were it not for one or two of the letters I have received, I should have
supposed that no reader could have thought of making the accusation that
I presumed to speak for any one except myself. In a book of this kind,
the setting forth of a personal view of religion is not only unavoidable,
but necessary; since, if I wrote sincerely, Mr. Hodder's solution must
coincide with my own--so far as I have been able to work one out. Such
as it is, it represents many years of experience and reflection. And I
can only crave the leniency of any trained theologian who may happen to
peruse it.

No one realizes, perhaps, the incompleteness of the religious
interpretations here presented more keenly than I. More significant,
more vital elements of the truth are the rewards of a mind which searches
and craves, especially in these days when the fruit of so many able minds
lies on the shelves of library and bookshop. Since the last chapter was
written, many suggestions have come to me which I should like to have the
time to develop for this volume. But the nature of these elements is
positive,--I can think of nothing I should care to subtract.

Here, then, so far as what may be called religious doctrine is concerned,
is merely a personal solution. We are in an age when the truth is being
worked out through many minds, a process which seems to me both Christian
and Democratic. Yet a gentleman has so far misunderstood this that he
has already accused me, in a newspaper, of committing all the heresies
condemned by the Council of Chalcedon,--and more!

I have no doubt that he is right. My consolation must be that I have as
company--in some of my heresies, at least--a goodly array of gentlemen
who wear the cloth of the orthodox churches whose doctrines he accuses me
of denying. The published writings of these clergymen are accessible to