erd, looking at the girl who stood as a
living protest against all that hampers the expansion of the human
mind; that quenches its note of joy, and dulls its enlarging and ever
nobler concept of God. "Now I want to know, first, if there is a God;
and, if so, what He is, and what His relation is to me. I want to know
what I am, and why I am here, and what future I may look forward to,
if any. I don't care two raps about a God who can't help me here on
earth, who can't set me right and make me happy--cure my ills, meet my
needs, and supply a few of the luxuries as well. And if there is a
God, and we can meet Him only by dying, then why in the name of common
sense all this hullabaloo about death? Why, in that case, death is the
grandest thing in life! And I'm for committing suicide right away! But
you preacher fellows fight death tooth and nail. You're scared stiff
when you contemplate it. You make Christianity just a grand
preparation for death. Yet it isn't the gateway to life to you, and
you know it! Then why, if you are honest, do you tell such rubbish to
your trusting followers?"

"I would remind you," returned Hitt with a little laugh, "that I
don't, now."

"Well, friends," interposed Father Waite, "it is to take up for
earnest consideration just such questions as Mr. Haynerd propounds,
that I have my suggestion to make, namely, that we meet together once
or twice a week, or as often as we may agree upon, to search for--"
his voice dropped to a whisper--"to search for God, and with this
young girl as our guide. For I believe she is very close to Him. The
world knows God only by hearsay. Carmen has _proved_ Him.

"Men ask why it is," he went on, "that God remains hidden from them;
why they can not understand Him. They forget that Jesus revealed God
as Love. And, if that is so, in order to know Him all mankind must
love their fellow-men. But they go right on hating one another,
cheating, abusing, robbing, slaying, persecuting, and still wondering
why they don't know God, regardless of the only possible way of ever
working out from the evils by which they are beset, if we believe that
Jesus told the truth, or was correctly reported." He paused and
reflected for a moment. Then:

"The ancient prophet said: 'Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye
shall search for me with all your hearts.' It is my proposal that we
bind ourselves together in such a search. To it we can bring diverse
talents. To our vast combined worldl