Matthew Arnold's Literature and Dogma [pp. 86-100]

LITERiATUrIE AND DOGA.9A.
of letters; great an(d wvidea ac-quaintance with t ie history of the
human mind, kowledge of the manner in whichl men have
thoughlt, their wav of usinlg worLds anld what they miean by thenm,
delicacy of peerception and quickl tact, and, besides all tihese, a
favorable mioment and the Zui'qeist " (p. 177). ThiM is the nostrum by which the greaot s-oiritual evils of our timie are to be
cur'ed. A Bible agreeuing withii thle old in outwardt form, but differiig from it by the withdraw,al of such eloenits of truth alnd
power as thlese; tlhe pecrsoinality and unity o[ God, the creation
of the uni,verse, all divine providlence, all personal moral government, alil moral responsibility except to on;eself, all remedial provisions for sin and guilt, all help toward righteousness (the only
thinig remaining to be emphasized) except such as may be given
by a highly original and exemplary teacher of righteousness, in
regard to whom and whose teaching we can (except by intuition)
know next to nothing, and in respect to vwhom and whose teaching most of the past judgments of his own followers now appear
to be unitrue! Thriis is the way in whlich the Bible is to be saved
to the masses, and the masses for the Bible! We refrain from
further exhibition of it or comment on it. While iri many vital
matters it is very apparent what DI)r. Arnold does not believe, it
is much more difficult to decide what he does believe. Withl
wearisome repetition on some points there is in otheis utter lack
of clear staitement. Personal pronouns are commonly used of
God, uand personal dispositions ascribed, after a Jewish manner,
to what cannrot be demonsti,rated to be anything more thal a tenlencey. Christ is sent but it does not appear who sent him. In
-following the mretilod and secret of Jesus in his s)pirit we shiall
ha-ve the wvitness and sa,lction of happiness for righteousness;
but lhowv this adjustment of righteoutsness and happiness to human nature is createcl and guaranteed is not obviou-is, when only
a tendiency is ve rifiale,. The doctrine seems to,be tha(t thinDgs
take care of themnelves, andt in oar, vi.ew tihey v;iil do) it better
unltr'lie oldl than under this new religion ot the Ilo e.
/We ca,nnot but coilcntrast with this estimate of the Bib e, which
t-as been passing under our notice, the tribute of tLhe veteran
German cidtic, to whLom we hlave alre(ady rerret-d, Wofgang
lMenzel. it is the book of books, the source of eternal life, of
comfort and strengthl for all the wretched and tried, a shield andi
weapon for innocence, an awaener3 of tlhose spiciuailly asleep,
1874.]
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