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despotism, with its accompanying delights of excessive
taxation, police supervision, forced military service, landlordism,
established ecclesiasticism, &c. Yet some people do not know
when they are well off. From that day the happiness and
prosperity of the colonists has become a thing of the past.
The question has often been put by prominent religious people
in England, “But is Tolstoi a Christian?” Well, that depends
entirely on your conception of what a Christian is. If it is a
matter of creed or ritual, no doubt Tolstoi would have to be
rejected by most of the divisions into which nominal Christians
have fallen. Tested by the standard of the Greek Church, he
is not, for he has no belief in the validity of their ecclesiastical
traditions, the powers of the priests, the efficacy of their
pardons, the utility of saint worship, &c. Or by the Romish
test, he thinks nothing of the infallibility of the Pope, the
Immaculate Conception, the power of priestly absolution, of
ecclesiastical bannings or blessings. He is outside the Anglican
fold, for he has no faith in “orders,” or in the apostolical
succession. “Evangelicals,” so called, cannot claim him as
one of them, for he does not accept their theories about
the inspiration of the Bible or the exact relations of the
Persons of the Trinity, or their favourite explanation of
Christ’s work of salvation. What is left of the Christian
faith, you ask ?
Tolstoi is not so much concerned with beliefs about, as faith
in, God and Jesus Christ. He believes in God as a child
believes in his father. That is, he trusts His wisdom and His
love, although he feels unable to give metaphysical definitions
of these attributes, and precise explanations of the manner in
which they work. To him God expresses all that is good,
noble, true, pure, and beautiful. He believes in Jesus Christ
as the Leader of men through the difficulties and perplexities
of this world, as the Deliverer from what is really evil, as the
Way of Life. He tries to follow Him, to obey His commands,
that his own life may grow, and his faculties be developed to a
fuller understanding of the truth.
This may be wofully insufficient, according to the views of
those who themselves think they possess clear and true
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