48 THE LIGHT OF DAY 



natural cause, without for one moment attributing 

 it to a supernatural one. But without trying the 

 experiment ourselves, does any sane man to-day 

 doubt that either the saint deceived himself, or else 

 that he was not honest ? His statement is incredi- 

 ble because it contradicts all the rest of our know- 

 ledge relating to the decomposition of animal tissue. 

 I suppose the last thing our fathers would have 

 thought of doing would have been to try to recon- 

 cile their conception of Christianity with their stores 

 of natural knowledge. They did not feel the need, 

 which we to-day feel so keenly, of any such reconcilia- 

 tion. They cherished their faith as something apart, 

 something not founded in the order of this world, 

 something to which science and all that pertains to 

 the " natural man " are necessarily strangers. The 

 order of this world is carnal ; it is full of evil, and 

 is separated by an impassable gulf from the sacred 

 and the divine. A vast number of most excellent 

 and pious people still feel in this way about their 

 religious belief ; it is all the more sacred and pre- 

 cious to them because it ha^ no relation to the 

 natural course of mundane things. It forms for 

 them an escape from the humdrum, from the fail- 

 ures, and from the materialism of life. Who can 

 recall without deepest sympathy and love the reli- 

 gious beliefs and observances of the many simple 

 and credulous people he has known in his youth, 

 perhaps of his own parents or grandparents, with 

 their fervid piety but merciless creeds, their faith in 

 their church and in the saving power of its sacra- 



