T HE present writer has lately been reading a book by
a Roman Catholic writer—the author of " The Catholic Church from Within "—entitled "A Short Cut to Happiness" (London : Sands and Co., 2s. 6d. net). "Happiness is," accord- ing to the writer of the preface, Father Maturin, who is in complete agreement with the author, "the conscious or un- conscious end for which every one lives, be lie good or bad, be his end Heaven or earth." And the way to this happiness, is by renunciation. The best man in the world, he believes, if he told the truth, would grant you that "his whole life is controlled by what appears to be the subtlest form of self- interest, the desire for happiness." A man who practises renunciation as the first principle of his existence will be able to assert that he has found happiness,—" a happiness that wells up within him independent of all circumstances, and only faintly clouded by all life's sorrows and sufferings." These are very fine sentiments, so fine that the ordinary man will be likely to lay the book down feeling that such teaching is a counsel of perfection and altogether out of his reach. But is it true, after all And does it represent so much higher an ideal than that of the ordinary run of good people, who see no reason to renounce anything that is not wrong except for the evident benefit of some one else ?
A happiness which prevents a man from being touched by the sorrows of life is surely only a pious name for callousness, and the renunciations which could bring about such a con- dition are not desirable. Here is a like description by Molinos of the state of "blessed and sublimated souls" who have arrived by renunciation at happiness : " They take no pleasure in anything in the world but in contempt, and in being alone, and in being forgotten and forsaken by everybody. There is no news that affects them, no success that makes them glad." Such an ideal, it seems to us, can hardly be called Christian at all; and this happiness is little better than the numbness pro- duced by a spiritual drug. Renunciation alone, we are prepared to maintain, never made " a full man." As a corrective and an expedient it is of value; but as a guiding principle of life we believe it to be pernicious. It makes for happiness and for perfection exactly in proportion as it makes for freedom, for renunciation can both enfranchise and enslave. Take the case of a man who is naturally temperate in all things, and is accustomed to self-control. What need is there for such a one to renounce his freedom, and by an effort of will deny himself the harmless delights of the world in which he lives ? To take a small instance of what we are saying, why should a man who never injures his health with alcohol take the pledge? —unless, of course, he does so in order to help and encourage others, when his object is not renunciation in order to obtain happiness for himself, but the setting an example to others. He is simply curtailing his own freedom. On the other hand, if a man inherits or has developed vicious tendencies which destroy his moral liberty, his only chance of regaining his freedom, and with it peace of mind and lightness of heart, is by renunciation. " All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any," said St. Paul ; and no doubt there are still tyrannical devils which go not out but by prayer and fasting. But the better a man is the less need he has to renounce in the interest of self. Christianity teaches perfection, not renunciation ; and it is astonishing that a mixture of Stoic and Buddhist philosophy but lightly gilded with Christian technical terms should be so widely accepted as part of the Christian faith, for, unfortunately, many persons who have no intention of practising any form of asceticism keep at the back of their minds a suspicion that after all it is of the essence of Christianity. This lurking belief gives colour to the notion that the ideal of Christ is too lofty even to be aimed at except by extraordinary natures, a notion which is a prolific parent of indifferentism. But it may be said,—Did not Christ say: "If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee : it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire "P Certainly He said so ; but that is just what we have been maintaining. It is much better to be maimed and ,good for something than whole and good for nothing ; but that is not Baying that it is not much better to have two hands than one.
Our Lord inculcates renunciation here simply as a corrective.
A religion whose guiding principle was renunciation would be an esoteric cult, fit only for the select few who are gifted with exceptional powers of spiritual imagination, and who desire by withdrawal from the world to increase those powers to the u tin ost,—in Milton's phrase, " a cloistered virtue." Such men, we are sure, would have been regarded by the Apostles as savourless salt, of little use for the salvation of society. As a matter of fact, renunciation is not taught in the New Testament, as a principle of life, at all. The religious men of Christ's day—such men as the followers of John the Baptist—were amazed that He made no attempt to withdraw Himself from the common life around Him. He dined with all sorts of people, and when specially questioned on the typical form of renunciation called fasting, He defended His Disciples, who were accused of avoiding it. Life, He seems to suggest, offers occasions enough for renunciation ; they need not be sought; and He does not intimate that these occasions Will bring any sort of joy, but, on the contrary, the sort of pain which makes a man forget to eat his bread. " Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bride- groom is with :them ? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast." As to happiness, the New Testament gives no definite receipt for it. Cheerfulness is enjoined, and Christ deprecates a " sad countenance " as tending to hypocrisy, and condemns the slovenliness of manner and appearance which depression is sometimes considered to excuse. " When thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast." St. Paul repeatedly counsels his readers to " rejoice." On the other hand, he tells them to weep with those that weep, and has evidently no specific to suggest which will secure any one against the troubles of life. Probably he would have agreed with George Eliot that "our good depends on the quality and breadth of our emotion." We think, however, that the sentences we have quoted would seem to imply that happiness, in the ordinary sense of the word, is a good thing, and is to a great extent within our own control. No doubt it depends a good deal upon circumstances. There are conditions under which no one could well be happy, and conditions under which no one could well be anything else. But life is not made up of these extremes. There are in almost every life many long, indifferent years in which a man can " make himself happy " or not as he chooses. Almost immediately after his injunction to rejoice St. Paul advises his readers to keep their minds fixed as far as possible upon what is wholesome and pleasant, upon virtue and praise, and whatsoever is just, pure, and lovely. Perhaps he intended this advice as a help to the carrying out of his former command.
Religious " freedom " was evidently to St. Paul an absolute necessity to any desirable mental condition. The joy of free- dom and the burden of servitude are continually in his thoughts. " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," he declares ; and he is aware how easily that liberty may be encroached upon, even among the faithful, and urges the stronger spirits in the Church to stand out for it. " Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ bath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Christianity makes no attempt to break, but merely to bend, the will of man,. There is no warrant in the New Testament for any man to immure himself within spiritual walls. It offers no refuge for those who dread pain and temptation to such an unmanly extent that they will shirk responsibility, and forswear sympathy, and forego liberty that they may attain security.
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