ects, just because they had much the same spirit and
assumptions, and exaggerated what must be regarded as slight
differences. Still their very number gave a milder direction to
religion and made the idea of toleration more natural. There was
safety in numbers. On the intellectual side, the Unitarian movement
deserves attention for its aid in the dethronement of the old dogmatic
structure. Alongside of these more subjective and emotional offshoots
of Protestantism arose philosophical idealism to add a touch of vague
pantheism and a flavor of kindly mysticism. In short, the confessional
type of Protestantism mellowed under the influence of a more rational
social organization with its gentler life. Reason was gaining in
concreteness and power, and human values were gaining in
attractiveness. The Old Testament gradually gave way to the synoptic
gospels of the New, while asceticism dropped away like a mantle. I,
myself, well remember when religion was largely a matter of taboos on
the moral side. "Thou shalt not" outbalanced by far the suggestion of
concrete lines of positive endeavor. Such spiritualism was passive and
suspicious rather than active and creative. During the last thirty
years, Protestantism has passed insensibly into a gentle religion of
the spirit, sentimentally inclined toward life and permeated with
popular notions of science and philosophy. The sermon of the Puritan
concerned itself with the two dispensations; the sermon of the modern
minister is full of quotations from the poets and reveals the growing
influence of the social sciences. The negative note is hardly audible.
This {207} world and its spiritual problems occupies the focus of
attention.

Modern Protestantism is not over certain of its creed. In fact, so
uncertain is it of the doctrines it wishes to champion that it much
prefers to discuss human problems, and to expend its enthusiasm in the
advance of a gentle code of ethics attached to the teaching of Jesus of
Nazareth. In a very real sense, this attitude is to its credit, for it
is positive and genuinely spiritual. Moreover, it bears witness to a
consciousness of the decay of the supernaturalistic perspective which
dominated and misled the world for so many centuries. The spirit and
knowledge of the present age has undermined the traditional beliefs,
and the average protestant is too well educated and too much in touch
with current movements to be unaware of this situation.