g away; but true thoughts
and pure love are immortal, and whatever opinions as to other things a
man may hold, all know that to be human is to be intelligent and moral,
and therefore religious. A hundred years hence our present machinery may
seem to be as rude as the implements of the middle age look to us, and
our political and social organization may appear barbarous,--so rapid
has the movement of life become. But we do not envy those who shall then
be living, partly it may be because we can have but dim visions of the
greater blessings they shall enjoy, but chiefly because we feel that
after all the true worth of life lies in nothing of this kind, but in
knowing and doing, in believing and loving; and that it would not be
easier to live for truth and righteousness were electricity applied to
aerial navigation and all the heavens filled with argosies of magic
sail. It is not possible to love sincerely the best thoughts, as it is
not possible to love God when our aim is something external, or when we
believe that what is mechanical merely has power to regenerate and exalt
mankind.

"It takes a soul
To move a body; it takes a high-souled man
To move the masses ... even to a cleaner sty;
It takes the ideal to blow a hair's-breadth off
The dust of the actual--Ah, your Fouriers failed,
Because not poets enough to understand
That life develops from within."

He who believes in culture must believe in God; for what but God do we
mean when we talk of loving the best thoughts and the highest beauty? No
God, no best; but at most better and worse. And how shall a man's
delight in his growing knowledge not be blighted by a hidden taint, if
he is persuaded that at the core of the universe there is only blind
unconscious force? But if he believe that God is infinite power working
for truth and love, then can he also feel that in seeking to prepare his
mind for the perception of truth and his heart for the love of what is
good and fair, he is working with God, and moves along the way in which
his omnipotent hand guides heavenly spirits and all the countless
worlds. He desires that all men should be wiser and stronger and more
loving, even though he should be doomed to remain as he is, for then
they would have power to help him. He is certain of himself, and feels
no fear nor anger when his opinions are opposed. He learns to bear what
he cannot prevent, knowing that courage and patie