,illustration3 ,,bishop ,,gore          
,,painted ,,windows  ,,studies ,,in     
,,religious ,,personality  ,,by  ,a     
,,gentleman ,,with ,a ,,duster ,,author 
,,of ,,the ,,mirrors ,,of ,,downing     
,,street  ,,with ,,an ,,introduction    
,,by ,,kirsopp ,,lake       ,it was     
simply a struggle for fresh air1 in     
which1 if the windows      could not be 
opened1 there was danger that panes     
would be broken1      though painted    
with images of saints and martyrs4      
,light1 coloured      by these reverend 
effigies1 was none the more respirable  
for being      picturesque4       ,j4,r4
 ,lowell4  ,,with ,,illustrations ,,by  
,,emile ,,verpilleux       ,g4,p4       
,,putnam',s ,,sons      ,,new ,,york    
,,and ,,london      ,the ,knickerbocker 
,press      #aibb  ,for the information 
presented in the biographical records   
connected with the several chapters the 
publishers desire to express their      
indebtedness to ,who's ,who4            
,,foreword  ,,by ,,professor ,,kirsopp  

,,lake   ,no one who believes that the  
,christian churches have in the past    
been the moral leaders of western       
civilization can fail to be interested  
in the presentation of some of the      
,english religious leaders by ,a        
,gentleman with a ,duster especially if1
 like myself1 he have some passing      
acquaintance with most of them4 ,nor can
 any neglect to regard seriously his    
warning that the ,church is failing as a
 moral leader4  ,what is the reason for 
that failure8 ,it cannot1 ,i think1 be  
found in lack of earnestness2 for today 
all the guides of the churches in       
,england are serious1 upright men1 who  
would gladly lead if they could4 ,nor is
 it because they are voices uttering    
strange announcements in the wilderness2
 if they have a fault it is rather that 
they have so little to announce4 ,the   
defect which is disclosed by the        
pictures given by ,a ,gentleman with a  
,duster is primarily intellectual1 and  
,i propose to devote to its explanation 

the introduction which the publisher has
 asked me to write for the ,american    
edition of ,painted ,windows4  ,from the
 third century to the eighteenth the    
,christian ,church presented views of   
life and theories of the origin1        
weakness1 and possible redemption of    
human nature1 which were both self      
consistent and rational4 ,it offered men
 an infallible guide of life1 to be     
found in the ,church1 the ,bible1 and   
the ,christ4 ,different branches of the 
,christian church emphasised one or the 
other1 but the three formed in          
themselves an indivisible trinity4 ,nor 
did the laity doubt that this           
presentation was correct4 ,the clergy   
were the professional and expert        
exponents of an infallible revelation   
which they had studied deeply and knew  
better than other men1 and on which they
 spoke with the authority of experience4
 ,it was firmly believed that to follow 
their teaching would lead to future     
salvation2 for the centre of gravity in 

life for seriously minded men was the   
hope of attaining everlasting salvation 
in the world to come4  ,the situation   
today is changed in two directions4 ,the
 ,church1 the ,bible1 and even the      
,teaching of ,jesus are no longer       
regarded as infallible4 ,history first  
abundantly proved that the voice of the 
,church was not inerrant2 then science  
discredited the biblical account of     
man's origin and development2 and       
finally the kenotic theory of ,bishop   
,gore showed that what were considered  
the ipsissima verba of the ,lord himself
 could no longer be regarded as         
infallible4 ,the coup de grace to the   
belief that ,jesus must be followed     
literally was administered by official  
sermons during the war4 ,this does not  
mean that men and women within or       
without the ,church do not admire and   
venerate the teaching of ,jesus and     
regard him as the best teacher whom they
 know4 ,but they are not willing to     
accept all his teaching2 they have been 

forced to admit that it is sometimes    
lawful to resist evil by force2 they    
doubt whether he is to appear as the    
,judge of the living and the dead2 they 
accept much of his teaching and try to  
follow it because they believe that it  
is true1 but they do not believe that it
 is true because it is his teaching4 ,it
 is therefore impossible today for      
educated men1 even among those who most 
sincerely adopt it1 to settle a moral   
argument by an appeal to the teaching of
 ,jesus4 ,the tragedy is that there are 
probably as many today outside the      
,church who endeavour to follow ,jesus1 
but do not call him ,lord1 as there are 
within the church who reverse this      
attitude4 ,for good or for evil 7and ,i 
think it is for evil71 the ,church1     
especially the ,church of ,england1     
seems to have decided that to say ,lord1
 ,lord is the pass-word to the ,kingdom 
of ,heaven4  ,equally important with    
this great change in thought1 which has 
abandoned the infallible trinity of     

,church1 ,bible1 and ,jesus1 is the fact
 that the best of our generation have   
shifted the centre of endeavour from the
 future salvation of the individual to  
the present reformation of this world   
for the benefit of coming humanity4 ,the
 best men of our time are troubling very
 little about the salvation of their own
 souls2 not because they are indifferent
 or unbelieving1 but because they       
believe that if our lives are continued 
after death it will be a natural and not
 a supernatural phenomenon1 of which no 
details can be known4 ,they have        
relegated the whole apparatus of ,heaven
 and ,hell to the limbo of forgotten    
mythologies4 ,the continuance of life to
 which they look forward is progressive 
and educational1 not fixed or punitive4 
,moreover1 most of them would say1 with 
complete reverence1 that the work which 
is set before them by the ,purpose of   
,life1 as they understand it1 is to make
 a better world1 materially1 morally1   
and intellectually1 as an inheritance   

for children who are yet unborn4 ,they  
are not much disturbed if they are told 
that they are not ,christians1 for they 
are supremely indifferent to names4     
,nevertheless their presence in the     
world today is the concrete problem to  
be faced by ,liberal ,churchmen4 ,to    
consistent ,catholics such as ,father   
,knox it is not1 ,i suppose1 a problem  
at all4 ,he would say that such men     
deserve every adjective of approbation  
in the dictionary2 but they are not     
,christian4 ,if ,christianity means a   
fixed set of opinions1 a faith once     
delivered to the saints1 ,father ,knox  
is right2 such men are not ,christians1 
but1 if so1 the fact that they are not  
is the death warrant of the ,church1 for
 they represent progress to a higher    
type than that of the ,christianity of  
the past4  ,but the liberal ,christian  
does not accept the view that the       
,church ought to exist for the          
preservation of traditional opinions4   
,in his heart he feels that such men    

would have been accepted by ,jesus as   
his disciples1 and therefore he believes
 that the ,church can and ought to be   
reformed so as to make room for them4   
,for this ,reformation he has no fixed  
and rigid programme1 but there are three
 things which he thinks the ,church must
 provide4  ,the first necessity is the  
right understanding of life4 ,it cannot 
be given by any theory of the universe  
which1 like the biblical one1 is in     
glaring contradiction to the facts of   
modern science#a4 ,nor is it conceivable
 that belief can be fixed so as to be   
unalterable4 ,intellectual correctness  
is relative1 and ,truth cannot be       
petrified into ,creeds1 but lives by    
discussion1 criticism1 correction1 and  
growth4  ,footnote #a3 ,mr4 ,bryan is   
right in maintaining that evolution and 
the whole scientific concept of life is 
unbiblical1 though wrong in thinking    
that that settles the question4  ,the   
second necessity is the purification of 
the human spirit4 ,generation after     

generation of ,christians on their way  
through the world have endeavoured to   
follow the moral teaching of the        
,church1 but the friction and pressure  
of life always bring with them many     
impurities1 the swell of passion1 the   
blindness of temper1 and the thrust of  
desire1 which a mere appeal to reason   
cannot remedy because it condemns but   
does not remove the evil4 ,in the future
 as in the past1 the ,church must find  
means to satisfy men's need and desire  
for purification4  ,the third is closely
 allied to the second4 ,it is the       
helping hand of grace4 ,no organized    
religion is complete or satisfactory    
which does not understand that when weak
 and erring human beings call from the  
depths1 the helping hand of grace is    
stretched out from the unknown4 ,the    
origin and nature of grace is a         
metaphysical and theological problem2   
its existence is a fact of experience4  
,and that same experience shows that    
though grace may work apart from        

institutions it does in fact normally   
work through them4  ,these are the three
 things which the ,liberal wishes to    
keep in the ,church4 ,he knows that to  
do this the traditional forms of church 
life require great changes1 but he      
wishes to preserve the institutional    
life of the ,church as a valuable       
inheritance4 ,to him it is clear that   
,christians who in one generation       
invented the theology1 the sacraments1  
the thoughts1 practices1 and ordinances 
of the past1 have the right in another  
generation to change these4 ,the        
continuity of the ,church is in         
membership1 not in documents4  ,but the 
,liberals fall into two groups4 ,there  
is the left wing which expresses itself 
with clearness and decision1 which is   
not afraid of recognizing that the      
,church in the past has often been wrong
 and has affirmed as fact what is really
 fiction4 ,those who belong to it are   
sometimes driven out by official        
pressure1 and more often are compelled  

to yield to the practical necessities of
 ecclesiastical life1 but their         
influence is greater than their numbers4
 ,the danger which would face the       
,church if they were allowed to have    
more prominence1 is that their plainness
 of speech would lead to disruption4    
,the danger is a real one1 and the      
leaders of churches do right to fear it4
  ,over against this is the right wing  
of ,liberals4 ,there is probably little 
difference in the matter of private     
opinion between them and the left wing1 
but they are more concerned with        
safeguarding the unity of the ,church4  
,they endeavour to do this by using the 
old phraseology with a new meaning1 so  
that1 for instance1 members of this     
party feel justified in stating that    
they accept the creed1 though they do   
not believe in it in the sense which was
 originally intended4 ,this is          
technically called reinterpreting1 and  
by a sufficient amount of reinterpreting
 all the articles of the creed 7or      

indeed anything else7 can be given      
whatever meaning is desired4 ,the       
statement that ,god created the heavens 
and the earth becomes in this way an    
affirmation of evolution2 the ,virgin   
,birth affirms the reality of ,christ's 
human nature2 and the ,resurrection of  
the ,flesh affirms the ,immortality of  
the ,soul4 ,performed with skill1 this  
dialectical legerdemain is very soothing
 to a not unduly intelligent            
congregation and prevents any breach in 
the apparent continuity of the ,church's
 belief4 ,it also prevents any undue    
acrimoniousness of theological debate1  
for debate is difficult if words may be 
interpreted to mean the opposite of     
their historical significance4 ,the     
danger is that the rising generation    
will refuse to accept this method1 and  
that it will lead to deep and           
irretrievable intellectual confusion4   
,this is what ,father ,knox clearly saw 
to be the intellectual sin of the       
,foundationers4  ,nevertheless1 when all

 is said it is easy to criticize but    
difficult to advise4 ,as ,a ,gentleman  
with a ,duster has seen1 the desire of  
the church leaders whose portraits he   
paints is to preserve the ,church       
through a period of transition4 ,i doubt
 the wisdom of their policy1 though ,i  
recognize the difficulty of their task  
and appreciate their motives4  ,i doubt 
the wisdom of the policy because ,i     
think that though it may satisfy the    
older members of the ,church and so     
preserve continuity with the past1 it is
 doing so at the expense of the younger 
generation and sacrificing continuity   
with the future4 ,it may conciliate     
those who have power to make trouble in 
the present2 but it is only the young   
who are now silently abandoning the     
,church1 that have the power to give    
life in the future4 ,it is always safer 
to agree with the old1 but it is        
infinitely more important to convince   
the young2 and the reason for the       
failure which troubles ,a ,gentleman    

with a ,duster is that ecclesiastical   
life in ,england is failing to convince 
the young4 ,is it better here8          
,,cambridge1 ,u4,s4,a41      ,february  
#e1 #aibb4     ,,introduction ,,to ,,the
 ,,american ,,edition   ,some of the men
 whose personalities ,i attempt to      
analyse in this volume are known to     
,american students of theology3 almost  
all of them1 ,i think1 represent schools
 of thought in which ,america is as     
greatly interested as the people of     
,europe4  ,therefore ,i may presume to  
hope that this present volume will find 
in the ,united ,states as many readers  
as ,the ,mirrors of ,downing ,street and
 ,the ,glass of ,fashion4  ,but1 in     
truth1 ,i hope for much more than this4 
,perhaps ,i may be allowed to say that  
,i think ,america can make a            
contribution to the matter discussed in 
these pages which will outrival in its  
eventual effect on the destinies of the 
human race the contribution she has     
already made to world politics by the   

inspiration of the ,washington          
,conference4  ,for the ,american brings 
to the study of religion not only a     
somewhat fresher mind than the          
,european1 but a temperamental          
earnestness about serious things which  
is the world's best hope of creative    
action4 ,moreover there is something    
,greek about the ,american4 ,he is      
always young1 as ,greece was young in   
the time of ,themistocles and           
,a,eschylus4 ,he is conscious of        
exhilaration in the air1 a sense of     
walking in new paths1 of dawning hopes  
and untried possibilities1 a confidence 
that all things can be won if only we   
try hard enough4 ,with him it is never  
the exhaustion of noon or the pathetic  
beauty of twilight3 always it is the    
dawn1 and every dawn a ,renaissance4    
,since this1 in my reading1 is the very 
spirit of the teaching of ,jesus1 ,i    
feel that it must be in the destiny of  
,america more quickly than any other    
nation to recognise the features of     

,christ in those movements of the       
present day which definitely make for   
the higher life of the human race4 ,i   
mean the movements of science1          
psychology1 philosophy1 and the politics
 of idealism4  ,if ,i expect anywhere on
 the face of the globe a response to my 
suggestion that a new definition of the 
word ,faith is a clue to the secret of  
,jesus1 it is in ,america4 ,if ,i hope  
for recognition of my theory that       
,christ should be sought in the living  
world and not in the documents of       
tradition1 it is also to ,america that  
,i look for this hope to be realised4   
,the work of ,william ,james1 ,morton   
,prince1 and ,kirsopp ,lake encourages  
me in this conviction2 but most of all  
,i am encouraged by that youthful spirit
 of the ,american nation which looks    
backward as seldom as possible1 forward 
with exhilaration and confidence1 that  
manful spirit of hope and longing which 
is ever in earnest about serious things4
  ,here1 then1 is a book which goes to  

,america with all the highest hopes of  
its author--a book which attempts to    
throw off all those long and hopeless   
controversies of theology concerning the
 ,person of ,christ which have ever     
distracted and sometimes devastated     
,europe1 to throw off all that1 and to  
show that the good news of ,jesus was   
the revelation of a strange and mighty  
power which only now the world is       
beginning to use4     ,,introduction    
,by means of a study in religious       
personality1 ,i seek in these pages to  
discover a reason for the present rather
 ignoble situation of the ,church in the
 affections of men4  ,my purpose is to  
examine the mind of modern              
,christianity1 the only religion of the 
world with which the world can never be 
done1 because it has the lasting quality
 of growth1 and to see whether in the   
condition of that mind one cannot light 
upon a cause for the confessed failure  
of the ,church to impress humanity with 
what its documents call the ,will of    

,god--a failure the more perplexing     
because of the wonderful devotion1      
sincerity1 and almost boundless activity
 of the modern ,church4  ,as a clue to  
the object of this quest1 ,i would ask  
the reader to bear in mind that the     
present disordered state of the world is
 by no means a consequence of the late  
,war4  ,the state of the world is one of
 confusion1 but that confusion is       
immemorial4 ,man has for ever been      
wrestling with an anarchy which has for 
ever defeated him4 ,the history of the  
human race is the diary of a ,bear      
,garden4 ,man1 so potent against the    
mightiest and most august forces of     
nature1 has never been able to subdue   
those trivial and unworthy forces within
 his own breast--envy1 hatred1 malice1  
and all uncharitableness--which make for
 world anarchy4 ,he has never been able 
to love ,god because he has never been  
able to love his neighbour4 ,it is in   
the foremost nations of the world1 not  
in the most backward1 in the most       

,christian nations1 not the most pagan1 
that we find unintelligent conditions of
 industrialism which lead to social     
disorder1 and a vulgar disposition to   
self-assertion which makes for war4     
,history and ,homicide1 it has been     
said1 are indistinguishable terms4 ,man 
is born free1 and everywhere he is in   
chains4  ,this striking impotence of the
 human race to arrive at anything in the
 nature of a coherent world-order1 this 
bewildering incapacity of individual man
 to live in love and charity with his   
neighbour1 justifies the presumption    
that divine help1 if ever given1 that an
 ,incarnation of the ,divine ,will1 if  
ever vouchsafed1 must surely have had   
for its chief mercy the teaching of a   
science of life--a way of existence     
which would bring the feet of unhappy   
man out of chaos1 and finally make it   
possible for the human race to live     
intelligently1 and so1 beautifully4     
,now if this indeed were the purpose of 
the ,incarnation1 we may be pardoned for

 thinking that the ,church1 which has   
been the cause of so much tyranny and   
bloodshed in the past1 and which even   
now so willingly lends itself to bitter 
animosities and warlike controversies1  
has missed the whole secret of its first
 and greatest dogma#b4  ,footnote #b3 ,i
 asked a certain ,dean the other day    
whether the old controversy between     
,high ,church and ,low ,church still    
obtained in his diocese4 ,oh1 dear1 no6 
he replied2 ,high and ,low are now      
united to fight ,modernists4  ,therefore
 in studying the modern mind of         
,christianity1 persuaded that its       
mission is to teach mankind a lesson of 
quite sublime importance1 we may        
possibly arrive in our conclusion at a  
unifying principle which will at least  
help the ,church to turn its moral      
earnestness1 its manifold               
self-sacrifice1 and its great but       
conflicting energies1 in this one       
direction which is its own supremest    
end1 namely1 the interpretation of human

 life in terms of spiritual reality4    
,to those who distrust reason and hold  
fast rather fearfully to the moorings of
 tradition1 ,i would venture to say1    
first1 that perilous times are most     
perilous to error1 and1 secondly1 in the
 words of ,dr4 ,kirsopp ,lake1 ,after   
all1 ,faith is not belief in spite of   
evidence1 but life in scorn of          
consequence--a courageous trust in the  
great purpose of all things and pressing
 forward to finish the work which is in 
sight1 whatever the price may be4       
,the distinction between right and      
wrong disappears when conscience        
dies1 and that between fact and         
fiction when reason is neglected4       
,the one is the danger which besets     
clever politicians1 the other the       
nemesis      which waits on popular     
preachers4                              
--,kirsopp ,lake4     ,,contents        
,,chapter                               
,,page             ,,foreword 4 4 4 4 4 
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4  iii                

,,introduction ,,to ,,the ,,american    
,,edition 4   xi                        
,,introduction 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
   xv         ,i4--,,bishop ,,gore4 4 4 
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4    #a             
,,ii4--,,dean ,,inge4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 
4 4 4 4 4   #ba       ,,iii4--,,father  
,,knox4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4   #dg 
,,iv4--,,dr4 ,l4,p4 ,,jacks 4 4 4 4 4 4 
4 4 4 4 4 4   #fg         ,v4--,,bishop 
,,hensley ,,henson4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4     
#hg        ,,vi4--,,miss ,,maude        
,,royden4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4  #ajc     
,,vii4--,,canon ,e4,w4 ,,barnes4 4 4 4 4
 4 4 4 4 4 4  #aba                      
,,viii4--,,general ,,bramwell ,,booth 4 
4 4 4 4 4 4 4  #aci        ,,ix4--,,dr4 
,w4,e4 ,,orchard 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4  
#aee         ,x4--,,bishop ,,temple4 4 4
 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4  #afi              
,,xi4--,,principal ,w4,b4 ,,selbie4 4 4 
4 4 4 4 4 4  #aia                       
,,xii4--,,archbishop ,,randall          
,,davidson4 4 4 4 4 4  #bjc             
,,xiii4--,,conclusion 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 

4 4 4 4 4  #baf     ,,bishop ,,gore     
,,gore1 ,rt4 ,rev4 ,,charles1 ,m4,a41   
,d4,d41 and ,hon4 ,d4,c4,l41 ,oxford2   
,hon4 ,d4,d41 ,edinburgh and ,durham2   
,hon4 ,,ll4,d41 ,cambridge and          
,birmingham2 b4 #ahec2 s4 of ,hon4      
,charles ,alexander ,gore and d4 of #dth
 ,earl of ,bessborough1 widow of ,earl  
of ,kerry4 ,educ43 ,harrow1 ,balliol    
,college1 ,oxford 7,scholar74 ,fellow   
,trinity ,college1 ,oxford1 #ahge-ie2   
,vice-,principal of ,cuddesdon ,college1
 #ahhj-hc2 ,librarian of ,pusey         
,library1 ,oxford1 #ahhd-ic2 ,vicar of  
,radley1 #ahic-id2 ,canon of            
,westminster1 #ahid-aijb2 ,hon4         
,chaplain to the ,queen1 #ahih-aijj2    
,chaplain in ,ordinary to the ,queen1   
#aijj-aija2 ,chaplain in ,ordinary to   
the ,king1 #aija2 ,editor of ,lux       
,mundi2 ,bishop of ,worcester1 #aijb-d2 
,bishop of ,birmingham1 #aije-aa2       
,bishop of ,oxford1 #aiaa-aiai4         
,,painted ,,windows     ,,chapter ,i    
,,bishop ,,gore   ,he is in truth1 in   

the power1 in the hands1 of another1 of 
another will 4 4 4 attracted1 corrected1
 guided1 rewarded1 satiated1 in a long  
discipline1 that ascent of the soul into
 the intelligible world4--,,walter      
,,pater4  ,no man occupies a more       
commanding position in the ,churches of 
,england than ,dr4 ,gore4 ,i am assured 
in more than one quarter that a vote on 
this subject would place him head and   
shoulders above all other religious     
teachers of our time4 ,in the region of 
personal influence he appears to be     
without a rival4  ,such is the quality  
of his spirit1 that a person so         
different from him both in temperament  
and intellect as the ,dean of ,st4      
,paul's has confessed that he is one of 
the most powerful spiritual forces in   
our generation4  ,it is1 ,i think1 the  
grave sincerity of his soul which gives 
him this pre-eminence4 ,he is not more  
eloquent than many others1 he is not    
greatly distinguished by scholarship1 he
 is only one in a numerous company of   

high-minded men who live devout and     
disinterested lives4 ,but no man        
conveys1 both in his writings and in    
personal touch1 a more telling sense of 
ghostly earnestness1 a feeling that his 
whole life is absorbed into a ,power    
which overshadows his presence and even 
sounds in his voice1 a conviction that  
he has in sober truth forsaken          
everything for the ,kingdom of ,god4    
,one who knows him far better than ,i do
 said to me the other day1 ,charles     
,gore has not aimed at harmonising his  
ideas with the ,gospel1 but of fusing   
his whole spirit into the ,divine       
,wisdom4  ,in one1 and only one1        
respect1 this salience of ,dr4 ,gore may
 be likened to the political prominence 
of ,mr4 ,lloyd ,george4 ,it is a        
salience complete1 dominating1          
unapproached1 but one which must        
infallibly diminish with time4 ,for it  
is1 ,i am compelled to think1 the       
salience of personality4 ,history does  
not often endorse the more enthusiastic 

verdicts of journalism1 and personal    
magnetism is a force which unhappily    
melts into air long before its tradition
 comes down to posterity#c4  ,footnote  
#c3 ,the genius of the ,prime ,minister1
 which makes so astonishing an          
impression on the public1 plainly lies  
in saving from irretrievable disaster at
 the eleventh hour the consequences of  
his own acts4  ,mr4 ,joseph ,chamberlain
 was once speaking to me of the         
personality of ,gladstone4 ,he related  
with unusual fervour that the effect of 
this personality was incomparable1 a    
thing quite unique in his experience1   
something indeed incommunicable to those
 who had not met the man2 yet1 checking 
himself of a sudden1 and as it were     
shaking himself free of a superstition1 
he added resolutely1 ,but ,i was reading
 some of his speeches in ,hansard only  
the other day1 and upon my word there's 
nothing in them6  ,one may well doubt   
the judgment of ,mr4 ,chamberlain2 but  
it remains very obviously true that the 

personal impression of ,gladstone was   
infinitely greater than his ideas4 ,the 
tradition of that almost marvellous     
impression still prevails1 but solely   
among a few1 and there it is fading4    
,for the majority of men it is already  
as if ,gladstone had never existed4  ,we
 should be wise1 then1 to examine the   
mind1 and only the mind1 of this        
remarkable prelate1 and to concern      
ourselves hardly at all with the beauty 
of his life or the bewitchments of his  
character2 for our purpose is to arrive 
at his value for religion1 and to study 
his personality only in so far as it    
enables us to understand his life and   
doctrine4  ,dr4 ,gore lives in a small  
and decent ,london horse which at all   
points in its equipment perfectly       
expresses a pure taste and a wholly     
unstudied refinement4 ,nothing there    
offends the eye or oppresses the mind4  
,it is the dignified habitation of a    
poor gentleman1 breathing a charm not to
 be found in the house of a rich        

parvenu4 ,he has avoided without effort 
the conscious artistry of ,chelsea and  
the indifference to art of the          
unaesthetic vulgarian4 ,as to the manner
 of his life1 it is reduced to an       
extreme of simplicity1 but his          
asceticism is not made the excuse for   
domestic carelessness4 ,a sense of order
 distinguishes this small interior1     
which is as quiet as a monk's cell1 but 
restful and gracious1 as though         
continually overlooked by a woman's     
providence4  ,here ,dr4 ,gore reads     
theology and the newspaper1 receives and
 embraces some of his numerous          
disciples1 discusses socialism with men 
like ,mr4 ,tawney1 church government    
with men like ,bishop ,temple1 writes   
his books and sermons1 and on a cold    
day1 seated on a cushion with his feet  
in the fender and his hands stretched   
over a timorous fire1 revolves the many 
problems which beset his peace of       
mind#d4  ,footnote #d3 ,concerning      
modernising tendencies1 ,father ,ronald 

,knox says1 ,i went to a meeting about  
it in ,margaret ,street1 where crises in
 the ,church are invested with a        
peculiar atmosphere of delicious        
trepidation4  ,somewhere1 in speaking of
 the ,church's attitude towards rich and
 poor1 he has confessed to carrying     
about with him a permanently troubled   
conscience4 ,the phrase lives in his    
face4 ,it is not the face of a man who  
is at peace with himself4 ,if he has    
peace of mind1 it is a ,peace of        
,versailles4  ,one cannot look at that  
tall lean figure in its purple cassock1 
with the stooping head1 the somewhat    
choleric face1 the low forehead deeply  
scored with anxiety1 the prominent      
light-coloured and glassy eyes staring  
with perplexity under bushy brows1 which
 are as carefully combed as the hair of 
his head1 the large obstinate nose with 
its challenging tilt and wide           
war-breathing nostrils1 the broad white 
moustache and sudden pointed beard      
sloping inward2 nor can one listen to   

the deep1 tired1 and ghostly voice      
slowly uttering the laborious ideas of  
his troubled mind with the somewhat     
painful pronunciation of the            
elocutionist 7he makes chapell of       
,chapel72 nor mark his languorous       
movements and the slow swaying action of
 the attenuated body2 one cannot notice 
all this without feeling that in spite  
of his great courage and his iron       
tenacity of purpose1 he is a little     
weary of the battle1 and sometimes even 
perhaps conscious of a check for the    
cause which is far dearer to him than   
his own life4  ,one thinks of him as a  
soul under a cloud4 ,he gives one no    
feeling of radiance1 no sense of a      
living serenity4 ,what serenity he      
possesses at the centre of his being    
does not shine in his face nor sound in 
his voice4 ,he has the look of one whose
 head has long been thrust out of a     
window gloomily expecting an accident to
 happen at the street corner4           
,fitz,gerald once admirably described   

the face of ,carlyle as wearing a       
crucified expression4 ,no such          
bitterness of pain and defeat shows in  
the face of ,dr4 ,gore4 ,but his look is
 the look of one who has not conquered  
and who expects further1 perhaps greater
 disaster4  ,he has told us that a man  
must be strong at the centre before he  
can be free at the circumference of his 
being1 and in support of this doctrine  
he quotes the words of ,jesus1 ,it is   
better to enter into life halt or maimed
 rather than having two hands or two    
feet to go into hell4 ,has he reached   
strength at the centre1 one wonders1 by 
doing violence to any part of his moral 
being8 ,is his strength not the strength
 of the whole man but the strength only 
of his will1 a forced strength to which 
his reason has not greatly contributed  
and into which his affections have not  
entirely entered8 ,is this1 one asks1   
the reason of that look in his face1 the
 look of bafflement1 of perplexity1 of a
 permanently troubled conscience1 of a  

divided self1 a self that is both maimed
 and halt8  ,how is it1 we ask          
ourselves1 that a man who makes so      
profound an impression on those who know
 him1 and who commands as no other      
teacher of his time the affectionate    
veneration of the ,christian world1 and 
who has placed himself whole-heartedly  
in political alliance with the militant 
forces of victorious ,labour1 exercises 
so little influence in the moral life of
 the nation8 ,how is it that he suggests
 to us no feeling of the relation of    
triumphant leadership1 but rather the   
spirit of ,napoleon on the retreat from 
,moscow8  ,we learn from his teaching   
that no one can be a ,christian without 
a tremendous act of choice1 that ,christ
 proclaimed ,his standard with          
tremendous severity of claim1 that it is
 very hard to be a good ,christian1 and 
that we must surely1 as ,st4 ,peter     
says1 pass the time of our sojourning   
here in fear4 ,all of which suggests to 
us that the ,bishop has not entered into

 life whole1 even perhaps that sometimes
 he looks back over his shoulder with a 
spasm of horror at the hell from which  
he has escaped only by the sacrifice of 
his rational integrity4  ,let us recall 
the main events of his history4  ,he was
 educated at ,harrow and ,balliol1 and  
exercised a remarkable spiritual        
influence at ,oxford1 where he remained1
 first as ,vice-,principal of ,cuddesdon
 ,college and then as ,librarian of     
,pusey ,house1 till he was forty years  
of age4  ,during these years he edited  
the book called ,lux ,mundi in which he 
abandoned the dogma of verbal           
inspiration and accepted the theory that
 the human knowledge of ,christ was     
limited4 ,this book distressed a number 
of timid people1 but extended the       
influence of ,dr4 ,gore to men of       
science1 such as ,romanes1 as well as to
 a much larger number of thoughtful     
undergraduates4  ,for a year he was     
,vicar of ,radley1 and then came to     
,london as a ,canon of ,westminster1    

immediately attracting enormous         
congregations to hear him preach1 his   
sermons being distinguished by a most   
singular simplicity1 a profound piety1  
and above all by a deep honesty of      
conviction which few who heard him could
 withstand4 ,weller1 the ,dean's verger 
at the ,abbey1 has many stories to tell 
of the long queues at ,westminster which
 in those days were one of the sights of
 ,london4 ,the ,abbey has never since   
recovered its place as a centre of      
,christian teaching4  ,up to this time  
,dr4 ,gore's sympathy for the ,oxford   
,movement was merely the background of a
 life devoted to the mystical element   
and the moral implications of the       
,christian religion4 ,he was known as a 
,high ,churchman2 he was felt to be a   
saint2 his modernism was almost         
forgotten4  ,it was not long before his 
tentative movement towards modernism    
ended in a profession of ,catholic      
principles which allied him with forces 
definitely and sometimes angrily ranged 

against the ,higher ,criticism4 ,he     
became a ,bishop4 ,almost at once the   
caressing fingers of the saint became   
the heavy hand of the dogmatist4 ,he who
 had frightened ,liddon by his tremulous
 adventure towards the mere fringe of   
modernism became the declared enemy1 the
 implacable foe1 of the least of his    
clergy who questioned even the most     
questionable clauses of the creeds4 ,he 
demanded of them all a categorical      
assent to the literal truth of the      
miraculous1 in exactly the same sense in
 which physical facts are true4 ,every  
word of the creeds had to be uttered ex 
animo4 ,it is very hard to be a good    
,christian4 ,yes2 but did ,dr4 ,gore    
make it harder than it need be8 ,there  
was something not very unlike a heresy  
hunt in the diocese over which the      
editor of ,lux ,mundi ruled with a rod  
of iron4  ,i remember once speaking to  
,dr4 ,winnington ,ingram1 ,bishop of    
,london1 about the ,virgin ,birth4 ,he  
told me that he had consulted ,charles  

,gore on this matter1 and that he agreed
 with ,charles ,gore's ruling that if   
belief in that miracle were abandoned   
,christianity would perish4 ,such is the
 fate of those who put their faith in   
dogmas1 and plant their feet on the     
sands of tradition4  ,dr4 ,gore's life  
as a ,bishop1 first of ,worcester1 then 
of ,birmingham1 and finally of ,oxford1 
was disappointing to many of his        
admirers1 and perhaps to himself4 ,he   
did well to retire4 ,but unfortunately  
this retirement was not consecrated to  
those exercises which made him so       
impressive and so powerful an influence 
in the early years of his ministry4 ,he 
set himself to be1 not an exponent of   
the ,faith1 but the defender of a       
particular aspect of that ,faith4       
,here1 ,i think1 is to be found the     
answer to our question concerning the   
loss of ,dr4 ,gore's influence in the   
national life4 ,from the day of the     
great sermons in ,westminster ,abbey    
that wonderful influence has diminished1

 and he is now in the unhappy position  
of a party leader whose followers begin 
to question his wisdom4 ,organisation   
has destroyed him4  ,dr4 ,gore1 in my   
judgment1 has achieved strength at the  
centre of his being only at the terrible
 cost of cutting off1 or at any rate of 
maiming1 his own natural temperament4   
,marked out by nature for the life of   
mysticism1 he has entered maimed and    
halt into the life of the               
controversialist4 ,with the richest of  
spiritual gifts1 which demand quiet and 
a profound peace for their development1 
he has thrown himself into the arena of 
theological disputation1 where force of 
intellect rather than beauty of         
character is the first requirement of   
victory4 ,instead of drawing all men to 
the sweet reasonableness of the         
,christian life1 he has floundered in   
the obscurities of a sect and hidden his
 light under the bushel of a mouldering 
solecism--the tradition of ,western     
,catholicism4 ,it is a tragedy4         

,posterity ,i think1 will regretfully   
number him among bigots1 lamenting that 
one who was so clearly       4 4 4 born 
for the universe1 narrow'd his mind1    
,and to party gave up what was meant for
 mankind4  ,for1 unhappily1 this party  
in the ,church to which1 as ,dean ,inge 
well puts it1 ,dr4 ,gore consents to    
belong1 and for which he has made such  
manifold sacrifices1 and by which he is 
not always so loyally followed as he    
deserves to be1 is of all parties in the
 ,church that which least harmonises    
with ,english temperament1 and is least 
likely to endure the intellectual       
onslaughts of the immediate future4  ,it
 is the ,catholic ,party1 the           
spendthrift heir of the ,tractarians1   
which1 with little of the intellectual  
force that gave so signal a power to the
 ,oxford ,movement1 endeavours to make  
up for that sad if not fatal deficiency 
by an almost inexhaustible credulity1 a 
marked ability in superstitious         
ceremonial1 a not very modest assertion 

of the claims of sacerdotalism1 a       
mocking contempt for preaching1 and a   
devotion to the duties of the parish    
priest which has never been excelled in 
the history of the ,english ,church4    
,bishop ,gore1 very obviously1 is a     
better man than his party4 ,he is a     
gentleman in every fibre of his being1  
and to a gentleman all extravagance is  
distasteful1 all disloyalty is          
impossible4 ,he is1 indeed1 a survival  
from the great and orderly ,oxford      
,movement trying to keep his feet in the
 swaying midst of a revolutionary mob1 a
 ,kerensky attempting to withstand the  
forces of ,bolshevism4  ,there is little
 question1 ,i think1 that when his      
influence is removed1 an influence which
 becomes with every year something of a 
superstition1 something of an           
irritation1 to the younger generation of
 ,anglo-,catholics--not many of whom are
 scholars and few gentlemen--the party  
which he has served so loyally1 and with
 so much distinction1 so much           

temperance1 albeit so disastrously for  
his own influence in the world1 will    
perish on the far boundaries of an      
extremism altogether foreign to our     
,english nativity4  ,for to many of     
those who profess to follow him he is   
already a hesitating and too cautious   
leader1 and they fret under his coldness
 towards the millinery of the altar1 and
 writhe under his refusal to accept the 
strange miracle of                      
,transubstantiation--a miracle which1 he
 has explained1 ,i understand1 demands a
 reversal of itself to account for the  
change which takes place in digestion4  
,if they were rid of his restraining    
hand1 if they felt they could trust     
themselves without his intellectual     
championship1 these ,boishevists of     
sacerdotalism1 these enthusiasts for the
 tyranny of an absolute ,authority1     
these episcopalian asserters of the     
,apostolical ,succession who delight in 
flouting and defying and insulting their
 bishops1 would soon lose in the follies

 of excess the last vestiges of ,english
 respect for the once glorious and      
honourable ,oxford ,movement4  ,if any  
man think that ,i bear too hardly on    
these very positive protagonists of     
,latin ,christianity1 let him read the  
,anglican chapters in ,a ,spiritual     
,a,eneid4 ,father ,knox was once a      
member of this party and something of a 
disciple of ,dr4 ,gore1 who1 however1   
always regretted his mediaeval theology4
  ,a member of this party1 marching     
indeed at its head and its one voice in 
these degenerate days to which men of   
intelligence pay the smallest attention1
 ,bishop ,gore has lost the great       
influence he once exercised1 or began to
 exercise1 on the national life1 a moral
 and spiritual influence which might at 
this time have been well-nigh supreme if
 the main body of the nation had not    
unfortunately lost its interest for the 
man in its contempt for1 or rather its  
indifference to1 the party to which he  
consents to belong4  ,but for the       

singular beauty of his spiritual life1  
one would be tempted to set him up as an
 example of ,coleridge's grave warning1 
,he1 who begins by loving ,christianity 
better than ,truth1 will proceed by     
loving his own ,sect or ,church better  
than ,christianity1 and end in loving   
himself better than all4  ,i find him in
 these late days no nearer to ,rome1 not
 an inch nearer1 than in the days of his
 early manhood1 but absolutely convinced
 that ,christ founded a ,church and     
instituted the two chief sacraments4 ,he
 will sacrifice nothing in this respect4
 ,his whole mind1 which is a very       
different thing from his whole spirit1  
leans towards authority1 order1 and     
coherence4 ,he must have an organised   
society of believers1 believers in the  
creeds1 and he must have an absolute    
obedience to authority among these      
believers4  ,but he is a little shaken  
and very much alarmed by the march of   
modernism4 ,when people run up to you in
 the street1 he said recently1 and the  

phrase suggests panic1 and say1 ',oh6   
what are we to do8' ,i have got no short
 or easy answer at all4 ,a large1       
important1 and learned body of men in   
the ,church1 he says1 hold views which  
are directly subversive of the          
foundations of the creeds4 ,he calls    
this state of things evidence of an     
extraordinary collapse of discipline4   
,but that is not all4 ,he is alarmed2 he
 is not content to trust the future of  
the ,church to authority alone4 ,what   
are we to do8 ,he replies3  ,first1 we  
must not be content to appeal to        
authority4 ,we must teach1 fully teach1 
re-teach the truth on grounds of        
,scripture1 reason1 history1 everything1
 so that we may have a party1 a body    
which knows not only that it has got    
authority1 but that it has got the truth
 and reason on its side4  ,the claim is 
obviously courageous1 the claim of a    
brave and noble man1 but one wonders1   
,can it be made good8 ,it is a long time
 since evolution saw ,athanasius laid in

 the grave1 a long time since the       
,inquisition pronounced the opinions of 
,galileo to be heretical and therefore  
false4 ,it is very hard to be a good    
,christian4 ,did ,athanasius make it    
easier8 ,did the ,inquisition which     
condemned ,galileo make it easier still8
  ,dr4 ,gore thinks that the supreme    
mistake of ,christianity was placing    
itself under the protection and         
patronage of national governments4 ,it  
should never have become nationalised4  
,its greatest and most necessitous      
demand was to stand apart from anything 
in the nature of racialism4  ,he mourns 
over an incoherent humanity2 he seeks   
for unifying principles4 ,the religion  
of an ,incarnation must have a message  
for the world1 a message for the whole  
world1 for all mankind4 ,surely1 surely4
 ,but unifying principles are not       
popular in the churches4 ,it is the     
laity which objects to a coherent       
,gospel4  ,he sighs for a spiritualised 
,labour ,party4 ,he shrinks from the    

thought of a revolution1 but does not   
believe that the present industrial     
system can be ,christianised4 ,there    
must be a fundamental change4           
,christianity is intensely personal1 but
 its individualism is of the spirit1 the
 individualism of unselfishness4 ,he    
laughs grimly1 in a low and rumbling    
fashion1 on hearing that ,communism is  
losing its influence in the north of    
,england4 ,i can quite imagine that2 the
 last thing an ,englishman will part    
with is his property4  ,laughter1 if it 
can be called laughter1 is rare on his  
lips1 and is reserved in general for    
opinions which are in antagonism to his 
own4 ,he laughs in this way at the      
makeshift compromises of statesmen and  
theologians and economists saying that  
what those men hate more than anything  
else is a fixed principle4 ,he quotes   
with a sardonic pleasure the capital    
saying that a certain statesman's idea  
of a settled policy based on fixed moral
 principles is a policy which will last 

from breakfast-time to luncheon--he     
repeats the last words from             
breakfast-time to luncheon1 with a deep 
relish1 an indrawing of the breath1 a   
flash of light in the glassy eyes4  ,he 
remains impenitent concerning his first 
instinct as to ,england's duty at the   
violation of ,belgium's neutrality4 ,we 
were justified in fighting2 we could do 
no other2 it was a stern duty laid upon 
us by the ,providence which overrules   
the foolishness of man4 ,but he is      
insistent that we can justify our fiery 
passion in ,war only by an equal passion
 in the higher cause of ,peace--no1 not 
an equal passion1 a far greater passion4
  ,we lost at ,versailles our greatest  
opportunity for that divine             
justification4 ,we showed no fervour for
 peace4 ,there was no passion in us2    
nothing but scepticism1 incredulity1 and
 the base appetite for revenge4 ,we     
might have led the world into a new     
epoch if at that moment we had laid down
 our sword1 taken up our cross1 and     

followed the ,prince of ,peace4 ,but we 
were cold1 cold4 ,we had no idealism4   
,we were poor sceptics trusting to      
economics--the economics of a base      
materialism4  ,but though he broods over
 the sorrows and sufferings of mankind1 
and views with an unutterable grief the 
dismemberment of ,christendom1 he       
refuses to style himself a pessimist4   
,there is much good in the world2 he is 
continually being astonished by the     
goodness of individuals2 he cannot bring
 himself to despair of mankind4 ,ah1 if 
he had only kept himself in that        
atmosphere6 ,but it is very hard to be a
 good ,christian4  ,as for theology1 as 
for modernism1 people are not bothered1 
he says1 by a supposed conflict between 
,religion and ,science4 ,what they want 
is a message4 ,the ,catholic ,church    
must formulate a policy1 must become    
intelligent1 coherent4  ,he has small   
faith in meetings1 pronouncing the word 
with an amused disdain1 nor does he     
attach great importance to preaching1   

convinced that no ,englishman can       
preach3 ,even ,roman ,catholics can't   
preach in ,england4 ,as for those       
chapels to which people go to hear a    
popular preacher1 he calls them         
preaching shops1 and speaks with pity of
 those who occupy their pulpits3 ,that  
must be a dreadful life--dreadful1 oh1  
quite dreadful6 ,yet he has a lasting   
admiration for the sermons of ,charles  
,spurgeon4 ,as to ,jeremy ,taylor1 ,i   
confess that all that turgid rhetoric   
wearies me4  ,he does not think the     
,oxford ,movement has spent itself4 ,on 
the contrary1 the majority of the young 
men who present themselves for          
ordination are very largely inspired by 
the spirit of that ,movement4 ,all the  
same1 he perceives a danger in          
formalism1 a resting in symbolism for   
its own sake4 ,in its genesis1 the      
,oxford ,movement threw up great men1   
very great men1 men of considerable     
intellectual power and a most profound  
spirituality2 it is not to be expected1 

perhaps1 that such giants should appear 
again1 and in their absence lesser men  
may possibly mistake the symbol for the 
thing symbolised1 and so fall into the  
error of formalism4 ,that is a danger to
 be watched and guarded against4 ,but   
the ,movement will continue1 and it will
 not reach its fulfilment until under   
its pressure the ,church has arrived at 
unity and formulated a policy           
intelligent and coherent4  ,so this     
great spirit1 who might have given to   
mankind a book worthy to stand beside   
the ,imitation1 and given to ,england a 
new enthusiasm for the moral principles 
of ,christianity1 nurses a mechanistic  
dream and cherishes the hope that his   
,party is the ,aaron's rod of all the   
,churches4 ,many would have followed him
 if he had been content to say only1 ,do
 as ,i do1 but he descended into the    
dust of controversy1 and bade us think  
as he thinks4 ,nevertheless1 in spite of
 this fatal mistake he remains the      
greatest spiritual force among the      

,churches of ,england1 and his books of 
devotion will be read long after his    
works of controversy have fallen into   
that coldest of all oblivions1 the      
oblivion of inadequate theologies4      
,,dean ,,inge   ,,inge1 ,very ,rev4     
,,william ,,ralph1 ,d4,d41 ,c4,v4,o41   
#aiah2 ,dean of ,st4 ,paul's since      
#aiaa2 b4 ,crayke1 ,yorkshire1 #fth     
,june1 #ahfj2 s4 of late ,rev4 ,william 
,inge1 ,d4,d41 ,provost of ,worcester   
,college1 ,oxford and ,mary1 d4 of ,ven4
 ,edward ,churton1 ,archdeacon of       
,cleveland2 m4 #aije1 ,mary ,catharine1 
d4 ,ven4 ,h4,m4 ,spooner1 ,archdeacon of
 ,maidstone1 and g4d4 of ,bishop ,harvey
 ,goodwin2 three s4 two d4 ,educ43      
,eton1 ,king's ,college1 ,cambridge1    
,bell ,scholar and ,porson ,prizeman1   
#ahhj2 ,porson ,scholar1 #ahha2 ,craven 
,scholar and ,browne ,medalist1 #ahhb2  
,senior ,chancellor's ,medalist1 #ahhc2 
#ast ,class ,classics1 #ahhb and #ahhc2 
,hare ,prizeman1 #ahhe2 ,assistant      
,master at ,eton1 #ahhd-hh2 ,fellow of  

,king's1 #ahhf-hh2 ,fellow and ,tutor of
 ,hertford ,college1 ,oxford1           
#ahhi-aijd2 ,select ,preacher at        
,oxford1 #ahic-ie1 #aijc-e1 #aibj-ba2   
,cambridge1 #aija1 #aijf1 #aiaj1 #aiab1 
#aiac1 #aibj2 ,bampton ,lecturer1 #ahii2
 ,hon4 ,d4,d41 ,aberdeen1 #aije2        
,paddock ,lecturer1 ,new ,york1 #aijf2  
,vicar of ,all ,saints' ,ennismore      
,gardens1 ,s4,w41 #aije-g2 ,lady        
,margaret ,professor of ,divinity and   
,fellow of ,jesus ,college1 ,cambridge1 
#aijg-l#a2 ,hon4 ,fellow of ,jesus      
,college1 ,cambridge1 and of ,hertford  
,college1 ,oxford2 ,academic ,committee 
,royal ,soc4 of ,literature2 ,gifford   
,lecturer1 ,st4 ,andrews1 #aiag-ah2     
,romanes and ,hibbert ,lecturer1 #aibj2 
,hon4 ,d4,litt41 ,durham1 #aibj4        
,illustration3 ,,dean ,,inge            
,,chapter ,,ii  ,,dean ,,inge   ,some   
day1 when ,i've quite made up my mind   
what to fight for1 or whom to fight1 ,i 
shall do well enough1 if ,i live1 but ,i
 haven't made up my mind what to fight  

for--whether1 for instance1 people ought
 to live in ,swiss cottages and sit on  
three-legged or one-legged stools2      
whether people ought to dress well or   
ill2 whether ladies ought to tie their  
hair in beautiful knots2 whether        
,commerce or ,business of any kind be an
 invention of the ,devil or not2 whether
 ,art is a ,crime or only an ,absurdity2
 whether ,clergymen ought to be         
multiplied1 or exterminated by arsenic1 
like rat2 whether in general we are     
getting on1 and if so where we are going
 to2 whether it's worth while to        
ascertain any of these things2 whether  
one's tongue was ever made to talk with 
or only to taste with4-,,john ,,ruskin4 
,when our day is done1 and men look back
 to the1 shadows we have left behind us1
 and there is no longer any spell of    
personal magnetism to delude right      
judgment1 ,i think that the figure of   
,dean ,inge may emerge from the dim and 
too crowded tapestry of our period with 
something of the force1 richness1 and   

abiding strength which gives ,dr4       
,johnson his great place among authentic
 ,englishmen4  ,his true setting is the 
,deanery of ,st4 ,paul's1 that frowning 
and melancholy house in a backwater of  
,london's jarring tide1 where the dust  
collects1 and sunlight has a struggle to
 make two ends meet1 and cold penetrates
 like a dagger1 and fog hangs like a    
pall1 and the blight of ages clings to  
stone and brick1 to window and woodwork1
 with an adhesive mournfulness which    
suggests the hatchment of ,melpomene4   
,even the hand of ,grinling ,gibbons at 
the porch does not prevent one from     
recalling ,crabbe's memorable lines3    
,dark but not awful1 dismal but yet     
mean1      ,with anxious bustle moves   
the cumbrous scene2      ,presents no   
objects tender or profound1      ,but   
spreads its cold unmeaning gloom around4
  ,here in the midst of overshadowing   
warehouses--and until he came hither at 
the age of fifty-one few people in      
,london had ever heard his name1 a name 

which even now is more frequently       
pronounced as if it rhymed with cringe1 
instead of with sting--here the ,dean of
 ,st4 ,paul's1 looking at one moment    
like ,don ,quixote1 at another like a   
figure from the pages of ,dostoevsky1   
and flitting almost noiselessly about   
rooms which would surely have been      
filled for the mind of ,dickens with    
ghosts of both sexes and of every order 
and degree2 here the great ,dean faces  
the problems of the universe1 dwells    
much with his own soul1 and fights the  
,seven ,devils of ,foolishness in a     
style which the ,church of ,england has 
not known since the days of ,swift4  ,in
 appearance he is very tall1 rigid1     
long-necked1 and extremely thin1 with   
fine dark hair and a lean grey          
clean-shaven face1 the heavy-lidded eyes
 of an almost ,asian deadness1 the upper
 lip projecting beyond the lower1 a     
drift of careless hair sticking boyishly
 forward from the forehead1 the nose    
thin1 the mouth mobile but decisive1 the

 whole set and colour of the face       
stonelike and impassive4  ,in repose he 
looks as if he had set himself to stare 
the ,sphinx out of countenance and not  
yet had lost heart in the matter4 ,when 
he smiles1 it is as if a mischievous boy
 looked out of an undertaker's window2  
but the smile1 so full of wit1 mischief1
 and even gaiety1 is gone in an instant1
 quicker than ,i have ever seen a smile 
flash out of sight1 and immediately the 
fine scholarly face sinks back into     
somnolent austerity which for all its   
aloofness and immemorial calm suggests1 
in some fashion for which ,i cannot     
account1 a frozen whimsicality4  ,few   
public men1 with perhaps the exception  
of ,samuel ,rogers1 ever cared so little
 about appearance4 ,it is believed that 
the ,dean would be indistinguishable    
from a tramp but for the constant       
admonishment and active benevolence of  
,mrs4 ,inge4 ,as it is1 he is something 
more than shabby1 and only escapes a    
disreputable appearance by the finest of

 hairs1 resembling1 as ,i have          
suggested1 one of those poor ,russian   
noblemen whom ,dostoevsky loved to place
 in the dismal and sordid atmosphere of 
a lodging-house1 there to shine like    
golden planets by the force of their    
ideas4  ,but when all this is said1 and 
it is worth saying1 ,i hope1 if only to 
make the reader feel that he is here    
making the acquaintance of an ascetic of
 the intellect1 a man who cares most    
deeply for accurate thought1 and is     
absorbed body1 soul and spirit in the   
contemplation of eternal values1 still1 
for all the gloom of his surroundings   
and the deadness of his appearance1 it  
is profoundly untrue to think of the    
,dean as a prophet of pessimism4  ,when 
he speaks to one1 in the rather muffled 
voice of a man troubled by deafness1 the
 impression he makes is by no means an  
impression of melancholy or despair2 on 
the contrary it is the impression of    
strength1 power1 courage1 and           
unassailable allegiance to truth4 ,he is

 careless of appearance because he has  
something far better worth the while of 
his attention2 he is aloof and remote1  
monosyllabic and sometimes even         
inaccessible1 because he lives almost   
entirely in the spiritual world1 seeking
 ,truth with a steady perseverance of   
mind1 ,goodness with the full energy of 
his heart1 and ,beauty with the deep    
mystical passion of his soul4  ,nothing 
in the man suggests the title of his    
most popular book ,outspoken ,essays--a 
somewhat boastful phrase that would1 ,i 
think1 have slightly distressed a critic
 like ,ste4-,beuve--and nothing1 except 
a certain firm emphasis on the word     
truth1 suggests in his conversation the 
spirit that shows in the more           
controversial of his essays4 ,on the    
contrary1 he is in manner1 bearing1 and 
spirit a true mystic1 a man of silence  
and meditation1 gentle when he is not   
angered1 modest when he is not          
challenged by a fool1 humble in his     
attitude to ,god if not to a foolish    

world1 and1 albeit with the awkwardness 
inevitable in one who lives so          
habitually with his own thoughts and his
 own silence1 anxious to be polite4  ,i 
do not like being unpleasant1 he said to
 me on one occasion1 but if no one else 
will1 and the time requires it--  ,it is
 a habit with him to leave a sentence   
unfinished which is sufficiently clear  
soon after the start4  ,in what way is  
he unpleasant8 and what are those       
movements of the time which call in his 
judgment for unpleasantness8  ,of       
,bergson he said to me1 ,i hope he is   
still thinking1 and when ,i questioned  
him he replied that ,bergson's teaching 
up to this moment suggests that anything
 may happen4  ,here you may see one of  
the main movements of our day which     
call1 in the ,dean's judgment for       
unpleasantness--the unpleasantness of   
telling people not to make fools of     
themselves4 ,humanity must not go over  
in a body to ,mr4 ,micawber4  ,anything 
may happen8 ,no6 ,we are not characters 

in a fairy tale1 but men of reason1     
inhabiting a world which reveals to us  
at every point of our investigation one 
certain and unalterable fact--an        
unbroken uniformity of natural law4 ,we 
must not dream2 we must act1 and1 before
 we act1 we must think4 ,human nature   
does not change very greatly4 ,bergson  
is apt to encourage easy optimism1 to   
leave the door open for credulity1      
superstition1 idle expectation2 and he  
is disposed to set instinct above       
reason1 a very dangerous doctrine1 at   
any rate for this generation4  ,what is 
wrong with this generation8 ,it is a    
generation that refuses to accept the   
rule and discipline of reason1 which    
thinks it can reach millennium by a     
short cut1 or jump to the moon in an    
excess of emotional fervour4 ,it is a   
generation which becomes a crowd1 and   
individuals are occasionally guided by  
reason1 crowds never4 ,it is a          
generation which lives by catchwords1   
which plays tricks1 which attempts to   

cut knots1 which counts heads4  ,what is
 wrong with this generation8 ,public    
opinion is a vulgar1 impertinent1       
anonymous tyrant who deliberately makes 
life unpleasant for anyone who is not   
content to be the average man4          
,democracy means a victory of sentiment 
over reason2 it is the triumph of the   
unfit1 the ascendancy of the            
second-rate1 the conquest of quality by 
quantity1 the smothering of the hard and
 true under the feather-bed of the soft 
and the false4       ,some may prefer   
the softer type of character1 and may   
hope that it      will make civilisation
 more humane and compassionate4 4 4 4   
,unfortunately1 experience shows that   
none is so cruel as the                 
disillusioned sentimentalist4 ,he thinks
 that he can break or ignore            
nature's laws with impunity2 and then1  
when he finds that nature      has no   
sentiment1 he rages like a mad dog and  
combines with his      theoretical      
objection to capital punishment a lust  

to murder all      who disagree with    
him4  ,beware of sentiment6 ,beware of  
it in politics1 beware of it in         
religion4 ,see things as they are4      
,accept human nature for what it is4    
,consult history4 ,judge by reason and  
experience4 ,act with courage4  ,as he  
faces politics1 so he faces religion4   
,he desires to rescue ,christianity from
 all the sentimental vulgarities which  
have disfigured it in recent            
years--alike from the aesthetic         
extravagances of the ritualist and the  
organising fussiness of the evangelical2
 to rescue it from these obscuring      
unessentials1 and to set it clearly     
before the eyes of mankind in the pure  
region of thought--a divine philosophy  
which teaches the only true science of  
life1 a discipline which fits the ,soul 
for its journey1 by an inner ascent1 to 
the presence of ,god4 ,mysticism1 he    
says1 is the pursuit of ultimate1       
objective truth1 or it is nothing4      
,christianity demands the closest       

attention of the mind4 ,it cannot be    
seen at a glance1 understood in a       
moment1 adopted by a gesture4 ,it is a  
deep and profound philosophy of life4   
,it proposes a transvaluation of values4
 ,it insists that the spiritual life is 
the only true life4 ,it sets the        
invisible above the visible1 and the    
eternal above the temporal4 ,it tears up
 by the roots the lust of accumulation4 
,it brings man face to face with a      
choice that is his destiny4 ,he must    
think1 he must decide4 ,he cannot serve 
both ,god and ,mammon4 ,either his life 
must be given for the imperishable      
values of spiritual existence or for the
 meats that perish and the flesh that   
will see corruption4 ,let a man choose4 
,christianity contradicts all his       
natural ideas2 but let him think1 let   
him listen to the voice of ,god1 and let
 him decide as a rational being4 ,let   
him not presume to set up his trivial   
notions1 or to think that he can silence
 ,truth by bawling falsehood at the top 

of his voice4 ,let him be humble4 ,let  
him listen to the teacher4 ,let him give
 all his attention to this great matter1
 for it concerns his soul4  ,here again 
is the aristocratic principle4 ,the     
average man1 until he has disciplined   
his reason to understand this great     
matter1 must hold his peace2 certainly  
he must not presume to lay down the law4
  ,when we exclaim against this         
doctrine1 and speak with enthusiasm of  
the virtues of the poor1 ,dr4 ,inge asks
 us to examine those virtues and to     
judge of their worth4 ,among the poor1  
he quotes1 generosity ranks far before  
justice1 sympathy before truth1 love    
before chastity1 a pliant and obliging  
disposition before a rigidly honest one4
 ,in brief1 the less admixture of       
intellect required for the practice of  
any virtue1 the higher it stands in     
popular estimation4  ,but we are to love
 ,god with all our mind1 as well as with
 all our heart4  ,does he1 then1 shut   
out the humble and the poor from the    

,kingdom of ,god8  ,not for a moment4   
,ultimately1 we are what we love and    
care for1 and no limit has been set to  
what we may become without ceasing to be
 ourselves4 ,the door of love stands    
open1 and through that doorway the poor 
and the ignorant may pass to find the   
satisfaction of the saint4 ,but they    
must be careful to love the right       
things--to love truth1 goodness1 and    
beauty4 ,they must not be encouraged to 
sentimentalise2 they must be bidden to  
decide4 ,the poor can be debauched as   
easily as the rich4 ,many are called1   
but few chosen4  ,his main protest is   
against the rule of the ignorant1 the   
democratic principle applied to the amor
 intellectualis ,dei4 ,rich and poor1   
learned and ignorant1 all must accept1  
with humility1 the teaching of the      
,master4 ,plotinus1 he points out1 was  
the schoolmaster who brought ,augustine 
to ,christ4 ,the greatest of us has to  
learn4 ,he who would teach should be a  
learner all his life4  ,in everything he

 says and writes ,i find this desire to 
exalt ,truth above the fervours of      
emotionalism and the dangerous drill of 
the formalist4 ,always he is calling    
upon men to drop their prejudices and   
catchwords1 to forsake their conceits   
and sentiments1 to face ,truth with a   
quiet pulse and eyes clear of all       
passion4 ,christianity is a tremendous  
thing2 let no man1 believer or          
unbeliever1 attempt to make light of it4
  ,it is not compassion for the         
intellectual difficulties of the average
 man which has made ,dr4 ,inge a        
conservative modernist1 if so ,i may    
call him4 ,sentiment of no kind whatever
 has entered into the matter4 ,he is a  
conservative modernist because his      
reason has convinced him of the truth of
 reasonable modernism1 because he has   
that intellectual honesty which dreads  
what ,plato calls 'the lie in the soul' 
even more than the lie on the lips4 ,he 
is a modernist because he is an         
intellectual ascetic4  ,when we compare 

his position with that of ,dr4 ,gore we 
see at once the width of the gulf which 
separates the traditionalist from the   
philosopher4 ,to ,dr4 ,gore the creeds  
and the miracles are essential to       
,christianity4 ,no ,virgin ,birth1 no   
,sermon on the ,mount6 ,no ,resurrection
 of the ,body1 no ,parable of the       
,prodigal ,son6 ,no ,descent into ,hell1
 no revelation that the ,kingdom of     
,heaven is within6 ,need we wonder that 
,dr4 ,gore cries out despairingly for   
more discipline8 ,he summons reason1 it 
is true1 but to defend and explain      
creeds without which there is no        
,christianity4  ,to ,dr4 ,inge1 on the  
other hand1 it is what ,christ said that
 matters1 what ,he taught that demands  
our obedience1 what ,he revealed that   
commands our love4 ,christianity for him
 is not a series of extraordinary acts1 
but a voice from heaven4 ,it is not the 
,christ of tradition before whom he bows
 his knee1 but the ,christ of history1  
the ,christ of faith1 the ,christ of    

experience--the living and therefore the
 evolving ,christ4 ,and for him1 as for 
the great majority of searching men1 the
 more the mists of pious aberglaube     
lift1 the more real1 the more fair1 and 
the more divine becomes the ,face of    
that living ,christ1 the more close the 
sense of ,his companionship4  ,a friend 
of mine once asked him1 ,are you a      
,christian or a ,neoplatonist8 ,he      
smiled4 ,it would be difficult to say1  
he replied4 ,he was thinking1 ,i am     
sure1 of ,troeltsch's significant       
prophecy1 and warning1 that the ,future 
of ,christian philosophy depends on the 
renewal of its alliance with            
,neoplatonism4  ,let no man suppose that
 the intellectual virtues are outside   
the range of religion4 ,candour1 moral  
courage1 intellectual honesty1          
scrupulous accuracy1 chivalrous         
fairness1 endless docility to facts1    
disinterested collaboration1            
unconquerable hopefulness and           
perseverance1 manly renunciation of     

popularity and easy honours1 love of    
bracing labour and strengthening        
solitude2 these1 and many other cognate 
qualities1 says ,baron von ,huegel1 bear
 upon them the impress of ,god and ,his 
,christ4 ,what ,dr4 ,inge1 who quotes   
these words1 says of ,plotinus declares 
his own character4 ,he speaks of the    
intense honesty of the man1 who never   
shirks a difficulty or writes an        
insincere word4  ,but though he is      
associated in the popular mind chiefly  
with modernism1 ,dr4 ,inge is not by any
 means only a controversial theologian4 
,above and beyond everything else1 he is
 a mystic4 ,you may find indications of 
this truth even in a book like          
,outspoken ,essays1 but they are more   
numerous in his two little volumes1 ,the
 ,church and the ,age and ,speculum     
,animae1 and of course more numerous    
still in his great work on ,plotinus#e4 
,he is far more a mystic than a         
modernist4 ,indeed ,i regard him as the 
,erasmus of modernism1 one so sure of   

truth that he would trust time to work  
for his ideas1 would avoid fighting     
altogether1 but certainly all fighting  
that is in the least degree premature4  
,the two thousand years of              
,christianity1 he says somewhere1 are no
 long period when we remind ourselves   
that ,god spent millions of years in    
moulding a bit of old red sandstone4    
,footnote #e3 ,i have often thought that
 the unquestionable inferiority of      
,german literature about ,platonism     
points to an inherent defect in the     
,german mind4--,the ,philosophy of      
,plotinus1 p4 #ac       ,meanwhile we   
have our cocksure little guides1 some of
 whom say to      us1 ,that is          
primitive1 therefore it is good1 and    
others1 ,this is      up-to-date1       
therefore it is better4 ,not very wise  
persons any of      them1 ,i fear4  ,and
 again1 writing of ,catholic ,modernism 
in ,france3       ,we have given our    
reasons for rejecting the ,modernist    
attempt at      reconstruction4 ,in the 

first place1 we do not feel that we are 
required by sane criticism to surrender 
nearly all that ,m4 ,loisy      has     
surrendered4 ,we believe that the       
,kingdom of ,god which ,christ          
preached was something much more than a 
platonic dream4 ,we believe      that   
,he did speak as never man spake1 so    
that those who heard ,him      were     
convinced that ,he was more than man4   
,we believe1 in short1      that the    
object of our worship was a historical  
figure4  ,i will give a few extracts    
from ,speculum ,animae1 a most valuable 
and most beautiful little book1 which   
show the true bent of his mind3         
,on all questions about religion there  
is the most distressing      divergency4
 ,but the saints do not contradict each 
other4  ,prayer 4 4 4 is the elevation  
of the mind and heart to ,god4 ,it is in
 prayer1 using the word in this extended
 sense1 that we come into immediate     
contact with the things that cannot be  
shaken4  ,are we to set against such    

plain testimony the pessimistic         
agnosticism of a voluptuary like ,omar  
,khayyam8       ,there was the ,door to 
which ,i found no ,key4 4 4 4  ,may it  
not be that the door has no key because 
it has no lock8  ,the suggestion that in
 prayer we only hear the echo of our own
 voices is ridiculous to anyone who has 
prayed4  ,the life of ,christ was       
throughout a life of prayer4 ,not only  
did ,he love to spend many hours in     
lonely communing with ,his ,father1 on  
the mountain-tops1 which ,he was perhaps
 the first to love1 and to choose for   
this purpose1 but ,his whole life was   
spent in habitual realisation of ,god's 
presence4  ,religion is caught rather   
than taught2 it is the religious        
teacher1 not the religious lesson1 that 
helps the pupil to believe4  ,what we   
love1 that we see2 and what we see1 that
 we are4  ,we need above all things to  
simplify our religion and our inner life
 generally4  ,we want to separate the   
essential from the nonessential1 to     

concentrate our faith upon the pure     
,god-consciousness1 the eternal world   
which to ,christ was so much nearer and 
more real than the world of external    
objects4  ,christ meant us to be happy1 
happier than any other people4  ,it is  
because he is so profoundly convinced of
 the mystical truth of ,christianity1   
because he has so honestly tried and so 
richly experienced that truth as a      
philosophy of life1 it is because of    
this1 and not out of a lack of sympathy 
with the sad and sorrowful1 that he     
opposes himself to the obscurantism of  
the ,anglo-,catholic and the emotional  
economics of the political reformer4    
,the ,christian cure1 he says1 is the   
only real cure4 ,the socialist is       
talking in terms of the old currency1   
the currency of the world's quantitative
 standards2 but ,christ introduced a new
 currency1 which demonetises the old4   
,spiritual goods are unlimited in       
amount2 they are increased by being     
shared2 and we rob nobody by taking     

them4 ,he believes with ,creighton that 
,socialism will only be possible when we
 are all perfect1 and then it will not  
be needed4  ,in the meantime1           
,christianity increases the wealth of   
the world by creating new values4 ,only 
in the currency of ,christ can true     
socialism hope to pay its way4  ,we miss
 the heart and centre of his teaching if
 we forget for a moment that it is his  
conviction of the sufficiency of        
,christ's revelation which makes him so 
deadly a critic both of the ritualist   
and the socialist--two terms which on   
the former side at least tend to become 
synonymous4 ,he would have no           
distraction from the mystery of ,christ1
 no compromise of any kind in the       
world's loyalty to its one ,physician4  
,simplify your dogmas2 simplify your    
theologies4 ,christ is your one         
essential4  ,i have spoken to him about 
psychical research and the modern       
interest in spiritualism4 ,i don't think
 much of that6 he replied4 ,then1 in a  

lower key1 ,it was not through animism  
and necromancy that the ,jews came to   
believe in immortality4 ,how did they   
reach that belief8 ,by thinking things  
out1 and asking the question1 ,shall not
 the ,judge of all the earth do right8  
,the answer is characteristic4 ,dr4     
,inge has thought things out2 everything
 in his faith has been thought out2 and 
the basis of all his thinking is        
acceptance of absolute values--absolute 
truth1 absolute goodness1 absolute      
beauty4 ,no breath from the class-rooms 
agitated by ,einstein can shake his     
faith in these absolutes4 ,his ,spirit  
of the ,universe is absolute truth1     
absolute goodness1 absolute beauty4 ,he 
is a ,neoplatonist1 but something more4 
,he ascends into communion with this    
,universal ,spirit whispering the ,name 
of ,christ1 and by the power of ,christ 
in his soul addresses the ,absolute as  
,abba1 ,father4  ,no man is freer from  
bigotry or intolerance1 though not many 
can hate falsity and lies more          

earnestly4 ,the ,church of ,england1 he 
tells me1 should be a national church1 a
 church expressing the highest reach of 
,english temperament1 with room for all 
shades of thought4 ,he quotes           
,dollinger1 ,no church is so national1  
so deeply rooted in popular affection1  
so bound up with the institutions and   
manners of the country1 or so powerful  
in its influences on national character4
 ,but this was written in #ahgb4 ,dr4   
,inge says now1 ,the ,english ,church   
represents1 on the religious side1 the  
convictions1 tastes1 and prejudices of  
the ,english gentleman1 that truly      
national ideal of character4 4 4 4 ,a   
love of order1 seemliness1 and good     
taste has led the ,anglican ,church     
along a middle path between what a      
seventeenth century divine called 'the  
meretricious gaudiness of the ,church of
 ,rome and the squalid slutterny of     
fanatic conventicles4'  ,uniformity1 he 
tells me1 is not to be desired4 ,one of 
our greatest mistakes was letting the   

,wesleyan ,methodists go2 they should   
have been accommodated within the fold4 
,another fatal mistake was made by the  
,lambeth ,conference1 in its insistence 
on re-ordination4 ,imagine the ,church  
of ,england1 with two ,scotch           
,archbishops at its head1 thinking that 
the ,presbyterians would consent to so  
humiliating a condition6 ,an interchange
 of pulpits is desirable2 it might      
increase our intelligence1 or at least  
it should widen our sympathy4 ,he holds 
a high opinion of the ,quakers4         
,practical mystics3 perhaps they are the
 best ,christians1 ,i mean the best of  
them4  ,modernism1 he defines1 at its   
simplest1 as personal experience1 in    
contradistinction from authority4 ,the  
modernist is one whose knowledge of     
,christ is so personal and direct that  
it does not depend on miracle or any    
accident of ,his earthly life4 ,rome1 he
 thinks1 is a falling power1 but she may
 get back some of her strength in any   
great industrial calamity--a revolution1

 for example4 ,someone once asked him   
which he would choose1 a ,black tyranny1
 or a ,red8 ,he replied ,on the whole1  
,i think a ,black4 ,the friend corrected
 him4 ,you are wrong4 ,men would soon   
emerge from the ruins of a ,red tyranny1
 but ,rome never lets go her power till 
it is torn from her4  ,his contempt for 
the idea of reunion with ,rome in her   
present condition is unmeasured4 ,the   
notion almost reminds us of the cruel   
jest of ,mezentius1 who bound the living
 bodies of his enemies to corpses4 ,it  
is the contempt both of a great scholar 
and a great ,englishman for ignorance   
and a somewhat ludicrous pretension4    
,the caput orbis has become provincial1 
and her authority is spurned even within
 her own borders4 ,england could not    
kneel at this ,italian footstool without
 ceasing to be ,england#f4  ,footnote   
#f3 ,there are1 after all1 few emotions 
of which one has less reason to be      
ashamed than the little lump in the     
throat which the ,englishman feels when 

he first catches sight of the white     
cliffs of ,dover4--,outspoken essays1 p4
 #eh4  ,a profound reconstruction is    
demanded1 he says1 and for those who    
have eyes to see has been already for   
some time in progress4 ,the new type of 
,christianity will be more ,christian   
than the old1 because it will be more   
moral4 ,a number of unworthy beliefs    
about ,god are being tacitly dropped1   
and they are so treated because they are
 unworthy of ,him4  ,he sees the future 
of ,christianity as a deep moral and    
spiritual power in the hearts and minds 
of men who have at length learned the   
value of the new currency1 and have     
exchanged profession for experience4    
,but this ,erasmus1 far more learned    
than the other1 and with a courage which
 far exceeds the other's1 and with an   
impatience of nature1 an irritability of
 mind1 which the other seldom knew1 is  
nevertheless patient of change4 ,he does
 not lead as decisively as he might4 ,he
 does not strike as often as he should  

at the head of error4 ,perhaps he is    
still thinking4 ,perhaps he has not yet 
made up his mind whether ,art is a      
,crime or only an ,absurdity1 whether   
,clergymen ought to be multiplied or    
exterminated1 whether in general we are 
getting on1 and if so where we are going
 to4  ,i feel myself that his mind is   
made up1 though he is still thinking and
 still seeking2 and ,i attribute his    
indecision as a leader1 his want of     
weight in the affairs of mankind1 to one
 fatal deficiency in his mysticism4 ,it 
is1 ,i presume to suggest1 a mysticism  
which is separated by no gulf from      
egoism--egoism of the highest order and 
the most spiritual character1 but still 
egoism4 ,in his quest of ,god he is not 
conscious of others4 ,he thinks of      
mankind with interest1 not with         
affection4 ,humanity is a spectacle1 not
 a brotherhood4  ,when one speaks to him
 of the confusion and anarchy in the    
religious world1 and suggests how hard  
it is for the average man to know which 

way he should follow1 he replies3 ,yes1 
,i'm afraid it's a bad time for the     
ordinary man4 ,but then he has laid it  
down1 ,there is not the slightest       
probability that the largest crowd will 
ever be gathered in front of the narrow 
gate4 ,still one could wish that he felt
 in his heart something of the          
compassion of his ,master for those who 
have taken the road of destruction4  ,he
 attaches great importance to preaching4
 ,he does not at all agree with the     
sneer at preaching-shops4 ,that is a    
convenient sneer for the younger        
generation of ritualists who have       
nothing to say and who perform          
ceremonies they don't understand2 not   
much meaning there for the modern man4  
,no2 preaching is a most important      
office1 although no other form of       
professional work is done anything like 
so badly4 ,but a preacher who has       
something to say will always attract    
intelligent people4  ,one does not      
discuss with him the kind of preaching  

necessary to convert unintelligent      
people4 ,that would be to take this     
great philosopher out of his depth4  ,as
 for the ,oxford ,movement1 he regards  
it as a changeling4 ,his grandfather1 an
 archdeacon1 was a ,tractarian1 a friend
 of ,pusey1 a scholar acquainted with   
all the doctors2 but he was not a       
ritualist2 he did not even adopt the    
eastward position4 ,the modern ritualist
 is hardly to be considered the lineal  
descendant of these great scholars4     
,romanticism1 which dotes on ruins1     
shrinks from real restoration 4 4 4 a   
,latin ,church in ,england which disowns
 the ,pope is an absurdity4  ,no1 the   
future belongs to clear thinking and    
rigorous honesty of the intellect4  ,dr4
 ,inge began life as the fag of ,bishop 
,ryle at ,eton--the one now occupying   
the ,deanery of ,st4 ,paul's2 the other 
the ,deanery of ,westminster1 both      
scholars and the friendship still       
remaining4 ,he was a shy and timorous   
boy4 ,no one anticipated the amazingly  

brilliant career which followed at      
,cambridge1 and even then few suspected 
him of original genius until he became  
,lady ,margaret ,professor of ,divinity 
in #aijg4 ,his attempts to be a         
schoolmaster were unsuccessful4 ,he was 
not good at maintaining discipline1 and 
deafness somewhat intensified a nervous 
irritability which at times puts an     
enormous strain on his patience4 ,nor   
did he make any notable impression as   
,vicar of ,all ,saints'1 ,ennismore     
,gardens1 a parochial experience which  
lasted two years4 ,slowly he made his   
way as author and lecturer1 and it was  
not until he came to ,st4 ,paul's that  
the world realised the greatness of his 
mind and the richness of his genius4    
,as a correction to the popular delusion
 concerning his temperament and outlook1
 although1 ,i must confess1 there is    
something about him suggestive of a     
,london ,particular1 ,i will quote in   
conclusion a few of the many witty      
epigrams which are scattered throughout 

his pages1 showing that he has a sense  
of humour which is not always           
discernible in those who would laugh him
 away as an unprofitable depressionist4 
,the clerical profession was a necessity
 when most people could      neither    
read nor write4       ,seminaries for   
the early training of future clergymen  
may indeed be      established2 but beds
 of exotics cannot be raised by keeping 
the      gardeners in greenhouses while 
the young plants are in the open        
air4       ,it is becoming impossible   
for those who mix at all with their     
fellow-men to believe that the grace of 
,god is distributed                     
denominationally4       ,like other     
idealisms1 patriotism varies from a     
noble devotion to a      moral lunacy4  
,our clergy are positively tumbling over
 each other in their      eagerness to  
be appointed court-chaplain to ,king    
,demos4       ,a generation which       
travels sixty miles an hour must be five
 times      as civilised as one which   

only travels twelve4       ,it is not   
certain that there has been much change 
in our      intellectual and moral      
adornments since pithecanthropus dropped
 the      first half of his name4       
,i cannot help hoping that the human    
race1 having taken in      succession   
every path except the right one1 may pay
 more attention      to the narrow way  
that leadeth unto life4       ,it is    
useless for the sheep to pass           
resolutions in favour of                
vegetarianism1 while the wolf remains of
 a different opinion4       ,after the  
second century1 the apologists for the  
priesthood are in      smooth waters4   
,not everyone can warm both hands before
 the fire of life without      scorching
 himself in the process4       ,it is   
quite as easy to hypnotise oneself into 
imbecility by      repeating in solemn  
tones1 ,progress1 ,democracy1 ,corporate
 ,unity1      as by the blessed word    
,mesopotamia1 or1 like the ,indians1 by 
repeating the mystic word ,om five      

hundred times in succession4       ,i   
have lived long enough to hear the      
,zeitgeist invoked to bless      very   
different theories4       4 4 4 as if it
 were a kind of impiety not to float    
with the stream1 a      feat which any  
dead dog can accomplish4 4 4 4       ,an
 appendix is as superfluous at the end  
of the human caecum as at      the end  
of a volume of light literature4        
,the traditions of the first six        
centuries are the traditions of      the
 rattle and the feeding bottle4  ,in    
speaking to me last year of the crowded 
waiting-lists of the ,public ,schools1  
he said3 ,it is no longer enough to put 
down the name of one's son on the day he
 is born1 one must write well ahead of  
that3 ',i am expecting to have a son    
next year1 or the year after1 and shall 
be obliged if--' ,the congestion is very
 great1 in spite of the increasing fees 
and the supertax4  ,much of his         
journalism1 by the way1 has the         
education of his children for its excuse

 and its consecration--children to whom 
the ,dean of ,st4 ,paul's reveals in    
their nursery a side of his character   
wholly and beautifully different from   
the popular legend4  ,there is no       
greater mind in the ,church of ,england1
 no greater mind1 ,i am disposed to     
think1 in the ,english nation4 ,his     
intellect has the range of an ,acton1   
his forthrightness is the match of ,dr4 
,johnson's1 and his wit1 less biting    
though little less courageous than      
,voltaire's1 has the illuminating       
quality1 if not the divine playfulness1 
of the wit of ,socrates4  ,but he lacks 
that profound sympathy with the human   
race which gives to moral decisiveness  
the creative energy of the great        
fighter4 ,a lesser man than ,erasmus    
left a greater mark on the sixteenth    
century4  ,the righteous saying of      
,bacon obstinately presents itself to   
our mind and seems to tarry for an      
explanation3 ,the nobler a soul is1 the 
more objects of compassion it hath4     

,,father ,,knox       ,,knox1 ,,rev4    
,,ronald ,,arbuthnott2 b4 #agth ,feb41  
#bhhh2 #dth s4 of the ,rt4      ,rev4   
,e4,a4 ,knox1 ,bishop of ,manchester4   
,ethuc43 ,eton 7#ast      ,scholarship72
 ,balliol ,college1 ,oxford 7#ast       
,scholarship74 ,hertford                
,scholarship1 #aijg2 ,second in ,honour 
,moderations1 #aijh2 ,ireland and       
,craven ,scholarship1 #aijh2 #ast in    
,litt4 ,hum41 #aiaj2 ,fellow and        
,lecturer at ,trinity ,college1 ,oxford1
 #aiaj2 ,chaplain1 #aiab2               
,resigned1 #aiag2 received into the     
,church of ,rome1 ,september1 #aiag4    
,illustration3 ,,father ,,knox          
,,chapter ,,iii  ,,father ,,knox   ,our 
new curate preached1 a pretty hopefull  
young man1 yet somewhat raw1 newly come 
from college1 full of ,latine sentences1
 which in time will weare off4--,,john  
,,evelyn4   ,there is a story that when 
,father ,knox was an undergraduate at   
,oxford he sat down one day to choose   
whether he would be an agnostic or a    

,roman ,catholic4 ,but is there not some
 doubt in the matter8 inquired a friend 
of mine1 to whom ,i repeated the tale4  
,did he really sit down and choose1 or  
did he only toss up8  ,the story1 of    
course1 is untrue4 ,it has its origin in
 the delightful wit and brilliant       
playfulness of the young priest4        
,everybody loves him1 and nobody takes  
him seriously4  ,few men of his         
intellectual stature have been received 
with so little trumpet-blowing into the 
,roman ,catholic ,church1 and none at   
all1 ,i think1 has so imperceptibly     
retired from the ,church of ,england4   
,for all the interest it excited1 the   
secession of this extremely brilliant   
person might have been the secession of 
a sacristan or a pew-opener4 ,he did not
 so much go over to ,rome as sidle away 
from the ,church of ,england4  ,but this
 secession is well worth the attention  
of religious students4 ,it is an act of 
personality which helps one to          
understand the theological chaos of the 

present-time1 and a deed of temperament 
which illumines some of the more obscure
 movements of religious psychology4     
,ronnie ,knox1 as everybody calls him1  
the eyes lighting up at the first       
mention of his name1 has gone over to   
the ,roman ,catholic ,church1 not by any
 means with a smile of cynicism on his  
face1 but rather with the sweat of a    
struggle still clinging to his soul4    
,he is the son of an ,anglican bishop1 a
 good man whose strong evangelical      
convictions led him1 among many other   
similar activities1 to hold missionary  
services on the sands of ,blackpool4    
,his mother died in his infancy1 and he 
was brought up largely with uncles and  
aunts1 but his own home1 of which he    
speaks always with reverence and        
affection1 was a kind and vigorous      
establishment1 a home well calculated to
 develop his scholarly wit and his love 
of mischievous fun4 ,nothing in his     
surroundings made for gloom or for a    
,calvinism of the soul4 ,the swiftness  

of his intellectual development might   
have made him sceptical of theology in  
general1 but no influence in his home   
was likely in any way to make him       
sceptical of his father's theology in   
particular4  ,he went to ,eton1 and the 
religion in which he had been brought up
 stood the moral test of the most       
critical years in boyhood4 ,it never    
failed him1 and he never questioned it4 
,but when that trial was over1 and after
 an illness which shook up his body and 
mind1 he came under the influence of a  
matron who held with no little force of 
character the views of the              
,anglo-,catholic party4 ,these views    
stole gradually into the mind of the    
rather effeminate boy1 and although they
 did not make him question the theology 
of his father for some years1 he soon   
found himself thinking of the religious 
opinions of his uncles and aunts with a 
certain measure of superiority4  ,i     
began to feel1 he told me1 that ,i was  
living in a rather provincial world--the

 world described by ,wells and ,arnold  
,bennett4  ,this restlessness1 this     
desire to escape into a greater and more
 beautiful world1 pursued him to        
,oxford1 and1 for the moment1 he found  
that greater and beautiful world in the 
life of ,balliol4 ,bishop ,ryle1 a good 
judge1 has spoken to me of the young    
man's extraordinary facility at turning 
,english poetry at sight into the most  
melodious ,greek and ,latin1 and of the 
remarkable range of his scholarship4 ,he
 himself has told us of his love of port
 and bananas1 his joy in early morning  
celebrations in the chapel of ,pusey    
,house1 his tea-parties1 his delight in 
debates at the ,union1 of which he      
became ,president1 and of his many      
friendships with undergraduates of a    
witty and flippant turn of mind4 ,like  
many effeminate natures1 he was glad of 
opportunities to prove himself a good   
fellow4 ,in spite of no heel-taps when  
the port went round1 he won the         
,hertford in #aijg1 the ,ireland and    

,craven in #aijh1 and in #aiaj took a   
first in ,greats4  ,he became a ,fellow 
and ,lecturer of ,trinity ,college for  
two years1 then its ,chaplain for five  
years1 and1 after leading a life of     
extravagant and fighting ritualism as an
 ,anglican priest1 at the end of that   
period1 #aiag1 he retired from the      
,church of ,england and was received    
into the ,church of ,rome4  ,the        
consolations of ,anglo-,catholicism1    
then1 were insufficient for the         
spiritual needs of this scion of the    
,low ,church4  ,what were those needs8  
,were they1 indeed1 spiritual needs1 as 
he suggests by the title of his book ,a 
,spiritual ,a,eneid1 or aesthetic needs1
 the needs of a temperament8--a         
temperament which used wit and raillery 
chiefly as a shield for its shrinking   
and quivering emotions1 emotions which  
we must take note of if we are to       
understand his secession4  ,he was at   
,eton when a fire occurred in one of the
 houses1 two boys perishing in the      

flames4 ,he tells us that this tragedy  
made an impression on him1 for it fell  
at a time in his life when one begins to
 fear death4 ,fear is a word which meets
 us even in the sprightly pages of ,a   
,spiritual ,a,eneid1 a volume perhaps   
more fitly to be termed ,an ,a,esthetic 
,ramp4  ,he loved to dash out of college
 through the chill mists of a ,november 
morning to worship with the few         
righteous men of the ,university in the 
,chapel of ,pusey ,house1 which conveyed
 a feeling1 to me most gratifying1 of   
catacombs1 oubliettes1 ,jesuitry1 and   
all the atmosphere of mystery that had  
long fascinated me4  ,he tells us how   
his nature craved for human sympathy and
 support1 and speaks of the ,god whom he
 worshipped1 loved1 and feared4 ,he     
prayed for a sick friend with both hands
 held above the level of my head for a  
quarter of an hour or more4 ,he was a   
,universalist recoiling from the idea of
 hell4 ,he believed in omens1 though he 
did not always take them1 and was       

thoroughly superstitious4 ,the name of  
,rome has always1 for me1 stood out from
 any printed page merely because its    
initial is that of my own name4 ,at the 
time of my ordination ,i took a private 
vow1 which ,i always kept1 never to     
preach without making some reference to 
,our ,lady1 by way of satisfaction for  
the neglect of other preachers4 ,he was 
a youth when he took the vow of         
celibacy4 ,he had the desire1 he tells  
us1 to make himself thoroughly          
uncomfortable--as ,byron would say1 to  
merit ,heaven by making earth a ,hell4  
,his superstitions were often ludicrous 
even to himself4 ,on one occasion in    
boyhood1 he was trying to get a fire to 
burn3 ,let this be an omen1 he said4 ,if
 ,i can get this fire to burn1 the      
,oxford ,movement was justified4  ,a    
visit to ,belgium hastened the          
inevitable decision of such a           
temperament3       4 4 4 the            
extraordinary devotion of the people    
wherever we went1      particularly at  

,bruges1 struck home with a sense of    
immeasurable      contrast to the       
churches of one's own country4 4 4 4    
,he did not apparently feel the moral   
contrast between ,belgian and ,english  
character4       4 4 4 ,the tourist1 ,i 
know1 thinks of it as ,bruges la ,morte1
 but      then the tourist does not get 
up for early ,masses2 he would find     
life then 4 4 4 he can at least go on   
,friday morning to the chapel of        
the ,saint ,sang and witness the        
continuous stream of people that        
flows by1 hour after hour1 to salute the
 relic and to make their      devotions 
in its presence2 he would find it hard  
to keep himself      from saying1 like  
,browning at ,high ,mass1 ,this is too  
good not to      be true4  ,might he not
 perhaps say with another great man1    
,what must ,god be if ,he is pleased by 
things which simply displease ,his      
educated creatures8 ,in a country where 
the churches were once far more crowded 
than in ,belgium1 ,i was told by a      

discerning man1 ,prince ,alexis         
,obolensky1 a former ,procurator of the 
,holy ,synod1 that all such devotion is 
simply superstition4 ,he said he would  
gladly give me all ,russia's            
spirituality if ,i could give him a     
tenth of ,england's moral earnestness4  
,and he told me this story3       ,a man
 set out one winter's night to murder an
 old woman in her      cottage4 ,as he  
tramped through the snow with the       
hatchet under his      blouse1 it       
suddenly occurred to him that it was a  
,saint's ,day4      ,instantly he       
dropped on his knees in the snow1       
crossed himself      violently with     
trembling hands1 and in a guilty voice  
implored ,god      to forgive him for   
his evil intention4 ,then he rose up1   
refreshed      and forgiven1 postponing 
the murder till the next night4         
,undoubtedly1 ,i fear1 the devotion of  
priest-ridden countries1 which evokes so
 spectacular an effect on the stranger  
of unbalanced judgment1 is largely a    

matter of superstition2 how many prayers
 are inspired by a lottery1 how many    
candles lighted by fear of a ghost8     
,but ,father ,knox1 whose aesthetic     
nature had early responded with a vital 
impulse to ,gothic architecture and the 
pomp and mystery of priestly ceremonial1
 felt in ,bruges that the spirit of the 
,chapel of the ,sacred ,blood must be   
introduced into the ,church of ,england 
to save our country from lapsing into   
heathenism4 ,what1 ,i wonder1 is his    
definition of that term1 heathenism8    
,bruges had a decisive effect1 not only 
on his aesthetic impulses1 but on his   
moral sense4 ,his conduct as an         
,anglican priest was frankly that of a  
,roman propagandist4 ,i do not know that
 any words more damning to the ,romish  
spirit have ever been written than those
 in which this most charming and        
brilliant young man tells the story of  
his treachery to the ,anglican ,church4 
,of celebrating the ,communion service  
he says3       4 4 4 my own principle   

was1 whenever ,i spoke aloud1 to use the
      language of the ,prayer ,book1    
when ,i spoke secreto1 to use the       
words ordered by the ,latin missal4  ,he
 said of his propaganda work at this    
time3       ,the ,roman ,catholics 4 4 4
 have to serenade the ,british public   
from      the drive2 we ,anglican       
,catholics have the entree to the       
drawing-room4  ,his enthusiasm for the  
,roman service was such that in one     
place       ,i had to travel for three  
quarters of an hour to find a church    
where my manner of celebrating1 then    
perhaps more reminiscent of      the    
missal than of the ,prayer ,book1 was   
tolerated even in a ,mass of            
,devotion4       ,about this time ,i    
celebrated at a community chapel4 ,one  
of the      brethren was heard to       
declare afterwards that if he had known 
what      ,i was going to do he would   
have got up and stopped me4  ,at the    
conclusion of one of his celebrations   
abroad1 an ,englishman in the           

congregation exclaimed1 ,thank ,god     
that's over4 ,after his first sermon in 
,trinity ,chapel1 an undergraduate      
7afterwards not only my friend but my   
penitent7 was heard to declare          
excitedly3  ,such fun6 ,the new         
,fellow's been preaching heresy--all    
about ,transubstantiation4  ,such fun6  
,this note runs through the whole of ,a 
,spiritual ,a,eneid4 ,a thoroughly      
undergraduate spirit inspires every page
 save the last4 ,religion is treated as 
a lark4 ,it is full of opportunities for
 plotting and ragging and pulling the   
episcopal leg4 ,one is never conscious1 
not for a single moment1 that the author
 is writing about ,jesus of ,nazareth1  
,gethsemane1 and ,calvary4 ,about a     
,church1 yes2 about ceremonial1 about   
mysterious rites1 about prayers to the  
,virgin ,mary1 about authority1 and     
about bishops2 yes1 indeed2 but about   
,christ's transvaluation of values1     
about ,his secret1 about ,his religion  
of the pure heart and the childlike     

spirit1 not one single glimpse4  ,now   
let us examine his intellectual         
position4  ,in the preface to ,some     
,loose ,stones#g1 written before he went
 over to ,rome1 he explains his position
 to the modernist3       4 4 4 there are
 limits defined by authority1 within    
which theorising      is unnecessary and
 speculation forbidden4       ,but ,i   
should like here to enter a protest     
against the assumption      4 4 4 that  
the obscurantist1 having fenced himself 
in behind his wall      of prejudices1  
enjoys an uninterrupted and ignoble     
peace4       ,the soldier who has       
betaken himself to a fortress is thereby
 in a      more secure position than the
 soldier who elects to fight in the     
open plain4 ,he has ramparts to defend  
him4 ,but he has1 on the other          
hand1 ramparts to defend4 4 4 4 ,for him
 there is no retreat4       ,the whole  
position stands or falls by the weakest 
parts in the      defences2 give up one 
article of the ,nicene ,creed1 and the  

whole      situation is lost2 you go    
under1 and the flag you loved is        
forfeit4  ,footnote #g3 ,an answer to   
the volume called ,foundations4  ,and   
yet3       ,i can feel every argument   
against the authenticity of the         
,gospels1      because ,i know that if  
,i approached them myself without faith 
,i      should as likely as not brush   
them aside impatiently as one of a      
whole set of fables4  ,they would be    
fables to him unless he approached them 
with faith4 ,and what is faith8 ,he     
tells us in the same preface3 ,faith is 
to me1 not an intellectual process1 but 
a divine gift1 a special privilege4  ,it
 is fair to say that he would now modify
 this definition1 for he has told me    
that it is a heresy to exclude from     
faith the operations of the intellect4  
,but the words were written when he was 
fighting the battle of the soul1 written
 almost on the same page as that which  
bears these words3       ,you have not  
done with doubt1 because you have thrown

 yourself into      the fortress2 you   
are left to keep doubt continually at   
bay1 with      the cheerful assurance   
that if you fail1 the whole of your     
religious life has been a ghastly       
mistake 4 4 4  for this reason1 they    
have1 ,i think1 a notable significance4 
,is it not probable that ,father ,knox  
has thrown himself into a fortress1 not 
out of any burning desire to defend it1 
but solely to escape from the enemy of  
his own soul8 ,is it not probable that  
he was driven from the field by ,fear   
rather than summoned to the battlements 
by ,love8  ,i find this inference       
justified in numerous ways1 and ,i do   
not think on the whole that ,father     
,knox himself would deny it4 ,but       
chiefly ,i find it justified by the form
 and substance of his utterances since  
he became a ,roman ,catholic--fighting  
and most challenging utterances which   
for me at any rate are belied1 and      
tragically belied1 by a look in his eyes
 which is unmistakably1 ,i am forced to 

think1 the look of one who is still     
wrestling with doubt1 one1 ,i would     
venture to hazard1 who may even         
occasionally be haunted by the dreadful 
fear that his fortress is his prison4   
,on the day that ,newman entered that   
fortress the triumphant cry of ,st4     
,augustine rang in his ears1 ,securus   
judicat orbis terrarum2 but later came  
the moan ,quis mihi tribuat1 and later  
still the stolen journey to ,littlemore 
and that paroxysm of tears as he leaned 
over the lych-gate looking at the       
church4  ,not long ago ,i went one      
,sunday evening to ,westminster         
,cathedral4 ,it was winter1 and the     
streets of tall and sullen houses in    
that gloomy neighbourhood were darkening
 with fog4 ,this fog crept slowly into  
the cathedral4 ,the surpliced boy who   
presented an alms-dish just within the  
doors was stamping his feet and         
snuffling with cold4 ,the leaves of     
tracts and pamphlets on the table blew  
up and chattered in the wind every time 

the door was thrust open4  ,the huge    
building was only half filled1 perhaps  
hardly that4 ,through the fog it was not
 easy to see the glittering altar1 and  
when three priests appeared before it   
their vestments so melted into the cloth
 that they were visible only when they  
bowed to the monstrance4 ,the altar bell
 rang snappishly through this cold fog  
like the dinner bell of a boarding      
house1 and in that yellow mist1 which   
deepened with every minute1 the white   
flames of the candles lost nearly all   
their starlike brightness4 ,there seemed
 to be depression and resentment in the 
deep voices of the choir rumbling and   
rolling behind the screen2 there seemed 
to be haste1 a desire to get it over1 in
 the nasal voice of the priest praying  
almost squeakily at the altar4  ,people 
were continually entering the cathedral1
 many of them having the appearance of  
foreigners1 many of them young men who  
looked like waiters3 one was struck by  
their reverence1 and also by their look 

of intellectual apathy4  ,father ,knox  
appeared in the pulpit1 which is        
stationed far down the nave1 having come
 from his work of teaching at ,ware to  
preach to the faithful at ,westminster4 
,he looked very young1 and rather       
apprehensive1 a slight boyish figure1   
swaying uneasily1 the large luminous    
eyes1 of an extraordinary intensity1    
almost glazed with light1 the full lips1
 so obviously meant for laughter1 parted
 with a nervous uncertainty1 a wave of  
thick brown hair falling across the     
narrow forehead with a look of          
tiredness1 the long slender hands never 
still for a moment4  ,i will endeavour  
to summarise his remarkable sermon1     
which was delivered through the fog in a
 soft and throaty voice1 the body of the
 preacher swaying monotonously backward 
and forward1 the congregation sitting   
back in its little chairs and coughing  
inconveniently from beginning to end4   
,it was the strangest sermon ,i have    
listened to for many years1 and all the 

stranger for its unimpassioned delivery4
 ,he spoke of the ,fall of ,man as a    
certainty#h4 ,he spoke continually of an
 offended ,god4 ,between this offended  
,god and ,his creature ,man sin had dug 
an impassable chasm4 ,but ,christ had   
thrown a bridge1 from heaven's side of  
that chasm1 over the dreadful gulf4     
,this is why ,christ described ,himself 
as the ,way4 ,he is the ,way over that  
chasm1 and there is no other4  ,footnote
 #h3 ,it is a very singular and         
important fact that1 from the appearance
 in ,genesis of the account of the      
creation and sin and punishment of the  
first pair1 not the faintest explicit   
allusion to it is subsequently found    
anywhere in literature until about the  
time of ,christ4 4 4 4 ,jesus ,himself  
never once alludes to ,adam1 or to any  
part of the story of ,eden4--,,alger4   
,but ,christ also described ,himself as 
a door4 ,what is the definition of a    
door8 ,it is not enough to say that a   
door is a thing for letting people in   

and letting people out4 ,it is a thing  
for letting some people in1 and for     
shutting other people out4  ,to whom did
 ,christ entrust the key of this door8  
,to ,st4 ,peter--to the disciple who had
 denied ,him thrice4 ,what a marvellous 
choice6 ,would you have thought of doing
 that8 ,should ,i have thought of doing 
that8 ,would any theologian have        
invented such an idea8 ,but that is what
 ,christ did4  ,and ever since1 ,st4    
,peter and his successors have held the 
keys of ,heaven and ,hell1 with power to
 loose and bind4 ,what8 you exclaim1    
were the ,keys of ,heaven and ,hell     
entrusted to even those ,popes who lived
 sinful lives and brought disgrace on   
the name of religion8 ,yes4 ,to them and
 to no others in their day4 ,whatever   
their lives may have been at other      
moments1 when they were loosing and     
binding they were acting for ,st4       
,peter1 who stood behind them1 and      
behind ,st4 ,peter stood ,jesus ,christ4
  ,such in brief was the sermon         

delivered that ,sunday evening to the   
faithful in ,westminster ,cathedral by  
one of the wittiest men now living and  
one of the cleverest young men who ever 
came down from ,oxford with the         
assurance of a great career before them4
  ,how is it that he has come to such a 
pass8  ,i feel that he is in part       
whistling to keep up his courage1 but in
 chief forcing himself to utter an      
extreme of traditional belief in order  
to destroy the last vestige in his mind 
of a free intellectual existence4       
,auto-suggestion has a power of which we
 only begin to know the first movements4
  ,the man who has said that he would   
not choose as the battleground of the   
,christian religion either the          
credibility of ,judges or the edibility 
of ,jonah1 the man who is blest with an 
unusual sense of humour and intellectual
 subtlety of a rare order1 is here found
 preaching a theology which is fast     
being rejected by the students of       
,barcelona and is being questioned even 

by the peasants of ,ireland4 ,what does 
it mean8 ,is it possible to understand  
such a perversion of mind8  ,his        
intellectual position1 as he states it1 
is a simple one--for the present4  ,he  
asks us1 ,is ,truth something which we  
are ordered to keep1 or something which 
we are ordered to find8  ,is our        
business holding the fort8 ,or is it    
looking for the ,pole8  ,the            
traditionalist can say1 ,here is the    
,truth1 written down for you and me in  
black and white2 ,i mean to keep it1 and
 defend it from attack2 will you rally  
round it8 ,will you help me8  ,he shows 
you the modernist wandering in the      
wilderness of speculative theology      
looking for the ,truth which the        
traditionalist1 safe1 warm1 and secure  
of eternal life1 keeps whole and        
undefiled in his fortress4  ,it is like 
a fairy tale4  ,how simple it sounds6   
,but when ,father ,knox looks in the    
glass does he not see its staring       
fallacy8  ,did he keep the ,truth of his

 boyhood--the ,truth of his father's    
church8 ,did he not go outside the      
fortress of ,evangelicalism and seek for
 ,truth in the fortress of              
,anglo-,catholicism8 ,and here again1   
did he not break faith1 and once more   
seek ,truth outside its walls8 ,if      
,truth is not something to be found1 how
 is it that he is not still in the house
 of his fathers8  ,does he fail to see  
that this argument not merely explains  
but vindicates the rejection of ,christ 
by the ,jews8 ,they had their tradition1
 a tradition of immemorial sanctity1    
perhaps the noblest tradition of any    
people in the world4  ,does he not also 
see that it destroys the raison d'etre  
of the ,christian missionary1 and would 
reduce the whole world to a state of    
what ,nietzsche called ,chinaism and    
profound mediocrity8  ,every religion in
 history1 from the worship of ,osiris1  
,serapis1 and ,mithras to the loathsome 
rites practised in the darkness of      
,african forests1 has been handed down  

as unquestionable truth commanding the  
loyalty of its disciples4 ,what logic1  
what magic of holiness1 could destroy a 
false religion if tradition is          
sacrosanct and all innovation of the    
devil8  ,the intellectual duty of a     
,christian1 ,father ,knox lays it down1 
is to resist the natural tendencies of  
his reason1 and believe what he is told1
 just as he is expected to do what he is
 told1 not what comes natural to him4   
,such a proposition provokes a smile1   
but in the case of this man it provokes 
a feeling of grief4 ,i cannot bring     
myself to believe that he has yet found 
rest for his soul1 or that he can so    
easily strangle the free existence of   
his mind4 ,his present position fills me
 with pity1 his future with             
apprehension4  ,he is one of the        
modestest of men1 almost shrinking in   
his diffidence and nervous              
self-distrust1 an under-graduate who is 
mildly excited about an ingenious line  
of reasoning1 a wit who loves to play   

tricks with the subtlety of a curiously 
agile brain1 a casuist who sees quickly 
the chinks in the armour of an          
adversary4 ,but with all his boyishness1
 and charm1 and humility1 and engaging  
cleverness1 there is a light in his eyes
 too feverish for peace of mind4 ,i     
cannot prevent myself from thinking that
 his secession1 which was something of a
 comedy to his friends1 may prove       
something of a tragedy to him4  ,he     
seems to me one of the most pathetic    
examples ,i ever encountered of the ruin
 wrought by ,fear4 ,i think that the one
 motive of his life has been a constant 
terror of finding himself in the wrong4 
,the door1 which for ,dr4 ,inge has no  
key1 because it has no lock1 is to      
,ronald ,knox a door of terror which    
opens only to a single key--and a door  
which as surely shuts out from eternal  
life the soul that is wrong as the soul 
that is wicked4 ,he must have certainty4
 ,he dare not contemplate the prospect  
of awaking one day to find his religious

 life a ghastly mistake4  ,at the cross 
roads there was for him no ,good        
,shepherd1 only the dark shadow of an   
offended ,god4 ,he ran for safety1 for  
certainty4 ,has he found them8  ,it may 
be that the last of his doubts will     
leave him1 that the iron discipline of  
the ,roman ,church and the              
auto-suggestion of his own earnest      
passion for inward peace1 may deliver   
him from all fear1 all uneasiness1 and  
that one day1 forsaking the challenging 
sermon and the too violent assertion of 
the ,catholic faith1 he may find himself
 sitting down in great peace of mind and
 with a golden mellowness of spirit to  
write an ,apologia pro ,vita ,sua more  
genial and less shallow than ,a         
,spiritual ,a,eneid4  ,such a book from 
his pen would lack1 ,i think1 the fine  
sweetness of ,newman's great work1 but  
it might excel all other books of       
religious autobiography in charming wit 
and endearing good humour4 ,the ,church 
of ,rome has caught in him neither a    

,newman nor a ,manning4 ,it has caught  
either a ,sydney ,smith or a ,tartar4   
,he has too much humour to be a bigot1  
and too much humanity to be satisfied   
with a cell4 ,for the moment he seems to
 embrace ,original ,sin1 to fling his   
arms round the idea of an offended ,god1
 and to shout at the top of his voice   
that there is no violence to his reason 
and to his common sense which he cannot 
contemplate and most gladly accomplish1 
in the name of ,tradition2 but the      
pulses cool1 the white heat of          
enthusiasm evaporates1 fears take wing  
as we grow older1 and whispers from the 
outer world of advancing and conquering 
men find their way into the oldest      
blockhouse ever built against the       
movements of thought4  ,science1 says   
,dr4 ,inge1 has been the slowly         
advancing ,nemesis which has overtaken a
 barbarised and paganised ,christianity4
 ,she has come with a winnowing fan in  
her hand1 and she will not stop till she
 has thoroughly purged her floor4  ,i am

 sure ,ronald ,knox was never meant to  
shut his eyes and stop his ears against 
this movement of truth1 and ,i am almost
 sure that he will presently find it    
impossible not to look1 and not to      
listen4  ,and then 4 4 4 what then8     
,,dr4 ,l4,p4 ,,jacks  ,,jacks1          
,,lawrence ,,pearsall1 ,principal of    
,manchester ,college1 ,oxford1 since    
#aiae2 ,professor of ,philosophy1       
,manchester ,college1 ,oxford1 since    
#aijc2 ,editor of the ,hibbert ,journal 
since its foundation1 #aijb2 b4         
,nottingham1 #ahfj2 m4 #ahhi ,olive     
,cecilia1 d4 of late ,rev4 ,stopford    
,brooke4 ,educ43 ,university ,school1   
,nottingham2 ,university of ,london     
7,m4,a41 #ahhf72 ,manchester ,college2  
,goettingen2 ,harvard1 ,u4,s4,a42 ,hon4 
,m4,a41 ,oxford2 ,hon4 ,l4,l4,d41       
,glasgow2 ,hon4 ,d4,d4 ,harvard2 entered
 ,ministry as assistant to ,rev4        
,stopford ,brooke1 in ,bedford ,chapel1 
#ahhg2 subsequently at ,renshaw ,street 
,chapel1 ,liverpool1 and the ,church of 

the ,messiah1 ,birmingham4              
,illustration3 ,dr4 ,l4,p4 ,jacks       
,,chapter ,,iv  ,,dr4 ,l4,p4 ,,jacks    
,as an excellent amateur huntsman once  
said to me1 ,if you must cast1 lead the 
hounds into the belief that they are    
doing it themselves4--,,john ,,andrew   
,,doyle4  ,one of the great ladies of   
,oxford was telling me the other day    
that she remembers a time when friends  
of hers refused1 even with averted eyes 
and a bottle of smelling salts at the   
nose1 to go down the road where         
,mansfield ,college had presumed to     
raise its red walls of ,nonconformity4  
,to-day ,manchester ,college1 the seat  
of ,unitarianism1 stands on this same   
dissenting road1 and thither the ladies 
of ,oxford go up in great numbers to    
listen to the beautiful music which     
distinguishes the chapel service1 the   
chapel itself already beautiful enough  
with windows by ,burne-,jones4  ,on the 
altar-cloth of this chapel are          
embroidered the words1 ,,god ,,is       

,,love4 ,no tables of stone flank that  
gentle altar1 and no panelled creeds on 
the walls challenge the visitor to      
define his definitions4 ,the atmosphere 
of the place is worship4 ,the greatest  
of all ,christ's affirmations is        
reckoned enough4 ,god is love4 ,no need1
 then1 to add--,therefore with ,angels1 
and ,archangels1 and all the ,company of
 ,heaven 4 4 4  ,the ,principal of      
,manchester ,college is ,dr4 ,l4,p4     
,jacks1 the ,editor of ,the ,hibbert    
,journal1 the biographer of ,stopford   
,brooke and ,charles ,hargrove1 author  
of ,mad ,shepherds1 ,legends of         
,smokeover1 and other books which have  
won the affection of many readers and   
the praise of no few scholars4 ,he is a 
man of letters1 a man of nature1 and a  
mystic4  ,his face bears a strange      
resemblance to the unforgettable face of
 that great ,unitarian1 ,james          
,martineau1 whom ,morley calls the most 
brilliant ,english apologist of our day2
 it lacks the marvellous sweetness of   

,martineau's expression1 but has a      
greater strength2 it does not bear      
witness to so sure a triumph of         
serenity1 but shows the marks of a      
fiercer battle1 and the scars of deeper 
wounds4 ,it is the masculine of the     
other's feminine4  ,like ,martineau's   
the head with its crown of white hair is
 nobly sculptured1 and like ,martineau's
 the ivory coloured face is ploughed up 
and furrowed by mental strife2 but      
whereas ,martineau's is eminently the   
indoors face of a student1 this is the  
face of a man who has lived out of      
doors1 a mountaineer and a seafarer4    
,under the dense bone of the forehead   
which overhangs them like the eave of a 
roof1 the pale blue eyes look out at you
 with a deep inner radiance of the      
spirit1 but from the midst of a face    
which has been stricken and has winced4 
,something of the resolution1 the       
deliberateness1 the stern power1 and the
 enduring strength of his spirit shows  
itself1 ,i think1 in the short thickset 

body1 with its heavy shoulders1 its deep
 chest1 its broad firm upright neck1 and
 its slow movements1 the movements as it
 were of a peasant4 ,always there is    
about him the feeling of the fields1 the
 sense of nature's presence in his life1
 the atmosphere of distances4 ,nothing  
in his appearance suggests either the   
smear or the burnish of a town          
existence4  ,it is not without          
significance that he has gone farther   
afield from ,oxford ,city than any other
 of its academic citizens1 building for 
himself a home on a hill two miles and  
more from ,magdalen ,bridge1 with a     
garden about it kept largely wild1 and  
seats placed where the eye can travel   
farthest4  ,this man1 who is so         
unpushing and self-effacing1 makes a    
contribution to the ,christian religion 
which deserves1 ,i think1 the thoughtful
 attention of his contemporaries4 ,it   
can be set forth in a few words1 for his
 faith is fastened in the conviction    
that the universe is far simpler than   

science--for the moment--would allow us 
to think4  ,let me explain at the outset
 that ,unitarianism admits of a certain 
diversity of faith4 ,there are          
,unitarians who think and speak only of 
,god4 ,there are others who lay their   
insistence on the humanity of ,jesus1   
exalting ,him solely as the chief est of
 teachers4 ,there are others who choose 
to dwell on the uniqueness of ,jesus1   
who feel in ,him some precious but quite
 inexpressible1 certainly quite         
indefinable1 spell of divinity1 and who 
love to lose themselves in mystical     
meditations concerning ,his continual   
presence in the human spirit4 ,dr4      
,jacks1 ,i think1 is to be numbered     
among these last4 ,but1 like all other  
,unitarians1 he makes no credal demands 
on mankind1 save only the one           
affirmation of their common faith1 with 
its inevitable ergo3 ,god is ,love1 and 
therefore to be worshipped4  ,robert    
,hall said to a ,unitarian minister who 
always baptised in the ,name of the     

,father and of the ,son and of the ,holy
 ,ghost1 attaching a very sacred meaning
 to the words1 ,why1 sir1 as ,i         
understand you1 you must consider that  
you baptise in the name of an           
abstraction1 a man1 and a metaphor4     
,more simple was the interpretation of a
 ,japanese who1 after listening with a  
corrugated brow to the painful          
exposition of a recent ,duke of ,argyll 
concerning the ,trinity in ,unity1 and  
the ,unity in ,trinity1 suddenly        
exclaimed with radiant face1 ,ah1 yes1  
,i see1 a ,committee4  ,dr4 ,jacks      
leaves these perplexities alone4 ,for   
him1 ,god is the ,universal ,spirit1 the
 ,absolute ,reality immanent in all     
phenomena1 the ,love which reason finds 
in ,goodness and intuition discovers in 
,beauty1 the ,father of men1 the ,end   
and the very ,spirit of ,evolution4 ,and
 ,jesus1 so far as human thought can    
reach into the infinite1 is the         
,messenger of ,god1 the ,revealer both  
of ,god's ,personality and man's        

immortality1 the great ,teacher of      
liberty4 ,what else ,he may be we do not
 know1 but may discover in other phases 
of our ascent4 ,enough for the moment of
 duration which we can human life to    
know that ,he unlocks the door of our   
prison-house1 reveals to us the         
character of our ,father which is in    
,heaven1 and the nature of the universe 
in which we move and have our being4    
,if this should appear vague to the     
dogmatist who finds it impossible either
 to love ,god or to do the will of      
,christ without going into the          
arithmetic of ,athanasius1 and reciting 
an unintelligible creed1 and celebrating
 in ,christian forms the rites of those 
mystery religions which competed with   
each other for the superstition of the  
,greco-,roman world in the third        
century1 he will find no vagueness at   
all in ,dr4 ,jacks's interpretation of  
the teaching of ,jesus4 ,he may perhaps 
find in that interpretation a           
simplicity1 a clarity1 and a directness 

which are not wholly convenient to his  
idea of a ,god ,who repents1 is angry1  
and can be mollified4  ,whether ,jesus  
was born of a ,virgin or not1 whether   
,he raised dead bodies to life or not1  
whether ,he ,himself rose from the grave
 with ,his physical body or not1 certain
 is it1 and beyond all dispute of every 
conceivable kind1 that ,he taught men a 
way of life1 that ,he brought them a    
message1 that ,he ,himself regarded ,his
 message as good news4  ,how carelessly 
men may think in this matter is shown to
 us rather strikingly in a page of ,some
 ,loose ,stones1 a book to which        
reference has already been made4 ,after 
writing about dogma1 and endeavouring to
 show that the traditionalist is on     
firmer ground than the modernist1       
because he can say1 ,here is the ,truth1
 while the modernist can only say1 ,we  
will tell you what the truth is when we 
have found it1 suddenly1 with scarcely a
 draw of his breath1 ,father ,knox      
exclaims3       ,the real trouble is    

that they 7the modernists7 have got hold
 of the      wrong end of the stick1    
that they have radically misconceived   
the      whole nature of the ,christian 
message1 which is1 to be one for all    
minds1 for all places1 for all times4   
,note that word message4 ,what confusion
 of thought6  ,the message of ,christ is
 one thing2 paganised dogma concerning  
,christ is another4 ,the message of     
,christ does indeed remain for all      
minds1 for all places1 for all times1   
inexhaustible in its meaning1           
unalterable in its nature2 the dogmas of
 theology1 on the other hand1 demand    
,councils of the ,church for their      
definition1 and an infallible ,pope for 
their interpretation4 ,they change1 have
 changed even in the unchangeable       
,catholic ,church1 and will change with 
every advance of the positive sciences  
and with every ascent of philosophy     
towards reality2 but the message stands1
 plain to the understanding of a child1 
yet still rejected by the world4        

,christianity1 as ,dr4 ,jacks says1 has 
been more studied than practised4  ,how 
far quarrelling theologians and         
uncharitable ,churches are responsible  
for that rejection1 let the conscience  
of the traditionalist 7if he happen to  
know history7 decide4  ,as for the      
message1 here is a reading of it by a   
,unitarian--a reading1 ,i venture to    
say1 for all minds1 for all places1 for 
all times--a reading which stands clear 
of controversial theology1 and which1 in
 spite of its profundity1 is a message  
for the simple as well as for the       
learned4  ,christianity is man's        
passport from illusion into reality4 ,it
 reveals to him that he is not in the   
world to set the world right1 but to see
 it right4 ,he is not a criminal and    
earth is not a ,borstal ,institution4   
,nature is the handiwork of a ,father4  
,look deeply into that handiwork and it 
reveals a threefold tendency--the       
tendency towards goodness1 the tendency 
towards beauty1 the tendency towards    

truth4 ,ally yourself with these        
tendencies1 make yourself a growing and 
developing intelligence1 and you inhabit
 spiritual reality4  ,study the manner  
of ,jesus1 ,his attitude to the simplest
 and most domestic matters1 the love ,he
 manifested1 and the objects for which  
,he manifested that love4 ,these things 
have a deeper significance than our     
pensive theologies have dared to find in
 them4 4 4 4 ,they belong not to the    
fringe of ,christianity but to its      
essence4 ,christ loved the world4  ,his 
religion1 which has come to stand for   
repression founded on an almost angry   
distrust of human nature1 is in fact the
 most encouraging1 the most joyous1 the 
least repressive1 and the least         
forbidding of all the religions of the  
world4 ,it does not fear the world1 it  
masters it4 ,it does not seek to escape 
from life1 it develops a truer and more 
abundant life4 ,it places itself at the 
head of evolution4  ,there are points on
 its path where it enters the shadows   

and even descends into hell1 for it is a
 religion of redemption1 the religion of
 the shepherd seeking the lost sheep1   
but the end of it all is a resurrection 
and not a burial1 a festival and not a  
funeral1 an ascent into the heights and 
not a lingering in the depths4          
,nowhere else is the genius of the      
,christian ,religion so poignantly      
revealed than in the ,parable of the    
,prodigal ,son1 which begins in      the
 minor key and gradually rises to the   
major1 until it culminates      in a    
great merry-making1 to the surprise of  
the ,elder ,son1 who      thinks the    
majesty of the moral law will be        
compromised by the      music and       
dancing1 and has to be reminded that    
these joyous sounds      are the        
keynotes of the spiritual world4  ,dr4  
,jacks well says that we should be      
nearer the truth if1 instead of thinking
 how we can adapt this religion to the  
minds of the young1 we regarded it as   
originally a religion of the young which

 has lost some of its savour by being   
adapted to the minds of the old4  ,then 
he reminds us that it was in the form of
 a person that the radiance of          
,christianity made its first appearance 
and its first impression on the world4  
,a ,light came into the world4  ,the    
,jesus of history drew men to ,him by an
 inward beauty4 ,his serenity gave the  
sick and the suffering an almost riotous
 confidence that ,he could heal them4   
,his radiance attracted children to ,his
 side4 ,he was fond of choosing a child 
for the sublimest of teachings4 ,he made
 it clear that entrance into the        
,kingdom of ,heaven is easiest to those 
who are least deluded or enchained by   
appearances1 and hardest to those whose 
hearts lie in their possessions4 ,the   
,kingdom of ,heaven signifies freedom4  
,he was the great teacher of the poverty
 of riches1 and the wealth of           
nothingness4 ,he knew as no other had   
ever known1 and saw as no other had ever
 seen1 the symbolism of nature4 ,always 

,his vision pierced behind the          
appearance to the thing in itself4 ,he  
loved the reality that abides beyond the
 shadows4 ,he directed our spiritual    
vision to this reality1 telling us that 
the soul makes a natural response to a  
world built on the same heavenly pattern
 with itself and aglow with the same    
immortal fire4 ,he taught that joy is a 
thing of the spirit4 ,he made it plain  
that loss1 disillusion1 and defeat are  
the penalty of affections set on the    
outside of things4 ,the materialist is  
in prison4  ,he did not condemn the     
earth2 ,he taught that its true         
loveliness is to be discerned only by   
the spiritual eye4 ,for ,him the earth  
was a symbol1 and the whole realm of    
nature a parable4       ,i cannot but   
think that we are never further from the
 genius of the      ,christian religion 
than when we treat this luminous        
atmosphere as      though it were a     
foreign envelope1 of little account so  
long as the      substance it enshrines 

is retained intact4 ,without it1 the    
substance1 no matter how simple or how  
complex1 becomes a dry      formula1    
dead as the moon4       ,losing the     
radiance we lose at the same time the   
central light from      which the       
radiance springs1 and our religion1     
instead of      transforming the        
corruptible world into its incorruptible
      equivalents1 reverts to the type  
it was intended to supersede and        
becomes a mere safeguard to the moral   
law4  ,nothing can allay our present    
discords and the long confusions of the 
world1 short of those radiant           
conceptions of ,god1 of man1 of the     
universe1 which are the life and essence
 of ,christianity4  ,liberty1 says      
,edouard ,le ,roy1 is rare2 many live   
and die and have never known it4 ,and   
,bergson says1 ,we are free when our    
acts proceed from our entire            
personality1 when they express it1 when 
they exhibit that indefinable           
resemblance to it which we find         

occasionally between the artist and his 
work4  ,this1 ,i think1 is what ,dr4    
,jacks means when he speaks of          
,christianity bestowing liberty--a new  
mastery over fate and circumstance4 ,it 
calls forth not only the affection of a 
man1 and not only the intelligence of a 
man1 but the whole of his intuitions as 
well4 ,the entire personality1 the      
entire field of consciousness1 the      
entire mystery of the ego1 is bidden to 
throw itself upon the universe with     
confidence1 with gratitude1 with love   
unspeakable1 recognising there the act  
of a ,fatherhood of which1 in its       
highest moments1 the soul is conscious  
in itself4  ,thus is man made free of   
illusion4 ,no longer can the outside of 
things deceive him1 or the defeats of   
the higher by the lower deject1 much    
less overwhelm him4 ,he sees the reality
 behind the appearance4 ,he dwells with 
powers which are invisible and          
eternal--with justice1 with virtue1 with
 beauty1 with truth1 with love1 with    

excellence4 ,more to him than any house 
built with hands1 more1 much more even  
than the habitation of his own soul1 is 
the invisible life of that soul1 its    
delight in beauty1 its immediate        
response to truth and goodness1 its     
longing for the flight of the ,one to   
the ,one1 its almost athletic sense of  
spiritual fitness4  ,dr4 ,jacks will    
have no element of fear in this         
religion4 ,he finds no room in the      
universe for an offended ,god4 ,belief  
in ,god can mean nothing else but love  
of ,god4 ,all our troubles have come    
upon us from the failure of the ,church 
to live in the radiant atmosphere of    
this belief1 to make belief a life1 a   
life that needs no dogmas and expresses 
itself by love4  ,but this was not to   
be4 ,the ,church cultivated fear of     
,god1 and could not bring itself to     
trust human nature4       ,belief passed
 into dogma2 the mind of man was put in 
fetters as      well as his body2 the   
,church built one prison and the ,state 

another4 4 4 4 ,all this was closely    
connected with the idea of the          
potentate ,god which ,church and ,state1
 in consequence of their      political 
alliance1 had restored1 against the     
martyr protest of      ,jesus ,christ4  
,but how should man be treated8 ,here it
 is that ,dr4 ,jacks makes a most       
valuable suggestion3       ,treat man1  
after the mind of ,christ1 as a being   
whose first need is      for ,light1 and
 whose second need is for government1   
and you will      find that as his need 
for light is progressively satisfied1   
his      need for government will       
progressively diminish4       ,is it not
 a significant fact that while the      
churches are      complaining of        
emptiness1 the schools1 the colleges1   
the      universities1 are packed to    
overflowing8  ,dr4 ,jacks has asked     
quite recently a ,frenchman1 a ,swede1 a
 ,dutchman1 an ,american1 a ,chinaman1  
and a ,japanese1 ,what is the leading   
interest in your country8 ,what do your 

people really believe in8 ,the answer in
 each case was1 ,education4  ,when he   
varied his question1 and asked1 ,what   
have you learnt from the war8 the answer
 came1 ,we have learnt our need of      
education4       ,some would prefer them
 to have said3 ,we have learnt our need 
of      ,christianity4 ,but is it not   
the same thing8 ,in grasping the vast   
potentialities of the human spirit1 and 
that is what this hunger      for       
education means1 have they not grasped  
an essential      characteristic of the 
,christian religion and placed          
themselves at      its very growing     
point8  ,education is ,light1 and ,light
 is from ,god4  ,dr4 ,jacks believes    
that a movement has begun which1 if it  
develops according to promise1 will grow
 into the most impassioned enterprise so
 far undertaken by man4       ,the      
struggle for light1 with its wide       
fellowships and high      enthusiasms1  
will displace the struggle for power1   
with its mean      passions1 its        

monstrous illusions1 and its            
contemptible ideals4       ,the struggle
 for power will end1 not1 as some       
predict1 in      universal revolution1  
which would merely set it going again in
      another form1 but by being        
submerged1 lost sight of1 snowed under1 
by the greater interests that centre    
round the struggle for light4       ,i  
say these things will happen4 ,but they 
will not happen unless men      are     
sufficiently resolved that they shall4  
,let the reader remember that those who 
now flock to the schoolmaster are less  
likely than men of the previous         
generation to fall into the pit of      
materialism4 ,they begin at a point     
which the previous generation did not   
believe to exist--a visible world       
reduced by positive science to the      
invisible world of philosophy4 ,they    
confront not a quantitative universe1   
but a qualitative4 ,they almost begin at
 the very spirit of man2 they cannot    
advance far before they find themselves 

groping in the unseen1 and using1 not   
the senses given to us by action1 but   
the eyes and ears of the understanding  
by which alone the soul of man can      
apprehend reality4 ,even the ,germans   
have gone back to ,goethe4  ,this1 then1
 is the contribution which ,dr4 ,jacks  
makes to modern thought4 ,we are to     
consider man as a creature of boundless 
potentiality1 to realise that his first 
need is for light1 and to define that   
mystic all-important word in terms of   
education4 ,christianity was not        
concerned with the moral law2 it was    
concerned with the transcending of all  
law by the spirit of understanding4  ,i 
need not guard myself against the       
supposition that so true a scholar is   
satisfied with the system of education  
which exists at the present time4 ,dr4  
,jacks looks for a reform of this       
system1 but not from the present race of
 politicians4  ,how can we hope to get a
 true system of education from politics8
 he asked me4 ,is there any atmosphere  

more degrading8 ,plato has warned us    
that no man is fit to govern until he   
has ceased to desire power4 ,but these  
men think of nothing else4 ,to be in    
power2 that is the game of politics4    
,what can you expect from such people8  
,he said to me1 ,men outside politics   
are beginning to see what education     
involves4 ,it involves the whole man1   
body1 mind1 spirit4 ,i do not think you 
can frame an intelligent definition of  
education without coming up against     
religion4 ,in its simplest expression1  
education is a desire to escape from    
darkness into light4 ,it is fear of     
ignorance1 and faith in knowledge4 ,at  
the present time1 most people have      
escaped from darkness into twilight2 a  
twilight which is neither one thing nor 
the other4 ,but they will never rest    
there4 ,the quest of the human spirit is
 ,goethe's dying cry1 ,light--more      
,light4 ,and it is from these men that  
,i look to get a nobler system of       
education4 ,they will compel the        

politicians to act1 perhaps get rid of  
the present race of politicians         
altogether4 ,and when these humble      
disciples of knowledge1 who are now     
making heroic efforts to escape from the
 darkness of ignorance1 frame their     
definition of education1 ,i am sure it  
will include religion4 ,the ,spirit of  
,man needs only to be liberated to      
recognise the ,spirit of ,god4  ,most   
people1 ,i think1 will agree with ,dr4  
,jacks in these opinions2 they are      
intelligent and promise a reasonable way
 out of our present chaos4 ,for many    
they will shed a new light on their old 
ideas of both religion and education4   
,but some will ask3 ,what is the        
,unitarian ,church doing to make these  
intelligent opinions prevail8  ,dr4     
,jacks confesses to me that there is no 
zeal of propaganda in the ,unitarian    
communion4 ,it is a society of people   
which does not thrust itself upon the   
notice of men1 does not compete for     
converts with other churches in the     

market-place4 ,it is rather a little    
temple of peace round the corner1 to    
which people1 who are aweary of the din 
in the theological market-place1 may    
make their way if they choose4 ,it is   
such a ,church as ,warburton1 to the    
great joy of ,edward ,fitz,gerald1      
likened to ,noah's family in the ,ark3  
,the ,church1 like the ,ark of ,noah1 is
 worth saving2 not for the sake      of 
the unclean beasts that almost filled it
 and probably made most      noise and  
clamour in it1 but for the little corner
 of rationality      that was as much   
distressed by the stink within as by the
 tempest      without4  ,it is          
significant of the modesty of the       
,unitarian that he does not emerge from 
this retirement even to cry1 ,i told you
 so1 to a ,church which is coming more  
and more to accept the simplicity of his
 once ridiculed and anathematised       
theology4  ,you must regard modernism1  
,i said to ,dr4 ,jacks on one occasion1 
as a vindication of the ,unitarian      

attitude4  ,he smiled and made answer1  
,better not say so4 ,let them follow    
their own line4  ,no man was ever less  
of a proselytiser4 ,in his remarkable   
book ,from ,authority to ,freedom1 in   
which he tells the story of ,charles    
,hargrove's religious pilgrimage1 he    
seems to be standing aside from all     
human intervention1 watching with       
patient eyes the action of the ,spirit  
of ,god on the hearts and consciences of
 men4 ,and in that little masterpiece of
 deep thought and beautiful writing1    
,the ,lost ,radiance of the ,christian  
,religion1 from which ,i have made most 
of the quotations in this chapter1 one  
is conscious throughout of a strong     
aversion from the field of dogma and    
controversy1 of deliberate determination
 of the writer to keep himself in the   
pure region of the spirit4              
,christianity1 he tells us there1 has   
seen many corruptions1 but the most     
serious of all is not to be found in any
 list of doctrines that have gone wrong3

       ,we find it rather in a change of
 atmosphere1 in a loss of               
brightness and radiant energy1 in a     
tendency to revert in spirit1      if   
not in terminology1 to much colder      
conceptions of ,god1 of man1      and of
 the universe4  ,as man in his innermost
 nature is a far higher being than he   
seems1 so the world in its innermost    
nature is a far nobler fabric than it   
seems4 ,to discover this man must live  
in his spirit4       ,god1 said ,jesus1 
is ,spirit1 and it is a definition of   
,god which      goes behind and beneath 
all the other names that are applied to 
,him4       ,the spirit is love2 it is  
peace2 it is joy2 and perhaps joy most  
of      all4 ,it is a joyous energy1    
having a centre in the soul of man4     
,it is not a foreign principle which has
 to be introduced into a man      from  
without2 it belongs to the substance and
 structure of his      nature2 it needs 
only to be liberated there2 and when    
once that is      done it takes         

possession of all the forces of his     
being1 repressing      nothing1 but     
transfiguring everything1 till all his  
motives and      desires are akindle and
 aglow with the fires and energy of that
      central flame1 with its love1 its 
peace1 its joy4  ,a man who sees so     
deeply into the truth of things1 and    
lives so habitually at the centre of    
existence1 is not likely to display the 
characteristics of the propagandist4    
,but the work of ,dr4 ,jacks at         
,manchester ,college may yet give not   
only this country but the world--for his
 students come from many nations--a     
little band of radiant missionaries     
whose message will repel none and       
attract many4     ,,bishop ,,hensley    
,,henson       ,,durham1 ,bishop of1    
since #aibj2 ,rt4 ,rev4 ,herbert        
,hensley ,henson2 b4      ,london #hth  
,nov41 #ahfc1 #dth s4 of ,late ,thomas  
,henson1 ,broadstairs      ,kent1 and   
,martha ,fear2 m4 #aijb ,isabella       
,caroline1 o4d4 of ,j4,w4               

,dennistoun of ,dennistoun1 ,n4,b4      
,educ43 ,privately and at ,oxford4      
,first ,class ,modern ,history2 ,fellow 
of ,all ,soul's ,college1 ,oxford1      
#ahhd-ia1 reelected #ahif2 ,b4,d4 #ahih2
 ,hon4 ,d4,d4 ,glasgow1 #aijf2          
,durham1 #aiac2 ,oxon1 #aiah2 ,head of  
the ,oxford ,house1 ,bethnal ,green1    
#ahhg-hh2 ,vicar of ,barking1 ,essex1   
#ahhh-ie2 ,select ,preacher at          
,oxford1 #ahie-if1 #aiac-ad2 ,cambridge1
 #aija2 ,incumbent of ,st4 ,mary's      
,hospital1 ,ilford1 #ahie-aijj2         
,chaplain to ,lord ,bishop of ,st4      
,alban's1 #ahig-aijj2 ,canon of         
,westminster ,abbey and ,rector of ,st4 
,margaret's1 #aijj-ab2 ,sub-,dean of    
,westminster1 #aiaa-ab2 ,dean of        
,durham1 #aiab-ah2 ,bishop of ,durham1  
#aiah-bj2 late ,hon4 ,professor of      
,modern ,history in ,durham ,university2
 ,proctor in ,convocation1              
#aijc-ah4  ,illustration3 ,,bishop      
,,hensley ,,henson     ,,chapter ,v     
,,bishop ,,hensley ,,henson       ,he   

early attained a high development1 but  
he has not increased it      since2     
years have come1 but they have whispered
 little2 as was said      of the second 
,pitt1 ,he never grew1 he was           
cast4--,,walter ,,bagehot4   ,rumour has
 it that ,dr4 ,henson is beginning to   
draw in his horns4 ,every curate who    
finds himself unable to believe in the  
,virgin ,birth1 so it said1 feels       
himself entitled to a living in the     
diocese of ,durham4 ,they flee from the 
intolerant zealotry of the sacerdotal   
south to the genial modernism of the    
latitudinarian north4  ,but the trouble 
is1 so rumour has it1 these intelligent 
curates prove themselves but indifferent
 parish priests4 ,dr4 ,henson has to    
complain4 ,the work of the ,church must 
be carried on4 ,evangelicalism seems a  
better driving force than theology4 ,dr4
 ,henson has to think whether perhaps 4 
4 4  ,one need not stop to ask if this  
version is strictly true4 ,the fact     
seems to emerge that the ,bishop of     

,durham1 one of the ablest intellects in
 the ,church of ,england1 and hitherto  
one of the strongest pillars of         
modernism1 is beginning to speak        
theologically with rather less decision4
  ,let us at least express the pious    
hope that the ,dean of ,durham1 ,dr4    
,welldon1 has had nothing to do with it4
 ,a greater man than ,dr4 ,henson1 a    
greater scholar and a profounder        
thinker1 has spoken to me of this new   
movement in the ,bishop's mind with a   
deep impersonal regret4 ,modernism will 
go on2 but what will happen to ,dr4     
,henson8 ,a man may change his mind     
once1 he said2 but to change it twice-- 
,the words of ,guicciardini came into my
 mind1 ,the most fatal of all           
neutralities is that which results not  
from choice1 but from irresolution4     
,there is much to be learned1 ,i think1 
from a study of ,dr4 ,henson's          
personality4 ,he stands for the moment  
at a parting of the ways1 and it will be
 interesting to see which road he       

intends to take2 but the major interest 
lies in his abiding psychology1 and no  
change in theological opinions will     
affect that psychology at all4 ,attach  
to him the label of modernist or the    
label of traditionalist1 and it will    
still be the same little eager man      
thrusting his way forward on either road
 with downward head and peering eyes1   
arguing with anyone who gets in his way1
 and loving his argument far more than  
his way4  ,when he was at ,oxford1 and  
was often in controversial conflict with
 ,dr4 ,a4,c4 ,headlam1 now ,regius      
,professor of ,divinity1 ,dr4 ,hensley  
,henson earned the nickname of ,coxley  
,cocksure4 ,never was any man more      
certain he was right2 never was any man 
more inclined to ridicule the bare idea 
that his opponent could be anything but 
wrong2 and never was any man more       
thoroughly happy in making use of a     
singularly trenchant intellect to stab  
and thrust its triumphant way through   
the logic of his adversary4  ,it is said

 that ,dr4 ,henson has had to fight his 
way into notice1 and that he has never  
lost the defect of those qualities which
 enabled him so victoriously to reach   
the mitred top of the ecclesiastical    
tree4 ,he has climbed4 ,he has loved    
climbing4 ,perhaps he has so got into   
this bracing habit that he may even     
climb down1 if only in order once more  
to ascend--a new rendering of reculer   
pour mieux sauter4 ,i do not think he   
has much altered since he first set out 
to conquer fortune by the force of his  
intellect1 an intellect of whose great  
qualities he has always been perhaps a  
little dangerously self-conscious4  ,few
 men are more effective in soliloquy4   
,it is a memorable sight to see him     
standing with his back to one of the    
high stone mantelpieces in ,durham      
,castle1 his feet wide apart on the     
hearth-rug1 his hands in the openings of
 his apron1 his trim and dapper body    
swaying ceaselessly from the waist1 his 
head1 with its smooth boyish hair1      

bending constantly forward1 jerking     
every now and then to emphasise a point 
in his argument1 the light in his       
bright1 watchful1 sometimes mischievous 
eyes dancing to the joy of his own      
voice1 the thin lips working with       
pleasure as they give to all his words  
the fullest possible value of vowels and
 sibilants1 the small greyish face1 with
 its two slightly protruding teeth on   
the lower lip1 almost quivering1 almost 
glowing1 with the rhythm of his         
sentences and the orderly sequence of   
his logic4 ,all this composes a picture 
which one does not easily forget4 ,it is
 like the harangue of a snake1 which is 
more subtle than any beast of the field4
 ,one is conscious of a spell4  ,the    
dark tapestried room1 the carved        
ceiling1 the heavy furniture1 the       
embrasured windows1 the whole sombre    
magnificence of the historic setting1   
quiet1 almost somnolent1 with the       
enduring memories of ,cuthbert ,tunstall
 and ,butler1 ,lightfoot and ,westcott1 

add a most telling vivacity to the slim 
and dominating figure of this boylike   
bishop1 who is so athletic in the use of
 his intellect and so happy in every    
thesis he sets himself to establish4    
,it is an equally memorable sight to see
 him in his castle at ,bishop ,auckland 
in the role of host1 entertaining people
 of intelligence with the history of the
 place1 showing the pictures and the    
chapel1 exhibiting curious relics of the
 past--a restless and energetic figure1 
holding its own in effectiveness against
 men of greater stature and more        
commanding presence by an inward force  
which has something of the tang of a    
twitching bow-string4  ,so much energy  
would suggest a source of almost        
inexhaustible power4 ,but that is       
perhaps the greatest disappointment of  
all in the ,bishop's psychology4 ,in the
 case of ,dr4 ,inge one is very         
conscious of a rich and deep background1
 a background of mysticism1 from which  
the intellect emerges with slow emphasis

 to play its part on the world's stage4 
,in the case of ,bishop ,ryle one is    
conscious behind the pleasant1          
courtierlike1 and scholarly manner of a 
background of very wholesome and        
unquestioning moral earnestness4 ,but in
 ,dr4 ,henson one is conscious of       
nothing behind the intellect but        
intellect itself1 an intellect which has
 absorbed his spiritual life into itself
 and will permit no other tenant of his 
mind to divert attention for a single   
moment from its luminous brilliance1 its
 perfection of mechanism4  ,one may be  
quite wrong1 of course2 one can speak   
only of the impression which he makes   
upon oneself and perhaps a few of one's 
friends2 but it would almost seem as if 
he had ever regarded ,christianity as a 
thesis to be argued1 not a religion to  
be preached1 a principle to be          
enunciated1 not a practice to be        
extended1 a tradition to be maintained1 
not a passion to be communicated4  ,yet 
his sermons1 which a great              

,anglo-,catholic declared to me with a  
mocking mordancy to be full of          
edification1 do often enter that region 
of religion which seems to demand an    
appeal to the emotions2 moreover1 it is 
not to be thought for a moment that the 
,bishop is not deeply concerned with all
 moral questions1 that he is in the     
least degree indifferent to the high    
importance of conduct4 ,but for myself  
these excursions1 earnest and           
well-intentioned as they are1 proclaim  
rather the social energy of the good    
citizen than the fervent zeal of an     
apostle on fire with his ,master's      
message4 ,the evangelicalism of the     
,bishop has taken1 as it were1 the cast 
of politics1 and he enters the pulpit of
 ,christ to proclaim the reasonableness 
of the moral law with the alacrity of   
the lecturer4  ,this is what makes him  
so interesting a study for those curious
 about the workings of religious        
psychology4 ,here is a thoroughly good  
man1 as fearless and upright as any man 

in the kingdom1 a figure among scholars1
 a power among organisers1 a very able1 
sincere1 and trenchant personality1 who 
has thrown the whole weight of all he   
has to give on the side of              
,christianity1 but who1 for some reason1
 in despite of all his hard work and    
unquestionable earnestness1 does not    
convey any idea of the attraction of    
,christ4  ,it makes one doubt1 not that 
the ,bishop has reserved his feelings   
for another affection1 but whether he   
has any feelings to bestow4 ,one thinks 
that he has drawn up and concentrated so
 effectually all the forces of his      
personality into the intellect that it  
is now impossible for him to see        
religion except as an intellectual      
problem4 ,one thinks1 too1 that he has  
never dreamed of converting other people
 to his views1 but only of arguing them 
out of theirs4 ,yet1 after all1 there   
are more ways of converting the world   
than beating a drum4  ,i am certain1    
however1 that he could easier convince a

 socialistic collier or a communistic   
iron-moulder of the absurdity of his    
economics than persuade either the one  
or the other of the spiritual           
satisfaction of his own religion4       
,perhaps religion presents itself to the
 ,bishop1 as it does to a great number  
of other people1 as a consecration of   
moral law1 and clearly moral law is     
something to be established by reason1  
not commended by appeals to the         
sentiments2 not for one moment1 all the 
same1 would he countenance the famous   
cynicism of ,gibbon--,the various modes 
of worship1 which prevailed in the      
,roman world1 were all considered by the
 people as equally true2 by the         
philosophers as equally false2 and by   
the magistrate as equally useful--for no
 man sees more clearly the permanent    
need of religion in the human spirit1   
and no man is more sincerely convinced  
of the truth of the ,christian religion4
 ,but he brings to religion1 as ,i      
think1 only his intellect1 and so he has

 intellectualised its ethic1 and has    
left its deepest meaning to those who   
possess1 what he has either always      
lacked or has forfeited in his          
intellectual discipleship1 the qualities
 of mysticism4  ,one might almost say   
that he has intellectualised the ,sermon
 on the ,mount1 dissected the ,prodigal 
,son as a study in psychology1 and taken
 the heart out of the ,fourth ,gospel4  
,his usefulness1 however1 is of a high  
order4 ,with the sole exception of ,dean
 ,inge1 no front bench ,churchman has   
displayed a more admirable courage in   
confronting democracy and challenging   
its ,materialistic politics4 ,moreover1 
although he modestly doubts his         
effectiveness as a public speaker1 he   
has shown an acute judgment in these    
attacks which has not been lost upon the
 steadier minds in the ,labour world of 
the north4 ,perhaps he has done as much 
as any man up there to convince an      
embittered and disillusioned proletariat
 that it must accept the inevitable     

rulings of economic law4  ,his courage  
in this matter is all the more          
praiseworthy because he seems to be     
convinced1 to speak in general terms1   
that the religion of ,christ is now     
rejected by the democracy4 ,it needs1   
therefore1 great strength of mind to    
face a body of men who have lost all    
interest in his religion1 and to address
 them not only as economist and         
historian but as one who still believes 
that ,christianity bestows a power which
 sets at defiance all the worst that    
circumstance and condition can do to the
 soul of man4  ,in these addresses he   
puts aside the materialistic dreams of  
the social reformer as impractical and  
dangerous4       ,ideal reconstructions 
of society1 pictures of ,the ,kingdom of
 ,god      upon earth1 to use a popular 
but perilous phrase1 are not greatly    
serviceable to human progress4 ,they may
 even turn men aside from      the road 
of actual progress1 for the indulgence  
of philanthropic      imagination       

neither strengthens the will in         
self-sacrifice1 nor      illumines the  
practical judgment4  ,his argument then 
leads him to question the justification 
of the social reformer's oratory4 ,let  
us be on our guard1 he says1 against    
exaggeration4       ,i am sure that     
great harm is being done at the present 
time by the      reckless denunciation  
of the existing social order1 often by  
men      who have no special knowledge  
either of the history of society1 or    
of the present situation4 ,hypnotised by
 their own enthusiasm1 they      allow  
themselves to use language which is not 
only altogether      excessive1 but also
 highly inflammatory4 ,i am bound       
honestly to say      that ,i think some 
of the clergy are great offenders in    
this      respect4 ,having created or   
stimulated popular discontent by such   
rhetorical exaggeration1 they point to  
the discontent as itself      sufficient
 proof of the existence of social       
oppression4 ,they are      immersed in a

 fallacy4  ,with boldness he carries the
 war into the camp of his enemies3      
,there is much food for thought in the  
notorious fact that the      critics of 
existing society1 so far from being able
 to count upon      the popular         
discontent1 are compelled to organise an
 elaborate      system of defaming      
propaganda in order to induce the       
multitude to      believe themselves    
oppressed4  ,he charges the social      
reformer with an immoral idealism4 ,the 
worker is encouraged to prolong his     
work1 is taught that he may with perfect
 justice adopt the policy of ca' canny1 
seeing that his first duty is1 not to   
his master1 but to his wife and         
children4  ,imagine the effect on       
character1 cries the ,bishop1 of eight  
hours' dishonesty every day1 eight hours
 of a man's second or third best1 never 
his whole heart in his job6 ,and this is
 called idealism6       ,if             
industrialism were swept away1 and some 
form of ,socialism were                 

established1 the success of the new     
order1 as of the old1 would      have to
 turn on the willingness of the people  
honestly to work it4      ,it hardly    
lies in the mouths of men who are       
labouring incessantly      to obstruct  
the working of the existing order1 to   
build an argument      against it on the
 measure of their success in making it  
fail4 ,there      are confessedly many  
grave evils in our industrial system1   
but      there are also very evident    
benefits4 ,it is1 like human nature     
itself1 a mingled thing4 ,instead of    
exaggerating the evils1 the      wiser  
course would surely be to inquire how   
far they are capable of      remedy1 and
 then cautiously--for the daily bread of
 these many      millions of ,british   
folk depends on the normal working of   
our      industrial system--to attempt  
reforms4 ,reckless denunciation is not  
only wrong in itself1 but it creates a  
listless1 disaffected      temper1 the  
farthest removed possible from the      

spirit of good      citizenship and     
honest labour4  ,in these quotations you
 may see something of the ,bishop's     
acuteness of intellect1 something of his
 courage1 and something of his wholesome
 good sense4 ,but1 also1 ,i venture to  
think1 one may see in them something of 
his spiritual limitations4  ,for1 after 
all1 is not the ,christian challenged   
with an identical criticism by the      
champions of materialism8  ,why can't he
 leave people alone8 ,who asks him to   
interfere with the lives of other       
people--other people who are perfectly  
contented to go their own way8 ,look at 
the rascal6 ,having created or          
stimulated spiritual discontent by      
rhetorical exaggeration1 he points to   
the discontent as itself sufficient     
proof of the dissatisfaction of         
materialism6 ,out upon him1 for a paid  
agitator1 a kill-joy1 and a humbug4 ,let
 him hold his peace1 or1 with           
,nietzsche1 consign these masses of the 
people to the ,devil and the            

,statistician4  ,might it not be argued 
that the ,bishop's attitude towards the 
social reformer bears at least a slight 
family resemblance to the attitude of   
the ,pharisees towards ,christ1 and of  
the ,roman ,power to the earliest       
,christian communities8 ,may it not be  
said1 too1 that nothing is so           
disagreeable to a conservative mind as  
the fermentation induced by the leaven  
of a new idea8  ,never does             
dissatisfaction with the present        
condition of things appear in the       
,bishop's eyes as a creation of the     
,christian spirit1 an extension of that 
liberalising1 enfranchising1 and        
enriching spirit which has already      
destroyed so many of the works of       
feudalism4 ,but he faces the question of
 the part which the ,church must play in
 the world2 he faces it with honesty and
 answers it with shrewdness--           
,what then is the role of the ,church in
 such a world as this8 ,surely      it  
is still what it was before--to be the  

soul of society1 the      salt of the   
earth4 ,if we1 ,christ's people1 are    
carrying on1 year      in and year out1 
a quiet1 persistent witness by word and 
life to      the things that are more   
excellent1 the unseen things which are  
eternal1 we too shall be holding the    
world together1 and opening      before 
society the vista of a genuine progress4
 ,this is the supreme      and          
incommunicable task of the ,church2 this
 is the priceless      service which we 
can render to the nation4  ,the position
 is defensible1 for it is one that has  
been held by the saints1 and dangerous  
indeed is the spirit of materialism in  
the region of social reform4 ,but does  
not one miss from the ,bishop's attack  
upon the social reformer something much 
deeper than successful logic1 something 
which expresses itself in the works of  
other men by the language of sympathy   
and charity1 something which hungers and
 thirsts to shed light and to give      
warmth1 something which makes for the   

eventual brotherhood of mankind under   
the divine ,fatherhood of ,god8  ,some  
such spirit as this1 ,i think1 is to be 
found in the writings of ,mr4 ,r4,h4    
,tawney1 who1 however much he may err   
and go astray in his economics1         
cherishes at least a more seemly vision 
of the human family than that which now 
passes for civilisation4 ,is it not     
possible that the day may come when a   
gigantic income will seem ungentlemanly8
 ,is it not a just claim1 a ,christian  
claim1 that the social organisation     
should be based upon moral principles8  
,christians are a sect1 and a small     
sect1 in a ,pagan ,society4 ,but        
they can be a sincere sect4 ,if they are
 sincere1 they will not      abuse the  
,pagans 4 4 4 for a good ,pagan is an   
admirable person4 ,but      he is not a 
,christian1 for his hopes and fears1 his
 preferences and      dislikes1 his     
standards of success and failure1 are   
different from      those of            
,christians4 ,the ,church will not      

pretend that he is1 or      endeavour to
 make its own ,faith acceptable to him  
by diluting the      distinctive ethical
 attributes of ,christianity till they  
become      inoffensive1 at the cost of 
becoming trivial4       4 4 4 so tepid  
and self-regarding a creed is not a     
religion4      ,christianity cannot     
allow its sphere to be determined by the
      convenience of politicians or by  
the conventional ethics of the          
world of business4 ,the whole world of  
human interests was assigned      to it 
as its province 7,the ,acquisitive      
,society74  ,it must not be supposed    
that the ,bishop has no answer to this  
criticism of his attitude4 ,he would    
say1 ,produce your socialistic scheme1  
and ,i will examine it1 and if it will  
work and if it is just ,i will support  
it2 but until you have found this       
scheme1 what moral right do you possess 
which entitles you to unsettle men's    
minds1 to fill their hearts with the    
bitterness of discontent1 and to turn   

the attention of their souls away from  
the things that are more excellent8  ,on
 this ground1 the ground of economics1  
his position seems to me unassailable2  
but it is a position which suggests the 
posture of a lecturer in front of his   
black-board rather than that of a       
shepherd seeking the lost sheep of his  
flock4 ,if the socialist must think     
again1 at least we may ask that the     
,bishop should sometimes raise his crook
 to defend the sheep against the attack 
of the robber and the wolf4 ,if the     
sheep are to be patient1 if they are not
 to stray1 if they are not to die1 there
 must be food for their grazing4  ,but  
the ,bishop1 at the very roots of his   
being1 is conservative1 and the good    
qualities of conservatism do not develop
 foresight or permit of vision4 ,he     
would stick to the wattled cotes2 and ,i
 think he would move his flock on to new
 pastures as seldom as possible4 ,this  
will not do1 however4 ,the social       
reformer tells the ,bishop who thinks   

democracy has rejected religion that the
 hungry sheep look up and are not fed4  
,the roots of the old sustenance are    
nibbled level to the ground1 and the    
ground itself is sour4 ,if socialism is 
wrong1 let the ,bishop tell us where    
lies a safer pasture4  ,one seems to see
 in this thrusting scholar and restless 
energetic prelate a very striking       
illustration of the need in the         
,christian of tenderness4 ,intellect is 
not enough4 ,intellect1 indeed1 is not  
light2 it is only the wick of a lamp    
which must be fed constantly with the   
oil of compassion--that is to say1 if   
its light is to shine before men4 ,the  
,bishop dazzles1 but he does not        
illumine the darkness or throw a white  
beam ahead of heavy-laden and           
far-journeying humanity on the road     
which leads1 let us hope1 to a better   
order of things than the present system4
  ,whether such a man calls himself     
traditionalist or modernist does not    
greatly matter4 ,one respects him for   

his moral qualities1 his courage1 and   
his devotion to his work2 one honours   
him for his intellectual qualities1     
which are of a high and brilliant order2
 but one does not feel that he is       
leading the advance1 or even that he    
knows in which direction the army is    
definitely advancing4     ,,miss ,,maude
 ,,royden   ,,royden1 ,,agnes ,,maude1  
,assistant ,preacher at the ,city       
,temple1 #aiah-bj2 ,founder with ,dr4   
,percy ,dearmer of the ,fellowship      
,services at ,kensington2 b4 #ahgf1 y4d4
 of late ,sir ,thomas ,royden1 #ast     
,bart4 of ,frankby ,hall1 ,birkenhead4  
,educ43 ,cheltenham ,ladies' ,college2  
,lady ,margaret ,hall1 ,oxford4 ,worked 
at the ,victoria ,women's ,settlement1  
,liverpool1 for three years and then in 
the country parish of ,luffenham2       
,lecturer in ,english ,literature to the
 ,oxford ,university ,extension         
,delegacy2 joined the ,national ,union  
of ,women's ,suffrage ,societies1 #aijh2
 on ,executive ,committee1 #aijh2       

,edited the ,common ,cause till #aiad2  
wrote and spoke chiefly on the economic1
 ethical1 and religious aspects of the  
,women's ,movement2 resigned executive1 
#aiad4  ,illustration3 ,,miss ,,maude   
,,royden     ,,chapter ,,vi  ,,miss     
,,maude ,,royden       4 4 4 their      
religion1 too 7i4e4 the religion of     
women71 has a mode      of expressing   
itself1 though it seldom resorts to the 
ordinary      phrases of divinity4      
,those nameless1 unremembered acts of   
kindness and of love1 by      which     
their influence is felt through every   
part of society1      humanising and    
consoling wherever it travels1 are their
 theology4      ,it is thus that they   
express the genuine religion of their   
minds2      and we trust that if ever   
they should study the ordinary dialect  
of      systematised religion they will 
never1 while pronouncing its harsh      
gutturals and stammering over its       
difficult shibboleths1 forget      their
 elder and simpler and richer and       

sweeter language4--,f4,d4               
,,maurice4   ,pushkin said that ,russia 
turned an ,asian face towards ,europe   
and a ,european face towards ,asia4     
,this acute saying may be applied to    
,miss ,royden4 ,to the prosperous and   
timid ,christian she appears as a       
dangerous evangelist of socialism1 and  
to the fiery socialist as a tame and    
sentimental apostle of ,christianity4   
,as in the case of ,russia1 so in the   
case of this interesting and courageous 
woman2 one must go to neither extremity1
 neither to the bourgeoisie nor to the  
apacherie1 if one would discover the    
truth of her nature4  ,nor need one fear
 to go direct to the lady herself1 for  
she is the very soul of candour4        
,moreover1 she has that charming spirit 
of friendliness and communication which 
distinguished ,la ,bruyere1 a           
philosopher always accessible1 even in  
his deepest studies1 who tells you to   
come in1 for you bring him something    
more precious than gold or silver1 if it

 is the opportunity of obliging you4    
,certainly ,miss ,royden does not       
resemble1 in her attitude towards either
 ,god or the human race1 that curious   
religieuse ,mdme4 de ,maintenon1 who    
having been told by her confessor in the
 floodtime of her beauty that ,god      
wished her to become the ,king's        
mistress1 at the end of that devout if  
somewhat painful experience1 replied to 
a suggestion about writing her memoirs1 
,only saints would find pleasure in its 
perusal4  ,miss ,royden's memoirs1 if   
they are ever written1 would have1 ,i   
think1 the rather unusual merit of      
pleasing both saints and sinners2 the   
saints by the depth and beauty of her   
spiritual experience1 the sinners by her
 freedom from every shade of cant and by
 her strong1 almost masculine1 sympathy 
with the difficulties of our human      
nature4 ,catherine the ,great1 in her   
colloquies with the nervous and         
hesitating ,diderot1 used to say1       
,proceed2 between men all is allowable4 

,one may affirm of ,miss ,royden that   
she is at once a true woman and a great 
man4  ,it is this perfect balance of the
 masculine and feminine in her          
personality which makes her so effective
 a public speaker1 so powerful an       
influence in private discourse1 and so  
safe a writer on questions of extreme   
delicacy1 such as the problem of sex4   
,she is always on the level of the whole
 body of humanity1 a complete person1 a 
veritable human being1 neither a member 
of a class nor the representative of a  
sex4  ,perhaps it may be permitted to   
mention two events in her life which    
help one to understand how it is she has
 come to play this masculine and        
feminine part in public life4  ,one day1
 a day of torrential rain1 when she was 
a girl living in her father's house in  
,cheshire1 she and her sister saw a     
carriage and pair coming through the    
park towards the house4 ,the coachman   
and footman on the box were soaking wet1
 and kept their heads down to avoid the 

sting of the rain in their eyes4 ,the   
horses were streaming with rain and the 
carriage might have been a watercart4   
,when the caller1 a rich lady1 arrived  
in the drawing-room1 polite wonder was  
expressed at her boldness in coming out 
on such a dreadful day4 ,she seemed     
surprised4 ,oh1 but ,i came in a closed 
carriage1 she explained4  ,this innocent
 remark opened the eyes of ,miss ,royden
 to the obliquity of vision which is    
wrought1 all unconsciously in many      
cases1 by the power of selfishness4 ,the
 condition of her coachman and footman  
had never for a moment presented itself 
to the lady's mind4 ,miss ,royden made  
acquaintance with righteous indignation4
 ,she became a reformer1 and something  
of a vehement reformer4  ,the drenched  
carriage coming through a splash of rain
 to her home will remain for ever in her
 mind as an image of that spirit of     
selfishness which in its manifold and   
subtle workings wrecks the beauty of    
human existence4  ,miss ,royden1 it     

should be said1 had been prepared by a  
long experience of pain to feel sympathy
 with the sufferings of other people4   
,her mind had been lamentably ploughed  
up ever since the dawn of memory to     
receive the divine grain of compassion4 
,at birth both her hips were dislocated1
 and lameness has been her lot through  
life4 ,such was her spirit1 however1    
that this saddening and serious         
affliction1 dogging her days and nights 
with pain1 seldom prevented her from    
joining in the vigorous games and sports
 of the ,royden family4 ,she was        
something of a boy even in those days1  
and pluck was the very centre of her    
science of existence4  ,the religion of 
her parents suggested to her mind that  
this suffering had been sent by ,god4   
,she accepted the perilous suggestion1  
but never confronted it4 ,it neither    
puffed her up with spiritual pride nor  
created in her mind bitter thoughts of a
 paltry and detestable ,deity4 ,a pagan 
stoicism helped her to bear her lot     

quite as much as1 if not more than1 the 
evangelicalism of ,sir ,thomas and ,lady
 ,royden4 ,moreover1 she was too much in
 love with life to give her mind very   
seriously to the difficulties of        
theology4 ,even with a body which had to
 wrench itself along1 one could swim and
 row1 read and think1 observe and       
worship4  ,her eldest brother went to   
,winchester and ,magdalen ,college at   
,oxford2 she to ,cheltenham ,college and
 ,lady ,margaret ,hall at ,oxford4      
,education was an enthusiasm4 ,rivalry  
in scholarship was as greatly a part of 
that wholesome family life as rivalry in
 games4 ,there was always a ,socratic   
throwing of the ball going on1 both     
indoors and out4 ,miss ,royden          
distinguished herself in the sphere of  
learning and in the sphere of sports4   
,at ,oxford the last vestiges of her    
religion1 or rather her parents'        
religion1 faded from her mind1 without  
pain of any order1 hardly with any      
consciousness4 ,she devoted herself     

wholeheartedly to the schools4 ,no      
longer did she imagine that ,god had    
sent her lameness4 ,she ceased to think 
of ,him4  ,but one day she heard a      
sermon which made her think of ,jesus as
 a teacher1 just as one thinks of ,plato
 and ,aristotle4 ,she reflected that she
 really knew more of the teaching of    
,plato and ,aristotle than she knew of  
,christ's teaching4 ,this seemed to her 
an unsatisfactory state of things1 and  
she set herself1 as a student of        
philosophy1 to study the teaching of    
,jesus4 ,what had ,he said8 ,never mind 
whether ,he had founded this ,church or 
that1 what had ,he said8 ,and what had  
been ,his science of life1 ,his reading 
of the riddle8  ,this study1 to which   
she brought a philosophic mind and a    
candid heart1 convinced her that the    
teaching should be tried4 ,it was1      
indeed1 a teaching that asked men to    
prove it by trial4 ,she decided to try  
it1 and she tried it by reading1 by     
meditation1 and by prayer4 ,the trial   

was a failure4 ,but in this failure was 
a mystery4 ,for the more she failed the 
more profoundly conscious she became of 
,christ as a ,power4 ,this feeling      
remained with her1 and it grew stronger 
with time4 ,the ,christ who would not   
help her nevertheless tarried as a      
shadow haunting the background of her   
thoughts4  ,there was a secret in life  
which she had missed1 a power which she 
had never used4 ,then came the second   
event to which ,i have referred4 ,miss  
,royden met a lady who had left the     
,church of ,england and joined the      
,quakers1 seeking by this change to     
intensify her spiritual experience1     
seeking to make faith a deep personal   
reality in her life4 ,this lady told    
,miss ,royden the following experience3 
,one day1 at a ,quakers' meeting1 she   
had earnestly besieged the ,throne of   
,grace during the silence of prayer1    
imploring ,god to manifest ,himself to  
her spirit4 ,so earnestly did she       
besiege the ,throne of ,grace in this   

silent intercession of soul that at last
 she was physically exhausted and could 
frame no further words of entreaty4 ,at 
that moment she heard a voice in her    
soul1 and this voice said to her1 ,yes1 
,i have something to say to you1 when   
you stop your shouting4  ,from this     
experience ,miss ,royden learned to see 
the tremendous difference between       
physical and spiritual silence4 ,she    
cultivated1 with the peace of soul which
 is the atmosphere of surrender and     
dependence1 silence of spirit2 and out  
of this silence came a faith against    
which the gates of hell could not       
prevail2 and out of that faith1 winged  
by her earliest2 sympathy with all      
suffering and all sorrow1 came a desire 
to give herself up to the service of    
,god4 ,she had found the secret1 she    
could use the power4  ,her first step   
towards a life of service was joining a 
,women's ,settlement in ,liverpool1 a   
city which has wealth enough to impress 
and gratify the disciples of ,mr4       

,samuel ,smiles1 and slums enough to    
excite and infuriate the disciples of   
,karl ,marx4 ,here ,miss ,royden worked 
for three years1 serving her novitiate  
as it were in the ministry of mercy1 a  
notable figure in the dark streets of   
,liverpool1 that little eager body1 with
 its dragging leg1 its struggling hips1 
its head held high to look the whole    
world in the face on the chance1 nay1   
but in the hope1 that a bright smile    
from eyes as clear as day might do some 
poor devil a bit of good4  ,she brought 
to the slums of ,liverpool the gay      
cheerfulness of a ,university woman1    
,oxford's particular brand of           
cheerfulness1 and also a tenderness of  
sympathy and a graciousness of          
helpfulness which was the fine flower of
 deep1 inward1 silent1 personal         
religion4  ,it is not easy for anyone   
with profound sympathy to believe that  
individual ,partingtons can sweep back  
with their little mops of beneficence   
and philanthropy the ,atlantic ,ocean of

 sin1 suffering1 and despair which      
floods in to the shores of our          
industrialism--at high tide nearly      
swamping its prosperity1 and at low tide
 leaving all its ugliness1 squalor1 and 
despairing hopelessness bare to the eye 
of heaven4  ,miss ,royden looked out for
 something with a wider sweep1 and in   
the year #aijh joined the ,women's      
,suffrage ,movement4 ,it was her hope1  
her conviction1 that woman's influence  
in politics might have a cleansing      
effect in the national life4 ,she became
 an advocate of this great ,movement1   
but an advocate who always based her    
argument on religious grounds4 ,she had 
no delusions about materialistic        
politics4 ,her whole effort was to      
spiritualise the public life of         
,england4  ,here she made a discovery--a
 discovery of great moment to her       
subsequent career4 ,she discovered that 
many came to her meetings1 and sought   
personal interviews or written          
correspondence with her afterwards1 who 

were not greatly interested in the      
franchise1 but who were interested1 in  
some tragic cases poignantly interested1
 in spiritual enfranchisement4 ,life    
revealed itself to her as a struggle    
between the higher and lower nature1 a  
conflict in the will between good and   
evil4 ,she was at the heart of          
evolution4  ,it became evident to ,miss 
,royden that she had discovered for     
herself both a constituency and a       
church4 ,some years after making this   
discovery she abandoned all other work1 
and ever since1 first at the ,city      
,temple and now at the ,guildhouse in   
,eccleston ,square1 has been one of the 
most effective advocates in this country
 of personal religion4  ,she does not   
impress one by the force of her         
intellect1 but rather by the force of   
her humanity4 ,you take it for granted  
that she is a scholar2 you are aware of 
her intellectual gifts1 ,i mean1 only as
 you are aware of her breeding4 ,the    
main impression she makes is one of full

 humanity1 humanity at its best1        
humanity that is pure but not           
self-righteous1 charitable but not      
sentimental1 just but not hard1 true but
 not mechanical in consistency1 frank   
but not gushing4 ,out of all this come  
two things1 the sense of two realisms1  
the realism of her political faith1 and 
the realism of her religious faith4 ,you
 are aware that she feels the sufferings
 and the deprivations of the oppressed  
in her own blood1 and feels the power1  
the presence1 and the divinity of       
,christ in her own soul4  ,it is a      
grateful experience to sit with this    
woman1 who is so like the best of men   
but is so manifestly the staunchest of  
women4 ,her face reveals the force of   
her emotions1 her voice1 which is       
musical and persuasive1 the depth of her
 compassion4 ,in her sitting-room1 which
 is almost a study and nearly an office1
 hangs a portrait of ,newman1 and a     
prie-,dieu stands against one of the    
walls half-hidden by bookshelves4 ,she  

is one of the few very busy people ,i   
have known who give one no feeling of an
 inward commotion4  ,apart from her     
natural eloquence and her unmistakable  
sincerity1 apart even from the          
attractive fullness of her humanity1 ,i 
think the notable success of her        
preaching is to be attributed to a      
single reason1 quite outside any such   
considerations4 ,it is a reason of great
 importance to the modern student of    
religious psychology4 ,miss ,royden     
preaches ,christ as a ,power4  ,to      
others she leaves the esoteric aspects  
of religion1 and the ceremonial of      
worship1 and the difficulties of        
theology1 and the mechanism of parochial
 organisation4 ,her mission1 as she     
receives it1 is to preach to people who 
are unwilling and suffering victims of  
sin1 or who are tortured by theological 
indecision1 that ,christ is a ,power1 a 
,power that works miracles1 a ,power    
that can change the habits of a         
lifetime1 perhaps the very tissues of a 

poisoned body1 and can give both peace  
and guidance to the soul that is dragged
 this way and that4  ,one may be        
pardoned for remarking that this is a   
rather unusual form of preaching in any 
of the respectable churches4            
,christianity as a unique power in the  
world1 a power which transfigures human 
life1 which tears habitude up by the    
roots1 and which gives new strength to  
the will1 new eyes to the soul1 and a   
new reality to the understanding2 this1 
strange to say1 is an unusual1 perhaps  
an unpopular subject of clerical        
discourse4 ,it is ,miss ,royden's       
insistent contribution to modern        
theology4  ,she tells me that so far as 
her own experience goes1 humanity does  
not seem to be troubled by intellectual 
doubts4 ,she is inclined to think that  
it is even sick of such discussions1 and
 is apt to describe them roughly and    
impatiently as mere talk4 ,humanity1 as 
she sees it1 is immersed in the         
incessant struggle of moral evolution4  

,there is an empiricism of religion     
which is worth attention4 ,it challenges
 the sceptic to explain both the        
conversion of the sinner and the beauty 
of the saint4 ,if religion can change a 
man's whole character in the twinkling  
of an eye1 if it can give a beauty of   
holiness to human nature such as is felt
 by all men to be the highest expression
 of man's spirit1 truly it is a science 
of life which works1 and one which its  
critics must explain4 ,the theories of  
dogmatist and traditionalist are not the
 authentic documents of the ,christian  
religion4 ,let the sceptic bring his    
indictment against the changed lives of 
those who attribute to ,christ alone the
 daily miracle of their gladness4  ,what
 men and women want to know in these    
days1 ,miss ,royden assures me out of   
the richness of her great experience1 is
 whether ,christianity works1 whether it
 does things4 ,the majority of people1  
she feels sure1 are looking about for   
something that helps--something that    

will strengthen men and women to fight  
down their lower nature1 that will      
convince them that their higher nature  
is a reality1 and that will give them a 
living sense of companionship in their  
difficult lives--lives often as drab and
 depressing as they are morally         
difficult4  ,because she can convey this
 great sense of the power of            
,christianity1 people all over the      
country go to hear her preach and       
lecture4 ,she is1 ,i think1 one of the  
most persuasive preachers of the power  
of ,christianity in any                 
,english-speaking country4 ,it is       
impossible to feel of her that she is   
merely speaking of something she has    
read about in books1 or of something    
which she recommends because it is      
apostolic and traditional2 she brings   
home to the mind of the most cynical and
 ironical that her message1 so modestly 
and gently given1 is nevertheless torn  
out of her inmost soul by a deep inward 
experience and by a sympathy with       

humanity which altogether transfigures  
her simple words4  ,it must be          
difficult1 ,i should think1 for any     
fairminded sceptic not to give this     
religion at least a practical trial     
after hearing ,miss ,royden's exposition
 of it and after learning from her the  
manner in which that experiment should  
be carried out4 ,for she speaks as one  
having the authority of a deep personal 
experience1 making no dogmatic claims1  
expressing sympathy with all those who  
fail1 but assuring her hearers that when
 the moment comes for their illumination
 it will come1 and that it will be a    
veritable dayspring from on high4       
,earnestness is hers of the highest and 
tenderest order1 but also the convincing
 authority of one who has found the     
peace which passes understanding4  ,she 
has spoken to me with sympathy of ,mr4  
,studdert-,kennedy1 whose trench-like   
methods in the pulpit are thoroughly    
distasteful to a great number of people4
 ,it is characteristic of ,miss ,royden 

that she should fasten on the real cause
 of this violence4 ,i don't like jargon1
 she said1 particularly the jargon of   
,christian ,science and ,theosophy4 ,i  
love ,english literature too much for   
that2 and ,i don't like slang1          
particularly slang of a brutal order2   
but ,i feel a deep sympathy with anybody
 who is trying1 as ,mr4                 
,studdert-,kennedy is trying1 to put    
life and power into institutionalism4   
,it wants it so badly--oh1 so very      
badly--life1 life1 life and power4  ,of 
one whose scholarship greatly impresses 
her1 and for whose spiritual life she   
has true respect1 but whose theology    
fills her soul with dark shadows and    
cold shudders1 she exclaimed1 as though 
it were her own fault for not           
understanding him1 ,it is as if ,god    
were dead6  ,always she wants           
,christianity as life and power4  ,she  
remains a social reformer1 and is       
disposed to agree with ,bishop ,gore    
that the present system is so iniquitous

 that it cannot be ,christianised4 ,she 
thinks it must be destroyed1 but admits 
the peril of destructive work till a new
 system is ready to take its place4     
,yet ,i feel fairly certain that she    
would admit1 if pressed with the        
question1 that the working of any better
 system can depend for its success only 
upon a much better humanity4 ,for she is
 one of those who is bewildered by the  
selfishness of men and women1 a brutal1 
arrogant1 challenging1 and wholly       
unashamed selfishness1 which publicly   
seeks its own pleasures1 publicly       
displays the offending symbols of its   
offensive wealth1 publicly indulges     
itself in most shameful and infuriating 
luxuries1 even at a time when children  
are dying like flies of starvation and  
pestilence1 and while the men of their  
own household1 who fought to save       
civilisation from the despotism of the  
,prussian theory1 tramp the streets1    
hungry and bitter-hearted1 looking for  
work4  ,on her mind1 moving about       

,england at all times of the year1 the  
reality of these things is for ever     
pressing2 the unthinkable selfishness of
 so many1 and the awful depression of   
the multitude4 ,she says that a system  
which produces1 or permits1 such a state
 of things must be bad1 and radically   
bad4  ,there are moments1 when she      
speaks of these things1 which reveal to 
one a certain anger of her soul1 a      
disposition1 if ,i may say so with great
 respect1 towards vehemence1 a temper of
 impatience and indignation which would 
surely have carried her into the camp of
 anarchy but for the restraining power  
of her religious experience4 ,she feels1
 deeply and burningly1 but she has a    
,master4 ,the flash comes into her eyes1
 but the habitual serenity returns4  ,i 
think1 however1 she might be persuaded  
to believe that it is not so much the   
present system but the pagan selfishness
 of mankind which brings these unequal  
and dreadful things to pass4 ,the lady  
in the closed carriage would not be     

profoundly changed1 we may suppose1 by a
 different system of economics1 but     
surely she might be changed             
altogether--body1 soul1 and spirit--if  
she so willed it1 by that ,power which  
has directed ,miss ,royden's own life to
 such beautiful and wonderful ends4     
,nevertheless1 ,miss ,royden must be    
numbered among the socialists1 the      
,christian socialists1 and              
,individualism will be all the better   
for asking itself how it is that a lady 
so good1 so gentle1 so clear-headed1 and
 so honest should be arrayed with its   
enemies4  ,i should like to speak of one
 memorable experience in ,miss ,royden's
 later life4  ,she has formed a little1 
modest1 unknown1 and ,i think nameless  
guild for personal religion4 ,she       
desires that nothing of its work should 
get into the press and that it should   
not add to its numbers4 ,she wishes it  
to remain a sacred confraternity of her 
private life1 as it were the lady chapel
 of her cathedral services to mankind1  

or as a retreat for her exhausted soul4 
,some months ago she asked a clergyman  
who has succeeded in turning into a     
house of living prayer a ,london church 
which before his coming was like a tomb1
 whether he would allow the members of  
this guild1 all of whom are not members 
of the ,church of ,england1 to come to  
the ,eucharist4 ,he received this       
request with the most generous sympathy1
 saying that he would give them a       
private celebration1 and one morning1   
soon after dawn1 the guild met in this  
church to make its first communion4 ,no 
one else was present4  ,miss ,royden has
 told me that it was an unforgettable   
experience4 ,here was a man1 she said1  
who has no reputation as a great        
scholar1 and no popularity as an orator2
 he is loved simply for his devotion to 
,christ and his sympathy with the       
sorrows of mankind4 ,yet that man1 as no
 other man had done before1 brought the 
,presence of ,god into the hearts of    
that little kneeling guild4 ,it was as  

if1 ,miss ,royden tells me1 ,god was    
there at the altar1 shining upon them   
and blessing them4 ,never before had she
 been more certain of ,god as a ,person4
  ,it is from experiences of this nature
 that she draws fresh power to make men 
and women believe that the ,christian   
religion is a true philosophy of        
reality1 and a true science of healing4 
,she is1 ,i mean1 a mystic4 ,but she    
differs from a mystic like ,dean ,inge  
in this1 that she is a mystic impelled  
by human sympathy to use her mysticism  
as her sole evangel4     ,,canon ,e4,w4 
,,barnes       ,,barnes1 ,rev4 ,,ernest 
,,william1 ,m4,a41 ,sc4,d41 ,f4,r4,s41  
,f4,r4,a4,s42 ,canon      of            
,westminster since #aiah2 b4 #a ,april1 
#ahgd2 e4s4 of ,john ,starkie           
,barnes2 m4 #aiaf1 ,adelaide ,caroline  
,theresa1 o4d4 of ,sir ,adolphus ,w4    
,ward2 two s4 ,educ43 ,king ,edward's   
,school1 ,birmingham2 ,trinity          
,college1 ,cambridge 7,scholar74        
,bracketed #b;d ,wrangler1 #ahif2       

,president of the ,union1 #ahig2 ,first 
,class ,first ,division of the          
,mathematical ,tripos1 ,part ii41 #ahig2
 first ,smith's ,prizeman1 #ahih2       
,fellow of ,trinity ,college1           
#ahih-aiaf2 ,m4,a41 #aijj2 ,ordained1   
#aijb2      ,assistant ,lecturer        
,trinity ,coll41 #aijb2 ,junior ,dean1  
#aijf-h2 ,tutor1      #aijh-ae2 ,master 
of the ,temple1 #aiae-ai2 ,examining    
,chaplain to      ,bishop of ,llandaff1 
#aijf-bj3 a ,governor of ,king ,edward's
 ,school1      ,birmingham1 #aijg2      
,f4,r4,s41 #aiji2 ,select ,preacher1    
,cambridge1 #aijf1      etc41 and       
,oxford1 #aiad-af2 ,fellow of ,king's   
,college1 ,london1 #aiai4               
,illustration3 ,,canon ,e4,w4 ,,barnes  
,,chapter ,,vii  ,,canon ,e4,w4 ,,barnes
        ,true religion takes up that    
place in the mind which superstition    
would usurp1 and so leaves little room  
for it2 and likewise lays us      under 
the strongest obligations to oppose     
it4--,,bishop ,,butler4       ,socrates 

looked up at him1 and replied1          
,farewell3 ,i will do as you      say4  
,then he turned to us and said1 ,how    
courteous the man      is6--,,plato4    
,in this able and courageous ,doctor of 
,science1 who came to theology from     
mathematics1 a great virtue and a small 
fault combine to check his intellectual 
usefulness4 ,his heart is as full of    
modesty as his mind of tentatives4  ,he 
is possessed by a gracious nature1 and  
could no more think of raising his voice
 to shout down a ,boanerges than he     
could dream of lifting an elbow to push 
his way through a press of people bound 
for the limelight4 ,it is only a deep   
moral earnestness which brings him into 
public life at all1 and he endeavours to
 treat that public life not as it is but
 as it ought to be4  ,in the calmness   
and moderation of his sentiments1 in his
 dislike of everything that is          
sensational1 and of all undue emphasis1 
he resembles ,joubert1 who wanted to    
infuse exquisite sense into common      

sense1 or to render exquisite sense     
common4  ,modesty might not so hamper   
the usefulness of ,canon ,barnes if he  
knew a little less than he does know1   
and was also conveniently blind to the  
vastness of scientific territory4 ,but  
he knows much2 much too much for        
vociferation2 and his eyes are so wide  
open to the enormous sweep of scientific
 inquiry that he can nowhere discern at 
present the ground for a single thesis  
which effectually accounts for          
everything--a great lack in a popular   
preacher4  ,i am disposed to deplore the
 degree both of his modesty and his     
scholarship1 for he possesses one of the
 rarest and most precious of gifts in a 
very learned man1 particularly a        
mathematician and a theologian1 namely1 
the gift of lucid exposition4 ,few men  
of our day1 in my judgment1 are better  
qualified to state the whole case for   
,christianity than this distinguished   
,canon of ,westminster ,abbey1 this     
evangelical ,fellow of the ,royal       

,society1 who is nevertheless prevented 
from attracting the attention of the    
multitude by the gracious humility of   
his nature and the intellectual         
nervousness which is apt to inhibit his 
free utterance when he approaches an    
audience in the region of science4      
,what a pity that a clergyman so        
charming and attractive1 and yet so     
modern1 who understands the relativity  
of ,einstein and who is admirably       
grounded in the physical sciences1      
should lack that fighting instinct1 that
 confidence of reason1 which in ,father 
,waggett1 an equally charming person1   
caught the attention of the religious   
world thirty or forty years ago4  ,his  
mind is not unlike the mind of ,lord    
,robert ,cecil1 and it is curious that  
even physically he should at certain    
moments resemble ,lord ,robert1         
particularly in his walk and the almost 
set expression of his eyes4 ,he is tall 
and thin1 and has the same stoop in the 
shoulders1 moving forward as if an      

invisible hand were pressed against the 
back of his neck1 shoving him forward by
 a series of jerks2 and he seems to     
throw1 like ,lord ,robert1 a particular 
sense of enjoyment into the motion of   
his legs1 as though he would get rid of 
all perilous swagger at that1 the less  
harmful end of his two extremities--the 
antipodes of his reason4 ,like ,lord    
,robert1 too1 he has a most pleasant    
voice1 and a slow deliberate way of     
speaking1 and a warm kindly smile which 
fades at the first movement of serious  
thought1 leaving the whole pale face1   
even the dark eyes under their heavy    
brows1 almost deathlike in immobility4  
,one seems to see in such moments the   
spirit withdraw from the surface of     
things to take up its duty at the       
citadel of the intellect4  ,the same    
conflict between temperament and purpose
 which has prevented ,lord ,robert      
,cecil from taking his place at the head
 of a ,government prevents ,canon       
,barnes from advancing at the head of   

modern ,churchmen to the rich future of 
a depaganised and wholly rational       
,christianity4 ,his heart says ,fight1  
but his reason says ,watch4 ,fighting is
 distasteful2 watching is congenial4    
,besides1 while one is watching one can 
review all the hypotheses4 ,a man who is
 not careful in destroying a fallacy may
 damage a truth4  ,but let us be        
grateful for his public utterances1     
which show a high spirit1 a noble       
devotion1 an enviable range of culture1 
and1 for the discerning at least1 tell  
the true time of day4 ,it is one of the 
encouraging signs of the period that    
such distinguished preaching should have
 made a mark4 ,moreover1 he is yet three
 years from fifty1 with a mind so       
hospitable to growth that it has no room
 for one of those prejudices which are  
the dry-nurses of old age4 ,those who   
love truth die young1 whatever their    
age4 ,canon ,barnes may yet give the    
,church a proof of his power to lead--a 
,church at present aware only of his    

power to suggest4  ,he considers that we
 are living in a time of revolution1    
and1 judging by historic precedents1    
particularly the ,renaissance1 he thinks
 we are now in the second stage of our  
revolution1 which is the most difficult 
of all4 ,first1 comes the destruction of
 false ideas--a bracing time for the    
born fighter2 second1 comes the         
tentative search for new ideas--an      
anxious time for the responsible        
philosopher2 third1 comes the preaching 
of these new ideas with passion--the    
opportunity of the enthusiast4 ,happy   
were the divines of the seventeenth     
century6  ,we1 however1 are in the      
second stage4  ,this is not a period for
 new ideas3 it is a period of searching 
for the best idea4 ,he who rushes       
forward with an untried new idea may be 
more dangerous than he who still clings1
 in the ,name of ,christ1 to an old idea
 which is false4 ,we must be quite      
certain of our ground before we advance 
with boldness1 and our boldness must be 

spiritual1 not muscular4  ,modernism has
 fought and won the battle of verbal    
inspiration4 ,no man whose opinion      
counts in the least degree now holds    
that the ,bible was verbally inspired by
 ,god4 ,it is respected1 honoured1      
loved2 but it is no longer a fetish4 ,in
 ceasing to be a superstition1 and in   
coming to be a number of genuine books  
full of light for the student of        
history1 the ,bible is exercising at the
 present time an extraordinary influence
 in the world1 a greater influence      
perhaps on thoughtful minds than it ever
 before exercised4  ,the battle which   
modernism is now fighting over this     
collection of books concerns the ,person
 of ,jesus and the relative value of the
 gospels which narrate ,his life1 and in
 the case of the ,fourth1 endeavour to  
expound ,his teaching4 ,this great      
battle is not over1 but it looks as if  
victory will lie with the more moderate 
school of modernists4 ,outside very     
extreme circles1 the old rigid notions  

concerning the ,person of ,jesus are no 
longer held with the passion which gave 
them a certain noble force in the days  
before ,darwin4 ,there is now a notable 
tell-tale petulance about orthodoxy     
which is sometimes insolent but never   
effective4  ,ahead of this battle1 which
 the present generation may live to see 
fought out to a conclusion1 lies a third
 struggle likely to be of a more        
desperate character than its two        
forerunners--the battle over            
,sacramental ,christianity4 ,already in 
,france and ,germany the question is    
asked1 ,did ,jesus institute any        
sacraments at all8 ,but even in these   
two countries the battle has not yet    
begun in real earnest1 while over here  
only readers of ,lake and ,kennedy are  
dimly aware of a coming storm4 ,that    
storm will concern rites which few      
orthodox ,christians have ever regarded 
as heathen in their spirit1 though some 
have come to know they are pagan in     
origin4  ,it is not wise to ignore this 

future struggle1 but our main           
responsibility is to bear a manful part 
in the struggle which is now upon us4   
,there are three types of modernists4   
,there is1 first of all1 the ,liberal1  
who regards ,christianity as a form of  
,platonism resting on the idea of       
absolute values4 ,this is dangerous     
ground3 something more is required4     
,then there is the evangelical          
modernist1 who accepts almost everything
 in the ,higher ,criticism1 but holds to
 ,christ as an incarnation of the       
,divine purpose1 an incarnation1 if you 
will1 of ,god1 all we can know of ,god  
limited by ,his human body1 as ,god we  
must suppose is not limited1 but still  
,god4 ,and1 finally1 there is the       
,catholic modernist1 who believes in a  
,church1 who makes the sacraments his   
centre of religion1 and exalts          
,christianity to the head of all the    
mystery religions which have played a   
part in the evolution of the human race4
 ,this is not likely to be the          

prevailing type of modernism4  ,it looks
 as if the main body of modern opinion  
is moving in the direction followed by  
the second of these schools--the        
evangelical4 ,here is preserved all that
 great range of deep feeling and all    
that fine energy of unselfish           
earnestness which have given to         
,christianity the most effectual of its 
impulses4 ,a man may still worship      
,christ1 and still make obedience to the
 ,will of ,christ the chief passion or  
object of his existence1 although he no 
longer believes that ,jesus was either  
born out of the order of nature or died 
to turn away the vengeance of ,god from 
a world which had sinned itself beyond  
the reach of infinite love4  ,like      
,goethe1 such a man will say3 ,as soon  
as the pure doctrine and love of ,christ
 are comprehended in their true nature1 
and have become a living principle1 we  
shall feel ourselves great and free as  
human beings1 and not attach special    
importance to a degree more or less in  

the outward forms of religion4  ,the    
critics of modernism do not seem able1  
for some reason1 to grasp a truth which 
has been apparent all down the ages1 a  
truth so old that it is almost entitled 
to be regarded as a tradition1 and so   
widely held that it is almost worthy to 
be called catholic1 namely1 the truth   
that ,jesus loses none of ,his power    
over human history so long as ,he abides
 a living principle in the hearts of    
individual men4 ,so long as ,he         
expresses for mankind the ,character of 
,god and reveals to mankind the nature  
of ,god's purpose1 so long as men love  
,him as they love no other1 and set     
themselves to make ,his spirit tell1    
first in their lives and after that in  
the world about them1 does it greatly   
matter whether they speak of ,his       
divinity or ,his uniqueness1 whether    
they accept definitions concerning ,him 
7framed by men in the dark ages7 or go  
about to do ,his will with no           
definitions in their mind at all beyond 

the intellectual conviction that here is
 ,one who spoke as no other man has     
spoken since the creation of the world8 
,canon ,barnes1 who disowns the name of 
modernist1 but who is the very opposite 
of an obscurantist in his               
evangelicalism1 is careful to insist    
upon a rational loyalty to ,christ4 ,i  
tried one day to tempt him on this head1
 speaking of the miraculous changes     
wrought in men's lives by religious     
fervour pure and simple2 but it was in  
vain4 ,he agrees that religious fervour 
may work such miracles3 he is the last  
man in the world to dismiss these       
miracles as curious and interesting     
phenomena of psychology2 but he insists1
 and is like a rock on this matter1 that
 emotional ,christianity is not safe    
without an intellectual background4  ,he
 makes me feel that his modernism1 if ,i
 may presume to use that term1 is an    
evangelical desire of his soul to give  
men this intellectual background to     
their faith4 ,he wants1 as it were1 to  

save their beliefs rather than their    
souls4 ,he regards the emotionalist as  
occupying territory as dangerous to     
himself and to the victory of           
,christianity as the territory occupied 
by the traditionalist4 ,both schools    
offend the mind of rational men2 both   
make ,christianity seem merely an affair
 of temperament2 and both are exposed to
 the danger of losing their faith4  ,to 
convert the world to the ,will of ,god1 
it is essential that the ,christian     
should have a rational explanation of   
his faith1 a faith which1 resting only  
on tradition or emotion1 must obviously 
take its place among all the other      
competing religions of mankind1 a       
religion possessing no authority        
recognised by the modern world4  ,the   
modern world rightly asks of every      
opinion and idea presented to its       
judgment1 ,is it true8 and it has reason
 on its side in being sceptical         
concerning the records of the past4 ,if 
not1 there are religions in the world of

 an antiquity greater than              
,christianity's1 whose traditions have  
been faithfully kept by a vaster host of
 the human race than has ever followed  
the traditions of ,christianity4 ,is it 
to be a battle between tradition and    
tradition8 ,is age to be a test of      
truth8 ,is devotion to a formula to     
count as an argument8  ,the             
emotionalist1 too1 is no longer on safe 
ground in protesting his miracles of    
conversion4 ,the psychologist is        
advancing towards that ground1 and      
advancing with every theory of          
supernatural evidence excluded from his 
mind4 ,the psychologist may eventually  
be driven to accept the ,christian      
explanation of these phenomena2 but     
until that surrender is made the        
emotionalist will not be the power in   
the world which he ought to be4 ,his    
house1 too1 must be founded upon a rock4
  ,let us not be afraid of examining our
 faith1 bringing our minds as well as   
our hearts and our souls to the place of

 judgment4  ,i will give here a few     
quotations from the utterances of ,canon
 ,barnes which show his position with   
sufficient clearness4       ,we all seek
 for truth4 ,but1 whereas to some truth 
seems a tide      destined to rise and  
sweep destructively across lands where  
,jesus      reigned as the ,son of ,god1
 to me it is the power which will set   
free new streams to irrigate ,his       
,kingdom4       ,as is obvious to       
everyone1 all the ,churches realise1    
though some do      not acknowledge1 the
 necessity of presenting the ,christian 
,faith in      terms of current thought4
       ,we have seen the urgent need of 
a fuller knowledge of the structure     
of the human mind if we would explain   
how ,jesus was related to ,god      and 
how we receive grace from ,god through  
,christ4       ,i am an ,evangelical2 ,i
 cannot call myself a modernist4 ,i have
      welcomed the intervention of those
 who1 disclaiming any knowledge      of 
scholarship or theology1 have in simple 

language revealed the      power of     
,christ in their lives4 ,for theory and 
practice1      speculation and life1    
cannot be separated4 ,we cannot begin to
      explain ,jesus until we know how  
men and women are transformed by        
the love of ,christ constraining them4  
,those to whom religion is external and 
worship formal are of      necessity    
pretentious or arid in speaking of such 
matters as the      ,person of ,christ  
or the value of creeds4       ,we do not
 affirm that the ,lord's ,person and    
work have been central      in          
,christianity in the past4 ,there is    
much to be said for the view      that  
they were1 from the end of the second   
century to the close of      the ,middle
 ,ages1 concealed beneath alien ideas   
derived from the      mystery religions2
 that the ,reformation was the hammer   
which broke      the husk within which1 
under ,god's providence1 the kernel had 
been      preserved during the decline  
and eclipse of ,european civilisation4  

4 4 4 as religion grows in richness and 
purity1 ,jesus comes to ,his      own4  
,reason and intuition combine to justify
 the belief that our ,lord      had a   
right understanding of what man can     
become4       ,we say that man is not   
only a part of the evolutionary process4
 ,his      highest attributes must serve
 to show its purpose4 ,they reveal the  
nature and the end of ,god's plan4      
4 4 4 as man develops in the way        
predestined by ,god1 he will            
continually approach the standard set by
 ,jesus4 ,jesus will ever      more     
completely draw men and inspire them    
because they will more      fully       
understand that ,he explains them to    
themselves4       ,the present          
degradation of human life is due to     
man's refusal to      accept ,christ's  
estimate of its values and duties4 ,it  
will endure      so long as the work and
 ,person of ,christ are refused their   
right      place in human thought and   
aspiration4       ,jesus still lives1   

great and unexplained4  ,from these     
quotations it will be seen that ,canon  
,barnes is not searching the documents  
of ,christianity for a new hypothesis1  
but rather for a new understanding by   
which he may be able to present the     
historic power of ,christianity in terms
 of modern thought4 ,jesus remains for  
him the central ,figure of evolution4   
,human thought1 he declares1 as moulded 
by developed aspirations and accumulated
 knowledge1 will not sweep past ,jesus  
but will circle round ,him as the centre
 where ,god revealed ,himself4  ,perhaps
 we shall best understand the position  
of ,canon ,barnes if we see him1 neither
 on this side nor on that of the warring
 controversy1 but rather among the      
entire host of ,christianity1 warning   
all schools of thought1 all parties1 all
 sects1 that they must prepare          
themselves for the final strife which is
 yet to come1 that great strife1        
foreseen by ,newman1 when the two       
contrary principles of human life1 the  

,good and the ,evil1 shall rush upon    
each other contending for the soul of   
the world4 ,christianity must become    
united and strong at its centre1 if it  
is to withstand this onslaught4  ,he is 
not to be thought of as one who would   
adapt religion to the needs of the day1 
but as one who believes that1 thoroughly
 understood1 religion is adequate to the
 needs1 not only of our day1 but to the 
needs of all time4 ,for to ,canon       
,barnes1 religion is simply the teaching
 of ,christ1 and ,christ is the         
revelation to man of ,god's nature and  
purpose4 ,he would simplify dogma in    
order to clarify truth4 ,he would       
clarify truth in order to enlarge the   
opportunities of ,christ4 ,he would call
 no man a heretic who is not serving the
 devil4 ,none who seeks to enter the    
,kingdom will ever be hindered by this  
devout disciple of truth in whose blood 
is no drop of the toxin of ,pharisaism4 
,you may see the intellectual charity of
 the man in his attitude towards other  

teachers of our time whose views are    
opposed to his own4 ,of ,dean ,inge he  
has spoken to me with almost a ringing  
enthusiasm1 emphasizing his unbounded   
force1 his unbounded courage2 and of    
,bishop ,gore with the deepest respect1 
paying reverent tribute to his spiritual
 earnestness2 even the ,bishop of       
,zanzibar provokes only a smile of the  
most cheerful good humour4  ,he inclines
 quietly towards optimism1 believing in 
the providence of ,god and thinking that
 the recent indifference to religion is 
passing away4 ,men are now seeking1 and 
to seek is eventually to find4 ,this    
seeking1 he observes1 is among the      
latest utterances of theology1 a fact of
 considerable importance4 ,to keep      
abreast of truth one must neither go    
back nor stand still4 ,men are now not  
so much swallowing great names as       
looking for a candle4  ,not long ago he 
paid a visit to a favourite bookshop of 
his in ,cambridge1 and inquired for     
second-hand volumes of theology4 ,i have

 nothing here1 replied the bookseller1  
that would interest you4 ,the books you 
would like go out the day after they    
come in1 sometimes the same day4 ,then  
pointing to the upper shelves1 ,but     
,i've plenty of the older books2 and    
there in the dust and neglect of the top
 shelves ,canon ,barnes surveyed the    
works of grave and portentous           
theologians who wrote1 some before the  
days of ,darwin1 and some in the first  
heyday of ,darwinism4 ,he said to me1   
,lightfoot is still consulted1 but even 
,westcott is now neglected4  ,he spoke  
of two difficulties for the ,church4    
,one is this3 her supreme need at the   
present time is men for the ministry1   
the best kind of men1 more men and much 
better men1 men of learning and         
character1 able to teach with persuasive
 authority4 ,it is not the voice of     
atheism we hear2 it is the voice of the 
,church that we miss4 ,but1 as ,bishop  
,gore claims1 most of the theological   
colleges are in the hands of the        

traditionalists1 and the tendency of    
these colleges is to turn out priests   
rather than teachers1 formalists rather 
than evangelists4 ,such colleges as     
represent the evangelical movement are1 
thanks to their title deeds1 largely in 
the hands of pious laymen not very well 
educated1 who adhere rigidly to a school
 of thought which is associated in the  
modern mind with an extreme of          
narrowness4 ,thus it comes about that   
many men who might serve the ,church    
with great power are driven away at her 
doors4 ,something must be done to get   
men whose love of truth is a part of    
their love of ,god4  ,the second        
difficulty concerns the leadership of   
the ,church4 ,bishops should be men with
 time to think1 able when they address  
mankind to speak from the top of the    
mind2 scholars rather than              
administrators1 saints rather than      
statesmen2 but such is the present      
condition that a man who is made a      
bishop finds himself so immersed in the 

business of a great institution that his
 intellectual and spiritual life become 
things of accident1 luxurious things to 
be squeezed into the odd moments1 if    
there are any1 of an almost breathless  
day4 ,this is not good for the ,church4 
,the world is not asking for mechanism4 
,it is asking for light4 ,it is1 indeed1
 an over-organised world working in the 
dark4  ,canon ,barnes1 however1 is not  
concerned only with the theological     
aspects of ,christianity4 ,for him1     
religion is above all other things a    
social force1 a great cleansing and     
sanctifying influence in the daily life 
of evolving man4 ,one may obtain a just 
idea of his mind from a pronouncement he
 made at the last conference of ,modern 
,churchmen3       ,we cannot call       
ourselves ,christians unless we         
recognise that we      must preach the  
,gospel2 that we must go out and labour 
to bring men      and women to ,christ4 
,the ,kingdom of ,god is a social ideal4
       ,modern ,churchmen cannot stand  

aloof from intellectual1 political1     
and economic problems4       ,to bring  
the ,gospel into the common life1 to    
carry the message and      sympathies of
 ,jesus into the factory1 the street1   
the house1 is an      urgent necessity  
in our age4  ,he sees ,christianity1 not
 as an interesting school of philosophy1
 not as a charming subject for brilliant
 and amicable discussions1 but as a     
force essential to the salvation of     
mankind2 a force1 however1 which must   
first be disentangled from the          
accretions of ancient error before it   
can work its transforming miracles both 
in the heart of men and in the          
institutions of a materialistic         
civilisation4 ,it is in order that it   
should thus work in the world1 saving   
the world and fulfilling the purposes of
 ,god1 that he labours in no particular 
school of the ,church1 to make the      
reasonableness of ,christ a living      
possession of the modern mind4  ,supreme
 in his character is that virtue ,dr4   

,johnson observed and praised in a ,duke
 of ,devonshire--a dogged veracity4     
,,general ,,bramwell ,,booth   ,,booth1 
,w4 ,,bramwell1 ,general of the         
,salvation ,army since #aiab2 e4s4 of   
late ,general ,booth2 b4 ,halifax1 #h   
,march1 #ahef2 m4 #ehhb1 ,florence      
,eleanor2 two s4 four d4 ,educ43        
,privately4 ,commenced public work      
#ahgd2 ,chairman of the ,s4,a4 ,life    
,assurance ,society and the ,reliance   
,bank2 ,chief of ,staff1 ,salvation     
,army1 #ahhj-aiab4 ,publications3 ,books
 that ,bless2 ,our ,master2 ,servants of
 ,all2 ,social ,reparation2 ,on the     
,banks of the ,river2 ,bible            
,battle-,axes2 ,life and ,religion2 and 
various pamphlets on ,social and        
,religious ,subjects4  ,illustration3   
,,general ,,bramwell ,,booth            
,,chapter ,,viii  ,,general ,,bramwell  
,,booth        4 4 4 for the generality 
of men1 the attempt to live such a life 
would be a fatal mistake2 it would      
narrow instead of widening their        

minds1 it would harden instead of       
softening their hearts4 ,indeed1        
the effort thus to go beyond themselves1
 and wind themselves too      high1     
might even be followed by reaction to a 
life more profane      and              
self-indulgent than that of the world in
 general4--,,edward      ,,caird4       
,because ,general ,booth wears a uniform
 he commands the public curiosity2 but  
because of that curiosity the public    
perhaps misses his considerable         
abilities and his singular attraction4  
,his worst enemy is his frogged coat4   
,attention is diverted from his head to 
his epaulettes4 ,he deserves1 ,i am     
convinced1 a more intelligent           
inquisitiveness4  ,to begin with1 he is 
to be regarded as the original founder  
of that remarkable and truly catholic   
body of ,christians known as the        
,salvation ,army4 ,his picturesque      
father and his wonderful mother were the
 humanity of that movement1 but their   
son was its first impulse of spiritual  

fanaticism4 ,the father was the dramatic
 showman of this movement1 the son its  
fire4 ,the mother endowed it with the   
energy of a deep and tender emotion1 the
 son provided it with machinery4  ,it   
was ,mr4 ,bramwell ,booth1 with his     
young friend ,mr4 ,railton abetting him1
 who1 discontented with the dullness and
 conservatism of the ,christian         
,mission1 drove the ,reverend ,william  
,booth1 an ex-,methodist minister       
preaching repentance in the slums1 to   
fling restraint of every kind to the    
winds and to go in for religion as if it
 were indeed the only thing in the world
 that counted4 ,william ,booth at that  
time was forty-nine years of age4       
,again1 it was ,mr4 ,bramwell ,booth1   
working behind the scenes and pulling   
all the strings1 who edged his father   
away from concluding an alliance with   
the ,church of ,england in the early    
eighties4 ,archbishop ,benson was       
anxious to conclude that alliance1 on   
terms4 ,the terms did not seem          

altogether onerous to the old ,general1 
who was rather fond of meeting          
dignitaries4 ,but ,mr4 ,bramwell ,booth 
would hear of no concession which       
weakened the ,army's authority in the   
slums1 and which would also eventually  
weaken its authority in the world4 ,he  
refused to acknowledge any service or   
rite of the ,church as essential to the 
salvation of men4 ,if the ,lord's       
,supper were essential the ,army would  
have it2 but the ,army had proved that  
no other power was necessary to the     
working of miracles in the souls of men 
beyond the direct mercy of ,god acting  
on the centre of true penitence4 ,he was
 the uncompromising protagonist of      
conversion1 and his father came to agree
 with him4  ,neither the old ,general   
nor his inspired wife1 admirable as     
revivalists1 had the true fire of       
fanaticism in their blood4 ,they were   
too warm-hearted4 ,that strange         
unearthly fire burns only to its whitest
 heat1 perhaps1 in veins which are cold 

and minds which are hard4 ,it does not  
easily make its home in benevolent and  
philanthropic natures1 certainly never  
in purely sentimental natures4 ,i think 
its opening is made not by love but by  
hatred4 ,a man may love ,god with all   
his heart1 all his mind1 and all his    
soul1 without feeling the spur of       
fanaticism in his blood4 ,but let him   
hate sin with only a part of his heart1 
mind1 and soul1 and he becomes a        
fanatic4 ,his hatred will grow till it  
consumes his whole being4  ,one need not
 be long in the company of ,general     
,bramwell ,booth to discover that he has
 two distinct and separate manners1 and 
that neither expresses the whole truth  
of his rational life4 ,at one moment he 
is full of cheerful good sense1 the very
 incarnation of jocular heartiness1 a   
bluff1 laughing1 rallying1 chafing1 and 
tolerant good fellow1 overflowing with  
the milk of human kindness1 oozing with 
the honey of social sweetness4 ,at the  
next moment1 however1 the voice sinks   

suddenly to the key of what ,father     
,knox1 ,i am afraid1 would call         
unctimoniousness1 the eyelids flutter   
like the wings of a butterfly1 the whole
 plump pendulous face appears to vibrate
 with emotion1 the body becomes stiff   
with feeling1 the lips depressed with   
tragedy1 and the dark eyes shine with   
the suppressed tears of an unimaginable 
pathos4  ,in both of these moments there
 is no pretence4 ,the two manners       
represent two genuine aspects of his    
soul in its commerce with mankind4 ,he  
believes that the world likes to be     
clapped on the shoulder1 to be rallied  
on its manifest inconsistencies1 and to 
have its hand wrung with a real         
heartiness4 ,also he believes that the  
heart of the world is sentimental1 and  
that an authentic appeal in that quarter
 may lead to friendship--a friendship   
which1 in its turn1 may lead to         
business4 ,business is the true end of  
all his heartiness4  ,it is in his      
business manner that one gets nearer to 

the innermost secret of his nature4 ,he 
is before everything else a superb man  
of business1 far-seeing1 practical1     
hard-headed1 an organiser of victory1 a 
statesman of the human soul4 ,you cannot
 speak to him in this practical sphere  
without feeling that he is a man of the 
most unusual ability4  ,he can outline a
 complicated scheme with a precision and
 an economy of words which1 he makes you
 feel1 is a tribute to your perspicacity
 rather than a demonstration of his own 
powers of exposition4 ,he comes quicker 
to the point than nine men of business  
out of ten4 ,and he sticks to the main  
point with a tenacity which might be    
envied by every industrial magnate in   
the country4  ,moreover1 when it comes  
to your turn to speak he listens with   
the whole of his attention strung up to 
its highest pitch1 his eyes wide open   
staring at you1 his mouth pursed up into
 a little ,o of suction1 his fingers    
pressing to his ear the receiver of a   
machine which overcomes his deafness1   

his whole body leaning half across the  
table in his eagerness to hear every    
word you say4  ,no sentiment shows in   
his face1 no emotion sounds in his      
voice4 ,he is pure mind1 a practical    
mind taut with attention4 ,if he have   
occasion in these moments to ring the   
bell for an adjutant or a colonel1 that 
official is addressed with the brevity  
and directness of a manager giving an   
order to his typist4 ,instead of a text 
over his mantelpiece one might expect to
 find the commercial legend1 ,business  
,is ,business4  ,here1 as ,i have said1 
one is nearer to the truth of his       
nature1 for ,general ,booth is an       
organiser who loves organisation1 a     
diplomatist who delights in measuring   
his intelligence against the            
recalcitrance of mankind1 a general who 
finds a deep satisfaction of soul in    
moving masses of men to achieve the     
purpose of his own design4  ,but even   
here one is not at the innermost secret 
of this extraordinary man's nature4  ,at

 the back of everything1 ,i am          
convinced1 is the cold and commanding   
intensity of a really great fanatic4 ,he
 believes as no little child believes in
 ,god and ,satan1 ,heaven and ,hell1 and
 the eternal conflict of ,god and ,evil4
 ,he believes1 too1 as few priests of   
orthodox churches believe1 that a man   
must in very truth be born again before 
he can inherit the ,kingdom of ,heaven2 
that is to say1 before he can escape the
 unimaginable agonies of an eternal     
dismissal from the ,presence of ,god4   
,but more than anything else he believes
 that sin is hateful2 a monstrous       
perversion to be attacked with all the  
fury of a good man's soul4  ,there is   
violence in his mind and violence in his
 religion4 ,he believes in fighting the 
devil1 and he delights in fighting him4 
,i will not say that there is more joy  
at ,salvation ,army ,headquarters over  
one poor miserable brand plucked from   
the burning than over ninety and nine   
cheques from wealthy subscribers2 but ,i

 am perfectly confident that the        
pleasure experienced at the sight of all
 those welcome cheques has its rise in  
the knowledge that money is power--power
 to fight the devil4  ,no man of my     
knowledge is so strangely blended as    
this genius of ,salvation ,army         
organisation4 ,for although he is first 
and foremost a calm statesman of        
religious fervour1 cool-headed1         
clear-eyed1 and deliberative1 a man     
profoundly inspired by hatred of evil1  
yet there are moments in his life of    
almost superhuman energy when the whole 
structure of his mind seems to give way1
 and the spirit appears like a child    
lost in a dark wood and almost paralysed
 with fear4 ,not seldom he was in his   
father's arms sobbing over the          
sufferings of humanity and the hardness 
of the world's heart1 mingling his tears
 with his father's4 ,often in these late
 days he is in sore need of ,mrs4       
,bramwell ,booth's level-headed good    
sense to restore his exhausted emotions4

 ,and occasionally1 like ,lord          
,northcliffe1 it is wise for him to get 
away from the ,machine altogether1 to   
travel far across the world or to rest  
in a cottage by the sea1 waiting for a  
return of the energy which consumes him 
and yet keeps him alive4  ,it is        
possible to think that this formidable  
apostle of conversion is himself a      
divided self4 ,his house of clay1 one   
might almost suggest1 is occupied by two
 tenants1 one of whom would weep over   
sinners1 while the other can serve ,god 
only by cudgelling the ,devil back to   
hell with imprecations of a rich and    
florid nature4 ,this stronger self1     
because of its cudgel1 is in command of 
the situation1 but the whimpering of the
 other is not to be stilled by blows    
which1 however hearty and devastating1  
have not yet brought the devil to his   
knees4  ,it is interesting to sit in    
conversation with this devoted disciple 
of evangelicalism1 and occasionally to  
lift one's eyes from his face to the    

portrait of his mother which hangs above
 his head4 ,the two faces are almost    
identical1 hauntingly identical2 so much
 so that one comes to regard the        
coachman-like whiskers clapped to the   
,general's cheeks as in the nature of a 
disguise1 thinking of him as his        
mother's eldest daughter rather than as 
his father's eldest son4 ,there is      
certainly nothing about him which       
suggests the old ,general1 and his mind 
is much more the mind of his mother--one
 of the most remarkable women in the    
world's history--than the mind of his   
father4  ,catherine ,booth was a zealot 
and at the heart of her theology a hard 
zealot4 ,she believed that the physical 
agony of disease was a part of ,god's   
discipline1 and that humanity is called 
upon to bear that fierce fire for the   
purification of its wicked spirit4 ,she 
never flinched in confronting the       
theology of ,methodism4 ,she was in     
practice the tenderest of women1 the    
most compassionate of missionaries1 the 

most persuasive orator of the emotions  
in her day2 but in theory she was as    
hard as steel4  ,her husband1 on the    
other hand1 who threw ,jehovah's        
thunderbolts across the world as if he  
liked them1 and approved of them1 and   
was ready for any further number of     
these celestial missiles1 of an even    
vaster displacement1 was in his heart of
 hearts a wistful believer in           
everlasting mercy4 ,few men have been   
born with a softer heart4 ,he sometimes 
wondered whether in framing the         
,regulations of the ,salvation ,army he 
had not pressed too hard on human       
nature4 ,to the horrified scandal of his
 son1 he even came to question1 if only 
for a passing moment1 the ordinance     
which forbids tobacco to the            
,salvationist4  ,he used to say in his  
old age1 ruminating over the past1 ,our 
standard is high4 ,our demand is hard2  
aye1 very hard4 ,yes1 we don't mince    
matters in soul-saving4 ,we demand the  
whole of a man1 not a little bit of him1

 or three-fourths of him1 or two-thirds 
of him2 we demand every drop of his     
blood and every beat of his heart and   
every thought of his brain4 ,yes1 it's a
 hard discipline--hard because the      
standard is so high4 ,i hope it is not  
too hard4  ,his son has never once1 so  
far as my knowledge goes1 questioned    
even the extremest of ,salvation ,army  
,regulations4 ,the more extreme they    
are1 the more they please him4 ,it is   
one of his many good sayings that you   
cannot make a man clean by washing his  
shirt4 ,his scrubbing brush is apt1 ,i  
think1 to remove some of the skin with  
the dirt4 ,he believes without question 
that the only human test of conversion  
is the uttermost willingness of the soul
 to be spent in the service of          
soul-saving4 ,if a man wishes to keep   
anything back from ,god1 his heart is   
not given to ,god4 ,he is no            
emotionalist in this matter4 ,he uses   
emotion to break down the resistance of 
a sinner1 but when once the surrender is

 made reason takes command of the       
illumined soul4 ,he was asked on one    
occasion if he did not regard emotion as
 a dangerous thing4 ,not when it is     
organised1 was his reply4  ,the only    
concession he seems willing to make to  
the critics of the ,salvation ,army is  
in the matter of its hymns4 ,he         
confesses that some of those hymns are  
crude and unlovely2 but examine this    
confession and you find that it is only 
the language which causes him           
uneasiness4 ,approach him on the subject
 of dogma1 the dogma crudely expressed  
but truthfully expressed in the worst of
 those hymns1 and he is as hard as      
,bishop ,gore or ,father ,knox4  ,he has
 been too busy1 ,i think1 to hear even a
 whisper from the field of modernism1   
though exaggerated rumours of what is   
taking place in that field must         
occasionally reach his ear and confirm  
him in his obscurantism4  ,perhaps it is
 all to the good that he should be thus 
wholly uninterested in the speculations 

of the trained theologian4 ,he has other
 work to do1 and work of great          
importance1 with few rivals and no      
helpers4 ,by the machine which he       
controls so admirably1 men and women all
 over the world1 and usually in the     
darkest places of the world1 are turned 
from living disastrous lives1 lives     
which too often involve the suffering of
 children1 and encouraged and braced up 
to lead lives of great beauty and an    
extreme of self-sacrifice4  ,he does    
well1 ,i think1 to stick with the       
unwavering and uncompromising tenacity  
of a fanatic to that centre of the      
,christian religion from which was      
derived in the first two centuries of   
its great history almost all impetus    
which enabled it to escape from ,judaism
 and conquer the world4 ,it is still    
true1 and ,i suppose it will remain true
 to the end of time1 that man born of a 
woman must be born again of the spirit  
if he is to pass from darkness into     
light4 ,this1 after all1 is the whole   

thesis of ,salvationism1 and if ,general
 ,booth wavered here the ,army would be 
scattered to the winds4 ,as for his     
definitions of light and darkness1 at   
this stage of the world's journey we    
need not be too nice in our acceptance  
of them4  ,but there remains the        
important question of ,salvation ,army  
methods4  ,it seems to me that here a   
change is desirable1 not a radical      
change1 for many of those methods are   
admirable enough1 particularly those of 
which the public too seldom hears1 but a
 change all the same1 and one deep      
enough to create fresh sympathy for this
 devoted movement of evangelical        
,christianity4  ,i think it is time to  
stop praying and preaching at street    
corners1 to mitigate the more brazen    
sounds of the ,army band1 and to        
discountenance all colloquialisms in    
,salvationist propaganda4 ,i do not     
wish1 ,god forbid1 to make the ,army    
respectable2 ,i wish it to remain       
exactly where it is--but with a greater 

quietness and a deeper1 more personal   
sympathy in its appeal to the sad and   
the sorrowful4  ,general ,booth is not  
the man to make these changes1 but his  
wife is a woman who might4 ,in any case 
they will be made4 ,time will bring them
 about4 ,then it will be seen1 ,i think1
 that the ,salvation ,army is one of the
 most powerful agencies in the world for
 spreading the good news of personal    
religion among the depressed millions of
 the human race4 ,for even at this      
present time the lasting work of the    
,salvationist1 the work which makes him 
so noble and so useful a figure in the  
modern world1 is not accomplished by    
pageantry and tub-thumping1 but by the  
intimate1 often most beautiful1 and very
 little known work of its slum officers1
 particularly the women4  ,finally1     
concerning the ,general1 he is in       
himself a telling witness to one of the 
mysterious powers of the ,christian     
religion4 ,for he is surely by          
temperament one of the most unstable of 

minds1 and yet by the power of religion 
he has become a coherent personality of 
almost rigid singleness of purpose4 ,in 
conversation with him one cannot help   
feeling that he is jumpy and excitable2 
every movement of his extremely mobile  
face suggests a soul of gutta-percha    
stretched in all directions by the      
movements of his brain1 and twitching   
with every thought that crosses his     
mind2 but at the same time one is aware 
in him of a power which is never        
deflected by a hair's breadth from the  
path of a single purpose1 and which     
holds him together with a strength that 
may be weakened but that can never be   
broken4  ,his supreme value for the     
student of religion is to be found in   
the explanation of this unifying power4 
,in spite of intellectual shortcomings  
which might seem almost to exclude him  
from the serious attention of educated  
people1 he stands out with a marked     
emphasis from the company of far abler  
men by reason of this power--this sense 

of unusual vigour and abnormal          
concentration of strength4 ,and the     
explanation of this power1 which unifies
 an otherwise incoherent personality1 is
 to be found1 ,i am quite confident1 in 
his burning hatred of iniquity4  ,as a  
boy1 like the poet ,gray and the late   
,lord ,salisbury1 he suffered a good    
deal of bullying1 and thus learned at   
school something beyond the reach of the
 ,latin ,grammar1 namely1 the brutality 
of human nature4 ,he has never forgotten
 that discovery4 ,indeed1 his after-life
 has widened and intensified that early 
lesson4 ,sin is brutality4 ,it is       
selfishness seeking its low pleasure and
 its base delight in vilest             
self-indulgence involving the suffering 
of others1 sometimes their profoundest  
degradation1 even their absolute        
destruction4 ,particularly did he       
experience this burning conviction when 
he came to understand the well-nigh     
inconceivable brutality of sexual vice4 
,i believe that it was a poor harlot in 

the slums of ,london who first opened   
for him the door of fanaticism4  ,he had
 longed as a schoolboy to hit back at   
his tyrants1 and now in the dawn of     
manhood that long repression made its   
weight felt in the blows he showered on 
the face of evil4 ,for a year or two he 
was a wild man of evangelicalism1       
leading attacks on evil1 challenging    
public attention1 seeking imprisonment1 
courting martyrdom4 ,it was from the    
flaming indignation of his soul that    
,mr4 ,stead took fire1 and led a crusade
 against impurity which shocked the     
conscience of the eighties4 ,but so deep
 and eternal was this hatred of evil1   
that ,general ,booth soon came to see   
that he must express it in some manner  
which would outlive the heady moments of
 a lightning campaign4 ,he settled down 
to express that profound abhorrence of  
iniquity in terms of organisation4      
,tares might be torn suddenly from the  
human heart1 but not the root of evil4  
,if he could not kill the devil1 at     

least he could circumvent him4  ,such   
intense hatred of evil as still consumes
 his being is not popular in these days1
 and may perhaps be regarded as         
irrational4 ,but we should do well to   
remind ourselves that while those who   
regard evil merely as a vestigial memory
 of human evolution do little or nothing
 to check its ravages1 men like ,general
 ,booth1 and the men and women inspired 
by his abhorrence1 save every year from 
physical and moral destruction thousands
 of unhappy people who become at once   
the apostles of an extreme goodness4    
,such evidences of mediocrity as exist  
in the ,salvationist are purely         
intellectual2 morally and spiritually he
 is in the advance guard of the human   
race4     ,,dr4 ,w4,e4 ,,orchard        
,,orchard1 ,rev4 ,,william ,,edwin1     
,minister of the ,king's ,weigh ,house  
,church1 ,duke ,street1 ,w41 since      
#aiad2 b4 #bj ,nov41 #ahhg2 e4s4 of     
,john ,orchard1 ,rugby2 m4 #aijd1 ,anna 
,maria 7d4 #aibj71 widow of ,rev4 ,ellis

 ,hewitt of ,aldershot4 ,educ43 ,board  
,school2 private tuition2 ,westminster  
,college1 ,cambridge4 ,ordained1        
,enfield1 #aijd1 ,b4,d41 ,london1 #aije2
 ,d4,d41 ,london1 #aiji4  ,illustration3
 ,,dr4 ,w4,e4 ,,orchard     ,,chapter   
,,ix  ,,dr4 ,w4,e4 ,,orchard       ,o1  
you poor creatures in the large cities  
of wide-world politics1      you young1 
gifted1 ambition-tormented men1 who     
consider it your      duty to give your 
opinion on everything that occurs2 who1 
by thus      raising dust and noise1    
mistake yourselves for the chariot of   
history2 who1 being always on the       
look-out for an opportunity to      put 
in a word or two1 lose all true         
productiveness4 ,however      desirous  
you may be of doing great deeds1 the    
profound silence of      pregnancy never
 comes to you4 ,the event of the day    
sweeps you along      like chaff1 while 
you fancy that you are chasing          
it4--,,nietzsche4   ,until quite the    
other day ,i looked upon ,dr4 ,orchard  

as a person unique in his generation4   
,but ,i am now told by an authority in  
the nonconformist world that there are  
two others of him--one1 ,i think1 in    
,birmingham1 the second in ,clapham4  ,i
 am still permitted to think1 however1  
that to ,dr4 ,orchard belongs the       
distinction of being the first person of
 this erratic trinity1 and therefore we 
may still regard him with that measure  
of curiosity which is the tribute paid  
by simple people to the eccentric and   
the abnormal4  ,but let me warn the     
reader against expectations of an       
original genius4 ,dr4 ,orchard does not 
create2 he copies4 ,his innovations are 
all made after visits to the            
lumber-room4 ,it is by going back such a
 long distance into the past that he    
startles1 and by coming round full      
circle that he appears to surprise the  
future4  ,but where originality is rare1
 eccentricity must not be discounted4   
,dr4 ,orchard is a ritualist in the     
midst of nonconformity2 the first ,free 

,churchman1 ,i believe1 to entertain    
exalted ceremonial aspirations1 and to  
kneel for his orders at the feet of an  
orthodox bishop4 ,one might almost      
hazard the conjecture that he remains in
 the ,congregationalist ,communion1 as  
so many ,anglo-,catholics remain in the 
,establishment1 solely to supply the    
fermentation of an idea which will      
shatter its present constitution4 ,one  
thinks of him as a repentant ,cromwell  
restoring that bauble to its accustomed 
place on the table of tradition4  ,in   
his heart of hearts he would appear to  
be a fervent institutionalist1 a lover  
of ceremonial1 and a convinced          
sacerdotalist4 ,to hear him use the word
 ,catholic is to make one understand how
 the ,church of ,rome dazzles certain   
eyes1 and to hear him claim that he is  
in the apostolical succession is to make
 one realise afresh how broad is the way
 of credulity4  ,one may understand his 
dislike of the hideous and pretentious  
architecture which disgraces            

non-conformity1 and sympathise with his 
desire for more beautiful services in   
nonconformist chapels2 but it is not so 
easy1 while he remains a nonconformist1 
to understand1 or to feel any           
considerable degree of sympathy with1   
his tendency towards practices which are
 the very antithesis of the             
nonconformist tradition4  ,all the same 
he is a person of whom we should do well
 to take at least a passing notice1 for 
he witnesses1 however extravagantly1 to 
a movement in the ,free ,churches which 
is not likely to lose momentum with the 
next few years--a movement not only away
 from sectarian isolation but towards   
the idea of one catholic and apostolic  
,church4 ,there is certainly unrest in  
the ,free ,churches1 and ,dr4 ,orchard  
is a straw which helps us to understand 
if not the permanent direction of the   
wind1 at least the fact that there is a 
breeze blowing in the fields of         
religious freedom4  ,not long ago ,i    
asked one of the greatest figures in the

 ,anglican ,church what he thought of   
,dr4 ,orchard4 ,he replied by raising   
his eyebrows and exclaiming rather      
disdainfully3 ,a ritualistic ,dissenter6
 ,what is it possible to think of him8  
,i said that he attracted a good many   
people to his services in the ,king's   
,weigh ,house ,church1 and that ,i had  
heard ,mrs4 ,asquith was sometimes a    
member of his congregation4 ,that1      
answered the dignitary1 would not make  
me think any higher of ,dr4 ,orchard4   
,for many people1 it must be confessed1 
he is a slightly ludicrous figure4 ,he  
presents the spectacle of a sparrow     
stretching its wings and opening its    
beak to imitate the eagle of catholic   
lecterns4 ,and he has a singularly      
nettling manner with some people which  
must add1 ,i should think1 to this      
unpopularity4 ,he seems sweepingly      
satisfied with himself and his opinions1
 which are mostly of a challenging      
nature4 ,he does not discuss but        
attempts to browbeat4 ,his voice is an  

argument1 and the expression on his face
 and the fire in his eyes suggest the   
street corner4 ,he would have greatly   
distressed a man like ,matthew ,arnold1 
for the only method against such        
didactics is to send for the boxing     
gloves4  ,all the same he is a man of no
 little force1 perhaps a scattered and  
dispersed force1 as ,i am inclined to   
think2 and he is a fighter whose blows1 
if not a teacher whose opinions1 are    
more worthy of attention than his       
sacerdotal pretensions might lead one to
 suppose4  ,in appearance he may be     
compared with ,dr4 ,clifford1 but ,dr4  
,clifford reduced to youthfulness and   
multiplied by an infinite cocksureness2 
a small1 eager1 sandy-haired1           
clean-shaven1 boyish-looking man1 with  
light-coloured eyes behind shining      
spectacles1 the head craning forward1   
the body elastic and restless with      
inexhaustible energy1 the whole of      
him--body1 mind1 and spirit--tremulous  
with a jerkiness of being which seems to

 have no effect whatever on his powers  
of endurance4  ,one misses in him all   
feeling1 all tone1 of mellowness4 ,his  
mind1 at present1 shows no lightest1    
trace of the hallowing marks of time2 it
 suggests rather the very architecture  
he takes so savage a pleasure in        
denouncing--a kind of mock ,gothic mind1
 an ,early ,doulton personality4 ,he has
 a thin voice1 rather husky1 and a      
recent accent4  ,in his most vigorous   
moments1 when he is bubbling over with  
epigrams and paradoxes1 ridiculing the  
dull people who do not agree with him1  
and laughing to scorn those who think   
they can maintain the ,christian spirit 
outside the mysterious traditions of the
 ,catholic ,church1 or when he is       
describing a recent church as a         
,blancmange ,cathedral1 and paraphrasing
 an account1 given ,i think by ,mr4     
,james ,douglas1 of the building of a   
certain tabernacle in ,london--first it 
started out to be a ,jam ,factory1 then 
a happy idea occurred to the builder    

that he should turn it into a           
,waterworks1 then the foreman suggested 
that it would make an ideal             
swimming-bath1 but finally the architect
 came on the scene and said1 ,here1 half
 a minute2 there's an alteration wanted 
here2 we're going to make it into a     
church--at such moments1 ,dr4 ,orchard  
might be likened to a duo-decimo        
,chesterton--but a ,chesterton of       
nonconformity4 ,for he is a little      
crude1 a little recent2 a mind without  
mellowness1 a spirit without beauty1 a  
soul which feeds upon aggression4  ,he  
makes an amusing figure with a black    
cloak wrapped round his little body in  
,byronic folds1 and a soft hat of black 
plush on his head1 a ,vesta ,tilley     
quickness informing both his movements  
and his speech1 as he nips forward in   
conversation with a friend1 the arms1   
invisible beneath their cloak1 pressed  
down in front of him1 his body leaning  
forward1 his peering eyes dancing behind
 their spectacles4  ,nevertheless1 those

 who most find him only amusing or worse
 still thoroughly dislikeable1 who are  
antipathetic to the whole man1 and who  
thus cannot come at the secret of his   
influence1 must confess that there is   
nothing about him either of the smooth  
and oily or of the adroit and           
compromising4 ,he is the last man on    
earth to be called an opportunist4 ,this
 is in his favour4 ,his aggressiveness  
must put all but the toughest against   
him4 ,he is tremendously in earnest4 ,it
 would be difficult ,i think to exceed  
his sincerity4  ,but not to mind whose  
toes one may tread on is hardly in the  
style of ,st4 ,francis2 and1 after all1 
it is possible to be tremendously       
earnest about wrong things1 and         
consumingly sincere in matters which are
 not perhaps definitely certain to      
advance the higher life of the human    
race4 ,humility is always safest2       
indeed1 it is essential to all          
earnestness and sincerity1 if those     
energies are not to repel as many as    

they attract4  ,dr4 ,orchard's manner1  
which can be extraordinarily nettling in
 conversation1 as ,i have suggested1 is 
evidently of a very soothing character  
in the confessional--if that is the     
proper term4 ,he has a remarkable       
following among women1 and it is said   
that if he put a brass plate on his door
 and charged five guineas a time he     
might be one of the richest mind-doctors
 in ,london4 ,he himself declares that  
his real work is almost entirely        
personal4 ,i have heard him speak with  
some contempt of preaching1 quoting the 
witticism of a friend that ,anglican    
preaching is much worse than it really  
need be1 or words to that effect4 ,he   
likes ceremonial and private confidence4
 ,he has the instincts of a priest4     
,his patients appear to be the wreckage 
of psychoanalysis4 ,it is said that half
 the neurotics of ,london consult him   
about their souls4 ,i have no idea of   
the manner in which he treats these     
unhappy people1 but ,i am perfectly sure

 that he gives them counsel of a healthy
 nature4 ,there is nothing about him    
which suggests unwholesomeness1 and much
 that suggests sound strength and clean 
good sense4 ,also among his penitents   
are numerous shopgirls who have lost in 
the commercial struggle whatever piety  
they possessed in childhood and in their
 craving for excitement have gone astray
 from the path of safe                  
simplicity--gambling on horse races and 
often getting into serious trouble by   
their losses4 ,dr4 ,orchard may be      
trusted to give these weak1 rather than 
erring daughters of ,london1 advice     
which would commend itself to the ,free 
,church ,council1 for with all his      
sacerdotal aberrations the basis of his 
moral life is rooted in ,puritanism4    
,it is an entirely good thing that there
 should be a minister of religion in    
,london who attracts people of this     
order1 particularly a minister whose    
moral notions are so eminently sane and 
so steadily uncompromising4 ,london is  

stronger and less disreputable for ,dr4 
,orchard's presence in its midst--no    
doubt a very vulgar1 degrading1 and     
trivial midst1 but all the same a great 
congestion of little people1 one where  
the solemn note of the old morality     
sounds all too seldom across the tinkle 
of bells in the caps of so many fools4  
,this moral influence1 however1 may     
appear questionable in the eyes of      
strong-minded and unsentimental people4 
,would he exercise such personal power1 
it may be asked1 if he were not regarded
 as a novelty1 if the eccentricity of   
his position in the nonconformist world 
had not so skilfully advertised him to a
 light and foolish generation ever ready
 to run after what is new8 ,of an       
,anglican clergyman's popularity ,i have
 heard it said1 ,who could not fill a   
church with the help of the band of the 
,grenadier ,guards8  ,i should not like 
to answer this question1 and yet ,i do  
not like to pass it by4 ,antipathetic as
 ,i find myself to ,dr4 ,orchard1 it    

would not be just to imply that the     
power of his personal influence is not a
 great one1 and one of an entirely      
wholesome nature4 ,it seems to me1 then1
 that the nature of that which attracts 
the unhappy to seek his counsel is of   
small moment in comparison with the     
extent and beneficence of his good      
counsel4 ,the fact that he does help    
people1 does save many people from very 
unhappy and dangerous situations1 is a  
fact which gives him a title not only to
 our respect1 but to our gratitude4     
,perhaps it is his knowledge of all this
 petty misery and sordid unwholesomeness
 which makes him disposed at times1 in  
spite of an almost rollicking           
temperament1 to take dismal and         
despairing views of the religious       
future4  ,i have heard him say with some
 bitterness that people do not know what
 ,christianity is1 that it has been so  
misrepresented to them1 and so mixed up 
with the quarrels of sectarianism1 that 
the heart of it is really non-existent  

for the multitude4 ,he speaks with      
impatience of the nonconformist churches
 and with contempt of the ,anglican     
church4 ,we are all wrong together4     
,organised religion1 he feels1 is       
hanging over the abyss of destruction1  
while the nation looks on with an       
indifference which should complete its  
self-contempt4  ,his quarrel1 however1  
is not only with the churches1 but with 
the nation as well4 ,he regards the     
system under which we live as thoroughly
 unchristian4 ,it is the system of      
mammon--a system of frank1 brutal1 and  
insolent materialism4 ,why do we put up 
with it8  ,his religious sense is so    
outraged by this system of economic     
individualism that he bursts out with   
irritable impatience against those who  
speak of infusing into it a more        
,christian spirit4 ,for him the whole   
body of our industrialism is rotten with
 selfishness and covetousness1 the high 
note of service entirely absent from it1
 the one energy which informs it the    

energy of aggressive self-seeking4 ,such
 a system cannot be patched4 ,it is     
anti-,christian4 ,it should be smashed4 
,he plunges into economics with a good  
deal of vigour1 but ,i do not think he  
has thought out to its logical          
conclusion his thesis of guild          
socialism4 ,perhaps his tone is here    
more vehement than his knowledge of a   
notoriously difficult science altogether
 justifies4  ,he opposes himself to the 
evolutionary philosophy of the          
nineteenth century1 and is ready to     
defend the idea of a ,fall of ,man4 ,his
 contribution to theology is a quibble4 
,the old dogmas are to stand3 only the  
language is to be adjusted to the modern
 intelligence4 ,you may picture him with
 drawn sword--a sword tempered in       
inquisitorial fires--standing guard over
 his quibble and ready to defend it with
 his spiritual life4  ,his opinions are 
apt to place him among minorities4 ,he  
was against the ,war1 and during that   
long-drawn agony attracted to himself   

the mild attention of the authorities4  
,i believe he likened the great struggle
 to a battle between ,sodom and         
,gomorrah4 ,however1 he was careful not 
to go so far as ,mr4 ,bertrand ,russell4
 ,as he himself says1 ,i don't mind     
dying for ,jesus ,christ1 but not for   
making a silly ass of myself4  ,he      
occasionally writes reviews for ,the    
,nation1 and has published a number of  
uneventful books4 ,his writing is not   
distinguished or illuminating4 ,with a  
pen in his hand he loses all his natural
 force4 ,he writes1 ,i think1 as one who
 feels that he is wasting time4 ,like   
,mr4 ,winston ,churchill1 he diverts his
 leisure with a paintbrush4  ,one is    
disposed to judge that the mind of this 
very fiery particle is too busy with    
side-issues to make acquaintance with   
the deeper mysteries of his religion4   
,when he complains that people do not   
know what ,christianity is1 one wonders 
whether his own definition would satisfy
 the saints4 ,he is a fighter rather    

than a teacher1 a man of action rather  
than a seer4 ,i do not think he could be
 happy in a world which presented him   
with no opportunities for punching      
heads4  ,matthew ,arnold1 quoting from  
,the ,times a sentence to the effect    
that the chief ,dissenting ministers are
 becoming quite the intellectual equals 
of the ablest of the clergy1 referred it
 to the famous ,dr4 ,dale of            
,birmingham1 and remarked3 ,i have no   
fears concerning ,mr4 ,dale's           
intellectual muscles2 what ,i am a      
little uneasy about is his religious    
temper4 ,the essence of religion is     
grace and peace4  ,but ,dr4 ,orchard1 we
 must not fail to see1 is quite         
genuinely exasperated by the deadness of
 religious life1 and is straining every 
nerve to quicken the soul of ,christ's  
sleeping ,church4 ,this discontent of   
his is an important symptom1 even if his
 prescription1 a very old one1 gives no 
hope of a cure4 ,he is popular1         
influential1 a figure of the day1 and   

still young2 yet his soul is full of    
rebellion and his heart is swelling with
 the passion of mutiny4 ,something is   
evidently not right4 ,quite certainly he
 has not discovered the peace that      
passes understanding4  ,but perhaps ,dr4
 ,orchard will never be satisfied till  
all men think as he thinks1 and until   
there is only one ,church in the world  
for the expression of spiritual life1   
with either ,bishop ,herford or himself 
for its pope4  ,in the meantime he is   
too busy for the profound silence4 ,the 
event of the day sweeps him before it4  
,,bishop ,,temple  ,manchester1 ,bishop 
of1 since #aiba2 ,temple1 ,rev4         
,william1 ,m4,a42 ,d4 ,litt42 ,president
 ,life and ,liberty ,movement2 ,canon   
,residentiary of ,westminister1         
#aiai-ba2 ,editor of ,the ,challenge1   
#aiae-ah2 ,hon4 ,chaplain to the ,king1 
#aiae2 b4 ,the ,palace1 ,exeter1 #ae    
,oct41 #ahha2 s4 of ,late ,archbishop of
 ,canterbury2 in4 #aiaf1 ,frances       
,gertrude ,acland1 y4d4 of ,f4,h4       

,anson1 #gb ,st4 ,george's ,square1     
,s4,w4 ,educ43 ,rugby 7,scholar72       
,balliol ,college1 ,oxford              
7,exhibitioner7 ,first class ,classical 
,mods41 #aijb2 #ast class ,lit4 ,hum41  
#aijd2 ,president ,oxford ,union1 #aijd2
 ,fellow and ,lecturer in ,philosophy1  
,queen's ,college1 ,oxford1 #aijd-aiaj2 
,deacon1 #aijh2 ,priest1 #aiji2         
,chaplain to ,archbishop of ,canterbury1
 #aiaj2 ,president of the ,workers      
,educational ,association2 ,headmaster1 
,repton ,school1 #aiaj-ad2 ,rector of   
,st4 ,james's ,piccadilly1 #aiad-ah4    
,illustration3 ,,bishop ,,temple        
,,chapter ,x  ,,bishop ,,temple       4 
4 4 faint1 pale1 embarrassed1 exquisite 
,pater6 ,he reminds me1 in      the     
disturbed midnight of our actual        
literature1 of one of those      lucent 
match-boxes which you place1 on going to
 bed1 near the      candle1 to show you1
 in the darkness1 where you can strike a
 light3      he shines in the uneasy    
gloom--vaguely1 and has a               

phosphorescence1      not a flame4 ,but 
,i quite agree with you that he is not  
of the      little day--but of the      
longer time4--,,henry ,,james4   ,the   
future of ,bishop ,temple is of more    
importance to the ,church than to       
himself4 ,he is one of those solid and  
outstanding men whose decisions affect a
 multitude1 a man to whom many look with
 a confidence which he himself1 perhaps1
 may never experience4  ,he cannot1 ,i  
think1 be wholly unaware of this        
consideration in forming his judgments1 
and ,i attribute1 rather to a keen and  
weighty sense of great responsibility   
than to any lack of vital courage1 his  
increasing tendency towards the         
,catholic position4 ,one begins to think
 that he is likely to disappoint many of
 those who once regarded him as the     
future statesman of a ,christianity     
somewhat less embarrassed by            
institutionalism4  ,it is probable1 one 
fears1 that he may conclude at ,lambeth 
a career in theology comparable with    

that of ,mr4 ,winston ,churchill in     
politics4 ,born in the ecclesiastical   
purple he may return to it1 bringing    
with him only the sheaves of an already 
mouldering orthodoxy4  ,on one ground1  
however1 there is hope that he may yet  
shine in our uneasy gloom with something
 more effective than the glow of        
phosphorescence4 ,he is devoted heart   
and soul to ,labour4 ,events1 then1 may 
drive him out of his present course1 and
 urge him towards a future of signal    
usefulness2 for ,labour is a force which
 waits upon contingency1 and moves as   
the wind moves--now softly1 then        
harshly1 now gently1 then with great    
violence4 ,those who go with ,labour are
 not like travellers in the ,tory coach 
or the ,liberal tram2 they are like     
passengers in a balloon4  ,i do not mean
 that ,bishop ,temple will ever be so   
far swept out of his course as to find  
himself among the revolutionaries2 he   
carries too much weight for that1 is1   
indeed1 too solid a man altogether for  

any lunatic flights to the moon2 ,i     
mean1 rather1 that where the more       
reasonable leaders of ,labour are       
compelled to go by the force of         
political and industrial events1        
,william ,temple is likely to find that 
he himself is also expected1 nay1 but   
obliged to go1 and very easily that may 
be a situation from which the ,lollard  
,tower of ,lambeth ,palace will appear  
rather romantically if not altogether   
hopelessly remote4  ,his career1 then1  
like ,mr4 ,winston ,churchill's in      
politics1 is still an open event and    
therefore a matter for interesting      
speculation4 ,this fair-haired1         
fresh-faced1 and boylike ,bishop of     
,manchester1 smiling at us behind his   
spectacles1 the square head very        
upright1 the broad shoulders well back1 
the whole short stocky figure like a    
rock1 confronts us with something of the
 challenge of the ,sphinx4  ,one of the 
chief modernists said to me the other   
day3 ,temple is the most dangerous man  

in the ,church of ,england4 ,he is not  
only a socialist1 he is also ,gore's    
captive1 bow and spear4 ,but another1 by
 no means an ,anglo-,catholic1 corrected
 this judgment4 ,temple1 said he1 is not
 yet hopelessly ,catholic4 ,he has1     
indeed1 attracted to himself by his     
,christlike attitude towards            
,nonconformists the inconvenient        
attentions of that remarkable person the
 ,bishop of ,zanzibar4 ,his sympathies  
with ,labour1 which are the core of his 
being1 are sufficient reason for ----'s 
mistrust of him4 ,i do not at all regard
 him as dangerous4 ,on the contrary1 ,i 
think he is one of the most interesting 
men in the ,church1 and also1 which is  
far more important1 one of its most     
promising leaders4  ,so many men1 so    
many opinions4 ,strangely enough it is  
from an ,anglo-,catholic who is also a  
,labour enthusiast that ,i hear the     
fiercest and most uncompromising        
criticism of this young ,bishop of      
,manchester4  ,all his successes have   

been failures4 ,he went to ,repton with 
a tremendous reputation2 did nothing2   
went to ,st4 ,james's1 ,piccadilly1 as a
 man who would set the ,thames on fire1 
failed1 and went to ,westminster with a 
heightened reputation2 left it for the  
,life and ,liberty ,movement1 which has 
done nothing1 and then on to ,manchester
 as the future ,archbishop of           
,canterbury4 ,what has he done8 ,what   
has he ever done8  ,he can't stick at   
anything2 certainly he can't stick at   
his job--always he must be doing        
something else4 ,i don't regard him as a
 reformer4 ,i regard him as a talker4   
,he has no strength4 ,sometimes ,i think
 he has no heart4 ,intellectual1 yes2   
but intellectual without pluck4 ,i don't
 know how his brain works4 ,i give that 
up4 ,i agree1 he joined the ,labour     
movement before he was ordained4 ,there 
,i think he is sincere1 perhaps devoted4
 ,but is there any heart in his         
devotion8 ,do the poor love him8 ,do the
 ,labour leaders hail him as a leader8  

,i don't think so4 ,perhaps ,i'm        
prejudiced4 ,whenever ,i go to see him1 
he gives me the impression that he has  
got his watch in his hand or his eye on 
the clock4 ,an inhuman sort of          
person--no warmth1 no sympathy1 not one 
tiniest touch of tenderness in his whole
 nature4 ,no4 ,willie ,temple is the    
very man the ,church of ,england doesn't
 want4  ,finally1 one of those men in   
the ,anglo-,catholic ,party to whom ,dr4
 ,temple looks up with reverence and    
devotion1 said to me in the midst of    
generous laudation3 ,his trouble is that
 he doesn't concentrate4 ,he is inclined
 to leave the main thing4 ,but ,i hear  
he is really concentrating on his work  
at ,manchester1 and therefore ,i have   
hopes that he will justify the          
confidence of his friends4 ,he is       
certainly a very able man1 very2 there  
can be no question of that4  ,it will be
 best1 ,i think1 to glance first of all 
at this question of ability4  ,dr4      
,temple has a notable gift of rapid     

statement and pellucid exposition4 ,one 
doubts if many theologians in the whole 
course of ,christian history have       
covered more ground more trippingly than
 ,dr4 ,temple covers in two little books
 called ,the ,faith and ,modern         
,thought1 and ,the ,kingdom of ,god4    
,his wonderful powers of succinct       
statement may perhaps give the          
impression of shallowness2 but this is  
an entirely false impression--no        
impression could indeed be wider of the 
mark4 ,his learning1 though not so wide 
as ,dean ,inge's1 nor so specialised as 
the learning of ,canon ,barnes1 is      
nevertheless true learning1 and learning
 which has been close woven into the    
fabric of his intellectual life4 ,there 
are but few men in the ,church of       
,england who have a stronger grip on    
knowledge2 and very few1 if any at all1 
who can more clearly and vividly express
 in simple language the profoundest     
truths of religion and philosophy4  ,in 
order to show his quality ,i will       

endeavour to summarise his arguments for
 the ,existence of ,god1 with as many   
quotations from his writings as my space
 will permit4  ,it is not enough to     
prove1 he says1 that some sort of ,being
 exists4 ,in the end1 the only thing    
that matters is the character of that   
,being4 ,but how are we to set out on   
this quest since ,science will not allow
 us a starting point at all8  ,he       
answers that question by carrying the   
war into the scientific camp1 as he has 
a perfect right to do4 ,science makes   
one colossal assumption always2 science 
assumes that the world is rational in   
this sense1 that when you have thought  
out thoroughly the implications of your 
experience1 the result is fact4 4 4 4   
,that is the basis of all science2 it is
 a colossal assumption1 but science     
cannot move one step without it4        
,science begins with its demand that the
 world should be seen as      coherent2 
it insists on looking at it1 on         
investigating it1 till it      is so    

seen4 ,as long as there is any          
phenomenon left out of the              
systematic coherence that you have      
discovered1 science is      discontented
 and insists that either the system is  
wrongly or      imperfectly conceived or
 else the facts have not been correctly 
stated4  ,this demand for a coherent and
 comprehensive statement of the whole   
field of fact comes solely from reason4 
,how do we get it8 ,we have no ground in
 experience for insisting that the world
 shall be regarded as intelligent1 as   
all hanging together and making up one  
system4 ,but reason insists upon it4    
,this gives us a kinship between the    
mind of man and the universe he lives   
in4  ,now1 when man puts his great      
question to the universe1 and to every  
phenomenon in that universe1 ,why8--,why
 is this what it is1 what my reason     
recognises it to be8 is he not in truth 
asking1 ,what is this thing's purpose8  
,what is it doing in the universe8 ,what
 is its part in the coherent system of  

all-things-together8       ,now there is
 in our experience already one principle
 which does      answer the question    
,why8 in such a way as to raise no      
further      questions2 that is1 the    
principle of ,purpose4 ,let us take a   
very      simple illustration4 ,across  
many of the hills in ,cumberland the way
      from one village to another is    
marked by white stones placed at        
short intervals4 ,we may easily imagine 
a simple-minded person      asking how  
they came there1 or what natural law    
could account for      their lying in   
that position2 and the physical         
antecedents of the      fact--the       
geological history of the stones and the
 physiological      structure of the men
 who moved them--give no answer4 ,as    
soon1      however1 as we hear that men 
placed them so1 to guide wayfarers in   
the mist or in the night1 our minds are 
satisfied4  ,dr4 ,temple holds fast to  
that great word that infallible clue1   
,purpose4 ,he is not arguing from       

design4 ,he keeps his feet firmly on    
scientific ground1 and asks1 as a man of
 science asks1 ,what is this8 and ,why  
is this8 ,then he finds that this       
question can proceed only from faith in 
coherence1 and discovers that the quest 
of science is quest of ,purpose4  ,to   
investigate ,purpose is obviously to    
acknowledge ,will4       ,science       
requires1 therefore1 that there should  
be a real ,purpose in      the world4 4 
4 4 ,it appears from the investigation  
of science1 from      investigation of  
the method of scientific procedure      
itself1 that      there must be a ,will 
in which the whole world is rooted and  
grounded2 and that we and all other     
things proceed therefrom2      because  
only so is there even a hope of         
attaining the intellectual              
satisfaction for which science is a     
quest4  ,reason is obliged to confess   
the hypothesis of a ,creative ,will1    
although it does not admit that man has 
in any way perceived it4 ,but is this   

hypothesis1 which is essential to       
science1 to be left in the position of  
,mahomet's coffin8 ,is it not to be     
investigated8 ,for if atheism is        
irrational1 agnosticism is not          
scientific--it is precisely a refusal to
 apply the scientific method itself     
beyond a certain point1 and that a point
 at which there is no reason in heaven  
or earth to stop4       ,to speak about 
an immanent purpose is very good sense2 
but to speak      about a purpose behind
 which there is no ,will is nonsense4   
,people1 he says1 become so much        
occupied with the consideration of what 
they know that they entirely forget the 
perfectly astounding fact that they know
 it4 ,also they overlook or slur the    
tremendous fact of spiritual            
individuality2 because ,i am ,i1 ,i am  
not anybody else4 ,but let the          
individual address to himself the       
question he puts to the universe1 let   
him investigate his own pressing sense  
of spiritual individuality1 just as he  

investigates any other natural          
phenomenon1 and he will find himself    
applying that principle of ,purpose1 and
 thinking of himself in relation to the 
,creator's ,will4  ,if there is ,purpose
 in the universe there is ,will2 you    
cannot have ,purpose or intelligent     
direction1 without ,will4 ,but1 as we   
have seen1 to speak about an immanent   
will is nonsense3       ,it is the      
purpose1 the meaning and thought of     
,god1 that is immanent      not ,god    
,himself4 ,he is not limited to the     
world that ,he has made2      ,he is    
beyond it1 the source and ground of it  
all1 but not it4 ,just      as you may  
say that in ,shakespeare's work his     
thoughts and feelings      are immanent2
 you find them there in the book1 but   
you don't find      ,shakespeare1 the   
living1 thinking1 acting man1 in the    
book4 ,you      have to infer the kind  
of being that he was from what he wrote2
 he      himself is not there2 his      
thoughts are there4  ,he pronounces the 

most real of all problems1 the problem  
of evil1 to be soluble4 ,why is there no
 problem of good8 ,note well1 that the  
problem of evil is always a problem in  
terms of purpose4 ,how evil came does   
not matter3 the question is1 ,why is it 
here8 ,what is it doing8 ,while we are  
sitting at our ease it generally seems  
to us that the world would be very much 
better if all evil were abolished4 4 4 4
 ,but would it8       ,surely we know   
that one of the best of the good things 
in life is      victory1 and            
particularly moral victory4 ,but to     
demand victory      without an          
antagonist is to demand something with  
no meaning4       ,if you take all the  
evil out of the world you will remove   
the      possibility of the best thing  
in life4 ,that does not mean that evil  
is good4 ,what one means by calling a   
thing good is that the spirit      rests
 permanently content with it for its own
 sake4 ,evil is      precisely that with
 which no spirit can rest content2 and  

yet it is      the condition1 not the   
accidental but the essential condition1 
of      what is in and for itself the   
best thing in life1 namely moral        
victory4  ,his definition of ,sin helps 
us to understand his politics3          
,sin is the self-assertion either of a  
part of a man's nature      against the 
whole1 or of a single member of the     
human family      against the welfare of
 that family and the will of its        
,father4  ,but if it is self-will1 he   
asks1 how is it to be overcome8         
,not by any kind of force2 for force    
cannot bend the will4 ,not by      any  
kind of external transaction2 that may  
remit the penalty1 but      will not of 
itself change the will4 ,it must be by  
the revelation of      a love so intense
 that no heart which beats can remain   
indifferent      to it4  ,all this seems
 to me admirably said4 ,it does at least
 show that there are clear1 logical1 and
 practical reasons for the religious    
hypothesis4 ,the mind of man1 seeking to

 penetrate the physical mysteries of the
 universe1 encounters ,mind4 ,mind meets
 ,mind4 ,reason recognises1 if it does  
not always salute1 ,reason4 ,and in this
 rational and evolving universe the will
 of man has a struggle with itself1 a   
struggle on which man clearly sees the  
fortunes of his progress1 both          
intellectual and spiritual1 depend4     
,will recognises ,will4 ,and surveying  
the history of his race he comes to a   
standstill of love and admiration before
 only one life--       a life whose     
historic occurrence is amply            
demonstrated1 whose moral      and      
spiritual pre-eminence consists in the  
completeness of      self-sacrifice1 and
 whose inspiration for those who try to 
imitate      it is without parallel in  
human experience4  ,love recognises     
,love4 ,i am the ,light of the ,world4  
,i will give a few brief quotations from
 ,dr4 ,temple's pages showing how he    
regards the revelation of the ,creative 
,will made by ,christ1 ,who in ,his     

teaching and in ,his ,life is the climax
 of human ethics4       ,love1 and the  
capacity to grow in love1 is the whole  
secret4       ,the one thing demanded is
 always the power to grow4 ,growth and  
progress in the spiritual life is the   
one thing ,christ is always             
demanding4       ,he took bread and said
 that it was ,his body2 and ,he gave    
thanks for      it1 ,he broke it1 and   
,he gave it to them and said1 ,do this  
in      remembrance of ,me4 4 4 4 ,do   
what8 4 4 4 ,the demand is nothing less 
than this1 that men should take their   
whole human life1 and break      it1 and
 give it for the good of others4        
,the growth in love1 and the sacrifice  
which evokes that growth in      love1  
are1 ,i would suggest the most precious 
things in life4 ,take      away the     
condition of this and you will destroy  
the value of the      spiritual world4  
,one may form1 ,i think1 a true judgment
 of the man from these few extracts4    
,he is one who could not move an inch   

without a thesis1 and who moves only by 
inches even when he has got his thesis4 
,his intellect1 ,i mean1 is in charge of
 him from first to last4 ,he feels      
deeply1 not sharply4 ,he loves truly1   
not passionately4 ,with his thesis clear
 in his mind1 he draws his sword1       
salutes the universe1 kneels at the     
cross1 and then1 with joy in his heart1 
or rather a deep and steady sense of    
well-being1 moves forward to the world1 
prepared to fight4 ,fighting is the     
thing4 ,yes1 but here is neither ,don   
,quixote nor ,falstaff4 ,he will fight  
warily1 take no unnecessary risk1 and   
strike only when he is perfectly sure of
 striking home4  ,you must not think of 
him as old beyond his years 7he is only 
a little over forty7 but rather as one  
who was wise from his youth up4 ,he has 
never flung himself with emotion into   
any movement of the human mind1 not     
because he lacks devotion1 but because  
he thinks the victories of emotion are  
often defeats in disguise4 ,he wishes to

 be certain4 ,he will fight as hard as  
any man1 but intelligently1 knowing that
 it will be a fight to the last day of  
his life4 ,he is perhaps more careful to
 last than to win--an ecclesiastical    
,jellicoe rather than a ,beatty4 ,nor1  
,i think1 must one take the view of the 
critic that he has never stuck to the   
main point4 ,every step in his career1  
as ,i see it1 has been towards          
opportunity--the riskless opportunity of
 greater service and freer movement4  ,i
 regard him as a man whose full worth   
will never be known till he is overtaken
 by a crisis4 ,i can see him moving     
smoothly and usefully in times of       
comparative peace to the ,primacy1      
holding that high office with dignity1  
and leaving behind him a memory that    
will rapidly fade4 ,but ,i cannot see   
him so clearly in the midst of a storm4 
,a great industrial upheaval1 for       
example1 where would that land him8 ,the
 very fact that one does not ask1 ,how  
would he direct it8 shows perhaps the   

measure of distrust one may feel in his 
strength--not of character--but of      
personality4 ,he would remain1 one is   
sure1 a perfectly good man1 and a man of
 intelligence2 but would any great body 
of the nation feel that it would follow 
him either in a fight or in a retreat8  
,i am not sure4 ,on the whole ,i feel   
that his personality is not so effective
 as it might have been if he had not    
inherited the ecclesiastical tradition1 
had not been born in the episcopal      
purple4  ,by this ,i mean that he gives 
me the feeling of a man who is not      
great1 but who has the seeds of         
greatness in him4 ,events may prove him 
greater than even his warmest admirers  
now imagine him to be4 ,a crisis1 either
 in the ,church or in the economic      
world1 might enable him to break through
 a certain atmosphere of traditional    
clericalism which now rather blurs the  
individual outline of his soul4 ,but1   
even with the dissipation of this       
atmosphere1 one is not quite sure that  

the outline of his soul would not follow
 the severe lines of a ,high ,anglican  
tradition4 ,he does not1 at present1    
convince one of original force4  ,yet1  
when all doubts are expressed1 he       
remains one of the chief hopes of the   
,church1 and so perhaps of the nation4  
,for from his boyhood up the ,kingdom of
 ,god has meant to him a condition here 
upon earth in which the soul of man1    
free from all oppression1 can reach     
gladly up towards the heights of        
spiritual development4  ,he hates in his
 soul the miserable state to which a    
conscienceless industrialism has brought
 the daily life of mankind4 ,he lays it 
down that it is the duty of the ,church 
to make an altogether new effort to     
realise and apply to all the relations  
of life its own positive ideal of       
brotherhood and fellowship4 ,to this end
 he has brought about an important      
council of masters and men who are      
investigating with great thoroughness   
the whole economic problem1 so          

thoroughly that the ,bishop will not    
receive their report1 ,i understand1    
till #aibc--;a report which may make    
history4  ,as a member of the ,society  
of ,spirits1 he says1 ,i have a         
particular destiny to fulfil4 ,he is a  
moral being1 conscious of his dependence
 on other men4 ,he traces the historic  
growth of the moral judgment3       ,the
 growth of morality is twofold4 ,it is  
partly a growth in      content1 from   
negative to positive4 ,it is partly a   
growth in      extent1 from tribal to   
universal4 ,and in both of these forms  
of      growth it is accompanied1 and as
 a rule1 though my knowledge would      
not entitle me to say always1 it is also
 conditioned by a parallel              
development in religious conviction4    
,we are all aware that early morality is
 mainly negative2 it is the      ruling 
out of certain ways of arriving at the  
human ideal1 however      that is to be 
defined1 which have been attempted and  
have been      found failures4 ,whatever

 else may be the way to reach the end1  
murder is not1 theft is not1 and so on4 
,thus we get the ,second      ,table of 
the ,decalogue1 where morality commits  
itself to      prohibitions--this is not
 the way1 that is not the way2 then     
gradually1 under the pressure of        
experience1 there begins to emerge      
the conception of the end which makes   
all this prohibition      necessary1 and
 which these methods when they were     
attempted failed      to reach4  ,and so
 we come at last to the ,kingdom of ,god
 as proclaimed by ,christ1 and the      
supreme law of ethics1 the demonstrably 
final law of ethics1 is laid down--,thou
 shalt love thy neighbour as thyself4   
,of course the words come from the ,old 
,testament4 ,some critics used      to  
say3 ,you will find in the ,rabbis      
almost everything1 if not      quite    
everything1 which you find in the       
teaching of ,christ4 ,yes1      added   
,wellhausen1 and how much else besides4 
,it was the singling      out of this   

great principle and laying the whole    
emphasis upon it      that made the     
difference4  ,to a man who believes that
 ,christ came to set up the ,kingdom of 
,god1 clearly neither the ,conservative 
nor ,liberal ,party can appeal with any 
compelling force of divinity4 ,how far  
the ,labour ,party may appeal must      
depend1 ,i should think on the man's    
knowledge of economic law4 ,as ,dean    
,inge says1 ,christ's sole contribution 
to economics is ,beware of              
covetousness--an injunction which the   
,labour ,party has not yet quite taken  
to its heart4 ,but ,dr4 ,temple has a   
right to challenge his clerical critics 
for ,christ's sanction of the present   
system1 which is certainly founded on   
covetousness and produces strikingly    
hideous results4  ,his theological      
position may be gathered from the       
following reply which he made1 as a     
,canon of ,westminster1 to a            
representative of the ,daily ,telegraph 
nearly two years ago4 ,i do not think he

 has greatly changed4 ,he was asked how 
far the ,church could go in meeting that
 large body of opinion which cannot     
accept some of its chief dogmas4 ,he    
replied3       ,i can speak freely1     
because ,i happen to hold two of the    
dogmas      which most people quarrel   
about--the virgin birth and the physical
      resurrection4 ,there are other    
heresies floating about6 ,one of our    
deans is inclined to assert the finitude
 of ,god1 and another to      deny      
anything in the nature of personality to
 ,god or to man's      spirit6 ,rather  
confusing6 ,philosophic questions of    
this kind1      however1 do not greatly 
concern mankind4 ,to believe in ,god the
      ,father is essential to the       
,christian religion4 ,other doctrines   
may      not be so essential1 but they  
must not be regarded as unimportant4    
,personally ,i wish the ,church to hold 
her dogmas1 because ,i would do         
nothing to widen the gulf which         
separates us from the other great       

,churches1 the ,roman and the ,eastern4 
,the greatest political aim of          
humanity1 in my opinion1 is a           
super-state1 and that can only come     
through a ,church universal4 ,how we all
 longed for it during the      war6--one
 voice above the conflict1 the voice of 
the ,church1 the      voice of ,christ6 
,if the ,pope had only spoken out1 with 
no reference      to the feelings of the
 ,austrian ,emperor6--what a gain that  
would      have been for religion4 ,but 
the great authentic voice never         
sounded4 ,instead of the successor of   
,st4 ,peter we had to content           
ourselves with the ,american            
,press--excellent1 no doubt1 but hardly 
satisfying4       ,let me tell you a    
rather striking remark by an ,italian   
friend of      mine1 an editor of an    
,italian review1 and not a ,roman       
,catholic4 ,he      was saying that     
every ,church that persisted for any    
time possessed      something essential 
to the religion of ,christ4 ,i asked him

 what he      saw in the ,roman ,church 
that was essential4 ,he replied at once1
      ,the ,papacy4 ,i was surprised for
 the moment1 but ,i saw presently       
what he meant4 ,the desire of the world 
is for universal peace1      universal  
harmony4 ,can that ever be achieved by a
 disunited      ,christendom8 ,the      
nations are rivals4 ,their rivalry      
persisted at the      ,peace            
,conference1 disappointing all the hopes
 of idealists4 ,must it      not always 
persist1 must not horrible carnage1     
awful desolation1      ruinous          
destruction1 and1 at any rate1 dangerous
 and provocative      rivalries1 always 
dog the steps of humanity until         
,christendom is      one8         99    
99       99       99       99           
,personally1 ,i think reunion with ,rome
 is so far off that it need      not    
trouble us just now2 there are other    
things to do2 but ,i would              
certainly refrain from anything which   
made ultimate reunion more              

difficult4 ,and so ,i hold fast to my   
,catholic doctrines4 ,but ,i tell       
you where ,i find a great difficulty4 ,a
 man comes to me for adult      baptism4
 ,i have to ask him1 point by point1 if 
he verily believes      the various     
doctrines of the ,church1 doctrines     
which a man baptised      as an infant  
may not definitely accept and yet remain
 a faithful      member of ,christ's    
,church4 ,what am ,i to say to one who  
has the      passion of ,christian      
morality in his heart1 but asks me      
whether      these verbal statements of 
belief are essential8 ,he might say to  
me1 ,it would be immoral to assert that 
,i believe what ,i have not             
examined1 and to examine this doctrine  
so thoroughly as to give an      answer 
not immoral would take a lifetime4 ,am  
,i to remain outside      the ,church   
till then8 ,here1 ,i think1 the ,church 
can take a step      which would widen  
its influence enormously4 ,no man ought 
to be shut      out of ,christ's ,church

 who has the love of ,god and the love  
of      humanity in his heart4 ,that    
seems to me quite clear4 ,i don't like  
to say we make too much of the creeds1  
but ,i do say that we don't      make   
half enough of the morality of ,christ4 
,that's where ,i should      like to see
 the real test applied4       ,what ,i  
should like to see would be a particular
 and individual      profession of the  
,beatitudes4 ,i should like to see      
congregations      stand up1 face to the
 ,east1 do anything1 ,i mean1 that marks
 this      profession out as something  
essential and personal1 and so recite   
the ,beatitudes4 ,there might be a great
 sifting1 but it would bring      home  
the reality of the ,christian demand to 
the heart and      conscience of the    
world4 ,after all1 that's our ideal1    
isn't      it8--the ,city of ,god4 ,if  
we all concentrated on this ideal1      
realising that the morality of ,christ  
is essential1 ,i don't think      there 
would be much bother taken1 outside     

professional circles1      about points 
of doctrine4  ,then1 writes the         
interviewer1 arose the question of      
fervour4 ,can the ,city of ,god be      
established without some powerful       
impulse of the human heart8 ,can it ever
 be established1 for example1 by the    
detached and self satisfied intellectual
 priggishness of the subsidised sixpenny
 review1 or by the mere violence of the 
,labour extremist's oratory8 ,must there
 not be something akin to the           
evangelical enthusiasm of the last      
century1 something of a revivalist      
nature8 ,and yet have we not outgrown   
anything of the kind8  ,to ,canon       
,temple the answer presents itself in   
this way3 ,rarer than ,christian charity
 is ,christian faith4 ,the supreme      
realism is yet to come1 namely1 the     
realisation of ,christ as a living      
,person1 the realisation that ,he truly 
meant what ,he said1 the realisation    
that what ,he said is of paramount      
importance in all the affairs of human  

life4 ,when mankind becomes consciously 
aware of the ,christian faith as a      
supreme truth1 then there will be a     
realistic effort to establish the ,city 
of ,god4 ,the first step1 then1 is for  
the ,church to make itself something    
transcendently different from the       
materialistic world4 ,it must truly mean
 what it says when it asserts the       
morality of ,christ4 ,blessed are the   
poor in spirit1 the meek1 the merciful1 
the pure in heart1 the peacemakers4 ,the
 fervour is not to be born of an        
individual fear of hell or an individual
 anxiety for celestial safety1 but of an
 utterly unselfish enthusiasm for the   
welfare of the world4  ,i should give a 
false impression of this very           
interesting man1 who is so sincere and  
so steadfast1 if ,i did not mention the 
significant fact of his happiness4 ,he  
has always struck me1 in spite of his   
formidable intellect and a somewhat     
pedagogic front and the occasional      
accent of an ancient and scholarly      

ecclesiasticism1 as one of the happiest 
and most boy-like of men--a man whose   
centre must be cloudlessly serene1 and  
who finds life definitely good4 ,his    
laughter indeed1 is a noble witness to  
the truth of a rational and moral       
existence4 ,his strength is as the      
strength of ten1 not only because his   
heart is pure1 but because he has       
formulated an intelligent thesis of     
existence4  ,he has pointed out that the
 ,pickwick ,papers could not have been  
produced in any but a ,christian        
country4 ,satire you may get to         
perfection in pagan countries4 ,but only
 in those countries where the morality  
of ,christ has penetrated deeply do you 
get the spirit that loves the thing it  
laughs at4     ,,principal ,w4,b4       
,,selbie  ,,selbie1 ,rev4 ,,wm4         
,,boothby1 ,m4,a42 ,principal of        
,mansfield ,college1 ,oxford1 since     
#aiji2 b4 ,chesterfield1 #bd ,dec41     
#ahfb2 e4s4 of late ,rev4 ,r4,w4        
,selbie1 ,b4,a4 of ,salford2 m4 ,mildred

 ,mary1 #b;d d4 of late ,joseph         
,thompson1 ,j4,p41 ,,ll4,d41 of         
,wilmslow1 ,cheshire2 two s4 one d4     
,educ43 ,manchester ,grammar ,school2   
,brasenose and ,mansfield ,colleges1    
,oxford2 incorporated ,m4,a41 at        
,trinity ,hall1 ,cambridge1 #aijd2 ,hon4
 ,d4,d4 ,glasgow1 #aiaa4 ,lecturer in   
,hebrew and ,old ,testament at          
,mansfield ,college1 ,oxford1 #ahhi-ij2 
,minister ,highgate ,congregational     
,church1 ,london1 #ahij-aijb2 ,emmanuel 
,congregational ,church1 ,cambridge1    
#aijb-aiji2 ,editor of the ,british     
,congregationalist1 #ahii-aiji2 ,lecture
 in ,pastoral ,theology at ,cheshunt    
,college1 ,cambridge1 #aijg-aiji2       
,chairman of ,congregational ,union1    
#aiad-aiae2 ,president of ,national     
,free ,church ,council1 #aiag4          
,illustration3 ,,principal ,w4,b4       
,,selbie     ,,chapter ,,xi  ,,principal
 ,w4,b4 ,,selbie       ,i make not      
therefore my head a grave1 but a        
treasure of knowledge2      ,i intend no

 ,monopoly1 but a community in learning2
 ,i study not for      my own sake only1
 but for theirs that study not for      
themselves4       ,i envy no man that   
knows more than my self1 but pity them  
that know      less4 ,i instruct no man 
as an exercise of my knowledge1 or with 
an      intent rather to nourish and    
keep it alive in mine own head1 then    
beget and propagate it in his2 and in   
the midst of all my      endeavour1     
there is but one thought that dejects   
me1 that my      acquired parts must    
perish with my self1 nor can be         
,legacied among      my honoured        
,friends4--,,sir ,,thomas ,,browne4     
,mansfield ,college1 ,oxford1 has been  
happy in its ,principals4 ,dr4          
,fairbairn created respect for          
,nonconformity in the very citadel of   
,high ,anglicanism2 ,dr4 ,selbie has    
converted that respect into friendship4 
,there is no man of note or power at    
,oxford who does not speak with real    
affection of this devoted scholar1 who  

has been dubbed up there an inspired    
mouse4  ,he is a little man1 with quick 
darting movements1 a twinkling bright   
eye1 an altogether unaggressive voice1  
and a manner that is singularly         
insinuating and appealing4 ,as it is    
impossible to think of a blustering or  
brow-beating mouse1 or a mouse that     
advances with the stride of a ,guardsman
 and the minatory aspect of a           
bull-terrier1 so it is impossible to    
think of ,dr4 ,selbie as a fellow of any
 truculence1 a scholar of any prejudice1
 a ,christian of any unctimoniousness4  
,mildness is the very temper of his     
soul1 and modesty the centre of his     
being4  ,he is a ,hebrew scholar who has
 advanced into philosophical territory  
and now is pushing his investigations   
into the field of psychology4 ,modest   
and wholly unpretentious he sets up as  
no original genius1 and is content with 
his double role of close observer and   
respectful critic4 ,he is rather a guide
 to men than a light4 ,he has nothing   

new to say1 but nothing foolish4 ,his   
words are words of purest wisdom1 though
 you may have heard them before4 ,you   
feel that if he cannot lead you to the  
,promised ,land1 at least he will not   
conduct you to the precipice and the    
abyss4  ,above everything else he is a  
scholar who would put his learning at   
the service of his fellow-men4          
,education with him is a passion1 a part
 of his philanthropy1 a part of his     
religion4 ,it is the darkness of man1   
not the sinfulness of man1 that catches 
his attention4 ,he feels that the world 
is foolish because it is ignorant1 not  
because it is wicked4 ,and he feels that
 the foolishness of the world is a count
 in the indictment against religion4    
,religion has not taught2 it has used   
mankind as a dictaphone4  ,he has spoken
 to me with great hope and confidence of
 the change which is coming over the    
,church in this matter of religious     
teaching4 ,dr4 ,headlam1 the ,regius    
,professor of ,divinity1 has lighted a  

candle at ,oxford which by ,god's grace 
will never be put out4 ,there is now a  
fairly general feeling that men who     
enter the ministry must be educated not 
to pass a test or to prove themselves   
capable of conducting a service or      
performing as rite1 but educated as     
educators--apostles of truth1           
evangelists of the higher life4         
,religion1 according to ,dr4 ,selbie1 is
 something to be taught4 ,it is not a   
mystery to be presented1 but an idea to 
be inculcated4 ,the world has got to    
understand religion before it can live  
religiously4  ,but all education stands 
in sore need of the trained teacher4    
,our teachers are not good enough4 ,they
 may be very able men and women1 but few
 of them are very able teachers4 ,the   
first need in a teacher is to inspire in
 his students a love of knowledge1 a    
hunger and thirst after wisdom4 ,but1   
look at our schools1 look at our great  
cities1 look at the pleasures and       
recreations which satisfy the vast      

masses of the population6 ,as a nation1 
we have no enthusiasm for education4    
,this is because we have so little      
understanding of the nature and province
 of education4 ,we have never been      
taught what education is4  ,with his    
enthusiasm for education goes a         
perfervid spiritual conviction that     
intellect is not enough4 ,he tells the  
story of an old ,scots woman who        
listened intently to a highly           
intellectual sermon by a brilliant      
scholar1 and at the end of it called out
 from her seat1 ,aye1 aye2 but yon rope 
o' yours is nae lang enough tae reach   
the likes o' me4 ,something much more   
mysterious and much more powerful than  
intellect is necessary to change the    
heart of humanity2 but when love and    
knowledge go hand in hand there you get 
both the great teacher and the good     
shepherd4 ,knowledge without love is    
almost as useless to a teacher as love  
without knowledge4  ,in his study at    
,mansfield1 a large and friendly room   

book-lined from floor to ceiling1 with a
 pleasant hearth at one end of it1 where
 he smokes an occasional pipe with an   
interrupting fellow scholar1 but where  
he is most often to be found buried in a
 great book and oblivious of all else   
besides1 this little man with the       
darting eyes and soft voice is now      
invading1 with sound good sense to save 
him from nausea or contamination1 the   
region of morbid psychology4  ,he would 
perfectly agree with ,dr4 ,inge's       
characteristic statement1 ,the          
suggestion that in prayer we only hear  
the echo of our own voices is ridiculous
 to anyone who has prayed2 but he is1 ,i
 think1 much more aware of the power and
 extent of this suggestion than is the  
,dean of ,st4 ,paul's1 and therefore    
qualifies himself to meet the           
psychologists on their own ground4  ,he 
has confessed to me that in reading     
,freud he had to wade through much      
almost unimaginable filth1 and he is    
driven to think that ,freud himself is  

the victim of a sex complex1 a man so   
obsessed by a single theory1 so ridden  
by one idea1 that he perfectly          
illustrates the witty definition of an  
expert--an expert is one who knows      
nothing else4 ,all the same1 ,dr4       
,selbie assures me that his studies have
 been well worth while1 that modern     
psychology has much to teach us of the  
highest value1 and that religion as well
 as medicine will more and more have to 
take account of this daring science     
which advances so swiftly into their own
 provinces4  ,so far as my experience   
goes no man of the first rank in        
,anglican circles is preparing himself  
for this inevitable encounter with      
anything like the thoroughness of ,dr4  
,selbie1 a nonconformist4  ,he makes it 
a rule never to interfere with the      
troubles of another communion2 but ,i do
 not think ,i misrepresent him when ,i  
say that he regrets the immersion of the
 ,church of ,england in questions of    
theological disputation at a time when  

the true battle of religion is shifting 
on to quite other ground4  ,not many    
people in ,anglo-,catholic circles      
realise perhaps that to the educated    
nonconformist all this excitement about 
modernism seems strangely old-fashioned4
 ,long ago such matters were settled4   
,the scholar nonconformist is no longer 
concerned with dogmatic difficulties2 he
 has abandoned with the old teleology   
the old pagan theology1 and now1        
believing in an immanent teleology1 in  
an evolution that is creative and that  
has direction1 believing also that      
,christ is the incarnation of ,god's    
purpose and the revelation of ,his      
character1 he is pressing forward not to
 meet the difficulties of to-morrow1 but
 to equip himself for meeting those     
difficulties when they arise with real  
intelligence and genuine power4  ,if    
medicine1 said ,froude1 had been        
regulated three hundred years ago by    
,act of ,parliament2 if there had been  
,thirty-,nine ,articles of ,physic1 and 

every licensed practitioner had been    
compelled1 under pains and penalties1 to
 compound his drugs by the prescriptions
 of ,henry the ,eighth's physician1     
,doctor ,butts1 it is easy to conjecture
 in what state of health the people of  
this country would at present be found4 
,christendom does not yet realise how   
greatly1 how grievously1 it has suffered
 in spiritual health by having sent to  
,coventry or to the stake so many       
theological ,simpsons1 ,listers1 and    
,pasteurs simply because they could not 
rest their minds in the hypotheses of   
very ill-educated men who strove to     
grapple with the highest of all         
intellectual problems at a time when    
knowledge was at its lowest level4  ,it 
will perhaps rouse the vitality of the  
,church when it finds twenty or thirty  
years from now that the great           
protagonists of ,christianity in its    
future battles with science and         
philosophy are drawn from the ranks of  
nonconformity4  ,dr4 ,selbie is         

certainly preparing his students for    
these encounters1 and preparing them1   
too1 with an emphasis on one particular 
aspect of the old theology1 and a       
central one1 which the apologists of    
more orthodox communions have either    
overlooked or find it convenient to     
ignore4  ,one of his first postulates is
 that man inhabits a moral universe1 and
 from this postulate he has no          
difficulty in moving forward not only to
 contemplate the hypothesis of          
immortality1 but to confront the        
difficulty of punishment for sin4 ,in a 
little book of his called ,belief and   
,life he has the following passages3    
,in the long last men cannot be         
persuaded to deny their own moral       
nature1 and they will not be content    
with a theory of the universe      which
 does not satisfy their sense of right4 
,and because of this very sense of right
 they entertain no soft and sentimental 
notions concerning the universe3        
,they believe in judgment1 in           

retribution1 and in the great           
principle that as a man sows1 so shall  
he also reap4 ,they      therefore      
require that room shall be found in the 
scheme of things      for the working   
out of this principle4 ,they recognise  
that such      room is not to be found  
in this present life1 and so they accept
      the fact that ,god hath set       
eternity in our hearts1 and that we are 
built on a scale which requires a more  
abundant life to complete      it4      
,in corroboration of their faith1 it may
 be said1 as ,john ,stuart      ,mill   
used to argue1 that wherever belief in  
the future has been      strong and     
vivid1 it has made for human progress4  
,there is no doubt      that the        
deterioration of religion and the more  
material views of      life so prevalent
 just now are due to the loss of faith  
in the      future4  ,religion1 he says1
 can never live or be effective within  
the narrow circle of time and sense4    
,nevertheless he has the courage to say3

 ,the future life1 like the belief in   
,god1 is best treated as an hypothesis  
that is yet in process of verification4 
,but this hypothesis explains what else 
were inexplicable4 ,it works4 ,and1     
confronting the hypothesis of           
immortality1 he insists that a future   
life must embrace retribution4 ,as a man
 sows1 so shall he also reap4           
,immortality is not to be regarded as a 
sentimental compensation for our        
terrestrial experience1 but as the      
essential continuity of our spiritual   
evolution4 ,for many1 no doubt1 it will 
mean an experience of probation1 and for
 all one of retribution4  ,he sees      
clearly and gratefully that the moral   
range of the work of ,christ in the     
human soul1 ,his gifts of grace1        
forgiveness1 and power1 lift men at once
 on to the plane of the spiritual and   
fill their conception of life with a new
 and richer content4 ,but he does not   
shut his eyes to the fact of the moral  
law1 and with all the force of his      

character and all the strength of his   
intellect he accepts the great principle
 that as a man sows1 so shall he also   
reap4  ,in this way ,dr4 ,selbie        
prepares his students1 not only to meet 
the intellectual difficulties of the    
future1 but to stand fast in the ancient
 faith of their forefathers that the    
moral law is a fact of the universe4 ,he
 helps them to be fighters as well as   
teachers4 ,they are to fight the        
complacency of men1 the false optimism  
of the world1 the delusive tolerance of 
materialism4 ,there is no need for them 
to preach hell fire and damnation1 but  
throughout all their preaching1 making  
it a real thing and a thing of the most 
pressing moment1 must ring that just and
 inevitable word1 ,retribution4 ,in a   
moral universe1 selfishness involves1   
rightly and inevitably1                 
suffering--suffering self-sown1         
self-determined1 and self-merited4  ,he 
is the last man in the world from whom  
one would expect such teaching to       

emanate4 ,he seems1 in his social       
moments1 a scholar who is scarcely aware
 of humanity in his delicious pursuit of
 pure truth1 a man who inhabits the     
faery realm of ideas1 and drinks the    
milk of ,paradise4 ,but approach him on 
other ground and you find1 though his   
serenity never deserts him1 though he is
 always imperturbable and unassertive1  
that his interest in humanity and the   
practical problems of humanity is as    
vivid and consuming as that of any      
social reformer4  ,there1 in ,oxford1   
among his books1 and carrying on his    
duties as ,principal of ,mansfield      
,college1 ,dr4 ,selbie1 back from       
holidays spent in watching the great    
working world and listening to the      
teachers of that world1 finds himself   
not alarmed1 but anxious4 ,the voice of 
religion1 he feels1 is not making itself
 heard1 and the voices of churches are  
making only a discord4 ,men are going   
astray because they have no knowledge of
 their course1 and the blind are falling

 into the ditch because they are led by 
the blind4 ,how is this dangerous       
condition of things to be remedied8  ,he
 replies1 ,by the teachers4  ,what we   
need at this hour above all other needs 
is the great teacher1 one able to       
proclaim and explain the truths of      
religion1 and filled with a high        
enthusiasm for his office4 ,we need1 he 
tells me1 men who can restore to        
preaching its best authority4 ,at the   
present time preaching has fallen to a  
low ebb because it is despised1 and it  
is despised because it has lost the     
element of teaching4 ,but let men       
recover their faith in the moral law1   
let them see that retribution is        
inevitable justice1 let them realise    
that the life of man is a progress in   
spiritual comprehension1 let them       
understand that existence is a great    
thing and not a mean thing1 and they    
will feel again the compulsion to       
preach1 and their preaching1 founded on 
the moral law and inspired by faith in  

the teaching of ,christ1 will draw the  
world from the destructive negations of 
materialism1 and wake it out of the     
fatal torpors of dull indifference4     
,happy1 ,i think1 is the church which   
has such a teacher at the head of its   
disciples4 ,though its traditions may   
not reach far back into the historic    
twilight of ignorance1 the rays of the  
unrisen sun strike upon its banners as  
they advance towards the future of      
mankind4     ,,archbishop ,,randall     
,,davidson  ,,canterbury1 ,archbishop   
of1 since #aijc2 ,most ,rev4 ,randall   
,thomas ,davidson1 ,d4,d41 ,d4,c4,l41   
,,ll4,d42 ,prelate of the ,order of the 
,garter1 #ahie-aijc2 ,g4,c4,v4,o41 cr4  
#aijd2 ,royal ,victorian ,chain1 #aiaa2 
,grand ,cross of the ,royal ,order of   
the ,saviour 7,greece71 #aiah2 ,grand   
,cordon de l',ordre de la ,couronne     
7,belgium1 #aiai72 ,first class of the  
,order of ,st4 ,sava 7,serbia71 #aiai2  
b4 #g ,april1 #ahdh2 s4 of ,henry       
,davidson1 ,muirhouse1 ,edinburgh1 and  

,henrietta1 d4 of ,john ,swinton1       
,kimmerghame2 m4 ,edith1 #b;d d4 of     
,archbishop ,tait of ,canterbury1 #ahgh4
 ,educ43 ,harrow2 ,trinity ,college1    
,oxford 7,d4,d471 ,curate of ,dartford1 
,kent1 #ahgd-gg2 ,chaplain and ,private 
,secretary to ,archbishop ,tait of      
,canterbury1 #ahgg-hb2 to ,archbishop   
,benson1 #ahhb-c2 ,examining ,chaplain  
to ,bishop ,lightfoot of ,durham1       
#ahha-hc2 ,sub-,almoner to ,queen       
,victoria1 #ahhb2 one of the six        
preachers of ,canterbury ,cathedral1    
#ahhj-hc2 ,dean of ,windsor and         
,domestic ,chaplain to ,queen ,victoria1
 #ahhc-ia2 ,clerk of the ,closet to     
,queen ,victoria1 #ahia-aija2 to ,h4,m4 
the ,king1 #aije-c2 ,trustee of the     
,british ,museum from #ahhd1 ,bishop of 
,rochester1 #ahia-ie2 ,bishop of        
,winchester1 #ahie-aijc4  ,illustration3
 ,,archbishop ,,randall ,,davidson      
,,chapter ,,xii  ,,archbishop ,,randall 
,,davidson       ,let us be flexible1   
dear ,grace2 let us be                  

flexible6--,,henry ,,james4       4 4 4 
the ,archbishop recalled both to the    
gravity of the      issue4--,,lord      
,,morley4   ,because of his great place 
and his many merits1 both of heart and  
head1 and also because his career raises
 the question ,i desire to discuss in my
 ,conclusion1 ,i have left the          
,archbishop of ,canterbury to the last  
of these brief studies in religious     
personality4  ,more admirably1 ,i think1
 because more entirely1 than any of the 
other men ,i have attempted to study1   
,dr4 ,davidson sums up the virtues of   
,anglicanism4 ,he stands1 first and     
foremost1 for order1 decency1 and good  
temper4 ,if he has a passion it is for  
the status quo4 ,if he has a genius it  
is for compromise4 ,lord ,morley1 who   
knows him and respects him1 describes   
him as a man of broad mind1 sagacious   
temper1 steady and careful judgment1    
good knowledge of the workable strength 
of rival sections4 ,pre-eminently the   
,archbishop is a practical man4  ,i know

 not out of how many crises he has      
contrived1 both as a fisher of men and a
 good shepherd1 to lift the ,church of  
,england by hook or by crook4  ,when he 
was a youth a serious accident          
threatened to destroy his health and    
ruin his prospects4 ,a charge of gunshot
 struck him at the bottom of the spine4 
,the shot still remain in his body1 and 
every autumn he is visited with an      
attack of quasiperitonitis which reduces
 him to a sad state of weakness4 ,for   
long weeks together--once it was for a  
whole year--his diet is restricted      
entirely to milk foods4  ,in spite of   
this grave disability1 ,i am inclined to
 doubt if there is a harder worker in   
any church of the world4 ,dr4           
,davidson's knowledge of the ,church of 
,england1 not only in these ,british    
,islands but in every one of the        
,dominions1 is a knowledge of the most  
close and intimate nature4 ,he knows the
 names and often the character of men   
who are working in the remotest parishes

 of the uttermost parts of the ,empire4 
,he knows also their thousand           
difficulties and is often at pains to   
relieve their distresses4 ,this devotion
 has an ideal origin4 ,he has cherished 
the dream all his life that the ,church 
of ,england1 so sane1 so moderate1 so   
sensible1 and so rightly insistent on   
moral earnestness1 may become1 with the 
growth and development of the ,british  
,commonwealth1 the greatest of all the  
,christian ,churches--greater1 more     
catholic1 than ,rome4  ,to this end he  
has worked with a devotion and a strain 
of energy which only those immediately  
about him can properly appraise4  ,such 
is the exhaustion of this labour that   
when he can find time to take a day off 
he spends it in bed4  ,his policy has   
always been to keep men reasonable1 but 
with no ignoble idea of living a quiet  
life4 ,his powers of persuasion1 which  
have succeeded so often in making       
unreasonable men temporarily reasonable1
 have their source in the transparent   

sincerity of his soul4 ,no one who      
encounters him can doubt for a moment   
that the ,primate is seeking the good of
 the ,church of ,england1 and seeking   
that good because he believes in the    
,english ,church as one of the great    
spiritual forces of civilisation4 ,no   
one1 ,i mean1 could think that he is    
either temporising for the sake of peace
 itself or that his policy of moderation
 masks a secret sympathy with a         
particular party4 ,clear as the sun at  
noon is the goodness of the man1 his    
unprejudiced devotion to a practical    
ideal1 and his unselfish ambition for   
the reasonable future of the great      
,church of the ,english nation4  ,he    
gives most of us the feeling of a very  
able man of business1 an ideal family   
solicitor2 but there is a quite         
different side to this character4 ,he is
 by no means a mystic1 as that word is  
usually understood1 but he is a man who 
deeply believes in the chief instrument 
of the mystic's spiritual life1 that is 

to say1 in prayer4 ,he is not a saint1  
in the general acceptance of that term1 
but his whole life is devoted with an   
undeviating singleness of aim to        
effecting the chief ambition of the     
saint--a knowledge of ,god in the hearts
 and minds of men4 ,because he believes 
that the best method of achieving that  
consummation1 having regard to the      
present level of human intelligence1 is 
by moderate courses1 one must not think 
that he is lukewarm in the cause of     
religion4 ,with all the force of his    
clear and able mind1 he believes in     
moderation4 ,anything that in the least 
degree savours of extravagance seems to 
him impolitic4 ,he does not believe in  
sudden bursts of emotional energy2 he   
believes in constant pressure4  ,in my  
intercourse with him ,i have found him  
eminently sane and judicial1 cold       
towards excessive fervour1 but not cold 
at all towards ardent faith1 inclined   
perhaps to miss the cause of spiritual  
impatience1 constitutionally averse from

 any understanding sympathy with        
religious ecstasy1 but never            
self-satisfied1 intolerant1 or in the   
remotest fashion cynical4 ,always he    
expresses his views with modesty1 and   
sometimes with healthy good-humour1     
disposed to take life cheerfully1 never 
moved to mistake a molehill for a       
mountain1 always quietly certain that he
 is on the right road1 whatever critics 
may care to say about his pace4  ,it is 
perhaps unreasonable to expect height   
and depth where there is excessive      
breadth4 ,the ,archbishop might make a  
bad captain1 but he could have few      
rivals as an umpire4 ,he is an admirable
 judge if an indifferent advocate4  ,his
 grave earnestness is balanced by a     
conviction that humour is not without a 
serious purpose4 ,he looks upon life in 
the average1 avoiding all abnormality1  
and he sees the average with a genial   
smile4 ,he thoroughly appreciates the   
oddities of ,english character1 and     
would ask with ,gladstone1 ,in what     

country except ours 7as ,i know to have 
happened7 would a ,parish ,ball have    
been got up in order to supply funds for
 a ,parish ,hearse8  ,his attitude to   
the excitements and sensations of the   
passing day may be gathered from a      
simple incident4 ,during the most heady 
days of the ,war1 that is to say1 days  
when people made least use of their     
heads1 ,i encountered him at the        
country-house of a well-known statesman4
 ,one morning1 while we were being lined
 up for a photograph1 the boar-hound of 
our host came and forced himself between
 the ,archbishop and myself4 ,what would
 the newspapers say1 exclaimed the      
,archbishop in my ear1 if they knew that
 his name is--,kaiser6  ,in this manner 
he regards all sensational excitement of
 every kind4 ,when people are tearing   
their hair1 and the welkin rings with   
such affrighting cries as ,downfall and 
,crisis1 the ,archbishop's rather solemn
 and alarmed countenance breaks up into 
a genial smile4 ,it is when people are  

immovable in otiose self-satisfaction1  
when the air is still and when lethargy 
creeps over the whole body of humanity1 
that the face of ,dr4 ,davidson hardens4
 ,there is nothing he dreads more than  
apathy1 nothing that so stimulates his  
policy of constant pressure as inertia4 
,ndengei1 the supreme deity of the ,fiji
 ,islands1 the laziest of all the gods1 
has the serpent for his effigy4 ,the    
,devil tempts the busy man1 says a      
,turkish proverb1 but the idle man      
tempts the ,devil4  ,one of those who   
has worked with the ,archbishop for many
 years1 although his views are of a     
rather extreme order and his temperament
 altogether of the excessive kind1 said 
to me the other day1 ,when ,randall     
,davidson went to ,canterbury1 ,i told  
those who asked me what would be the    
result of his reign4 ,he will leave the 
,church as he found it4 ,i was wrong4   
,he has done much more than that4 ,he   
went on to say that there was now a far 
greater charity between the different   

schools than existed at the beginning of
 the century1 and that if unity had not 
been attained1 at least disruption had  
been avoided4  ,one of the most eloquent
 and far-sighted of the ,evangelicals   
puts the matter to me in this fashion3  
,it is possible that fifty years hence  
men may ask whether he ought not to have
 been constructive2 but for the present 
we1 his contemporaries1 must confess    
that it is wonderful how he keeps things
 together4  ,pull yourself together6 was
 the admonition addressed to a somewhat 
hilarious undergraduate4 ,but ,i haven't
 got a together1 he made answer4  ,if it
 be true that a house divided against   
itself cannot stand1 then we must admit 
that ,dr4 ,randall ,davidson is not     
merely one of the ,church's greatest    
statesmen1 but a worker of miracles1 a  
man whom we might expect to take up     
serpents and drink any deadly thing4    
,but it will be safe to keep the        
,archbishop's reputation in the region  
of statesmanship4  ,the reader1 ,i hope1

 will not think me either pedantic or   
supercilious if ,i insist that no word  
is more misused by the newspapers1      
indeed by the whole modern world1 than  
this word statesmanship4 ,it is a word  
of which the antonym is drifting4 ,it   
signifies steersmanship1 and implies    
control1 guidance1 direction1 and1      
obviously1 foresight4 ,now1 let us see  
how this word is used by those who are  
supposed to instruct public opinion4    
,the settlement of the ,irish ,question 
was hailed as a triumph of ,british     
statesmanship4 ,one of the ,sunday      
newspapers of the higher order acclaimed
 ,mr4 ,lloyd ,george as the greatest    
statesman in the history of ,england and
 perhaps the greatest man in the world4 
,but it needs only a little thought1    
only a moment's reflection1 to realise  
that this welcome settlement was a      
triumph1 not of statesmanship1 but of   
murderous brutality4 ,there would have  
been no paens if there had been no      
volleys1 no triumph if there had been no

 violence4  ,statesmanship was defeated 
in the eighties1 and those who defeated 
it1 those who exalted prejudice and     
racialism and intolerance above         
rationality and foresight1 are now among
 those whom the world salutes as        
immortal statesmen4 ,in truth1 they have
 bowed the knee to violence4  ,by the   
same power1 and not by reason1 the      
,government extended the franchise to   
women4 ,statesmanship held firmly on the
 contrary course till the winds of      
violence rose and the rain of anarchy   
threatened to descend in a flood of     
moral devastation4  ,look closely into  
the great achievements of the           
,washington ,conference and you will    
find that the nations are not           
voluntarily seeking the rational ideal  
of peace1 but are being driven by urgent
 necessity into the course of reason4   
,statesmanship would have disarmed the  
world before #aiad4 ,it was only after  
#aiah that the spectre of ,universal    
,bankruptcy drove the poor trembling    

immortals who pass for statesmen to     
embrace each other as heroes in search  
of an ideal4 ,humanity has achieved     
nothing noble or glorious in the last   
thirty years2 it has been driven by the 
winds of ,god into every haven which has
 saved it from shipwreck4  ,with a clear
 understanding of the meaning of the    
word statesmanship1 one may ask with    
some hope of arriving at an intelligent 
answer whether ,randall ,davidson is a  
great statesman4  ,under his rule a     
divided and distracted ,church has held 
together2 but religion has gone out of  
favour4 ,during his reign at ,lambeth   
there has been a sensible movement      
towards reunion2 but the nation is      
uninterested4 ,if the ,romanists have   
been less rebellious1 the ,evangelicals 
have lost almost all their zeal4 ,if the
 ,church still witnesses to the truth of
 ,christianity1 it is with all her      
ancient inequalities thick upon her1    
turning her idealism to ridicule1 and in
 the midst of a nation which has become 

steadily more and more indifferent to   
the ,church1 more and more cynical      
towards religion4  ,if there is peace in
 the ,church1 there is little of that   
moral earnestness in the life of the    
nation which in past times laid the     
foundations both of ,english character  
and of ,english greatness4 ,we are      
becoming swiftly1 ,i think1 a light and 
flippant people1 the only seriousness in
 our midst the economic seriousness of  
our depressed classes4 ,it is not to any
 other class in the community that the  
zealot can address himself with an      
evangel of any kind4 ,only where a sense
 of bitterness exists1 a sense of anger 
and rebellion1 can the idealist in these
 dangerous times hope for attention4    
,the ,bishop of ,manchester preached    
some few weeks ago a sermon to the      
unemployed of that city4 ,he was asked  
at the end of his sermon if the workers 
could get justice without the use of    
force4 ,he replied1 ,it all depends what
 you mean by force4 ,and at that the    

congregation shouted1 ,murder4 ,they    
were to have concluded the service with 
the hymn1 ,when wilt ,thou save ,thy    
people8 ,instead1 it concluded with the 
singing of ,the ,red ,flag4  ,now let us
 ask ourselves what might have been the 
course of religious history during the  
last twenty years if ,dr4 ,randall      
,davidson1 instead of contenting himself
 with composing clerical quarrels1 had  
used his high office to control the     
,church and to steer it in the direction
 of greater spiritual realism4          
,suppose1 for example1 that after       
presiding over a conference of warring  
,churchmen1 he had turned to one of the 
champions of a party1 and had said to   
him1 in the manner of a true spiritual  
father1 ,i have something to ask of you4
 ,what was the first command of our     
,risen ,lord to the apostle ,simon      
,peter8 ,he would have been obliged to  
answer1 ,feed ,my lambs4 ,and the second
 command8 ,and he would have been       
obliged to say1 ,feed ,my sheep4 ,and   

the third command8 ,and again he would  
have been obliged to say1 ,feed ,my     
sheep4 ,then1 what had they all said if 
the ,primate had turned to both sides   
and admonished them in these words1 ,my 
brothers in ,christ1 ,i think there     
would now be no disputation among you if
 instead of concerning yourselves with  
the traditions of men you had rather    
given yourselves entirely to obeying the
 commandment of our ,risen ,lord8  ,but 
the question would remain1 ,with what   
food is the flock to be fed8  ,is it    
possible to give an answer to this      
question which will not open again the  
floodgates of controversy8 ,if that is  
so1 then those of us who acknowledge the
 moral law had better abandon           
,christianity altogether1 and set       
ourselves to construct a new and        
unifying gospel of ethics from the works
 of the moralists4 ,for the world is    
torn asunder by strife1 and contention  
is the opportunity of the wolves4       
,humanity has begun to apprehend this   

truth4 ,it has begun to find out that   
disarmament is practical wisdom2 and now
 it is beginning to wonder whether      
counsels of perfection may not serve its
 domestic interests with a higher       
efficiency than the compromises effected
 by unprincipled politicians4 ,it is in 
the mood to listen to a teacher who     
speaks with authority2 but in no mood to
 listen to a war of words4  ,if religion
 cannot speak with one voice in the     
world1 it had better adjourn1 like the  
plenipotentiaries of ,sinn ,fein and the
 representatives of the ,british        
,government1 to a secret session4 ,it   
must come to an understanding with      
itself1 an agreement as to what it      
means1 before mankind will recover      
interest in its existence4     ,,chapter
 ,,xiii  ,,conclusion       ,the fashion
 of this world passes away1 and it is   
with what is      abiding that ,i would 
fain concern myself4--,,goethe4         
,the breadth of my life is not measured 
by the multitude of my      pursuits1   

nor the space ,i take up amongst other  
men2 but by the      fulness of the     
whole life which ,i know as             
mine4--,f4,h4 ,,bradley4       ,we are  
but at the very beginning of the        
knowledge and control of      our minds2
 but with that beginning an immense hope
 is dawning on      the world4--,,the   
,,times4       ,the ,ideal is only      
,truth at a distance4--,,lamartine4     
,it is curious1 if ,christianity is from
 heaven1 that it exercises so little    
power in the affairs of the human race4 
,far from exercising power of any       
noticeable degree1 it now ceases to be  
even attractive4 ,the successors of ,st4
 ,paul are not shaping world policy at  
,washington2 they are organising        
whist-drives and opening bazaars4 ,the  
average clergyman1 ,i am afraid1 is     
regarded in these days as something of a
 bore1 a wet-blanket even at            
tea-parties4  ,something is wrong with  
the ,church4 ,it is impious to think    
that heaven interposed in the affairs of

 humanity to produce that ridiculous    
mouse1 the modern curate4 ,no teacher in
 the history of the world ever occupied 
a lower place in the respect of men4 ,so
 deep is the pit into which the modern  
minister has fallen that no one attempts
 to get him out4 ,he is abandoned by the
 world4 ,he figures with the starving   
children of ,russia in appeals to the   
charitable an object of pity4 ,the      
hungry sheep look up and are not fed1   
but the shepherd also looks up from his 
pit of poverty and neglect1 as hungry as
 the sheep1 hungry for the bare         
necessities of animal life4  ,this is   
surely a tragic position for a preacher 
of good news1 and a teacher sent from   
,god4  ,if the ,christian would know how
 far his ,church has fallen from power1 
let him reflect that1 even after the    
sorrow and desolation of a world        
conflict1 there is no atmosphere in     
,europe rendering the savagery of       
submarine warfare unthinkable--utterly  
unthinkable to the conscience of        

mankind4  ,mr4 ,balfour and ,lord ,lee  
make a proposal to end this devilish    
warfare2 the ,french oppose2 newspapers 
open a crusade1 here against ,france1   
there against ,great ,britain2 the vital
 interests of humanity are at stake2 the
 door will either be opened to          
disarmament or closed against peace for 
another fifty years2 and ,christ is     
silent--the ,church does not lift even  
three fingers to bless the cause of     
peace4  ,why is the ,church so          
powerless8 ,why is it she has so fatally
 lost the attention of mankind8  ,is it 
not because she has nothing to give1    
nothing to teach8 ,morals are older than
 ,christianity1 and sacramental         
religions as well4 ,men feel that they  
cannot understand the immense           
paraphernalia of religion and its       
unnatural atmosphere of high mystery2 it
 is so tremendous a fuss about so very  
small a result4 ,if ,god is in the      
,church1 why doesn't ,he do more for it1
 and so more for the world8 ,the        

revenues of religion are still enormous4
 ,what do they accomplish8  ,men who    
think in this way are not enemies of    
religion1 any more than the ,jews who   
came to ,jesus were enemies of ,judaism4
 ,they deserve the respect of the       
,church4 ,indeed1 it is in finding an   
answer to their challenge that the      
,church is most likely to find a        
solution to her own problem4 ,but that  
answer will never be found if the       
,church seeks for it only in her        
documents4 ,there is another place in   
which she must look for the truth of    
,christ1 a truth as completely          
overlooked by the modernist as by the   
traditionalist3 it is in the movements  
of the soul1 in the world of living men4
  ,i believe that there are more        
evidences for the existence of ,christ  
in the modern world than in the whole   
lexicon of theology4 ,i believe it is   
more possible to discern ,his features  
and to feel the breath of ,his lips by  
confronting the discoveries of modern   

science than by turning back the leaves 
of religious history to the first       
blurred pages of the ,christian         
tradition4 ,i believe1 indeed1 that it  
is now wholly impossible for any man to 
comprehend the ,light which shone upon  
human darkness nearly two thousand years
 ago without bringing the documents of  
the ,church to the light which is       
shining across the world at this present
 hour from the torch of science4  ,why  
seek ye the living among the dead8  ,for
 twenty years ,i have followed this clue
 to the meaning of ,christ and the      
nature of ,his message4 ,i have seen    
,darwinism1 the very foundation of      
modern materialism1 break up like thin  
ice and melt away from the view of      
philosophy4 ,i have seen evolution      
betray one of its greatest secrets to   
the soul of man--an immanent teleology1 
an invisible direction towards deeper   
consciousness1 an intelligent movement  
towards greater understanding4 ,and ,i  
have seen the demonstration by science  

that this visible and tangible world in 
its final analysis is both invisible and
 intangible--a phantasm of the senses4  
,i may be allowed perhaps to recall the 
incident which first set me to follow   
this clue4  ,one day1 when he was deep  
in his studies of ,radiant ,matter1 ,sir
 ,william ,crookes touched a little     
table which stood between our two       
chairs1 and said to me1 ,we shall       
announce to the world in a year or two1 
perhaps sooner1 that the atoms of which 
this table is composed are made up of   
tiny charges of electricity1 and we     
shall prove that each one of those tiny 
electrons1 relative to its size1 is     
farther away from its nearest neighbour 
than our earth from the nearest star4   
,i have lived to see this prophecy      
fulfilled1 though its implications are  
not yet understood4  ,the ,church does  
not yet realise that physical science1  
hitherto regarded as the enemy of       
religion and the mocker of philosophy1  
presents us now with the world of the   

transcendentalists1 the world of the    
metaphysicians1 the world of religious  
seers--a world which is real and visible
 only to our limited senses1 but a world
 which disappears from all vision and   
definition directly we bring to its     
investigation those ingenious           
instruments of science which act as     
extensions of our senses4  ,every       
schoolboy is now aware that a door is   
solid only to his eyes and touch2 that  
with the aid of ,x-rays it becomes      
transparent1 the light passing through  
it as water passes through network1     
revealing what is on the other side4    
,every schoolboy also knows that his own
 body can be so photographed as to      
reveal its skeleton4  ,but the ,church  
has yet to learn from ,m4 ,bergson the  
alphabet of this new knowledge1 namely1 
that our senses and our reason are what 
they are because of a long evolution in 
action--not in pure thought4 ,we have   
got our sight by looking for prey or for
 enemies1 and our hearing by listening  

for the movement of prey or of enemies4 
,our reason1 too1 is fashioned out of a 
long heredity of action1 that is to say 
an immemorial discipline in an existence
 purely animal4 ,so powerful is the     
influence of this heredity1 so real     
seems to us a physical world which is   
not real1 so infallible seem to us the  
senses by which we fail to live         
successfully even as animals1 that1 as  
,christ said1 a man must be born again  
before he can enter the ,kingdom of     
,god--that is to say1 before he can     
behold and inhabit ,reality4  ,at the   
head of this chapter ,i have set a      
quotation from a leading article in ,the
 ,times on the recent lectures of ,m4   
,coue4 ,it is now eighteen years ago1   
treading in the footsteps of ,frederic  
,myers1 that ,i discussed with some of  
the chief medical hypnotists in ,london 
and ,paris the phenomena of mental      
suggestion4 ,it was known then that     
auto-suggestion is a force of tremendous
 power4 ,it was stated then that an     

immense hope is dawning on the world1   
but not then1 not even now1 is it       
realised that this awkward term of      
auto-suggestion is merely a synonym for 
the more beautiful and ancient words1   
meditation and prayer4  ,we know now    
that a man can radically change his     
character1 can uproot the toughest      
habits of a lifetime1 by telling himself
 that his will is master in his house of
 life#i4 ,and we think that we have made
 this discovery1 forgetting that        
,shakespeare said ,the love of heaven   
makes us heavenly1 and that ,christ     
said1 ,blessed are they which do hunger 
and thirst after righteousness3 for they
 shall be filled1 and ,all things1      
whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer1      
believing1 ye shall receive1 or1 as     
,mark has it1 ,what things soever ye    
desire1 when ye pray1 believe that ye   
receive them1 and ye shall have them1   
and ,according to your faith be it unto 
you4  ,footnote #i3 ,at ,nancy even a   
lesion has been cured by suggestion4    

,with our present knowledge of the      
universe and of the human mind1 it is at
 last possible for us to perceive in the
 confused records of the ,new ,testament
 the nature of ,christ's teaching4 ,he  
loved the world for its beauty1 but ,he 
penetrated its delusions and breathed   
the air of its only reality4 ,lay not up
 for yourselves treasures upon the earth
 4 4 4 but lay up for yourselves        
treasures in heaven 4 4 4 for where your
 treasure is1 there will your heart be  
also4 ,what is a man profited1 if he    
shall gain the whole world1 and lose his
 own soul8 or what shall a man give in  
exchange for his soul8 ,if thou canst   
believe1 all things are possible to him 
that believeth4 ,he that hath ears to   
hear let him hear4  ,his world was      
always the world of thought4 ,the actual
 deed of sin was merely a physical      
consequence2 the cause was spiritual3 it
 was an evil thought2 to harbour an evil
 thought is to commit the sin4 ,he      
looked into the hearts of men1 into     

their thoughts1 and there only ,he found
 their reality4 ,all else was           
transitory4 ,all else would see         
corruption and die4 ,the flesh profiteth
 nothing4 ,but the thought of a         
man--that is to say the region now being
 explored by the psycho-analyst1 the    
psycho-therapeutist1 and the psycho ,i  
know not what else--this was the one    
region in which ,jesus moved1 the region
 in which ,he proclaimed his            
transvaluation of values1 a region of   
which ,he was so complete a master that 
,he could heal delusion at a word and   
disorder by a touch4  ,one does not     
perhaps wholly realise1 until one has   
read the muddied works of modern        
psychology1 how sublime was the soul of 
,jesus4 ,it might be possible to infer  
,his divinity from the simplicity of the
 language and the white purity of the   
thought with which ,he expressed truths 
of the profoundest significance even in 
regions where so many fall into         
unhealthiness4 ,no man can serve two    

masters--is not that the teaching of the
 modern hypnotist in dealing with a     
divided self8 ,set your affections on   
things above--is not that the counsel of
 the sane psycho-analyst in treating a  
diseased mind8 ,ask1 and it shall be    
given you2 seek1 and ye shall find2     
knock1 and it shall be opened unto      
you--is not this the message of ,m4     
,coue1 the teaching of                  
auto-suggestion8--that teaching which   
makes us say at last that an immense    
hope is dawning on the world4  ,and1 in 
sober truth1 we may indeed believe that 
this immense hope is dawning on the     
world2 the hope that mankind may        
recognise in ,jesus1 ,who called        
,himself the ,light of the ,world1 the  
world's great ,teacher of ,reality4     
,here we approach that unifying         
principle which was the object of our   
quest in setting out to explore the     
chaos of opinion in the modern ,church4 
,is it not possible that the ,church    
might see the trivial unimportance of   

all those matters which at present      
dismember her1 if she saw the supreme   
importance of ,christ as a ,teacher8    
,might she not come to behold a glory in
 that ,teaching greater even than that  
which she has so heroically but so      
unavailingly endeavoured to make the    
world behold in the crucified ,sacrifice
 and ,propitiation for its sins8  ,is   
there not here the opportunity of an    
evangel1 the dawning of an immense hope 
on the world8  ,but let the ,church ask 
herself1 before she abandons her labour 
of expounding doctrines concerning the  
,person of ,christ1 whether she is quite
 clear as to the teaching of ,jesus4    
,not every one that saith unto ,me1     
,lord1 ,lord1 shall enter into the      
,kingdom of ,heaven2 but he that doeth  
the will of ,my ,father which is in     
heaven4  ,read ,st4 ,mark1 the earliest1
 the least corrupted1 of the narratives4
 ,it is a declaration of a new power in 
human life1 and a record of its         
achievements4 ,it is this1 and nothing  

else4 ,the one great word of that gospel
 is ,faith--not faith in a formula or an
 institution1 but faith in the absolute 
supremacy of spirit4 ,faith in spirit   
means power--power over circumstance1   
power over matter1 power over the       
heredity of our animal origin4 ,jesus   
not only sets men free from the         
prison-house of material delusion1 as   
,plato and others sought to do2 ,he     
teaches them the way in which alone they
 can exercise spiritual dominion4       
,there were two things to which ,he set 
no limits3 one1 the love of ,god1 and   
the other1 the power of ,faith4  ,let   
all the schools in the ,church revise   
their definition of the word faith1 and 
unity will come of itself4 ,faith1 as   
,jesus employed that term1 meant making 
use of belief--belief that the spiritual
 alone is the real4 ,faith is the action
 of the soul4 ,it is the working of a   
power4 ,it is mastery of life4  ,let the
 ,church realise that ,jesus taught this
 power of the soul4 ,let her begin to   

exercise her own spiritual powers4 ,and 
then let her understand that she is in  
the world to teach men1 to lead the     
advance of evolution1 to educate        
humanity in the use of its highest      
powers4  ,a knowledge of the sense in   
which ,jesus employed the word ,faith is
 the clue to the recovery of ,christian 
influence4  ,this is the suggestion     
which ,i venture to submit to the       
,church1 at a moment in history when the
 harsh and brutal spirit of materialism 
is crushing all faith out of the soul   
and leaving the body no tenant but its  
appetites4  ,i do not think any         
observant man can deny that the whole   
suggestion of the modern world is of an 
evil nature1 that is to say1 of a nature
 which fastens upon the mind the        
delusions of the senses1 making it      
believe that what it sees is reality1   
persuading it that the gratification of 
those senses is the end and object of   
existence4 ,the wages of this suggestion
 is death--the death of the soul4  ,how 

far the world is gone from sanity1 and  
how clearly science endorses ,christ's  
teaching1 may be seen in the modern     
craze for unhealthy excitement1 and in  
the medical condemnation of that morbid 
passion4 ,a well-known doctor in        
,london1 ,sir ,bruce ,bruce-,porter1 has
 lately condemned ,grand ,guignol as    
intensifying the emotion of fear or     
anxiety--,take no heed--and has declared
 anger1 or any violence of feeling1 to  
be a danger--,love your                 
enemies--pointing out that the          
experiment of inoculating a guinea-pig  
with the perspiration taken from the    
forehead of a man in a violent temper   
has resulted in the death of the        
guinea-pig with all the symptoms of     
strychnine poisoning4  ,science is the  
one voice that condemns in these days   
the self-destroying madness of a world  
set on seeking to live habitually in the
 lower life4 ,sometimes journalism may  
light a candle of reason in our         
darkness1 as when ,the ,times recently  

pointed out in a leading article that   
the half-humorous interest of the world 
in the murderer ,landru had its rise in 
a profound instinct of the human spirit1
 namely1 that horror must be laughed at 
if it is not to be feared--to fear it is
 to be overwhelmed by it4 ,this instinct
 is an unconscious refusal to believe in
 the ultimate reality of evil2 it is the
 predecessor of the scientific spirit   
which says that evil is something to be 
overcome by understanding it4  ,out of  
such a lethargy as that which now holds 
her captive1 ,i do not think the ,church
 can be roused except by the trumpets of
 war4 ,let her1 then1 consider whether  
there is not here1 in this world of     
false values1 of low ambitions1 of mean 
pleasures1 of dark materialism1 and of  
perilous superstitions1 a world to be   
fought1 as the doctors fight it1 and the
 best kind of newspapers1 if only for   
the sake of posterity1 a world against  
which it is good to oppose oneself--the 
,children of ,light against the         

,children of ,darkness4  ,what is the   
good news of ,christianity if it is not 
the news that the spiritual alone is the
 real1 that there is freedom for human  
life and mastery for the human soul1    
that faith in the spiritual is power    
over the material8 ,even in the         
tentative form which ,m4 ,bergson uses  
to reveal the reality of the spiritual  
world there is such joy that one of his 
interpreters can exclaim3       ,here we
 are in these regions of twilight and   
dream1 where our ego      takes shape1  
where the spring within us gushes up1 in
 the warm      secrecy of the darkness  
which ushers our trembling being into   
birth4 ,distinctions fail us4 ,words are
 useless now4 ,we hear the      wells of
 consciousness at their mysterious task 
like an invisible      shiver of running
 water through the mossy shades of the  
caves4 ,i      dissolve in the joy of   
becoming4 ,i abandon myself to the      
delight of      being a pulsing reality4
 ,i no longer know whether ,i see       

scents1      breathe sounds1 or smell   
colours4 ,do ,i love8 ,do ,i think8 ,the
      question has no longer a meaning  
for me4 ,i am1 in my complete self1     
each of my attitudes1 each of my        
changes4 ,it is not my sight which      
is indistinct or my attention which is  
idle4 ,it is ,i who have      resumed   
contact with pure reality1 whose        
essential movement admits      no form  
of number4  ,how much greater the joy of
 him who knows that ,reality is ,god1   
and that ,god is ,father4       ,the    
open secret flashes on the brain1       
,as if one almost guessed it1 almost    
knew      ,whence we have sailed and    
voyage whereunto4  ,let us suppose that 
the whole ,church of ,christ was engaged
 in teaching men this high mystery1 this
 open secret1 that all such great       
associations as the ,christian          
,students' ,movement1 the ,adult ,sunday
 ,school ,movement1 the ,world          
,association for ,adult ,education1 and 
all the numerous ,missionary ,societies 

throughout the whole earth--let us      
suppose that the entire ,church of      
,christ was at work in the world        
teaching ,christ's teaching1 educating  
men1 bringing it home to the heart and  
mind of humanity that life is mental    
travel1 that it is in our thoughts we   
live and by our thoughts we are shaped1 
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the 
,kingdom of ,god1 that all terrestrial  
values are radically false1 that to     
hunger and thirst after anything is to  
get it1 that the power of the dominant  
wish is our fate1 that in love alone can
 we live to the full stature of our     
destiny1 that the ,kingdom of ,god is   
within us1 that the engine of faith has 
not yet been exerted by the whole human 
race in concert1 that conquests await us
 in the spiritual world before which all
 the conquests of the material world    
will pale into insignificance1 that we  
are spirits finding our way out of the  
darkness of an animal ancestry into the 
,light of an immortal inheritance as    

children of ,god2 let us suppose that   
this1 and not dogma was the ,voice of   
the ,church2 must we not say that by    
such teaching the whole world would     
eventually be rescued from our present  
chaos and in the fulness of time be born
 again into the knowledge of spiritual  
reality8  ,i believe it is only when a  
man realises that in its final analysis 
the whole universe is invisible1 and    
ceases to think of himself as an animal 
and becomes profoundly sensible of      
himself as a spirit1 and a spirit in    
communion with a spiritual reality      
closer than hands and feet1 that it is  
possible for him to fulfil the two great
 commandments on which hang all the ,law
 and the ,prophets4 ,and without that   
fulfilment there must always be chaos4  
,if the ,church will not teach the      
world1 modern science will inspire      
philosophy to take up anew the teaching 
of ,plato1 and the world will go forward
 into the light1 but with no creative   
love in its soul to save it from itself4

 ,if therefore1 said ,christ1 the light 
that is in thee be darkness1 how great  
is that darkness4