Spiritual goods are unlimited in amount; they are
increased by being shared; and we rob nobody by taking them. He believes
with Creighton that "Socialism will only be possible when we are all
perfect, and then it will not be needed."
In the meantime, "Christianity increases the wealth of the world by
creating new values." Only in the currency of Christ can true socialism
hope to pay its way.
We miss the heart and centre of his teaching if we forget for a moment
that it is his conviction of the sufficiency of Christ's revelation
which makes him so deadly a critic both of the ritualist and the
socialist--two terms which on the former side at least tend to become
synonymous. He would have no distraction from the mystery of Christ, no
compromise of any kind in the world's loyalty to its one Physician.
Simplify your dogmas; simplify your theologies. Christ is your one
essential.
I have spoken to him about psychical research and the modern interest in
spiritualism. "I don't think much of _that!_" he replied. Then, in a
lower key, "It was not through animism and necromancy that the Jews came
to believe in immortality." How did they reach that belief? "By thinking
things out, and asking the question, Shall not the Judge of all the
earth do right?"
The answer is characteristic. Dr. Inge has thought things out;
everything in his faith has been thought out; and the basis of all his
thinking is acceptance of absolute values--absolute truth, absolute
goodness, absolute beauty.
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