,,god ,,the ,,invisible ,,king    by ,h4
 ,g4 ,wells        ,,contents           
,,preface    #a4 ,,the ,,cosmogony ,,of 
,,modern ,,religion    #b4 ,,heresies2  
,,or ,,the ,,things ,,that ,,god ,,is   
,,not    #c4 ,,the ,,likeness ,,of ,,god
    #d4 ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,atheists
    #e4 ,,the ,,invisible ,,king    #f4 
,,modern ,,ideas ,,of ,,sin ,,and       
,,damnation    #g4 ,,the ,,idea ,,of ,a 
,,church    ,,the ,,envoy               
,,preface      ,this book sets out as   
forcibly and exactly as possible the    
religious  belief of the writer4 ,that  
belief is not orthodox ,christianity2 it
 is  not1 indeed1 ,christianity at all2 
its core nevertheless is a profound     
belief in a personal and intimate ,god4 
,there is nothing in its  statements    
that need shock or offend anyone who is 
prepared for the  expression of a faith 
different from and perhaps in several   
particulars  opposed to his own4 ,the   
writer will be found to be sympathetic  
with  all sincere religious feeling4    

,nevertheless it is well to prepare the 
prospective reader for statements that  
may jar harshly against deeply  rooted  
mental habits4 ,it is well to warn him  
at the outset that the  departure from  
accepted beliefs is here no vague       
scepticism1 but a quite  sharply defined
 objection to dogmas very widely        
revered4 ,let the writer  state the most
 probable occasion of trouble forthwith4
 ,an issue upon  which this book will be
 found particularly uncompromising is   
the dogma  of the ,trinity4 ,the writer 
is of opinion that the ,council of      
,nicaea1  which forcibly crystallised   
the controversies of two centuries and  
formulated the creed upon which all the 
existing ,christian churches are  based1
 was one of the most disastrous and one 
of the least venerable of  all religious
 gatherings1 and he holds that the      
,alexandrine speculations  which were   
then conclusively imposed upon          
,christianity merit only  disrespectful 
attention at the present time4 ,there   

you have a chief  possibility of        
offence4 ,he is quite unable to pretend 
any awe for what  he considers the      
spiritual monstrosities established by  
that undignified  gathering4 ,he makes  
no attempt to be obscure or propitiatory
 in this  connection4 ,he criticises the
 creeds explicitly and frankly1 because 
he  believes it is particularly         
necessary to clear them out of the way  
of  those who are seeking religious     
consolation at this present time of     
exceptional religious need4 ,he does    
little to conceal his indignation at    
the role played by these dogmas in      
obscuring1 perverting1 and preventing   
the religious life of mankind4 ,after   
this warning such readers from  among   
the various ,christian churches and     
sects as are accessible  to storms of   
theological fear or passion to whom the 
,trinity is an  ineffable mystery and   
the name of ,god almost unspeakably     
awful1 read on  at their own risk4 ,this
 is a religious book written by a       

believer1  but so far as their beliefs  
and religion go it may seem to them more
  sceptical and more antagonistic than  
blank atheism4 ,that the writer  cannot 
tell4 ,he is not simply denying their   
,god4 ,he is declaring that  there is a 
living ,god1 different altogether from  
that ,triune ,god and  nearer to the    
heart of man4 ,the spirit of this book  
is like that of a  missionary who would 
only too gladly overthrow and smash some
 ,polynesian  divinity of shark's teeth 
and painted wood and mother-of-pearl4   
,to the  writer such elaborations as    
8begotten of the ,father before all     
worlds0   are no better than            
intellectual shark's teeth and oyster   
shells4 ,his  purpose1 like the purpose 
of that missionary1 is not primarily to 
shock  and insult2 but he is zealous to 
liberate1 and he is impatient with a    
reverence that stands between man and   
,god4 ,he gives this fair warning  and  
proceeds with his matter4    ,his matter
 is modern religion as he sees it4 ,it  

is only incidentally and  because it is 
unavoidable that he attacks doctrinal   
,christianity4    ,in a previous book1  
8,first and ,last ,things0 7,constable  
and ,co471 he has  stated his           
convictions upon certain general ideas  
of life and thought  as clearly as he   
could4 ,all of philosophy1 all of       
metaphysics that  is1 seems to him to be
 a discussion of the relations of class 
and  individual4 ,the antagonism of the 
,nominalist and the ,realist1 the       
opposition of the ,one and the ,many1   
the contrast of the ,ideal and the      
,actual1 all these oppositions express a
 certain structural and essential       
duality in the activity of the human    
mind4 ,from an imperfect recognition  of
 that duality ensue great masses of     
misconception4 ,that was the  substance 
of 8,first and ,last ,things40 ,in this 
present book there is no  further attack
 on philosophical or metaphysical       
questions4 ,here we  work at a less     
fundamental level and deal with         

religious feeling and  religious ideas4 
,but just as the writer was inclined to 
attribute a  whole world of disputation 
and inexactitudes to confused thinking  
about  the exact value of classes and   
terms1 so here he is disposed to think  
that interminable controversies and     
conflicts arise out of a confusion  of  
intention due to a double meaning of the
 word 8,god02 that the word  8,god0     
conveys not one idea or set of ideas1   
but several essentially  different      
ideas1 incompatible one with another1   
and falling mainly into  one or other of
 two divergent groups2 and that people  
slip carelessly  from one to the other  
of these groups of ideas and so get into
  ultimately inextricable confusions4   
,the writer believes that the centuries 
of fluid religious thought that         
preceded the violent ultimate           
crystallisation of ,nicaea1 was         
essentially  a struggle--obscured1 of   
course1 by many complexities--to        
reconcile and  get into a relationship  

these two separate main series of       
,god-ideas4    ,putting the leading idea
 of this book very roughly1 these two   
antagonistic typical conceptions of ,god
 may be best contrasted by  speaking of 
one of them as ,god-as-,nature or the   
,creator1 and of the  other as          
,god-as-,christ or the ,redeemer4 ,one  
is the great ,outward ,god2  the other  
is the ,inmost ,god4 ,the first idea was
 perhaps developed most  highly and     
completely in the ,god of ,spinoza4 ,it 
is a conception of ,god  tending to     
pantheism1 to an idea of a comprehensive
 ,god as ruling  with justice rather    
than affection1 to a conception of      
aloofness and  awestriking              
worshipfulness4 ,the second idea1 which 
is opposed to this  idea of an absolute 
,god1 is the ,god of the human heart4   
,the writer would  suggest that the     
great outline of the theological        
struggles of that  phase of civilisation
 and world unity which produced         
,christianity1 was a  persistent but    

unsuccessful attempt to get these two   
different ideas  of ,god into one focus4
 ,it was an attempt to make the ,god of 
,nature  accessible and the ,god of the 
,heart invincible1 to bring the former  
into  a conception of love and to vest  
the latter with the beauty of stars and 
flowers and the dignity of inexorable   
justice4 ,there could be no finer       
metaphor for such a correlation than    
,fatherhood and ,sonship4 ,but the      
trouble is that it seems impossible to  
most people to continue to  regard the  
relations of the ,father to the ,son as 
being simply a mystical  metaphor4      
,presently some materialistic bias      
swings them in a moment of  intellectual
 carelessness back to the idea of sexual
 filiation4    ,and it may further be   
suggested that the extreme aloofness and
  inhumanity1 which is logically        
necessary in the idea of a ,creator     
,god1  of an ,infinite ,god1 was the    
reason1 so to speak1 for the invention  
of a  ,holy ,spirit1 as something       

proceeding from him1 as something       
bridging the  great gulf1 a ,comforter1 
a mediator descending into the sphere of
 the  human understanding4 ,that1 and   
the suggestive influence of the         
,egyptian  ,trinity that was then being 
worshipped at the ,serapeum1 and which  
had  saturated the thought of           
,alexandria with the conception of a    
trinity in  unity1 are probably the     
realities that account for the ,third   
,person of  the ,christian ,trinity4 ,at
 any rate the present writer believes   
that the  discussions that shaped the   
,christian theology we know were        
dominated  by such natural and          
fundamental thoughts4 ,these discussions
 were1  of course1 complicated from the 
outset2 and particularly were they      
complicated by the identification of the
 man ,jesus with the theological        
,christ1 by materialistic expectations  
of his second coming1 by  materialistic 
inventions about his 8miraculous0       
begetting1 and by the  morbid           

speculations about virginity and the    
like that arose out of  such grossness4 
,they were still further complicated by 
the idea of the  textual inspiration of 
the scriptures1 which presently swamped 
thought  in textual interpretation4     
,that swamping came very early in the   
development of ,christianity4 ,the      
writer of ,st4 ,john's gospel appears   
still to be thinking with a considerable
 freedom1 but ,origen is already        
hopelessly in the net of the texts4 ,the
 writer of ,st4 ,john's gospel  was a   
free man1 but ,origen was a             
superstitious man4 ,he was emasculated  
mentally as well as bodily through his  
bibliolatry4 ,he quotes2 his            
predecessor thinks4    ,but the writer  
throws out these guesses at the probable
 intentions of  early ,christian thought
 in passing4 ,his business here is the  
definition  of a position4 ,the writer's
 position here in this book is1 firstly1
  complete ,agnosticism in the matter of
 ,god the ,creator1 and secondly1       

entire faith in the matter of ,god the  
,redeemer4 ,that1 so to speak1 is  the  
key of his book4 ,he cannot bring the   
two ideas under the same term  ,god4 ,he
 uses the word ,god therefore for the   
,god in our hearts only1  and he uses   
the term the ,veiled ,being for the     
ultimate mysteries of the  universe1 and
 he declares that we do not know and    
perhaps cannot know in  any             
comprehensible terms the relation of the
 ,veiled ,being to that living  reality 
in our lives who is1 in his terminology1
 the true ,god4 ,speaking  from the     
point of view of practical religion1 he 
is restricting and  defining the word   
,god1 as meaning only the personal ,god 
of mankind1 he  is restricting it so as 
to exclude all cosmogony and ideas of   
providence  from our religious thought  
and leave nothing but the essentials of 
the  religious life4    ,many people1   
whom one would class as rather liberal  
,christians of an  ,arian or ,arminian  
complexion1 may find the larger part of 

this book  acceptable to them if they   
will read 8the ,christ ,god0 where the  
writer  has written 8,god40 ,they will  
then differ from him upon little more   
than  the question whether there is an  
essential identity in aim and quality   
between the ,christ ,god and the ,veiled
 ,being1 who answer to their  ,creator  
,god4 ,this the orthodox post ,nicaean  
,christians assert1 and many            
pre-,nicaeans and many heretics 7as the 
,cathars7 contradicted with its  exact  
contrary4 ,the ,cathars1 ,paulicians1   
,albigenses and so on held1 with  the   
,manichaeans1 that the ,god of ,nature1 
,god the ,father1 was evil4 ,the        
,christ ,god was his antagonist4 ,this  
was the idea of the poet ,shelley4  ,and
 passing beyond ,christian theology     
altogether a clue can still be  found to
 many problems in comparative theology  
in this distinction  between the ,being 
of ,nature 7cf4 ,kant's 8starry vault   
above07 and the  ,god of the heart      
7,kant's 8moral law within074 ,the idea 

of an antagonism  seems to have been    
cardinal in the thought of the ,essenes 
and the  ,orphic cult and in the        
,persian dualism4 ,so1 too1 ,buddhism   
seems to  be 8antagonistic40 ,on the    
other hand1 the ,moslem teaching and    
modern  ,judaism seem absolutely to     
combine and identify the two2 ,god the  
creator  is altogether and without      
distinction also ,god the ,king of      
,mankind4  ,christianity stands         
somewhere between such complete         
identification and  complete antagonism4
 ,it admits a difference in attitude    
between ,father  and ,son in its        
distinction between the ,old            
,dispensation 7of the ,old  ,testament7 
and the ,new4 ,every possible change is 
rung in the great  religions of the     
world between identification1 complete  
separation1  equality1 and disproportion
 of these ,beings2 but it will be found 
that  these two ideas are1 so to speak1 
the basal elements of all theology in   
the world4 ,the writer is chary of      

assertion or denial in these  matters4  
,he believes that they are speculations 
not at all necessary to  salvation4 ,he 
believes that men may differ profoundly 
in their opinions  upon these points and
 still be in perfect agreement upon the 
essentials  of religion4 ,the reality of
 religion he believes deals wholly and  
exclusively with the ,god of the ,heart4
 ,he declares as his own opinion1  and  
as the opinion which seems most         
expressive of modern thought1 that      
there is no reason to suppose the       
,veiled ,being either benevolent or     
malignant towards men4 ,but if the      
reader believes that ,god is ,almighty  
and in every way ,infinite the practical
 outcome is not very different4  ,for   
the purposes of human relationship it is
 impossible to deny that  ,god          
,,presents ,,himself ,,as ,,finite1 as  
struggling and taking a part against    
evil4    ,the writer believes that these
 dogmas of relationship are not merely  
extraneous to religion1 but an          

impediment to religion4 ,his aim in this
  book is to give a statement of        
religion which is no longer entangled in
  such speculations and disputes4       
,let him add only one other note of     
explanation in this preface1 and that   
is to remark that except for one        
incidental passage 7in ,chapter ,,iv41  
#a71 nowhere does he discuss the        
question of personal immortality4 ,it   
is discussed in 8,first and ,last       
,things10 ,book ,,iv1 #d4 ,he omits this
  question because he does not consider 
that it has any more bearing upon  the  
essentials of religion1 than have the   
theories we may hold about the  relation
 of ,god and the moral law to the starry
 universe4 ,the latter is  a question   
for the theologian1 the former for the  
psychologist4 ,whether  we are mortal or
 immortal1 whether the ,god in our      
hearts is the ,son of  or a rebel       
against the ,universe1 the reality of   
religion1 the fact of  salvation1 is    
still our self-identification with ,god1

 irrespective of  consequences1 and the 
achievement of his kingdom1 in our      
hearts and  in the world4 ,whether we   
live forever or die tomorrow does not   
affect  righteousness4 ,many people seem
 to find the prospect of a final        
personal  death unendurable4 ,this      
impresses me as egotism4 ,i have no such
 appetite  for a separate immortality4  
,god is my immortality2 what1 of me1 is 
identified with ,god1 is ,god2 what is  
not is of no more permanent value  than 
the snows of yester-year4    ,h4 ,g4 ,w4
    ,dunmow1 ,may1 #aiag4          ,,god
 ,,the ,,invisible ,,king      ,,chapter
 ,,the ,,first    ,,the ,,cosmogony ,,of
 ,,modern ,,religion      #a4 ,,modern  
,,religion ,,has ,,no ,,founder         
,perhaps all religions1 unless the      
flaming onset of ,mohammedanism be an   
exception1 have dawned imperceptibly    
upon the world4 ,a little while ago  and
 the thing was not2 and then suddenly it
 has been found in existence1  and      
already in a state of diffusion4 ,people

 have begun to hear of the  new belief  
first here and then there4 ,it is       
interesting1 for example1  to trace how 
,christianity drifted into the          
consciousness of the ,roman  world4 ,but
 when a religion has been interrogated  
it has always had  hitherto a tale of   
beginnings1 the name and story of a     
founder4 ,the  renascent religion that  
is now taking shape1 it seems1 had no   
founder2  it points to no origins4 ,it  
is the ,truth1 its believers declare2 it
 has  always been here2 it has always   
been visible to those who had eyes to   
see4 ,it is perhaps plainer than it was 
and to more people--that is all4    ,it 
is as if it still did not realise its   
own difference4 ,many of those  who hold
 it still think of it as if it were a   
kind of ,christianity4  ,some1 catching 
at a phrase of ,huxley's1 speak of it as
 ,christianity  without ,theology4 ,they
 do not know the creed they are         
carrying4 ,it has1  as a matter of fact1
 a very fine and subtle theology1 flatly

 opposed  to any belief that could1     
except by great stretching of charity   
and  the imagination1 be called         
,christianity4 ,one might find1 perhaps1
 a  parallelism with the system ascribed
 to some ,gnostics1 but that is far     
more probably an accidental rather than 
a sympathetic coincidence4 ,of  that the
 reader shall presently have an         
opportunity of judging4    ,this        
indefiniteness of statement and         
relationship is probably only the       
opening phase of the new faith4         
,christianity also began with an extreme
  neglect of definition4 ,it was not at 
first anything more than a sect  of     
,judaism4 ,it was only after three      
centuries1 amidst the uproar  and       
emotions of the council of ,nicaea1 when
 the more enthusiastic  ,trinitarians   
stuffed their fingers in their ears in  
affected horror at  the arguments of old
 ,arius1 that the cardinal mystery of   
the ,trinity  was established as the    
essential fact of ,christianity4        

,throughout those  three centuries1 the 
centuries of its greatest achievements  
and noblest  martyrdoms1 ,christianity  
had not defined its ,god4 ,and even     
to-day it has  to be noted that a large 
majority of those who possess and repeat
  the ,christian creeds have come into  
the practice so insensibly from         
unthinking childhood1 that only in the  
slightest way do they realise the       
nature of the statements to which they  
subscribe4 ,they will speak  and think  
of both ,christ and ,god in ways flatly 
incompatible with the  doctrine of the  
,triune deity upon which1 theoretically1
 the entire  fabric of all the churches 
rests4 ,they will show themselves as    
frankly  ,arians as though that damnable
 heresy had not been washed out of the  
world forever after centuries of        
persecution in torrents of blood4 ,but  
whatever the present state of           
,christendom in these matters may be1   
there can be no doubt of the enormous   
pains taken in the past to give         

,christian beliefs the exactest1 least  
ambiguous statement possible4           
,christianity knew itself clearly for   
what it was in its maturity1  whatever  
the indecisions of its childhood or the 
confusions of its  decay4 ,the renascent
 religion that one finds now1 a thing   
active and  sufficient in many minds1   
has still scarcely come to              
self-consciousness4  ,but it is so      
coming1 and this present book is very   
largely an attempt  to state the shape  
it is assuming and to compare it with   
the beliefs  and imperatives and usages 
of the various ,christian1              
pseudo-,christian1  philosophical1 and  
agnostic cults amidst which it has      
appeared4    ,the writer's sympathies   
and convictions are entirely with this  
that he  speaks of as renascent or      
modern religion2 he is neither atheist  
nor ,buddhist nor ,mohammedan nor       
,christian4 ,he will make no pretence1  
therefore1 to impartiality and          
detachment4 ,he will do his best to be  

as  fair as possible and as candid as   
possible1 but the reader must reckon    
with this bias4 ,he has found this faith
 growing up in himself2 he has  found   
it1 or something very difficult to      
distinguish from it1 growing            
independently in the minds of men and   
women he has met4 ,they have been       
people of very various origins2         
,english1 ,americans1 ,bengalis1        
,russians1  ,french1 people brought up  
in a 8,catholic atmosphere10            
,positivists1  ,baptists1 ,sikhs1       
,mohammedans4 ,their diversity of source
 is as remarkable  as their convergence 
of tendency4 ,a miscellany of minds     
thinking upon  parallel lines has come  
out to the same light4 ,the new teaching
 is also  traceable in many professedly 
,christian religious books and it is to 
be  heard from ,christian pulpits4 ,the 
phase of definition is manifestly at    
hand4        #b4 ,,modern ,,religion    
,,has ,a ,,finite ,,god      ,perhaps   
the most fundamental difference between 

this new faith and any  recognised form 
of ,christianity is that1 knowingly or  
unknowingly1 it  worships ,a ,,finite   
,,god4 ,directly the believer is fairly 
confronted with  the plain questions of 
the case1 the vague identifications that
 are  still carelessly made with one or 
all of the persons of the ,trinity      
dissolve away4 ,he will admit that his  
,god is neither all-wise1 nor           
all-powerful1 nor omnipresent2 that he  
is neither the maker of heaven  nor     
earth1 and that he has little to        
identify him with that hereditary  ,god 
of the ,jews who became the 8,father0 in
 the ,christian system4 ,on the  other  
hand he will assert that his ,god is a  
god of salvation1 that he is  a spirit1 
a person1 a strongly marked and knowable
 personality1 loving1  inspiring1 and   
lovable1 who exists or strives to exist 
in every human  soul4 ,he will be much  
less certain in his denials that his    
,god has a  close resemblance to the    
,pauline 7as distinguished from the     

,trinitarian7  8,christ40 4 4 4    ,the 
modern religious man will almost        
certainly profess a kind of             
universalism2 he will assert that       
whensoever men have called upon any     
,god and have found fellowship and      
comfort and courage and that sense  of  
,god within them1 that inner light which
 is the quintessence of the  religious  
experience1 it was the ,true ,god that  
answered them4 ,for the  ,true ,god is a
 generous ,god1 not a jealous ,god2 the 
very antithesis of  that bickering      
monopolist who 8will have none other    
gods but ,me02 and  when a human heart  
cries out--to what name it matters      
not--for a larger  spirit and a stronger
 help than the visible things of life   
can give1  straightway the nameless     
,helper is with it and the ,god of ,man 
answers to  the call4 ,the ,true ,god   
has no scorn nor hate for those who have
 accepted  the many-handed symbols of   
the ,hindu or the lacquered idols of    
,china4  ,where there is faith1 where   

there is need1 there is the ,true ,god  
ready  to clasp the hands that stretch  
out seeking for him into the darkness   
behind the ivory and gold4    ,the fact 
that ,god is ,,finite is one upon which 
those who think clearly  among the new  
believers are very insistent4 ,he is1   
above everything  else1 a personality1  
and to be a personality is to have      
characteristics1  to be limited by      
characteristics2 he is a ,being1 not us 
but dealing  with us and through us1 he 
has an aim and that means he has a past 
and  future2 he is within time and not  
outside it4 ,and they point out that    
this is really what everyone who prays  
sincerely to ,god or gets help  from    
,god1 feels and believes4 ,our practice 
with ,god is better than our  theory4   
,none of us really pray to that         
fantastic1 unqualified danse a  trois1  
the ,trinity1 which the wranglings and  
disputes of the worthies  of ,alexandria
 and ,syria declared to be ,god4 ,we    
pray to one single  understanding       

person4 ,but so far the tactics of those
 ,trinitarians at  ,nicaea1 who stuck   
their fingers in their ears1 have       
prevailed in this  world2 this was no   
matter for discussion1 they declared1 it
 was a ,holy  ,mystery full of magical  
terror1 and few religious people have   
thought  it worth while to revive these 
terrors by a definite contradiction4    
,the  truly religious have been content 
to lapse quietly into the comparative   
sanity of an unformulated ,arianism1    
they have left it to the scoffing       
,atheist to mock at the patent          
absurdities of the official creed4 ,but 
one  magnificent protest against this   
theological fantasy must have been  the 
work of a sincerely religious man1 the  
cold superb humour of that  burlesque   
creed1 ascribed1 at first no doubt      
facetiously and then quite  seriously1  
to ,saint ,athanasius the ,great1 which1
 by an irony far beyond  its original   
intention1 has become at last the       
accepted creed of the  church4    ,the  

long truce in the criticism of          
,trinitarian theology is drawing to  its
 end4 ,it is when men most urgently need
 ,god that they become least  patient   
with foolish presentations and dogmas4  
,the new believers are  very definitely 
set upon a thorough analysis of the     
nature and growth  of the ,christian    
creeds and ideas4 ,there has grown up a 
practice of  assuming that1 when ,god is
 spoken of1 the ,hebrew-,christian ,god 
of ,nicaea  is meant4 ,but that ,god    
trails with him a thousand              
misconceptions and  bad associations2   
his alleged infinite nature1 his        
jealousy1 his strange  preferences1 his 
vindictive ,old ,testament past4 ,these 
things do not even  make a caricature of
 the ,true ,god2 they compose an        
altogether different  and antagonistic  
figure4    ,it is a very childish and   
unphilosophical set of impulses that has
 led  the theologians of nearly every   
faith to claim infinite qualities for   
their deity4 ,one has to remember the   

poorness of the mental and moral        
quality of the churchmen of the third1  
fourth1 and fifth centuries who  saddled
 ,christendom with its characteristic   
dogmas1 and the extreme  poverty and    
confusion of the circle of ideas within 
which they thought4  ,many of these     
makers of ,christianity1 like ,saint    
,ambrose of ,milan 7who  had even to be 
baptised after his election to his      
bishopric71 had been  pitchforked into  
the church from civil life2 they lived  
in a time  of pitiless factions and     
personal feuds2 they had to conduct     
their  disputations amidst the struggles
 of would-be emperors2 court eunuchs    
and favourites swayed their counsels1   
and popular rioting clinched their      
decisions4 ,there was less freedom of   
discussion then in the ,christian  world
 than there is at present 7#aiaf7 in    
,belgium1 and the whole audience  of    
educated opinion by which a theory could
 be judged did not equal1  either in    
numbers or accuracy of information1 the 

present population of  ,constantinople4 
,to these conditions we owe the claim   
that the ,christian  ,god is a magic    
god1 very great medicine in battle1 8in 
hoc signo  vinces10 and the argument so 
natural to the minds of those days and  
so  absurd to ours1 that since he had   
,,all power1 all knowledge1 and existed 
for ever and ever1 it was no use        
whatever to set up any other god        
against him4 4 4 4    ,by the fifth     
century ,christianity had adopted as its
 fundamental belief1  without which     
everyone was to be 8damned              
everlastingly10 a conception  of ,god   
and of ,christ's relation to ,god1 of   
which even by the ,christian  account of
 his teaching1 ,jesus was either totally
 unaware or so  negligent and careless  
of the future comfort of his disciples  
as  scarcely to make mention4 ,the      
doctrine of the ,trinity1 so far as the 
relationship of the ,third ,person goes1
 hangs almost entirely upon one         
ambiguous and disputed utterance in ,st4

 ,john's gospel 7,,xv4 #bf74 ,most of   
the teachings of ,christian orthodoxy   
resolve themselves to the attentive     
student into assertions of the nature of
 contradiction and repartee4  ,someone  
floats an opinion in some matter that   
has been hitherto vague1  in regard1 for
 example1 to the sonship of ,christ or  
to the method of  his birth4 ,the new   
opinion arouses the hostility and alarm 
of minds  unaccustomed to so definite a 
statement1 and in the zeal of their     
recoil  they fly to a contrary          
proposition4 ,the ,christians would     
neither admit  that they worshipped more
 gods than one because of the ,greeks1  
nor  deny the divinity of ,christ       
because of the ,jews4 ,they dreaded to  
be  polytheistic2 equally did they dread
 the least apparent detraction from  the
 power and importance of their ,saviour4
 ,they were forced into the  theory of  
the ,trinity by the necessity of those  
contrary assertions1  and they had to   
make it a mystery protected by curses to

 save it from a  reductio ad absurdam4  
,the entire history of the growth of the
 ,christian  doctrine in those          
disordered early centuries is a history 
of theology  by committee2 a history of 
furious wrangling1 of hasty compromises1
 and  still more hasty attempts to      
clinch matters by anathema4 ,when the   
muddle  was at its very worst1 the      
church was confronted by enormous       
political  opportunities4 ,in order that
 it should seize these one chief thing  
appeared imperative3 doctrinal          
uniformity4 ,the emperor himself1 albeit
  unbaptised and very ignorant of       
,greek1 came and seated himself in the  
midst of ,christian thought upon a      
golden throne4 ,at the end of it all    
,eusebius1 that supreme ,trimmer1 was   
prepared to damn everlastingly all      
those who doubted that consubstantiality
 he himself had doubted at the          
beginning of the conference4 ,it is     
quite clear that ,constantine did not   
care who was damned or for what period1 

so long as the ,christians ceased  to   
wrangle among themselves4 ,the practical
 unanimity of ,nicaea was  secured by   
threats1 and then1 turning upon the     
victors1 he sought by  threats to       
restore ,arius to communion4 ,the       
imperial aim was a common  faith to     
unite the empire4 ,the crushing out of  
the ,arians and of the  ,paulicians and 
suchlike heretics1 and more particularly
 the systematic  destruction by the     
orthodox of all heretical writings1 had 
about it none  of that quality of honest
 conviction which comes to those who    
have a  real knowledge of ,god2 it was a
 bawling down of dissensions that1 left 
to work themselves out1 would have      
spoilt good business2 it was the fist   
of ,nicolas of ,myra over again1 except 
that after the days of ,ambrose the     
sword of the executioner and the fires  
of the book-burner were added to  the   
weapon of the human voice4 ,priscillian 
was the first human sacrifice  formally 
offered up under these improved         

conditions to the greater glory  of the 
reinforced ,trinity4 ,thereafter the    
blood of the heretics was the  cement of
 ,christian unity4    ,it is with these 
things in mind that those who profess   
the new faith are  becoming so markedly 
anxious to distinguish ,god from the    
,trinitarian's  deity4 ,at present if   
anyone who has left the ,christian      
communion  declares himself a believer  
in ,god1 priest and parson swell with   
self-complacency4 ,there is no reason   
why they should do so4 ,that many of  us
 have gone from them and found ,god is  
no concern of theirs4 ,it is  not that  
we who went out into the wilderness     
which we thought to be  a desert1 away  
from their creeds and dogmas1 have      
turned back and are  returning4 ,it is  
that we have gone on still further1 and 
are beyond that  desolation4 ,never more
 shall we return to those who gather    
under the  cross4 ,by faith we          
disbelieved and denied4 ,by faith we    
said of that  stuffed scarecrow of      

divinity1 that incoherent accumulation  
of antique  theological notions1 the    
,nicene deity1 8,this is certainly no   
,god40 ,and  by faith we have found     
,god4 4 4 4        #c4 ,,the ,,infinite 
,,being ,,is ,,not ,,god      ,there has
 always been a demand upon the          
theological teacher that he  should     
supply a cosmogony4 ,it has always been 
an effective propagandist  thing to say3
 8,,our ,god made the whole universe4   
,don't you think that  it would be wise 
to abandon ,,your deity1 who did not1 as
 you admit1 do  anything of the sort80  
,the attentive reader of the lives of   
the ,saints will find that this  style  
of argument did in the past bring many  
tribes and nations into  the ,christian 
fold4 ,it was second only to the claim  
of magic advantages1  demonstrated by a 
free use of miracles4 ,only one great   
religious system1  the ,buddhist1 seems 
to have resisted the temptation to      
secure for  its divinity the honour and 
title of ,creator4 ,modern religion is  

like  ,buddhism in that respect4 ,it    
offers no theory whatever about the     
origin  of the universe4 ,it does not   
reach behind the appearances of space   
and time4 ,it sees only a featureless   
presumption in that playing with        
superlatives which has entertained so   
many minds from ,plotinus to the        
,hegelians with the delusion that such  
negative terms as the ,absolute or  the 
,unconditioned1 can assert anything at  
all4 ,at the back of all known  things  
there is an impenetrable curtain2 the   
ultimate of existence is  a ,veiled     
,being1 which seems to know nothing of  
life or death or good or  ill4 ,of that 
,being1 whether it is simple or complex 
or divine1 we  know nothing2 to us it is
 no more than the limit of              
understanding1  the unknown beyond4 ,it 
may be of practically limitless         
intricacy and  possibility4 ,the new    
religion does not pretend that the ,god 
of its life  is that ,being1 or that he 
has any relation of control or          

association  with that ,being4 ,it does 
not even assert that ,god knows all or  
much more  than we do about that        
ultimate ,being4    ,for us life is a   
matter of our personalities in space and
 time4 ,human  analysis probing with    
philosophy and science towards the      
,veiled ,being  reveals nothing of ,god1
 reveals space and time only as         
necessary forms  of consciousness1      
glimpses a dance of atoms1 of whirls in 
the  ether4 ,some day in the endless    
future there may be a knowledge1 an     
understanding of relationship1 a power  
and courage that will pierce into  those
 black wrappings4 ,to that it may be our
 ,god1 the ,captain of ,mankind  will   
take us4    ,that now is a mere         
speculation4 ,the veil of the unknown is
 set with  the stars2 its outer texture 
is ether and atom and crystal4 ,the     
,veiled  ,being1 enigmatical and        
incomprehensible1 broods over the mirror
 upon  which the busy shapes of life are
 moving4 ,it is as if it waited in a    

great stillness4 ,our lives do not deal 
with it1 and cannot deal with it4  ,it  
may be that they may never be able to   
deal with it4        #d4 ,,the ,,life   
,,force ,,is ,,not ,,god      ,so it is 
that comprehensive setting of the       
universe presents itself to  the modern 
mind4 ,it is altogether outside good and
 evil and love and  hate4 ,it is outside
 ,god1 who is love and goodness4 ,and   
coming out  of this veiled being1       
proceeding out of it in a manner        
altogether  inconceivable1 is another   
lesser being1 an impulse thrusting      
through  matter and clothing itself in  
continually changing material forms1    
the maker of our world1 ,life1 the ,will
 to ,be4 ,it comes out of that          
inscrutable being as a wave comes       
rolling to us from beyond the horizon4  
,it is as it were a great wave rushing  
through matter and possessed by  a      
spirit4 ,it is a breeding1 fighting     
thing2 it pants through the jungle      
track as the tiger and lifts itself     

towards heaven as the tree2 it is  the  
rabbit bolting for its life and the dove
 calling to her mate2 it  crawls1 it    
flies1 it dives1 it lusts and devours1  
it pursues and eats  itself in order to 
live still more eagerly and hastily2 it 
is every  living thing1 of it are our   
passions and desires and fears4 ,and it 
is aware of itself not as a whole1 but  
dispersedly as individual               
self-consciousness1 starting out        
dispersedly from every one of the       
sentient creatures it has called into   
being4 ,they look out for their  little 
moments1 red-eyed and fierce1 full of   
greed1 full of the passions  of         
acquisition and assimilation and        
reproduction1 submitting only to  brief 
fellowships of defence or aggression4   
,they are beings of strain  and conflict
 and competition4 ,they are living      
substance still mingled  painfully with 
the dust4 ,the forms in which this being
 clothes itself  bear thorns and fangs  
and claws1 are soaked with poison and   

bright with  threats or allurements1    
prey slyly or openly on one another1    
hold their  own for a little while1     
breed savagely and resentfully1 and     
pass4 4 4 4    ,this second ,being men  
have called the ,life ,force1 the ,will 
to ,live1 the  ,struggle for ,existence4
 ,they have figured it too as ,mother   
,nature4 ,we  may speculate whether it  
is not what the wiser among the         
,gnostics meant  by the ,demiurge1 but  
since the ,christians destroyed all the 
,gnostic  books that must remain a mere 
curious guess4 ,we may speculate whether
  this heat and haste and wrath of life 
about us is the ,dark ,god of the       
,manichees1 the evil spirit of the sun  
worshippers4 ,but in contemporary       
thought there is no conviction apparent 
that this ,demiurge is either  good or  
evil2 it is conceived of as both good   
and evil4 ,if it gives all  the pain and
 conflict of life1 it gives also the joy
 of the sunshine1  the delight and hope 
of youth1 the pleasures4 ,if it has     

elaborated a  hundred thousand sorts of 
parasite1 it has also moulded the       
beautiful  limbs of man and woman2 it   
has shaped the slug and the flower4 ,and
  in it1 as part of it1 taking its      
rewards1 responding to its goads1       
struggling against the final abandonment
 to death1 do we all live1  as the      
beasts live1 glad1 angry1 sorry1        
revengeful1 hopeful1 weary1  disgusted1 
forgetful1 lustful1 happy1 excited1     
bored1 in pain1 mood  after mood but    
always fearing death1 with no certainty 
and no coherence  within us1 until we   
find ,god4 ,and ,god comes to us neither
 out of the  stars nor out of the pride 
of life1 but as a still small voice     
within4        #e4 ,,god ,,is ,,within  
,god comes we know not whence1 into the 
conflict of life4 ,he works in men  and 
through men4 ,he is a spirit1 a single  
spirit and a single person2 he  has     
begun and he will never end4 ,he is the 
immortal part and leader of  mankind4   
,he has motives1 he has characteristics1

 he has an aim4 ,he is  by our poor     
scales of measurement boundless love1   
boundless courage1  boundless           
generosity4 ,he is thought and a        
steadfast will4 ,he is our  friend and  
brother and the light of the world4     
,that briefly is the  belief of the     
modern mind with regard to ,god4 ,there 
is no very novel  idea about this ,god1 
unless it be the idea that he had a     
beginning4 ,this  is the ,god that men  
have sought and found in all ages1 as   
,god or as  the ,messiah or the         
,saviour4 ,the finding of him is        
salvation from the  purposelessness of  
life4 ,the new religion has but         
disentangled the idea  of him from the  
absolutes and infinities and mysteries  
of the ,christian  theologians2 from    
mythological virgin births and the      
cosmogonies and  intellectual           
pretentiousness of a vanished age4      
,modern religion appeals to no          
revelation1 no authoritative teaching1  
no mystery4 ,the statement it makes is1 

it declares1 a mere statement  of what  
we may all perceive and experience4 ,we 
all live in the storm of  life1 we all  
find our understandings limited by the  
,veiled ,being2 if  we seek salvation   
and search within for ,god1 presently we
 find him4 ,all  this is in the nature  
of things4 ,if every one who perceives  
and states  it were to be instantly     
killed and blotted out1 presently other 
people  would find their way to the same
 conclusions2 and so on again and again4
  ,to this all true religion1 casting   
aside its hulls of misconception1  must 
ultimately come4 ,to it indeed much     
religion is already coming4  ,christian 
thought struggles towards it1 with the  
millstones of ,syrian  theology and an  
outrageous mythology of incarnation and 
resurrection  about its neck4 ,when at  
last our present bench of bishops join  
the  early fathers of the church in     
heaven there will be1 ,i fear1 a note of
  reproach in their greeting of the     
ingenious person who saddled them with  

,,omnipotens4 ,still more disastrous for
 them has been the virgin birth1  with  
the terrible fascination of its detail  
for unpoetic minds4 ,how rich  is the   
literature of authoritative             
,christianity with decisions upon the   
continuing virginity of ,mary and the   
virginity of ,joseph--ideas that  first 
arose in ,arabia as a ,moslem gloss upon
 ,christianity--and how  little have    
these peepings and pryings to do with   
the needs of the heart  and the finding 
of ,god6    ,within the last few years  
there have been a score or so of such   
volumes  as that recently compiled by   
,dr4 ,foakes ,jackson1 entitled 8,the   
,faith and  the ,war10 a volume in which
 the curious reader may contemplate     
deans and  canons1 divines and church   
dignitaries1 men intelligent and        
enquiring  and religiously disposed1 all
 lying like overladen camels1 panting   
under this load of obsolete theological 
responsibility1 groaning great          
articles1 outside the needle's eye that 

leads to ,god4        #f4 ,,the ,,coming
 ,,of ,,god      ,modern religion bases 
its knowledge of ,god and its account of
 ,god  entirely upon experience4 ,it has
 encountered ,god4 ,it does not argue   
about ,god2 it relates4 ,it relates     
without any of those wrappings of awe   
and reverence that fold so necessarily  
about imposture1 it relates as  one     
tells of a friend and his assistance1 of
 a happy adventure1 of a  beautiful     
thing found and picked up by the        
wayside4    ,so far as its psychological
 phases go the new account of personal  
salvation tallies very closely with the 
account of 8conversion0 as it  is given 
by other religions4 ,it has little to   
tell that is not already  familiar to   
the reader of ,william ,james's         
8,varieties of ,religious  ,experience40
 ,it describes an initial state of      
distress with the  aimlessness and      
cruelties of life1 and particularly with
 the futility of  the individual life1 a
 state of helpless self-disgust1 of     

inability to  form any satisfactory plan
 of living4 ,this is the common prelude 
known  to many sorts of ,christian as   
8conviction of sin02 it is1 at any rate1
 a  conviction of hopeless confusion4 4 
4 4 ,then in some way the idea of  ,god 
comes into the distressed mind1 at first
 simply as an idea1 without  substance  
or belief4 ,it is read about or it is   
remembered2 it is  expounded by some    
teacher or some happy convert4 ,in the  
case of all  those of the new faith with
 whose personal experience ,i have any  
intimacy1 the idea of ,god has remained 
for some time simply as an idea         
floating about in a mind still          
dissatisfied4 ,god is not believed in1  
but it is realised that if there were   
such a being he would supply the  needed
 consolation and direction1 his         
continuing purpose would knit  together 
the scattered effort of life1 his       
immortality would take  the sting from  
death4 ,under this realisation the idea 
is pursued and  elaborated4 ,for a time 

there is a curious resistance to the    
suggestion  that ,god is truly a person2
 he is spoken of preferably by such     
phrases  as the ,purpose in ,things1 as 
the ,racial ,consciousness1 as the      
,collective  ,mind4    ,i believe that  
this resistance in so many contemporary 
minds to the idea  of ,god as a person  
is due very largely to the enormous     
prejudice against  divine personality   
created by the absurdities of the       
,christian teaching  and the habitual   
monopoly of the ,christian idea4 ,the   
picture of ,christ  as the ,good        
,shepherd thrusts itself before minds   
unaccustomed to the  idea that they are 
lambs4 ,the cross in the twilight bars  
the way4 ,it is  a novelty and an       
enormous relief to such people to       
realise that one may  think of ,god     
without being committed to think of     
either the ,father1 the  ,son1 or the   
,holy ,ghost1 or of all of them at once4
 ,that freedom had not  seemed possible 
to them4 ,they had been hypnotised and  

obsessed by the  idea that the          
,christian ,god is the only thinkable   
,god4 ,they had heard so  much about    
that ,god and so little of any other4   
,with that release their  minds become1 
as it were1 nascent and ready for the   
coming of ,god4    ,then suddenly1 in a 
little while1 in his own time1 ,god     
comes4 ,this  cardinal experience is an 
undoubting1 immediate sense of ,god4 ,it
 is the  attainment of an absolute      
certainty that one is not alone in      
oneself4  ,it is as if one was touched  
at every point by a being akin to       
oneself1  sympathetic1 beyond measure   
wiser1 steadfast and pure in aim4 ,it is
  completer and more intimate1 but it is
 like standing side by side with  and   
touching someone that we love very      
dearly and trust completely4 ,it  is as 
if this being bridged a thousand        
misunderstandings and brought us  into  
fellowship with a great multitude of    
other people4 4 4 4    8,closer he is   
than breathing1 and nearer than hands   

and feet40    ,the moment may come while
 we are alone in the darkness1 under the
 stars1  or while we walk by ourselves  
or in a crowd1 or while we sit and muse4
  ,it may come upon the sinking ship or 
in the tumult of the battle4 ,there  is 
no saying when it may not come to us4 4 
4 4 ,but after it has come  our lives   
are changed1 ,god is with us and there  
is no more doubt of  ,god4 ,thereafter  
one goes about the world like one who   
was lonely and has  found a lover1 like 
one who was perplexed and has found a   
solution4  ,one is assured that there is
 a ,power that fights with us against   
the  confusion and evil within us and   
without4 ,there comes into the heart an 
essential and enduring happiness and    
courage4    ,there is but one ,god1     
there is but one true religious         
experience1 but  under a multitude of   
names1 under veils and darknesses1 ,god 
has in this  manner come into countless 
lives4 ,there is scarcely a faith1      
however  mean and preposterous1 that has

 not been a way to holiness4 ,god who is
  himself finite1 who himself struggles 
in his great effort from strength  to   
strength1 has no spite against error4   
,far beyond halfway he hastens  to meet 
the purblind4 ,but ,god is against the  
darkness in their eyes4 ,the  faith     
which is returning to men girds at veils
 and shadows1 and would  see ,god       
plainly4 ,it has little respect for     
mysteries4 ,it rends the veil  of the   
temple in rags and tatters4 ,it has no  
superstitious fear of  this huge        
friendliness1 of this great brother and 
leader of our little  beings4 ,to find  
,god is but the beginning of wisdom1    
because then for all  our days we have  
to learn his purpose with us and to live
 our lives with  him4        ,,chapter  
,,the ,,second    ,,heresies2 ,,or ,,the
 ,,things ,,that ,,god ,,is ,,not       
#a4 ,,heresies ,,are ,,misconceptions   
,,of ,,god      ,religion is not a plant
 that has grown from one seed2 it is    
like a lake  that has been fed by       

countless springs4 ,it is a great pool  
of living  water1 mingled from many     
sources and tainted with much impurity4 
,it is  synthetic in its nature2 it     
becomes simpler from original           
complexities2  the sediment subsides4   
,a life perfectly adjusted to its       
surroundings is a life without          
mentality2 no judgment is called for1 no
 inhibition1 no disturbance  of the     
instinctive flow of perfect reactions4  
,such a life is bliss1 or  nirvana4 ,it 
is unconsciousness below dreaming4      
,consciousness is discord  evoking the  
will to adjust2 it is inseparable from  
need4 ,at every need  consciousness     
breaks into being4 ,imperfect           
adjustments1 needs1 are the  rents and  
tatters in the smooth dark veil of being
 through which the  light of            
consciousness shines--the light of      
consciousness and will of  which ,god is
 the sun4    ,so that every need of     
human life1 every disappointment and    
dissatisfaction and call for help and   

effort1 is a means whereby men may  and 
do come to the realisation of ,god4     
,there is no cardinal need1 there is no 
sort of experience in human life  from  
which there does not come or has not    
come a contribution to men's  religious 
ideas4 ,at every challenge men have to  
put forth effort1 feel  doubt of        
adequacy1 be thwarted1 perceive the     
chill shadow of their  mortality4 ,at   
every challenge comes the possibility of
 help from  without1 the idea of eluding
 frustration1 the aspiration towards    
immortality4 ,it is possible to classify
 the appeals men make for ,god  under   
the headings of their chief system of   
effort1 their efforts to  understand1   
their fear and their struggles for      
safety and happiness1 the  craving of   
their restlessness for peace1 their     
angers against  disorder and their      
desire for the avenger2 their sexual    
passions and  perplexities4 4 4 4       
,each of these great systems of needs   
and efforts brings its own sort  of     

sediment into religion4 ,each1 that is  
to say1 has its own kind  of heresy1 its
 distinctive misapprehension of ,god4   
,it is only in the  synthesis and mutual
 correction of many divergent ideas that
 the idea of  ,god grows clear4 ,the    
effort to understand completely1 for    
example1  leads to the endless ,heresies
 of ,theory4 ,men trip over the inherent
  infirmities of the human mind4 ,but in
 these days one does not argue  greatly 
about dogma4 ,almost every conceivable  
error about unity1 about  personality1  
about time and quantity and genus and   
species1 about  begetting and beginning 
and limitation and similarity and every 
kink  in the difficult mind of man1 has 
been thrust forward in some form of     
dogma4 ,beside the errors of thought are
 the errors of emotion4 ,fear and       
feebleness go straight to the ,heresies 
that ,god is ,magic or that ,god  is    
,providence2 restless egotism at leisure
 and unchallenged by urgent  elementary 
realities breeds the ,heresies of       

,mysticism1 anger and hate  call for    
,god's ,judgments1 and the stormy       
emotions of sex gave mankind  the       
,phallic ,god4 ,those who find          
themselves possessed by the new spirit  
in religion1 realise very speedily the  
necessity of clearing the mind  of all  
these exaggerations1 transferences1 and 
overflows of feeling4 ,the  search for  
divine truth is like gold washing2      
nothing is of any value  until most has 
been swept away4        #b4 ,,heresies  
,,of ,,speculation      ,one sort of    
heresies stands apart from the rest4 ,it
 is infinitely the  most various sort4  
,it includes all those heresies which   
result from  wrong-headed mental        
elaboration1 as distinguished from those
 which are  the result of hasty and     
imperfect apprehension1 the heresies of 
the  clever rather than the heresies of 
the obtuse4 ,the former are of endless  
variety and complexity2 the latter are  
in comparison natural1 simple           
confusions4 ,the former are the errors  

of the study1 the latter the            
superstitions that spring by the        
wayside1 or are brought down to us in   
our social structure out of a barbaric  
past4    ,to the heresies of thought and
 speculation belong the elaborate       
doctrine of the ,trinity1 dogmas about  
,god's absolute qualities1 such odd     
deductions as the accepted ,christian   
teachings about the virginity of  ,mary 
and ,joseph1 and the like4 ,all these   
things are parts of orthodox            
,christianity4 ,yet none of them did    
,christ1 even by the ,christian         
account1 expound or recommend4 ,he      
treated them as negligible4 ,it was     
left for the ,alexandrians1 for         
,alexander1 for little1 red-haired1     
busy1 wire-pulling ,athanasius to find  
out exactly what their ,master was      
driving at1 three centuries after their 
,master was dead4 4 4 4    ,men still   
sit at little desks remote from ,god or 
life1 and rack their  inadequate brains 
to meet fancied difficulties and state  

unnecessary  perfections4 ,they seek    
,god by logic1 ignoring the marginal    
error  that creeps into every syllogism4
 ,their conceit blinds them to the      
limitations upon their thinking4 ,they  
weave spider-like webs of muddle  and   
disputation across the path by which men
 come to ,god4 ,it would not  matter    
very much if it were not that simpler   
souls are caught in these  webs4 ,every 
great religious system in the world is  
choked by such webs2  each system has   
its own4 ,of all the blood-stained      
tangled heresies which  make up         
doctrinal ,christianity and imprison the
 mind of the western  world to-day1 not 
one seems to have been known to the     
nominal founder  of ,christianity4      
,jesus ,christ never certainly claimed  
to be the ,messiah2  never spoke clearly
 of the ,trinity2 was vague upon the    
scheme of  salvation and the            
significance of his martyrdom4 ,we are  
asked to suppose  that he left his      
apostles without instructions1 that were

 necessary to  their eternal happiness1 
that he could give them the ,lord's     
,prayer but  leave them to guess at the 
all-important ,creed199 and that the    
,church  staggered along blindly1       
putting its foot in and out of          
damnation1  until the 8experts0 of      
,nicaea1 that 8garland of priests10     
marshalled by  ,constantine's officials1
 came to its rescue4 4 4 4 ,from the    
conversion  of ,paul onward1 the        
heresies of the intellect multiplied    
about ,christ's  memory and hid him from
 the sight of men4 ,we are no longer    
clear about  the doctrine he taught nor 
about the things he said and did4 4 4 4 
99 ,even the 8,apostles' ,creed0 is not 
traceable earlier than       the fourth 
century4  ,it is manifestly an old1     
patched       formulary4 ,rutinius      
explains that it was not written down   
for a long time1 but transmitted orally1
 kept secret1 and       used as a sort  
of password among the elect4    ,we are 
all so weary of this theology of the    

,christians1 we are all at  heart so    
sceptical about their ,triune ,god1 that
 it is needless here to  spend any time 
or space upon the twenty thousand       
different formulae in  which the        
orthodox have attempted to believe in   
something of the sort4  ,there are      
several useful encyclopaedias of sects  
and heresies1 compact1  but still bulky1
 to which the curious may go4 ,there are
 ten thousand  different expositions of 
orthodoxy4 ,no one who really seeks ,god
 thinks  of the ,trinity1 either the    
,trinity of the ,trinitarian or the     
,trinity of  the ,sabellian or the      
,trinity of the ,arian1 any more than   
one thinks of  those theories made      
stone1 those gods with three heads and  
seven hands1  who sit on lotus leaves   
and flourish lingams and what not1 in   
the  temples of ,india4 ,let us leave1  
therefore1 these morbid elaborations of 
the human intelligence to drift to      
limbo1 and come rather to the natural   
heresies that spring from fundamental   

weaknesses of the human character1  and 
which are common to all religions4      
,against these it is necessary to  keep 
constant watch4 ,they return very       
insidiously4        #c4 ,,god ,,is ,,not
 ,,magic      ,one of the most universal
 of these natural misconceptions of ,god
 is to  consider him as something magic 
serving the ends of men4    ,it is not  
easy for us to grasp at first the full  
meaning of giving our  souls to ,god4   
,the missionary and teacher of any creed
 is all too apt to  hawk ,god for what  
he will fetch2 he is greedy for the poor
 triumph of  acquiescence2 and so it    
comes about that many people who have   
been led  to believe themselves         
religious1 are in reality still keeping 
back their  own souls and trying to use 
,god for their own purposes4 ,god is    
nothing  more for them as yet than a    
magnificent ,fetish4 ,they did not      
really want  him1 but they have heard   
that he is potent stuff2 their unripe   
souls  think to make use of him4 ,they  

call upon his name1 they do certain     
things that are supposed to be          
peculiarly influential with him1 such   
as saying prayers and repeating gross   
praises of him1 or reading in  a blind1 
industrious way that strange miscellany 
of ,jewish and early  ,christian        
literature1 the ,bible1 and suchlike    
mental mortification1  or making the    
,sabbath dull and uncomfortable4 ,in    
return for these  fetishistic           
propitiations ,god is supposed to       
interfere with the normal  course of    
causation in their favour4 ,he becomes a
 celestial log-roller4  ,he remedies    
unfavourable accidents1 cures petty     
ailments1 contrives  unexpected gifts of
 medicine1 money1 or the like1 he averts
  bankruptcies1 arranges profitable     
transactions1 and does a thousand  such 
services for his little clique of       
faithful people4 ,the pious are         
represented as being constantly         
delighted by these little surprises1    
these bouquets and chocolate boxes from 

the divinity4 ,or contrawise  he        
contrives spiteful turns for those who  
fail in their religious  attentions4 ,he
 murders ,sabbath-breaking children1 or 
disorganises the  careful business      
schemes of the ungodly4 ,he is          
represented as going                    
,sabbath-breakering on ,sunday morning  
as a ,staffordshire worker  goes        
ratting4 ,ordinary everyday             
,christianity is saturated with this    
fetishistic conception of ,god4 ,it may 
be disowned in ,,the ,,hibbert          
,,journal1 but it is unblushingly       
advocated in the parish magazine4 ,it is
  an idea taken over by ,christianity   
with the rest of the qualities of  the  
,hebrew ,god4 ,it is natural enough in  
minds so self-centred that their        
recognition of weakness and need brings 
with it no real self-surrender1  but it 
is entirely inconsistent with the modern
 conception of the true  ,god4    ,there
 has dropped upon the table as ,i write 
a modest periodical called  ,,the       

,,northern ,,british ,,israel ,,review1 
illustrated with portraits of  various  
clergymen of the ,church of ,england1   
and of ladies and gentlemen  who belong 
to the little school of thought which   
this magazine  represents2 it is1 ,i    
should judge1 a sub-sect entirely within
 the  ,established ,church of ,england1 
that is to say within the ,anglican     
communion of the ,trinitarian           
,christians4 ,it contains among other   
papers  a very entertaining summary by a
 gentleman entitled--,i cite the unusual
  title-page of the                     
periodical--8,landseer ,mackenzie1      
,esq410 of the views  of ,isaiah1       
,ezekiel1 and ,obadiah upon the ,kaiser 
,william4 ,they are  distinctly hostile 
views4 ,mr4 ,landseer ,mackenzie        
discourses not only  upon these         
anticipatory condemnations but also upon
 the relations of the  weather to this  
war4 ,he is convinced quite simply and  
honestly that ,god  has been            
persistently rigging the weather against

 the ,germans4 ,he points  out that the 
absence of mist on the ,north ,sea was  
of great help to the  ,british in the   
autumn of #aiad1 and declares that it   
was the wet state of  the country that  
really held up the ,germans in ,flanders
 in the winter  of #aiad-ae4 ,he ignores
 the part played by the weather in      
delaying the  relief of ,kut-el-,amara1 
and he has not thought of the difficult 
question  why the ,deity1 having once   
decided upon intervention1 did not1     
instead  of this comparatively trivial  
meteorological assistance1 adopt the    
more effective course of1 for example1  
exploding or spoiling the ,german       
stores of ammunition by some simple     
atomic miracle1 or misdirecting  their  
gunfire by a sudden local modification  
of the laws of refraction  or           
gravitation4    ,since these views of   
,god come from ,anglican vicarages ,i   
can only  conclude that this kind of    
belief is quite orthodox and permissible
 in  the established church1 and that ,i

 am charging orthodox ,christianity     
here with nothing that has ever been    
officially repudiated4 ,i find  indeed  
the essential assumptions of ,mr4       
,landseer ,mackenzie repeated in        
endless official ,christian utterances  
on the part of ,german and ,british  and
 ,russian divines4 ,the ,bishop of      
,chelmsford1 for example1 has recently  
ascribed our difficulties in the war to 
our impatience with long  sermons--among
 other similar causes4 ,such ,christians
 are manifestly  convinced that ,god can
 be invoked by ritual--for example by   
special  days of national prayer or an  
increased observance of ,sunday--or made
  malignant by neglect or levity4 ,it is
 almost fundamental in their  idea of   
him4 ,the ordinary ,mohammedan seems as 
confident of this magic  pettiness of   
,god1 and the belief of ,china in the   
magic propitiations and  resentments of 
8,heaven0 is at least equally strong4   
,but the true ,god as those of the new  
religion know him is no such ,god  of   

luck and intervention4 ,he is not to    
serve men's ends or the ends of  nations
 or associations of men2 he is careless 
of our ceremonies  and invocations4 ,he 
does not lose his temper with our       
follies and  weaknesses4 ,it is for us  
to serve ,him4 ,he captains us1 he does 
not  coddle us4 ,he has his own ends for
 which he needs us4 4 4 4        #d4    
,,god ,,is ,,not ,,providence           
,closely related to this heresy that    
,god is magic1 is the heresy that  calls
 him ,providence1 that declares the     
apparent adequacy of cause and  effect  
to be a sham1 and that all the time1    
incalculably1 he is pulling  about the  
order of events for our personal        
advantages4    ,the idea of ,providence 
was very gaily travested by ,daudet in  
8,tartarin  in the ,alps40 ,you will    
remember how ,tartarin's friend assured 
him that  all ,switzerland was one great
 ,trust1 intent upon attracting tourists
 and  far too wise and kind to permit   
them to venture into real danger1  that 

all the precipices were netted          
invisibly1 and all the loose rocks      
guarded against falling1 that avalanches
 were prearranged spectacles and  the   
crevasses at their worst slippery ways  
down into kindly catchment  bags4 ,if   
the mountaineer tried to get into real  
danger he was turned  back by specious  
excuses4 ,inspired by this persuasion   
,tartarin behaved  with incredible      
daring4 4 4 4 ,that is exactly the      
,providence theory of  the whole world4 
,there can be no doubt that it does     
enable many a timid  soul to get through
 life with a certain recklessness4 ,and 
provided there  is no slip into a       
crevasse1 the ,providence theory works  
well4 ,it would  work altogether well if
 there were no crevasses4    ,tartarin  
was reckless because of his faith in    
,providence1 and escaped4  ,but what    
would have happened to him if he had    
fallen into a crevasse8    ,there exists
 a very touching and remarkable book by 
,sir ,francis  ,younghusband called     

8,within40 ,williams and ,norgate1      
#aiab4 ,it is the  confession of a man  
who lived with a complete confidence in 
,providence  until he was already well  
advanced in years4 ,he went through     
battles and  campaigns1 he filled       
positions of great honour and           
responsibility1 he  saw much of the life
 of men1 without altogether losing his  
faith4 ,the  loss of a child1 an ,indian
 famine1 could shake it but not         
overthrow it4  ,then coming back one day
 from some races in ,france1 he was     
knocked down  by an automobile and hurt 
very cruelly4 ,he suffered terribly in  
body and  mind4 ,his sufferings caused  
much suffering to others4 ,he did his   
utmost  to see the hand of a loving     
,providence in his and their disaster   
and  the torment it inflicted1 and being
 a man of sterling honesty and a fine   
essential simplicity of mind1 he        
confessed at last that he could not do  
so4 ,his confidence in the benevolent   
intervention of ,god was altogether     

destroyed4 ,his book tells of this      
shattering1 and how labouriously  he    
reconstructed his religion upon less    
confident lines4 ,it is a book  typical 
of an age and of a very ,english sort of
 mind1 a book well worth  reading4      
,that he came to a full sense of the    
true ,god cannot be asserted1 but how   
near he came to ,god1 let one quotation 
witness4      8,the existence of an     
outside ,providence10 he writes1 8who   
created us1  who watches over us1 and   
who guides our lives like a ,merciful   
,father1  we have found impossible      
longer to believe in4 ,but of the       
existence of a  ,holy ,spirit radiating 
upward through all animate beings1 and  
finding its  fullest expression1 in man 
in love1 and in the flowers in beauty1  
we  can be as certain as of anything in 
the world4 ,this fiery spiritual        
impulsion at the centre and the source  
of things1 ever burning in us1  is the  
supremely important factor in our       
existence4 ,it does not always  attain  

to light4 ,in many directions it fails2 
the conditions are too  hard and it is  
utterly blocked4 ,in others it only     
partially succeeds4  ,but in a few it   
bursts forth into radiant light4 ,there 
are few who  in some heavenly moment of 
their lives have not been conscious of  
its  presence4 ,we may not be able to   
give it outward expression1 but we know 
that it is there40 4 4 4      ,god does 
not guide our feet4 ,he is no sedulous  
governess restraining  and correcting   
the wayward steps of men4 ,if you would 
fly into the air1  there is no ,god to  
bank your aeroplane correctly for you or
 keep an  ill-tended engine going2 if   
you would cross a glacier1 no ,god nor  
angel  guides your steps amidst the     
slippery places4 ,he will not even mind 
your  innocent children for you if you  
leave them before an unguarded fire4    
,cherish no delusions2 for yourself and 
others you challenge danger and  chance 
on your own strength2 no talisman1 no   
,god1 can help you or those  you care   

for4 ,nothing of such things will ,god  
do2 it is an idle dream4  ,but ,god will
 be with you nevertheless4 ,in the      
reeling aeroplane or the  dark ice-cave 
,god will be your courage4 ,though you  
suffer or are killed1  it is not an end4
 ,he will be with you as you face death2
 he will die  with you as he has died   
already countless myriads of brave      
deaths4 ,he  will come so close to you  
that at the last you will not know      
whether it  is you or he who dies1 and  
the present death will be swallowed up  
in his  victory4      #e4 ,,the ,,heresy
 ,,of ,,quietism      ,god comes to us  
within and takes us for his own4 ,he    
releases us from  ourselves2 he         
incorporates us with his own undying    
experience and  adventure2 he receives  
us and gives himself4 ,he is a          
stimulant2 he  makes us live immortally 
and more abundantly4 ,i have compared   
him to the  sensation of a dear1 strong 
friend who comes and stands quietly     
beside  one1 shoulder to shoulder4      

,the finding of ,god is the beginning of
 service4 ,it is not an escape from     
life and action2 it is the release of   
life and action from the prison of  the 
mortal self4 ,not to realise that1 is   
the heresy of ,quietism1 of many        
mystics4 ,commonly such people are      
people of some wealth1 able to command  
services for all their everyday needs4  
,they make religion a method of         
indolence4 ,they turn their backs on the
 toil and stresses of existence  and    
give themselves up to a delicious       
reverie in which they flirt with  the   
divinity4 ,they will recount their      
privileges and ecstasies1 and how       
ingeniously and wonderfully ,god has    
tried and proved them4 ,but indeed  the 
true ,god was not the lover of ,madame  
,guyon4 ,the true ,god is not a         
spiritual troubadour wooing the hearts  
of men and women to no purpose4  ,the   
true ,god goes through the world like   
fifes and drums and flags1  calling for 
recruits along the street4 ,we must go  

out to him4 ,we must  accept his        
discipline and fight his battle4 ,the   
peace of ,god comes not  by thinking    
about it but by forgetting oneself in   
him4        #f4 ,,god ,,does ,,not      
,,punish      ,man is a social animal1  
and there is in him a great faculty for 
moral  indignation4 ,many of the early  
,gods were mainly ,gods of ,fear4 ,they 
were  more often 8wrath0 than not4 ,such
 was the temperament of the ,semitic    
deity who1 as the ,hebrew ,jehovah1     
proliferated1 perhaps under the         
influence of the ,alexandrian ,serapeum1
 into the ,christian ,trinity and  who  
became also the ,moslem ,god499 ,the    
natural hatred of unregenerate men      
against everything that is unlike       
themselves1 against strange people  and 
cheerful people1 against unfamiliar     
usages and things they do  not          
understand1 embodied itself in this     
conception of a malignant and  partisan 
,deity1 perpetually 8upset0 by the      
little things people did1  and          

contriving murder and vengeance4 ,now   
this ,god would be drowning  everybody  
in the world1 now he would be burning   
,sodom and ,gomorrah1  now he would be  
inciting his congenial ,israelites to   
the most terrific  pogroms4 ,this divine
 8frightfulness0 is of course the       
natural  human dislike and distrust for 
queer practices or for too sunny a      
carelessness1 a dislike reinforced by   
the latent fierceness of the ape  in us1
 liberating the latent fierceness of the
 ape in us1 giving it  an excuse and    
pressing permission upon it1 handing the
 thing hated and  feared over to its    
secular arm4 4 4 4         99 ,it is not
 so generally understood as it should be
 among       ,english and ,american     
readers that a very large proportion of 
early ,christians before the creeds     
established and       regularised the   
doctrine of the ,trinity1 denied        
absolutely       that ,jehovah was ,god2
 they regarded ,christ as a rebel       
against ,jehovah and a rescuer of       

humanity from him1 just as              
,prometheus was a rebel against ,jove4  
,these beliefs survived       for a     
thousand years throughout ,christendom3 
they were held       by a great         
multitude of persecuted sects1 from the 
,albigenses and ,cathars to the eastern 
,paulicians4  ,the       catholic church
 found it necessary to prohibit the     
circulation of the ,old ,testament among
 laymen very largely       on account of
 the polemics of the ,cathars against   
the ,hebrew       ,god4  ,but in this   
book1 be it noted1 the word ,christian1 
when it is not otherwise defined1 is    
used to indicate only       the         
,trinitarians who accept the official   
creeds4    ,it is a human paradox that  
the desire for seemliness1 the instinct 
for restraints and fair disciplines1 and
 the impulse to cherish sweet  familiar 
things1 that these things of the ,true  
,god should so readily  liberate cruelty
 and tyranny4 ,it is like a woman going 
with a light to  tend and protect her   

sleeping child1 and setting the house on
 fire4 ,none  the less1 right down to   
to-day1 the heresy of ,god the          
,revengeful1 ,god  the ,persecutor and  
,avenger1 haunts religion4 ,it is only  
in quite recent  years that the growing 
gentleness of everyday life has begun to
 make men  a little ashamed of a ,deity 
less tolerant and gentle than           
themselves4  ,the recent literature of  
the ,anglicans abounds in the evidence  
of this  trouble4    ,bishop ,colenso of
 ,natal was prosecuted and condemned in 
#ahfc for denying  the irascibility of  
his ,god and teaching 8the ,kaffirs of  
,natal0 the  dangerous heresy that ,god 
is all mercy4 8,we cannot allow it to be
 said10   the ,dean of ,cape ,town      
insisted1 8that ,god was not angry and  
was not  appeased by punishment40 ,he   
was angry 8on account of ,sin1 which is 
a  great evil and a great insult to ,his
 ,majesty40 ,the case of the ,rev4      
,charles ,voysey1 which occurred in     
#ahgj1 was a second assertion of the    

,church's insistence upon the fierceness
 of her ,god4 ,this case is not to  be  
found in the ordinary church histories  
nor is it even mentioned in  the latest 
edition of the ,,encyclopaedia          
,,britannica2 nevertheless it  appears  
to have been a very illuminating case4  
,it is doubtful if the  church would    
prosecute or condemn either ,bishop     
,colenso or ,mr4 ,voysey  to-day4       
#g4 ,,god ,,and ,,the ,,nursery-,,maid  
,closely related to the ,heresy of ,god 
the ,avenger1 is that kind of  miniature
 ,god the ,avenger1 to whom the         
nursery-maid and the overtaxed  parent  
are so apt to appeal4 ,you stab your    
children with such a ,god and  he       
poisons all their lives4 ,for many of us
 the word 8,god0 first came  into our   
lives to denote a wanton1 irrational    
restraint1 as ,bogey1  as the           
,all-,seeing and quite ungenerous ,eye4 
,god ,bogey is a great  convenience to  
the nursery-maid who wants to leave     
,fear to mind her  charges and enforce  

her disciplines1 while she goes off upon
 her own  aims4 ,but indeed1 the        
teaching of ,god ,bogey is an outrage   
upon the soul  of a child scarcely less 
dreadful than an indecent assault4 ,the 
reason  rebels and is crushed under this
 horrible and pursuing suggestion4 ,many
  minds never rise again from their     
injury4 ,they remain for the rest of    
life spiritually crippled and debased1  
haunted by a fear1 stained with a       
persuasion of relentless cruelty in the 
ultimate cause of all things4    ,i1 who
 write1 was so set against ,god1 thus   
rendered4 ,he and his ,hell  were the   
nightmare of my childhood2 ,i hated him 
while ,i still believed  in him1 and who
 could help but hate8 ,i thought of him 
as a fantastic  monster1 perpetually    
spying1 perpetually listening1          
perpetually waiting  to condemn and to  
8strike me dead02 his flames as ready as
 a grill-room  fire4 ,he was over me and
 about my feebleness and silliness and  
forgetfulness as the sky and sea would  

be about a child drowning in            
mid-,atlantic4 ,when ,i was still only a
 child of thirteen1 by the grace of  the
 true ,god in me1 ,i flung this ,lie out
 of my mind1 and for many years1  until 
,i came to see that ,god himself had    
done this thing for me1 the  name of    
,god meant nothing to me but the hideous
 scar in my heart where a  fearful demon
 had been4    ,i see about me to-day    
many dreadful moral and mental cripples 
with this  bogey ,god of the            
nursery-maid1 with his black1 insane    
revenges1 still  living like a horrible 
parasite in their hearts in the place   
where ,god  should be4 ,they are afraid1
 afraid1 afraid2 they dare not be kindly
 to  formal sinners1 they dare not      
abandon a hundred foolish observances2  
they dare not look at the causes of     
things4 ,they are afraid of sunshine1   
of nakedness1 of health1 of adventure1  
of science1 lest that old  watching     
spider take offence4 ,the voice of the  
true ,god whispers in  their hearts1    

echoes in speech and writing1 but they  
avert themselves1  fear-driven4 ,for the
 true ,god has no lash of fear4 ,and how
 the  foul-minded bigot1 with his       
ill-shaven face1 his greasy skin1 his   
thick1  gesticulating hands1 his        
bellowings and threatenings1 loves to   
reap this  harvest of fear the ignorant 
cunning of the nursery girl has sown    
for him6 ,how he loves the importance of
 denunciation1 and1 himself  a malignant
 cripple1 to rally the company of these 
crippled souls to  persecute and destroy
 the happy children of ,god6 4 4 4      
,christian priestcraft turns a dreadful 
face to children4 ,there is a real      
wickedness of the priest that is        
different from other wickedness1 and    
that affects a reasonable mind just as  
cruelty and strange perversions  of     
instinct affect it4 ,let a former       
,archbishop of ,canterbury speak  for   
me4 ,this that follows is the account   
given by ,archbishop ,tait in a  debate 
in the ,upper ,house of ,convocation    

7,july #crd1 #ahgg7 of one of the       
publications of a certain ,,society ,,of
 ,,the ,,holy ,,cross3      8,i take    
this book1 as its contents show1 to be  
meant for the instruction  of very young
 children4 ,i find1 in one of the pages 
of it1 the statement  that between the  
ages of six and six and a half years    
would be the  proper time for the       
inculcation of the teaching which is to 
be found in  the book4 ,now1 six to six 
and a half is certainly a very tender   
age1 and  to these children ,i find     
these statements addressed in the book3 
8#8,it is to the priest1 and to the     
priest only1 that the child must        
acknowledge his sins1 if he desires that
 ,god should forgive him4'    8,i hope  
and trust the person1 the three         
clergymen1 or however many there  were1 
did not exactly realise what they were  
writing2 that they did not  mean to say 
that a child was not to confess its sins
 to ,god direct2 that  it was not to    
confess its sins1 at the age of six1 to 

its mother1 or to  its father1 but was  
only to have recourse to the priest4    
,but the  words1 to say the least of    
them1 are rash4 ,then comes the very    
obvious  question3    8#8,do you know   
why8 ,it is because ,god1 when he was on
 earth1 gave to  his priests1 and to    
them alone1 the ,divine ,power of       
forgiving men their  sins4 ,it was to   
priests alone that ,jesus said3         
8,receive ye the ,holy  ,ghost40 4 4 4  
,those who will not confess will not be 
cured4 ,sin is a  terrible sickness1 and
 casts souls into hell4'    8,that is   
addressed to a child six years of age4  
8#8,i have known1' the book continues1  
#8poor children who concealed their     
sins in confession for years2 they were 
very unhappy1 were tormented  with      
remorse1 and if they had died in that   
state they would certainly  have gone to
 the everlasting fires of hell4'0 4 4 4 
,now here is something against nature1  
something that ,i have seen time  after 
time in the faces and bearing of priests

 and heard in their  preaching4 ,it is a
 distinct lust4 ,much nobility and      
devotion there are  among priests1      
saintly lives and kindly lives1 lives of
 real worship1  lives no man may better2
 this that ,i write is not of all1      
perhaps not  of many priests4 ,but there
 has been in all ages that have known   
sacerdotalism this terrible type of the 
priest2 priestcraft and priestly  power 
release an aggressive and narrow        
disposition to a recklessness of        
suffering and a hatred of liberty that  
surely exceeds the badness of any  other
 sort of men4        #h4 ,,the          
,,children',s ,,god      ,children do   
not naturally love ,god4 ,they have no  
great capacity for  an idea so subtle   
and mature as the idea of ,god4 ,while  
they are still  children in a home and  
cared for1 life is too kind and easy for
 them to  feel any great need of ,god4  
,all things are still something         
,god-like4 4 4 4    ,the true ,god1 our 
modern minds insist upon believing1 can 

have no  appetite for unnatural praise  
and adoration4 ,he does not clamour for 
the attention of children4 ,he is not   
like one of those senile uncles who     
dream of glory in the nursery1 who love 
to hear it said1 8,the children  adore  
him40 ,if children are loved and trained
 to truth1 justice1 and  mutual         
forbearance1 they will be ready for the 
true ,god as their needs  bring them    
within his scope4 ,they should be left  
to their innocence1 and  to their trust 
in the innocence of the world1 as long  
as they can be4  ,they should be told   
only of ,god as a ,great ,friend whom   
some day they  will need more and       
understand and know better4 ,that is as 
much as most  children need4 ,the       
phrases of religion put too early into  
their mouths  may become a cant1        
something worse than blasphemy4    ,yet 
children are sometimes very near to     
,god4 ,creative passion stirs in  their 
play4 ,at times they display a divine   
simplicity4 ,but it does not  follow    

that therefore they should be afflicted 
with theological  formulae or inducted  
into ceremonies and rites that they may 
dislike  or misinterpret4 ,if by any    
accident1 by the death of a friend or a 
distressing story1 the thought of death 
afflicts a child1 then he may  begin to 
hear of ,god1 who takes those that serve
 him out of their slain  bodies into his
 shining immortality4 ,or if by some    
menial treachery1  through some prowling
 priest1 the whisper of ,old ,bogey     
reaches our  children1 then we may set  
their minds at ease by the assurance of 
his  limitless charity4 4 4 4    ,with  
adolescence comes the desire for ,god   
and to know more of ,god1 and  that is  
the most suitable time for religious    
talk and teaching4        #i4 ,,god ,,is
 ,,not ,,sexual      ,in the last two or
 three hundred years there has been a   
very  considerable disentanglement of   
the idea of ,god from the complex of    
sexual thought and feeling4 ,but in the 
early days of religion the two  things  

were inseparably bound together2 the    
fury of the ,hebrew prophets1  for      
example1 is continually proclaiming the 
extraordinary 8wrath0 of  their ,god at 
this or that little dirtiness or        
irregularity or breach of  the sexual   
tabus4 ,the ceremony of circumcision is 
clearly indicative  of the original     
nature of the ,semitic deity who        
developed into the  ,trinitarian ,god4  
,so far as ,christianity dropped this   
rite1 so far  ,christianity disavowed   
the old associations4 ,but to this day  
the  representative ,christian churches 
still make marriage into a mystical     
sacrament1 and1 with some exceptions1   
the ,roman communion exacts  the        
sacrifice of celibacy from its          
priesthood1 regardless of the           
mischievousness and maliciousness that  
so often ensue4 ,nearly every           
,christian church inflicts as much      
discredit and injustice as it can       
contrive upon the illegitimate child4   
,they do not treat illegitimate         

children as unfortunate children1 but as
 children with a mystical and  an       
incurable taint of ,,sin4 ,kindly       
easy-going ,christians may resent this  
statement because it does not tally with
 their own attitudes1 but let  them     
consult their orthodox authorities4     
,one must distinguish clearly here      
between what is held to be sacred or    
sinful in itself and what is held to be 
one's duty or a nation's duty  because  
it is in itself the wisest1 cleanest1   
clearest1 best thing to  do4 ,by the    
latter tests and reasonable arguments   
most or all of our  institutions        
regulating the relations of the sexes   
may be justifiable4  ,but my case is not
 whether they can be justified by these 
tests but  that it is not by these tests
 that they are judged even to-day1 by   
the  professors of the chief religions  
of the world4 ,it is the temper and not 
the conclusions of the religious bodies 
that ,i would criticise4 ,these  sexual 
questions are guarded by a holy         

irascibility1 and the most  violent     
efforts are made--with a sense of       
complete righteousness--to  prohibit    
their discussion4 ,that fury about      
sexual things is only to be  explained  
on the hypothesis that the ,christian   
,god remains a sex ,god in  the minds of
 great numbers of his exponents4 ,his   
disentanglement from  that plexus is    
incomplete4 ,sexual things are still to 
the orthodox  ,christian1 sacred things4
    ,now the ,god whom those of the new 
faith are finding is only mediately     
concerned with the relations of men and 
women4 ,he is no more sexual            
essentially than he is essentially      
dietetic or hygienic4 ,the ,god of      
,leviticus was all these things4 ,he is 
represented as prescribing the  most    
petty and intimate of observances--many 
of which are now habitually  disregarded
 by the ,christians who profess him4 4 4
 4 ,it is part of the  evolution of the 
idea of ,god that we have now so largely
 disentangled  our conception of him    

from the dietary and regimen and        
meticulous sexual  rules that were once 
inseparably bound up with his majesty4  
,christ  himself was one of the chief   
forces in this disentanglement1 there is
  the clearest evidence in several      
instances of his disregard of the  rule 
and his insistence that his disciples   
should seek for the spirit  underlying  
and often masked by the rule4 ,his      
,church1 being made of baser  matter1   
has followed him as reluctantly as      
possible and no further  than it was    
obliged4 ,but it has followed him far   
enough to admit his  principle that in  
all these matters there is no need for  
superstitious  fear1 that the           
interpretation of the divine purpose is 
left to the  unembarrassed intelligence 
of men4 ,the church has followed him far
  enough to make the harsh threatenings 
of priests and ecclesiastics  against   
what they are pleased to consider       
impurity or sexual impiety1  a profound 
inconsistency4 ,one seems to hear their 

distant protests when  one reads of     
,christ and the ,magdalen1 or of ,christ
 eating with publicans  and sinners4    
,the clergy of our own days play the    
part of the  ,new ,testament ,pharisees 
with the utmost exactness and complete  
unconsciousness4 ,one cannot imagine a  
modern ecclesiastic conversing  with a  
,magdalen in terms of ordinary civility1
 unless she was in a very  high social  
position indeed1 or blending with       
disreputable characters  without a      
dramatic sense of condescension and much
 explanatory by-play4  ,those who       
profess modern religion do but follow in
 these matters a  course entirely       
compatible with what has survived of the
 authentic  teachings of ,christ1 when  
they declare that ,god is not sexual1   
and that  religious passion and insult  
and persecution upon the score of sexual
  things are a barbaric inheritance4    
,but lest anyone should fling off here  
with some hasty assumption that  those  
who profess the religion of the true    

,god are sexually anarchistic1  let     
stress be laid at once upon the opening 
sentence of the preceding  paragraph1   
and let me a little anticipate a section
 which follows4  ,we would free men and 
women from exact and superstitious rules
 and  observances1 not to make them less
 the instruments of ,god but more       
wholly his4 ,the claim of modern        
religion is that one should give oneself
  unreservedly to ,god1 that there is no
 other salvation4 ,the believer owes    
all his being and every moment of his   
life to ,god1 to keep mind and body  as 
clean1 fine1 wholesome1 active and      
completely at ,god's service as  he can4
 ,there is no scope for indulgence or   
dissipation in such  a consecrated life4
 ,it is a matter between the individual 
and his  conscience or his doctor or his
 social understanding what exactly he   
may  do or not do1 what he may eat or   
drink or so forth1 upon any occasion4   
,nothing can exonerate him from doing   
his utmost to determine and perform  the

 right act4 ,nothing can excuse his     
failure to do so4 ,but what is here     
being insisted upon is that none of     
these things has immediately to do  with
 ,god or religious emotion1 except only 
the general will to do right  in ,god's 
service4 ,the detailed interpretation of
 that 8right0 is for the  dispassionate 
consideration of the human intelligence4
    ,all this is set down here as       
distinctly as possible4 ,because of  the
 emotional reservoirs of sex1 sexual    
dogmas are among the most  obstinately  
recurrent of all heresies1 and sexual   
excitement is always  tending to leak   
back into religious feeling4 ,amongst   
the sex-tormented  priesthood of the    
,roman communion in particular1 ignorant
 of the  extreme practices of the       
,essenes and of the ,orphic cult and    
suchlike  predecessors of ,christianity1
 there seems to be an extraordinary     
belief  that chastity was not invented  
until ,christianity came1 and that the  
religious life is largely the           

propitiation of ,god by feats of sexual 
abstinence4 ,but a superstitious        
abstinence that scars and embitters  the
 mind1 distorts the imagination1 makes  
the body gross and keeps it  unclean1 is
 just as offensive to ,god as any       
positive depravity4        ,,chapter    
,,the ,,third    ,,the ,,likeness ,,of  
,,god      #a4 ,,god ,,is ,,courage     
,now having set down what those who     
profess the new religion regard as  the 
chief misconceptions of ,god1 having put
 these systems of ideas aside  from our 
explanations1 the path is cleared for   
the statement of what ,god  is4 ,since  
language springs entirely from material1
 spatial things1 there  is always an    
element of metaphor in theological      
statement4 ,so that ,i  have not called 
this chapter the ,nature of ,god1 but   
the ,likeness of ,god4    ,and firstly1 
,,god ,,is ,,courage4        #b4 ,,god  
,,is ,a ,,person      ,and next ,,god   
,,is ,a ,,person4    ,upon this point   
those who are beginning to profess      

modern religion are  very insistent4 ,it
 is1 they declare1 the central article1 
the axis1 of  their religion4 ,god is a 
person who can be known as one knows a  
friend1  who can be served and who      
receives service1 who partakes of our   
nature2  who is1 like us1 a being in    
conflict with the unknown and the       
limitless  and the forces of death2 who 
values much that we value and is against
  much that we are pitted against4 ,he  
is our king to whom we must be  loyal2  
he is our captain1 and to know him is to
 have a direction in our  lives4 ,he    
feels us and knows us2 he is helped and 
gladdened by us4 ,he  hopes and         
attempts4 4 4 4 ,god is no abstraction  
nor trick of words1 no  ,infinite4 ,he  
is as real as a bayonet thrust or an    
embrace4    ,now this is where those who
 have left the old creeds and come      
asking  about the new realisations find 
their chief difficulty4 ,they say1 ,show
  us this person2 let us hear him4 7,if 
they listen to the silences within1     

presently they will hear him47 ,but when
 one argues1 one finds oneself  suddenly
 in the net of those ancient            
controversies between species  and      
individual1 between the one and the     
many1 which arise out of the            
necessarily imperfect methods of the    
human mind4 ,upon these matters  there  
has been much pregnant writing during   
the last half century4 ,such  ideas as  
this writer has to offer are to be found
 in a previous little  book of his1     
8,first and ,last ,things10 in which1   
writing as one without  authority or    
specialisation in logic and philosophy1 
as an ordinary man  vividly interested1 
for others in a like case1 he was at    
some pains to  elucidate the            
imperfections of this instrument of     
ours1 this mind1 by  which we must seek 
and explain and reach up to ,god4       
,suffice it here to  say that           
theological discussion may very easily  
become like the vision  of a man with   
cataract1 a mere projection of inherent 

imperfections4 ,if  we do not use our   
phraseology with a certain courage1 and 
take that  of those who are trying to   
convey their ideas to us with a certain 
politeness and charity1 there is no end 
possible to any discussion in  so subtle
 and intimate a matter as theology but  
assertions1 denials1 and  wranglings4   
,and about this word 8person0 it is     
necessary to be as clear  and explicit  
as possible1 though perfect clearness1 a
 definition of  mathematical sharpness1 
is by the very nature of the case       
impossible4    ,now when we speak of a  
person or an individual we think        
typically of a  man1 and we forget that 
he was once an embryo and will presently
 decay2  we forget that he came of two  
people and may beget many1 that he has  
forgotten much and will forget more1    
that he can be confused1 divided        
against himself1 delirious1 drunken1    
drugged1 or asleep4 ,on the  contrary we
 are1 in our hasty way of thinking of   
him1 apt to suppose him  continuous1    

definite1 acting consistently and never 
forgetting4 ,but only  abstract and     
theoretical persons are like that4 ,we  
couple with him the  idea of a body4    
,indeed1 in the common use of the word  
8person0 there is  more thought of body 
than of mind4 ,we speak of a lover      
possessing the  person of his mistress4 
,we speak of offences against the person
 as  opposed to insults1 libels1 or     
offences against property4 ,and the     
gods of primitive men and the earlier   
civilisations were quite of that        
quality of person4 ,they were thought of
 as living in very splendid  bodies and 
as acting consistently4 ,if they were   
invisible in the  ordinary world it was 
because they were aloof or because their
 8persons0   were too splendid for weak 
human eyes4 ,moses was permitted a      
mitigated  view of the person of the    
,hebrew ,god on ,mount ,horeb2 and      
,semele1 who  insisted upon seeing ,zeus
 in the glories that were sacred to     
,juno1  was utterly consumed4 ,the early

 ,islamic conception of ,god1 like the  
conception of most honest1 simple       
,christians to-day1 was clearly1 in     
spite of the theologians1 of a very     
exalted anthropomorphic personality     
away somewhere in ,heaven4 ,the personal
 appearance of the ,christian ,god  is  
described in ,the ,revelation1 and      
however much that description may be    
explained away by commentators as       
symbolical1 it is certainly taken by    
most straightforward believers as a     
statement of concrete reality4  ,now if 
we are going to insist upon this primary
 meaning of person and  individual1 then
 certainly ,god as he is now conceived  
is not a person  and not an individual4 
,the true ,god will never promenade an  
,eden or a  ,heaven1 nor sit upon a     
throne4    ,but current ,christianity1  
modern developments of ,islam1 much     
,indian  theological thought--that1 for 
instance1 which has found such delicate 
and attractive expression in the        
devotional poetry of ,rabindranath      

,tagore--has long since abandoned this  
anthropomorphic insistence upon  a body4
 ,from the earliest ages man's mind has 
found little or no  difficulty in the   
idea of something essential to the      
personality1 a soul  or a spirit or     
both1 existing apart from the body and  
continuing after  the destruction of the
 body1 and being still a person and an  
individual4  ,from this it is a small   
step to the thought of a person existing
  independently of any existing or      
pre-existing body4 ,that is the idea  of
 theological ,christianity1 as          
distinguished from the ,christianity  of
 simple faith4 ,the ,triune             
,persons--omnipresent1 omniscient1 and  
omnipotent--exist for all time1 superior
 to and independent of matter4  ,they   
are supremely disembodied4 ,one became  
incarnate--as a wind eddy  might take up
 a whirl of dust4 4 4 4 ,those who      
profess modern  religion conceive that  
this is an excessive abstraction of the 
idea  of spirituality1 a disembodiment  

of the idea of personality beyond the   
limits of the conceivable2 nevertheless 
they accept the conception that  a      
person1 a spiritual individual1 may be  
without an ordinary mortal  body4 4 4 4 
,they declare that ,god is without any  
specific body1 that he  is immaterial1  
that he can affect the material         
universe--and that means  that he can   
only reach our sight1 our hearing1 our  
touch--through the  bodies of those who 
believe in him and serve him4    ,his   
nature is of the nature of thought and  
will4 ,not only has he1 in his  essence1
 nothing to do with matter1 but nothing 
to do with space4 ,he is  not of matter 
nor of space4 ,he comes into them4      
,since the period when  all the great   
theologies that prevail to-day were     
developed1 there have  been great       
changes in the ideas of men towards the 
dimensions of time  and space4 ,we owe  
to ,kant the release from the rule of   
these ideas as  essential ideas4 ,our   
modern psychology is alive to the       

possibility of  ,being that has no      
extension in space at all1 even as our  
speculative  geometry can entertain the 
possibility of dimensions--fourth1      
fifth1 ,nth  dimensions--outside the    
three-dimensional universe of our       
experience4  ,and ,god being non-spatial
 is not thereby banished to an infinite 
remoteness1 but brought nearer to us2 he
 is everywhere immediately at  hand1    
even as a fourth dimension would be     
everywhere immediately at  hand4 ,he is 
a ,being of the minds and in the minds  
of men4 ,he is in  immediate contact    
with all who apprehend him4 4 4 4       
,but modern religion declares that      
though he does not exist in matter or   
space1 he exists in time just as a      
current of thought may do2 that  he     
changes and becomes more even as a man's
 purpose gathers itself  together2 that 
somewhere in the dawning of mankind he  
had a beginning1  an awakening1 and that
 as mankind grows he grows4 ,with our   
eyes he looks  out upon the universe he 

invades2 with our hands1 he lays hands  
upon  it4 ,all our truth1 all our       
intentions and achievements1 he gathers 
to  himself4 ,he is the undying human   
memory1 the increasing human will4      
,but this1 you may object1 is no more   
than saying that ,god is the  collective
 mind and purpose of the human race4    
,you may declare that this  is no ,god1 
but merely the sum of mankind4 ,but     
those who believe in the  new ideas very
 steadfastly deny that4 ,god is1 they   
say1 not an aggregate  but a synthesis4 
,he is not merely the best of all of us1
 but a ,being in  himself1 composed of  
that but more than that1 as a temple is 
more than a  gathering of stones1 or a  
regiment is more than an accumulation of
 men4  ,they point out that a man is    
made up of a great multitude of cells1  
each  equivalent to a unicellular       
organism4 ,not one of those cells is he1
 nor  is he simply just the addition of 
all of them4 ,he is more than all of    
them4 ,you can take away these and these

 and these1 and he still remains4  ,and 
he can detach part of himself and treat 
it as if it were not  himself1 just as a
 man may beat his breast or1 as ,cranmer
 the martyr  did1 thrust his hand into  
the flames4 ,a man is none the less     
himself  because his hair is cut or his 
appendix removed or his leg amputated4  
,and take another image4 4 4 4 ,who     
bears affection for this or that        
spadeful of mud in my garden8 ,who cares
 a throb of the heart for all the  tons 
of chalk in ,kent or all the lumps of   
limestone in ,yorkshire8 ,but  men love 
,england1 which is made up of such      
things4    ,and so we think of ,god as a
 synthetic reality1 though he has       
neither  body nor material parts4 ,and  
so too we may obey him and listen to    
him1 though we think but lightly of the 
men whose hands or voices he  sometimes 
uses4 ,and we may think of him as having
 moods and aspects--as  a man has--and a
 consistency we call his character4     
,these are theorisings about ,god4      

,these are statements to convey this    
modern idea of ,god4 ,this1 we say1 is  
the nature of the person whose will  and
 thoughts we serve4 ,no one1 however1   
who understands the religious  life     
seeks conversion by argument4 ,first one
 must feel the need of ,god1  then one  
must form or receive an acceptable idea 
of ,god4 ,that much is no  more than    
turning one's face to the east to see   
the coming of the sun4  ,one may still  
doubt if that direction is the east or  
whether the sun  will rise4 ,the real   
coming of ,god is not that4 ,it is a    
change1 an  irradiation of the mind4    
,everything is there as it was before1  
only now  it is aflame4 ,suddenly the   
light fills one's eyes1 and one knows   
that  ,god has risen and that doubt has 
fled for ever4      #c4 ,,god ,,is      
,,youth      ,the third thing to be told
 of the true ,god is that ,,god ,,is    
,,youth4    ,god1 we hold1 began and is 
always beginning4 ,he looks forever into
 the  future4    ,most of the old       

religions derive from a patriarchal     
phase4 ,god is in  those systems the    
,ancient of ,days4 ,i know of no        
,christian attempt to  represent or     
symbolise ,god the ,father which is not 
a bearded1 aged man4  ,white hair1      
beard1 bearing1 wrinkles1 a hundred such
 symptoms of senile  decay are there4   
,these marks of senility do not astonish
 our modern  minds in the picture of    
,god1 only because tradition and usage  
have  blinded our eyes to the absurdity 
of a time-worn immortal4 ,jove too and  
,wotan are figures far past the prime of
 their vigour4 ,these are gods  after   
the ancient habit of the human mind1    
that turned perpetually  backward for   
causes and reasons and saw all things to
 come as no more  than the working out  
of ,fate1--         8,of ,man's first   
disobedience and the fruit       ,of    
that forbidden tree1 whose mortal taste 
,brought death into the world and all   
our woe40    ,but the ,god of this new  
age1 we repeat1 looks not to our past   

but our  future1 and if a figure may    
represent him it must be the figure of  
a beautiful youth1 already brave and    
wise1 but hardly come to his  strength4 
,he should stand lightly on his feet in 
the morning time1 eager  to go forward1 
as though he had but newly arisen to a  
day that was  still but a promise2 he   
should bear a sword1 that clean1        
discriminating  weapon1 his eyes should 
be as bright as swords2 his lips should 
fall  apart with eagerness for the great
 adventure before him1 and he should  be
 in very fresh and golden harness1      
reflecting the rising sun4 ,death       
should still hang like mists and cloud  
banks and shadows in the valleys  of the
 wide landscape about him4 ,there should
 be dew upon the threads of  gossamer   
and little leaves and blades of the turf
 at his feet4 4 4 4        #d4 ,,when   
,,we ,,say ,,god ,,is ,,love      ,one  
of the sayings about ,god that have     
grown at the same time most trite  and  
most sacred1 is that ,god is ,love4     

,this is a saying that deserves  careful
 examination4 ,love is a word very      
loosely used2 there are people  who will
 say they love new potatoes2 there are a
 multitude of loves  of different       
colours and values4 ,there is the love  
of a mother for her  child1 there is the
 love of brothers1 there is the love of 
youth and  maiden1 and the love of      
husband and wife1 there is illicit love 
and the  love one bears one's home or   
one's country1 there are dog-lovers and 
the  loves of the ,olympians1 and love  
which is a passion of jealousy4 ,love   
is frequently a mere blend of appetite  
and preference2 it may be  almost pure  
greed2 it may have scarcely any devotion
 nor be a whit  self-forgetful nor      
generous4 ,it is possible so to phrase  
things that the  furtive craving of a   
man for another man's wife may be made  
out to be  a light from ,god4 ,yet about
 all the better sorts of love1 the sorts
 of  love that people will call 8true   
love10 there is something of that same  

exaltation out of the narrow self that  
is the essential quality of the         
knowledge of ,god4    ,only while the   
exaltation of the love passion comes and
 goes1 the  exaltation of religious     
passion comes to remain4 ,lovers are the
 windows  by which we may look out of   
the prison of self1 but ,god is the open
 door  by which we freely go4 ,and ,god 
never dies1 nor disappoints1 nor        
betrays4    ,the love of a woman and a  
man has usually1 and particularly in its
  earlier phases of excitement1 far too 
much desire1 far too much               
possessiveness and exclusiveness1 far   
too much distrust or forced trust1  and 
far too great a kindred with jealousy to
 be like the love of ,god4  ,the former 
is a dramatic relationship that drifts  
to a climax1 and then  again seeks      
presently a climax1 and that may be     
satiated or fatigued4  ,but the latter  
is far more like the love of comrades1  
or like the  love of a man and a woman  
who have loved and been through much    

trouble  together1 who have hurt one    
another and forgiven1 and come to a     
complete  and generous fellowship4      
,there is a strange and beautiful love  
that men  tell of that will spring up on
 battlefields between sorely wounded    
men1  and often they are men who have   
fought together1 so that they will do   
almost incredibly brave and tender      
things for one another1 though but      
recently they have been trying to kill  
each other4 ,there is often a pure      
exaltation of feeling between those who 
stand side by side manfully in  any     
great stress4 ,these are the forms of   
love that perhaps come nearest  to what 
we mean when we speak of the love of    
,god4    ,that is man's love of ,god1   
but there is also something else2 there 
is  the love ,god bears for man in the  
individual believer4 ,now this is not   
an indulgent1 instinctive1 and          
sacrificing love like the love of a     
woman  for her baby4 ,it is the love of 
the captain for his men2 ,god must love 

his followers as a great captain loves  
his men1 who are so foolish1 so         
helpless in themselves1 so confiding1   
and yet whose faith alone makes  him    
possible4 ,it is an austere love4 ,the  
spirit of ,god will not hesitate  to    
send us to torment and bodily death4 4 4
 4    ,and ,god waits for us1 for all of
 us who have the quality to reach  him4 
,he has need of us as we of him4 ,he    
desires us and desires to make  himself 
known to us4 ,when at last the          
individual breaks through the  limiting 
darknesses to him1 the irradiation of   
that moment1 the smile  and soul clasp1 
is in ,god as well as in man4 ,he has   
won us from his  enemy4 ,we come        
staggering through into the golden light
 of his kingdom1  to fight for his      
kingdom henceforth1 until at last we are
 altogether  taken up into his being4   
,,chapter ,,the ,,fourth    ,,the       
,,religion ,,of ,,atheists        #a4   
,,the ,,scientific ,,atheist      ,it is
 a curious thing that while most        

organised religions seem to drape  about
 and conceal and smother the statement  
of the true ,god1 the  honest ,atheist1 
with his passionate impulse to strip the
 truth bare1 is  constantly and         
unwittingly reproducing the divine      
likeness4 ,it will be  interesting here 
to call a witness or so to the extreme  
instability of  absolute negation4      
,here1 for example1 is a deliverance    
from ,professor ,metchnikoff1 who was  a
 very typical antagonist of all         
religion4 ,he died only the other day4  
,he was a very great physiologist       
indeed2 he was a man almost of the rank 
and quality of ,pasteur or ,charles     
,darwin4 ,a decade or more ago he wrote 
a book called 8,the ,nature of ,man10 in
 which he set out very plainly a  number
 of illuminating facts about life4 ,they
 are facts so illuminating  that        
presently1 in our discussion of sin1    
they will be referred to  again4 ,but it
 is not ,professor ,metchnikoff's       
intention to provide  material for a    

religious discussion4 ,he sets out his  
facts in order to  overthrow theology as
 he conceives it4 ,the remarkable thing 
about his  book1 the thing upon which ,i
 would now lay stress1 is that he       
betrays no  inkling of the fact that he 
has no longer the right to conceive     
theology  as he conceives it4 ,the      
development of his science has destroyed
 that  right4    ,he does not realise   
how profoundly modern biology has       
affected our ideas  of individuality and
 species1 and how the import of theology
 is modified  through these changes4    
,when he comes from his own world of    
modern  biology to religion and         
philosophy he goes back in time4 ,he    
attacks  religion as he understood it   
when first he fell out with it fifty    
years  or more ago4    ,let us state as 
compactly as possible the nature of     
these changes that  biological science  
has wrought almost imperceptibly in the 
general  scheme and method of our       
thinking4    ,the influence of biology  

upon thought in general consists        
essentially  in diminishing the         
importance of the individual and        
developing the  realisation of the      
species1 as if it were a kind of        
super-individual1 a  modifying and      
immortal super-individual1 maintaining  
itself against the  outer universe by   
the birth and death of its constituent  
individuals4  ,natural ,history1 which  
began by putting individuals into       
species as if  the latter were mere     
classificatory divisions1 has come to   
see that  the species has its           
adventures1 its history and drama1 far  
exceeding  in interest and importance   
the individual adventure4 8,the ,origin 
of  ,species0 was for countless minds   
the discovery of a new romance in life4 
,the contrast of the individual life and
 this specific life may be  stated      
plainly and compactly as follows4 ,a    
little while ago we current             
individuals1 we who are alive now1 were 
each of us distributed between  two     

parents1 then between four grandparents1
 and so on backward1 we are  temporarily
 assembled1 as it were1 out of an       
ancestral diffusion2 we  stand our      
trial1 and presently our individuality  
is dispersed and  mixed again with other
 individualities in an uncertain        
multitude of  descendants4 ,but the     
species is not like this2 it goes on    
steadily from  newness to newness1      
remaining still a unity4 ,the drama of  
the individual  life is a mere episode1 
beneficial or abandoned1 in this        
continuing  adventure of the species4   
,and ,metchnikoff finds most of the     
trouble of  life and the distresses of  
life in the fact that the species is    
still  very painfully adjusting itself  
to the fluctuating conditions under     
which it lives4 ,the conflict of life is
 a continual pursuit of  adjustment1 and
 the 8ills of life10 of the individual  
life that is1  are due to its           
8disharmonies40 ,man1 acutely aware of  
himself as an  individual adventure and 

unawakened to himself as a species1     
finds life  jangling and distressful1   
finds death frustration4 ,he fails and  
falls as  a person in what may be the   
success and triumph of his kind4 ,he    
does  not apprehend the struggle or the 
nature of victory1 but only his own     
gravitation to death and personal       
extinction4    ,now ,professor          
,metchnikoff is anti-religious1 and he  
is anti-religious  because to him as to 
so many ,europeans religion is confused 
with  priest-craft and dogmas1 is       
associated with disagreeable early      
impressions of irrational repression and
 misguidance4 ,how completely he        
misconceives the quality of religion1   
how completely he sees it as an         
individual's affair1 his own words may  
witness3      8,religion is still       
occupied with the problem of death4 ,the
 solutions  which as yet it has offered 
cannot be regarded as satisfactory4 ,a  
future  life has no single argument to  
support it1 and the non-existence of    

life  after death is in consonance with 
the whole range of human knowledge4 ,on 
the other hand1 resignation as preached 
by ,buddha will fail to satisfy         
humanity1 which has a longing for life1 
and is overcome by the thought  of the  
inevitability of death40      ,now here 
it is clear that by death he means the  
individual death1 and by  a future life 
the prolongation of individuality4 ,but 
,buddhism does  not in truth appear ever
 to have been concerned with that1 and  
modern  religious developments are      
certainly not under that preoccupation  
with  the narrower self4 ,buddhism      
indeed so far from 8preaching           
resignation0   to death1 seeks as its   
greater good a death so complete as to  
be  absolute release from the           
individual's burthen of ,,karma4        
,buddhism seeks  an ,,escape ,,from     
,,individual ,,immortality4 ,the deeper 
one pursues religious  thought the more 
nearly it approximates to a search for  
escape from the  self-centred life and  

over-individuation1 and the more it     
diverges from  ,professor ,metchnikoff's
 assertion of its aims4 ,salvation is   
indeed to  lose one's self4 ,but        
,professor ,metchnikoff having roundly  
denied  that this is so1 is then left   
free to take the very essentials of the 
religious life as they are here         
conceived and present them as if  they  
were the antithesis of the religious    
life4 ,his book1 when it is  analysed1  
resolves itself into just that research 
for an escape from the  painful         
accidents and chagrins of individuation1
 which is the ultimate  of religion4    
,at times1 indeed1 he seems almost      
wilfully blind to the true solution     
round and about which his writing goes4 
,he suggests as his most hopeful        
satisfaction for the cravings of the    
human heart1 such a scientific          
prolongation of life that the instinct  
for self-preservation will be at  last  
extinct4 ,if that is not the very       
8resignation0 he imputes to the         

,buddhist ,i do not know what it is4 ,he
 believes that an individual which  has 
lived fully and completely may at last  
welcome death with the same  instinctive
 readiness as1 in the days of its       
strength1 it shows for the  embraces of 
its mate4 ,we are to be glutted by      
living to six score and  ten4 ,we are to
 rise from the table at last as gladly  
as we sat down4 ,we  shall go to death  
as unresistingly as tired children go to
 bed4 ,men  are to have a life far      
beyond the range of what is now         
considered their  prime1 and their last 
period 7won by scientific self-control7 
will be a  period of ripe wisdom 7from  
seventy to eighty to a hundred and      
twenty or  thereabouts7 and public      
service6    7,but why1 one asks1 public 
service8 ,why not book-collecting or the
  simple pleasure of reminiscence so    
dear to aged egotists8 ,metchnikoff     
never faces that question4 ,and again1  
what of the man who is challenged  to   
die for right at the age of thirty8     

,what does the prolongation  of life do 
for him8 ,and where are the consolations
 for accidental  misfortune1 for the    
tormenting disease or the lost limb87   
,but in his peroration ,professor       
,metchnikoff lapses into pure           
religiosity4 ,the prolongation of life  
gives place to sheer  self-sacrifice as 
the fundamental 8remedy40 ,and indeed   
what other remedy  has ever been        
conceived for the general evil of life8 
8,on the other hand10 he writes1 8the   
knowledge that the goal of human  life  
can be attained only by the development 
of a high degree of  solidarity amongst 
men will restrain actual egotism4 ,the  
mere fact that  the enjoyment of life   
according to the precepts of ,solomon   
7,ecelesiastes  ix4 #g-aj799 is opposed 
to the goal of human life1 will lessen  
luxury and  the evil that comes from    
luxury4 ,conviction that science alone  
is able  to redress the disharmonies of 
the human constitution will lead        
directly  to the improvement of         

education and to the solidarity of      
mankind4         99 ,go thy way1 eat thy
 bread with joy1 and drink thy wine     
with a merry heart2 for ,god now        
accepteth thy works4  ,let       thy    
garments be always white2 and let thy   
head lack no       ointment4  ,live     
joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest 
all       the days of the life of thy   
vanity1 which he hath given thee        
under the sun1 all the days of thy      
vanity for that is thy       portion in 
this life1 and in thy labour which thou 
takest       under the sun4  ,whatsoever
 thy hand findeth to do1 do it          
with thy might2 for there is no work1   
nor device1 nor       knowledge1 nor    
wisdom1 in the grave1 whither thou      
goest4    8,in progress towards the     
goal1 nature will have to be consulted  
continuously4 ,already1 in the case of  
the ephemerids1 nature has  produced a  
complete cycle of normal life ending in 
natural death4 ,in  the problem of his  
own fate1 man must not be content with  

the gifts of  nature2 he must direct    
them by his own efforts4 ,just as he has
 been able  to modify the nature of     
animals and plants1 man must attempt to 
modify  his own constitution1 so as to  
readjust its disharmonies4 4 4 4    8,to
 modify the human constitution1 it will 
be necessary first1 to frame  the ideal1
 and thereafter to set to work with all 
the resources of  science4    8,if there
 can be formed an ideal able to unite   
men in a kind of religion  of the       
future1 this ideal must be founded on   
scientific principles4 ,and  if it be   
true1 as has been asserted so often1    
that man can live by faith  alone1 the  
faith must be in the power of science40 
,now this1 after all the flat           
repudiations that have preceded it of   
8religion0 and 8philosophy0 as remedies 
for human ills1 is nothing less  than   
the fundamental proposition of the      
religious life translated into  terms of
 materialistic science1 the proposition 
that damnation is really                

over-individuation and that salvation is
 escape from self into the  larger being
 of life4 4 4 4    ,what can this       
8religion of the future0 be but that    
devotion to the  racial adventure under 
the captaincy of ,god which we have     
already found1  like gold in the bottom 
of the vessel1 when we have washed away 
the  confusions and impurities of       
dogmatic religion8 ,by an inquiry       
setting  out from a purely religious    
starting-point we have already reached  
conclusions identical with this ultimate
 refuge of an extreme  materialist4     
,this altar to the ,future of his1 we   
can claim as an altar to our ,god--an   
altar rather indistinctly inscribed4    
#b4 ,,sacrifice ,,implies ,,god         
,almost all ,agnostic and ,atheistical  
writings that show any fineness  and    
generosity of spirit1 have this tendency
 to become as it were the  statement of 
an anonymous ,god4 ,everything is said  
that a religious  writer would          
say--except that ,god is not named4     

,religious metaphors  abound4 ,it is as 
if they accepted the living body of     
religion but denied  the bones that held
 it together--as they might deny the    
bones of a  friend4 ,it is true1 they   
would admit1 the body moves in a way    
that  implies bones in its every        
movement1 but--,,we ,,have ,,never      
,,seen ,,those  ,,bones4    ,the        
disputes in theory--,i do not say the   
difference in reality--between  the     
modern believer and the atheist or      
agnostic--becomes at times almost  as   
impalpable as that subtle discussion    
dear to students of physics1  whether   
the scientific 8ether0 is real or a     
formula4 ,every material  phenomenon is 
consonant with and helps to define this 
ether1 which  permeates and sustains and
 is all things1 which nevertheless is   
perceptible to no sense1 which is       
reached only by an intellectual         
process4 ,most minds are disposed to    
treat this ether as a reality4 ,but  the
 acutely critical mind insists that what

 is only so attainable by  inference is 
not real2 it is no more than 8a formula 
that satisfies all  phenomena40    ,but 
if it comes to that1 am ,i anything more
 than the formula that  satisfies all my
 forms of consciousness8                
,intellectually there is hardly anything
 more than a certain will to  believe1  
to divide the religious man who knows   
,god to be utterly real1  from the man  
who says that ,god is merely a formula  
to satisfy moral and  spiritual         
phenomena4 ,the former has encountered  
him1 the other has as  yet felt only    
unassigned impulses4 ,one says ,god's   
will is so2 the other  that ,right is   
so4 ,one says ,god moves me to do this  
or that2 the other  the ,good ,will in  
me which ,i share with you and all      
well-disposed men1  moves me to do this 
or that4 ,but the former makes an       
exterior reference  and escapes a risk  
of self-righteousness4    ,i have       
recently been reading a book by ,mr4    
,joseph ,mc,cabe called 8,the  ,tyranny 

of ,shams10 in which he displays very   
typically this curious  tendency to a   
sort of religion with ,god 8blacked     
out40 ,his is an  extremely interesting 
case4 ,he is a writer who was formerly a
 ,roman  ,catholic priest1 and in his   
reaction from ,catholicism he displays a
  resolution even sterner than          
,professor ,metchnikoff's1 to deny that 
anything religious or divine can exist1 
that there can be any aim  in life      
except happiness1 or any guide but      
8science40 ,but--and here  immediately  
he turns east again--he is careful not  
to say 8individual  happiness40 ,and he 
says 8,pleasure is1 as ,epicureans      
insisted1 only  a part of a large ideal 
of happiness40 ,so he lets the happiness
 of  devotion and sacrifice creep in4   
,so he opens indefinite possibilities of
  getting away from any merely          
materialistic rule of life4 ,and he     
writes3      8,in every civilised nation
 the mass of the people are inert and   
indifferent4 ,some even make a pretence 

of justifying their inertness4  ,why1   
they ask1 should we stir at all8 ,is    
there such a thing as a duty to  improve
 the earth8 ,what is the meaning or     
purpose of life8 ,or has it a  purpose8 
8,one generally finds that this kind of 
reasoning is merely a piece of          
controversial athletics or a thin excuse
 for idleness4 ,people tell you  that   
the conflict of science and religion--it
 would be better to say1  the conflict  
of modern culture and ancient           
traditions--has robbed life  of its     
plain significance4 ,the men who1 like  
,tolstoi1 seriously urge  this point    
fail to appreciate the modern outlook on
 life4 ,certainly  modern               
culture--science1 history1 philosophy1  
and art--finds no purpose  in life3 that
 is to say1 no purpose eternally fixed  
and to be discovered  by man4 ,a great  
chemist said a few years ago that he    
could imagine #8a  series of lucky      
accidents'--the chance blowing by the   
wind of certain  chemicals into pools on

 the primitive earth--accounting for the
 first  appearance of life2 and one     
might not unjustly sum up the influences
  which have lifted those early germs to
 the level of conscious beings as  a    
similar series of lucky accidents4      
8,but it is sheer affectation to say    
that this demoralises us4 ,if there  is 
no purpose impressed on the universe1 or
 prefixed to the development  of        
humanity1 it follows only that humanity 
may choose its own purpose  and set up  
its own goal2 and the most elementary   
sense of order will  teach us that this 
choice must be social1 not merely       
individual4 ,in  whatever measure       
ill-controlled individuals may yield to 
personal  impulses or attractions1 the  
aim of the race must be a collective    
aim4 ,i  do not mean an austere demand  
of self-sacrifice from the individual1  
but an adjustment--as genial and        
generous as possible--of individual     
variations for common good4 ,otherwise  
life becomes discordant and  futile1 and

 the pain and waste react on each       
individual4 ,so we raise  again1 in the 
twentieth century1 the old question of  
#8the greatest  good1' which men        
discussed in the ,stoa ,poikile and the 
suburban groves  of ,athens1 in the cool
 atria of patrician mansions on the     
,palatine and  the ,pincian1 in the     
,museum at ,alexandria1 and the schools 
which ,omar  ,khayyam frequented1 in the
 straw-strewn schools of the ,middle    
,ages and  the opulent chambers of      
,cosimo dei ,medici40      ,and again3  
8,the old dream of a co-operative effort
 to improve life1 to bring  happiness to
 as many minds of mortals as we can     
reach1 shines above  all the mists of   
the day4 ,through the ruins of creeds   
and philosophies1  which have for ages  
disdained it1 we are retracing our steps
 toward that  height--just as the       
,athenians did two thousand years ago4  
,it rests on  no metaphysic1 no sacred  
legend1 no disputable tradition--nothing
 that  scepticism can corrode or        

advancing knowledge undermine4 ,its     
foundations  are the fundamental and    
unchanging impulses of our nature40     
,and again3      8,the revolt which     
burns in so much of the abler literature
 of our time  is an unselfish revolt1 or
 non-selfish revolt3 it is an outcome of
  that larger spirit which conceives the
 self to be a part of the general       
social organism1 and it is therefore    
neither egoistic nor altruistic4  ,it   
finds a sanction in the new             
intelligence1 and an inspiration in the 
finer sentiments of our generation1 but 
the glow which chiefly illumines  it is 
the glow of the great vision of a       
happier earth4 ,it speaks of  the claims
 of truth and justice1 and assails      
untruth and injustice1  for these are   
elemental principles of social life2 but
 it appeals  more confidently to the    
warmer sympathy which is linking the    
scattered  children of the race1 and it 
urges all to co-operate in the          
restriction  of suffering and the       

creation of happiness4 ,the advance     
guard of the  race1 the men and women in
 whom mental alertness is associated    
with fine  feeling1 cry that they have  
reached ,pisgah's slope and in          
increasing  numbers men and women are   
pressing on to see if it be really the  
,promised ,land40      8,pisgah--the    
,promised ,land60 ,mr4 ,mc,cabe in that 
passage sounds as if he  were half-way  
to 8,oh6 ,beulah ,land60 and the        
tambourine4    ,that 8larger spirit10 we
 maintain1 is ,god2 those 8impulses0 are
 the  power of ,god1 and ,mr4 ,mc,cabe  
serves a ,master he denies4 ,he has but 
to  realise fully that ,god is not      
necessarily the ,triune ,god of the     
,catholic  ,church1 and banish his      
intense suspicion that he may yet be    
lured  back to that altar he abandoned1 
he has but to look up from that         
preoccupation1 and immediately he will  
begin to realise the presence of        
,divinity4        #c4 ,,god ,,is ,,an   
,,external ,,reality      ,it may be    

argued that if atheists and agnostics   
when they set themselves  to express the
 good will that is in them1 do shape out
 ,god1 that  if their conception of     
right living falls in so completely with
 the  conception of ,god's service as to
 be broadly identical1 then indeed ,god1
  like the ether of scientific          
speculation1 is no more than a theory1  
no  more than an imaginative            
externalisation of man's inherent good  
will4  ,why trouble about ,god then8 ,is
 not the declaration of a good          
disposition  a sufficient evidence of   
salvation8 ,what is the difference      
between such  benevolent unbelievers as 
,professor ,metchnikoff or ,mr4 ,mc,cabe
 and those  who have found ,god8    ,the
 difference is this1 that the benevolent
 atheist stands alone upon  his own good
 will1 without a reference1 without a   
standard1 trusting  to his own impulse  
to goodness1 relying upon his own moral 
strength4 ,a  certain immodesty1 a      
certain self-righteousness1 hangs like a

 precipice  above him2 incalculable     
temptations open like gulfs beneath his 
feet4 ,he  has not really given himself 
or got away from himself4 ,he has no one
 to  whom he can give himself4 ,he is   
still a masterless man4 ,his exaltation 
is self-centred1 is priggishness1 his   
fall is unrestrained by any  exterior   
obligation4 ,his devotion is only the   
good will in himself1 a  disposition2 it
 is a mood that may change4 ,at any     
moment it may change4  ,he may have     
pledged himself to his own pride and    
honour1 but who will  hold him to his   
bargain8 ,he has no source of strength  
beyond his own  amiable sentiments1 his 
conscience speaks with an unsupported   
voice1 and  no one watches while he     
sleeps4 ,he cannot pray2 he can but     
ejaculate4 ,he  has no real and living  
link with other men of good will4       
,and those whose acquiescence in the    
idea of ,god is merely intellectual  are
 in no better case than those who deny  
,god altogether4 ,they may have  all the

 forms of truth and not divinity4 ,the  
religion of the atheist  with a         
,god-shaped blank at its heart and the  
persuasion of the  unconverted          
theologian1 are both like lamps unlit4  
,the lit lamp has no  difference in form
 from the lamp unlit4 ,but the lit lamp 
is alive and  the lamp unlit is asleep  
or dead4    ,the difference between the 
unconverted and the unbeliever and the  
servant of the true ,god is this2 it is 
that the latter has experienced  a      
complete turning away from self4 ,this  
only difference is all the  difference  
in the world4 ,it is the realisation    
that this goodness that  ,i thought was 
within me and of myself and upon which  
,i rather prided  myself1 is without me 
and above myself1 and infinitely greater
 and  stronger than ,i4 ,it is the      
immortal and ,i am mortal4 ,it is       
invincible  and steadfast in its        
purpose1 and ,i am weak and insecure4   
,it is no  longer that ,i1 out of my    
inherent and remarkable goodness1 out of

  the excellence of my quality and the  
benevolence of my heart1 give a         
considerable amount of time and         
attention to the happiness and welfare  
of others--because ,i choose to do so4  
,on the contrary ,i have come under  a  
divine imperative1 ,i am obeying an     
irresistible call1 ,i am a humble  and  
willing servant of the righteousness of 
,god4 ,that altruism which  ,professor  
,metchnikoff and ,mr4 ,mc,cabe would    
have us regard as the goal  and refuge  
of a broad and free intelligence1 is    
really the first simple  commandment in 
the religious life4        #d4 ,,another
 ,,religious ,,materialist      ,now    
here is a passage from a book1          
8,evolution and the ,war10 by ,professor
  ,metchnikoff's translator1 ,dr4       
,chalmers ,mitchell1 which comes even   
closer  to our conception of ,god as an 
immortal being arising out of man1 and  
external to the individual man4 ,he has 
been discussing that well-known  passage
 of ,kant's3 8,two things fill my mind  

with ever-renewed wonder and  awe the   
more often and deeper ,i dwell on       
them--the starry vault above  me1 and   
the moral law within me40    ,from that 
discussion1 ,dr4 ,chalmers ,mitchell    
presently comes to this most  definite  
and interesting statement3              
8,writing as a hard-shell ,darwinian    
evolutionist1 a lover of the scalpel    
and microscope1 and of patient1         
empirical observation1 as one who       
dislikes all forms of supernaturalism1  
and who does not shrink from the        
implications even of the phrase that    
thought is a secretion of the brain  as 
bile is a secretion of the liver1 ,i    
assert as a biological fact that  the   
moral law is as real and as external to 
man as the starry vault4 ,it  has no    
secure seat in any single man or in any 
single nation4 ,it is the  work of the  
blood and tears of long generations of  
men4 ,it is not  in man1 inborn or      
innate1 but is enshrined in his         
traditions1 in his  customs1 in his     

literature and his religion4 ,its       
creation and sustenance  are the        
crowning glory of man1 and his          
consciousness of it puts him in  a high 
place above the animal world4 ,men live 
and die2 nations rise and  fall1 but the
 struggle of individual lives and of    
individual nations  must be measured not
 by their immediate needs1 but as they  
tend to the  debasement or perfection of
 man's great achievement40      ,this is
 the same reality4 ,this is the same    
,link and ,captain that this  book      
asserts4 ,it seems to me a secondary    
matter whether we call ,him  8,man's    
,great ,achievement0 or 8,the ,son of   
,man0 or the 8,god of ,mankind0 or      
8,god40 ,so far as the practical and    
moral ends of life are concerned1 it    
does not matter how we explain or refuse
 to explain ,his presence in our  lives4
    ,there is but one possible gap left 
between the position of ,dr4 ,chalmers  
,mitchell and the position of this book4
 ,in this book it is asserted that      

,,god ,,responds1 that he ,,gives       
courage and the power of                
self-suppression to  our weakness4      
#e4 ,a ,,note ,,on ,a ,,lecture ,,by    
,,professor ,,gilbert ,,murray      ,let
 me now quote and discuss a very        
beautiful passage from a lecture  upon  
,stoicism by ,professor ,gilbert        
,murray1 which also displays the same   
characteristic of an involuntary shaping
 out of ,god in the forms of  denial4   
,it is a passage remarkable for its     
conscientious and resolute              
,agnosticism4 ,and it is remarkable too 
for its blindness to the  possibility of
 separating quite completely the idea of
 the ,infinite  ,being from the idea of 
,god4 ,it is another striking instance  
of that  obsession of modern minds by   
merely ,christian theology of which ,i  
have  already complained4 ,professor    
,murray has quoted ,mr4 ,bevan's phrase 
for  ,god1 8the ,friend behind          
phenomena10 and he does not seem to     
realise that  that phrase carries with  

it no obligation whatever to believe    
that this  ,friend is in control of the 
phenomena4 ,he assumes that he is       
supposed to  be in control as if it were
 a matter of course3      8,we do seem  
to find10 ,professor ,murray writes1    
8not only in all  religions1 but in     
practically all philosophies1 some      
belief that man is  not quite alone in  
the universe1 but is met in his         
endeavours towards  the good by some    
external help or sympathy4 ,we find it  
everywhere in the  unsophisticated man4 
,we find it in the unguarded            
self-revelations of the  most severe and
 conscientious ,atheists4 ,now1 the     
,stoics1 like many other  schools of    
thought1 drew an argument from this     
consensus of all mankind4  ,it was not  
an absolute proof of the existence of   
the ,gods or ,providence1  but it was a 
strong indication4 ,the existence of a  
common instinctive  belief in the mind  
of man gives at least a presumption that
 there must  be a good cause for that   

belief4    8,this is a reasonable       
position4 ,there must be some such      
cause4 ,but it  does not follow that the
 only valid cause is the truth of the   
content of  the belief4 ,i cannot help  
suspecting that this is precisely one of
 those  points on which ,stoicism1 in   
company with almost all philosophy up to
  the present time1 has gone astray     
through not sufficiently realising its  
dependence on the human mind as a       
natural biological product4 ,for it is  
very important in this matter to realise
 that the so-called belief is  not      
really an intellectual judgment so much 
as a craving of the whole  nature4      
8,it is only of very late years that    
psychologists have begun to realise  the
 enormous dominion of those forces in   
man of which he is normally             
unconscious4 ,we cannot escape as easily
 as these brave men dreamed from  the   
grip of the blind powers beneath the    
threshold4 ,indeed1 as ,i see           
philosophy after philosophy falling into

 this unproven belief in the  ,friend   
behind phenomena1 as ,i find that ,i    
myself cannot1 except for a  moment and 
by an effort1 refrain from making the   
same assumption1 it  seems to me that   
perhaps here too we are under the spell 
of a very old  ineradicable instinct4   
,we are gregarious animals2 our         
ancestors have  been such for countless 
ages4 ,we cannot help looking out on the
 world as  gregarious animals do2 we see
 it in terms of humanity and of         
fellowship4  ,students of animals under 
domestication have shown us how the     
habits  of a gregarious creature1 taken 
away from his kind1 are shaped in  a    
thousand details by reference to the    
lost pack which is no longer  there--the
 pack which a dog tries to smell his way
 back to all the time  he is out        
walking1 the pack he calls to for help  
when danger threatens4  ,it is a strange
 and touching thing1 this eternal hunger
 of the  gregarious animal for the herd 
of friends who are not there4 ,and it   

may  be1 it may very possibly be1 that1 
in the matter of this ,friend behind    
phenomena our own yearning and our own  
almost ineradicable instinctive         
conviction1 since they are certainly not
 founded on either reason or            
observation1 are in origin the groping  
of a lonely-souled gregarious  animal to
 find its herd or its herd-leader in the
 great spaces between  the stars4       
8,at any rate1 it is a belief very      
difficult to get rid of40      ,there   
the passage and the lecture end4    ,i  
would urge that here again is an        
inadvertent witness to the reality of   
,god4    ,professor ,murray writes of   
gregarious animals as though there      
existed  solitary animals that are not  
gregarious1 pure individualists1        
8atheists0 so to speak1 and as though   
this appeal to a life beyond one's  own 
was not the universal disposition of    
living things4 ,his classical  training 
disposes him to a realistic exaggeration
 of individual  difference4 ,but nearly 

every animal1 and certainly every       
mentally  considerable animal1 begins   
under parental care1 in a nest or a     
litter1  mates to breed1 and is         
associated for much of its life4 ,even  
the great  carnivores do not go alone   
except when they are old and have done  
with  the most of life4 ,every pack1    
every herd1 begins at some point in a   
couple1 it is the equivalent of the     
tiger's litter if that were to  remain  
undispersed4 ,and it is within the      
memory of men still living  that in many
 districts the ,african lion has with a 
change of game and  conditions lapsed   
from a 8solitary0 to a gregarious1 that 
is to say a  prolonged family habit of  
life4    ,man too1 if in his ape-like   
phase he resembled the other higher     
apes1  is an animal becoming more       
gregarious and not less4 ,he has passed 
within the historical period from a     
tribal gregariousness to a nearly       
cosmopolitan tolerance4 ,and he has his 
tribe about him4 ,he is not1 as         

,professor ,murray seems to suggest1 a  
solitary ,,lost gregarious beast4 ,why  
should his desire for ,god be regarded  
as the overflow of an unsatisfied       
gregarious instinct1 when he has home1  
town1 society1 companionship1  trade    
union1 state1 ,,increasingly at hand to 
glut it8 ,why should  gregariousness    
drive a man to ,god rather than to the  
third-class  carriage and the           
public-house8 ,why should gregariousness
 drive men out  of crowded ,egyptian    
cities into the cells of the ,thebaid8  
,schopenhauer  in a memorable passage   
7about the hedgehogs who assembled for  
warmth7 is  flatly opposed to ,professor
 ,murray1 and seems far more plausible  
when  he declares that the nature of man
 is insufficiently gregarious4 ,the     
parallel with the dog is not a valid    
one4    ,does not the truth lie rather  
in the supposition that it is not the   
,friend that is the instinctive delusion
 but the isolation8 ,is not the  real   
deception1 our belief that we are       

completely individualised1 and  is it   
not possible that this that ,professor  
,murray calls 8instinct0   is really not
 a vestige but a new thing arising out  
of our increasing  understanding1 an    
intellectual penetration to that greater
 being of the  species1 that vine1 of   
which we are the branches8 ,why should  
not the  soul of the species1 many      
faceted indeed1 be nevertheless a soul  
like  our own8    ,here1 as in the case 
of ,professor ,metchnikoff1 and in many 
other cases  of atheism1 it seems to me 
that nothing but an inadequate          
understanding  of individuation bars the
 way to at least the intellectual       
recognition  of the true ,god4          
#f4 ,,religion ,,as ,,ethics      ,and  
while ,i am dealing with rationalists1  
let me note certain recent  interesting 
utterances of ,sir ,harry ,johnston's4  
,you will note that while  in this book 
we use the word 8,god0 to indicate the  
,god of the ,heart1  ,sir ,harry uses   
8,god0 for that idea of                 

,god-of-the-,universe1 which we have    
spoken of as the ,infinite ,being4 ,this
 use of the word 8,god0 is of late      
theological origin2 the original        
identity of the words 8good0 and 8god0  
and all the stories of the gods are     
against him4 ,but ,sir ,harry takes up  
,god only to define him away into       
incomprehensible necessity4 ,thus3      
8,we know absolutely nothing concerning 
the ,force we call ,god2 and1  assuming 
such an intelligent ruling force to be  
in existence1 permeating  this universe 
of millions of stars and 7no doubt7 tens
 of millions of  planets1 we do not know
 under what conditions and limitations  
,it works4  ,we are quite entitled to   
assume that the end of such an influence
 is  intended to be order out of chaos1 
happiness and perfection out  of        
incompleteness and misery2 and we are   
entitled to identify the  reactionary   
forces of brute ,nature with the        
anthropomorphic ,devil of  primitive    
religions1 the power of darkness        

resisting the power of light4  ,but in  
these conjectures we must surely come to
 the conclusion that  the theoretical   
potency we call #8,god' makes endless   
experiments1 and  scrap-heaps the       
failures4 ,think of the ,dinosaurs and  
the expenditure of  creative energy that
 went to their differentiation and their
 well-nigh  incredible physical         
development4 4 4 4    8,to such a       
,divine ,force as we postulate1 the     
whole development and  perfecting of    
life on this planet1 the whole          
production of man1 may  seem little more
 than to any one of us would be the     
chipping out1 the  cutting1 the carving1
 and the polishing of a gem2 and we     
should feel as  little remorse or pity  
for the scattered dust and fragments as 
must the  ,creative ,force of the       
immeasurably vast universe feel for the 
,,disjecta  ,,membra of perfected life  
on this planet4 4 4 40      ,but thence 
he goes on to a curiously imperfect     
treatment of the ,god  of man as if he  

consisted in nothing more than some     
vague sort of  humanitarianism4 ,sir    
,harry's ideas are much less thoroughly 
thought out  than those of any other of 
these sceptical writers ,i have quoted4 
,on  that account they are perhaps more 
typical4 ,he speaks as though ,christ   
were simply an eminent but ill-reported 
and abominably served teacher of        
ethics--and yet of the only right ideal 
and ethics4 ,he speaks as though        
religions were nothing more than ethical
 movements1 and as though  ,christianity
 were merely someone remarking with a   
bright impulsiveness  that everything   
was simply horrid1 and so1 8,let us     
instal loving  kindness as a cardinal   
axiom40 ,he ignores altogether the      
fundamental  essential of religion1     
which is ,,the ,,development ,,and      
,,synthesis ,,of ,,the  ,,divergent     
,,and ,,conflicting ,,motives ,,of ,,the
 ,,unconverted ,,life1 ,,and ,,the      
,,identification ,,of ,,the ,,individual
 ,,life ,,with ,,the ,,immortal         

,,purpose ,,of ,,god4  ,he presents a   
conception of religion relieved of its  
8nonsense0 as the  cheerful             
self-determination of a number of bright
 little individuals  7much stirred but  
by no means overcome by ,cosmic ,pity7  
to the ,service  of ,man4 ,as he seems  
to present it1 it is as outward a thing1
 it goes as  little into the intimacy of
 their lives1 as though they had after  
proper  consideration agreed to send a  
subscription to a ,red ,cross ,ambulance
 or  take part in a public demonstration
 against the ,armenian ,massacres1 or   
do any other rather nice-spirited       
exterior thing4 ,this is what he says3  
8,i hope that the religion of the future
 will devote itself wholly to the       
,service of ,man4 ,it can do so without 
departing from the ,christian  ideal and
 ,christian ethics4 ,it need only drop  
all that is silly and  disputable1 and  
#8mattering not neither here nor there1'
 of ,christian  theology--a theology    
virtually absent from the direct        

teaching of  ,christ--and all of        
,judaistic literature or prescriptions  
not made  immortal in their application 
by unassailable truth and by the        
confirmation of science4 ,an excellent  
remedy for the nonsense which  still    
clings about religion may be found in   
two books3 ,cotter ,monson's  #8,service
 of ,man1' which was published as long  
ago as #ahhg1 and has since  been       
re-issued by the ,rationalist ,press    
,association in its well-known  sixpenny
 series1 and ,j4 ,allanson ,picton's    
#8,man and the ,bible4'  ,similarly1    
those who wish to acquire a sane view of
 the relations  between man and ,god    
would do well to read ,winwood ,reade's 
#8,martyrdom of  ,man4'0      ,sir      
,harry in fact clears the ground for    
,god very ably1 and then makes a        
well-meaning gesture in the vacant      
space4 ,there is no help nor strength   
in his gesture unless ,god is there4    
,without ,god1 the 8,service of ,man0   
is no better than a hobby or a          

sentimentality or an hypocrisy in the   
undisciplined prison of the mortal life4
        ,,chapter ,,the ,,fifth    ,,the
 ,,invisible ,,king      #a4 ,,modern   
,,religion ,a ,,political ,,religion    
,the conception of a young and energetic
 ,god1 an ,invisible ,prince growing  in
 strength and wisdom1 who calls men and 
women to his service and who  gives     
salvation from self and mortality only  
through self-abandonment to  his        
service1 necessarily involves a demand  
for a complete revision and  fresh      
orientation of the life of the convert4 
,god faces the blackness of the ,unknown
 and the blind joys and confusions  and 
cruelties of ,life1 as one who leads    
mankind through a dark jungle  to a     
great conquest4 ,he brings mankind not  
rest but a sword4 ,it is plain  that he 
can admit no divided control of the     
world he claims4 ,he concedes  nothing  
to ,caesar4 ,in our philosophy there are
 no human things that  are ,god's and   
others that are ,caesar's4 ,those of the

 new thought cannot  render unto ,god   
the things that are ,god's1 and to      
,caesar the things that  are ,caesar's4 
,whatever claim ,caesar may make to rule
 men's lives and  direct their destinies
 outside the will of ,god1 is a         
usurpation4 ,no king  nor ,caesar has   
any right to tax or to service or to    
tolerance1 except  he claim as one who  
holds for and under ,god4 ,and he must  
make good his  claim4 ,the steps of the 
altar of the ,god of ,youth are no safe 
place for  the sacrilegious figure of a 
king4 ,who claims 8divine right0 plays  
with  the lightning4    ,the new        
conceptions do not tolerate either kings
 or aristocracies or  democracies4 ,its 
implicit command to all its adherents is
 to make plain  the way to the world    
theocracy4 ,its rule of life is the     
discovery and  service of the will of   
,god1 which dwells in the hearts of men1
 and the  performance of that will1 not 
only in the private life of the believer
  but in the acts and order of the state

 and nation of which he is a part4  ,i  
give myself to ,god not only because ,i 
am so and so but because ,i am  mankind4
 ,i become in a measure responsible for 
every evil in the world  of men4 ,i     
become a knight in ,god's service4 ,i   
become my brother's  keeper4 ,i become a
 responsible minister of my ,king4 ,i   
take sides against  injustice1 disorder1
 and against all those temporal kings1  
emperors1  princes1 landlords1 and      
owners1 who set themselves up against   
,god's rule  and worship4 ,kings1       
owners1 and all who claim rule and      
decisions in the  world's affairs1 must 
either show themselves clearly the      
fellow-servants  of the believer or     
become the objects of his steadfast     
antagonism4        #b4 ,,the ,,will ,,of
 ,,god      ,it is here that those who  
explain this modern religiosity will    
seem most  arbitrary to the inquirer4   
,for they relate of ,god1 as men will   
relate of  a close friend1 his          
dispositions1 his apparent intentions1  

the aims  of his kingship4 ,and just as 
they advance no proof whatever of the   
existence of ,god but their realisation 
of him1 so with regard to these         
qualities and dispositions they have    
little argument but profound            
conviction4 ,what they say is this2 that
 if you do not feel ,god then  there is 
no persuading you of him2 we cannot win 
over the incredulous4  ,and what they   
say of his qualities is this2 that if   
you feel ,god then  you will know1 you  
will realise more and more clearly1 that
 thus and  thus and no other is his     
method and intention4    ,it comes as no
 great shock to those who have grasped  
the full  implications of the statement 
that ,god is ,finite1 to hear it        
asserted  that the first purpose of ,god
 is the attainment of clear knowledge1  
of  knowledge as a means to more        
knowledge1 and of knowledge as a means  
to  power4 ,for that he must use human  
eyes and hands and brains4    ,and as   
,god gathers power he uses it to an end 

that he is only beginning  to apprehend1
 and that he will apprehend more fully  
as time goes on4 ,but  it is possible to
 define the broad outlines of the       
attainment he seeks4  ,it is the        
conquest of death4    ,it is the        
conquest of death2 first the overcoming 
of death in the  individual by the      
incorporation of the motives of his life
 into an  undying purpose1 and then the 
defeat of that death that seems to      
threaten our species upon a cooling     
planet beneath a cooling sun4 ,god      
fights against death in every form1     
against the great death of the  race1   
against the petty death of indolence1   
insufficiency1 baseness1  misconception1
 and perversion4 ,he it is and no other 
who can deliver us  8from the body of   
this death40 ,this is the battle that   
grows plainer2  this is the purpose to  
which he calls us out of the animal's   
round of  eating1 drinking1 lusting1    
quarrelling and laughing and weeping1   
fearing  and failing1 and presently of  

wearying and dying1 which is the  whole 
life that living without ,god can give  
us4 ,and from these great  propositions 
there follow many very definite maxims  
and rules of life  for those who serve  
,god4 ,these we will immediately        
consider4        #c4 ,,the ,,crucifix   
,but first let me write a few words here
 about those who hold a kind  of        
intermediate faith between the worship  
of the ,god of ,youth and the  vaguer   
sort of ,christianity4 ,there are a     
number of people closely in  touch with 
those who have found the new religion   
who1 biased probably  by a dread of too 
complete a break with ,christianity1    
have adopted a  theogony which is very  
reminiscent of ,gnosticism and of the   
,paulician1  ,catharist1 and kindred    
sects to which allusion has already been
 made4  ,he1 who is called in this book 
,god1 they would call ,god-the-,son or  
,christ1 or the ,logos2 and what is here
 called the ,darkness or the ,veiled    
,being1 they would call                 

,god-the-,father4 ,and what we speak of 
here as  ,life1 they would call1 with a 
certain disregard of the poor brutes    
that  perish1 ,man4 ,and they would     
assert1 what we of the new belief1      
pleading  our profound ignorance1 would 
neither assert nor deny1 that that      
,darkness1 out of which came ,life and  
,god1 since it produced them must be    
ultimately sympathetic and of like      
nature with them4 ,and that ultimately  
,man1 being redeemed and led by ,christ 
and saved from death by him1 would  be  
reconciled with ,god the ,father499 ,and
 this great adventurer out of the       
hearts of man that we here call ,god1   
they would present as the same with     
that teacher from ,galilee who was      
crucified at ,jerusalem4         99     
,this probably was the conception of    
,spinoza4  ,christ for       him is the 
wisdom of ,god manifested in all things1
 and       chiefly in the mind of man4  
,through him we reach the               
blessedness of an intuitive knowledge of

 ,god4  ,salvation is       an escape   
from the 8inadequate0 ideas of the      
mortal human       personality to the   
8adequate0 and timeless ideas of ,god4  
,now we of the modern way would offer   
the following criticisms upon this      
apparent compromise between our faith   
and the current religion4 ,firstly1  we 
do not presume to theorise about the    
nature of the veiled being nor  about   
that being's relations to ,god and to   
,life4 ,we do not recognise any         
consistent sympathetic possibilities    
between these outer beings and our      
,god4 ,our ,god is1 we feel1 like       
,prometheus1 a rebel4 ,he is unfilial4  
,and  the accepted figure of ,jesus1    
instinct with meek submission1 is not in
  the tone of our worship4 ,it is not by
 suffering that ,god conquers death1    
but by fighting4 ,incidentally our ,god 
dies a million deaths1 but the  thing   
that matters is not the deaths but the  
immortality4 ,it may be he  cannot      
escape in this person or that person    

being nailed to a cross  or chained to  
be torn by vultures on a rock4 ,these   
may be necessary  sufferings1 like      
hunger and thirst in a campaign2 they do
 not in  themselves bring victory4 ,they
 may be necessary1 but they are not     
glorious4 ,the symbol of the            
crucifixion1 the drooping1 pain-drenched
  figure of ,christ1 the sorrowful cry  
to his ,father1 8,my ,god1 my ,god1 why 
hast thou forsaken me80 these things jar
 with our spirit4 ,we little men  may   
well fail and repent1 but it is our     
faith that our ,god does not fail  us   
nor himself4 ,we cannot accept the      
,christian's crucifix1 or pray to  a    
pitiful ,god4 ,we cannot accept the     
,resurrection as though it were an      
after-thought to a bitterly felt death4 
,our crucifix1 if you must have  a      
crucifix1 would show ,god with a hand or
 a foot already torn away from  its     
nail1 and with eyes not downcast but    
resolute against the sky2 a  face       
without pain1 pain lost and forgotten in

 the surpassing glory of  the struggle  
and the inflexible will to live and     
prevail4 4 4 4    ,but we do not care   
how long the thorns are drawn1 nor how  
terrible the  wounds1 so long as he does
 not droop4 ,god is courage4 ,god is    
courage  beyond any conceivable         
suffering4    ,but when all this has    
been said1 it is well to add that it    
concerns the  figure of ,christ only in 
so far as that professes to be the      
figure of  ,god1 and the crucifix only  
so far as that stands for divine action4
 ,the  figure of ,christ crucified1 so  
soon as we think of it as being no  more
 than the tragic memorial of ,jesus1 of 
the man who proclaimed the              
loving-kindness of ,god and the         
supremacy of ,god's kingdom over  the   
individual life1 and who1 in the extreme
 agony of his pain and  exhaustion1     
cried out that he was deserted1 becomes 
something altogether  distinct from a   
theological symbol4 ,immediately that we
 cease to  worship1 we can begin to love

 and pity4 ,here was a being of extreme 
gentleness and delicacy and of great    
courage1 of the utmost tolerance  and   
the subtlest sympathy1 a saint of       
non-resistance4 4 4 4    ,we of the new 
faith repudiate the teaching of         
non-resistance4 ,we are  the militant   
followers of and participators in a     
militant ,god4 ,we can  appreciate and  
admire the greatness of ,christ1 this   
gentle being upon  whose nobility the   
theologians trade4 ,but submission is   
the remotest  quality of all from our   
,god1 and a moribund figure is the      
completest  inversion of his likeness as
 we know him4 ,a ,christianity which    
shows1  for its daily symbol1 ,christ   
risen and trampling victoriously upon a 
broken cross1 would be far more in the  
spirit of our worship499         99 ,it 
is curious1 after writing the above1 to 
find in a       letter written by ,foss 
,westcott1 ,bishop of ,durham1 to that  
pertinacious correspondent1 the late    
,lady ,victoria ,welby1       almost    

exactly the same sentiments ,i have here
 expressed4       8,if ,i could fill the
 ,crucifix with life as you do10 he     
says1       8,i would gladly look on it1
 but the fallen ,head and the           
closed ,eye exclude from my thought the 
idea of glorified       humanity4  ,the 
,christ to whom we are led is ,one who  
#8hath       been crucified1' who hath  
passed the trial victoriously and       
borne the fruits to heaven4  ,i dare not
 then rest on this       side of the    
glory40    ,i find1 too1 a still more   
remarkable expression of the modern     
spirit  in a tract1 8,the ,call of the  
,kingdom10 by that very able and subtle1
  ,anglican theologian1 the ,rev4 ,w4   
,temple1 who declares that under the    
vitalising stresses of the war we are   
winning 8faith in ,christ as an  heroic 
leader4 ,we have thought of ,him so much
 as meek and gentle that  there is no   
ground in our picture of ,him1 for the  
vision which ,his  disciple had of ,him3
 #8,his head and ,his hair were white1  

as white wool1  white as snow2 and ,his 
eyes were as a flame of fire3 and ,his  
feet like  unto burnished brass1 as if  
it had been refined in a furnace2 and   
,his  voice was as the voice of many    
waters4 ,and ,he had in ,his right hand 
seven stars2 and out of ,his mouth      
proceeded a sharp two-edged sword2 and  
,his countenance was as the sun shineth 
in its strength4'0    ,these are both   
exceptional utterances1 interesting as  
showing how  clearly parallel are the   
tendencies within and without           
,christianity4        #d4 ,,the         
,,primary ,,duties      ,now it follows 
very directly from the conception of    
,god as a finite  intelligence of       
boundless courage and limitless         
possibilities of growth  and victory1   
who has pitted himself against death1   
who stands close to  our inmost beings  
ready to receive us and use us1 to      
rescue us from the  chagrins of egotism 
and take us into his immortal adventure1
 that we  who have realised him and     

given ourselves joyfully to him1 must   
needs be  equally ready and willing to  
give our energies to the task we share  
with him1 to do our utmost to increase  
knowledge1 to increase order and        
clearness1 to fight against indolence1  
waste1 disorder1 cruelty1 vice1  and    
every form of his and our enemy1 death1 
first and chiefest in  ourselves but    
also in all mankind1 and to bring about 
the establishment  of his real and      
visible kingdom throughout the world4   
,and that idea of ,god as the ,invisible
 ,king of the whole world means not     
merely that ,god is to be made and      
declared the head of the world1 but     
that the kingdom of ,god is to be       
present throughout the whole fabric  of 
the world1 that the ,kingdom of ,god is 
to be in the teaching at the  village   
school1 in the planning of the railway  
siding of the market  town1 in the      
mixing of the mortar at the building of 
the workman's  house4 ,it means that    
ultimately no effigy of intrusive king  

or emperor  is to disfigure our coins   
and stamps any more2 ,god himself and no
  delegate is to be represented wherever
 men buy or sell1 on our letters  and   
our receipts1 a perpetual witness1 a    
perpetual reminder4 ,there is no  act   
altogether without significance1 no     
power so humble that it may not  be used
 for or against ,god1 no life but can   
orient itself to him4 ,to  realise ,god 
in one's heart is to be filled with the 
desire to serve him1  and the way of his
 service is neither to pull up one's    
life by the  roots nor to continue it in
 all its essentials unchanged1 but to   
turn it  about1 to turn everything that 
there is in it round into his way4      
,the outward duty of those who serve    
,god must vary greatly with the         
abilities they possess and the positions
 in which they find themselves1  but for
 all there are certain fundamental      
duties2 a constant attempt  to be       
utterly truthful with oneself1 a        
constant sedulousness to  keep oneself  

fit and bright for ,god's service1 and  
to increase one's  knowledge and powers1
 and a hidden persistent watchfulness of
 one's  baser motives1 a watch against  
fear and indolence1 against vanity1     
against greed and lust1 against envy1   
malice1 and uncharitableness4 ,to  have 
found ,god truly does in itself make    
,god's service one's essential  motive1 
but these evils lurk in the shadows1 in 
the lassitudes and  unwary moments4 ,no 
one escapes them altogether1 there is no
 need for  tragic moods on account of   
imperfections4 ,we can no more serve    
,god  without blunders and set-backs    
than we can win battles without losing  
men4 ,but the less of such loss the     
better4 ,the servant of ,god must keep  
his mind as wide and sound and his      
motives as clean as he can1 just as  an 
operating surgeon must keep his nerves  
and muscles as fit and his  hands as    
clean as he can4 ,neither may           
righteously evade exercise and  regular 
washing--of mind as of hands4 ,an       

incessant watchfulness of  one's self   
and one's thoughts and the soundness of 
one's thoughts2  cleanliness1 clearness1
 a wariness against indolence and       
prejudice1  careful truth1 habitual     
frankness1 fitness and steadfast work2  
these are  the daily fundamental duties 
that every one who truly comes to ,god  
will1  as a matter of course1 set before
 himself4        #e4 ,,the ,,increasing 
,,kingdom      ,now of the more intimate
 and personal life of the believer it   
will be  more convenient to write a     
little later4 ,let us for the present   
pursue  the idea of this world-kingdom  
of ,god1 to whose establishment he calls
  us4 ,this kingdom is to be a peaceful 
and co-ordinated activity of all        
mankind upon certain divine ends4       
,these1 we conceive1 are first1  the    
maintenance of the racial life2         
secondly1 the exploration of the        
external being of nature as it is and as
 it has been1 that is to  say history   
and science2 thirdly1 that exploration  

of inherent human  possibility which is 
art2 fourthly1 that clarification of    
thought and  knowledge which is         
philosophy2 and finally1 the progressive
 enlargement  and development of the    
racial life under these lights1 so that 
,god may  work through a continually    
better body of humanity and through     
better  and better equipped minds1 that 
he and our race may increase for ever1  
working unendingly upon the development 
of the powers of life and the  mastery  
of the blind forces of matter throughout
 the deeps of space4 ,he  sets out with 
us1 we are persuaded1 to conquer        
ourselves and our world  and the stars4 
,and beyond the stars our eyes can as   
yet see nothing1 our  imaginations reach
 and fail4 ,beyond the limits of our    
understanding is  the veiled ,being of  
,fate1 whose face is hidden from us4 4 4
 4    ,it may be that minds will        
presently appear among us of such a     
quality  that the face of that ,unknown 
will not be altogether hidden4 4 4 4    

,but the business of such ordinary lives
 as ours is the setting up of  this     
earthly kingdom of ,god4 ,that is the   
form into which our lives must  fall and
 our consciences adapt themselves4      
,belief in ,god as the ,invisible ,king 
brings with it almost necessarily a     
conception of this coming kingdom of    
,god on earth4 ,each believer as he     
grasps this natural and immediate       
consequence of the faith that has come  
into his life will form at the same time
 a ,utopian conception of this  world   
changed in the direction of ,god's      
purpose4 ,the vision will follow  the   
realisation of ,god's true nature and   
purpose as a necessary  second step4    
,and he will begin to develop the latent
 citizen of this  world-state in        
himself4 ,he will fall in with the idea 
of the world-wide  sanities of this new 
order being drawn over the warring      
outlines of the  present1 and of men    
falling out of relationship with the old
 order and  into relationship with the  

new4 ,many men and women are already    
working  to-day at tasks that belong    
essentially to ,god's kingdom1 tasks    
that  would be of the same essential    
nature if the world were now a          
theocracy2  for example1 they are doing 
or sustaining scientific research or    
education or creative art2 they are     
making roads to bring men together1     
they are doctors working for the world's
 health1 they are building  homes1 they 
are constructing machinery to save and  
increase the powers  of men4 4 4 4      
,such men and women need only to change 
their orientation as men will  change   
about at a work-table when the light    
that was coming in a little  while ago  
from the southern windows1 begins       
presently to come in chiefly  from the  
west1 to become open and confessed      
servants of ,god4 ,this work  that they 
were doing for ambition1 or the love of 
men or the love of  knowledge or what   
seemed the inherent impulse to the work 
itself1 or for  money or honour or      

country or king1 they will realise they 
are doing for  ,god and by the power of 
,god4 ,self-transformation into a       
citizen of ,god's  kingdom and a new    
realisation of all earthly politics as  
no more than  the struggle to define and
 achieve the kingdom of ,god in the     
earth1  follow on1 without any need for 
a fresh spiritual impulse1 from the     
moment when ,god and the believer meet  
and clasp one another4    ,this         
transfiguration of the world into a     
theocracy may seem a merely  fantastic  
idea to anyone who comes to it freshly  
without such general  theological       
preparation as the preceding pages have 
made4 ,but to anyone  who has been at   
the pains to clear his mind even a      
little from the  obsession of existing  
but transitory things1 it ceases to be a
 mere  suggestion and becomes more and  
more manifestly the real future of      
mankind4 ,from the phase of 8so things  
should be10 the mind will pass  very    
rapidly to the realisation that 8so     

things will be40 ,towards this  the     
directive wills among men have been     
drifting more and more steadily  and    
perceptibly and with fewer eddyings and 
retardations1 for many  centuries4 ,the 
purpose of mankind will not be always   
thus confused and  fragmentary4 ,this   
dissemination of will-power is a phase4 
,the age of the  warring tribes and     
kingdoms and empires that began a       
hundred centuries  or so ago1 draws to  
its close4 ,the kingdom of ,god on earth
 is not a  metaphor1 not a mere         
spiritual state1 not a dream1 not an    
uncertain  project2 it is the thing     
before us1 it is the close and          
inevitable  destiny of mankind4    ,in a
 few score years the faith of the true  
,god will be spreading about  the world4
 ,the few halting confessions of ,god   
that one hears here and  there to-day1  
like that little twittering of birds    
which comes before  the dawn1 will have 
swollen to a choral unanimity4 ,in but a
 few  centuries the whole world will be 

openly1 confessedly1 preparing for  the 
kingdom4 ,in but a few centuries ,god   
will have led us out of the dark  forest
 of these present wars and confusions   
into the open brotherhood of  his rule4 
#f4 ,,what ,,is ,,my ,,place ,,in ,,the 
,,kingdom8      ,this conception of the 
general life of mankind as a            
transformation at  thousands of points  
of the confused1 egotistical1           
proprietary1 partisan1  nationalist1    
life-wasting chaos of human life to-day 
into the coherent  development of the   
world kingdom of ,god1 provides the form
 into which  everyone who comes to the  
knowledge of ,god will naturally seek to
 fit  his every thought and activity4   
,the material greeds1 the avarice1      
fear1 rivalries1 and ignoble ambitions  
of a disordered world will be           
challenged and examined under one       
general question3 8,what am ,i in the   
kingdom of ,god80    ,it has already    
been suggested that there is a great and
 growing number  of occupations that    

belong already to ,god's kingdom1       
research1 teaching1  creative art1      
creative administration1 cultivation1   
construction1  maintenance1 and the     
honest satisfaction of honest practical 
human  needs4 ,for such people          
conversion to the intimacy of ,god means
 at most  a change in the spirit of     
their work1 a refreshed energy1 a       
clearer  understanding1 a new zeal1 a   
completer disregard of gains and praises
  and promotion4 ,pay1 honours1 and the 
like cease to be the inducement of      
effort4 ,service1 and service alone1 is 
the criterion that the quickened        
conscience will recognise4    ,most of  
such people will find themselves in     
positions in which service  is mingled  
with activities of a baser sort1 in     
which service is a little  warped and   
deflected by old traditions and usage1  
by mercenary and  commercial            
considerations1 by some inherent or     
special degradation of  purpose4 ,the   
spirit of ,god will not let the believer

 rest until his life  is readjusted and 
as far as possible freed from the waste 
of these base  diversions4 ,for example 
a scientific investigator1 lit and      
inspired by  great inquiries1 may be    
hampered by the conditions of his       
professorship  or research fellowship1  
which exact an appearance of 8practical0
   results4 ,or he may be obliged to    
lecture or conduct classes4 ,he may  be 
able to give but half his possible gift 
to the work of his real  aptitude1 and  
that at a sacrifice of money and        
reputation among  short-sighted but     
influential contemporaries4 ,well1 if he
 is by nature  an investigator he will  
know that the research is what ,god     
needs of him4  ,he cannot continue it at
 all if he leaves his position1 and so  
he must  needs waste something of his   
gift to save the rest4 ,but should a    
poorer  or a humbler post offer him     
better opportunity1 there lies his work 
for  ,god4 ,there one has a very common 
and simple type of the problems that    

will arise in the lives of men when they
 are lit by sudden realisation  of the  
immediacy of ,god4    ,akin to that case
 is the perplexity of any successful    
physician between  the increase of      
knowledge and the public welfare on the 
one hand1 and  the lucrative            
possibilities of his practice among     
wealthy people on the  other4 ,he       
belongs to a profession that is crippled
 by a mediaeval code1  a profession     
which was blind to the common interest  
of the ,public ,health  and regarded its
 members merely as skilled practitioners
 employed to  8cure0 individual         
ailments4 ,very slowly and tortuously do
 the methods of  the profession adapt   
themselves to the modern conception of  
an army of  devoted men working as a    
whole under ,god for the health of      
mankind as  a whole1 broadening out from
 the frowsy den of the 8leech10 with its
  crocodile and bottles and hieroglyphic
 prescriptions1 to a skilled and        
illuminating co-operation with those who

 deal with the food and housing  and    
economic life of the community4    ,and 
again quite parallel with these personal
 problems is the trouble of  the artist 
between the market and vulgar fame on   
the one hand and his  divine impulse on 
the other4    ,the presence of ,god will
 be a continual light and help in every 
decision  that must be made by men and  
women in these more or less vitiated1   
but  still fundamentally useful and     
righteous1 positions4    ,the trouble   
becomes more marked and more difficult  
in the case of a man  who is a          
manufacturer or a trader1 the financier 
of business enterprise  or the          
proprietor of great estates4 ,the world 
is in need of manufactures  and that    
goods should be distributed2 land must  
be administered and  new economic       
possibilities developed4 ,the drift of  
things is in the  direction of state    
ownership and control1 but in a great   
number of  cases the state is not ripe  
for such undertakings1 it commands      

neither  sufficient integrity nor       
sufficient ability1 and the proprietor  
of  factory1 store1 credit or land1 must
 continue in possession1 holding as  a  
trustee for ,god and1 so far as lies in 
his power1 preparing for his            
supersession by some more public        
administration4 ,modern religion admits 
of no facile flights from               
responsibility4 ,it permits no headlong 
resort  to the wilderness and sterile   
virtue4 ,it counts the recluse who fasts
  among scorpions in a cave as no better
 than a deserter in hiding4 ,it         
unhesitatingly forbids any rich young   
man to sell all that he has and  give to
 the poor4 ,himself and all that he has 
must be alike dedicated to  ,god4       
,the plain duty that will be understood 
by the proprietor of land and of  every 
sort of general need and service1 so    
soon as he becomes aware of  ,god1 is so
 to administer his possessions as to    
achieve the maximum of  possible        
efficiency1 the most generous output1   

and the least private  profit4 ,he may  
set aside a salary for his maintenance2 
the rest he must  deal with like a      
zealous public official4 ,and if he     
perceives that the  affair could be     
better administered by other hands than 
his own1 then it  is his business to get
 it into those hands with the smallest  
delay and  the least profit to himself4 
4 4 4    ,the rights and wrongs of human
 equity are very different from right   
and  wrong in the sight of ,god4 ,in the
 sight of ,god no landlord has a        
,,right to his rent1 no usurer has a    
,,right to his interest4 ,a man is not  
justified in drawing the profits from an
 advantageous agreement nor free  to    
spend the profits of a speculation as he
 will4 ,god takes no heed of  savings   
nor of abstinence4 ,he recognises no    
right to the 8rewards of  abstinence10  
no right to any rewards4 ,those profits 
and comforts and  consolations are the  
inducements that dangle before the eyes 
of the  spiritually blind4 ,wealth is an

 embarrassment to the religious1 for    
,god  calls them to account for it4 ,the
 servant of ,god has no business with   
wealth or power except to use them      
immediately in the service of ,god4     
,finding these things in his hands he is
 bound to administer them in the        
service of ,god4    ,the tendency of    
modern religion goes far beyond the     
alleged communism  of the early         
,christians1 and far beyond the tithes  
of the scribes and  ,pharisees4 ,god    
takes all4 ,he takes you1 blood and     
bones and house and  acres1 he takes    
skill and influence and expectations4   
,for all the rest  of your life you are 
nothing but ,god's agent4 ,if you are   
not prepared  for so complete a         
surrender1 then you are infinitely      
remote from ,god4  ,you must go your    
way4 ,here you are merely a curious     
interloper4 ,perhaps  you have been     
desiring ,god as an experience1 or      
coveting him as  a possession4 ,you have
 not begun to understand4 ,this that we 

are  discussing in this book is as yet  
nothing for you4        #g4 ,,adjusting 
,,life      ,this picturing of a human  
world more to the mind of ,god than this
  present world and the discovery and   
realisation of one's own place and  work
 in and for that kingdom of ,god1 is the
 natural next phase in the  development 
of the believer4 ,he will set about     
revising and adjusting  his scheme of   
life1 his ways of living1 his habits and
 his relationships  in the light of his 
new convictions4    ,most men and women 
who come to ,god will have already a    
certain  righteousness in their lives2  
these things happen like a thunderclap  
only in strange exceptional cases1 and  
the same movements of the mind  that    
have brought them to ,god will already  
have brought their lives into  a certain
 rightness of direction and conduct4    
,yet occasionally there  will be someone
 to whom the self-examination that      
follows conversion  will reveal an      
entirely wrong and evil way of living4  

,it may be that the  light has come to  
some rich idler doing nothing but follow
 a pleasurable  routine4 ,or to someone 
following some highly profitable and    
amusing1  but socially useless or       
socially mischievous occupation4 ,one   
may be an  advocate at the disposal of  
any man's purpose1 or an actor or       
actress  ready to fall in with any      
theatrical enterprise4 ,or a woman may  
find herself a prostitute or a pet wife1
 a mere kept instrument of  indulgence4 
,these are lives of prey1 these are     
lives of futility2 the  light of ,god   
will not tolerate such lives4 ,here     
religion can bring  nothing but a       
severance from the old way of life      
altogether1 a break and  a struggle     
towards use and service and dignity4    
,but even here it does not follow that  
because a life has been wrong  the new  
life that begins must be far as the     
poles asunder from the old4  ,every sort
 of experience that has ever come to a  
human being is in the  self that he     

brings to ,god1 and there is no reason  
why a knowledge  of evil ways should not
 determine the path of duty4 ,no one can
 better  devise protections against     
vices than those who have practised     
them2  none know temptations better than
 those who have fallen4 ,if a man has   
followed an evil trade1 it becomes him  
to use his knowledge of the  tricks of  
that trade to help end it4 ,he knows the
 charities it may claim  and the        
remedies it needs4 4 4 4    ,a very     
interesting case to discuss in relation 
to this question of  adjustment is that 
of the barrister4 ,a practising         
barrister under  contemporary conditions
 does indeed give most typically the    
opportunity  for examining the relation 
of an ordinary self-respecting worldly  
life1  to life under the dispensation of
 ,god discovered4 ,a barrister is       
usually a man of some energy and        
ambition1 his honour is moulded by  the 
traditions of an ancient and antiquated 
profession1 instinctively               

self-preserving and yet with a real     
desire for consistency and respect4  ,as
 a profession it has been greedy and    
defensively conservative1 but it  has   
never been shameless nor has it ever    
broken faith with its own large  and    
selfish1 but quite definite1            
propositions4 ,it has never for instance
  had the shamelessness of such a       
traditionless and undisciplined class   
as the early factory organisers4 ,it has
 never had the dull incoherent          
wickedness of the sort of men who       
exploit drunkenness and the turf4 ,it   
offends within limits4 ,barristers can  
be1 and are1 disbarred4 ,but it is  now 
a profession extraordinarily out of     
date2 its code of honour derives  from a
 time of cruder and lower conceptions of
 human relationship4 ,it  apprehends the
 ,state as a mere 8ring0 kept about     
private disputations2  it has not begun 
to move towards the modern conception of
 the collective  enterprise as the      
determining criterion of human conduct4 

,it sees its  business as a mere play   
upon the rules of a game between man and
 man1 or  between men and men4 ,they    
haggle1 they dispute1 they inflict and  
suffer  wrongs1 they evade dues1 and are
 liable or entitled to penalties and    
compensations4 ,the primary business of 
the law is held to be decision in  these
 wrangles1 and as wrangling is subject  
to artistic elaboration1 the  business  
of the barrister is the business of a   
professional wrangler2 he  is a bravo in
 wig and gown who fights the duels of   
ordinary men because  they are          
incapable1 very largely on account of   
the complexities of legal  procedure1 of
 fighting for themselves4 ,his business 
is never to explore  any fundamental    
right in the matter4 ,his business is to
 say all that can  be said for his      
client1 and to conceal or minimise      
whatever can be said  against his       
client4 ,the successful promoted        
advocate1 who in ,britain  and the      
,united ,states of ,america is the      

judge1 and whose habits and  interests  
all incline him to disregard the        
realities of the case in  favour of the 
points in the forensic game1 then       
adjudicates upon the  contest4 4 4 4    
,now this condition of things is clearly
 incompatible with the modern           
conception of the world as becoming a   
divine kingdom4 ,when the world is      
openly and confessedly the kingdom of   
,god1 the law court will exist only  to 
adjust the differing views of men as to 
the manner of their service  to ,god2   
the only right of action one man will   
have against another will  be that he   
has been prevented or hampered or       
distressed by the other in  serving     
,god4 ,the idea of the law court will   
have changed entirely from a  place of  
dispute1 exaction and vengeance1 to a   
place of adjustment4 ,the  individual or
 some state organisation will plead ,,on
 ,,behalf ,,of ,,the ,,common  ,,good   
either against some state official or   
state regulation1 or against  the       

actions or inaction of another          
individual4 ,this is the only sort of   
legal proceedings compatible with the   
broad beliefs of the new faith4  4 4 4  
,every religion that becomes ascendant1 
in so far as it is not  otherworldly1   
must necessarily set its stamp upon the 
methods and  administration of the law4 
,that this was not the case with        
,christianity  is one of the many       
contributory aspects that lead one to   
the conviction  that it was not         
,christianity that took possession of   
the ,roman empire1  but an imperial     
adventurer who took possession of an all
 too complaisant  ,christianity4        
,reverting now from these               
generalisations to the problem of the   
religious  from which they arose1 it    
will have become evident that the       
essential  work of anyone who is        
conversant with the existing practice   
and  literature of the law and whose    
natural abilities are forensic1 will lie
  in the direction of reconstructing the

 theory and practice of the law  in     
harmony with modern conceptions1 of     
making that theory and practice  clear  
and plain to ordinary men1 of reforming 
the abuses of the  profession by working
 for the separation of bar and          
judiciary1 for the  amalgamation of the 
solicitors and the barristers1 and the  
like needed  reforms4 ,these are matters
 that will probably only be properly set
 right  by a quickening of conscience   
among lawyers themselves4 ,of no class  
of  men is the help and service so      
necessary to the practical establishment
  of ,god's kingdom1 as of men learned  
and experienced in the law4 ,and  there 
is no reason why for the present an     
advocate should not continue  to plead  
in the courts1 provided he does his     
utmost only to handle cases  in which he
 believes he can serve the right4 ,few  
righteous cases are  ill-served by a    
frank disposition on the part of lawyer 
and client  to put everything before the
 court4 ,thereby of course there arises 

a  difficult case of conscience4 ,what  
if a lawyer1 believing his client to  be
 in the right1 discovers him to be in   
the wrong8 ,he cannot throw up  the case
 unless he has been scandalously        
deceived1 because so he would  betray   
the confidence his client has put in him
 to 8see him through40 ,he  has a right 
to 8give himself away10 but not to 8give
 away0 his client  in this fashion4 ,if 
he has a chance of a private            
consultation ,i think he  ought to do   
his best to make his client admit the   
truth of the case and  give in1 but     
failing this he has no right to be      
virtuous on behalf of  another4 ,no man 
may play ,god to another2 he may        
remonstrate1 but that  is the limit of  
his right4 ,he must respect a           
confidence1 even if it is  purely       
implicit and involuntary4 ,i admit that 
here the barrister is in a  cleft stick1
 and that he must see the business      
through according to the  confidence his
 client has put in him--and afterwards  

be as sorry as he  may be if an         
injustice ensues4 ,and also ,i would    
suggest a lawyer  may with a fairly good
 conscience defend a guilty man as if he
 were  innocent1 to save him from       
unjustly heavy penalties4 4 4 4    ,this
 comparatively full discussion of the   
barrister's problem has been  embarked  
upon because it does bring in1 in a very
 typical fashion1  just those           
uncertainties and imperfections that    
abound in real life4  ,religious        
conviction gives us a general direction1
 but it stands aside  from many of these
 entangled struggles in the jungle of   
conscience4  ,practice is often easier  
than a rule4 ,in practice a lawyer will 
know  far more accurately than a        
hypothetical case can indicate1 how far 
he is  bound to see his client through1 
and how far he may play the keeper of   
his client's conscience4 ,and nearly    
every day there happens instances  where
 the most subtle casuistry will fail and
 the finger of conscience  point        

unhesitatingly4 ,one may have worried   
long in the preparation and             
preliminaries of the issue1 one may     
bring the case at last into the  final  
court of conscience in an apparently    
hopeless tangle4 ,then  suddenly comes  
decision4    ,the procedure of that     
silent1 lit1 and empty court in which a 
man states  his case to ,god1 is very   
simple and perfect4 ,the excuses and the
 special  pleading shrivel and vanish4  
,in a little while the case lies bare   
and  plain4        #h4 ,,the ,,oath ,,of
 ,,allegiance      ,the question of     
oaths of allegiance1 acts of            
acquiescence in existing  governments1  
and the like1 is one that arises at once
 with the  acceptance of ,god as the    
supreme and real ,king of the ,earth4   
,at the  worst ,caesar is a usurper1 a  
satrap claiming to be sovereign2 at the 
best he is provisional4 ,modern         
casuistry makes no great trouble for the
  believing public official4 ,the chief 
business of any believer is to do  the  

work for which he is best fitted1 and   
since all state affairs are  to become  
the affairs of ,god's kingdom it is of  
primary importance that  they should    
come into the hands of ,god's servants4 
,it is scarcely less  necessary to a    
believing man with administrative gifts 
that he should be  in the public        
administration1 than that he should     
breathe and eat4 ,and  whatever oath or 
the like to usurper church or usurper   
king has been  set up to bar access to  
service1 is an oath imposed under       
duress4 ,if it  cannot be avoided it    
must be taken rather than that a man    
should become  unserviceable4 ,all such 
oaths are unfair and foolish things4    
,they  exclude no scoundrels2 they are  
appeals to superstition4 ,whenever an   
opportunity occurs for the abolition of 
an oath1 the servant of ,god will  seize
 it1 but where the oath is unavoidable  
he will take it4    ,the service of ,god
 is not to achieve a delicate           
consistency of  statement2 it is to do  

as much as one can of ,god's work4      
#i4 ,,the ,,priest ,,and ,,the ,,creed  
,it may be doubted if this line of      
reasoning regarding the official and    
his oath can be extended to excuse the  
priest or pledged minister of  religion 
who finds that faith in the true ,god   
has ousted his formal  beliefs4    ,this
 has been a frequent and subtle moral   
problem in the intellectual  life of the
 last hundred years4 ,it has been       
increasingly difficult for  any class of
 reading1 talking1 and discussing people
 such as are the  bulk of the           
priesthoods of the ,christian churches  
to escape hearing and  reading the      
accumulated criticism of the            
,trinitarian theology and of the        
popularly accepted story of man's fall  
and salvation4 ,some have no doubt      
defeated this universal and insidious   
critical attack entirely1 and  honestly 
established themselves in a right-down  
acceptance of the  articles and         
disciplines to which they have          

subscribed and of the  creeds they      
profess and repeat4 ,some have recanted 
and abandoned their  positions in the   
priesthood4 ,but a great number have    
neither resisted  the bacillus of       
criticism nor left the churches to which
 they are  attached4 ,they have adopted 
compromises1 they have qualified their  
creeds with modifying footnotes of      
essential repudiation2 they  have       
decided that plain statements are       
metaphors and have undercut1            
transposed1 and inverted the most vital 
points of the vulgarly accepted         
beliefs4 ,one may find within the       
,anglican communion1 ,arians1           
,unitarians1  ,atheists1 disbelievers in
 immortality1 attenuators of miracles2  
there  is scarcely a doubt or a cavil   
that has not found a lodgment within the
  ample charity of the ,english         
,establishment4 ,i have been interested 
to  hear one distinguished ,canon       
deplore that 8they0 did not identify the
  ,logos with the third instead of the  

second ,person of the ,trinity1 and     
another distinguished ,catholic         
apologist declare his indifference to   
the 8historical ,jesus40 ,within most of
 the ,christian communions one may      
believe anything or nothing1 provided   
only that one does not call too  public 
an attention to one's eccentricity4 ,the
 late ,rev4 ,charles ,voysey1  for      
example1 preached plainly in his church 
at ,healaugh against the  divinity of   
,christ1 unhindered4 ,it was only when  
he published his  sermons under the     
provocative title of 8,the ,sling and   
the ,stone10 and  caused an outcry      
beyond the limits of his congregation1  
that he was  indicted and deprived4     
,now the reasons why these men do not   
leave the ministry or priesthood in     
which they find themselves are often    
very plausible4 ,it is probable that  in
 very few cases is the retention of     
stipend or incumbency a conscious       
dishonesty4 ,at the worst it is         
mitigated by thought for wife or child4 

,it has only been during very           
exceptional phases of religious         
development  and controversy that       
beliefs have been really sharp4 ,a      
creed1 like a  coin1 it may be argued1  
loses little in practical value because 
it is  worn1 or bears the image of a    
vanished king4 ,the religious life is a 
reality that has clothed itself in many 
garments1 and the concern of  the priest
 or minister is with the religious life 
and not with the poor  symbols that may 
indeed pretend to express1 but do as a  
matter of fact  no more than indicate1  
its direction4 ,it is quite possible to 
maintain  that the church and not the   
creed is the real and valuable          
instrument of  religion1 that the       
religious life is sustained not by its  
propositions  but by its routines4      
,anyone who seeks the intimate          
discussion of  spiritual things with    
professional divines1 will find this is 
the  substance of the case for the      
ecclesiastical sceptic4 ,his church1 he 

will admit1 mumbles its statement of    
truth1 but where else is truth8  ,what  
better formulae are to be found for     
ineffable things8 ,and  meanwhile--he   
does good4    ,that may be a valid      
defence before a man finds ,god4 ,but we
 who profess  the worship and fellowship
 of the living ,god deny that religion  
is a  matter of ineffable things4 ,the  
way of ,god is plain and simple and easy
  to understand4    ,therewith the whole
 position of the conforming sceptic is  
changed4 ,if  a professional religious  
has any justification at all for his    
professionalism it is surely that he    
proclaims the nearness and  greatness of
 ,god4 ,and these creeds and articles   
and orthodoxies are not  proclamations  
but curtains1 they are a darkening and  
confusion of what  should be crystal    
clear4 ,what compensatory good can a    
priest pretend  to do when his primary  
business is the truth and his method a  
lie8 ,the  oaths and incidental         
conformities of men who wish to serve   

,god in the  state are on a different   
footing altogether from the falsehood   
and  mischief of one who knows the true 
,god and yet recites to a trustful      
congregation1 foists upon a trustful    
congregation1 a misleading and          
ill-phrased ,levantine creed4    ,such  
is the line of thought which will impose
 the renunciation of his  temporalities 
and a complete cessation of services    
upon every ordained  priest and minister
 as his first act of faith4 ,once that  
he has truly  realised ,god1 it becomes 
impossible for him ever to repeat his   
creed  again4 ,his course seems plain   
and clear4 ,it becomes him to stand up  
before the flock he has led in error1   
and to proclaim the being and  nature of
 the one true ,god4 ,he must be explicit
 to the utmost of his  powers4 ,then he 
may await his expulsion4 ,it may be     
doubted whether it is  sufficient for   
him to go away silently1 making false   
excuses or none at  all for his retreat4
 ,he has to atone for the implicit      

acquiescences of  his conforming years4 
#aj4 ,,the ,,universalism ,,of ,,god    
,are any sorts of people shut off as if 
by inherent necessity from ,god8        
,this is1 so to speak1 one of the       
standing questions of theology2 it      
reappears with slight changes of form at
 every period of religious  interest1 it
 is for example the chief issue between 
the ,arminian and the  ,calvinist4 ,from
 its very opening proposition modern    
religion sweeps past  and far ahead of  
the old ,arminian teachings of          
,wesleyans and ,methodists1  in its     
insistence upon the entirely finite     
nature of ,god4 ,arminians seem  merely 
to have insisted that ,god has          
conditioned himself1 and by his  own    
free act left men free to accept or     
reject salvation4 ,to the realist  type 
of mind--here as always ,i use 8realist0
 in its proper sense as  the opposite of
 nominalist--to the old-fashioned1      
over-exact and  over-accentuating type  
of mind1 such ways of thinking seem     

vague  and unsatisfying4 ,just as it    
distresses the more downright kind of   
intelligence with a feeling of          
disloyalty to admit that ,god is not    
,almighty1 so it troubles the same sort 
of intelligence to hear that  there is  
no clear line to be drawn between the   
saved and the lost4  ,realists like an  
exclusive flavour in their faith4       
,moreover1 it is a  natural weakness of 
humanity to be forced into extreme      
positions by  argument4 ,it is probable1
 as ,i have already suggested1 that the 
absolute  attributes of ,god were forced
 upon ,christianity under the stresses  
of propaganda1 and it is probable that  
the theory of a super-human  obstinancy 
beyond salvation arose out of the       
irritations natural to  theological     
debate4 ,it is but a step from the      
realisation that there are  people      
absolutely unable or absolutely         
unwilling to see ,god as we see  him1 to
 the conviction that they are therefore 
shut off from ,god by an  invincible    

soul blindness4    ,it is very easy to  
believe that other people are           
essentially damned4    ,beyond the      
little world of our sympathies and      
comprehension there are  those who seem 
inaccessible to ,god by any means within
 our experience4  ,they are people      
answering to the 8hard-hearted10 to the 
8stiff-necked  generation0 of the       
,hebrew prophets4 ,they betray and even 
confess  to standards that seem         
hopelessly base to us4 ,they show       
themselves  incapable of any            
disinterested enthusiasm for beauty or  
truth or  goodness4 ,they are altogether
 remote from intelligent sacrifice4 ,to 
every test they betray vileness of      
texture2 they are mean1 cold1 wicked4   
,there are people who seem to cheat with
 a private self-approval1 who are  ever 
ready to do harsh and cruel things1     
whose use for social feeling  is the    
malignant boycott1 and for prosperity1  
monopolisation and  humiliating display2
 who seize upon religion and turn it    

into  persecution1 and upon beauty to   
torment it on the altars of some joyless
  vice4 ,we cannot do with such souls2  
we have no use for them1 and it is  very
 easy indeed to step from that          
persuasion to the belief that ,god has  
no use for them4    ,and besides these  
base people there are the stupid people 
and the people  with minds so poor in   
texture that they cannot even grasp the 
few broad  and simple ideas that seem   
necessary to the salvation we           
experience1 who  lapse helplessly into  
fetishistic and fearful conceptions of  
,god1  and are apparently quite         
incapable of distinguishing between what
 is  practically and what is spiritually
 good4    ,it is an easy thing to       
conclude that the only way to ,god is   
our way to  ,god1 that he is the        
privilege of a finer and better sort to 
which we  of course belong2 that he is  
no more the ,god of the card-sharper or 
the  pickpocket or the 8smart0 woman or 
the loan-monger or the village  oaf than

 he is of the swine in the sty4 ,but are
 we justified in  thus limiting ,god to 
the measure of our moral and            
intellectual  understandings8 ,because  
some people seem to me steadfastly and  
consistently base or hopelessly and     
incurably dull and confused1 does  it   
follow that there are not phases1 albeit
 ,i have never chanced to see  them1 of 
exaltation in the one case and          
illumination in the other8 ,and  may ,i 
not be a little restricting my          
perception of ,good8 ,while ,i have     
been ready enough to pronounce this or  
that person as being1 so far as  ,i was 
concerned1 thoroughly damnable or       
utterly dull1 ,i find a curious         
reluctance to admit the general         
proposition which is necessary for      
these instances4 ,it is possible that   
the difference between ,arminian and    
,calvinist is a difference of essential 
intellectual temperament rather  than of
 theoretical conviction4 ,i am          
temperamentally ,arminian as ,i am      

temperamentally ,nominalist4 ,i feel    
that it must be in the nature of ,god   
to attempt all souls4 ,there must be    
accessibilities ,i can only suspect1    
and accessibilities of which ,i know    
nothing4    ,yet here is a consideration
 pointing rather the other way4 ,if you 
think1  as you must think1 that you     
yourself can be lost to ,god and damned1
 then  ,i cannot see how you can avoid  
thinking that other people can be       
damned4  ,but that is not to believe    
that there are people damned at the     
outset by  their moral and intellectual 
insufficiency2 that is not to make out  
that  there is a class of essential and 
incurable spiritual defectives4 ,the    
religious life preceded clear religious 
understanding and extends far  beyond   
its range4    ,in my own case ,i        
perceive that in spite of the value ,i  
attach to true  belief1 the reality of  
religion is not an intellectual thing4  
,the  essential religious fact is in    
another than the mental sphere4 ,i am   

passionately anxious to have the idea of
 ,god clear in my own mind1 and  to make
 my beliefs plain and clear to other    
people1 and particularly  to other      
people who may seem to be feeling with  
me2 ,i do perceive that  error is evil  
if only because a faith based on        
confused conceptions  and partial       
understandings may suffer irreparable   
injury through the  collapse of its     
substratum of ideas4 ,i doubt if faith  
can be complete  and enduring if it is  
not secured by the definite knowledge of
 the true  ,god4 ,yet ,i have also to   
admit that ,i find the form of my own   
religious  emotion paralleled by people 
with whom ,i have no intellectual       
sympathy  and no agreement in phrase or 
formula at all4    ,there is for example
 this practical identity of religious   
feeling and  this discrepancy of        
interpretation between such an inquirer 
as myself  and a convert of the         
,salvation ,army4 ,here1 clothing itself
 in phrases  and images of barbaric     

sacrifice1 of slaughtered lambs and     
fountains of  precious blood1 a most    
repulsive and incomprehensible idiom to 
me1 and  expressing itself by shouts1   
clangour1 trumpeting1 gesticulations1   
and  rhythmic pacings that stun and     
dismay my nerves1 ,i find1 the same     
object  sought1 release from self1 and  
the same end1 the end of identification 
with the immortal1 successfully if      
perhaps rather insecurely achieved4  ,i 
see ,god indubitably present in these   
excitements1 and ,i see  personalities  
,i could easily have misjudged as too   
base or too dense for  spiritual        
understandings1 lit by the manifest     
reflection of divinity4  ,one may be led
 into the absurdest underestimates of   
religious  possibilities if one         
estimates people only coldly and in the 
light of  everyday life4 ,there is a    
sub-intellectual religious life which1  
very  conceivably1 when its utmost range
 can be examined1 excludes nothing      
human from religious cooperation1 which 

will use any words to its tune1  which  
takes its phrasing ready-made from the  
world about it1 as it takes  the street 
for its temple1 and yet which may be at 
its inner point in  the directest       
contact with ,god4 ,religion may suffer 
from aphasia and  still be religion2 it 
may utter misleading or nonsensical     
words and yet  intend and convey the    
truth4 ,the methods of the ,salvation   
,army are older  than doctrinal         
,christianity1 and may long survive it4 
,men and women may  still chant of      
,beulah ,land and cry out in the ecstasy
 of salvation2 the  tambourine1 that    
modern revival of the thrilling         
,alexandrine sistrum1  may still stir   
dull nerves to a first apprehension of  
powers and a call  beyond the immediate 
material compulsion of life1 when the   
creeds of  ,christianity are as dead as 
the lore of the ,druids4    ,the        
emancipation of mankind from obsolete   
theories and formularies may  be        
accompanied by great tides of moral and 

emotional release among types  and      
strata that by the standards of a       
trained and explicit intellectual1  may 
seem spiritually hopeless4 ,it is not   
necessary to imagine the whole  world   
critical and lucid in order to imagine  
the whole world unified in  religious   
sentiment1 comprehending the same       
phrases and coming together  regardless 
of class and race and quality1 in the   
worship and service  of the true ,god4  
,the coming kingship of ,god if it is to
 be more than  hieratic tyranny must    
have this universality of appeal4 ,as   
the head  grows clear the body will turn
 in the right direction4 ,to the mass of
  men modern religion says1 8,this is   
the ,god it has always been in your     
nature to apprehend40        #aa4 ,,god 
,,and ,,the ,,love ,,and ,,status ,,of  
,,women      ,now that we are discussing
 the general question of individual     
conduct1  it will be convenient to take 
up again and restate in that            
relationship1  propositions already made

 very plainly in the second and third   
chapters4  ,here there are several      
excellent reasons for a certain amount  
of  deliberate repetition4 4 4 4    ,all
 the mystical relations of chastity1    
virginity1 and the like with  religion1 
those questions of physical status that 
play so large a part  in most           
contemporary religions1 have disappeared
 from modern faith4 ,let  us be as clear
 as possible upon this4 ,god is         
concerned by the health and  fitness and
 vigour of his servants2 we owe him our 
best and utmost2 but  he has no special 
concern and no special preferences or   
commandments  regarding sexual things4  
,christ1 it is manifest1 was of the     
modern faith in these matters1 he       
welcomed the ,magdalen1 neither would he
 condemn the woman taken in  adultery4  
,manifestly corruption and disease were 
not to stand between  him and those who 
sought ,god in him4 ,but the            
,christianity of the creeds1  in this as
 in so many respects1 does not rise to  

the level of its  founder1 and it is as 
necessary to repeat to-day as though the
 name  of ,christ had not been ascendant
 for nineteen centuries1 that sex is  a 
secondary thing to religion1 and sexual 
status of no account in  the presence of
 ,god4 ,it follows quite logically that 
,god does not  discriminate between man 
and woman in any essential things4 ,we  
leave our  individuality behind us when 
we come into the presence of ,god4 ,sex 
is  not disavowed but forgotten4 ,just  
as one's last meal is forgotten--which  
also is a difference between the        
religious moment of modern faith and    
certain ,christian sacraments4 ,you are 
a believer and ,god is at hand  to you2 
heed not your state2 reach out to him   
and he is there4 ,in the  moment of     
religion you are human2 it matters not  
what else you are1  male or female1     
clean or unclean1 ,hebrew or ,gentile1  
bond or free4 ,it  is ,,after the moment
 of religion that we become concerned   
about our state  and the manner in which

 we use ourselves4    ,we have to follow
 our reason as our sole guide in our    
individual  treatment of all such things
 as food and health and sex4 ,god is the
  king of the whole world1 he is the    
owner of our souls and bodies and all   
things4 ,he is not particularly         
concerned about any aspect1 because he  
is  concerned about every aspect4 ,we   
have to make the best use of ourselves  
for his kingdom2 that is our rule of    
life4 ,that rule means neither  painful 
nor frantic abstinences nor any forced  
way of living4 ,purity1  cleanliness1   
health1 none of these things are for    
themselves1 they are  for use2 none are 
magic1 all are means4 ,the sword must be
 sharp and  clean4 ,that does not mean  
that we are perpetually to sharpen and  
clean  it--which would weaken and waste 
the blade4 ,the sword must neither be   
drawn constantly nor always rusting in  
its sheath4 ,those who have had  the    
wits and soul to come to ,god1 will have
 the wits and soul to find  out and know

 what is waste1 what is vanity1 what is 
the happiness that  begets strength of  
body and spirit1 what is error1 where   
vice begins1  and to avoid and repent   
and recoil from all those things that   
degrade4  ,these are matters not of the 
rule of life but of the application  of 
life4 ,they must neither be neglected   
nor made disproportionally  important4  
,to the believer1 relationship with ,god
 is the supreme relationship4 ,it  is   
difficult to imagine how the association
 of lovers and friends can  be very fine
 and close and good unless the two who  
love are each also  linked to ,god1 so  
that through their moods and            
fluctuations and  the changes of years  
they can be held steadfast by his       
undying  steadfastness4 ,but it has been
 felt by many deep-feeling people that  
there is so much kindred between the    
love and trust of husband and wife  and 
the feeling we have for ,god1 that it is
 reasonable to consider the  former also
 as a sacred thing4 ,they do so value   

that close love of mated  man and woman1
 they are so intent upon its permanence 
and completeness  and to lift the dear  
relationship out of the ruck of casual  
and  transitory things1 that they want  
to bring it1 as it were1 into the very  
presence and assent of ,god4 ,there are 
many who dream and desire that  they are
 as deeply and completely mated as this1
 many more who would  fain be so1 and   
some who are4 ,and from this comes the  
earnest desire to  make marriage        
sacramental and the attempt to impose   
upon all the world  the outward         
appearance1 the restrictions1 the       
pretence at least of such  a sacramental
 union4    ,there may be such a         
quasi-sacramental union in many cases1  
but only  after years can one be sure of
 it2 it is not to be brought about by   
vows and promises but by an essential   
kindred and cleaving of body and        
spirit2 and it concerns only the two who
 can dare to say they have it1  and     
,god4 ,and the divine thing in marriage1

 the thing that is most like  the love  
of ,god1 is1 even then1 not the         
relationship of the man and  woman as   
man and woman but the comradeship and   
trust and mutual help  and pity that    
joins them4 ,no doubt that from the     
mutual necessities of  bodily love and  
the common adventure1 the necessary     
honesties and helps  of a joint life1   
there springs the stoutest1 nearest1    
most enduring and  best of human        
companionship2 perhaps only upon that   
root can the best of  mortal comradeship
 be got2 but it does not follow that the
 mere ordinary  coming together and     
pairing off of men and women is in      
itself divine or  sacramental or        
anything of the sort4 ,being in love is 
a condition that  may have its moments  
of sublime exaltation1 but it is for the
 most part  an experience far down the  
scale below divine experience2 it is    
often  love only in so far as it shares 
the name with better things2 it is      
greed1 it is admiration1 it is desire1  

it is the itch for excitement1  it is   
the instinct for competition1 it is     
lust1 it is curiosity1 it is  adventure1
 it is jealousy1 it is hate4 ,on a      
hundred scores #8lovers'  meet and part4
 ,thereby some few find true love and   
the spirit of ,god in  themselves or    
others4    ,lovers may love ,god in one 
another2 ,i do not deny it4 ,that is no 
reason  why the imitation and outward   
form of this great happiness should be  
made an obligation upon all men and     
women who are attracted by one  another1
 nor why it should be woven into the    
essentials of religion4  ,for women much
 more than for men is this confusion    
dangerous1 lest a  personal love should 
shape and dominate their lives instead  
of ,god4 8,he  for ,god only2 she for   
,god in him10 phrases the idea of       
,milton and of  ancient ,islam2 it is   
the formula of sexual infatuation1 a    
formula quite  easily inverted1 as the  
end of ,goethe's ,faust 78,the woman    
soul leadeth  us upward and on07 may    

witness4 ,the whole drift of modern     
religious  feeling is against this      
exaggeration of sexual feeling1 these   
moods of  sexual slavishness1 in        
spiritual things4 ,between the healthy  
love  of ordinary mortal lovers in love 
and the love of ,god1 there is  an      
essential contrast and opposition in    
this1 that preference1  exclusiveness1  
and jealousy seem to be in the very     
nature of the former  and are absolutely
 incompatible with the latter4 ,the     
former is the  intensest realisation of 
which our individualities are capable2  
the  latter is the way of escape from   
the limitations of individuality4 ,it   
may be true that a few men and more     
women do achieve the completest         
unselfishness and self-abandonment in   
earthly love4 ,so the poets and         
romancers tell us4 ,if so1 it is that by
 an imaginative perversion they  have   
given to some attractive person a       
worship that should be reserved  for    
,god and a devotion that is normally    

evoked only by little children  in their
 mother's heart4 ,it is not the way     
between most of the men and  women one  
meets in this world4    ,but between    
,god and the believer there is no other 
way1 there is nothing  else1 but        
self-surrender and the ending of self4  
,,chapter ,,the ,,sixth    ,,modern     
,,ideas ,,of ,,sin ,,and ,,damnation    
#a4 ,,the ,,biological ,,equivalent ,,of
 ,,sin      ,if the reader who is       
unfamiliar with scientific things will  
obtain and  read ,metchnikoff's 8,nature
 of ,man10 he will find there an        
interesting  summary of the biological  
facts that bear upon and destroy the    
delusion  that there is such a thing as 
individual perfection1 that there is    
even  ideal perfection for humanity4    
,with an abundance of convincing        
instances ,professor ,metchnikoff       
demonstrates that life is a system of   
8disharmonies10 capable of no perfect   
way1 that there is no 8perfect0         
dieting1 no 8perfect0 sexual life1 no   

8perfect0 happiness1 no 8perfect0       
conduct4 ,he releases one from the      
arbitrary but all too easy assumption   
that there is even an ideal 8perfection0
 in organic life4 ,he sweeps out  of the
 mind with all the confidence and       
conviction of a physiological           
specialist1 any idea that there is a    
perfect man or a conceivable  perfect   
man4 ,it is in the nature of every man  
to fall short at every  point from      
perfection4 ,from the biological point  
of view we are as  individuals a series 
of involuntary 8tries0 on the part of an
 imperfect  species towards an unknown  
end4    ,our spiritual nature follows   
our bodily as a glove follows a hand4   
,we are disharmonious beings and        
salvation no more makes an end to the   
defects of our souls than it makes an   
end to the decay of our teeth or  to    
those vestigial structures of our body  
that endanger our physical  welfare4    
,salvation leaves us still              
disharmonious1 and adds not an inch  to 

our spiritual and moral stature4        
#b4 ,,what ,,is ,,damnation8      ,let  
us now take up the question of what is  
,sin8 and what we mean by the  term     
8damnation10 in the light of this view  
of human reality4 ,most of  the great   
world religions are as clear as         
,professor ,metchnikoff that  life in   
the world is a tangle of disharmonies1  
and in most cases they  supply a more or
 less myth-like explanation1 they       
declare that evil is  one side of the   
conflict between ,ahriman and ,ormazd1  
or that it is the  punishment of an act 
of disobedience1 of the fall of man and 
world alike  from a state of harmony4   
,their case1 like his1 is that ,,this   
world is  damned4    ,we do not find the
 belief that superposed upon the        
miseries of this  world there are the   
still bitterer miseries of punishments  
after death1  so nearly universal4 ,the 
endless punishments of hell appear to be
  an exploit of theory2 they have a     
superadded appearance even in the       

,christian system2 the same common      
tendency to superlatives and absolutes  
that makes men ashamed to admit that    
,god is finite1 makes them seek to      
enhance the merits of their ,saviour by 
the device of everlasting fire4         
,conquest over the sorrow of life and   
the fear of death do not seem to  them  
sufficient for ,christ's glory4    ,now 
the turning round of the modern mind    
from a conception of the  universe as   
something derived deductively from the  
past to a conception  of it as something
 gathering itself adventurously towards 
the future1  involves a release from the
 supposed necessity to tell a story and 
explain why4 ,instead comes the inquiry1
 8,to what end80 ,we can say  without   
mental discomfort1 these disharmonies   
are here1 this damnation  is            
here--inexplicably4 ,we can1 without any
 distressful inquiry into  ultimate     
origins1 bring our minds to the         
conception of a spontaneous and         
developing ,god arising out of those    

stresses in our hearts and in the       
universe1 and arising to overcome them4 
,salvation for the individual  is escape
 from the individual distress at        
disharmony and the individual  defeat by
 death1 into the ,kingdom of ,god4 ,and 
damnation can be nothing  more and      
nothing less than the failure or        
inability or disinclination to  make    
that escape4    ,something of that idea 
of damnation as a lack of the will for  
salvation  has crept at a number of     
points into contemporary religious      
thought4 ,it  was the fine fancy of     
,swedenborg that the damned go to their 
own hells  of their own accord4 ,it     
underlies a queer poem1 8,simpson10 by  
that  interesting essayist upon modern  
,christianity1 ,mr4 ,clutton ,brock1    
which  ,i have recently read4 ,simpson  
dies and goes to hell--it is rather like
  the ,cromwell ,road--and approves of  
it very highly1 and then and then  only 
is he completely damned4 ,not to realise
 that one can be damned is  certainly to

 be damned2 such is ,mr4 ,brock's idea4 
,it is his definition  of damnation4    
,satisfaction with existing things is   
damnation4 ,it is  surrender to         
limitation2 it is acquiescence in       
8disharmony02 it is  making peace with  
that enemy against whom ,god fights for 
ever4    7,but whether there are indeed 
,simpsons who acquiesce always and for  
ever  remains for me1 as ,i have already
 confessed in the previous chapter1  a  
quite open question4 ,my ,arminian      
temperament turns me from the           
,calvinistic conclusion of ,mr4 ,brock's
 satire47        #c4 ,,sin ,,is ,,not   
,,damnation      ,now the question of   
sin will hardly concern those damned and
 lost by  nature1 if such there be4 ,sin
 is not the same thing as damnation1 as 
we have just defined damnation4         
,damnation is a state1 but sin is an    
incident4 ,one is an essential and the  
other an incidental separation  from    
,god4 ,it is possible to sin without    
being damned2 and to be  damned is to be

 in a state when sin scarcely matters1  
like ink upon a  blackamoor4 ,you cannot
 have questions of more or less among   
absolute  things4    ,it is the amazing 
and distressful discovery of every      
believer so soon as  the first          
exaltation of belief is past1 that one  
does not remain always  in touch with   
,god4 ,at first it seems incredible that
 one should ever  have any motive again 
that is not also ,god's motive4 ,then   
one  finds oneself caught unawares by a 
base impulse4 ,we discover  that        
discontinuousness of our apparently     
homogeneous selves1 the  unincorporated 
and warring elements that seemed at     
first altogether  absent from the       
synthesis of conversion4 ,we are tripped
 up by  forgetfulness1 by distraction1  
by old habits1 by tricks of appearance4 
,there come dull patches of existence2  
those mysterious obliterations of  one's
 finer sense that are due at times to   
the little minor poisons one  eats or   
drinks1 to phases of fatigue1 ill-health

 and bodily disorder1 or  one is        
betrayed by some unanticipated storm of 
emotion1 brewed deep in  the animal     
being and released by any trifling      
accident1 such as personal  jealousy or 
lust1 or one is relaxed by contentment  
into vanity4  ,all these rebel forces of
 our ill-coordinated selves1 all these  
8disharmonies10 of the inner being1     
snatch us away from our devotion to     
,god's service1 carry us off to follies1
 offences1 unkindness1 waste1 and  leave
 us compromised1 involved1 and          
regretful1 perplexed by a hundred       
difficulties we have put in our own way 
back to ,god4    ,this is the personal  
problem of ,sin4 ,here prayer avails2   
here ,god can  help us4 ,from ,god comes
 the strength to repent and make such   
reparation  as we can1 to begin the     
battle again further back and lower     
down4 ,from  ,god comes the power to    
anticipate the struggle with one's rebel
 self1  and to resist and prevail over  
it4        #d4 ,,the ,,sins ,,of ,,the  

,,insane      ,an extreme case is very  
serviceable in such a discussion as     
this4    ,it happens that the author    
carries on a correspondence with several
  lunatics in asylums4 ,there is a      
considerable freedom of notepaper  in   
these institutions2 the outgoing letters
 are no doubt censored or  selected in  
some way1 but a proportion at any rate  
are allowed to go out  to their         
addresses4 ,as a journalist who signs   
his articles and as the  author of      
various books of fiction1 as a frequent 
,,name1 that is1 to any  one much forced
 back upon reading1 the writer is       
particularly accessible  to this type of
 correspondent4 ,the letters come1 some 
manifesting  a hopeless disorder that   
permits of no reply1 but some being the 
expression of minds overlaid not at all 
offensively by a web of fantasy1  and   
some 7and these are the more touching   
ones and the ones that most  concern us 
now7 as sanely conceived and expressed  
as any letters could  be4 ,they are     

written by people living lives very like
 the lives of us  who are called 8sane10
 except that they lift to a higher      
excitement and  fall to a lower         
depression1 and that these extremer     
phases of mania or  melancholia slip the
 leash of mental consistency altogether 
and take  abnormal forms4 ,they tap deep
 founts of impulse1 such as we of the   
safer  ways of mediocrity do but glimpse
 under the influence of drugs1 or in    
dreams and rare moments of controllable 
extravagance4 ,then the insane  become  
8glorious10 or they become murderous1 or
 they become suicidal4  ,all these      
letter-writers in confinement have      
convinced their  fellow-creatures by    
some extravagance that they are a danger
 to  themselves or others4    ,the      
letters that come from such types       
written during their sane  intervals1   
are entirely sane4 ,some1 who are       
probably unaware--,i think  they should 
know--of the offences or possibilities  
that justify their  incarceration1 write

 with a certain resentment at their     
position2 others  are entirely          
acquiescent1 but one or two complain of 
the neglect of  friends and relations4  
,but all are as manifestly capable of   
religion and  of the religious life as  
any other intelligent persons during the
  lucid interludes that make up         
nine-tenths perhaps of their lives4 4 4 
4  ,suppose now one of these cases1 and 
suppose that the infirmity takes  the   
form of some cruel1 disgusting1 or      
destructive disposition that may  become
 at times overwhelming1 and you have our
 universal trouble with  sinful         
tendency1 as it were magnified for      
examination4 ,it is clear that  the     
mania which defines his position must be
 the primary if not the  cardinal       
business in the life of a lunatic1 but  
his problem with that  is different not 
in kind but merely in degree from the   
problem of  lusts1 vanities1 and        
weaknesses in what we call normal lives4
 ,it is an  unconquered tract1 a great  

rebel province in his being1 which      
refuses to  serve ,god and tries to     
prevent him serving ,god1 and succeeds  
at times in  wresting his capital out of
 his control4 ,but his relationship to  
that  is the same relationship as ours  
to the backward and insubordinate       
parishes1 criminal slums1 and disorderly
 houses in our own private  texture4    
,it is clear that the believer who is a 
lunatic is1 as it were1 only the  better
 part of himself4 ,he serves ,god with  
this unconquered disposition  in him1   
like a man who1 whatever else he is and 
does1 is obliged to be  the keeper of an
 untrustworthy and wicked animal4 ,his  
beast gets loose4  ,his only resort is  
to warn those about him when he feels   
that jangling  or excitement of the     
nerves which precedes its escapes1 to   
limit its  range1 to place weapons      
beyond its reach4 ,and there are plenty 
of human  beings very much in his case1 
whose beasts have never got loose or    
have  got caught back before their      

essential insanity was apparent4 ,and   
there  are those uncertifiable lunatics 
we call men and women of 8impulse0   and
 8strong passions40 ,if perhaps they    
have more self-control than the  really 
mad1 yet it happens oftener with them   
that the whole intelligent  being falls 
under the dominion of evil4 ,the passion
 scarcely less than  the obsession may  
darken the whole moral sky4 ,repentance 
and atonement2  nothing less will avail 
them after the storm has passed1 and the
  sedulous preparation of defences and  
palliatives against the return of  the  
storm4    ,this discussion of the       
lunatic's case gives us indeed1 usefully
 coarse  and large1 the lines for the   
treatment of every human weakness by the
  servants of ,god4 ,a 8weakness10 just 
like the lunatic's mania1 becomes a     
particular charge under ,god1 a special 
duty for the person it affects4  ,he has
 to minimise it1 to isolate it1 to keep 
it out of mischief4 ,if he  can he must 
adopt preventive measures4 4 4 4        

,these passions and weaknesses that get 
control of us hamper our  usefulness to 
,god1 they are an incessant anxiety and 
distress to us1  they wound our         
self-respect and make us                
incomprehensible to many who  would     
trust us1 they discredit the faith we   
profess4 ,if they break  through and    
break through again it is natural and   
proper that men and  women should cease 
to believe in our faith1 cease to work  
with us or to  meet us frankly4 4 4 4   
,our sins do everything evil to us and  
through us  except separate us from     
,god4    ,yet let there be no mistake   
about one thing4 ,here prayer is a      
power4  ,here ,god can indeed work      
miracles4 ,a man with the light of ,god 
in his  heart can defeat vicious habits1
 rise again combative and undaunted     
after a hundred falls1 escape from the  
grip of lusts and revenges1 make  head  
against despair1 thrust back the very   
onset of madness4 ,he is still  the same
 man he was before he came to ,god1     

still with his libidinous1  vindictive1 
boastful1 or indolent vein2 but now his 
will to prevail  over those qualities   
can refer to an exterior standard and an
 external  interest1 he can draw upon a 
strength1 almost boundless1 beyond his  
own4        #e4 ,,believe1 ,,and ,,you  
,,are ,,saved      ,but be a sin great  
or small1 it cannot damn a man once he  
has found ,god4  ,you may kill and hang 
for it1 you may rob or rape2 the moment 
you truly  repent and set yourself to   
such atonement and reparation as is     
possible  there remains no barrier      
between you and ,god4 ,directly you     
cease to hide  or deny or escape1 and   
turn manfully towards the consequences  
and the  setting of things right1 you   
take hold again of the hand of ,god4    
,though  you sin seventy times seven    
times1 ,god will still forgive the poor 
rest  of you4 ,nothing but utter        
blindness of the spirit can shut a man  
off  from ,god4    ,there is nothing one
 can suffer1 no situation so            

unfortunate1 that it  can shut off one  
who has the thought of ,god1 from ,god4 
,if you but lift  up your head for a    
moment out of a stormy chaos of madness 
and cry to  him1 ,god is there1 ,god    
will not fail you4 ,a convicted         
criminal1 frankly  penitent1 and neither
 obdurate nor abject1 whatever the evil 
of his  yesterdays1 may still die well  
and bravely on the gallows to the glory 
of ,god4 ,he may step straight from that
 death into the immortal being of  ,god4
    ,this persuasion is the very essence
 of the religion of the true ,god4      
,there is no sin1 no state that1 being  
regretted and repented of1 can  stand   
between ,god and man4        ,,chapter  
,,the ,,seventh    ,,the ,,idea ,,of ,a 
,,church        #a4 ,,the ,,world ,,dawn
      ,as yet those who may be counted  
as belonging definitely to the new      
religion are few and scattered and      
unconfessed1 their realisations  are    
still uncertain and incomplete4 ,but    
that is no augury for the  continuance  

of this state of affairs even for the   
next few decades4  ,there are many signs
 that the revival is coming very        
swiftly1 it may be  coming as swiftly as
 the morning comes after a tropical     
night4 ,it may  seem at present as      
though nothing very much were happening1
 except for  the fact that the old      
familiar constellations of theology have
 become  a little pallid and lost       
something of their multitude of points4 
,but  nothing fades of itself4 ,the deep
 stillness of the late night is broken  
by a stirring1 and the morning star of  
creedless faith1 the last and  brightest
 of the stars1 the star that owes its   
light to the coming sun  is in the sky4 
,there is a stirring and a movement4    
,there is a stir1 like the stir  before 
a breeze4 ,men are beginning to speak of
 religion without the  bluster of the   
,christian formulae2 they have begun to 
speak of ,god  without any reference to 
,omnipresence1 ,omniscience1            
,omnipotence4 ,the  ,deists and ,theists

 of an older generation1 be it noted1   
never did that4  ,their 8,supreme       
,being0 repudiated nothing4 ,he was     
merely the whittled  stump of the       
,trinity4 ,it is in the last few decades
 that the western  mind has slipped     
loose from this absolutist conception of
 ,god that has  dominated the           
intelligence of ,christendom at least1  
for many centuries4  ,almost            
unconsciously the new thought is taking 
a course that will lead  it far away    
from the moorings of ,omnipotence4 ,it  
is like a ship that  has slipped its    
anchors and drifts1 still sleeping1     
under the pale and  vanishing stars1 out
 to the open sea4 4 4 4        #b4      
,,convergent ,,religious ,,movements    
,in quite a little while the whole world
 may be alive with this renascent       
faith4    ,for emancipation from the    
,trinitarian formularies and from a     
belief in  an infinite ,god means not   
merely a great revivification of minds  
trained  under the decadence of orthodox

 ,christianity1 minds which have        
hitherto  been hopelessly embarrassed by
 the choice between pseudo-,christian   
religion or denial1 but also it opens   
the way towards the completest          
understanding and sympathy and          
participation with the kindred movements
  for release and for an intensification
 of the religious life1 that are  going 
on outside the sphere of the ,christian 
tradition and influence  altogether4    
,allusion has already been made to the  
sympathetic devotional  poetry of       
,rabindranath ,tagore2 he stands for a  
movement in ,brahminism  parallel with  
and assimilable to the worship of the   
true ,god of mankind4    ,it is too     
often supposed that the religious       
tendency of the ,east is  entirely      
towards other-worldness1 to a treatment 
of this life as an evil  entanglement   
and of death as a release and a         
blessing4 ,it is too easily  assumed    
that ,eastern teaching is wholly        
concerned with renunciation1 not  merely

 of self but of being1 with the escape  
from all effort of any sort  into an    
exalted vacuity4 ,this is indeed neither
 the spirit of ,china nor  of ,islam nor
 of the every-day life of any people in 
the world4 ,it is not  the spirit of the
 ,sikh nor of these newer developments  
of ,hindu thought4  ,it has never been  
the spirit of ,japan4 ,to-day less than 
ever does ,asia  seem disposed to give  
up life and the effort of life4 ,just as
 readily as  ,europeans1 do the         
,asiatics reach out their arms to that  
fuller life we  can live1 that greater  
intensity of existence1 to which we can 
attain  by escaping from ourselves4 ,all
 mankind is seeking ,god4 ,there is not 
a nation nor a city in the globe where  
men are not being urged at this  moment 
by the spirit of ,god in them towards   
the discovery of ,god4 ,this  is not an 
age of despair but an age of hope in    
,asia as in all the world  besides4     
,islam is undergoing a process of       
revision closely parallel to that  which

 ransacks ,christianity4 ,tradition and 
mediaeval doctrines are being  thrust   
aside in a similar way4 ,there is much  
probing into the spirit and  intention  
of the ,founder4 ,the time is almost    
ripe for a heart-searching  ,dialogue of
 the ,dead1 8,how we settled our        
religions for ever and ever10   between1
 let us say1 ,eusebius of ,caesarea and 
one of ,nizam-al-,mulk's  tame          
theologians4 ,they would be drawn       
together by the same tribulations2  they
 would be in the closest sympathy       
against the temerity of the  moderns2   
they would have a common courtliness4   
,the ,quran is but little  read by      
,europeans2 it is ignorantly supposed to
 contain many things that  it does not  
contain2 there is much confusion in     
people's minds between  its text and the
 ancient ,semitic traditions and usages 
retained by its  followers2 in places it
 may seem formless and barbaric2 but    
what it has  chiefly to tell of is the  
leadership of one individualised        

militant ,god  who claims the rule of   
the whole world1 who favours neither    
rank nor  race1 who would lead men to   
righteousness4 ,it is much more free    
from  sacramentalism1 from vestiges of  
the ancient blood sacrifice1 and its    
associated sacerdotalism1 than          
,christianity4 ,the religion that  will 
presently sway mankind can be reached   
more easily from that  starting-point   
than from the confused mysteries of     
,trinitarian theology4  ,islam was never
 saddled with a creed4 ,with the very   
name 8,islam0   7submission to ,god7    
there is no quarrel for those who hold  
the new  faith4 4 4 4    ,all the world 
over there is this stirring in the dry  
bones of the old  beliefs4 ,there is    
scarcely a religion that has not its    
,bahaism1 its  ,modernists1 its ,brahmo 
,somaj1 its 8religion without theology10
 its  attempts to escape from old forms 
and hampering associations to that      
living and world-wide spiritual reality 
upon which the human mind almost        

instinctively insists4 4 4 4    ,it is  
the same ,god we all seek2 he becomes   
more and more plainly the  same ,god4   
,so that all this religious stir1 which 
seems so multifold and incidental  and  
disconnected and confused and entirely  
ineffective to-day1 may  be and most    
probably will be1 in quite a few years a
 great flood  of religious unanimity    
pouring over and changing all human     
affairs1  sweeping away the old         
priesthoods and tabernacles and symbols 
and  shrines1 the last crumb of the     
,orphic victim and the last rag of the  
,serapeum1 and turning all men about    
into one direction1 as the ships and    
houseboats swing round together in some 
great river with the uprush of  the     
tide4 4 4 4        #c4 ,,can ,,there    
,,be ,a ,,true ,,church8      ,among    
those who are beginning to realise the  
differences and identities  of the      
revived religion that has returned to   
them1 certain questions  of organisation
 and assembly are being discussed4      

,every new religious  development is    
haunted by the precedents of the        
religion it replaces1  and it was only  
to be expected that among those who have
 recovered their  faith there should be 
a search for apostles and disciples1 an 
attempt to  determine sources and to    
form original congregations1 especially 
among  people with ,european traditions4
    ,these dispositions mark a relapse  
from understanding4 ,they are           
imitative4 ,this time there has been no 
revelation here or there2 there  is no  
claim to a revelation but simply that   
,god has become visible4 ,men  have     
thought and sought until insensibly the 
fog of obsolete theology  has cleared   
away4 ,there seems no need therefore for
 special teachers  or a special         
propaganda1 or any ritual or observances
 that will seem  to insist upon         
differences4 ,the ,christian precedent  
of a church  is particularly misleading4
 ,the church with its sacraments and its
  sacerdotalism is the disease of       

,christianity4 ,save for a few doubtful 
interpolations there is no evidence that
 ,christ tolerated either blood         
sacrifices or the mysteries of          
priesthood4 ,all these antique          
grossnesses  were superadded after his  
martyrdom4 ,he preached not a cult but a
  gospel2 he sent out not medicine men  
but apostles4    ,no doubt all who      
believe owe an apostolic service to     
,god4 ,they become  naturally apostolic4
 ,as men perceive and realise ,god1 each
 will be  disposed in his own fashion to
 call his neighbour's attention to what 
he sees4 ,the necessary elements of     
religion could be written on a  post    
card2 this book1 small as it is1 bulks  
large not by what it tells  positively  
but because it deals with               
misconceptions4 ,we may 7little  doubt  
have ,i that we do7 need special        
propagandas and organisations to        
discuss errors and keep back the jungle 
of false ideas1 to maintain free  speech
 and restrain the enterprise of the     

persecutor1 but we do not want  a church
 to keep our faith for us4 ,we want our 
faith spread1 but for  that there is no 
need for orthodoxies and controlling    
organisations of  statement4 ,it is for 
each man to follow his own impulse1 and 
to speak to  his like in his own        
fashion4    ,whatever religious         
congregations men may form henceforth in
 the name  of the true ,god must be for 
their own sakes and not to take charge  
of  religion4    ,the history of        
,christianity1 with its encrustation and
 suffocation  in dogmas and usages1 its 
dire persecutions of the faithful by the
  unfaithful1 its desiccation and its   
unlovely decay1 its invasion by  robes  
and rites and all the tricks and vices  
of the ,pharisees whom  ,christ detested
 and denounced1 is full of warning      
against the dangers of  a church4       
,organisation is an excellent thing for 
the material needs  of men1 for the     
draining of towns1 the marshalling of   
traffic1 the  collecting of eggs1 and   

the carrying of letters1 the            
distribution  of bread1 the notification
 of measles1 for hygiene and economics  
and  suchlike affairs4 ,the better we   
organise such things1 the freer and     
better equipped we leave men's minds for
 nobler purposes1 for those  adventures 
and experiments towards ,god's purpose  
which are the reality  of life4 ,but all
 organisations must be watched1 for     
whatever is  organised can be 8captured0
 and misused4 ,repentance1 moreover1 is 
the  beginning and essential of the     
religious life1 and organisations       
7acting  through their secretaries and  
officials7 never repent4 ,god deals     
only with the individual for the        
individual's surrender4 ,he takes no    
cognisance of committees4    ,those who 
are most alive to the realities of      
living religion are most  mistrustful of
 this congregating tendency4 ,to gather 
together is to  purchase a benefit at   
the price of a greater loss1 to         
strengthen one's  sense of brotherhood  

by excluding the majority of mankind4   
,before you  know where you are you will
 have exchanged the spirit of ,god for  
,,esprit  ,,de ,,corps4 ,you will have  
reinvented the ,,symbol2 you will have  
begun to  keep anniversaries and        
establish sacramental ceremonies4 ,the  
disposition  to form cliques and exclude
 and conspire against unlike people is  
all  too strong in humanity1 to permit  
of its formal encouragement4 ,even such 
organisation as is implied by a creed is
 to be avoided1 for all living  faith   
coagulates as you phrase it4 ,in this   
book ,i have not given so  much as a    
definite name to the faith of the true  
,god4 ,organisation for  worship and    
collective exaltation also1 it may be   
urged1 is of little  manifest good4 ,you
 cannot appoint beforehand a time and   
place for ,god to  irradiate your soul4 
,all these are very valid objections to 
the church-forming disposition4         
#d4 ,,organisations ,,under ,,god       
,yet still this leaves many             

dissatisfied4 ,they want to shout out   
about  ,god4 ,they want to share this   
great thing with all mankind4    ,why   
should they not shout and share8    ,let
 them express all that they desire to   
express in their own fashion  by        
themselves or grouped with their friends
 as they will4 ,let them shout  chorally
 if they are so disposed4 ,let them work
 in a gang if so they  can work the     
better4 ,but let them guard themselves  
against the idea  that they can have    
,god particularly or exclusively with   
them in any such  undertaking4 ,or that 
so they can express ,god rather than    
themselves4    ,that ,i think states the
 attitude of the modern spirit towards  
the idea  of a church4 ,mankind passes  
for ever out of the idolatry of altars1 
away from the obscene rites of          
circumcision and symbolical cannibalism1
  beyond the sway of the ceremonial     
priest4 ,but if the modern spirit holds 
that religion cannot be organised or any
 intermediary thrust between ,god  and  

man1 that does not preclude infinite    
possibilities of organisation  and      
collective action ,,under ,god and      
within the compass of religion4  ,there 
is no reason why religious men should   
not band themselves the  better to      
attain specific ends4 ,to borrow a term 
from ,british politics1  there is no    
objection to ,,ad ,,hoc organisations4  
,the objection lies not  against        
subsidiary organisations for service but
 against organisations  that may claim  
to be comprehensive4    ,for example    
there is no reason why one should       
not--and in many cases  there are good  
reasons why one should--organise or join
 associations  for the criticism of     
religious ideas1 an employment that may 
pass very  readily into propaganda4     
,many people feel the need of prayer to 
resist the evil in themselves and  to   
keep them in mind of divine emotion4    
,and many want not merely prayer  but   
formal prayer and the support of others1
 praying in unison4 ,the  writer does   

not understand this desire or need for  
collective prayer  very well1 but there 
are people who appear to do so and there
 is no  reason why they should not      
assemble for that purpose4 ,and there is
  no doubt that divine poetry1 divine   
maxims1 religious thought  finely       
expressed1 may be heard1 rehearsed1     
collected1 published1 and  distributed  
by associations4 ,the desire for        
expression implies a sort  of assembly1 
a hearer at least as well as a speaker4 
,and expression has  many forms4 ,people
 with a strong artistic impulse will    
necessarily want  to express themselves 
by art when religion touches them1 and  
many arts1  architecture and the drama  
for example1 are collective             
undertakings4 ,i  do not see why there  
should not be1 under ,god1 associations 
for building  cathedrals and suchlike   
great still places urgent with beauty1  
into  which men and women may go to rest
 from the clamour of the day's          
confusions2 ,i do not see why men should

 not make great shrines and  pictures   
expressing their sense of divine things1
 and why they should  not combine in    
such enterprises rather than work to    
fill heterogeneous  and chaotic art     
galleries4 ,a wave of religious revival 
and religious  clarification1 such as ,i
 foresee1 will most certainly bring with
 it a  great revival of art1 religious  
art1 music1 songs1 and writings of  all 
sorts1 drama1 the making of shrines1    
praying places1 temples and  retreats1  
the creation of pictures and sculptures4
 ,it is not necessary  to have          
priestcraft and an organised church for 
such ends4 ,such  enrichments of feeling
 and thought are part of the service of 
,god4    ,and again1 under ,god1 there  
may be associations and fraternities    
for research in pure science2           
associations for the teaching and       
simplification of languages2            
associations for promoting and watching 
education2 associations for the         
discussion of political problems and    

the determination of right policies4 ,in
 all these ways men may multiply  their 
use by union4 ,only when associations   
seek to control things  of belief1 to   
dictate formulae1 restrict religious    
activities or the  freedom of religious 
thought and teaching1 when they tend to 
subdivide  those who believe and to set 
up jealousies or exclusions1 do they    
become  antagonistic to the spirit of   
modern religion4        #e4 ,,the       
,,state ,,is ,,god',s ,,instrument      
,because religion cannot be organised1  
because ,god is everywhere and          
immediately accessible to every human   
being1 it does not follow  that religion
 cannot organise every other human      
affair4 ,it is indeed  essential to the 
idea that ,god is the ,invisible ,king  
of this round  world and all mankind1   
that we should see in every government1 
great  and small1 from the council of   
the world-state that is presently       
coming1  down to the village assembly1  
the instrument of ,god's practical      

control4  ,religion which is free1      
speaking freely through whom it will1   
subject to  a perpetual unlimited       
criticism1 will be the life and driving 
power of  the whole organised world4 ,so
 that if you prefer not to say that     
there  will be no church1 if you choose 
rather to declare that the world-state  
is ,god's church1 you may have it so if 
you will4 ,provided that you  leave     
conscience and speech and writing and   
teaching about divine things  absolutely
 free1 and that you try to set no nets  
about ,god4    ,the world is ,god's and 
he takes it4 ,but he himself remains    
freedom1 and  we find our freedom in    
him4        ,,the ,,envoy      ,so ,i   
end this compact statement of the       
renascent religion which ,i  believe to 
be crystallising out of the             
intellectual1 social1 and  spiritual    
confusions of this time4 ,it is an      
account rendered4 ,it is a  statement   
and record2 not a theory4 ,there is     
nothing in all this that  has been      

invented or constructed by the writer2  
,i have been but scribe  to the spirit  
of my generation2 ,i have at most       
assembled and put  together things and  
thoughts that ,i have come upon1 have   
transferred the  statements of 8science0
 into religious terminology1 rejected   
obsolescent  definitions1 and           
re-coordinated propositions that had    
drifted into  opposition4 ,thus1 ,i see1
 ideas are developing1 and thus have ,i 
written  them down4 ,it is a secondary  
matter that ,i am convinced that this   
trend  of intelligent opinion is a      
discovery of truth4 ,the reader is told 
of my  own belief merely to avoid an    
affectation of impartiality and         
aloofness4    ,the theogony here set    
forth is ancient2 one can trace it      
appearing and  disappearing and         
recurring in the mutilated records of   
many different  schools of speculation2 
the conception of ,god as finite is one 
that has  been discussed very           
illuminatingly in recent years in the   

work of one ,i  am happy to write of as 
my friend and master1 that very great   
,american1  the late ,william ,james4   
,it was an idea that became increasingly
  important to him towards the end of   
his life4 ,and it is the most  releasing
 idea in the system4    ,only in the    
most general terms can ,i trace the     
other origins of these  present views4  
,i do not think modern religion owes    
much to what is  called ,deism or       
,theism4 ,the rather abstract and futile
 ,deism of the  eighteenth century1 of  
8votre ,etre supreme0 who bored the     
friends of  ,robespierre1 was a sterile 
thing1 it has little relation to these  
modern  developments1 it conceived of   
,god as an infinite ,being of no        
particular  character whereas ,god is a 
finite being of a very especial         
character4 ,on  the other hand men and  
women who have set themselves1 with     
unavoidable  theological preconceptions1
 it is true1 to speculate upon the      
actual  teachings and quality of        

,christ1 have produced interpretations  
that  have interwoven insensibly with   
thoughts more apparently new4 ,there is 
a  curious modernity about very many of 
,christ's recorded sayings4 ,revived    
religion has also1 no doubt1 been the   
receiver of many religious              
bankruptcies1 of ,positivism for        
example1 which failed through its bleak 
abstraction and an unspiritual texture4 
,religion1 thus restated1 must1  ,i     
think1 presently incorporate great      
sections of thought that are still      
attached to formal ,christianity4 ,the  
time is at hand when many of the        
organised ,christian churches will be   
forced to define their positions1       
either in terms that will identify them 
with this renascence1 or that  will lead
 to the release of their more liberal   
adherents4 ,its probable  obligations to
 ,eastern thought are less readily      
estimated by a ,european  writer4       
,modern religion has no revelation and  
no founder2 it is the privilege  and    

possession of no coterie of disciples or
 exponents2 it is appearing             
simultaneously round and about the world
 exactly as a crystallising  substance  
appears here and there in a             
super-saturated solution4 ,it is  a     
process of truth1 guided by the divinity
 in men4 ,it needs no other  guidance1  
and no protection4 ,it needs nothing but
 freedom1 free speech1  and honest      
statement4 ,out of the most mixed and   
impure solutions a  growing crystal is  
infallibly able to select its substance4
 ,the diamond  arises bright1 definite1 
and pure out of a dark matrix of        
structureless  confusion4    ,this      
metaphor of crystallisation is perhaps  
the best symbol of the  advent and      
growth of the new understanding4 ,it has
 no church1 no  authorities1 no         
teachers1 no orthodoxy4 ,it does not    
even thrust and  struggle among the     
other things2 simply it grows clear4    
,there will be  no putting an end to it4
 ,it arrives inevitably1 and it will    

continue  to separate itself out from   
confusing ideas4 ,it becomes1 as it were
 the  ,koh-i-noor2 it is a ,mountain of 
,light1 growing and increasing4 ,it is  
an  all-pervading lucidity1 a brightness
 and clearness4 ,it has no head to      
smite1 no body you can destroy2 it      
overleaps all barriers2 it breaks  out  
in despite of every enclosure4 ,it will 
compel all things to orient  themselves 
to it4    ,it comes as the dawn comes1  
through whatever clouds and mists may be
  here or whatever smoke and curtains   
may be there4 ,it comes as the day      
comes to the ships that put to sea4     
,it is the ,kingdom of ,god at hand4    
,,the ,,end