o intention of rebuking them. He was
describing, as an interesting event, the development of a religion in
Russia which claimed to be Christian and at the same time purely
rational. "Was it a good religion?" asked Jowett, with a somewhat curt
civility. "No," said the Russian, reflectively, "it was not a good
religion. It was schlim-schlam. It was veesh-vash. It was vot you call
'Broad Church.'"

Mrs. Ward, who may fairly be described as the best educated woman
novelist of her generation, endeavored, in the disguise of her hero, to
found a rationalized Christianity on her own account, and her
distinction as a scholar and a reasoner makes this experiment
interesting. But the kind of Christianity in which Robert Elsmere takes
refuge, and of which he officiates as the self-appointed primate, has no
foundation but sentiment and certain _tours de force_ of the
imagination. As soon as it resolves itself into any definite
propositions with regard to objective fact it is evident that these
have no authority at the back of them. Without some authority at the
back of it, unified by a coherent logic, no religion can guide or curb
mankind or provide them with any hopes that the enlightened intellect
can accept. It is precisely this sort of authority which, for those who
can accept its doctrines, the Church of Rome possesses, and is possessed
by that Church alone. Here is the argument in which _Is Life Worth
Living?_ culminated. The detailed processes by which the authority and
the teaching of Rome have developed themselves I had cited in
_Aristocracy and Evolution_ as an example of evolution in general. In a
new volume, _Doctrine and Doctrinal Disruption_, I dealt with it once
again, having before me the example of what was then being called "The
Great Anglican Crisis." That this book was not written wholly in vain I
have sufficient reason to know, for a variety of correspondents assured
me that it put into clear form what had long been their unexpressed
convictions--certain of these persons--serious Anglicans--having joined,
since then, the Church of Rome in consequence.

But the thoughts of which this work was the result were not appeased by
its publication. They began to germinate afresh in a kindred, but in a
different form. _Doctrine and Doctrinal Disruption_ had for its
immediate subject a position which was mainly insular--that is to say,
the position, not of religion in general, but of the formal
interpretations of Christi