Part 7 (1/2)

Has the world here--should he need the next, Let the world mind him!

In _Cleon_, in _A Death in the Desert_, in _Dis Aliter Visum_, and perhaps above all in _Abt Vogler_ (to refer to only a few ill.u.s.trations out of the many possible), the fact that man is incapable of accommodating himself to his environment is treated as a proof that this is not his true sphere of existence; that he was designed, and is still destined, for something higher. So asks the lover of Pauline:

How should this earth's life prove my only sphere?

Can I so narrow sense but that in life Soul still exceeds it?

In _Dis Aliter Visum_, the a.s.sertion

What's whole, can increase no more, Is dwarfed and dies, since here's its sphere;

has especial reference to love,

The sole spark from G.o.d's life ”at strife”

With death, so, sure of range above The limits here.

but there is a recognition of the general principle that that work alone is worth beginning here and now, which ”cannot grow complete,” and which ”heaven (not earth) must finish.” Even where, as in _Rabbi Ben Ezra_, Browning lays strongest emphasis upon ”the unity of life”; where age is regarded as the completion of the physical life begun in youth, the question is put, and left unanswered:

Thy body at its best, How far can it project thy soul on its lone way?

These years of mortal life are to be devoted to the best use, so that it shall not be possible to say that ”soul helps flesh more, now, than flesh helps soul.” Nevertheless, the final result is to be that man, in yielding his physical life, pa.s.ses

A man, for aye removed From the developed brute; a G.o.d though in the germ.

It cannot be denied that the Bishop is taking a distinctly lower position than that suggested by any of the theories thus advanced. Nevertheless, he holds himself, and probably with reason, to be upon higher ground than that occupied by his critic. Recognizing his incapacity for experiencing the enthusiasm of a Luther, he does not, therefore, feel constrained to adopt the coldly critical att.i.tude of a Strauss. In his own words--

My business is not to remake myself, But make the absolute best of what G.o.d made. (ll. 355-356.)

So Luigi, in calculating his fitness for the office of a.s.sa.s.sin a.s.signed him, is found reckoning his very insignificance as of greater worth, under the given conditions, than his strength--extending his philosophy in a general application to human life.

Every one knows for what his excellence Will serve, but no one ever will consider For what his worst defect might serve: and yet Have you not seen me range our coppice yonder In search of a distorted ash? I find The wry, spoilt branch, a natural, perfect bow.[58]

There is a possible vocation in life for a Blougram as for a Luther.

IV. Admitting then the wide difference between the ideal life proposed by his critics, and the practical life which he has himself adopted, with line 144 the Bishop pa.s.ses to a consideration of the possibility of effecting any form of reconciliation between the two theories. What restrained his college friend from seeking the position occupied by his comrade? What but his incapacity for belief, or, more accurately speaking, his incapacity for accepting any fixed and markedly defined creed. This difficulty the Bishop a.s.sumes himself to share: his faith is relative rather than absolute; hence, having adopted the position of unbelievers, so-called, the question remains, how may each in his several station, lead a life consistent with such profession? The prelate holds that to preserve a fixed att.i.tude of unbelief is a feat of even greater difficulty than that of maintaining the opposed position of faith--neither being in fact absolutely and unalterably defined. It is easy enough for the onlooker to imagine that the creed of the Church is a matter straightforward and unperplexing for those living within the fold, admitting of no questioning, no error; faith or unfaith; no half measures possible. Not so; even within the Church the believer has his difficulties wherewith to contend, his doubts, his hesitations.

That way Over the mountain, which who stands upon Is apt to doubt if it be meant for road; While, if he views it from the waste itself, Up goes the line there, plain from base to brow, Not vague, mistakeable! what's a break or two Seen from the unbroken desert either side? (ll. 197-203.)

The Bishop would go yet further, and suggest that the inevitable doubts and questionings of the earnest believer are in themselves but a means of strengthening faith: this being so, what should restrain him from entering the Church's fold?

What if the breaks themselves should prove at last The most consummate of contrivances To train a man's eye, teach him what is faith?

And so we stumble at truth's very test! (ll. 205-208.)

Since consistent unbelief is at least as impossible as consistent faith, the conclusion follows that life must be either one of ”faith diversified by doubt,” or of ”doubt diversified by faith.” Well, he has chosen one, let Gigadibs enjoy the other--if he can.

V. Which life is preferable, that which calls the chess-board white, the life of faith (in so far as faith is possible); or that which calls the chess-board black, the life of doubt? The predominating (though by no means absolute) influence of belief or of unbelief, determines the lines on which character and life alike shall develop. Now, the Bishop a.s.serts that for him belief will bring, nay, has indeed brought, what he most desires in life--”power, peace, pleasantness, and length of days.” If Gigadibs suggests that in his case unbelief will bring the satisfaction which belief affords his companion of the dinner-table, then the Bishop demurs. The faith of which he makes profession is calculated to meet all exigencies--faith is in short his ”waking life.” The scepticism of the journalist is, on the contrary, void of all practical utility. Should he wish to live consistently he must cut himself off from those everyday demands of life to which faith is an absolute requisite. He must ”live to sleep.” And here the Bishop emphasizes an obvious, though not commonly recognized fact--a powerful argument in favour of faith--in the abstract, at least. He who professes himself a sceptic in matters spiritual, is yet compelled to the exercise of faith in each act of practical life. Mutual confidence abolished between man and man, business transactions become impossible, and mercantile activity is brought to a standstill. Belief involved in matters such as these, must, would the sceptic prove consistent, be cast overboard with the other faiths of his childhood: and the active man of the world becomes ”bed-ridden.” Amongst the temporal advantages which the Bishop accounts as resulting from his profession, first rank is accorded ”the world's estimation, which is half the fight,”

to gain which nothing less than a positive confession of unswerving faith is required. Hence circ.u.mstances have forced from him the a.s.sertions:

Friends, I absolutely and peremptorily Believe! (ll. 243-245.)

I say, I see all, And swear to each detail the most minute In what I think a Pan's face--you, mere cloud: I swear I hear him speak and see him wink, For fear, if once I drop the emphasis, Mankind may doubt there's any cloud at all. (ll. 866-871.)