In  England  there  is  a  social  aristocracy  composed  of
rich  or  well-descended  men,  well  instructed  also  in  their
intellect;  they  seem  almost  entnely  destitute  of  con-
scious rehgion ;  they  have  no  theology  which  satisfies
their  intellectual  and  religious  need.  Some  of  them
turn  round,  and  follow  the  dim  candle  of  tradition  lead-
ing them  back  to  mediaeval,  or  even  ante- Christian
darkness.  Some  positively  deny  the  truths  of  religion
which  come  to  consciousness  in  every  age,  —  mediaeval
or  ante- Christian.  The  most  hopeful  it  is  who  feel  their
way  along  by  the  natural  instincts  of  the  soul  —  feel-

11


122  THE  POPULAR  THEOLOGY.
ing  after  God  if  haply  they  may  find  him  who  lives  and
moves  and  has  his  being  in  them,  as  they  theirs  in  him.
Near  the  other  extreme  of  society  there  is  a  large  body
of  hardy,  able,  thinking  men  who  treat  the  popular
theology  with  well-deserved  scoff  and  scorn  ;  but  yet
they  see  no  clear  light.
On  the  Eastern  Continent,  in  addition  to  those
classes  there  is  another, — the  army  of  learned  men,
whose  doubts  are  yet  deeper  than  the  English,  and
their  denial  less  compromising  and  more  public.  Since
the  breaking  up  of  Paganism  in  Europe,  there  has  never
been  such  a  period  of  distrust,,  of  anarchy,  and  of  chaos
in  religion.
