escent on a
created world." This kind of theologising leads straight to the
conclusion that God is to all intents and purposes quite distinct from
His creation, although He possesses a full and accurate knowledge of
all that goes on in it and reserves to Himself the right to interfere.
In what sense language like this leaves room for the divine immanence
it is difficult to see. The New Theology holds that we know nothing
and can know nothing of the Infinite Cause whence all things proceed
except as we read Him in His universe and in our own souls. It is the
immanent God with whom we have to do, and if this obvious fact is once
firmly grasped it will simplify all our religious conceptions and give
us a working faith.

+The decline of organised Christianity.+--For a generation or more in
every part of Christendom there has been a steady drift away from
organised religion as represented by the churches, and the question is
being seriously asked whether Christianity can much longer hold its
own. Protestant controversialists frequently draw attention to the
decline of church-going in Latin countries as evidence of the decay of
sacerdotalism, particularly in the church of Rome. But outside Latin
countries it is not one whit more noticeable in the church of Rome than
in any other church. The masses of the people on the one hand and the
cultured classes on the other are becoming increasingly alienated from
the religion of the churches. A London daily paper made a religious
census some years ago and demonstrated that about one-fifth of the
population of the metropolis attended public worship, and this was a
generous estimate. Women, who are more emotional, more reverent, and
more amenable to external authority than men, usually form the majority
of the worshippers at an ordinary service. Mr. Charles Booth in his
great work on the "Life and Labour of the People in London" asserts
that the churches are practically without influence of any kind on the
communal life. This I believe to be an exaggeration, but it will
hardly be denied that the average working, business, or professional
man looks upon the churches almost with indifference. In many cases
this indifference passes into hostility or contempt. Intelligent men
take little notice of preachers and sermons, and the
theologically-minded layman is such a rarity as to be noteworthy. Most
significant of all, perhaps, is the fact that much of the moral
earnestness of t