ports us all and Plato gave the name of the divine Eros, that is
divine love, to an inspired devotion to the Imperishable. He placed
goodness--the Good--at the top of the great scale of Ideas which he
constructed. The Good was, to him, the highest Idea and the uttermost of
which we can conceive:--Good, whose properties he made manifest by every
means his lofty and lucid mind could command. This heathen, my brethren
and sisters, was well worthy of the grace bestowed on us. Do justice
then to the blinded souls, justice in Plato's sense of the word; he
calls the virtue of reason Wisdom; the virtue of spirit Courage, and the
virtue of the senses Temperance. Well, well! 'Prove all things and hold
fast that which is good.' That is to say: consider what may be worth
anything in the works of the heathen that it may be duly preserved;
but, on the other hand, tread all that is idolatry in the dust, all
that brings the unclean thing among us, all that imperils our souls and
bodies, or anything that is high and pure in life; but do not forget,
my beloved, all that the heathen have done for us. Be temperate in all
things; avoid excess of zeal; for thus, and thus only, can we be just.
'It is not to hate, but to love each other that we are here.' It was
not a Christian but Sophocles, one of the greatest of the heathen, who
uttered those words, and he speaks them still to us!"

Eusebius paused and drew a deep breath.

Dada had listened eagerly, for it pleased her to hear all that she
had been wont to prize spoken of here with due appreciation. But since
Eusebius had begun to discourse about Plato she had been disturbed by
two men sitting just in front of her. One was tall and lean, with a
long narrow head, and the other a shorter and more comfortable-looking
personage. The first fidgeted incessantly, nudging and twitching his
companion, and looking now and then as if he were ready to start up and
interrupt the preacher. This behavior evidently annoyed his neighbors
who kept signing to him to be quiet and hushing him down, while he took
no notice of their demonstrations but kept clearing his throat with
obtrusive emphasis and at last scraped and shuffled his feet on the
floor, though not very noisily. But Eusebius began again:

"And now, my brethren, how ought we to demean ourselves in these fateful
times of disturbance? As Christians; only--or rather, by God's aiding
grace as Christians in the true sense of our Lord and Master, accord