6 MAY 1911, Page 26

Religion: the Quest of the Ideal. By J. M. Hodgson,

D.D. (James Clarke and Co. 2s. 6d. net.)—Dr. Hodgson's object is to Religion: the Quest of the Ideal. By J. M. Hodgson, D.D. (James Clarke and Co. 2s. 6d. net.)—Dr. Hodgson's object is to

state plainly and emphatically the subjective ground and guarantee of personal religion. We have no fault to find with his method. of carrying out this purpose—much may be learnt from it. Perhaps it would have been better if he had not added his last chapter on "The Origin and Growth of Church Organisation and Authority." He may be right in his conclusions—we do not thinl that he is—but the argument does not seem to us ad rem. One curious detail we would point out. He seeks to prove that the institution of a clerical order was comparatively late. " St. Pete'

in his first Epistle had described all believers `clergy.."' In Kevraetvpieriorret reitY KA4poo he would translate mhipon, not by "lots," the portion that falls to the charge of the ruler, but "clergy." We find a strange coincidence as well as difference when we examine the view of Roman Catholic interpreters. These see in KNipon, the inferior clergy over whom the rulers are not to domineer. Surely there is something anachronistic in both Dr. Hodgson's interpretation and this.