FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86  
87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   >>   >|  
f charm of character. There was not, as he anticipated, coarse, crass assertiveness--a semi-cultured man whose narrow creed joined hands with barren intelligence. Far otherwise; he stood before one whose presence commanded reverence, one at whose feet he felt he must bow. Mr. Morell was tall and erect, with a fine Greek head whose crown of snowy hair lent dignity to a face sunny with the light of kindness, while every line of expression, those soul-inscriptions written by the years on the plastic flesh, told of thought and culture. The accent, too, was finished, and every gesture betrayed refinement and ease. At first the conversation was restrained, for both men instinctively felt that between them lay a gulf which it would be difficult to bridge; but, as Dr. Hale played well the part of middleman, the ministers were drawn out towards each other, and in a little while struck mutual chords in one another's hearts. During the morning the two men talked of art, of philosophy, and of history, the discussion of these calling out a light of intelligence and rapture on the old man's face. When, however, the graver questions of theology were broached, his voice became hard and inflexible, a shadow fell, and the radiancy of the man and scholar became lost in the gloom of the divine. Whenever Mr. Penrose ventured to hint on some phase of the broader theology, the old man was provoked to impatience; and when he went so far as to quote Browning, and declare that-- 'The loving worm within its clod Were diviner than a loveless god Amid his worlds,' a gleam of fire shot from the mild eye of Mr. Morell, significant as a storm-signal across a sea of glass. The younger man was often taken at disadvantage, for, while he was in touch with modern thought, he did not possess the old dialectician's skill. Once, as Mr. Penrose remarked that science was modifying theology, Mr. Morell, detecting the flaw in his armour, thrust in his lance to the hilt by replying that science and Calvinism were logically the same, with the exception that, for heredity and environment, the Calvinist introduced grace. Whereupon Mr. Penrose cried with some vehemence: 'No, no, Mr. Morell! that will not do. I cannot accept your statement at all.' 'Can't you?' said the old man, rising from his chair, the war spirit hardening his voice and flaming in his eye. 'Can't you? What says science of the first hundred men which will pas
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86  
87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Morell

 
Penrose
 

science

 

theology

 

thought

 

intelligence

 

diviner

 

worlds

 
loveless
 

significant


signal

 

Whenever

 

divine

 

ventured

 

shadow

 
radiancy
 

scholar

 

broader

 
provoked
 

loving


declare

 

Browning

 

impatience

 

accept

 
vehemence
 

introduced

 

Calvinist

 

Whereupon

 

statement

 

flaming


hundred

 

hardening

 
spirit
 
rising
 

environment

 

heredity

 

modern

 

possess

 

dialectician

 

disadvantage


younger

 
inflexible
 

remarked

 

Calvinism

 

replying

 

logically

 

exception

 

detecting

 
modifying
 
armour