ave me the best
recipe for faith in God, Christ, and Immortality I have ever heard:

"Just believe," said he; "don't argue about it; don't question it;
simply say, 'I believe.' Next day you will find yourself believing a
little less feebly, and finally your faith will be absolute, certain,
and established."

And why not--you of the schools who split hairs and dispute and come
to nothing in the end, and whose knowledge, after all, as Savonarola
so well said, comes to nothing--why not? For if you cannot _prove_ God
and Christ and Immortality, it is very sure you cannot _disprove_
them; and it is safe--yes, and splendid--to believe in these three
marvelous realities; or conceptions, if you like that word better.

The doctrine of _noblesse oblige_ was one of the most beautiful of
human conventions. It was based upon the proposition that a man being
noble and the son of a nobleman could not do a mean thing--it was not
good form.

But if a man gets it into his consciousness that he is the child, not
of a nobleman, not of an earthly ruler, not of a great statesman,
warrior, scientist, or financier, _but of the living God_ who
presides over the universe, how large, how generous, how exalted, and
how fine his attitude toward life and all his conduct needs must be.

Savonarola was not alone in the vast crowds he drew by the simple
method he followed. He was not original in that method either. Do we
not read that when "Philip went down to the city of Samaria and
_preached Christ_ unto them, the people ... _gave heed_ unto those
things which Philip spake."

Of course they gave heed, just as they did to Savonarola. Recall the
expression of the old journalist at the beginning of this paper. He
would never have been bored by Philip or by the Lombard priest.

Paul got the attention even of the _blase_ Athenians, who would not
listen to anybody or anything very long, "because he preached unto
them of Jesus and the resurrection."

And you will remember the Master's experience at Capernaum: "And
straightway many were gathered together, _insomuch that there was no
room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door_: and he
PREACHED THE WORD unto them."

That reads a good deal like the description of Savonarola's
congregations, or of Wesley's, or of the young revivalist in Wales.
No difficulty about _their_ audiences--or congregations, if you insist
on being technical.

Of course, everybody understands that preaching and f