CALVINISM CARICATURED
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SItt,—On July 16th the Chancellor of the Exchequer caused much amusement in the House by disavowing the belief that a spell of prosperity must be regarded as a debauch sure to be followed by a very bad headache : " that," said he, " is, a Calvinistic view of finance which I cannot share." Perhaps some who shared in the laughter were witty enough to see the comicality of the remark. The Spectator of the same date, in a review of the latest R. L. S. book, rebukes the authoress for ascribing what she considers Stevenson's depre- ciation of the importance of character to a " sheer Calvinism." To many " Calvinism " has become an abusive word to be used or abused in any and every connexion.. Froude -and Renan could only use superlatives in describing the man_and the thing. For an admirable and impartial- handling of the subject (as of many other themes) Dean. Inge's book on Christian Ethics and Modern Problems is not surpassed for insight and sanity.
Yet, even one so sure-footed may slip. " Calvinism cannot be acquitted of an absurd and unsympathetic*attitude towards innocent amusement," and his illustrative instance is taken _ from a Methodist school prospectus (of 1872). And Methodism we had understood to be Arminianism—the antithesis of Calvinism. But, admitting the narrowness of Calvinists and Puritans generally, one remembers of John Calvin himself that one Sunday—if only once—he played a game of bowls in vindication of his Christian liberty. When, however, Dr. Inge lays to Calvin's charge that he anticipated Papal claims to infallibility with an even more trenchant doctrine of Biblical infallibility, we may demur. Bishop Stewart Perowne, in his work on the Psalms, says of him : " His critical sagacity is marvellous—quite unrivalled. He keeps close to the ground of historical interpretation . . . he is the prince of commentators . . . indeed the view which he con-. stantly takes of the Messianic Psalms would undoubtedly expose him to the charge of Rationalism, were he now alive." One is thankful, however, to meet with " Calvanism" nowadays.
Rydal, Torquay.
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