WATTS’S LITERARY GUIDE ■
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B E I N G A M O N T H L Y R E C O R D O F L I B E R A L A N D A D V A N C E D P U B L IC A T IO N S .
No. 54.]
MAY 15, 1890.
[Price One Pennv.
N E W P U B L IC A T IO N S .
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A complete edition o f the works o f Giordano Bruno will shortly be published in Italy. The edition will contain several manuscripts of the Freethought martyr which have only recently been discovered. The most important will be a transcript of writings and notes on Aristotelian works. There will also be included some letters o f a German friend o f Bruno referring to the travels, studies, and publications of the ex-monk during his sojourn in Germany.
Sir Edwin A rnold, the author of “ The Light o f Asia,” is busy in his leisure at Tokyo with the composition o f a new epic poem to be called “ The Light of the World,” the subject being the life and teaching of the founder o f Christianity.
Messrs. C hapman & Hall will shortly issue a translation o f M. Renan’s new work, “ The Future o f Science.”
M r . G. J. Holyoake will contribute a preface to Mr. F. J. Gould’s “ Stepping-stones to Agnosticism” (is. 6d.).
M r. J. Stuart G lennie, who was an intimate friend of Buckle, will shortly publish a work entitled “ The Origin of Civilisation.”
T he Progressive Publishing Company has just issued “ The Essence of Religion” (is.), by Ludwig Feuerbach. The author contends that “ God ” is merely the image of man, and that dependence upon nature is the last and only source o f religion.
M r. J. M. Wheeler, the author o f “ The Biographical Dictionary o f Freethinkers,” has compiled a formidable indictment of “ The Christian Doctrine o f H e l l ” (2d.).
T he New York Truthseckcr Publishing Company will shortly issue an illustrated work entitled “ Pictorial Arguments Against the Church ” (8s. 6d.). The work will consist o f two hundred pictures and two hundred pages of reading matter.
M r. C harles C. Cat tell has in preparation a second and cheaper edition of his “ Thoughts for Thinking ” (is.).
T he Freethought Publishing Company have just published a valuable work, “ Christ and Krishna ” (2s. 6d.), by J. M. Robertson, one of the ablest writers in the Freethought movement.
Messrs. W. Stewart & Co. have in the press a new pamphlet by Saladin, entitled “ St. Mungo ; or, The History o f a Saint Born of a Virgin ” (3d.); also a new edition of “ H e l l : Where is It ?” (id.), by the same writer.
M r. R. Forder has issued a translation of a lecture on “ The God Id ea ” (2d.), for delivering which the author, Viktor Lennstrand, was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for blasphemy in Sweden.
MR- E liot Stock has just issued a handsome volume entitled “ Studies in Evolution and Biology ” (5s.).
OU R L I B R A R Y S H E L V E S .
We have heard a voice from the pulpit declare that the most bitter attack delivered in this century against Christianity was the late Mr. Cotter Morison’s
“ service of man :
An Essay Towards the Religion o f the F'uture” (Kegan Paul; Third Edition, 1888 ; 234 pp., 10s. 6d.*). There is undoubtedly an element of bitterness in the book. The sword is more familiar to the writer’s hand than the trowel. His essay assails the religion of the past rather than contributes material for the religion o f the future; and he criticises the service of God rather than emphasizes the service of man. Something must be allowed for the incompleteness of plan, which was a consequence o f the lamented author’s illness. But even the preface, in which he strives to make brief amends for this incompleteness, bears a destructive rather than a constructive character. It laments the growth o f Socialism, and takes what is all but a pessimistic view of the coming age. The old order of society is going to pieces, and “ there is a mauvais pas before us all, which we must get over as best we can.* He says plainly— and his courage does him honour— that he looks to Malthusianism for salvation : “ I f only the devastating torrent of children could be arrested for a few years, it would bring untold relief.” But we are convinced that, beneath his coat-ofmail, Mr. Morison concealed a heart full of kindliness towards his fellow-men. It was evidently his idea that a candid statement of the failure of Christianity, and an equally candid statement of the instability o f our present social system, would better serve mankind than an attempt to varnish over the seamy side of things. All this is creditable to his sincerity and honesty, though one may doubt whether his gloomy anticipations are quite justified.
As the work covers a very large area o f discussion, we will divide our remarks into sections corresponding with the chapters.
I. The introductory pages sound a warning note. We have reached a moral and intellectual crisis.
II. Mr. Morison gives a trenchant description o f the decay of theological systems, the belief in miracles, and faith in an anthropomorphic God. It is rightly pointed out that the Scepticism of the eighteenth century was mainly Deistic, as exemplified in the attitude of Voltaire; and the extreme Atheistic school of Diderot and D ’Holbach failed o f a wide acceptance. But the situation is now changed, and “ modern thought finds it increasingly difficult” to believe in a personal Deity.
III. In England, where the philosophy of Evolution has been so extensively worked out, and where Agnostic views are spreading on all hands, men still hesitate to completely abandon Christianity. Why? Because (1) our nation is naturally slow to move in the direction o f intellectual reform ; and (2) religious liberty has been, on the whole, so well established that Rationalism has lacked the artificial stimulus of persecution.
* A cheaper edition lias since been published at 55,
