The answer to this question is, I think, that though Protestantism has fought a good fight for the _principle_ of freedom, it has failed--for many reasons, the chief of which is that it began its work before men were ripe for freedom--to lead its votaries into the path of spiritual life and growth.

Confronted by the uncompromising dogmatism of Rome, it had to devise a counter dogmatism of its own in order to rally round it the faint-hearted who, though eager to absolve themselves from obedience to the despotism of the Church, yet feared to walk by their own "inward light." In making this move, which was not the less false because it was in a sense inevitable, Protestantism may be said to have renounced its mission.

That it has done much, in various ways, for human progress is undeniable; but the fact remains that it has failed to revitalise Christianity.

Its master-stroke in its struggle with priestcraft--the substitution of "faith" for "works" as the basis of salvation--has done little or nothing to relieve the West from the deadly pressure of Israel's philosophy.

For faith, as Protestantism understands the word, is the movement of the soul, not towards the ideal end of its being but towards an alleged supernatural transaction,--the redemption of the world by the death of Christ on the Cross.