Painted Windows | Page 3

another
generation to change these. The continuity of the Church is in
membership, not in documents.
But the Liberals fall into two groups. There is the left wing which
expresses itself with clearness and decision, which is not afraid of
recognizing that the Church in the past has often been wrong and has
affirmed as fact what is really fiction. Those who belong to it are
sometimes driven out by official pressure, and more often are
compelled to yield to the practical necessities of ecclesiastical life, but
their influence is greater than their numbers. The danger which would
face the Church if they were allowed to have more prominence, is that
their plainness of speech would lead to disruption. The danger is a real
one, and the leaders of churches do right to fear it.
Over against this is the right wing of Liberals. There is probably little
difference in the matter of private opinion between them and the left
wing, but they are more concerned with safeguarding the unity of the
Church. They endeavour to do this by using the old phraseology with a
new meaning, so that, for instance, members of this party feel justified
in stating that they accept the creed, though they do not believe in it in

the sense which was originally intended. This is technically called
"reinterpreting," and by a sufficient amount of "reinterpreting" all the
articles of the creed (or indeed anything else) can be given whatever
meaning is desired. The statement that God created the heavens and the
earth becomes in this way an affirmation of evolution; the Virgin Birth
affirms the reality of Christ's human nature; and the Resurrection of the
Flesh affirms the Immortality of the Soul. Performed with skill, this
dialectical legerdemain is very soothing to a not unduly intelligent
congregation and prevents any breach in the apparent continuity of the
Church's belief. It also prevents any undue acrimoniousness of
theological debate, for debate is difficult if words may be interpreted to
mean the opposite of their historical significance. The danger is that the
rising generation will refuse to accept this method, and that it will lead
to deep and irretrievable intellectual confusion. This is what Father
Knox clearly saw to be the intellectual sin of the "Foundationers."
Nevertheless, when all is said it is easy to criticize but difficult to
advise. As "A Gentleman with a Duster" has seen, the desire of the
church leaders whose portraits he paints is to preserve the Church
through a period of transition. I doubt the wisdom of their policy,
though I recognize the difficulty of their task and appreciate their
motives.
I doubt the wisdom of the policy because I think that though it may
satisfy the older members of the Church and so preserve continuity
with the past, it is doing so at the expense of the younger generation
and sacrificing continuity with the future. It may conciliate those who
have power to make trouble in the present; but it is only the young who
are now silently abandoning the Church, that have the power to give
life in the future. It is always safer to agree with the old, but it is
infinitely more important to convince the young; and the reason for the
failure which troubles "A Gentleman with a Duster" is that
ecclesiastical life in England is failing to convince the young. Is it
better here?
CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A., February 5, 1922.

INTRODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN EDITION
Some of the men whose personalities I attempt to analyse in this
volume are known to American students of theology: almost all of

them, I think, represent schools of thought in which America is as
greatly interested as the people of Europe.
Therefore I may presume to hope that this present volume will find in
the United States as many readers as The Mirrors of Downing Street
and The Glass of Fashion.
But, in truth, I hope for much more than this.
Perhaps I may be allowed to say that I think America can make a
contribution to the matter discussed in these pages which will outrival
in its eventual effect on the destinies of the human race the contribution
she has already made to world politics by the inspiration of the
Washington Conference.
For the American brings to the study of religion not only a somewhat
fresher mind than the European, but a temperamental earnestness about
serious things which is the world's best hope of creative action.
Moreover there is something Greek about the American. He is always
young, as Greece was young in the time of Themistocles and Æschylus.
He is conscious of "exhilaration in the air, a sense of walking in new
paths, of dawning hopes and untried possibilities, a confidence that all
things can be won if only