I rend the leading apologists of that day with a strong reaction of dissent. Newman I received gladly, with sensitive delight in the} moulds of his language, with great! admiration for his dialectic, with wonder to s00 this fine high soul entangling itself in naive creduli-'
sand with not a particle of cement in his main positive con But he who chiefly propped my, mind and steered my course in here days was Matthew Arnold. I nay gratefully dwell upon th memory. of my clove, friend, Reverend TW. Chigaell Unitarian miniater ae. Exeter, cousin of Mark Rutherford. "Al ough he had. thrown away all logmia, his. wee one of the. mart ligious minds that T have held in "communion, Together we found eat religious support in Matthew If today T wer clearest expression o cas belief (oe far az T-have a be-that. can. be. formulated)
Should find in that. Fong, cons song of mpedoclea with inal note sey: Fear ott silt pat rines fe lure no exrtvagant Hope Because thou must not dream, thea needest not then despair.
"Arnold constantly tends out the cftiest and most Invigorating. reli ons strains and imptlees, "Those ho are. doubting and. buffed. may 7010 him for help. He. will not 'Bter" them a hardy' definite reed fat he will siritualy-fortify tem. He ix net for there wto. seek tnodyne, but for there who need a "amic 10. brace them to endurance, Aimold is the surest and strongest ud. mott fearless religious teacher four time. We can. lean upon Sim''and face the darkness with Teanszon_and Browning never went through the darkness, They ayr the deep black cave that opened! afore mankind when" orthedoz Chetiantty shook" and eracked} onder the te-nulte of sense.
Entered "thu cave of doubt, mate Swtent: ve excursion in ity and came Udkrgering that on' the wase 1 was brought up in the rigorous it was better to abide safely on this [side in the comfort of cheerful and spacious generalities. Matthew Arnold did go fearlessly right through the darkness and came out on the other side, strengthened and assured, The Departure from Orthodoxy Since those years in the seventies, when to the best of my power I diligently searched into the truth of these things, I have never been able to accept the dogmas of orthodox Christianity. Not even to save my soul will I teach my tongue to ay over forms of words that have] 10 meaning to me. My mind offers swift instinctive opposition to all statements of fact that I cannot} analyse and understand.
Neither in religion, nor in polities, nor in art, will I bewilder and deceive myself by repeating for-inulas that I cannot break up into their constituent parts, so that I may reassemble them in an intelligible unity of thought before admitting them to a permanent place in the furniture of my mind.
It will be argued that the cardinal dogmas of Christianity are} matters of faith. But they are] issued to me as definite statements] of fact, and as such they are imposed upon believers. What moral spiritual illumination and' ardour, what assurance and consolation in this dim world, can I obtain by repeating statements of fact which merely baffle and puzzle me, and which I must not question, but must receive as matters of faith?
From my early manhood until a few years ago I called myself an Agnostic. I was never wholly sucked into' the invading tide of materialistic thought that followed the: publication of "The Origin of Species." If in my struggle to gain firm land I swallowed much of its wash, T always managed to keep my eyes above its mountainous waves. Our civilization to-day nourishes a large and increasing amount of hideous, coarse materialism, but there is, I think, a sensible' decline in materialistic phi sophy and affirmation.
The Seen and the Unseen Some fine and high-tuned souls Bravo found a resting-place in Spiritualism. They have amassed an overwhelming amount of evi. dence that manifestations of a questionable, some of it is incredible, but much of it has great weight, is difficult to discredit and impossible to disprove. I am more curious about the scientific aspects! of Spiritualism than ab.ct its religious aspect As a religion it does not satisfy, my needs. I cannot develop a true! religious feeling towards it. The future existence that it promises no allarement to me. Without nying it or ridiculing it, I cannot find suitable accommodation for it in my scheme of things. I cannot make it fit into the macrocosm.
Quite contentedly I can absent myself from its extremely tenuous felicity and linger here to com-my earthly companions and-enjoy with them the light the sun, While I have many absorbing tasks of present concern to fill my days, I push aside the business of investigating Spirit. valism. 7 am about what is going to happen £9) me in eternity, than about what going to happen to this country in the next ten or twenty years.
If the new heaven of Spiritualism is veritable scientific topography, 1 lock back with affectionate mem ries to the vanished New Jerusalem of my childhood, with its spotless; fe raiment, and angels' waving wings, and harps of gold. "We don't get such fine weather as we used to get in the days of Charles the Second," Addison's old squire complained to his crony. I echo:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.