think most of us must agree—however reluctantly— with your opinion
(see Spectator, July 16th) that, regarded at any rate as a statement of fact, Sir Oliver Lodge is right in saying that a sense of sin oppresses the ordinary man far less than it did,—that "the higher man of to-day is not worrying about his sins at all, still less about their punishment." Most men would probably express their opinion on the subject thus :—" Doubt has been thrown on many old certainties. I live in a world of mystery, and, ignorant as I am of what the scheme of things may be, it is impossible for me to tell whether I am called upon to cherish the feeling of penitence or not." To any one interested in the development of religion there can be no question more interesting than this of whether penitence is really dying out. In the teaching of the saints the benefit derived from penitence is less a question of traditional belief and duty than of personal experience, and one usually finds that such experience, if at all general, in- volves a lasting truth. " I do not remember," says St. Teresa, " that God ever showed me any of those marvellous mercies at any other time than when I was brought to nought by seeing how wicked I was." And in our own day Mr. Gladstone is quite uncompromising. " The sense of sin,—that is the great want in modern life." If we turn to the teaching of the Founder of Christianity, we must admit that He preached repentance in the sense of a turning away from sin, rather than penitence as St. Teresa understood it. Yet in those who came within the sphere of His influence He created the feeling of penitence as surely as the light calls out the shadow. It is an interesting fact that while the feeling of penitence languishes we suffer as acutely as ever when we show ourselves foolish or incompetent in the eyes of our fellow-men. Is the whole question (in General Gordon's words) one of " living for God's view and not for man's" ?—I am, Sir, &c., M.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
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