Page:Free Opinions, Freely Expressed on Certain Phases of Modern Social Life and Conduct.djvu/369

 Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." And to the Soul of the Nation that "Kingdom" is everything. In that kingdom it hopes to find all it has loved and lost, all it has striven for and failed to win, all that it has prayed for, wept for, worked for. Yet to-day between that aspiring Soul and its immortal Inheritance stand two deadly enemies,—a contentious Churchdom and a capitalized Press,—the one hypocrite, the other materialist. And the satirical demand "Do we Believe?" is but an echo of Pilate's question "What is truth?"—a question immediately followed by Truth's crucifixion. Nevertheless the Soul of the Nation—our nation, our empire—is becoming aware of its enemies. It is instinctively conscious of threatening evil, and is on the alert to save Itself if others will not save it. But its way out of the labyrinth of difficulty will probably be neither through Church nor Press,—nor will it be aided by "revival" meetings or Salvationist assemblies. Its path will be cloven straight,—not crookedly; for the British Nation, above all other nations in the world, does most easily sicken of priestly Sham and subsidized Journalism. And the sane, strong Soul of it—that Soul which in its native intrinsic virtue, is devoutly God-fearing, pure and true, will find means to shake off its pressing foes and stand free. For priestcraft and dogma are like prison chains fastened upon the progressive spirit of humanity, and they have nothing in common with the simple teaching of Christ, which is the only real Christianity.