Page:Eminent English liberals in and out of Parliament.djvu/193

 II

ROBERT WILLIAM DALE.

ADICALISM is like a great world-haven which many ships reach by divers ocean-tracks. It is a generous fruit which grows on trees of many species. The editor of "The Fortnightly," about whom I had somewhat to say in the preceding article, and the lion-hearted pastor of Carr's-lane Chapel, Birmingham,—what a contrast! How far apart their motives! how closely allied their public aims! The earnest "rationalist" and the earnest religionist are sworn brothers in political conflict,—the one, because, like Abou Ben Adhem, he is content to be written down simply "as one that loves his fellow-men;" the other, because he is penetrated by the apostolic conception that he is a "co-worker" with his Divine Master in the sacred cause of humanity.

Mr. Dale is a political Christian, a sort of spiritual utilitarian of a remarkable type,—the best living embodiment of the traditions of the sect to which Oliver Cromwell belonged; not orthodox certainly, as the Scribes and Pharisees hold orthodoxy, but still, for so powerful an intellect, strangely orthodox. 179