IDEALISM AND RELIGION [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.) SIR,—Miss

Gilbert-Lodge has now batted twice. May I be permitted to have my second innings, and thereby, I hope, finish the match ? I shall endeavour to follow your instruc- tions as regards brevity as closely as possible. I shall take the questions and statements in Miss Gilbert-Lodge's letter

in order : •

1. I must protest against Miss Gilbert•Lodge's statement that Christianity is not an event but a result. It is both ; the term " Christianity " comprehends both an event in history, the birth. life and death of Christ, and its results during the following centuries and at the present time. It is impossible to separate events and their results in the way she attempts to do. It is, I submit, not true that " we are living on the results of the thoughts of the fifteenth-century men." We are living on the results of the Incarnation and the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The shape of the earth, like the passage of time, is in this connexion wholly irrelevant.

2. Yes, I did notice that Miss Lodge used the word " desert," and I also noticed, as did your readers, the context in which this word occurred, especially the previous sentence " Wo are self. seekers brought up in an atmosphere both international and economic of each man for himself and the devil take the hind- most,' and we have found through rather bitter experience that the only person who will never desert us is ourself." The obvious meaning of " desert " here in this context is surely the equivalent of " fail." I admire tho ingenuity of Miss Gilbert-Lodge's wriggle, but it will not do and deceives no one, least of all herself.

3. This still does not answer my question. If Miss Lodge's only authority is the simplest, reasoning power, I still ask her where sho gets that from, and to save her a headache I will answer it myself. From God : this is one of His most precious gifts to man (and woman), although it is not always most adequately used or recog- nised. as I am afraid is true of many of His gifts.

4. It is no use flogging a dead horse. If Miss Lodge will sub- stitute the word " wise ' for " narrow," so that the sentence reads " I think the Church is wise enough to imply that those principles are right because Christ preached them, we shall be in agreement.

5. I cannot guarantee that missionaries are not trying to coerce belief in God and heaven, but I find it difficult to believe. At any rate their attempts are doomed to failure if they are being made. If God does not coerce belief, no missionary is likely to use this method successfully.

6. I am quite unable to follow Miss Lodge's reasoning here. If the divinity in human nature is not God, what is it and whence comes it ? The " internal force " of man himself cannot be a spontaneous growth : it is no more consonant with reason to suproso this than to suppose that a motor-car or a steamship drives itself because the engine happens to be inside the frame- work. If Miss Gilbert-Lodge would study her Gospels she would find that it is inside the personality that Christ told us ive should be conscious of God's influence. " The Kingdom of God is within you."

I said nothing about the Chinese pottery workers because I know nothing about them, but as she quoted two examples to support her thesis, presumably parallel, how does she imagine that the omission of one of them, duo to my ignorance, affects the main issue 7 Incidentally there was one point which I omitted. and that is the " creators of the lovely art, music and literature " whom she men- tioned in her first letter do not agree with her in attributing their inspiration to " the visible world of men and nature " : on the contrary they attribute it to the outside source upon which she pours so much contempt ; and surely they are qualified to know as well, or even better than Miss Gilbert-Lodge, the source of their inspiration.

7. I am quite sure that the Church does not prevent us from freedom to develop. This is not true of any religion : I never suggested it. Hinduism has a very cramping and distorting effect : Mohammedanism is far too formal, and suffers from the same defects as Pharisaism : Buddhism is enervating : Theosophy and the modern creeds all seem to point towards the gateway of the mental hospital, whero not only intellectual but physical freedom would be restricted.

Next question : What of the Church's opinion of morality ? Answer : It is all in favour of it.

Next question : What does it feel about pleasure seekers ?

Answer : It is all in favour of them and wishes them all hap- piness. But I have a suspicion that in asking this question Miss Gilbert-Lodge is confusing pleasure seekers with vicious pleasure seekers. Tho Church certainly condemns them and tries to alter their ways ; but surety Miss Gilbert-Lodge is far too " bright " to be confusing vice and pleasure. They are not identical : far from it ; they are opposite (see the Bible and Plato, and the vast majority of human opinion and experience).

Next question. : What right has the Church to condemn anyone, to excommunicate a child born out of wedlock, for instance ? Answer : It does not.

Next question : How can there be a definite standard of right and

wrong when no human knows the ultimate object of living ? •

Answer : Tho ultimate object of living is to love, to serve and to worship God. Thousands and millions of Christians who are also human have known and know this. The definite standard of right and wrong is that laid down by Christ.

Miss Gilbert-Lodge has admitted herself wrong in two points : I hope it is not too much to expect that she will now concede the others. She says that she feels " somewhat shattered " ; but really .this lady cannot expect to attack the Christian Faith and the Church in a Christian periodical published in a Christian country without receiving some hard knocks in return ; no one wants, I am sure, to hurt her feelings or to make her feel " shattered." Let her cammon up enough courage and intelligence to confess herself wrong not only in two points, but in the main issue and become a member of the Christian community ; she will then be able to develop her individuality along the finest lines, to appreciate lovely art, music and literature, to under- stand the overwhelming beauty which lies around us and to be of use to the world, and further she will be spared the xeeessity of answering some extraordinarily awkward questions (which are really unanswerable) in public.—Yours truly,

A. Boss WALL.tc-E.

School House, Sherborne, Dorset.