himself did. The profession of a recognition of good in all religions went hand in hand with the recognition of their imperfection, and a doubt as to how far they were not so much alike sharing in truth as alike mingled with error. This attitude is illustrated by Lessing's famous fable of the three rings, which is perhaps the most quoted passage in "Nathan the Wise." None but the father can tell the true ring from the counterfeits which he has had made; the sons must therefore each treat the others as in the same position as himself. No one creed can claim to [p.3] itself a pre-eminence over the others, none but God can distinguish the true from the false. The lesson of tolerance which Lessing taught in his drama was one of which our age, as well as his own, has need, but if we are only to view all forms of faith with respect because we are conscious of the difficulty of discerning the true from the false, we have reached a position which may indeed promote friendly relationships in the ordinary intercourse of life, but which cannot in the end be satisfactory either to ourselves or to others. Tolerance founded upon doubt can never be an inspiring virtue. Is it not possible for us, however, since we realise this, to take a further step? We need to feel, not the imperfections of all the varying creeds, religions and irreligions, but the inherent strength of each, and from a consciousness of this to rise to some dim realization of the golden thread of truth which runs through all sincere faiths, however degraded or erroneous they may at first sight appear to be. In the eighteenth century there swept over Europe a wave of new thought, which liberated men's minds from old superstitions and the narrowness of former dogmatism, and produced a sort of freemasonry of new ideas between men whose national religious and political upbringing had been wholly different. But this wave of liberal thought failed to produce a permanent sense of unity; in due time came a counter-movement when men [p.4] turned from the generalisations and the vague optimism of these syncretist philosophers. The attacks which the sceptical critics had levelled on the older creeds were too negative in character: content to find out the weakness of their opponents' position and to expose it to contempt and ridicule, they had failed to realise the strength which lay deeper than the intellectual interpretations of belief which they had assailed.