To her, as to
Hamlet, it was a cursed spite. She had not yet learned the mystery
of her relation to the Eternal, whose nature in his children it is
that first shows itself in the feeling of duty. Her religion had not
as yet been shaken, to test whether it was of the things that remain
or of those that pass. It is easy for a simple nature to hold by
what it has been taught, so long as out of that faith springs no
demand of bitter obedience; but when the very hiding place of life
begins to be laid bare under the scalpel of the law, when the heart
must forego its love, when conscience seems at war with kindness,
and duty at strife with reason, then most good people, let their
devotion to what they call their religion be what it may, prove
themselves, although generally without recognising the fact, very
much of pagans after all. And good reason why! For are they not
devoted to their church or their religion tenfold more than to the
living Love, the father of their spirits? and what else is that, be
the church or religion what it will, but paganism? Gentle and strong
at once as Dorothy was, she was not yet capable of knowing that,
however like it may look to a hardship, no duty can be other than a
privilege.
Pages:
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206