“That is one step; you have taken that; I have taken another, and see that the drama is as much a part of God’s method of elevating mankind as flowers and music.  Ere long you will see it as I do.  The church of the present day is too cold for me; it does not call forth the deep sentiment of my being, therefore I come near to God through Nature.  When the church is divested of theology, and has enshrined the beautiful within its walls, I shall be happy to be among those who ‘assemble,’ for all need the magnetic life of assemblies to complete the cycle of their existence.  I do not like a fractional life, one which seizes some parts and discards others.  In the present age of transition, the best minds are thrown out of the sanctuary, waiting for the perfect temple, where they can worship in fulness of soul and purpose.”

“Yet all are better for the assembling, are they not, even in its imperfect state, as you term it?”

“It is well and good for all, but not so essential to some as to others.  Some natures are so alive to sentiment and life, so infused with religious thought, that they live deeper and more prayerful, more Godly in one hour, than others do in a hundred years.  Every emotion reveals to such the presence of the Deity.  To them each hour is one of worship, and every object a shrine.  No words of man can quicken their feeling to a brighter flame, for such commune with God.  The dew and the flower, speak unto them of their father’s protecting care.  The manifestations of their daily lives, replete with heavenly indications, tell that God is nigh.  ’Day unto day uttereth speech,’ and to such all hours are holy.  The heart which is attuned to life, is full of worship.  Every manifestation, whether of joy or woe, brings God near; and the world becomes the temple.  Religion should come through life and be lived.  It is in the dress, in the kitchen, in the parlor, in books, in theatres, in fact in all forms of life.  Theology is dead to the people.  They want the living, vital present, with no dogmas nor sectarian limitations to keep their souls from growing.”

The pastor felt the force of Hugh’s remarks, and the weakness of any argument he might bring to bear against them.  The truth kept pressing upon his mind, and he felt that he might be obliged to relinquish his long-cherished opinions.

Thus we lose, day by day, one opinion after another.  They wear away, and we lay them aside like worn garments that have served their purpose.  The greatest error of the past has been the belief that opinions and surroundings must be continuous and unchanging.  When we look to Nature we learn a different lesson.  She is ever changing and reproducing.  The world’s opinion holds too many back.  One dare not go forward and live out his or her life, for fear of a neighbor or friend, and in this way is retarded the full flow of inspiration to all.  Strength in one, is strength in many; and he who dares to strike