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Preface to First Edition

Preface to Second Edition

Preface to Third Edition

THE GRAVITY OF THE PRESENT SITUATION

? 1. The Truth of the Matter ? 2. The Attitude of the Laity ? 3. Christianity and Science not Reconciled ? 4. The Genesis and Character of the New Outburst ? 5. Apologetics "Found Wanting" ? 6. More Things Which Confuse the Issue

THE EXTRAORDINARY STATE OF APOLOGETICS WITH REGARD TO MIRACLES

? 1. Preliminary Remarks The View of Science Why Have Miracles Ceased? Belief in Miracles Essential ? 2. Miracle Apologetics ? 3. The Fundamental Miracles The Resurrection The Ascension The Incarnation Concluding Remarks

THE DESTRUCTIVE CHARACTER OF MODERN BIBLE CRITICISM

THE GRAVE SUSPICIONS AROUSED BY THE STUDY OF ANCIENT BELIEFS

? 1. The New Theological Theory of a Progressive Revelation ? 2. Parallels in Ancient Religions, and Some Remarks Upon Them Krishna and Buddha Parallels Other Than Krishna and Buddha Are the Krishna and Buddha Legends Borrowed from Christianity? ? 3. Parallels in the Beliefs of Primitive Man, And Some Remarks Upon Them The Religions of Ancient America Vegetation Gods Why Men Eat Their God ? 4. The Solar Myth Jonah and the Whale Anticipations of Christianity in Solar Myths The Christian Theory Ignored by Science The Sun As a Symbol ? 5. Concluding Remarks on Christian and Anti-Christian Theories Argument from Essenism Argument from Mithraism

IRRECONCILABLE DIFFICULTIES CONNECTED WITH EVOLUTION

? 1. Preliminary Remarks The Doctrine of Evolution Darwinism The Average Person's Ideas on the Evolution of Man The Attitude of the Church ? 2. "Nature Red in Tooth and Claw" ? 3. The Bible Account of Creation Irreconcilable with Science in Each and Every Respect ? 4. Proofs of our Animal Origin The Extraordinary Affinity of Bodily Structure The Revelations of Embryology The Tale Told by the Useless Rudimentary Organs ? 5. The Overthrow of the Doctrines of the Fall and Original Sin The Importance of the Question An Instructive Criticism The Bishop of Worcester's Theory The Archdeacon of Manchester's Theory The Rationalist's Theory Conclusions

THE FAILURE OF THEISTIC ARGUMENTS

? 1. Preliminary Remarks Theism, and Who Are Theists ? 2. The Existence of a First Cause--An Uncaused Cause ? 3. The First Cause an Intelligence Design and Directivity Directivity Design Differences of Opinion Among Theistic Apologists ? 4. The First Cause a Beneficent Intelligence A Personal God Divine Immanence in Nature A Fact in History The Past and Present Position of the Ethical Argument Evil for which Man is not Held Responsible Evil for which Man is Held Responsible Conscience Free-will ? 5. Religious Experience Mysticism and Conversion The Psychology of Prayer The Religious Experiences of Intoxication Music and the Emotions Sexual Love Revivalism ? 6. The Inevitable Conclusion Note on Religion and Philosophy

FALLACIES IN POPULAR ARGUMENTS

? 1. Preliminary Remarks--The Power of Christianity for Good ? 2. Christianity Woman's Best Friend ? 3. The Overthrow of Christianity Would Endanger Society and the Nation ? 4. The Spread of Christianity a Proof of its Truth ? 5. The Noble Army of Martyrs ? 6. The Universality of the Religious Instinct The Hypothesis Stated The Rationalist's Contention The Apologist's Views concerning Superstition and the Religious Instinct Beliefs of Savage Man Magic and Religion Religion in Modern China Apostates in Christendom Religion in Modern Japan Classical History Note on Human Sentiment as to a Future Life

CONCLUSION

? 1. A Summary ? 2. Why Lead a Moral Life? Preliminary Remarks The Necessity for Morality Uselessness of Vague Threats The Need for an Early Education in Ethical Principles The Object-Lesson Furnished by the Japanese Criminality Our Aids The Importance of a Knowledge of the Origin of Morality Opinions of Ethicists Note on Systematic Moral Instruction ? 3. Should the Truth be Told? "Magna est veritas et praevalebit" Obscurantism has had its Day The Effect on Morality The Real Danger The Consolations of Belief, and the Distress we may Cause by our Candour Can we Alter People's Beliefs? Can Beliefs be Useful though False? Is a New Religion Required? Why be so Impatient of Error? ? 4. The Outlook ? 5. Concluding Remarks

Appendix

Index

An edition of this book is issued in cloth at 1s. 6d. net, and another on superior paper, gilt lettered, at 3s. 6d. net.

PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION

What does a man seek when he examines his religious creed? To this question Canon Liddon replies as follows:--"He seeks intellectual satisfaction and moral support. His intellect asks for reliable information upon certain subjects of the most momentous importance. How does he come here? Whither is he going? What is the purpose and drift of the various forms of existence around him? Above all, what is the nature, what are the attributes and dispositions, of that Being to whom the highest yearnings of his inmost self constantly point as the true object of his existence? In asking that the answers to these questions shall be definite, that what is certain shall be affirmed as certain, what is doubtful as doubtful, what is false as false, he is only asking that his religious information shall be presented in as clear and practical a shape as his information on other subjects. In no department of human knowledge is haziness deemed a merit; by nothing is an educated mind more distinguished than by a resolute effort to mark the exact frontiers of its knowledge and its ignorance; to hesitate only when hesitation is necessary; to despair of knowledge only when knowledge is ascertainably out of reach. Surely on the highest and most momentous of all subjects this same precision may be asked for with reverence and in reason; surely the human mind is not bound to forget its noblest instincts when it approaches the throne and presence of its Maker?" .

Again, in his New Year's message for 1905, the Archbishop of Canterbury condemns indifference to truth as a vice, and "drifting along the current of popular opinion" as a sin. He invites and persuades us to use "the sadly-neglected powers and privileges of rational thought and common sense."

The duty of thinking, therefore, is now recognised by the Church--it was not formerly. But what will be the result of this thinking? In his book, The Hearts of Men, Mr. Fielding tells us that "no man has ever sat down calmly unbiassed to reason out his religion, and not ended by rejecting it." Mr. Fielding adds: "The great men, who have been always religious, do not invalidate what I say.... There is no assumption more fallacious than that, because a man is a keen reasoner on one subject, he is also on another. Men who are strictly religious, who believe in their faith, whatever their faith may be, consider it above proof, beyond argument.... It is emotion, not reason; feeling, not induction."

Does not this deep and sympathetic writer furnish us with a true picture of men's hearts? What if, after exercising their privileges of rational thought and common sense, the majority of men find that Christianity no longer gives them either intellectual satisfaction or moral support? What if they finally arrive at the conclusion that Christianity and all supernatural beliefs are but the survival of primitive superstitions which can no longer bear the light of modern knowledge? These are the grave questions which now confront us.

A man may enter, and generally does enter, upon his inquiry biassed in favour of religious belief of some kind. He approaches the subject in a reverent frame of mind. In his private prayers to his God he does not neglect to ask for heavenly guidance. He evinces precisely the spirit which a divine would consider becoming. But as his inquiry proceeds there comes a time when his religious bias disappears--when he can no longer feel what he could honestly call reverence. He discovers that what he thought was known, and had actually been revealed, is unknown. How can he believe in and worship the Unknown? More than ever he feels his own insignificance and ignorance; but the feeling thus excited, while akin to awe, is divested of reverence. Pursuing his search far enough, he succeeds in extricating himself from a quagmire of demonstrably false superstitions. Finally he reaches solid ground, and builds his life upon it.

Unfortunately, many never pursue their inquiry up to this stage; they become fearful, or they give it up as a hopeless entanglement, or they find they have not the requisite leisure. Perhaps, therefore, the information gained by one of the more fortunate may be of some little service to others. It will be my endeavour to set forth in this book not only the destructive, but also the constructive, results of a search for truth.

January, 1906.

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

"This book," writes one of its clerical critics, "is evidently the honest, outspoken opinion of one who, having been brought up in an unquestioning acceptance of the orthodox doctrines of Christianity, has gradually drifted into the extreme of Rationalism." Up to a certain point my friend is right. I was indeed brought up in an unquestioning acceptance of the orthodox teachings of Christianity; but, while my conversion to Rationalism has certainly been gradual, I may fairly claim that the process has been something very different from merely drifting. Long and careful study, the reluctant abandonment of a cherished belief, the adoption of an attitude which is unpopular and which distresses many who are near and dear to me, the practical application of the principles of Rationalism to daily life, involving as it does the serious step of bringing up my children in strict accordance with my firm convictions--these are surely not the ways of one who has permitted himself to drift. A man might--he often does--drift into indifferentism, or, now that theology is so liberal and heterodoxy so rife, into latitudinarianism, but hardly into "the extreme of Rationalism."

I take this opportunity of cordially thanking all who have assisted me, and specially I have to thank Mr. Joseph McCabe and Dr. H. D. R. Kingston for reading the MS. and the proofs in all their stages, and for pointing out verbal inaccuracies and suggesting improvements both in the matter and in the manner of presenting it. I am also much indebted to a lady, who does not wish her name to appear, for lightening the Haunter of old tomes, Sitting the silent term of stars to watch Your own thought passing into beauty, like An earnest mother watching the first smile Dawning upon her sleeping infant's face, Until she cannot see it for her tears? And when the lark, the laureate of the sun, Doth climb the east, eager to celebrate His monarch's crowning, goeth pale to bed,-- Art thou such denizen of book-world, pray?

WALTER.

LADY.

And who was its creator?

WALTER.

He was one Who could not help it, for it was his nature To blossom into song, as 'tis a tree's To leaf itself in April.

LADY.

Did he love?

WALTER.

LADY.

'Tis very sad, And doth remind me of an old, low strain, I used to sing in lap of summers dead, When I was but a child, and when we played Like April sunbeams 'mong the meadow-flowers; Or romped i' the dews with weak complaining lambs; Or sat in circles on the primrose knolls, Striving with eager and palm-shaded eyes, 'Mid shouts and silver laughs, who first should catch The lark, a singing speck, go up the blue. I'll sing it to thee; 'tis a song of One-- -- Of One whose naked soul stood clad in love, Like a pale martyr in his shirt of fire. I'll sing it to thee.

New Illustrated Works.

Longfellow's Golden Legend, Illustrated.

A New and Revised Edition, with numerous alterations and notes by the author. Illustrated by BIRKET FOSTER. Crown 8vo. handsomely bound, 12s.; morocco, 21s.

Longfellow's Poetical Works, Illustrated.

Including "Evangeline," "Voices of the Night," "Seaside and Fireside," and other Poems; beautifully illustrated by BIRKET FOSTER, JANE BENHAM, and JOHN GILBERT. Crown 8vo, 21s. cloth; 30s. morocco.

"Evangeline," separately, 10s. 6d. boards; 16s. morocco.

"Voices of the Night," "Seaside," &c. 15s. boards; 21s. morocco.

Longfellow's Hyperion Illustrated.

Illustrated by BIRKET FOSTER. Crown 8vo. 21s. cloth; 30s. morocco.

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