It is tempting to dream of a new Renaissance, under which the life of reason will at last be the life of mankind.  Though there is little sign of improvement in human nature, a favourable conjunction of circumstances may bring about a civilisation very much better than ours to-day.  For a time, at any rate, war may be practically abolished, and the military qualities may find another and a less pernicious outlet.  ‘Sport,’ as Santayana says, ’is a liberal form of war stripped of its compulsions and malignity; a rational art and the expression of a civilised instinct.’  The art of living may be taken in hand seriously.  Some of the ingenuity which has lately been lavished on engines of destruction may be devoted to improvements in our houses, which should be easily and cheaply put together and able to be carried about in sections; on labour-saving devices which would make servants unnecessary; and on international campaigns against diseases, some of the worst of which could be extinguished for ever by twenty years of concerted effort.  A scientific civilisation is not impossible, though we are not likely to live to see it.  And, if science and humanism can work together, it will be a great age for mankind.  Such hopes as these must be allowed to float before our minds:  they are not unreasonable, and they will help us to get through the twentieth century, which is not likely to be a pleasant time to live in.

Some writers, like Mr. H.G.  Wells, recognising the danger which threatens civilisation, have suggested the formation of a society for mutual encouragement in the higher life.  Mr. Wells developed this idea in his ‘Modern Utopia.’  He contemplated a brotherhood, like the Japanese Samurai, living by a Rule, a kind of lay monastic order, who should endeavour to live in a perfectly rational and wholesome manner, so as to be the nucleus of whatever was best in the society of the time.  The scheme is interesting to a Platonist, because of its resemblance to the Order of Guardians in the ‘Republic.’  A very good case may be made out for having an ascetic Order of moral and physical aristocrats, and entrusting them with the government of the country.  Plato forbade his guardians to own wealth, and thus secured an uncorrupt administration, one of the rarest and best of virtues in a government.  But political events are not moving in this direction at present; and the question for us is whether those who believe in science and humanism should attempt to form a society, not to rule the country, but to protect themselves and the ideas which they wish to preserve.  But I agree with Mr. Wells’ second thoughts, that the time is not ripe for such a scheme.[7] Christianity, ‘the greatest new beginning in the world’s history,’ appeared, as he says, in an age of disintegration, and ’we are in a synthetic rather than a disintegrating phase.... Only a very vast and terrible war-explosion can, I think, change this state of affairs.’ The vast explosion has