Chapter VIII.

P. 331, lines 15-16.--A kind of undefined, but nevertheless potent and serviceable, religion.

The Rev. Henry Scott Jeffreys, of Sendai, contributed a paper, entitled "Some of the Native Virtues of the Japanese People," to the Japan Evangelist. The following are some, out of many, exceedingly significant admissions:--"After seven years' residence among this people, I wish to place on record my humble testimony to their native virtues. I refer to virtues that belong to the Japanese people without reference to their faith. In this connection it may be said that perhaps the most remarkable part is their devotion to ethics alone, utterly divorced from religion. They love virtue for its own sake, and not from fear of punishment or hope of reward.... They have eliminated from their system of ethics not only heaven and hell, but God also.... To be sure, there are religions (so-called), both native and foreign; but they have little effect upon the popular conscience.... The conversion of this people to the Christian faith is a most complex and perplexing problem; not because they are so bad, but because they are so good."

P. 334, lines 29-31.--Crime and bad lives will be the measure of a State's failure.

It is customary to scout the idea of State control as the panacea for social evils. One is warned against grandmotherly legislation, interference with the liberty of the private individual, etc. I may be permitted, therefore, to give an illustration of its beneficial effect. The Gothenburg system, by which the liquor traffic is judiciously controlled, has, in spite of all opposition, fought its way victoriously, and is now adopted, although partly modified, in most towns in Sweden, and also in Norway and Finland. Thus the evil effects of drink have been considerably mitigated; intemperance, pauperism, and vice have been reduced. Would not legislation of this nature for the removal of England's greatest curse be far better than half-hearted measures that are palliative rather than remedial? Now that the Church has taken up the temperance cause, could she not bring her great influence to bear towards the introduction of some such system, pitting herself against vested interests? Remarkable work is being carried on by the Danish temperance societies on the basis of allowing their members to regard beer of low alcoholic strength as a temperance beverage. Australia has been watching New Zealand in the matter of drink reform, and the Government of New South Wales, at any rate, has found it necessary to fulfil pledges given at the last general election, with the result that, among a certain class, there is an immense diminution in the temptation to drink. Where the nature of the case demands it, more drastic remedies must be applied. Thus Belgium has forbidden the very presence of absinthe within her borders, and in Switzerland--in some of the cantons, at all events--the authorities have made up their minds to prohibit the manufacture and sale of absinthe. Even in China an edict has now been promulgated for the abolition of the use of opium, and an anti-opium movement is spreading which bids fair to embarrass the interested abettor of the vice--a Christian Government.

In their volume, The Making of the Criminal (Macmillan & Co.), Messrs. C. E. B. Russell and L. M. Rigby confirm the now generally accepted view that it is, as a rule, between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one that the habitual criminal is made, and show that juvenile crime is a product of the wretched economic, social, and family condition in which so many unhappy children are born and have to live. The criminal is also recruited, as Dr. W. D. Morrison points out (in a review of their book appearing in the Tribune, December 12th, 1906), from those whose home and social antecedents may be good enough, but who are themselves either mentally or physically below the average of the general community, and who, therefore, when times are bad, drift insensibly into crime. When to all this unfavourable environment we add an unfavourable heredity, we get a conjunction of circumstances against which it is quite impossible for the unfortunate to contend, even though he be aided by the "gift of freewill" and by all the intercessory prayers of the Churches. The Borstal system and other remedies recommended in The Making of the Criminal are excellent in their way, but can be regarded only as palliatives. They deal with the criminal after he has been made. What is wanted is, to quote Dr. Morrison, "a wise and progressive statesmanship which will cut off crime at its roots--a statesmanship which will devote itself with care and foresight to ameliorating the whole material and moral conditions of existence of the workman, the woman, and the child." And this statesmanship will take an enlightened view of the population question, recognising that it is in the diminution of the struggle for existence, not in the rise of the birth-rate, that the material and moral condition of the people can be ameliorated.

P. 336, note.--Psychical research will lead to the discovery of a complete and scientific method for the toughening of our moral fibres.

A quarter of a century ago Proctor remarked (see pp. 203-4 of his essays, Rough Ways Made Smooth) that the phenomena of hypnotism "promise to afford valuable means of curing certain ailments, and of influencing in useful ways certain powers and functions of the body." He recognised "possibilities which, duly developed, might be found of extreme value to the human race." Since these words were uttered this branch of science has not stood still, and there seems every prospect that his prophecy will be fulfilled in the near future. There are now cliniques for hypnotic treatment in France (Dr. Bérillon's in Paris, for example), Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Holland, Switzerland, and America. "The commencement of the present revival of hypnotism in England, from its medical side, was apparently due to Dr. Lloyd Tuckey, who happened to be in the neighbourhood of Nancy in August, 1888, and visited Liébeault out of curiosity" (see p. 35 of Dr. Milne Bramwell's Hypnotism: Its History, Practice, and Theory [Alexander Moring, Hanover Square, London; 2nd ed., 1906]).

The following are some of the facts about the matter which should be clearly understood and widely made known:--

(1) "The object of all hypnotic treatment ought to be the development of the patient's control of his own organism" (see p. 436 of Hypnotism: Its History, Practice, and Theory).

(2) The hypnotic control may be obtained without any effort on the part of the operator, the effort formerly supposed to be required being purely imaginary, and the hypnotic state being, in fact, obtained without any operation whatever. Indeed, it has now been found that for curative purposes the "suggestion" may be conveyed without throwing the patient into the hypnotic condition, and that anyone not absolutely an idiot or insane may be amenable to the treatment.

(3) "Both 'Scientist' [the author is speaking of Christian Scientists] and Suggestionist also use the same method for creating belief--namely, Assertion.... Assertions are not made clumsily, ignorantly, and at random, as assertions are in our daily intercourse, but are made skilfully, with a purpose, and with a knowledge of the effects they will produce" (see p. 9 of the late Richard Harte's The New Psychology; or, The Secret of Happiness [Fowler & Co., London and New York]). Is this one of the reasons why the believer is able to continue a believer in spite of all disproof? Certainly he is constantly repeating assertions, and sometimes these must get through to his subliminal consciousness--his subjective mind.

(4) Auto-suggestion. The suggestion should be made when you are composing yourself to sleep. Dr. Bramwell tells me that the best time is on first waking in the morning, before dozing off again.

(5) "Many cases of functional nervous disorder have recovered under hypnotic treatment after the continued failure of other methods.... Further, the diseases which frequently respond to hypnotic treatment are often those in which drugs are of little or no avail. For example, what medicine would one prescribe for a man who, in the midst of mental and physical health, had suddenly become the prey of an obsession?" (see p. 435 of Hypnotism: Its History, Practice, and Theory).

(6) "The volition is increased and the moral standard raised" (see p. 437 of Hypnotism, etc.). "Experience proves that 'principles' instilled into anyone while in the hypnotic condition become irrevocably [?] fixed in the mind" (p. 3 of Richard Harte's Hypnotism and the Doctors). Thus degenerates, dipsomaniacs, morphinomaniacs, kleptomaniacs, sexual perverts, and other unfortunates, may be reclaimed.

(7) "'Suggestion' is of universal application, and of incalculable power for good in almost every department of human life.... The three principal ways in which suggestion (which has been called 'the active principle' of hypnotism) affects human beings beneficially, in addition to curing diseases, are: By facilitating education; by preventing crime, and reforming the criminal; and by raising the general standard of manliness--of courage, of independence of character, and of respect for self and others" (ibid, pp. 2-4).

Note.--"The Medical Society for the Study of Suggestive Therapeutics" was constituted at the close of 1906. Let us hope that it will soon rival the flourishing French Société d'Hypnotisme et de Psychologie.

P. 337, lines 5-6.--It is the quality, not the quantity, of our children that we have to keep to the forefront.

"This is the great problem in a nutshell: to improve the quality and diminish the quantity of mankind--that is, in proportion to the means of securing for each a truly human life." "Is not the quality rather than the quantity of children the thing to be aimed at?" (Mona Caird and Lady Grove on "The Position of Women," see pp. 118 and 128 of the Fortnightly Review for July, 1905). Besides, "if we continued to maintain the high birth-rate of the mid-Victorian epoch, it is certain that, in the course of a few generations, there would be no elbow-room left in our little islands. Already, indeed, Great Britain is, from many points of view, over-populated. If all the people who are now crowded together in the slums of our great towns were scattered over the country, there would be practically no country left. England would have become a vast suburb. That is not an ideal to which any patriotic Englishman would care to look forward. Space and quiet are essential for the development of some of the best qualities of human beings, and those persons who too hastily regret a decline in the birth-rate must explain how they propose to reconcile these essentials with an unlimited increase of our present population" (The Daily Graphic, August 7th, 1905, art. "A Declining Birth-rate").

Over-population spells strife, squalor, vice, crime--misery. Dr. Barnardos and "General" Booths may get over the "unemployed" difficulty by schemes for emigration to Canada and elsewhere; but this is, at best, only a very temporary remedy. As it is, thousands of white men are living and dying in climates for which they are unadapted; while in some cases--in certain portions of Africa, for example--they are ousting and making life a burthen to the races that are adapted. We have only to look far enough ahead to discover that the time must come when the world would so teem with human-kind that even a Bishop of London or a President Roosevelt would have to cry "Hold! Enough!"

At the present moment this problem presses for a very early solution in India. For many months in the year, as I have again and again seen with my own eyes, masses of the agricultural population are entirely without employment. Hence the constantly recurring famines, or partial famines, in years of bad or indifferent rainfall. The population problem, being intimately connected with many another problem, is one of the utmost gravity; but, so long as men hold that to increase and multiply is the command of God and a duty we owe to the State, it will never be rightly, never be sensibly, solved. P.S.--Millions are starving in China now (February, 1907).

P. 345, line 3.--The Moral Instruction League.

The object of the Moral Instruction League (19, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, W.C.) is to introduce systematic non-theological moral instruction into all schools, and to make the formation of character the chief aim of school life. Their contention is--and it seems a wise one--that ethical principles on which we all agree should not be associated in the schools of the State with theological principles on which we all differ. Already certain education authorities are providing for systematic moral instruction of a purely secular nature. In the West Riding scheme it is expressly stated that it is to be "part of the secular instruction," while the Cheshire scheme emphatically lays down that the moral instruction must be non-theological. The authorities of Groton, Blackpool, Norwich, York, and elsewhere, have supplied all the teachers of their schools with copies of the Moral Instruction League's Graduated Syllabus of Moral Instruction for Elementary Schools. The West Riding Education Authority has adopted the Syllabus, and it is now in use in the 1,270 schools, Provided and Non-Provided, of that authority. In addition to these, numerous education authorities have decided to make provision for moral instruction a part of the secular instruction in their schools.

So much that is untrue has been said about the results of a purely secular education by its strenuous opponents that it is high time for the real truth to be known. This my readers will find in Mr. Joseph McCabe's tractate, The Truth About Secular Education: Its History and Results (Watts & Co., 1906, paper covers, 6d.).

Among some excellent works intended to assist parents and teachers in the non-theological character-training of children, I may mention F. J. Gould's The Children's Book of Moral Lessons, in three series (Watts & Co.), Hackwood's Notes of Lessons on Moral Subjects, Alice Chesterton's The Garden of Childhood (Sonnenschein), Dr. Felix Adler's The Moral Instruction of Children (Edward Arnold), the Moral Instruction League and also the Leicester Syllabus, and A. J. Waldegrave's A Teacher's Handbook of Moral Lessons (Sonnenschein). Dr. F. H. Hayward's Secret of Herbart, a powerful appeal to the teacher on the scope and urgency of his moral mission, is now re-issued at 6d. (Watts). The translation of Dr. F. W. Förster's Lebenskunde, a book replete with illustrative matter for the teacher, has been undertaken by the Moral Instruction League. Mr. W. M. Salter's essay, "Why Live a Moral Life?" is of exceptional merit. This and other ethical essays may be obtained from the Secretary of the Union of Ethical Societies, 19, Buckingham Street, Strand, W.C.; price one penny each. One of the most important contributions to ethical sociology that has appeared for many years is a work in two vols. entitled Morals in Evolution (Chapman & Hall; 1906), by Mr. L. T. Hobhouse. I venture to predict that it will ere long be recognised as the standard work on the subject. Mr. Hobhouse, it should be noted, never wavers in his assertion of the supremacy of ethics over all phases of religion.

P. 350, line 15.--The practices of the Latin and Greek Churches.

Diaries recounting the sights seen by a lord of high degree in 1465 were published in 1851 by the Literary Society of Stuttgart. They include an interesting account of all the shrines and relics seen during his travels through Western Europe. The account of the relics which he saw in our own Canterbury Cathedral admits of no curtailment: "First we saw the head-band of the Blessed Virgin, a piece of Christ's garment, and three thorns from His Crown; then we saw the bedstead of St. Thomas and his brain, and the blood of St. Thomas and of St. John the Apostles. We saw also the sword with which St. Thomas of Canterbury was beheaded; the hair of the Mother of God, and a part of the Sepulchre. There was also shown to us a part of the shoulder of the Blessed Simeon, who bore Christ in his arms; the head of the blessed Lustrabena; one leg of St. George; a piece of the body and the bones of St. Lawrence; a leg of the Bishop of St. Romanus; a cup of St. Thomas, which he had been accustomed to use in administering the Sacrament at Canterbury; a leg of the Virgin Milda; a leg of the Virgin Eduarda. We also saw a tooth and a finger of St. Stephen the Martyr; bones of the Virgin Catherine, and oil from her sepulchre, which is said to flow to this day; hair of the blessed Virgin [sic!] Magdalene; a tooth of St. Benedict; a finger of St. Urban; the lips of one of the infants slain by Herod; bones of the blessed Clement; bones of St. Vincent. Very many other things were also shown to us, which are not set down by me in this place." Very many other things have also been shown to me during my travels abroad (from St. Anne de Beaupré in Quebec to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem) which are not set down by me in this place, and I may say that the grotesqueness of the frauds that are perpetrated is only equalled by the gross ignorance and credulity of the worshippers. The number of these "relics" scattered over Christendom must amount to thousands upon thousands. To stop the traffic in them, there is now a regulation that if you buy a relic you commit mortal sin. The relics are still sold, however; only the price is said to be for the frame or for the trouble, or something to that effect. For a description of La Bottega del Papa (the Pope's shop) or La Santa Bottega (the Holy Shop) see Dr. Robertson's book, The Roman Catholic Church in Italy. Regarding the early Church, see Bible Myths, pp. 434-40.

P. 359, lines 7-10.--Some of our greatest divines ... condemn obscurantism and the odium theologicum.

We have a striking example of this in Dean Farrar's tractate, The Bible and the Child (James Clarke & Co., 1897). The passage runs as follows: "There are a certain number of persons who, when their minds have become stereotyped in foregone conclusions, are simply incapable of grasping new truths. They become obstructionists, and not infrequently bigoted obstructionists. As convinced as the Pope of their own personal infallibility, their attitude towards those who see that the old views are no longer tenable is an attitude of anger and alarm. This is the usual temper of the odium theologicum. It would, if it could, grasp the thumbscrew and the rack of mediæval Inquisitors, and would, in the last resource, hand over all opponents to the scaffold or the stake. Those whose intellects have been thus petrified by custom and advancing years are, of all others, the most hopeless to deal with. They have made themselves incapable of fair and rational examination of the truths which they impugn. They think they can, by mere assertion, overthrow results arrived at by the life-long inquiries of the ablest student, while they have not given a day's serious or impartial study to them. They fancy that even the ignorant, if only they be what is called orthodox, are justified in strong denunciation of men quite as truthful, and often incomparably more able than themselves. Off-hand dogmatists of this stamp, who usually abound among professional religionists, think that they can refute any number of scholars, however profound and however pious, if only they shout 'Infidel' with sufficient loudness."

P. 367, lines 21-2.--Did not slavery flourish side by side with the Christian Church?

Serfdom in England was fully extinguished only in 1600, and the Act for the Abolition of Slavery throughout the British Colonies was passed only in 1833. For eighteen long centuries Christianity countenanced the atrocious inhumanities of the slave trade. The very irons used by the native chiefs for shackling the prisoners when handing them over to the Christian traders were made in Birmingham, and the greatest horrors of slavery have been exhibited only under the rule of the Christian slave-owner. We can form some idea of the inhumanity then displayed from the treatment of the coloured races by the white man in Africa to-day. Read, for instance, the accounts of the Congo atrocities, or of the German Colonial scandals. Read, again, some home-truths about our own Colonies in Labour and other Questions in South Africa, by Medicus (T. Fisher Unwin, 1903). The white man has indeed a burden to bear--the burden of his own iniquity. Regarding negro slavery, Dr. Westermarck clearly shows (in his work, The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas) that "this system of slavery, which, at least in the British Colonies and the slave States, surpassed in cruelty the slavery of any pagan country, ancient or modern, was not only recognised by Christian Governments, but was supported by the large bulk of the clergy, Catholic and Protestant alike."

P. 368, lines 25-8.--The Christian Church has been more cruel and shed more human blood than any other Church or institution in the world. Let the Jew bear witness among the crowd of victims.

History is repeating itself to-day, and my previous allusions to the present situation in Russia are all too brief. I would ask my readers kindly to put to themselves the following crucial questions: To what party do the religious bigots and their partisans belong? Is it not to the reactionary party, the party that sets its face against reform? On what do the reactionaries chiefly rely for the retention of their hold upon the bulk of the people? Is it not on a peasantry wallowing in ignorance and steeped in superstition? What are the actual instruments employed for maintaining their power? Do they not consist of corrupt officials and cruel Cossacks? Who are responsible for shameless acts of persecution, and, indeed, very largely for all the bloodshed, strife, and anarchy? Is it not the orthodox Church and her supporters? Is it too much to say, with the Rev. J. Lawson-Forster, that "the Russian Church has become the tool of murderers"? (Mr. Lawson-Forster expressed himself in these words when presiding at the great public meeting held at the Brondesbury Synagogue to protest against the recent outrages in Russia.) To what party do the Freethinkers belong? Are they not all, everyone of them, adherents of the party desirous of reform and of religious toleration? With regard to religious persecution generally, Christians might study with advantage Buckle's History of Civilisation in England, or Lecky's History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, or C. T. Gorham's Faith: Its Freaks and Follies (Rationalist Press Association), or the latest work on the subject, Religious Persecution, by E. S. P. Haynes (Duckworth; a revised edition has now been issued by the R. P. A. at 6d.). Few realise that the favourite method for overcoming the scruples of the heretic--torture--was used in England so late as 1640.

Pp. 371-2, lines 31 and 1-3.--History, viewed as a whole, is nothing but a succession of struggles for existence among rival nations.

If Major Murray had stopped short at offering us a somewhat highly coloured picture of the past and present conditions ruling among Christian nations, and at inculcating the necessity of our being in readiness to face the inevitable, few of us would be found to quarrel, in the main, with his conclusions. But when he tells us that "Peace never has been, and never will be [italics are mine], as long as the passions of mankind endure, more than a lull between the storms of war," then the better-informed and peace-loving Rationalist will beg to differ with him. He feels that this gospel of universal hatred is being carried too far. Never is a very long time. Major Murray says: "No great nation will ever submit to arbitration any interest that it regards as absolutely vital." Did not our British forefathers think, and with more reason, that "men of honour" could settle their disputes only by the duel? May we not trust that the decisions of learned and unbiassed judges will be equitable, and therefore that their acceptance will redound to the honour of the great nations concerned?

Natural selection, or, as we have elsewhere called it, natural murder, ceased to have full power over men on the day that man commenced to control his environment. Since then he has been constantly engaged in making nature do some work for him, in altering the environment in which he finds himself instead of letting it alter him. Now that he is equipped, better than ever before in his history, for this task, now that he has learnt more of the secrets of Nature--of her crude and cruel processes--is he going to acquiesce tamely, and make no use of his knowledge? Now the nature of the malady has been diagnosed, and now the proper remedies have been discovered, will he not set about the cure? Is the struggle for existence, with all its attendant horrors, to be perpetuated? Does the end--the survival of the fittest--justify the means--over-production and murder? Cannot the same and better results be attained by a process less crude, less cruel? Nature procures adaptation to existing environment by methods fraught with untold suffering for the sentient, and the obvious course is for man to reverse the process, bringing the environment into harmony with his existing constitution. Of a truth, nature is, as Major Murray reminds us, red in tooth and claw; but science is both able and willing to tame the shrew.

P. 374, lines 15-19.--The "Lord mighty in battle" is expected to take interest in bloodshed ... to fight for his people.

A parody appearing in an evening paper on November 29th, 1901, conveys a wholesome lesson on this subject. "Lest we forget," I quote it at length:--

PROCESSIONAL.

Lord God of Battles, whom we seek On clouds and tempests throned afar, When tired of being tamely weak, We Maffick into deadly war; If it should chance to be a sin, At least enable us to win.

Give to the Churches faith to pray For what they know they shouldn't ask, And such abounding grace that they May cheerfully perform the task; Wave flags and loyally discount That fatal Sermon on the Mount.

Give to the people strength to be Convinced all happens for the best, To see the thing they wish to see, And prudently ignore the rest; So priest and people shall combine To gain their ends, and call them Thine.

P. 374, lines 23-4.--Its [Christianity's] impotency to carry out this, one of its chief missions.

"In no field of its work," exclaims Mr. Andrew Carnegie, "does the Christian Church throughout the whole world--with outstanding individual exceptions--so conspicuously fail as in its attitude to war. Its silence when outspoken speech might avert war, its silence during war's sway, its failure during days of peace to proclaim the true Christian doctrines regarding the killing of men, give point to the recent arraignment of the Prime Minister, who declared that the Church to-day busied itself with questions [e.g., of vestments and candles] which did not weigh even as dust in the balance compared with the vital problems with which it was called upon to deal." (See reports of the ceremony at which Mr. Carnegie was installed as Rector of St. Andrew's University.)

P. 374, lines 24-5.--Religion being frequently the actual occasion of, the strife.

From the Crusades to the Crimea, religion has continually been either directly or indirectly the cause of war. Protestants, who may be ready to excuse the wars undertaken to drive the infidels from the "Holy Land," will do well to remember that Pope Innocent III., besides proclaiming the fifth of these crusades, proclaimed also the infamous crusade against the Albigenses (who opposed the corruptions of the Church of Rome), when Simon de Montfort and the Pope's legate, at the head of half a million of men, put to the sword friend and foe, men and women, saying, "God will find his own." In the case of that mischievous and unnecessary blunder, the Crimean War, the great masses of the Russian people saw but a spirited defence of the Cross against the Crescent, wherein, from their point of view, the infidel was being supported by renegade Christians. It was an appeal to the religious emotions of the Russian peasants--an insincere appeal, as history has discovered--that lent to the last Russo-Turkish war a fictitious popularity.

P. 375, lines 6-7.--Every Rationalist, every Freethinker, is an honest advocate of peace.

Note these lines by an eminent divine and great dignitary of the Church, Archbishop Alexander, of Armagh:--

And when I know how noble natures form under the red rain of war, I deem it true That He who made the earthquakes and the storm perchance made battle too.

And these by the gentle Wordsworth, the poet of sweet simplicity:--

But Thy most dreaded instrument In working out a pure intent Is man--array'd for mutual slaughter; Yea, Carnage is Thy daughter!

And compare: "The very ideas and efforts which have led men to struggle against the Papal Church are exactly those which are exorcising the demon of militarism from the soul of France" (Contemporary Review for January, 1905, art. "France and Rome"). Or again the following, reported in the daily papers: "A petition to stop the war between Russia and Japan owes its inception to Signor Carlo Romissi, Deputy and editor of the Secolo of Milan. The petition has penetrated into every workshop, household, and school, and roused the people to a passionate desire for peace, not only between the belligerents in the Far East, but between all nations." The Secolo is the most widely-read Freethought paper in Italy.

Though it may be a long time before our efforts are rewarded, is that any reason for not making a commencement in the right direction? Let me give an instance. The effort now being made to popularise the international language "Esperanto" is one such commencement. Could not the Church spare a little of her military ardour (exhibited in the arm-chair and pulpit) for supporting peaceful projects of this nature? This one, at any rate, among the many to be found on the Rationalist programme, is not contrary to her teaching; but I have not as yet heard of any ecclesiastical support to a scheme that will undoubtedly conduce to a better acquaintance between the peoples of different nationalities. It is Rationalist and liberal-minded philanthropists (Mr. W. T. Stead, e.g.) who are at present chiefly interested in the movement.

During the Boer War one was continually hearing declamations from the pulpit to the effect that war is a necessary evil. For instance, the late Bishop of Calcutta, Dr. Welldon, actually advocated war on the ground that it was a means of keeping a nation virile. Has the Boer War made us more virile? Whatever Imperial necessity there may have been for it, owing to blunders in the past and the existing condition of affairs, the certain effects of it, so far as we can see, have been the untimely destruction of some of the flower of our race, sorrow spread throughout the length and breadth of the land by many bereavements, the burden of a great debt, and the unemployed question rendered more acute than ever.

"The brotherhood of man is a long way off--it may never be reached; but as an ideal it is better worth having than that of half-a-dozen sullen empires, trading only within their own boundaries, and shut up behind high tariff walls over which they peer suspiciously, scanning one another's exports and imports with jealous eyes, and making from time to time fawning alliances with one rival, while harbouring enmity with another, maintaining millions of men under arms and spending millions of pounds in armaments, and all the time waiting, waiting, waiting for an affrighted sun to rise upon the day of Armageddon.... But nobler things lie before us and a brighter dawn." (See Mr. Birrell's article, "Patriotism and Christianity," in the Contemporary Review for February, 1905.)

SELECTIONS FROM A FEW (OF MANY) PRESS OPINIONS ON EARLIER EDITIONS.

"Written in a temperate spirit."--Times.

"A well-presented and interesting survey."--Daily Telegraph.

"A freshly thought-out discussion of the whole subject. A temperate and well-reasoned study."--Scotsman.

"A comprehensive survey of many perplexing problems ... full of cogent criticism and stimulating suggestion."--Tribune.

"An absolutely sincere and sympathetic contribution to the controversy of our time."--Morning Post.

"There is much in this work that deserves close study."--Daily Mail.

"It is a very full, lucid, and candid work."--Morning Leader.

"Evidence on both sides is lucidly set forth."--Daily Graphic.

"By an able critic ... is written with moderation and in a spirit of reverent inquiry ... is manifestly honest, and the tone is dignified and courteous."--Yorkshire Post.

"There is considerable novelty in his presentation of his case. He writes without bitterness or acrimony, exhibiting, indeed, in his treatment a scholarly mind."--Academy.

"I am glad to see a second and revised edition."--T. P.'s Weekly.

"Mr. Vivian's excellent book."--Observer.

"Deserves attentive consideration."--John Bull.

"A careful and thorough perusal of this book has led us to admire the industry, carefulness, and lucidity of the writer."--London Argus.

"All we can do is to commend this book to the serious attention of all who have the welfare of Christianity--not mere dogma--at heart."--Public Opinion.

"A clever and lucid statement of Rationalism."--Review of Reviews.

"Every competent critic seems to have recognised the book as one of the few which immediately command recognition, and which are unhesitatingly added to our classics."--Westminster Review.

"Illusions must be grappled with and exhibited as such before people can be got to discard them. And as a guide to the performance of that office Mr. Vivian's book is the best that can be named."--Albany Review.

"Candid and conscientious."--London Quarterly Review.

"The arguments of Agnosticism very clearly put."--Guardian.

"Mr. Vivian does not aim at bespattering his opponents with mud."--Christian Commonwealth.

"Ought to be carefully studied by preachers."--Christian World.

"Is well worth reading by all who have to do with unbelief."--Methodist Times.

"It is a frank and full inquiry into the grounds of modern unbelief, and a masterly plea for candour in Christian thought."--Christian Advocate.

"Calmly-reasoned criticism.... Writes in excellent style."--Clarion.

"Mr. Vivian's book is an admirable reply to When it Was Dark."--New Age.

"An interesting and instructive book."--Positivist Review.

"This book does much to show where rationalism can rightly influence both our creed and our conduct."--Light (devoted to the interests of psychical research).

"I am recommending it to everybody who is interested in the religious problems of the hour."--The Reader.

"Comprehensive in scope, judiciously written, and embodying an admirable selection of facts."--Literary Guide.

"The book is written with marked ability."--Teacher.

"Philip Vivian is a clear thinker, who has made a special study both of Christian evidences and of comparative religions."--Journal of Education.

"Comprehensive, systematic, and strenuous ... based on much knowledge ... very capable."--Educational Times.

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"Well arranged and well written, and adding to-day's conclusions to the polemics of the past."--Bulletin, Sydney.

"A reliable and useful guide."--Otago Times, New Zealand.

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"A clever and frank writer."--World, Vancouver.

"From first to last most interesting and instructive."--Japan Chronicle.

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"A work of unusual clearness, dealing with the entire question of the so-called conflict between religion and science."--American Review of Reviews.

"Will appeal to the widest possible range of readers."--New York Herald.

NOTES

[1] In the June (1906) number of Review of Theology and Philosophy, edited by Professor Allan Menzies, D.D.

[2] As the Rev. John A. Hutton attempts to show in the Hibbert Journal, July, 1905.

[3] In his address at the London Diocesan Conference in April, 1904.

[4] When addressing a conference of clergy and church-workers at Blandford on September 7th, 1905.

[5] In the course of one of those remarkable orations of his which always command the thoughtful attention of the House. The speech was reported in the newspapers of March 15th, 1904.

[6] See Dr. Horton's letter to the Daily News, August 23rd, 1905.

[7] The Rev. Charles Voysey, in a sermon preached at the Theistic Church, Swallow Street, on February 5th, 1905.

[8] See pp. 63-4.

[9] Quoted from What it is to be a Christian, a pamphlet written by the Ven. J. M. Wilson, D.D.

[10] Eighteen per cent. was the figure given by Bishop Ingram, speaking of "Londoners," in his speech at the annual meeting of the Bishop of London's Fund in 1904; but, according to the strict results of the census, the figure for London is twenty-two or twenty-three per cent. of the total population.

[11] As Mr. Fielding remarks in his book, The Hearts of Men (pp. 217-8): "To one coming to Europe after years in the East and visiting churches, nothing is more striking than the enormous preponderance of women there. It is immaterial whether the church be in England or France, whether it be Anglican or Roman Catholic or Dissenter. The result is always the same--women outnumber the men as two to one, as three to one, sometimes as ten to one."

[12] As a matter of fact, no distinguished leader among modern biologists has come to any such conclusion. People are apt to forget that, while Lord Kelvin is undoubtedly one of the most distinguished living physicists, he is not himself a biologist.

[13] See Nature, April 23rd, 1903; also Appendix to this work.

[14] This assertion is severely criticised by Mr. Joseph McCabe in the Hibbert for July, 1905. Mr. McCabe holds that "Sir Oliver Lodge's own conception of life may, with a far greater show of reason, be described as a modified survival of an older doctrine" (p. 746).

[15] Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, the distinguished naturalist and evolutionist, is another scientist with spiritist convictions, and his concern for supernatural religion led him to step outside his own domain and make that remarkable attack upon current scientific opinions in astronomical matters which met with such unanimous condemnation (see the Fortnightly Review for March and September, 1903).

[16] In the Times, October, 1904.

[17] At Exeter Hall, in March, 1905, Lady Blount developed her "flat-earth" theory, and accused Newton of want of logic.

[18] A book, edited by the Rev. J. E. Hand (George Allen), which gives, perhaps, the best that can be said by able and fair-minded men, writing in the light of the latest knowledge and criticism, in favour of a reconciliation between religion and science. The book contains essays by various authors--Sir O. Lodge, Professors Thomson, Geddes, and Muirhead, the Rev. P. N. Waggett, the Rev. John Kelman, and others.

[19] Dr. W. Barry, in his Ernest Renan, is content to attribute the change mainly to Renan's study of Kant. But such a theory is inconsistent with Renan's own statement in his Reminiscences, where he expressly declares that questions of history, not metaphysics, shook his faith.

[20] Author of a vituperative libel on agnostics, called Atheism and Faith.

[21] The psychical aspect of the belief of such persons is discussed in Chap. VI., § 5.

[22] Canon Scott Holland, in a sermon preached in St. Paul's Cathedral on the first Sunday after Epiphany, 1905. See also Appendix.

[23] The Secretary of the Rationalist Press Association has received several private letters from clergymen expressing their desire to leave the Church if they could find some employment. They usually have large families dependent upon them for support.

[24] I omit all mention of the trading or domestic classes who often depend directly for their support on strict religionists. The way in which "their bread is buttered" is bound to enter considerably into their calculations, and also they have often even less leisure for the study of modern thought than a steady (temperate) working man.

[25] A cheap edition has since been published by the R. P. A.

[26] Anti-Nunquam, by Dr. Warschauer, with prefatory note by J. Estlin Carpenter, is considered by many Churchmen to be an admirable refutation of God and My Neighbour. I have seldom read anything less likely to convince. Sentence after sentence is open to the gravest exception.

[27] See Appendix.

[28] E.g., in the Nineteenth Century and After, see the article on "The Present Position of Religious Apologetics," appearing in the issue for October, 1903; or on "Freethought in the Church of England" in the issues for September and December, 1904. The answers in the same journal are most unsatisfactory, and only serve to show how very little, apparently, can be said in reply.

[29] Although the Church has ever been charitable, she has made no effort to cure poverty. She is, she must be, the ally of those to whom she chiefly owes her power and prestige. Jeremy Taylor is not the only eminent divine who has systematically courted the favour of the influential and rich.

[30] Essay on "Possibilities and Impossibilities," appearing in the Agnostic Annual for 1892.

[31] Paley's Evidences--Preparatory Considerations.

[32] In his book, The Service of Man.

[33] In his notable oration upon the apparitions of Llanthony.

[34] See p. 132 of An Introduction to the Study of the Scriptures, by the Right Rev. W. Boyd Carpenter, Bishop of Ripon.

[35] See p. 222 of Some Elements of Religion, Liddon.

[36] See p. 51 of An Introduction to the Study of the Scriptures.

[37] Extract from a sermon preached in St. Paul's, Finsbury, on November 23rd, 1904.

[38] This explanation has been given by the Rev. Samuel Cox, and it is quoted with approval by the Bishop of London on p. 63 of his little work, Old Testament Difficulties (S.P.C.K.).

[39] See p. 41 of Old Testament Difficulties.

[40] Article "Genesis."

[41] Miraculum means merely a wonderful thing. It is certainly a proper translation of simeia (signs) and terata (wonders), as used by New Testament writers.

[42] By the author of Supernatural Religion. (Longmans, Green, and Co.; 1889.)

[43] See Encyclopædia Biblica, article "Gospels," paragraph 138 (e).

[44] See article "Paul" in the Encyclopædia Biblica. Four of the Pauline Epistles are, however, pretty generally accepted. Five are hotly disputed; Professor Loofs, for example, rejects them.

[45] See article "Epistolary Literature" in the Encyclopædia Biblica.

[46] Swedenborgians (the New Jerusalem Church) are to be found scattered throughout almost every part of Christendom. In England, principally in Lancashire and Yorkshire, there are seventy-five societies with 6,063 registered members.

[47] Eight persons in all testify to the apparition of the Virgin Mary in the Abbot's meadow at Llanthony on September 15th, 1880.

[48] Hodder & Stoughton, 1906.

[49] See p. 31 of What is Christianity? (Williams & Norgate, 1904).

[50] See, for instance, art. "Moses," Encyclopædia Biblica.

[51] Quoted from a sermon by the Bishop of London in Fulham parish, Christmas Day, 1904. Compare this with Dr. Kirkpatrick's remark, p. 2 of his book, The Divine Library of the Old Testament: "It is true that the critical investigation of the Bible raises not a few questions of grave difficulty."

[52] "The adjective 'higher' (the sense of which is often misunderstood) has reference simply to the higher and more difficult class of problems, with which, as opposed to textual criticism, the 'higher' criticism has to deal" (see Preface to The Higher Criticism, being three papers by S. R. Driver, D.D., and A. F. Kirkpatrick, D.D.).

[53] See Appendix.

[54] Exodus xxxi. 18 and xxxii. 16. Or, to be precise, these having been broken and their fragments considered of no value at the time, the duplicates carefully prepared and inscribed to the dictation of God Himself (Exodus xxxix.).

[55] Believed to date from about 853 B.C. The inscription records the victories of King Mesha over the Israelites.

[56] Erected in honour of Ptolemy Epiphanes, 106 B.C. Famous as having furnished the first key for the interpretation of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

[57] Encyclopædia Biblica, art. "Messiah," p. 3058, par. 2.

[58] Ibid, p. 3063, par 10.

[59] In Studies in the Character of Christ, by Rev. C. H. Robinson, Hon. Canon of Ripon and Editorial Secretary to the S.P.G.

[60] Enc. Bib., art. "Nativity," par. 10, 11, 12.

[61] The late Rev. A. B. Bruce, D.D., Professor of Apologetics and New Testament Exegesis, Free Church College, Glasgow.

[62] See Enc. Bib., art. "Gospels," par. 139.

[63] See Enc. Bib., art. "Gospels," par. 138, where the reasons for this conclusion are explained. See also par. 108.

[64] Author of various theological works, Hulsean Lecturer, Cambridge, 1876; Select Preacher, Oxford, 1877.

[65] The interpolation in the last chapter of St. Mark goes back far into the second century. It is important to bear in mind that none of the dates given by Dr. Harnack and other authorities applies to the Gospels exactly as we now have them. Accounts of miracles have been added subsequently!

[66] Enc. Bib., art. "Lazarus."

[67] Ibid, art. "Gospels," par. 147.

[68] W. C. van Manen, D.D., Professor of Old-Christian Literature and New Testament Exegesis, Leyden.

[69] Spoken in an address to the St. Paul's Lecture Society, at the opening of a new session in 1904.

[70] The italics in these quotations from Dr. Harnack are mine.

[71] Fully reported in the Methodist Times.

[72] The Greek version, known as the Septuagint (LXX.), made in Egypt in the third and second centuries B.C. for the use of the numerous body of Greek-speaking Jews and proselytes in that country.

[73] A Greek document which is supposed to have existed and then to have been entirely lost (imagine God's Word lost!), and to contain some of the matter related by St. Matthew and St. Luke, while omitted by St. Mark. N.B.--While the evangelist St. Mark is relegated to the position of a translator only, St. Matthew and St. Luke are taken by orthodox theologians to be mere copyists of St. Mark and a "lost" document!

[74] See art. "Gospels," in the Enc. Bib., and Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in the Original Greek.

[75] In his address at the Church Congress held at Weymouth in 1905.

[76] In his work, Verbal Inspiration. Quoted by Bishop Colenso in The Pentateuch Examined.

[77] The Dean of Canterbury, speaking on the Bishop of Winchester's paper at the Church Congress, 1903.

[78] The Dean of Canterbury, speaking in St. Mary Bredin's Church, Canterbury, December 4th, 1904.

[79] See Appendix.

[80] See Bk. VIII., chap. ii., par. 2, on p. 324, vol. i. Eusebius (Oxford: Parker & Co.). His candour here is deserving of all praise; but his methods can hardly be termed scientific; while an impartial perusal of his Vita Constantini, a panegyric on the Emperor Constantine, should be enough to shake the confidence of all but the blindest of his admirers.

[81] See p. 179, chap. xv., of Gibbon's Rome (Oddy, 1809).

[82] See Appendix.

[83] In note A, pp. 42-3, of his book, The Study of the Gospels.

[84] At the discussion on Christian Science during the London Diocesan Conference, May, 1906.

[85] See his book, The Days of His Flesh; Hodder & Stoughton, 1906.

[86] See chap. xxviii. of The Historical Geography of the Holy Land, by the Rev. George Adam Smith, M.A., D.D., LL.D.; Professor of O. T. Lang., Liter., and Theology, etc.

[87] The quotation is from Canon C. H. Robinson's book, Studies in the Character of Christ.

[88] J. G. Frazer (Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; Hon. D.C.L. Oxford; Hon. LL.D. Glasgow; Hon. Litt. D. Durham, etc.), in his Preface to the second edition of The Golden Bough.

[89] Professor Max Müller, in The Science of Religion, p. 40.

[90] The italics are mine throughout this quotation; also words within brackets [ ].

[91] See Appendix.

[92] "We are accustomed to find the legendary and the miraculous gathering, like a halo, around the early history of religious leaders, until the sober truth runs the risk of being altogether neglected for the glittering and edifying falsehood" (Enc. Brit., vol. iv., art. "Buddhism," p. 424). This process is recognised as a universal rule. What grounds have we for assuming that Christianity is exempt from it?

[93] See Appendix.

[94] See Appendix.

[95] Zarathustra, or Zoroaster, was possibly a historical person. We are quite in the dark as to the precise date of Zoroaster. Duncker places him about the year 1000 B.C.

[96] Apol. I. 54 and I. 21. Quoted in the Enc. Bib., art. "Mary."

[97] Pp. 78-9 of his important work, Divine Immanence.

[98] Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi., pp. 197-200.

[99] Egyptian Belief, p. 370.

[100] Middleton's Works, vol. i., pp. 63, 64.

[101] Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. ii., p. 260, note 3.

[102] See his work, Mythology of the Aryan Nations, vol. ii., p. 113.

[103] Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi., p. 95.

[104] Myths of the New World, p. 166.

[105] P. 393 of Monumental Christianity, or the Art and Symbolism of the Primitive Church as Witness and Teachers of the One Catholic Faith and Practice.

[106] In his book, Bushido, pp. 15-19 and 24.

[107] P. 152 of his book, King David of Israel (Watts, 1905).

[108] The Gods of the Egyptians, vol. ii., p. 220.

[109] Ibid., vol. i., Preface, p. xv.

[110] They appear in Part II., pp. 171, 183, 188, 300, and 302.

[111] A translation of the Chinese version of the "Abbinishkramana Sûtra." For the probable date, see Appendix.

[112] See Herbert Spencer's Principles of Sociology, Vol. I., Part I., chapter on "The Primitive Man--Emotional."

[113] Professor Robertson Smith, in The Religion of the Semites, p. 347. Dr. W. R. Smith was a distinguished Scottish Biblical scholar and Orientalist. From 1881 he was associated as joint editor of the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica with Professor Spencer Baynes, after whose death in 1887 he was sole editor.

[114] J. M. Robertson, in his book, Pagan Christs, pp. 373-4.

[115] For this and the following graphic accounts I am indebted to Mr. J. M. Robertson's book, Pagan Christs, Part IV.--"The Religion of Ancient America."

[116] Quoted from his celebrated book, The Golden Bough.

[117] See p. 145, note.

[118] See Appendix.

[119] See "Gods of Cultivation" in Grant Allen's Evolution of the Idea of God.

[120] See Appendix.

[121] The Evolution of the Idea of God (chapter on "The Gods of Cultivation").

[122] Ibid (chapter on "The Origin of Gods").

[123] Principles of Sociology, vol. i. (chapter on "Primitive Ideas," p. 102).

[124] Principles of Sociology (chapter on "Inspiration, Divination, Exorcism, and Sorcery," p. 241).

[125] P. 366, vol. ii. of The Golden Bough.

[126] Anacalypsis, vol. 1., p. 638.

[127] St. Matthew xii. 40.

[128] See Appendix.

[129] Studies in the Character of Christ, vi. 102.

[130] Encyc. Brit., art. "Mythology."

[131] See Appendix.

[132] See p. 117 of Monumental Christianity.

[133] See Appendix.

[134] Quoted from Darwin's Descent of Man.

[135] "The preservation of favourable variations and the rejection of injurious variations I call natural selection" (Darwin, Origin of Species, ed. 1860, iv.).

[136] Darwin, Varieties of Animals and Plants, xx., 178.

[137] Concluding remarks in Darwin's Descent of Man.

[138] Ibid.

[139] See his book containing the aforesaid lectures, and called God's Image in Man and its Defacement in the Light of Modern Denials. (Hodder and Stoughton; 1905.)

[140] Lent by Mr. Reginald Blunt to the Chelsea Public Library.

[141] See Professor Huxley's essays, "The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters of Nature" and "Mr. Gladstone and Genesis," appearing in the Nineteenth Century for December, 1885, and February, 1886, respectively, and also in the collection of Huxley's essays entitled Essays Upon Some Controverted Questions.

[142] Dr. Torrey informed a huge audience in the Albert Hall recently that he had given up the theory of Evolution for scientific reasons. "People speak of the missing link; why, they are all missing!" cried Dr. Torrey. Now, this is nothing more nor less than an untruth, and Dr. Torrey must know that it is, if he has studied Evolution, as he assures us that he has. Here is an example of the way Christians are misinformed by their spiritual teachers on the subject of Evolution. But what can you expect of an evangelist who thinks that he is serving God's cause by slandering the dead, as he did in the case of Colonel Ingersoll and Thomas Paine?

[143] See Mr. W. H. Mallock's Religion as a Credible Doctrine, p. 177.

[144] Origin of Species, p. 65.

[145] From The Story of Creation, by Edward Clodd. Chapter on "The Origin of Species," p. 95 of the cheap edition.

[146] The Nineteenth Century, February, 1888, pp. 162, 163.

[147] Pp. 519-20.

[148] Theism, by the Rev. Robert Flint, D.D., LL.D., F.R.S.E., Professor of Moral Philosophy, Divinity, etc., being the Baird Lectures for 1877.

[149] On p. 39 of his own work, Anti-Nunquam.

[150] The Light of Asia, Book the First.

[151] Quoted from Huxley's Lectures on Evolution.

[152] Quoted from Huxley's Lectures on Evolution.

[153] Controverted Questions, pp. 100, 102, 103, 104.

[154] In Lectures on Evolution.

[155] Quoted from "The Interpreters of Genesis," in the essays on Controverted Questions, p. 91.

[156] "Mr. Gladstone and Genesis," pp. 112-3 of Controverted Questions.

[157] The Descent of Man, p. 10.

[158] The Nature of Man, by Metchnikoff, p. 41.

[159] The Descent of Man, p. 10.

[160] The Nature of Man, p. 42.

[161] Man's Place in Nature, p. 126.

[162] Ibid, p. 127.

[163] The Nature of Man, p. 42.

[164] Man's Place in Nature, p. 111.

[165] Ibid, p. 139.

[166] Ibid, p. 102, note.

[167] Pp. 49-54. At the late International Congress on Tuberculosis, Professor Behring paid the highest tribute to Metchnikoff's labours on phagocytosis. Strange indeed are the instruments chosen by God for conferring His benefits on mankind; for the author of The Nature of Man denies His existence!

[168] Described in the Lancet, January 18th, 1902.

[169] The Nature of Man, pp. 45-48.

[170] The Descent of Man, vol. i., p. 14. According to the latest authorities, however, the human ovum (when mature) differs in many respects from other (especially non-mammal) ova.

[171] See the "Family Tree" of Life in the Appendix.

[172] "It is," says Professor Huxley (in Man's Place in Nature, 1863, p. 67, and quoted by Darwin in his Descent of Man, p. 14), "quite in the later steps of development that the young human being presents marked differences from the young ape, while the latter departs as much from the dog in its developments as the man does. Startling as this last assertion may appear to be, it is demonstrably true."

[173] The Descent of Man, vol. i., pp. 17-18.

[174] See The Nature of Man, p. 60.

[175] The Descent of Man, vol. i., p. 29.

[176] The Evolution of Man, vol. ii., p. 708.

[177] Ibid, 774.

[178] The Descent of Man, vol. ii., p. 32.

[179] The Nature of Man, p. 67.

[180] The Descent of Man, vol. i., pp. 32-33.

[181] God and My Neighbour, p. 134.

[182] The document and the hostile criticisms concerning it in religious papers are highly instructive. Except for the correspondence on the subject in the Standard during May, 1905, under the title of "Faith and Religion," the general public are not likely to know of the matter.

[183] Tylor and Hartmann, however, believe in the animal descent of man, and therefore in a rise from primitive civilisation.

[184] Our ancestors were never "molluscs"; "worm" would be an appropriate word here.

[185] Review in the Church Times of May 31st, 1905, of the Dean of Westminster's book, Some Thoughts on Inspiration.

[186] This and the following quotations are from "Advent Lectures on Sin," delivered by Dr. Gore, then Bishop of Worcester, in St. Philip's Church, Birmingham. They were reported in the Church Times of December 4th, 11th, and 18th, 1903.

[187] See pp. 234-5.

[188] In an address to the Students' Christian Union of Owens College, Manchester, on January 8th, 1904.

[189] In his interesting book, Problems of Religion and Science, p. 70.

[190] Teleology is the name given to the doctrine of final causes; the theory of tendency to an end, or the arrangement of things as they are for a purpose.

[191] See Appendix.

[192] Contemporary Review for May, art. "The Scientists and Common Sense."

[193] Under this title there is a pamphlet (Charles H. Kelly, Paternoster Row) by the Ven. J. M. Wilson, Archdeacon of Manchester, in which the latitudinarian views to which I refer are openly expressed. See Appendix.

[194] Flint's Theism, pp. 133-4.

[195] Theism, p. 102. This book is a standard apologetic work on Theism. Dr. Flint is also the writer of the article on "Theism" in the Encyclopædia Britannica.

[196] See p. 73 of Haeckel's Critics Answered, by Joseph McCabe.

[197] Ibid, p. 73.

[198] Haeckel's Critics Answered, p. 74.

[199] Religion and Science, pp. 89-90.

[200] Theism, Lecture IV.

[201] See p. 76 of Haeckel's Critics Answered.

[202] Theism, p. 79.

[203] Chapter on "Theism and Natural Selection."

[204] Religion and Science, p. 83.

[205] Religion and Science, pp. 89, 90.

[206] In The Ethics, Part i., appendix.

[207] In his work, Divine Immanence.

[208] Divine Immanence, pp. 71-2.

[209] Ibid, pp. 71-2.

[210] Ibid, pp. 71-2.

[211] Ibid, pp. 71-2.

[212] Ibid, p. 73.

[213] Ibid, p. 161.

[214] Divine Immanence, p. 161.

[215] In the preface to his poem.

[216] Art. "Theism" in the Encyclopædia Britannica.

[217] E.g., see p. 15 of The Three Superstitions, by Dr. Keeling, an ex-professor of gynecology.

[218] Theism, p. 245.

[219] Theism, p. 246.

[220] In an address at the inaugural meeting of the session of the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution, held on October 31st, 1905.

[221] A Text-Book of Apologetics, by Charles Harris, B.D., Lecturer in Theology and Parochialia, St. David's College, Lampeter; Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Llandaff. (London: John Murray, 1905.) A noticeable point about this latest contribution to apologetic literature is that, though it purposes to deal with all the chief arguments which have been urged against religion, it leaves the weightiest argument of all--the argument from Comparative Mythology--practically untouched. Why is this?

[222] Theism, p. 228.

[223] Theism, "The Argument from Order."

[224] Theism, p. 226.

[225] Ibid., p. 67.

[226] This description is borne out by the Rev. A. R. Robertson, D.D., in The Roman Catholic Church in Italy (Morgan & Scott), a book which was accorded a flattering reception in January, 1903, by the King of Italy. In Southern Italy the Church's methods remind one of what Paschal tells us concerning the Jesuits--how they kept men wicked, lest, if they became virtuous, the priests should lose their hold upon them.

[227] Encyclopædia Britannica, art. "Newman, John Henry."

[228] See art. "Francis William Newman," by Francis Gribble, The Fortnightly, July, 1905.

[229] Being an address given at the Pusey House, Oxford.

[230] Their guiltlessness is made abundantly clear in Robert Blatchford's Not Guilty, a book containing a lucid presentment of the case for Determinism which may be understood of all. There are copious illustrations of heredity and environment--terms the wide application of which must be thoroughly realised.

[231] Regarding his philosophic position, however, see Appendix.

[232] In his book, Rough Ways Made Smooth, chapter on "Bodily Illness as a Mental Stimulant."

[233] In Occult Japan, by Percival Lowell (Riverside Press), there is an interesting account of these practices.

[234] The delusions of the "Christian Scientists" in mixing up religion with psychic healing can only be attributed to their ignorance of modern psychology. Those who know better, and are making money out of it, are as shamefully imposing upon the credulity of religious folk as is the Roman Catholic Church with her shrines of healing.

[235] In the December (1904) Journal of the Society for Psychical Research a lady gives a vivid description of how she cured herself completely of certain nervous complaints by auto-suggestion. It is interesting to note that she says: "I did not believe in the efficacy of this treatment one bit; I just made myself do it; but I felt, most of the time, that it was extremely ridiculous." See also Appendix.

[236] The following is from the Mikado's Rescript issued on the conclusion of peace:--"The result is due in a large measure to the benign spirits of our ancestors, as well as to the devotion and duty of our civil and military officials and the self-denying patriotism of all our people.... We are happy to invoke the blessing of the benign spirits of our ancestors." N.B.--The word "God" is conspicuous by its absence; "ancestors' spirits" take its place.

[237] International Journal of Ethics, April, 1904, p. 338, art. "Professor William James's Interpretation of Religious Experience," by James H. Leuba.

[238] An instructive treatise on this subject will be found in Vol. II., ch. x., of Weismann on Heredity. (Clarendon Press Series.)

[239] Do you know a hymn tune by Lord Crofton, set to the words, "Bless'd are the pure in heart"? When I first heard that tune played I shook with emotion. I did not know at that time the words that the tune had been set to; so it could only have been the music that affected me. At one time I confess that I myself used to mistake this hysterical element in my nature for religious fervour.

[240] The Ven. Archdeacon J. M. Wilson, D.D., late headmaster of Clifton College--in the Journal of Education, 1881.

[241] In Three Essays on Religion, p. 80 of the Cheap Reprint issued for the Rationalist Press Association.

[242] As remarked by the Bishop of London in a sermon at Westminster Abbey. See cover of Mr. Guy Thorne's book, When it was Dark.

[243] Quoted from an address delivered by the Bishop of London at St. Paul's, as reported in the Church Times of October 7th, 1904.

[244] See footnote p. 37 of The Religion of Woman, by Joseph McCabe.

[245] Professor Jinzo Naruse. For the quotation see chap. xxi. on "The Position of Women" in Mr. Alfred Stead's recent publication, Japan by the Japanese.

[246] See p. 31 of the Rev. Herbert Moore's The Christian Faith in Japan.

[247] Ibid., p. 129.

[248] We learn this from reliable sources--for example, from W. M. Flinders Petrie and Gaston Camille Charles Maspéro, the celebrated English and French Egyptologists.

[249] The Religion of Woman.

[250] These remarks are quoted on p. 15 of The Religion of Woman from vol. iii., p. 290, of Mrs. Cady Stanton's History of Women's Suffrage.

[251] The Religion of Woman, pp. 105, 107, 111.

[252] Pinchwife, it will be remembered, is the anxious husband (in Wycherley's comedy, The Country Wife) who held that a woman is innocent in proportion to her lack of knowledge. There are, of course, other reasons why a wife's ignorance is deemed desirable. Cf. "And so far will I trust thee, gentle Kate."

[253] In his sermon at St. Crantock's on August 27th, 1905.

[254] The Religion of Woman, p. 78. This work embodies a complete refutation of the assertion which we have cursorily examined. The truth-seeker desirous of studying other aspects of the Christian contention is strongly recommended to peruse also Mr. McCabe's brilliant essay, The Bible in Europe (Watts, 1907).

[255] See his Notes on Popular Rationalism.

[256] Anti-Theistic Theories, Lecture 5, on Comte's Positivist Philosophy.

[257] Approximately 300,000 copies by the end of January, 1907.

[258] In the Nineteenth Century and After, November, 1904.

[259] See Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii., p. 27 (ed. 1809).

[260] Ibid., vol. iii., p. 27.

[261] Ibid., vol. iv., p. 21.

[262] Among his victims were: his father-in-law (A.D. 310); sister's husband (314); nephew (319); wife (320); former friend (321); sister's husband (325); own son (326).

[263] Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii., p. 337 (ed. 1809).

[264] The death-bed baptism of Constantine is described by Eusebius, the Bishop of Cæsarea, in his Life of Constantine, bk. iv., chaps. 61, 62, 63, and 64. The Bishop assumes the salvation of Constantine with the utmost confidence, and says: "He was removed about mid-day to the presence of his God, leaving his mortal remains to his fellow-mortals, and carrying into fellowship with God that part of his being which was capable of understanding and loving Him."

[265] It has been urged upon me by my Christian friends that the enormous funds at the disposal of the various Christian propagandist societies testify to the growth, not the decay, of the Christian faith. If these funds were chiefly derived from the small donations of the many, there would be something in this argument. Such, however, is not the case.

[266] Ammian. Marcell. 1. xxvii. c. 3.

[267] Cod. Theodos., Lib. xvi. tit. ii. 1. 20.

[268] Lib. xvi. tit. x. 1. 20, and tit. v. legg. 43, 52, 57, 65.

[269] See pp. 58-9 of the Beneficial Influence of the Ancient Clergy (the title under which the Hulsean Prize Essay for 1850 was subsequently published in book form), by the late Henry Mackenzie, B.A., scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge. Other quotations are given in the Appendix.

[270] The Gods of the Egyptians, Preface, p. xv.

[271] Ibid.

[272] Huxley's Essays on Controverted Questions, p. 9, Prologue.

[273] Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii., p. 257 (ed. 1809). In 1638, forty thousand Japanese Christians were put to death in the great Castle of Hara, the Dutch traders at Nagasaki supplying cannon and gunpowder to be used against their fellow-Christians. (Mentioned in The Christian Faith in Japan, p. 19, a book published by the S.P.G.) This wholesale butchery, however, marked the destruction, not the introduction, of Christianity.

[274] Quoted from page 543 of The Martyrdom of Man, seventeenth edition (1903).

[275] Are we not liable to forget that the most brilliant geniuses may make mistakes sometimes, either from want of knowledge of facts, or from a psychological unwillingness to accept them? May not the very subtlety of their intellects aid the work of their own self-deception?

[276] Liddon's Some Elements of Religion, p. 48.

[277] Flint's Anti-Theistic Theories.

[278] See address to the Royal Naval Volunteers by their hon. chaplain, the Bishop of London, reported in the Church Times for June 23rd, 1905.

[279] Anti-Nunquam, p. 80.

[280] See his inaugural address at the Church Congress, October, 1906.

[281] See Anti-Theistic Theories, Lecture vii., "Are there Tribes of Atheists?"

[282] The Descent of Man, pp. 394-5.

[283] Quoted by Dr. Flint in the lecture above referred to.

[284] See The Living Races of Mankind, pp. 721-3.

[285] The Living Races of Mankind, pp. 721-3.

[286] Ibid.

[287] In a letter to Dr. Frazer. See the Fortnightly Review, July, 1905, p. 171.

[288] The Golden Bough, p. 73, note 1. See also (as there noted) Mission Scientifique du Cap Horn, vii., "Anthropologie, Ethnographie," par P. Hyades et J. Deniker (Paris, 1891), pp. 253-257.

[289] The Golden Bough, p. 61.

[290] Ibid.

[291] In the Preface to the second edition of The Golden Bough.

[292] The Golden Bough, p. 61.

[293] Ibid.

[294] In his little book called Magic and Fetishism (Constable, 1906).

[295] The Golden Bough, p. 74.

[296] See Preface to the second edition of The Golden Bough.

[297] In his interesting and standard work, Chinese Characteristics, ch. xxvi.

[298] Chinese Characteristics, p. 289.

[299] Ibid., p. 306.

[300] Chinese Characteristics, p. 291.

[301] Ibid., pp. 292-3.

[302] Ibid., p. 313.

[303] Chinese Characteristics, pp. 294 and 295.

[304] Also if she heard of General Chaffee's remarks to an American Methodist audience in New York not long ago. While praising the work of the missionaries, he told his audience that he met many of the most prominent Chinamen while at Pekin, and he was obliged to say that he did not meet a single intelligent Chinaman who expressed a desire to embrace the Christian religion. (Reported in the Hong Kong Daily Press of May 9th, 1903.)

[305] The classical quotation commonly seen over the door of a temple is: "Worship the gods as if they were present."

[306] Chinese Characteristics, pp. 299-300.

[307] Ibid., p. 305.

[308] Chinese Characteristics, p. 288.

[309] See p. 78 of Anti-Nunquam.

[310] See p. 164 of Science and Education Essays, by T. H. Huxley (Macmillan & Co.; 1895).

[311] The Christian Faith in Japan, pp. 42, 43.

[312] The Christian Faith in Japan, pp. 128-9.

[313] See chapter ii. of Conventional Lies of our Civilisation, by Max Nordau.

[314] Ibid.

[315] P. 439 of the Proceedings of the S. P. R.

[316] P. 441 of the Proceedings of the S. P. R.

[317] See p. 477 of The Relation of Confirmation to Baptism, by A. J. Mason, D.D. (Longmans.)

[318] At a men's service held in St. Mary Bredin's Church, Canterbury, on December 4th, 1904.

[319] One phase of this failure was well shown by "Oxoniensis," in his letters which started and ended the "Do We Believe?" correspondence in the Daily Telegraph. On the other hand, we find pronounced unbelievers taking a leading part in wise reforms, and devoting their lives to researches that will benefit humanity.

[320] This statement is made on the authority of Darwin and of all our modern naturalists. The theory is established, and its important message to the human race elaborated, in such works as Darwin's Descent of Man (see vol. i., chap. v., "The Development of the Intellect and Moral Faculties"), Huxley's Ethical Lectures ("Science and Morals," 1886; "Evolution and Ethics," the Romanes' lecture for 1893, etc.), Clodd's Story of Creation (chap. xi., on "Social Evolution"), Winwood Reade's Martyrdom of Man, and Prince Kropotkin's Mutual Aid.

[321] P. 264 of Japan by the Japanese, edited by Alfred Stead.

[322] Pp. 147-8 of Lafcadio Hearn's book, Kokoro.

[323] In the Japan Times. Quoted by Mr. Moore in his book, The Christian Faith in Japan, p. 131.

[324] The Christian Faith in Japan, pp. 53-4. Explanations regarding the shortcomings of the Japanese in the matter of commercial morality will be found in Professor Nitobe's Bushido, pp. 64-70, and also, as there mentioned, in Knapp, Feudal and Moral Japan, and in Ransome, Japan in Transition, ch. viii.

[325] The Nineteenth Century and After, February, 1905, art. "Moral Teaching in Japan." Regarding their native virtues, see Appendix.

[326] The Independent Review, December, 1905, art. "The Religions of Japan."

[327] See p. 221 of Dr. Lydston's book, The Diseases of Society.

[328] In his book, A Modern Utopia, p. 144. See also Appendix to this work.

[329] It may not be out of place to mention here that various Ethical Societies in England (and her Colonies), Europe, and America are doing all they can to meet the ethical needs of Agnostics, and their efforts deserve far greater support than they have yet received from the wealthy. For this want of sympathy there are many obvious reasons--reasons, fortunately, that will disappear in the near future. It will be urged that the truly pious and honest believer finds prayer of the greatest help towards right conduct, while the unbelieving ethicist is destitute of this aid. I do not propose now to discuss the ethical value of prayer, or consider the causes of its success and failure; but I would ask the reader to refer to my remarks in Chapter VI. on the psychology of prayer. Personally, I am of opinion that the practice of auto-suggestion may prove useful to those in need of such assistance, and that one day (let us hope at no distant date) psychical research will lead to the discovery of a complete and scientific method for the toughening of our moral fibres. See also further note in the Appendix.

[330] Mr. H. G. Wells furnishes us with some novel ideas on this point in his book, A Modern Utopia, chap. vii., §§ 2-5. If we cannot prevent degenerates from marrying, at least we can abolish an environment that assists heredity in their production. See also Appendix.

[331] See pp. 25-6 of Stanley de Brath's The Foundations of Success.

[332] See Prince Kropotkin's articles in The Nineteenth Century and After (August, 1904, and March, 1905), entitled "The Ethical Need of the Present Day" and "The Morality of Nature." Anyone wishing to know why we must lead the moral life should not fail to read these instructive articles, and also Dr. Saleeby's Evolution: The Master-Key.

[333] Prince Kropotkin in The Nineteenth Century and After.

[334] "Rationalism may be defined as the mental attitude which unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason and aims at establishing a system of philosophy and ethics verifiable by experience and independent of all arbitrary assumptions or authority" (from the Memorandum of the Aims and Objects of the Rationalist Press Association).

[335] Closing words of Professor Huxley's essay, Science and Morals.

[336] Essay entitled "An Episcopal Trilogy," p. 312 of Essays on Controverted Questions (Macmillan & Co.).

[337] Art. "Why Live a Moral Life?" in the Agnostic Annual, 1895.

[338] Art. "Why Live a Moral Life?" in the Agnostic Annual, 1905.

[339] Art. "Why Live a Moral Life?" in the Agnostic Annual, 1895.

[340] Ibid.

[341] Quoted from his Autobiography, entitled My Life: A Record of Events and Opinions (Chapman & Hall).

[342] Art. "Why Live a Moral Life?" in the Agnostic Annual, 1895.

[343] Ibid.

[344] P. 121 of The Story of Creation (R. P. A. Cheap Reprint).

[345] The Nineteenth Century and After, August, 1904, art. "The Ethical Need of the Present Day."

[346] Quoted from a little volume recently published, entitled The Japanese Spirit. (Constable.)

[347] Cited by Mr. L. Gulick, an American missionary organiser, in his work on The Evolution of the Japanese.

[348] Quoted from a leaflet of the Moral Instruction League. (See Appendix.)

[349] Quoted from p. 507, Vol. II., of The History of English Rationalism in the Nineteenth Century, by A. W. Benn (Longmans, Green, and Co., 1906).

[350] In his masterly work, On Compromise.

[351] See p. 55 of The Bible and the Child.

[352] Bishop Diggle, the President of the Church Congress of 1906, in his opening address.

[353] Ibid.

[354] Recorded in The Life of Frances Power Cobbe, as Told by Herself. (Sonnenschein.)

[355] See § 3 of the last Chapter and § 2 of the present.

[356] P. 392 of The Independent Review, December, 1904.

[357] Browning's Funeral, a poem by Mrs. Huxley. The last three lines were inscribed, at Prof. Huxley's request, upon his grave-stone (in St. Marylebone Cemetery, East Finchley).

[358] See Chapter I., p. 30.

[359] See Appendix.

[360] An Agnostic's Apology, pp. 131, 133, 138, of the R. P. A. Reprint.

[361] Spencer's Principles of Sociology, p. 98, "The Data of Sociology."

[362] In his book, The Hearts of Men.

[363] See art. "Is Man by Nature Religious?" by H. Dundas, in The Agnostic Annual for 1906.

[364] We are speaking now, remember, of a religion such as the Christian faith, one involving a belief in the supernatural, and not of religion as Professor Huxley defined it--"a reverence and love for the ethical ideal, and the desire to realise that ideal in life." We are not speaking of a mere ethical "binding" between man and man, of a religion free from all theology, such as Comte's "Positivism."

[365] Quoted from pp. 169-171 of A Reply to Dr. Lightfoot's Essays.

[366] An Agnostic's Apology, p. 137.

[367] In Chap. VII., pp. 311, 315-16, and in Chap. VIII., § 2 and § 3 (3) and (4).

[368] Quoted from p. 27 of The Agnostic Annual for 1906.

[369] Canon Scott Holland, in a sermon preached in St. Paul's Cathedral, May, 1906.

[370] These are the concluding words of a lecture delivered in the Central Hall, Manchester. The lecture is incorporated with others in a book entitled Is Christianity True? (Charles H. Kelly, 26, Paternoster Row, E.C.; 6d.).

[371] See Appendix.

[372] This view is confirmed by such standard works as Lecky's Rise and Influence of Rationalism in Europe, Buckle's History of Civilisation in England, Robertson's Short History of Freethought, and Benn's History of Rationalism in the Nineteenth Century.

[373] Quoted from a sermon preached by the Rev. Charles Voysey at the Theistic Church, October 22nd, 1905. See also Appendix.

[374] See Gibbon's Rome, p. 257, vol. ii. (ed. 1809).

[375] This warning was pronounced by Canon Henson on November 16th, 1905, when commenting, in St. Paul's Cathedral, upon the Russian atrocities.

[376] P. 352, Vol. I., of his History of Civilisation in England (Longmans, Green, & Co.; 1891).

[377] See also Chap. VII., p. 281, note.

[378] On Sunday, April 13th, 1890.

[379] At a gala banquet at Dresden, October 25th, 1905.

[380] Taken from the emperor's speech at the opening of the Reichstag, November 28th, 1905. N.B.--Christian nations distrust one another's righteousness even when the State and the Church are united and the rulers are defenders of the Faith. It may be noted also that at the swearing-in of the recruits of the Potsdam garrison on November 14th, 1905, they were told to make the Crucifix their Generalissimo!

[381] In his book, The Peace of the Anglo-Saxons, with an Introduction by Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, K.G. (Watts & Co.) Observations suggested by this warning will be found in the Appendix.

[382] Apart from the extra burden on the workers, does the Church, I wonder, ever thoroughly realise the inevitable effect on public morality of keeping a large body of men from living a normal domestic life? Does she realise that diseases hurtful to the race are more prevalent than ever, and that nowadays prostitution has spread from the garrison towns to the villages? Does she realise that her "purity" campaigns fail to strike at the root of the evil?

[383] Held in Lucerne on September 19th-23rd, 1905.

[384] See Appendix.

[385] See Mr. (now the Right Hon.) Augustine Birrell's suggestive article, "Patriotism and Christianity," in the Contemporary Review, February, 1905.

[386] The Tsar is probably sincere in his professions, and is the helpless tool of his advisers. Can we make the same excuse for another potentate--for him of the "mailed fist"?

[387] See Appendix.

[388] Butler, Analogy, pt. ii., 3.

[389] In Literature and Dogma. See p. 21 of the R. P. A. Reprint.

[390] See p. 183 of The Hibbert Journal, October, 1905.

[391] Compounds of cyanogen have a close resemblance to living matter. As cyanogen is only produced at an intense heat, it is surmised that the living substance may have been produced once and for all when the earth was incandescent.

[392] P. 387 of The Independent Review, December, 1904.

[393] To those willing to be instructed I suggest a perusal of Doane's Bible Myths and their Parallels in Other Religions (New York: The Commonwealth Company), where they will find some intensely interesting information which has been laboriously gathered from innumerable volumes, ancient and modern. The few inaccuracies occurring in it are of a trivial nature; besides, as the author invariably quotes his authorities, his statements can be verified and the trustworthiness of his authority for them ascertained. I may add that I found this work of considerable assistance at the commencement of my study of Comparative Mythology.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Churches and Modern Thought, by Philip Vivian