d do
it tactfully and gently, as his brother was highly sensitive, to which
his father replied that he had thought over what he meant to say, and
was going to be very reasonable. The young man arrived, and was ushered
into the study by his eldest brother. "Well," said the squire, "very
glad to see you, Harry; but do you mean to tell me that your mother's
religion is not good enough for a damned ass like you?"

Now far from desiring to minimise faith in God and the Unseen, I think
it is the thing of which the world is more in need than anything else.
What has made the path of faith a steep one to tread is partly that it
has got terribly encumbered with ecclesiastical traditions; it has been
mended, like the Slough of Despond, with cartloads of texts and insecure
definitions. And partly too the old simple undisturbed faith in the
absolute truth and authority of the Bible has given way. It is admitted
that the Bible contains a considerable admixture of the legendary
element; and it requires a strong intellectual and moral grip to build
one's faith upon a collection of writings, some of which, at all events,
are not now regarded as being historically and literally true. "If I
cannot believe it all," says the simple bewildered soul, "how can I
be certain that any of it is indubitably true?" Only the patient
and desirous spirit can decide; but whatever else fades, the perfect
insight, the Divine message of the Son of Man cannot fade; the dimmer
that the historical setting becomes, the brighter shine the parables
and the sayings, so far beyond the power of His followers to have
originated, so utterly satisfying to our deepest needs. What I desire to
say with all my heart is that we pilgrims need not be dismayed because
the golden clue dips into darkness and mist; it emerges as bright as
ever upon the upward slope of the valley. If one disregards all that is
uncertain, all that cannot be held to be securely proved in the sacred
writings, there still remain the essential facts of the Christian
revelation, and more deep and fruitful principles than a man can
keep and make his own in the course of a lifetime, however purely and
faithfully he lives and strives. To myself the doubtful matters are
things absolutely immaterial, like the debris of the mine, while the
precious ore gleams and sparkles in every boulder.

What, in effect, these critics say is that a man must not discuss
religion unless he is an expert in theology. When I