precise vision he saw, is of course another question. We have a different inheritance; but we may be quite sure that the road does lead to a vision. To take up the Cross and to follow Christ is the passport into His presence. SUGGESTIONS FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." What light does this cast upon the nature of the Church? Compare it with the Catholic idea. Collect the references in the New Testament to the Church as "the body of Christ" and "the bride of Christ," and discuss what each figure means. Do you think that a recovery of the sense of sin is essential to a true understanding of Jesus? How far do you suppose that Dante's division of the after-world into Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven is true? Is there any warrant for it in Scripture? How does it bear upon Omar Khayyam's saying, "I myself am heaven and hell"? CHAPTER IV The Poet as Reformer-Shelley (1792-1822) It is a far cry from Dante to Shelley. Nor is it only the distance of time which separates them: they differ profoundly from one another in their inherited background, in education, and in temperament. Moreover Dante, in spite of his independence of mind, was a devout believer; Shelley, on the other hand, professed to be an atheist. It may seem a somewhat unpromising adventure to inquire of an atheist concerning Jesus. But two things may be said upon this point: First, it is not merely interesting but important for our purpose to find out how Jesus would strike an atheist, a person who had deliberately thrown overboard all the beliefs in which he had been reared. This is, indeed, as near as we can get to such a picture of Jesus as would be impressed upon a virgin mind, and inasmuch as Shelley did not have "a grievance against Jesus," as some skeptical and unorthodox people are sometimes alleged to have, we ought to discover some material of value in his estimate of Jesus. Second, it is really very questionable how far Shelley was what we nowadays would call an atheist. In his day any man who repudiated the orthodox tradition might have been called and might even call himself an atheist. To deny the commonly accepted idea of God is not necessarily to deny God. Indeed, the question may be fairly raised whether a poet can be an atheist at all. Certainly, he cannot be a pure rationalist or a pure materialist. It is the distinction of the poet that his very work is, so far as it goes, a spiritual interpretation of life; and this presupposes some kind and some measure of faith, that is, of belief in unseen reality. He may not give this unseen reality the name of God, but that does not matter so much as his assumption that there is an unseen reality. Now, no one who is acquainted with Shelley's work can wholly accept his own description of himself as an atheist. He was, it is true, in open and vehement revolt against the orthodoxy of his time; he was frankly contemptuous of tradition, But it is quite plain to the careful student of Shelley that his mind was steadily moving onward to something like a real faith. He died when he was only thirty years of age; had he lived another thirty years, who knows whither his restless mind might not have led him? Inviting as such a speculation is, we must not here enter upon it. What we do know is that there is a discernible enlargement of view concerning man and life and the ultimate realities in Shelley's later thought, and that this development comes to an abrupt end. What might have been can never be written; but it may be worth while to record Browning's opinion: "I shall say what I think; had Shelley lived, he would finally have ranged himself with the Christians!" DAILY READINGS Fourth Week, First Day Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended in me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee. But Peter answered and said unto him, If all shall be offended in thee, I will never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter saith unto him, Even if I must die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.— Matt. 26: 31-35. Shelley was peculiarly constituted. He had much more than the average endowment of natural human insubordination. His chief characteristic appears to have been an instinctive hatred of restraint; he was essentially a creature of impulse. "Shelley," says one of his critics, "was probably the most remarkable instance of a purely impulsive character." The conduct of most men is governed chiefly by impulse; but we recognize that impulse should be subject to the discipline of reason and conscience. Shelley's impulses, however, were but indifferently restrained; and when an impulse is aroused to movement in such a personality, "it cramps the intellect, it pushes aside the faculties, it constrains the nature, it bolts forward into action." But in the case of most men of impulse, there is a certain inevitable inconsistency which arises from the number and variety of impulses which are latent in human nature. On the other hand, the man of impulse may be a man of one idea; and his impulses may all emanate from a single universe of thought. The result is that such a man will possess a character of some consistency and strength. Having a common origin in a single supreme passion, his impulses will naturally have also a common direction. This was the case with our poet. The supreme passion of Shelley was for reforming mankind; and it was from this spring that his impulses habitually proceeded.' It is clear that, admirable as such a character may be, it lacks the balance necessary to accomplish results proportionate to the energy which it expends. There is al We are now concerned, of course, only with Shelley's nature as it has affected his literary work. If we were engaged in a complete analysis of Shelley, we should have to note such things as the morbid sensitiveness which sent him on sudden and inexplicable travels, first all over Great Britain and afterwards on the continent of Europe, and accounts largely for his vagrant and stormy life. ways a wide margin of distortion and exaggeration, both in word and in deed, which is sheer waste of power. One of the first conditions of substantial and effective service in reform is a patient study of all the relevant facts. From things as they are to things as they should be is a journey which no man can help the race to accomplish who does not quite frankly face the things that are just as they are. No strong language, no volume of emphatic statements, can make up for this elementary defect. It was at this point that Shelley failed. He had the type of mind that runs instinctively to generalizations. He had none of the patience which seeks out diligently the data necessary to reform or to sound judgment. This gave him something of the character of a firebrand; and firebrands are apt to give out more smoke than light. At the same time it must be remembered that Shelley's exaggerations and distortions are due to a quick sympathy with the suffering and the oppressed and a hot passion for liberty. "It was,' says Professor Dowden, "the sufferings of the industrious. poor that specially claimed his sympathy; and he thought of publishing for them a series of popular songs which should inspire them with heart and hope." These songs appeared after Shelley's death; and, like other of his songs, they were wrung out of him by his poignant sense of "man's inhumanity to man." Fourth Week, Second Day Whence then cometh wisdom? And where is the place of understanding? We have heard a rumour thereof with our ears. And he knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, And seeth under the whole heaven; To make a weight for the wind; Yea, he meteth out the waters by measure. |