18&2 ' OONTEO VERTED QUESTIONS ' 213 



arpeared in 1892, was a collection of the esBays of 



; la-tt few yeats, mainly controTersial, or as he 

 V called them, " endearouTB to defend a 

 cherished cause," dealing with agnosticii?m and the 

 demonologieal and miraculous element in Christianity. 

 That they were controversial in tone no one lamented 

 more than himself; and as in the letter to M, de 

 Varigny, of November 25, 1891, so here in the 

 prologue he apologises for the ^ct. 



This prologue, — of which he writes to a friend, 

 "It cost me more time and pains than any equal 

 nnmber of pages I have ever written," — was designed 

 to indicate the main question, various aspects of 

 which are dealt with by these seemingly disconnected 



The hMorical evolution of hTHQanity (he writeB), 

 •vrMch is geaaeasaSlj, aad I Tooture to ttdni; not inireasoii- 

 ablr, regarded as progr^s, has been, and is bdng, 

 acc-ompaiued by a co-ordinate ebmination of the super- 

 r.sr'r"^! from ite oiigiiLally large oeeapation of mene 

 . :. The question — How fer is t-^is proeess to go ? 

 i;.. Ill lay a^pppihatBioii, ihe controverted qiiffition of our 

 tiise. 



This movement, mazked by Has daiin for die 



freedom of private judgment, which first came to its 

 fulness in the E^naecence, is here sketched out, rising 

 <w sinking by turns under the pressure of social and 

 political TieiBBitudes, from WicHf's earliest proposal 

 to reduce the Supematuralism of Christiaaiity within 

 the limits sanctioned by the Scriptures, down to the 



