ect man
that the world had seen and humanity's greatest moral teacher.

"Third, Do you believe that when you die you will live again as a
conscious intelligence, knowing who you are and who other people are?"

Again, not one answer was unconditionally affirmative. "Of course they
were not sure as a matter of knowledge." "Of course that could not be
_known_ positively." "On the whole, they were inclined to think so,
but there were very stubborn, objections," and so forth and so on.

The men to whom these questions were put were particularly high-grade
ministers. One of them had already won a distinguished reputation in
New York and the New England states for his eloquence and piety. Every
one of them had had unusual successes with fashionable congregations.

But every one of them had noted an absence of real influence upon the
_hearts_ of their hearers and all thought that this same condition is
spreading throughout the modern pulpit.

Yet not one of them suspected that the profound cause of what they
called "the decay of faith" was, not in the world of men and women,
but in themselves. How could such priests of ice warm the souls of
men? How could such apostles of interrogation convert a world?

These were not examples, however; they were exceptions. Most preachers
believe that they actually know the truths they teach. By and large,
the twentieth century Christian ministry is sound and sure. The
missionary fire still burns in consecrated breasts.

And that is a lucky thing for the Christian world. We Westerners--we
of America and Europe--would go all to pieces otherwise. You see we
Occidentals have not eons of fatalistic paganism to fall back on as
have the sons of the East. They endure without our religion. But
we--what would happen to us if Christianity did not unite, purify, and
exalt us.

From the view-point of the layman then, yes and even far more from
your own view-point, be sure of your faith, preparer for the pulpit.
Faith is only another word for power.

We see it in the small things of life. Note the influence on his
fellow citizens of a man who asserts something positively and heartily
believes what he asserts, even though that thing be untrue and unwise.

We see it in the great things of history. Witness the inferior
mentality but the burning ardor of a Peter the Hermit, moving all
Europe to the most extraordinary war the world has seen. Consider
Napoleon crossing the Alps--an achievement all men