But the case is more curious still.  To connect the Dean with Confucian temples or traditions may have appeared fantastic; but it is not.  Dr. Inge is not a stupid old Tory Rector, strict both on Church and State.  Such a man might talk nonsense about the Christian Socialists being “court chaplains of King Demos” or about his own superb valour in defying the democracy that rages in the front pews of Anglican churches.  We should not expect a mere old-fashioned country clergyman to know that Demos has never been king in England and precious seldom anywhere else; we should not expect him to realise that if King Demos had any chaplains they would be uncommonly poorly paid.  But Dr. Inge is not old-fashioned; he considers himself highly progressive and advanced.  He is a New Theologian; that is, he is liberal in theology—­and nothing else.  He is apparently in sober fact, and not as in any fantasy, in sympathy with those who would soften the superior claim of our creed by urging the rival creeds of the East; with those who would absorb the virtues of Buddhism or of Islam.  He holds a high seat in that modern Parliament of Religions where all believers respect each other’s unbelief.

Now this has a very sharp moral for modern religious reformers.  When next you hear the “liberal” Christian say that we should take what is best in Oriental faiths, make quite sure what are the things that people like Dr. Inge call best; what are the things that people like Dr. Inge propose to take.  You will not find them imitating the military valour of the Moslem.  You will not find them imitating the miraculous ecstasy of the Hindoo.  The more you study the “broad” movement of today, the more you will find that these people want something much less like Chinese metaphysics, and something much more like Chinese Labour.  You will find the levelling of creeds quite unexpectedly close to the lowering of wages.  Dr. Inge is the typical latitudinarian of to-day; and was never more so than when he appeared not as the apostle of the blacks, but as the apostle of the blacklegs.  Preached, as it is, almost entirely among the prosperous and polite, our brotherhood with Buddhism or Mohammedanism practically means this—­that the poor must be as meek as Buddhists, while the rich may be as ruthless as Mohammedans.  That is what they call the reunion of all religions.

THE ROMANTIC IN THE RAIN

The middle classes of modern England are quite fanatically fond of washing; and are often enthusiastic for teetotalism.  I cannot therefore comprehend why it is that they exhibit a mysterious dislike of rain.  Rain, that inspiring and delightful thing, surely combines the qualities of these two ideals with quite a curious perfection.  Our philanthropists are eager to establish public baths everywhere.  Rain surely is a public bath; it might almost be called mixed bathing.  The appearance of persons coming fresh