At first he
used to do all the thinking, but I think I am pretty well abreast of
him now, and rather chuckle at seeing that he is already beginning
to modify some of the views he held most strongly when I first knew
him.
"Then I think he was on the high road to Rome; now, however, he
seems to be a good deal struck with a suggestion of mine in which you,
too, perhaps may be interested. You see we must infuse new life into
the Church somehow; we are not holding our own against either Rome
or infidelity." (I may say in passing that I do not believe Ernest had
as yet ever seen an infidel- not to speak to.) "I proposed, therefore,
a few days back to Pryer- and he fell in eagerly with the proposal
as soon as he saw that I had the means of carrying it out- that we
should set on foot a spiritual movement somewhat analogous to the
Young England movement of twenty years ago, the aim of which shall
be at once to outbid Rome on the one hand, and scepticism on the
other. For this purpose I see nothing better than the foundation of an
institution or college for placing the nature and treatment of sin
on a more scientific basis than it rests at present. We want- to
borrow a useful term of Pryer's - a College of Spiritual Pathology
where young men" (I suppose Ernest thought he was no longer young by
this time) "may study the nature and treatment of the sins of the soul
as medical students study those of the bodies of their patients.
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