Excellent as is Canon Gray's letter (p. 169), I do not at all concur in
his somewhat severe censure on the second paragraph in this letter, in
which Mr. Ruskin, as I conceive, with complete theological accuracy,
points out how in His human nature our Lord accepted and received some,
perhaps many, of the deficiencies of our nature, human frailty and
weakness, even human _liability_ to sin, without, however, once yielding
to its temptations. I have everywhere in my "Life of Christ" endeavoured
to give reasons for my faith in this view, which, even if held, I know
is not often professed.
If Christ had been perfectly insensible to the allurements of sin, where
would be His fellow-feeling with us? It would be a mere outward
semblance; nor would there then be any significance in the statement
that "He was in all points tempted like as we are," if He had been able
to view with calm indifference the inducements presented to Him from
time to time to abandon His self-sacrificing work and consult His
safety. The captain is not to go securely armour-plated into the fight
while the private soldier marches in his usual unprotected apparel. Nor
will the Captain of our salvation protect Himself against the dangers
which He invites us to encounter. If He knew nothing of sin from
experience of its power, how could He be an example to us? Therefore I
believe Mr. Ruskin to be perfectly right in affirming that in the words
of Jesus we listen not to one speaking entirely in the Power and Wisdom
of God, but to the Son of Man, bowed down, but not conquered, by
afflictions, firm and unbending in His great purpose to bear in His own
body the sin of the world--Son of Man, yet God Incarnate.
Nor does it seem to me "a hard way of speaking" when Mr. Ruskin rightly
and plainly affirms the perfect humanity of Christ, which, however,
Canon Gray correctly points out to be assumed and borne in accordance
with His own will as perfect God. I am afraid that, good and kind as he
is, it is Canon Gray himself who is a little hard in unconsciously
imputing thoughts which had no existence in the writer's mind!
I cannot help being amused at the gravity with which certain critics
shake their heads ominously over the last paragraph in this letter, and
seriously ask, What can Mr. Ruskin mean by the "peace and joy in the
Holy Ghost" enjoyed by the birds? The Poet Laureate would hardly care to
be brought to book for each poetical flight with which he charms his
many appreciative readers, and to be asked to explain exactly what he
means by each of those noble thoughts which are only revealed from soul
to soul, and dissolve into fluid, like the beautiful brittle-star of our
coasts, under the touch of a too curious hand.
How do we know but that the animal existence of these charming
companions of our quiet hours is not accompanied by a spiritual
existence too, as much inferior to our own spiritual state as their
corporeal to ours? And therefore shall we boldly dare to say that they
perish altogether and for ever? We may neither believe nor disbelieve in
matters kept so completely secret from us. But we must be pardoned for
leaning to a belief that the feathered creatures which spend most of
their brief life in singing loud praises to the loving Creator and Giver
of all good, do not live quite for nothing beyond the dissolution of
their little frames. There are no means of ascertaining this by
scientific experiments, or even by the most ingenious processes of
induction carefully recorded and duly referred to as occasion may arise.
But certainly it is a harmless fancy which many have indulged in before
Mr. Ruskin, without being charged with such unsoundness in doctrine as
denying the Personality of the Holy Ghost! By-and-by it may be found
that what men have believed in half in sport will be realized wholly in
earnest. Just outside the churchyard wall of Ecclesfield may be seen (at
least I saw it a few years ago) a little monumental stone to a favourite
dog, with the text, "Thou, Lord, preservest man and beast." And in
Kingsley's "Prose Idylls" I have just met most _apropos_ with the
following beautiful passage, which many will read with pleasure, perhaps
some with profit:--
"If anyone shall hint to us that we and the birds may have sprung
originally from the same type; that the difference between our
intellect and theirs is one of degree, and not of kind, we may
believe or doubt: but in either case we shall not be greatly moved.
'So much the better for the birds,' we will say, 'and none the
worse for us. You raise the birds towards us: but you do not lower
us towards them.' What we are, we are by the grace of God. Our own
powers and the burden of them we know full well. It does not lessen
their dignity or their beauty in our eyes to hear that the birds of
the air partake, even a little, of the same gifts of God as we. Of
old said St. Guthlac in Crowland, as the swallows sat upon his
knee, 'He who leads his life according to the will of God, to him
the wild deer and the wild birds draw more near;' and this new
theory of yours may prove St. Guthlac right. St. Francis, too--he
called the birds his brothers. Whether he was correct, either
theologically or zoologically, he was plainly free from that fear
of being mistaken for an ape, which haunts so many in these modern
times. Perfectly sure that he himself was a spiritual being, he
thought it at least possible that birds might be spiritual beings
likewise, incarnate like himself in mortal flesh; and saw no
degradation to the dignity of human nature in claiming kindred
lovingly with creatures so beautiful, so wonderful, who (as he
fancied in his old-fashioned way) praised God in the forest, even
as angels did in heaven. In a word, the saint, though he was an
ascetic, and certainly no man of science, was yet a poet, and
somewhat of a philosopher; and would possibly--so do extremes
meet--have hailed as orthodox, while we hail as truly scientific,
Wordsworth's great saying--
'Therefore am I still
A lover of the meadows and the woods
And mountains; and of all that we behold
From this green earth; of all the mighty world
Of eye and ear--both what they half create,
And what perceive; well pleased to recognize
In Nature and the language of the sense,
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being.'"
_Charm of Birds._