Produced by Al Haines
WM. TYRRELL & COMPANY
1908
I. Man and His Destiny
II. New Faith Linked with Old
III. The Scope of Evolution
IV. The Limit of Evolution
V. Explanations
VI. The Immortality of the Soul
VII. Is there to be a Revolution in Ethics?
The Religious Situation
[Transcriber's note: Because "The Religious Situation" had its owntitle and verso page, it was split into a separate e-book.]
The letters collected in this volume appeared, with others, in the NewYork Sun, to the Editor of which the thanks of the writer for hiscourtesy are due.
Appended is a paper on the same subjects commenting on one by the lateMr. Chamberlain, since published in the North American Review. Tothe Editor of the North American Review also the writer'sacknowledgments are due.
There appeared to be sufficient interest in the discussion to call forthe publication of a small edition.
The age calls for religious truth. Nine thousand persons communicatedtheir cravings to the Editor of the London Daily Telegraph. By theirside the present writer places himself, not a teacher, but an inquirer,seeking for truth and open to conviction.
The position of the clergy, especially where tests are stringent, callsfor our utmost consideration. But I submit that it would not beimproved by any attempt, such as seems to be made in a work of greatability before me, to merge the theological in the social question.Benevolence may still be far below the Gospel mark, and the Christianfaith may suffer from its default. But the increase of it and themultiplication of its monuments since the world has been comparativelyat peace cannot be denied; while of the distress which still calls foran increase of Christian effort, not the whole is due to default on thepart of the wealthier classes. Idleness, vice, intemperance,improvident marriage, play their part. Let us not be led away upon afalse issue.
There is nothing for it but truth.
Time has passed since I first sought access to the columns of TheSun, ranging myself with the nine thousand who in an English journalhad craved for religious light. The movement which caused that cravinghas gone on. The Churches show their sense of it. Even in that ofRome there is a growth of "Modernism," as it is called by the Pope,who, having lost his mediaeval preservatives of unity, strives to quellModernism by denunciation. Anglicanism resorts to a grand pageant ofuniformity, beneath which, however, lurk Anglo-Catholicism,Evangelicism, and Liberalism, by no means uniform in faith. TheProtestant Churches proper, their spirit being more emotional, feel thedoctrinal movement less. But they are not unmoved, as they show byrelaxation of tests and inclination