, 1896-11-11

belief that the judgment Whatr\sr us MANURE,
and whether actually conveyed to the sinner
or only implied III his status in the next
world, is based upon the whole IF life and
not upon any one day in it, is now seldom
denied either IN the pulpit Or in the intimate
conversations # those who think that, what
ever i rue or false, the Whence and Whittier
must always remain the subj ct Of the high
est intellectual interest. There is, to put the
matter plainly, an increased confidence IN The
fairness Of God, Il lottier yet gentier view OF
his Justice. aud, we think, though many,
especially Of he clergy, will DO disposed to
deny this, a keenel perception OF IL certain
natural incapacity in human beings to realise
even theil own poor ideals than was ever en-
tertained before. There is, consequently. a
certain diminulion Of lear, which We cannot
but believe beneficial, even fit has diminish
ed-which we doubt-the efficacy of religion
as a police agent. The terror of death was
once very strong III the bad, and the Italian
Prince WAS not The only man who, while
carefully providing for q late repentance,
went on SHINING as if repentance would
never be required.
Only the great Doctors can tell US whether
!im0r mOrtis, that acute and persistent head
of death which . as once register Ell as q
specific mental disease, is on the decline, but
there is certainly an idea prevalent in the
Churches that Englishmen have grown more
secular, that they attend more TO pleasure
and mouey-getting, and that spiritual
needs" ae more carefully kept ont Of sight.
We incline TO think that idea is q total mis-.
take, based partly upon theimmense publicity
now given to the means Of pleasure and
money-nmking, partly to a change in the
dialect OF the pious-the most marked Of all
the many social changes of our lifetime
and partly to the ordinary forgetfulness
which each generation displays AS to the con
duet and thoughts Of the generation immedi-
ately pre-. eding Itself. No one who accurate
ly remembers what life Was like fifty years
ago will dcdy that there was then as much
devotion to pleasure, though the papers did
not write ofi !, as eager a desile to accumu.
late, though the desire was strenuouslv CON
cealed, sometimes ty silence, sometimes by
hard lying. and tlat there was in all but a
limited evangelical circle an astounding
amount Of tot j indittel encr to any but seCu-
lar things. The writer believes, onlirIesls-
tibIe evidence, that ut all events III some
places n kind Of hard, conscious atheism.
which vas really Sufeeis1l-that is, revolt
was commoner than at present, though it was
much more carefully concealed, and can re.
call q dozen persons, quite excellent in all
relations Of life, who, though they were u
troubled bY doubts, were equally uutl"ubled
by any fai,h Of the slightest use to them.
They mad no moIe religion in them, even as
an intellectual phase Of thought, that SO many
fox-teYriels. Religion did not even bore
them; they simply forgot that there was .
such Il thing, and lived Then lives without it.
yielding, no doubt, at every turn To the COM
pulsion OF Christianity, as one yields TO the.
weight of the atmosphere, but entirely I'M
conscious Of the force which directed NEST of
their acts and was the cause Of all heir re-
strictions. They knew NO more about it than
the English farm laboUrerS used before the
Education Act to know about science. That
state Of feeling. absolutely unknown amorg
the countless millions of ASIA, is still, We ale
told. frequently to be met with in Whole dis.
tricts of Germany and America. but among
the English cultivated it has nearly disap-
pearsd. HE interest III religion may not be
very fruitful in conduct, though conduct too
has improved, but the interest itself is uni
versal, There is much scepticism because
there is more franknsSs, but the scoptics me
not tho people who leave religious questions
undiscussed, unnoticed. and in fact forgotten.
So far from religious literature having perish.
ed, a book on religion which people will read
often sells like "a novel, and for one Suhscrib-
eli to religious newspapers there are now at
least one hundred. Interest in religion has
increased, not decreased, with the disappear