The  arguments  they  contain  are  aimed  at  certain
prejudices  that  I  have  heard  expressed  in  conversa-
tion, or  that  seem  to  be  implied  in  the  attitude  of
such  persons  to  current  views  and  controversies.  Thus
the  first  essay  endeavours  to  meet  the  too  prevalent
idea  that  Christianity  is  nothing  but  a  refined  system
of  morals,  a  new  Stoicism  "  touched  with  emotion,"
upon  which  the  clergy  have  grafted  an  alien  and
unnecessary  system  of  dogmas.  The  second
attempts  to  define  and  defend  the  special  charac-
teristics of  the  Church  of  England  among  other
religious  bodies.  As  an  appendix  to  that,  I  have
added  a  paper  written  as  a  protest  against  an  attack
made — of  course,  in  good  faith — by  two  well-known
men  of  letters  upon  the  reputation  of  one  of  our
most  famous  Jacobean  divines  and  one  of  our  best-
loved  and  most  typical  seventeenth-century  laymen.
viii  PREFACE.
In  the  fourth  essay  I  have  drawn  out,  as  clearly  as  I
could,  the  indictment  that  "  the  man  in  the  street "  is
apt  to  prefer  against  the  clerical  order,  urging  in
reply  what  apology  seemed  possible  ;  and  I  have
supplemented  this,  in  the  fifth,  by  a  general  defence
of  modern  clerical  ideals  in  England.  Finally,  I  have
ventured  to  address  an  appeal  to  the  laity  for  further
consideration  of  three  questions  that  are  crying  out
for  wise  settlement — the  financial  position  of  the
clergy,  the  controversy  about  ritual,  and  the  place  of
religion  in  elementary  education.
