Page:The kernel and the husk (Abbott, 1886).djvu/113

Rh X

——,

I see you are still violently prejudiced against illusions, that is to say against recognising the very important part which they have played in the spiritual development of mankind. You clearly believe that, though the world may be full of illusions, Revelation ought to be free from them. "The Word of God," you say, "ought to dispel illusions, not to add to them." I maintain on the contrary, that the Word of God, if it comes to earth, must needs come in earthen vessels; and that the most divine truth must needs be contained in illusion. Let illusions then be the subject of my present letter. At the same time I shall attempt to answer your prejudice against the natural worship of Christ as being a "new religion". Not of course that I admit that it is a "new religion"; on the contrary I regard it as the old religion, the predestined God-determined religion to which we are to return after extricating ourselves from the corruptions of Protestantism, as our forefathers extricated themselves from the corruptions of Romanism. I shall not deal here with the special illusions of Christianity, but with your evident a priori prejudice against any admixture of illusion with Revelation.

But first, what do I mean by "illusion," and how does my meaning differ from "error" or "mistake" generally, and from “fallacy," "delusion," and "hallucination" in particular? I say "my meaning," because the word is