t makes it possible for me to ask whether there is really any
difference between Christianity and honesty?"

Again he was interrupted, this time by half the audience getting on to
its feet and cheering. The other portion sat still, and the units of it
began to look at each other very seriously. Vane was, in fact, bringing
the matter down to a most uncomfortably fine point. He made a slight
motion with his hand, and his hearers, having already recognised the
true missionary, or bringer of messages to the souls of men, instantly
became silent and expectant.

"If Christianity is not honest, or if honesty is not, for all practical
purposes, the same thing as Christianity, then so much the worse for
Christianity or for honesty as the case may be. A religion which is not
honest is not a religion. Honesty which is not a religion--that is to
say a tie between man and man--is not honest. That, I think, is a
dilemma from which there is no escape."

There was another burst of applause, this time almost universal, which
the President did not attempt to check. A few members of the audience
looked even more uncomfortable than before, but by the time Vane was
able to make himself heard again it was quite plain that the great
majority of his audience, believers and unbelievers, were heart and soul
with him.

"That," he went on, with a laughing note in his voice, "shows me that we
have got on to friendly territory at last, on to the ground of our
common humanity. I said just now, before my friend in the audience
diverted my attention to another and very important point, most of us
would feel very much insulted if anyone told us that we were not honest.
We should jump to the conclusion that such a statement was the same
thing as calling us thieves or swindlers; but that is not the question.
Honesty is not by any means confined to commercial dealings. It has a
social meaning and a very far reaching one too, for, as a matter of
fact, the man or woman who deceives another in the smallest detail of
life is not strictly honest, because it is impossible to be strictly
honest without at the same time being strictly truthful.

"It has been said that half the truth is worse than a lie. It is, I
think, a greater sin to tell half the truth than a deliberate and
comprehensive lie, for it is possible to tell a lie with an honest, if
mistaken purpose; and yet the business of the modern world is mainly
conducted by half-truths. Everyone tries to d