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DIFFICULTIES OF BELIEF. 173 



it that in our great cities the busy multitudes ])ass the churches 

 by without a thought or a qualm? Why is it that iii an age 

 when education is, in a manner, universally diffused, the 

 enlightenment of the mind does not mean the illumination of 

 the soul ? It is surely because the modern world has given its 

 heart to the material, having found the material world so 

 eminently responsive to its demands. It is notable, as 

 illustrative of this characteristic, that the dreams of social 

 reconstruction, which are so many and so widely attractive at 

 present, and which we sum up under the familiar term 

 socialism, are for the most part endeavours to find happiness in 

 a re-arrangement of the material means of life and enjoyment. 

 It is strange that there are people who so far mistake the spirit 

 of Christ as to quote his authority for efforts of this kind. It is 

 hard to understand how the blessings which He pronounced 

 upon the poor can be regarded as providing a sanction for the 

 doctrine that poverty is a curse and the summing up of all 

 evils. A materialistic socialism is indeed the very antithesis of 

 Christianity as taught by Christ. But it is very characteristic 

 of the age ; and the prevalent conviction that all well-being can 

 be measured in terms of pounds, shillings, and pence, which it 

 represents, is one of the greatest obstacles in the way of religion 

 at the present time. The truth is that the primary conviction 

 of the materialistic socialist and of the materialistic individual- 

 ist is precisely the same. Both are seeking human happiness 

 in material satisfactions and both are doomed to exactly the 

 same disappointment. The rush for wealth, the race for 

 amusement, the greedy competition of the capitalists, and the 

 equally greedy envy which fills the hearts of the needy : all 

 these things are symptoms of one and the same disease. And, 

 though these things always existed in the world and had at all 

 times the same meaning and created the same difficulties in the 

 way of religion, the conditions of the present age are such that 

 they have attained a volume and a power unknown in former 

 ages. 



It is possible that the modern world is only at the beginning of 

 a period during which the material resources of civilization will 

 be augmented beyond anything which is now coilceivable. On 

 the other hand, it may be that we have reached almost the limit 

 in this respect. But surely we must be convinced that, what- 

 ever the future may have in store for the human race, a time 

 must come when the realization that material things are incap- 

 able of satisfying the deeper needs of man's nature will be 

 forced upon the attention of mankind. History shows that. 



