A MODERNIST DIARY.*

CURIOUS or intending readers must not be misled by Mr.. Scott Palmer's title. His book is not modernist in the sense which is commonly used when we speak about the writings of Houtin or Loisy. Nor is it altogether like the work of Tyrrell, though it is dedicated to him, as " Seer, Prophet,. Friend." It is not a work of criticism, in the destructive or negative senses of the term. Even less is it written for those whose chief occupation is " to tell or to hear of some new thing"- ,Though unlike Tyrrell in style and treatment, it is full of Tyrrell's spirit. It is a reconstructive and creative book : above all, it is a spiritual book, and 'it kindles in others that fire of the spirit by which the author his been illumi- nated and warmed. It is a long while since we have met with a volume of its kind which is so suggestive,' so. truly inspired in thought, so interesting and attractive in style.

" By a Modernist," says Mr. Scott Palmer, quoting Tyrrell,. " I mean a Churchman, of any sort, who believes in the' possibility of a synthesis between the essential truth of his religion and the essential truth of modernity." And by " modernity " we may understand both him and Tyrrell to the sum of knowledge that existing men have inherited or acquired, and the way of looking at things 'which is forced upon them by that knowledge. The scheme of the book necessitates the term " diary." Mr. Scott Palmer takes an ecclesiastical calendar, Anglican or Roman as may suit him,. beginning with July 7th, and he wanders through the year,. utilising such suggestions as come` to him by the way, -from • The Diary of a :Modernist. By William Seett Palmer. Ioandw

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anniversary or feast, and, not least, from fasts, to reinterpret ancient beliefs, practices, or events. • It is impossible to give any fair or adequate notion of Mr. Scott Palmer's evangel, for such-it is, either by condensing or 'quoting. His thought is so full that it will not condense, and his language must lose both its life and beauty by dissection. Perhaps the best we can de will be to give a few of his chief headings; and then leave him to speak for himself as far as possible, though with a repeated warning that such fragments of an artistic whole must be inadequate and unsatisfactory. Here, then, are a feiv of his chief headings: The Cross, The Problem of Human Freedom, Freedom and Material Necessity, The Paradox of Man, The Reconstruction of Theology, Faith and Fact, the Modern World, Inspiration,The Need and Expecta- tion of the Kingdom, The Coming of Christ, The Coming of the. Spirit. These are only a few of Mr. Scott Palmer's topics, but they will give some notion of his Diary, of the way ,by which he leads his readers into the spiritual world.

He begins by protesting against narrow and mechanical theories of spiritual matters, due partly to arguments drawn from analogies or experiences of time, space and matter, which he sums up as the " Brickfield of Life " ; but caused also by the less adequate knowledge, equipment and intellect, the poorer experiences, of older generations. All these causes have :led to poverty and error in men's theories about the spiritual world ; and these errors have been multiplied by their misuse, their misunderstanding, of such spiritual truths as prophets and apostles and the Messiah himself had gained for them.

'Net that Mr. Scott Palmer despises the past or looks down -upon its errors. He is a true disciple of Tyrrell in knowing it, in recognizing that if we live at all it is only because the good out of the past is living in us.

"The successful founder of a new regime," he quotes from Henry Jones, "Ims always been the devotee of the old.. He has been a more ardent disciple and a deeper lover of the ancient ways than others. He makes the hearts of his followers to burn within thein because he can open the ancient Scriptures of his people. He has come not to destroy but to fulfil. He brings to light the better meaning of the ancient faith, and by evolving the present ..from the past sets free the future."

'There could hardly be a finer definition of Modernism and of

-the true Modernist. Those who condemn him in the name of orthodoxy and by the methods of a barbarous age might be -reminded of the lives, the aims and conflicts, and the fate of

Jesus and Paul, two avowed Modernists. But, as Mr. Scott Palmer adds, the false Modernist, the crude Liberal or Radical, " forgets in these matters the greatest lesson of the past, the

lesson taught to the-world by Christ-and by his Church." Few writers have- spoken with-more insight and sympathy than Mr. Scott Palmer about persecution, and many other ancient crimes- and blunders, He does not, of course, excuse them by the tricks-and casuistry--of too many ecclesiastical apologists ; but he does ascribe them, truly, and by his power .

of sympathy, to the genuine fear and reprobation of those who massacred and persecuted._ Of-" the historic sense," the very note or mark of our own generation, he says, finely, "It is, as it were, the intelligence learning ways of love, learning to understand in spite of barriers of.space and time, learningto

forgive, learning to learn."

Most admirable are the pages, 127 to 131, which Mr. Scott: Palmer has written about Inspiration, a quality which he has the rare good fortune to possess, without any of its offensive and perilous defects ; but we- must leave them unquoted, as well as many jewelledphrases which are scattered through the

volume. We would, however, draw particular attention to the Diary for Christmas Eve, with its account of the shepherds . and the kings, p. 181 ; to which we must add the Diary for the Epiphany, pages 202 to 205. These are passages of re- markable depth and beauty, in which Mr. Scott-Palmer writes,

not as a sentimentalist, but as a true poet, a seer, which is e- very different, matter. He is a mystic purged of all super- atition, swayed by reason, penetrated by the scientific spirit.. Much that Mr. Scott Palmer has to say about. Christ, and Christology is quite admirable. Excellent, also, are his; interpretations .,of St. Paul, especially his dissertation. upon; 1 Cor. xiii., and his whole conception of the Church as a. sociatfactor, as the-instrument of divine_ and human love.

High praise he gives to Tyrrell'- Christianity at the; Cross Beads ; because he- sees, as- Tyrrell said, that eschato-,

,logy coloured the whole teaching and mentality of Christ, but that we can transform it to our own use by raising the

imagery to the higher plane of the ideal, without which- man cannot live :— "Shall we live to see a new birth of the Church in our own generation ? Shall we listen once more to men on fire with the Spirit? Shall we have the manifest promises of a Christian coin-{ malty centred, rooted, and grounded in love; in the love of men and the love of God ? It may be so ; there are signs."

True modernism, certainly, is a sign ; and it is a most hope- ful sign that our own day should produce so fruitful and 1 helpful an interpreter of spiritual things. Matthew Arnoldi praised the man "who saw life steadily and saw it whole. That rare vision was given in a large measure to George' Tyrrell, as it is also to Mr. Scott Palmer ; and no one more(

than Matthew Arnold would have rejoiced in what was denied; to himself by a narrower and more defective age—viz., a synthesis between the intellectual demands and the spiritual needs of men of good will. At any rate, we are much nearer to that goal than we were when Arnold wrote his Literature, and Dogma ; but let us not forget how much of our advance,i, in this and -many other directions, is due in so large a measure to him.