e literal obedience. He must be in that
interior love of what they teach, which makes obedience to the
letter spontaneous, and not constrained. The outward act must be the
simple effect of a living cause."

"Ah, my friend!" sighed Mr. Markland. "It may be a true saying, but
who can hear it?"

"We have wandered far in the wrong direction--are still moving with
a swift velocity that cannot be checked without painfully jarring
the whole machinery of life; but all this progress is toward misery,
not happiness, and, as wise men, it behooves us stop, at no matter
what cost of present pain, and begin retracing the steps that have
led only to discontent and disappointment. It is all in vain that we
fondly imagine that the good we seek lies only a little way in
advance--that the Elysian fields will, in the end, be reached. If we
are descending instead of ascending, how are we ever to gain the
mountain top? If we turn our backs upon the Holy City, and move on
with rapid footsteps, is there any hope that we shall ever pass
through its gates of pearl or walk its golden streets? To the
selfish natural mind, it is a 'hard saying' as you intimate, for
obedience to the commandments requires the denial and rejection of
self; and such a rejection seems like an extinguishment of the very
life. But, if we reject this old, vain life, a new vitality, born of
higher and more enduring principles, will at once begin. Remember
that we are spiritually organized forms, receptive of life. If the
life of selfish and perverted ends becomes inactive, a new, better,
and truer life will begin. We must live; for life, inextinguishable
life, is the inheritance received from the Creator, who is life
eternal in himself. It is with us to determine the quality of life.
Live we must, and forever--whether in order or disorder, happiness
or misery, is left to our own decision."

"How the thought, as thus presented," said Mr. Markland, very
soberly--almost sadly, "thrills me to the very centre of my being!
Ah! my excellent friend, what vast interests does this living
involve!"

"Vast to each one of us."

"I do not wonder," added Mr. Markland, "that the old hermits and
anchorites, oppressed, so to speak, by the greatness of immortal
interests over those involved in natural life, separated themselves
from the world, that, freed from its allurements, they might lead
the life of heaven."

"Their mistake," said Mr. Allison, "was quite as fatal as the
mistake