yielded up her last secret to science, till the philosopher has attained his goal and "contemplates all time and all existence," and till the kingdom of God is come. What we have written is put forward, not as the solution, but as a contribution towards the solution of the problems we have approached, not as a last word even for our own generation or our own immediate circle, but as a word that has come to us and one which we believe we ought to speak. Whatever in it is of value will be absorbed into the common heritage of Christian thought, whatever is crude, misleading, or erroneous will be soon forgotten. B. H. S. August 1912. SYNOPSIS I. This generation is modern in the sense that its members are not "Victorian." In early and middle nineteenth century the majority of liberal thinkers confidently relied on elementary assumptions in religion, or at least in morality. This confidence contributed towards their enthusiasm for emancipation, for escape from dogma, for education, etc. The political and economic theories of the Manchester School implied the assumption of the benevolence of nature to the individual Darwin the sexton to Victorian assumptions. His teaching contemporary with popularization of agnostic science and radical Bible criticism Victorian optimism has been sapped by a "cosmic” uneasiness, by a philosophy of relativity, by realization of the indifference of nature to the individual, by the sickness of an industrial order built on a false political economy, by increased sensitiveness to evil and cruelty in the world The average man and church-goer have still to realize the situation. They are bound to suffer in a measure the convulsions already undergone by a minority II. Who can heal "the hurt of the daughter of My people"? Not moral philosophy by itself, unless reasoned convictions take the place of assumptions in its presuppositions Not Christian morality by itself : for it seems to be bound up with an other-worldly philosophy with which the mind of to-day (dominated by commerce and competition) is acutely at variance What, then, is the position of the Christian preacher ? He cannot renounce, but must face the world and its facts. His hold on a supernatural Gospel may be weak. But if there is a crisis in the Christian faith there is a worse one in any other III. Hence to-day is a day of new hope for the Christian religion. It is a day of Jesus Christ. Men are again feeling the need which He came to satisfy the need of God. This is best realized by a study of the mind of the original disciples in face of the "day of the Lord" Jesus appealed to Jewish faith in God: He found it alive in a few: He raised it to its highest power in bringing them to acknowledge Him as Messiah. This faith was broken by the Cross as recapitulating all that had ever made Jewish faith in God waver. It was remade by the Resurrection and Pentecost The essence of Christianity was the truth of God put to final proof. Its disclosure was the supreme disclosure But the truth of God became a foundation, buried out of sight and built upon. The disclosure became an assumption and convention. The results of this. To-day the original conditions return; the questions to which the Gospel was an answer are again being asked, and Christianity as the truth of God will live again in living men PAGE 6 10 II II 13 15 18 19 22 22 I THE MODERN SITUATION PROBABLY every generation of men has called itself modern, and more than that, has held its modernism to be more radical, genuine, and interesting than that of any previous time. Certainly this generation-and by that is meant people of about thirty years of ageis tempted to do so. A temptation implies a possible fault: here the fault lies in that form of snobbery which assumes, as a matter of course, that to-day is better than yesterday; that what is latest in time is also highest in value, and that all change must be for the better. One course is open to those who, whether snobs or not, cannot rid themselves of the consciousness of being modern. It is to attempt to describe the change between to-day and yesterday. Prior to the question whether the mere passage of time must involve progress, is the question, what has it involved? What changes have occurred? In short, in what sense are self-styled modern men modern? This essay represents such an attempt. It has staggered with difficulty to its goal, for on the way it has found itself entangled in the hazards which attend upon generalization. As it is, it is likely to furnish another instance of the inexactness of general impressions. But to refrain for that reason from trying to generalize, would be to yield to a rumour that there |