Page:The Other Life.djvu/32

 God has seen from his high heavens that the Church has executed his commission according to the light He gave it, which was only that of the letter of the Word. He has seen that the human mind in its orderly evolution has arrived at that stage when it bursts the bonds of literal or sensuous interpretation;—a further adhesion to the literal dogmas would be retrograde and destructive. The Church has unconsciously outgrown the old methods of interpretation which were necessary in its infancy and childhood; and the inevitable warfare between the spirit and the letter is the cause of all its doubts and difficulties and dissensions.

He has come to its rescue. He has come to enlighten, to revive, to bless, to purify it.

God has seen also the revolt of the human intellect against the absurd pretensions of tradition and authority; against spiritual bondage and priestcraft; against blind adhesion to literal interpretations which are wholly indefensible; and against the general inconsistency and unprogressiveness of the Church. He has heard the cry of his erring children for light. The time has come when He will satisfy their longings for truth, answer their hardest questions, grant their reasonable petitions, and remove all difficulties from the way of a per-