but in the desire of all around to see that he is happy. The only cement of society is mutual love. Without this it rapidly dissolves into a number of antagonistic fragments, each striving for its own satisfaction at the expense of its neighbours (cf Isaiah 32:17, 18).

The final ground of all real happiness, however, does not rest simply on the love of others for oneself; but in the settled conviction that God is love. As an historical fact it has been very difficult for man to believe this. One has only to look at the images of gods in heathen temples, e.g. in India or China, or read the stories of the gods in heathen books; nay, one need not go as far away as that, one has only to study the beliefs about God held in the various Christian sects to realise that in actual fact men have found it impossible to believe that God is even just, let alone loving, but have readily accepted the Satanic suggestion that He is cruel and not to be trusted! Christians have been able to believe that God will send an unbaptised baby, whose only misfortune has been to be born, to everlasting punishment; that God has elected men to eternal life or eternal damnation without any reference to the condition of their souls; that God is perfectly content to let men suffer from the most fearful diseases without any desire to deliver them, in spite of the words and acts of His Son and His Apostles; or that God has condemned the whole human race for what one man, of whom the vast majority has never even heard, did! Many, many Christians would feel that it was right to say that God created the world for His own glory and pleasure! But to believe that God is love, and thus absolutely unselfish, that He has never done anything to please Himself, is fond of us personally, and longs to make us full of joy and happiness and peace, if we will only hand our lives over to Him—no, that we cannot believe. Yet this warm-hearted unselfishness,