,,religious ,,perplexities ,,by ,,principal ,l4 ,p4 ,,jacks ,d4,d41 ,,ll4,d41 ,d4,,litt4 ,,author ,,of ,,the ,,legends ,,of ,,smokeover1 ,,etc4 ,perplexed1 yet not unto despair ,,hodder ,,and ,,stoughton ,,limited ,,london #aibb ,,printed ,,in ,,great ,,britain ,,by ,,richard ,,clay ,,sons1 ,,limited ,,bungay1 ,,suffolk4 ,a ,foreword ,the substance of this little book was delivered in the form of two lectures given at the invitation of the ,hibbert ,trustees in ,manchester1 ,liverpool1 ,leeds and ,birmingham during ,march and ,april1 #aibb4 ,on revising the spoken word for the press ,i have made certain rearrangements which seemed to be required in committing the lectures to the printed form4 ,the first section is wholly new and may be considered as a short introduction to the main theme4 ,such an introduction is1 ,i think1 needed1 but the time at my disposal did not allow of its inclusion in the oral delivery of the lectures4 ,l4 ,p4 ,j4 ,contents ,i4 ,,the ,,source ,,of ,,perplexity ,,ii4 ,,religious ,,perplexity ,,in ,,general ,,iii4 ,,perplexity ,,in ,,the ,,christian ,,religion ,i ,the ,source of ,perplexity ,the first and greatest of religious perplexities1 the source of all the rest1 arises in the mysterious fact of our existence as individual souls4 ,our perplexities spring from the very root of life4 ,why are we here at all8 ,did we but know the purpose for which we are present in the world1 should we not have in our hands the key to all the questions we raise about ,god1 freedom1 duty and immortality8 ,but if we know not why we are here how can we hope to answer these other questions8 ,or again1 if we were forced to acknowledge that our existence has no purpose at all1 would it not be futile to embark on inquiries concerning ,god1 freedom1 duty and immortality8 ,what meaning could these terms have for beings who had learnt that their own existence was purposeless8 ,the ,westminster ,confession affirms that the true end of man is ,to glorify ,god and to enjoy him for ever4 ,a splendid saying6 ,but might not ,god be better glorified1 and more fully enjoyed1 if the particular soul inhabiting my own body1 with all its errors and defects1 had not been suffered to appear upon the scene8 ,might not another soul1 sent into the universe instead of mine1 have played that part infinitely better than ,i can ever hope to do8 ,why1 then1 among the host of possibilities1 did the lot fall upon me8 ,why me8 ,why you8 ,why should ,god need to be glorified1 or enjoyed1 by you1 by me1 by anyone8 ,why should he need anything8 ,if1 as some affirm1 the universe is the dwelling-place of the ,all ,perfect1 what reason can be given for the existence1 side by side with that ,all ,perfect one1 or within him1 of a multitude of imperfect images of his ,perfection--like you and me8 ,in the presence of ,one who has all purposes already fulfilled in himself what purpose can be served by our introduction into the scheme of things8 ,if you and ,i1 and all such1 were to be blotted out forthwith and the ,all ,perfect left in sole possession of the universe1 where would be the loss8 ,you and ,i are apparently superfluous4 ,philosophers1 both ancient and modern1 have addressed themselves to this problem1 not altogether1 ,i think1 without success1 and yet not quite successfully4 ,their arguments have not removed but greatly deepened the mystery of our existence1 bringing it to a critical point where we must either accept it or run away from life and its perils--to the point1 in fact1 where we must choose between life and death4 ,if we choose life we accept the risk that its burden may prove too heavy for us4 ,if death1 we escape the perils of life but forfeit our share in its victories4 ,the former is the heroic choice2 the latter the cowardly4 ,as ,carlyle was never tired of repeating1 the ultimate question which every man has to face and answer for himself is this3 ,wilt thou be a hero or a coward8 ,no philosophy can relieve us from the responsibility of having to make that choice4 ,all that philosophy can do1 and it is a great thing to accomplish even this1 is to bring us to the point where we see that the choice has to be made4 ,this it does by forcing us to raise the question3 ,why am ,i here8 ,for what end have ,i been sent into the world8 ,but let us inquire more closely what philosophers have done by way of bringing us to this point--the point where a final decision between heroism and cowardice becomes inevitable4 ,to the argument that we are superfluous1 that with a ,perfect ,god in possession of the universe no reason can be given why imperfect beings should be here at all1 the philosophers make reply that the ,one must needs differentiate itself into a ,many1 the ,eternal ,consciousness reproduce itself in a multitude of time-bound mortals like you and me1 troublers of the ,divine ,perfection1 which is all the more clearly perfect because it suffers and at last overcomes the trouble that our presence creates4 ,but while reasons have been offered why the ,one should thus reproduce or differentiate itself as a ,many1 no reason1 so far as ,i am aware1 has ever been found1 nor ever can be1 why there should be just so many of these troublers as there are--no more and no less4 ,nor why you and ,i should be among them4 ,to explain why human units exist1 does not explain the existence of any single individual we choose to name--of ,julius ,csar1 of ,napoleon1 of ,mr ,lloyd ,george1 whose significance in the universe1 it will be admitted1 consists not in their being mere human units required to make up a certain number1 but in their being just the kind of men they happen to be4 ,so too the proof that a human unit must needs be there to fill the niche in time and space you now occupy is no proof that you1 and no other1 must needs be the unit in question4 ,another1 substituted in your place1 could play the part of one in a multitude as well as you1 and the theory of the ,one and the ,many would not even notice the change4 ,but it would make a notable difference to the facts4 ,and as with the units1 so with the totality4 ,if the number of souls now drawing the breath of life were halved or doubled1 nay1 if they were all suddenly blotted out and their places filled by an entirely new multitude1 men1 angels or devils as the case might be1 philosophy might still maintain its theory of the ,one and the ,many as though nothing had happened4 ,why these rather than those8 ,why you8 ,why me8 ,philosophy precipitates this question and leaves it1 at the end of all theorizing1 unanswered1 poignant and tremendous4 ,who can say positively1 writes ,sir ,leslie ,stephen1 that it would not be better for the world at large if his neck were wrung five minutes hence8#a ,unable1 as every man is1 to give a convincing reason why he should be here at all1 or why1 being here1 he should remain here any longer1--unable to prove that it would not be better for the world at large1 if all necks1 his own included1 were wrung five minutes hence--is there not something fundamentally irrational in our determination to continue in existence as long as we possibly can--that universal will-to-live1 which forms the basis of all particular volitions1 and supplies the motive power to our plans1 purposes1 preparations and policies for our own or others' good8 ,challenged to show cause why we should linger here a moment longer1 what answer could any of us give that would have the slightest claim to the universal validity of reason8 ,reason cannot be bullied into acquiescence by the importance of individuals in their own eyes4 ,was there ever a great man whose sudden extinction would not have been hailed with joy by a considerable section of his contemporaries1 or a little one who would not have made things pleasanter for somebody by taking himself off8 ,if we limit the word rational to the processes of thought which issue in demonstrations after the manner of mathematical arguments1 and if all behaviour is to be termed irrational which involves the taking of a risk1 ,i see no escape from the conclusion that human life is infected with irrationality at its very core4 ,so far as any of us act upon the assumption that it is better for us to exist than not to exist we are assuming what can never be proved4 ,but1 for my own part1 ,i am not prepared to put these limitations on the word rational4 ,the traditional logic of the schools1 on which this notion of rationality is founded1 turns out on examination to cover no more than a departmental activity of the human mind4 ,the type of conclusion to which it leads us is determined in advance by the rules it lays down for its own procedure1 in the one department where such procedure is possible4 ,free activity1 which is the essence of self-consciousness1 and the life of all creative work1 lies entirely outside its province1 and the attempt to deal with it by departmental rules yields nothing but the rank absurdity that freedom itself is absurd4#b ,the logic in question may be compared to a locomotive engine which can move only on the rails that have been laid down for it2 and the philosopher who would apprehend the things of the spirit by the means which it affords him is like a man who rides an engine rather than a horse when he goes to hunt a fox4 ,logical machinery cannot follow the movement of the live spirit1 nor arrest it even for a moment's inspection4 ,within its own province the rule of the traditional logic is1 indeed1 absolute4 ,but to make that province co-extensive with the realm of truth1 to extend the laws which govern it into the universal laws of spirit is a fatal pedantry4 ,so extended1 our logic leads not to truth but to falsehood and1 ultimately1 to the paralysis of the very thought it seeks to regulate1 nay1 to the extinction of thought itself4 ,this procedure has no claim whatever to usurp the name of reason1 but rather stands condemned as the very type of what is unreasonable4 ,let those who deny this prove1 if they can1 in terms acceptable to universal reason1 that it would not be better for the world at large if their necks were wrung five minutes hence4 ,there is a coward and a hero in the breast of every man4 ,each of the pair has a logic of his own adapted to his particular purpose and aim--which is safety for the coward and victory for the hero4 ,the two are perpetually at variance1 the reason of the one being the unreason of the other1 the truth of the one being the falsehood of the other4 ,the inner strife1 the division in our nature1 the law in our members warring against the law of our mind1 on which so many great doctrines of religion have hinged1 has its origin at this point4 ,anyone who watches himself narrowly may observe the strife going on1 and going on in just this form1--as an argument between the coward within him1 who is out for safety1 and the hero within him1 who is out for victory4 ,they have little common ground and can barely understand each other's speech4 ,everything the hero proposes is unreasonable to the coward4 ,everything the coward proposes is detestable to the hero4 ,the hero would pour spikenard on the head of his beloved--that would be victorious4 ,the coward would sell it and give the money to the poor--that would be safer4 ,the coward sees a danger in having children and limits his family4 ,the hero would have many sons4 ,on all such points the coward1 judged by the standard of what passes muster as logic1 is a better reasoner than the hero4 ,but the hero1 though he has less to say for himself1 when brought before the seat of judgment1 is nearer to the fountain head of ,reason4 ,would not the offence of the ,cross1 submitted at the time to a sanhedrim of logical experts1 have been condemned as unadulterated folly8 ,such a sanhedrim is always in session within a man1 and the hero has much ado to stand up to its decrees4 ,religion is a power which develops the hero in the man at the expense of the coward in the man4 ,as the change proceeds there comes a moment when the cowardly method of reasoning1 with its eye on safety1 ceases to dominate the soul4 ,at the same moment the heroic element awakes and looks with longing towards the dangerous mountain-tops4 ,thenceforward the man's reason becomes the organ of the new spirit that is in him1 no longer fettered to the self-centre1 but mounting up with wings as an eagle4 ,his powers as a reasoner are enriched1 his survey of the facts more comprehensive1 his insight into their significance more penetrating4 ,religion has sometimes been represented as introducing a new faculty called faith into the man's life1 as adding this faith to the reason he had before1 or perhaps as driving reason out and putting faith in its place4 ,this is a misconception4 ,faith is neither a substitute for reason nor an addition to it4 ,faith is nothing else than reason grown courageous--reason raised to its highest power1 expanded to its widest vision4 ,its advent marks the point where the hero within the man is getting the better of the coward1 where safety1 as the prime object of life1 is losing its charm and another ,object1 hazardous but beautiful1 dimly seen but deeply loved1 has begun to tempt the awakened soul4 ,another way of saying the same thing is to name religion the new birth of the soul4 ,but a new birth which1 while changing all the rest of the man1 left his reason unchanged1 which turned all the rest of him into a hero1 but kept him still reasoning with a coward's logic1 would not amount to very much4 ,unless ,i am mistaken the new birth must begin in the seat of reason if it is to begin at all4 ,is not the man's reason the very essence of the man8 ,how then1 can he be converted at all unless he is converted there8 ,most of the defences of religion that ,i am acquainted with ignore all this4 ,they claim to address themselves to reason4 ,and so indeed they do1 but to reason in a low stage of its development1 to the half-born reason of the timid and unemancipated soul1 to the unheroic side of human nature1 treating us as beings whose ultimate interest is to save our own skins1 and making use of the logic1 admirable on its own field1 which self-interest has worked out for that very purpose and which is incapable of reaching any other conclusion4 ,instead of raising reason to the full-grown stature of religion1 they bring religion down to the level of reason while still at the stage of learning the alphabet of its business4 ,to this class of argument belong ,locke's proof of the existence of ,god1 and ,paley's of a ,beneficent ,designer4 ,these argue as though the search for ,god were like the search for a lost key or for an invisible carpenter4 ,to the same class may be assigned a more modern type of apologia1 which accommodates religion to the supposed demands of physical science1 or equates the ,kingdom of ,heaven with social reform1 or domesticates the eternal values to the service of temporal utility1 or harmonizes ,god with democracy1 or with whatever else may be the popular obsession of the moment--all of them based on the principle of making concessions to the unconverted reason of carnal men1 thereby sacrificing the higher logic of the spirit to the lower logic of the senses4 ,these constructions have no continuance4 ,a slight shifting in the point of view1 a new demand from science1 a step forward 7or backward7 in the higher criticism1 a change in the prevalent political obsession1 a fit of sickness in democratic aspiration1 and down they all go under a breath of the logic that created them1 the modernism of to-day becoming the obscurantism of to-morrow4 ,then the work of accommodation must begin afresh2 new concessions are offered to reason1 with the result that rebellious criticism breaks out at another point4 ,or the cry is raised1 by desperate men1 that religion is not an affair of the head but of the heart--as though a religion in which the head and the heart were at variance could be anything else than a fatal disease of the soul4 ,and may not these apostles of the heart be reminded that their proposal to exclude the head from the pale of religion has neither force nor meaning until the head itself has ratified the bargain and consented to its own exclusion8 ,which the head is not likely to do4 ,if1 then1 we are to limit the word reason to that side of us to which the aforesaid logic makes its approach1 we should realize from the outset that none of us can adduce the faintest shadow of reason why he should exist at all1 or why1 in ,sir ,leslie ,stephen's words1 it were not better for the world at large if his neck were wrung five minutes hence4 ,indeed1 if the half-born logic of the unconverted reason is to rule our actions1 ,i am inclined to think that the advice to commit universal suicide would be at least as logical as any other that philosophy could tender to the human race at the present moment4 ,but the advice would not be accepted4 ,rightly or wrongly each one of us insists on regarding his own existence as a fact of some significance--insists on believing that1 on the whole1 it is better for him to be here than not to be here4 ,however firmly we may be convinced that the ,one has done its duty when it has differentiated itself into a ,many1 there is none of us who would take lightly to the proposal that he1 ,john ,smith1 as one of the ,many1 should forthwith be blotted out1 and another1 ,wong ,fu1 placed in the gap left vacant by his disappearance4 ,to most of us1 ,i believe1 nay to all1 it does make an enormous difference whether the particular niche in question is filled by ,wong ,fu or by me1 but a difference for which we should find it extremely difficult to give a logical account4 ,in my youth ,i was much in contact with a group of excellent ,christians who held that the number of the saved had been definitely fixed by divine pre-ordination1 the extremists placing it as low as #dj1jjj4 ,but looking back on those times ,i now see that the ardour with which we believed these things was strictly relevant to the hope each of us entertained that he himself might be included in the number aforesaid4 ,i am very sure that our faith would have collapsed immediately had the revelation been made that the elect were composed exclusively of converted ,chinamen4 ,our conception of the ,one and the ,many was not so disinterested or abstract as to exclude ourselves from a fair chance of having a share in whatever good things happened to be going4 ,and so it always is1 even where more enlightened philosophies prevail4 ,the significance of the universe1 whatever it may be1 is1 ultimately1 its significance for me2 which is another way of saying that ,i attach importance to the fact that just ,i1 and nobody else1 am here to perceive the significance4 ,there are certain forms of mysticism1 mostly ,indian1 which would wean us from all this4 ,they would delete the value which the soul perceives in being just this soul and no other4 ,but ,i am very sure they do not succeed4 ,whatever fascination the thought of being absorbed into the ,infinite may have for me depends on my keeping it in mind that it is ,i1 and not somebody else1 who is being absorbed4 ,to be interested in one's finite self to the point of wanting to get rid of it is to have a high sense of one's own importance4 ,a divine egoism is here indicated which the subject of religion shares with the ,object4 ,i am the ,lord thy ,god4 ,thou shalt have no other ,god but me4 ,in describing the value a man finds in his own existence as illogical1 as a thing for which no reason can be given1 ,i am referring to logic and reason as they are understood in the schools and made use of in the superficial war of minds1 the lower logic and the lower reason of the unconverted or unheroic mind4 ,but1 illogical though it be in that construction1 ,i nevertheless regard it--this value which each man finds in his being the man he is--as the growing point of the higher logic which1 when fully born1 reveals the ,kingdoms of the ,real4 ,this is the root of the intuition of value1 the first point of contact between the human mind and the things that are eternal1 ,beauty1 ,goodness and ,truth4 ,morally it takes the form of courage1 which is the foundation of virtue4 ,in a world where no reason can be given why this soul should exist at all1 this soul nevertheless resolves to create a reason by its own valour1 in the sure and certain faith that the universe1 indifferent to the coward1 will be friendly to the hero1 will respond to his effort1 will lend him its own creative energy1 and bring him at last1 in fellowship with the ,divine ,spirit which first prompted his attempt1 to the haven where he would be4 ,the life of this heroic spirit is religion in being4 ,but can we go further and name it ,christianity8 ,i think we can4 ,it is to the heroic spirit1 waiting in all of us for the ,divine summons which shall call it from death to life1 that the figure of ,christ1 dominating the ages1 makes its great appeal4 ,but of this more hereafter4 #a ,a ,bad ,five ,minutes in the ,alps4 #b ,see an article in the ,hibbert ,journal for ,april #aibb by ,howard ,v4 ,knox1 ,is ,determinism ,rational8 ,,ii ,religious ,perplexity in ,general ,there is such a thing as the will-to-disbelieve4 ,it is impervious to all appeals4 ,no reason so cogent can be given for believing in the reality of anything but that human ingenuity1 egged on by the will-to-disbelieve1 can find some means of casting doubt upon it4 ,in this respect1 religious belief is no worse off than any other kind of belief whatsoever4 ,we can find grounds for doubting our own identity1 for doubting the multiplication table1 for doubting the fundamental axioms of thought--if we are determined to find them4 ,on all these beliefs doubt has1 in fact1 been cast by resolute doubters4 ,nothing is proof against the will-to-disbelieve1 not even disbelief itself4 ,every scepticism makes assumptions which a deeper scepticism can question4 ,no reason can be given for doubting which a sufficiently obstinate doubter cannot doubt4 ,no reason for believing1 but a more ardent believer will find it inadequate4 ,here doubt and belief resemble one another4 ,the will-to-disbelieve is as necessary a part of our equipment as the will to believe3 the two wills being indeed the same in principle1 but the opposite in application4 ,the former is a weapon of defence1 a protection against deceivers1 never more useful than when engaged in exposing shams1 fraud and cant practised under the name of religion4 ,the latter is a weapon of attack1 the principle of all that is creative in human life4 ,it is akin to love1 the most valiant of all qualities1 whether it appears in a tigress defending her cubs or in a martyr dying for mankind4 ,if we fall under the power of the will-to-disbelieve1 we shall indeed be well protected from fraud1 but ill equipped for the creation of new values1 either in our own life or in that of others1 which is the prime business of man4 ,for this we need the will to believe that the new values are possible1 which the will-to-disbelieve can always doubt4 ,i cannot agree with those philosophers who maintain that religion is based on the will-to-believe4 ,the two are clearly connected2 but it would be truer to say that the will-to-believe is based on religion4 ,religion encourages a man to act on the assumption that the best things are possible1 and checks the will-to-disbelieve precisely at the point where it questions this4 ,it is the ,god within the man which so acts1 and the moment the man perceives its divine origin the will-to-believe acquires a new energy4 ,god is not a product1 but the author and living principle of the will-to-believe4 ,the will-to-disbelieve1 if given a free rein1 would at last involve us in a depth of scepticism indistinguishable from complete cowardice4 ,but in actual life it never goes to this length1 except in the world of pure dialectics and in asylums for the insane4 ,however sceptically inclined a man may be1 there comes a point where he suspends his will-to-disbelieve in favour of the proposition that ,truth 7and perhaps ,beauty and ,goodness also7 is better than the opposite1 though it is quite easy for anyone so minded1 and with a little skill in dialectics1 to find a point of view from which even this can be doubted4 ,unless the sceptic believed that ,truth is better than its opposite why should he take the trouble to convict his opponent of error or to satisfy himself of the soundness of his own opinions8 ,clearly he has made his choice at that point--a truly heroic choice if we consider it--committing himself to a position which needs courage to maintain1 and thereby proving that he is no coward4 ,in his own way he has faced and bravely answered the question which1 in one form or another1 has to be faced and answered by everyone4 ,he has chosen to be a hero4 ,over every aspect of human life there hangs the prospect of a possible better1 inviting us to achieve it1 but without proof that we shall succeed1 or even that it is worth our while to make the attempt4 ,the coward within us asks for the proof2 cries out that the venture is not safe1 and summoning the will-to-disbelieve has no difficulty in finding reasons for rejecting the invitation4 ,the hero1 on the contrary1 finds in the terms offered the exact conditions to which his nature is fitted to respond4 ,he would rather create the proof by his own valour than have it for nothing from the outset4 ,he is not dismayed at finding himself in a universe which puts him under no compulsion to believe in ,god1 ,freedom1 ,duty and ,immortality4 ,as a free soul he prefers not to be compelled to believe in anything--for how then could he be free8 ,the offer of a logic that cannot be gainsaid does not attract him1 for he knows very well that his will-to-disbelieve can gainsay any logic that may be produced--he can meet it all1 if so minded1 with the ,everlasting ,no4 ,he finds his own nature as hero exquisitely adapted to the nature of the universe as dangerous--on that side the ringing challenge1 on this the joyous response2 man and the universe engaged together as loyal confederates in the task of creating a better-than-what-is4 ,such are the respective arguments of the coward and the hero4 ,let it be remembered that these are not the names of two different men4 ,they are names for the same man1 as one or other element of his nature comes uppermost4 ,both are clamant at this moment in you and me1 clamant in you as you read these words1 clamant in me as ,i write them4 ,the will-to-disbelieve is always most active where the controversial interest reigns supreme2 least active where men1 in a spirit of mutual loyalty1 are engaged together in the positive attempt to achieve a better-than-what-is4 ,into the relations of true lovers the will-to-disbelieve never enters1 though a ,mephistopheles1 standing by1 can always find reasons enough for prompting it1 and sneer at them for a brace of fools4 ,the will of the true lovers is to believe in each other and to reject all suggestions to the contrary4 ,they will trust each other to the uttermost1 in spite of the fact that no conclusive reason can be given why they should do so--heroic lovers that they are6 ,but whenever a human interest1 great or small1 is detached from its roots in reality and turned into a subject for the war of minds1 every assertion made by the one side is a challenge to the other to assert the contrary4 ,the will-to-disbelieve is then in its glory1 and finds there are no lengths to which it cannot go4 ,the more it is hammered1 the greater its vigour1 the greater its ingenuity1 in hitting back4 ,meanwhile both sides are drifting further away from realities and the primary interest in dispute succumbing to the secondary interests of mere controversy4 ,the dominant motive of the controversy has now ceased to be the search for truth and become the resolution of the disputants to overthrow their opponents and not be overthrown4 ,there is no issue4 ,from the nature of the forces engaged the controversy becomes endless4 ,as the mere plaything of professional controversialists the fate of religion can never be decided4 ,the professional controversialists themselves do not desire that it should be2 their interest is to keep the game up for ever2 for if a final issue were reached their occupation would be gone4 ,happily for religion1 its fate does not depend on the fortunes of this ever-swaying battle4 ,it depends on the answer given by individual men and women to the question which faces them all over the gateway of life--,wilt thou be a hero or a coward8 ,religion is one of those high things1 and there are many such in life1 which lose their meaning when they are over-defended1 or over-explained4 ,in explaining them we are apt to explain them away1 and without being aware that we are doing so4 ,whenever the truths of religion are too much defended they are cheapened2 and when cheapened they become incredible4 ,like the love of a man and a woman1 or the belief we have in the loyalty of our dearest friends1 or the joy we feel in the presence of beauty1 or the grief of a broken heart1 they resent being made into mere topics for discussion4 ,for this reason religion has suffered as much from its would-be friends as from its avowed enemies4 ,to official ,defenders of the ,faith1 crowned1 mitred or wigged1 the ,faith owes less than the ,defenders in question have been wont to claim4 ,i have even heard it suggested1 by extremists1 that there would be more believers in ,god if all the theologians would take themselves off4 ,if religion is founded on ,reality1 as we are so fond of asserting1 we have no need to be over-anxious about its defence1 since ,reality can always be trusted in the long run to look after itself and its children4 ,we compromise religion whenever our defence of it seems to imply that its fortunes depend on us or on our arguments1 an impression too often created by apologetic literature--the impression of something naturally weak which needs an immense amount of argumentative coddling to keep it alive4 ,i observe none of this in the presentation of religion by the ,founder of ,christianity4 ,his freedom from anxiety for the morrow covered the fundamentals of faith4 ,the weakest religions1 and the weakest phases in the history of every religion1 are those which spend most energy in defending themselves2 the strongest are those which attack the oppositions1 difficulties1 disproportions1 iniquities1 perils and mysteries that beset the soul4 ,seen on the self-defensive1 religion is apt to appear at its worst4 ,it rises to its best in the moment of attack4 ,it represents the expeditionary force of the soul1 in its native element where mysteries are encountered1 where the seemingly impossible has to be attempted1 where creative work has to be done and where the call to play the man is never silent4 ,most of the quarrels and divisions among believers1 which exhaust the energies meant for a ,diviner ,object1 and deface the history of religion1 turn on the question of its defence4 ,on the side of defence religion falls asunder into sects which spend themselves in achieving mutual paralysis4 ,on the side of attack its forces converge4 ,religion is rather that which defends us than that which we have to defend4 ,it stands for the attack upon the powers of darkness and of spiritual wickedness1 in high places and in low4 ,the defence of religion has been overdone4 ,we have cooped up the faith in theological fortresses1 surrounding it with an immense array of outworks--creeds1 dogmas1 apologetics1 institutions--and we have used up our resources in holding our positions against one another when we ought to have been attacking the common enemy in the open field4 ,these outworks and defences1 intended to save us from perplexity1 have become a greater source of perplexity than all the rest4 ,it takes a lifetime to understand them1 and when understood most of them turn out futile4 ,it is the fashion nowadays to express alarm about the future of religion4 ,hardly a day passes but we hear some utterance1 read some document1 which sounds that note4 ,but look closely and you will often discover that what these people are really alarmed about is not religion itself1 but one or other of the entrenched camps in which religion has been cooped up4 ,where is the church1 where is the sect1 where is the creed-bolstered institution1 unhampered by the cares of these great fortresses8 ,and indeed they are not safe4 ,there is no place on earth where a man's soul is less safe than when it immures itself in one of these masterpieces of military architecture1 mostly medival4 ,we live in an age of long-range artillery and of high explosives4 ,are you then in search of a religion which will relieve you of perplexity1 remove peril out of your path1 and surround your soul with an unassailable rampart against doubt8 ,i have to confess that ,i know of none such4 ,but ,i know of at least one religion which does far greater things than these4 ,in the first place1 the religion ,i am thinking of brings all our perplexities to a focus2 lifts them up on high2 concentrates them on two or three burning points1 and shows us with a clearness that admits of no mistaking what a tremendous mystery we are up against in life4 ,that is the first thing that a true religion does4 ,but if it did that only1 it would do us no good but harm1 for it would overwhelm us4 ,so it does the second4 ,while on the one hand it reveals to us1 as ,i have said1 the deep and amazing mystery of our existence1 on the other it reveals something yet deeper and more amazing in ourselves1 something divine in everyone of us1 which is more than a match for what it has to face4 ,a true religion does both things1 does them together1 in the same moment1 in the same act4 ,it throws a searchlight on our perplexities and raises them to a high level4 ,but in the very act of so doing it raises the greatness of man to a higher level still4 ,it sharpens our consciousness of evil2 thereby deepening our consciousness of that in ourselves which opposes evil4 ,hear the ,baron von ,hgel4 ,christianity has not explained suffering and evil2 no one has done so2 no one can do so4 ,yet it has done two things greater1 more profound and more profitable for us4 ,from the first it has immensely widened and deepened the fact1 the reality1 the awful potency and baffling mystery of sorrow1 pain1 sin1 things which abide with man across the ages4 ,but ,christianity has also1 from the first1 increased the capacity1 the wondrous secret and force1 which issues in a practical1 living1 loving transcendence1 utilization1 transformation of sorrow and pain and even of sin4 ,christianity gave to our souls the strength and the faith to grasp life's nettle4 ,observe that ,christianity has done this from the first4 ,and to the last it will do the same4 ,so far as ,i can see the religious perplexities of to-day are not essentially different from those of other times4 ,they have indeed become more vocal1 and there are more people who can talk about them intelligently4 ,but their nature is unchanged4 ,the first point to be noted about the religious perplexities of to-day is their essential identity with those of yesterday4 ,they spring from the same root and they gather round the same centres4 ,too much is being made of the special difficulties besetting religion at the passing moment1 those1 for example1 connected with the progress of science and with the higher criticism--as though this were the age of religious difficulty par excellence4 ,surely that is a mistake4 ,the difficulties of faith have always been up to the limit of human endurance4 ,religious belief has always required the full courage of the soul to sustain its high propositions4 ,it has always been a near thing1 and those who speak of past ages when it was easy are grossly misreading the history of the human mind4 ,what science and the higher criticism have done is to turn attention upon new points1 to divert perplexities into new channels1 but not to alter their essential character1 not to change the stuff of which they are made4 ,the fact of evil is no discovery of the present age2 it has been challenging the faith of men for thousands of years2 there is nothing more poignant to be said about it to-day than was said ages ago by the patriarch ,job4 ,the great troubles have not changed4 ,suffering and death1 the agony of bereavement1 the tragedies of blighted hopes and shipwrecked lives--these are not things peculiar to the twentieth century4 ,in stressing the difficulties that come from science and criticism1 are we not in danger of losing sight of those greater and permanent difficulties that enter into the very structure of human life1 and abide with men across the ages8 ,a broken heart is the same in one age1 in one place1 as in another3 and wherever it exists the soul of man has all that it can bear4 ,those who have faced these major perplexities and conquered them1 those who have passed through the ,valley of ,humiliation and emerged victorious at the other end1 will not be greatly troubled by science and the higher criticism4 ,but those who begin their approach to religion by reconciling science with faith1 or adjusting the ,creeds to the higher criticism1 or solving conundrums about the omnipotence of ,god1 or making one set of abstractions fit in with another1 will find that all this argumentation avails them very little when the lightning falls on the roof tree1 or the ,angel of ,death spreads his black wings over the house4 ,we are sometimes told that the ,great ,war has enormously increased the religious perplexities of mankind4 ,i cannot see that it has4 ,all the problems it suggests1 all the questions it raises1 were equally contained in the lesser wars that went before it1 and even if the great one had never occurred1 there would still be enough suffering in the world to challenge the strongest faith4 ,an age which has needed the ,great ,war to rouse it to a sense of tragedy must have been living in a fool's paradise up to date4 ,every problem suggested by the ,great ,war has been there1 plain for all ages to see1 since suffering and death1 since folly and wickedness1 first came into the world4 ,i do not doubt that the war has administered a salutary shock to multitudes of lethargic souls who would otherwise have continued to sleep on in the sleep of spiritual death4 ,but with the ,christian ,churches it is different4 ,it ill becomes them to treat the horrors of the war as a novelty in human experience4 ,all that the war can mean for them was summarized long ago by the man who saw the whole creation groaning and travailing in pain together until now4 ,we can change the nature of our religious perplexities1 change them from things that depress into things that exalt us4 ,but we cannot banish them altogether4 ,at the end of our labours1 as at the beginning1 we shall find ourselves perplexed1 but not unto despair4 ,these last words make the difference1 and it is immense4 ,they were uttered by one who was deeply versed in the spiritual life4 ,the present crisis in religion is another phrase which recent discussion has made familiar4 ,that such a crisis exists no one in his senses can doubt4 ,but the phrase is often used in a way which suggests that the crisis has no right to exist1 that it constitutes a misfortune peculiar to our own time1 that it is an unnatural thing1 and that religion will never come to its own until the crisis has passed away4 ,we find1 however1 that a crisis in religion is no new experience1 peculiar to the present day4 ,the only ages of the past when a crisis in religion did not exist were the spiritually dead ages4 ,whenever the spirit of ,god has breathed upon the souls of men the effect has been to awaken the sense of a great crisis4 ,the ,epistles of ,st ,paul are full of it4 ,in the ,confessions of ,st ,augustine1 written in the fifth century1 we see how critical he felt the then passing moment to be4 ,there was a crisis at the ,reformation1 and at the ,renaissance4 ,there was a crisis when printing was invented1 and when the ,bible was translated4 ,there was a crisis when ,whitefield and ,wesley were urging the masses to flee from the wrath to come4 ,a more recent example can be found in the writings of ,carlyle4 ,everything that has been said since the ,great ,war about the spiritual bankruptcy of ,europe1 about the need of religious reconstruction1 about a change of heart in nations1 and governments and individuals1 as the only alternative to a complete disaster1 was said by ,carlyle three-quarters of a century ago1 and said by him with a force and trenchancy not since surpassed4 ,here1 for example1 is what he wrote in the year #ahej4 ,in the days that are passing over us1 even fools are arrested to ask the meaning of them2 few of the generations of men have seen more impressive days4 ,days of endless calamity1 disruption1 dislocation1 confusion worse confounded4444 ,it is not a small hope that will suffice us1 the ruin being clearly 444 universal4 ,there must be a new world if there is to be a world at all4 ,that human beings in ,europe can ever return to the old sorry routine1 and proceed with any steadiness or continuance therein--this small hope is not now a tenable one4 ,these days of universal death must be days of universal rebirth1 if the ruin is not to be total and final4 ,it is a time to make the dullest man consider whence he came and whither he is bound4 ,a veritable ,new ,era to the foolish as well as to the wise 7,latter-,day ,pamphlets74 ,that was written seventy-two years ago1 and when was it truer than to-day8 ,the religious crisis is perennial1 now taking one form1 now another1 but always demanding from those who have to face it the utmost of their courage1 loyalty and love4 ,the religious crises which take place in the great world1 in the conditions of the age and so forth1 are only the enlarged reflections of personal crises constantly occurring to ourselves1 which1 even if they were absent from the general conditions of the age1 would still present themselves1 in our private experience1 so long as suffering and death were elements in life4 ,the existence of a crisis is not unnatural to religion1 but perfectly natural1 the atmosphere in which it breathes most freely1 the soil in which it strikes its deepest root4 ,we are wholly mistaking what religion is when we think of it as some secret or power which is going to banish the great crises of our experience and leave us with none to face4 ,the truth is the very opposite4 ,the penalty--no1 not the penalty but the high reward--of having any religion that is worth the name1 is that it will conduct us into critical situations1 that it will reveal perplexities where without it none would exist4 ,from some perplexities religion does indeed give release4 ,it gives release from those that are not worthy of us1 that belittle us when we indulge them1 that make us selfish1 timid and unloving--the care for self1 the fear that something dreadful may happen to us1 either in this world or in the next1 unless we take immense precautions against its happening4 ,but in releasing from these perplexities1 which are not worthy of us1 it confronts us with others on a higher level1 where our finer essence finds the employment for which it was made4 ,instead of hiding the great crises1 instead of banishing them1 or giving us ansthetics to make us unconscious of their presence1 religion reveals them1 makes us aware of them1 sharpens our consciousness of their presence2 but at the same time reveals us to ourselves as beings who are capable of overcoming them4 ,if on the one hand it uncovers the pain of life and makes us feel it with a new intensity1 on the other it liberates the love that conquers pain1 a power mightier than death and sharper than agony4 ,one might almost define religion in these terms4 ,that in each of us1 and in all of us which faces the crisis1 which rises to meet it1 which feels1 when confronted by it1 that its hour is come and for this cause it came into the world4 ,do you say it is hard8 ,it would be if we were made of poorer stuff4 ,but made as we are anything less would be too small for us1 would leave us dissatisfied1 hungry and half employed4 ,yes1 half employed1 and not the best half either4 ,we are so made that until we grasp the nettle of life the best part of us has nothing to do1 loitering1 so to speak1 at the street corners of life1 like a starving labourer out of work4 ,on that upper level1 where the best that is in us confronts the highest that is demanded of us1 we discover how finely the nature of man is adapted to the world in which he lives1 how well the two accord1 the noblest element in the one corresponding to the most challenging element in the other1 so that deep answers unto deep and the two make music together4 ,on the lower levels there is no adaptation2 our selfish desires are at odds with nature2 we are out for a good time and get no response2 and there all is disenchantment1 disappointment and misery4 ,but the keynote of the higher level is joy--the joy of the labourer who has found his work1 of the lover who has seen his object1 of the hero who has received his commission and his sword4 ,towards the end of the war1 or perhaps shortly afterwards1 somebody coined a more attractive phrase which was much on the lips of exuberant reformers4 ,they were going to make1 so they said1 ,a world fit for heroes to live in4 ,what kind of a world is that8 ,is comfort the keynote of it8 ,does it provide the hero with an assured income and an easy life8 ,does it guarantee him a pension for any heroism he displays8 ,does it ask of its heroes only a limited term of service1 and then superannuate them at an early age1 exposing them to peril for a short time and after that withdrawing dangers from their path and surrounding them with the safeguards of a protected respectability8 ,no2 what these arrangements provide for is not the life of heroism1 but its death4 ,give the hero a world like that and what will he say8 ,this world1 he will say1 is not fit for me to live in4 ,it spells extinction to all that makes life worth living to me4 ,it is the flat opposite to what ,i desire4 ,it lacks everything that makes the world divine4 ,no ,god can dwell within it4 ,no ,christ will ever visit its melancholy shores4 ,and yet1 is it not something like this that many of us have had in mind of late when we have been talking of ,a world fit for heroes to live in8 ,have we not conceived it as a world where heroism is a mere incident1 almost an accident1 which comes in brief patches and spells1 and when the rest of life is given over to the middling virtues and to prearranged satisfactions8 ,there are people who cry out for this2 there is something within us all that cries out for it2 but the noblest part of us scorns it2 the heroic spirit would not have it at any price4 ,when the hero asks for a world fit for him to live in he is thinking of something wholly different4 ,he desires no satisfaction save that which is the direct fruit of his own loyalty and self-devotion4 ,he wants continuous employment on the level of his highest self1 where love never sleeps at her task1 and where the voices of faith and hope1 whispering of new worlds to conquer1 are never silent4 ,a divine universe is1 for him1 just that2 it breeds ideals for great souls to pursue2 gives them incentives to the pursuit2 shares with them in the perils of it2 suffers with them in their failures and triumphs with them in their victories4 ,is the ,soul of the ,world at one with us in these great endeavours8 ,does it meet us on that high level with the companionship of a ,spirit akin to ours1 not only asking for our loyalty1 but giving it in return8 ,if so1 ,god exists2 the universe is divine2 and the world is fit for heroes to live in4 ,hallelujah1 for the ,lord reigneth6 ,this is the side of our nature which ,christianity brought to light1 in all its splendour and power1 when it revealed us to ourselves in the person of ,christ--that1 in all of us1 which stands above the perplexities of life and is more than a match for them2 which sees evil with the clearest eye1 and at the same time overcomes it with the deepest love4 ,at home in the bright hours of life1 which grow brighter under the radiance it pours into them1 the ,christ within is always ready when the dark ones arrive4 ,i am equal to that1 it cries4 ,through the power that is given me1 through the fellowship ,i have with the heart of a ,divine universe1 ,i can turn that evil into good1 and transfigure that sorrow into joy1 and draw the stream of a deeper life from the very thing that threatens to slay me4 ,now is the time1 here is the place1 to show my ,divine ,creator that he has not made me for nothing6 ,for this cause was ,i born and for this hour came ,i into the world4 ,on the surface of things there is discord1 confusion and want of adaptation2 but dig down1 first to the centre of the world1 and then to the centre of your own nature1 and you will find a most wonderful correspondence1 a most beautiful harmony1 between the two--the world made for the hero and the hero made for the world4 ,whoever embarks on the task of religious inquiry1 which is tantamount to inquiry into the meaning of his life--a question he would have no interest in asking unless he were fundamentally a religious being1--whoever embarks on this task will find the ground encumbered with a multitude of preconceptions which warp the mind at every point and render independent judgment extremely difficult4 ,unless the inquirer keeps a watch upon himself his mind will run in a groove from the outset4 ,and when he has followed his groove as far as it goes and found nothing at the end of it1 he will conclude that religion has broken down4 ,but in nine cases out of ten he will perceive1 if he reflects on what has happened1 that the groove which has led to this result was cut by minds not primarily interested in religion but bent on protecting some quite alien interest1 possibly a vested interest1 institutional or political1 to which religion had proved itself serviceable4 ,the most obstinate of these misconceptions1 and the deepest of the grooves in which they run1 are those connected with the term ,god4 ,there is no worldly interest which has not been anxious to secure ,god for an ally4 ,in all ages the attempt has been made to domesticate the idea of ,god to the secular purposes of individuals and of groups4 ,if we examine the current forms of the idea we may observe the marks of this domesticating process at many points4 ,for example1 the idea of ,god as the sovereign potentate1 governing the universe under a system of iron law1 the legislator of nature and the taskmaster of the soul1 the rewarder of them that obey and the punisher of them that disobey1 is plainly an idea borrowed from politics1 the form of the idea most convenient to those who need ,god as an ally in the maintenance of law and order as they conceive them4 ,this does not prove the idea untrue to reality2 it may conceivably be used as a strong argument to the contrary4 ,at the same time it puts us on our guard1 warning us to look out for other forms of domestication which may be less in accord with essential truth than the one ,i have just mentioned4 ,certainly it is extremely difficult to find any form of the idea of ,god which has retained a purely spiritual or religious character throughout the entire course of its history4 ,between the conception of ,deity implied in the teachings of ,jesus and the conception as it appears in ,god save the ,king the distance is immense2 and few theologians ,i imagine would be so hardy or so patriotic as to affirm that the latter conception is nearer to the ,divine ,reality4 ,the theologian who takes up the proof of the existence of ,god should make it clear1 both to himself and to his audience1 at which end of this long line1 which has not been one of development1 he lays the emphasis4 ,any proof of the existence of the ,god and ,father of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ would certainly prove the non-existence of the being adumbrated in ,god save the ,king2 and vice versa4 ,which may be expanded into a more general proposition4 ,reasons given in favour of a spiritual or religious conception of ,god become less and less valid exactly in proportion as we approach its secular modifications2 while reasons given in favour of these latter are worthless as proofs of the spiritual reality4 ,most of our difficulties in believing in ,god arise from the fact that ,god1 in our meaning of the term1 is no longer spirit 7as ,jesus said71 but spirit shorn of its freedom and reduced to the dimensions of some human utility or purpose--that is1 not spirit at all4 ,for these reasons ,i will venture to suggest to anyone who is perplexed by doubts about the reality of ,god1 not to trust the fortunes of his faith too unreservedly to the field of mere argumentation4 ,if he does so he runs a serious risk of falling1 without being aware of it1 into one of the many grooves of thought1 which alien interests have cut deep into the ground of theological controversy1 leading the mind in a direction contrary to that in which spiritual reality is to be found4 ,neither let him deem himself an atheist because he cannot believe in the ,deity adumbrated by ,god save the ,king4 ,rather let him conceive it possible that ,god is speaking to him in his refusal to believe in that ,god4 ,let him seek ,god in the very heart of his doubts about ,god1 saying to himself words such as these3 ,god1 if there be such an one1 will reveal himself as a companion spirit in my endeavour to achieve a better-than-what-is2 incidentally therefore in my rejection of all debased1 or even man-made1 images of himself4 ,he will not consent to be the servant of men's designs1 or the ally of their policies1 not even when these things clothe themselves in great words spelt with capital letters--like ,democracy4 ,he will not even submit to the shackles of their forms of thought4 ,i suggest further that the only final mode of ascertaining whether or no such a ,god exists is by experiment1 standing or falling by the issue1 and resorting to the methods of argumentation only to confirm or elucidate the results so obtained4 ,the experiment first1 the argumentation second4 ,but of what nature is the experiment in question8 ,i conceive it being made in the following manner3 ,of the many ,gods1 or conceptions of ,god1 that are offered me1 the only one ,i am concerned to believe in1 and should find it a calamity not to believe in1 is the ,god who is sympathetic1 and actively sympathetic1 on the lines of my determination to achieve a better-than-what-is4 ,omnipotence and ,omniscience ,i could dispense with if need be2 the disappearance of the ,cosmic ,potentate would not leave me orphaned2 the ,absolute does not enthral me and ,i should suffer no nightmare were ,i to learn that it did not exist4 ,but were ,i forced to admit that the universe1 as a whole1 is quite indifferent to this desire of mine to achieve a better-than-what-is1 that there is nothing in its nature which shares my interest in that matter1 nothing there that backs me up1 nothing to which the failure or success of my attempt makes the slightest difference1 then indeed a dark and cruel blight would fall upon my soul4 ,to that blight ,i may have to submit4 ,but ,i will not submit until ,i have tested the universe in the only way that is open to me4 ,i will trust it as a friend4 ,there are those about me who say that my trust will not be betrayed1 having made the same experiment themselves4 ,they remind me that the world ,i am living in is not any kind of world1 but just the one particular kind needed by a soul whose business it is to create new values1 in the way of ,truth1 ,beauty and ,goodness2 that its laws1 forces and material readily lend themselves to the purpose of anyone who will use them for that high creative end1 turning out1 in fact1 to be the very kind of laws1 forces and material which such an one needs4 ,well then1 ,i will see4 ,i will base my life on the assumption that somewhere1 in the height above or in the depth below1 ,power is waiting to back me up4 ,that ,power1 if ,i find it1 shall be my ,god4 ,is it not reasonable to suppose that1 if it exists1 it will find some means of making me aware of its presence8 ,that then shall be my experiment1 and ,i will abide by the result4 ,a person who reasons with himself in this manner is taking the most practical1 and the wisest means ,i know of to determine the question whether ,god exists4 ,for my own part ,i should view his experiment with hope proportioned to his sincerity4 ,frankly1 ,i should expect him to make discovery of the ,living ,god1 as a reality1 as a companion1 as a friend4 ,whether to the reality1 companion1 friend1 so discovered he gave the name ,god1 or some other name1 ,i should not regard as a matter of supreme importance4 ,if he chose to call it ,christ1 or more simply the ,spirit1 ,i should not quarrel with him4 ,the discovery is far too momentous to be imperilled for a name4 ,its value lies not in its name but in its reality4 ,few things are easier1 says ,john ,henry ,newman1 than to use the name of ,god and mean nothing by it4 ,call it then by a name which means something1 and not by a name which means nothing4 ,all religious testimony1 so far as ,i can interpret its meaning1 converges towards a single point1 namely this4 ,there is that in the world1 call it what you will1 which responds to the confidence of those who trust it1 declaring itself1 to them1 as a fellow-worker in the pursuit of the ,eternal ,values1 meeting their loyalty to it with reciprocal loyalty to them1 and coming in at critical moments when the need of its sympathy is greatest2 the conclusion being1 that wherever there is a soul in darkness1 obstruction or misery1 there also is a ,power which can help1 deliver1 illuminate and gladden that soul4 ,this is the ,helper of men1 sharing their business as ,creators of ,value1 nearest at hand when the worst has to be encountered2 the companion of the brave1 the upholder of the loyal1 the friend of the lover1 the healer of the broken1 the joy of the victorious--the ,god who is spirit1 the ,god who is love4 ,had more been heard about this1 the ,god of religion1 and less about that other--the lawyer's ,god1 whose main concern is the policing of his universe--our religious perplexities would not be what they are4 ,i do not say they would be easier4 ,they might be harder4 ,but they would lose their character as irritants and become1 instead1 incentives to humane relationships1 to noble living and to creative work4 ,for there are two kinds of religious perplexity4 ,in the one1 perplexity overcomes religion2 in the other1 religion overcomes perplexity4 ,we are perplexed1 yet not unto despair4 ,,iii ,perplexity in the ,christian ,religion ,those who are wondering in what form ,christianity is destined to survive1 or whether it will survive at all1#a would be well advised to keep in mind two significant facts1 discernible enough even when the view is limited to our own country1 but obvious on a wider survey of what is going forward in foreign lands3 first1 that the lay mind has definitely passed beyond clerical control2 second1 that the most active religious minds1 both among the clergy and the laity1 but among the laity most of all1 are learning to use their own eyes in the search for ,god1 instead of looking for ,him through the ill-matched lenses of ,jew-,greek binoculars1 and are gradually ceasing to think about ,christ and his religion in terms of the recognized isms--,catholicism1 ,protestantism1 ,anglicanism1 ,modernism1 ,trinitarianism1 ,unitarianism1 or any other4 ,they have passed beyond all that and are probing deeper ground4 ,they are judging spiritual things by spiritual4 ,if these things are so1 and somewhat exceptional opportunities of observing have convinced me that they are1#b it would seem to follow that the form in which ,christianity is destined to survive 7if it survives at all7 will not be the form of any of the isms aforesaid4 ,in other words1 even if the battle of the isms1 as this is now carried on by professional controversalists and mainly on clerical ground1 were to issue in the final victory of one of them over the others--of which at present there is little prospect--this would decide nothing as to the fortunes of ,christianity in the world at large4 ,thus1 though we have no indication of what the surviving form of ,christianity will be1 we have a pretty clear indication of what it will not be4 ,beyond this it seems impossible to cast the horoscope of ,christianity at the present time4 ,its fortunes have always been unpredictable2 each new development a surprise to those who witnessed it4 ,as the lightning 444 so shall be the coming of the ,son of ,man4 ,the application of this to what follows will be obvious as we proceed4 ,to ,bishop ,gore's denial that ,christianity has failed1 on the ground that it has never been tried1 ,mr ,graham ,wallas makes the effective reply that a religion that has been adopted by the great ,states of the world for fifteen centuries and never been tried is a religion that has failed4 ,in this ,mr ,wallas follows the proper method of judging ,christianity by its own high standards1 which certainly require that it should have been tried ere this4 ,what thou doest do quickly was spoken to ,judas ,iscariot4 ,does it follow that ,what thou doest do slowly1 putting it off1 if it so pleases1 for fifteen centuries was intended to be the motto of the ,christian ,church8 ,the command to sell all that thou hast and give to the poor was doubtless spoken to a particular young man on a particular occasion4 ,but the parable of the ,good ,samaritan1 with its pungent ending go and do thou likewise1 was also spoken to a particular lawyer on a particular occasion4 ,and so with the teachings of ,christ in general4 ,all his universals were seen in particulars4 ,if1 then1 we are to discharge everything that was spoken to particular individuals on particular occasions as inapplicable to modern conditions1 or to the world at large1 we shall find that there is not much left that we can apply to anything4 ,what1 indeed1 remains8 ,the spirit of it all8 ,yes3 but a very different spirit from that which makes these convenient excisions4 ,many of the alleged excuses for the failure of ,christianity have been pitched in this key4 ,they are unconvincing4 ,others fall back on the magic words slow and gradual1 words that have induced many persons to believe that the slower and more gradual a process is the more surely it is divine--as against an earlier thought which armed the gods with thunderbolts4 ,the convenience of this excuse is that no depth of failure can be so extreme as not to be covered by it--just as1 in the case cited above1 no betrayal of ,christ's principles can be so complete as not to be covered by the plea that the principles in question were spoken to particular individuals on particular occasions4 ,but though the one argument is as convenient as the other1 it is no more satisfactory to an honest man4 ,how has it come to pass that respectable ,christian apologists have fallen into such flagrant dishonesties8 ,the cause1 ,i believe1 lies in the habit mentioned in the first section of this book--the habit1 namely1 of applying carnal logic 7admirable for carnal purposes7 to divine things1 not judging spiritual things by spiritual4 ,anyone who studies this class of apologetics will be struck by their resemblance to a well-known type of political speech1 when the spokesman of some discredited ,government which has broken all the promises given at the election1 attempts to befool his constituents into believing that the promises have been kept4 ,it is all a matter of artfully adjusting the emphasis--the art1 as somebody has said of keeping the public quiet about one thing by making them noisy about another4 ,there is1 ,i say1 a significant resemblance between this method and that of the ,christian apologist when1 for example1 he exalts the benevolence promoted by ,christianity and ignores the parallel fact that no other religion has developed such ferocious internal differences nor been so cruel in its persecution of unbelievers4 ,there have been moments in the history of ,christianity--or of what was called so--when the slaughter of a million men1 or the wiping out of an entire civilization1 meant no more to the leaders of the ,church than it did1 by his own confession1 to ,napoleon4 ,witness the treatment meted out by ,cortes1 in the name of ,christ and of his ,holy ,mother1 to the ,aztecs of ,mexico4 ,but the searchlight is seldom switched on to these things1 and even when it is slow and gradual will cover them4 ,this application of carnal logic to things divine1 this judging the success of ,christianity by the standard of success which passes muster in the crime-stained record of human society--as though it were the business of religion to keep pace with the dawdling1 creeping1 cowardly movement of mankind to better things1 and not to hasten it with urgent calls to repent of its hesitancy--this is only one form1 though perhaps the crowning form1 in which the ,kingdom that is not of this world has been surrendered by its deluded guardians to the kingdoms which are4 ,in that surrender1 so long an established fact that we have lost sight of its malign implications1 so deeply engrained into our mental habits that we have almost forgotten that it exists1 lies the true cause of the failure of ,christianity1 and incidentally of its once atrocious tendency to persecute4 ,for failure most unquestionably there has been3 tragic but not irretrievable1 if men have the courage to face the facts4 ,let it be acknowledged6 ,let an end come swiftly to the invention of sophistries to prove the contrary4 ,that way lies failure deeper still4 ,the ,christian ,religion1 in the course of its long history1 has become entangled with a multitude of things which do not properly belong to it1 with philosophies1 with dogmatic systems1 with political ideas1 with the vested interests of great institutions2 and especially with the habits of mind which have grown up with these things1 this last1 the entanglement with deeply entrenched habits of mind1 being the most formidable of them all4 ,these entanglements are another name for our perplexities4 ,they are so many and so deep that it becomes a matter of difficulty to extract the original genius of ,christianity1 to recover its original impulse and power4 ,it has become the fashion to rejoice in these entanglements4 ,men say that ,christianity1 by becoming entangled with these foreign elements1 has permeated them with its spirit1 acting upon them like leaven and so transfiguring them with its own value4 ,that view ,i cannot share3 at least not without great reservations4 ,were it not truer to say that these foreign elements1 these outside things1 these worldly philosophies and institutions1 have rather permeated ,christianity with their spirit than suffered ,christianity to permeate them with its own8 ,no one in his senses will deny that ,christianity has done something to make these worldly things better4 ,they would all be much worse than they are if ,christianity had never touched them4 ,but1 on the other hand1 ,christianity would be much better than it is if they had never touched it4 ,they have distorted it2 have maimed it2 have devitalized it at essential points4 ,dean ,inge is speaking the truth when he says that ,christianity has become secularized4 ,it has become secularized not only in its outward form1 but in something far deeper1 namely1 in its habits of thought1 in its standard of values1 and especially in its strivings for power1 this last being the characteristic vice of the kingdoms that are of this world4 ,is it not a fact that for a long time past the ,churches of ,christendom have been engaged in strife as to who shall be greatest8 ,there can be no surer sign of secularization than that4 ,christianity1 in the official1 or authorized presentation of it1 is a smothered religion2 smothered almost to the point of total asphyxiation and collapse1 but not quite2 smothered by the vested interests of great institutions1 and by the ambitions1 fears and self-seekings that such interests breed2 smothered by the elaborate theological defences that ,christians have built1 not against ,antichrist1 but against each other2 smothered by anxieties1 not unnatural in these embroilments1 for its own future4 ,if you take ,christianity along with its entanglements1 encumbrances and unnatural alliances3 if you present it with all the secular baggage which the ages have fastened upon it1 you will then find it a hopelessly perplexing thing1 a thing which neither ,reason nor ,faith1 whether acting singly or in combination1 can accept4 ,but alongside the authorized version1 and sometimes hidden within it as an inextinguishable spark of life1 ,christianity has an unauthorized version1 which the former has often repressed1 persecuted and condemned to the hangman or to the eternal flames4 ,of this unauthorized version a fair copy exists in the hearts of men1 a fairer copy in the hearts of women1 and the fairest copy of all in the hearts of children--for ,christianity is preeminently a religion of the young4 ,it is the unauthorized version which has kept ,christianity alive through the ages and defied the smotherers even to this day4 ,turning to the sources of ,christianity in the first three ,gospels we are struck by an immense contrast4 ,there is no money in the purse1 no victuals in the wallet1 no munitions in the magazine1 no baggage-train1 no commissariat1 no provision for trench warfare1 and no thought of it4 ,we are in the presence of elemental realities1 more beautiful than ,solomon in all his glory1 more majestic than the successor of ,st ,peter in all his pomp4 ,we are in another atmosphere4 ,all this apparatus of defence and apology1 of preaching and propaganda1 of church policies and chapel oppositions1--things which have given a form so strangely artificial to our conceptions of ,christianity--are here either secondary or absent altogether4 ,religion1 instead of being concentrated into strong ,sunday doses1 is here a pervasive1 unobtrusive presence1 that cometh not with observation1 the luminous background of human conduct1 the hiding-place of the light which irradiates the whole picture of man's life4 ,even the name of ,god1 which comes to our lips so easily--too easily--was used by ,jesus with a reverential rarity4 ,you may read whole pages of the ,gospels without finding it once4 ,jesus1 we say1 preached the ,fatherhood of ,god and the ,brotherhood of ,man4 ,but he was not always preaching them1 and as a matter of fact he never mentioned either of them in exactly those terms4 ,he enforced them1 illustrated them1 revealed them1 exemplified them1 by living as though they were true1 which is a very different thing from preaching them4 ,his days were spent going about doing good1 his preaching being little more than a comment that arose naturally from the good that he did4 ,the ,gospel is neither a sermon nor a treatise on religion2 but a story1 which tells how ,christianity began in something that happened1 in a deed that was done1 in a life that was lived4 ,it abounds in parables and is a parable itself1 revealing things hidden from the foundation of the world4 ,the order in which we take these elements of religion--first1 moral and religious propaganda1 then performance to follow--is here reversed4 ,the performance comes first2 the propaganda1 which reduces itself to the very simple form ,go and do thou likewise1 comes afterwards4 ,the proportions1 too1 are different4 ,instead of an immense campaign of preaching which leaves little energy for doing the things preached about1 the work done1 the life lived here overshadow everything else4 ,the accusation of ,carlyle against modern civilization1 that it has run to seed in mere talk1 parliamentary eloquence1 stump oratory1 and such like1 has no application to the birth of the ,christian religion4 ,something to talk about1 something worth talking about1 was furnished before the talking began4 ,there we touch the dynamic principle of ,christianity1 cut free from its entanglements with a mass of things that do not belong to it2 the power which still keeps it alive under a mountain of verbal accretions that would smother anything less divine4 ,in the beginning was the deed3 go thou and do likewise4 ,so presented1 ,christianity is not perplexing2 but quite the most convincing religion ever offered either to the intellect or the heart4 ,the perplexities have arisen from the reversal of the true order2 from the attempt to subordinate the thing done to the thing said2 to lay the foundations in argument and propaganda which can only be laid in actual performance2 and from the loss of reality and the descent into hollowness and windiness which inevitably follows when the talkers get the upper hand of the doers1 or when theology gets the upper hand of religion1 which is the same thing4 ,the deeds that ,i do1 these bear witness of me4 ,what other conceivable witness could there be8 ,not only has ,christianity evolved an institutional selfishness which shows plain signs of having been copied from the kingdoms that are of this world--the strife among churches as to which shall be greatest proves that--but the very form of its thought has become infected with ideas from the same source4 ,even philosophers have a difficulty of getting away from the notion that the universe is an immense political state1 which most assuredly it is not2 while careless thinkers will constantly refer to the laws of nature as though they were legal enactments1 to which they bear no resemblance4 ,at no point has ,christianity become more deeply secularized4 ,instead of the ,kingdom which is not of this world transfiguring the kingdoms that are1 lifting them up to its own level1 where every term of law is translated into a term of love1 and the very notion of a ,kingdom passes into that of a ,father's house of many mansions1 the reverse process has taken place4 ,love has forsaken its mission of converting law to its own essence1 and become a timid and apologetic fugitive1 harried by the police4 ,no wonder that men declare themselves perplexed by ,christianity4 ,no wonder they find this mixture unacceptable4 ,no wonder that official ,christianity1 tied up as it is with a political system which manages its own business none too well1 is continually breaking down under the assaults of a critical age1 which has grown almost as tired of the one thing as of the other4 ,i am far from saying that ,christianity excludes the idea of ,god as the moral ,governor of the universe or forbids us so to think of him4 ,but it does not begin with that idea1 as we are apt to do4 ,it allows us to arrive at it1 perhaps1 at the end of a long pilgrimage in experience2 but if we never get there at all it makes no lamentation1 pulls no long face1 and does not treat us as lost souls4 ,it does not say ,begin with the idea of a ,cosmic ,potentate and make everything else fit in with that4 ,it does not require us to dismiss from our minds as blasphemous every thought of ,god which makes him other than the omnipotent legislator of the universe4 ,in the religion of ,jesus ,i am struck by the absence1 by the total absence1 of all these pompous conceptions of the ,divine ,nature1 which show such speaking signs of having originated under lawyers' wigs4 ,the idea that ,i do find seems to have originated in a very intimate and loving comradeship with man and with nature4 ,indeed1 the religion of ,jesus is precisely this spirit of comradeship raised to its highest power1 the spirit which perceives itself to be not alone1 but lovingly befriended and supported1 extending its intuitions to the heart of the world1 to the core of reality1 and finding there the fellowship1 the loyalty1 the powerful response1 the love1 of which the finest fellowships and loyalties of earth are the shadows and the foretaste4 ,in its essence the ,gospel is a call to make the same experiment1 the experiment of comradeship1 the experiment of fellowship1 the experiment of trusting the heart of things1 throwing self-care to the winds1 in the sure and certain faith that you will not be deserted1 forsaken nor betrayed1 and that your ultimate interests are perfectly secure in the hands of the ,great ,companion4 ,this insight1 this sure and firm apprehension of a spirit at hand1 swiftly responsive to any trust we have in its answering fidelity1 coming our way the moment we beckon it1 motionless and irresponsive till we hoist the flag of our faith and claim its fellowship1 but then mighty to save--this is the centre1 the kernel1 the growing point of the ,christian religion1 which1 when we have it all else is secure1 and when we have it not all else is precarious4 ,god1 said ,jesus1 is spirit3 man is spirit no less2 and when the two meet in fellowship there is religion4 ,i am approaching my conclusion and must gather up my threads4 ,all along my theme has been that we make a mistake when we look to religion to relieve us of the perplexities and difficulties of life1 whether intellectual or moral4 ,in a sense we should look for the opposite4 ,religion will bring our perplexities to a focus2 will concentrate them on a point2 will show us in one clear and burning vision the depth of the mystery that confronts us in life4 ,but in raising our difficulties to that high level it will raise our nature to a higher level still1 by liberating faith1 courage and love1 qualities that spring from a single root4 ,in revealing the world as a world fit for heroes to live in1 that is1 a difficult world1 it will arouse also the heroic spirit in ourselves1 which is fit to live under those conditions4 ,it will give us a part to play in life which puts our souls on their mettle at many points1 but it will also give the spiritual power which stands the strain and even rejoices in it4 ,it will show the ,cross we have to bear2 but it will also show the ,christ who bears it1 and will awaken the ,christ1 as a victorious principle1 within us all4 ,pain and suffering it will not remove2 but it will quicken a divine substance within us1 which is more than conqueror over these things4 ,and1 lastly1 when courage1 faith and love have won the victory at the supreme point of their trial1 and so established themselves as the ruling powers1 it will turn these qualities back upon life as a whole1 will interpenetrate everything with their energy1 and transfigure everything with their radiance1 and raise everything to their level1 and so fill the world with music and beauty and joy4 ,so1 then1 in expecting religion to reconcile the world with our notions of a good time2 to smooth and simplify our path2 to accommodate itself to what we1 in our weaker moments1 desire--in looking for this we look for what is not forthcoming4 ,religion will meet us1 not on the level of our weakest moments1 but on the level of our strongest4 ,it will give us power rather than satisfaction2 courage to face danger rather than safeguards against it2 inspiration rather than explanation4 ,whatever satisfaction it brings will come through the power2 whatever safeguards1 through the courage2 whatever explanation1 through the inspiration4 ,it will not teach us to see no evil in the world2 but immensely increase our resources for dealing with evil when seen4 ,a power in the world which is for ever on the side of those who are brave enough to trust it1 causing all things to work together for their ultimate good1 and making them conquerors1 and more than conquerors1 over whatever confronts them1 whether in life or in death1--this1 and nothing less than this1 is what we have to expect and to ask for4 ,our mistake has been not that we have asked for too much1 but that we have asked for too little4 ,a true religion will be optimistic4 ,it will end in a radiant and joyous vision of the meaning of life4 ,but it will not begin with that1 will not give us that for nothing4 ,the radiant and joyous vision will not come to us through listening to arguments1 through proving that there is more happiness than misery in the world1 through shutting our eyes to the dark side of things and looking only at the bright1 through crying ,peace1 peace when there is no peace1 nor by any of the cheap and shallow devices on which mere verbal optimism is made to rest4 ,we must win our optimism at the sword's point4 ,we must pay the price4 ,we must go through the ,dark ,valley and not listen to the man who thinks he knows of a way round4 ,at certain stages of the journey we shall see the whole creation1 as ,st ,paul did1 groaning and travailing together in pain until now2 and only at the last stage1 when loyalty has stood the test1 shall we see this world of suffering and death delivered1 by redeeming love1 into the glorious liberty of the children of ,god4 ,such a religion as ,i have been trying to describe will be found in ,christianity--yes1 and in other religions also4 ,far be it from me to set up an exclusive claim for ,christianity at this point4 ,anyone who does that goes a long way towards forfeiting his title to be called a ,christian4 ,let each of us look for truth where it is most accessible and where it speaks the language he best understands4 ,for most of us here ,christianity has this advantage4 ,it gives the sharpest point to the challenge of life as we know life4 ,christianity is the simplest and most difficult religion in the world1 best adapted therefore for strong races1 endowed with deep but silent affections1 and with the plain-dealing mind whose conversation is ,yea1 yea and nay1 nay4 ,but here let me utter a word of warning4 ,there is an outcry in these days for a ,christianity shorn of its complications1 and reduced to its simplest and most intelligible form4 ,it is a thing greatly to be desired4 ,i have been pleading for it in what has gone before4 ,but let nobody suppose that1 when ,christianity has been reduced to its simplest and most intelligible form1 it will be found an easy religion to put into practice4 ,it will be found immensely more difficult than before4 ,only there will be this further difference4 ,whereas the old difficulties1 those that came from presenting ,christianity in complicated forms1 merely irritated and confused us and caused us to waste ourselves upon irrelevance1 the new ones1 the difficulties of simple ,christianity1 meet us on a far higher level1 introduce us to essentials1 and give us a battle to fight that is really worth fighting4 ,that is an enormous difference1 but not in the direction of making simple ,christianity easier than the other kind4 ,it has been said that ,christianity reduced to its simplest and most intelligible form needs only two words to express it--,follow me4 ,it has been said1 also1 that if all ,christian men for the next twenty years would give up the attempt to explain ,christ and devote their attention to following him1 at the end of that time they would know more about the person of ,christ than they had ever known before1 and they would have put ,christianity in a posture to conquer the world4 ,i accept all that4 ,but before we claim that our problem is solved1 let us think for a moment what following ,christ really means1 and to what it commits us1 when we make it the keyword of simple ,christianity4 ,whoever sets out to follow ,christ will have to follow him a long way and to follow him into some dark places4 ,the path we have to follow is a narrow one4 ,it runs all the time on the edge of a precipitous mystery1 sometimes taking you up to the sunlit heights and the ,mount of ,transfiguration1 and sometimes taking you down into the fires of suffering and into the shadows of death4 ,following ,christ means that when you find these dizzy things before you1 these dark things in your path1 you go through them and not round them4 ,have you a good head8 ,have you a stout heart8 ,are you loyal to the leader in front8 ,easy enough while the road runs by the shining shores of the ,lake of ,galilee1 but not so easy when it turns into the ,garden of ,gethsemane and becomes the ,via ,dolorosa4 ,there are those who think they have followed ,christ when they have obeyed the precepts of the ,sermon on the ,mount1 loved their neighbour as themselves and done unto others as they would that others should do to them4 ,to follow as far as that is to go a long way1 much longer indeed than most of us can claim to have gone4 ,but to stop there is to stop in the middle1 to miss the end of the journey1 to come short of the point of arrival1 where the key lies to the meaning and value of all that has gone before4 ,we are too apt to rest in the thought that to follow ,christ is merely to follow a teacher or a reformer1 so that enough has been done when we have repeated his doctrine of ,fatherhood and brotherhood1 voted for his precepts1 and practised as much of them as we can1 or perhaps only as much as we find convenient4 ,let there be no mistake as to the inadequacy of all that1 whether presented in a simple form or any other4 ,to follow ,christ is to follow a victor in life's battle1 a conqueror over suffering and death1 through the completeness of his loyalty to the ,great ,companion4 ,hence the power which makes his teaching live2 hence the driving force which makes his ,gospel effective for the regeneration of society4 ,you see1 then1 what is involved4 ,unless we can follow him through the point where his victory was won1 all the rest will not amount to very much4 ,we must follow him to the end if we are to be his disciples4 ,it is said of his first followers that when they came to this last lap of the journey1 when the road before them took that critical turn which led through the ,garden of ,gethsemane1 and became a ,via ,dolorosa1 they all forsook him and fled4 ,do not some of our modernized versions of ,christianity show a similar weakness1 a similar reluctance to grasp the nettle1 a similar tendency to stop short in their following of ,christ precisely at the critical point8 ,they forsake him and flee--flee for their lives6--,this it is that makes simple ,christianity so difficult2 so difficult but so splendid1 so infinitely worth achievement4 ,there was a phase in the ministry of ,jesus1 a comparatively untroubled one1 when he went about among men in a temper of radiant optimism1 declaring his confidence in the ,divine ,companion1 a confidence so complete that all anxiety for the morrow was banished and the soul freed for a life of the utmost generosity and beneficence4 ,be ye therefore perfect1 even as your ,father in heaven is perfect4 ,nothing too bad to be incurable2 nothing too good to be hoped for2 nothing too high to be attempted2 nothing so precious that we cannot afford to give it away4 ,yes1 even that6 ,for there is that within the hero which is so rich that he can afford to give his very life away1 and be none the poorer1 but the richer2 a strange discovery1 made by many a brave lad during the recent war1 as he prepared himself to go over the top1 and thought of his mother or of his beloved4 ,then came another phase1 such as we too must meet sooner or later1 when his mission had to be fulfilled not by saying these things1 not by saying anything1 but by doing and bearing up to the limit of courage and endurance4 ,the silence of ,jesus in the presence of ,pilate is the silence of one for whom the day of speech is over and the day of battle begun1 the ultimatum delivered1 and the trumpet sounding the attack4 ,where are his followers now8 ,they have all run away1 as verbal ,christianity always runs away when it comes to the critical point4 ,fugitives from the crisis1 every man of them6 ,and what of that radiant optimism that broke out by the shores of the ,galilean ,lake8 ,well1 it came near to breaking-point1 as near as it could without actually giving way4 ,but it held6 ,it carried him through6 ,the infinite ,friendliness did not forsake him in his extremity1 as his followers had done4 ,at one point he thought it had forsaken him1 but it had not4 ,for its nature is to be as true to the loyal soul as any loyal soul can be to it2 waiting to attest its presence wherever the courage exists to make the experiment of trusting it4 ,all prayers to it sum themselves up into one1 which when it comes from the heart makes other prayers almost unnecessary--,into thy hands1 ,o ,lord1 ,i commend my spirit4 ,in tuas manus1 ,domine1 meam animam commisi4 ,so far1 then1 as ,i am able to understand these high matters1 there is no such thing for any of us as getting rid of religious perplexity4 ,but there is such a thing as exchanging the perplexities which depress and weaken our nature for those which exalt and strengthen it4 ,this world is ill adapted to the fearful and the unbelieving2 but most exquisitely adapted to the loyal1 the loving and the brave4 ,to poltroonery of one kind or another the ,spirit makes no concessions2 it wears the face of a hard master to all pusillanimous demands4 ,to its own children it is not only gracious but faithful4 ,it gives them commissions bearing the sign manual of ,god2 shares their perplexities2 goes with them into their battles2 stands by them in their time of need2 interprets their bright hours to a tenfold brightness2 and changes the mystery of their pain from an unfathomable darkness to an unfathomable light4 ,behind the battle of the ,creeds lies the battle of life--a much more serious affair4 ,wherever the seriousness of the greater battle is deeply felt the acrimony of the lesser is mitigated4 ,the two battles are not unconnected1 but let us take them in their right order4 ,churches and sects which begin by fighting for their creeds are apt to end by fighting for their own importance--which is contrary to the spirit of the ,christian religion and to the express command of ,christ4 ,are there not some among us who think that the way to establish their own creed is to destroy the creeds of their neighbours8 ,but is that so8 ,does the flourishing of my form of ,christianity depend on the languishing of yours8 ,i say it does not6 ,the more your form prospers the better for mine4 ,christianity is big enough to find room for both of us4 ,the more devout you are in holding and practising what you believe the more you help me in being faithful to what ,i profess4 ,there is only one way in which the truth or falsity of any creed can be demonstrated--that is1 by trying whether we can live up to it and observing what happens4 ,what is needed1 therefore1 first of all1 is not that we should destroy our neighbour's creed1 but that we should help him to live up to it by living up to our own4 ,i know of no other way in which the union of ,christendom can be brought about4 #a ,for doubts on this point see the last chapter of ,our ,social ,heritage1 by ,professor ,graham ,wallas4 #b ,i refer to the fact that for the last twenty years ,i have been ,editor of the ,hibbert ,journal4 ,,the ,,end ,,books ,,by ,,principal ,l4 ,p4 ,,jacks ,,the ,,legends ,,of ,,smokeover ,a brilliant book4444 ',the ,legends of ,smokeover' contains the most daring of all ,dr4 ,jacks' inventions4444 ,the book is a masterpiece of essentially ,english good humour1 magnanimity1 and keen thinking4--,,horace ,,thorogood in the ,star4 ,an unusually striking book4444 ,those who enjoy clever and allusive writing will find every page of the volume an intellectual delight4--,scotsman4 ,this remarkable and original book4--,pall ,mall ,gazette4 ,,hodder ,,stoughton ,,ltd41 ,,london ,,the ,,lost ,,radiance ,,of ,,the ,,christian ,,religion #a_/- net ,,the ,,lindsey ,,press