July 1927
423
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
Gladstone, Great Christian and Theologian B y R e v . P. B . F r a se r Editor Biblical Recorder, New Zealand
t BOUT eighteen months ago, in a time full of sensations, another was added of a unique kind, in an attack on the personal honor of one of the great prime ministers of the Victorian Era, the late William Ewart Gladstone. It was in a book by a writer whose name would never have been Right, but we shall call him Peter Wrong, and leave him a t that, as unworthy of other notice. I was in London' at the time, and, like multitudes of others, vyas greatly interested in the slanders. Every one who knew anything of Gladstone knew there was not a tittle of truth in the statements. We only wondered what would happen. Viscount Gladstone lost no time in calling his father’s assailant to account. But he refused to bite. Then after long delay, the case was forced into the law courts, with the result appreciated and applauded by all the world in a vindication of the Christian character of the great statesman. Gladstone for forty years has been an object of ven eration by the writer. A portrait of him has held an hon ored place in our home for as many years; indeed from the time when as a youth, half a century ago, I sat behind him in my father’s church in the Highlands of Scotland when my father was preaching to the distinguished gather ing who came annually to Lord Tweedmouth’s residence in Strathglass, Inverness Shire. When I made a study of Christian apologetics, one of the first books I began with was Butler’s Analogy, one of the fundamental classics of Christian apologetics which, prior to Darwinism, was a universal textbook. It always appealed to thoughtful minds. Gladstone, great Christian and a great theologian, who, it was said, would have been archbishop of Canterbury if he had not been Prime Minister, made a study of Butler’s Works and pub lished three handsome volumes of an edition of Butler’s Analogy and Sermons, and a supplementary volume of “Studies Subsidiary to Bishop Butler’s Works” (Claren don Press, 1896). This edition of Butler’s Works is unsurpassed. Gladstone’s supplementary volume is one of the best pieces of apologetic ever written by a layman, if Mr. Glad stone might so be called. His learning far surpassed the bulk of clergymen, yet he was always a humble and rev erent listener to the Gospel. This volume gives a full estimate of Butler’s great writings and deals with the great themes thence arising—(1) A Future Life; (2) Our Condition Therein—History of Opinion; (3) The Schemes in Vogue—a most valuable chapter; (4) Con cluding Statements; (5) Summary of Theses; (6) Neces sity or Determinism; (7) Theology; - (8) Miracle; (9) The Mediation of Christ; (10) Probability as the Guide of Life. C o n t r o v er sy W i t h H u x l e y That you may have a specimen of the temper, learn ing and wisdom with which this great Christian writes, I have selected some passages from his chapter, The Schemes in Vogue, bearing on the great and solemn
theme of Human Destiny. Few have handled it with greater reserve, with greater adherence to Scripture and with greater wisdom. Gladstone had a famous controversy with Huxley on Christian apologetics. He has a noble volume on The Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture, and another on S eley’s Ecce Homo. This book (Ecce Homo—Behold the Man), was published anonymously and attracted great notice at the time. It was the first of many subse quent rationalistic views of Christ, in which, with much admiration of His Character, His Person is reduced to the lowest common denominator and His •Saviourhood ignored. If it had been published now, it would have found a place with Fosdick in the Student Christian Movement. Seeley’s last book was Natural Religion, to which ultimately all this class of literature comes; or it perverts at the other extreme to Romanism. There is a noble statue (by Thornycroft) of Glad stone, in the Strand, London, opposite the Church of St. Clement Danes, near Australia House. I lost no time in photographing it when he was attacked. One of the figures on the pedestal is that of Truth slaying the serpent, the same idea as that of the magnificent statue in front of Melbourne Library, of St. George and the Dragon. The recent attack, totally unworthy of notice but for the honor of a Christian, will come to the mind of many when they visit the monument in the Strand. An English Encyclopedia concludes a notice of the statesman with these words which will be endorsed by all his countrymen:— “With all his defects, Gladstone was a great man and a remarkable figure, and on the whole, well merited the admiration with which he was regarded. Large-hearted, generous, with high ideals, honorable, he was of the best type of an English gentleman, and a man in whom the nation rejoiced.” He was a great Christian man. He died in 1898 at the great age of 89. G l a d st o n e O n H u m a n D e s t in y The anxiety now is to throw these subjects into the shade, lest the fastidiousness of human judgment and feeling- should be so offended as to rise in rebellion against God for His harshness and austerity. That this motive is entertained in good faith, need not be doubted. But the result in practice is that we seem to call the Almighty to account, and undertake, on the foundation of our own judgment, to determine what He can or cannot do, because we have concluded that He ought or ought not. For those who reflect on what God is and on what we are, it will be evident that this is, to say the least, most dangerous ground to occupy. And propositions growing out of our unwarranted assumptions are tendered to us for our ac ceptance with a confidence which ought only to be felt when our reason is acting within its own province, and in the measure of our own powers, p. 201. A n A g e o f I n t im id a t io n What, however, would be the conclusion, I do not say of any zealous champion of orthodoxy, but of any capable and impartial observer, competently acquainted with the
heard of but for his attack. His mother called him Peter
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