conferred upon him, which sets him above themselves; when they can
feel that in religion it is better to agree with the saints than to
differ from them; when they can see that there are certain people
whose religious intuitions can be trusted, because they are wider
and deeper than the narrower intuitions of more elementary natures.

The priest, then, that I would recognize is not the celebrator of
lonely and forlorn mysteries, the proprietor of divine blessings,
the posturer in solemn ceremonies, but the man or woman of candid
gaze, of fearless heart, of deep compassion, of infinite concern.
It is these qualities which, if they are there, lend to rite and
solemnity a holiness and a significance which they cannot win from
antiquity or tradition. Such priests as these are the interpreters
of the Divine will, the channels of Divine grace; and the hope of
the race lies in the fact that such men and women are sent into the
world, and go in and out among us, more than in all the stately
organizations, the mysterious secrets, the splendid shrines,
devised by the art of man to make fences about the healing spring;
shrines where, though sound and colour may lavish their rich hues,
their moving tones, yet the raiment of the priest may hide a proud
and greedy heart, and the very altar may be cold.






XIII

AMBITION