are to-day lightly
tossed upon the ash heap. The searchlight is turned never so
mercilessly upon the founder of the Christian religion, and upon the
manuscripts which relate his words and deeds. Yet most of us have
grown so busy--I often wonder with what--that we have no time for that
which can not be grasped as we run. We work desperately by day,
building up the grandest material fabric the world has ever seen; and
at night we repair the machine for the next day's run. Even our
college professors bewail the lack of time for solid reading and
research. And if our young pursue studies, it is with the almost
exclusive thought of education as a means of earning a material
livelihood later, and, if possible, rearing a mansion and stocking its
larder and garage. It is, I repeat, a grandly materialistic age,
wherein, to the casual observer, spirituality is at a very low ebb."

He thrust his long legs under the table and cast his eyes upward to
the ceiling as he resumed:

"The modern world is still in its spiritual infancy, and does not
often speak the name of God. Not that we are so much irreverent as
that we feel no special need of Him in our daily pursuits. Since we
ceased to tremble at the thunders of Sinai, and their lingering echoes
in bulls and heresy condemnations, we find that we get along just as
well--indeed, much better. And it really is quite bad form now to
speak continually of God, or to refer to Him as anything real and
vital. To be on such terms of intimacy with Him as this girl Carmen
is--in thought, at least--would be regarded to-day as evidence of
sentimentalism and weakness."

He paused again, to marshal his thought and give his auditors an
opportunity for comment. Then, as the silence remained unbroken, he
continued:

"Viewing the world from one standpoint, it has achieved remarkable
success in applying the knout to superstition and limitation. But,
like a too energetic housekeeper, it has swept out much that is
essential with the _debris_. When spirituality ceases to be real or
vital to a people, then a grave danger threatens them. Materiality has
never proved a blessing, as history shows. Life that is made up of
strain and ceaseless worry is not life. The incessant accumulation of
material wealth, when we do not know how really to enjoy it, is folly.
To pamper the flesh, to the complete ignoring of the spirit, is
suicide. The increased hankering after physical excitements and animal
pleasures, to