arbitrary and antiquated standard. Heterodoxy does not necessarily signify anything incorrect, it merely means the doxa or belief held by some other person, and the true antithesis to it is an autodoxy or opinion held by one's self. An autodoxy may be either correct or incorrect; it is merely one's own belief, and is usually considered right by its holder. In the evolution of religious beliefs it is found that occasionally a new belief-a neodoxy-arises and is repudiated at first because of its newness. In some

cases it wins its way into acceptance, and becomes an orthodoxy in the eyes of those who hold it. Sometimes an accepted belief is found no longer tenable and is dropped-seldom formally-and becomes a metadoxy or paleodoxy. Of neodoxies that have arisen since the Acts of the Apostles were written there may be cited the doctrine of Sacrificial Atonement, the doctrine of The Trinity, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. The first two have become orthodoxies in the Roman, Anglican, and Lutheran Churches, the third in the Roman Church only. But the first, though still an orthodoxy, is plainly destined to be dropped out (just as the doctrine of the descent into Hades held by all the Fathers has been dropped out) by all English Dissenters, if not in effect by all Protestant Churches. The present age is witnessing great changes in the passing of orthodoxies into metadoxies, and it is a sign of hope. For as it has been wisely said "it is much more vital that a man should believe a few things very strongly than that he should believe many things.'

The theologians have examined and re-examined every corner of the official creeds; they have carefully labelled every particular departure from the

accepted fourth century orthodoxies, by the name of some particular "heresy." For them every departure from the arbitrary standard of sixteen centuries back can, as a result of their painful labours, at once be marked down as Gnostic, or Erastian, or Socinian, or Supralapsarian, or stigmatised by some other selected epithet. This edifying process of labelling every attempt at original thought or progress by a nickname, and then casting it out, has gone on so long that no one particularly troubles about it. Nevertheless it would be an instructive enquiry how many of the "orthodox" beliefs of to-day have passed through the process of being denounced as new heresies. It would be also instructive to examine how many of the present orthodoxies have outlived their meaning or their usefulness, and might well be abandoned as metadoxies that have had their day.

The object, however, of this chapter is not to pull down but to build up. It has been addressed almost entirely to those who find themselves outside the pale of an impossible "Christianity" earnestly seeking for a religion which shall be not impossible to men of thought, knowledge, and reverence. If the writer strives to suggest to others some sort of constructive framework it will be also his aim to proceed by other methods than those adopted by the theologians. He will try to avoid the use of all platitudes as arguments: as poetry they may be admissible. Nothing is proved by "quoting a text" that is to say it proves nothing to those who need the text itself to be proved to them. He will endeavour to avoid "isms" and "ists." Little is gained by such labelling, save prejudices from which

escape is difficult. In his view true religion is not concerned with "isms," that is with professions; nor with "ists," that is with professors. True religion is a question of effort, not of talk; of suffering, not of disputing; of action, not of creed ; of obedience, not of ceremonial; of conduct, not of dogma. Dogma as a basis of vital religion is dead. Let us have a religion of life.

CHAPTER III

Aisi Dominus Aedificaverit

“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it."-Ps. cxxvii, 1.

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PON every man who has found that in sheer sincerity of heart and mind the temples of orthodoxy afford him no satisfactory habitation, there is laid the necessity of discovering other tabernacles of faith. Whether

he will find them ready-made, or at least adaptable to his service, or whether he will have to build them afresh from the foundations, may depend both on himself and on the features of his spiritual environment, as well as on the incidents, past and present, of his spiritual pilgrimage. It may even be that he will have to reconsider the foundations, if he has cause to think that there is fundamental error in the bases of a religion that has become for him untenable. Many pure and true souls who for truth's sake have had to wander for a time in the wilderness have found it difficult enough to enter into the ready-furnished edifices of any of the established creeds, and have had to content themselves for a time with the shelter of some despised and neglected prospector, until such time as they

could little by little build their own tabernacle in the service of truth.

In other words, the seeker after truth comes sooner or later, and not suddenly nor in one stage only, to the point where he must at least begin to define for himself the outlines of his religious faith. He cannot for ever be renouncing untenable beliefs: he cannot dwell in a twilight of negations. Life demands something more positive, by which to blossom into fruition. Constructive effort, be it ever so simple, is at least a good gymnastic for the soul's health. It is better to build than to cast down and if casting down has become a righteous duty, how much more is that of reconstruction?

But there are two chief conditions which must ever underlie any and every attempt at reconstruction of religious faith, and without which the labour will be in vain. These prime conditions are that the work shall be carried on in a spirit of reverence and a spirit of discernment. The responsibility of the task is great all levity or insincerity of purpose will be disastrous. There is no place in the temple of truth for plausible shams or for vain-glorious ornament. He who builds must know how weak he is, and take measures to work within his strength: must learn how limited he is, and keep strictly within his own capacity. He must patiently test the materials, so that he may not misuse them in his building; must be simple and sincere enough to learn, and, having learned, be ready to act in accordance with the truth so far as it has been made plain to him.

"Except the Lord build the house," was the language of old time, "they labour in vain that