ions, and is apt to describe them
roughly and impatiently as "mere talk." Humanity, as she sees it, is
immersed in the incessant struggle of moral evolution.

There is an empiricism of religion which is worth attention. It
challenges the sceptic to explain both the conversion of the sinner and
the beauty of the saint. If religion can change a man's whole character
in the twinkling of an eye, if it can give a beauty of holiness to human
nature such as is felt by all men to be the highest expression of man's
spirit, truly it is a science of life which works, and one which its
critics must explain. The theories of dogmatist and traditionalist are
not the authentic documents of the Christian religion. Let the sceptic
bring his indictment against the changed lives of those who attribute to
Christ alone the daily miracle of their gladness.

What men and women want to know in these days, Miss Royden assures me
out of the richness of her great experience, is whether Christianity
works, _whether it does things_. The majority of people, she feels sure,
are looking about for "something that helps"--something that will
strengthen men and women to fight down their lower nature, that will
convince them that their higher nature is a reality, and that will give
them a living sense of companionship in their difficult lives--lives
often as drab and depressing as they are morally difficult.

Because she can convey this great sense of the power of Christianity,
people all over the country go to hear her preach and lecture. She is, I
think, one of the most persuasive preachers of the power of Christianity
in any English-speaking country. It is impossible to feel of her that
she is merely speaking of something she has read about in books, or of
something which she recommends because it is apostolic and traditional;
she brings home to the mind of the most cynical and ironical that her
message, so modestly and gently given, is nevertheless torn out of her
inmost soul by a deep inward experience and by a sympathy with humanity
which altogether transfigures her simple words.

It must be difficult, I should think, for any fairminded sceptic not to
give this religion at least a practical trial after hearing Miss
Royden's exposition of it and after learning from her the manner in
which that experiment should be carried out. For she speaks as one
having the authority of a deep personal experience, making no dogmatic
claims, expressing sympathy wi