48 LORD GRIMTHORPE 
‘‘ Ritual of the Dead” any information as to its probable date 
from Dr. Wace would be extremely-valuable. 
‘Rev. Dr. Wacr.—Well, it is at least 2,000 years before Christ 
—hbefore Abraham. 
Lord GrimtHoree.—We know well from the Bible that there 
were revelations of one kind or another long before that, and I 
cannot help thinking— of course it is only think, and may not be 
good for much—that some revelation was probably given to the 
very earliest people. I have no doubt that the tradition of that 
went down, and I believe from reading the stories of Abraham and 
Noah that a religion was known. Even Moses does not profess to 
have given all his religion as a novelty, and even the Sabbath ob- 
servance, which was a great deal earlier than that, was a kind of 
revelation. I cannot help thinking everything tends in the same 
direction ; that conscience, or whatever it may be called, that has 
always existed in the world, has probably come from original 
revelation handed down more or less accurately. When Dr. Wace 
talks of future rewards, tortures, and Elysian fields, the notion of 
Elysian fields is not very satisfactory, and a great Homeric hero 
said he would rather be the meanest slave on earth than the 
greatest man in the Elysian fields. That, again, looks like a 
revival of old revelation corrupted a good deal, and so much cor- 
rupted that that great poet, who I suppose represented the faith 
of many others, put that speech into the mouth of Ajax in the 
Elysian fields. I agree with much that has been said by Dr. Wace 
and you, Sir Risdon Bennett. I cannot pass by altogether the 
reflections that have been made on Paley. He happens to be a 
pet of mine. I cannot help thinking that no man ever lived in 
modern times who did so much to advance the Christian religion 
as Paley. I was at Cambridge about the time he began to be 
sneered at, and that was coincident with the rising of a very 
different school which has passed through many names and phases, 
Paley was not hot or strong enough for them. He talked too 
much common sense, and relied on the Bible too much for them, 
and relied on tradition too little for them. And taking all those 
things into consideration, I am not surprised at many who call 
themselves authorities on religion reviling Paley. And when we 
are told that a modern Dean at Cambridge reviled him, I am still 
less surprised, because a certain tutor at another University spoke 
