THE DECLINE OF FAITH.

Medicine has often been called a sceptical study, but it would appear that members of the other professions are also losing their hold on the doctrines of the church.  Speaking as an outsider, as an observer of religious tendencies, Mr. Justice HIGINBOTHAM has asserted his firm conviction that a simple belief in the unity of God was the first rational creed, and he has predicted that it will also be the last. Whatever may be thought of the intrinsic value of this statement, he has at least one sympathiser on the Victorian bench, and he may be taken as a type of many educated men. The thoughtful are drifting away from the faith professed in the churches, some to Theism or Pantheism, some to Agnosticism, while others, giving up the vain effort of speculation on religious things, view controversies with indifference, and content themselves with the work that comes daily to their hands. At one time theology was culture; all learning gathered round it, and all literature was saturated with it. The two are now widely apart. It may safely be said that there is hardly a scientific man whose religious opinions have not been considerably modified, while there are hundreds who proclaim themselves uncompromisingly hostile to the current teaching. It is equally true that of our literary men few or none have remained faithfully by the standpoint of the creeds, and not even TENNYSON has escaped blame. Naturally, therefore, the feeling has gradually spread abroad, that the creeds, confessions, and symbols of the church are out of date and antiquated; They are old landmarks, interesting historical monuments, but the tide of thought has passed beyond them. They are like a castle that looks down upon a new race of people to whom it is of little use, or like a rock that still stands, although the whole appearance of the surrounding country has been changed. Such is a view which has found expression even within the church. It is confirmed in a multitude of minds by a glance at the method in which the creeds were originally formed. They were partly the outcome of a most unchristian strife and opposition. Though they may contain the pure gold of truth, it is seen to be imbedded in the mud brought down the ages by floods of controversy .

But though the creeds may now be received with less authority, it cannot be denied that the Unitarian Church, which claims to represent liberal thought, has made little progress. Mr. Higinbotham confesses this, even when avowing his heartfelt sympathy with its principles. Dr. MARTINEAU takes a despondent view of the future, and in America, where it has been the nursery of most of the great writers, its influence is not increasing. Nor is the reason far to seek. The Unitarian Church is in its origin distinctly a sectarian organisation. It began and has been continued principally as a protest against one particular doctrine. Its tone has been negative—the denial of what is affirmed elsewhere, the repudiation of what is usually believed. Now, the majority of people have no desire to desert their own churches and take up a hostile attitude to them; they wish rather to see their church broadened and liberalised. Moreover, they are not tempted to hurry over to the other extreme, which they might find as unsatisfactory as the old creeds ; and while they are willing to modify their ideas, they will take no violent step. Then, again, the Unitarian Church, by constantly engaging in a work of destruction, offers little stimulus to the devotional feelings which are an essential part of the religious nature, and even those who grow up in it become indifferent. But the success or failure of one denomination, or of all the denominations, has little to do with the onward advance of thought. The growth of a more liberal spirit is to be traced in current opinion and within the churches. It is only a few years since FREDERIC ROBERTSON raised a tremendous storm by declaring that the traditional doctrine of the Atonement, as formulated by a medieval schoolman, was immoral and untrue. Since then we find that a London preacher is allowed without question to reconstruct theology in accordance with the Darwinian theory. We see, also, that the modern criticism of the books of the Bible is rapidly making headway among some schools of clergymen. Half the doctrines which were wont to be declaimed from the pulpit are now quietly ignored, and the harsher side of the creeds is disappearing. Humaner notions prevail, and an Edinburgh minister, in a noteworthy poem, has pictured CHRIST Himself as wearing of the glory of the traditional heaven,  and going forth to save the souls of the lost. All these things reveal the beginning of a change, the end of which is not yet visible.

Several causes have conspired to give it new bent to the thoughts of men on religious questions. Science has virtually created a new heaven and a new earth, for the modern evolutionist sees in the world something totally different from that which was perceived by people who believed in its instantaneous creation out of nothing. Then the wisdom of the East has again been introduced to Western knowledge. The studies of Indian literature, brilliantly begun by MAX MULLER, have shown that there were many sound and useful precepts in other faiths, and that Christendom does not possess a monopoly of the truth. Researches into many ancient beliefs have led to a science of comparative religion, which promises, whether mistakenly or not, to discover how religion has been gradually developed from the first crude hopes and fears which were cherished by primitive man. Besides this, the interpretation of the Bible has been modified in many points by a more just criticism, and instead of being regarded as a storehouse of texts, it is viewed as the literature of a nation. These are the chief tendencies of the age, which have already caused a large amount of doubt and uncertainty, and we have now to ask what result they are likely to produce.

It is obvious that the question of the miraculous will be the standard and touchstone in religion. There is an ever-increasing number who find a great difficulty in believing in the reality of a miracle. The world, they say, is orderly; legends are easily made, and a miracle proves very little at the best. It is hard, therefore, to imagine that the course of nature has ever been disturbed. On the other side will be a strong belief in the supernatural, and we may expect that the minor differences of sects and the other dogmas of the creeds will be considered of comparatively little importance. But even if the former view should prevail, we cannot hold with Mr. Higinbotham that the idea of God may disappear from the world for a time. As long as men acknowledge a power superior to themselves, most of them will conceive that power to be spiritual and intellectual. Mr. Higinbotham seems to think that they will wait until the existence of God is proved before they believe in Him. But this is contrary to all experience. Were it true there could be no religion. Religion is an instinct or an impulse of human nature, and faith springs up first ere it is analysed and examined, just as men eat before they know anything of physiology, and walk before they learn anatomy. So it must continue, and people will embrace by faith, believing where they cannot prove. The churches may be shocked and alarmed by the utterances of the Chief Justice. Laymen will feel that knowledge does not end in the abyss, and that the discovery of new facts must in the long run be to the advantage of the world.

Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 23 July 1887, page 24