are destitute of the very rudiments of Religion. But in Hans Andersen's story of the little child who told the king that he was stark naked; who was shocking, the baby who blurted out the truth, or the king who pretended to have clothes on when he was nude?

The truth about the farce which now goes by the name of Religion must come out sooner or later. In the fulness of time some man of genius will arise and will fling down the gauntlet in the sight of the world. All the great host of those who have a vested interest in the established superstitions will fly to arms : a few ragged wretches will join the reformer, and Armageddon will begin.

It stands to reason that no man can ever succeed in perfecting his own character: and the reform of human institutions is a task beyond the powers of the best and wisest. Nevertheless in the effort to attain this double reform lies the true essence of Religion.

Religion has sometimes been regarded as a state of harmony. It is the reverse; it is a state of warfare against evil within and without a warfare which admits of no truce, and which lasts as long as life (Matt. x. 34).

He who is satisfied with his own character cannot possibly be religious: "divine dissatisfaction" is the precursor of righteousness, the vestibule of Religion. Not until you are disappointed and disgusted with yourself will

you make any serious stand against the evils that are within you. This much will readily be admitted, therefore it is not necessary to insist further upon it. But according to our definition the reform of one's own character constitutes but one half of Religion. A religious man must strive not only against those evils which are within him, but also against those which are without; and this is a truth which many are unwilling to admit.

By outward evil I understand, of course, what the Bible in its pictorial eastern language calls "spiritual wickedness in high places" unjust laws, pernicious systems of education, insolent and aggressive militarism, the hideous materialism of the medical profession, the infinite rascalities of law, the soul-slavery of sacerdotalism, and social inequalities other than those which are natural and inevitable. These and similar public evils react upon private life and undermine Religion, for they destroy the conditions in which Religion can exist.

To acquiesce in abuses or to ignore them, to stand aloof from the reform of existing institutions, betrays an absence of all sense of right and wrong. Christ, mild though he was, called the upholders of the existing order of his day hypocrites and vipers. Epictetus, the master, branded them as brigands. Not until you fully realise the rottenness of existing

institutions can you become a useful citizen and a religious man. The student of history is aware that reform has been associated with every religious movement in the past. There can be no Religion without reform, and conversely there can be no true reform without Religion. It is necessary to insist upon this vital truth, because it has been denied and is denied.

Religion must govern the whole of life, public as well as private. You cannot, must not, divorce politics, education, and social questions from Religion. Either God must govern your social life or else Satan will direct it. In public as in private matters either idealism or materialism must rule. To carry idealism into their public life is a task which all men shun, because the penalty is too severe. Of those who take up the sling and the stone not one escapes a cruel mauling. For idealism involves conflict with the world, a bigger giant than Goliath of Gath. Against the "flesh man will wage war. Origen did not hesitate to mutilate himself. Against the "Devil"-that is, I suppose, "pride, haughtiness, opinion and disdain "-there are many who will strive. But who dares to quarrel with the "world"?

What subtle sophistries we all invent to shirk this dangerous duty! How persistently we shut our eyes to wrongs we dare not try to right! And when the abuse can no longer

be ignored, we exclaim with the poet Morris, "I was not born to set the crooked straight!"

No wonder that some of the best and wisest, despairing of reform and progress, turn sadly to the contemplation of an ideal which ignores this present life. Thus arises that Oriental quietism which has resulted in stagnation and decay. And to this same source we trace the monastic system of Buddhism and of Romanism. The recluse of this higher stamp has our respect and sympathy. There are chapters in the "Imitatio" which we love. Nevertheless we are convinced that the greater the piety of these men the deeper is their sin, because they withdraw themselves from public life, and rob society of all the good which they might do.

Nearer to truth than the monastic ideal was that of the Grey Friars founded by Francis of Assisi.1 Their original aim was "to seek personal salvation in effort for the good of their fellow-men": and some of them carried out this aim, as far as ignorance and superstition. permitted them to do so. We respect them, therefore, for their earnestness and self-sacrifice. They dimly realised the important truth which has been thus expressed by a clever authoress and a faithful witness of truth: "A man saves his own soul best by helping his neighbours." 92

1 See "Green's Short History,” p. 144.

2 Mrs Lynn Linton in “Joshua Davidson."

Another woman writer says that, "Salvation consists in the surrender of the private for the public weal" (Zona Vallance).

CHAPTER IV

IDEALISM

"Du fond de l'Idéal Dieu serein nous fait signe" ["Serene God beckons from Idealism"]. - VICTOR HUGO, "Religion and Religions."

“Christian Idealism has been, and is to be, the salt of the earth in every generation."-DR PERCIVAL, Bishop of Hereford. [True; but the epithet Christian, thus used, has little force, for Christianity at its best is but a passing phase of Idealism.]

"Ideals are the precious stones which form the foundation of the Heavenly Jerusalem."

"The important things, the things we must believe in or perish, are beyond argument."-W. B. YEATS.

By the term Idealism I do not intend that Berkleyan system of thought which, following Parmenides, denies the reality of objective phenomena. I am treating of Religion, and I do not desire to meddle with philosophy. But it appears to me that the idealistic monism of Berkley is just as far removed from truth as the materialistic monism of Haeckel. Το see only soul in the universe is as irrational as to deny the existence of soul. Neither monism nor dualism can be eliminated, and the reconciliation of the two apparently conflicting