PREFACE


This book sets out as forcibly and exactly as possible the religious
belief of the writer. That belief is not orthodox Christianity; it is
not, indeed, Christianity at all; its core nevertheless is a profound
belief in a personal and intimate God. There is nothing in its
statements that need shock or offend anyone who is prepared for the
expression of a faith different from and perhaps in several particulars
opposed to his own. The writer will be found to be sympathetic with
all sincere religious feeling. Nevertheless it is well to prepare the
prospective reader for statements that may jar harshly against deeply
rooted mental habits. It is well to warn him at the outset that the
departure from accepted beliefs is here no vague scepticism, but a quite
sharply defined objection to dogmas very widely revered. Let the writer
state the most probable occasion of trouble forthwith. An issue upon
which this book will be found particularly uncompromising is the dogma
of the Trinity. The writer is of opinion that the Council of Nicaea,
which forcibly crystallised the controversies of two centuries and
formulated the creed upon which all the existing Christian churches are
based, was one of the most disastrous and one of the least venerable of
all religious gatherings, and he holds that the Alexandrine speculations
which were then conclusively imposed upon Christianity merit only
disrespectful attention at the present time. There you have a chief
possibility of offence. He is quite unable to pretend any awe for what
he considers the spiritual monstrosities established by that undignified
gathering. He makes no attempt to be obscure or propitiatory in this
connection. He criticises the creeds explicitly and frankly, because he
believes it is particularly necessary to clear them out of the way of
those who are seeking religious consolation at this present time of