I urged that London was not England, much less
the Empire; but I could not help admitting that there was much truth in
his contention.

Naturally we did not see our metropolis in its entirety. To know London
means a lifetime's study; but we did get a superficial glimpse of its
life, and we tried to understand the inwardness of that life.

On the day after the incidents described in the last chapter we visited
several churches; we also made our way into Hyde Park, and heard the
orators. We interviewed several ecclesiastics both of the Established
and Nonconformist order, and if ever a man was depressed it was Edgecumbe.

'These religious organizations do not touch a tithe of the people,' he
said to me. 'London is called a Christian City, but it is far more pagan
than Christian. The people are not interested in religious things, and
even among churchgoers everything seems unreal.'

He was led to modify this opinion later. He saw that while the City was
in one sense largely godless, it was in another deeply religious. He
realized that, in spite of apparent religious indifference, the teachings
of the Founder of Christianity, and the truths for which He lived and
died, had, through the centuries, created an atmosphere which influenced
every phase of thought and life.

But he did not feel this during the two Sundays we spent together. As
far as we could see, only a small fragment of the people entered the
doors of the churches, and that even this fragment was filled with no
mighty religious hope or enthusiasm.

One sermon, however, struck him forcibly. It was preached by a young man
who took for his text, 'And they that were ready went into the marriage
feast.' The argument of the sermon was that God gave neither individuals
nor nations the highest of blessings until they were ready, and he urged
that until England was ready for peace God would not give it her. That
until we became less materialistic, less selfish, until we ceased to
exploit the war as a means for advancing our own interest, and until we
turned to God and kept His commandments, real peace would be a far-off
dream.

But I must not stay to describe this at length; indeed, a volume would be
necessary to give any true idea of our experiences. We saw London by
night as well as by day. We went to munition factories and to night
clubs, to hospitals and to music-halls, to seats of Government and to
haunts of vice. We talked with hundreds of peop