it were true. But what if it were not? He thought much of the marvellous career of Loyola, the man who underpinned the tottering foundations of the Catholic Church, and re-established them upon the rock of St. Peter, which had been shaken by the spiritual dynamite of the Reformation. There was a work worthy the best man’s life. But nowadays who could believe in the Roman, or even in the Christian, creed?[1] Every day some explorer dug up in Palestine some old inscription which made havoc with a Bible text—a conclusion which the reports of the Palestine Exploration Fund certainly do not bear out, but that need not be discussed here. Mr. Rhodes was a Darwinian rather than a Christian. He knew there was no Hell. How could he devote himself to the service of the
- ↑ Mr. Rhodes, in laying the foundation stone of a Presbyterian chapel at Woodstock, near Cape Town, in 1900, expressed himself as follows:—“You have asked me to come here because you recognise that my life has been work. Of course I must say frankly that I do not happen to belong to your particular sect in religion. We all have many ideals, but I may say that when we come abroad we all broaden. We broaden immensely, and especially in this spot, because we are always looking on that mountain, and there is immense breadth in it. That gives us, while we retain our individual dogmas, immense breadth of feeling and consideration for all those who are striving to do good work, and perhaps improve the condition of humanity in general. . . . The fact is, if I may take you into my confidence, that I do not care to go to a particular church even on one day in the year when I use my own chapel at all other times. I find that up the mountain one gets thoughts, what you might term religious thoughts, because they are thoughts for the betterment of humanity, and I believe that is the best description of religion, to work for the betterment of the human beings who surround us. This stone I have laid will subsequently represent a building, and in that building thoughts will be given to the people with the intention of raising their minds and making them better citizens. That is the intention of the laying of this stone. I will challenge any man or any woman, however broad their ideas may be, who object to go to church or chapel, to say they would not sometimes be better for an hour or an hour and a half in church. I believe they would get there some ideas conveyed to them that would make them better human beings. There are those who, throughout the world, have set themselves the task of elevating their fellow-beings, and have abandoned personal ambition, the accumulation of wealth, perhaps the pursuit of art, and many of those things that are deemed most valuable. What is left to them? They have chosen to do what? To devote their whole mind to make other human beings better, braver, kindlier, more thoughtful, and more unselfish, for which they deserve the praise of all men.”
