Art and Science 



do well to study if not imitate. For this best 

 agrees with what we gather to have been the 

 custom of Christ himself, who, indeed, never 

 speaks of austerity but to condemn it. If 

 Christianity is to be a living faith, it must 

 penetrate a man's whole life, so that he can 

 no more rid himself of it than he can of his 

 flesh and bones or of his breathing. The 

 Christianity that can be taken up and laid 

 down as if it were a watch or a book is Chris- 

 tianity in name only. The true Christian can 

 no more part from Christ in mirth than in 

 sorrow. And, after all, what is the essence of 

 Christianity ? What is the kernel of the nut ? 

 Surely common sense and cheerfulness, with 

 unflinching opposition to the charlatanisms 

 and Pharisaisms of a man's ow r n times. The 

 essence of Christianity lies neither in dogma, 

 nor yet in abnormally holy life, but in faith 

 in an unseen world, in doing one's duty, in 

 speaking the truth, in finding the true life 

 rather in others than in oneself, and in the 

 certain hope that he who loses his life on 

 these behalfs finds more than he has lost. 



What can Agnosticism do against such Chris- 



109 



