Faith and Life
THE class of religious literature to which this volume belongs is one that flourishes today more than in any previous age_ The aim of the writers is to present the character and claim of Christianity by an exposition at once scholarly and popular, whereby mis- understandings may be cleared away, and the relevance of the Gospel to the needs of mankind and its answer to the various problems of life and thought may be made plain. As an apologetic it has the value of a candid and persuasive treatment of difficulties.
The Headmaster of Winchester has not broken new ground in this book, and those who are familiar with the subject may wonder whether it was necessary to say again what has often been said before. But a man may be conscious of an impelling desire to set forth the truth of the Gospel in his own way and from his own angle of vision. Moreover, it is certain that some of those who will read Canon Leeson's study will never have read anything of the same sort before. To them the chapters on Reason and Faith, on the Nature and Will of Man, and on Christ the Incarnate Son, may well help them to realise that Christianity cannot be disposed of by easy talk about wishful thinking and unmeaning dogma. And the chapter on the Living Spirit and the Church, perhaps the best and most vivid piece of writing in the book, should dispossess the minds of its readers of the notion that the Church represents merely the dullness and flatness suggested by the terrible phrase " institutional religion." There is one per- sistent defect in the book, a curious tendency to over-statement. It surprises me that Canon Leeson should twice affirm that a Christian may " at once " know what the will of God is. That there are perils to beware of in connexion with the doctrine of election may be admitted ; but most certainly the Calvinists (Canon Leeson does not directly name them) who have held that doctrine most firmly did not believe that it gave them the right to do what they liked. I do not know what warrant he has for saying that " for many years the Reformed Churches lost the tradition of prayer and meditation." The statement may have some truth behind it, but in its form it leaves on me -the impres- sion of an extreme and inexact obiter dictum. Anything of the nature of over-statement is particularly dangerous in books which have any of the characteristics of an apologetic for religion or for Christianity ; and even a headmaster may be content that a reviewer should bring this danger to his notice.
J. K. MOZLEY.
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