Review of Reviews, lJlO/06, 



Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



A NEW CHRISTIAN CREEU. 



By Sir Oliver Lodge. 



Scientists rush in where theologians fear to tread. 

 In the Uibbcrt Journal for July, Mr. H. A. Garnett, 

 in a remarkable article entitled " A Layman's Plain 

 Plea for the Separation of the Creeds from Wor- 

 ship," raises a doleful lament over the failure of 

 modem theologians to attempt the drafting of a 

 new creed. Mr. Garnett says: — 



We do not tliiiil; that our own Bishops ;ind Ministers of 

 Eeligion, either individually or collectively, could possibly 

 be persuaded to compose a Creed, or to fix a form of ser- 

 vice to meet the requirements of the twenty-first or the 

 twenty-second century. 



Why should they not attempt the task? If the answer is, 

 that the work already done by the Fathers is perfect and 

 sufficient, then we are forced to the conclusion that the 

 need for direct inspiration has ceased to exist; that men 

 of the same holy gifts as of old are no longer required; 

 that apostolio succession is a dream; that the power of 

 evil is a declining power, against which the Faith defined 

 in darker days is all-sufficient. 



A "KIND OF VIEW OF THE UNIVEESE.' 



The task from which the ministers of all denomi- 

 nations shrink with alarm has no terrors for Sir 

 Oliver Lodge, who, in the same journal, boldly at- 

 tempts to formulate, in an article entitled " First 

 Principles of Faith,"' 



a set of doctrines not very dissimilar. I suppose, from 

 what mitat be drawn up by most trained teachers, irre- 

 spective of religious denomination, if thev were asked to 

 state something like the kind of view which they them- 

 selves take of the imiverse, and therefore naturally and 

 even unconsciously impress upon their pupils, 



WHAT A OREED IS. 



Sir Oliver sees no reason why creeds and cate- 

 chisms should not be brought up to date, for he 

 says : — 



A creed or catechism should not be regarded as some- 

 thing superhuman, infallible, and immutable: it should be 

 considered to be what it really is a careful statement of 

 what, in the best light of tlie time, can be regarded as 

 true and important 'about matters partially beyond the 

 range of scientific knowledge. A religious creed must al- 

 ways reach further into the unknown than science has yet 

 explored. 



To show us exactly what he is driving at. Sir 

 Oliver Lodge draws up his own creed in the form 

 of an imaginary catechism — " a sort of scientific care- 



chism ; or rather one based on a scientific know- 

 ledge, but leading up to a religious creed." 



A DARWINIAN CHEISTIAN CREED. 



I have not space to do more than quote a few 

 of the articles of Sir Oliver Lodge's new creedal 

 catechism. It begins with the old question, but 

 the answer bears traces of evolutionary develop- 

 ment : — 



Q. What are you? 



A., I am a being alive and conscious upon this earth, my 

 ancestors having ascended by gradual processes from lower 

 forms of animal life, and with struggle and suffering he- 

 come man. 



HIS DEFINITION OP DUTi'. 



The new catechism is more long-worded than those 

 of the older Church, Take, for instance, the an- 

 swer to tlie question : — 



Q, What is tlie dut.v of man? 



A. To assist his fellows, to develop his own higher self, 

 to strive towards good in every way open to his powers, 

 and generally to seek to know the laws of Nature and to 

 obey'the will of God, in whose service alone can be found 

 that harmonious exercise of the faculties which is syno- 

 nymous with perfect freedom. 



THE EXISTENCE OF SPIRITS. 



Sir Oliver Lodge gallantly maintains the funda- 

 mental verity of the existence of spirits. He 

 says : — - 



The existence of higher beings and of a Highest Being- 

 is a fundamental element in every religious creed; and I 

 maintain that it is hopelessl.v unscientific to imagine it 

 possible that man is the highest intelligent existence. 



And, therefore, he thus explains the significance 



of "the Communion of Saints": — 



A. Higher and holier beings must possess, in fuller frui- 

 tion, those privileges of communion which are already 

 foreshadowed by our own faculties of language, of sym- 

 path.v, and of mutual aid; and just as we find that our 

 power of friendly help is not altogether limited to onr 

 own order of being, so I conceive the existence of a mighty 

 fellowship of love and service. 



A NEW APOSTLES' CREED. 



This is the new formula of faith which Sir Oliver 

 Lodge believes can be deduced from a study of the- 

 records and traditions of the past in the light of the 

 present : — 



I believe in one Infinite and Eternal Being, a guiding and 

 loving Father, in whom all things consist. I believe that 

 the Divine Nature is specially revealed to man through 

 Jesus Christ our Lord, who lived and taught and suffered 

 in Palestine 1900 years ago, and has since been worshipped 

 by the Christian Church as the immortal Son of God, the- . 

 Saviour of the world. 



I believe that man is privileged to understand and assist 

 the Divine purpose on this earth, that prayer is a mean& 

 of communion between man and God. and that the Holy 

 Spirit is ever ready to help us along the Way towards 

 Goodness and Trutli. so that by unselfish service we may 

 gradually enter into tlie Life Eternal, the Communion of 

 Saints, and the Peace of God. 



"SOME INTELLIGENCE SUPREME." 



As to the existence of God, Sir Oliver Lodge 

 makes the following answer to the question: — 



What caused and what maintains existence? 



Of our own knowledge we are unable to realise the mean- 

 ing of origination and maintenance, but we conceive that 

 there must be 8<ime Intelligence supreme over the whole 

 process of evolution, else things could not be as organised 

 and as beautiful as they are. 



This effort to reconstruct in plain and simple 

 terms the faith that is within us is as useful as it 

 is audacious, and Sir Oliver's example ought to be 

 widely followed. 



■ An interesting magazine, devoted to sp.-is and 

 sanatoria, is the Health Resort. With the July issue 

 the price has been reduced from 6d. to 3d. The 

 contents of the number include articles on Buxton, 

 Evian-les-Bains, Hastings, and Toblach. 



