THE LITERARY GUIDE:
A M O N T H L Y R E C O R D A N D R E V I E W O F I N T E L L E C T U A L P R O G R E S S .
No. h i .]
M ARCH i, 1895.
[Price One Penny.
N E W P U B L I C A T IO N S .
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T he most important book issued during the past month is certainly the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour’s “ The Foundations o f B e l ie f : Being Notes Introductory to the History of Theology” (12s. 6d.). It has been welcomed with remarkable enthusiasm by the various theological sects, as being a masterly impeachment of Rationalism by a hitherto supposed sympathiser with heterodoxy, and as evidencing the beginning of a reaction in behalf o f ecclesiastical religion. The work is critically examined in the present number of the Literary Guide.
A dmirers o f George Eliot will be interested in the announcement that Messrs. Blackwood & Sons will this month begin the publication of a new edition of the great novelist’s works, in half-a-crown volumes.
We understand that a collection o f the prose writings of the late James Thomson will be published by Messrs. Reeves and Turner. It will be supervised by Mr. Bertram Dobell.
Mr. G. J. Hoi.yoake is engaged in writing a work dealing with the origin and nature of Secularism.
M r. J- M. Wheeler is engaged on a volume of memorials o f Freethinkers now forgotten by all but the sturdy, studious conservers of the names and lives of pioneers “ gone before.” We have reason to believe that Mr. Wheeler’s volume will be of exceptional interest.
T h e Royal Asiatic Society has published Professor C. H . Tawney’s translation of the collection of Jain stories, entitled “ Kathakoga ” (ios.). Students of comparative folktales will be glad to possess this work, as Mr. Tawney’s notes of variants of the tales in different countries of India, as well as in Europe, cannot fail to be both interesting and useful.
Messrs. W. Stewart & Co. have in the press “ The Agnostic’s Primer,” a little pocket manual, intended to be to the children and youth of Freethinkers what the Prayer Book and Bible are to the Christian school-child. It will contain an account (necessarily brief, but concise) of “ Agnosticism, Secularism, Freethinking,” or, as the author prefers, “ Aletheism ” (a philosophical religion of truth); man’s gnosis— God, revelation, miracles, man’s future, worship) prayer, Sabbatarianism, the invisible world, marriage, and morality; ' man’s moral co d e ; examination 0f conscience ; aspirations, Burial Service, Marriage S e rv ic e ; elementary science— the universe, earth, atmosphere, crust of the earth, geological epochs, periods, e t c . ; solar system, seasons, origin of life, evolution of species, descent of man ; list of books and alphabetical index. A cheap edition in cloth will be published at is.
U nder the title of “ The Agnostic, and Other Poems,” Mr. George Anderson, one of the principal benefactors of the Rationalist movement, has issued an elegant volume of verse. In his preface to the title-poem the author states that it is not intended to be a theological treatise, and that its object is not to advocate any given set o f opinions. Its ostensible purpose is, indeed, to induce people to think for themselves concerning the most momentous questions that human thought can grapple with. We shall review the work at length in our next issue.
Mr. C harles Watts has nearly ready for press a new brochure, the subject o f which will be, “ Was Jesus Christ a Social and Political Reformer ?” (qd.).
MR. BALFOUR’S NEW BOOK.* .
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FIRST NOTICE.
It is inevitable that, in reading Mr. Balfour’s work on “ The Foundations of Belief,” one should make a comparison between his literary method and that of Mr. Gladstone. The comparison throws Mr. Balfour’s style into bold and artistic relief against the tinselled meagreness of Mr. Gladstone’s rhetoric. With a measured, logical tread the argument proceeds. All the wheels of the controversial machine are visible One sees from the outset the point aimed at. No difficulty is experienced in working out an analysis of the essay. Indeed, we are a little surprised that the author did not, in a preliminary table, show a syllabus of the ratiocination by which he conducts his critical and constructive exposition.
The diction is always dignified and impressive. It is never heavy, and often breaks into an agreeable brilliance of epigram. All the more reason that the heedful reader should refrain from hasty assent. Let caution wait on admiration. For, in the final pages of his book, Mr. Balfour leads us out into an intellectual region which he chooses to call Christian theology. And that way madness lies ! Yet, ominously enough, he only takes us to the border of the Promised Land. Just as we catch sight of the fair champaign and the gilded turrets, Mr Balfour vanishes, leaving us in doubt as to whether he intends us to journey on to the Four Gospels and the Salvation Army, or to a refined Theism delicately tinted with the best Christian ethics. Not that he plays the deceiver. His very title-page points to the little wicket-gate whither he invites us to travel — his essay is a series of Notes “ introductory to the study o f theology.” The Agnostic reader can scarcely suppress a sign of chagrin. Having rejected a long train of theologies, he is to be importuned by yet another. And when will
* “ T h e Foundations o f B e lie f: Being Notes Introductory to the Study o f-T h e o lo gy .” By the Right lio n . Aithur James Balfour. (London: Longman, Green, & Co.) 356 pp.; 12s. 6d.
