Gresley that the
clergyman was toiling in very uncomfortable situations, in which he did
not appear to advantage. Mr. Gresley did not see that the uncomfortable
situations were the inevitable result of holding certain opinions, but
he did see that "Hester was running down the clergy." Any fault found
with the clergy was in Mr. Gresley's eyes an attack upon the Church,
nay, upon religion itself. That a protest against a certain class of the
clergy might be the result of a close observation of the causes that
bring ecclesiastical Christianity into disrepute could find no admission
to Mr. Gresley's mind. Yet a protest against the ignorance or
inefficiency of some of our soldiers he would have seen without
difficulty might be the outcome, not of hatred of the army, but of a
realization of its vast national importance, and of a desire of its
well-being.
Mr. Gresley was outraged. "She holds nothing sacred," he said, striking
the book. "I told her after the _Idyll_, that I desired she would not
mention the subject of religion in her next book, and this is worse than
ever. She has entirely disregarded my expressed wishes. Everything she
says has a sting in it. Look at this. It begins well, but it ends with a
sneer."
"Christ lives. He wanders still in secret over the hills and the valleys
of the soul, that little kingdom which should not be of this world,
which knows not the things that belong unto its peace.
Pages:
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355