MR. LESLIE STEPHEN ON CHRISTIANITY.
Ito THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Will you allow me a word of explanation in reference ttt, your criticism of my essays ? A reader of your article would, I think, infer that whilst ostensibly " hyper-candid" towardtg. Broad Churchmen, I covertly insinuate suspicions of theif- honesty. I make no such insinuation, though, of course, I hold,. and mean distinctly to intimate my opinion, that it is becoming increasingly difficult for honest men to adopt the Broad-Church theories.
I say that no reasonably candid person doubts that many members of the Broad-Church party are " as honourable, in every sense of the word, as men can be." I say also that "the prac- tical tendency of Broad-Church teaching is not, as formerly, te, convince young men that it is possible to be at once rational and Christian, but to convince them that it is possible to be at once rational and clergymen." How can I reconcile these statements?' How is it possible that an honest man should put forward, in good. faith, doctrines which seem to his hearer:I to sanction quibbling and equivocation, or that what is in one luau's mouth an honed concession to argument becomes with another an expedient for dexterously evading argument? If my critic cannot answer these questions, I fear that I cannot help him. I can only say that unlesa my experience be singularly fallacious, the possibility of such a rela- tion between the teachers and the taught might be very fully illustrated from the history of the Broad-Church party.
I can leave criticisms of a different kind to the judgment of my readers with perfect equanimity. But I cannot pass over without a protest a suggestion that I deal in under-hand imputations. When I want to accuse Broad Churchmen or anybody else of dishonesty, I will do my best to render my meaning unmistakable.
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