incerely
religious, but of different temperament, will fail of that duty, though
recognizing it as a duty, and grieving to be unequal to it: but he
must content the spirit that is in him--he cannot help it. He could
not perform that duty for duty's SAKE, for that would not content his
spirit, and the contenting of his spirit must be looked to FIRST. It
takes precedence of all other duties.

Y.M. Take the case of a clergyman of stainless private morals who votes
for a thief for public office, on his own party's ticket, and against an
honest man on the other ticket.

O.M. He has to content his spirit. He has no public morals; he has no
private ones, where his party's prosperity is at stake. He will always
be true to his make and training.

IV

Training

Young Man. You keep using that word--training. By it do you particularly
mean--

Old Man. Study, instruction, lectures, sermons? That is a part of
it--but not a large part. I mean ALL the outside influences. There are
a million of them. From the cradle to the grave, during all his waking
hours, the human being is under training. In the very first rank of
his trainers stands ASSOCIATION. It is his human environment which
influences his mind and his feelings, furnishes him his ideals, and sets
him on his road and keeps him in it. If he leave that road he will find
himself shunned by the people whom he most loves and esteems, and whose
approval he most values. He is a chameleon; by the law of his nature he
takes the color of his place of resort. The influences about him create
his preferences, his aversions, his politics, his tastes, his morals,
his religion. He creates none of these things for himself. He THINKS he
does, but that is because he has not examined into the matter. You have
seen Presbyterians?

Y.M. Many.

O.M. How did they happen to be Presbyterians and not Congregationalists?
And why were the Congregationalists not Baptists, and the Baptists Roman
Catholics, and the Roman Catholics Buddhists, and the Buddhists Quakers,
and the Quakers Episcopalians, and the Episcopalians Millerites and
the Millerites Hindus, and the Hindus Atheists, and the Atheists
Spiritualists, and the Spiritualists Agnostics, and the Agnostics
Methodists, and the Methodists Confucians, and the Confucians
Unitarians, and the Unitarians Mohammedans, and the Mohammedans
Salvation Warriors, and the Salvation Warriors Zoroastrians, and
the Zoroastrians Christian Scientists, and t