Johnson's Persia

MR. JOHNSON’S friends will welcome the last volume of his great work, not merely as the most brilliant episode of it, but as the full demonstration of his genius and the final consummation of his aim. Had he lived a few weeks longer, he might have added a chapter or two, rounding off his exposition in a manner more agreeable to his taste, but he would have contributed nothing important to the statement itself. The three volumes are in fact one, describing three stages in the unfolding of the religious idea in the early history of mankind, — the era of thought, the era of ethics, and the era of will. The volumes seem large, but when one considers the extent of ground gone over, the number of authors consulted, the variety of views presented, the necessity for complete definition, the demand for adequate consideration of disputed points, the discussion of characters and events, the space given is small. Mr. Johnson is not a master of suggestive language, but his style is nervous, sinewy, exact, and by no means diffuse. It is hardly copious enough to be read on the run by readers who are not mainly interested in the thought. It is the style of a writer who thinks keenly, and whose words cling to his ideas. Not a sentence is composed with an eye to effect, and often one must read a passage twice, so compact are the phrases employed. These glowing pages on Persia complete the design. The subject could not be pursued further without opening other fields of study, with which the author may be familiar, but which lie wholly in the modern world. The exposition is already carried far into the Christian centuries, and any attempt to look beyond must be attended by such an examination of details as Mr. Johnson would not think of undertaking, on the lines laid down. Christianity has been firmly though incidentally touched, — in connection with Manicheism and Gnosticism quite freely enough ; and a more ample interpretation of the “ cosmic ” religion, which he regards as the coming faith, would take him far beyond his present limits. The key to the author’s immediate theory is given in the opening pages of the chapter on Mahomet. The passage is too long for quotation here, but the substance is expressed in nearly every chapter, and can easily be divined as the development of the religious sentiment in man through successive phases of religious form and institution. Mr. Johnson does not believe in Christianity as the final mode of devout feeling, to which other faiths are but preliminary arrangements ; on the contrary, he regards it as a step towards the future attainment of a free, scientific worship of law, order, beauty, wherein shall be no element of revelation, no recognition of divine will, no rudiment of the monarchical spirit, no priesthood, no inspired book, but simply the highest unfolding of the human mind in every mode of art.

Professor Eitel gently criticises Mr. Johnson because he takes an ideal view of other religions and a literal view of Christianity, with which he might be presumed to be practically more familiar, and evidently thinks this is the reason for a preference of the former over the latter. The truth is that Mr. Johnson takes an ideal view of all religions ; that is, he regards, or tries to regard, each form of faith in the light of its central idea. The religion of Christendom he treats in the same manner, and, having defined its genius according to his understanding of it, he does not deem it important to dwell on points that are familiar. In truth, Christianity is so implicated with modern civilization that the task of separating them is almost impossible ; would, for the author’s purpose, be altogether out of range. Its humanity, its breadth of sympathy, its respect for character as above dogma, its reach of fellowship, is, in his estimation, due more to Europe than to Palestine. With all this he has nothing to do ; and this constitutes a large part of the Christianity of to-day. The occasional allusions to Christianity — unnecessarily curt, many will think — that mark the pages are mostly references to some unjust sentence upon foreign faiths, or the rejection on the part of believers of some claim that cannot be met. There may be mental irritation in the paragraph, but of personal feeling there is certainly none. The argument throughout is confined within logical limits.

To comprehend this argument in all its force one must bear in mind constantly that Mr. Johnson was a transcendentalist in philosophy. It was, in fact, as a disciple of that creed that he undertook this work. Preserving his confidence in the supreme Substance, Cause, Harmony, as intuitions of the mind, he was sure that history would bear him out in his conviction; and while he leaves no stone unturned to discover the truth, he makes no secret of his persuasion that the postulates of the ideal philosophy will be vindicated. If there is a theory he has no patience with, it is the theory of Materialism, as being at once debasing and absurd ; at the same time he triumphs in Pantheism, because it makes allowance for liberty and implies the energy of an immanent spirit. An air of expectancy was characteristic of his attitude. He was ever looking forward and upward, as if in anticipation of some unattained good. He saw the best where others saw the worst. During the period of moral conflict that preceded the civil war he was sanguine and jocund, and his sermons, which were printed from time to time in course of the strife of arms, were brimming over with confidence, not in victory merely, but in the triumph of divine principles, in the coming of a nobler condition of society.

He was an immense believer, as this volume shows on every page. He called himself a fideist, a man of faith, having in his vocabulary no word large enough to convey his thought. One must remember this in reading these chapters, lest a negative interpretation should do injustice to the writer whose gaze was fixed steadily on positive realities. He was an iconoclast, but, in the fine language of another, “ he dashed the idol in order that he might reveal the god.” One might question the soundness of his first principle, one might doubt the subtlety of his analysis; but to challenge his sincerity would be impossible, and to escape the contagion of his hopefulness was, for his intimates, a task they would rather not try to perform. In his joyous anticipation of benefit he went before them all. He was an optimist on principle ; not that he did not see the shadow, but he kept his eye fixed on the light, and was confident that the full development of the individual, under perfect liberty, must result in final excellence.

That Mr. Johnson was an ardent believer in the evolution of divine ideas as opposed to the method of direct communication cannot but be apparent to all who glance at these volumes. With evolution in the ordinary sense of the term, as implying the production of the greater from the less, mind from matter, soul from organization, he had no sympathy whatever. His faith in the supremacy of mind, in the primacy of the moral law, was absolute. But his assurance that the way of gradual unfolding was the way of science, of history, of logical thought, was as inflexible. Without that clue all, in his opinion, is confusion ; with it difficulties become surmountable, and although obstacles do not disappear a certain order is visible and advance is manifest. His Pantheism comes into play here not merely as making the conception easier, but as delivering him from the necessity of explaining the determinations of a theistic will. The conflict of revelations is avoided, too, the animosities of opposing systems are rendered impossible, and the path is left open for endless expansion in knowledge.

The discussion of Persian thought brings to the front the ancient problem of evil. From such a discussion the author does not flinch ; far from it, he rejoices in this opportunity to express all the faith there is in him, and to prove the sufficiency of his principle to master the hardest inquiry. His summary of the dualism of the Avesta, his account of Mani, his analysis of Manicheism, his sketch of the past and future of the speculation, cover the whole ground and exhaust the possibilities of philosophical debate. His own conviction — a conviction born of thought and experience, the conviction of an earnest, aspiring, deeply-feeling man — is expressed in his own language, which embodies, on the whole, better than any existing statement, the view of the school to which he belongs.

It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that discussions of this kind occupy a very large space in this volume. Mr. Johnson was a keen thinker, a student of books, a lover of reflection, one with whom intellectual considerations were uppermost; but he was neither arid nor austere. Even in speculations on grave themes he was racy, nervous, vital. He had an eye for the picturesque. His love of natural beauty amounted to a passion. The descriptions of the desert and its influence on those who live on it or dwell within its atmosphere, of the city of Babylon, of the free Persian life, of cloud and mirage, are exceedingly fascinating. The accounts of Cyrus, of Xerxes, of Alexander the Great, of Mahomet, are brilliant enough for a romance. The side glances at Aristotle, at Justinian, are in the highest degree attractive. The author is learned, but his materials are so completely mastered that the radiant picture alone is presented to the reader. The love of art, of symmetry, of color, are kept subordinate to the love of knowledge ; but they are active still, and make themselves felt in the general effect, so that one goes on from page to page without an effort.

Mr. Johnson’s idea that the Persians illustrate the energy of personal will, the force of nerve power, is very striking, and, as presented, quite original with him. This idea he finds exemplified in all their institutions, in their habits, their laws, their social arrangements, their polity, their religion, which he regards as the worship of individual will in its majesty. There will, of course, be dissent from this daring generalization, — dissent, by no means in all cases coincident with capacity of judging. Some will object that the author, not being an eminent Oriental scholar, has no right to assert such a proposition. But this objection, conceding for the moment its relevancy, may certainly be carried too far. The point in question is the genius of the people. To get at that is the desirable thing ; and to get at that a knowledge of the cuneiform character will not go far. Provided one has a sufficient basis of knowledge, though it be derived from secondary sources, no complaint can be made. This information Mr. Johnson had taken pains to collect. He had read every important book on the subject in English, French, German, articles in learned magazines, reports of societies, journals of travel, incidents of adventure, legends, versions; turning over every scrap of paper on which instruction might by chance be written. Then he was in possession of the seer’s gift of reading between the lines, of interpreting sentences, of running out hints to their conclusion, of divining the meaning of symbols. He was a man of genius, endowed with insight into causes, capable of tracing the fine lines of sequence. Besides, he was inspired by an idea which woke up all his powers, and carried him through investigations that would have appalled a feebler spirit. He was essentially a poet, using the imagination as an organ of truth, while regarding truth as the end of imagination. Thus this volume is a lofty poem in celebration of the march of the Eternal through one of the epochs of time.