ts liberty to
a spiritual dictatorship which always proves to rest, in the last
analysis, on a majority vote, nothing more nor less, commonly an old
one, passed in those barbarous times when men cursed and murdered each
other for differences of opinion, and of course were not in a condition
to settle the beliefs of a comparatively civilized community.

In our disgust, we are liable to be intolerant. We forget that weakness
is not in itself a sin. We forget that even cowardice may call for our
most lenient judgment, if it spring from innate infirmity, Who of us
does not look with great tenderness on the young chieftain in the "Fair
Maid of Perth," when he confesses his want of courage? All of us love
companionship and sympathy; some of us may love them too much. All of us
are more or less imaginative in our theology.

Some of us may find the aid of material symbols a comfort, if not a
necessity. The boldest thinker may have his moments of languor and
discouragement, when he feels as if he could willingly exchange faiths
with the old beldame crossing herself at the cathedral-door,--nay, that,
if he could drop all coherent thought, and lie in the flowery meadow
with the brown-eyed solemnly unthinking cattle, looking up to the sky,
and all their simple consciousness staining itself blue, then down to
the grass, and life turning to a mere greenness, blended with confused
scents of herbs,--no individual mind-movement such as men are teased
with, but the great calm cattle-sense of all time and all places that
know the milky smell of herds,--if he could be like these, he would be
content to be driven home by the cow-boy, and share the grassy banquet
of the king of ancient Babylon. Let us be very generous, then, in our
judgment of those who leave the front ranks of thought for the company
of the meek non-combatants who follow with the baggage and provisions.
Age, illness, too much wear and tear, a half-formed paralysis, may bring
any of us to this pass. But while we can think and maintain the rights
of our own individuality against every human combination, let us
not forget to caution all who are disposed to waver that there is a
cowardice which is criminal, and a longing for rest which it is baseness
to indulge. God help him, over whose dead soul in his living body must
be uttered the sad supplication, Requiescat in pace!

A knock at the Reverend Mr. Fairweather's study door called his eyes
from the book on which they were in