the world lasts, and take His teachings as a landmark in history, not as its goal. This position, whether right or wrong, is at least not unreasonable. It is the alternative to traditional orthodox Christianity.

Finally, though it is possible that Dr. Lake inclines to this view himself, he confesses that, even if true, it leaves the problem of the origin of Christianity unsolved.

Nevertheless, the Church never has been merely an institution for propagating this or any other form of teaching. It has been a great instrument for the purification of men's minds and souls. It has been, such at least must be the verdict of history, neither infallible nor indefectible in endeavouring to fulfil this mission, but there has never been any institution which has met with so much success. . . . It was the sacramental system, the mysteries, which in the main gave men what they needed, purification and strength that they might follow the moral vision which they had seen. Lutheran, and even Calvinistic, Christianity changed the theory, but not the practice. It still remains true that the orthodox Churches are shown by experience to give purification, though reason may show that they do not give intellectual truth. To explain why this is so is the great problem before the theologians and psychologists of the future.

Save that the last sentence appears to involve a pre-judging of the issue, we do not know that the problem could be more clearly stated.

A timely comment on what Dr. Lake has to say about the Church is provided by his colleague, Dr. Foakes Jackson, in An Introduction to the History of Christianity, A.D. 590-1314 (Macmillan, 1921, 20s. net), which presents a vivid bird's-eye view of those troubled centuries of her story. The book is brilliantly written, and abounds in shrewd judgments and vivid sketches of character, both individual and social. Thus, of Pope John XII. and his age, he writes:

The Pope was denounced by the clergy to the Emperor. He was accused of turning his palace into a brothel, of ordaining a deacon in a stable, of saying Mass without himself communicating, of simony, of consecrating a boy of ten a bishop, of wearing armour, of hunting publicly, of calling on the demons Venus and Mercury when playing dice, of not saying Mass or the canonical hours, of not using the sign of the cross in blessing himself, and of arson. The strange mixture of gross sins and trivial offences is characteristic of the age.

Between this and modern Roman Catholicism it might seem difficult to see a continuity: the change from laxity to rigorism could hardly be more pronounced. Yet the underlying aims and theories of the Papacy have not changed.

From the middle of the eighth century to the present time the object of the Roman Church has been to secure independence of any secular control in Italy, and to be supported by some strong power outside the limit of the peninsula.

The book is unfortunately marred in production by a number of serious misprints.

In A Short History of our Religion (G. Bell and Sons, 1922, 6s. net), Mr. D. C. Somervell, who is a Tonbridge master, has performed that rare service of writing the book which everyone wanted. We do not hesitate to describe the book as in its way a masterpiece, and we hope that it will find its way extensively into the hands of schoolmasters, parents, and senior Public School boys. Every page is terse, to the point, full of apt and witty illustration. Thus, commenting on the summary condemnations which the editor of the Books of Kings passes on nearly every reign, he says:

Such censure fell unfairly on good and bad alike. It is as if a Puritan historian, editing a history of England, were to have written as a footnote to every reign previous to Henry VIII.: "He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord," on the ground that adoration of the Virgin Mary and invocation of the Saints under Roman Catholic rites prevailed during the reign.

Mr. Somervell has some fine things to say about the prophets, whose achievement he regards as "perhaps the most astonishing in the history of the human mind." And he is excellent in dealing with the significance of Biblical criticism.

Even where modern criticism has thrown doubt on the course of events, as in the case of the origin of the kingship . . . though much supposed history is swept away, not a shadow of doubt is thereby thrown on the fact of God's revelation. We must learn, however, to see that revelation in a new light. . . . On the whole, when so seen, the story becomes much more inspiring, because much more progressive. The history of religion becomes, like the history of science, a tale of pioneering and discovery.

And again:

The Church has cherished the Fourth Gospel because it most emphatically expressed the general conviction of the Church, that Christ was both Man and God. . . . If we refuse to believe that the Apostles were, after Christ's Crucifixion, guided by the Holy Spirit, then no doubt the Christ of St. John is a product of human delusion. If, however, we believe that they were so guided, then the Christ of St. John is as truly the revelation of Christ in the year 100 as the Christ of St. Mark is the revelation of Christ in the year 30, as preserved by human memory and recorded forty years later.

In treating of the Middle Ages, Mr. Somervell confines himself to Western Europe, letting the history of the Eastern Church drop out of sight; and by a similar concentration he limits the last part of his book-about a third of the whole-to

66

66

66

the study of the non-Roman Churches in England and Scotland during the last three and a half centuries." This procedure, open to criticism as he admits it to be, is justified, we think, by the immediate practical aim of the book, which is, if we mistake not, to provide a convenient textbook for use in the higher forms of Public Schools. The chapter on the Victorian Age is full of crisp summaries. Newman's great work was not only that he "set going a great revival in the Church of England, but taught Englishmen of all creeds to form a juster and more kindly opinion of the Church of Rome." One of the results of the Oxford movement was the appearance of a new type of bishop, the type which is almost universal to-day. . . In converting the Episcopate the Oxford movement succeeded where the Evangelical movement had failed." Tait he describes as probably the greatest Archbishop of Canterbury since the Middle Ages." Again, the external history of Nonconformity during the Victorian Age is an important chapter in the history of the growth of toleration." And of the ritualistic controversy, though it brought many to take a keen interest in the history, traditions, and practices of the Church," he says in very just criticism that "it showed the lamentable inability of the Church to speak with a living voice on a disputed point." Finally, after speaking of the Enabling Act and of the Lambeth Conference of 1920, he closes the story on this hopeful note: "To-day, the Church of England, though reduced in numbers (like Gideon's army), is probably more alive than it ever was before, more earnest, more humble, more intelligent, and the spirit of intolerance and persecution, though not dead, is dying."

66

But

We have written at such length of Mr. Somervell's book because we regard it as a real contribution to one part of a very pressing problem-the problem of religion and of vocation at our great Public Schools. That problem is many-sided, and many of its aspects, such as Worship and Preparation for Confirmation, are outside the scope of this volume. Mr. Somervell has shown how religious teaching may be given in Form, and by laymen, in a way that presents the history of the Christian Church as an organic process, full of interest and inspiration, and calling to-day for the ablest as well as the most devoted of her sons to come and work in the vineyard of God.

The mention of this topic suggests allusion to two other books which have a cognate interest. Mr. Shane Leslie's The Oppidan presents a very striking photograph of Eton at

the turn of the century. Its author has been severely, and we think unjustly, taken to task for "speaking evil of dignities.' We do not believe that that is either the intention or the effect of the story. Those who knew Dr. Warre, and who regarded him with warm affection, will be able-and will desire-to correct and still more to supplement the impression which Mr. Leslie presents of him. But that picture shows us, even as it stands, many of those elements in the Headmaster's character-his simplicity, his reserve, his justice and kindliness --which invested him in the eyes of the school with a certain awe and veneration. It was noted at Uppingham that, on the Sunday when Edward Thring died, the Psalm sung in Chapel was the seventy-eighth, and the closing verse was recognized as an inspired epitaph on his work. "So he fed them with a faithful and true heart; and ruled them prudently with all his power. Those who were at Eton in the closing years of Dr. Warre's Headmastership would assuredly have applied the same words to him.

At the same time a large part of the school-boy's life is not consciously in contact with the governing authority; and it is this-its interests, enterprises, ambitions, spiritual rises and falls, virtues, rascalities, inscrutable impulses which is so graphically portrayed in The Oppidan. As a sociological study of Eton of twenty years ago, the book is one of unusual interest.

Meanwhile "the old order changeth, yielding place to new." Even in those days there was no more stimulating voice heard in the pulpit of Upper Chapel than that of the present Headmaster. When Dr. Warre preached, it was like Moses addressing the children of Israel, or Nehemiah calling a solemn assembly of the returned exiles. We in the pews were part of a historic community rather than individuals. But when Dr. Alington preached the individual found himself being spoken to, and his own struggles, doubts, intuitions being met. And the little collection of Eton Fables (Longmans, 1921, 3s. 6d. net), recently published, shows that their author has not forgotten his craft. That entitled "The Moving Staircase "must rank with anything that R. L. Stevenson wrote in similar vein.

ઃઃ

Surely it's as plain as a pikestaff that a moving staircase represents just the help a true religion gives you: once lay hold on the truth and there you are! Of course, you can go farther if you like, and provided other people, like that ritualistic woman, don't get in your way; but hold on to the truth, and you're bound to arrive in time. But she's breaking all the rules: it says clearly, 'Don't sit on the steps in case others want to pass, and don't put parcels on them either!" "

So much for true religion. The descending staircase is false religion:

cr

The people on that are the poor brutes with a false religion— Mohammedans, infidels, heretics, and all that lot. Mind you, I don't say none of them are good men, but I do say it's in spite of their religion and not because of it.

But even the middle stationary staircase has its lesson too:

"There's your free-thinker for you! No religion for him! He won't even try and see if there's anything in it. . . . I don't deny he'll get there in the end, but it's a slow business, and think of all the labour he'll waste. Why can't he take God at His word instead of insisting on going his own way ?"

He moved towards the staircase, but just as he was going a question came into my head-he was already some little way up.

him.

"What about stepping off with the right foot first ?" I called after

66

Oh, that's all right," he shouted cheerily down. "A happy deathbed, my boy, that's what it is!"

We hear a good deal nowadays about religion at the Public Schools, and are perhaps apt to forget how much of it there is. We believe we are right in saying that not one of the great Public Schools is directly represented in the National Assembly. That is a serious loss and should be rectified; and perhaps the proceedings in the Upper House of Convocation might be considerably enlivened if it were to come to include the author of Eton Fables.