234 REV. STEWART A. MCDOWALL, M.A., B.D., ON 



and truth, as well as goodness ; the Good, True, and Beautiful can 

 do no less ! The last page seems to me to take us rather to the 

 aesthetic services of Dr. Percy Dearmer, than to enforce the wonder- 

 ful meaning of the phrase I have quoted of " the beauty of holi- 

 ness "—surely a far higher concept of the ^S^sthetic ! Once more 

 I should like to thank the learned author for his most inspiring 

 paper. 



Lieut. -Colonel Mackinlay said : — I wish to associate myself 

 with the Chairman in his admiration of the beauty of the diction 

 of this paper. There are many things to discuss in it. I have 

 only space to mention a few. 



(1) I combat the statement (page 219) that the reconstruction of 

 the philosophy of Christianity is already well under weigh. I read 

 that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day and for ever 

 (Heb. xiii, 8). In this world of change He changes not, and He keeps 

 His own, who are warned against the perilous teachings which are 

 coming (2 Tim. iii, 1). 



(2) Our author firmly believes (page 231) that the average man 

 won't understand much about the Christian idea of God without 

 some teaching about Beauty and Truth. But, according to Scripture, 

 God has chosen the foolish things of the world that He might put to 

 shame the things that are strong (1 Cor. i, 27). 



(3) Our author makes much of Beauty. Now Beauty is good, 

 but it is not useful for every purpose. My thoughts go to the 

 parable of Dives and Lazarus, the one clothed in beautiful garments, 

 the other full of ugly sores. But the destiny of each depended on 

 something quite apart from this Beauty or this ugliness ! 



(4) (Page 227) I consider that art should be trammelled by moral 

 considerations, and that it is not desirable to see low or degrading 

 things in order simply to understand (2 Cor. vi, 17). The Ancient 

 Greeks excelled in Art, but their moral condition was very low, and 

 the pure Gospel was needed by them quite as much as by barbarians. 



(5) One cannot help comparing the drift of this paper with the 

 address of the Christian philosopher St. Paul to the heathen at Athens. 



To-day we have Beauty extolled, man's wisdom made much of, 

 things likely and unlikely dwelt upon (page 230) and personal opinion 

 advanced (page 231), God's revelation of Jesus Christ ignored, and 

 the climax reached on the last page in the statement that ugliness 

 must be fought as fiercely as sin ! 



