to them. The modern intellects that have taken Homer
to pieces, and excavated Agamemnon's tomb, and unwound the mummy
wrappings of the Pharaohs, that have weighed the stars and chained the
lightnings, are not to be awed by any old-time sheepskin or any
council of bishops. They demand the facts in the case; fresh manna to
satisfy their heart hunger; the solid realities of personal
experience. No. It is too late to-day for the churchmen to play the
part of Mrs. Partington, and sweep back the Atlantic tide of modern
thought with their little ecclesiastical broom. The old ramparts are
broken through and we must give the flood its course. The only spirit
to meet it in is that of frankness and friendliness. Let us not foster
in these questioning minds the suspicion that there is any part of
religion that we are afraid to have examined. We smile at the bigoted
Buddhist who, when the European attempted to prove by the microscope
that the monk's scruples against eating animal food were futile
(inasmuch as in every glass of water he drank he swallowed millions of
little living creatures), smashed the microscope for answer, as if
that altered at all the facts. But are not many of the heresy-hunters
in Christendom quite as foolish in their efforts to smash the
microscope of higher criticism, or the telescope of evolution, and
suppress the testimony which nature, and reason, and scholarship every
day present afresh?

Let us, therefore, give liberty, yes, even sympathy, to these
perplexed souls who are struggling with the great problems of
religion.

And secondly, let us be honest with them, and not claim more certainty
for religious doctrines or more precise and absolute knowledge about
divine and heavenly things than we have. One of the great causes of
modern doubt is, unquestionably, the excessive claims that theology
has made. It has not been content with preaching the simple truths
necessary to a good life; that we have a Maker to whom we are
responsible,--a divine Friend to help us, a divine voice within to
teach us right and wrong; that in the life that is to follow this,
each shall be judged according to his deeds, and that in the apostles
and prophets, especially the spotless life of Jesus, we have the noble
patterns of the holy life set up before us for our imitation; a
revelation of moral and religious truth all sufficient for salvation.
The Church has not been content with these almost self-evident truths;
but it must