290 



The Review of Reviews. 



THE MODERN VIEW OF RELIGION. 



Universe, Thy Will Be Done ! 



In the International Journal of Ethics for January 

 G. A. Burrow maintains we are getting back to the 

 Greek attitude of mind : — 



We are asking questions about the fundamental nature of 

 existence, not simply about man's fate and man's part. With this 

 renewed study of general problems has come a lessened 

 insistence on the individual. As our civilisation has grown 

 more complex, the individual realises that he counts for but one. 

 Putting it simply, we are more concerned with the salvation of 

 the world than with the salvation of our own soul. Even the 

 interest in morality, which seems, from its preoccupation with 

 man, to join more closely to the media:val interest, is not to-day 

 the interest in changing the world to unworldliness, nor in 

 seeking to be saved out of it, but the concern with the problems 

 of sociology. We ask not how to be saved from the world, 

 Ijut how to live in it. 



Mr. Harrold Johnson, in a paper on " The Problem 

 of an Effective Moral Education in Schools," gives, 

 among other things, an interesting account of the 

 views of M. Devolve, author of a book on " Rationalism 

 and Tradition." Mr. Johnson says : — 



The author is of opinion that what is now required is a 

 naturalistic transposition of such religious experience as this 

 into forms which may prove reasonably acceptable to the 

 modern mind and in accordance with the terms of modern 

 science. The conditions of such a tiansposition of religious 

 experience appear to him to be : (i) We must replace the 

 communication of the soul with a transcendent Being by its 

 communication with a reality which is one with objective 

 nature. We must acknowledge the homogeneity and real unity 

 of nature with the soul that thinks it. (2) This sense of the 

 homogeneity and unity of being involves the ultimate accord of 

 the purpose of the conscious ego with the purpose of the 

 universe. (3) We must have faith in the power of the Being 

 and in the certain victory of his aspirations. 



Hence, says Mr. Johnson, man " must learn to cry 

 when the fierce struggle within him goes on between 

 the vaster and the narrower claims : ' Not my will, 

 Universe, but thine be done ! ' " 



MEDICAL MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES. 



In the January Eiiginics Review A. N. Field 

 suggests in New Zealand a new condition for entering 

 the marriage state : — 



The idea is that every person before marrying should be 

 compelled by law to undergo a medical cxamin.ation. The 

 public has been accuslonied for many years past to submit 

 without complaint to examination by doctors when taking out 

 life insurance policies, and the examinations now proposed 

 \\ould not be one whit more irksome than that. The doctors 

 would give each person examined a certil'icate, setting out his 

 <ir her general physical condition, and the answers given to the 

 usual questions as to parentage, age of parents at death, and 

 cause of parents' and brothers' .ind sisters' deaths, and so on. 

 I"or the purpose of compiling statistics the persons examined 

 might be grouped into three or four grades, according to their 

 general soundness of physique and stock. 



The examination would be perfectly private and confidential, 

 and is result would not even be disclosed by the doctor to the 

 otlur party to the marriage. The certificate would be issued, 

 and the person receiving it could then do as he or she thought 

 fit with It. One alteration in the law might, however, be made 

 with advantage, and that would be to provide that where one 

 jiarty to a proposed marriage'refuscd to show this official medical 

 certificate to the other party, no action for breach of promise 

 would lie. 



The writer grants tlu't when two people got to the 

 stage of applying for a marriage licence, no doctor's 

 views as to their physique are likely to have much 

 weight with them. Nevertheless, the mere fact that 

 a medical examination must be undergone before 

 marriage would cause the whole population to think 

 more seriously about it. A national premium is, as 

 it were, placed on good health. The writer's purpose 

 is that a duplicate of the certificate would be filed 

 away in the Government archives, and from these 

 graded records valuable eugenic data would be 

 found. The children of parents whose health was in 

 the lowest grade would be the particular concern of 

 the State. 



FROM THE OCCULT MAGAZINES. 



In the Theosophical Path for February there is the 

 best illustrated account I have yet come across of 

 Katharine Tingley's headquarters at Port Loma in 

 California. The author, a Swedish Consul, writes w-ith 

 enthusiasm of the educational work that is carried on in 

 this terrestrial paradise. There are several hundred 

 members of all nationalities. He never saw groups of 

 children so happy, healthy, and well-balanced. No 

 trace of mere religious forms is to be found. He came 

 as a sceptic and went away convinced and converted. 



In the International Journal of Ethics Mr. A. Waite 

 presents a reasoned plea for reincarnation. He says, 

 " The doctrine of reincarnation, in its highest aspect, 

 looks to a social end and not to the consummation of an 

 isolated perfection." 



In the Theosophist for February Father Benson 

 presents a carefully written exposition of the creed of 

 the Roman Catholic Chunh. It is very ably done. I 

 have seldom read a more popular presentation of the 

 case for the Roman Church. 



In the Occult Review lor March Miss H. A. Dallas 

 and several correspondents discuss the fascinating 

 subject of dreams, their origin, and their signifi- 

 cance. " Si rutator " writes on " Star Love and Star 

 Tradition," and M. Zumslcg describes what he calls 

 mcntalism. M iss Mabel Collins' paper on a Rosicrucian 

 ideal expounds the faith as it is in Steincr. 



The International Tlicosophical Chronicle for February 

 republishes from " The Ancient Bards of Britain " 

 the doctrines of the ancient Druids, which are sur- 

 prisingly modern and Christian. Take, for instance, 

 this on pride : — 



I'ridc is the utmost degree of human depravity. It supplies 

 the motive for the perpetration of every manner of meanness 

 and wickedness ; it aims at displaying superiority and the 

 usurpation of power to which none save the Ruling Spirit of 

 the Universe is entitled. 



The Ofyen Court for February publishes an ac count 

 of Mr. David P. Abbott's " New Illusions of the 

 Spirit World." Mr. Abbott claims to do " spirit " 

 pictures as well as the Bangs Sisters, and he has also 

 invented a talking tea-kettle, which carries on con- 

 versations with an\onc \\ho puts its spout to his ear. 



