dogma. He has Himself told us plainly, in words simple enough for a child to understand, what He would have us do,—and though I, like many others, must regret the absence of a true Universal Church where the servants of Christ may meet all together without a shadow of difference in opinion, and worship Him as He should be worshiped, still, that is no reason why I should refrain from endeavoring to fulfil, as far as in me lies, my personal duty towards Him. The fact is, Christianity has never yet been rightly taught, grasped, or comprehended;—moreover, as long as men seek through it their own worldly advantage, it never will be,—so that the majority of people are really as yet ignorant of its true spiritual meaning, thanks to the quarrels and differences of sects and preachers. But, notwithstanding the unhappy position of religion at the present day, I repeat I am a Christian, if love for Christ and implicit belief in Him can make me so."
This is the text on which many of Alwyn's powerful
arguments are based, in dealing, both in and
out of society, with those opinions of sceptics and
agnostics which had formerly commended themselves
to him but which he now combats with convincing
clearness and strength. To emphasize his
position he quotes that terse rebuke of Carlyle's, in
"Sartor Resartus," as to the uselessness of Voltaire's
work:
"Cease, my much respected Herr von Voltaire,—shut
thy sweet voice; for the task appointed thee
seems finished. Sufficiently hast thou demonstrated
