1S90 USE AND DISUSE 283 



I cannot see that the moral and religious ideal of early 

 Christianity is new — on the other hand, it seems to me to be 

 implicitly and explicitly contained in the early prophetic Judaism 

 and the later Hellenised Judaism ; and though it is quite true that 

 the new vitality of the old ideal manifested in early Christianity 

 demands " an adequate historic cause," I would suggest that the 

 word " cause " may mislead if it is not carefully defined. 



Medical philosophy draws a most useful and necessary dis- 

 tinction between " exciting " and " predisposing " causes — and 

 nowhere is it more needful to keep this distinction in mind than 

 in history — and especially in estimating the action of individuals 

 on the course of human affairs. Platonic and Stoical philosophy 

 — prophetic liberalism — the strong democratic socialism of the 

 Jewish political system — the existence of innumerable sodalities 

 for religious and social purposes — had thrown the ancient world 

 into a state of unstable equilibrium. With such predisposing 

 causes at work, the exciting cause of enormous changes might 

 be relatively insignificant. The powder was there — a child 

 might throw the match which should blow up the whole concern. 



I do not want to seem irreverent, still less depreciatory, of 

 noble men, but it strikes me that in the present case the Naza- 

 renes were the match and Paul the child. 



An ingrained habit of trying to explain the unknown by the 

 known leads me to find the key to Nazarenism in Quakerism, 

 it is impossible to read the early history of the Friends without 

 seeing that George Fox was a person who exerted extraordinary 

 influence over the men with whom he came in contact ; and it is 

 equally impossible (at least for me) to discover in his copious 

 remains an original thought. 



Yet what with the corruption of the Stuarts, the Phariseeism 

 of the Puritans, and the Sadduceeism of the Church, England 

 was in such a state, that before his death he had gathered about 

 him a vast body of devoted followers, whose patient endurance 

 of persecution is a marvel. Moreover, the Quakers have exer- 

 cised a prodigious influence on later English life. 



But I have scribbled a great deal too much already. You 

 will see what I mean. 



To Mr. W. Platt Ball 



Grand Hotel, Eastbourne, Oct. 27, 1890. 

 Dear Sir — I have been through your book, which has 

 greatly interested me, at a hand-gallop; and I have by no means 



