Never was the
need of religion more keenly felt by the world than it is to-day; and
that is why mankind are willing to accept any religious belief,
however eccentric, that comes in the guise of truth and bearing the
promise of surcease from sin, sickness, and sorrow here this side of
the grave. The world was never so hungry for religious truth; and this
fact is a perpetual challenge to the Church. There is a tremendous
world-yearning to know and to do better. And what is its cause? I
answer, a growing appreciation of the idea that 'the kingdom of
harmony is within you.'"

"Jesus said that," murmured Carmen, looking up.

"He but amplified and gave form to the great fact that there was
an influence for better things always existent in the ancient Jews,
that 'something not ourselves,' if you will, 'that makes for
righteousness.' And he showed that that influence could be outwardly
externalized in freedom from the ills which beset humanity."

"Very good," put in Haynerd. "And then, what?"

"That 'something not ourselves' is the germ of the true idea of God,"
answered Hitt.

"Which makes God--?"

"Wholly mental."

"Spirit?"

"Mind," offered Carmen.

"The terms are synonymous," said Hitt. "And now let me conclude with a
final observation. Mankind's beliefs are in a whirl. Ecclesiasticism
is dying. Orthodoxy and conservatism are hanging desperately to the
world's flying skirts, but they will eventually drop off. No change in
thought has been greater than that concerning God. The absentee Lord
who started the universe and then withdrew has gone to the scrap heap,
with the ridiculous views of predestination and infant damnation. The
idea of a God who at divers times interfered with His creation and
temporarily set aside His own laws to convince puny man of His
greatness, is likewise obsolescent. The world is slowly growing into a
conception of a creator, of some kind, but at least mental, and
universally present. Nay, more, available for all our problems and
needs. And the end will be the adoption of that conception, enlarged
and purified still further, and taken into the minutest affairs of our
daily life--as this girl has done. The day of patient suffering in
this world, under the spell of a promise of compensating reward in the
heavenly future, has all but passed. We are gradually becoming
conscious of the stupendous fact that the kingdom of all harmony,
immortality, and good, is _right here within us_--and ther