h, religion had no quarrel with it.
And if theology pretended to be the science of religion, surely it
must submit to the test of the new science! The dogged clinging to the
archaic speculations of apologists, saints, and schoolmen had brought
religion to a low ebb indeed.

One of the most inspiring books he read was by an English clergyman of
his own Church whom he had formerly looked upon as a heretic, with all
that the word had once implied. It was a frank yet reverent study of the
self-consciousness of Christ, submitting the life and teachings of
Jesus to modern criticism and the scientific method. And the Saviour's
divinity, rather than being lessened, was augmented. Hodder found it
infinitely refreshing that the so-called articles of Christian belief,
instead of being put first and their acceptance insisted upon, were made
the climax of the investigation.

Religion, he began to perceive, was an undertaking, are attempt to
find unity and harmony of the soul by adopting, after mature thought,
a definite principle in life. If harmony resulted,--if the principle
worked, it was true. Hodder kept an open mind, but he became a
pragmatist so far. Science, on the other hand, was in a sphere by
herself, and need have no conflict with religion; science was not an
undertaking, but an impartial investigation by close observation of
facts in nature. Her object was to discover truths by these methods
alone. She had her theories, indeed, but they must be submitted to
rigorous tests. This from a book by Professor Perry, an advocate of the
new realism.

On the other hand there were signs that modern science, by infinitesimal
degrees, might be aiding in the solution of the Mystery....

But religion, Hodder saw, was trusting. Not credulous, silly trusting,
but thoughtful trusting, accepting such facts as were definitely known.
Faith was trusting. And faith without works was dead simply because
there could be no faith without works. There was no such thing as belief
that did not result in act.

A paragraph which made a profound impression on Hodder at that time
occurs in James's essay, "Is life worth living?"

"Now-what do I mean by I trusting? Is the word to carry with it
license to define in detail an invisible world, and to authorize and
excommunicate those whose trust is different?... Our faculties of belief
were not given us to make orthodoxies and heresies withal; they were
given us to live by. And to trust our religions