ever paued. For them their Faith ia all sufficient ;
and in the poueuion of it they may well be left undisturbed.
Ii is not a light thing to take away that comfortable doctrine
which can onl7 be replaced, if at all, by deep aearchinga of heart,
bf reatleae questioning, after poaaible despair. &quiucat in pace!
Mr. Binney addreuea those who are not disinclined to take the
trouble of thinking for themselves, and who feel some diaaatiafaction
with the modem phase of the Christian faith in which
they have been brought up.
We ahall not profeu to analyae his methods. Substantially
they are correct, and the volume has the manifest advantage of
patting, with some clearneae, before the uninstructed public
&eta familiar to trained students of theology. The author,
indeed, diaclaims any deep knowledge. He takea tle Engliah
Bible as he finda it, and uses it alone u his iext-book. From it
he draws the teachings of Christ and Bia Apostles, so far as he
&ads them there; and with them he contrasts very eft'ectivel7
the divergent creeds of the Chriatianity of to-day-the Catholic,
the Prot.tant of the Church of England, the Baptist, the
Hethodiat, the Unitarian, the 10,000 aectaries who name themllelvea
by the name of Chriat, and do such despite to Bia
teaching.
• ~ F~ of the BellsioD of the Future. "LIGBT," April Ind, J881 .
t The Ballgion of 1-oompared with the ClarlatlanltJ of to.cta,. B7 Fred.
1. :atue,. LODdon : B. W. A.Uen.11, ~.,.Marla-lane.
t ~ N- Bula of Belief ID Immortalltr. B7 J. 8. Farmer. London 1 E. W .
.W.. U. ~ft Marla.lane.
f'l'lle Bellidoll of the htara. B7 J, B. Oroder, Jl.B. 1-don: 0. Kepn
PulllMl Oo.. f, ~.aqure.
It ia easy to picture the contrast. On the one hand we have
the simplicity of Chriat in its native grandeur ; the voice of the
Great Reformer who so stirred men's hearts by the directneu of
Bia teaching, and the holineu of Bia life. Bia practical
commandments were those which all men agree to reverence.
"If ye love Me keep My commandments "--against murder,
adultery, theft, fraud, slander ; treat all men as you would have
them treat yourselves ; honour your parents, and love your God.
Above all it is the life, not the beluf that saves a man. Therefore,
cult~vate non-resistance, love of enemies, almsgiving, humility,
forg1veneaa, mercy, unselfishneaa, self-denial, righteouaneaa
faith in God, prayer, doing good, and behaving to others as yo1;
would have them behave to you. Avoid worldly cares, covetoua·
neu, hypocrisy, self-glorification, ambition, condemning others,
surfeiting and drunkenneu. Such in broad outline was the
practical teaching of Christ; and to the living of this life waa
attached the promise of aalvation, and not, be it observed to
belief in any of the dogmas which have since occupied s~ch
prominent plaoea in the Christian ayatemt. It ia true He claims
from Bia followers belief in Himself, but this belief, He makes
distinctly clear, means obedience to Bia comlll&J'dments and
teachings.
Salvation, according to Chriat, ia to be had by cultivating a
truthful, benevolent, charitable, and unael.fiah disposition,
exemplified by kindly deeds and an upright life.
On the other hand, we have the varioua complex syatema
which pus current in Hia name - all pouellling, it may
be. hoped, some germs of Bia truth, but all overlaid by
the accretions of ages, with the figments of human fancy,
with the dogmas that have been forged from age to age
for enslaving human minda and binding them in fetters
which make liberty of thought and action hopeleaa. The
Thirty-nine Articles, the Athanaaian Creed, the W estminater
Confession-how do theae consort with the simplicity of Chriat 1
Sanctification and Juatification, Fate and Free-will, Predestination
and Election, Sacramental Gr:M:e-of theae and kindred
dogmas the Churches are full, and every page of Church
history briatlea with the reoord of confilcta in which theae man·
made doctrines have fought with and driven out the true spirit
of Chriat. The picture ia not unfairly drawn in thia volume.
The part, however, which is novel in such a book ia that
devoted to the consideration of the teachings of Modem
:Spiritualism : a creed which olaima, as our author alleges, " to
be eaaentially Christian, reconciles science with religion, and
proves to all creeda the uaeleuneaa of doctrinal squabbles, !Qld
the neoeuity above all elae of cultivating the inward spirit,"
seeing that it ia the spirit that ii the real man. Thia argument
ia full of interest, and the author makes out a very strong case
for the claima of Spiritualism to be the truest representative of
Christ's teaching-the modern representative of Primitive
Christianity-the oiily system "that gives a just and intelligible
theory of the life after death." The case ia temperatelt and
even tentatively put ; but, aa Mr. Binney goea on, we see the
argument powerfully uaed for confuting no leu formidable a
critic than W. R. Greg. We can but refer our readers, and
especially thoae who wiah to know what can be said for
Spiritualism as a religion, to thia excellent and convincing
argument.
Mr. Fanner's volume ia a aecond edition of what, il we
remember rightly, was first called "Spiritualism as a new baais
of belief." ~piritualiam as a word has, however, become
IUllOCiated, the author thinks, with so much that ia undesirable
that he ia fain to drop it and sail under ot.her coloUI'll. We are
not of that way of thinking. We did not choose the word ; we
do not admire it u a word ; but, for good or evil, that which
we are concerned with ia known by that name, and we propose
to cleave fut to it. Let the "ohicanery, fraud, credulity,''
that Mr. Farmer holda up hia handa at, change its name, or
rather cease to borrow that to which it has no title. For
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