Part 14 (2/2)
The doctor then touched upon the differences which existed in religious opinions, and expressed his regret at this, while showing, nevertheless, some indulgence for those Christian sects which do not attack the actual fundamental doctrines of Christianity. But he was intolerant as regards other sects, such as Arianism, Socinianism, and Swedenborgianism, of which he spoke almost with pa.s.sion.
”You seem to hate the Socinians greatly,” remarked Byron, ”but is this charitable? Why exclude a Socinian, who believes honestly, from any hope of salvation? Does he not also found his belief upon the Bible? It is a religion which gains ground daily. Lady Byron is much in favor with its followers. We were wont to discuss religious matters together, and many of our misunderstandings have arisen from that. Yet, on the whole, I think her religion and mine were much alike.”
Of course the doctor deplored the existence of such bold doctrines.
Lord Byron then spoke of Sh.e.l.ley:--
”I wish,” he said, ”you had known him, and that I might have got you both together. You remind me of him, not only in looks, but by your manner of speaking.”
Besides physical appearance, it is easy to understand that there existed a great likeness between the two minds, different though their moral tendencies might have been. In both could be traced that degree of mysticism and expansiveness, which make the poet and the missionary.
Byron praised the virtues of Sh.e.l.ley, and styled them Christian, and spoke mainly of his great benevolence of character, and of his generosity above his means.
”Certainly,” replied the doctor, ”such rare virtues are esteemed among Christians, but they can not be called Christian virtues, unless they spring from Christian principles: and in Sh.e.l.ley they were not so. His virtues might deserve human praise, they were no doubt pagan virtues; but they were nothing in the eyes of G.o.d, since G.o.d has declared that nothing pleases Him but that which springs from a good motive, especially the love of and belief in Christ, which was wanting in Sh.e.l.ley.”
When Kennedy had characterized Sh.e.l.ley in even stronger terms, Byron said to him: ”I see it is impossible to move your soul to any sympathy, or even to obtain from you in common justice a little indulgence for an unfortunate young man, gifted with a lofty mind and a fine imagination.”
These remarks reveal the tolerant spirit of Lord Byron, but they also show how the best natures are spoiled by dogmatism.
The conversation had lasted several hours. Night was coming on, and the doctor, carried away by his zeal, had forgotten the hour. His host, however, did nothing to remind him of it, and when Kennedy got up to take his leave, he said to Byron, after making excuses for remaining so long, ”G.o.d having gifted you, my lord, with a mind which can grasp every subject, I am convinced that if your lords.h.i.+p would devote yourself to the study of religion, you would become one of its lights, the pride of your country, and the consolation of every honest person.”
Lord Byron replied:--
”I certainly intend to study the matter, but you must give me a little time. You see that I have begun well: I listen to all you say. Don't you find that my arguments are more like your own than you would have thought?”
”Yes,” answered the doctor, ”and it gives me great pleasure. I have far better hopes of your lords.h.i.+p's conversion than of that of the young officers who listened to me without understanding the meaning of my words. You have shown greater patience and candor than I could have imagined you to be capable of; whereas they, on the contrary, exhibited so hardened a spirit that they appeared to look upon the subject as one which lent itself admirably to ridicule and laughter.”
”You must allow,” said Byron, ”that in the times in which we are now living it is difficult to bestow attention to any serious religious matter. I think, however, I can promise to reflect even more on the subject than I have done hitherto, without, however, promising to adopt your orthodox views.”
The doctor then asked him leave to present him with the work of B----, which he commended in high terms. Lord Byron said he would have great pleasure in reading it, and told the doctor that he should always be happy to see him, and at any time that he liked to come. ”Should I be out when you come,” he added, ”take my books and read until my return.”
On leaving Byron the doctor reflected over all that had taken place, and feared that his zeal had carried him too far--that his long conversation might have tired rather than interested Byron; but on the whole, he concluded by saying to himself, ”It appears to me, that Byron never exhibited the least symptom of fatigue, but, on the contrary, continually showed great attention from beginning to end.”
We have, perhaps, dwelt too much in our report of this conversation, but we wished to do so for several reasons. First, because it shows, better than a public debate, the real thoughts and feelings of Byron on religious matters, next, the real nature of his religious opinions, and finally we find, in Byron's conversation, virtues such as amiability, goodness, patience, delicacy, and toleration, which have not been sufficiently noticed.
The sympathy which Kennedy had conceived for Byron after the public meeting greatly increased after this first conversation. The candor and simplicity depicted on his handsome countenance, showed that his lofty intelligence could, better than any one else, grasp the theories of the doctor; and the latter felt that if he could not prevail in making Byron a believer in his own orthodox views, at least he could prepare the way for the acquirement of every virtue, and he resolved, therefore, to profit by the permission given him of often visiting Byron.
Meanwhile, the young officers continued their jokes, and pretended that Byron was laughing at the doctor, and making use of him in order to study Methodism, which he wished to introduce into his poem of ”Don Juan.” There is, however, a community of feeling between two frank natures, and Byron felt that the doctor's sincerity commanded respect, while the doctor, on the other hand, knew that Lord Byron was too earnest to condescend to a mockery of him.
”There was,” says Kennedy, ”nothing flighty in his manner with me, and nothing which showed any desire to laugh at religion.”
When he returned to see Lord Byron, he found him more than ever preoccupied with his approaching departure for Continental Greece, and engrossed with a mult.i.tude of various occupations and visits. Byron, nevertheless, received him most graciously, and maintained that jovial humor which was one of his characteristics in conversation. Byron had reflected a good deal since his last interview with the doctor, but the direction which his thoughts had taken was not precisely that which the doctor had advised him to pursue. They did not agree with the tenets of the doctor's religion. The latter had not advised an unlimited use of one's reason, but, on the contrary, had recommended reliance on the traditional and orthodox teachings of the Church. To reason, however, const.i.tuted in Byron a positive necessity. He could not admit that G.o.d had given us the power of thought not to make use of it, and obliged us to believe that which in religion, as in other things, appears ridiculous to our reason and shocks our sense of justice. ”It is useless to tell me,” he said, somewhere in his memoranda, ”that I am to believe and not to reason: you might just as well tell a man, 'Wake not, but sleep.' Then to be threatened with eternal sufferings and torments!--I can not help thinking that as many devils are created by the threat of eternal punishment, as numberless criminals are made by the severity of the penal laws.”
Mysteries and dogmas, however, were not objectionable to Byron. This was shown in his conversation with Kennedy on the subject of the Trinity and of predestination. However little disposed he may have been to believe in mysteries, he nevertheless bowed in submission before their existence, and respected the faith which they inspire in minds more happily const.i.tuted than his own. His partial skepticism, or rather that in him which has been so denominated, was humble and modest in comparison to Montaigne's skepticism. Byron admitted that these were mysteries because the littleness of man and the greatness of G.o.d were ever present to him. He would have agreed with Newton in saying that ”he was like a child playing on the beach with the waves which bathed the sands. The water with which he played was what he knew; what he ignored was the widespread ocean before him.” Surrounded as we are by mysteries on all sides, he would have esteemed it presumption on his part to reject, in the name of science, all the mysteries of religion, when science itself has only to deal with phenomena. All is necessarily a mystery in its origin, and not to understand was no sufficient reason in the eyes of Byron to deny altogether the existence of matters relating to the Divinity. Could he reject religious dogmas under the pretext of not being able to understand them, when he admitted others equally difficult of comprehension, although supported by logical proofs?
Among the mysteries of religion founded entirely upon revelation, there was one, however, which not only weighed upon his mind, but actually gave him positive pain. This was the dogma of eternal punishment, which he could not reconcile with the idea of an omnipotent Creator, as omnipotence implies perfect goodness and justice, of which the ideal has been implanted in our hearts. Here again his objections sprang from kindness of disposition.
After speaking a while on the subject of prayer, Byron said to Kennedy:--
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