"The _caput orbis_ has
become provincial, and her authority is spurned even within her own
borders." England could not kneel at this Italian footstool without
ceasing to be England[6].
[Footnote 6: "There are, after all, few emotions of which one has less
reason to be ashamed than the little lump in the throat which the
Englishman feels when he first catches sight of the white cliffs of
Dover."--_Outspoken essays_, p. 58.]
"A profound reconstruction is demanded," he says, "and for those who
have eyes to see has been already for some time in progress. The new
type of Christianity will be more Christian than the old, because it
will be more moral. A number of unworthy beliefs about God are being
tacitly dropped, and they are so treated because they are unworthy of
Him."
He sees the future of Christianity as a deep moral and spiritual power
in the hearts and minds of men who have at length learned the value of
the new currency, and have exchanged profession for experience.
But this Erasmus, far more learned than the other, and with a courage
which far exceeds the other's, and with an impatience of nature, an
irritability of mind, which the other seldom knew, is nevertheless
patient of change. He does not lead as decisively as he might. He does
not strike as often as he should at the head of error. Perhaps he is
still thinking. Perhaps he has not yet made up his mind whether "Art is
a Crime or only an Absurdity," whether Clergymen ought to be multiplied
or exterminated, whether in general we are getting on, and if so where
we are going to.
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