GOD AND THE WORLD. 293 



for the first time in 1873, and admired the noble 

 mosques of Cairo, Smyrna, Brussa, and Constan- 

 tinople, I was inspired with a feeling of real devotion 

 by the simple and tasteful decoration of the interior, 

 and the lofty and beautiful architectural work of the 

 exterior. How noble and inspiring do these mosques 

 appear in comparison with the majority of Catholic 

 churches, which are covered internally with gaudy 

 pictures and gilt, and are outwardly disfigured by an 

 immoderate crowd of human and animal figures ! 

 Not less elevated are the silent prayers and the simple 

 devotional acts of the Koran when compared with the 

 loud, unintelligible verbosity of the Catholic Mass 

 and the blatant music of their theatrical processions. 

 Under the title of mixotheism we may embrace all 

 the forms of theistic belief which contain mixtures of 

 religious notions of different, sometimes contradictory, 

 kinds. In theory this most widely diffused type of 

 religion is not recognised at all ; in the concrete it is 

 the most important and most notable of all. The vast 

 majority of men who have religious opinions have 

 always been, and still are, mixotheists ; their idea of 

 God is picturesquely compounded from the impres- 

 sions received in childhood from their own sect, and a 

 number of other impressions which are received later 

 on, from contact with members of other religions, and 

 which modify the earlier notions. In educated people 

 there is also sometimes the modifying influence of 

 philosophic studies in maturer years, and especially 

 the unprejudiced study of natural phenomena, which 

 reveals the futility of the theistic idea. The conflict 

 of these contradictory impressions, which is very 

 painful to a sensitive soul, and which often remains 

 undecided throughout life, clearly shows the immense 



