VIII 



THE DECADENCE OF THEOLOGY 



r I iHE death of Tennyson the other day with a 

 -^ copy of Shakespeare in his hand instead of the 

 Bihle or Prayer Book, and with only his family and 

 physician by his bedside, does not seem to have 

 sent any shudder through the orthodox religious 

 world. That a great poet in his last moments 

 should seek to lean upon the spirit of another great 

 poet, gone before, is natural enough ; too natural, one 

 would think, to suit the supernaturalists. Tenny- 

 son's was a profoundly religious nature, but evi- 

 dently he had worked his way out of the quagmire 

 of the theological creeds. It was a significant death- 

 bed, science watching the body and literature min- 

 istering to the soul. Where the parish priest was 

 we are not told ; men's thoughts in their last hours 

 are turning less and less to him. The faith that 

 really saves, saves from an ignoble terror that im- 

 poverishes life and makes death hideous, is no 

 longer in the keeping of our theological doctors. 

 Eenan passed away with far more cheerfulness and 

 composure, if reports be true, than did Cardinal Man- 

 ning. The serenity of Eenan, as he said of his 

 friend Calmann, " was that of a good man, sure of 

 being in accord with superior rule." Kenan seems 



