Next followed in Europe the great Christian faith, which was essentially the religion of Comfort.  Its great doctrine is the remission of sins; for which cause, it happens, too often, in certain phases of Christianity, that sin and sickness themselves are partly glorified, as if, the more you had to be healed of, the more divine was the healing.  The practical result of this doctrine, in art, is a continual contemplation of sin and disease, and of imaginary states of purification from them; thus we have an architecture conceived in a mingled sentiment of melancholy and aspiration, partly severe, partly luxuriant, which will bend itself to every one of our needs, and every one of our fancies, and be strong or weak with us, as we are strong or weak ourselves.  It is, of all architecture, the basest, when base people build it—­of all, the noblest, when built by the noble.

And now note that both these religions—­Greek and Mediaeval—­perished by falsehood in their own main purpose.  The Greek religion of Wisdom perished in a false philosophy—­“Oppositions of science, falsely so called.”  The Mediaeval religion of Consolation perished in false comfort; in remission of sins given lyingly.  It was the selling of absolution that ended the Mediaeval faith; and I can tell you more, it is the selling of absolution which, to the end of time, will mark false Christianity.  Pure Christianity gives her remission of sins only by ending them; but false Christianity gets her remission of sins by compounding for them.  And there are many ways of compounding for them.  We English have beautiful little quiet ways of buying absolution, whether in low Church or high, far more cunning than any of Tetzel’s trading.[215]

Then, thirdly, there followed the religion of Pleasure, in which all Europe gave itself to luxury, ending in death.  First, bals masques in every saloon, and then guillotines in every square.  And all these three worships issue in vast temple building.  Your Greek worshipped Wisdom, and built you the Parthenon—­the Virgin’s temple.  The Mediaeval worshipped Consolation, and built you Virgin temples also—­but to our Lady of Salvation.  Then the Revivalist worshipped beauty, of a sort, and built you Versailles and the Vatican.  Now, lastly, will you tell me what we worship, and what we build?

You know we are speaking always of the real, active, continual, national worship; that by which men act, while they live; not that which they talk of, when they die.  Now, we have, indeed, a nominal religion, to which we pay tithes of property and sevenths of time; but we have also a practical and earnest religion, to which we devote nine-tenths of our property and sixth-sevenths of our time.  And we dispute a great deal about the nominal religion:  but we are all unanimous about this practical one; of which I think you will admit that the ruling goddess may be best generally described as the “Goddess