shone
before men that they had glorified the Father which was in heaven; the
current of whose Power had so radiated, in ever widening circles, as to
make incandescent countless other souls.

And which among them would declare that Abraham Lincoln, like Stephen,
had not seen his Master in the sky?

The true prophet, the true apostle, then, was one inspired and directed
by the Spirit, the laying on of hands was but a symbol,--the symbol of
the sublime truth that one personality caught fire from another. Let the
Church hold fast to that symbol, as an acknowledgment, a reminder of
a supreme mystery. Tradition had its value when it did not deteriorate
into superstition, into the mechanical, automatic transmission
characteristic of the mediaeval Church, for the very suggestion of which
Peter had rebuked Simon in Samaria. For it would be remembered that
Simon had said: "Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay
hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost."

The true successor to the Apostles must be an Apostle himself.

Jesus had seldom spoken literally, and the truths he sought to
impress upon the world had of necessity been clothed in figures and
symbols,--for spiritual truths might be conveyed in no other way. The
supreme proof of his Godship, of his complete knowledge of the meaning
of life was to be found in his parables. To the literal, material mind,
for example, the parable of the talents was merely an unintelligible
case of injustice.... What was meant by the talents? They were
opportunities for service. Experience taught us that when we embraced
one opportunity, one responsibility, the acceptance of it invariably led
to another, and so the servant who had five talents, five opportunities,
gained ten. The servant who had two gained two more. But the servant of
whom only one little service was asked refused that, and was cast into
outer darkness, to witness another performing the task which should
have been his. Hell, here and hereafter, was the spectacle of wasted
opportunity, and there is no suffering to compare to it.

The crime, the cardinal sin was with those who refused to serve, who
shut their eyes to the ideal their Lord had held up, who strove to
compromise with Jesus Christ himself, to twist and torture his message
to suit their own notions as to how life should be led; to please God
and Mammon at the same time, to bind Christ's Church for their comfort
and selfish convenience. Of them it was written, t