Article May 5, 1917 Issue

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with contributions from Neville Figgis, S. Carlyle Schaeffer, Joseph Fort Newton, John Reid Shannon, Carl Holliday, Robert E. Speer

[Rev. Neville Figgis, D.Litt., in The Church Times]

The higher goods even of human culture will not persist apart from a spiritual ideal; they will cease to be thought of as goods, and their value will decay. Even education—if material success be all—must undergo a like change.... If, however, religion be the foundation of enduring culture, culture is no less needful to the catholic church. The final truth may not be with intellectualism; we are not on that ground to despise the intellect, but rather to develop and direct it. Without God human society becomes barren and decays. That does not mean we are to despise human society, but rather to show its value to the man of God—if he would be perfect and entire. Art, if followed on lines of pure naturalism, will lose its dignity and sweetness. We are not on that ground to turn aside in Puritan contempt, but rather to do all we can to elevate artistic motives. So with all human instincts—none of them but may lead astray if pursued apart from God. But none of them but enriches the Christian if done in the right spirit.

[Rev. S. Carlyle Schaeffer in The Advance]

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