ture, eternal perdition, the fall of man, original sin, the Trinity, Christ's divinity and atonement, natural depravity, justification by faith, &c., is a sine quâ non to salvation. The Unitarians take up a different standpoint. They reject the inspiration of Scripture, the divinity of Christ, the atonement, the Trinity, original sin, and everlasting punishment, thus reducing their creed to very narrow limits indeed —namely, a belief in God, a future state, and Christ's practical teachings; in short, love of God and love of man, which would seem (from the summary of Christ's teachings, ante p. 108) to be all that Christ himself ever required. Lastly, we have the Secularists who practically reject even these last shreds of the original doctrinal creed of the Church of Rome, and believe in nothing but love of mankind. Thus we see that, so far as doctrine is concerned, all these various Christian denominations interpret Christ's teachings differently, and each goes a step further than the other in dissenting from these doctrines. One remarkable fact remains-namely, that, excepting the Secularist, all are agreed on what in the first part of this work I have endeavoured to show are the vital points of Christ's teachings, which may be summed up in love of God and love of mankind. If the reader is prepared to admit that Christ did not teach doctrinal beliefs as necessary to salvation, but that a pure life, faith in God, and love to one another, are the only real essentials to our future happiness, then he must also admit that all these various sects of Christendom are equally acceptable in the sight of God, and "That righteousness is not in creeds, But rather lies in kindly deeds, And Christian graces." The only obstacle, therefore, to the harmony and union of all Christian sects is to be found in the adherence to these doctrines, about which no two sects are agreed. If I have succeeded in loosening any man's faith in use less doctrines by showing him that Christ never insisted on our believing them, but did insist on our loving God and loving one another, and that nothing else is required of us, I shall not have written in vain. The overthrow of man-made creeds is only a question of time. Year by year men grow more liberal-minded, and are less and less disposed to condemn as "lost sinners" those who lead as good lives as they do and merely differ conscientiously upon disputed and difficult points of doctrine. Any innovation upon the creeds of modern orthodox Christianity which does notlike Secularism-shake man's faith in God and in a future state, is to be welcomed. Although I have admitted that all Christian sects professedly agree on Christ's practical teachings, however much they differ upon points of doctrine, it will be necessary hereafter to point out that this profession is not always practically carried out in daily life. Common experience, in fact, tells us that charity, forbearance, and love of one another are not the outward characteristics of modern Christians; but of this I shall have something to say later on. I have alluded to the one great defect of the Secularist's faith, namely, that it ignores one important command of Christ—namely, faith and love of God, and likewise ignores the hope of a future life. Although most believers in God's mercy will be far from believing that eternal perdition will await such persons in the next life, yet it cannot be denied that their happiness in this life must be seriously affected by the cold negations of their creed, and those who agree in this will admit that, if any punishment is needed for not having this faith, they are punished enough already. The advanced scientific opinions of the age all tend in the same direction, and it is, I believe, the dread of being landed in this cheerless belief that tends perhaps more than anything else to keep together the various religious bodies into which modern Christians are divided. We see that every loosening of faith in doctrine has tended to drive men towards Secularism. The rejection of original sin, and therefore the necessity of the atonement for that original sin, drives men to Unitarianism, and, from thence, most sceptical minds will see no reason why they should not go a step further and adopt Materialism; for the only difference between the former and the latter creed is that Unitarians believe in God and a future state -for which latter, at any rate, they can confessedly give no proof whatever, outside of Revelation-whilst the Secularists argue that, even if true, these beliefs do not concern us, and need not be accepted. Since, however, a disbelief in Divine Providence, and consequently in the efficacy of prayer, as also the want of faith in a future life—a hope of again meeting those who have been dearer to us on earth than even life itself-must render the life of a Secularist less happy than that of a believer in these doctrines, it is easily intelligible that the majority of Christians prefer to retain these consolatory beliefs, and hesitate to pull down the creeds they are brought up in. In the absence of proof that one creed is better or worse than another—and where is such proof to be had, except one return from the dead? -they naturally dislike any change. Perhaps they do not believe in their hearts that they only have the truth, and that all others are wrong-though their published creed may so declare it—but yet, they feel that the prime essentials of salvation are to be found in their creed, somewhere. Two solemn facts are ever before men's eyes as they get into years namely, that their dearest friends are in the course of nature gradually being removed from this world, and that sooner or later they must go too. They must be singularly devoid of feeling if they can contemplate both these facts with indifference, and yet where-excepting in the Bible-can they obtain the slightest consolation touching these questions? It is true that almost all the doctrines of modern Christianity offer little more than a vague assurance that believers will be saved and unbelievers damned, but the secret hope which every man has, that he and his will, by some means or other, be found amongst the former, coupled with the actual belief in a future state which such a hope implies, must prove immeasurably more consoling than the utter absence of all such hope or belief. Young men, with no near prospect of death, and nothing to remind them of it, with the world and its delights before them, and all their friends still around them, can, of course, afford-as practically they nearly all do-to ignore the value of religious beliefs, but it is nevertheless very doubtful whether any such will find Secularist views equally consoling when, drawing near to the end of their days, they find themselves approaching the Great Beyond. This brings us to the consideration of the various doctrines of modern Christianity which touch upon the life to come; and here, we find them all equally in the dark. Not one, excepting the Roman Catholic faith, which teaches an intermediate state between everlasting life and eternal damnation-out of which they say it is possible to raise sinners even after death-professes to give mankind any alternative between heaven on the one hand, and hell on the other. I propose, therefore, in view of the ignorance which modern Christianity confesses to on this subject, to consider the beliefs of another religious sect, which is, perhaps, the only one, excepting the Swedenborgians, that attempts to give a rational explanation of the life after death, and actually claims to offer scientific proof of the immortality of the soul, independently of revelation. Having devoted so much space to the principal creeds of modern Christianity, it is only fair to give a hearing to one which claims to be essentially Christian, and also reconciles science with religion, and proves to all creeds the uselessness of doctrinal squabbles and the necessity-above all else—of cultivating the inward spirit, an injunction which I have endeavoured to prove was precisely that which Christ laid so much stress on. R CHAPTER XIX. The Spiritualists. IT is impossible to ascertain correctly how many members of the various Christian sects are believers in the teachings of Spiritualism, simply because they do not constitute any distinctive sect, or have any places of public worship. At the same time it is believed that both in England and America there is an ever-increasing number of adherents to the new faith among the ranks of the various Christian denominations, who do not care to court unpopularity by avowing their opinions on this subject. The movement in England supports two weekly papers, The Spiritualist* and The Medium,† besides several magazines. An influential society, called the British National Association of Spiritualists, has its central offices, library, &c., at 38 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London, W.C. The Spiritualists, like all the other sects we have described, are divided amongst themselves. Their principal article of belief, which alone constitutes a man a Spiritualist, lies in the fact, that it is possible for us to hold communion with the spirits of the departed. This belief rests on the facts of modern Spiritualism, which are attested to by an everincreasing literature both in England and America. With the exception of the Swedenborgians, no other Christian sect has ever held a belief in the possibility of communicating with the spirit-world. Swedenborg, as is well known, professed to be clairvoyant and clairaudient— * London: E. W. Allen, 11 Ave Maria Lane, E.C. ז' |