a vivid
representation and realisation of an Eternal Order which all the changes
of time cannot possess or destroy."

At the same time, there are changes necessary in the form of
Christianity, if it is to answer to the demands of the age, and be the
Absolute Religion. It must be shorn of temporary accretions, and must
cast aside the ideas of any one particular age which have now been
superseded. No longer can it retain the primitive view of nature and the
world which formerly obtained, no longer must it take up a somewhat
negative and passive attitude, but, realising that religion is a matter
of the whole life, must energetically work itself out through all
departments of life. It must remedy wrong, not merely endure it. It must
proceed from a narrow and subjective point of view to a cosmic one,
without at the same time losing sight of the fact that religion is an
inward and personal matter. It must take account to the full of the
value of man as man, and of the possibilities latent in him, and take
account of his own activity in his salvation.

The Christian ideal of life must be a more joyous one, of greater
spiritual power, and the idea of redemption must not stop short at
redemption from evil, but must progress to a restoration to free and
self-determining activity. Since an absolute religion is based on the
spiritual life, the form in which it is clothed must not be too
rigid--life cannot be bound within a rigid creed. With its form modified
in this way, Eucken considers that Christianity may well be the Absolute
Religion, and that not only we can be, but we _must_ be Christians if
life is to have for us the highest meaning and value.

CHAPTER IX

CONCLUSION: CRITICISM AND APPRECIATION

We have attempted to enunciate the special problem with which Eucken
deals, and to follow him in his masterly criticisms of the solutions
that have been offered, in his further search for the reality in life,
in his arguments and statement of the philosophy of the spiritual life,
and finally in his profound and able investigation into the eternal
truth that is to be found in religion. In doing so, we have only been
able in a few cases to suggest points of criticism, and sometimes to
emphasise the special merits of the work. It was necessary to choose
between making a critical examination of a few points, and setting forth
in outline his philosophy as a whole. It was felt that it would be more
profitable for the average