The trouble about so many religious appeals is
that they leave one in the air.
Christianity is often put forward as if it were necessarily a matter of being
That with many people sudden conversion is a genuine experience with permanent
results cannot be denied;
but it is a mistake to suppose that an emotional
upheaval is a necessary or even a common incident in the process of becoming
a Christian.
Many people must have been put off Christianity by the experience, in their
own case or in the case of others, of seeing an emotional crisis, perhaps
during adolescence, succeeded by a reaction.
These well-meant emotional
appeals may have a violent immediate effect, but in the long run they may
do more harm than good, both to the person concerned and to the Christian
cause in general.
For it is no use working people up to a peak of
high pressure and leaving it at that.
We may thankfully accept any moments of vision which may be vouchsafed to
us, but we have to spend most of our lives in the valley, and what we need
is a practical programme of concrete activity.
Whether or not, in our own particular case, becoming a Christian represents
a climax, it must, if it is to be effective, be the beginning of a continuous
process.
And this means two things;
first, our heads as well as our hearts must be in it.
Unless our common sense is satisfied, the day of disillusionment must surely
come, and our last state may well be worse than our first.
Secondly, we must have some regular means of keeping in touch with
ultimate reality;
we must as it were form a habit of Christianity, which will carry us through
the dull patches of life.
This is where the Church and the Sacraments (provided, it must be remembered,
by God for this very purpose) come in.
All we have been trying to do in this book is
to clear away some of the preliminary obstacles which may prevent us from
making a start.
Supposing that we wish to make a start,
how are we to set about it?
If we once acknowledge the existence of God, we
must agree that it is not what we want but what he wants that matters.
It is reasonable to suppose (even if Jesus had not assured us of it) that
those who seek guidance will obtain it.
But it is not neces?sary to suppose that this guidance will take the form
of some blinding revelation such as came to Saint Paul on the road to Damascus.
God is at least as likely to take the line (if we may say so) of Sherlock
Holmes:
'You know my methods: apply them.'
It cannot be doubted that he expects us to use the intelligence that he
has given us;
and it is up to us to do the best we can for ourselves, according to our
ability, leaving it humbly to him to come as far to meet us as he thinks
good for us.
We can be quite sure of some things.
We can be quite sure that God does not want us to sit back and do nothing.
We can be quite sure that he does not want us to try to live in religious
isolation.
The Christian life is always shown to us as one of activity, and as one that
is lived by the Christian at the same time as an individual and as a member
of a community.
We can be sure, then, that God wants us to take part in the Christian fellowship
that we call the Church.
So far so good.
The really difficult problem, in this country and at this stage of history,
is to decide what we mean (or rather what God means) by the Church.
To any unprejudiced person this must be a real difficulty, since it is obvious
that very many unquestionably sincere and intelligent Christians have answered
this question in a number of very different ways, and it would not be wise
to assume that God has not guided them in doing so.
It is not wise for any of us to assume that any other Christian is not acting
in accordance with the will of God for him, even though we may be
sure that it is not the will of God for us that we should act in the same
way.
If anyone feels that he has a clear lead from God to join any particular
branch of the Church, he should evidently follow that lead? though he ought
to feel sure that it is a lead from God and not just his own personal preference.
He should be sure that he is not being influenced by motives that could not
have been inspired from God, such as a wish to be free from inconvenient
obligations, or from the necessity of thinking for himself.
He should not join a Church just because he likes the form of service or
the music or the sermons.
But, while it is unwise for us to judge others who seem to
us to have left what we should feel to be the right track, it is equally
unwise for us to suppose that we are people who need exceptional treatment.
The only safe assumption is that, unless God tells us to the contrary, he
would prefer us to get down to the job with the tools that are nearest to
hand.
In other words, our first duty is to become active members of that branch
of his Church to which, in our own particular circumstances, what?ever they
may be, it is most natural and normal that we should belong.
For most English people, that branch is undoubtedly our own
Church of England.
We have also seen in the last chapter that there are strong positive grounds
for saying that the Church of England is the right kind of Church anyhow.
Put the two arguments together, and the conclusion is obvious.
Here, then, is where we can make a beginning with a practical
programme of action.
If we belong to that large number of people who have been baptized and confirmed
in youth, but have ceased to practise our religion, there is nothing to stop
us from starting right away.
If we have not been confirmed, we shall have to be, before we can be admitted,
by the rules of the Church, to the Holy Communion.
In either case, our first step will naturally be to get into touch with our
own parish priest and seek his advice.
(And here, since I began this book, with a mild dig at the 'professional',
let me make amends. We cannot, of course, really do without him!)
Some people are naturally shy about approaching a priest, but it must be
remembered that what may seem to us to be a rather strange and difficult
action is, from the clergyman's point of view, a most natural and reasonable
one for us to take.
He certainly will not think that we are doing anything odd.
Nor need we feel diffident about putting him to the trouble of talking things
over with us.
Not only will he be delighted to do so, but after all he is the expert and
it is what he is there for.
We have a right to his services;
and we have a right to share in the worship and activities of our parish
church.
It is not there to serve the interests of the parson or of a clique of pious
people, but to serve us, if we will only take advantage of it.
And if we happen to think that it is not all it might be, then it is up to
us to get inside and use our influence to bring about an improvement.
Carping against it from outside won't help.
Nor, again, should we fear that we are giving up our liberty
of thought and conscience.
There are a very few rules which the Church of England lays down as binding
on its members, and these of course we must be prepared to keep.
But, apart from these rules, the policy of the Church is to leave the individual
to judge according to his own conscience.
For instance, the Church lays down that we must receive the Holy Communion
at least three times a year, of which Easter shall be one.
Our priest will probably advise us that we ought to make a habit of much
more frequent and regular reception, but it is left to us to decide what
we feel that God would wish us to do about it.
Again, the Church requires that, before receiving the Holy Communion, we
should examine ourselves to see where we have gone wrong, and should resolve,
with God's help, to do better in future;
but it does not require us to confess
our sins to a priest.
That is a matter for us to settle with our own conscience.
In the Church of England (unlike the Church of Rome) 'confession ' is open
to all but binding upon none.
Once we can make the start, we shall surely find that we
have been given the key of an inexhaustible treasury on which we can draw
for the whole of our lives.
All that has been said here is merely a clearing of the way up to the door.
It is a necessary clearing up, because the idea has become prevalent that
accepting Christianity involves accepting notions that are inconsistent
with common sense.
Obviously, if Christianity is true, there can be no truth that is not consistent
with it.
If we can point with assurance to any truth that does not appear to fit in
with Christianity, then either Christianity is not true, or our idea of Christianity
is inaccurate.
The argument of this book is that it is the latter, not the
former alternative, which represents the fact.
Christianity has come to be popularly looked upon as equivalent to a sort
of vague benevolence.
It is plain enough that vague benevolence does not work, and people have
And so, although their sympathies may be on the Christian side, they feel
bound to take up an attitude of neutrality.
But there are no neutrals in
the spiritual war.
There is a stage at which it can be said that 'he that is not against us
is on our part';
but it is soon followed by a stage at which it has to be
said that 'he that is not with me is against me'.
And so the appeal to common sense is vital.
A man cannot fairly be asked to accept something that his intelligence does
not allow him to regard as reasonable.
Until this obstacle has been removed, he is prevented from making the first,
necessary movement of voluntary response to the love of God in Christ Jesus.
If an electric wire is not in contact with the terminal, be the space between
never so small, the current cannot flow and the battery remains inert.
But once contact is made, the energy of the battery is liberated through
the whole circuit.
So it is with the love of God -
and, as we have seen, his plan makes it
a condition of contact with him that, although he comes nearly all the way
and does all the work, we must make some voluntary movement of our own.
That voluntary movement, however feeble, however
inarticulate, is, of course, prayer.
If I have said little about prayer, and have left what might have been said
to be implied rather than expressed, this is not through any wish to belittle
its importance, but because I have felt that to attempt to deal with a matter
so intimate and so personal (even if I were qualified to make the attempt)
would be to take this book out of the matter-of-fact and even commonplace
level on which it has been written.
Prayer is personal communication with God, and is an essential and constant
feature of the religious life.
Such prayer - as distinct from the blind outcry to 'whatever gods may be'
in moments of stress - is, as it seems to me, impossible if one is not intellectually
satisfied that there is a personal God with whom communication is practicable.
'Lord, I believe: help thou mine unbelief' must be the starting-point.
To reach this point has been the limited objective of this book.
I hold that there is a reasonable case for supposing
that God has appointed the Christian Church and the Sacraments as the normal
means of establishing and maintaining contact between himself and man.
But they are a means, not an end;
and I cannot close more fittingly than with these words of Cardinal Newman:
'The Catholic Church allows no image of any sort, material or immaterial,
no dogmatic symbol, no rite, no sacrament, no Saint,
not even the Blessed Virgin herself,
to come between the soul and its Creator.
It is face to face, "solus cum solo", in all matters between man and his God.
He alone creates;
He alone has redeemed;
before His awful eyes we go in death;
in the vision of Him is our eternal beatitude.'
[Apologia Pro Vita Sua, Part vi.]
Easter 1943.
I should not like to end without a word of gratitude
to all those, known to me, and unknown, who have, consciously or unconsciously,
helped in the making of this book.
I will not mention names - some of them might not appreciate it!
But I am deeply thankful to them all.
It may perhaps be helpful to add some notes on
a very small selection of the many books that might be consulted by anyone
wishing to check the arguments or to follow up the lines of thought sketched
in the preceding pages.
Many of the books mentioned are published in cheap popular editions, as stated,
and, subject to temporary wartime shortages, should be obtainable without
undue trouble or expense.
For a reasoned statement of Christian belief,
and of the ' case' for Christianity, the reader might try:
Belief in God, by Bishop Gore (Pelican).
See also the same author's The Philosophy of the Good Life (Everyman).
The Doctrines of the Creed, by Dr. O. C. Quick.
Christ's Revelation of God, by the present Archbishop of Canterbury
(Student Christian Movement/Religion and Life' Books).
See also Dr. Temple's Readings in St. John's Gospel.
The above are, of course, by' professionals',
and they are not exactly elementary.
Those who want something more popular might try:
The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy Sayers.
Jack, Jill and God, and The City of God, by R. A. Edwards.
Broadcast Talks, by C. S. Lewis.
See also his The Problem of Pain, and The Screwtape Letters.
What the Church Teaches, by the Bishop of. Bradford (Penguin).
For a fair and sincere explanation of the point of view of scientific humanism,
see Dr. Julian Huxley's Religion without Revelation (Thinkers' Library).
For an explanation of modern scientific ideas,
especially as to the relation between mind and matter, see Sir Arthur Eddington's The
Nature of the Physical World (Everyman).
The problems of time and immortality are discussed in the books of J. W.
Dunne, such as An Experiment with Time (Faber and Faber).
For a study of the emergence of conscious mind in the evolution of man, see
Professor R. A. Wilson's The Miraculous Birth of Language (Guild Books).
There are, of course, very many excellent and
readily accessible books of a devotional character, and books about applied
Christianity;
but these are outside my present scope and purpose.
Page^