was the sense in telling them that the ordinary motives which make for
good conduct--prudence, self-respect, loyalty, etc., etc.--are of no
avail, and that they must inevitably be bad men if they had not "found
religion"? If such talk does no positive harm, it is only because men
have learnt to discount the patter of theology. Yet here we find Mr.
Wells, after vigorously disclaiming any participation in the Bishop's
beliefs, falling into the common form of episcopal patter, and telling
me, for example--a benighted but quite well-intentioned heathen--that
I can do no good in my generation unless I believe in a God whom he
and a number of Eastern sages, Parthians, Medes, Elamites and dwellers
in Mesopotamia, have recently "synthetized" out of their inner
consciousnesses! It is not Mr. Wells's fault if I do not abandon the
steep and thorny track of austerity which I have hitherto pursued,
invest all my spare cash either in whiskey or in whiskey shares, and
go for my philosophy in future to the inspiring author of _Musings
without Method_ in "Blackwood."

It is not quite clear why Mr. Wells should accept so large a part of
the Christian ethic and yet refuse to identify his Invisible King with
Christ. One would have supposed it quite as easy to divest the
Christ-figure of any inconvenient attributes as to eliminate
omniscience and omnipotence from the God-idea. Mr. Wells constantly
allows his thoughts to run into the stereotype moulds of biblical
phraseology. We have seen how he talks of "the still small voice," of
"the light of the world," "taking the sting from death" and of God
coming "in his own time" and bringing "not rest but a sword." To those
instances may be added such phrases as "death will be swallowed up in
victory" (p. 39), "by the grace of the true God" (p. 44), "God is
Love" (p. 65), "the Son of Man" (p. 86), "I become my brother's
keeper" (p. 97), "he it is who can deliver us 'from the body of this
death'" (p. 99). But the clearest indication of Christian influence is
to be found in Mr. Wells's unhesitating and emphatic adoption of the
idea that "Salvation is indeed to lose oneself" (p. 73). "The
difference," he says, "between ... the unbeliever and the servant of
the true God is this ... that the latter has experienced a complete
turning away from self. This only difference is all the difference in
the world" (p. 84). It is curious what a fascination this turn of
phrase has exercised upon many and diverse in