I  use  the  expression  "  freedom  of  thought"
in  its  popular  sense,  not  forgetting  that  there
are  higher  senses  of  the  word  freedom.  It
is  a  time,  I  mean,  in  which  opinions  of  every
kind,  the  most  contrary  to  the  sacred  tradi
tions  of  the  Church  and  of  Christianity,  are
and  will  be  free  to  declare  themselves  without
drawing  any  punishment  or  disability  upon
those  who  avow  them.  Every  day  seems  to
bring  some  new  triumph  over  old-fashioned
prejudices.  No  religious  separatism,  how
ever  sturdy,  can  intrench  itself  securely


Faith  and  Tolerance.  375

against    the    assaults    of    this    freedom  ;    no
exclusiveness,  whether  of  the  High  Church
man  or  of  the  Puritan,  is  proof  against  the
solvent  power  of  the  spirit  of  the  age.     An
attempt  to  exclude  an  individual  atheist  from
Parliament,  not  because  he  is  an  atheist  but
because  he  is  an  obtrusive  and  offensive  one,
and  the  waking  up  of  a  dormant  law  against
infidelity  to  punish  a  particular  attack  upon
Christianity,    not    because    it    is    infidel    but
because  it  is  brutal,  serve  but  to  mark  the
progress   of  the   general   movement.     They
are  slight  convulsive  struggles  attending  the
death    of    an    ancient    system    of    exclusion
and    repression.      In  the   meantime  they  do
Christianity  or  religion  the  harm  of  associat
ing  it,  in  the  eyes  of  that  generous  temper
which    honourably   distinguishes    the    young
and  the  working-classes,   with  injustice   and
persecution.     But  the  issue  of  them  will  be
to    make    every    one    see    the    more    clearly
that  in  this  country,  and  in  the  other  countries
through  which    civilised    thought    circulates,
the  condition  of  life  in  the  immediate  future
is    to    be    that    of  unrestrained    freedom    of
opinion.      Men   will    be    civilly   and    socially
free  to  think  and  to  say  whatever  they  please.
376  Social  Questions.
