Page:Marie Corelli - the writer and the woman (IA mariecorelliwrit00coat).pdf/248



taught me, mere pigmy man, to press the lightning into my service, to take the weight and measurement of stars, to send my trifling messages of weal or woe on the eternal currents of electric force—You, who daily unfold for me the mysteries of God's glorious creation—You who teach me that the soul of man, immortal and progressive, is capable of infinite enlightenment and increasing power—You, who expound the majesty, the beneficence, the care, the love, the supporting influence of the Creator, and bring me to my knees in devout adoration—am I to say to You who teach me all this that You are a Lie? Am I rather to believe that a statue made by hands, and set in a grotto at Lourdes or elsewhere, is a worthier object for my prayer and my praise? Am I doing God's will by believing that my base coin, paid for sundry masses in churches, will sway the Creator of the Universe to give peace to the departed spirits of my dead?'"
 * sent Teacher of our time, and say, 'You who have

Marie Corelli, by the words of Manuel, as we think it is recognized, gives a truer interpretation of the Divine Will. Even the title page contains a quotation from St. Luke that is a protest against many of the practices of the Romish and other Churches: "Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"

The story of "The Master Christian" opens in Rouen, where a Roman Catholic prelate, Cardinal Felix Bonpré, is seen in the Cathedral of Notre