ning, now dew and rustling leaves. Yet must the preacher have the thought of his day before he can be its voice. None have it yet; but some of our friends, perhaps, are nearer than the religious world at large, because neither ready to dogmatize, as if they had got it, nor content to stop short with mere impressions and presumptuous hopes. I feel that a great truth is coming. Sometimes it seems as if we should have it among us in a day. Many steps of the Temple have been ascended, steps of purest alabaster, and of shining jasper, also of rough-brick, and slippery moss-grown stone. We shall reach what we long for, since we trust and do not fear, for our God knows not fear, only reverence, and his plan is All in All.’
‘Who can expect to utter an absolutely pure and clear
tone on these high subjects? Our earthly atmosphere
is too gross to permit it. Yet, a severe statement has
rather an undue charm for me, as I have a nature of
great emotion, which loves free abandonment. I am
ready to welcome a descending Moses, come to turn all
men from idolatries. For my priests have been very
generally of the Pagan greatness, revering nature and
seeking excellence, but in the path of progress, not of
renunciation. The lyric inspirations of the poet come
very differently on the ear from the “still, small voice.”
They are, in fact, all one revelation; but one must be
at the centre to interpret it. To that centre I have
again and again been drawn, but my large natural
life has been, as yet, but partially transfused with
spiritual consciousness. I shun a premature narrowness,
and bide my time. But I am drawn to look at
natures who take a different way, because they seem
