,,the ,,faith ,,of ,,the ,,millions     
,a ,,selection ,,of ,,past ,,essays     
,,second ,,series    ,,by    ,,george   
,,tyrrell1 ,s4,j4    #aija              
,,and ,,seeing ,,the ,,multitudes ,,he  
,,was ,,moved ,,with  ,,compassion ,,on 
,,them1 ,,for ,,they ,,were ,,harassed  
,,and  ,,scattered ,,as ,,sheep ,,having
 ,,no ,,shepherd4  7,matthew ix4 #cf47  
,nil ,obstat3       ,j4 ,,gerard1 ,s4,j4
           ,,cens4 ,,theol4 ,,deputatus4
      ,imprimatur3       ,,herbertus    
,,card4 ,,vaughan1           ,,archiep4 
,,westmon4        ,,contents            
,,xiii4--,juliana of ,norwich           
,,xiv4--,poet and ,mystic               
,,xv4--,two ,estimates of ,catholic     
,life      ,,xvi4--,a ,life of ,de      
,lamennais     ,,xvii4--,lippo1 the ,man
 and the ,artist    ,,xviii4--,through  
,art to ,faith      ,,xix4--,tracts for 
the ,million       ,,xx4--,an ,apostle  
of ,naturalism      ,,xxl4--,the ,making
 of ,religion     ,,xxii4--,adaptability
 as a ,proof of ,religion               

,,xxiii4--,idealism in ,straits         
,,xiii4      ,,juliana ,,of ,,norwich4  
,one of the most remarkable books of the
 middle ages1 writes ,father            
,dalgairns1 #a is the hitherto almost   
unknown work1 titled1 ,sixteen          
,revelations of ,divine ,love made to a 
,devout ,servant of ,god1 called        
,mother ,juliana1 an ,anchoress of      
,norwich ,how one of the most           
remarkable books should be hitherto     
almost unknown1 may be explained  partly
 by the fact to which the same writer   
draws attention1 namely1  that ,mother  
,juliana lived and wrote at the time    
when a certain mystical  movement was   
about to bifurcate and pursue its course
 of development1  one branch within the 
,church on ,catholic lines1 the other   
outside the  ,church along lines whose  
actual issue was ,wycliffism and other  
kindred  forms of heterodoxy1 and whose 
logical outcome was pantheism4 ,hence1  
between the language of these           
pseudo-mystics and that of the recluse  

of  ,norwich1 there is sometimes a      
coincidence 444 which might deceive the 
unwary4 ,it is almost necessarily a     
feature of every heresy to begin by     
using the language of orthodoxy in a    
strained and non-natural sense1 and     
only gradually to develop a distinctive 
terminology of its own2 but1 as  often  
as not1 certain ambiguous expressions1  
formerly taken in an  orthodox sense1   
are abandoned by the faithful on account
 of their  ambiguity and are then       
appropriated to the expression of       
heterodoxy1 so  that eventually by force
 of usage the heretical meaning comes to
 be the  principal and natural meaning1 
and any other interpretation to seem    
violent and non-natural4 ,the few       
coincidences1 continues ,father         
,dalgairns1 between ,mother ,juliana and
 ,wycliffe are among the many  proofs   
that the same speculative view often    
means different things in  different    
systems4 ,both ,st4 ,augustine1 ,calvin1
 and ,mahomet1 believe in               

predestination1 yet an ,augustinian is  
something utterly different from a      
,scotch ,cameronian or a ,mahometan4444 
,the idea which runs through the  whole 
of ,mother ,juliana is the very         
contradictory of ,wycliffe's            
,pantheistic ,necessitarianism4 ,yet on 
account of the mere similarity of       
expression we can well understand how in
 the course of time some of  ,mother    
,juliana's utterances came to be more   
ill-sounding to faithful  ears in       
proportion as they came to be more      
exclusively appropriated by  the        
unorthodox4 ,it is hard to be as        
vigilant when danger is remote as  when 
it is near at hand2 and until heresy has
 actually wrested them to  its purpose  
it is morally impossible that the words 
of ecclesiastical  and religious writers
 should be so delicately balanced as to 
avoid all  ambiguities and inaccuracies4
 ,still less have we a right to look for
  such exactitude in the words of an    
anchoress who1 if not wholly  uneducated

 in our sense of the word1 yet on her   
own confession could no  letter1 i4e41  
as we should say1 was no scholar1 and   
certainly made no  pretence to any skill
 in technical theology4 ,but however    
much some of  her expressions may jar   
with the later developments of ,catholic
  theology1 it must be remembered1 as   
has been said1 that they were  current  
coin in her day1 common to orthodox and 
unorthodox2 and that  though their      
restoration is by no means desirable1   
yet they are still  susceptive of a     
benignant interpretation4 ,i pray       
,almighty ,god1 says  ,mother ,juliana  
in concluding1 that this book come not  
but into the  hands of those that will  
be ,his faithful lovers1 and that will  
submit  them to the faith of ,holy      
,church4 #b ,and indeed such can receive
 no  possible harm from its perusal1    
beyond a little temporary perplexity to 
be dispelled by inquiry2 and this only  
in the case of those who are            
sufficiently instructed and reflective  

to perceive the discord in  question4   
,the rest are well used in their reading
 to take what is  familiar and to leave 
what is strange1 so that they will find 
in her  pages much to ponder1 and but a 
little to pass over4    ,it is1 however1
 not only to these occasional           
obscurities and ambiguities  that we are
 to ascribe the comparative oblivion    
into which so remarkable  a book has    
fallen2 but also to the fact that its   
noteworthiness is  perhaps more evident 
and relative to us than to our          
forefathers4 ,it  cannot but startle us 
to find doubts that we hastily look upon
 as  peculiarly modern1 set forth in    
their full strength and wrestled with   
and overthrown by an unlettered recluse 
of the fourteenth century4 ,in  some    
sense they are the doubts of all time1  
with perhaps just that  peculiar        
complexion which they assume in the     
light of ,christianity4 ,yet1  owing to 
the modern spread of education1 or      
rather to the indiscriminate            

divulgation of ideas1 these problems are
 now the possession of the man  in the  
street1 whereas in former days they were
 exclusively the property  of minds     
capable--not indeed of answering the    
unanswerable1 but at least  of knowing  
their own limitations and of seeing why 
such problems must  always exist as long
 as man is man4 ,dark as the age of     
,mother ,juliana  was as regards the    
light of positive knowledge and         
information2 yet the  light of wisdom   
burned at least as clearly and steadily 
then as now2 and  it is by that light   
alone that the shades of unbelief can be
 dispelled4  ,of course1 wisdom without 
knowledge must starve or prey on its own
  vitals1 and this was the intellectual 
danger of the middle ages2 but          
knowledge without wisdom is so much food
 undigested and indigestible1  and this 
is the evil of our own day1 when to be  
passably well-informed  so taxes our    
time and energy as to leave us no       
leisure for assimilating  the knowledge 

with which we have stuffed ourselves4   
,we must not1 however1 think of ,mother 
,juliana as shut up within four  walls  
of a cell1 evolving all her ideas       
straight from her own inner             
consciousness without any reference to  
experience4 ,such a barren              
contemplation1 tending to mental        
paralysis1 belongs to ,oriental         
pessimism1 whose aim is the extinction  
of life1 mental and physical1 and       
reabsorption into that void whence1 it  
is said1 misfortune has brought  us     
forth to troublous consciousness4 ,the  
,christian contemplative knows  no      
ascent to ,god but by the ladder of     
creatures2 he goes to the book of       
,nature and of human life1 and to the   
book of ,revelation1 and turns and      
ponders their pages1 line by line and   
word by word1 and so feeds and  fills   
the otherwise thin and shadowy          
conception of ,god in his own soul1  and
 ever pours new oil upon the flame of   
,divine love4 ,father ,daigairns        

writes3 ,juliana is a recluse very      
different from the creatures of the     
imagination of writers on comparative   
morals4 ,so far from being cut off  from
 sympathy with her kind1 her mind is    
tenderly and delicately alive  to every 
change in the spiritual atmosphere of   
,england4444 ,the four  walls of her    
narrow home seem to be rent and torn    
asunder1 and not only  ,england but     
,christendom appears before her view2   
and he is at pains to  show how both    
anchorites and anchoresses were         
much-sought after by all  in trouble1   
temporal or spiritual1 and how abundant 
were their  opportunities of becoming   
acquainted with human life and its      
burdens1  and of more than compensating1
 through the confidences of others1     
whatever defect their minds might suffer
 through lack of personal  experience4  
,even still1 how many a priest or nun   
whose experience had  else been narrowed
 to the petty domestic interests of a   
small family1  is1 in virtue of his or  

her vocation1 put in touch with a far   
larger  world1 or with a far more       
important aspect of the world1 than many
 who  mingle with its every-day         
trivialities1 and is thus made a        
partaker in  some sense of the deeper   
life and experience of society and of   
the  ,universal ,church6 ,the anchoress 
did a great deal more than pray4 ,the   
very dangers against which the author of
 her rule #c warns her1 are a  proof    
that she had many visitors4 ,he warns   
her against becoming a  'babbling' or   
'gossiping' anchoress1 a variety        
evidently well-known2 a  recluse whose  
cell was the depository of all the news 
from the  neighbourhood at a time when  
newspapers did not exist4 ,such abuses  
throw light upon the legitimate use of  
the anchoress's position in the  medival
 community4    ,and so1 though ,mother  
,juliana could no letter1 though she    
knew next to  nothing of the rather     
worthless physical science of those     
times1 and  hardly more of philosophy or

 technical theology1 yet she knew no    
little  of that busy1 sad1 and sinful   
human life going on round her1 not only 
at  ,norwich1 but in ,england1 and even 
in ,europe2 and rich with this          
knowledge1 to which all other lore is   
subordinate and for whose sake  alone it
 is valuable1 she betook herself to     
prayer and meditation1 and  brought all 
this experience into relation with ,god1
 and drew from it an  ever clearer      
understanding of ,him and of ,his       
dealings with the souls  that ,his ,love
 has created and redeemed4    ,it is not
 then so wonderful that this wise and   
holy woman should have  faced the       
problems presented by the apparent      
discord between the truths  of faith and
 the facts of human life--a discord     
which is felt in every  age by the      
observant and thoughtful1 but which in  
our age is a  commonplace on the lips of
 even the most superficial4 ,but an age 
takes  its tone from the many who are   
the children of the past1 rather than   

from the few who are the parents of the 
future4 ,mother ,juliana's book  could  
hardly have been in any sense popular   
until these days of ours1  in which the 
particular disease of mind to which it  
ministers has become  epidemic4    ,if  
then these suggestions to some extent   
furnish an explanation of the  oblivion 
into which the revelations of ,mother   
,juliana have fallen1 they  also justify
 the following attempt to draw attention
 to them once more1  and to give some   
sort of analysis of their contents2 more
 especially as  we have reason to       
believe that they are about to be       
re-edited by a  competent scholar and   
made accessible to the general public1  
which they  have not been since the     
comparative extinction of ,richardson's 
edition  of #ahgg4 ,little is known of  
,mother ,juliana's history outside what 
is  implied in her revelations2 nor is  
it our purpose at present to go aside   
in search of biographical details that  
will be of interest only after  their   

subject has become interesting4 ,suffice
 it here to say that she  was thirty at 
the time of her revelations1 which she  
tells us was in  #acgc4 ,hence she was  
born in #acdc1 and is said to have been 
a  centenarian1 in which case she must  
have died about #addc4 ,she probably    
belonged to the ,benedictine nuns at    
,carrow1 near ,norwich1 and being       
called to a still stricter life1 retired
 to a hermitage close by the  ,church of
 ,st4 ,julian at ,norwich4 ,the details 
she gives about her own  sick-room      
exclude the idea of that stricter       
reclusion which is  popularly spoken of 
as walling-up--not of course in the     
mythical  sense4    ,with these brief   
indications sufficient to satisfy the   
craving of our  imagination for         
particulars of time and place1 let us   
turn to her own  account of the         
circumstances of her visions1 as well as
 of their nature4  ,she tells us that in
 her life previous to #acgc1 she had1 at
 some time or  other1 demanded three    

favours from ,god2 first1 a sensible    
appreciation  of ,christ's ,passion in  
such sort as to share the grace of ,mary
 ,magdalene  and others who were        
eye-witnesses thereof3 therefore ,i     
desired a bodily  sight wherein ,i might
 have more knowledge of the bodily pain 
of our  ,saviour4 ,and the motive of    
this desire was that she might          
afterwards  because of that showing have
 the more true mind of the ,passion of  
,christ4 ,her aim was a deeper practical
 intelligence1 and not the              
gratification of mere emotional         
curiosity4    ,this grace she plainly   
recognizes as extraordinary2 for she    
says3 ,other  sight or showing of ,god  
asked ,i none1 till when the soul was   
departed  from the body4 ,her second    
request was likewise for an             
extraordinary  grace2 namely1 for a     
bodily sickness which she and others    
might believe  to be mortal2 in which   
she should receive the last sacraments1 
and  experience all the bodily pains1   

and all the spiritual temptations       
incident to the separation of soul and  
body4 ,and the motive of this  request  
was that she might be purged by the     
mercy of ,god1 and  afterwards live more
 to the worship of ,god because of that 
sickness4 ,in  other words1 she desired 
the grace of what we might call a       
trial-death1 that so she might better   
meet the real death when it  came4      
,further1 she adds1 this sickness ,i    
desired in my youth1 that ,i  might have
 it when ,i was thirty years old4 ,and  
these two desires were  with a condition
 7namely1 if ,god should so will71 for  
methought this  was not the common use  
of prayer4 ,but the third request she   
proffers  boldly without any condition1 
since it was necessarily ,god's desire  
to  grant it and to be sued for it2     
namely1 the grace of a three-fold wound3
  the wound of true sorrow for sin2 the 
wound of kind compassion with  ,christ's
 sufferings2 and the wound of wilful    
belonging to ,god1 that  is1 of         

self-devotion4    ,she is careful to    
tell us that while she ever continued to
 urge the  unconditional third request1 
the two first passed completely out of  
her  head in the course of years1 until 
she was reminded of them by their       
simultaneous and remarkable fulfilment4 
,for when ,i was thirty years old  and a
 half1 ,god sent me a bodily sickness in
 which ,i lay three days and  three     
nights2 and on the fourth night ,i took 
all my rites of ,holy  ,church1 and     
weened not to have lived till day4 ,and 
after this ,i lay two  days and two     
nights1 and on the third night ,i weened
 oftentimes to have  passed1 and so     
weened they that were with me4444 ,and  
,i understood in my  reason1 and by the 
feeling of my pains that ,i should die1 
and ,i assented  fully with all the will
 of my heart1 to be at ,god's will4     
,thus ,i endured  till day1 and by then1
 was my body dead to all feeling from   
the midst  down4 ,she is then raised up 
in a sitting position for greater ease1 

and  her curate is sent for1 as the end 
is supposed to be near4 ,on arrival1  he
 finds her speechless and with her eyes 
fixed upwards towards heaven1  where ,i 
trusted to come by the mercy of ,god4   
,he places the crucifix  before her1 and
 bids her bend her eyes upon it4 ,i     
assented to set my  eyes in the face of 
the crucifix if ,i could2 and so ,i did2
 for methought  ,i could endure longer  
to look straight in front of me than    
right up--a  touch that shows the       
previous upturning of the eyes to have  
been  voluntary and not cataleptic4 ,at 
this moment we seem to pass into the    
region of the abnormal3 ,after this my  
sight began to fail2 it waxed as  dark  
about me in the chamber as if it had    
been night1 save in the image  of the   
cross1 wherein ,i beheld a common light1
 and ,i wist not how4 ,and  all that was
 beside the cross was ugly and fearful  
to me1 as it had been  much occupied    
with fiends4 ,then the upper part of her
 body becomes  insensible1 and the only 

pain left is that of weakness and       
breathlessness4 ,suddenly she is totally
 eased and apparently quite  cured1     
which1 however1 she regards as a        
momentary miraculous relief1 but  not as
 a deliverance from death4 ,in this     
breathing space it suddenly  occurs to  
her to beg for the second of those three
 wounds which were the  matter of her   
unconditional third request2 namely1 for
 a deepened sense  and sympathetic      
understanding of ,christ's ,passion4    
,but in this ,i never  desired any      
bodily sight1 or any manner of showing  
from ,god2 but such  compassion as ,i   
thought that a kind soul might have with
 our ,lord  ,jesus4 ,in a word1 the     
remembrance of her two conditional and  
extraordinary requests of bygone years  
was not in her mind at the time4  ,and  
in this1 suddenly ,i saw the red blood  
trickling down from under the           
garland2--and so she passes from        
objective to subjective vision2#d and   
the first fifteen revelations follow1 as

 she tells us later1 one after  another 
in unbroken succession1 lasting in all  
some few hours4    ,i had no grief or no
 dis-ease1 she tells us later1 as long  
as the  fifteen showings lasted in      
showing4 ,and at the end all was close1 
and ,i  saw no more2 and soon ,i felt   
that ,i should live longer4 ,presently  
all  her pains1 bodily and spiritual1   
return in full force2 and the           
consolation of the visions seems to her 
as an idle dream and delusion2  and she 
answers to the inquiries of a ,religious
 at her bedside1 that she  had been     
raving3 ,and he laughed loud and drolly4
 ,and ,i said3 ',the cross  that stood  
before my face1 methought it bled fast4'
 ,at which the other  looked so serious 
and awed that she became ashamed of her 
own  incredulity4 ,i believed ,him truly
 for the time that ,i saw ,him4 ,and so 
it was then my will and my meaning to   
do1 ever without end--but1 as a  fool1  
,i let it pass out of my mind4 ,and lo6 
how wretched ,i was1 c4  ,then she falls

 asleep and has a terrifying dream of   
the ,evil ,one1 of  which she says3     
,this ugly showing was made sleeping and
 so was none  other1 whence it seems    
that her self-consciousness was         
unimpaired in  the other visions2 that  
is1 she was aware at the time that they 
were  visions1 and did not confound them
 with reality as dreams are  confounded4
 ,then follows the sixteenth and last   
revelation2 ending with  the words3 ,wit
 well it was no raving thou sawest      
to-day3 but take it1  and believe it1   
and keep thee therein1 and comfort thee 
therewith and  trust thereto1 and thou  
shalt not be overcome4 ,then during the 
rest of  the same night till about      
,prime next morning she is tempted      
against  faith and trust by the ,evil   
,one1 of whose nearness she is          
conscious2 but  comes out victorious    
after a sustained struggle4 ,she        
understands from  our ,lord1 that the   
series of showings is now closed2 which 
blessed  showing the faith keepeth1 444 

for ,he left with me neither sign nor   
token whereby ,i might know it4 ,yet for
 her personally the obligation  not to  
doubt is as of faith3 ,thus am ,i bound 
to keep it in my faith2  for on the same
 day that it was showed1 what time the  
sight was passed1  as a wretch ,i       
forsook it and openly said that ,i      
raved4    ,fifteen years later she gets 
an inward response as to the general    
gist  and unifying purport of the       
sixteen revelations4 ,wit it well2 love 
was  ,his meaning4 ,who showed it thee8 
,love4 ,wherefore showed ,he it thee8   
,for  love4    ,having thus sketched the
 circumstances of the revelations1 we   
may now  address ourselves to their     
character and substance4    ,there is   
nothing to favour and everything to     
disfavour the notion that  ,mother      
,juliana was an habitual visionary1 or  
was the recipient of any  other visions1
 than those which she beheld in her     
thirty-first year2 and  of these1 she   
tells us herself1 the whole sixteen took

 place within a  few hours4 ,now have ,i
 told you of fifteen showings1 444 of   
which  fifteen showings1 the first began
 early in the morning about the hour of 
four1 444 each following the other till 
it was noon of the day or past1  444 and
 after this the ,good ,lord showed me   
the sixteenth revelation on  the night  
following4 ,speaking of them all as one1
 she tells us3 ,and  from the time it   
was showed ,i desired oftentimes to wit 
what was in our  ,lord's meaning2 and   
fifteen years after and more ,i was     
answered in  ghostly understanding1     
saying thus3 ',what6 wouldst thou wit   
thy ,lord's  meaning in this thing8 ,wit
 it well3 ,love was ,his meaning4' ,but 
this  ghostly understanding can hardly  
be pressed into implying another        
revelation of the evidently supernormal 
type4    ,we rather insist on this      
point1 as indicating the habitual       
healthiness  of ,mother ,juliana's      
soul--a quality which is also abundantly
 witnessed  by the unity and coherence  

of the doctrine of her revelations1     
which  bespeaks a mind well-knit        
together1 and at harmony with itself4   
,the  hysterical mind is one in which   
large tracts of consciousness seem to   
get detached from the main body1 and to 
take the control of the subject  for the
 time being1 giving rise to the         
phenomena rather foolishly called       
double or multiple personality4 ,this is
 a disease proper to the                
passive-minded1 to those who give way to
 a drifting tendency1 and  habitually   
suffer their whole interests to be      
absorbed by the strongest  sensation or 
emotion that presents itself4 ,such     
minds are generally  chaotic and        
unorganized1 as is revealed in the      
rambling1 involved1  interminably       
parenthetical and digressive character  
of their  conversation4 ,but when1 as   
with ,mother ,juliana1 we find unity and
  coherence1 we may infer that there has
 been a life-long habit of active       
mental control1 such as excludes the    

supposition of an hysterical            
temperament4    ,perhaps the similarity 
of the phenomena which attend both on   
extraordinary psychic weakness and      
passivity1 and on extraordinary  energy 
and activity may excuse a confusion     
common enough1 and which we  have dwelt 
on elsewhere4 ,but obviously as far as  
the natural  consequences of a given    
psychic state are concerned1 it is      
indifferent  how that state is brought  
about4 ,thus1 that extreme concentration
 of the  attention1 that perfect        
abstraction from outward things1 which  
in  hysterical persons is the effect of 
weakness and passive-mindedness--of  the
 inability to resist and shake off the  
spell of passions and  emotions2 is in  
others the effect of active             
self-control1 of voluntary              
concentration1 of a complete mastery    
over passions and emotions4 ,yet  though
 the causes of the abnormal state are   
different1 its effects may  well be the 
same4    ,in thus maintaining the       

healthiness and vigour of ,mother       
,juliana's mind1  we may seem to be     
implicitly treating her revelation1 not 
as coming from  a ,divine source1 but   
simply as an expression of her own      
habitual line of  thought--as a sort of 
pouring forth of the contents of her    
subconscious  memory4 ,our direct       
intention1 however1 is to show how very 
unlikely it  is antecedently that one so
 clear-headed and intelligent should be 
the  victim of the common and obvious   
illusions of the hysterical visionary4  
,for her book contains not only the     
matter of her revelations1 but also  the
 history of all the circumstances       
connected with them1 as well as a       
certain amount of personal comment upon 
them1 professedly the fruit of  her     
normal mind2 and best of all1 a good    
deal of analytical reflection  upon the 
phenomena which betrays a native        
psychological insight not  inferior to  
that of ,st4 ,teresa4 ,from these       
sources we could gather the  general    

sobriety and penetration of her         
judgment1 without assuming the  actual  
teaching of the revelations to be merely
 the unconscious  self-projection of her
 own mind4 ,but in so much as many of   
these  revelations were professedly     
,divine answers to her own questions1   
and  since the answer must ever be      
adapted not merely to the question      
considered in the abstract1 but as it   
springs from its context in the         
questioner's mind2 we are not wrong1 on 
this score alone1 in arguing  from the  
character of the revelation to the      
character of the mind to  which it was  
addressed4 ,fallible men may often speak
 and write above or  beside the         
intelligence of their hearers and       
readers2 but not so ,he who  reads the  
heart ,he has made4 ,now these          
revelations were not addressed to  the  
,church through ,mother ,juliana2 but1  
as she says1 were addressed to  herself 
and were primarily for herself1 though  
most that was said had  reference to the

 human soul in general4 ,they were      
adapted therefore to  the character and 
individuality of her mind2 and are an   
index of its  thoughts and workings4    
,for her they were a matter of faith2   
but1 as she  tells us1 she had no token 
or outward proof wherewith to convince  
others  of their reality4 ,those who    
feel disposed1 as we ourselves do1 to   
place  much confidence in the word of   
one so perfectly sane and genuinely     
holy1  may draw profit from the message 
addressed to her need2 but never can it 
be for them a matter of faith as in a   
,divine message addressed directly  or  
indirectly to themselves4 ,so far as    
these revelations are a clear and  noble
 expression of truths already contained 
implicitly in our faith and  reason1    
which it brings into more explicit      
consciousness and vitalizes  with a new 
power of stimulus1 they may be          
profitable to us all2 but they  must be 
received with due criticism and         
discernment as themselves  subject to a 

higher rule of truth--namely1 the       
teaching of the ,universal  ,church4    
,but to determine1 with respect to these
 and kindred revelations1 how far  they 
may be regarded as an expression of the 
recipient's own mind and  latent        
consciousness1 will need a digression   
which the general interest  of the      
question must excuse4    ,there is a    
tendency in the modern philosophy of    
religion 7for example1  in ,mr4         
,balfour's ,foundations of ,belief7 to  
rationalize inspired  revelation and to 
explain it as altogether kindred to the 
apparently  magical intuitions of       
natural genius in non-religious matters2
 as the  result1 in other words1 of a   
rending asunder of the veil that divides
  what is called super-liminal from     
subliminal consciousness2 to find  in   
prophecy and secret insight the effect  
of a flash of unconscious  inference    
from a mass of data buried in the       
inscrutable darkness of our  forgotten  
self4 ,together with this1 there is also

 a levelling-up  philosophy1 a sort of  
modernized ontologism1 which would      
attribute all  natural intuition to a   
more immediate self-revelation on ,god's
 part than  seems quite compatible with 
orthodoxy4    ,but neither of these     
philosophies satisfy what is vulgarly   
understood by  revelation1 and therefore
 both use the word in a somewhat        
strained  sense4 ,for certainly the     
first sense of the term implies a       
consciousness  on the part of the       
recipient of being spoken to1 of being  
related  through such speech to another 
personality1 whereas the flashes and    
intuitions of natural genius1 however   
they may resemble and be called         
inspirations because of their exceeding 
the known resources of the  thinker's   
own mind1 yet they are consciously      
autochthonous2 they are  felt to spring 
from the mind's own soil2 not to break  
the soul's  solitude with the sense of  
an alien presence4 ,such interior       
illuminations1 though doubtless in a    

secondary sense derived from the  ,true 
,light which enlightens every man coming
 into this world1  certainly do not     
fulfil the traditional notion of        
revelation as  understood1 not only in  
the ,christian ,church1 but also in all 
ethnic  religions4 ,for common to       
antiquity is the notion of some kind of 
possession or seizure1 some usurpation  
of the soul's faculties by an  external 
personality1 divine or diabolic1 for its
 own service and as its  instrument of  
expression--a phenomenon1 in fact1 quite
 analogous1 if not  the same in species1
 with that of hypnotic control and      
suggestion1 where  the thought and will 
of the subject is simply passive under  
the thought  and will of the agent4     
,saints and contemplatives are wont--not
 without justification--to speak  of    
their lights in prayer1 and of the      
ordinary intuitions of their mind1      
under the influence of grace1 as ,divine
 utterances in a secondary sense2  to   
say1 ,god said to me1 or seemed to say  

to me1 or ,god showed me1  and so on4   
,but to confound these products of their
 own mind with  revelation is the error 
only of the uninstructed or the wilfully
  self-deluded4 ,therefore1 as commonly 
understood1 revelation implies  the     
conscious control of the mind by another
 mind2 just as its usual  correlative1  
inspiration1 implies the conscious      
control of the will by  another will4   
,there can be no doubt whatever but that
 ,mother ,juliana of ,norwich           
considered her revelations to be of this
 latter description1 and not to  have   
been merely different in degree from    
those flashes of spiritual  insight with
 which she was familiar in her daily    
contemplations and  prayers4 ,how far1  
then1 her own mind may have supplied the
 material from  which the tissues were  
woven1 or lent the colours with which   
the  pictures were painted1 or supplied 
the music to which the words were  set1 
is what we must now try to determine4   
,,ii4    ,taking the terms revelation   

and inspiration in the unsophisticated  
sense which they have borne not only in 
the ,judaeo-,christian tradition1  but  
in almost all the great ethnic religions
 as well1 we may inquire  into the      
different sorts and degrees of the      
control exercised by the  presumably    
supernatural agents over the recipient  
of such influence4 ,for  clearness' sake
 we may first distinguish between the   
control of the  cognitive1 the          
volitional1 and the executive faculties4
 ,for our present  inquiry we may leave 
aside those cases where the control of  
the  executive faculties1 normally      
subject to the will and directed by the 
mind1 seem to be wrested from that      
control by a foreign agent possessed  of
 intelligence and volition1 as1 for     
example1 in such a case as is  narrated 
of the false prophet ,balaam1 or of     
those who at the ,pentecostal           
outpouring spoke correctly in languages 
unintelligible to themselves1 or  of the
 possessed who were constrained in spite

 of themselves to confess  ,christ4 ,in 
these and similar cases1 not only is the
 action involuntary  or even counter to 
the will1 but it manifests such         
intelligent purpose  as seemingly marks 
it to be the effect of an alien will and
  intelligence4 ,of this kind of control
 exercised by the agent over the  outer 
actions of the patient1 it may be       
doubted if it be ever effected  except  
through the mediation of a suggestion   
addressed to the mind1 in  such sort    
that though not free1 the resulting     
action is not wholly  involuntary4 ,be  
this as it may1 our concern at present  
is simply with  control exercised over  
the will and the understanding4    ,with
 regard to the will1 it is a commonplace
 of mystical theology that  ,god1 who   
gave it its natural and essential bent  
towards the good of  reason1 i4e41      
towards righteousness and the ,divine   
will2 who created  it not merely as an  
irresistible tendency towards the       
happiness and  self-realization of the  

rational subject1 but as a resistible   
tendency  towards its true1 happiness   
and true self-realization--that this    
same ,god can directly modify the will  
without the natural mediation of  some  
suggested thought4 ,we ourselves1 by the
 laborious cultivation of  virtue1      
gradually modify the response of our    
will to certain  suggestions1 making it 
more sensitive to right impulses1 more  
obtuse to  evil impulses4 ,according to 
mystic theology1 it is the prerogative  
of  ,god to dispense with this natural  
method of education1 and1 without       
violating that liberty of choice 7which 
no inclination can prejudice71  to      
incline the rational appetite this way  
or that2 not only in reference  to some 
suggested object1 but also without      
reference to any distinct  object       
whatsoever1 so that the soul should be  
abruptly filled with joy  or sadness1   
with fear or hope1 with desire or       
aversion1 and yet be at a  loss to      
determine the object of these spiritual 

passions4 ,st4 ,ignatius  ,loyola1 in   
his ,rules for ,discerning ,spirits1    
borrowed no doubt from  the current     
mystical theology of his day1 makes this
 absence of any  suggested object a     
criterion of consolation coming from    
,god alone--a  criterion always         
difficult to apply owing to the         
lightning subtlety of  thoughts that    
flash across the soul and are forgotten 
even while their  emotional             
reverberation yet remains4 ,where there 
was a preceding thought  to account for 
the emotion1 he held that the           
consolation might be the  work of       
spirits 7good or evil7 who could not    
influence the will  directly1 but only  
indirectly through the mind2 or else it 
might be the  work of the mind itself1  
whose thoughts often seem to us abrupt  
through  mere failure of                
self-observation4    ,normally what is  
known as an actual grace involves both  
an  illustration of the mind1 and an    
enkindling of the will2 but though      

supernatural1 such graces are not held  
to be miraculous or  preternatural1 or  
to break the usual psychological laws of
 cause and  effect2 like the ordinary   
answers to prayer1 they are from ,god's 
ordinary providence in that supernatural
 order which permeates but does  not of 
itself interfere with the natural4 ,but 
over and above what1  relatively to our 
observation1 we call the ordinary       
course1 there is  the extraordinary1    
whose interference with it is apparent1 
though of  course not absolute or       
real--since nothing can be out of       
harmony with  the first and highest law1
 which is ,god ,himself4 ,and to the    
category of  the extraordinary must be  
assigned such inspirations and direct   
will-movements as we here speak of4 #e  
,yet not altogether2 for in the natural 
order1 too1 we have the  phenomenon of  
instinct to consider--both spiritual and
 animal4 ,giving  heredity all the      
credit we can for storing up accumulated
 experience in  the nervous system of   

each species1 there remains a host of   
fundamental  animal instincts which that
 law is quite inadequate to explain2    
those1  for example1 which govern the   
multiplication of the species and secure
  the conditions under which alone      
heredity can work4 ,such cannot be at   
once the effect and the essential       
condition of heredity2 and yet they     
are1 of all instincts1 the most complex 
and mysterious4 ,indeed1 it seems  more 
scientific to ascribe other instincts to
 the same known and  indubitable1 if    
mysterious1 cause1 than to seek         
explanation in causes  less known and   
more hypothetical4 ,in the case of many 
instincts1 it  would seem that the      
craving for the object precedes the     
distinct  cognition of it2 that the     
object is only ascertained when1 after  
various  tentative gropings1 it is      
stumbled upon1 almost1 it might seem1 by
  chance4 ,and this seems true1 also1 of
 some of our fundamental spiritual      
instincts2 for example1 that craving of 

the mind for an unified  experience1    
which is at the root of all mental      
activity1 and whose  object is ever     
approached yet never attained2 or1      
again1 there is the  social and         
political instinct1 which has not yet   
formed a distinct and  satisfying       
conception of what it would be at4 ,or  
nearer still to our  theme1 is the      
natural religious instinct which seeks  
interpretations and  explanatory        
hypotheses in the various man-made      
religions of the race1  and which finds 
itself satisfied and transcended by the 
,christian  revelation4    ,in these and
 like instances1 we find will-movements 
not caused by the  subjects' own        
cognitions and perceptions1 but         
contrariwise1 giving birth  to          
cognitions1 setting the mind to work to 
interpret the said movements1  and to   
seek out their satisfying objects4      
,this is quite analogous to certain     
phenomena of the order of grace4 ,st4   
,ignatius almost invariably speaks1 not1

 as we should1 of thoughts that  give   
rise to will-states of consolation or   
desolation1 but  conversely1 of these   
will-states giving rise to congruous    
thoughts4  ,indeed1 nothing is more     
familiar to us than the way in which the
 mind is  magnetized by even our        
physical states of elation or           
depression1 to  select the more cheerful
 or the gloomier aspects of life1       
according as  we are under one influence
 or the other2 and in practice1 we      
recognize  the effect of people's       
humours on their opinions and decisions1
 and  would neither sue mercy nor ask a 
favour of a man in a temper4 ,in short1 
it is hardly too much to say1 that our  
thoughts are more dependent on  our     
feelings than our feelings on our       
thoughts4 ,this1 then1 is one  possible 
method of supernatural guidance which we
 shall call blind  inspiration--for     
though the feeling or impulse is from   
,god1 the  interpretation is from the   
subject's own mind4 ,it is curious how  

,st4  ,ignatius applies this method to  
the determining of the ,divine will in  
certain cases--as it were1 by the       
inductive principle of concomitant      
variation4 ,a suggestion that always    
comes and grows with a state of         
consolation1 and whose negative is in   
like manner associated with  desolation1
 is presumably the right interpretation 
of the blind  impulse4 #f ,and perhaps  
this is one of the commonest subjective 
assurances of faith1 namely1 that our   
faith grows and declines with what  we  
know intuitively to be our better moods2
 that when lax we are  sceptical1 and   
believing when conscientious4           
,another species of will-guidance       
recognized by saints1 is not so much by 
way of a vague feeling seeking          
interpretation1 as by way of a sort of  
enforced decision with regard to some   
naturally suggested course of  conduct4 
,and this1 perhaps1 is what is more     
technically understood by an            
inspiration2 as1 for example1 when the  

question of writing or not  writing     
something publicly useful1 say1 the     
records of the ,kings of  ,israel1 rises
 in the mind1 and it is decided for and 
in the subject1 but  not by him4 ,of    
course this inspiration is a common but 
not essential  accompaniment of         
revelation or mind-control1--in those   
cases1  namely1 where the communicated  
information is for the good of others2  
as1 also1 where it is for the guidance  
of the practical conduct of the         
recipient4 ,such inspiration at times   
seems to be no more than a strong       
inclination compatible with liberty2 at 
other times it amounts to such a  fixing
 of the practical judgment as would     
ordinarily result from a  determination 
of the power of choice--if that were not
 a contradiction4  ,better to say1 it is
 a taking of the matter out of the      
jurisdiction of  choice1 by the creation
 of an ide fixe #g in the subject's     
mind4    ,turning now to revelation in  
the stricter sense of a preternatural   

enlightenment of the mind1 it might     
conceivably be either by way of a  real 
accretion of knowledge--an addition to  
the contents of the mind--or  else by   
way of manipulating contents already    
there1 as we ourselves do  by           
reminiscence1 by rumination1 comparison1
 analysis1 inference4 ,thus we  can     
conceive the mind being consciously     
controlled in these operations1  as it  
were1 by a foreign will2 being reminded 
of this or that2 being  shown new       
consequences1 applications1 and         
relations of truths already  possessed4 
,when1 however1 there is a preternatural
 addition to the sum total of the       
mind's knowledge1 we can conceive the   
communication to be effected  through   
the outer senses1 as by visions seen    
7real or symbolic71 or  words heard2 or 
through the imagination--pictorial1     
symbolic1 or verbal2  visual or         
auditory2 or1 finally1 in the very      
reason and intelligence  itself1 whose  
ideas are embodied in these images and  

signs1 and to whose  apprehension they  
are all subservient4    ,now from all   
this tedious division and sub-division  
it may perhaps be  clear in how many    
different senses the words of such a    
professed  revelation as ,mother        
,juliana has left on record can be      
regarded as  preternatural utterances2  
or rather1 in how many different ways   
she  herself may have considered them   
such1 and wished them so to be          
considered4 ,indeed1 as we shall see1   
she has done a good deal more to        
determine this1 in regard to the various
 parts of her record1 than most  have   
done1 and it is for that reason that we 
have taken the opportunity  to open up  
the general question4 ,such a record    
might then be1 either  wholly or in     
part3      7a7 ,the work of religious   
inspiration or genius1 in the sense     
in which rationalists use the word1     
levelling the idea down to the same     
plane as that of artistic inspiration4  
7b7 ,or else it might be inspired as    

mystic philosophy or    ontologism uses 
the expression1 when it ascribes all    
natural insight to    a more or less    
directly divine enlightenment4      7c7 
,or1 taking the word more strictly as   
implying the influence    of a distinct 
personal agency over the soul of the    
writer1 it might be    that the record  
simply expresses an attempted           
interpretation1 an    imaginary         
embodiment1 of some blind preternatural 
stirring of the    writer's             
affections--analogous to the romances   
and dreams created in the    imagination
 at the first awakening of the amatory  
affections4      7d7 ,or1 the matter    
being in no way from preternatural      
sources1    the strong and perhaps      
irresistible impulse to record and      
publish it1    might be preternatural4  
7e7 ,or 7in addition to or apart from   
such an impulse71 it might    be a      
record of certain truths already        
contained implicitly in the    writer's 
mind1 but brought to remembrance or into

 clear recognition1 not    by the       
ordinary free activity of reason1 but1  
as it were1 by an alien    will         
controlling the mind4      7f7 ,or1 if  
really new truths or facts are          
communicated to the mind    from        
without1 this may be effected in various
 ways3 7i7 ,by the way of    verbal     
inspiration1 as when the very words are 
received apparently    through the outer
 senses2 or else put together in the    
imagination4    7ii7 ,or1 the matter is 
presented pictorially 7be it fact or    
symbol7    to the outer senses or to the
 imagination2 and then described or     
word-painted according to the writer's  
own ability4 7iii7 ,or1 the    truth is 
brought home directly to the            
intelligence2 and gets all its          
imaginative and verbal clothing from the
 recipient4    ,many other hypotheses   
are conceivable1 but most will be       
reducible to one  or other of these4 ,we
 may perhaps add that1 when the         
revelation is given  for the sake of    

others1 this purpose might be           
frustrated1 were not a  substantial     
fidelity of expression and utterance    
also secured4 ,this  would involve1 at  
least1 that negative kind of guidance of
 the tongue or  pen1 known technically  
as assistance4    ,mother ,juliana gives
 us some clue in regard to her own      
revelations where  she says3 #h ,all    
this blessed showing of our ,lord ,god  
was showed in  three parts2 that is to  
say1 by bodily sight2 and by words      
formed in my  understanding2 and by     
ghostly sight4 ,for the bodily sight1 ,i
 have said  as ,i saw1 as truly as ,i   
can 7that is1 the appearances were1 she 
believed1 from ,god1 but the description
 of them was her own74 ,and for  the    
words ,i have said them right as our    
,lord showed them to me 7for  here      
nothing was her own1 but bare fidelity  
of utterance74 ,and for the  ghostly    
sight ,i have said some deal1 but ,i may
 never full tell it 7that  is to say1 no
 language or imagery of her own can ever

 adequately express  the spiritual      
truths revealed to her higher reason74  
,as a rule she makes  it quite clear    
throughout1 which of these three kinds  
of showing is  being described4 ,we have
 an example of bodily vision when she   
saw the  red blood trickling down from  
under the garland1 and in all else that 
seemed to happen to the crucifix on     
which her open eyes were set4 ,and of   
all this she says3 ,i conceived truly   
and mightily that it was ,himself  that 
showed it me1 without any mean between  
us2 that is1 she took it as  a sort of  
pictorial language uttered directly by  
,christ1 even as if ,he  had addressed  
her in speech2 she took it not merely as
 having a  meaning1 but as designed and 
uttered to convey a meaning--for to     
speak  is more than to let one's mind   
appear4 ,or again1 it is by bodily      
vision  she sees a little hasel-nut in  
her hand1 symbolic of the naughting of  
all that is made4 ,of words formed in   
her imagination she tells us1 for       

example1 ,then ,he 7i4e41 ,christ as    
seen on the crucifix7 without voice  and
 opening of lips formed in my soul these
 words3 ,herewith is the  fiend         
overcome4 ,of ghostly sight1 or         
spiritual intuition1 we have an         
instance when she says3 ,in the same    
time that ,i saw 7i4e41 visually7  this 
sight of the ,head bleeding1 our good   
,lord showed a ghostly sight of  ,his   
homely loving4 ,i saw that ,he is to us 
everything that is comfortable  to our  
help2 ,he is our clothing1 that for love
 wrappeth us1 c4--where1  in her own    
words and imagery1 she is describing a  
divine-given insight  into the relation 
of ,god and the soul4 ,or again1 when   
she is shown our  ,blessed ,lady1 it is 
no pictorial or bodily presentment1 but 
the virtues  of her blissful soul1 her  
truth1 her wisdom1 her charity4 ,and    
,jesus  444 showed me a ghostly sight of
 her1 right as ,i had seen her before1  
little and simple and pleasing to ,him  
above all creatures4    ,just as in the 

setting forth of these spiritual        
apprehensions1 the words  and imagery   
are usually her own1 so in the          
description of bodily vision  she uses  
her own language and comparisons4 ,for  
example1 the following  realism3 ,the   
great drops of blood fell down from     
under the garland like  pellets1 seeming
 as it had come out of the veins2 and in
 coming out they  were brown red1 for   
the ,blood was full thick1 and in       
spreading abroad  they were bright      
red4444 ,the plenteousness is like to   
drops of water  that fall off the       
eavings after a great shower of rain4444
 ,and for  roundness they were like to  
the scales of herrings in the spreading 
of  the forehead1 c4 ,these similes1 she
 tells us1 came to my mind in the  time4
 ,in other instances1 the comparisons   
and illustrations of what she  saw with 
her eyes or with her understanding1 were
 suggested to her2 so  that she received
 the expression1 as well as the matter  
expressed1 from  without4    ,but       

besides the records of the sights1      
words1 and ideas revealed to her1  we   
have many things already known to her   
and understood1 yet brought to  her     
mind1 as it were1 preternaturally4      
,also1 various paraphrases and          
elaborate exegeses of the words spoken  
to her2 a great abundance of  added     
commentary upon what she saw inwardly or
 outwardly4 ,now and then  it is a      
little difficult to decide whether she  
is speaking for herself1  or as the     
exponent of what she has received2 but1 
on the whole1 she  gives us abundant    
indications4 ,perhaps the following     
passage will  illustrate fairly the     
diverse elements of which the record is 
woven3    ,with good cheer our ,lord    
looked into ,his side and beheld with   
joy  bodily vision3 and with ,his sweet 
looking ,he led forth the  understanding
 of ,his creature1 by the same wound1   
into ,his side within  her imagination  
is led by gesture from one thought to   
another4 #i  ,and then ,he showed a fair

 and delectable place1 and large enough 
for all  mankind that should be saved1  
and rest in peace and love a conception 
of the understanding conveyed through   
the symbol of the open wound in  the    
,heart4 ,and therewith ,he brought to my
 mind ,his dear worthy ,blood  and the  
precious water which ,he let pour out   
for love a thought  already contained in
 the mind1 but brought to remembrance by
 ,christ4  ,and with ,his sweet         
rejoicing ,pie showed ,his blessed      
,heart cloven in two  bodily or         
imaginative vision1 and with ,his       
rejoicing ,he showed to my              
understanding1 in part1 the ,blissful   
,godhead as far forth as ,he would at   
that time strengthen the poor soul for  
to understand an enlightening  of the   
reason to the partial apprehension of a 
spiritual mystery4 ,and  with this our  
,good ,lord said full blissfully3 ,lo6  
how ,i love thee6  words formed in the  
imagination or for the outer hearing1 as
 if ,he  had said3 ,my darling1 behold1 

and see thy ,lord1 c4 her own           
paraphrase and interpretation of the    
said words4    ,rarely1 however1 are the
 different modes so entangled as here1  
and for  the most part we have little   
difficulty in discerning the precise    
origin  to which she wishes her         
utterances to be attributed--a fact that
 makes  her book an unusually           
interesting study in the theory of      
inspiration4    ,thus1 in provisionally 
answering the problem proposed at the   
beginning  of this article1 as to how   
far ,mother ,juliana supplied from her  
own mind  the canvas and the colours for
 this portrayal of ,divine love1 and as 
to  how far therefore it may be regarded
 as a product of and a key to her  inner
 self1 we are inclined to say that1 a   
comparison of her own style  of thought 
and sentiment and expression as         
exhibited in her paraphrases  and       
expositions of the things revealed to   
her1 with the substance and  setting of 
the said revelations1 points to the     

conclusion that ,god spoke  to her soul 
in its own language and habitual forms  
of thought2 and that  if the content of 
the revelation was partly new1 yet it   
was harmonious  with the previous       
content of her mind1 being1 as it were1 
a congruous  development of the         
same--not violently thrust into the     
soul1 but set  down softly in the       
appointed place already hollowed for it 
and1 so to  say1 clamouring for it as   
for its natural fulfilment4 ,this1 of   
course1  is not a point for detailed and
 rigorous proof1 but represents an      
impression that gathers strength the    
oftener we read and re-read ,mother     
,juliana's showings4    ,jan4 ,mar4     
#aijj4        ,footnotes3      ,footnote
 #a3 ,prefatory ,essay to ,walter       
,hilton's ,scale of ,perfection4        
,footnote #b3 ,the ,protestant editor of
 the ,leicester edition 7of #ahde71  not
 understanding that an appreciation of  
difficulties1 far from being            
incompatible with faith1 is a condition 

of the higher and more  intelligent     
faith1 would fain credit ,mother        
,juliana with a secret  disaffection    
towards the ,church's authority4 ,how   
far he is justif may be  gathered from  
such passages as these3 ,in this way was
 ,i taught by the  grace of ,god that ,i
 should steadfastly hold me fast in the 
faith1 as ,i  had before understood4 ,it
 was not my meaning to take proof of    
anything  that belongeth to our faith1  
for ,i believed truly that ,hell and    
,purgatory is for the same end that     
,holy ,church teacheth4 ,and ,i was     
strengthened and learned generally to   
keep me in the faith in every  point 444
 that ,i might continue therein to my   
life's end4 ,god showed  full great     
pleasaunce that ,he hath in all men and 
women1 that mightily  and wisely take   
the preaching and teaching of ,holy     
,church2 for it is ,his  ,holy ,church2 
,he is the ground2 ,he is the substance2
 ,he is the teaching2  ,he is the       
teacher1 c4    ,footnote #c3 ,ancren    

,riwle4    ,footnote #d3 ,it is clear   
from many little touches and allusions  
that  throughout the showings ,mother   
,juliana considers herself to be gazing1
  not on a vision of ,calvary1 but on   
the illuminated crucifix hung before    
her by her attendants1 in which crucifix
 these appearances of bleeding1         
suffering1 movement1 and speech take    
place4 ,all else is shrouded in         
darkness4 ,yet she never loses the      
consciousness that she is in her bed    
and surrounded by others4 ,notice1 for  
instance3 ,after this1 ,i saw with      
bodily sight in the face of the crucifix
 that hung before me1 c4  ,the cross    
that stood before my face1 methought it 
bled fast4 ,this  bleeding was so       
plenteous1 to my sight1 that methought  
if it had been  so in nature and        
substance 7i4e41 in reality and not     
merely in  appearance71 it should have  
made the bed all a-blood1 and have      
passed  over all about4 ,for this sight 
,i laughed mightily1 and made them to   

laugh that were about me4 ,evidently she
 is quite awake1 is well  conscious of  
her state and surroundings1 and         
distinguishes appearance  from reality1 
shadow from substance4 ,there is no     
dream-like illusion in  all this4       
,appearances presented to the outer     
senses are commonly spoken  of as       
hallucinations2 but it seems to me that 
this word were better  reserved for     
those cases where appearance is mistaken
 for reality2 and  where consequently   
there is illusion and deception4 ,mother
 ,juliana is  aware that the crucifix is
 not really bleeding1 as it seems to do1
 and  she explicitly distinguishes such 
a vision from her later illusory        
dream-presentment of the ,evil ,one4    
,this dream while it lasted was1 like   
all dreams1 confounded with reality2    
whereas the other phenomena1 even  if   
made of dream-stuff1 were rated at their
 true value4 ,hence it seems  to me that
 if such things have any outward        
independent reality1 to see  them is no 

more an hallucination than to see a     
rainbow4 ,even if they are  projected   
from the beholder's brain1 there is no  
hallucination if they  are known for    
such2 but only when they are confounded 
with reality1 as  it were1 in a         
waking-dream4 ,as we are here using the 
word1 an experience  is real which fits 
in with1 and does not contradict the    
totality of  our experiences2 which does
 not falsify our calculation or betray  
our  expectancy4 ,if ,i look at a fly   
through a magnifying medium of whose    
presence ,i am unconscious1 its size is 
apparent1 or illusory1 and not  real2   
for being unaware of the unusual        
condition of my vision1 ,i shall  be    
thrown out in my calculations1 and the  
harmony of my experiences will  be upset
 by seeming contradictions4 ,if1        
however1 ,i am aware of the  medium and 
its nature1 then ,i am not deceived1 and
 what ,i see is  reality1 since it is as
 natural and real for the fly to look   
larger  through the optician's lense1 as

 to look smaller through the optic      
lense4 ,i cannot call one aspect more   
real than the other1 for both are       
equally right and true under the given  
conditions4 ,for these reasons ,i       
should object to consider ,mother       
,juliana's bodily showings as           
hallucinations1 so far as the term seems
 to imply illusion4    ,footnote #e3    
,for those therefore who make an act of 
faith in the  absolute universality and 
supremacy of the laws of physics and    
chemistry1 and find in them the last    
reason of all things1 these  phenomena  
are interesting only as studies in the  
mechanics of illusion4    ,footnote #f3 
,it was largely by this method1         
supplemented no doubt by  that of       
reasoned discussion1 that ,st4 ,ignatius
 guided himself in  determining points  
connected with the constitution of his  
,order1  according to the journal he has
 left us of his experiences1 which is   
simply a record of consolations and     
desolations4    ,footnote #g3 i4e41 ,a  

kinsthetic idea1 as it is called1 an    
idea of  something to be done in the    
given conditions4    ,footnote #h3 ,p4  
#bgb in ,richardson's ,edit41 from which
 ,i usually quote as  being the readiest
 available4    ,footnote #i3 ,on another
 occasion1 by looking down to the right 
of ,his  ,cross1 ,he brought to her     
mind1 where our ,lady stood in the time 
of ,his  ,passion and said3 ',wilt ,thou
 see her8' leading her by gesture from  
the  seen to the not seen4        ,,xiv4
      ,,poet ,,and ,,mystic4    ,a      
biographer who has any other end in     
view1 however secondary and  incidental1
 than faithfully to reproduce in the    
mind of his readers his  own            
apprehension of the personality of his  
subject1 will be so far  biassed in his 
task of selection2 and1 without any     
conscious deviation  from truth1 will   
give that undue prominence to certain   
features and  aspects which in extreme  
cases may result in caricature4 ,a      
,catholic  biographer of ,coventry      

,patmore would have been tempted to     
gratify the  wish of a recent critic of 
,mr4 ,champneys' very efficient work1 #a
 and  to devote ten times as much space 
as has been given to the account of  his
 conversion1 and a good deal1 no doubt1 
to the discussion and  correction of his
 eccentric views in certain             
ecclesiastical matters2  thus giving us 
the history of an illustrious convert1  
and not that of a  poet and seer whose  
conversion1 however intimately connected
 with his  poetical and intellectual    
life1 was but an incident thereof4 ,on  
the  other hand1 one less intelligently 
sympathetic with the more spiritual     
side of ,catholicism than ,mr4          
,champneys1 would have lacked the       
principal  key to the interpretation of 
,patmore's highest aims and ideals1     
towards  which the whole growth and     
movement of his mind was ever tending1  
and by  which its successive stages of  
evolution are to be explained4 ,again1  
with all possible respect for the       

feelings of the living1 the biographer  
has wisely suppressed nothing needed to 
bring out truthfully the  ruggednesses  
and irregularities that characterize the
 strong and  somewhat one-sided         
development of genius as contrasted with
 the regular  features and insipid      
perfectness of things wrought on a small
 scale4 ,if  idealizing means the       
filing-away of jagged edges--and surely 
it does  not--,mr4 ,champneys has left  
us to do our own idealizing4 ,the faults
 that  marred ,purcell's ,life of       
,manning are here avoided1 and yet truth
 is no  whit the sufferer in            
consequence4    ,in speaking of ,patmore
 as a thinker and a poet1 we do not mean
 to  dissociate these two functions in  
his case1 but only to classify him      
7according to his own category7 with    
those masculine poets whose power  lies 
in a beautiful utterance of the truth1  
rather than in a truthful  utterance of 
the beautiful4    ,we propose1 however1 
to occupy ourselves with the matter     

rather than the  mode of ,patmore's     
utterance2 with that truth which he     
conceived himself  to have apprehended  
in a newer and clearer light than others
 before him2  and this1 because he does 
not stand alone1 but is the             
representative and  exponent of a       
certain school of ascetic thought whose 
tendency is  diametrically contrary to  
that pseudo-mysticism which we have     
dealt with  elsewhere1 and have ascribed
 to a confusion of neo-platonic and     
,christian principles4 ,this            
counter-tendency misses the ,catholic   
mean in  other respects and owes its    
faultiness1 as we shall see1 to some    
very  analogous fallacies4 ,if in our   
chapter on ,the ,true and the ,false    
,mysticism1 it was needful to show that 
the principles of ,christian            
monasticism and contemplative life1 far 
from in any way necessarily  retarding1 
rather favour and demand the highest    
natural development of  heart and mind2 
it is no less needful to assign to this 

thought its true  limits1 and to show   
that the noblest expansion of our       
natural faculties  does not conflict    
with or exclude the principles of       
monasticism4 ,i think  it is ,r4,h4     
,hutton who remarks that it is not easy 
to give us a firm  grasp of any great   
class of truths without loosening our   
grasp on some  other class of truths    
perhaps nobler and more vital2 and      
undoubtedly  ,patmore and his school in 
emphasizing the fallacies of            
neo-platonic  asceticism are in danger  
of precipitating us into fallacies every
 whit  as uncatholic4 ,it is therefore  
as professedly formulating the          
principles  of a certain school that we 
are interested in the doctrine of which 
,patmore constitutes himself the        
apostle4      ,lights are constantly    
breaking in upon me he    writes and    
convincing me more and more that the    
singular luck has fallen to me of having
 to write1 for    the first time that   
any one even attempted to do so    with 

any fulness1 on simply the greatest and 
most    exquisite subject that ever poet
 touched since the    beginning of the  
world4      ,the more ,i consider the   
subject of the marriage of    the       
,blessed ,virgin1 the more clearly ,i   
see that it is the    one absolutely    
lovely and perfect subject for poetry4  
,perfect humanity1 verging upon1 but    
never entering the    breathless region 
of the ,divinity1 is the real subject of
    all true love-poetry2 but in all    
love-poetry hitherto1 an    ideal and   
not a reality has been the subject1 more
    or less4    ,taking the ,angel of   
the ,house as representing the earlier1 
and the  ,odes the later stage of the   
development which this theme received   
under his hands1 it seems as though he  
passes from the idealization and        
apotheosis of married love to the       
conception of it as being in its        
highest form1 not merely the richest    
symbol1 but even the most  efficacious  
sacrament of the mystical union between 

,god and the soul4 ,he  is well         
aware--though not fully at first--that  
these conceptions were  familiar to ,st4
 ,bernard and many a ,catholic mystic2  
it was for the  poetic apprehension and 
expression of them that he claimed      
originality2  or1 at least1 for their   
unification and systematic development4 
,that  his apprehensions were based     
generally--almost exclusively1 on the   
fundamental idea of nuptial love must1  
as ,mr4 ,champneys says1 be  admitted4  
,this was the governing category of his 
mind2 the mould into  which all         
dualities naturally fell2 it was to his 
philosophy what love  and hate1 light   
and dark1 form and matter1 motion and   
atoms1 have been  to others4      ,it   
was1 at all events1 the predominance of 
this conception    which bound together 
his whole life's work1    rendering     
coherent and individualizing all which  
he    thought1 wrote1 or uttered1 and   
those who study    ,patmore without this
 key are little likely to understand    

him4    ,and it is the persistent and   
not always sufficiently restrained use  
of  this category that made much of his 
writing just a trifle shocking to       
sensitive minds4    ,these latter will  
have closed his works far too promptly  
to discover  that far from gainsaying   
the ,catholic instinct which prefers    
virginity  to marriage 7not a strictly  
accurate statement7 he makes virginity a
  condition of the idealized            
marriage-relation1 and finds its        
realization  in her who was at once     
matron and virgin4 ,following the       
fragmentary  hints to be found here and 
there in patristic and mystical         
theology1 he  assumes that              
virgin-spousals and virgin-birth were to
 have been the law  in that ,paradise   
from which man lapsed back into natural 
conditions  through sin2 that in the    
case of the ,blessed ,virgin and ,st4   
,joseph the  paradisaic law was but     
resumed in this respect4 ,accordingly1  
he writes  of ,adam and ,eve in ,the    

,contract1                ,thus the     
first ,eve    ,with much enamoured ,adam
 did enact    ,their mutual free        
contract    ,of virgin spousals1        
blissful beyond flight    ,of modern    
thought1 with great intention staunch1  
,though unobliged until that binding    
pact4    ,to their infidelity to this   
contract he ascribes the subsequent     
degradation of human love through       
sensuality2 and all the sin and         
selfishness thence deriving to our      
fallen race3          ,whom nothing     
succour can    ,until a heaven-caress'd 
and happier ,eve      ,be joined with   
some glad ,saint    ,in like espousals1 
blessed upon ,earth1      ,and she her  
fruit forth bring2      ,no numb        
chill-hearted shaken-witted thing1      
',plaining his little span4    ,but of  
proud virgin joy the appropriate birth1 
,the ,son of ,god and ,man4    ,the     
rationalistic objection to this         
suppression of what seems to be of  the 
essence or integrity of matrimony is    

obvious enough1 and yet finds  many a   
retort even in the realm of nature1     
where the passage to a higher  grade of 
life so often means the stultifying of  
functions proper to the  lower4 ,as to  
the pre-eminence of that state in which 
the spiritual  excellencies of marriage 
and virginity are combined1 ,catholic   
teaching  is quite clear and decided2 in
 this1 as in other points1 ,patmore's   
untaught intuitions1 and instincts--his 
mens naturaliter  catholica--had led    
him1 whither the esoteric teaching of   
the ,church had  led only the more      
appreciatively sympathetic of her       
disciples1 from time  to time1 as it    
were1 up into that mountain of which    
,st4 ,ambrose says3  ,see1 how ,he goes 
up with the ,apostles and comes down to 
the crowds4 ,for  how could the crowds  
see ,christ save in a lowly spot8 ,they 
do not follow  ,him to the heights1 nor 
rise to sublimities--a notion altogether
  congenial to ,patmore's aristocratic  
bias in religion as in everything  else4

 ,undoubtedly it was this mystical      
aspect of ,catholic doctrine that       
appealed to his whole personality1      
offering as it did an authoritative     
approval1 and suggesting an infinite    
realization1 of those dreams that  were 
so sacred to him4 ,as far as the logic  
of the affections goes1 it  was for the 
sake of this that he held to all the    
rest2 for indeed the  deeper ,catholic  
truths are so internetted that he who   
seizes one1 drags  all the rest along   
with it under pain of                   
self-contradiction4    ,no one knew     
better than ,patmore the infinite       
insufficiency of the  highest created   
symbols to equal the eternal realities  
which it is their  whole purpose to set 
forth2 he fully realized that as the    
lowliest  beginnings of created love    
seem to mock1 rather than to foreshadow1
 the  higher forms of which they are but
 the failure and botched essay1 so the  
very highest conceivable1 taken as more 
than a metaphor1 were an  irreverent    

parody of the ,divine love for the human
 soul4 ,it is not the  same relationship
 on an indefinitely extended scale1 but 
only a  somewhat similar relationship1  
the limits of whose similarity are      
hidden in mystery4 ,but when a man is so
 thoroughly in love with his  metaphor  
as ,patmore was1 he is tempted at times 
to press it in every  detail1 and to    
forget that it is but one acre in the   
infinite field of  spiritual suggestion2
 that1 less full and perfect metaphors  
of the same  reality1 may supply some of
 its defects and correct some of its    
redundancies4 ,we should do unwisely to 
think of the ,kingdom of ,heaven  only  
as a kingdom1 and not also as a         
marriage-feast1 a net1 a treasure1  a   
mustard-seed1 a field1 and so forth1    
since each figure supplies some  element
 lost in the others1 and all together   
are nearer to the truth  than any one3  
and so1 although the married love of    
,mary and ,joseph is  one of the fullest
 revealed images of ,god's relation to  

the soul1 we  should narrow the range of
 our spiritual vision1 were we to       
neglect  those supplementary glimpses at
 the mystery afforded by other figures  
and shadowings4    ,and this leads us to
 the consideration of a difficulty      
connected with  another point of        
,patmore's doctrine of divine love4 ,he 
held that the  idealized marriage       
relationship was not merely the symbol1 
but the most  effectual sacrament and   
instrument of that love2 yet the world1 
he  complains1 goes on talking1 writing1
 and preaching as if there were  some   
essential contrariety between the two1  
the disproof of which was  the inspiring
 idea at the heart of my long poem 7the 
',angel'74 ,now1  although in asserting 
that the most absorbing and exclusive   
form of  human affection is not only    
compatible with1 but even instrumental  
to  the highest kind of sanctity and    
divine love1 ,patmore claimed to be at  
one1 at least in principle1 with some of
 the deeper utterances of the  ,saints  

and ,fathers of the ,christian ,church2 
it cannot be denied that the  assertion 
is prima facie opposed to the common    
tradition of ,catholic  asceticism2 and 
to the apparent raison d'tre of every   
sort of  monastic institution4    ,it   
must be confessed that1 in regard to the
 reconciliation of the claims  of       
intense human affection with those of   
intense sanctity1 there have  been among
 all religious teachers two distinct    
conceptions struggling  for birth1 often
 in one and the same mind1 either of    
which taken as  adequate must exclude   
the other4 ,it would not be hard to     
quote the  utterances of saints and     
ascetics for either view2 or to convict 
individual authorities of seeming       
self-contradiction in the matter4 ,the  
reason of this is apparently that       
neither view is or can be adequate2     
that one is weak where the other is     
strong2 that they are both imperfect    
analogies of a relationship that is     
unique and sui generis--the             

relationship between ,god and the soul4 
,hence neither hits the centre of       
truth1 but glances aside1 one at the    
right hand1 the other at the left4      
,briefly1 it is a question of the       
precise sense in which ,god is a        
jealous ,god and demands to be loved    
alone4 ,the first and easier mode of    
conception is that which is implied in  
the commoner language of saints  and    
ascetics--language perhaps consciously  
symbolic and defective in its  first    
usage1 but which has been inevitably    
literalised and hardened when  taken    
upon the lips of the multitude4 ,god is 
necessarily spoken of and  imagined in  
terms of the creature1 and when the     
analogical character of  such expression
 slips from consciousness1 as it does   
almost instantly1  ,he is spoken of1 and
 therefore thought of1 as the ,first of 
,creatures  competing with the rest for 
the love of man's heart4 ,he is placed  
alongside of them in our imagination1   
not behind them or in them4 ,hence      

comes the inference that whatever love  
they win from us in their own  right1 by
 reason of their inherent goodness1 is  
taken from ,him4 ,even  though ,he be   
loved better than all of them put       
together1 yet ,he is not  loved         
perfectly till ,he be loved alone4      
,their function is to raise and         
disappoint our desire time after time1  
till we be starved back to ,him as  to  
the sole-satisfying--everything else    
having proved vanitas  vanitatum4 ,then 
indeed we go back to them1 not for their
 own sakes1 but  for ,his2 not attracted
 by our love of them1 but impelled by   
our love of  ,him4    ,this mode of     
imagining the truth1 so as to explain   
the divine jealousy  implied in the     
precept of loving ,god exclusively and  
supremely1 is1 for  all its patent      
limitations1 the most generally         
serviceable4 ,treated as a  strict      
equation of thought to fact1 and pushed 
accordingly to its utmost  logical      
consequences1 it becomes a source of    

danger2 but in fact it is  not and will 
not be so treated by the majority of    
good ,christians who  serve ,god        
faithfully but without enthusiasm2 whose
 devotion is mainly  rational and but   
slightly affective2 who do not conceive 
themselves  called to the way of the    
saints1 or to offer ,god that           
all-absorbing  affection which would    
necessitate the weakening or severing of
 natural  ties4 ,in the event1 however1 
of such a call to perfect love1 the     
logical  and practical outcome of this  
mode of imagining the relation of ,god  
to  creatures is a steady subtraction of
 the natural love bestowed upon  friends
 and relations1 that the energy thus    
economized may be  transferred to ,god4 
,this concentration may indeed be       
justified on other  and independent     
grounds2 but the implied supposition    
that1 the highest  sanctity is          
incompatible with any pure and          
well-ordered natural  affection1 however
 intense1 is certainly ill-sounding1 and

 hardly  reconcilable with the divinest 
examples and precepts4    ,the          
limitations of this simpler and more    
practical mode of imagining the  matter 
are to some extent supplemented by that 
other mode for which  ,patmore found so 
much authority in ,st4 ,bernard1 ,st4   
,francis1 ,st4 ,teresa1  and many       
another1 and which he perhaps too       
readily regarded as  exhaustively       
satisfactory4    ,in this conception1   
,god is placed1 not alongside of        
creatures1 but  behind them1 as the     
light which shines through a crystal and
 lends it  whatever it has of lustre4   
,in recognizing whatever true brilliancy
 or  beauty creatures possess as due to 
,his inbiding presence1 the love which  
they excite in us passes on to ,him1    
through them4 ,as ,he is the primary    
,agent and ,mover in all our action and 
movement1 the primary ,lover in all  our
 pure and well-ordered love2 and we1 but
 instruments of ,his action1  movement1 
and love2 so1 in whatever we love       

rightly and divinely for its  true merit
 and divinity1 it is ,he who is         
ultimately loved4 ,thus in all  pure and
 well-ordered affection it is1          
ultimately1 ,god who loves and ,god  who
 is loved2 it is ,god returning to      
,himself1 the ,one to the ,one4         
,according to this imagery1 ,god is     
viewed as the ,first ,efficient and the 
ultimate ,final ,cause in a circular    
chain of causes and effects of which    
,he is at once the first link and the   
last--a conception which1 in so far  as 
it brings ,god inside the system of     
nature as part thereof1 is1 like  the   
last1 only analogously true1 and may not
 be pressed too far in its              
consequences4    ,in this view1 to love 
,god supremely and exclusively means    
practically1  to love only the best     
things in the best way1 recognizing ,god
 both in  the affection and in its      
object4 ,god is not loved apart from    
creatures1  or beside them2 but through 
them and in them4 ,hence if only the    

affection be of the right kind as to    
mode and object1 the more the  better2  
nor can there be any question of        
crowding other affections into  a corner
 in order to make more room for the love
 of ,god in our hearts4  ,the love of   
,him is the form1 the principle of order
 and harmony2 our  natural affections   
are the matter1 harmonized and set in   
order2 it is  the soul1 they are the    
body1 of that one ,divine ,love whose   
adequate  object is ,god in1 and not    
apart from1 ,his creatures4    ,it would
 not perhaps be hard to reconcile this  
view with some utterances  in the       
,gospel of seemingly opposite import2 or
 to find it often implied  in the words 
and actions of ,catholic ,saints2 but to
 square it with the  general ascetic    
traditions of the faithful at large is  
exceedingly  difficult4 ,patmore would  
no doubt have allowed the expediency of 
celibacy in the case of men and women   
devoted to the direct ministry of  good 
works1 spiritual and corporal3 a        

devotion incompatible with  domestic    
cares2 he could and did allow the       
superiority of voluntary  virginity and 
absolute chastity over the contrary     
state of lawful use2  but he could      
hardly have justified--hardly not have  
condemned those who  leave father1      
friend1 or spouse1 not merely externally
 in order to be  free for good works1   
but internally in order that their      
hearts may be  free for the             
contemplation and love of ,god viewed   
apart from creatures  and not merely in 
them4 ,he might perhaps say that1 as we 
cannot go to  ,god through all          
creatures1 but only through some 7since 
we are not each  in contact with all71  
we must select according to our         
circumstances  those which will give the
 greatest expansion and elevation to our
  natural affections2 and that for some1
 the home is wisely sacrificed for  the 
community or the church4 ,yet this      
hardly consists with the  pre-eminence  
he gives to married love as the nearest 

symbol and  sacrament of divine4        
,both these modes of imagining the      
truth1 whatever their inconveniences1   
are helpful as imperfect formulations of
 ,catholic instinct2 both  mischievous1 
if viewed as adequate and close-fitting 
explanations4  ,patmore was             
characteristically enthusiastic for his 
own aspect of the  truth2 and           
characteristically impatient of the     
other4 ,thus1 of  ,kempis  he says3     
,there is much that is quite unfit for1 
and untrue of1 people who live in  the  
ordinary relations of life4 ,i don't    
think ,i like the book quite so  much as
 ,i did4 ,there is a hot-house1         
egotistical air about much of its       
piety4 ,other persons are1 ordinarily1  
the appointed means of learning  the    
love of ,god2 and to stifle human       
affections must be very often to  render
 the love of ,god impossible4    ,in    
other words1 the further he pushed the  
one conception the further he  diverged 
from  ,kempis1 whose asceticism was     

built almost purely on the  other4      
,most probably a reconciliation of these
 two conceptions will be found in  a    
clear recognition of the two modes in   
which ,god is apprehended and           
consequently loved by the human mind and
 heart2 the one concrete and            
experimental1 accessible to the simplest
 and least cultured1 and of  necessity  
for all2 the other1 abstract in a       
sense--a knowledge through  the ideas   
and representations of the mind1        
demanding a certain degree of           
intelligence and studious contemplation1
 and therefore not necessary1 at  least 
in any high degree1 for all4 ,the       
difference is like that between  the    
knowledge of salt as tasted in solution 
and the knowledge of it as  seen apart  
in its crystallized state2 or between   
the knowledge and love  of a musical    
composer as known in his compositions1  
and as known in  himself1 from his      
compositions4 ,the latter needs a not   
universal power  of inference which the 

most sympathetic musical expert may     
entirely  lack4    ,of these two        
approaches to ,divine love and union1   
the former is  certainly compatible     
with1 and conducive to1 the unlimited   
fulness of  every well-ordered natural  
affection2 but the latter--a life of    
more  conscious1 reflex1 and actual     
attention to ,god--undoubtedly does     
require  a certain abstraction and      
concentration of our limited spiritual  
energies1 and can only be trodden at the
 cost of a certain inward  seclusion of 
which outward seclusion is normally a   
condition4  ,instinctively1 ,catholic   
tradition has regarded it as a vocation 
apart--as1 like the life of continence1 
a call to something more than  human1   
and demanding a sacrifice or atrophy of 
functions proper to  another grade of   
spirituality4 ,even what is called a    
life of thought  makes a similar demand 
to a great extent2 it involves a        
narrowing of  other interests2 a        
departure from the conditions of        

ordinary practical  life4 ,the          
contemplative life is inclusively all   
this and more2 it is a  sort of         
anticipation of the future life of      
vision4 ,still1 though for a  few it may
 be the surest or the only approach to  
sanctity1 yet there is  no degree of    
,divine love that may not be reached by 
the commoner and  normal path2 there    
have been saints outside the cloister as
 well as  inside4 ,one could hardly     
offend the first principles of the      
,gospel more  grievously than by making 
intelligence1 culture1 and contemplative
  capacity conditions of a nearer       
approach to ,christ4    ,it seems to us 
then that ,patmore failed to get at the 
root of the  neglected truth after which
 he was groping1 and thereby fell into a
  one-sidedness just as real as that    
against which his chief work was a      
revolt and protest4    ,as a convert1   
,patmore is most uninteresting to the   
controversialist4 ,his  mind was        
altogether concrete1 affirmative1 and   

synthetic1 with a  profound distrust of 
abstract and analytical reasoning4 ,as  
we have said1  ,christianity and1 later1
 ,catholicism appealed profoundly to his
  intellectual imagination in virtue of 
some of their deeper tenets1 for  whose 
sake he took over all the rest per modum
 unius4    ,the idea of the ,incarnation
 no sooner flashed upon me as a possible
  reality than it became1 what it has   
ever since remained1 444 the only       
reality worth seriously caring for2 a   
reality so clearly seen and  possessed  
that the most irrefragable logic of     
disproof has always  affected me as     
something trifling and irrelevant4      
,again3 ,christianity is not an         
'historical religion1' but a revelation 
which is renewed in every receiver of   
it4 ,my heart loves that of whose       
existence my intellect allows the       
probability1 and my will puts the seal  
to the blessed compact which produces   
faith--an ingenious application  of his 
favourite category4    ,of the efforts  

of ,manning and de ,vere to proselytize 
him1 he says3    ,their position seemed 
to me to be so logically perfect that ,i
 was long  repelled by its perfection4  
,i felt1 half unconsciously1 that a     
living  thing ought not to be so spick  
and span in its external evidence for   
itself1 and that what ,i wanted for     
conviction was not the sight of a       
faultless intellectual superficies1 but 
the touch and pressure of a  moral      
solid4    ,whatever some may think or   
have thought of his theology1 none who  
knew  him could have any doubt as to the
 robust and uncompromising character  of
 his faith4 ,it was because he felt so  
sure of his footing that he  allowed    
himself a liberty of movement perplexing
 to those whose position  was one of    
more delicate balance4 ,he had a        
ruthlessness in tossing aside  what     
might be called non-essentials1 that was
 dictated not so much by  an            
under-estimate of their due importance1 
as by an impatience with  those who     

over-estimated them1 confounding the    
vessel with its contained  treasure4    
,when he says3 ,i believe in            
,christianity as it will be ten thousand
  years hence1 it would be a grave      
misinterpretation to suppose that he    
implied any lack of belief in the       
,christianity of to-day4 ,it is but     
another assertion of his claim to be in 
sympathy with the esoteric  rather than 
the exoteric teaching of the present2 to
 be on the mount  with the few and not  
on the plain with the many4 ,for as the 
glacier  formed on the mountain slips   
slowly down to the plain1 so1 he held1  
the  esoteric teaching of to-day will be
 the popular teaching of future ages4   
,however little we may relish this      
distinction between aristocratic and    
vulgar belief2 however strongly we may  
hold that best knowledge of  ,god--that1
 namely1 which is experimental and      
tactual rather than  intellectual or    
imaginative--is equally accessible to   
all2 yet just so  far as there is       

question of the intellectual and        
imaginative forms in  which the faith is
 apprehended1 the distinction does and  
must exist1 not  only in religion but in
 every department of belief1 as long as 
there are  different levels of culture  
in the same body of believers4 ,it is1  
after  all1 a much more superficial     
difference than it sounds--a difference 
of  language and symbolism for the same 
realities4 ,where language fits  close1 
as it does to things measurable by our  
senses1 divergency makes  the difference
 between truth and error2 but where it  
is question of the  substitution of one 
analogy or symbol for another1 the more 
elegant is  not necessarily the more    
truthful2 nor when we consider the      
infinite  inadequacy of even the noblest
 conceivable finite symbolism to bring  
,god  down to our level1 need we pride  
ourselves much for being on a mountain  
whose height is perceptible from the    
plain but imperceptible from the        
heavens4    ,hence to say that the      

distinction between esoteric and        
exoteric teaching  means that the       
,church has two creeds1 one for the     
simple1 another for  the educated1 is a 
thoughtless criticism which overlooks   
the necessarily  symbolic nature of all 
language concerning the eternities1 and 
confounds a different mode of expression
 with a difference of the facts  and    
realities expressed4    ,matthew        
,arnold1 too1 believed in the           
,catholicism of the future2 but in  how 
different a sense6 ,what he hoped for   
was1 roughly speaking1 the  preservation
 of the ancient and beautiful husk after
 the kernel had been  withered up and   
discarded2 what ,patmore looked forward 
to was the  expansion of the kernel     
bursting one involucre after another1   
and ever  clamouring for fairer and more
 adequate covering4 ,with one1 the      
language  of religion was all too wide2 
with the other1 all too narrow1 for its 
real signification4 ,arnold belongs to  
the first1 ,patmore to the last of      

those three stages of religious thought 
of which ,mr4 ,champneys writes3    ,the
 first is represented by those whose    
creed is so simple as to afford  little 
or no ground for contention2 the second 
by such as in their  search for greater 
precision enlarge the domain of dogma1  
but fail to  pass beyond its mere       
technical aspect2 the third consists of 
those who  rise from the technical to   
the spiritual1 and without repudiating  
or  disparaging dogma1 use it mainly as 
a guide and support to thought which    
transcends mere definition4      ,dec4  
#aijj4        ,footnotes3      ,footnote
 #a3 ,coventry ,patmore4 ,by ,basil     
,champneys4 ,geo4 ,bell and ,sons1      
#aijj4        ,,xv4      ,,two          
,,estimates ,,of ,,catholic ,,life4     
,dealing as both do so largely with the 
inner life of ,english ,catholic        
society1 it is hardly possible to avoid 
comparing and contrasting ,one  ,poor   
,scruple #a with ,helbeck of            
,bannisdale1--one the work of a         

,catholic who knows the matter she is   
handling1 almost experimentally2  the   
other the work of a gifted outsider     
whose singular talent1 careful          
observation1 and studious endeavour to  
be fair-minded1 fail to save her        
altogether from that unreality and      
priori extravagance which  experience   
alone can correct4 ,to the              
non-,catholic1 ,mrs4 ,humphrey ,ward's  
book will appear a marvel of insight and
 acute analysis2 for it will fit  in    
with1 and explain his outside           
observation of those ,catholics with    
whom he has actually come in contact1   
far better than the preposterous        
notions that were in vogue fifty years  
ago4 ,it represents them not as         
monstrously wicked and childishly       
idolatrous2 but as narrow1  extravagant1
 out-of-date1 albeit1 well-meaning      
folk--more pitiable than  dangerous4    
,formerly when they lived secret and    
unknown1 anything might safely be       
asserted about them2 nothing was too    

wild or improbable4 ,in those days      
,father ,clement was the issue of a     
superhuman effort at charity and        
fairness2 and the author almost seemed  
to think an apology was needed  for such
 temerarious liberalism4 ,but when      
,catholics began to breathe a  little   
more freely and to creep out of their   
burrows somewhat less  nervously2 when1 
in fact1 they were seen to be1 at least 
in outward  semblance1 much as other    
men2 some regard had to be paid to      
statements  that could be checked by    
observation2 and the ,papist's          
disappointing  ordinariness had to be   
attributed to dissimulation or to be    
otherwise  interpreted into accord with 
the preposterous principles by which    
their  lives were thought to be         
governed4    ,mrs4 ,humphrey ,ward      
represents the furthest advance of this 
reform4 ,she  at least has spared no    
pains to acquaint herself with facts1 to
 gather  information1 to verify         
statements4 ,she is never guilty of the 

grotesque  blunders that other          
high-class novelists fall into about    
,catholic  beliefs1 practices1 and      
habits1 simply because they are dealing 
with  what is to their readers a terra  
incognita1 and can1 therefore1 afford   
to be loose and inaccurate4 ,an artistic
 conscientiousness which values  truth  
and honesty in every detail1 saves her  
from this too common snare4  ,but it    
does not and cannot save her in the work
 of selection1 synthesis1  and          
interpretation of instances1 which has  
to be guided1 not by  objective facts1  
but by subjective opinions and          
impressions4 ,history  written in a     
purely positivist spirit1 ad narrandum1 
and in no sense  ad docendum1 is a      
chimerical notion by which ,renan       
beguiled himself  into thinking that his
 ,vie de ,jesus was a bundle of facts   
and nothing  more4 ,and ,mrs4 ,humphrey 
,ward is no less beguiled1 if she is    
unaware that  in threading together1    
classifying and explaining the results  

of her  conscientious observation and   
inquiry1 she is governed by an a priori 
conception of ,catholicism hardly       
different from that which inspired the  
author of ,father ,clement4 ,hence1 to  
us ,catholics1 though her evident       
desire to be critical and impartial is  
gratifying1 yet her failure is  none the
 less conspicuous4 ,dr4 ,johnson once   
observed1 that what might be  wonderful 
dancing for a dog would be a very poor  
performance for a  ,christian2 and so1  
to us1 ,helbeck as a presentment of     
,catholic life is  wonderful as coming  
from an outsider1 and1 perhaps1         
especially from ,mrs4  ,humphrey ,ward1 
but in itself it is grotesque           
enough--not through any  culpable       
infidelity to facts1 but through lack of
 the visual power1 the  guiding idea1   
whereby to read them aright4    ,in ,one
 ,poor ,scruple1 ,mrs4 ,wilfrid ,ward   
brings to bear upon a somewhat  similar 
task1 an equal fidelity of observation  
supplemented by a  first-hand1 far      

wider1 and more intimate experience of  
,catholics and  their ways1 and1 above  
all1 by that key which a share in their 
faith and  beliefs alone furnishes to   
the right understanding of their        
conduct4  ,here too1 no doubt1 a        
contrary bias is to be suspected1 nor is
 a purely1  positive treatment of the   
subject conceivable or desirable4 ,the  
view  of an insider is as partial as the
 view of an outsider1 though less       
viciously so2 nor can we get at truth by
 the simple expedient of fitting  the   
two together4 ,the best witness is the  
rare individual who to an  inside and   
experimental knowledge1 adds the faculty
 of going outside and  taking an        
objective and disinterested view4 ,in   
truth this needs an  amount of          
intellectual self-denial seldom realized
 to any great degree2  but we venture to
 say that ,mrs4 ,wilfrid ,ward proves   
herself very worthy  of confidence in   
this respect4 ,there is certainly no    
artistic idealizing  of ,catholics1 such

 as we are accustomed to in books       
written for the  edification of the     
faithful4 ,there is the same almost     
merciless realism  which we find in     
,helbeck in dealing with certain        
trivialities and  narrownesses of       
piety--defects common to all whom       
circumstances confine  to a little      
world1 but more incongruous and         
conspicuous as contrasted  with the     
dignity of ,catholic ideals4 ,without   
conscious departure from  truth1 ,mrs4  
,humphrey ,ward is evidently influenced 
in her selection and  manipulation of   
facts by the impression of ,catholicism 
she already  possesses and wants to     
illustrate and convey2 but ,mrs4        
,wilfrid ,ward has1  we think1 risen    
above this weakness very notably1 and   
should accordingly  merit greater       
attention4    ,it may well be that this 
judicial impartiality may meet with its 
usual  reward of pleasing neither side  
altogether4 ,some will complain that she
  brings no idealizing love to her      

subject1 and does little to bring out   
the greatness and glory of her religion4
 ,yet this would be a hasty and         
ill-judging criticism2 for our faith is 
no less to be commended for the         
restraint it exercises over the         
multitude of ordinary men and women1    
than for the effect it produces in souls
 of a naturally heroic type4  ,that it  
should bring a certain largeness into   
the smallest life1 that it  should      
impart a strange stability to a         
naturally unstable and frivolous        
character2 that it should check the     
worldly-minded with a sense of the      
superior claims of the other world--all 
this impresses us1 if not with  the     
sublimity or mystic beauty1 at least    
with the solid reality and  penetrating 
power of the ,catholic faith4    ,the   
most loyal and deep-seated love needs   
not to shut its eyes to all  defects and
 limitations1 but can face them         
unchilled2 and similarly  there is often
 more faith and reverence and quiet     

enthusiasm in this  seemingly cold and  
critical attitude towards the cause or  
party we love1  than in the extravagant 
idealism that depends for its           
maintenance on an  ignoring of things as
 they are4    ,nothing perhaps is more  
unintelligible to the ,protestant critic
 of  ,catholicism1 nothing more needs to
 be brought out prominently1 than the   
firm hold our religion can exercise over
 souls that are naturally  irreligious4 
,this very phrase naturally irreligious 
will fall with a shock on  sensitive    
,protestant ears2 yet we use it         
advisedly4 ,while all men are  capable  
of faith and of substantial fidelity to 
the law of ,god1 it is  undeniable that 
but few are by natural inclination      
religious in the  common acceptation of 
the term4 ,as there is a poetic or      
mystical  temperament1 so also there is 
a religious temperament--not quite so   
rare1 but still something exceptional4  
,we find it so in all ages1 ancient and 
modern2 in all religions1  ,christian   

and non-,christian--nay1 even amid      
agnostics and unbelievers we  often     
detect the now aimless1 unused faculty4 
,but most men have1  naturally1 no      
ardent spiritual sympathy with holiness1
 or mysticism1 or  heroism2 their       
interests are elsewhere2 and even where 
there are latent  capacities of that    
kind1 they are not usually developed    
until life's  severest lessons have been
 learnt4 ,thus the young1 who have just 
left  the negative faith and innocence  
of the nursery behind them and stand    
inexperienced on the threshold of life1 
are not normally religious2  whereas we 
naturally expect those who have passed  
through the ordeal1  and been           
disillusioned1 to begin to think about  
their souls1 since there  is nothing    
else left to think about4    ,now1 the  
,catholic religion clearly recognizes   
these facts of human  nature1 and       
accommodates herself to them4 ,however  
frankly it may be  acknowledged that a  
religious temperament--a certain        

complexus of  mental1 moral1 and even   
physical dispositions--is a condition   
favourable  to heroic sanctity1 it must 
be emphatically denied that to be       
religious1 in the ,protestant sense of  
the word1 is requisite for  salvation4  
,and this denial the ,church enforces by
 her recognition of the  religious state
 #b as an extraordinary vocation4 ,the  
purpose of  orders and congregations is 
to provide a suitable environment for   
people of a religious temperament whose 
circumstances permit them to  attend to 
its development in a more exclusive and1
 as it were1  professional way4 ,not1   
indeed1 that all religious-minded       
persons do1 or  ought to1 enter into    
that external state of life2 nor that   
all who so  enter are by temperament and
 sympathy fitted for it1 but that the   
institution points to the ,church's     
recognition of what is technically      
called the way of perfection as         
something exceptional and  super-normal4
    ,but the ,church has a wider        

vocation than to provide hot-houses for 
the  forcing of these rare exotics1 whom
 the rough climate of a worldly life    
would either stunt or kill4 ,her first  
thought is for the multitudes of        
average humanity1 who are not1 and      
cannot be1 in intelligent sympathy  with
 many of the commands she lays upon     
them4 ,they are but as children  in     
religious matters--however cultivated   
they may chance to be in other          
concerns4 ,from such souls ,god requires
 faith1 and obedience to the            
commandments--a due1 which1 in certain  
rare crises1 may mean heroism and       
martyrdom2 but ,he does not expect of   
them that refinement of sanctity1  that 
sustained attention to divine things1   
which depends so largely on  one's      
natural cast of mind and disposition2   
and may even be found where  the        
martyr's temper is altogether wanting4  
,we recognize that there is  certain    
serviceable1 fustian1 every-day piety1  
where1 together with a  great deal of   

spiritual coarseness1 insensibility to  
venial sin and  imperfection1 there     
exists a firm faith that would go       
cheerfully to the  stake rather than    
deny ,god1 or offend ,him in any grave  
point that might  be considered a casus 
belli4 ,and on the other hand a certain 
nicety of  ethical discernment and      
delicacy of devotion1 an anxiety about  
points of  perfection1 is a guarantee   
rather of the quality of one's piety    
than of  its depth or strength4 ,the    
saint is usually one whose piety excels 
both  in quality and strength2 the      
martyr is often enough a man of many    
imperfections and sins1 veiling an      
unsuspected1 deep-reaching faith4 ,the  
day of persecution has ever been a day  
of revelation in this respect--a  day   
when the seemingly perfect have been    
scattered like chaff before the  wind1  
while the once thoughtless and careless 
have stood stubborn before  the blast4  
,protestantism of the ,calvinistic or   
,puritan type shows little              

consciousness of the distinction we are 
insisting upon4 ,it is disposed  to draw
 a hard-and-fast line between the       
converted and the reprobate4  ,those who
 are not religious-minded1 or who do not
 take a serious turn1  are scarcely     
recognized as saved although they may   
not be convicted of  any very flagrant  
or definite breach of the divine law4   
,their morality  or their good works go 
for little if they do not experience    
that sense  of goodness1 or of being    
saved1 which is called faith4 ,much     
stress is  laid on feeling good and     
little value allowed to what we might   
call an  unsympathetic and grudging     
keeping of ,god's law--however much more
 it  may cost1 from the very fact that  
it is in some way unsympathetic1 and    
against the grain4 ,the service of fear 
and reverence1 which ,catholicism       
regards as the basis and back-bone of   
love1 is held to be abject and          
unworthy--almost sinful4    ,hence it   
befalls that no place is found in the   

,protestant heaven for the  great       
majority of ordinary people who do not  
feel a bit good or  religious1 who      
rather dislike going to church and      
keeping the  commandments1 and yet who  
keep them all the same1 because they    
believe  in ,god and fear ,his judgments
 and honour ,his law1 and even love ,him
 in  the solid1 undemonstrative way in  
which a naughty and troublesome child   
loves its parents4    ,that such a      
character as ,madge ,riversdale's should
 cover a small1 firm  core of faith and 
fear under a cortex of worldliness and  
frivolity2 that  religion should have   
such a hold on one so entirely          
irreligious by  nature1 is something    
quite inconceivable to a mind like1 let 
us say1  ,mrs4 ,humphrey ,ward's2 and   
yet absolutely intelligible to the      
ordinary  ,catholic4    ,the ,church to 
us1 is not what it is to the            
,protestant--a sort of pasture  land in 
which we are at liberty to browse if we 
are piously disposed4 ,it  is not merely

 a convenient environment for the       
development of the  religious faculty4  
,she stands to us in the relation of    
shepherd1 with a  more than parental    
authority to feed and train our souls   
through infancy  to maturity2 that is1  
from the time when we do not know or    
like what is  good for us1 to the time  
when we begin to appreciate and         
spontaneously  follow her directions4   
,just then as a child1 however naturally
  recalcitrant and ill-disposed1 retains
 a certain fundamental goodness  and    
root of recovery so long as it          
acknowledges and obeys the authority  of
 its father and mother2 so the ordinary 
unreligious ,catholic1 who has  been    
brought up to believe in the divine     
authority of the ,church1 finds  therein
 all the protection that obedience      
offers to those who are  incapable of   
self-government4 ,in ,madge's eyes the  
woman who married an  innocent divorcee 
was no more than his mistress4 ,had     
,madge been a pious  ,protestant she    

naturally might have examined the       
question of divorce on  its own merits2 
she might have weighed the pros and cons
 of the problem2  she might have        
consulted ,god in prayer1 and have      
listened to this  clergyman on one side2
 and to that1 on the other3 but         
eventually she  would have been thrown  
upon herself2 she would have had no one 
whose  decision she was bound to obey4  
,but wild and lawless as she is1 yet    
being a ,catholic there is one voice on 
earth which she fears to  disbelieve or 
disobey4 ,looked at even from a human   
standpoint1 the  consensus of a         
world-wide1 ancient1 organized society  
like the ,roman  ,church cannot but     
exert a powerful pressure on the minds  
of its  individual members4 ,it would   
need no ordinary rebellion of the will  
for  a thoughtless girl to shake her    
mind so free of that influence as to    
live happily in the state of revolt4    
,but where in addition to this the      
,church is viewed as speaking in the    

name of ,god1 and as so representing    
,him on earth that her ban or blessing  
is inseparable from ,his1 it is  obvious
 that such a belief in her claims will  
give her a power for good  over the     
unreligious majority analogous to that  
possessed by a parent  over an untrained
 child--a power1 that is1 of discipline 
and external  motive which serves to    
supplement or supply for the present    
defect of  internal motive4    ,thus it 
is that the ,church reckons among her   
obedient children thousands  of very    
imperfect and non-religious people for  
whom ,protestantism can  find no place  
among the elect4    ,again1 the solid   
faith of men with so little intellectual
 or emotional  interest in religion as  
,squire ,riversdale or ,marmaduke       
,lemarchant is  something very puzzling 
to the ,protestant critic who1 for the  
reasons  just insisted on1 can have     
nothing corresponding to it in his own  
experience4 ,it is a psychological state
 of which his own religious  system     

takes no account4 ,where there is no    
intermediating ,church1 the  soul is    
either in direct and mystical union with
 ,god or else wholly  estranged and     
indifferent4 ,a man is either serious   
and religious-minded1  or he is nothing4
 ,like an untutored child1 if he is not 
naturally good1  there is no one to make
 him so4 ,but when the ,church is       
acknowledged as  our tutor under ,god1  
as empowered by ,him to lead us to ,him2
 a middle  condition is found of those  
who are not naturally disposed to       
religion1  and yet who are submissive to
 that divine authority whose office it  
is  to shape their souls to better      
sympathies4 ,riversdale is a far truer  
type of the ,catholic country squire of 
the old school than the somewhat  morbid
 and impossible ,helbeck of ,bannisdale4
 ,with her preconceived  notions1 ,mrs4 
,humphrey ,ward could not imagine any   
alternative between  'religious' and    
'irreligious' in the ,puritan sense4 ,if
 ,helbeck was to be  a good ,catholic at

 all he must of necessity be fanatically
 devoted to  the propagation of the     
faith and offer his fortune and energies
 to the  service of an unscrupulous     
clergy only too ready to play upon his  
credulous enthusiasm4 ,his is           
represented as being naturally a        
religious  and mystical soul1 but       
blighted and narrowed through the       
influence of  ,catholicism4 ,we are made
 to feel that the only thing the matter 
with him  is his creed--all those       
stifling notions of sin1 penance1       
absolution1  direction1 as they were    
conventionalized in ,catholic practice  
and  chattered about by stupid and      
mindless people4    ,on the other hand1 
in ,squire ,riversdale and ,marmaduke   
,lemarchant there  is by nature nothing 
but healthy humanity1 no mystic or      
religious strain  whatever2 they are not
 semi-ecclesiastics like ,helbeck2 and  
yet we feel  that their prosaic lives   
are governed1 restrained1 and rectified 
by a  deep-rooted faith in the authority

 of the ,catholic ,church4 ,the         
qualities most obvious are not those of 
the mystic1 but of the manly            
out-of-door sportsman who may seem to be
 nothing more than a bluff  ,englishman 
who rides to the hounds and does his    
ordinary duties4 ,yet one  of these     
red-coated cavaliers would1 ,i have not 
the least doubt1 if  occasion called for
 it1 show himself capable of the very   
highest  heroism4 ,men of action1 ,i    
should say1 and not of reflection--a    
race of  few words but of brave deeds4  
,it was just men of this unromantic     
type1 men of solid but unostentatious   
faith1 given wholly to the business of  
this life save for one sovereign  secret
 reserve1 who in time of persecution    
stood fast ready any day to  be martyred
 for the faith and to regard it as the  
performance of a  simple duty and       
nothing to boast of4 ,and if there is in
 the type a  certain narrowness of      
sympathy and lack of intelligent        
interest which  offends us1 we may ask  

whether1 with our human limitations1    
narrowness  is not to some extent the   
price we pay for strength2 whether where
  decision of judgment and energy of    
action is demanded1 as in times of      
persecution1 width of view and          
multiplicity of sympathies may not be a 
source of weakness4 ,contrast1 for      
example1 the character of ,mark ,fieldes
  with that of ,marmaduke ,lemarchant1  
and it will be clear that the  strength 
and straightness of the latter is       
closely associated with the  absence of 
that versatility of intellect and       
affection which make the  former a more 
interesting but far less lovable and    
estimable  personality4 ,to see all     
sides and issues of a question1 is a    
speculative1 but not always a practical 
advantage2 to have many  diversified    
tastes and affections helps to enlarge  
our sympathies1 but  not to concentrate 
our energies4    ,of course great minds 
and strong hearts can afford to be      
comprehensive  without loss of depth and

 intensity2 but our present interest is 
with  ordinary mortals and average      
powers4 ,a man who has all his life     
unreflectingly adopted the traditional  
principle that death is  preferable to  
dishonour1 that a lie is essentially    
dishonourable1 will  be far more likely 
to die for the truth1 than one who has  
philosophized  much about honour and    
veracity1 and whose resolution is       
enfeebled by the  consciousness of the  
weak and flimsy support which theory    
lends to these  healthy and universally 
received maxims4 ,and similarly those   
who have  received the faith by         
tradition1 who for years have assumed it
 in their  daily conduct as a matter of 
course1 in whom therefore it has become 
an  ingrained psychological habit1 who  
hold it1 in what might be condemned  as 
a narrow1 unintellectual fashion1 are   
just the very people who will  fight and
 die for it1 when its more cultivated   
and reflective professors  waver1       
temporize1 and fall away4 ,taking human 

nature as it is1 who can  doubt but that
 this is the way in which the majority  
are intended to  hold their religious1  
moral1 philosophical1 and political     
convictions2  that reflex thought is1   
must1 and ought to be confined to a     
small  minority whose function is slowly
 to shape and correct that great body   
of public doctrine by which the beliefs 
of the multitude are ruled8 ,we  do not 
mean to say that such prosaic narrowness
 as we speak of1 is  essential to       
strength2 but only that a habit of      
theoretical speculation  and a continual
 cultivation of delicate sensibility is 
a source of  enervation which needs some
 compensating corrective4 ,this         
corrective is  found in the exalted     
idealism which characterizes the great  
saints and  reformers1 such as          
,augustine1 or ,francis1 or ,teresa1 or 
,ignatius--souls  at once mystical and  
energetically practical to the highest  
degree4 ,it  is something of this temper
 which is parodied in ,alan ,helbeck4   

,but the  ,church's mission is not      
merely to those rare souls whose        
sympathy with  her own mind and will is 
intelligent and spontaneous2 but at     
least as  much to the multitudes who    
have to be guided more or less blindly  
by  obedience to tradition and          
authority1 or else let wander as sheep  
having  no shepherd4 ,these             
considerations explain why ,one ,poor   
,scruple seems  to us so far truer a    
presentment of ,catholic life than      
,helbeck of  ,bannisdale--the difference
 lying in the incommunicable advantage  
which  an insider possesses over an     
outsider in understanding the spirit and
  principles by which the members of any
 social body are governed4 ,of all      
religions1 ,catholicism which represents
 the accumulated results of two         
thousand years' worldwide experience of 
human nature applied to the  principles 
of the ,gospel1 is least likely to be   
comprehended by an  outsider1 however   
observant and fair-minded4    ,to those 

for whom the lawfulness of re-marriage  
for an innocent divorcee  is1 like the  
rest of their religious beliefs1 a      
matter of opinion1 the  scruple of a    
character like ,madge ,riversdale is    
unthinkable and  incredible4 ,such women
 do not trouble their heads about       
theological  points2 still less1 make   
heroic sacrifices for their private and 
peculiar convictions4 ,but those for    
whom the ,church is a definite  concrete
 reality--almost a person--governing and
 teaching with divine  authority1 will  
easily understand the firm grip she can 
and does exert  on those who have no    
other internal principle of restraint2  
who would  shake themselves free if they
 dared4 ,let those who despise the      
results  of such a constraint be        
consistent and abolish all parental and 
tutorial  control2 all educative        
government of whatsoever description2   
nay1 the  imperious restraint of        
conscience itself1 which is often obeyed
 but  grudgingly4    ,while some        

features of this portrait of ,catholic  
life are common to all  its phases1     
others are peculiar to the aspect it    
presents in ,england1  where ,catholics 
being a small and weak minority are1 so 
to say1  self-conscious in their        
faith--continually aware that they are  
not as  the rest of men2 disposed       
therefore to be apologetic or aggressive
 or  defensive4 ,again1 the circumstance
 of their long exclusion from the       
social and intellectual life of their   
country is accountable for other        
undesirable peculiarities which ,mrs4   
,wilfrid ,ward sees no reason to  spare4
    ,we have not1 however1 attempted    
anything like a literary estimate of    
this interesting1 altogether readable   
work1 but have only endeavoured to  draw
 attention to an important point1 which1
 whether intentionally or               
unintentionally1 it illustrates very    
admirably4    ,may1 #ahii4              
,footnotes3      ,footnote #a3 ,one     
,poor ,scruple4 ,by ,mrs4 ,wilfrid      

,ward4 ,london3 ,longmans1  #ahii4      
,footnote #b3 ,we do not mean to imply  
that there is any close  etymological   
relation between these two uses of the  
term4        ,,xvi4      ,a ,,life ,,of 
,,de ,,lamennais4    ,the appearance of 
a work by the ,hon4 ,w4 ,gibson on ,the 
,abb de  ,lamennais1 and the ,catholic  
,liberal ,movement in ,france1 invites  
us to a  new attempt to grapple with a  
problem which has so far met with no    
satisfactory solution1 and probably     
never will4 ,up to a certain point we   
seem to follow more or less             
intelligently the working of the        
restless  soul of ,de ,lamennais2 but at
 the last and great crisis of his life  
we  find all our calculations at fault2 
we try to understand him2 we wish  that 
penetrating into the inmost recesses of 
his wounded soul1 we could  force it to 
yield up its secret1 and once more      
sympathize with him1  perhaps console   
him2 but we cannot4 ,he is an enigma1 as
 impenetrable as  the rocks on his      

native shore4    ,from whatever point of
 view the story of his life is regarded1
 it  presents itself as a tragedy4 ,the 
believing ,catholic sees there the ruin 
of a vocation to such a work as only a  
few souls in the history of the  ,church
 are called to accomplish--a ruin       
desperate and deplorable in  proportion 
to the force of the talents and energies
 diverted from the  right path4 ,the    
non-,catholic or unbeliever cannot fail 
to be moved by  contemplating the       
fruitless struggles of a mind so keen1 a
 heart so  enthusiastic in the cause of 
light and liberty--struggles ending in  
failure1 perplexity1 confusion1 and     
misery4 ,but while we allow a large     
element of mystery in his character     
which will never be eliminated1 yet  as 
we return time after time to gaze upon  
the picture of his life1 as a  whole1   
and in its details1 the seemingly       
discordant items begin quietly  to drop 
into their places one after another1 and
 to exhibit unnoticed  connections2 and 

the idea of his distinctive personality 
begins to shape  itself into a coherent 
unity4    ,it is not our purpose here to
 summarize ,mr4 ,gibson's admirable     
work1 or  to give even an outline of so 
well-known a history2 but rather to     
attempt some brief criticism of the man 
himself1 and incidentally of his  views4
    ,temperament and early education are
 among the principal determinants of    
character2 and certainly when we        
contrast ,fli with his brother ,jean1   
who presumably received the same        
home-training1 we see how largely he    
was the creature of temperament4 ,jean  
was by nature the good boy1  tractable  
and docile2 ,fli1 the unmanageable1 the 
lawless1 the violent4  ,while ,jean was 
dutifully learning his lessons to order1
 ,fli1 the  obstreperous1 imprisoned in 
the library1 was feeding his tender mind
  with ,diderot1 ,montaigne1 ,pascal1   
,voltaire1 ,rousseau1 and similar diet1 
and at twelve exhibited such infidel    
tendencies as made it prudent to  defer 

his first ,communion for some ten years4
    ,from first to last1 whether we     
consider his childish waywardness and   
outbreaks of violent passion1 which     
persevered in a less childish form      
through manhood2 or the fits of intense 
depression and melancholy1  alternating 
with spells of high nerve-tension and   
feverish excitement2  or the            
restlessness and impatient energy which 
showed themselves always  and           
everywhere1 and at times drove him like 
a wild man into the woods1  seeking rest
 and finding none2 or the prophetic1 not
 to say1 the  fanatical strain which    
breaks out in so much of his writing1   
especially  in the ,paroles d'un        
,croyant1--in all alike there is evident
 that  predominance of the imaginative  
and emotional elements which1 combined  
with intellectual gifts1 constitute     
genius as commonly understood4 ,for     
such a character the training which     
would suffice for half a dozen good     
little ,jeans would be wholly           

inadequate4 ,so much fire and feeling   
ill  submits to the yoke of             
self-restraint in matters moral or      
intellectual4  ,the mind is apt to be   
fascinated by the brilliant pictures of 
the  imagination and to become a slave  
to the tyranny of a fixed idea2 while   
the strength of passionate desire       
paralyzes the power of free             
deliberation4 ,it is precisely this     
self-restraint1 the fruit of a  careful 
education given and responded to1 that  
we miss in ,de ,lammenais  both in his  
moral character and in his mind4 ,peace 
and tranquillity of  soul are essential 
to successful thinking1 more especially 
in  philosophy2 and in proportion as a  
brilliant imagination is a help1 it  is 
also a danger if let run riot4 ,at      
times1 wearied out with himself1 he     
seems to have felt the need of retreat  
and quiet2 but he was almost as         
constitutionally incapable of keeping   
still1 as certain modern statesmen  in  
their retirement from public life4 ,we  

smile when we hear him in the  violent  
first fervour of his conversion1 talking
 about becoming a  ,trappist1 and1      
later1 a ,jesuit4 ,he knew himself      
better when he shrank so  long and      
persistently from the yoke of           
priesthood1 and when1 having  yielded   
against his truer instincts to the      
indiscreet zeal of pious  friends1 he   
experienced an agony of repugnance at   
his first ,mass4 ,with  different       
antecedents he might have profited by   
the yoke1 but as things  stood it could 
but gall him4    ,in spite of ,mr4      
,gibson's contention to the contrary1 it
 can hardly be  maintained that ,de     
,lamennais was well educated in the     
strict sense of  the expression4 ,the   
evidence he adduces points to a         
marvellous diversity  of interests1 and 
even to close and careful reading4 ,but 
on the whole he  was self-taught1 and a 
self-taught man is never educated4      
,without  intercourse with other living 
minds1 education is impossible4 ,this is

  indeed hoisting ,de ,lammenais with   
his own petard4 ,for1 according to      
,traditionalism1 the mind is paralyzed  
by isolation1 and can be duly  developed
 only in society4 ,an overweening       
self-confidence and slight  regard for  
the labours of other thinkers usually   
characterizes  self-taught genius4 ,this
 it was that led him to cut all         
connection with  the philosophy of the  
past1 and to attempt to build up1       
single-handed1 a  new system to supplant
 that which had been the fruit of the   
collective  mind-labour of centuries4 ,i
 shall work out1 he writes calmly to the
  ,abb ,brute1 a new system for the     
defence of ,christianity against        
infidels and heretics1 a very simple    
system1 in which the proofs will be  so 
rigorous that unless one is prepared to 
give up the right of saying  ,i am1 it  
will be necessary to say ,credo to the  
very end4 ,only a man  with a very      
slight and superficial acquaintance with
 the endeavours of  previous apologists1

 and the extreme difficulty of the      
problem1 could  speak with such         
portentous self-confidence4 ,and the    
result bears out  this remark4 ,for     
grand and imposing as is the structure  
of the ,essai  sur l',indiffrence1 it   
rests on fallacies so patent that none  
but a man  of no philosophical training 
could have failed to perceive them4     
,here it  is that the self-taught man   
comes to grief and often misses the mere
  truisms of traditional teaching4      
,doubtless ecclesiastical philosophy and
 theology was then more than ever       
painfully fossilized1 and altogether    
lifeless and out of sympathy with  the  
spirit of the age4 ,it needed to be     
quickened1 adapted and applied to       
modern exigencies4 ,the undue intrusion 
of metaphysics into the domain of       
positive knowledge needed checking2 the 
value of consensus communis as  a       
criterion required to be insisted on1   
defended1 and exactly defined4  ,with   
characteristic impetuosity1 ,de         

,lamennais1 like ,comte1 must bundle    
metaphysics out of doors altogether as a
 merely provisional but illusory        
synthesis1 necessary for the human      
intellect in its adolescence1 but to  be
 discarded in its maturity2 and         
thereupon he proceeds to erect his      
system of ,traditionalism mid-air1 quite
 unconscious that in clearing  away     
metaphysics he has deprived the         
structure of its only possible          
foundation4 ,but this is the man all    
over4 ,because there is a truth in      
,traditionalism1 therefore1 it is the   
whole and only truth2 because           
metaphysics alone can do little1 it is  
therefore unnecessary and  worthless4   
,had he spent but a fraction of the time
 and trouble he gave  to the elaboration
 of his own system1 in a liberal and    
critical study of  that which he desired
 to supersede1 his genius might have    
accomplished a  work for the ,church    
which is still halting badly on its way 
to  perfection4 ,one feels something    

like anger in contemplating such        
hot-headed zeal standing continually in 
its own light1 and frustrating  with    
perverse ingenuity the very end which it
 was most desirous to  realize4 ,for no 
one can deny that from his first        
conversion to his  unhappy death ,de    
,lamennais was dominated by the highest 
and noblest and  most unselfish motives2
 that he was a man of absolute sincerity
 of  purpose4    ,his earliest          
enthusiasm was for the defence and      
exaltation of the  ,catholic ,faith1 for
 the liberation of the ,church from the 
bonds of  nationalism and ,erastianism4 
,even those who repudiate altogether the
  extreme ,ultramontanism of ,de        
,maistre and ,de ,lamennais must allow  
their  conception to be one of the      
boldest and grandest which has inspired 
the  mind of man4 ,he realized more     
vividly than many that the cause of the 
,church and of society1 of ,catholicism 
and humanity1 were one and the  same4   
,it was the very intensity and depth of 

his convictions that made  him so       
importunate in pressing them on others1 
so intolerant of delay1  so infuriated  
by opposition4 ,for indeed nothing is   
more common than to  find a thousand    
selfishnesses co-existing and           
interfering with a  dominant            
unselfishness1 lessening or totally     
destroying its fruitfulness  for good4  
,a man who is unselfish enough to devote
 his fortune to charity  will not       
necessarily be free from faults which   
may more than undo the  good he         
proposes4    ,the same hastiness of     
thought which moved him to a wholesale1 
indiscriminate condemnation of          
metaphysics1 led him to conclude that   
because hitherto no happy adjustment of 
the relations between ,church and       
,state had been devised1 there could be 
no remedy save in their total           
severance4 ,doubtless such a severance  
would be better1 if ,gallicanism  were  
the only alternative2 or if the         
,church's liberty and efficiency  were  

to be seriously curtailed4 ,a           
superficial glance might fancy a        
fundamental discrepancy in this matter1 
as well as in the questions of          
toleration1 and of the freedom of the   
press1 between the official  teaching of
 ,gregory ,,xvi4 and ,pius ,,ix41 and   
that of ,leo ,,xiii4 ,but a  closer     
inspection shows no alteration of       
principle1 and only a  recognition of   
altered circumstances1 either           
necessitating a connivance  at          
inevitable evils1 or totally changing   
the aspect of the question4 ,but  ,de   
,lamennais should have learnt from his  
own teaching that liberty does  not mean
 the independence of isolation1 but the 
full enjoyment of all  the means        
necessary for perfect self-development2 
that it does not mean  the weakness of  
dissociation1 but the strength of a     
perfectly organized  association for    
mutual help and protection4 ,and this   
holds good1 not for  individuals alone1 
but for societies1 and for ,church and  

,state4 ,aiming  at one common end1 the 
perfection of humanity1 they cannot but 
gain by  association and lose by        
dissociation4 ,each is weaker even1 in  
its own  sphere1 apart from the other4  
,it is an unreal abstraction that splits
  man into two beings--a body and a     
soul2 that draws a clean1  hard-and-fast
 line between his temporal and eternal  
welfare2 that  commits the former       
interest to one society1 the latter to  
another1  absolutely distinct and       
unconnected4 ,but all this holds true   
only in the  hypothesis of a nation of  
,christians or ,theists4    ,when a     
large fraction of the community has     
ceased to believe in  ,christianity and 
the ,church1 the demands of justice and 
reason are  different4 ,it may well be  
allowed that1 to determine the exact    
relation  of the ,catholic ,church and  
,christian ,state1 and the law of their 
organization into one complex society1  
is a problem for whose perfect  solution
 we must wait the further development of

 the ideas of  ecclesiastical and civil 
society4 ,but to wait for growth of     
subjective  truth was just what ,de     
,lamennais could not do4 ,he saw that   
past  solutions of the problem had been 
unsuccessful2 that in most cases the    
,church was eventually drawn into       
bondage under the ,state as its creature
  and instrument in the cause of tyranny
 and oppression2 that it was  insensibly
 permeated with the local and national  
spirit1 differentiated  from ,catholic  
,christendom1 and severed from the full 
influence of its  head1 the ,vicar of   
,christ4 ,the independence of the       
,church he rightly  judged to be the    
great safeguard of the people against   
the tyranny of  their temporal rulers4  
,in the face of that world-wide         
spiritual society1  whose voice was at  
once the voice of humanity and the voice
 of ,god1 he  felt that iniquity would  
stop its mouth1 and injustice be put to 
shame4 ,yet all this seemed to him      
impossible so long as the ,church       

depended on the ,state for              
temporalities1 and because he could     
devise no  form of association that     
would be guarantee against all abuses1  
he  therefore insisted on total1        
severance1 not merely as expedient for  
the  present pressure1 but as a divine  
and eternal principle4    ,when1        
therefore1 it seemed to him that        
,gregory ,,xvi4 had condemned           
,ultramontanism1 it was1 to ,de         
,lamennais1 as though he had condemned  
the  cause of the ,church and of        
humanity1 and thrown the weight of his  
authority into that of ,gallicanism4    
,here again we see how his mental       
intensity and impatience reduced him to 
the dilemma which found solution  in his
 apostasy4 ,holding as he did to the    
,papal infallibility in a form  far more
 extreme than that subsequently approved
 by the ,vatican ,council1  he was bound
 in consistency to accept the ,pope's   
decision as infallible  in respect to   
its expediency and in all its detail4   

,thus it seemed to  him that the ideal  
for which he had lived was shattered by 
a  self-inflicted blow4 ,the infallible 
voice of humanity had declared  against 
the cause of humanity4 ,he found himself
 compelled1 in virtue of  his           
principles1 to choose between two       
alternatives4 ,either the cause of      
humanity1 as he conceived it1 was not   
the cause of ,god2 or else the ,pope    
was not the ,vicar of ,christ and the   
divinely-appointed guardian of that     
cause4 ,but of the two denials the      
former was now to him the least         
tolerable4 ,catholicism1 he said1 was my
 life1 because it was that of  humanity4
 ,sacramenta1 propter homines2 the      
,church was made for man1  and not man  
for the ,church4 ,given the dilemma1 who
 shall blame his  choice8 ,but the      
dilemma was purely subjective and       
imaginary4 ,though  truths are never    
irreconcilable1 the exaggerations of    
truth may well  be so4    ,had he       
possessed that intellectual patience in 

perplexity1 without which  not only     
faith1 but true science1 is impossible1 
he would have been  driven not to       
apostasy1 but to a careful re-sifting of
 his views1  issuing1 perhaps1 in a     
reconciliation of apparently adverse    
positions1  or at all events in a       
confession of subjective1 uncertainty   
and  confusion4 ,faith1 in the wider    
sense of the word1 would have bid him to
  believe1 without seeing1 what we have 
lived to see under ,leo ,,xiii4    ,this
 seems to be the intellectual aspect of 
his defection1 though of  course there  
were many accelerating causes at work4  
,perhaps if ,gregory  ,,xvi4 had met his
 appeal with a few words of simple      
explanation and  advice1 instead of with
 that mysterious reticence which is     
falsely  supposed to be the soul of     
diplomacy1 the issue might have been as 
happy  as it was miserable4 ,de         
,lamennais himself1 in his ,affaires de 
,rome1  makes the same remark in so many
 words4 ,again1 the illiberal and       

ungenerous persecution of his triumphant
 adversaries1 who endeavoured to  goad  
him into some open act of rebellion in  
order to bring him under  still heavier 
condemnation1 can scarcely have failed  
to embitter and  harden a soul naturally
 disposed to pessimism and melancholy4  
,nor can we  omit from the influences at
 work upon him1 that dramatic instinct  
which  makes a mediocre and colourless  
attitude impossible for those who are   
strongly under its influence4 ,perhaps  
no nation is more governed by it  than  
the ,french1 with their partiality for  
tableaux and sensation2  and in ,de     
,lamennais its presence was most marked1
 as the pages of his  ,paroles will     
witness4 ,in the ,too ,late with which  
he received the  overtures of ,pius     
,,ix42 in the studied sensationalism of 
his funeral  arrangements1 and in many  
other minute points1 we are made        
sensible that  if his life culminated in
 a tragedy1 the tragic aspect of it was 
not  altogether displeasing to him4     

,still it would be a grievous slur on so
  great a character to suppose that such
 a weakness could have had any          
considerable part in his steady and     
deliberate refusal to see a priest  at  
the last4 ,this is sufficiently         
accounted for by the fact that he       
believed he could not be absolved       
without accepting the condemnation of   
his own views1 and so abandoning the    
cause of humanity4 ,while under the     
spell of his imaginary dilemma1 he was  
constrained to follow the rule  for a   
perplexed conscience1 and to choose what
 seemed to him the less of  two evils4  
,after his ideal had been destroyed1 and
 the ,church could no longer be  for him
 the ,saviour of the ,nations1 he threw 
himself without reserve  into the cause 
of humanity and liberty4 ,but his aims  
were now almost  entirely destructive   
and revolutionary4 ,his enthusiasm was  
rather a  hatred of the things that     
were1 than an ardent zeal for the things
 that  ought to be2 and the bitter      

elements in his character become more   
and  more accentuated as he finds       
himself gradually thrust aside and      
forgotten--cast off by the ,church1     
ignored by the revolution4 ,even his    
friends1 with one or two exceptions1    
dropped off one by one2 some  fleeing   
like rats from a sinking ship1 others   
perplexed at his obstinacy  or offended 
by his violence2 others removed by death
 or distance2 and we  see him in his old
 age poor and lonely1 and intensely     
unhappy4    ,when dangerously ill in    
#ahbg1 he exclaimed1 on being told that 
it was a  fine night1 ,for my peace1    
,god grant that it may be my last4 ,the 
prayer  was not heard1 for1 as he felt  
on his recovery1 ,god had a great work  
for  him to do4 ,how that work was done 
we have just seen4 ,fli de ,lamennais1  
who would have been buried as a         
,christian in #ahbg1 was buried as an   
infidel in #ahed4    ,it is vain to     
contend that he was not a man of prayer4
 ,that he had a  keen discernment in    

spiritual things is evident from his    
,commentary on  the ,imitation and his  
other spiritual writings1 as well as    
from the  testimony of his young        
disciples at ,la ,chnaie1 to whom he was
 not  merely a brilliant teacher1 a most
 affectionate friend and father1 but    
also a trusted guide in the things of   
,god4 ,yet this would be little had  we 
not also assurance of his personal and  
private devoutness4    ,all this would  
make his unfortunate ending a           
stumbling-block to those  who cannot    
acquiesce in the fact that in every soul
 tares and wheat in  various proportions
 grow side by side1 and that which      
growth is to be  victorious is not      
possible to predict with certainty2 who 
deem it  impossible that one who ends   
ill could ever have lived well2 or that 
one  who loses his faith1 or any other  
virtue1 could ever at any time have     
really possessed it4 ,there is indeed   
some kind of double personality in  us  
all which is perhaps more observable in 

strongly-marked characters  like ,de    
,lamennais1 where1 so to say1 the       
bifurcating lines are produced  further4
 ,proud men have occasional moods of    
genuine humility2 and  habitual         
bitterness is allayed by intervals of   
sweetness2 and  conversely1 there are   
ugly streaks in the fairest marble4     
,and as to the fate of that restless    
soul1 who shall dare to speak           
dogmatically8 ,we cling gladly to the   
story of the tear that stole down  his  
face in death1 and would fain see in it 
some confirmation of the  view according
 to which the soul receives in that     
crucial hour a final  choice based on   
the collective experience of its mortal 
life4 ,we would  hope that as there is a
 baptism of blood or of charity1 so     
there may  perhaps be some uncovenanted 
absolution for one who so earnestly     
loved  mankind at large1 and especially 
the poor and the oppressed2 who in his  
old age and misery was found by their   
sick-bed2 who willed to be with  them in

 his death and burial4 ,and yet we feel 
something of that  agonizing uncertainty
 which forced from the aged ,abbe ,jean 
the bitter  cry1 ,fli1 ,fli1 my brother6
    ,jan4 #ahig4        ,,xvii4         
,,lippo1 ,,the ,,man ,,and ,,the        
,,artist4    ,what pains me most1 writes
 the late ,sir ,joseph ,crowe in the    
,nineteenth ,century for ,october1      
#ahif1 is to think that the art of ,fra 
,filippo1 the loose fish1 and seducer of
 holy women1 looks almost as  pure1 and 
is often quite as lovely as that of ,fra
 ,giovanni ,angelico of  ,fiesole4 ,and 
indeed1 if the fact be admitted1 it     
cannot but be a shock  to all those     
high-minded thinkers who have committed 
themselves  unreservedly to the view    
that personal sanctity and elevation of 
character in the artist is an essential 
condition for the production of  any    
great work of art1 and especially of    
religious art4 ,as regards the  fact1 we
 need not concern ourselves very long4  
,if ,rio and others1  presumably biassed

 by the same theory1 are inclined to see
 ,lippi's moral  depravity betrayed in  
every stroke of his brush1 yet the more 
general  and truer verdict accords him a
 place among the great masters of his   
age1 albeit beneath ,angelico and some  
others4 ,beyond all doubt it must  be   
allowed that even in point of           
spirituality and heavenliness of        
expression1 he stands high above numbers
 of artists of pure life and  blameless 
reputation2 and this fact leaves us face
 to face with the  problem already      
suggested as to the precise connection  
between high  morality and high art--if 
any4    ,plainly a good man need not be 
a good artist4 ,must a good artist be a 
good man8 ,i suppose from a vague       
feeling in certain minds that it ought  
to be so1 there rises a belief that it  
must be so1 and that it is so2  and from
 this belief a disposition to see that  
it is so1 and to read  facts            
accordingly4 ,prominent among the       
advocates of this view is ,mr4  ,ruskin 

in his treatment of the relation of     
morality to art4 ,he holds  that the    
basis of art is moral2 that art cannot  
be merely pleasant or  unpleasant1 but  
must be lawful or unlawful1 that every  
legitimate  artistic enjoyment is due to
 the perception of moral propriety1 that
  every artistic excellence is a moral  
virtue1 every artistic fault is a  moral
 vice2 that noble art can spring only   
from noble feeling1 that the  whole     
system of the beautiful is a system of  
moral emotions1 moral  selections1 and  
moral appreciation2 and that the aim and
 end of art is  the expression of man's 
obedience to ,god's will1 and of his    
recognition  of ,god's goodness4 #a     
,but a man who can characterize a vulgar
 pattern as immoral1 plainly uses  the  
term morality in some transcendental1   
non-natural sense1 and  therefore cannot
 be regarded as an exponent of the      
precise theory  referred to4 ,still1 as 
this larger idea of morality includes   
the lesser  and more restricted1 we may 

consider ,mr4 ,ruskin and his disciples 
among  those to whom the case of ,lippo 
,lippi and many another presents a      
distinct difficulty4 ,many another1 for 
the principle ought to extend  to every 
branch of fine art2 and we should be    
prepared to maintain that  there never  
has been1 or could have been1 a truly   
great musician1 or  sculptor1 or poet1  
who was not also a truly good man4 ,in a
 way the  position is defensible enough2
 for one can1 in every contrary         
instance1  patch up the artist's        
character or else pick holes in his     
work4 ,who is  to settle what is a truly
 great work or a truly good man4 ,but a 
position  may be quite defensible1 yet  
obviously untrue4 ,again1 if by great   
art we  mean that which is subordinated 
to some great and good purpose1 we are  
characterizing it by a goodness which is
 extrinsic to it1 and is not the        
goodness of art itself1 as such4 ,if the
 end of fine art is to teach1  then its 
goodness must be estimated by the matter

 and manner of its  teaching1 and a     
moral pocket-handkerchief must take     
precedence of many  a ,turner4 ,yet it  
would even then remain questionable     
whether a good and  great moral teacher 
is necessarily a good man4 ,in truth1 a 
good man is  one who obeys his          
conscience1 and whose conscience guides 
him right4 ,if1  in defect of the latter
 condition1 we allow that a man is good 
or  well-meaning1 it is because we      
suppose that his conscience is erroneous
  inculpably1 and that he is faithful to
 right order as far as he  understands  
it4 ,but one who sees right and wills   
wrong is in no sense  good1 but         
altogether bad4 ,allowing that for the  
solution of some  delicate moral        
problems a certain height of tone and   
keenness of insight  inseparable from   
habitual conscientiousness is necessary1
 yet mere  intellectual acumen1 in the  
absence of any notably biassing         
influence1  suffices to give us as great
 a teacher as ,aristotle1 who1 if       

exonerated  from graver charges1 offers 
no example of astonishing elevation of  
heart  at all proportioned to the       
profundity of his genius4 ,we do not    
deny that  in the case of free assent to
 beliefs fraught with grave practical   
consequences1 the moral condition of the
 subject has much to do with the        
judgments of the intellect4 ,but first  
principles and their logical  issues    
belong to the domain of necessary truth2
 while in other matters a  teacher may  
accept current maxims and sentiments    
with which he has no  personal sympathy1
 and weave from all these a whole system
 of excellent  and orthodox moral       
teaching4 ,and if one may be a good     
moralist and a bad  man1 why  fortiori  
may one not be a good artist and a bad  
man8 ,if  vice does not necessarily dim 
the eye to ethical beauty1 why should it
  blind it to aesthetic beauty8 ,in     
order to get at a solution we must fix  
somewhat more definitely the notion of  
fine art and its scope4    ,i think it  

is in a child's book called ,the ,back  
of the ,north ,wind1  that a poet is    
somewhat happily and simply defined as a
 person who is  glad about something and
 wants to make other people glad about  
it too4  ,yet mature reflection shows   
two flaws in this definition4 ,first of 
all1  the theme of poetry1 or any other 
fine art1 need not always be gladsome1  
but can appeal to some other strong     
emotion1 provided it be high and  noble4
 ,the tragedian is one who is thrilled  
with awe and sorrow1 and  strives to    
excite a like thrill in others4 ,again1 
though the craving for  sympathy hardly 
ever fails to follow close on the       
experience of deep  feeling2 and though1
 as we shall presently see1 fine art is 
but an  extension of language whose     
chief end is intercommunion of ideas1   
yet  this altruist end of fine art is   
not of its essence1 but of its          
superabundance and overflow4 ,expression
 for expression's sake is a  necessity  
of man's spiritual nature1 in solitude  

no less than in  society4 ,to speak1 to 
give utterance to the truth that he     
sees1 and to  the strong emotions that  
stir within his heart1 is that highest  
energizing in which man finds his       
natural perfection and his rest4 ,his   
soul is burdened and in labour until it 
has brought forth and expressed  to its 
complete satisfaction the word conceived
 within it4 ,nor is it  only within the 
mind that he so utters himself in secret
 self-communing2  for he is not a       
disembodied intelligence1 but one       
clothed with body and  senses and       
imagination4 ,his medium of expression  
is not merely the  spiritual substance  
of the mind1 but his whole complex      
being4 ,nor has he  uttered his word to 
his full satisfaction till it has passed
 from his  intellect into his           
imagination1 and thence to his lips1 his
 voice1 his  features1 his gesture4 ,and
 when the mind is more vigorous and the 
passion for utterance more intense1 he  
will not be at rest while there  is any 

other medium in which he can embody his 
conception1 be it stone1  or metal1 or  
line1 or colour1 or sound1 or measure1  
or imagery1 which  under his skilled    
hand can be made to shadow out his      
hidden thought and  emotion4 ,we cannot 
hold with ,max ,mller and others1 who   
make thought  dependent and consequent  
on language4    ,for it is evident1 on a
 moment's introspection1 that thought   
makes  language for itself to live in1  
just as a snail makes its own shell or a
  soul makes its own body4 ,who has not 
felt the anguish of not being able  to  
find a word to hit off his thought      
exactly8--which surely means that  the  
thought was already there unclothed1    
awaiting its embodiment4 ,as the  soul  
disembodied is not man1 so thought not  
clothed in language is not  perfect     
human thought4 ,its essence is saved1   
but not its substantial1 or  at least   
its desirable1 completeness4 ,a man     
thinks more fully1 more  humanly1 who   
thinks not with his mind alone1 but with

 his imagination1  his voice1 his       
tongue1 his pen1 his pencil4 ,if1       
therefore1 solitary  contemplative      
thought is a legitimate end in itself2  
if it is that  ludus1 or play of the    
soul1 which is the highest occupation of
 man1 a  share in the same honour must  
be allowed to its accompanying          
embodiment2  to the music which delights
 no ear but the performer's2 to poetry1 
to  painting1 to sculpture done for the 
joy of doing1 and without reference  to 
the good of others communicating in that
 joy4 ,and if the ,divine  ,artist1     
whose lavish hand fills everything with 
goodness2 who pours out  the treasures  
of ,his love and wisdom in every corner 
of our universe2 of  whose greatness man
 knows not an appreciable fraction2 who 
does all  things well for the very love 
of doing and of doing well2 who utters  
,himself for the sake of uttering1 not  
only in ,his eternal1 co-equal1         
all-expressive ,word1 but also in the   
broken1 stammering accents of a  myriad 

finite words or manifestations--if this 
,divine ,artist teaches us  anything1 it
 is that man1 singly or collectively1 is
 divinest when he  finds rest and joy in
 utterance for its own sake1 in telling 
the glory  of ,god and showing forth    
,his handiwork1 or1 as ,catholic        
doctrine puts  it1 in praise2 for praise
 is the utterance of love1 and love is  
joy in  the truth4    ,as most of the   
useful arts perfect man's executive     
faculties1 and thus  are said to improve
 upon1 while in a certain sense they    
imitate nature2  so the fine arts extend
 and exalt man's faculty of expression1 
or  self-utterance1 regarded not        
precisely as useful and propter aliud2  
but as pleasurable and propter se4 ,even
 the most uncultivated savage  finds    
pleasure in some discordant utterance of
 his subjective frame of  mind2 and it  
is really hard to find any tribe so     
degraded as to show no  rudiment of fine
 art1 no sign of reflex pleasure in     
expression1 and of  inventiveness in    

extending the resources nature has      
provided us with for  that end4    ,the 
artist as such aims at self-expression  
for its own sake4 ,it is a  necessity of
 his nature1 an outpouring of pent-up   
feeling1 as much as is  the song of the 
lark4 ,of course we are speaking of the 
true creative  artist1 and not of the   
laborious copyist4 ,if he subordinates  
his work as  a means to some further    
end2 if his aim is morality or          
immorality1 truth  or error1 pleasure or
 pain2 if it is anything else than the  
embodiment  or utterance of his own     
soul1 so far he is acting riot as an    
artist1 but  as a minister of morality1 
or truth1 or pleasure1 or their         
contraries4  ,if we keep this idea      
steadily in view1 we can see how much   
truth1 or how  little1 is contained in  
the various theories of fine art which  
have been  advanced from the earliest   
times4 ,we can see how truly art is a   
,greek3  mimaesis an imitating of       
realities2 not that art-objects are1 as 

,plato  supposes1 faint and defective   
representations1 vicegerent species of  
the  external world1 whose beauty is but
 the transfer and dim reflection of  the
 beauty of nature4 ,were it so1 then the
 mirror1 or the camera1 were  the best  
of all artists4 ,as expression1 fine art
 is the imitation of the  soul within2  
of outward realities as received into   
the mind and heart of  the artist1 in   
their ideal and emotional setting4 ,the 
artist gives word  or expression to what
 he sees2 but what he sees is within    
him4 ,his work  is self-expression4 ,we 
can from this infer where to look for a 
solution  of the controversy between    
idealism and realism4 ,we can also see  
how1  owing to the essential            
disproportion between the material and  
sensible  media of expression which art 
uses1 and the immaterial and spiritual  
realities it would body forth1 its      
utterances must always be symbolic1     
never literal4 ,we can see how          
needlessly they embarrass themselves who

  deny the name of fine art to any work 
whose theme is not beautiful1 or  which 
is not morally didactic4 ,finally1 we   
can see that if fine art be  but an     
extension of language1 there can be no  
immediate connection  between art as    
art1 and general moral character2 no    
more reason for  supposing that skilful 
and beautiful self-utterance is         
incompatible with  immorality1 than that
 its absence is incompatible with       
sanctity4    ,yet1 as a matter of fact1 
and rightly1 we judge of art not merely 
as  art1 or as expression2 but we look  
to that which is expressed1 to the      
inner soul which is revealed to us1 to  
the matter as well as to the  form4 ,and
 it maybe questioned whether our        
estimate of a work is not  rather       
determined in most cases by this        
non-artistic consideration4  ,obviously 
it is possible in our estimate of a     
landscape1 to be drawn  away from the   
artistic to the real beauty2 from its   
merits as a word1  or expression1 to the

 merits of the thing signified4 ,and    
still more  naturally is our admiration 
drawn from the artist's self-utterance1 
to  the self which he endeavours to     
utter1 and we are brought into sympathy 
with his thought and feeling4 ,much of  
the fascination exercised over us  by   
art1 which precisely as art is rude and 
imperfect in many ways1 is to  be       
ascribed to this source4 ,though here we
 must remember that the soul  is often  
more truly and artistically betrayed by 
the simple lispings of  childhood than  
by the ornate and finished eloquence of 
a rhetorician4    ,it is in regard to   
the matter expressed1 rather than to the
 mode of  expression1 that we have a    
right to look for a difference between  
such  men as ,lippo ,lippi and ,fra     
,angelico4 ,according to a man's inner  
tone and  temperament and character1    
will be the impression produced upon him
 by  the objects of his contemplation4  
,these will determine him largely in    
the choice of his themes1 and in the    

aspect under which he will treat  them4 
,obviously in many cases there are noble
 themes of art for whose  appreciation  
no particular delicacy of moral or      
religious taste is  required4 ,there is 
no reason why such a subject as the     
,laocoon should  make a different       
impression on a saint and on a          
profligate4 ,it appeals  to the tragic  
sense1 which may be as highly developed 
in one as in the  other4 ,but if the    
,annunciation be the theme1 we can well 
understand how  differently it will     
impress a man of lively and cultured    
faith1 a  contemplative and mystic1 with
 an appreciative and effective love of  
reverence and purity2 and another whose 
faith is a formula1 whose life  is      
impure1 frivolous1 worldly4 ,why then is
 there not a more distinctly  marked    
inferiority in the religious art of     
,lippi to that of ,angelico8  ,why does 
it look almost as pure1 and often quite 
as lovely8 ,two very  clear reasons     
offer themselves in reply4 ,first of    

all1 the art of such a  man as ,angelico
 falls far more hopelessly short of his 
ideal4 ,most of  the beauties which such
 a soul would find in the contemplation 
of ,mary1  or of ,gabriel1 are          
spiritual1 moral1 non-sthetic1 and can  
embody  themselves in form and feature  
only most imperfectly4 ,given equal     
skill  in expression1 equal command of  
words1 one man can say all that he      
feels1 and more1 while another is       
tortured with a sense of much more to   
be uttered1 were it not unutterable4    
,perhaps it is in some hint of this     
hidden wealth of unuttered meaning that 
skilled eyes find in ,angelico  what    
they can never find in ,lippi4 ,a second
 reason might be found in the  external 
influence exerted on the artist by      
society1 its requirements1  fashions1   
and conventions4 ,it is plain that      
,lippi1 left to himself1  would never   
have chosen religious themes as such3 it
 is equally plain1  that having chosen  
them1 he would naturally try to emulate 

and eclipse  what was most admired in   
the great works of his predecessors and 
contemporaries4 ,it would need little   
more than a familiar acquaintance  with 
the great models1 together with the     
artist's discriminating  observance1 for
 a man of ,lippi's talent to catch those
 lines and shades  of form and feature  
which hint at1 rather than express1 the 
inward  purity1 the reverence1 the      
gentleness1 with which he himself was so
  little in sympathy4    ,no doubt1 were
 two such men equally skilled in all the
 arts of  expression1 in language1 in   
verse1 in song and music1 in sculpture  
and  painting1 and acting1 their general
 treatment of religious themes would  be
 more glaringly different2 but within   
the comparatively narrow limits  of     
painting1 we cannot reasonably expect   
more than we actually find4    ,the     
saint1 as such1 and the artist1 as such1
 are occupied with different  facets of 
the world2 the former with its moral1   
the latter with its  sthetic beauty4    

,even were the artist formally to       
recognize that all the  beauty in nature
 is but the created utterance of the    
,divine thought and  love1 and that the 
real1 though unknown1 term of his       
abstraction is not  the impersonal      
symbol1 but the person symbolized2 yet  
it is not enough  for sanctity or       
morality to be attracted to ,god viewed 
simply as the  archetype of sthetic     
beauty4 ,on the other hand1 one may be  
drawn1  through the love of moral beauty
 in creatures1 of justice1 and mercy1   
and liberality1 and truthfulness1 to the
 love of ,god as their archetype1  and  
yet be perfectly obtuse to sthetic      
beauty2 and thus again we see  that high
 stheticism is compatible with low      
morality1 and conversely4  ,doubtless   
when produced to infinity1 all          
perfections are seen to  converge and   
unite in ,god1 but short of this1 they  
retain their  distinctness and          
opposition4 ,at the same time1 it cannot
 for a moment be  denied that keenness  

of moral1 and of sthetic perception1 act
 and react  upon one another4 ,he gains 
much morally whose eyes are opened to   
the  innumerable traces of the ,divine  
beauty with which he is surrounded1 and 
there are sthetic joys which are        
necessarily unknown to a soul which is  
selfish and gross--still more to a soul 
from which the glories of  revealed     
religion are hidden1 either through     
unbelief or sluggish  indifference4     
,yet1 on the whole1 it may be said that 
sanctity is  benefited by art more than 
art is by sanctity1 especially where we 
deal  with so limited a medium of       
expression as painting4 ,and so it seems
 to  us that1 after all1 there is       
nothing to surprise or pain us in the   
fact  that the art of a ,fra ,filippo1  
the loose fish1 looks almost as pure1   
and is often quite as lovely as that of 
,fra ,giovanni ,angelico of  ,fiesoli4  
,dec4 #ahif4        ,footnotes3         
,footnote #a3 ,vernon ,lee1 ,belcaro4   
,,xviii4      ,,through ,,art ,,to      

,,faith4    ,there are few books more   
difficult to estimate than those in     
which ,m4  ,huysman sets forth the story
 of a conversion generally supposed to  
bear  no very distant resemblance to his
 own4 ,it would be easy to find         
excellent reasons for a somewhat        
sweeping condemnation of his work1 and  
others as excellent for a most cordial  
approval2 and1 indeed1 we find  critics 
more than usually at variance with one  
another in its regard4 ,to  be judged   
justly1 these books must be judged      
slowly4 ,the source of  perplexity is to
 be found in the fact that the author1  
who has recently  passed from negation  
to ,catholicism1 carries with him the   
language1 the  modes of thought1 the    
taste and temper of the literary school 
of which  he was1 and1 in so many of his
 sympathies1 is still a pupil1 a school 
which regards ,m4 ,zola as one of its   
leading lights4 ,en ,route1 and its     
sequels1 portray in the colours of      
realism1 in the language of  decadence1 

the conversion of a realist1 nay1 of a  
decadent1 to mysticism  and faith4 ,the 
voice indeed is the voice of ,jacob1 but
 the hands are  the hands of ,esau1 and 
according as the critic centres his     
attention  too exclusively on one or the
 other1 such will his judgment be4      
,that his works have commanded          
attention1 and awakened keen interest   
among members of the most varying and   
opposite schools of thought1 is an      
undeniable fact which at all events     
proves them to be worth careful         
consideration4    ,the story of a soul's
 passage from darkness to light1 of its 
wanderings1  vacillations1 doubts1 and  
temptations1 must necessarily exercise a
  strong fascination over all minds of a
 reflective cast3 ,the development  of a
 soul6 says ,browning1 little else is   
worth study4 ,i always thought  so2 you1
 with many known and unknown to me1     
think so2 others may one day  think so4 
#a ,it is from this attraction of soul  
to soul that the  ,pilgrim's ,progress1 

together with many kindred works1       
derives its  spell2 and indeed it is to 
this that all that is best and greatest 
in  art owes its power and immortal     
interest4 ,here1 however1 is one reason 
why ,the ,cathedral #b can never be so  
attractive as ,en ,route1  ministering  
as it does but little to that deepest   
and most insatiable  curiosity          
concerning the soul and its sorrows4 ,it
 portrays but little  perceptible       
movement1 little in the way of violent  
revulsion and  conflict2 the spiritual  
growth which it registers is mostly     
underground1  a strengthening and       
spreading of the roots4 ,it deals with a
 period of  quiet healing and           
convalescence after a severe surgical   
operation2 with  the illuminative stage 
of conversion--for there is scarcely any
 doubt  that the three volumes          
correspond to the purgative1            
illuminative1  and unitive ways         
respectively4    ,between pulling down  
and building up--both sensational       

processes1  especially the former--there
 intervenes a sober time of planning and
  surveying1 a quiet taking of          
information before entering on a new    
campaign of action4 ,when the affections
 have been painfully and  violently     
uprooted from earth1 then first is the  
mind sufficiently free  from the bias of
 passion and base attachments to be     
instructed and  illuminated with profit 
in the things concerning its peace1 and 
to be  prepared for the replanting of   
the affections in the soil of ,heaven4  
,the  arid desert1 with its seemingly   
aimless wanderings1 intervenes between  
the exodus from ,egypt and the entrance 
into the ,land of ,promise4    ,dealing 
with this stage of the process of       
conversion1 ,the ,cathedral is          
comparatively monotonous and barren of  
spiritual incident4 ,what removes  it   
still further from all chances of       
anything like popularity in this        
country is the extent to which it is    
occupied with matters of purely         

archological and artistic interest1 and 
more especially with the  mystical      
symbolism of the middle ages as         
chronicled in every detail of  the great
 ,cathedral of ,chartres4 ,little as may
 be the enthusiasm for  such lore in    
,france1 it is far less in ,england1    
where the people have  for three        
centuries been out of all touch with the
 ,catholic ,church1 and  therefore with 
whatever modicum of medivalism she still
 preserves as  part of her heritage from
 the past4 ,architecturally we          
appreciate our  dismantled cathedrals to
 some extent1 but their symbolism is far
 less  understood than even the language
 and theology of the schools1 while the 
study of it meets as much sympathy as   
would the study of heraldry in a  modern
 democracy4 ,yet we may say that the    
bulk of the book consists of  an        
inventory of every symbolic detail in   
architecture1 in sculpture1 in          
painting1 in glass-colouring1 to be     
found at ,chartres2 to which is added  a

 careful elaboration of the symbolism of
 beasts1 flowers1 colours1  perfumes1   
all very dreary reading for the         
uninitiated1 and to be  criticized only 
by the expert4    ,little scope as the  
plan of the book offers for any variety 
or display  of character1 being mainly  
occupied with erudite monologue1 put    
sometimes into the mouth of ,durtal1    
sometimes into that of the ,abb  ,plomb1
 yet the personalities of these two1 as 
well as those of ,gversin1  ,madame     
,bavoil1 and ,madame ,mesurat1 stand out
 very vividly1 and make us  wish for    
that fuller acquaintance with them which
 a little more movement  and incident   
would have afforded4    ,but what will  
give most offence1 and tend to alienate 
a certain amount  of intelligent and    
valuable sympathy1 is the violence1 and 
even the  coarseness1 with which the    
author1 or at least his hero1 handles1  
not  only the opinions1 but the very    
persons of those from whom he differs2  
the intemperance of his invective1 the  

narrow intolerance and absolute         
self-confidence with which he sits in   
judgment on men and things4    ,as a    
matter of fact1 this is rather a defect 
of style and expression  than of the    
inner sentiment4 ,it is part and parcel 
of the realist temper  to blurt out the 
thought in all the clothing or nakedness
 with which it  first surges up into    
consciousness1 before it has been       
submitted to the  censorship of reason2 
in a word1 to do its thinking aloud1 or 
on paper2  to give utterance not to the 
tempered and mature judgment--the last  
result of refinement and correction1 but
 to display the whole process  and      
working by which it was reached4 ,as it 
is part of ,m4 ,zola's art to  linger   
lovingly over each little horror of some
 slaughter-house scene1  until the whole
 lives for us again as in a             
cinematograph1 so ,m4 ,huysman1  engaged
 in the portrayal of a spiritual        
conflict1 spares us no link in  the     
chain of causes by which the final      

result is produced2 he bares the  brain1
 and exposes its workings with all the  
scientific calmness of the  vivisector4 
,whether we like or dislike this        
realism1 we must allow for it in forming
  our judgment on these volumes1 nor    
must we treat as final and approved     
opinions what are often the mere        
spontaneous suggestions and first       
thoughts of the mind1 the oscillations  
through which it settles down to  rest4 
,over and over again we shall find that 
,durtal subsequently raises  the very   
objection to his own view that was on   
our lips at the first  reading of it4   
,but even making such allowance1 it none
 the less remains a matter of  regret   
that one who1 with perhaps some justice1
 considers that in point  of            
art-appreciation the ,catholic public is
 still a hundred feet beneath  the      
profane public1 and chides them for     
their incurable lack of  artistic sense1
 who speaks of the frightful appetite   
for the hideous  which disgraces the    

,church of our day1 who himself in many 
ways1 in a  hundred passages of sublime 
thought1 of tender piety1 of lyrical    
poesy1  has proved beyond all cavil his 
delicacy of sentiment1 his exquisite    
niceness in matters of taste1 his       
reverence for what is chaste and        
beautiful1 should at times be so        
deplorably unfaithful to his better     
instincts1 so forgetful of the close and
 inseparable alliance between  restraint
 and elegance4 ,what can be weaker or   
uglier1 more unbecoming an  artist1 more
 becoming a fish-wife1 than his         
description of ,lochner's  picture of   
the ,virgin3 ,the neck of a heifer1 and 
flesh like cream or  hasty-pudding1 that
 quivers when it is touched2 or of the  
picture of  ,st4 ,ursula's companions1  
by the same hand3 ,their squab noses    
poking out  of bladders of lard that did
 duty for their faces2 not to speak of  
the  characterization of a ,sacred      
,heart too revolting to reproduce8      
,surely  when1 after having reviled ,m4 

,tissot almost personally1 he describes 
his  works as painted with muck1        
wine-sauce1 and mud1 it is difficult not
  to answer with a tu quoque as far as  
this word-painting is                   
concerned--difficult not to see here    
some morbid and frightful appetite  for 
the hideous struggling with the healthy 
appetite for better things4    ,however 
lame and ridiculous an artist's         
utterance may be1 yet there is a        
certain reverence sometimes due to what 
he is endeavouring to say1 and  even to 
his desire to say it4 ,we do not think  
it very witty or tasteful  or charitable
 to laugh at a man because he stammers2 
still less do we  overwhelm him with the
 coarsest abuse4 ,one may well shudder  
at most  presentments of the ,sacred    
,heart1 but even apart from all         
consideration  for the artist1 a certain
 reverence for the idea there travestied
 and  unintentionally dishonoured1      
should forbid our insulting what after  
all  is so nearly related to that idea1 

and in the eyes of the untaught very    
closely identified with it4    ,but an  
occasional trespass of this kind1       
however offensive1 is not  enough to    
detract materially from the value of so 
much that is  meritorious2 nor again    
will that outspoken treatment of        
delicate topics  7less observable in    
,the ,cathedral than in ,en ,route71    
which makes the  book undesirable for   
many classes of readers1 prevent its due
  appreciation on the part of           
others--unless we are going to put the  
,sacred ,scriptures on the ,index4 ,in  
this vexed question1 ,m4 ,huysman takes 
what seems the more robust and healthy  
view1 but he appears to be quite        
unaware how many difficulties it        
involves2 and consequently lashes out   
with his usual intemperance against the 
contrary tradition1 which is  undeniably
 well represented4 ,it is not as though 
the advocates of the  flight policy in  
regard to temptations against this      
particular virtue  were ignorant of the 

general principle which undoubtedly     
holds as  regards all other temptations1
 and bids us turn and face the dog that 
barks at our heels4 ,this counsel is as 
old as the world4 ,but from the         
earliest time a special exception has   
been made to it in the one case of      
impurity by those who have professedly  
spoken in the light of experience       
rather than of  priori inference4 ,both 
views are encompassed with  difficulty1 
nor does any compromise suggest itself4 
,what seems to us one of the most       
interesting points raised by the story  
of ,durtal's spiritual re-birth and     
development is the precise relation     
between the ,catholic religion and fine 
art4    ,god has not chosen to save men 
by logic2 so neither has ,he chosen to  
save them by fine art4 ,if the election 
of the ,apostolic ,church counted  but  
few scribes or philosophers among its   
members--and those few  admitted almost 
on sufferance--we may also be sure that 
the followers of  the ,galilean         

fishermen were not as a body            
distinguished by a fastidious  criticism
 in matters of fine art4 ,in after ages1
 when the ,church  asserted herself and 
moulded a civilization more or less in  
accordance  with her own exigencies and 
ideals1 it is notorious how she made    
philosophy and art her own1 and         
subjected them to her service2 but      
whether in so doing she in any way      
departed from the principles of         
,apostolic times is what interests us to
 understand4    ,there is certainty no  
more unpardonable fallacy than that of  
,bible  ,christians1 who assume that the
 ,church in the ,apostolic age had      
reached  its full expansion and         
expression1 and therefore in respect of 
polity1  liturgy1 doctrinal statement   
and discipline must be regarded as an   
immutable type for all ages and         
countries2 from which all departure is  
necessarily a corruption4 ,they take the
 flexible sapling and compare it  with  
aged knotty oak1 and shake their heads  

over the lamentable  unlikeness3 ,that  
this should be the natural outgrowth of 
that6 ,o  tempora1 ,o mores6    ,like   
every organism1 in its beginning1 the   
,church was soft-bodied and  formless in
 all these respects2 but she had within 
her the power of  fashioning to herself 
a framework suited to her needs1 of     
assuming  consistency and definite shape
 in due time4 ,the old bottles would not
  serve to hold the new wine1 but this  
did not mean that new bottles were  not 
to be sought4 ,because the philosophy1  
the art1 the polity of the age  in which
 she was born were already enlisted in  
the service of other  ideas and         
inextricably associated with error in   
the minds of men1 it was  needful for   
her at first to dissociate herself      
absolutely from the use  of instruments 
otherwise adaptable in many respects to 
her own ends1 and  to wait till she was 
strong enough to alter them and use them
 without  fear of scandal and           
misinterpretation4    ,the ,church is   

many-tongued2 but though she can deliver
 her message in  any language1 yet she  
is not for that reason independent of   
language in  general4 ,there is no way  
to the human ear and heart but through  
language  of some kind or another4 ,it  
is not her mission to teach languages1  
but  to use the languages she finds to  
hand for the expression of the truths1  
the facts1 the concrete realities to    
which her dogmas point4 ,this does  not 
deny that one language may not be more  
flexible1 more graphic than  any other1 
more apt to express the facts of ,heaven
 as well as those of  earth4 ,it only   
denies that any one is absolutely and   
exclusively the  best4    ,it is no very
 great violence to include rhetoric1    
music1 painting1  sculpture1            
architecture1 ritual1 and every form of 
decorative art in the  category of      
language and to bring them under the    
same general laws1  since even          
philosophy may to a large extent be     
treated in the same way4  ,christ has   

not commissioned ,his ,church to teach  
science or philosophy1  nor has ,he     
given her an infallible magisterium in  
matters of fine art4  ,she uses what she
 finds in use and endeavours with the   
imperfect  implements1 the limited      
colours1 the coarse materials at her    
disposal to  make the picture of ,christ
 and ,his truth stand out as faithful to
  reality as possible2 and--to press the
 illustration somewhat crudely--as  what
 is rightly black1 in a study in black  
and white1 may be quite  wrongly black  
in polychrome2 so what the ,church      
approves according to  one convention1  
she may condemn according to another4   
,may we not apply  to her what ,durtal  
says of our ,lady3 ,she seems to have   
come under the  semblance of every race 
known to the middle ages2 black as an   
,african1  tawny as a ,mongolian2--she  
unveils herself to the children of the  
soil  444 these beings with their       
rough-hewn feelings1 their shapeless    
ideas1  hardly able to express          

themselves8 ,the more we study the      
visions and  apparitions with which     
saints have been favoured and the       
revelations  which have been vouchsafed 
to them1 the more evident is it that    
they are  spoken to in their own        
language1 appealed to through their own 
imagery4  ,indeed1 were it not so1 how  
could they understand8 ,our ,lady is the
  all-beautiful for every nation1 but   
the type of human beauty is not the     
same for all4 ,the ,madonna of the      
,ethiopian might be a rather terrifying 
apparition in ,france or ,italy4        
,there is no art too rough or primitive1
 or even too vulgar1 for the  ,church to
 disdain1 if it offers the only medium  
of conveying her truth  to certain      
minds4 ,though custom has made it       
classical1 her liturgical  language1    
whether ,latin or ,greek1 when first    
assumed1 was that of the  mob--about as 
elegant as we consider the dialects of  
the peasantry4 ,she  did not use        
plain-chaunt for any of those reasons   

which antiquarians and  ecclesiologists 
urge in its favour now-a-days1 but      
because it was the  only music then in  
vogue4 ,even to-day the breeziest       
popular melodies in  the ,east are      
suggestive of the ,oratio ,jeremi4 ,her 
vestments 7even  ,gothic vestments67    
were once simply the ,sunday best of the
 fashion of  those days4 ,if to-day     
these things have a different value and 
excellence1 it is in obedience to the   
law by which what is romantic in  one   
age becomes classical in the next1 or   
what is at first useful and  commonplace
 becomes at last ceremonial and         
symbolic2 and by which the  common      
tongue of the vulgar comes by mere      
process of time to be archaic  and      
stately4 ,to create ancient custom and  
ritual on a sudden1 or to  resuscitate  
abruptly that which has lapsed into     
oblivion1 is1 to say the  least1 a very 
,western idea1 akin to the pedantry of  
trying to restore  ,chaucer's ,english  
to common use4 ,nascitur non fit1 is the

 law in all  such matters4    ,while we 
assert the ,church's independence of any
 one in particular of  these means of   
self-expression1 her indifference to    
style and mode of  speech so long as    
substantial fidelity is secured1 we must
 not deny that  some of them are1 of    
their own nature1 more apt to her       
purpose than  others and allow a fuller 
revelation of her sense2 and that in    
proportion as her influence is strong in
 the world she tends to modify  human   
thought and language1 to leaven         
philosophy and fine art1 so as to  form 
by a process of selection and refusal1  
and in some measure even to  create1 an 
ever richer and more flexible medium of 
utterance4    ,in this sense we can with
 some caution speak of ,catholic art in 
music1  architecture1 and painting1 so  
far1 that is1 as we can determine the   
extent and nature of the ,church's      
action1 and therefore the tendency of   
her influence in the way of stimulus and
 restraint with regard to  subject and  

treatment4 ,we do not unjustly discern  
an author's style as a  personal element
 distinct from the language and         
phraseology of which no  item is his    
own4 ,the manner in which he uses that  
language1 his  selections and refusals  
make1 in union with the borrowed        
elements1 a  tongue that may be called  
his1 in an exclusive sense4 ,the        
,church1 too1  has her style1 which1    
though difficult to discern amid her use
 of a  ,pentecostal variety of          
languages1 is no doubt always the       
same--at least  in tendency4            
,salvation-,army worship is certainly   
not of the ,church's style1 but ,i do   
not think1 were there no absolute       
irreverence and scandal to be feared1   
that she would hesitate to use such a   
language1 were it the only one          
understood by such a people4 ,st4       
,francis ,xavier's catechisms were      
often hardly less uncouth4 ,still1 her  
whole tendency would be towards         
restraint1 order1 and exterior          

reverence4 ,again1 the stoical coldness 
and formalism of a liturgical worship1  
centered round no soul-stirring  mystery
 of ,divine love where there can be     
feeling so strong as to need  the       
restraint of liturgy and ritual1 has    
still less of the ,church's  style about
 it4 ,for she is human1 not merely in   
her reason and  self-restraint1 but in  
the fulness of her passion and          
enthusiasm2 and  restraint is only      
beautiful and needful where there is    
something to  restrain4    ,we are now  
in a position to consider the surface   
objection that will  present itself to  
many a reader concerning ,durtal's      
conversion4 ,he has  been converted1 it 
will be said1 by a fallacy4 ,he has     
identified the  ,catholic religion with 
the cause of plain-chaunt and ,gothic   
architecture1 and of all that is1 or    
that he considers to be1 best in  art4  
,he has laid hold not of ,catholicism1  
but of its merest accessories1  which it
 might shake off any day1 and him along 

with them4 ,indeed1 he  scarcely makes  
any pretence at being in sympathy with  
the ,catholicism of  to-day1 which he   
regards as almost entirely philistine   
and degenerate1  if we except ,la       
,trappe and ,solesmes and a few other   
corners where the  old observances      
linger on4 ',it was so ugly1 so         
painfully adorned with  images1 that    
only by shutting his eyes could ,durtal 
endure to remain in  ,notre ,dame de la 
,brche4' ,yes1 but what sort of convert 
is this who is  so insensible to        
substantials1 so morbidly sensitive     
about mere  accidentals8 ,we come to the
 ,church for the true faith and the     
sacraments1 not for 'sensations4' ,in   
fine1 ,durtal has not observed the      
route prescribed by the apologetics for 
reaching the door of the  sheep-fold1   
but has climbed over in his own way1    
like a thief and a  robber2 he has not  
7as a recent critic says of him7 tomb   
entre les  bras maternals de l',eglise  
selon toutes les rgles4    ,without for 

a moment denying one of the legitimate  
claims of scientific  apologetic1 we may
 at once dismiss the idea that it       
pretends to  represent a process through
 which the mind of the convert to       
,christianity either does or ought      
necessarily to pass4 ,its sole purport  
is to show that if it is not always     
possible to synthetize ,christianity    
with the current philosophy1 science1   
and history of the day1 at least  no    
want of harmony can be positively       
demonstrated4 ,as secular beliefs  and  
opinions are continually shifting1 so   
too apologetic needs continual          
adjustment3 and as that of a century    
back is useless to us now1 so will  ours
 be in many ways inadequate a century   
hence4 ,it is fitting for the  ,church  
at large that she should in each age and
 country have a suitable  apologetic1   
taking cognizance of the latest         
developments of profane  knowledge4 ,it 
is needful for her public honour in the 
eyes of the world  that she should not  

seem to be in contradiction with truth1 
but that  either the apparent truth     
should be proved questionable1 or else  
that  her own teaching should be shown  
to be compatible with it4 ,but in no    
sense is such apologetic always a       
necessity for the individual1 still     
less a safe or adequate basis for a     
solid conversion1 which in that case    
would be shaken by every new difficulty 
unthought of before4    ,our subjective 
faith in the ,church must be like the   
faith of the  disciples of ,christ1 an  
entirely personal relation2 an act of   
implicit  trust based on no lean        
argument or chain of reasoning1 but on  
the  irresistible spell1 the            
overmastering impression created upon us
 by a  character manifested in life1    
action1 speech1 even in manner2 as      
impossible to state in its entirety and 
as impossible to doubt as are  our      
reasons for loving or loathing1 for     
trusting or fearing4    ,no doubt we    
hear of men of intellect and learning   

reading or  reasoning themselves into   
the ,church2 but others as able have    
read and  reasoned along the same line1 
and yet have not come2 for in truth1    
reason at the most can set free a force 
of attraction created by motives  other 
than reason4    ,what this attraction is
 in each case is impossible to specify  
accurately--,ask me and ,i know not1 one
 might say1 do not ask me and ,i  know4 
,each soul is hooked with its own bait1 
called by its own name1  drawn in its   
own way2 and as the attractiveness of   
,christ is virtually  infinite in its   
multiformity1 so is that of ,his        
,church1 nor is there a  more           
unpardonable narrowness than that of    
insisting that others shall be  drawn in
 the same way as we ourselves1 or not at
 all4    ,let it also be noticed that a 
very prolonged and minute intimacy is   
not  always necessary in order that we  
should feel the spell of personality4   
,much depends on our own gifts of       
sympathy1 insight and apprehension1 on  

the simplicity and strength of the      
personality in question1 on the  nature 
of the incidents by which it is         
disclosed to us4 ,we know one man  in a 
moment1 another only after years of     
intimacy1 while others in  regard to the
 same individuals might experience the  
converse4 ,we must  not then suppose    
that because in one case the impression 
is the result  of slowly-accumulated    
observations1 and in another the work of
 an  instant1 it is less trustworthy in 
the latter instance than in the  former4
 ,it may be1 or it may not be4 ,st4     
,augustine needed years to feel  the    
spell that one word1 nay1 one glance    
from ,christ cast upon ,st4  ,peter4    
,nor again is it always in some striking
 and notable crisis that a  character   
reveals itself abruptly1 but often in   
the merest nuance--a  manner1 an        
intonation1 something quite             
unintentional1 unpremeditated4 ,we  know
 well1 if we know ourselves at all1 how 
irresistible is the  impression created 

on us at times by such trifles1 and yet 
how more than  reasonable it often is4  
,who shall say1 then1 that to an eye and
 heart attuned to quick sympathy1  any  
indication is too small to betray the   
inward spirit and character of  the     
,catholic ,church1 or to magnetize a    
soul and render it restless1  until it  
obeys her attraction and rests in union 
with her8    ,to a sensitively artistic 
temperament such as ,durtal's1 the      
indications  of the ,church's style1    
revealed in her influence upon art1 in  
her  creations1 in her selections and   
refusals1 would be eloquent of her      
whole character and ethos2 it would be  
to him what the very tone of  ,christ's 
voice was to the ,baptist1 or what ,his 
glance was to ,peter1 or  what ,his     
silence was to ,pilate4 ,we have known  
too many instances of  deep-seated and  
entire conviction1 based on seemingly as
 little or less1  to wish for one moment
 to indulge in any foolish rationalizing
 or to  question the possibility or     

probability of ,god's drawing souls to  
,himself by such methods4    ,we must1  
however1 remember that it is not merely 
by the ,church's  medival art that      
,durtal is attracted1 but still more by 
that mysticism  which created it1 and by
 which it was served and fostered in    
return4  ,mysticism must necessarily    
excite the sympathy of one who is in    
devout  pursuit of the highest and most 
spiritual forms of sthetic beauty4      
,whatever be the long-sought and        
never-to-be-forgotten definition of the 
,beautiful1 of this much at least a mere
 process of induction will assure  us1  
that men count things beautiful in the  
measure that they are  released from the
 grossness1 formlessness1 and heaviness 
of matter1 and  by their delicacy1      
shapeliness1 and unearthliness1 betray  
the influence  of that principle which  
is everywhere in conflict with matter   
and is  called spirit4 ,man at his best 
is most at home1 where at his worst he  
is  least at home1 namely1 in the world 

of those super-realities which are      
touched and felt by the soul1 but refuse
 to be pictured or spoken in the        
language of the five senses4 ,a hard1   
common-sense1 labour-and-wages          
religion1 such as is consonant with the 
utilitarianism of a commercial          
civilization1 could never appeal to a   
temperament like ,durtal's4             
,doubtless ,catholic ,christianity      
admits of being apprehended under the   
narrower and grosser aspect1 which      
however inadequate and unworthy1 is  not
 absolutely false4 ,the ,jews were      
suffered to believe not merely that     
,god rewards the just and punishes the  
wicked--which is eternally  true--but   
that ,he does so in this life1 which is 
true only with  qualification2 and that 
,he rewards them with temporal          
prosperity and  adversity--which is     
hardly true at all4 ,catholic truth1 in 
itself the  same1 can only be received  
according to the recipient's capacity   
and  sensitiveness4 ,what one age or    

country is alive to1 another may be dead
  to2 nor can we pretend that here all  
is progress and no regress1 unless  we  
are prepared to say that in no respect  
have we anything to learn from  the     
past4 ,the ,ignatian meditation on the  
,kingdom of ,christ evoked  heroic      
response in an age impregnated with the 
sentiments of chivalry1  but to-day it  
needs to be adapted to a great extent1  
and some have  vainly hoped to gather   
grapes from a thistle by substituting a 
parable  drawn from some soul-stirring  
commercial enterprise--a colossal       
speculation in cheese4    ,whatever     
signs there may be of a reaction1 yet   
the whole temper and  spirit of our age 
is unfavourable to that mysticism which 
is the very  choicest flower of the     
,catholic religion4 ,the blame is not   
with the  seed1 but with the soil4 ,even
 where least of all we should look for  
such  indifference1 among those who have
 built up the sepulchres and shrines  of
 the great masters of mysticism1 we     

sometimes observe a profound  distrust  
for what is esteemed an unpractical1    
unhealthy kind of piety1  while every   
preference is given to what is definite 
and tangible in the  way of little      
methods and industries1 multitudinous   
practices1 lucrative  prayers1 in a     
word1 to what a critic already quoted   
describes as les  petitesses des        
cerveaux troits et les anguleuses       
routines4 #c    ,it is one of the       
narrownesses of ,durtal himself to      
ascribe all this to  the wilful         
perversity of a person or persons       
unknown1 and not to see in  it the      
inevitable result of the vulgarizing    
tendency of modern life upon  the       
masses4 ,things being as they are1      
surely it is better that the  ,church   
should do the little she can than do    
nothing at all4 ,the  meditative mind is
 incompatible with the rush and worry of
 a busy  life1 especially where         
educational methods substitute          
information for  reflection1 and so kill

 the habit1 and eventually the faculty1 
of  thought in so many cases4 ,but if   
the higher prayer is impossible1 the    
lower is possible and profitable4       
,again1 if the liturgical sense has in  
a great measure become extinct among the
 faithful owing to the  unavoidable     
disuse of the public celebration of the 
,church's worship1 it  is well that they
 should be allowed devotions            
accommodated to their  limited capacity4
 ,as the ,church would never dream of   
expecting a keen  sympathy with her     
higher dogmas1 her mystical piety1 her  
artistic  symbolism1 her transcendent   
liturgy1 on the part of a               
newly-converted  tribe of savages1 so   
neither is she impatient with the       
civilized  ,philistine1 but is willing  
to speak to him in a language all his   
own1  hoping indeed to tune his tongue  
one day to something less uncouth4 ,none
  can sympathize more cordially than the
 writer does with ,durtal in his  horror
 of unauthorized devotions1 of          

insufferable vernacular litanies1  of   
nerveless and sickly hymns1 of          
interminable acts of consecration  void 
of a single definite idea1 more         
especially when these things are        
brought into the very sanctuary itself1 
with stole and cope and every  apparent 
endeavour to fix the responsibility on  
the ,universal ,church4  ,but if the    
,church is willing to go in rags to save
 those who are in  rags1 she is only    
using her invariable economy4 ,we know  
well the sort of  robe that befits her  
dignity1 and no doubt it is this        
contrast that  makes the trial of her   
present humiliation more difficult for  
us to  bear4    ,we do not for a moment 
allow that the difference between bad   
taste and  good is merely relative1 or  
that a language or art which is         
externally  vulgar can ever be the      
adequate and appropriate expression of  
the  ,catholic religion1 whose tendency 
when unimpeded is ever to refine and    
purify4 ,but it is perhaps another      

narrowness to suppose that a reform  can
 only be effected by a return to the    
past1 to medival symbolism and  music   
and architecture4 ,no effort of the kind
 has ever met with more  than seeming   
success4 ,what is consciously imitated  
from the past is not  the same as that  
natural growth which it imitates1 and   
which was as  congenial to those days as
 it is uncongenial to ours4 ,it is all  
the  difference between the ,mass       
ceremonial in a ,ritualist church and in
 a  ,catholic church--the historical    
sense is violated in one case and       
satisfied in the other4    ,what is once
 really dead can never revive in the    
same form--at best we  get a cast from  
the dead face4 ,no doubt the old music  
and the old  symbolism always will have 
a beauty of antiquity that can never    
belong  to the new2 but it was not this 
beauty--the beauty of death1 of autumn  
leaves1 that made them once popular1 but
 the beauty of fresh green life  and    
flexibility4 ,the effort to make        

antiquity popular is almost a           
contradiction in terms4 ,what we may    
hope for at most is an improvement  in  
the sthetic tastes of the ,catholic     
public which comes from freer and       
healthier surroundings1 from saner ideas
 and wider opportunities of  education  
and liberal culture4 ,when they begin to
 speak a richer  language1 the ,church  
will take that language and find in it a
 fuller  expression of her mind than she
 can in the present patois2 she will be 
able again to say to them in other      
words1 as yet unknown1 what she said  to
 the middle ages in ,gregorian chaunt   
and ,gothic cathedral4 ,she1 who in     
virtue of her ,pentecostal gift of      
tongues1 speaks in sundry times and     
divers manners1 may in due season find  
words as eloquent of her heart  and mind
 as those which she spoke to ,durtal in 
the aisles of ,chartres  and in the     
cadences of ,solesmes4    ,july1 #ahih4 
,footnotes3      ,footnote #a3          
,introduction to ,sordello4    ,footnote

 #b3 ,the ,cathedral4 ,by ,m4,t4,k4     
,huysman4 ,translated by  ,clare ,bell4 
,footnote #c3 ,r4 ,p4 ,pacher1 ,s4,j41  
,de ,dante  ,verlaine4        ,,xix4    
,,tracts ,,for ,,the ,,million4    ,the 
paradoxes of one generation are the     
common-places of the next2 what  the    
savants of to-day whisper in the ear1   
the ,hyde ,park orators of  to-morrow   
will bawl from their platforms4         
,moreover1 it is just when its  limits  
begin to be felt by the critical1 when  
its pretended  all-sufficingness can no 
longer be maintained1 that a theory or  
hypothesis begins to be popular with the
 uncritical and to work its  irrevocable
 ill-effects on the general mind4 ,in   
this1 as in many other  matters1 the    
lower orders adopt the abandoned        
fashions of their betters1  though with 
less of the well-bred taste which       
sometimes in the latter  makes even     
absurdity graceful4 ,in this way it has 
come to pass that at  the very moment in
 which a reaction against the           

irreligious or  anti-religious          
philosophy of a couple of generations   
ago is making  itself felt in the study1
 the spreading pestilence of negation   
and  unbelief has gained and continues  
to gain possession of the street4 ,some 
fifty years ago religion and even       
,christianity1 seemed to the sanguine   
eyes of ,catholics so firmly rooted in  
,england that the recovery of the       
country to their faith depended almost  
entirely on the settlement of the       
,anglo-,roman controversy2 to which     
controversy they accordingly devoted1   
and1 in virtue of the still unexhausted 
impetus of that effort1 do still  devote
 their energies1 almost exclusively4    
,but together with a dawning            
consciousness that times and conditions 
have considerably changed1 there  is    
growing up in certain quarters a feeling
 that we too shall have to  make some   
modifications in order to adapt         
ourselves to the altered  circumstances4
 ,it is becoming increasingly evident   

that even could the  said ,anglo-,roman 
controversy be settled by some argument 
so irresistibly  evident as to leave no 
locus standi to the opponents of the    
,petrine  claims1 yet the number of     
those ,anglicans who admit the          
historical1  critical1 philosophical1   
and theological assumptions upon which  
the  controversy is based and which are 
presumed as common ground1 is so  small 
and dwindling that1 were they all gained
 to the ,church1 we should  be still a  
feeble folk in the face of that tidal   
wave of unbelief  whose gathering force 
bids fair to sweep everything before it4
 ,also the  lingering impression left   
from ,tractarian days as to the         
intellectual  pre-eminence of the       
,catholicizing party in the ,anglican   
,church1 which  pre-eminence might make 
amends for their numerical              
insignificance1 is  gradually giving way
 to the recognition of the sobering fact
 that at  present that party in no      
exclusive sense represents the          

cultivated  intellect of the country4   
,it is no disrespect to that party to   
say that  while scholarship and         
intelligence are therein well           
represented by  scattered individuals1  
yet it is cumbered1 like most religious 
movements  after they have streamed some
 distance from their source1 with a     
majority of those whose adhesion has    
little or no pretence to an             
intellectual basis2 and whose occasional
 accession to the ,catholic  ,church is 
almost entirely their own gain4    ,to  
give the last decisive push to those who
 are already toppling over  the         
border-line that divides ,england from  
,rome1 to reap and gather-in  the       
harvest already ripe for the sickle1 is 
a useful1 a necessary1 and a  charitable
 work2 one that calls for a certain kind
 of patient skill not  to be            
underestimated2 but there is a wider and
 perhaps more fruitful  field whose soil
 is as yet scarcely broken4 ,it may even
 be asserted with  only seeming paradox 

that the best religious intelligence of 
the country  is to be found in the camp 
of negation rather than in that of      
affirmation2 among ,broad ,churchmen1   
,nonconformists1 ,unitarians1 and       
,positivists1 rather than among those   
who seek rest in the unstable  position 
of a modified ,catholicism4 ,the very   
instability and difficulty  of that     
position elicits much ingenuity from its
 theological defenders1  though it also 
divides their counsels not a little2 nor
 do we quarrel  with them for affirming 
instead of denying1 but for not         
affirming  enough4 ,but this attempt at 
compromise1 this midway abortion of the 
natural growth of an idea1 even were it 
justifiable as sometimes happens  when  
legitimate issues are obscured through  
failure of evidence1 repels  the great  
multitude of religious thinkers who are 
not otherwise  sufficiently drawn       
towards ,catholicism to care to examine 
these claims4  ,to say that there is no 
logical alternative between ,rome and   

,agnosticism  is a sufficiently shallow 
though popular sophism4 ,at most it     
means that  from certain given premisses
 one or other of those conclusions must 
follow syllogistically--a statement that
 would be more interesting were  the    
said premisses indisputable and admitted
 by all the world4 ,still it  may be    
allowed that a criticism of these       
premisses1 which is a third             
alternative1 opens up to religious      
thought a number of roads1 all of  which
 lead away from1 rather than towards the
 extreme ,anglican position1  and hence 
that the more searching religious       
intelligence of the country  is as      
adverse to that position--and for the   
same reasons--as it is to  our own4 ,and
 by the religious intelligence ,i mean  
all that  intelligence that is          
interested in the religious problem2 be 
that  interest hostile or friendly2 be  
it1 in its issue1 negative or           
constructive4 ,for it must not be       
forgotten that the enemies of a truth   

are as interested in it as its friends2 
or that the friendliest  interest1 the  
strongest wish to believe1 may at times 
issue in  reluctant negation4 ,so far   
then as the great mass of religious     
intelligence in this country is not     
,anglo-,catholic in its sympathies2  and
 so far as it is chiefly on the         
,anglo-,catholic section that we make   
any perceptible impression1 the         
conversion of ,england1 for what depends
  on our own efforts1 does not seem to  
be as imminent a contingency as it      
would appear to be in the eyes of those 
foreign critics for whom ,lord  ,halifax
 is the type of every ,english          
,churchman and the ,english ,church     
co-extensive with the nation--save for a
 small irreclaimable residue of         
,liberals and ,freemasons4    ,those    
who1 influenced by such considerations1 
would have us extend our  efforts from  
the narrowing circle of                 
,anglo-,catholicism to the              
ever-widening circle of doubt and       

negation1 are not always clear about    
the practically important distinction to
 be drawn between the active  leaders of
 doubt1 and those who are passively led2
 the more or less  independent few1 and 
the more or less dependent many2 between
 the man of  the study and the man of   
the street--a distinction analogous to  
that  between the ,ecclesia docens and  
,ecclesia discens1 and which  permeates 
every well-established school of belief1
 whether historical1  ethical1          
political1 or religious4    ,dealing    
first with the latter1 that is1 with    
those who are led2 we are  becoming more
 explicitly conscious of the fact that  
in all departments  of knowledge and    
opinion the beliefs of the many are not 
determined by  reasoning from premisses1
 but by the authority of reputed        
specialists in  the particular matter1  
or else by the force of the general     
consent of  those with whom they dwell4 
,there may be other non-rational causes 
of  belief1 but these are the principal 

and more universal4 ,and when we say    
they are non-rational causes1 we do not 
mean that they are  non-reasonable or   
unreasonable4 ,they provide such a      
generally  trustworthy1 though          
occasionally fallible1 method of getting
 at truth1  as is sufficient and        
possible for the practical needs of     
life--social1  moral1 and religious4    
,there is an inborn instinct to think as
 the crowd  does and to be swayed by the
 confident voice of authority4 ,if at   
times  it fail of its end1 as do other  
instincts1 yet it is so trustworthy in  
the main that to resist it in ordinary  
conditions is always imprudent4  ,that  
our eyes sometimes deceive us would not 
justify us in always  distrusting their 
evidence4 ,if a child is deceived       
through instinctively  trusting the word
 of its parents1 the blame of its error 
rests with  them1 not with it4 ,and so1 
whatever error the many are led into by 
obeying the instinct of submission to   
authority or to general consent1  is    

their misfortune1 not their fault4 ,of  
course there are higher  criteria by    
which the general consent and the       
opinion of experts can be  criticized   
and modified2 but such criticism is not 
obligatory on the  many who have neither
 leisure nor competence for the task4   
,for here1 as  elsewhere1 a certain     
diversity of gifts results in a natural 
division of  labour in human society2   
those who have1 giving to those who have
 not2  some ministering spiritual1      
others temporal benefits to their       
neighbours4 ,not that a man can save    
another's soul for him any more than  he
 can eat his dinner for him1 but he can 
minister to him better food or  worse4  
,the ,mussulman child1 then1 may be     
bound1 during his intellectual          
minority1 to accept the religious       
teaching of its parents1 just as is  the
 ,christian child4 ,that one1 in obeying
 this natural but fallible  rule1 is led
 into error1 the other into1 truth1 only
 verifies the  principle that right     

faith is a gift of ,god1--a grace1 a bit
 of good  fortune4 ,none of those who   
are not professedly teachers of religion
 and  experts1 can be morally bound to a
 criticism above their competence1 or   
to more than an obedience to those      
ordinary causes of assent to whose      
influence they are subjected by their   
circumstances4 ,the ideal of a          
,catholic religion is to provide1 by    
means of a divinely guided body of      
authorities and experts1 an universal1  
international1 inter-racial  consensus  
regarding truths that are as obscure as 
they are vital to  individual and social
 happiness2 and thus to afford a means  
of sure and  easy guidance to those     
uncritical multitudes whose necessary   
preoccupations forbid their engaging in 
theology and controversy4 ,this  ideal  
was sufficiently realized for practical 
purposes in the ages of  faith1 when the
 whole public opinion of ,europe1 then  
believed to be  coterminous with        
civilization1 was ,catholic2 when       

dissent needed as much  independence of 
character1 as in so many places1        
profession does now4  ,and surely it is 
a narrow-hearted criticism to prefer the
 primitive  conditions in which none but
 those strong enough to face persecution
  could reap the benefits of            
,christianity4 ,the weak and dependent  
are ever  the majority1 and if          
,christianity had been intended to pass 
them by or  sift them out1 its province 
were not large1 nor could it claim to be
  the religion of humanity4 ,the        
,christian leaven was never meant to be 
kept apart1 but to be hidden and lost in
 that unleavened mass which it  seeks   
slowly to transform into its own nature4
 ,the majority1 in respect  to religion 
and civilization1 are like unwilling    
school-boys who need to  be coerced for 
their own benefit1 to be kept to their  
work till they  learn 7if they ever do7 
to like it1 and to need no more         
coercion4 ,the  support that ,catholic  
surroundings give to numbers1 who else  

were too  weak to stand alone1 cannot be
 overvalued1 although it may weaken a   
few  who else had exerted themselves    
more strenuously1 or may foster         
hypocrisy in secret unbelievers who     
would like to1 but dare not  withstand  
public opinion4    ,now it is the       
gradual decay of this support--of this  
non-rational yet  most reasonable cause 
of belief1 that is rendering the        
religious  condition of the man in the  
street so increasingly unsatisfactory4  
,not  only is there no longer an        
agreement of experts1 and a consequent  
consensus of nations1 touching the broad
 and fundamental truths of              
,christianity1 but what is far more to  
the point1 the knowledge of this        
,babylonian confusion has become a      
commonplace with the multitudes4 ,no    
doubt there are yet some shaded patches 
where the dew still struggles  with the 
desiccating sun--old-world sanctuaries  
of ,catholicism whose  dwellers hardly  
realize the existence of unbelief or    

heresy1 or who give  at best a lazy1    
notional assent to the fact4 ,but there 
are few regions  in so-called           
,christendom where the least educated   
are not now quite  aware that           
,christianity is but one of many        
religions in a much larger  world than  
their forefathers were aware of2 that   
the intellect of  modern1 unlike that of
 medival ,europe1 is largely hostile to 
its  claims2 that its defenders are     
infinitely at variance with one another2
  that there is no longer any social    
disgrace connected with a               
non-profession of ,christianity2 in a   
word1 that the public opinion of  the   
modern world has ceased to be           
,christian1 and that the once           
all-dominating religion which blocked   
out the serious consideration of  any   
other claimant1 bids fair to be speedily
 reduced to its primitive  helplessness 
and insignificance4 ,the disintegrating 
effect of such  knowledge on the faith  
of the masses must be1 and manifestly   

is1 simply  enormous4 ,not that there is
 any rival consensus and authority to   
take  the place of dethroned            
,catholicism4 ,even scepticism is too   
little  organized and embodied1 too     
chaotic in its infinite variety of      
contradictory positions1 to create an   
influential consensus of any  positive  
kind against faith4 ,its effect1 as far 
as the unthinking masses  are concerned1
 is simply to destroy the chief         
extrinsic support of their  faith and to
 throw them back on the less regular1   
less reliable causes  of belief4 ,if in 
addition it teaches them a few          
catchwords of  free-thought1 a few smart
 blasphemies and syllogistic            
impertinences1  this is of less         
consequence than at first sight appears1
 since these are  attempted             
after-justifications1 and no real causes
 of their unbelief4  ,for they love the 
parade of formal reason1 as they love   
big words or  technical terms1 or a     
smattering of ,french or ,latin1 with   

all the  delight of a child in the      
mysterious and unfamiliar2 but their    
pretence  to be ruled by it is mere     
affectation1 and the tenacity with which
 they  cling to their arguments is      
rather the tenacity of blind faith in a 
dogma1 than of clear insight into       
principles4    ,and this brings us to   
the problem which gave birth to the     
present essay4    ,the growing infection
 of the uneducated or slightly educated 
masses of  the ,catholic laity with the 
virus of prevalent unbelief is arousing 
the  attention of a few of our clergy to
 the need of coping with what is to     
them a new kind of difficulty4 ,amongst 
other kindred suggestions1 is  that of  
providing tracts for the million dealing
 not as heretofore with  the            
,protestant1 but with the infidel       
controversy4 ,while the danger was  more
 limited and remote it was felt that1   
more harm than good would come  of      
giving prominence in the popular mind to
 the fact and existence of so  much     

unbelief2 that in many minds doubts     
unfelt before would be  awakened2 that  
difficulties lay on the surface and were
 the progeny of  shallow-mindedness1    
whereas the solutions lay deeper down   
than the  vulgar mind could reasonably  
be expected to go2 that on the whole it 
was  better that the few should suffer1 
than that the many should be  disturbed4
 ,the docile and obedient could be kept 
away from contagion1 or  if infected1   
could be easily cured by an act of blind
 confidence in the  ,church2 while the  
disobedient would go their own way in   
any case4 ,hence  the idea of entering  
into controversy with those incompetent 
to deal  with such matters was wisely   
set aside4 ,but now that the prevalence 
and  growth of unbelief is as evident as
 the sun at noon--now that it is no     
longer only the recalcitrant and        
irreligious1 but even the religious and 
docile-minded who are disturbed by the  
fact1 it seems to some that1 a  policy  
of silence and inactivity may be far    

more fruitful in evil than  in good1    
that reverent reserve must be laid aside
 and the pearls of  truth cast into the 
trough of popular controversy4    ,but  
to this course an almost insuperable    
objection presents itself at  first     
seeming4 ,seeing that1 the true cause of
 doubt and unbelief in the  uncritical1 
is to be sought for proximately in the  
decay of a popular  consensus in favour 
of belief1 and ultimately in the        
disagreements and  negations of those   
who lead and form public opinion1 and in
 no wise in  the reasons which they     
allege when they attempt a criticism    
that is  beyond them2 what will it      
profit to deal with the apparent cause  
if we  cannot strike at the real cause8 
,in practical matters1 the reasons men  
give for their conduct1 to themselves as
 well as to others1 are often  untrue1  
never exhaustive4 ,hence to refute their
 reasons will not alter  their          
intentions4 ,to dispel the sophisms     
assigned by the uneducated as  the basis

 of their unbelief1 is not really to    
strike at the root of the  matter at    
all4 ,besides which1 the work is        
endless2 for if they are  released from 
one snare they will be as easily        
re-entangled in the next2  and indeed   
what can such controversy do but foster 
in them the false  notion that1 belief  
in possession may be dispossessed by    
every passing  difficulty1 and that     
their faith is to be dependent on an    
intellectual  completeness of which they
 are for ever incapable4 ,indeed the    
unavoidable amount of controversy of all
 kinds1 dinned into the ears of  the    
faithful in a country like this1 favours
 a fallacy of  intellectualism very     
prejudicial to the repose of a living   
faith founded  on concrete reasons1 more
 or less experimental4    ,as far as the
 many are concerned1 much the same      
difficulty attends the  preservation of 
their faith in these days1 as attended  
its creation in  the beginnings of      
,christianity1 before the little flock  

had grown into a  kingdom1 when the     
intellect and power of the world was    
arrayed against  it1 when it had neither
 the force of a world-wide consensus nor
 the  voice of public authority in its  
favour4 ,in those days it was not by the
  persuasive words of human wisdom that 
the crowds were gained over to  ,christ1
 but by a certain ostensio virtutis1 by 
an experimental and not  merely by a    
rational proof of the ,gospel--a proof  
which1 if it admitted  of any kind of   
formulation1 did not compel them in     
virtue of the  logicality of its form4  
,further1 when the conditions and helps 
needed by  the ,church in her infancy1  
gave way to those belonging to her      
established strength1 it was by her     
ascendency over the strong1 the         
wealthy1 and the learned1 that she      
secured for the crowd1--for the weak    
and the poor and the ignorant1--the most
 necessary support of a  ,christianized1
 international public opinion1 and      
thereby extended the  benefit of her    

educative influence to those millions   
whom disinclination  or weakness would  
otherwise have deterred from the        
profession and  practice of the faith4  
,if the ,church of to-day is to retain  
her hold of the crowd in modernized  or 
modernizing countries1 it must either be
 by renewing her ascendency  over those 
who form and modify public opinion1 who 
even in the purest  democracy are ever  
the few and not the many2 or else by a  
reversion to  the methods of primitive  
times1 by some palpable argument that   
speaks as  clearly to the simplest as to
 the subtlest1 if only the heart be     
right4  ,an outburst of miracle-working 
and prophecy is hardly to be looked for2
  while the argument from the tree's    
fruits1 or from the moral miracle1 is   
at present weakened by the extent to    
which non-,christians put in  practice  
the morality they have learnt from      
,christ4 ,other non-rational  causes of 
belief draw individuals1 but they do not
 draw crowds4    ,if we cannot see very 

clearly what is to supply for the       
support once  given to the faith of the 
millions by public opinion1 still their 
incapacity for dealing with the question
 on rational grounds will not  justify  
us altogether in silence4 ,for in the   
first place it is an  incapacity of     
which they are not aware1 or which at   
least they are very  unwilling to admit4
 ,a candidate at the hustings would run 
a poor chance  of a hearing who1 instead
 of seeming to appeal to the reason of  
the mob  should1 in the truthfulness of 
his soul1 try to convince them of their 
utter incompetence to judge the simplest
 political point4 ,again1 though  unable
 to decide between cause and cause1 yet 
the rudest can often see  that there is 
much to be said on both sides--though   
what1 he does not  understand2 and if   
this fact weakens his confidence in the 
right1 it  also weakens it in the wrong2
 whereas had the right been silent1 the 
wrong1 in his judgment1 would thereby   
have been proved victorious4 ,this  will

 justify us at times in talking over the
 heads of our readers and  hearers1 and 
in not sparing sonorous polysyllables1  
abstruse  technicalities1 or even the   
pompous parade of syllogistic arguments 
with  all their unsightly joints        
sticking out for public admiration4     
,some  hands may be too delicate for    
this coarse work2 but there will always 
be  those to whom it is easy and        
congenial2 and its utility is too       
evident  to allow a mere question of    
taste to stand in the way4    ,moreover1
 it must be remembered that while many  
of the class referred to  are glad to be
 free from the pressure of a            
,christianized public opinion1  and are 
only too willing to grasp at any        
semblance of a reason for  unbelief2    
others1 more religiously disposed1 are  
really troubled by  these popular1      
anti-,christian difficulties1 the more  
so as they are  often infected with the 
fallacy1 fostered by ceaseless          
controversy1  which makes one's faith   

dependent on the formal reason one can  
give for  it4    ,though this is not so1
 yet moral truthfulness forbids us to   
assent to  what we1 however falsely1    
believe to be untrue4 ,hence while the  
virtue  of faith remains untouched1 its 
exercise with regard to particular      
points may be inculpably suspended      
through ignorance1 stupidity1           
misinformation1 and other causes4    ,in
 the interest of these well-disposed but
 easily puzzled believers of  the       
ill-instructed and uncritical sort1 a   
series of anti-agnostic tracts  for the 
million would really seem to be called  
for4 ,yet never has the  present writer 
felt more abjectly crushed with a sense 
of incompetence  than when posed by the 
difficulties of a hagnostic greengrocer1
 or of  a dressmaker fresh from the     
perusal of ,erbert ,spencer4 ,face to   
face  with chaos1 one knows not where to
 begin the work of building up an       
orderly mind2 nor will the self-taught  
genius brook a hint of possible         

ignorance1 or endure the discussion of  
dull presuppositions1 without  much     
pawing of the ground and champing on the
 bit3 ,what ,i want1 he  says1 is a     
plain answer to a plain question4 ,and  
when you explain to  him that for an    
answer he must go back very far and     
become a little  child again1 and must  
unravel his mind to the very beginning  
like an  ill-knit stocking1 he looks at 
once incredulous and triumphant as who  
should say3 ,there1 ,i told you so6 ,yet
 the same critical incompetence  that   
makes these simple folk quite obtuse to 
the true and adequate  solution of their
 problems 7,i am speaking of cases where
 such solutions  are possible71 makes   
them perfectly ready to accept any sort 
of  counter-sophistry or paralogism4 ,a 
most excellent and genuine convert  of  
that class told me that he had stood out
 for years against the  worship of the  
,blessed ,virgin1 till one day it had   
occurred to him that1  as a cause equals
 or exceeds its effect1 so the ,mother  

must equal the  ,son4 ,another1 equally 
genuine1 professed to have been         
conquered by the  reflection that he had
 all his life been saying3 ,i believe in
 the ,holy  ,catholic ,church1 and he   
could not see the use of believing in it
 if he  didn't belong to it4 ,if their  
faith in ,catholicism or in any other   
religion depended on their logic1 men of
 this widespread class were in a  sorry 
plight4 ,like many of their betters1    
these two men probably  imagined the    
assigned reasons to be the entire cause 
of their  conversion1 making no account 
of the many reasonable though           
non-logical  motives by which the change
 was really brought about4 ,hence to    
have  abruptly and incautiously         
corrected them1 would perhaps but have  
been to  reduce them to confusion and   
perplexity1 and to destroy with one's   
logic those for whom ,christ died4      
,that we do not sufficiently realize the
 dialectical incompetence of the        
uneducated is partly to be explained by 

the fact that they often get  bits of   
reasoning by rote1 much as young boys   
learn their ,euclid2 and  that they     
frequently seem to understand principles
 because they apply  them in the right  
cases1 just as we often quote a proverb 
appropriately  without the slightest    
idea of its origin or meaning beyond    
that it is  the right thing to say in a 
certain connection4 ,as we ascend in the
  scale of education1 there is more and 
more of this reasoning by rote1 so  that
 critical incompetence is more easily   
concealed and may lurk  unsuspected even
 in the pulpit and the professorial     
chair1 where logic  alone seems         
paramount4 ,the hagnostic greengrocer1  
in all the  self-confidence of his      
ignorance1 is but the lower extreme of a
 class  that runs up much higher in the 
social scale and spreads out much wider 
in every direction4    ,but when we have
 realized more adequately how hopelessly
 incompetent the  multitude must        
necessarily be in the problems of       

specialists1 we shall  also see that it 
is only by inadequate and even          
sophistical reasoning  that most of     
their intellectual difficulties can be  
allayed2 that the  full truth 7and the  
half-truth is mostly a lie7 would be    
,greek to them4  ,if1 then1 ,tracts for 
the ,million seem a necessity1 they also
 seem an  impossibility2 for what       
self-respecting man will sit down to    
weave that  tissue of sophistry1        
special-pleading1 violence1 and         
vulgarity1 which  alone will serve the  
practical purpose with those to whom    
trenchency is  everything and subtlety  
nothing8 ,even though the means involve 
a  violation of taste rather than of    
morals1 yet can they be justified by    
the goodness of the end8 ,fortunately1  
however1 the difficulty is met by  a    
particular application of ,god's        
universal method in the education of    
mankind4 ,in every grade of             
enlightenment there are found some who  
are  sufficiently in advance of the rest

 to be able to help them1 and not so    
far in advance as practically to speak a
 different language4 ,what is a         
dazzling light for those just emerging  
from darkness1 is darkness for  those in
 a yet stronger light4 ,a statement may 
be so much less false  than another1 as 
to be relatively true2 so much less true
 than a third1  as to be relatively     
false4 ,for a mind wholly unprepared1   
the full truth  is often a light that   
blinds and darkness2 whereas the        
tempered  half-truth prepares the way   
for a fuller disclosure in due time1    
even as  the law and the prophets       
prepared the way for the ,gospel and    
,christ1 or  as the enigmas of faith    
school us to bear that light which now  
no man  can gaze on and live4 ,thus1    
though we may never use a lie in the    
interest of truth1 or bring men from    
error by arguments we know to be        
sophistical1 yet we have the warrant of 
,divine example1 both in the  natural   
and supernatural education of mankind1  

for the passive  permission of error in 
the interest of truth1 as also of evil  
in the  interest of good4 ,since then   
there will ever be found those who in   
all  good faith and sincerity can adapt 
themselves to the popular need and      
supply each level of intelligence with  
the medicine most suited to its         
digestion1 all we ask is that a variety 
of standards in controversial  writings 
be freely recognized2 that each who     
feels called to such  efforts should put
 forth his very best with a view to     
helping those  minds which are likest   
his own2 that none should deliberately  
condescend  to the use of what from his 
point of view would be sophistries and  
vulgarities1 remembering at the same    
time that the superiority of his  own   
taste and judgment is more relative than
 absolute1 and that in the  eyes of     
those who come after1 he himself may be 
but a ,philistine4    ,we conclude then 
that all that can be done in the way of 
,tracts for the  ,million should be     

done2 that seed of every kind should be 
scattered to  the four winds1 hoping    
that each may find some congenial soil4 
,but even when all that can be done in  
this way to save the masses from  the   
contagion of unbelief has been done1 we 
shall be as far as ever from  having    
found a substitute for the support which
 formerly was lent to  their faith by a 
,christianized public opinion4 ,can we  
hope for anything  more than thus to    
retard the leakage8 ,the answer to this 
would take us  to the second of our     
proposed considerations1 namely1 our    
attitude  towards those who form and    
modify that public opinion by which the 
masses are influenced for good or for   
evil4 ,but it is an answer which  for   
the present must be deferred4 #a        
,nov4 #aijj4        ,footnotes3         
,footnote #a3 ,the ,introduction to the 
,first ,series of these essays  attempts
 to deal with this further question4    
,,xx4      ,,an ,,apostle ,,of          
,,naturalism4        ,a man that could  

look no way but downwards1 with a       
muck-rake in his hand and did neither   
look up nor regard1    but raked to     
himself the straws1 the small sticks1   
and the dust    of the floor4444 ,then  
said ,christiana1 ',oh1 deliver me      
from this muck-rake4'--,bunyan4         
,naturalism includes various schools    
which agree in the first principle  that
 nothing is true but what can be        
justified by those axiomatic truths     
which every-day experience forces upon  
our acceptance1 not indeed as           
self-evident1 but as inevitable1 unless 
we are to be incapacitated for          
practical life4 ,it is essentially the  
philosophy of the unphilosophical1  that
 is1 of those who believe what they are 
accustomed to believe1 and  because they
 are so accustomed2 who are incapable of
 distinguishing  between the subjective 
necessity imposed by habits and the     
objective  necessity founded in the     
nature of things4 ,it is no new         
philosophy1 but  as old as the first    

dawn of philosophic thought1 for it is  
the form  towards which the             
materialistic mind naturally gravitates4
 ,given a  population sufficiently      
educated to philosophize in any fashion1
 and of  necessity the bent of the      
majority will be in the direction of    
some form  of ,naturalism4 ,hence we    
find that the ,agnosticism of ,professor
 ,huxley  is eminently suited to the    
capacity and taste of the semi-educated 
majorities in our large centres of      
civilization4 ,still it must not be     
supposed that the majority really       
philosophizes at all even to this       
extent4 ,the pressure of life renders it
 morally impossible4 ,but they  like to 
think that they do so4 ,the whole temper
 of mind1 begotten and  matured by the  
rationalistic school1 is                
self-sufficient3 every man his  own     
prophet1 priest1 and king2 every man his
 own philosopher4 ,hence1 he  who poses 
as a teacher of the people will not be  
tolerated4 ,the theorist  must come     

forward with an affectation of modesty1 
as into the presence  of competent      
critics2 he must only expose his wares1 
win for himself a  hearing1 and then    
humbly wait for the placet of the       
sovereign people4  ,but plainly this is 
merely a conventional homage to a theory
 that no  serious mind really believes  
in4 ,we know well enough1 that the      
opinions  and beliefs of the multitude  
are formed almost entirely by tradition1
  imitation1 interest1 by in fact any   
influence rather than that of pure      
reason4 ,taught they are1 and taught    
they must be1 however they repudiate    
it4 ,but the most successful teachers   
and leaders are those who contrive  to  
wound their sense of intellectual       
self-sufficiency least1 and to  offer   
them the strong food of dogmatic        
assertion sugared over and  sparkling   
with the show of wit and reason4        
,philosophy for the million may be      
studied profitably in one of its        
popular exponents whose works have      

gained wide currency among the class    
referred to4 ,mr4 ,s4 ,laing is a very  
fair type of the average  mind-leader1  
owing his great success to his singular 
appreciation of the  kind of treatment  
needed to secure a favourable hearing4  
,we do not  pretend to review ,mr4      
,laing's writings for their own sake1   
but simply as  good specimens of a class
 which is historically rather than      
philosophically interesting4    ,we have
 before us three of his most popular    
books3 ,modern ,science and  ,modern    
,thought 7nineteenth thousand71         
,problems of the ,future  7thirteenth   
thousand71 ,human ,origins 7twelfth     
thousand71 to which we  shall refer as  
,m4,s41 ,p4,f41 ,h4,o41 in this essay2  
taking the  responsibility of all       
italics on ourselves1 unless otherwise  
notified4    ,mr4 ,laing is not         
regretfully forced into materialism by  
some mental  confusion or obscurity1 but
 he revels in it1 and invites all to    
taste  and see how gracious a philosophy

 it is4 ,there is an ill-concealed      
levity and coarseness in his handling of
 religious subjects which  breaks1      
,at seasons1 through the gilded pale1   
and which warns us from casting reasons 
before those who would but  trample them
 under foot4 ,it is rather for the sake 
of those who read  such literature1     
imprudently perhaps1 but with no        
sympathy1 and yet find  their           
imagination perplexed and puzzled with a
 swarm of minute  sophistries and       
difficulties1 collectively bewildering1 
though  contemptible singly1 that we    
think it well to form some estimate of  
the  philosophical value of such works4 
,nothing in our study of ,mr4 ,laing    
surprised us more than to discover #a   
that he had lived for more than the     
,scriptural span of three-score and  ten
 years1 a life of varied fortunes and   
many experiences4 ,it seems to  us      
incredible that any man of even average 
thoughtfulness could1 after  so many    
years1 find life without ,god1 without  

immortality1 without  definite meaning  
or assignable goal1 worth living1 and   
that to be  born in a civilized country 
in the nineteenth century is a boon for 
which a man can never be sufficiently   
thankful4 #b ,thankful to whom8  one    
might ask parenthetically4 ,in other    
words1 he is a bland optimist1  and has 
nothing but vials of contempt to pour   
upon the pessimists1 from  ,ecclesiastes
 down to ,carlyle4 ,pessimism1 we are   
told confidentially1 is  not an outcome 
of just reasoning on the miserable      
residue of hope which  materialism      
leaves to us1 but of the indisposition  
of those digestive  organs upon which   
the sensation of health and well-being  
so mainly  depends4 ,it is among such   
men1 with cultivated intellects1        
sensitive  nerves1 and bad digestion1   
that we find the prophets and disciples 
of  pessimism4 #c ,the inference is1    
that men of uncultivated intellects1    
coarse nerves1 and ostrich livers will  
coincide with ,mr4 ,laing in his        

sanguine view of the ruins of religion4 
,the sorrowing dyspeptic asks in        
despair3 ,son of man1 thinkest thou that
 these dry bones will live  again8 ,i'm 
cock-sure of it1 answers ,mr4 ,laing1   
and the ground of his  assurance is the 
healthiness of his liver4    ,carlyle1  
who in other matters is1 according to   
,mr4 ,laing1 a great  genius1 a more    
than prophet of the new religion1 on    
this point suddenly  collapses into a   
dreadful croaker1 styling his own age   
barren1  brainless1 soulless1 faithless4
 #d ,but the reason is1 of course1 that 
he suffered from chronic dyspepsia and  
was unable to eat his three  square     
meals a day4 ,a very consistent         
explanation for an avowed  materialist1 
but slightly destructive to the value of
 his own  conclusions1 being a two-edged
 sword4 ,indeed he almost allows as     
much4  ,for such dyspeptic patients     
there is an excuse4 ,pessimism is       
probably  as inevitably their creed1 as 
optimism is for the more fortunate      

mortals  who enjoy the mens sana in     
corpore sano4 #e ,however1 there are    
some  pessimists for whom indigestion   
can plead no excuse1 #f but for whose   
intellectual perversity some other      
cosmic influence must be sought  behind 
the veil1 behind the veil1--to borrow   
,mr4 ,laing's favourite  line from his  
favourite poem4 ,these are not only     
social swells1  would-be superior       
persons and orthodox theologians1 but   
even a man of  light and learning like  
,mr4 ,f4 ,harrison4 ,religion1 they say1
 is  becoming extinct4444 ,without a    
lively faith in such a personal1        
ever-present deity who listens to our   
prayers1 444 there can be1 they  say1 no
 religion2 and they hold1 and ,i think  
rightly hold1 that the only  support for
 such a religion is to be found in the  
assumed inspiration of  the ,bible and  
the ,divinity of ,christ4 ,destroy these
 and they think the  world will become  
vulgar and materialized1 losing not only
 the surest  sanction of morals1 but 444

 the spiritual aspiration and           
tendencies1 c4  #g ,to these gloomy     
forebodings ,i venture to return a      
positive and  categorical denial 444    
,scepticism has been the great sweetener
 of modern  life4 #h ,how he justifies  
his denial by maintaining that morality 
can  hold its own when reduced to a     
physical science2 that the result of    
advancing civilization and of the       
materialistic psychology is a  clearer  
recognition of the intrinsic sacredness 
and dignity of every  human soul2 #i    
that ,christianity without dogma1       
without miracles or1  as he calls it1   
,christian agnosticism1 shall retain the
 essential  spirit1 the pure morality1  
the consoling beliefs1 and as far as    
possible  even the venerable form and   
sacred associations of the old faith1   
may  appear later4 ,at present we are   
concerned directly with pointing out how
  ,mr4 ,laing's optimism at once marks  
him off from those men who1 whether     
believing or misbelieving or            

unbelieving1 have thought deeply and    
felt  deeply1 who have seen clearly that
 materialism leaves nothing for man's   
soul but the husks of swine2 who have   
therefore boldly faced the  inevitable  
alternative between spiritualistic      
philosophy and hope1 and  materialism   
with its pessimistic corollary4 ,that a 
man may be a  materialist or atheist and
 enjoy life thoroughly1 who does not    
know8 but  then it is just at the       
expense of his manhood1 because he lives
 without  thought1 reflection1 or       
aspiration1 i4e41 materialistically4    
,mr4 ,laing  no doubt1 as he confesses1 
has lived pleasantly enough4 ,he has    
found in  what he calls science an      
endless source of diversion1 he betrays 
himself  everywhere as a man of intense 
intellectual curiosity in every         
direction1 and yet withal so little     
concerned with the roots of things1  so 
easily satisfied with a little plausible
 coherence in a theory1 as  not to have 
found truth an apparently stern or      

exacting mistress1 not to  have felt the
 anguish of any deep mental conflict4   
,his intellectual  labours have been    
pleasurable because easy1 and1 in his   
own eyes1  eminently fruitful and       
satisfactory4 ,he has adopted an        
established  cause1 thrown himself into 
it heart and soul2 others indeed had    
gone  before him and laboured1 and he   
has entered into their labours4 ,indeed1
  he is frank in disclaiming all        
originality of discovery or theory2 #aj 
he has not risked the disappointment and
 anxiety of improving on the  ,evolution
 ,gospel1 but he has collected and      
sorted and arranged and  published the  
evidence obtained by others4 ,this has  
always furnished him  with an interest  
in life2 #aa but whether it be a        
rational interest or  not depends       
entirely on the usefulness or           
hurtfulness of his work4 ,he  admits1   
however1 that though life for him has   
been worth living1 some  may find it    
otherwise from no fault of their own1   

more by their own  fate4 #ab ,but all   
can lead fairly happy lives by following
 his  large-type platitudinous maxim1   
,fear nothing1 make the best of         
everything4 #ac ,in other words1 the    
large majority1 who are not and  never  
can be so easily and pleasantly         
circumstanced as ,mr4 ,laing1 are  told 
calmly to make the best of it and to    
rejoice in the thought that  their      
misery is a necessary factor in the     
evolution of their happier  posterity4  
,this is the new gospel3 ,pauperes      
evangelizantur--,good  news for the     
poor4 #ad ,progress and not happiness is
 the end we are  told to make for1 over 
and over again2 but1 progress towards   
what1 is  never explained1 nor is any   
basis for this duty assigned4 ,indeed1  
duty  means nothing for ,mr4 ,laing but 
an inherited instinct1 which if we      
choose to disobey or if we happen not to
 possess1 who shall blame us or  talk to
 us of oughts8    ,and now to consider  
more closely the grounds of ,mr4        

,laing's very  cheerful view of a world 
in which1 for all we know1 there is no  
soul1 no  ,god1 and certainly no faith4 
,since of the two former we know and can
  know nothing1 we must build our       
happiness1 our morality1 our religion1  
on a basis whereof they form no part4   
,he believes that morality will be  able
 to hold its own distinct1 not only from
 all belief in revelation1  in a        
personal ,god1 and in a spiritual soul1 
but in spite of a philosophy  which by  
tracing the origin of moral judgments to
 mere physical laws of  hereditary      
transmission of experienced utilities1  
robs them of all  authority other than  
prudential1 and convicts them of being  
illusory so  far as they seem to be of  
higher than human origin4    ,herein1 as
 usual1 he treads in the steps of       
,professor ,huxley1 the  greatest living
 master of ,english prose 7though why   
his mastery of  prose should add to his 
weight as a philosopher1 we fail to     
see74 ,such  ideas evidently come from  

education1 and are not the results      
either of  inherited instinct #ae or of 
supernatural gift4444 ,given a being    
with  man's brain1 man's hands1 and     
erect stature1 it is easy to see how 444
  rules of conduct 444 must have been   
formed and fixed by successive          
generations1 according to the ,darwinian
 laws4 #af    ,he tells us3 ,we may read
 the ,athanasian ,creed less1 but we    
practise  ,christian charity more in the
 present than in any former age4 #ag    
,faith has diminished1 charity          
increased4 #ah    ,of moral principles1 
he says3 ,why do we say that 444 they   
carry  conviction with them and prove   
themselves8444 ,still1 there they are1  
and  being what they are 444 it requires
 no train of reasoning or laboured      
reflection to make us feel that 'right  
is right1' and that it is  better for   
ourselves and others to act on such     
precepts 444 rather  than to reverse    
these rules and obey the selfish        
promptings of animal  nature4 #ai ,it is

 clearly our highest wisdom to follow   
right1 not  from selfish calculation1   
444 but because 'right is right4' 444   
,for  practical purposes it is          
comparatively unimportant how this      
standard got  there 444 as an absolute  
imperative rule4 #bj ,as to the         
apprehended  ill effect of agnosticism  
on morals1 he says3 ,the foundations of 
morals #ba are fortunately built on     
solid rock and not on shifting sand4    
,it may truly be said in a great many   
cases that1 as individuals and  nations 
become more sceptical1 they become more 
moral4 #bb ,if there  is one thing more 
certain than another in the history of  
evolution1 it  is that morals have been 
evolved by the same laws as regulate the
  development of species4 #bc    ,these 
citations embody ,mr4 ,laing's opinions 
on this point1 and show very  clearly   
his utter incapacity for elementary     
philosophic thought4 ,here1  as         
elsewhere1 as soon as he leaves the bare
 record of facts and embarks  in any    

kind of speculation1 he shows himself   
helpless2 however1 he tries  to fortify 
his own courage and that of his readers1
 with it is clear1  it is evident1 it is
 certain4    ,to say that right is      
right1 sounds very oracular2 but it     
either means  that right is an ultimate 
spring of action1 inexplicable on       
evolutionist principles1 or that right  
is the will of the strongest1 or  an    
illusory inherited foreboding of pain1  
or a calculation of future  pleasure and
 pain1 or something which1 in no sense1 
is a true account of  what men do mean  
by right4 ,to say that moral principles 
carry  conviction with them1 and prove  
themselves 7i4e41 are self-evident71    
unless1 as we suspect1 it is mere       
verbiage conveying nothing particular   
to ,mr4 ,laing's brain1 is to deny that 
right has reference to the  consequences
 of action as bearing on human progress 
and evolution1 which  is to deny the    
very theory he wishes to uphold4 ,no    
intuitionist could  have spoken more    

strongly4 ,then we are assured that we  
feel rightness1  or that right is       
right--apparently as a simple           
irresoluble quality of  certain         
actions--and with same breath1 that it  
is better for  ourselves and others to  
act on these rules1 where he jumps off  
to  utilitarianism again2 and then we   
are forbidden to obey the selfish       
impulses of our animal nature--a strange
 prohibition for one who sees  in us    
nothing but animal nature1 who denies us
 any free power to  withstand its       
impulses4 ,then it is clearly our       
highest wisdom to follow  right--an     
appeal to prudential motives--not from  
any selfish  calculations--a repudiation
 of prudential motives--but because     
'right  is right'--an appeal to a blind 
unreasoning instinct1 and a prohibition 
to question its authority4 ,we are told 
that for practical purposes it  matters 
little whence this absolute imperative  
rule originates4 ,was  there ever a more
 unpractical and short-sighted          

assertion6 ,convince men  that the      
dictates of conscience are those of fear
 or selfishness1 that  they are all mere
 animal instincts1 that they are        
anything less than  divine1 and who will
 care for ,mr4 ,laing's appeal to blind 
faith in the  rightness of right8    ,as
 long as ,christian tradition lives on1 
as it will for years among the  masses1 
the effects of materialist ethics will  
not be felt2 but as these  new theories 
filter down from the few to the many1   
they will inevitably  produce their     
logical consequences in practical       
matters4 ,no one with  open eyes can    
fail to see how the leaven is spreading 
already4 ,still the  majority act and   
speak to a great extent under the       
influence of the old  belief1 which they
 have repudiated1 in the freedom of     
man's will and the  ,divine origin of   
right4 ,it is quite plain that ,mr4     
,laing has either  never had patience to
 think the matter out1 or has found it  
beyond his  compass4 ,having thus       

established morality on a foundation    
independent of  religion and of         
everything else1 making right rest on   
right1 he  assumes the prophetic robe1  
and on the strength of his seventy years
 of  experience and philosophy poses as 
a ,cato ,major for the edification of   
the semi-scientific millions of young   
persons to whom he addresses his        
volumes4 ,we have a whole chapter on    
,practical ,life1 #bd on                
self-reverence1 self-knowledge1         
self-control1 full of portentous        
platitudes and ancient saws2 ,st4       
,paul's doctrine of charity1 and all    
that is best in the teaching of the     
,sermon on the ,mount1 is liberated     
from its degrading association with the 
belief in a ,god who rewards and        
punishes4#be ,we are to act strenuously 
in that direction which1 after          
conscientious inquiry1 seems the best1  
444 and trust to what religious  men    
call ,providence1 and scientific men    
,evolution1 for the result1 and  all    

this simply on the bold assertion of    
this sage whose sole aim is to  leave   
the world a little better rather than a 
little worse for my  individual unit of 
existence4 #bf    ,and here we may      
inquire parenthetically as to the motive
 which urges ,mr4  ,laing to throw      
himself into the labours of the         
apostolate and to become  such an active
 propagandist of agnosticism4 ,we are   
told#bg that the  enlightened should be 
liberal and tolerant towards traditional
 opinions  and traditional practices1   
and trust with cheerful faith to        
evolution to  bring about gradually     
changes of form1 c42 that the influence 
of the  clergy is on the whole exerted  
for good1 and it is frankly             
acknowledged that ,christianity has been
 a potent factor in the evolution  of   
modern civilization4 ,it has1 however1  
nearly run its course1 and the  old     
order must give place to the new1 i4e41 
to agnosticism4 ,but even  allowing1    
what we dare say ,mr4 ,laing would not  

ask1 that the speculative  side of the  
new religion is fully defined and worked
 out1 and ready to  displace the old    
dogmatic creeds1 yet its practical      
aspect is so vague  that he writes3 ,i  
think the time is come when the         
intellectual victory  of agnosticism is 
so far assured1 that it behoves thinking
 men to begin  to consider what         
practical results are likely to follow  
from it4 #bh  ,in the face of this      
confession we find ,mr4 ,laing          
industriously  addressing himself to    
those who lack time and opportunity for 
studying1 #bi to the minds of my younger
 readers1 and of the working  classes   
who are striving after culture1 #cj to  
what may be called the  semi-scientific 
readers1 444 who have already acquired  
some elementary  ideas about science1 to
 the millions2 #ca and endeavouring by  
all  means in his power to destroy the  
last vestige of their faith in that     
religion which alone provides for them a
 definite code of morality  strengthened

 by apparent sanctions of the highest   
order1 and venerable  at least by its   
antiquity and universality4 #cb ,and    
while he is thus  busily pulling down   
the old scaffolding1 he is calmly       
beginning to  consider the practical    
results4 ,this is his method of leaving 
the world  a little better than he found
 it4 ,he professes to understand and    
appreciate ,in ,memoriam4 ,has he ever  
reflected on the lines3 ,o thou  that   
after toil and storm1 #cc when the      
practical conclusion is--      ,leave   
thou thy sister1 when she prays1        
,her early ,heaven1 her happy views2    
,nor thou with shadowed hint infuse     
,a life that leads melodious days4      
,her faith through form is pure as      
thine1      ,her hands are quicker unto 
good2      ,o sacred be the flesh and   
blood1    ,to which she links a truth   
divine4    ,on his own principles he is 
convicted of being a lover of mischief4 
,no1  one is sorely tempted to think    
that these men are well aware that the  

moral sense which sound philosophy and  
,christian faith have developed1  is    
still strong in the minds and deeper    
conscience of the  ,english-speaking    
races1 and that were they to present    
materialism in all  its loathsome nudity
 to the public gaze1 they would be      
hissed off the  stage4 ,and so they     
dress it up in the clothes of the old   
religion just  for the present1 with    
many a quiet wink between themselves at 
the  expense of the semi-scientific     
reader4    ,we have already adverted to 
,mr4 ,laing's utter incapacity for      
anything  like philosophy1 except so far
 as that term can be applied to a power 
of  raking together1 selecting1 and     
piling up into a popular shape the      
scraps of information which favour the  
view whose correctness he was  convinced
 of ere he began4 ,a few further remarks
 may justify this  somewhat severe      
estimate4 ,after stating that in the    
solution of life and  soul problems1    
science stops short at germs and        

nucleated cells1 he  proceeds with the  
usual tirade against metaphysics3 ,take 
,descartes'  fundamental axiom3 ,cogito 
ergo sum4444 ,is it really an axiom8444 
,if  the fact that ,i am conscious of   
thinking proves the fact that ,i exist1 
is the converse true that whatever does 
not think does not exist8444  ,does a   
child only begin to exist when it begins
 to think8 ,if ,cogito  ergo sum is an  
institution to which we can trust1 why  
is not ,non  cogito ergo non sum8 #cd   
,here is a man posing before the gaping 
millions as a philosopher and a severe  
logician1 who thinks that the           
proposition1 every cow is a quadruped1  
is disproved by the evident  falsehood  
of1 what is not a cow is not a          
quadruped1 which he calls  the converse4
 ,he sums up magnificently by saying3   
,these are questions  to which no       
metaphysical system that ,i have ever   
seen1 can return the  semblance of an   
answer2 giving the impression of a life 
devoted to a  deep and exhaustive study 

of all schools of philosophy4 ,mr4      
,laing here  surely is addressing his   
younger readers4    ,he tells us        
elsewhere #ce that1 when analyzed by    
science1 spiritualism  leads straight to
 materialism2 free-will can be          
annihilated by the  simple mechanical   
expedient of looking at a black wafer   
stuck on a white  wall2 that if ,smith  
falls into a trance and believes himself
 to be  ,jones1 he really is ,jones1 and
 ,smith has become a stranger to him    
while  the trance lasts4444 ,i often ask
 myself the question1 ,if he died during
  one of these trances1 which would he  
be1 ,smith or ,jones8 and ,i confess  it
 takes some one wiser than ,i am to     
answer it4 ,without pretending to  be   
wiser than ,mr4 ,laing1 we hope it will 
not be too presumptuous for us  to      
suggest that if ,smith dies in a trance 
believing himself to be  ,jones1 he is  
under a delusion1 and that he really is 
,smith4 ,else it  would be very awkward 
for poor ,jones1 who in nowise believes 

himself to  be ,smith4 ,mr4 ,laing would
 have to break it gently to ,jones1     
that1 in  fact1 my dear sir1 ,smith     
borrowed your personality1 and          
unfortunately  died before returning it2
 and as to whether you are yourself or  
,smith1  as to whether you are alive or 
dead1 ',i confess it takes some one     
wiser  than ,i am to decide4' ,that a   
man's own name1 own surroundings1 own   
antecedents1 are all objects of his     
thought1 and distinguished from the     
self1 ego1 or subject which contemplates
 them1 has never suggested  itself to   
,mr4 ,laing4 ,that though ,smith may    
mistake every one of these1  yet the    
term ,i necessarily and invariably means
 the same for him1 the  one central1    
constant unity to which every non-ego is
 opposed4 ,and  this from a man who     
elsewhere claims an easy familiarity    
with ,kant4  ,again what can be said of 
love and hate if under given            
circumstances  they can be transformed  
into one another by a magnet8 ,what     

indeed8 ,and  how is it that the        
gold-fish make no difference in the     
weight of the  globe of water8    ,his  
conclusion to these inquiries is3 ,when 
,shakespeare said1 ',we are  such stuff 
as dreams are made of1' he enumerates   
what has become a  scientific fact4 ,the
 'stuff' is in all cases the            
same--vibratory motions  of nerve       
particles4 #cf ,thus knowledge1         
self-consciousness1  free-choice1 is as 
much a function of matter as            
fermentation1 or  crystallisation--a    
mode of motion1 not dissimilar from     
heat1 perhaps  transformable therewith4 
,recapitulating this farrago of nonsense
 on p4 #ahh1 he adds a new  difficulty  
which ought to make him pause in his    
wild career4 ,what is  the value of the 
evidence of the senses if a suggestion  
can make us see  the hat1 but not the   
man who wears it2 or dance half the     
night with an  imaginary partner8 ,am ,i
 ',i myself1 ,i1' or am ,i a            
barrel-organ playing  ',god save the    

,queen1' if the stops are set in the    
normal fashion1 but  the ',marseillaise'
 if some cunning hand has altered them  
without my  knowledge8 ,these are       
questions which ,i cannot answer4 ,he   
cannot answer  a question on which the  
value of his whole system of physical   
philosophy  depends2 uncertain about his
 own identity1 about the evidence of his
  senses1 he would make the latter the  
sole rule and measure of certitude1  and
 deny to man any higher faculty by which
 alone he can justify his  trust in his 
cognitive faculties4 ,another instance  
of his absolute  ignorance of common    
philosophic terminology is when he      
asserts that  according to theology we  
know the dogmas of religion by          
intuition4 #cg    ,this doctrine rests  
on ,cardinal ,newman's celebrated theory
 of the  ,illative ,sense4 ,surely a    
moment's reflection on the meaning of   
words1  not to speak of a slight        
acquaintance with the book referred to1 
would  have saved him from confounding  

two notions so sharply distinguished as 
intuition and inference4 ,again1 ,there 
can be no doubt there are men  often of 
great piety and excellence who have1 or 
fancy they have1 a sort  of sixth sense1
 or1 as ,cardinal ,newman calls it1 an  
'illative sense1' by  which they see by 
intuition 444 things unprovable or      
disprovable by  ordinary reason4 #ch    
,can a man who makes such reckless      
travesties of a  view which he          
manifestly has never studied1 be        
credited with  intellectual honesty8    
,doubtless1 the semi-scientific millions
 will be much impressed by the  wideness
 of ,mr4 ,laing's reading and his       
profound grasp of all that he  has read1
 when they are told casually that space 
and time are1 444 to  use the           
phraseology of ,kant1 'imperative       
categories2' #ci but perhaps  to other  
readers it may convey nothing more than 
that he has heard a dim  something      
somewhere about ,kant1 about the        
categories1 about space and  time being 

schemata of sense1 and about the        
categorical imperative4  ,it is only one
 instance of the unscrupulous           
recklessness which shows  itself        
everywhere4 ,akin to this is his        
absolute misapprehension of the         
,christian religion which he labours to 
refute4 ,he never for a moment          
questions his perfect understanding of  
it1 and of all it has got to say  for   
itself4 ,brought up apparently among    
,protestants1 who hold to a  verbal     
inspiration #dj and literal             
interpretation of the ,scriptures1  who 
have no traditional or authoritative    
interpretation of it1 he  concludes at  
once that his own crude1 boyish         
conception of ,christianity  is the     
genuine one1 and that every deviation   
therefrom is a climbing  down1 or a     
minimizing4 ,he has no suspicion that   
the wider views of  interpretation are  
as old as ,christianity itself1 and have
 always  co-existed with the narrower4  
,he regards the ,christian idea of ,god 

as essentially anthropomorphic4         
,indeed1 whether in good faith or for   
the sake of effect1 he brings  forward  
the old difficulties which have been    
answered ad nauseam with  an air of     
freshness1 as though unearthed for the  
first time1 and  therefore as setting   
religion in new and unheard-of straits4 
,so1 at all  events1 it will seem to the
 millions of his young readers and to   
the  working classes4    ,let us follow 
him in some of his destructive          
criticism1 or rather  denunciations1 in 
order to observe his mode of procedure4 
,the  discoveries of science 444 make it
 impossible for sincere men to  retain  
the faith1 c41 #da therefore all who    
differ from ,mr4 ,laing are  insincere4 
,it is absolutely certain that portions 
of the ,bible are  not true2 and those1 
important portions4 #db ,this is based  
on two  premisses which are therefore   
absolutely certain1 7i7 ,mr4 ,laing's   
conclusions about the antiquity of      
man--of which more anon2 7#dc7 his      

baldly literal interpretation of the    
,bible as delivered to him in his  early
 infancy4 ,on p4 #bec1 we have the      
ancient difficulty from the ,new        
,testament prophecy of the proximate end
 of the world1 without the  faintest    
indication that it was felt #ahjj years 
ago1 and has been dealt  with over and  
over again4 ,papias #dd is lionized #de 
in order to upset  the antiquity of the 
four ,gospels--which upsetting1 however1
 depends on  a dogmatic interpretation  
of an ambiguous phrase1 and the absence 
of  positive testimony4 ,here again     
there is no evidence that ,mr4 ,laing   
has  read any elementary text-book on   
the authenticity of the ,gospels4 ,he is
  perfectly clear as to the fourth      
,gospel being a forgery2 again for      
reasons which he alone has discovered4  
#df ,paul is the first inventor  of     
,christian dogma1 without any doubt or  
hesitation4 ,but the undoubted  results 
of modern science 444 shatter to pieces 
the whole fabric4 ,it is  as certain as 

that #b  #b  #d that the world was not  
created in the  manner described in     
,genesis4    ,as regards harmonistic    
difficulties of the ,old and ,new       
,testaments1 he  assumes the same       
confident tone of bold assertion without
 feeling any  obligation to notice the  
solutions that have been suggested4 ,it 
makes  for his purpose to represent the 
orthodox as suddenly struck dumb and    
confounded by these amazing discoveries 
of his4 ,he sees discrepancies          
everywhere in the ,gospel narrative1    
e4g43 #dg      ,judas' death is         
differently described4 ,herod is        
introduced by    ,luke and not mentioned
 by the others4 ,jesus carried ,his own 
,cross in    one account1 while ,simon  
of ,cyrene bore it in another4 ,jesus   
gave no    answer to ,pilate1 says      
,matthew2 ,he explains that ,his        
,kingdom was not    of the world1 says  
,john4 ,mary ,his ,mother sat 7sic7 at  
the foot of    the ,cross1 according to 
,st4 ,john2 it was not ,his ,mother1 but

 ,mary the    mother of ,salome 7sic7   
'who beheld ,him from afar1' according  
to ,mark    and ,matthew4 ,there was a  
guard set to watch the tomb1 says       
,matthew2    there is no mention of one 
by the others4    ,at first we thought  
,mr4 ,laing must have meant differences 
and not  discrepancies2 but the         
following paragraph forbade so lenient  
an  interpretation4 ,the only other     
mention of ,mary by ,st4 ,john1 who     
describes her as sitting 7sic7 by the   
foot of the ,cross1 is  apocryphal1     
being directly contradicted by the very 
precise statement #dh  in the three     
other ,gospels1 that the ,mary who was  
present on that  occasion was a         
different woman1 the mother of ,salome4 
,even his youngest  readers ought to    
open their eyes at this4 ,similarly he  
thinks the  omission of the ,lord's     
,prayer by ,st4 ,mark tells strongly    
against its  authenticity4 #di          
,,ii4    ,we must now say something     
about the great facts of evolutionary   

philosophy which have shattered dogmatic
 ,christianity to pieces1 and  have made
 it impossible for any sincere man to   
remain a ,christian4 ,to  say that ,mr4 
,laing is absolutely certain of the     
all-sufficiency of  evolutionism to     
explain everything that is knowable to  
the human mind1  that he does not hint  
for a moment that this philosophy is    
found by the  bell-wethers of science to
 be every day less satisfactory as a    
complete rationale of the physical      
cosmos2 is really to understate the     
case for sheer lack of words to express 
the intensity of his conviction4  ,his  
fundamental fact is that1 however       
theologians may shuffle out of the      
first chapter of ,genesis by converting 
days into periods1 when we come  to the 
story of the ,noachean ,deluge1 we are  
confronted with such a  glaring         
absurdity that we must at once allow    
that the ,bible is full of  myths4 ,for 
history and science show that man       
existed probably two  hundred thousand  

years ago1 at all events not less than  
twenty thousand2  also that five        
thousand ,b4,c41 a highly organized     
civilization existed in  ,egypt1 whose  
monuments of that date give evidence to 
the full  development of racial and     
linguistic differences as now existing  
among  men2 that this plants the common 
stem from which these have branched     
off1 in an indefinitely remote          
pre-historic period2 that to suppose    
that  the present races and tongues are 
all derived from one man 7,noe71 who    
lived only two thousand ,b4,c41 is a    
monstrous impossibility2 still more  so1
 to believe that the countless thousands
 of species of animals which  populate  
the world were collected from the four  
quarters of the globe1  were housed and 
fed in the ,ark1 landed on ,mount       
,ararat1 and thence  spread themselves  
out over the world again regardless of  
interjacent  seas4 ,hence the ,bible    
story of human origins is a mere myth2  
man has not  fallen1 but has risen by   

slow evolution from some ancestor common
 to him  and apes1 at a remote period1  
long sons prior even to the miocene     
period1 which shows man to have been    
then as obstinately differentiated  from
 the apes as ever4 ,therefore all did   
not die in ,adam1 and seeing  this is   
the foundation of the dogmatic          
,christianity invented by ,paul1  the   
whole thing collapses like a house of   
cards4 #de    ,and indeed1 given that   
the ,bible means what ,mr4 ,laing says  
it means1 and  that science has proved  
what he says it has proved1 that the two
 results  are incompatible1 few would   
care to deny4 ,as regards the latter    
condition1 let us see some of his       
reasonings4 ,we are told that modern    
science shows that uninterrupted        
historical records1 confirmed by        
contemporary monuments1 carry history   
back at least one thousand years  before
 the supposed creation of man 444 and   
show then no trace of a  commencement1  
but populous cities1 celebrated temples1

 great engineering  works1 and a high   
state of the arts and of civilization   
already  existing4 #df ,strange to say1 
,mr4 ,laing developes a sudden reverence
  for the testimony of priests at the   
outset of his historical  inquiries1 and
 finds that history begins with priestly
 organizations2  #dg that the royal     
records are made and preserved by       
special castes of  priestly colleges and
 learned scribes1 and that they are to a
 great  extent precise in date and      
accurate in fact4 ,of course this does  
not  include ,christian priests1 but the
 priests of barbarous cults of many     
thousand years ago1 who1 as well as     
their royal masters1 are at once        
credited with all the delicacy of the   
accurate criticism which we boast  of in
 these days--how vainly1 ,god knows4 ,we
 are told one moment that  ,herodotus   
was credulous1 and not very critical in 
distinguishing  between fact and fable1 
that his sources of information were    
often not  much better than vague       

popular traditions1 or the tales told by
 guides2  #dh and yet we are to lay     
great stress on his assertion that the  
,egyptian priests told him that during  
the long succession of ages of  the     
three hundred and forty-five high       
priests of ,heliopolis1 whose  statues  
they showed him in the ,temple of the   
,sun1 there had been no  change in the  
length of human life or the course of   
nature4 #di ,a  valuable piece of       
evidence if ,herodotus reports rightly1 
and if the  priest was not like the     
average guide1 and if the statues       
answered to  real existences1 and if    
each of the three hundred and forty-five
 high  priests made a truthful assertion
 of the above to his successor for the  
benefit of posterity4    ,manetho's     
,history is1 however1 the chief source  
of our information as to  the antiquity 
of ,egyptian civilization4 ,he was      
commissioned to compile  this ,history  
by ,ptolemy ,philadelphus1 from the most
 authentic temple  records and other    

sources of information1 #ej whose       
infallibility is  taken for granted4 ,he
 was eminently qualified for such a     
task1 being1  as ,mr4 ,laing will vouch1
 #ea a learned and judicious man1 and a 
priest  of ,sebbenytus1 one of the      
oldest and most famous temples4 ,let us 
by all  means read ,manetho's ,history2 
but where is it8 ,it is unfortunately   
lost1 444 but fragments of it have been 
preserved in the works of  ,josephus1   
,eusebius1 ,julius ,africanus1 and      
,syncellus4444 ,with the curious  want  
of critical faculty of almost all the   
,christian ,fathers #eb 7so  different  
from the learned1 judicious1 upright    
priests of the sun71  these extracts1   
though professing to be quotations from 
the same book1  contain many            
inconsistencies and in several instances
 they have been  obviously tampered     
with1 especially by ,eusebius1 in order 
to bring their  chronology more in      
accordance with that of the ,old        
,testament1 444 but  there can be no    

doubt that his original work assigned an
 antiquity to  ,menes of over #eejj     
,b4,c4 #ec ,on the whole1 we have to    
fall back on  ,manetho as the only      
authority for anything like precise     
dates and  connected history4           
,manetho1 however1 needed confirmation  
against the aspersions of the  orthodox1
 who thought he might be deficient in   
critical delicacy1 and  prone to        
exaggerate as even later historians had 
done4 ,their casuistic  minds also      
suggested that his list comprised ,kings
 who had ruled  different provinces     
simultaneously4 ,but this effugium was  
cut off by  the witness of contemporary 
monuments and manuscripts4 ,this has now
  been done to such an extent that it   
may be fairly said that ,manetho is     
confirmed1 and it is fully established1 
as a fact acquired by science1  that    
nearly all his ,kings and dynasties are 
proved by monuments to have  existed1   
and that1 successively4 #ed    ,what is 
needed for the validity of this argument

 is a concurrence1 which  could not     
possibly be fortuitous1 between the     
clear and undoubted  testimony of       
,manetho and of the monuments4 ,but     
first of all1 what sort  of probability 
is there left of our possessing anything
 approximately  like the results of     
,manetho3 and if we had them1 of their  
historical  accuracy8 ,secondly1 is it  
at all credible that so fragmentary and 
fortuitous a record as survives in      
monuments 7allowing again their very    
dubious historical worth7 should just   
happen to coincide with the  surviving  
fragments of our patch-work ,manetho1   
king for king and dynasty  for dynasty1 
as ,mr4 ,laing would have us believe8   
,on the contrary1  nothing would throw  
more suspicion on the interpretation of 
these  monuments than the assertion of  
such an improbable coincidence4 ,what1  
then1 is the force of this argument from
 ,egyptology8 ,if the records  from     
which ,manetho compiled were            
historically accurate2 if he was        

perfectly competent to understand them2 
if he was scrupulously honest  and      
critical2 if from the tampered-with     
fragments in the ,christian  ,fathers we
 can arrive at a reliable and accurate  
knowledge of his  results2 and if the   
,bible in the original text--whatever   
that may  be--undoubtedly asserts that  
man was not created till #djjj ,b4,c41  
then  according to certain              
,egyptologists 7,boeck71 ,menes reigned 
fifteen  hundred years previously1 and  
according to others 7,wilkinson71 one   
thousand years subsequently4 ,similarly 
as to the argument from  coincidence3   
if1 as before1 we possess ,manetho's    
genuine list intact1  and if we have the
 clear testimony of the monuments giving
 a precisely  similar record1 this      
coincidence1 apart from all independent 
value to be  given to ,manetho or to the
 monuments1 is an effect demanding a    
cause1  for which the most probable is  
the objective truth from which both     
these  veracious records have been      

copied4 ,but the monuments are not      
written in  plain ,english1 and need a  
key2 and we must be first assured that  
,manetho's list has not been used for   
this purpose4 ,we are told2 for         
example1 #ee that the name ,snefura1    
deciphered on a tablet found at  the    
copper-mines of ,wady ,magerah1 is the  
name of a ,king of the third  dynasty1  
who reigned about #djjj ,b4,c4 ,now if  
there were no doubt about  the reading  
of this name on the tablet1 and if his  
date and dynasty  were as plainly there 
recorded1 and if all this tallies       
exactly with  equally precise           
particulars in ,manetho's list1 it would
 indeed be a  remarkable coincidence and
 would imply some common source1 whether
  record or fact4 ,but if having        
credited ,manetho with the record of    
such a  name and date1 one tortures a   
hieroglyph into a faintly similar name1 
and concludes at once that the same name
 must be the same person1 and  that     
therefore this is the oldest record in  

the world1 the confirmation  is not so  
striking4 ,that it is so in this        
instance we do not affirm2 but  we      
should need the assertion of a man of   
more intellectual sobriety than  ,mr4   
,laing to make it worth the trouble of  
investigating4    ,passing over the     
confirmation which he draws from the    
known rate of the  deposit of ,nile mud 
of about three inches a century1 which  
would give a  mild antiquity of         
twenty-six thousand years to pottery    
fished up from  borings in the mud1     
since he admits that borings are not    
very  conclusive1 we may notice how he  
deals with evidence from ,chaldea on    
much the same principles4 ,here1 again1 
the source had been till lately  only   
fragments quoted by later writers from  
the lost work of ,berosus4  ,berosus was
 a learned priest of ,babylon1 who 444  
wrote in ,greek a  history of the       
country from the most ancient times1    
compiled from the  annals preserved in  
the temples and from the oldest         

traditions4 #ef  ,still this learned    
priest1 though antecedently as competent
 a critic  as ,manetho1 is so           
portentously mythical in his accounts1  
that no  historical value can be        
attached to them1 which must be         
regretted1  since he pushes history back
 a quarter of a million years prior to  
the  ,deluge1 and the ,deluge itself to 
about half a million years ago4 ,here1  
therefore1 we are thrown solely upon the
 independent value of the  monumental   
evidence1 and must drop the argument    
from coincidence4 ,this  evidence1 we   
are told1 is not so conclusive as in the
 case of ,egypt1  where the lists of    
,manetho1 c4444 ,the date of ,sargon ,i4
 #eg 7#chjj ,b4,c47  rests mainly on the
 authority of ,nabonidus1 who lived more
 than three  thousand years later1 and  
may have been mistaken4 ,the probability
 of  such a remote date is enhanced by  
the certainty that a high  civilization 
existed in ,egypt as long ago as #ejjj  
,b4,c4 ,if the evidence  for the        

antiquity of ,chaldee civilization is   
less conclusive than that  for          
,egyptian1 and rests on it for an       
argument  pari1 it cannot be  said in   
any way to strengthen ,mr4 ,laing's     
position4    ,these strictures are      
directed chiefly to showing ,mr4        
,laing's incapacity  for anything like  
coherent reasoning in historical        
matters4 ,subsequently  he uses these   
most lame and impotent conclusions as   
demonstrated  certainties1 without the  
faintest qualification1 and builds up on
 them  his refutation of dogmatic       
,christianity4    ,however1 it is only  
in his more recent work on ,human       
,origins that he  thus comes forward as 
an historian1 in preparation for which  
he seems to  have devoted himself to the
 study of cuneiform and hieroglyphs and 
mastered the subject thoroughly and     
exhaustively1 before bursting forth     
from behind the clouds to flood the     
world with new-born light4    ,it is    
deep down in the bowels of the earth1 at

 the bottom of a  geological well1 that 
he has found not only truth but1 also   
man--among  the monsters1               
,dragons of the prime    ,who tare each 
other in their slime1    and has hauled 
him up for our inspection4 ,mr4 ,laing  
is before all else  an evolutionist1    
with an unshaken belief in spontaneous  
generation4 ,he  is quite confident that
 force and atoms will explain           
everything4 ,he  seems to mean force1   
pure and simple1 without any intelligent
 direction2  atoms1 ultimate1           
homogeneous1 undifferentiated4 ,no      
doubt1 if the  subsequent evolution     
depends on the kind and direction of    
force1 or  on the nature of the atoms2  
then there is a remoter question for    
physics to determine2 but if1 as he     
implies1 force and atoms are simple  and
 ultimate1 then evolution is as         
fortuitous as a sand-storm1 or more  so4
 ,all prior to force and atoms is behind
 the veil4 ,the material  universe is   
composed of ether1 matter1 and energy4  

#eh ,ether is a  billion times more     
elastic than air1 almost infinitely     
rare1 #ei its  oscillations must be at  
least seven hundred billions per second1
 it  exerts no gravitating or retarding 
force2 in short1 ,mr4 ,laing has to     
confess some uncertainty about his      
original dogma as to the triple         
constituents of the universe1 and say   
that it may be almost doubted  whether  
such an ether has any real material     
existence1 and is anything  more than a 
sort of mathematical why 'mathematical'8
 entity4 #fj ,it  is clear that matter  
really does consist of minute particles 
which do  not touch1 and even these we  
must conceive of as corks as it were    
floating in an ocean of ether1 causing  
waves in it by their own proper         
movement1 #fa--;an explanation which    
loses some of its helpfulness when  we  
remember that the ethereal ocean is only
 a mathematical entity4 ,a  cubic       
centimetre contains                     
#ba1jjj1jjj1jjj1jjj1jjj1jjj1jjj         

molecules1  the number of impacts       
received by each molecule of air during 
one  second will be #d1gjj millions4    
,the distance traversed between each    
impact averages #ie_/ajjjjjj of a       
millimetre1 and so on with lines of     
ciphers to overawe the gaping millions  
with ,mr4 ,laing's minute certainty  as 
to the ultimate constitution of matter4 
#fb    ,as to how atoms came into       
existence1 he can only reply1 ,behind   
the  veil1 behind the veil2 for it is at
 this point at last that he becomes     
agnostic4#fc ,the notion of creation is 
rejected 7after ,spencer7 as            
inconceivable1 because unimaginable1 as 
though the origination of every  change 
in the phenomenal world were not just as
 unimaginable2 we see  movement in      
process1 and we see its results1 but its
 inception is  unimaginable1 and its    
efficient cause still more so4    ,the  
evolution of man is practically taken   
for granted1 the only question  being   
the when4    ,we have the old argument  

from embryonic transformism brought     
forward  without any hint that later    
investigation tends to show             
differentiation  further and further    
back1 prior to segmentation and1        
according to some1  in the very         
protoplasm itself4 ,nothing could be    
more inaccurate than to  say every human
 being passes through the stage of fish 
and reptile  before arriving at that of 
a mammal and finally of man4 #fd ,all   
that  can be truly said is that the     
embryonic man is at certain stages not  
superficially distinguishable from the  
embryonic fish--quite a different       
thing1 and no more significant than that
 the adult man possesses organs  and    
functions in common with other species  
of the animal genus4    ,mr4 ,laing's   
own conclusions from skulls and human   
remains which he takes  to be those of  
tertiary man1 show man to be as         
obstinately unlike the  dryopithecus as 
ever1 in fact1 the reputedly oldest     
skulls #fe are a  decided improvement on

 the ,carnstadt and ,neanderthal type4  
,even then man  seems to have been the  
same flint-chipping1 tool-making1       
speaking animal  as now4 ,so convinced  
is he of this essential and ineradicable
 difference  in his heart1 that seeing  
traces of design in palaeolithic flint  
flakes1  and so forth1 he has not the   
remotest doubt as to their being the    
work  of human hands1--as impossible to 
doubt as it would be if we had found    
clasp-knives and carpenters adzes4 #ff  
,perhaps ,professor ,boyd-,dawkins1  who
 credits the dryopithecus with these    
productions1 is a more  consistent      
evolutionist2 but at present ,mr4 ,laing
 is defending a thesis  as to man's     
antiquity4 ,yet he has just said that   
these flint  instruments are only one   
step in advance of the rude1 natural    
stone  which an intelligent orang or    
chimpanzee might pick up to crack a     
cocoa-nut with4 ,truly a very           
significant step1 though it be only one4
  ,how hard this is to reconcile with   

what ,mr4 ,laing ascribes to dogs and   
ants elsewhere1 or with what he says on 
page #agc1 ,these higher apes  remain   
creatures of very considerable          
intelligence4444 ,there is a  chimpanzee
 now in the ,zoological ,gardens 444    
which can do all but  speak either it   
speaks1 or it does not4 ,it is precisely
 a case of the  only one step quoted    
above4 ,here if anywhere a miss is as   
good as a  mile1 which understands      
almost every word the keeper says to it1
 and  when told to sing will purse out  
its lips and try to utter connected     
notes4 ,how on earth do we know what it 
is trying to do8 ,in their  native state
 they 7apes7 form societies and obey a  
chief4 ,the old  fallacy of metaphors   
adverted to in relation to ants and     
dogs4 ,yet no  animal has ever learned  
to speak1 no chimpanzee or gorilla has  
ever  been known to fashion any         
implement4 #fg ,their nearest approach  
to  invention is in the building of huts
 or nests1 in which they are very       

inferior to most species of birds1 to   
say nothing of insects4 ,on the  other  
hand1 as regards tool-making1 no human  
race is known which has  not shown some 
faculty in this direction4 #fh ,the     
difference is a very  fundamental one1  
and may be summed up in the words       
'arrested  development4' ,words1 indeed6
 but what do they mean8 ,they mean that 
these animals have not developed the    
faculties of speech and  tool-making1   
which would have been most useful to    
them in the struggle  for existence1 the
 reason being that they did not2 and    
this reason is  exalted into a cause or 
law of arrested development4 ,who or    
what  arrested it8 ,the advantage of the
 term is that it implies that they were 
on the point of developing1 that they   
could all but speak1 were  trying to    
utter connected notes1 were but one step
 behind flint  axes1 when some cosmic   
power said1 ,hitherto shalt thou come   
and no  further4    ,if the dog had     
organs of speech or an instrument like  

the hand by which  to place himself in  
closer relation to the outer world1 he  
would  doubtless be on a footing of     
mental equality with man1 according to  
,mr4  ,laing4 #fi ,the elephant's trunk 
accounts for his superior sagacity1 and 
the horse suffers by his hoof-enclosed  
forefoot4 #gj ,given a being  with man's
 brain1 man's hand1 and erect stature1  
it is easy to see how  intelligence must
 have been gradually evolved4 #ga ,now  
honestly it  seems to us that many      
animals are as well provided as man is  
with a  variety of flexible organs of   
communication with the outward world    
7for  example1 the antennae of insects1 
the prehensile tails of some monkeys1   
whose hands are as lithe as man's and   
articulated bone for bone and  joint for
 joint74 ,but letting this pass1 we     
thought evolutionists  allowed that     
structure is determined by function1    
rather than the  converse2 and so the   
confession that it is not so easy to see
 how this  difference of the structure  

arose1 #gb surprises us1 coming from    
,mr4  ,laing2 though why this difference
 should exist at all1 on evolution      
principles1 is a far greater difficulty4
 ,yet he confesses that the  difference 
in structure between the lowest existing
 race of man and the  highest existing  
ape1 #gc is too great to admit of one   
being possibly  the direct descendant of
 the other4 ,the ape1 then1 is not a man
 whose  development is arrested4 ,the   
negro in some respects makes a slight   
approximation1 444 still he is          
essentially a man1 and separated by a   
wide  gulf from the chimpanzee or       
gorilla4 ,even the idiot is 444 an      
arrested  man and1 not an ape4 #gd      
,nearly all these 7higher intellectual  
and moral7 faculties appear in a        
rudimentary state in animals4444 ,still 
there is this wide distinction  that    
even in the highest animals these       
faculties remain rudimentary and  seem  
incapable of progress1 while even in the
 lowest races of man they  have reached 

a much higher level #ge and seem capable
 of almost  unlimited development4 #gf  
,why does he not seek out the reason of 
this1  or is he satisfied with the words
 arrested development8 ,if ,i find a    
child who can repeat a poem of          
,tennyson's1 am ,i to be puzzled because
 it  cannot originate one as good1 or go
 on even to something better8 ,am ,i to 
ascribe to it a rudimentary but arrested
 poetic faculty8 ,surely the same  poem 
proceeding from the lips of the poet and
 of the child he has  taught1 are       
essentially different effects1 though   
outwardly the same4 ,if  there were a   
true living germ1 it would most         
certainly develope4 ,if the  savage     
developes through contact with the      
civilized man after centuries  of       
degradation1 why have not domesticated  
dogs1 who are1 according to  ,laing1    
their intellectual and moral equals1    
developed long ago8    ,however1 as     
evolution has become the axiom of       
science and is admitted  by every one   

who has the slightest pretensions to be 
considered a  competent authority1 #gg  
it is preposterous to suppose man an    
exception1 whatever be the difficulties4
 #gh ,and so ,mr4 ,laing1 assuming      
axiomatically that man and the ape have 
a common ancestor1 is interested  to    
make the differences between them deeply
 marked1 and that1 as far  back as he   
can1 for thereby ,human ,origins are    
pushed back by hundreds  of thousands of
 years4 ,if miocene man is as distinct  
from the ape as  recent man1 the        
inference is that we are then as far    
from the source as  ever4 ,hence it is  
to geology he looks for the strongest   
basis of his  position4 ,one thought    
till lately that geology was a tentative
 science1  hardly credited with the name
 of science1 but ,mr4 ,laing wisely and 
boldly classes it among the exact       
sciences1 whose subject-matter is  flint
 instruments1 incised bones1 and a few  
rare specimens of human  skulls and     
skeletons1 the meaning of which has to  

be deciphered by  skilled experts4 #gi  
,the conclusions of geology1 up to the  
,silurian  period1 are approximate      
facts1 not theories4 #hj    ,if he means
 that the only legitimate data of       
geologists are facts of  observation1   
classified and recorded1 well and good2 
but to deny that  they deal largely in  
hypotheses1 and use them constantly as  
the  premisses for inferences which are 
equally hypothetical1 is palpably       
absurd4 ,first of all we are to assume  
the principle of uniformity  which      
,lyell is said to have established on an
 unassailable basis and to  have made   
the fundamental axiom of geological     
science4 ,he has shown  conclusively    
that while causes identical with 444    
existing causes will1  if given         
sufficient time1 account for all the    
facts hitherto observed1  there is not a
 single fact which proves the occurrence
 of a totally  different order of       
causes4 #ha ,this1 however1 is 7#a7     
limited to the  period of geology which 

gives record of organic life1 and not to
 the  earlier astronomical period2 nor  
7#b7 does it exclude changes in         
temperature1 climate1 distribution of   
seas and lands2 nor 7#c7 does it  affirm
 positively that there may not have been
 in past ages  explosions more violent  
than that of ,krakatoa2 lava-streams    
more  extensive than that of            
,skaptar-,jokul1 and earthquakes more   
powerful than  that which uplifted five 
or six hundred miles of the ,pacific    
coast of  ,south ,america six or seven  
feet4 #hb ,now1 seeing that all these   
cataclysms have occurred within the     
brief limits of most recent time1       
compared with which the period of       
pretended uniformity is almost an       
eternity1 what sort of presumption or   
probability is there that such          
occurrences should have been confined to
 historical times2 and is not  the      
presumption all the other way8 ,again1  
it is largely on the  supposition of    
this antecedently unlikely uniformity1  

that ,mr4 ,laing  argues to the         
antiquity of life on earth2 whereas     
,lyell's conclusion  warrants nothing of
 the kind1 being simply3 that present   
causes1 given  sufficient time1 would   
produce the observed effects4 #hc       
,our tests of geologic time are         
denudation and deposition4 ,we are told 
the present rate of denudation of a     
continent is known with  considerable   
accuracy from careful measurements of   
the quantity of  solid matter carried   
down by rivers4 #hd ,now it is a        
considerable tax  on our faith in       
science to believe that the dbris of the
 ,mississippi  can be so accurately     
gauged as to give anything like         
approximate value  to the result of one 
foot of continental denudation in #f1jjj
 years4 ,we  cannot of course suppose   
this to be the result of #f1jjj years   
registered  observations1 but an        
inference from the observations of some 
comparatively insignificant period2 and 
we have also to suppose that the  very  

few rivers which have been observed form
 a sufficient basis for a  conclusion as
 to all rivers4 ,in fact1 a more feebly 
supported  generalization from more     
insufficient data it is hard to         
conceive4 ,to  speak of it as an        
approximation based on our knowledge of 
the time in  which similar results on a 
smaller scale have been produced by     
existing  natural laws within the       
historical period1 #he is a very        
inadequate  qualification1 especially   
when we have just been told that here1  
at any  rate1 we are on comparatively   
certain ground1 444 these are measurable
  facts which have been ascertained by  
competent observers4 #hf    ,assuming   
this rate of denudation as certain1 and 
also the estimate of  the known         
sedimentary strata as #agg1jjj feet in  
depth1 we are to  conclude that the     
formation took #ef1jjj1jjj years4 ,a    
mountain mass which  ought to answer to 
certain fault #ae1jjj high1 and         
therefore is presumed  to have vanished 

by denudation1 points to a term of      
#ij1jjj1jjj years as  required for the  
process4 #hg    ,reasoning from these   
facts1 assuming the rate of change in   
the forms  of life to have been the same
 formerly1 ,lyell concludes that        
geological  phenomena postulate         
#bjj1jjj1jjj years at least1 #hh to     
account for  the undoubted facts of     
geology since life began4 #hi ,on the   
other  hand1 mathematical astronomy1 #ij
 on theories which ,mr4 ,laing complains
  of as wanting the solidity of         
geological calculations 7yet which do   
not  involve more1 but fewer            
assumptions71 cannot allow the sun a    
past  existence of more than #ae1jjj1jjj
 years4 #ia ,it is evident that there   
must be some fundamental error on one   
side or the other1 #ib for the  laws of 
nature are uniform1 and there cannot be 
one code for  astronomers1 and one for  
geologists4 ,but while modestly         
relegating this  slight divergency among
 the bell-wethers of science            

7bell-wethers1 ,i  presume1 because the 
crowd follow them like sheep71 to the   
problems of  the future1 ,mr4 ,laing is 
quite confident that we should distrust 
these  mathematical calculations1 and   
rely on conclusions based on            
ascertained facts and undoubted         
deductions from them1 rather than on    
abstract and doubtful theories1 which   
would so reduce geological time  as to  
negative the idea of uniformity of law  
and evolution1 and  introduce once more 
the chaos of catastrophes and           
supernatural  interferences4#ic ,as     
regards the ice-age1 ,mr4 ,laing is     
professedly  interested in putting it as
 far back as possible1 since a short    
date  for that period shortens that for 
which we have positive proof of the     
existence of man1 and 444 a very short  
date 444 brings us back to the  old     
theories of repeated and recent acts of 
supernatural interference4  #id         
,strange1 that in the same page he      
should refer to ,sir ,j4 ,dawson as  an 

extreme instance of one who approaches  
the question with  theological          
prepossessions2 and of course in        
complete ignorance of ,mr4  ,laing's    
indubitable conclusions about the       
antiquity of ,egyptian  civilization4   
,unfortunately1 even the best scientists
 have not that  perfect freedom from    
bias1 which gives ,mr4 ,laing such a    
towering  advantage over them all4 ,an  
authority like ,prestwich1 who cannot be
  accused of theological bias1          
influenced1 however1 by a servile       
astronomical bias1 reduces to #bj1jjj   
years a period to which ,lyell and      
modern geologists assign a duration of  
more than #bjj1jjj years2 #ie  which    
shows in what a state of uncertainty we 
are as to this vitally  important       
problem2 for this time assigned by      
,prestwich would be  clearly            
insufficient to allow for the           
development of ,egyptian  civilization1 
as it existed #e1jjj years ago1 from    
savage and semi-animal  ancestors2 as is

 proved to be the case with the horse1  
stag1 elephant1  ape1 and so on4 #if    
,now ,prestwich1 we are told elsewhere1 
is the  first living authority on the   
tertiary and quaternary strata4 #ig ,if1
  then1 astronomical prepossession can  
reduce #bjj1jjj to #bj1jjj years1 the   
sin of theology1 which reduces #bj1jjj  
to #g1jjj is comparatively venial4      
,prestwich's two objections are 7#a7 the
 data of astronomy1 and 7#b7 the        
difficulty of conceiving that man could 
have existed for #hj1jjj or  #ajj1jjj   
years without change and without        
progress4 ,the former is only  one      
degree less mischievous than the        
theological prepossession4  ,however1   
,prestwich has some facts as well as    
prepossessions1 such as  the rapid      
advance of the glaciers of              
,greenland1#ih which does not  accord   
with the generalization from the ,swiss 
glaciers2#ii and the  quicker erosion of
 river valleys1 due to a greater        
rainfall2 facts  which1 however1 are met

 by a minute description of the         
successive  changes by which in         
post-glacial time the ,mersey valley and
 estuary were  brought into their       
present condition1 with an estimate of  
the time they  may have required2 which 
is in round numbers #fj1jjj years1 as   
opposed  to ,prestwich's #aj1jjj or     
#h1jjj4 #ajj ,the #bjj1jjj years for the
 ice-age  depends chiefly on ,croll's   
theory of secular variation of the      
earth's  orbitular eccentricity2 but we 
are told it is open to the objection    
that it requires us to assume a         
periodical succession of glacial epochs 
of which two or three must have occurred
 during each of the great  geological   
epochs4 #aja ,this is opposed to        
geological evidence4 ',not  proven' is  
the verdict which most geologists would 
return4 ,the  confidence with which     
,croll's theory was first received has  
been a good  deal shaken4 ,we have to   
fall back1 therefore1 on the geological 
evidence of deposition and denudation   

444 in any attempt to decide  between   
the #bjj1jjj years of ,lyell and the    
#bj1jjj years of  ,prestwich4 #ajb      
,as to his arguments based on ancient   
human remains1 their value depends      
first on the accuracy of his geological 
conclusions1 and then on  preclusion of 
all possibility of the conveyance of the
 remains from  upper strata to lower2 on
 the certainty1 moreover1 of traces of  
design  in many of the would-be miocene 
or tertiary flint instruments 7which    
,prestwich is doubtful about74#ajc ,he  
takes care not to tell us that the      
,carstadt skull which gives name to a   
race1 is a very doubtfully genuine      
relic of one hundred and thirty years   
old1 whose history is most  dubious4    
,his evidence for the absence of the    
slightest approximation to  the simian  
type even in the oldest relics is       
cheering to the theologian1  though it  
loses its value when we know it is in   
the interests of his  foregone          
conclusions as to the unspeakable       

antiquity of man4 ,the ,nampe  image1   
the oldest relic yet discovered1        
revolutionizes our conception  of this  
early palaeolithic age1 being a more    
artistic and better  representation of  
the human form than the little idols of 
many  comparatively modern and civilized
 people1 very like those in ,mexico1    
believed to be not much older than the  
date of the ,spanish  conquest--and in  
truth1 ,i believe1 contemporaneous4 #ajd
    ,as to his treatment of the ,bible1 
it evinces everywhere the crudest       
anthropomorphic method of interpretation
 such as we should expect to  find in a 
child or very ignorant person4 ,in      
truth1 ,mr4 ,laing is in a  perfectly   
childish state of mind both as regards  
the ,christian religion  and as regards 
philosophy1 sciences1 and all the       
subjects he dabbles  with4    ,for our  
own part we have at most a general idea 
as to what exactly the  ,church does    
teach or may teach with regard to the   
interpretation of the  ,scripture4 ,that

 she has so far acquiesced in the larger
 interpretation  of ,genesiacal         
cosmogony1 that now the literal six-day 
theory would be  very unsafe1 forbids us
 to judge any present interpretation of 
other  parts by the number1 noise1 or   
notoriety of its adherents4 ,the        
universality of the ,deluge is by no    
means the only tolerable  interpretation
 now2 though the doctrine of a partial  
deluge would have  been most unsafe a   
century ago4 ,all this does not mean    
giving up the  inspiration of the       
record1 but determining gradually what  
is meant by  inspiration and the record4
 ,what could be less important to       
,christian  dogma than the date of the  
,deluge or of ,adam's creation8 ,if it  
were  proved that the original text in  
this point had been hopelessly          
corrupted1 as the discrepancies between 
the ,,lxx4 numbers and the ,hebrew  hint
 to be true to some extent1 it would not
 touch the guaranteed  integrity of     
,christian dogma4 ,if ,christ is the son

 of ,david1 and  ,zachus is son of      
,abraham1 what period may not an        
apparent single  generation stand for1  
especially in regard to the earlier     
,patriarchs8 ,as  far as the prophetic  
import of the ,deluge is concerned1 a   
very small  local affair might be       
mystically large with foreshadowings1 as
 we see  with regard to the enacted     
prophecies of the later prophets4 ,for  
the  rest1 we are quite weary of ,mr4   
,laing1 and are content to have shown   
that everywhere he is the same biassed1 
inconsequent1 untrustworthy  writer4    
,his only power is a certain superficial
 clearness of diction and  brilliancy of
 style1 and this is brought to bear on a
 mass of  information drawn confessedly 
from the labours of others1 and selected
  in the interest of a foregone         
conclusion1 without a single attempt at 
a  fair presentment of the other side4  
,here1 then1 we have a very fair        
specimen of the pseudo-philosophy which 
is so admirably adapted to captivate the

 half-informed1 wholly unformed  minds  
of the undiscriminating multitudes who  
have been taught little or  nothing well
 except to believe in their right1 duty1
 and ability to  judge for themselves in
 matters for which a life-time of       
specialization  were barely sufficient4 
,a congeries of dogmatic assertions and 
negations  raked together from the chief
 writers of a decadent school1          
discredited  twenty years ago by all men
 of thought1 ,christian or otherwise2 a 
show  of logical order and reasoning    
which evades our grasp the instant we   
try  to lay critical hands on it2 a     
profuse expression of disinterested     
devotion to abstract truth1 an          
occasional bow to conventional morality1
  a racy1 irreverent style1 an elaborate
 display of miscellaneous  information2 
good paper1 large type1 cheap wood-cuts1
 and the work is  done4    ,oct4 ,nov4  
#ahie4        ,footnote #a3 ,m4,s4 #cai4
    ,footnote #b3 ,ibid4 #cai4          
,footnote #c3 ,m4,s4 #bbi1 #bcj4        

,footnote #d3 ,p4,f4 #bgi4    ,footnote 
#e3 ,p4,f4 #bhj    ,footnote #f3 ,ibid4 
,footnote #g3 ,p4,f4 #bha1 #bhb4        
,footnote #h3 ,ibid4    ,footnote #i3   
,ibid4 #baj4    ,footnote3 #aj ,m4,s4   
,preface    ,footnote #aa3 ,these       
subjects 444 have been to me the solace 
of a long  life1 the delight of many    
quiet days1 and the soother of many     
troubled  ones 444 a source of          
enjoyment4     ',the anchor of my purest
 thoughts1 the nurse1     ,the guardian 
of my heart1 and soul     ,of all my    
moral being4' 7,h4,o4 #c47    ,footnote3
 #ab ,m4,s4 #cai4    ,footnote3 #ac     
,ibid4 #cbj4    ,footnote3 #ad ,cf4     
,ibid4 #ajd1 #bhb4    ,footnote #ae3    
,this expression seems inconsistent with
 his here and  elsewhere explicit       
maintenance of the hereditary           
transmission of  gathered moral         
experiences4 ,he means here to exclude  
innate ideas of  morality as explained  
by ,kant and by other intuitionists4    
,footnote #af3 ,m4,s4 #ahj4    ,footnote

 #ag3 ,m4,s4 #bhe4    ,footnote #ah3    
,m4,s4 #baf4    ,footnote #ai3 ,m4,s4   
#bid4    ,footnote #bj3 ,m4,s4 #bih1    
#bii4    ,footnote #ba3 ,p4,f4 #big4    
,the truth is that morals are built on a
 far  surer foundation than that of     
creeds1 which are here to-day and gone  
to-morrow4 ,they are built on the solid 
rock of experiences1 and of the         
'survival of the fittest1' which in the 
long evolution of the human race  from  
primeval savages1 have by 'natural      
selection' and 'heredity' become  almost
 instinctive4 7,how careless is this    
terminology4 ,in the previous  page he  
denies morality to be a matter of       
hereditary instinct47    ,footnote #bb3 
,p4,f4 #bjf4    ,footnote #bc3 ,ibid4   
#bjg4    ,footnote #bd3 ,p4,p4 #bjd4    
,footnote #be3 ,m4,s4 ,preface4         
,footnote #bf3 ,h4,o4 #c4    ,footnote  
#bg3 ,p4,p4 #c4    ,footnote #bh3 ,the  
simple undoubting faith which for ages  
has been the  support and consolation of
 a large portion of mankind1 especially 

of the  weak1 the humble1 the unlearned1
 who form an immense majority1 cannot   
disappear without a painful wrench1 and 
leaving for a time a great blank        
behind4 7,m4,s4 #bhd47    ,footnote #bi3
 xxxiii4    ,footnote #cj3 ,m4,s4 #bfa4 
,footnote #ca3 ,p4,f4 #agf4    ,footnote
 #cb3 ,p4 #agg4    ,footnote #cc3 ,p4,f4
 #aib4    ,footnote #cd3 ,p4 #bde4      
,footnote #ce3 ,p4,f4 #bbb4    ,footnote
 #cf3 ,thus he assumes ,mr4 ,spurgeon's 
definition of inspiration  as the basis 
of operations 7,see ,h4,o4 #ahi71 and   
says1 ,it is perfectly  obvious that for
 those who accept these confessions of  
faith 444 all the  discoveries of modern
 science1 from ,galileo and ,newton down
 to ,lyall and  ,darwin1 are simple     
delusions4    ,footnote #cg3 ,m4,s4     
#bae4    ,footnote #ch3 ,ibid4 #bea4    
,footnote #ci3 ,the simplest            
straightforward evidence of the earliest
  ,christian writer who gives any       
account of their origin1 viz41 ,papias4 
7,p4,f4 #bcf47 ,what does ,papias say8  

,practically this3 that he preferred    
oral tradition to written documents4444 
,this is a perfectly clear and          
intelligible statement made apparently  
in good faith without any  dogmatic or  
other prepossession4444 ,it has always  
seemed to me that all  theories 444 were
 comparatively worthless which did not  
take into  account the fundamental fact 
of this statement of ,papias4 7#bch47   
,the  clear and explicit statement of   
,papias4 7#bej47    ,footnote #dj3 ,,pp4
 #beh--bfj4    ,footnote #da3 ,p4 #bfb4 
,footnote #db3 ,p4,f4 #bff4    ,footnote
 #dc3 ,with regard to this very precise 
statement1 it is  noticeable that       
,matthew speaks of ,mary the mother of  
,james and ,joses2  ,mark1 of ,mary the 
mother of ,james the less and of ,joseph
 and ,salome1  but not of ,salome4 ,if  
,mr4 ,laing's precise mind had looked   
for a moment  at the text he was        
criticizing he would have seen that     
,salome is a  common name in the        
nominative case4 ,st4 ,luke does not    

give the names of  the women at all4    
,these points are trifling in           
themselves1 but important  as evidencing
 ,mr4 ,laing's standard of intellectual 
conscientiousness4    ,footnote #dd3    
,p4,f4 #bce    ,footnote #de3 ,m4,s4    
#ccb ff4    ,footnote #df3 ,h4,o4 #b4   
,footnote #dg3 ,h4,o4 #h4    ,footnote  
#dh3 ,h4,o4 ,,ii    ,footnote #di3      
,h4,o4 #i and #aii4    ,footnote #ej3   
,h4,o4 #aj4    ,footnote #ea3 ,this     
seems1 later1 to be an inference1 not an
 assertion4  ,manetho was a learned     
priest of a celebrated temple1 who must 
have  had access to all the temples and 
royal records and other literature of   
,egypt1 and who must have been also     
conversant with foreign literature  to  
have been selected as the best man to   
write a complete history of his  native 
country4 7,h4,o4 #bb47    ,footnote #eb3
 ,he seems to think that ,josephus was a
 ,christian1 and  ,syncellus a ,father4 
,we might mention that from the         
fragments of  ,africanus' ,pentabiblion 

,chronicon1 preserved in ,eusebius1 the 
author  places the ,creation at #edii   
,b4,c41 which is certainly hardly       
compatible  with his giving such        
fragments of ,manetho as would place    
,menes one year  before that date4 ,if  
we know nothing of ,manetho's results   
except through  these orthodox sources1 
it is inconceivable that ,mr4 ,laing's  
version  of them should have any        
historical basis whatever4 ,it comes in 
fine to  this1 that because their report
 of ,manetho does not give ,mr4 ,laing  
what  he wants1 they have been tampered 
with4    ,footnote #ec3 ,h4,o4 #aa4     
,footnote #ed3 ,h4,o4 #bb4    ,footnote 
#ee3 ,h4,o4 #ag4    ,footnote #ef3      
,h4,o4 #db4    ,footnote #eg3 ,there can
 be no doubt1 moreover1 that this       
,sargon ,i4 is a  perfectly historical  
personage4 ,a statue of him has been    
found at  ,agade4 7,h4,o4 #ee47         
,footnote #eh3 ,m4,s4 #ej4    ,footnote 
#ei3 ,ibid4    ,footnote #fj3 ,p4,f4    
#bh4    ,footnote #fa3 ,m4,s4 #fa4      

,footnote #fb3 ,matter is made of       
molecules2 molecules are made of atoms2 
atoms are little magnets which link     
themselves together and form all the    
complex creations of an ordered cosmos  
an ordered order by virtue of  the      
attractive and repulsive forces which   
are the result of polarity4  7,p4,f1    
#bbc47    ,footnote #fc3 ,we suppose he 
has a right to call himself agnostic as 
being a disciple of ,professor ,huxley1 
who1 we believe1 started or  revived the
 term in our own times4 ,of course he is
 also a dogmatic  materialist1 and by no
 means an agnostic in the wider sense of
 general  scepticism4    ,footnote #fd3 
,m4,s4 #aga4    ,footnote #fe3 ,not only
 have no missing links been discovered1 
but the  oldest known human skulls and  
skeletons1 which date from the glacial  
period and are probably at least one    
hundred thousand years old1 show no     
very decided approximation towards any  
such pre-human type4 ,on the  contrary1 
c4 7,m4,s4 #aha47 ,he replies 7,h4,o4   

#cgc7 that five hundred  thousand years 
prior to these men of ,spy and          
,neanderthal1 the human race  has       
existed in higher physical perfection1  
nearer to the existing type  of modern  
man1 7,cf4 ,p4,f4 #aeh47    ,footnote   
#ff3 ,m4,s4 #aab1 #aad4    ,footnote    
#fg3 ,p4,f4 #aed4    ,footnote #fh3     
,p4,f4 #aed4    ,footnote #fi3 ,m4,s4   
#age4    ,footnote #gj3 ,the horse may  
be taken as the typical instance of     
descent  by progressive specialization4 
,what is a horse8 ,it is essentially an 
animal specialized for 444 the rapid    
progression of a bulky body over  plains
 or deserts a definition which applies  
equally to the camel1  c44 ,it commenced
 existence as a pentadactyle plantigrade
 bunodont4  ,for some indefined reason  
the first step was to walking on the    
toes  instead of on the flat of the     
foot1 444 which became general in most  
lines of their descendants4 ,for        
galloping on hard ground it is evident  
that one strong and long toe1 protected 

by a solid hoof1 was more  serviceable  
than four short and weak toes4 ,but why 
should it gallop  more than other       
animals2 or why on the hard ground in   
the deserts and  plains2 or would not   
four strong and long toes have been     
better than  one8 ,the coalescence of   
the toes is the fundamental fact in the 
progress 444 by which the primitive     
bunodont was converted into the  modern 
horse4 ,but we thought evolution was a  
change from the  homogeneous1 incoherent
 to the heterogeneous and coherent3     
surely the  change from five toes to one
 must have been a misfortune on the     
whole1  if the flexibility of the human 
hand accounts for man's intellect4 ,the 
advantages of a convenient gallop over  
occasional oases of hard ground  in the 
desert would hardly balance that of     
being able to climb trees4  7,p4,f4     
#adc47    ,footnote #ga3 ,cf4 ,p4,f4    
#aea4    ,footnote #gb3 ,m4,s4 #ahj4    
,footnote #gc3 ,a wide gap which has    
never been bridged over4 7,huxley1      

,p4,f4 #aej47    ,footnote #gd3 ,but cf4
 ,m4,s4 #aha4 ,attempt after attempt has
 been made to  find some fundamental    
characters in the human brain1 on which 
to base a  generic distinction between  
man and the brute creation4 7,p4,f4     
#adi47    ,footnote #ge3 ,cf4 ,it is    
probable1 therefore1 that this          
7drill-friction7  was the original mode 
of obtaining fire1 but if so it must    
have required  a good deal of           
intelligence and observation1 for the   
discovery is by no  means an obvious    
one4 7,m4,s4 #bjd47    ,footnote #gf3   
,p4,f4 #aec4    ,footnote #gg3 ,p4,f4   
#ace4    ,footnote #gh3 ,the inference1 
therefore1 to be drawn alike from the   
physical development of the individual  
man and from the origin and  growth as  
though he had explained their origin of 
all the faculties  which specially      
distinguish him from the brute creation1
 444 all point to  the conclusion that  
he is the product of evolution4 7,m4,s4 
#baj47 ,man  444 whose higher faculties 

of intelligence and morality are so     
clearly  444 the products of evolution  
and education4 7,m4,s4 #ahb47           
,footnote #gi3 ,h4,o4 #bfj4    ,footnote
 #hj3 ,m4,s4 #dh4    ,footnote #ha3     
,p4,f4 #ag4    ,footnote #hb3 ,p4,f4    
#ag1 #ah4 ,the conclusion is therefore  
certain that the  land at this          
particular spot must have sunk twenty   
feet1 and again risen  as much so as to 
bring the floor of the temple to its    
present position1  c4 ,similar proofs   
may be multiplied to any extent4444 ,in 
fact the more  we study geology the more
 we are impressed with the fact that the
 normal  states of the earth is and     
always has been one of incessant        
changes4  7,m4,s4 #ce--i47    ,footnote 
#hc3 i4e41 ,lyell says3 ,present causes 
could give these effects1  given the    
time4 ,laing says3 ,therefore1 since    
they have given these  effects1 we must 
suppose the time4    ,footnote #hd3     
,p4,f4 #ah    ,footnote #he3 ,p4,f4 #gd4
    ,footnote #hf3 ,ibid4    ,footnote  

#hg3 ,p4,f4 #bj4    ,footnote #hh3      
,m4,s4 #cd1 #da4    ,footnote #hi3      
,p4,f4 #f4    ,footnote #ij3 ,p4,f4 #bc4
    ,footnote #ia3 ,m4,s4 #df4          
,footnote #ib3 ,p4,f4 #bd4    ,footnote 
#ic3 ,p4,f4 #cb4    ,footnote #id3      
,p4,f4 #ff4    ,footnote #ie3 ,thus     
giving to palolithic man no greater     
antiquity than  perhaps about #bj1jjj to
 #cj1jjj years1 while1 should he be     
restricted to  the so-called            
post-glacial period1 the antiquity need 
not go back  further than from #aj1jjj  
to #ae1jjj years before the time of     
neolithic  man4 7#eg47    ,footnote #if3
 ,p4,f4 #fg4    ,footnote #ig3 ,m4,s4   
#aji4    ,footnote #ih3 ,prestwich      
evinces the same recalcitrance according
 to the  ,nineteenth ,century1 ,december
 #d1 #ahid1 p4 #ifa1 being one of the   
geologists of high standing who have    
lately come to believe in some  sudden  
and extensive submergence of continental
 dimensions in very  recent times4      
,footnote #ii3 #gd4    ,footnote #ajj3  

,p4,f4 #hd4    ,footnote #aja3 ,p4,f4   
#fi1 #gj4    ,footnote #ajb3 ,p4,f4 #gj4
    ,footnote #ajc3 ,h4,o4 #cfd4        
,footnote #ajd3 ,h4,o4 #chh4            
,,xxi4      ,,the ,,making ,,of         
,,religion4    ,some twelve years since 
we read ,mr4 ,tylor's well-known and    
able work on  ,primitive ,culture1 and  
were much impressed with the evident    
fair-mindedness and courageous          
impartiality which distinguished the    
author so notably from the ,clodds1 the 
,allens1 the ,laings1 and other         
popularizers of the uncertain results of
 evolution-philosophy4 ,for this  very  
reason we made a careful analysis of the
 whole work1 and more  particularly of  
his animistic hypothesis1 and laid it   
aside1 waiting1  according to our wont1 
for further light bearing upon a        
difficulty  wherewith we felt ourselves 
then incompetent to deal4 ,this further 
light  has been to some extent supplied 
to us by ,mr4 ,andrew ,lang's ,making of
  ,religion1 which deals mainly with    

that theory of animism which is         
propounded by ,mr4 ,tylor1 and          
unhesitatingly accepted1 dogmatically   
preached1 and universally assumed1 by   
the crowd of sciolists who follow  like 
jackals in the lion's wake4 ,without    
denying the value of our  conceptions of
 ,god and of the human soul1 ,mr4 ,tylor
 believes that these  conceptions1      
however true in themselves1 originated  
on the part of  primitive man in        
fallacious reasoning from the data of   
dreams and of  like states of illusory  
vision4 ,he assumes1 perhaps with some  
truth1  that the distinction between    
dream and reality is more faintly marked
 in  the less developed mind2 in the    
child than in the adult1 in the savage  
than in the civilized man4 ,hence a     
belief arises in a filmy phantasmal     
self that wanders abroad in sleep and   
leaves the body untenanted1 and  meets  
and converses with other phantasmal     
selves4 ,nor is it hard to see  how     
death1 being viewed as a permanent      

sleep1 should be ascribed to the  final 
abandonment of the body by its          
dream-stuff occupant4 ,whether as       
dreaded or loved or both1 this          
ever-gathering crowd of disembodied     
spirits wins for itself a certain cultus
 of praise and propitiation1  and       
reverence1 and is humoured with         
food-offerings and similar  sacrifices4 
,nor is it long before the form of an   
earthly polity is  transferred to that  
unearthly city of the dead1 till for one
 reason or  another some jealous ghost  
gains a monarchic supremacy over his    
brethren1 and thus polytheism gives     
place to monotheism4 ,it need not be    
that this supreme deity is always       
conceived as a defunct ancestor1 once   
embodied1 but no longer in the body4    
,rather it would seem that the          
primitive savage1 having once arrived at
 the conception of a ghost1  passes by  
generalization to that of incorporeal   
beings unborn and  undying1 of spirits  
whose presence and power is revealed in 

stocks and  stones1 or in idols shaped  
humanwise--spirits who preside over     
trees1  rivers1 and elements1 over      
species and classes and departments of  
,nature1 over tribes and peoples and    
nations2 until1 as before1 the  struggle
 for existence or some other cause gives
 supremacy to some one  god fittest to  
survive either through being more       
conceivable1 or more  powerful1 or in   
some other way more popular than the    
rest of the  pantheon4    ,again1 it is 
assumed that the gods of primitive man  
are non-ethical1  that they do not make 
for righteousness2 that they are at most
 jealous  powers to be feared and       
propitiated4 ,when the savage speaks of 
a god as  good1 he only means favourable
 to me1 on my side2 he does not mean    
good to me if ,i am good4 ,god is       
conceived first as power and force2     
then as non-moral wisdom1 or cunning1   
and only in the very latest             
developments as holy and just and       
loving4    ,starting with the           

assumptions of evolutionists1 the theory
 is plausible  enough4 ,nor is it       
inconceivable that ,god1 without using  
error and evil  directly as a means to  
truth and good1 should passively permit 
error for  the sake of the truth that   
,he foresees will come out of it4       
,astrology  was not incipient astronomy2
 nor was alchemy primitive chemistry2   
the  end and aim in each case was wholly
 different4 ,yet the pseudo-science     
gave birth to the true2 as false        
premisses often lead by bad logic to    
sound conclusions4 ,totemism1 a         
perfectly crazy and degrading belief1   
says ,mr4 ,lang1 rendered possible--nay1
 inevitable--the union of hostile       
groups into large and relatively        
peaceful tribal societies4444 ,we should
  never have educated the world thus2   
and we do not see why it should have    
been thus done4 ,but we are very        
anthropomorphic1 and totally ignorant of
  the conditions of the problem4 ,in    
like manner it might have been1 that    

,god willed to let men wander through   
the slums and backways of animism  into 
the open road of theism4    ,but our    
concern is not with what might have     
been1 but with what was4    ,mr4 ,lang  
contends1 first1 that belief in spirits 
and in a circumambient  spiritual world1
 more probably originated in certain    
real or imaginary  experiences of       
supernormal phenomena1 than in a        
fallacious explanation  of dreams2 then1
 that belief in a supreme god is most   
probably not  derived from or dependent 
upon belief in ghosts4    ,consistently 
with the whole trend of his thought in  
his recent work  connected with         
psychical research1 in ,myth1 ,ritual1  
and ,religion1 in  ,cock-,lane and      
,common-,sense1 ,mr4 ,lang begins by    
entering a protest  against the attitude
 observed towards the subject by        
contemporary  science1 especially by    
anthropology1 which1 as having been so  
lately in  the same condemnation1 might 
be expected to show itself superior to  

that injustice which it had itself so   
much reason to complain of4 ,yet        
anthropology1 abandoning the first      
principles of modern science1 still     
refuses to listen to the facts alleged  
by psychical research1 and  justifies   
its refusal on ,hume's oft-exploded     
fallacy1 namely1 on an   priori         
conviction of their impossibility and   
therefore of their  non-occurrence4     
,however wide the range of experience   
upon which physical generalizations  are
 based1 it can never be so wide as on   
this score alone to prove the  inherent 
possibility of exceptions2 more         
especially when we consider the         
confinement of the human race to what is
 relatively a momentary  existence on a 
whirling particle of dust in a          
sandstorm4 ,there may  indeed be        
abundant evidence of a certain impetus  
or tendency enduring  from a            
comparatively distant and indefinite    
past and making for an  equally         
indefinite future2 but there is not1    

cannot be evidence against  the         
possibility of interference from other  
laws whose paths1 at points  unknown and
 incalculable1 intersect those followed 
by the 7to us7  ordinary course of      
events4    ,and in this wholesome       
agnosticism we are confirmed when we see
 that  while some animals are deprived  
of certain senses which we possess1 and 
all of them of the gift of reason1      
others are apparently endowed with      
senses unknown to us1 and are taught by 
seeming instincts which surpass  what   
reason could effect2 whence we may infer
 that the likelihood of our  being en   
rapport with the greater part of the    
possible phenomena  amidst which we     
live1 or of our possessing all possible 
senses or the  best of those possible1  
is infinitely small4 ,what a magician a 
man with  eyes would be among a race of 
sightless men2 or a man with ears among 
a  deaf population6 ,how studiously     
would the scientists explain the effects
  of sight as produced by subtilty of   

hearing2 and those of hearing as due  to
 abnormal sensitiveness in some other   
respect6    ,but though there be no     
priori impossibility in deviations from 
the  beaten track1 yet there is a       
certain  priori improbability which may 
seem to justify those who refuse to go  
into alleged instances of the           
supernormal4 ,there is a story against  
,thomas ,aquinas1 that on being  invited
 by a frisky brother-monk to come and   
see a cow flying1 or some  such marvel1 
he gravely came and saw not1 but        
expressed himself far more  astounded at
 the miracle that a religious man should
 say the thing  which was not4 ,this is 
certainly a glorious antithesis to      
,hume's  position4 ,whether we take it  
to illustrate the ,saint's extreme lack 
of  humour1 or a subtler depth of humour
 veiled under stolidity1 or his         
rigorous veracity1 or his guileless     
confidence in the veracity of  others1  
we certainly cannot approve it as an    
example of the attitude we  ought to    

observe with regard to every newly      
recounted marvel4 ,truly  there might be
 more liberality1 more enlightenment1   
more imagination in  such a ready       
credulity1 than in the wall-eyed1       
ear-stopping scepticism  of popular     
science2 but the mere inner possibility 
of a recounted marvel  does not oblige  
us to search into the matter unless the 
evidence offered  bear some reasonable  
proportion to the burden it has to      
support4 ,that  this is the case as     
regards crystal-gazing1 telepathy1      
possession1 and  kindred manifestation1 
is what ,mr4 ,lang contends2 nor would  
he have any  quarrel with the           
anthropologists were they not fully     
impressed with the  importance of       
similar or even weaker cumulative       
evidence for conclusions  which happen  
to be in harmony with their preconceived
 hypotheses4 ,where  such evidence      
exists it must be faced1 and at least   
its existence must  be explained4       
,true criticism should either account   

for the seeming breach of  uniformity1  
by reducing it to law2 or else should   
show how the assertion  if false ever   
gained credence2 but in no case is it   
scientific to put  aside1 on an  priori 
assumption1 evidence that is offered    
from all  sides in great abundance4     
,psychic research is daily applying to  
that  tangled mass of world-wide        
evidence ancient and modern for the     
existence  of an ,x-region of           
experience1 those same critical and     
historical  principles which created    
modern science4 ,men who1 as often as   
not1 have  no religion or no            
superstition themselves1 see that both  
religion and  superstition are universal
 phenomena1 and cannot be neglected by  
those  who would study humanity         
historically and scientifically4 ,even  
if there  be nothing in hallucinations1 
apparitions1 scrying1 second-sight1     
poltergeists1 and the rest1 there is a  
great deal in the fact that  belief in  
these things is as wide and as old as   

the world2 it is a fact  to be          
explained4 ,each man1 says ,meister1    
commonly defends himself as  long as    
possible from casting out the idols     
which he worships in his  soul2 from    
acknowledging a master-error1 and       
admitting any truth that  brings him to 
despair2 and indeed a system as complete
 and compact as  that of ,mr4 ,spencer  
or ,mr4 ,tylor is apt to become an      
intellectual idol  forbidding under pain
 of infidelity all inquiries that might 
cause it to  totter on its throne1 or   
which might unravel in an instant what  
has been  woven by years of hard and    
honest thought4 ,few of us are in a     
position  to cast stones on this score2 
still1 recognizing the weakness more    
clearly in others than in ourselves1 we 
are justified in reckoning with  it1 and
 in discounting for the unwillingness of
 men of science to listen  to facts     
inconsistent with long-cherished        
theories1 and for their  tendency to    
accumulate and magnify evidence on the  

other side4 ,if the  facts not fitting  
their theories are little observed by   
authorities so  popular as ,mr4 ,huxley 
and ,mr4 ,spencer2 if instantiae        
contradictoriae  are ignored by them1 or
 left vague2 if these things are done in
 the  green tree1 we may easily imagine 
what shall be done in the dry4 ,but we  
need not war with hasty vulgarisateurs  
and headlong theorists4    ,we cannot   
for a moment question the sincerity of  
purpose and honesty of  intention of    
many of the leaders of modern scientific
 enlightenment1  whatever we may think  
of the said crowd of                    
vulgarisateurs--those  camp-followers   
who bring disgrace on every respectable 
cause4 ,but beside  wilful bias and     
unfairness1 there is unconscious bias   
from which none of  us are free1 but    
from which we need to be delivered by   
mutual criticism2  for1 however much a  
man can see of himself1 he can never get
 behind his  own back4 ,of such         
unwitting dishonesty men of thought are 

abundantly  guilty1 when deeming        
themselves to be governed only by       
reason1 they are  in fact slaves to some
 intellectual fashion of the day4 ,not  
one of them  in a thousand would dare to
 appear in public with the clothes of   
last  century1 or to face the laughter  
of a crowd of his compeers4 ,hence a    
certain indocility and rigidness of mind
 which they only escape who live  out of
 the fashion or have strength to lead it
 or to live above it4  ,simple1 whether 
from greatness or littleness1 they      
escape the narrowing  influence         
inseparable from being identified1 even 
in their own mind1  with a school or    
coterie2 and can afford to say things as
 they see them4    ,contemporary fashion
 says at present that there are to be no
 miracles1  nothing supernormal2        
whatever cannot be reduced in any way to
 known laws  and causes can be flatly   
denied1 for the supposition of unknown  
causes  and laws is rank heresy4 ,until 
more recent years1 it was not permitted 

to listen to or show any disposition to 
investigate the narratives of  phenomena
 which have since been explained and    
reduced to such  legalized causes as    
hysteria or hypnotism1 and even 7of     
late7 to  thought-transference4 ,but    
since this happy reconciliation has been
  effected1 such stories are allowed to 
be believed on ordinary evidence1       
although the accounts of other unclassed
 supernormal marvels coming  from the   
same lips with the same attestation are 
still brushed aside as  traveller's     
tales1 or as the puerilities of         
hagiography--not worth a  thought4 ,one 
would think that some kind of apology or
 reparation were  due to ecclesiastical 
tradition1 which was credited with      
wholesale lying  so long as its recorded
 wonders were classed among             
impossibilities by  the intellectual    
fashion-mongers1 but it seems we have   
only partly  escaped the reproach of    
knavery to incur that of wholesale folly
 for not  having seen that these        

apparent miracles were but forms of     
hysteria or  hypnotism4    ,yet what is 
hysteria and what does it really        
explain8 #a ,surely the  etymology      
throws no light on the subject6 ,is it  
then merely a name for  the unknown     
cause of phenomena every whit as strange
 as those which were  held incredible   
till their like had been actually       
witnessed and forced  upon the unwilling
 eyes of science beyond all possibility 
of denial8 ,is  it that science blindly 
refused even to weigh the evidence for  
abnormal  facts till the same or similar
 had become matters of personal         
observation8 ,is it that every reported 
breach of her assumed  uniformities is  
incredible1 because impossible1 until   
the possibility  has been proved by some
 fact which is then named1 erected into 
a class1  a cause1 a law1 and used to   
explain away similar facts formerly     
denied1  and is thus taken into that    
bundle of generalizations called the    
laws  of nature8 ,the ancients assumed  

all heavenly motion to be circular of   
necessity1 and where facts gave against 
them1 they patched the matter up  with  
an epicycle or two4 ,are not hysteria1  
hypnotism1 and  thought-transference of 
the nature of epicycles8 ,it is now     
confessed  that the mind can so affect  
and dominate the body as to produce     
blisters  and wounds by mere force of   
suggestion and expectancy2 that a like  
faith can cure1 not only such ailments  
as are clearly connected with  the      
nerves1 but others where such connection
 is not yet traceable4 ,and  this is    
supposed to tell in some way against    
like marvels reported by  hagiology1 as 
though they were explained by being     
observed and named4  ,yet what did that 
supposed marvellousness consist in1     
except in a  seeming revelation of the  
power and superiority of mind over      
matter1 and  of things unseen over      
things seen and palpable2 and in proving
 that  there were more wonders in heaven
 and earth than were dreamt of by a     

crude and self-satisfied materialism8   
,they were taken as evidence of a       
circumambient ,x-region where the laws  
of mechanics were set at defiance  and  
where the fetters of time and place were
 loosened or cast aside4  ,such an      
,x-region being supposed by every       
supernatural religion and  denied by    
most of those who deny religion1 and on 
the same grounds1 its  establishment by 
any kind of experiment is rightly       
considered in some  sort to make for    
religion4 ,indeed1 it is just on this   
account that the  evidence for it is so 
opposed by those who are pre-occupied by
 the  anti-religious bias of            
contemporary science4 ,but unless       
hysterical  effects can be shown to be  
ultimately due1 not to mind1 but to     
matter  acting on matter1 according to  
methods approved by materialism1        
hysteria  remains a word-cause and no   
more1 like the meat-cooking quality of  
the  roasting-jack4    ,hypnotism is a  
kindred cause in every way4 ,it means   

sleep-ism2 yet  manifestly it deals with
 characteristics which are utterly      
unlike those  of sleep2 and it is       
precisely these that need to be         
explained away in  conformity with      
received laws1 unless we are to find in 
these phenomena  evidence of such modes 
of being and operation as every kind of 
religion  postulates4 ,possession is of 
course a fable2 the superabundant       
world-wide1 world-old evidence for the  
phenomenon was thrust aside  without a  
glance1 till hypnotic experiments       
brought to light what is  called        
alternating personality4 ,as though this
 name had explained  everything in      
accordance with materialism1 forthwith  
it was permitted to  believe the        
aforesaid evidence1 provided one laughed
 loudly enough at  the theory of        
possession4 ,it is allowed that the     
hypnotic patient may  in some sense be  
said to be possessed by the hypnotiser  
for the time  being2 nay1 even a certain
 chronic possession of this kind is     

observable4 ,but an invisible hypnotiser
 and possession by a disembodied  spirit
 is still out of fashion1               
notwithstanding all ,mrs4 ,piper's      
efforts  and ,dr4 ,hodgson's audacious  
declaration of his not very willing     
belief  that those who speak through her
 are veritably the personalities they   
claim to be1 and that they have survived
 the change we call death4              
,thought-transference1 however1 promises
 to be a potent and popular  solvent of 
psychic problems4 ,thought-transference 
was a supremely  ludicrous supposition  
till comparatively recently2 nor could  
there be  any credible testimony for    
what was known antecedently to be quite 
impossible4 ,but some way or other1     
facts which demanded a name were  forced
 upon the direct observation of science1
 and so ,mr4 ,f4 ,podmore has  written a
 book in which1 assuming                
thought-transference to be a            
scientifically recognized possibility1  
he proceeds to reduce many of the       

marvels collected by the ,s4,p4,r4 to   
that simple and obvious cause1 and to   
reject the residue on the sound old     
principle that what is known to be      
impossible cannot be true4              
,hallucinations1 solitary and           
collective1 and  other perplexing       
instances are tortured into cases of    
thought-transfer  with an ingenuity     
which we should smile at in a mediaeval 
scholastic  explaining the universe by  
the four elements and the four          
temperaments4  ,but is not              
thought-transference itself lamentably  
unscientific8 ,no2  because we see that 
unconnected magnets affect one another  
sympathetically2 and the brain being a  
sort of magnet may well affect  distant 
brains4 ,thought is a kind of           
electricity1 and electricity1 if  not   
exactly a fluid1 yet may some day be    
liquefied and bottled4 ,at all  events1 
science has seen something very remotely
 analogous to  thought-transference and 
every whit as unintelligible and        

antecedently  incredible till observed2 
and therefore it is permissible to      
listen to  the evidence for it1 and     
forced thereto1 to accept the fact4     
,but have we really disposed of ghosts  
if we prove the appearance to be  caused
 by a subjective modification of the    
perceiver's sensorium and not  by a     
modification of the external medium--the
 air or the ether8 ,since it  is a      
question of a spiritual substance       
independent of spatial dimensions  and  
relations1 said to be present only so   
far and where its effects and           
manifestations are present1 what does it
 matter whether it reports  itself by an
 effect outside or inside the           
percipient--whether it be a  vision     
sensible to feeling1 as to sight1 or but
 a false creation  proceeding from a    
heat-oppressed brain8 ,is not this very 
distinction of  outside and inside in   
the matter of perceptions open to no    
slight  ambiguity8 ,the savage1 familiar
 with the electric sparks caused by the 

friction of deer-skins1 ascribes the    
aurora borealis to the friction  of a   
jostling herd of celestial deer4        
,nonsense1 says science1 after          
centuries of false hypotheses1 it is    
nothing more nor less than  electricity4
 ,this is very much the way she is      
dealing with the  supernormal at        
present2 brushing aside as wholly       
nonsensical1 beliefs  that envelope a   
core of useful fact in a wrapping of    
crude explanation1  and then receiving  
the same facts as new discoveries1      
because she has  fitted them into an    
involucre more to her own liking1 though
 perhaps but  little less crude4 ,not   
deer-skin1 says science1 but amber2 not 
miracle1 but faith-cure2 not prophetic  
insight1 but thought-transference2  not 
apparition1 but hallucination4 ,and so  
with the rest4    ,considering then the 
bias of the dominant scientific school1 
which makes  it refuse even to examine  
the carefully gathered evidence of the  
,s4,p4,r42  we need not wonder if the   

reports of travellers concerning the    
existence  of like phenomena among      
savages and barbarians all over the     
world are  dismissed with a certain     
priori superciliousness4 ,yet surely1 on
  evolutionist principles1 the only     
possible clue to the mode in which      
belief in spirits and in ,god may have  
originated with primitive man1  is the  
mode in which those beliefs are actually
 now sustained1 and1 so  to say1 proved 
by the most primitive specimens of      
existing humanity2  by1 for example1    
those bushmen of ,australia whose facial
 angle and  cerebral capacity is        
supposed to leave no room for much      
difference  between their mind and that 
of the higher anthropoids4 ,doubtless it
 is  hard to get anything like          
scientific evidence out of people so    
uncultivated1 whose language and modes  
of conception are so alien to our  own4 
,individual travellers1 moreover1 have  
been the victims of their own           
credulity1 stupidity1 self-conceit1 and 

prejudice4 ,but the best  testimony of  
the truth of the reports as to the      
actual belief in the  facts1 is the     
undesigned coincidence of the evidence  
from all quarters4  ,when the stories   
brought by travellers1 ancient and      
modern1 learned and  unlearned1 pious or
 sceptical1 agree in the main1 we have  
all the  certainty that anthropology can
 offer4    ,from this ever-growing mass 
of evidence1 it would appear that the   
universal belief among savages in a     
spirit-world is mainly strengthened  and
 sustained1 not by the phenomena of     
dreaming but by what ,mr4 ,spencer      
would call alleged supernormal          
manifestations1 such as those of        
clairvoyance1 crystal-gazing1           
apparitions1 miracles1 prophecies1      
possession1 and the like4 ,for belief in
 such marvels exists beyond  doubt1 and 
furnishes a very obvious and logical    
basis for the further  belief in the    
invisible causes of these visible       
effects2 nor should we  have recourse to

 an hypothetical and more indirect      
explanation of belief  in a spirit-world
 when an actual and direct explanation  
is at hand4 ,if  we see the branch      
growing out of the tree1 we need not    
inquire what  trunk it sprang from1     
unless we have strong evidence that it  
is only a  graft4 ,all investigation    
tends to show that savages believe in   
spirits  and in the spirit-world because
 they witness1 or firmly believe they   
witness1 supernormal phenomena4         
,besides this1 it must be allowed that  
together with the normal  phenomena of  
dreaming1 there are abnormal dreams     
which even to  cultivated minds seem at 
times as supernormal as second-sight or 
prophecy4 ,but it is not on supernormal1
 but on normal dreams that  animists    
base their explanation4 ,we need not    
deny that dreams and  delirium may have 
given palpable shape to the conception  
of a ghost1 and  may also have helped   
forward the notion of a spirit by       
furnishing  something intermediary      

between the grossness of our waking     
sense-experiences1 and the altogether   
elusive and difficult thought of        
unembodied will and intelligence        
independent of space and time4    ,in   
the main then it seems more plausible to
 maintain that the idea of  unembodied  
or disembodied spirits was shaped by    
that instinctive law of  our mind which 
makes us argue from the nature of       
effects to the nature  of the agency4   
,the first impulse would be to ascribe  
every intelligent  effect to some human 
agency1 but other circumstances would   
subsequently  incline the savage        
reluctantly to divest the agent of one  
or more of the  limitations of humanity1
 and to clothe him with preter-human    
attributes4  ,nearly all the supernormal
 phenomena believed in by primitive     
man--so  far as we can judge of him from
 contemporary savagery--would suggest   
the  agency of an invisible man2        
clairvoyance1 and other manifestations  
of  preternatural knowledge1 would      

suggest independence of the senses in   
the  acquisition of knowledge2 every    
kind of miracle would bespeak an        
extension of power over physical nature 
beyond human wont2 while all  these     
together would point to that freedom    
from the trammels of space  and time1   
which is of the very essence of         
immaterial or spiritual  subsistence4   
,thus1 by a gradual process of          
dehumanization1 the mind  would be      
instinctively led from the notion of a  
man magnified in all  excellences and   
refined from all limitations1 to the    
conception of  spirit4 ,but coexistently
 with this progress of the reason1 the  
imagination would ever strain to clothe 
the thought in bodily form as  far as   
possible1 and would cling to the notions
 suggested by dreams and  waking        
hallucinations1 while language1 after   
its wont1 would speak of  the spirit as 
the umbra1 the imago1 the shadow1 the   
breath1 the  attenuated replica of the  
body4 ,thus we find among all men1      

savage and  civilized1 a certain        
unsteadiness in their notion of spirit1 
whether  created or divine--a continual 
tendency to corruption and              
anthropomorphism1 due to the conflict   
between reason and imagination1         
resulting so often in the domination of 
the latter4    ,for this view of the    
subject it is not necessary that we     
should admit  the preternatural         
character of the phenomena which form   
the  subject-matter of psychical        
research1 but only that we should       
acknowledge the hardly disputable fact  
that belief in such marvels is          
universal and persistent among          
savages--a fact which science is bound  
by  its own principles to explain1 and  
not to ignore4 ,whether1 as ,mr4 ,lang  
seems inclined to think1 among much     
illusion1 chicanery1 and ignorance1     
there may not be truth enough to make   
the inference of an ,x-world            
legitimate1 whether the said            
universality1 persistence1 and          

recrudescence of this seeming credulity 
can be accounted for in any  other      
satisfactory way1 is a further          
consideration4 ,if in some dim  fashion 
the ,northern ,indians anticipated      
modern science in their  explanation of 
the aurora borealis1 connecting it with 
familiar  electric manifestations1 may  
it not be1 asks ,mr4 ,lang1 that in     
their  inference from supernormal facts 
which experimental science refuses to   
hear of or to examine1 they have again  
been sagaciously beforehand8  ,doubtless
 their explanation is crude and         
inadequate in both cases2 but  is it    
much more so than that offered by       
supposing electricity to be a  fluid    
subject to currents2 or by assigning    
many inexplicable psychic  phenomena to 
hysteria--a mere word-cause8    ,the    
supposition is somewhat favoured if we  
give ear to that crowd of  witnesses    
whose combined evidence1 duly discounted
 and tested1 makes it  clear that even  
among those who ought to have been      

civilized out of all  belief in aught   
behind the veil1 the very same          
superstitions break out1  or creep in1  
time after time1 with new names perhaps1
 new clothes1 new  faces1 but in        
substance identical with those held by  
what we esteem the  most benighted      
races4    ,further1 it is evident that  
savages pay attention--over-attention1  
no  doubt--to these supernormal         
phenomena1 being free from hostile      
philosophic bias in the matter1 and bent
 the other way2 and that in  consequence
 they have everywhere observed1         
classified1 and systematized  them in   
their own rude1 simple way1 and have    
thus forestalled what the  ,s4,p4,r41 in
 the teeth of science1 is now           
endeavouring to do  scientifically4     
,with us1 moreover1 it is mere chance   
that reveals a  medium1 or hypnotic     
subject here and there3 but with savages
 they are  sought out diligently1 and   
all who have any latent aptitude that   
way are  detected and utilized2 and thus

 the field of their experience is       
considerably widened4    ,but besides   
all this1 it seems more than plausible  
to suppose that among  primitive and    
undeveloped races such preternatural    
phenomena either  occur1 or seem to     
occur1 much more frequently and         
extensively2 and that  apparently       
supernormal faculties are more often    
developed4    ,nor can this be explained
 solely on the score of their readier   
credulity  and their lack of criticism2 
for there is good evidence to show that 
the  development of the rational and    
self-directive faculties is at the      
sacrifice of those instinctive and      
intuitional modes of operation which  do
 duty for them while man is yet in a    
state of pupilage4 ,memory1 for         
example1 is fresher and more            
assimilative in childhood1 but          
deteriorates  very often as the higher  
faculties come into use2 and indeed we  
cannot  fail to see how the introduction
 of printing1 writing1 and mnemonic arts

  and artifices of all kinds1 has       
lowered the average power of civilized  
memory1 and made the ordinary feats of  
more primitive times seem to us  magical
 and incredible4 ,we also notice the    
high development of hearing1  sight1 and
 other forms of perception among savages
 who live by their  five senses rather  
than by their wits4 ,when we descend to 
the  animal-world we are confronted by  
cognitive faculties whose effects we    
see1 but of whose precise nature we can 
form no conjecture whatever4  ,that     
which guides the migratory birds in     
their wanderings1 and simulates  polity 
in the bee-hive and ant-hill1 is not    
reason1 but is something for  practical 
purposes far better than reason4        
,putting a number of these and  of      
similar considerations together seems to
 suggest that development in  the       
direction of self-instruction 7which is 
reason7 and self-management  and        
independence1 is loss as well as gain4  
,what we gain is no doubt our own in a  

truer sense than that we had when  we   
hung upon ,nature's breast1 and were    
guided passively by instincts and       
intuitions to purposes that reason can  
never reach to4    ,by far the most     
wonderful and seemingly intelligent work
 of the soul is  that by which it builds
 up1 nourishes1 repairs1 developes1 and 
finally  reproduces the body it dwells  
in4 ,yet in all this it is almost as    
passive and unconscious as a vegetable4 
,the effect is 7as far as our           
comprehension of it goes7 altogether    
preternatural and inexplicable2 yet  it 
is far less our effect than what we do  
by reason and by taking  thought4 ,what 
we pay for in dignity we lose in        
efficiency4 ,while ,nature  carries us  
in her arms we move swiftly enough1 but 
when she sets us on  our feet to learn  
independence and self-rule1 we cut a    
sorry figure4 ,in  our helplessness she 
does all for us as though we were yet   
part of her2  but in the measure that we
 are weaned and begin to fend for       

ourselves as  responsible agents1 we are
 deprived of the aids and easements     
befitting  the childhood of our race4   
,if this be true1 if man in his         
primitive state possessed intuitive     
powers which have sunk into abeyance1   
either through the diversion of  psychic
 energy to the development of other     
powers1 or through desuetude1  or as the
 instincts of the new-born babe are lost
 when their brief  purpose is fulfilled2
 if the occasional recrudescence of     
these powers  among civilized peoples is
 really a survival of an earlier state2 
then  indeed we can understand that the 
evidence1 or apparent evidence1 for  the
 existence of an ,x-region1 or          
spirit-world1 may have been             
immeasurably more abundant in the       
infancy of the human race1 than it is   
now even among contemporary savages4    
,put it how we will1 it cannot be denied
 that belief in divination1 in  diabolic
 possession1 and in magic1 has largely  
contributed to belief in  spirits2 and  

that to ignore this contribution by     
throwing the whole  burden on ordinary  
dreams is unscientific4 ,during sleep   
,mr4 ,tylor  himself is as much a prey  
to delusion as the most primitive       
savage2 but  the criteria by which on   
waking we condemn most of our dreams as 
illusions1 seem really as accessible and
 obvious to the child or savage  as to  
the philosopher2 though the former      
through carelessness or poverty  of     
language will perhaps say3 ,i saw1      
instead of3 ,i dreamt ,i saw4  ,children
 will speak as it were historically of  
even their day-dreams  and imaginings1  
not from any untruthfulness or wish to  
deceive1 but from  that romancing       
tendency rightly reprehended in their   
elders1 who should  be alive to the     
conventional value of language4 ,but the
 first and most  natural use of speech  
is simply to express and embody the     
thought that  is in us1 not to assert1  
or affirm1 or to instruct others4 ,the  
child's  romancing is not intended as   

assertion1 although so taken by prosaic 
adults4 ,it is from the same instinct   
which lies at the back of his  eternal  
monologue1 of the ,let's pretend by     
which he is for the moment  transformed 
into a soldier1 or a steam-engine1 or a 
horse4 ,eye-reading  without            
articulation is impossible for the      
beginner1 and thought that is  not      
talked and acted is impossible for the  
child4 ,yet deeply as the  child is     
wrapped up in his dreams1 there is      
nothing more certain than  that he is as
 clear as any adult as to the difference
 between romance  and fact2 and so it is
 no doubt with the savage1 who can      
hardly be  denied to have at least as   
much reason as an average child4        
,closer study of the savage points to   
the conclusion that the civilized  man  
falls into the same error in his regard 
as many adults do with  respect to      
children1 whom they fail hopelessly to  
interpret through lack  of imagination1 
and to whom they are but tedious and    

ridiculous when  they would fain be     
instructive and amusing2 forgetting that
 the  difference between the two stages 
of life is rather in the size of the    
toys played with1 than in the way they  
are regarded4 ,so too we are apt  to    
look on foreign1 and still more on      
savage language1 symbolism1 ways1  and  
customs1 as indicative of a far more    
radical difference and greater          
inferiority of mental constitution and  
ethical instincts than really  exists4  
,mr4 ,kidd1 in his book on ,social      
,evolution1 has contended with  some    
plausibility that the brain-power of the
 ,bushman and of the ,cockney  is much  
on a par at starting1 and that the      
subsequent divergence is due  chiefly to
 education and moral training2 and      
certainly much of the  evidence brought 
forward in ,mr4 ,lang's volume seems to 
look that way4 ,if  the aboriginal      
,australian has a faith in the          
immortality of the soul and  in a       
supreme ,god1 the rewarder of           

righteousness1 if he summarizes the     
laws of ,god under the precept of       
unselfishness2 if in all this he is but 
a type of the universal savage1 surely  
it were well if some of the  missionary 
zeal which is devoted to supplying the  
heathen with ,bibles  which they cannot 
understand1 were turned to the work of  
bringing our  own godless millions up to
 their religious level4    ,but this    
takes us to the second and still more   
interesting part of ,the  ,making of    
,religion1 which we shall have to       
discuss in the next section4  ,at       
present we only wish to insist that it  
is a mistake to assume that  because    
savages and children are1 when compared 
with ourselves1 so  little1 therefore   
their thoughts and ideas can be         
understood with little  difficulty4     
,contrariwise1 as the apparent          
difference in life and  language is     
greater1 the deeper and more patient    
investigation will it  need to detect   
that radical sameness of mental and     

moral constitution  which binds men     
together far more than diversity of     
education and  environment can ever     
separate them4 ,it is1 therefore1       
exceedingly  unlikely that either the   
child or the savage should1 by failing  
to  distinguish between dream and       
reality1 introduce into his whole life  
that incoherence which is just the      
distinguishing characteristic of        
dreaming and lunacy4 ,and1 as a fact1 do
 we really find the savage as           
depressed1 on waking1 by a dreamt-of    
calamity as by a real one2 or as  elated
 after a visionary scalping of foes as  
after a real victory8 ,does  he on      
waking look for the said scalps among   
his collection of trophies1  and is he  
perplexed and incensed at not finding   
them8 ,even if1 like  ourselves1 he has 
occasionally a very vivid and coherent  
dream  reconcilable with his waking     
circumstances1 will he not judge of it  
by  the vast majority of his dreams     
which are palpable illusions1 and not by

  the few exceptional cases8 ,if at     
times we ourselves doubt whether we     
witnessed something or dreamt it1 yet we
 do so not because the seeming  fact is 
one which makes for the existence of    
another world of a  different order to  
this1 but for the very contrary reason4 
,if the savage  only dreamt of the dead1
 he might find in this an evidence of   
their  survival1 but he dreams far more 
often of the living1 and that1 with     
circumstances which make the illusion   
manifest on waking4 ,seeing the awe  and
 terror which all men have of the       
supernatural region1 we ought1 on  the  
animistic hypothesis1 to find among     
savages a great reluctance to go  to    
bed--to sleep6 ,perchance to dream--aye1
 there's the rub6 ,but we do  not4      
,finally1 just as the ,chinese1 who are 
supposed to mistake epilepsy  for       
possession1 have1 unfortunately for the 
supposition1 got two  distinct words for
 the two phenomena1 so it will doubtless
 be found that  there is no savage who  

has not some word to express illusion2  
or whose  language does not prove that  
he knows dreams are but dreams4 ,we may 
well  doubt if even animals on waking   
are affected by their dreams as by      
realities1 or if a dog ever bit a man   
for a kick received in a dream4 ,in     
short the dream-theory of souls is      
plausible only in the gross1 but  melts 
away under closer examination bit by    
bit4    ,whether the ,s4,p4,r4 will ever
 succeed in bottling a ghost1 and in    
submitting it to the tests necessary to 
convince science1 matters  little4 ,the 
real fruit of its labours will be to    
convince men of sin1  to convict science
 of being unscientific1 and criticism of
 being  uncritical--of being biassed by 
fashion to the extent of refusing to    
examine evidence which must be either   
admitted or explained away4  ,scepticism
 and credulity alike are hostile both to
 science and religion1  and it is the   
common interest of these latter to      
secure a full  recognition1 on the one  

side of the principle of faith1 that    
with ,god  all things are possible2 and 
on the other1 of the principle of       
science  which is3 to prove all things1 
and hold fast that which is good4       
,credulity tends to make the actual     
co-extensive with the possible2 while   
scepticism would limit the possible to  
the known actual4 ,the true mind  would 
be one in which faith and criticism were
 so tempered as to secure  width without
 slovenliness1 and exactitude without   
narrowness4    ,,ii4    ,how1 apart from
 the imperfect lingering tradition of   
some primitive  revelation1 the belief  
in a surviving soul originates with     
contemporary  savages1 or might have    
originated among still ruder past races1
 is a  question of some interest1 not   
only for its own sake1 but for the sake 
of whatever little light it may throw   
upon the more vital question as to  the 
value of that belief4 ,had the doctrine 
of souls no other origin than  a false  
inference from the ordinary phenomena of

 sleeping and dreaming2  were it in no  
sense an instinctive belief1 suggested  
perhaps and  confirmed by supernormal   
facts1 it would still have interest for 
the  anthropologist as one of those     
almost necessary and universal errors   
through which the human mind struggles  
to the truth1 such as the errors  of    
astrology or alchemy2 but it would in no
 way contribute to the  argument for    
immortality ex consensu hominum--an     
argument of much  avail when it is a    
case of man's instinctive judgments and 
primary  intuitions1 which are          
,god-given1 but of ever less value in   
proportion as  there is a question of   
deductions1 inferences1 and self-formed 
judgments4 ,even if we discard the      
dream-theory altogether1 we get no      
support from the consensus of savages as
 to the soul's survival1 unless  we have
 reason to think that the facts on which
 their inference rests  are truly1 and  
not only apparently1 supernormal1 and   
are1 moreover1 such  as leave no other  

inference possible4    ,we know only too
 well that there are universal fallacies
 as well as  universal truths of the    
human mind4 ,for the practical          
necessities of  life the imagination    
stands to man in good stead1 but as the 
inadequate  instrument of speculative   
thought its fertile deceitfulness is    
betrayed  in his very earliest attempts 
at philosophy2 nor are his subsequent   
efforts directed to anything else than  
the endeavour to correct and  allow for 
its refractions and distortions1 to     
transcend its narrow  limitations1 to   
force it to express1 meanly and         
clumsily1 truths which  otherwise it    
would entirely obscure and deny4 ,there 
might well be facts1  nay1 there are    
undoubtedly facts1 which to the         
untutored mind  necessarily and always  
seem altogether supernormal1 but which  
science  rightly explains to be1 however
 unusual1 yet natural1 and in no way    
outside the ordinary laws4 ,so far as   
the marvels of sorcerers and            

medicine-men are the work of chicanery1 
they will lack that persistence  and    
ubiquity which justifies the            
investigation of other marvels for      
whose universality some basis must be   
sought in the uniform nature of  things4
 ,cheats will not always and everywhere 
hit on the same plan1 nor  will the     
independent testimony of false witnesses
 be found agreeing4    ,but if besides  
facts and appearances that science can  
really explain  away1 there be a residue
 which takes us into a region wherein   
science as  yet has set no foot1 then we
 may indeed be on our way to a          
confirmation  of the usually accepted   
arguments for immortality by which the  
positivist may be met upon his own      
ground4 ,in truth1 metaphysical1  moral1
 and religious arguments1 however much  
they may avail with  individuals who are
 subjectively disposed to receive them1 
cannot in  these days influence the     
crowd of men who need some sort of      
violence  offered to their intellect if 

they are to accept truths against which 
they are biassed4 ,the temper of the    
majority is positivist2 it will  believe
 what it can see1 touch1 and handle1 and
 no more4 ,if then the  natural truth of
 the independent existence of spirits   
can be inade  experimentally            
evident--and  priori1 why should it     
not8--men may not  like it1 but they    
will have either to accept it1 or to    
deny all that  they accept on like      
evidence4 ,such unwilling concession    
would of itself  make little for        
personal religion in the individual2 but
 its widespread  acceptance could not   
fail to counteract the ethics of        
materialism1 and  so prepare the way for
 perhaps a fuller return to religion on 
the part  of the many4    ,it is the    
belief1 and perhaps the hope1 of not a  
few men of light and  learning that a   
comparison of the results of the        
,s4,p4,r4 investigations  with those of 
anthropology touching the beliefs and   
superstitions of  savages and ruder     

races1 may point to an order of facts   
which1 with  reference to the admissions
 of existing science1 are rightly called
  supernormal1 and yet which are in     
another sense strictly normal1 namely1  
with reference to that science of       
experimental psychology which1 amid  the
 usual storm of ridicule and jealousy1  
is slowly struggling into               
existence--ridicule from all devout     
slaves of the intellectual fashion  of  
the times2 jealousy from the neighbour  
sciences of mental physiology  and      
neurology1 which it declares bankrupt in
 the face of  newly-discovered          
liabilities4    ,so far this gathered   
evidence seems1 in the eyes of some of  
its  interpreters1 to point to a close  
connection1 if not of being1 at least   
of influence1 between soul and soul1    
such as binds each atom of matter  to   
every other2 a connection which         
increases as we descend from the        
above-ground level of full              
consciousness1 through ever lower strata

 of  subconsciousness1 to those hidden  
depths of unconscious operation from    
which the most unintelligibly           
intelligent effects of the soul         
proceed--as though1 in the darkness1 it 
were taught by ,god1 and guided         
blindfold by the hand of its ,maker4 ,in
 other words1 the individuation of      
souls is conceived to be somewhat like  
that of the separate branches of  the   
same tree which1 traced downwards1 run  
into a common root1 from  whence they   
are differenced by every hour of their  
growth1 yet not  disconnected1 as though
 each several consciousness sprang from 
some  unconscious psychic basis common  
to all1 wherein1 like forgotten         
memories1 the experiences of all are    
buried1 at a depth far beyond the  reach
 of all normal powers of reminiscence1  
yet through which terminus  of          
converging souls thoughts can1 in our   
intenser moments1 pass from  mind to    
mind1--reverberated as it were from the 
base1 and thence caught  by the one     

consciousness altogether resonant to    
that particular  vibration4 ,how far    
such an interpretation may favour       
pantheism1 or  imperil personality1 or  
involve a doctrine of pre-existence1 or 
of  innate ideas1 is not for us here to 
discuss4 ,if we are to judge it  fairly1
 it must be simply as a provisional     
working-hypothesis  explanatory of      
certain observations1 and apart from all
 other  psychological theories with     
which it may seem in conflict4 ,truth   
will in  the end adjust itself with     
truth1 but nothing is to be hoped from  
forced  and premature adjustments4      
,mr4 ,lang's second and principal       
contention is that even if we allow the 
animistic account of the belief in      
spirits1 in no sense can we admit  that 
process by which belief in ,god is      
supposed to be a later  development of  
the belief in spirits1 as though        
inequality among spirits  had given rise
 to aristocracy1 and aristocracy to     
monarchy4    ,by ,god here we           

understand3 a primal eternal ,being1    
author of all  things1 the father and   
the friend of man1 the invisible        
omniscient  guardian of morality1 a     
definition which1 while it fixes the    
high-water  mark of monotheism1 yet only
 states with formidable distinctness    
what1  according to ,mr4 ,lang1 is found
 confusedly in the apprehension of the  
rudest savages4 ,there are two senses in
 which we can understand an  evolution  
of this idea of ,god2 first1 as ,mr4    
,tylor understands it1 in  the sense of 
a development by accretion from a simple
 germ1 from the  idea of a phantasm     
nowise a god1 to that of a spirit still 
lacking  divinity1 thence to that of a  
,supreme ,spirit in whom first the      
essential  definition of ,god is        
somewhat fulfilled4 ,secondly1 it can be
 understood  strictly as a mere         
unfolding of the contents of a confused 
apprehension2  so that there is an      
advance only in point of coherence and  
distinctness4  ,thus understood1 the    

entire religious history of the race1 as
 also of  the individual1 viewed from   
its mental side1 consists in an         
evolution of  the idea of ,god and      
culminates in a face-to-face seeing of  
,god4    ,from the evidence amassed1 or 
perhaps rather1 sampled1 by ,mr4 ,lang  
it  would seem that1 what we account the
 lowest races are in possession of a    
confused idea of ,god1 whencesoever     
derived1 which is in substantial        
agreement with the reflex conception    
contained in the above definition2  and 
that there is no existing series of     
intellectual stages whereby this  can be
 seen1 as it were1 in the act of growing
 out of previous simpler  ideas4        
,evolution in the direction of greater  
clearness and distinctness  is to be    
observed1 as well as a downward process 
of obscuration and  confusion3 but for a
 substantial development of the idea of 
,god from an  idea of not ,god there is 
no proof forthcoming so far4    ,on the 
animistic hypothesis we should be       

prepared to find the notion of  ,god1 as
 above stated1 to be of very late       
development and accepted only  by races 
fairly advanced in culture4 ,we should1 
priori1 deem it  impossible to discover 
more among the lower savages than a rude
 religion  of ghost-worship1 without any
 consciousness of a moral ,supreme      
,being1  the father and friend of man4  
,whatever might seem to suggest the     
contrary1 would be explainable by some  
infiltration of more civilized  beliefs4
    ,armed with this hypothesis the eye 
is quick to see that it brings with  it 
the power of seeing1 and to impose its  
own forms and schemata on the  phenomena
 offered to its observation4 ,the       
animist ill-acquainted with  the        
savage's language and modes of thought2 
excluded from those inner  mysteries    
which figure in nearly every savage     
religion2 confounding  the symbolism1   
the popular mythology1 and also the     
corruptions1  distortions1 and abuses   
which are the parasites of all religion1

 with  the religion itself1 can easily  
come away with the impression that there
  is nothing but ghost-worship1         
priestcraft1 and superstition1 no       
conception whatever of a personal ,power
 that makes for ,righteousness4  ,if    
,protestants have almost as crude an    
idea of the religion of their  ,catholic
 fellow-,christians with whom they live 
side by side1 and  converse in the same 
language1 if they are so absolutely     
dominated by  their own form of         
religious thought1 as to be as helpless 
as idiots in  the presence of any other1
 can we expect that the ordinary        
,british  traveller1 brandishing his    
,bible and his bath1 strong in the smug 
conviction of his mental1 moral1 and    
religious preeminence1 will be a  very  
sympathetic1 conscientious1 and reliable
 interpreter of the  religion of the    
,zulu or the ,andamanese8    ,the fact  
is that without a preliminary hypothesis
 he would see nothing  at all except    
dire confusion4 ,but an assumption such 

as that of  animism1 has the selective  
power of a magnet1 drawing to itself all
  congruous facts and little filings of 
probability1 until it so bristles  over 
with evidence that a hedge-hog is easier
 to handle4    ,but before discussing   
the relation of this assumption to      
existing facts  and so bringing it to an
  posteriori test1 let us examine its   
priori supports4    ,first of all1 as   
,mr4 ,lang points out1 it takes for     
granted that the  savage can have no    
idea of the ,creator until he conceive  
,him as a  spirit4 ,god is a spirit1 has
 been dinned into our ears from         
childhood2  and hence we conclude that  
he who has no notion of a spirit can    
have no  notion of ,god2 and that the   
idea of ,god is of later growth than    
that of  a ghost4 ,in truth1 he who     
ascribes to ,god a body does not know   
all  about ,him2 but which of us knows  
all about ,god8 ,the point is1 not      
whether the savage can know the         
metaphysics of divinity1 but whether he 

can conceive a primal eternal moral     
being1 author of all things1 man's      
father and judge--a conception which    
abstracts entirely from the  question of
 matter and spirit4 ,we ourselves1 like 
the savage1  necessarily speak of ,god  
and imagine ,him humanwise1--although   
our  instructed reason1 at times1       
corrects the error of our fancy1--and   
perhaps only at times1--only when we    
leave the ground of spontaneous         
thought1 to walk on metaphysical        
stilts--nor while that childish image   
remains uncorrected and we neither      
affirm nor deny to ,him a body1 can  our
 notion be called false1 however obscure
 it be and inadequate4 ,if the  savage  
has no notion of spirit1 yet he may     
have1 and often seems to have  a very   
true1 though of course infinitely       
imperfect1 notion of ,god2 nay1  perhaps
 a truer notion than those who affirm1  
without any sense of using  analogy1    
that ,god is a spirit4 ,for if ,his     
spirituality is insisted on1  it is     

rather to exclude from ,him the         
grossness and limitation of matter1  and
 to ascribe to ,him a transcendental    
degree of whatever perfection our       
notion of spirit may involve1 than to   
classify ,him1 or to predicate of  ,him 
that finite nature which we call a      
spirit4 ,god is neither a spirit  nor a 
body2 but rather like ,ndengei of the   
,fijians3 an impersonation of  the      
abstract idea of eternal existence2 one 
who is to be regarded as a  deathless   
,being1 no question of 'spirit' being   
raised2 so that the  first intuition of 
the unsophisticated mind is found to be 
in more  substantial agreement with the 
last results of reflex philosophical    
thought1 than those early               
philosophizings which halt between the  
affirmation and denial of bodily        
attributes1 unable to prescind from the 
difficulty and unable to solve it4 ,the 
history of the ,jews1 nay1 the  history 
of our own mind proves to demonstration 
that the thought of ,god  is a far      

easier thought and a far earlier1 than  
that of a spirit4 ,our  mind1 oar heart1
 our conscience1 affirm the former      
instinctively1 while  the latter does   
continual violence to our imagination1  
except so far as  spirit is misconceived
 to be an attenuated phantasmal body4   
,not only1  therefore1 does the savage  
imagine ,god and speak of ,him          
humanwise1 as we  all do2 but if he does
 not actually believe ,him to be        
material1 he at  least will be slow in  
mastering the thought of ,his           
spirituality4    ,another assumption    
underlying the animistic hypothesis1 and
 also  borrowed from ,christian         
teaching1 is that the savage regards the
 soul or  ghost as the liberated and    
consummated man1 and that therefore he  
will  place ,god rather in the category 
of disembodied than of embodied men4    
,yet not only the ,greek and ,roman1 but
 even the ,jew1 looked on the shade  of 
the departed as a mere fraction of      
humanity1 as a miserable residue  of    

man1 helpless and hopeless1 and withal  
disposed to be mischievous and          
exacting1 and therefore needing to be   
humoured in various ways4 ,nay1  even   
,christianity with its dogma of the     
bodily resurrection1 denies that        
,platonic doctrine which views the body 
as the prison rather than as the        
complement and consort of the soul2     
although it holds the soul to be of  an 
altogether higher1 because spiritual1   
order4 ,but to the primitive  savage1   
who everywhere regards death as         
non-natural1 as accidental and  violent1
 the surviving spirit1 however          
uncertain-tempered and  incalculable in 
its movements1 however much to be feared
 and  propitiated1 does not command     
reverence as a being of a superior      
order4  ,at best it is3 ,alas6 poor     
ghost6 ,better a live dog than a dead   
lion2  better the meanest slave that    
draws breath1 than the monarch of       
,orcus4  ,surely it is not in the region
 of shadows that the savage will look   

for  the great all-father2 but in the   
world of solid1 tangible realities4     
,again1 it is assumed that progress in  
one point is progress in all2 that      
because we surpass all other races and  
generations in physical science  and    
useful arts1 we surpass them in every   
other way2 and that they must  be far   
behind us in ethical and religious      
conceptions1 as they are in  inventions 
and the production of comforts4 ,to find
 our own theism and  morality among     
savages is therefore impossible2 for as 
the crooked stick  is unto the          
steam-plough1 so is the god of the      
savage unto the ,god of  ,great         
,britain4 ,yet when we consider how     
closely religious and ethical           
principles are intertwined1 and how     
glaringly untrue it is to say that      
industrial civilization makes for       
morality1--for purity or self-denial1   
or justice1 or truth1 or honour3 how    
manifestly it is accompanied with a     
deterioration of the higher perceptions 

and tastes1 we must surely pause  before
 taking it for granted that the course  
of true religion has been  running      
smoothly parallel to that of commerce4  
,in a thoughtful essay1 entitled ,the   
,disenchantment of ,france1 ,mr4 ,f4,w4 
,myers points out the goal towards which
 progress is leading us1  through the   
destruction of those four illusions     
which formerly gave  life all its value 
and dignity1--namely1 belief in         
religion2 devotion to  the              
,state--whether to the prince or to the 
people2 belief in the  eternity and     
spirituality of human love2 belief in   
man's freedom and  imperishable personal
 unity4 ,i cannot avoid the conclusion1 
he says1  that we are bound to be       
prepared for the worst4 ,yet by the     
worst ,i do  not mean any catastrophe of
 despair1 any cosmic suicide1 any       
world-wide  unchaining of the brute that
 lies pent in man4 ,i mean merely the   
peaceful1 progressive1 orderly triumph  
of l'homme sensuel moyen2 the  gradual  

adaptation of hopes and occupations to a
 purely terrestrial  standard2 the      
calculated pleasures of the cynic who is
 resolved to be a  dupe no more4    ,in 
other words1 if we accept this very     
temperate and reluctant  conclusion1 we 
must confess that the one-sided         
progress1 with whose  all-sufficiency we
 are so thoroughly satisfied1 is making 
straight for  the extermination1 not    
only of religion1 but of morality in any
 received  sense of the term4    ,but   
when ,mr4 ,lang1 who has no hypothesis  
of his own as to the origin of  belief  
in ,god1 brings the animistic theory to 
an  posteriori test1 he  finds it       
encumbered with still greater           
difficulties2 for nothing is as1        
priori1 it ought to be4    ,while ,mr4  
,tylor asserts that no savage tribe of  
monotheists has ever  been known1 but   
that all ascribe the attributes of deity
 to other  beings than the ,almighty    
,creator1 it appears in fact that many  
of the  rudest savages are as           

monotheistic as some ,christians4 ,they 
have a  ,supreme ,being1 and the        
'distinctive attributes of deity' are   
not by them  assigned to other beings   
further than as ,christianity assigns   
them to  angels1 saints1 the devil1 c4  
,catholics at least will readily        
understand how hastily and unjustly the 
charge of polytheism is made by  the    
protestantized mind against any religion
 which believes in a  ,heavenly ,court  
as well as in a ,heavenly ,monarch4 ,of 
the existence of a  belief in a ,supreme
 ,being amongst the lowest savages1     
there is as good  evidence as we possess
 for any fact in the ethnographic       
region4 ,it is  certain that savages1   
when first approached by curious        
travellers and  missionaries1 have again
 and again recognized our ,god in       
theirs4    ,if1 therefore1 belief in    
,god grew out of belief in ghosts1 it   
must have  been in some stage of culture
 lower than any of which we have        
experience  so far2 and at some period  

which belongs to the region of          
hypothesis and  conjecture4 ,there are  
no known tribes where ghosts are        
worshipped and  ,god is not known1 or   
where the supposed process of           
development can be  watched in action4  
,nor is it only that links are missing1 
but one of the  very terms to be        
connected1 namely1 a godless race1 is   
conjectural4  ,still more unfortunate is
 it for the animists that evidence      
points to  the fact that advance in     
civilization often means the decay of   
monotheism1 and that the ruder races are
 the purer in their religious  and      
ethical conceptions4 ,once more1 all    
facts are against the theory  that      
tribes transfer their earthly polity to 
the heavenly city2 for  monotheism is   
found where monarchy is unknown4 ,god   
cannot be a  reflection from human kings
 where there are no kings2 nor a        
president  elected out of a polytheistic
 society of gods1 where there is as yet 
no  polytheism2 nor an ideal first      

ancestor where men do not worship their 
ancestors4 ,to the substantiating of    
these facts ,mr4 ,lang then applies     
himself1 and shows us how among the     
,australians1 ,red ,indians1 ,figians1  
,andamanese1 ,dinkas1 ,yao1 ,zulus1 and 
all known savages there lives the       
conception of a ,supreme ,being 7not    
necessarily spirit7 who is variously    
styled ,father1 ,master1 ,our ,father1  
,the ,ancient ,one in the skyland1 ,the 
,great ,father4 ,he shows us1 moreover1 
that this deity is the ,god of          
conscience1 a power making for goodness1
 a guardian and enforcer of the         
interests of justice and truth and      
purity2 good to the good1 and froward   
with the froward4    ,but surely1 it    
will be said1 all this is too           
paradoxical1 too violently  in conflict 
with what is notorious concerning the   
religion and morality  of savages4      
,the reason of this seeming             
contradiction is1 however1 not          
altogether  difficult4 ,it is to be     

found partly in the fact that religion1 
like  morality1 being counter to those  
laws which govern the physical world    
and the animal man1--to the law of      
egoism and competition and struggle  for
 existence2 to the law that might is    
right1--tends from the very  nature of  
the case towards decay and              
disintegration4 ,the movement of        
material progress is in some sense a    
downhill movement4 ,no doubt it  evokes 
much seeming virtue1 such as is         
necessary to secure the end2 but  the   
motive force is one with regard to which
 man is passive rather than  active1 a  
slave rather than a master1 as a miser  
is in respect to that  passion which    
stimulates him to struggle for gain4    
,religion and morality  are uphill work1
 needing continual strain and attention 
if the motive  force is to be maintained
 at all4 ,huxley1 in one of his later   
utterances1 allowed this with regard to 
morality2 and it is not less but  more  
true with regard to faith in the value  

of unseen realities4 ,even if  belief in
 a moral ,god be as natural to man as   
are the promptings of  conscience1 it   
ought not to surprise us that it should 
be as universally  stifled1 neglected1  
seemingly denied1 as conscience is4 ,it 
is not  usually in old age and after    
years of conflict with the world that   
conscience is most sensitive and        
faithful to light1 but rather in early  
childhood4 ,and similarly the sense of  
,god and of ,his will is apparently     
more strong and lively in the childhood 
of races than after it has been  stifled
 by the struggle for wealth and         
pre-eminence--      ,when yet ,i had not
 walked above    ,a mile or two from my 
first love3    ,but felt through all    
this fleshly dress    ,bright shoots of 
everlastingness4 #b    ,degradation may 
almost be considered a law of religion  
and morality  which needs some kind of  
violent counteraction1 some continual   
intervention and providence1 if it is to
 be kept in check4 ,after all1  this is 

only a dressing-up of the old platitude 
that a holy life means  continual       
warfare and straining of the spirit     
against the flesh1 of the  moral order  
against the physical order1 of altruism 
or the true egoism  against selfishness 
or the false egoism4 ,of course an ideal
 civilization  would help and not hinder
 religion2 but the chances against      
civilization  being ideal are so large  
as to make it historically true that1   
advance  in civilization does not always
 mean advance in religion and morality1 
and often means decay4    ,far from     
animism being the root of theism1 more  
often it is rather the  ivy that grows  
up about it1 hides it and chokes it4    
,just because the  demands of religion  
and morality are so burdensome to men1  
they will  ever seek short-cuts to      
salvation2 and the intercession of      
presumably  corruptible courtiers will  
be secured to win the favour1 or avert  
the  displeasure1 of the rigorously     
incorruptible and inexorable ,king1 who 

is  no respecter of persons4 ,except    
among ,jews and ,christians1 the        
,supreme  ,being is nowhere worshipped  
with sacrifice--that service of         
food-offering being reserved for        
subordinate deities susceptible to      
gentle bribery4 ,the great ,god of      
conscience is naturally the least       
popular object of cultus2 though1 were  
the animists right1 ,he should be  the  
most popular1 seeing ,he would be the   
latest development demanded and  created
 by the popular mind4 ,but contrariwise1
 ,he tends to recede more  and more into
 the background1 behind the             
ever-multiplying crowd of               
patron-spirits1 guardians1 family-gods2 
till1 as in ,greece and ,rome1 ,he  is  
almost entirely obscured1 an unknown    
,god ignorantly worshipped--the  ,end1  
as usual1 being forgotten and buried in 
the means4 ,all this process  of        
degradation will be hastened by the     
corruption of priests whose  avarice or 
ambition1 as ,mr4 ,lang says1 will tempt

 them to exploit the  lucrative elements
 in religion at the expense of the      
ethical2 to  whittle-away the decrees of
 ,god and conscience to suit the wealthy
 and  easy-going2 to substitute         
purchasable sacrifice1 for obedience2   
and the  fat of rams1 for charity4 ,we  
need only look to the history of ,israel
 and  of the ,christian ,church to see  
all these tendencies continually at     
work1  and only held in check by        
innumerable interventions of ,divine    
,providence1 and of that ,spirit which  
is always striving with man4    ,scant1 
however1 as may be the amount of direct 
worship accorded to the  ,supreme ,god1 
compared with that received by          
subordinate spiritual  powers1 yet it is
 sui generis1 and of an infinitely      
higher order4 ,the  familiar distinction
 of latria and dulia seems to obtain    
everywhere2  as also that between       
,elohim and ,javeh1 that is1 between    
supernal  beings in general1 and the    
,supreme ,being who is also supernal4   

,yet so  excessive in quantity is the   
secondary cultus compared with the      
primary1  that an outsider may well be  
pardoned for thinking that there is     
nothing  beyond what meets the eye on   
every side4 ,as has been said1 the      
,supreme  ,being alone is usually       
considered above the weakness of caring 
for  sacrifice1 or for external worship 
in temples made with hands4 ,his  name  
is commonly tabooed1 only to be         
whispered in those mysteries of         
initiation which are met with so        
universally4 ,outside these mysteries   
,he  may only be spoken of in parables  
and myths1 grotesque1 irreverent1       
designed to conceal rather than to      
reveal4 ,but rarely is there an image   
or an altar to this unknown ,god4    ,it
 is easy for those who recognize no     
other religion among savages  behind the
 popular observances and cults which are
 so much to the front1  to believe that 
early religion is non-ethical4 ,for     
indeed1 for the most  part1 all this    

secondary cultus is directed to the     
mitigation of the  moral code and the   
substitution of exterior for interior   
sacrifice4 ,it  is the result of an     
endeavour to compound with conscience2  
and to hide  away sins from the         
all-seeing eye4 ,again it is chiefly in 
the secrecy of  the mysteries that the  
higher ethical doctrine is propounded--a
 doctrine  usually covering all the     
substantials of the decalogue2 and in   
some  cases1 approaching the ,christian 
summary of the same under the one       
heading of love and unselfishness4 ,as  
for the corrupt lives of savages1  if it
 proves their religion to be            
non-ethical1 what should we have to     
think of ,christianity8 ,we cry out in  
horror against cannibalism as the  ne   
plus ultra of wickedness41 but except so
 far as it involves murder1  it is hard 
to find in it more than a violation of  
our own convention1  while a mystical   
mind might find more to say for it than 
for cremation4  ,certainly it is not so 

bad as slander and backbiting4 ,human   
sacrifice  offered to the ,lord of life 
and death at ,his own behest1 is        
something  that did not seem wicked and 
inconceivable to ,abraham4 ,head-hunting
 is  not a pretty game2 nor is scalping 
and mutilation the most generous        
treatment of a fallen foe2 yet war has  
seen worse things done by those  who    
professed an ethical religion4    ,but1 
chief among the causes why savage       
religion has been so  misrepresented1 is
 the almost universal co-existence of a 
popularized  form of religion addressed 
to the imagination1 with that which     
speaks to  the understanding alone4 ,as 
has already been said1 man's imagination
 is  at war with his intelligence when  
supersensible realities1 such as ,god   
and the soul1 are in question4 ,without 
figures we cannot think2 yet the        
timeless and spaceless world can ill be 
figured after the likeness of  things   
limited by time and space4 ,this mental 
law is the secret of the  invariable    

association of mythology with religion4 
,setting aside the  problem as to how   
the truths of natural religion 7sc4 that
 there is a  ,god the rewarder of them  
that seek ,him7 are first brought home  
to man1  it is certain that if he does  
not receive them embedded in history or 
parable1 in spoken or enacted symbolism1
 he will soon fix and record  them in   
some such language for himself4 ,christ 
recognized the necessity  of speaking to
 the multitude in parables1 not         
attempting to precise or  define the    
indefinable2 but contenting ,himself    
with3 ,the ,kingdom of  ,heaven is like1
 c4 ,i am content1 says ,sir ,thomas    
,browne1 to  understand a mystery       
without a rigid definition1 in an easie 
and  ,platonick description1 and it is  
only through such easie and ,platonick  
descriptions that spiritual truth can   
slowly be filtered into the  popular    
mind4 ,still when we consider how prone 
all metaphors are to be  pressed        
inexactly1 either too far1 or else not  

far enough1 how abundant  a source they 
are of misapprehension1 owing to the    
curiosity that will  not be content to  
have the gold in the ore1 but must needs
 vainly strive  to refine it out1 we can
 well understand how mythology tends to 
corrupt  and debase religion if it be   
not continually watched and weeded2 and 
how1 being1 from the nature of the case1
 ever to the front1 ever on  men's lips 
and mingling with their lives1 it should
 seem to the outsider  to be not the    
imperfect garment of religion1 but a    
substitute for it4  ,yet in some sense  
these mythologies are a safeguard of    
reverence in that  they provide a theme 
for humour and profanity and rough      
handling1 which  is thus expended1 not  
on the sacred realities themselves1 but 
on their  shadows and images4 ,among    
certain savages ,god's personal name is 
too  holy to be breathed but in         
mysteries2 yet ,his mythological        
substitute is  represented to be as     
grotesque1 freakish1 and immoral as the 

,zeus of the  populace4 ,we can hardly  
enter into such a frame of mind1 though 
possibly  the irreverences and          
buffooneries of some of the             
miracle-plays of the  middle ages are   
similarly to be explained as the rebound
 from the strain  incident to a         
continual sense of the nearness of the  
supernatural2 and  perhaps the ,messer  
,domeniddio of the ,florentines stood   
rather for a  mental effigy that might  
be played with1 than for the reasoned   
conception of the dread ,deity4 ,if we  
possessed a minutely elaborated  history
 of the ,good ,shepherd and ,his        
adventures1 or of the ,prodigal's       
father1 or of the ,good ,samaritan1     
interspersed with all manner of         
ludicrous and profane incidents1 and    
losing sight of the original  purport of
 the figure1 we should have something   
like a mythology4 ,were  it not         
stereotyped as part of an inspired      
record1 the mere romancing  tendency of 
the imagination would easily have added 

continually to the  original parable1   
wholly forgetful of its spiritual       
significance4    ,it is part of the very
 economy of the ,incarnation to meet    
this weakness1  to provide for this want
 of the human mind2 to satisfy the      
imagination  as well as the             
intelligence4 ,here ,divine truth has   
received a ,divine  embodiment1 has been
 set forth in the language of deeds1 in 
a real and  not in a fictitious history4
 ,sacrifice and sacrament1 and every    
kind of  natural religious symbolism1   
has been appropriated and consecrated to
  the service of truth and to the       
fullest utterance of ,god that such weak
  accents will stretch to4 ,here the    
channel of communication between        
,heaven and earth is not of man's       
creation but of ,god's2 or at least is  
of ,god's composition4 ,this is the     
great difference between the ethnic     
religions and a religion that professes 
to be revealed--that is1 spoken  by ,god
 and put into language by ,him4 ,the    

latter is1 so to say1 cased in  an      
incorruptible body1 its very expression 
being chosen and sealed for  ever with  
,divine approval1 and rescued from the  
fluent and unstable  condition of       
religions whose clothes are the works of
 men's hands4 ,here  it is that         
,catholic ,christianity stands out as   
altogether catholic and  human1 adapted 
as it is to the world-wide cravings of  
the religious  instinct2 satisfying the 
imagination and the emotions1 no less   
than the  intellect and the will2 and   
yet saving us from the perils of the    
myth-making tendency of our mind4       
,the same thought is pressed upon us    
when we view the collective evidence  as
 to the universal demand for a          
mediatorial system--for intercessors1   
and patrons1 for a heavenly court       
surrounding the ,heavenly ,monarch2 a   
demand often created by and tending to a
 degradation of purer religion1  yet    
most surely embodying and expressing a  
spiritual instinct which is  only fully 

explained and satisfied by the ,catholic
 doctrine of the  communion of saints   
and souls in one great society1         
labouring for a  conjoint salvation and 
beatitude4 ,we ,catholics know well     
enough that the  degraded and           
superstitious will pervert saint-worship
 as they pervert  other good things to  
their own hurt and to ,god's dishonour1 
but we also  know that of itself the    
doctrine of the ,heavenly ,court is     
altogether in  the interests of the very
 highest and purest religion4 ,in all   
this  matter1 needless to say1 ,mr4     
,lang is not with us2 but the affinities
 of  ,catholicism with universal        
religion1 which he marks to our         
prejudice1  are really in some sort     
proof of our contention that the ,church
 is the  divinely conceived fulfilment  
of all man's natural religious          
instincts1  providing harmless and      
healthy outlets for humours otherwise   
dangerous  and morbid2 never forgetful  
of man's double nature and its claims1  

neither wearying him with an impossible 
intellectualism--a religion of  pure    
philosophy--not suffering him to be the 
prey of mere imagination  and sentiment1
 but tempering the divine and human1 the
 thought and the  word1 so as to bring  
all his faculties under the yoke of     
,christ4    ,mr4 ,lang's concern is with
 the universality of belief in ,god the 
,rewarder1 not with its origin nor even 
its value2 though he seems at  times to 
imply that the solution may be found in 
a primitive revelation  of some sort4   
,for ourselves1 accordant as such a     
notion would be with  popular ,christian
 tradition1 we do not think that the    
adduced evidence  needs that hypothesis2
 but is explained sufficiently by the   
hypothesis  of ,st4 ,paul1 which1 as    
,mr4 ,lang admits1 seem not the most    
unsatisfactory4 ,the mere verbal        
tradition of a primitive deposit not    
committed to any authorized guardians   
would1 to say the least1 be a  hazardous
 and conjectural way of accounting for  

the facts2 nor is there  any evidence   
offered to show that such religious     
beliefs are held1 as  the ,catholic     
religion is1 on the authority of        
antiquity1 interpreted by  a living     
voice4 ,the substance of this elementary
 religion--the existence  of ,god the   
,rewarder of them that seek ,him--is    
naturally suggested to the              
simple-minded by the data of unspoilt   
conscience1 confirmed and  supplemented 
by the spectacle of ,nature4 ,that the  
truth would be  borne-in on a solitary  
and isolated soul we need not maintain2 
for in  solitude and isolation man is   
not man1 and neither reason nor language
  can develop aright4 ,further we may   
allow that as ,nature or ,god provides  
for society1 and therefore for          
individuals1 by an equal distribution of
  gifts and talents1 giving some to be  
politicians1 others poets1 others       
philosophers1 others inventors1 so ,he  
gives to some what might be called      
natural religious genius or talent or   

spiritual insight1 for the benefit  of  
the community4 ,thus whatever be true of
 the individual savage1 we  cannot well 
suppose that any tribe or people1 taken 
collectively1 should  fail to draw the  
fundamental truths of religion from the 
data of  conscience and nature4 ,in this
 sense no doubt they would become       
traditional--the common property of     
all--so that the innate facility of     
each individual mind in regard to them  
would be stimulated and  supplemented by
 suggestion from without4    ,how far   
,god can be said actually to speak to   
the soul through  conscience or through 
,nature so as to make faith1 in the     
strict sense of  reliance on the word of
 another1 possible1 is for theologians  
to  discuss4 ,if besides expressing     
these truths in creation or in          
conscience1 ,he also expresses in some  
way ,his intention to reveal them  to   
the particular soul1 we have all that is
 requisite4 ,in what way1 or            
innumerable ways ,he makes ,his voice   

heard in every human heart day by  day1 
and causes general truths to be brought 
near and recognized and  received as a  
particular message1 each can answer best
 for himself4    ,but undoubtedly the   
results of comparative religion are1 so 
far1 almost  entirely favourable to the 
doctrine of ,god's all-saving will2 and 
in  many other points confirmatory of   
received beliefs4 ,even where1 for      
example1 in the question of the origin  
and meaning of sacrifice1 they  seem to 
necessitate a modification of the       
somewhat elaborate  priori  definition1 
popular in some modern schools 7though  
not in them all71 yet  that modification
 is altogether favourable to the sounder
 conception of  the ,eucharistic        
,sacrifice as a food-offering           
complementary to the  ,sacrifice of the 
,cross4 ,above all it is in bringing out
 the unity of  type between natural     
ethnic religions1 and that revealed     
,catholic  religion which is their      
correction and fulfilment1 that the     

studies of  ,mr4 ,lang and ,mr4 ,jevons 
are of such service4 ,the militant      
,protestant  delights to dwell on the   
analogies between ,romanism and         
,paganism2 we too  may dwell on them    
with delight1 as evidence of that       
substantial unity of  the human mind    
which underlies all surface diversities 
of mode and  language1 and binds        
together1 as children of one family1 all
 who believe  in ,god the ,rewarder of  
them that seek ,him1 who is no respecter
 of  persons4 ,what man in his darkness 
and sinfulness has feebly been trying   
to utter in every nation from the       
beginning1 that ,god has formulated and 
written down for him in the great       
,catholic religion of the ,word made    
,flesh--      ,which he may read that   
binds the sheaf      ,or builds the     
house1 or digs the grave1      ,and     
those wild eyes that watch the wave     
,in roarings round the coral reef4      
,true1 even could it be established     
beyond all doubt that belief in the  one

 ,god were universal among rude and     
uncultivated races1 this would not  add 
any new proof to the truth of religion1 
unless it could be shown  that it was   
really an instinctive1 inwritten        
judgment1 and not one of  those many    
natural fallacies into which all men    
fall until they are  educated out of    
them4 ,still1 for those who do not need 
conviction on  this point1 it is no     
slight consolation to be assured that   
simplicity  and savagery do not shut men
 out from the truths best worth knowing2
  that even where the earthen vessel is 
most corrupted1 the heavenly  treasure  
is not altogether lost2 that it is only 
those who deliberately  go in search of 
obscurities who need stumble4 ,it was   
not the crowds of  pagandom that ,st4   
,paul censured1 but the philosophers4   
,god made man's  feet for the earth1 and
 not for the tight-rope4 ,whatever be   
the truth  about ,idealism1 man is by   
nature a ,realist2 and similarly he is  
by  nature a theist1 until he has       

studiously learnt to balance himself in 
the non-natural pose4    ,will a man be 
excused for deliberately dashing his    
foot against a stone  because forsooth  
he has persuaded himself with ,zeno1    
that there is no  such thing as motion2 
or with ,berkeley1 that the externality 
of the  world is a delusion2 or will he 
be pardoned in his unbelief because he  
could not justify by philosophy the     
truth which conscience and nature  are  
dinning into his ears3 that there is a  
,god the ,rewarder of them that  seek   
,him8    ,sept4 ,oct4 #ahih4            
,footnotes3      ,footnote #a3 ,a       
hysterical fit indicates a lamentable   
instability of the  nervous system4 ,but
 it is by no means certain  priori that 
every  symptom of that instability1     
without exception1 will be of a         
degenerative kind4 ,the nerve-storm1    
with its unwonted agitations1 may       
possibly lay bare some deep-lying       
capacity in us which could scarcely     
otherwise have come to light4 ,recent   

experiments on both sensation and       
memory in certain abnormal states have  
added plausibility to this view1  and   
justify us in holding that in spite of  
its frequent association with  hysteria1
 ecstasy is not necessarily in itself a 
morbid symptom4  7,f4,w4,h4 ,myers1     
,tennyson as a ,prophet47    ,footnote  
#b3 ,the ,retreat4 ,by ,henry ,vaughan4 
,,xxii4      ,,adaptability ,,as ,a     
,,proof ,,of ,,religion4    ,much as we 
may think of the abstract and objective 
value of the treatise  ,de vera         
religione1 which forms the usual        
introduction to those cursus  theologici
 whose multiplication of late has been  
so remarkable1 it can  hardly be denied 
that its cogency is much diminished for 
the large  number of those thinkers who 
repudiate the philosophical             
presuppositions  upon which that        
treatise rests4 ,as long as negation    
halted before that  minimum of religious
 truth which is in some way accessible  
to  reason1--before belief in ,god and  

in immortality2 as long as the          
principles and methods of proof by which
 natural theology reached its           
conclusion were admitted even by those  
who denied those conclusions1 an        
apologetic such as we are speaking of   
had an undoubted practical  value--not  
indeed as sufficing to bring conviction 
to the unwilling or  ill-disposed1 not  
as a cause of faith1 but as removing an 
obstacle which  existed in the supposed 
incompatibility of revealed truth with  
these  same rational principles and     
processes4    ,apart from this          
preparation of the intellect1 to which  
perhaps the name  apologetic should be  
more strictly reserved1 a prior and more
  important need was the disposing of   
the will and affections to the          
acceptance of the truth4 ,for1 in a very
 real sense1 love is the root of  faith2
 and the wish that a thing should be    
true1 not only stimulates the  mind to  
inquire and investigate1 but also       
creates a fear of  self-deception and a 

spirit of incredulity which is the      
fruitful parent  of intellectual        
difficulties4    ,such an appeal to the 
affections is really outside the        
province of  theological science and    
belongs rather to the rhetorician1 the  
poet1 or  the prophet4 ,yet it was a    
work at all times needful for the       
extension  and maintenance of the faith1
 in even a greater degree than the more 
dispensable preparation of the          
intellect4 ,for the great multitude of  
men  who are innocent of any really     
independent thought1 who professedly or 
unconsciously take all their beliefs    
from some individual or society1  there 
is really no need of scientific         
apologetic--the sole need being to  win 
or maintain their confidence1 their     
loyalty1 their reverence1 in  regard to 
some teacher or leader1 to ,christ or   
the ,church4    ,it was only towards the
 close of last century when scepticism  
was  beginning to reach the very root   
from which the ,christian apologetic    

sprang1 and the former philosophic      
methods had themselves fallen in        
disrepute1 that the necessity of        
accommodating the remedy to the disease 
began to be recognized here and there1  
and of framing an argument that  would  
appeal to the perverse and erratic mind 
of the day1 rather than to  an abstract 
and perfectly normal mind1 which1 if it 
existed1 would need  no repentance4     
,that a given medicine is the best1     
avails nothing if it  be not also one   
which the patient is willing to take4   
,if a man has  closed his teeth against 
everything that savours of              
scholasticism1 we  must either abandon  
him or else see if there be any among   
the methods he  will submit to1 which   
may in any wise serve our purpose4 ,and1
 indeed1  among the jangle of           
philosophies there is surely in all     
something that  is a common heritage of 
the human mind1 a unity which a little  
skill can  detect lurking under that    
diversity of form which unfortunately it

 is  the delight of most men to         
emphasize4 ,to suppose that             
,christianity is  pledged to more than  
this common substratum which none deny1 
except  through verbal confusion1 that  
there is no road to faith but through   
what is peculiar to scholasticism1 or   
that my first step in converting a  man 
to ,christ must be to convert him to    
,aristotle1 is about as  intelligent as 
to suppose that because the ,church has 
adopted ,latin as  her official language
 she means to discredit every other4    
,it was then with a view of meeting the 
exigencies of the world as it is1  not  
as it might or ought to have been1 that 
such a work as the ,gnie du             
,christianisme strove to find an        
apologetic in what previously had been  
regarded as outside the domain of       
theology and more properly the concern  
of the preacher4 ,the beauty1 the       
solace1 the adaptation to our higher    
needs of ,christian teaching had been   
one thing2 its truth1 quite  another4   

,by dilating eloquently on the first1   
men might be won to the  love of such an
 ideal1 to wish that it might be true2  
and then disposed  to profit by the     
distinct and independent labours of the 
apologist whose  theme was1 not the     
utility or beauty of the ,catholic      
religion1 but  solely its truth4    ,but
 now that the scholastic #a apologetic  
was in disgrace with all  but those who 
stood least in need of it1 some more    
acceptable method had  to be sought out1
 and amongst many others there was that 
of  ,chateaubriand1 which strove to find
 an argument for the intellect in the   
very appeal which ,christianity made to 
the will and affections4 ,because  a    
religion is fair and much to be desired1
 because1 if true1 it would  give unity 
and meaning to man's higher cravings1   
and turn human life  from a senseless   
chaos into an intelligible whole1       
therefore1 and for  this reason1 it is  
true4    ,it is hardly wonderful that   
such a method should incur the charge of

  sentimentalism4 ,it would be so nice  
to believe it1 therefore it must be     
true1 sounds like a shameless           
abandonment of reasonableness4 ,the fact
  that a belief is consoling1 quite     
independently of its truth or           
falsehood1 creates a bias towards its   
acceptance4 ,that it is pleasant to     
believe oneself very clever and         
competent will incline one to that      
belief until something important        
depends1 not on our thinking ourselves  
so1 but on our being so4 ,before an     
examination1 the wish to succeed will   
make me sceptical about my prospects1   
much as ,i should like to think  them   
the brightest2 afterwards1 when         
self-deception can only console and  can
 do no harm1 ,i shall be credulous of   
any flattery that is offered me4  ,in   
one case1 my interest depends upon the  
facts1 and therefore the wish  to       
believe makes me critical and even      
sceptical2 in the other1 on my  belief  
concerning the facts1 and the wish to   

believe1 makes me  uncritical and       
credulous4    ,it was seemingly a bold  
and hazardous venture to justify this   
same  credulity1 and to affirm that an  
argument could be drawn from the wish   
to believe in just those cases where its
 influence would seem most  suspicious2 
yet this was practically what the new   
apologetic amounted  to4 ,it was an     
argument from the utility of beliefs to 
their truth2 from  the fact that certain
 subjective convictions produced good   
results1 to  the correspondence of such 
convictions with objective reality4 ,the
  advantages to the individual and to   
society of a firm belief in ,god the    
righteous ,judge1 in the sanction of    
eternal reward and penalty1 in the      
eventual adjustment of all inequalities1
 in the reversible character of  sin    
through repentance1 in the divine       
authority of conscience1 of             
,christianity1 of the ,catholic ,church1
 are to a great extent independent  of  
the truth of those beliefs4 ,no amount  

of hypnotic suggestion will  enable a   
man to subsist upon cinders1 under the  
belief that they are a  very nutritious 
diet2 for the effect depends upon their 
actual nature1  and not wholly upon his 
belief concerning their nature2 but the 
salutary  fear of ,hell or hope of      
,heaven1 depends not on the existence of
 either  state1 but on our belief in its
 existence4 ,the fact that the denial of
  these and many similar beliefs would  
bring chaos into our spiritual and      
moral life1 that it would extinguish    
hopes which often alone make life       
bearable1 that it would issue for       
society at large in such a grey1        
meaningless1 uninspired existence as    
,mr4 ,f4 ,w4 ,myers prognosticates in   
his admirable essay on ,the             
,disillusionment of ,france1 #b all this
 and  much more makes it our interest1  
if not our duty1 to cling to such       
convictions at all costs4 ,if these     
things are not true1 it might be  said1 
then life is chaos2 and if life be      

chaos1 what does truth matter8  ,why may
 not such useful illusions and          
self-deceptions be fostered8 ,if we  are
 dreaming1 let our dreams be the        
pleasantest possible6    ,nor can it be 
urged that though some part of our      
interest thus depends  on the beliefs1  
rather than on their being true1 yet the
 consequences of  self-deception are so 
momentous1 as to create a spirit of     
criticism to  balance or over-balance   
the said bias of credulity4 ,for though 
the  consequences of denial are         
disastrous if the beliefs are true1 yet 
if  they are false1 the ill-consequences
 of belief are almost insignificant4    
,it is sometimes said too hastily that  
if religion be an illusion1 then        
religious people lose both this life and
 the next2 and it is assumed  that an   
unrestrained devotion to pleasure would 
secure a happiness which  faith requires
 us to forego4 ,but unless we take a    
gross1 and really  unthinkable view of  
the homogeneity of all happiness1 and   

reduce its  differences to degree and   
quantity1 the shallowness of the        
preceding  objection will be apparent4  
,it is only through restraint that the  
higher  kinds of temporal happiness are 
reached1 and as confusions are cleared  
away in process of discussion1 it       
becomes patent that such restraint      
finds its motive directly or indirectly 
in religion4 ,when the religious        
influence with which irreligious society
 is saturated1 has exhausted  itself1   
and idealism is no more1 the            
unrestrained egoistic pursuit of        
enjoyment must tend to its steady       
diminution in quantity1 and its         
depreciation in kind4 ,the sorrow and   
pain entailed by fidelity to the        
,christian ideal is1 on the whole1      
immeasurably less in the vast majority  
of cases than that attendant on the     
struggles of unqualified  selfishness1  
while the capacities for the higher     
happiness are steadily  raised and      
largely satisfied by hope and even by   

some degree of present  fruition4 ,even 
vice would be in many ways sauceless and
 insipid in the  absence of faith4 ,who 
does not remember the old cynic's       
testimony 7in  the ,new ,republic7 to   
the piquancy lent by ,christianity to   
many a sin1  otherwise pointless4 ,if   
the moralist distinguishes between      
actions that  are evil because they are 
forbidden1 and those that are forbidden 
because they are evil1 the libertine has
 a counter-distinction between  those   
that are forbidden because they are     
pleasant1 and those that are  pleasant  
because they are forbidden4 ,st4 ,paul  
himself is explicit enough  as to this  
effect of the law4    ,look at it how we
 will1 even were religion unfounded our 
life would on  the whole gain in fulness
 far more than it would lose1 by our    
believing  in religion4 ,hence some of  
our more thoughtful agnostics1 however  
unable  themselves to find support in   
what they deem an illusion1 are quite   
willing to acknowledge the part religion

 has played in the past in the          
evolution of rational life1 and to look 
upon it as a necessary factor in  the   
earlier stages of that process whose    
place is to be taken hereafter  by some 
as yet undefined substitute4 ,if indeed 
,nature thus works by  illusions and    
justifies the lying means by the        
benevolent end1 it is  hard to believe  
in a moral government of the universe1  
or to hope that  an absolute            
morality--righteousness for its own     
sake--will be the  outcome of such      
disreputable methods4 ,but till the     
illusion of absolute  morality is strong
 enough to take care of itself1 and has 
passed from  the professors to the      
populace1 it is plainly for the interest
 and  happiness of individuals and of   
society to hold fast to religion4       
,undoubtedly then the advantages        
resulting from a belief in religion1    
whether valid or illusory1 are such as  
to incline not only the higher  and more
 unselfish minds1 but even those which  

are more prudential and  self-regarding1
 to wish to hold that belief--to be     
unwilling to hear  arguments against it4
 ,but among the former class will be    
found many  intellectually conscientious
 and even scrupulous persons1 whom the  
recognition of this inevitable bias will
 drive to an extreme of caution4  ,not  
so much because the facts believed-in   
are of such intense moment1  but rather 
because the belief itself1 whether true 
or false1 is so  consoling and helpful1 
that there seems to them a danger of    
self-deception just proportioned to     
their wish to believe4    ,it were then 
no small rest and relief to such1 could 
it be shown that  what they deem a      
reason for doubt1 is really a reason for
 belief2 that  the welcome which all    
that is best in them gives to a belief1 
affords  some sort of philosophical     
justification thereof4    ,this         
particular argument had undoubtedly a   
more favourable hearing in  the age of  
,chateaubriand1 when unbelief stopped   

short at the threshold  of what was     
called ,natural ,religion1 and the      
apologist's task was  confined to the   
establishment of revelation4 ,it is now 
pretty generally  admitted1 says the    
author of ,contemporary ,evolution1 with
 regard to  ,christianity and theism    
that the arguments really telling       
against the  first1 are in their logical
 consequences fatal also to the second1 
and  that a ,deus ,unus1 ,remunerator   
once admitted1 an antecedent probability
  for a revelation must be conceded4    
,given an intelligent and benevolent    
author of the universe1 it is not       
perhaps very difficult to show that any 
further religious belief  approximates  
to the truth in the measure that it     
satisfies the more  highly developed    
rational needs of mankind4 ,it is not   
seriously denied  any longer that       
religion is an instinct with man1       
however it may be  lacking in some      
individuals or dormant in others4 ,we   
have savages at  both ends of the scale 

of civilization1 but man is none the    
less a  political creature2 nor does the
 existence of idiots and deaf mutes and 
criminals at all affect the fact that he
 is a reasoning and speaking and        
ethical animal4 ,as soon as he wakes to 
consciousness1 he feels that he  is part
 of a whole1 one of a multitude2 and    
that as he is related to his            
fellow-parts--equals or inferiors--so   
also is he related to the ,whole  which 
is above him and greater than all put   
together4 ,religion1 taken              
subjectively1 in its loosest sense1 is a
 man's mental and moral attitude  in    
regard to real or imaginary superhuman  
beings--a definition which  includes    
pantheism1 polytheism1 monotheism2      
moral1 non-moral1 and  immoral          
religions2 which prescinds from         
materialist or spiritualist  conceptions
 of the universe4 ,and by a religion in 
the objective sense1  so far as true or 
false can be predicated of it1 we mean a
 body of  beliefs intended to regulate  

and correct man's subjective religion4  
,it  is to such systems and their parts 
that we think the above test of         
adaptability maybe applied as we have   
stated it4    ,we must of course assume 
that our distinction of higher from     
lower  states of rational development is
 valid2 that we can really attach some  
absolute meaning to the terms progress  
and decline2 that there is  some vaguely
 conceived standard of human excellence 
which such terms  refer to4 ,else we are
 flung into the very whirlpool of       
scepticism4  ,measured back from        
infinity it may be infinitesimal1 but   
measured  forward from zero1 the        
difference of mental and1 partly1 of    
moral  culture between ourselves and the
 aborigines of ,australia is            
considerable1 and is really to our      
advantage4 ,now if a given religion or  
religious belief suggests itself more   
readily1 or when suggested  commends    
itself more cordially in the measure    
that men's spiritual needs  are more    

highly developed2 if1 furthermore1 it   
tends to make men still  better and to  
raise their desires still higher so as  
to prepare the way  for a yet fuller    
conception of religious truth1 it may be
 said to be  adapted to human needs2 and
 it is from such adaptability that we   
argue  its approach to the truth4 ,we   
say its approach1 for all our ideas of  
the ,whole1 of the superhuman1 of those 
beings with which religion deals1  are  
necessarily analogous and imperfect4    
,what is admitted by all with  regard to
 the strict mysteries of the ,christian 
faith is in a great  measure to be      
extended to the central or fundamental  
ideas of all  religion4 ,they are at    
best woefully inadequate1 and if the    
unity between  the parts of an idea be  
organic and not merely mechanical1 they 
must be  regarded as containing false   
mingled with true4#c ,still some        
analogies  are less imperfect1 less     
mingled with fallacy than others1 and   
there is  room for indefinite           

approximation towards an unattainable   
exactitude4  ,for example1 assuming     
theism1 as we do in the argument under  
consideration1 it is evident that man   
conceives the superhuman object of  his 
fear and worship more truly as personal 
than as impersonal2 as  spiritual than  
as embodied2 as one or few than as many2
 as infinite than  as finite2 as creator
 than as maker2 as moral than as        
non-moral or  immoral2 as both          
transcendent and immanent than as either
 alone4 ,if then  it appears that as    
man's intelligence and morality develop 
in due  proportion1 he advances from a  
material polytheistic immoral conception
  of the ,all1 to a spiritual and moral 
monotheism1 it may be claimed that  the 
latter is a less inadequate conception4 
,and similarly with regard to  other    
dependent religious beliefs which       
usually radiate from the central        
notion4 ,it will be seen that we do not 
argue from the self-determined  wishes  
or desires of any individual or class of

 individuals to their  possible         
fulfilment1--to the existence in ,nature
 of some supply  answering to that      
demand2 we do not argue that because    
many men or all  men desire to fly1     
flying must for that reason alone be    
possible4 ,we  speak of the needs of    
man's nature1 not of this individual's  
nature2 of  needs consequent on what man
 is made1 and not on what he has made   
himself2 of those wants and exigencies  
which if unsatisfied or  insatiable must
 leave his nature not merely negatively 
imperfect and  finite1 but positively   
defective and as inexplicable as a lock 
without a  key--not necessarily1 of     
needs felt at all times by every man1   
but of  those which manifest themselves 
naturally and regularly at certain      
stages of moral and social development2 
just as the bodily appetites  assert    
themselves under certain conditions not 
always given4    ,now there is one form 
in which this argument from adaptability
 is  somewhat too hastily applied and   

which it is well to guard against4 ,were
  we to find a key accommodated to the  
wards of a most complicated lock1  we   
should be justified in concluding1 with 
a certainty proportioned to  the        
complexity of the lock1 that both       
originated with one and the same  mind2 
and so1 it is urged1 if a religion1 say 
,christianity1 answers to  the needs of 
human nature1 we may conclude that it is
 from the ,author of  human nature with 
a certainty increasing as it is seen to 
answer to the  higher and more complex  
developments of the soul4    ,now if1   
like the key in our illustration1 the   
religion in question were  something    
given in rerum natura independent of    
human origination in  any form1 this    
argument would be practically           
irresistible4 ,that besides  those      
beliefs which lead man on to an ever    
fuller understanding of his  better     
self1 and stimulate and direct his moral
 progress1 ,christianity  imposes others
 more principal1 of which man as yet has

 no exigency1 and  which hint at some   
future order of existence that new      
faculties will  disclose--all this1 in  
no wise makes the argument inapplicable4
 ,the  whole system of beliefs is       
accepted for the sake1 and on the       
credit1 of  that part which so admirably
 unlocks the soul to her own gaze4 ,now 
are  we the sons of ,god1 but it doth   
not yet appear what we shall be2 if     
besides satisfying our present ideal of 
religion1 ,christianity hints at  and   
prepares us for such a transition as    
that from merely organic to  sensitive  
life1 or from this1 to rational life1 it
 rather adds to than  detracts from the 
force of the argument4    ,yet all this 
supposes that ,christianity is something
 found by man  outside himself1 with    
whose origination he had nothing to do2 
but1 if  this be established1 its       
supernatural origin1 and therefore1     
supposing  theism1 its truth1 is already
 proved1 and can only receive           
confirmation  from the argument of      

adaptability4 ,if the ,book of ,mormon  
really came  down from ,heaven1 my      
conviction that polygamy is not for the 
best1 would  seem a feeble objection    
against its claims4 ,that the           
,judaeo-,christian  religion is         
supernatural and is from without1 not   
only with respect to  the individual but
 to the race2 that it is an external1   
,god-given rule1  awakening1 explaining1
 developing man's natural religious     
instinct1  correcting his own clumsy    
interpretations thereof1 is just what   
gives it  its claim to pre-eminence over
 all1 even the most highly conceived1   
man-made interpretations of the same    
instinct4    ,yet though claiming to be 
a ,god-made interpretation1 it is       
confessedly  through human agency1      
through the human mind and lips of the  
prophets  and of ,christ that this      
revelation has come to us4 ,moreover1 it
  involves1 though it transcends1 all   
those religious beliefs of which  human 
nature seems exigent and which are1     

absolutely speaking1  attainable by what
 might be called the natural inspiration
 of  religious genius4 ,viewing the     
whole revelation in itself1 its         
adaptability is evident only in respect 
to that part which might have           
originated with those minds through     
which it was delivered to us4 ,if the   
beliefs proposed seem to have           
anticipated moral and intellectual needs
  not felt in the prophet's own age or  
society1 this might be paralleled  from 
the inspiration of genius in other      
departments1 and could not of  itself be
 regarded as establishing the ab extra  
character of the  revelation4           
,plainly1 then1 so far as a religion    
claims to be from outside1 its          
adaptability to our religious and moral 
instincts may confirm but cannot        
establish its ,divine origin1 which1    
given theism1 is equivalent to its      
truth4 ,for to show that it is from     
outside1 is to show that it is from     
,god4    ,it is only therefore with     

regard to man-made interpretations of   
our  spiritual instincts1 to the natural
 inspirations of religious genius1 to   
the intuitions and even the reasoned    
inferences of the conscientious and     
clean-hearted1 that the argument from   
adaptability can have any  independent  
value4 ,it is now no longer as one who  
argues from a  comparison of lock and   
key to their common authorship2 but     
rather we  have a self-conscious lock1  
pining to be opened1 and from a more or 
less  imperfect self-knowledge dreaming 
of some sort of key and arguing that  in
 the measure that its dream is based on 
true self-knowledge there must  be a    
reality corresponding to it--a valid    
argument enough1 supposing the          
locksmith to act on the usual lines and 
not to be indulging in a freak4         
,such1 in substance1 is the argument    
from adaptability founded on the        
assumption of theism and applied to the 
criticism or establishment of  further  
religious beliefs4 ,it is indeed        

somewhat stronger when we  remember that
 the self-consciousness1 with which we  
fictitiously endowed  the lock1 plays   
chief part in the very design and       
structure of man2 that  his             
self-knowledge1 his moral and religious 
instincts1 his desire and  power of     
interpreting them1 are all from the     
,author of his nature4    ,of this      
difference ,tennyson takes note in      
applying the argument from  adaptability
 to the immortality of the soul3        
,thou wilt not leave us in the dust2    
,thou madest man1 he knows not why2     
,he thinks he was not made to die1      
,and ,thou hast made him1 ,thou art     
just4    ,but so far as the argument    
presupposes theism it cannot be made to 
support or even confirm theism4 ,if1    
then1 we want to make the argument      
absolutely universal with regard to     
religious beliefs--theism included  and 
not presupposed--and so to make it      
available for apologetic purposes  in   
regard to those whose doubt is more     

deep-seated1 we must inquire  whether   
any basis can be found for it in        
non-theistic philosophy2  whether1      
prescinding from ,divine governance and 
from an intelligent  purpose running    
through nature1 the adaptability of a   
belief to the  higher needs of mankind  
can be considered in any way to prove   
its truth4  ,so far we have only shown  
that such a conclusion results from a   
clearer  insight into the theistic      
conception4 ,can we show that it        
springs1  co-ordinately with theism1    
from some conception prior to both8     
,,ii4    ,if what is usually understood 
by theism be once granted as a          
foundation1 it is easy to raise thereon 
a superstructure of further  religious  
beliefs by means of the argument drawn  
from their adaptability  to the higher  
needs of mankind4 ,however individuals  
may fail1 yet it  must be allowed that  
on the whole the human mind progresses1 
or tends to  progress1 from a less to a 
more perfect self-knowledge1 to a fuller

  understanding of its own origin1 its  
end and destiny1 and of the kind of     
life by which that end is to be         
reached1--that is1 if once we admit that
  man is a self-interpreting creature1  
and the work of an intelligent          
,creator4 ,so far however as the        
,christian creed exceeds man's natural  
exigencies and aspirations1 it plainly  
cannot be subjected to this  criterion2 
and so far as it includes 7while it     
transcends7 the highest  form of natural
 religion1 the argument from            
adaptability holds of it  only if we    
suppose ,christianity to be a natural   
product of the human  mind1 thus        
destroying its claim to be from without 
and from above4 ,but  if from other     
reasons we know ,christianity to be a   
,god-made and not a  man-made religion1 
then1 though its divinity and truth is  
already  proved1 yet it is in some sort 
confirmed and verified by its           
adaptability to the demands of our      
higher nature4 ,in a word1 this         

particular argument holds strictly only 
for man's own guesses at  religious     
truth1--for natural religions2 but for  
,christianity1 only so  far as we deny  
it to be supernatural as to its content 
and mode of  origination4    ,but so far
 as this argument presupposes theism1 it
 cannot be made to  support or even     
confirm theism2 if then we wish to make 
it available for  apologetic purposes in
 regard to those whose doubt is more    
deep-seated1  we must now inquire       
whether1 prescinding from divine        
governance and from  finality in nature1
 the adaptability of a belief 7say1 in  
,god1 or in  future retribution7 to the 
needs of mankind1 can be considered in  
any  way as a proof of its truth2       
whether that argument can find any      
deeper  mental basis than theism2       
whether it can be rested on anything    
which in  the order of our thought is   
prior to theism so as to support or at  
least  to confirm theism itself4    ,our
 present endeavour is to show that      

though this argument rests more  easily 
and securely on theism1 yet it need not 
rest upon it2 but  springs1             
co-ordinately with theism1 from any     
conception of the world  that saves us  
from mental and moral chaos4 ,hence it  
confirms theism and  is confirmed by    
theism2 but each is strictly independent
 of the other  and rests on a conception
 prior to both2 they diverge from one   
and the  same root and then intertwine  
and support one another4    ,by         
prescinding from theism ,i do not mean  
to exclude or deny it2 for it  is1 as ,i
 have just said1 bound up with the same 
conception from which  the argument from
 adaptability is drawn4 ,i only mean    
that ,i do not  need to build upon it as
 on a prior conception2 that ,i can put 
it aside4  ,indeed1 of these two        
off-shoots1 theism is less near to the  
common root1  as will appear later4     
,our limited mind cannot take in at once
 all the consequences or                
presuppositions of a thought2 for this  

would be to know everything2 but  as    
with our outward eye we take in the     
circle of the horizon bit by bit1  so   
with our mind when we turn to one aspect
 of an idea we lose sight of  another4  
,hence in studying some complex organism
 or mechanism ,i may be  clear about the
 bearing of any part on its immediately 
neighbouring  parts1 and yet may have no
 present notion of the whole2 or may    
prescind  entirely from the question of 
its origin or its purpose4 ,thus our    
thoughts are always unfinished and      
frayed round the edges1 and we do not   
know how much they involve and drag     
along with them4 ,we can think of the   
mechanism1 and the organism1 and the    
design1 without thinking of the         
mechanist1 or the organizer1 or the     
designer2 and so in all cases where  two
 ideas are connected without being      
actually correlative4 ,what is  commonly
 called a philosophical proof consists  
simply in showing us the  implications  
of some part of the general conception  

of things that we  already hold4 ,it is 
to force us either to loosen our hold on
 that part  or else to admit all that it
 entails by way of consequences or      
presuppositions2 and so to bring our    
thoughts into consistency one way  or   
the other4 ,but until something sets our
 mind in motion it can rest  very       
comfortably in partial conceptions1     
without following them out to  their    
results4    ,now as we can understand a 
mechanism to the extent of seeing the   
bearing  of part upon part1 and even of 
all the parts upon the work it does1    
without going on to think about the     
designer or his design2 and without     
explicitly considering it as designed2  
so we can and do think of the  world and
 recognize order in it1 and see the     
bearing of part upon part  without going
 back to ,god or forward to ,god's      
purposes4 ,indeed1 so far  as we use the
 argument from design to prove the      
existence of ,god1 it  means that we    
first apprehend this order and regular  

sequence of events1  and then1 as a     
second and distinct step1 put it down to
 design4 ,for  although ,god is the     
prior cause of design and of all        
creation1 yet  design and creation is   
the prior cause of our knowing ,god1    
,the  conception of a rational and moral
 world leads us to the conception of a  
rational and moral origin1 i4e41 to     
theism4 ,further1 it is plain that  this
 same order and regularity is recognized
 by many who refuse to see  design in   
it1 and who invent other hypotheses to  
account for it2 and of  one of these    
hypotheses we shall presently speak at  
length4    ,now1 if ,i take any single  
organism and study it carefully1 simply 
as a  biologist or physiologist1 ,i     
shall recognize in it certain           
regularities  of structure and function 
and development1 upon which ,i can found
  various arguments and predictions4 ,i 
can argue from its general              
characteristics1 to the nature of its   
environment and habits and modes  of    

life2 or from its earlier stages1 to    
what it will be when more fully         
developed2 and these arguments will be  
quite unaffected by any theory ,i  may  
hold as to the origin of these changes1 
and as to the causes of  these          
adaptations4 ,the order and regularity  
on which my predictions are  based is an
 admitted fact4 ,theism or materialism  
are only theories by  which that fact is
 explained4 ,now1 for mind in the       
abstract1 theism is  really as much a   
presupposition of that fact1 as the     
predicted truth is  a consequence of it4
 ,both are logically connected with it1 
and yet  neither is derived from it     
through the other4    ,if1 however1 we  
cannot thus observe and calculate on    
certain  regularities and tendencies in 
the world as we know it1 then1 not only 
is the appearance of design and finality
 an illusion1 not only is that          
particular argument for theism cut away1
 but with it goes all scientific        
certainty1 all that stands between us   

and the most hopeless mental and  moral 
scepticism4    ,it is not our immediate 
concern to prove the value of the       
argument from  adaptability1 but simply 
to show that it is logically 7though not
  really7 unaffected by the question of 
theism and finality and design4 ,as     
long as we admit those same effects and 
consequences of which design is  one    
explanation1 but of which others are    
prima facie conceivable2 as  long as we 
hold that the world works on the whole  
as though it were  designed2 that the   
present anticipates and prepares for the
 future2 that  the future and absent can
 be predicted from the present1 so long 
do we  hold all upon which the argument 
of adaptability is strictly based4  ,and
 indeed1 as has been said1 if once it be
 admitted that the general  progressive 
tendency on the part of living things is
 towards a greater  harmony and         
correspondence with surrounding reality1
 then that argument  is a more immediate
 inference from the existence of an     

orderly world1  than is theism4         
,though both are strictly independent   
deductions from the same principle      
7i4e41 from an orderly world71 yet      
theism and the argument from            
adaptability when once deduced1 confirm 
one another4 ,for it is not hard  to    
show that theism is better adapted to   
man's higher needs1 than  atheism or    
polytheism or pantheism2 while if theism
 be once granted1  then1 as we said in  
the last section1 the argument from     
adaptability is  much more easily       
established4    ,there have been at     
various times several philosophies or   
attempted  explanations of the world1   
which have either denied or prescinded  
from  theism and finality4 ,these two   
conceptions may be considered as one2   
for  by finality we mean the intelligent
 direction of means towards a           
preconceived end2 and therefore to admit
 a pervading finality1 is to  imply a   
theistic origin and government of the   
universe4    ,perhaps1 the best and most

 finished attempt to explain the world  
independently of finality is the        
philosophy of ,evolution1 so widely     
popularized in our own day2 and since it
 is in the region of organic  existence1
 that finalism looks for its chief      
basis1 it is especially by  ,darwinistic
 ,evolution that its force is supposed  
to be destroyed4    ,any form of monism 
gets rid of finality more easily than   
does any form  of dualism2 and again1   
any form of materialism1 more easily    
than  idealism2 and therefore as        
monistic and materialistic 7at least in 
some  sense of the term71 popular       
,evolutionism is the best plea for      
non-finalist philosophy4 ,we propose    
therefore briefly to examine this       
philosophy1 so far as it claims to be   
such1 and to see whether it in any  way 
touches the validity of the argument    
from adaptability4    ,evolution may be 
considered both as an empirical fact and
 as an  aetiological theory or          
philosophy4 ,considered as a fact1 it is

 the  statement of observed processes1  
and belongs to positive science like    
the observed courses of the planets1 or 
any other observed regularities  and    
uniformities4 ,science professes to have
 found everywhere as far as  its        
experience has extended--in astronomy1  
geology1 physiology1 biology1           
psychology1 ethics1 sociology--a uniform
 process of change from the  simple to  
the complex1 from the indefinite and    
unstable to the stable  and definite2   
and with this statement1 so far as it   
can be verified1 the  positivist should 
rest content1 seeking no theory1 and    
drawing no  generalization4 ,but1 the   
mind cannot hold together such collected
 facts  without some binding theory1 nor
 even observe a single fact without some
  preconception to give meaning to its  
suggested outlines3 for what we  really 
get from our senses bears but a slight  
ratio to what we fill in  with our mind4
 ,hence1 answering to this supposed1 but
 far from proven1  universality of      

,evolution as a fact1#d we have a       
certain philosophy of  ,evolution which 
takes us out of the sphere of facts into
 that of  hypotheses and                
generalizations1 and tries to give      
meaning and unity to  the positive      
information that physical science has   
collected and  classified2 to finish1 as
 it were1 the suggested curves2 to fill 
up the  lacunae of observation2 to      
extend to the whole world what is known 
of  the part2 and perhaps to erect into 
a cause what is only an orderly         
statement of facts4 ,undoubtedly it is  
this last fallacy that makes it  more   
easy for evolutionists to dispense with 
or ignore finality4 ,law in  its first  
sense is an expression of effectual     
human will4 ,call ,evolution  a law and 
the popular mind will soon vaguely      
conceive it as a rule or  uniformity    
resulting from some kind of unconscious 
will-power at the  back of everything2  
and this ,will-,power stops the gap     
created in our  thought by the exclusion

 of theism and finality4 ,this confusion
 is  furthered still more by not        
distinguishing between the cause of a   
fact  and the cause of our knowledge of 
the fact4 ,if ,i act in willing         
conformity with the civil law1 ,i also  
act in obedience to it1 in some  way    
coerced by its authority and its        
sanctions4 ,the law is really a  cause  
of my action2 because it represents the 
fixed will and effectual  power of the  
ruler4 ,but when this conception and    
name is transferred by  analogy to      
physical uniformities of action1 an     
event which conforms to  the observed   
law or regularity of sequence1 is not   
really caused by the  law unless we     
suppose that law to be representative of
 something  equivalent to a fixed will  
from which it originates4 ,yet we say   
loosely1  such an event happens in      
consequence of the law of attraction2   
meaning  only1 in conformity with the   
law1 so as to verify the law1 to follow 
from it logically4 ,thus again the law  

comes to be mistaken for an  effectual  
power of some kind1 whereas it is merely
 a sort of regularity  that might result
 either from an intelligent will or from
 something  equivalent4 ,but in thus    
adroitly slipping-in the conception of a
  governing force or tendency1 or even  
in openly asserting it1 with            
,schopenhauer or ,hartmann1 and in      
explaining the graduated resemblances   
of species by the origin of one from the
 other1 and in extending this  mode of  
,evolution in all directions from the   
known to the unknown so as  to make it  
pervade the universe1 we at once cease  
to be faithful  positivists and1        
becoming philosophers1 must submit to   
philosophic  criticism1 since these     
problems cannot be settled merely by an 
appeal to  facts4 ,thus when ,professor 
,mivart speaks of ,evolution as the     
continuous  progress of the material    
universe by the unfolding of latent     
potentialities in harmony with a        
preordained end1 the latent             

potentialities1 the preordained end1 the
 procession of one species from         
another1 the extension of this law to   
every difference of time and  place--all
 are matters of hypothesis or intuition2
 but by no means of  exterior           
observation4    ,the most that          
observation gives us is the very        
imperfect suggestion of  the track that 
such a movement would have left behind  
it1 not unlike the  scraps that boys    
litter along the road in a paper-chase4 
,similarly1 if  in the case of organic  
,evolution we deny all latent           
potentialities and  preordained ends and
 throw the whole burden on accidental   
variations and  natural selection2 if we
 regard the whole process as no more    
intelligent  or designed than that by   
which water seeks and finds its own     
level2 yet  as in the case of water we  
must perforce introduce a gravitating   
tendency1 so in the case of living      
organisms a persisting or  struggling   
tendency1 as an hypothesis to give unity

 to our facts or to  account for their  
uniformity4 ,but these tendencies are as
 little matter  of observation as the   
aforesaid latent potentialities or      
preordained  ends4 ,in fine1 ,evolution1
 whatever form it take1 gets rid of     
theism and  finality only by slipping   
into their place some tendency or       
indefinable  power which it considers   
adequate to account for the facts to be 
explained4    ,let us now see if there  
be room in this philosophy for our      
argument from  adaptability1 and whether
 it will allow us to infer that because 
belief  in theism and in future         
retribution are beliefs postulated by   
our higher  moral aspirations1 therefore
 they answer to reality more or less    
approximately2 whether1 in short1 under 
certain conditions 7specified in  our   
last essay7 the wish to believe may be a
 valid reason for believing4    ,now    
,evolution as a philosophy or           
explanatory hypothesis owes its         
popularity to its apparent simplicity4  

,wrapped in its wordy envelope1  the    
notion as formulated by ,spencer needs  
no subtilty of apprehension1  but only a
 dictionary4 ,nor is the ,darwinian     
theory of ,natural ,selection  more     
difficult4    ,other things equal1 the  
simpler hypothesis is to be preferred to
 the  less simple where no proof can be 
had of either4 ,but none the less1 the  
simpler may be false and the other true4
 ,cheapness is no proof of  goodness4   
,we are naturally impatient of          
troublesome and complex  theories2 but  
what we gain in the simplicity of an    
hypothesis1 we  commonly lose in the    
difficulty of getting the facts to      
square with it4  ,it is a simple theory 
that circular motion is the most        
perfect1 and that  the planets being the
 most perfect bodies must move with the 
most  perfect motion2 but so many       
epicycles must be introduced to explain 
apparent exceptions that the modern     
astronomical hypothesis1 however  more  
complex in statement1 is on the whole   

welcomed as a simplification4  ,so we   
are disposed to think it is with regard 
to the popular form of  ,evolutionism4  
,its simplicity in statement is more    
than cancelled by its  difficulty in    
application2 and at last we are driven  
to conceive it in a  form which at once 
deprives it of its title to popularity4 
,so far as it  is simple it is          
fallacious and proves incoherent on     
closer inspection1  when we try to      
translate its terms into clear and      
distinct ideas2 but  when we get it into
 intelligible form it is no simpler than
 the theistic  hypothesis which it wants
 to displace1 except inasmuch as it     
prescinds  from the question of origin  
and last end4 ,but in this1 its only    
intelligible form1 it leaves the        
argument from adaptability intact1 and  
even requires theism as its rational    
complement4    ,this is what we must now
 endeavour to show4 ,we cannot          
illustrate our  contention better than  
from the popular simplification of      

,ethics  introduced by ,bentham4 ,taking
 pleasure as a simple and ultimate      
notion  he affirms that our conduct is  
always determined by a balance of       
pleasure on one side or the other4 ,the 
problem of practical ethics is to       
construct a calculus of pleasures1 a    
sort of ready-reckoner whereby men  may 
be able to invest in the most profitable
 course of action4 ,when we  have a     
hedonistic calculus with its senior     
wranglers1 says ,mr4 ,bain1  we shall   
begin to know whether society admits of 
being properly  reconstructed4 #e ,it is
 assumed that pleasures differ only in  
quantity1  i4e41 in intensity1 extent1  
and duration1 just as warmth does1 which
 may  be of high or low temperature2    
diffused over a greater or less extent  
of  body2 and that1 for a shorter or a  
longer time4 ,on this assumption        
pleasure is every bit as mathematically 
measurable as is warmth1 the  whole     
difficulty being due to its subjective  
and therefore inaccessible  nature4     

,simple in statement1 this theory proves
 in application  infinitely complex1 and
 indeed on closer inspection breaks up  
into a  mere verbal fallacy--as ,dr4    
,martineau1 amongst others1 has shown in
 his  ,types of ,ethical ,theory4 ,for  
pleasure1 though one simple word1 has   
an endless variety of meanings1 not     
indeed wholly disconnected1 but  bound  
together only by a certain kind of      
analogy4 ,the eye1 the ear1 the  palate1
 the mind1 the heart1 have each their   
proper pleasure2 which is  nothing else 
than the resultant of their perfect     
operation in response  to the stimulus  
of some all-satisfying object--a fact   
which may be  expressed differently by  
different philosophies1 but with        
substantial  identity of meaning4 ,but  
not till we find some common measure for
 sound  and colour and flavour and      
thought and affection1 will it be       
possible to  compare in any hedonistic  
scales the pleasures they produce4 ,yet 
colour  is to the eye what music is to  

the ear2 and therefore the one word     
pleasure is used not unreasonably of    
both4    ,quite similar seems to us the 
fallacy to which ,evolution owes its    
seeming simplicity and its popularity4  
,the word existence or life  7which is  
the existence of organic beings1 about  
which we are chiefly  concerned71 is    
taken as having one homogeneous meaning1
 like heat or  warmth2 the only         
difference being quantitative--a        
difference of  intensity1 of breadth1 of
 duration2 not a difference of kind such
 as  would destroy all common measure4  
,life is something which we predicate   
of the most diversely organized beings1 
and therefore would seem to be          
something the same in all1 which they   
secure in a diversity of ways4    ,thus 
,darwin defines the general good or     
welfare which should be the aim  of our 
conduct as the rearing of the greatest  
number of individuals in  full health   
and vigour with all their faculties     
perfect2 upon which ,mr4  ,sidgwick     

remarks#f with justice3 ,such a         
reduction of the notion of  'well-being'
 to 'being' 7actual and potential7 would
 be a most important  contribution from 
the doctrine of ,evolution to ethical   
science4 ,but it  at least conflicts in 
a very startling manner with those      
ordinary  notions of progress and       
development in which it is always       
implied that  certain forms of life are 
qualitatively superior to others1       
independently of the number of          
individuals1 present or future1 in which
  each form is realized4444 ,and if we  
confine ourselves to human beings1  to  
whom alone the practical side of the    
doctrine applies1 is it not too         
paradoxical to assert that 'rising in   
the scale of existence' means no  more  
than 'developing the capacity to exist'8
 ,a greater degree of  fertility would  
thus become an excellence outweighing   
the finest moral  and intellectual      
endowments2 and some semi-barbarous     
races must be held  to have attained the

 end of human existence more than some  
of the  pioneers and patterns of        
civilization4 ,nor is it only in the    
region of  ethics but in every region   
that this false simplification is       
fertile in  paradoxes2 and yet if it be 
disowned1 the charm to which ,evolution 
owes  its popularity is gone4    ,it    
would be indeed a short cut to knowledge
 if we might believe life to  be1 as    
this theory imagines it1 a simple1      
self-diffusing force with an            
irrepressible tendency to spread itself 
in all directions1 like fire in  a      
prairie4 ,true we should not have       
altogether got rid of innate            
tendencies1 but we should have reduced  
them to one1 namely1 to the  struggling1
 or persisting1 or self-asserting       
tendency2 a simplification  like that   
offered by the matter-and-force theory  
of ,buchner4    ,this flame of life once
 kindled 7we are told7 endeavours to    
subdue all  things to itself1 and all   
that we find in the way of variety of   

organic  structure and function has been
 shaped and determined by its           
struggle--much as a river channels a way
 for its waters in virtue of its  own   
onward force1 checked and determined by 
the nature of the obstacles  it has to  
encounter4 ,every organism is related to
 life as the  candlestick to the candle2
 it is simply a device for supporting   
and  spreading as much life as is       
possible with the surrounding           
conditions4  ,often1 when conditions are
 favourable1 the simplest contrivance   
will be  more effectual1 more           
life-producing than the most complex in 
less  favourable conditions4 ,where food
 is not present the animal that can     
move about in search of it will survive1
 and the stationary animal  perish2 and 
likewise those that can escape their    
foes will live down  those rooted in one
 spot4 ,and if to motion we add         
perception and  intelligence1 and       
associative instincts and the rest1 we  
increase the  appliances for dealing    

with difficulties2 and therewith the    
means of  survival when such            
difficulties exist4 ,still1 in the      
hypothesis we are  dealing with1 all    
these contrivances--movement1           
consciousness1  intelligence1 will1     
society--are distinct from life and     
ministerial to  it2 they are instruments
 by which it is preserved1 increased1   
and  multiplied--like those contrivances
 by which heat or electricity is        
generated1 sustained1 and transmitted2  
with this difference1 that no one  has  
designed these life-machines1 but they  
are simply the result of  life's innate 
tendency to struggle and spread4 ,a     
great deal of the form  and movement of 
the inorganic world is due simply to the
 stress of  gravitation and not to      
design1 and so we are asked to believe  
that the  human and every other organism
 has been shaped and quickened by the   
action of as blind a power2 that it is  
in some sense a casual result4    ,now  
if seeing and hearing and thinking do   

not constitute life1 but are  only      
chance discoveries helpful to life2 if  
we do not live in order to  eat and to  
see and to think1 but only think1 see1  
and eat in order to  live1 we ask       
ourselves1 what then is this life which 
is none of these  things and to which   
they are all subordinate8 ,and when once
 we begin  subtracting those functions  
which minister to life and which life   
has  selected for its own service1 we   
find there is absolutely nothing left   
to serve4 ,taking the very earliest     
forms1 if we subtract movement1         
nutrition1 growth1 generation1 we find  
there is nothing over called  life      
distinct from these4 ,this is the first 
and fundamental  incoherence of the     
theory2 life has simply no meaning apart
 from those  functions which we speak of
 as ministering to life2 unless we mean 
by  life the mere cohering together of  
the bodily organism--an end more        
effectually secured without any such    
complex apparatus1 by a stone or by  an 

elementary atom4    ,if existence in    
that sense1 be the force or principle   
whose persistence  and self-assertion is
 the cause of all evolution1 it is      
impossible to  conceive how primordial  
atoms1 which are assumed to be          
indestructible  and constant in         
quantity1 should trouble themselves to  
struggle at all2  since the amount of   
that kind of existence can neither be   
lessened nor  increased4 ,and as motion 
is also assumed to be a constant        
quantity1 it  is plain that what        
struggles to be and to multiply1 must be
 some special  collocation and grouping 
of atoms with some correspondingly      
particular  determination of motion1    
called life2 but what life is1 apart    
from  the means it is supposed to have  
selected for itself1 does not appear4   
,another difficulty attendant on this   
false simplification is the  complete   
subversion of that scale of dignity or  
excellence upon which we  range the     
various kinds of living creatures1      

putting ourselves at the  top--not      
merely in obedience to a pardonable     
vanity1 but1 as has  hitherto been      
supposed1 in obedience to a trustworthy 
intuition which1  without attempting to 
apply a common measure to things        
incommensurable1  judges life to be     
higher than death2 consciousness than   
unconsciousness2  mind than mere        
sensation2 and in general1 what includes
 and surpasses1  than what is included  
and surpassed4 ,we see that the organic 
world  presupposes the ministry of the  
inorganic2 and the animal world1 that of
  the plant world2 and that the human   
world depends on the ministry of all    
three2 and our whole conception of this 
world as cosmos is simply the  filling  
in of this hierarchic framework4 ,yet   
this old structure falls to  pieces     
under the new simplification4 ,if life  
7as vaguely conceived7 be  the first    
beginning and the last end 7or rather   
result7 of the whole  process of        
evolution1 if it be the summum bonum1   

then the highest  creature means1 the   
most life-producing4    ,now if we put  
money instead of life1 and begin to     
classify men by  this standard1 we see  
how it inverts the old-world ideas of   
social  hierarchy4 ,true it is1 the man 
of letters or of high artistic gifts    
can produce a certain amount of money1  
but has little chance against  the      
inventor of a new soap or a patent pill4
 ,honesty at once becomes  the worst    
policy1 and a thousand other maxims have
 to be reformed4 ,yet  this is a        
trifling boule-versement compared with  
that which would  have to be introduced 
into our scientific classification were 
life-productivity 7in the vague7 taken  
as the criterion of excellence4    ,for 
we cannot any longer determine the rank 
of an animal by its organic  complexity1
 since1 ceteris paribus1 this is a      
defect rather than  otherwise4    ,to   
secure life more simply is better than  
to secure the same amount by  means of  
complex apparatus4 ,of course when the  

favouring conditions are  altered1 then 
any apparatus that makes life still     
possible is an  advantage2 but till that
 crisis arises it is only an            
encumbrance4 ,when  life can be secured 
only at the cost of greater labour and  
exertion and  cunning1 it is well to be 
capable of these things1 but surely     
those  animals are more to be envied    
that have no need of these things4 ,it  
is  only on the hypothesis of an        
unkindly environment that complexity of 
organization is an excellence4          
,furthermore1 although these accidental 
variations allow certain  creatures to  
survive in crises of difficulty1 yet    
they also make the  conditions of their 
survival more complicated and hard to   
secure4 ,all  that differentiates man   
from an amoeba has enabled him to get   
safe  through certain straits where the 
lower forms of life were left behind  to
 perish2 but it has also made it        
impossible for him to live in the       
simpler conditions he has escaped from2 

like a parvenu whose luxurious  habits  
have gradually created a number of new  
necessities for him1 which  make a      
return to his original poverty and      
hardships quite impracticable4  ,if the 
development of lungs has allowed animals
 to come out of the water  into the air1
 it has also prevented their going back 
again4 ,furthermore1  a considerable    
amount of vital energy is consumed in   
the production1  support1 and repair of 
all this supplementary1 life-preserving 
apparatus2 just as1 much of the national
 wealth for whose protection  they exist
 is absorbed by a standing army and     
other military  preparations4 ,and in   
fact of two countries otherwise equal in
 wealth1  that is surely the better off 
which has no need of being thus armed up
  to the teeth4 ,thus man's superior    
organization may be compared to the     
overcoat and umbrella with which one    
sets out on a threatening morning2  very
 desirable should it rain1 but a great  
nuisance should it clear up4    ,it     

seems1 then1 that the highest organism  
is that which produces or  secures the  
greatest quantity of life in the        
simplest manner1 and at the  cost of the
 least complexity of structure and      
function2 while the lowest  is that     
which yields the least quantity at the  
greatest cost2 and  between these two   
extremes organisms will be ranked by the
 ratio of  their complexity to their    
life-productivity--life being measured  
mathematically 7as something            
homogeneous7 by its vigour1 by its      
duration1 and by the amount of matter   
animated1 whether in the  individual or 
in its progeny4 ,it is obvious how1 at  
this rate1 our  zoological hierarchy is 
turned topsy-turvy2 and how difficult it
 will be  to show that man is a better  
life-machine than1 say1 a mud-turtle    
with  its centuries of vital existence4 
,it would be a monstrous allegation to  
say that any evolutionist would  defend 
these conclusions in all their crudity2 
but is only by thus  pushing implied    

principles to their results1 that their 
incoherence can  be made plain4 ,once   
more1 if this simple uniform thing      
called life be  the sole cause1         
determining organic ,evolution and      
selecting accidental  variations1 just  
in so far as they favour its own        
maintenance and  multiplication1 then   
every organ1 appliance1 and faculty by  
which man  differs from the simplest    
bioplast1 is merely a life-preserving   
contrivance4 ,to speak human-wise1      
,nature in that case has but one        
end--animal life2 and chooses every     
means solely with a view to that  end4  
,she does not care about pain or        
pleasure1 or consciousness1 or          
knowledge1 or truth1 or morality1 or    
society1 or science1 or religion1  for  
their own sakes2 she cares for life     
only1 and for these so far  as--like    
horns and teeth and claws--they are     
conducive to life4  ,evolution therefore
 is governed by a blind non-moral       
principle--as blind  and ruthless as    

gravitation4 ,this being so1 the mind is
 for the sake of  the body1 and not     
conversely4 ,evolution is not making for
 truth and  righteousness as for greater
 or even as for co-ordinate ends2 but   
simply  for life1 to which sometimes    
truth and righteousness1 but just as    
often  illusion and selfishness1 are    
means4 ,there is nothing therefore in   
this  process of ,nature to make us     
trust that our mind really makes for    
truth  as such1 or that it has any      
essential tendency to greater           
correspondence  with reality1 beyond    
what subserves to fuller animal         
existence4 ,the fact  that a certain    
belief makes animal life possible is no 
proof of its  truth1 but only of its    
expediency4 ,the extent to which many   
pleasures  depend on illusion is        
proverbial2 and pleasure is almost the  
note of  vital vigour1 according to this
 philosophy4    ,plainly1 our argument  
from the adaptability of a belief to    
man's higher  moral needs1 vanishes into

 thin air as soon as the key to the     
order of  nature is thus sought in a    
blind non-moral tendency1 and when that 
which  is lowest is put at the top1 and 
everything above it made to minister to 
it4    ,but then it is not only this    
particular argument that perishes1 but  
all  possibility of arguing at all1 all 
faith in our mental faculties1 except   
so far as they minister to the finding  
of food and the propagation of  life4   
,thus the very attempt to prove such a  
system of ,evolution is a               
contradiction1 since it cuts away all   
basis of proof4 ,on this ,i need not    
dwell longer1 since it has been worked  
out so fully and clearly by  others4 ,we
 get rid of the argument from           
adaptability1 by a conception of  the   
order of ,nature that reduces us to     
mental and moral chaos4    ,in its      
semblance of simplicity this form of    
,evolution-philosophy shows  itself kin 
to those other old-world attempts to    
dispense with a  governing mind1 and to 

educe the existing cosmos from the blind
 strife  of primordial atoms4 ,it has   
indeed a more plausible basis1 seeing   
how  many things1 too quickly attributed
 to design in a theological age1 can    
really be explained by the struggle for 
existence4 ,but in trying to make  an   
occasional and partial cause universal  
and ultimate1 it has  undertaken the    
impossible task of bringing the greater 
out of the less2  which really means    
bringing their difference out of        
nothing--and this is  creation with the 
,first ,cause left out2 that is1        
spontaneous creation4  ,it is from first
 to last an aggregation theory1 and has 
to face the  insupportable burdens which
 such a theory brings with it4 ,haunted 
by a  false analogy drawn from the      
political organism whose members are    
intelligent and self-directive1 and who 
put themselves under an  intelligent    
government to be marshalled and directed
 to one common  end--haunted by this    
anthropomorphic conception1 it tries to 

explain how  independent and            
indestructible units1 void of all       
intelligence1 come  together into       
polities with no assignable government2 
and how these  groups or polities1 which
 are nothing separate from the sum of   
their  components1 are aggregated to one
 another in like manner2 until at last  
we come to the highest organism1 which  
again is only the sum of its  ultimate  
atoms1 and its activity the sum of their
 activities--the whole  distinction     
between highest and lowest organism     
being such as exists  between a society 
of two and a highly complex civilized   
state4 ,and all  this political life is 
the spontaneous work of unintelligent   
units2 that  is to say1 we have results 
exceeding the highest ever attained by  
human  intelligence1 long before        
intelligence or sentience has yet been  
evolved4    ,nobody will care to support
 ,pangenesis as a theory of generation4 
,to  suppose that there is a mysterious 
power which breaks a little fraction    

off each of the bioplasts of which we   
are asserted to be the sum2 that  having
 collected these fractions it arranges  
them all in the right order  within the 
compass of a single germ1 and from that 
germ reproduces the  parent organism1 is
 an hypothesis compared with which the  
creation of  the world in its entirety  
six thousand years ago1 including the   
fossils  and remains of aeonian         
civilizations1 is lucid and             
intelligible4 ,this is  no hyperbole4   
,for if once we allow creation at all1  
the creation of the  world at any stage 
of ,evolution is just as conceivable as 
the creation  of primordial atoms4 ,if  
any living thing were now created 7e4g41
 a  grain of corn or a full ear7 it     
would bear in itself the apparent       
evidence of having grown to its present 
state ab ovo2 or the ovum  itself would 
seem to ground a similar false inference
 of having come  from a parent4 ,strange
 as such an idea may be1 it is easy and 
pellucid  compared with the hypothesis  

of ,pangenesis--still more when we      
remember  that this complex germ1 which 
is a lion or a horse in small--itself   
the  elaboration of aeons of            
,evolution--can replicate itself with   
ease and  rapidity1 reproducing in      
adjacent pabulum a cosmos which differs 
in  degree1 not in kind1 from that      
described in the story of the ,six      
,days4  ,yet the more we look into it1  
the more clear is it that ,pangenesis   
7and  not ,polarigenesis or             
,perigenesis7 is the inevitable outcome 
of the  aggregation-theory of life4     
,and therefore to return to our former  
assertion1 whatever we seem to  gain in 
simplicity of statement by this form of 
the ,evolution theory1 we  pay for      
dearly when we come to its application2 
nay more1 as soon as we  attempt to     
translate the words into clear and      
distinct ideas1 we are  left with       
nothing coherent that the mind can get  
hold of2 and it is only  at this price  
that we can cut away the basis of the   

argument from  adaptability1 and with it
 the basis of all reason and morality4  
,we must  therefore go on to examine if 
there be any alternative form of the    
same  philosophy more bearable4    ,i   
have forborne all criticism of the      
supposed facts on which ,evolution  is  
based2 as others have dealt frequently  
with their various weaknesses4  ,nor do 
,i think it necessary to deal with the  
extravagant subordinate  hypotheses by  
aid of which facts are forced under the 
main hypothesis1  e4g41 those which     
explain how the horse grew out of the   
hipparion4 ,the  crudest finalists have 
been everywhere out-stripped by         
,evolutionists in  dextrous application 
of the argument a posse ad esse4        
,,iii4    ,assuming still that the facts
 collected and arranged by experimental 
science in favour of the hypothesis are 
such as to demand some kind of          
,evolution-philosophy2 assuming that the
 very imperfect serial  classification  
of living things according to their     

degree of organic  definiteness1        
coherence1 and heterogeneity not merely 
represents a  variety which has always  
coexisted since life was possible on    
this  earth1 but rather traces out or   
hints at the genetic process by which   
this variety has been produced1 let us  
see if there be any other  governing    
principle directing the process1 more   
intelligible than the  persistence of   
that mere organic life which cannot even
 be thought of as  distinct from those  
appliances and functions which it is    
supposed to  have evolved for its own   
service by natural selection4    ,let us
 admit1 what is really evident1 that    
life is nothing distinct from  the sum  
of those functions which minister to the
 preservation of life2  and that        
therefore it is not the same thing in a 
man and in a  mud-turtle4 ,man's        
superior faculties are not merely a more
 complicated  machinery for producing an
 identical effect which the mud-turtle  
produces more simply and abundantly1 but

 rather by their very play  constitute  
an entirely different and higher kind of
 life4 ,when ,hume1  in his ,treatise on
 ,human ,nature1 says3 ,reason is and   
ought to be the  slave of the passions  
and can never pretend to any other      
office than to  serve and obey them1 he 
implies that the exercise of reason is  
no  constituent factor of human life1   
but something outside it1 subordinate   
to it1 whereas that life itself consists
 in passion1 or pleasurable  sensation1 
of which man1 in virtue of his reason   
and other advantages1  secures more than
 do his fellow-animals4 ,this is just   
the conception of  life which we have   
seen to be incoherent on close          
inspection2 and if it  be so1 then the  
evolutionary process is a struggle not  
for bare life or  existence1 but for the
 prevalence of the higher kinds of life 
and  existence2 and intelligence and    
morality are not only co-operative as   
instruments in maintaining and extending
 human life1 but are themselves  the    

principal elements of that complex life4
 ,true1 the mind does  minister to the  
body and preserve it2 but still more    
does the body  minister to the mind2 or 
rather1 each ministers to that whole in 
which  the play of the mind is the      
principal function and the play of the  
body  subordinate4 ,if1 then1 we hold to
 the verdict of our common sense1 and   
regard our mental life not as           
subordinate to our sensitive and vegetal
  life1 but as co-ordinate and even     
superior1 we must 7so to speak7 view  it
 as no less for its own sake1 as no less
 an end in itself than  they are1 but   
rather much more2 we must regard        
evolution as making for  the life of    
truth and the life of righteousness even
 more principally  than for bare        
existence or animal vitality4 ,it is now
 no longer mere  life that tries to     
assert itself1 and in the struggle      
shapes things to  what they are2 but it 
is the very highest kind of life1 that  
is trying  to come to the birth4 ,nature

 inherently tends to the higher through 
the  lower forms of life1 and these     
minister to the higher and receive in   
return from them the means of a yet more
 efficacious ministry4    ,in this      
conception1 every function of the       
organism has two aspects1  under one of 
which it is its own end and exists for  
its own sake as an  element of the life 
of the whole2 under the other it is     
ministerial1  serving other functions   
above and below it1 as it in return is  
served by  them4 ,correspondence with   
the environment is1 similarly1 not      
merely a  condition of life1 but also   
that wherein vitality principally       
consists4  ,living is spontaneous       
self-adaptation to surrounding reality1 
taken in  the very widest sense4 ,the   
more diverse and multiform this         
adaptability1  the fuller and higher is 
the life2 and thus our ordinary         
common-sense  classifications are       
justified4 ,each new manifestation of   
life means some  new correspondence with

 surrounding reality as we piss from    
mere  vegetation1 and then add local    
movement1 and one sense after another1  
till we come finally to intelligence and
 the life of reason and  right-doing1   
which again1 consists in                
self-conformation to things as  they    
really are4 ,in all this we are in      
agreement with common sense and  common 
language1 which identify the fullest    
life with the fullest  activity2 all    
activity being of the nature of response
 to stimulus1 that  is1 correspondence  
to reality4 ,as soon as consciousness   
supervenes on  the lower forms of life  
it is evident that the pleasures of     
sight1  hearing1 taste1 mind1 and       
affection all depend on1 and consist in1
 the  consciousness of this successful  
accommodation of the subject to the     
object2 and that all pain and disease is
 simply the felt failure of such        
adaptation4 ,what was anciently and very
 wisely called the natural  appetite of 
living creatures is in this view nothing

 else but their  response to the        
modifying attraction exerted upon them  
by the objective  ,reality which presses
 upon them on every side1 and tends to  
draw them  into conformity with itself  
so far as they have latent capacity for 
such  a correspondence4 ,it is the light
 that makes 7or rather elicits7 sight2  
and it is sound that develops the sense 
of hearing3 and it is the ideas         
embodied in ,nature that call our       
intellect into play4 ,hence it follows  
that1 desire for truth and justice1 for 
society and for religion1 which  assert 
themselves as invariably in the soul of 
man at certain stages of  progress1 as  
the desire for mere life asserts itself 
from the first1 is  simply the felt     
result of the as yet unsuccessful       
endeavour of ,nature to  draw man into a
 fuller kind of correspondence with     
herself4    ,thus conceived1 the course 
of evolution is comparable1 not as      
before1 to  the gradual unveiling of a  
blank canvas1 revealing simply a greater

  extent of the same appearance1 but to 
the gradual unveiling of a picture      
whose full unity of meaning is held in  
suspense till the disclosure is         
completed4 ,we do not now interpret the 
higher by the lower1 but the  lower by  
the higher2 the beginning by the end4   
,this may seem perilously  near to      
finalism1 yet it is no more necessarily 
so1 than the process of  photography2 we
 only need a self-adaptive tendency in  
life-matter  responsive to the          
stimulating-tendency of the environment4
 ,not1 of  course1 that this bundle of  
words really explains anything1 but that
  like other formulae of the kind1 it   
prescinds from the question of ends  and
 origins1 by making a statement of what 
happens serve as a cause of  what       
happens1 and calling it a ,law or a     
,tendency1 or a ,latent                 
,potentiality--thus filling the gap     
which mere agnosticism creates in our   
thought4    ,with this conception of    
,evolution our ordinary estimates of    

higher and  lower are saved2 also the   
value of our mental processes upon which
  rests whatever proof the theory may   
admit of2 while the argument from       
adaptability is provided with a firm    
basis independent of finality4 ,all  our
 natural1 as opposed to our personal and
 self-determined appetites  or          
cravings1--those which are1 so to say1  
constitutional and inseparable  from our
 nature in certain conditions1 are      
evidence of the influence of  some      
reality outside us seeking to draw us   
into more perfect  correspondence with  
itself1 and whose nature can be more or 
less dimly  conjectured from the nature 
of those cravings4 ,what are called     
natural  religions represent man's      
self-devised attempts to explain the    
reality  answering to his religious and 
moral cravings4 ,revelation is but a    
divine interpretation of the same2 as   
though one with dim vision were to      
supplement his defect by the testimony  
of another more clear-sighted4    ,it   

may be practically admitted that no     
philosophy allows of strict             
demonstration1 since1 being a conception
 of the totality of things1 it  modifies
 our understanding of every principle by
 which one might attempt  to prove or   
disprove it4 ,eventually it is its      
harmony with the totality  of things as 
we perceive them that determines us to  
accept it1 and no  two of us perceive   
just the same totality1 however         
substantial an  agreement there may be  
in our experience2 yet ,i think it can  
hardly be  denied that this conception  
of evolution is far more in agreement   
with  the world as most of us know it1  
and commonly think and speak of it1     
than the former2 that it not merely     
satisfies our intellect1 but offers     
some satisfaction to our whole spiritual
 nature4 ,is it certain1 asks  ,mr4     
,bradley1 in a fairly similar           
connection1 that the mere intellect  can
 be self-satisfied if the other elements
 of our nature remain  uncontented8     

,and1 again3 ,a result1 if it fails to  
satisfy our whole  nature1 comes short  
of perfection3 and ,i could not rest    
tranquilly in a  truth if ,i were       
compelled to regard it as hateful4444 ,i
 should insist  that the inquiry was not
 yet closed and that the result was but 
partial4  ,and if metaphysics for which 
we may substitute3 any philosophy1 such 
a that of ,evolution is to stand1 it    
must1 ,i think1 take account of  all    
sides of our being4 ,i do not mean that 
every one of our desires must  be met by
 a promise of particular satisfaction2  
for that would be absurd  and utterly   
impossible4 ,but if the main tendencies 
of our nature do not  reach consummation
 in the ,absolute1 we cannot believe    
that we have  attained to perfection and
 truth4#g ,from this point of view there
 can  be no doubt as to which of these  
conceptions of ,evolution is the more   
rational and satisfactory2 that which   
would explain it by a simple  tendency  
in living matter to persist and spread1 

and would see in all  organic variety   
only the selected means to that somewhat
 colourless end2  or that conception    
which would explain it by a tendency in 
living matter  to come into ever fuller 
correspondence with its environment1    
seeing in  such spontaneous             
correspondence the very essence of life1
 and not merely  a condition of life4   
,we need only add a few criticisms on   
this second conception4    #a4 ,it is   
true that every creature struggles more 
intensely and  vigorously for the lower 
kind of life1 or for mere life1 as we   
might  say1 than for any of those things
 which alone would seem to make life    
worth the having4 ,but this only means  
that to live at all is the most         
fundamental condition of living well and
 fully and enjoyably4 ,the higher  life 
cannot stand without the lower1 which it
 includes1 but the lower is  not        
therefore the better1 nor is it the end 
for whose sake the higher is  desirable2
 but conversely4 ,not until men have got

 bread enough to eat  will they have    
leisure or energy to spare for the      
animal grades of  vitality4 ,when the   
means of bodily subsistence grow scarce1
 then the  faculties that were          
previously set free to seek the bread of
 a higher  and fuller life are diverted 
to the struggle for bare animal         
existence1  and progress is thrown back2
 but when there is abundance for all1   
secured by the labour of a few from whom
 the remainder can buy1 then  fuller    
life becomes once more possible for that
 remainder4 ,the struggle  for bodily   
food gives an advantage to1 and selects 
naturally1 those  mental and other      
powers which facilitate its attainment2 
but just as man  does not only eat and  
labour in order to live1 but also       
7however it may  shock conventional     
ethics7 lives in order to eat and       
labour2 so the new  energies called     
forth by competition do not merely      
secure that grade of  life in whose     
interests they are evoked and perfected1

 but extend the  sphere of vitality1 in 
so much as their own play adds a new    
element to  life and gives it a new     
form4    ,the part played by struggle   
and competition in this process of      
,evolution  is naturally exaggerated by 
those who deny any latent tendency other
  than that of mere persistence in      
being2 who repudiate an internal        
expansiveness towards fuller kinds of   
existence1 drawn out or checked by  the 
environment4    ,competition plays a    
prominent part when there is question of
 the lower  grades of life1 in so far as
 these depend on a pabulum that is      
limited  in quantity4 ,in such cases    
competition1 within certain limits1 will
  secure the bringing-out of latent     
powers by which the lower level of  life
 is maintained and a higher level       
entered upon2 the lower being  secured  
by the superimposition of the higher4   
,but how does it do so8 ,not by creating
 anything1 but by giving the  victory to
 those individuals who already were     

ahead of their fellows in  virtue of a  
fuller development of their nature from 
within2 in clearing  the ground for them
 and letting them increase and multiply4
    #b4 ,again1 we should notice that   
development in one direction may be at  
the cost of development in another4 ,the
 struggle for any lower form of         
existence than that already attained1 is
 inevitably at the cost of the  higher4 
,the degrading effects of destitution   
are proverbial4 ,craft1  cruelty1       
selfishness1 and all the vices needed   
for success in a  gladiatorial contest  
are often the fruits of such            
competition4 ,also1  commercial progress
 seems on the whole to be at the expense
 of progress  in art and the higher     
tastes1 sacrificing everything to the   
production  of the greatest possible    
quantity of material comforts4 ,if it   
sharpens  the wits and sensibilities in 
some directions1 it blunts them in      
others4    ,now1 the first sense        
suggested to us in these days by the    

word  progress1 is material             
progress--all that came in with steam2  
and this  narrow conception vitiates    
much of our reasoning4 ,it is in this   
realm  undoubtedly that competition is  
such a factor of rapid advance2 but we  
forget that the food of what the best   
men have ever considered the best  life1
 is not limited or divisible2 but like  
the light and air is  undiminished how  
many soever share it4 ,whatever advance 
there has been  in the life of the mind 
and of the higher tastes and            
sensibilities1  cannot directly be      
explained by competition1 but simply by 
the quiet  upward working of ,nature's  
inherent forces4 ,we look with scorn at 
the  unprogressive ,east1 satisfied that
 there can be no progress1 no life      
worth living1 where there is no rush for
 dollars4 ,but ,i think we have  yet to 
learn the meaning of ex ,oriente lux4   
,much of our immorality and our social  
evil comes from the fact that  those who
 have developed the faculties of a      

higher grade of life1 seek  the lower as
 an end in itself1 and not simply so far
 as it is a  condition of the higher and
 no further4 ,the ,gospel precept1 as   
usual1  enunciates only the law of      
reason and nature1 when it bids us to   
,seek  first the ,kingdom of ,god and   
its justice1 that is1 to put our best   
life  in the front1 and to make it the  
measure and limit of any other quest4   
,the neglect of this principle gives us 
high living and plain thinking1  instead
 of high thinking and plain living2 and 
takes the bread out of  the mouths of   
the poor4 ,the competition for pleasures
 and luxuries and  amusements1 may      
indeed develop certain industries and   
cause progress in  certain narrow lines1
 but it is at the cost of the only      
progress worth  the name4    ,the       
conflict between this struggle-theory   
and ethics has been freely  acknowledged
 by ,professor ,huxley and others2 every
 attempt to educe  unselfishness from   
selfishness has failed4 ,the moral man  

even in our day  has rather a bad time  
of it2 what chance would he have had of 
surviving  to propagate his species in  
the supposed pre-moral states of human  
society8 ,who can possibly conceive mere
 rottenness being cured by  progress in 
rottenness2 or a man drinking himself   
into temperance8 ,on  the other hand1 it
 is at least conceivable that in the    
wildest savage  there is some little    
seed of a moral sense--weak1 compared   
with the  lowest springs of action1 just
 because it is the highest and therefore
  only struggling into being2 and that  
in the slow lapse of time events  may   
here and there prove that honesty is the
 best policy2 and that  honesty once    
tasted may be found not only useful for 
other things1 but  agreeable for itself1
 and may be cherished and strengthened  
by social  and religious sanctions4     
,there is1 however1 a reaction on foot  
which tends to reconcile the  breach    
between ethics and evolution1 by        
reducing the part played by  competition

 within reasonable bounds1 and making it
 subservient to the  survival1 not of   
the most selfish1 but of the most social
 individuals4  ,definite variations from
 within1 modified between narrow limits 
by  accidental variation from without1  
is coming to be acknowledged as the     
chief factor of progress4 ,but we should
 not forget that to allow an  internal  
principle of orderly development is1 not
 merely to modify the  popular evolution
 theory by a slight concession to its   
adversaries2 it  is rather to make it no
 longer the supreme explanation of      
development1  but at most a slight      
modification of the more mysterious     
theory which it  was its boast and merit
 to have supplanted4 ,according to      
,geddes and  ,foster and others of their
 school1 it is the species-subserving   
qualities that ,nature selects2 and     
these1 in the higher grades of life1    
are equivalent to the altruistic1       
social1 and ethical qualities4 ,it is   
in virtue of the parental and maternal  

instincts of self-sacrifice1            
self-diffusion1 self-forgetfulness in   
the interests of the offspring1  that   
species are preserved and prevail4      
,selfish egoism leads eventually  7as we
 see in some modern countries where     
laizzez-faire liberalism  prevails7 to  
social disruption1 decadence1 and chaos2
 and this is the  universal law of life 
in every grade4 ,at first indeed the    
unit struggles  to live1 for life is the
 condition of propagation2 but the root 
of this  instinct is altruistic2 it is  
the whole asserting itself in the part2 
and all self-regarding instincts are to 
be likewise explained as  subordinate to
 the other-regarding instincts4 ,as soon
 as this  sub-ordination is ignored in  
practice1 regress takes the place of    
progress4 ,the transit1 we are told1    
from the unicellular to the             
multicellular organism cannot be        
explained by individualism1 but implies 
a diminution of the competitive1 an     
increase of the social and              

subordinative tendency4 ,the argument   
from economics to biology and back      
again1 is said to be nearing exposure2  
the progress of the species  through the
 internecine struggle of its individuals
 at the margin of  subsistence1 is the  
outgoing idea4 ,yes1 and with it goes   
out all that  made ,evolution a simple  
and therefore popular explanation of the
 world2  and there comes in that organic
 conception of the process which        
clamours for theism and finalism as its 
only coherent complement4    #c4 ,but   
though ,evolution so conceived makes the
 argument from  adaptability1 as well as
 the arguments for theism1 stronger     
rather than  weaker2 we must not shut   
our eyes to the difficulty created by   
the fact  7too little insisted upon by  
,evolutionists7 that there is no solid  
reason for thinking that progress is    
all-pervading4 ,we have already said    
that progress in commerce may be regress
 in art or in religion or in  morality4 
,also1 progress in benevolence may      

co-exist with regress in  fortitude and 
purity2 progress in one point of        
morality with regress in  another2      
progress in ethical judgment with       
regress in ethical practice4  ,and in   
every realm1 growth and decay1 life and 
death1 seem so to  intertwine and       
oscillate that it is very gratuitous to 
designate the  total process as being   
one or the other4 ,spencer confesses    
that the  entire universe oscillates    
between extremes of integration and     
disintegration4 ,why we should consider 
the universe at present to be  rising   
rather than falling1 waxing rather than 
waning1 one cannot say4  ,the easier    
presumption is that it is equally one   
and the other1 and  always has been4    
,even were we rash enough to pronounce  
progress to be on  the whole prevalent  
within the narrow field of our own      
experience1  surely it were nothing but 
the inevitable provincialism of the     
human  mind to pass per saltum from     
that1 to a generalization for all       

possible experience4 ,our optimism1 our 
faith that right1 truth1 and  order will
 eventually prevail1 can find only a    
delusive basis in actual  experience1   
and must draw its life from some deeper 
source4    ,why then should we so       
presume that our moral and religious    
ideas are  really progressive and not   
regressive1 as to regard their          
interpretation  as approximating to the 
truth8 ,the answer is simply that our   
argument  from adaptability does not    
require the assumption in question1 but 
only  that we should be able to         
distinguish higher from lower           
tendencies1  progressive from regressive
 movements1 without holding the         
optimistic  view that on the whole the  
forward tendency is at present          
prevailing4 ,it  is not because we live 
in the nineteenth century that we       
consider our  moral perceptions truer   
than those of the ancient ,hebrews1 but 
because  we at once comprehend and      
transcend their ideas 7in some          

respects71 as  the greater does the     
less4 ,in many points surely the        
relation is  inverted and we feel       
ourselves transcended 7or may at least  
suspect it71  by those who lived or live
 in ruder conditions than our own4      
,david has  perhaps taught us more than 
we could have taught him2 and there are 
other vices than those proper to        
semi-barbarism4 ,it is not by reference 
to date or country1 or grade of material
 progress1 that we assess the  value of 
moral judgments1 but by that subjective 
standard with which our  own moral      
attainments supply us in regard to all  
that is equal or less1  similar or      
dissimilar4 ,to deny this discernment is
 to throw the doors  open to unqualified
 scepticism2 to admit it1 is all that we
 need for the  validity of our          
inference4    #d4 ,if ,evolution is     
really of this oscillatory character2 if
 at all times  much the same processes  
have been going on in different parts of
 this  universe as now--one system      

decaying as another is coming into      
being2 is  it not more reasonable to    
imagine 7for it is only a question of   
imagining7 that the primordial datum was
 not uniform nebula1 but matter  in all 
stages of elaboration from the highest  
to the lowest--the same  sort of result 
as we should get from a cross-section at
 any subsequent  moment in the process8 
,what reason is there for assuming      
primordial  homogeneity1 since every    
backward step would show us1 together   
with the  unravelling of what is now in 
process of weaving1 a counter-balancing 
weaving of what is now in process of    
disintegration8 ,were this earth  all1  
we might dream of universal advance by  
shutting our eyes to a great  many      
incompatible facts2 but when our        
telescopes show us the  co-existence of 
integration and disintegration          
everywhere1 what can we  conclude but   
that in the past as in the future1 no   
alteration is to be  looked for beyond  
the shifting of the waves' crest from   

side to side of  the sea of matter--the 
total ratio of depressions to elevations
  remaining exactly constant4    ,were  
the other view of an original universal 
homogeneity correct1 how  conies it that
 we have still co-existent every stage  
of advance from the  lowest to the      
highest1 and that there is not a greater
 equality8--a  difficulty which does not
 exist if we suppose things to have been
 on  the whole1 as they are now1 from   
the very first4 ,but whichever view we  
take2 whether we suppose all things     
collectively to oscillate between       
recurring extremes of sameness and      
otherness2 or every stage of the  wave  
of progress from crest to trough1 to be 
simultaneously manifested  in the       
universe at all times1 the old          
difficulty of the beginning will  force 
itself upon us4 ,a process ab aeterno is
 at least as unimaginable  as the       
process of creation ex nihilo2 if it be 
not altogether  inconceivable to boot4  
,and the alternative is1 either a       

primordial state  of homogeneous matter 
which contains the present cosmos in    
germ1 and  from which it is evolved     
without the aid of any environment--such
 a germ  claiming a designer as much as 
any ready-made perfect world2 or else1 a
  primordial state of things like that  
which we should get at any              
cross-section of the secular process1 in
 which every stage of life and  death1  
growth and decay1 evolution and         
involution1 is represented as  now4     
,this would include fossils and remains 
of past civilizations  which 7in the    
hypothesis7 would never have existed2   
and would be  in all respects as        
difficult as the crudest conception of  
the  creation-hypothesis4 ,and if this  
absurdity drives us back to  primordial 
homogeneity1 as before1 we must remember
 that here1 too1  though not so         
evidently1 we should have all the signs 
of an antecedent  process that was      
non-existent4 ,life and death1          
corruption and  integration1 are parts  

of one undulatory process4 ,cut the wave
 where  you will its curve claims to be 
finished in both directions and         
suggests a before as well as an after4  
,if1 in the very nature of  things1 the 
pendulum sways between confusion and    
order1 chaos and  cosmos1 each extreme  
intrinsically demands the other1 not    
only as its  consequent1 but as its     
antecedent2 and the first chaos1 no less
 than  any succeeding one1 will seem the
 ruin of a previous cosmos4 ,therefore  
we are driven back upon a process ab    
aeterno with every stage of  evolution  
always simultaneously represented in one
 part or other of  the whole4 ,whatever 
mitigation such a conception may offer1 
surely we  may be excused for still     
adhering to that simpler explanation    
which  involves a mystery indeed1 but   
nothing so positively unthinkable as a  
process without a beginning4    #e4     
,this same conception of a process      
without beginning1 favours the  notion  
that since life was possible on our     

globe all species may well  have        
co-existed in varying proportions4 ,from
 the sudden spread of  population       
through almost accidental conditions1 we
 can imagine how  certain species might 
have been so scarce as to leave no trace
 in  geological strata1 whereas those   
which enormously preponderated at the   
same time would have done so4 ,a change 
of conditions might easily cause  the   
former to preponderate1 and their sudden
 appearance in the strata  would look as
 though they had then first come into   
being4 ,in a word1 we  can have good    
evidence for the extinction of species1 
but scarcely any  for their origination4
    ,this supposition is not adverse to 
the derivation of species from a  common
 stock1 but rather favours the notion   
that as in the case of the  individual  
the period of plasticity is short       
compared with that of  morphological    
stability1 so if there was such an      
arboreal branching out  of species from 
a common root1 it took place rapidly in 

conditions as  different from ours as   
those of uterine from extra-uterine     
life2 and  that the stage of            
inflexibility may have been reached     
before any time of  which we have       
record4    ,but in truth when we see in 
the world of chemical substances an     
altogether similar sedation of species  
where there can be no question of       
common descent as its cause1 we may well
 suspend our judgment till the          
established facts have excluded the many
 hypotheses other than ,evolution  by   
which they may be explained4    ,as long
 as ,evolution claims to be no more than
 a working scientific  hypothesis1 like 
ether or electric fluid--a sort of frame
 or subjective  category into which     
observed facts are more conveniently    
fitted1 it  cannot justly be pressed for
 a solution of ultimate problems2 but   
when  it claims to be a complete        
philosophy and as such to extrude other 
philosophies previously in possession1  
it must show that it can rest the  mind 

where they leave it restless2 or that it
 has proved their proffered  solutions  
spurious4 ,this1 so far1 it has         
absolutely failed to do4 ,at  most it   
may determine more accurately the way in
 which ,god works out ,his  ,idea in    
,creation4 ,it can stand as long as it  
is content to prescind from  the        
question of ends and origins2 but then  
it is no longer a complete  philosophy4 
,as soon as it attempts to solve those  
problems it becomes  incoherent and     
unthinkable4 ,its true complement is    
theism and finality1  which flow from it
 as naturally1 if not quite so          
immediately as the  argument from       
adaptability4 ,deus creavit is so far   
the only  moderately intelligible1 or at
 least not demonstrably unintelligible1 
answer given to the problem of ,in      
principio4    ,we have then in this     
second and soberer form of the          
philosophy of  ,evolution1 an attempt to
 explain the order of the universe      
without  explicit recourse to the       

hypothesis of an intelligent authorship 
and  government of the world3 that is to
 say1 independently of theism and       
finality2 and so far as this explanation
 admits all the effects and             
consequences of an intelligent          
government1 without ascribing them to   
that cause1 it admits among their number
 the value of the argument from         
adaptability1 and allows us to infer    
that the postulates of man's  higher    
moral needs correspond approximately to 
reality1 of which they  are in some     
sense the product2 and that the wish to 
believe is less  likely to be a source  
of delusion in proportion as the belief 
in  question is higher in the moral     
scale4    ,but it is also clear how     
unsuccessful this attempted philosophy  
is in  many ways2 and with what         
difficulties and mysteries it is        
burdened4 ,at  best it can prescind from
 finalism by a confession of            
incompleteness and  philosophical       
bankruptcy2 by resolutely refusing to   

face the problem of  the whole--of the  
ultimate whence and whither4 ,if it     
would positively  exclude theism or     
finalism it must ascribe all seeming    
order and  adaptation to the persistence
 of some blind force1 subduing all      
things  to itself1 to existence1 or to  
life striving to assert and extend      
itself4 ,it is this conception that     
seems best to bring the mystery of  the 
universe within the comprehension of the
 popular mind1 and is more  in keeping  
with those aggregation theories of our  
day which regard  dust as the one       
eternal reality whose combination and   
disguises delude  us into believing in  
soul and intelligence and divinity4 ,but
 on closer  examination the words life  
and existence answer to no simple       
reality  or force which can be regarded 
as governing nature1 and from this      
radical fallacy of language a whole     
brood of further absurdities spring  up 
which make the popular form of          
,evolution-philosophy utterly           

incoherent4    ,june1 ,aug4 ,sept4      
#ahii4        ,footnotes3      ,footnote
 #a3 ,this will perhaps be the most     
convenient term4 ,in the  ,summa of     
,aquinas1 the elaborate treatise ,de    
vera religione1 called  into existence  
by more recent exigencies1 had no place4
 ,still1 in so far  as it is constructed
 roughly on the same scheme and         
presupposes the same  philosophy1 and   
7were it not a deepening of the roots   
rather than an  extension of the        
branches7 might almost be regarded as a 
development of  scholasticism1 it may   
rightly be called scholastic to         
distinguish it1  say1 from such a work  
as the ,grammar of ,assent4    ,footnote
 #b3 ,science and a ,future ,life1 ,by  
,f4 ,w4 ,myers4    ,footnote #c3 i4e41  
,if an object be adequately and         
exhaustively  conceived under the       
predicates ,a4,b4,c4,d41 it is          
inadequately conceived as  ,a4,b4x4x4   
,but if each of these properties be     
permeated and modified by  the rest1    

then ,a in this object is not as ,a in  
any other combination1  but is ,a as    
related to and modified by ,b4,c4,d42   
and similarly1 the other  properties are
 each unique4 ,hence any part is        
somewhat falsely  apprehended till the  
whole be apprehended1 when we are       
dealing with  organic as opposed to     
mechanical totalities4    ,footnote #d3 
,not that the transmutation of one      
species into another has  yet been      
detected in any instance1 or perhaps1   
even were it a fact1  could be detected2
 but that such a serial graduation has  
been observed  as might be commodiously 
explained by that supposition1--and also
 by  fifty others4    ,footnote #e3     
,mind1 #ahgf1 p4 #ahe4    ,footnote #f3 
,mind1 #ahgf1 p4 #i4    ,footnote #g3   
,appearance and ,reality4               
,,xxiii4      ,,idealism ,,in ,,straits4
    ,can any good come out of ,trinity8 
is a question that has been asked  and  
answered in various senses during the   
recent ,catholic ,university            

controversies in ,ireland2 but for      
whatever other good ,catholics might    
look to that staunchly ,elizabethan     
institution1 they would scarcely turn   
thither for theological guidance4 ,yet  
all definition is negative as well  as  
positive2 exclusive as well as          
inclusive2 and we always know our       
position more deeply and accurately in  
the measure that we comprehend  those   
other positions to which it is opposed4 
,the educative value of  comparing      
notes1 quite apart from all prospect of 
coming to an  agreement1 or even of     
flaying our adversaries alive1 is simply
  inestimable2 we do not rightly know   
where we stand1 except in so far as  we 
know where others stand--for place is   
relative4    ,the ,donnellan ,lecturer  
for #ahig-h #a took for his subject the 
doctrine  of the ,blessed ,trinity in   
relation to contemporary idealistic     
philosophy4 ,the scope of these lectures
 is1 not to prove the doctrine of  the  
,trinity philosophically1 but to show   

that the difficulty besetting  the      
conception of a multiplicity of persons 
united by a superpersonal  bond1 is just
 the same difficulty that brings        
idealistic philosophy to a  dead-lock   
when it endeavours 7#a7 to escape from  
solipsism1 7#b7 to  vindicate           
free-will17#c7 to solve the problem of  
evil4 ,he naturally  speaks of ,idealism
 as the only philosophy which can now be
 truly called  living1 in the sense in  
which a language is said to live2 that  
is1  which is growing and changing1 and 
endeavouring to bring new tracts of     
experience under its synthesis2 which is
 current in universities of the  day4   
,of the ,realism which survives in the  
seminaries of the  ecclesiastical world 
he naturally knows nothing2 addressing  
himself to a  wholly different public1  
he speaks to it on its own assumptions1 
in its  own mental language2 and indeed 
he knows no other4 ,but having weighed  
idealism in the balance of criticism1 he
 finds it far short of its  pretensions 

to be an adequate accounting for the    
data of experience2 he  finds that it   
leads the mind in all directions to     
impassable chasms  which only faith can 
overleap4 ,it does not demand or suggest
 the mystery  of the ,trinity1 but      
reveals a void which1 as a fact that    
doctrine alone  does fill4 ,the         
convinced ,realist will not be very     
interested about the  problem of        
solipsism which for him is non-existent1
 but the proposed  relief from the      
difficulties of free-will and of the    
existence of evil  may be grateful to   
all indifferently2 or at least may      
suggest principles  adaptable to other  
systems4 ,in his ,trinitarian theology  
,mr4 ,d',arcy is in  many points at     
variance with the later conclusions of  
the schools2 and  in some instances his 
argument depends vitally on this        
variance2 but not  in the main4 ,for his
 main point is that as our own          
personality--the  highest unity of which
 we have experience--takes under itself 

unities of  a lower grade2 so the       
doctrine of the ,trinity implies what   
the hiatuses  of philosophy require1    
namely1 that personal unity is not the  
highest2  that1 beyond any power of our 
present conception1 the personally many 
can be really 7not only morally or      
socially7 one thing4 ,a wonderfully     
unspeakable thing it is1 says           
,augustine1 and unspeakably wonderful   
that whereas this image of the ,trinity 
7sc41 the human soul71 is one  person1  
and the sovereign ,trinity itself1 three
 persons1 yet that  ,trinity of three   
persons is more inseparable than this   
trinity 7memory1  understanding1 and    
will7 of one person4 ,this superpersonal
 unity is  of course a matter of faith  
and not of philosophy1 yet it is a faith
  without which subjective philosophy   
must come to a stand-still2 it is as    
much a postulate of the speculative     
reason as ,god and immortality are of   
the practical reason4    ,if man is to  
retain the full endowment of his moral  

nature1 we must  make up our minds to   
accept for ourselves an incomplete      
theory of  things4 ,a philosophy which  
should unify the sum-total of human     
experience1 including the supernatural  
facts of ,christianity1 is  impossible2 
but even excluding these facts there is 
always need of some  kind of            
non-rational assent1 which1 however     
reasonable and prudent in  the very     
interests of thought1 is not            
necessitated by the laws of  thought--is
 not1 in the strictest sense            
philosophical4 ,idealism1 like  other   
philosophies1 is not satisfied with an  
imperfect knowledge of the  greatest    
things4 ,it must rise to the ,divine    
standpoint and comprehend  the concrete 
universal1 and so1 of course1 it breaks 
down4 ,but it  would surely be a hasty  
inference1 says ,mr4 ,d',arcy1 that     
philosophy  must needs be exhausted     
because idealism has done its work and  
delivered  its message to mankind1 that 
is1 has explored another blind alley1   

and  has arrived at the cul de sac4 ,in 
fact1 if idealism is a living           
philosophy1 it is nevertheless showing  
signs of age and decay4 ,ptolemaic      
astronomy1 as an explanation of         
planetary movements1 proved its         
exhaustion by a liberal recourse to     
epicycles as the answer to all  awkward 
objections2 and philosophies show       
themselves moribund in an  analogous    
way1 by a monotonous pressing of some   
one hackneyed principle  to a degree    
that makes common-sense revolt and fling
 the whole theory to  the winds--chaff  
and grain indiscriminately4 ,but        
philosophy must be  distinguished from  
philosophies1 as religion from          
religions4 ,the  imperfection of the    
various concrete attempts to satisfy    
either  spiritual need1 may make the    
desperate-minded wish to cut themselves 
free from all connection with any       
particular system2 but the desire and   
effort to have a knowledge of the whole 
7i4e41 a philosophy7 is as  natural and 

ineradicable as the desire to live and  
breathe4 ,in this  general sense1       
philosophy takes human experience1 sets 
it out in all  its main elements1 and   
then endeavours to form a plan of       
systematic  thought which will account  
for the whole4 ,it has one fundamental  
postulate1 that there is a meaning1 or1 
in other words1 that there is an        
all-pervading unity4 ,this faith in the 
ultimate coherence and unity  of        
everything is the presupposition and    
motive of the very attempt to           
philosophize or to determine the nature 
of that unity4 ,it is not1  therefore1  
itself a product of philosophy2 it is an
 innate conviction  that can be denied  
only from the teeth outwards1 but can   
neither be  proved nor disproved by the 
finite mind4    ,to explain is in one   
way or another to liken the less known  
to what is  better known2 and thus every
 philosophy is an attempt to express--by
  means of sundry extensions and        
limitations--the universe of our        

experience in the terms of some totality
 with which we are more  familiar2      
plainly1 it is also an endeavour to     
express the greater in  terms of the    
less1 and must therefore be almost      
infinitely inadequate  even at the best4
 ,at one time the ,whole has been       
conceived as the unity  of a mere       
aggregate--of a heap of stones2 at      
another1 as a mere  sand-storm of       
fortuitous atoms2 there has been the    
egg-theory1 and the  tortoise-theory1   
and many others1 no less grotesque to   
our seeming4 ,but1  leaving fanciful and
 poetical philosophies aside1 and       
considering only  those which pretend to
 be strictly rational1 we find the      
objective  philosophy and the subjective
 confronting one another2 the former    
likening the universe to the works of   
men's hands2 the latter likening  it to 
man himself2 the former taking its      
metaphors from the artificer  shaping   
his material according to a preconceived
 plan for a definite  purpose2 the      

latter1 from the thinking and willing   
self considered as  the creator of its  
own personal experience4    ,there is   
enough uniformity of plan throughout the
 animal body to make  any one part of   
the organism a likeness of the          
whole--the eye1 the  heart1 or the hand4
 ,and so1 presumably1 there is hardly   
any unity we can  think of in our own   
little corner of experience that does   
not offer some  similitude of the       
universal unity4 ,but to take this as an
 adequate  explanation2 to force the    
metaphor to its logical consequences1 to
 the  exclusion of every other          
reasonable though non-rational assent1  
is the  commonest but most fatal form of
 intellectual provincialism and         
narrowness4 ,our mind is essentially    
limited not merely in that it cannot    
know everything1 but in that its mode of
 knowledge is imperfect and  analogical 
in regard to all that is greater than   
itself4 ,it is broad  only when         
conscious of its narrowness4    ,the    

first difficulty into which idealism    
gets itself is that of  solipsism4      
,according to its rigidly argued        
principles1 mind is  separated from mind
 by a barrier which is1 not             
figuratively1 but  literally impassable4
 ,it is impossible for any ego to leap  
this  barrier and enter into the        
experience of any other ego4 ,it is not 
an  abstract self-in-general1 but my one
 solitary concrete self for which  all  
experience exists4 ,there is no room for
 any other person4 ,but this  philosophy
 does not account for our common-sense  
belief in ,nature as  existing          
independently of self and of other      
selfs2 or in those other  selfs with    
their several and distinct spheres of   
experience4    ,the unification it      
effects when treated rigorously as a    
complete  philosophy leaves out of      
account the best part of what it was    
bound to  account for4 ,in spite of     
idealism1 the idealist goes on believing
 in  other persons or spheres of        

experience1 and in ,nature as the       
experience  of a ,divine ,person4 ,but  
since1 on his principles1 persons are   
mutually  exclusive1 and none can enter 
the sphere of another's experience1 to  
see  with his eyes1 or to feel with his 
nerves1 since1      ,each in his hidden 
sphere of joy or woe       ,our hermit  
spirits dwell and range apart1    we are
 thrown back on a disconnected plurality
 of beings1 and ,god  ,himself1 viewed  
as personal 7in this sense7 is but one  
among many4  ,albeit immeasurably the   
greatest1 ,he cannot be regarded as the 
ground of  the possibility and existence
 of all the rest--the home and bond of  
union of all other spirits which in ,him
 live and move and have their  being4   
,the belief in the personality of ,god  
is all-essential for the  satisfaction  
of our religious cravings1 as a         
presupposition of trust1  love1 prayer1 
obedience1 and such relationships2 as   
bringing out the  transcendence in      
contrast with the all-pervading         

immanence of the deity2  as checking the
 pantheistic perversion of this latter  
truth by which1 in  turn1 its own       
deistic perversion is checked4 ,god is  
not only in and  through all things2 but
 also outside and above all things2 just
 as  ,christ is not only the soul of the
 ,church1 but also its ,head and ,ruler4
  ,between these two compensating       
statements the exact truth is hidden    
from  our eyes4    ,but it is not to the
 conception of the ,divine personality  
and  separateness that we are to look   
for the missing bond by which the head  
and members are to be knit together1 and
 the essential disconnection of  these  
spheres of experience overcome4 ,the    
ultimate unity is a mystery2  in a word1
 philosophy1 as a quest of that unity1  
breaks down4 ,the  solution is suggested
 only by the revelation of a            
superpersonal unity in  some sense prior
 to the multiplicity of ,divine         
,persons1 a unity in which  they being  
many are one1 and in which we too are1  

not merged1 but  unified without        
prejudice to our personal distinctness4 
,hence1 the writer concludes3           
,materialism1 when its defect is        
discovered  and understood1 points on to
 idealism4 ,idealism1 when its defect is
  disclosed1 points to ,christian       
theism4 ,for those who have not come to 
,christian theism by this thorny and    
circuitous path1 the mode in which  the 
idealist extricates himself from his    
self-wrought entanglement may  seem of  
little interest2 but inasmuch as they   
take for granted the  existence of that 
same multitude of mutually impenetrable 
personalities  which he1 by a revolt of 
his common-sense against his philosophy 
is  forced to confess1 the problem of   
the ultimate unity exists for them      
also4    ,if in its endeavour to        
vindicate the spirituality of man       
against the  materialist1 idealism      
tumbles into the slough of solipsism and
 needs to  be fetched out by the        
doctrine of the ,trinity1 it fares much 

the same  way in its attempted defence  
of free-will against necessity4 ,that   
freedom from determination by the       
not-self which idealism vindicates1  can
 belong only to the all-inclusive       
,spirit1 outside whose self nothing     
exists2 it belongs to me only on the    
supposition that ,i am the              
all-inclusive2 and this1 as before1 is  
the point at which common-sense         
revolts4 ,free-will is based on man's   
consciousness of his moral nature4  ,it 
represents not any speculative theory1  
but one of the great facts  which every 
theory of things must explain or perish4
 ,if we ascribe  freedom to the         
,absolute and to other spirits 7whose   
existence is forced  on us in spite of  
,idealism71 it is because we first find 
it in ourselves  as the very essence of 
our spiritual nature4 ,but if we accept 
our  freedom as a fact which it is the  
business of philosophy to explain and   
not to deny2 on just the same testimony 
we must accept the fact of the  manifold

 limitations of our liberty of which we 
are continually  conscious4 ,now here it
 is that the ,idealist defence of       
liberty against  materialism fails by a 
deplorable nimis probat4 ,it can only   
save our  liberty by denying our        
limitations2 or at least it leaves us   
facing a  problem which can be solved   
only by an assumption for which         
,idealism  offers no philosophical      
warrant4 ,hence we are brought back to  
the  world-old dilemma between a freedom
 of ,god which annihilates man1 and a   
freedom of man which annihilates ,god4  
,idealism has really contributed        
nothing to the solution of the          
difficulty which is persistent as long  
as  ,god is known only as a ,sovereign  
and ,infinite ,personality among a      
multitude of finite personalities1 and  
until revelation hints at the           
possibility of a higher unity which     
transcends personality1 by which ,he  is
 to be the reconciling principle and    
home of the multitude of                

self-determining agents4 ,final         
reconciliation of the ,divine and human 
personality is in fact beyond us4       
,similarly1 in dealing with problems of 
moral evil1 ,idealism leads to an       
impasse4 ,as long as we keep to the     
notion of one all-inclusive ,spirit1    
the ,subject of universal experience1 it
 is easy to show that sin is but        
relatively evil1 that it is1 when viewed
 absolutely1 as much a factor of  the   
universal life as is righteousness2 yet 
surely this is not to  account for so   
large and obstinate a part of our       
experience1 but to deny  it4 ,nor can   
the ethical corollaries of such a view  
be tolerated for a  moment4 ,that sin is
 an absolute1 eternal1 in some sense1   
irreparable  evil is a conception       
altogether fundamental to that morality 
with which  ,christianity and modern    
civilization have identified themselves4
 ,it is  but another aspect of the      
doctrine of freedom and responsibility4 
,of  physical and necessary evil it is  

possible to assert the merely negative  
or relative character2 we can view it as
 the good in process of making2  or as  
the good imperfectly comprehended2 but  
if this optimism be  extended to sin it 
can only be because sin is regarded as  
necessitated1  i4e41 as no longer sin4  
,hence the view in question does not    
account  for1 but implicitly denies the 
existence of sin4    ,furthermore1 the  
whole tendency of more recent idealism  
is to explain  moral evil as an offence 
against man's social nature by which he 
is a  member of an organism or          
community4 ,it is the undue             
self-assertion of  the part against the 
interests of the whole4 ,of course the  
idealist  explains this organic         
conception with a respect for           
personality which is  absent from       
socialistic and evolutionary doctrines  
of society4 ,but the  notion of sin as a
 rebellion of one member against all1 is
 common to  both4 ,the latter consider  
the external life and activity of the   

unit as  an element in the collective   
external life of the community--as part 
of  a common work2 the former considers 
the unity as a free spiritual  agency1  
an end for itself--whose liberty is     
curtailed only by the claims  of other  
like agencies1 equal or greater4 ,but by
 what process1 apart  from faith and    
practical postulates and regulative     
ideas1 can  subjectivism pass to belief 
in other free agencies outside the      
thinking  and all-creating self8 ,the   
result of ,mr1 ,d',arcy's criticism of  
the  matter is that it is because the   
man exists as a member of a spiritual   
universe1 and must therefore so exert   
his power of self-determination as  to  
be in harmony or discord with ,god above
 him1 and with other men  around him1   
that the distinction between the good   
self and the bad self  arises4 ,but in  
this very conception of a universe of   
spirits we have  passed beyond the      
bounds of a purely rational philosophy4 
,such a  universe is not explicable by  

reference to the vivifying principle of 
the self2 and accordingly we are driven 
back as before upon the  alternative of 
philosophical chaos1 or else of faith in
 such a  superpersonal unity as is      
suggested by the doctrine of the        
,trinity4    ,we have but hinted at the 
barest outlines of ,mr4 ,d',arcy's      
argument  which1 as against ,idealism1  
is close-reasoned and subtle2 and now we
  have left but little space to deal    
with the more really interesting        
chapter on the ,ultimate ,unity4 ,it is 
not pretended that we can form  any     
conception of the precise nature of that
 unity1 but merely that some  such      
unknown kind of unity is needed to      
deliver us from the antinomies  of      
thought4 ,as we could never rise to the 
intrinsic conception of  personal unity 
from the consideration of some lower    
unity1 material or  mechanical2 so      
neither can we pass from the notion of  
personal to that  of superpersonal unity
 or being4    ,this is only a modern and

 ,hegelian setting of the truth that    
being and  unity are said analogously   
and not univocally of ,god and          
creatures4  ,that there are grades of   
reality2 that substance is more real    
than  quality and subject is more real  
than substance1 that the most real of   
all is the concrete totality1 the       
all-inclusive universal--the ,ens       
determinatissimum1 is not a modern      
discovery1 but a re-discovery4 ,that    
our own personality is the highest unity
 of which we have any proper            
non-analogous notion2 that it is the    
measure by which we spontaneously  try  
to explain to ourselves other unities1  
higher or lower1 by means of  extensions
 or limitations2 that our first impulse1
 prior to correction1  is to conceive   
everything self-wise1 be it super-human 
or infra-human1  is of course profoundly
 true2 but for this reason to make self 
the  all-explaining and only category1  
to deny any higher order of reality     
because we can have no definite         

conception of its precise nature1 is the
  narrowness which has brought ,idealism
 into such difficulties4 ,it is         
probably in his notion of ,divine       
personality that ,mr4 ,d',arcy comes    
most  in conflict with the              
technicalities of later schools4 ,if1 as
 he says1  modern theology oscillates   
between the poles of ,sabellianism and  
,tritheism1 he himself inclines to the  
latter pole4 ,father de ,regnon1        
,s4,j41 in his work on the ,trinity1    
shows that the ,greek ,fathers and the  
,latin viewed the problem from opposite 
ends4 ,how three can be one1 was  the   
problem with the former2 ,how one can be
 three1 with the latter4  ,these        
inclined to an emptier1 those to a      
fuller notion of personality4  ,mr4     
,d',arcy's ,trinitarianism is decidedly 
more ,greek than ,latin4 ,the more      
content he gives to ,divine personality1
 the more he is in-danger of  denying   
identity of nature and operation2 as    
appears later4    ,plainly1 the word    

person1 however analogously applied to  
,god1 must  contain something of what we
 mean when we call ourselves persons1   
else  we are landed in the unmeaning4   
,when ,christ spoke of ,himself as ,i1  
the selfness implied by the pronoun must
 have had some kind of  resemblance to  
our own2 just as when ,he called ,god   
,his ,father ,he  intended to convey    
something of what fatherhood meant for  
,his then  hearers4 ,that ,he intended  
to convey what it might come to mean in 
other  conditions and ages seems very   
doubtful2 and so if the word person has 
acquired a fuller and different meaning 
in modern philosophy1 we are not  at    
once justified in applying this fuller  
conception to the ,divine  persons1     
unless we can show that it is a         
legitimate development of the  older    
sense4    ,he argues that if the        
,trinity be the ultimate truth1 the     
,unitarian  suppositions and conclusions
 of the natural theologian are bound to 
lead to antinomies and confusions2 and  

he sees in those harmonious             
interferences and variations of         
universal import 7which are no less an  
essential factor in the evolution of the
 world than the groundwork of           
uniformity and law71 evidence of a      
multi-personal ,divine government1 of  a
 division of labour between co-operant  
agencies4 ,this1 of course1 goes  beyond
 the doctrine of appropriation2 and     
amounts to a denial of the  singleness  
of the ,divine operation ad extra4 ,it  
seems1 in short1 to  imply a diversity  
of nature in each of the persons1 over  
and above the  principle of personal    
distinctness4 ,indeed1 while it offers a
 plausible  solution of some minor      
perplexities1 it rather weakens the     
value of the  general argument4 ,for the
 notion of a superpersonal unity is     
needed  chiefly as suggesting a mode in 
which many mutually exclusive           
personalities or spheres of experience  
or lives1 may be welded  together into a
 coherent whole4 ,even could ,i         

reproduce most exactly in  myself the   
thoughts and feelings of another1 it    
were but a reproduction  or similarity4 
,i can know and feel the like2 but ,i   
cannot know his  knowing and feel his   
feeling2 for this were to be that other 
and not  myself4    ,that ,god's        
knowledge of our thoughts and feelings  
should be of this  external1 inferential
 kind is as intolerable to our mental   
needs of  unification as it is to our   
religious sense1 our hope1 our          
confidence1  our love4 ,in ,him we live 
and move and think and feel2 and ,he in 
us4 ,that  we can say this of no other  
personality is what constitutes the     
burden  of our separateness and         
loneliness4 ,our experience exists for  
no other2  but at least it is in some   
mysterious way shared by ,that which    
lies  behind all otherness1 not         
destroying1 but fulfilling4 ,we know not
 why  it is1 says ,st4 ,catherine of    
,genoa1 we feel an internal necessity of
  using the plural pronoun instead of   

the singular4 ,perhaps it was that  she 
saw in a purer and clearer light what we
 only half feel in the  obscurity of our
 grosser hearts4    ,but if ,god knows  
our knowing1 and feels our feeling1 not 
merely by a  similitude but in itself1  
it is not because ,he is transcendent   
and  personal1 as we understand the     
word1 because ,he is immanent and       
superpersonal1 whatever that may mean4  
,but it is just because  revelation     
tells us that in ,god there are three   
selves or ,egos1 for each  of whom the  
experience 7i4e41 the thought1 love1 and
 action7 of the  other two exists1 not  
merely similar1 but one and the         
same--the same  thinking1 loving1 and   
doing1 no less than the same thought1   
love1 and  deed--that we can believe in 
the possibility of our personal         
separateness being at once preserved and
 overcome in that mysterious  unity4    
,that ,god is love2 and that love1 which
 as an affection1 produces an  affective
 unity between separate persons1 can as 

the subsistent and  primal unity produce
 a substantial and ineffable union of   
which the  other is a shadow1 is a view 
towards which revelation points4 ,that  
the  mere affection of love1 the moral  
union of wills1 is an insufficient      
unification of personalities is implied 
by the fact that love always  tends to  
some sort of real union and             
communication2 and still more1 that  it 
springs from a sense of inexplicable    
identity4    ,it is almost a crime in   
criticism to deal with such a multitude 
of deep  problems in so brief and hasty 
an essay4 ,but if we have roughly       
indicated the main outlines of the      
author's position1 we shall have done   
as much as can be reasonably expected of
 us2 though it is with great  reluctance
 that we pass over many points1 and even
 whole chapters1  bristling with        
interest4    ,perhaps the most important
 feature of the book is the prominence  
it  gives to the difficulties and       
insufficiencies of idealism4 ,with those

 of  realism we are all familiar enough1
 but so far1 idealism has been looked   
at one-sidedly as evading1 if not       
solving1 some of the antinomies of the  
earlier philosophy1 while its own       
embarrassments have been condoned in    
hopes of future solution4 ,the solution 
has not come1 and now the hopes  are    
dead or dying4 ,what we need is a higher
 synthesis1 if such be  possible for the
 human mind1 or else a frank admission  
that faith1 in  some sense or other1 is 
a necessary complement of every         
philosophy4 ,one  thing is clear1 that  
reconciliation can be effected1 if at   
all1 only by  a fair-minded admission of
 difficulties inseparable from either   
system1  and by a conscientious         
criticism of presuppositions4 ,no one   
can deal  effectually with the idealist 
position to whom it is simply absurd or 
ridiculous2 who has not been to some    
degree intellectually entangled  in it2 
whose realism is not more or less of an 
effort4 ,else he is  dealing with some  

man of straw of his own fancy1 and will 
be found1 as  so often happens1 assuming
 the truth of realism in every argument 
he  brings forward4 ,plainly the best   
minds of modern times have not been     
victimized by a fallacy within the      
competence of a school-boy4 ,and a  like
 intellectual self-denial is needed on  
the part of the idealist1 who  is apt to
 dismiss all realism as crude1          
uncritical1 or barbaric4 ,we have  all  
our antinomies1 our blind alleys1 our   
crudities2 and we have all to  fill up  
awkward interstices with assumptions and
 postulates4    ,however much we may    
dissent from ,mr4 ,d',arcy's theology in
 certain  details2 however little we    
personally may labour under the         
difficulties  of idealism1 we cannot too
 strongly commend the endeavour to meet 
the  modern mind on its own platform2 to
 speak to the cultivated in their own   
language4 ,belief is caused by the wish 
to believe2 but it is conditioned  by   
the removal of intellectual obstacles1  

different for different grades  of      
intelligence and education4 ,to create  
the wish to believe is  largely a matter
 of example1 of letting ,christianity   
appear attractive  and desirable1 and   
correspondent to the deeper needs of the
 soul4 ,it is  also to some extent a    
work of exposition4 ,but when this      
all-important  wish has been created1   
the intellect can hinder its effect4 ,it
 is much  to know and feel that         
,christianity is good and useful and    
beautiful2  ,but some time or other the 
question must be asked3 ,is it true8    
,and  to liberate the will by satisfying
 the intellect is work of what alone  is
 properly called apologetic4 ,unless we 
fall back into quietism which  would    
tell us to read a ,kempis and say our   
prayers and wait1 we must  address      
ourselves first of all to making        
,christianity attractive2 and  then to  
making it intelligible4 ,and if we do   
not find it against ,gospel  simplicity 
to address ourselves1 as we continually 

do1 to the  intelligence of the         
semi-educated1 we cannot allege that    
scruple as a  reason why we should not  
address ourselves to the fully          
educated1--to  those who eventually form
 and guide the opinions of the many4    
,feb4 #aija4        ,footnotes3         
,footnote #a3 ,idealism and ,theology4  
,by ,charles ,d',arcy1 ,b4,d4 ,hodder   
and  ,stoughton1 #aijj4