it to be true, but that it came to them by hearsay; and the
children seem to have no difficulty about the matter. Then, too, I
do not want them to be too familiar, as children, with the words of
Christ, because I am sure that it is a fact that, for many people,
a mechanical familiarity with the Gospel language simply blurs and
weakens the marvellous significance and beauty of the thought. It
becomes so crystallised that they cannot penetrate it. I have
treated some parts of the Gospel after the fashion of
Philochristus, telling them a story, as though seen by some earnest
spectator. I find that they take the deepest interest in these
stories, and that the figure of Christ is very real and august to
them. But I teach them no doctrine except the very simplest--the
Fatherhood of God, the Divinity of Christ, the indwelling voice of
the Spirit; and I am sure that religion is a pure, sweet, vital
force in their lives, not a harsh thing, a question of sin and
punishment, but a matter of Love, Strength, Forgiveness, Holiness.
The one thing I try to show them is that God was not, as I used to
think, the property, so to speak, of the Jews; but that He is
behind and above every race and nation, slowly leading them to the
light. The two things I will not allow them to think of are the
Doctrines of the Fall and the Atonement; the doctrine of the Fall
is contrary to all true knowledge, the doctrine of the Atonement is
inconsistent with every idea of justice. But it is a difficult
matter. They will hear sermons, and Alec, at school, may have
dogmatic instruction given him; but I shall prepare him for
Confirmation here, and have him confirmed at home, and thus the
main difficulty will be avoided; neither do I conceal from them
that good people think very differently on these points. It is
curious to remember that, brought up as I was on strict Evangelical
lines, I was early inculcated into the sin of schism, with the