aloud? Who, without cant, can hear them, and not go out of the
meeting-house? They never _were_ read, they never _were_ heard.
Let but one of these sentences be rightly read, from any pulpit
in the land, and there would not be left one stone of that
meeting-house upon another.

Yet the New Testament treats of man and man's so-called spiritual
affairs too exclusively, and is too constantly moral and
personal, to alone content me, who am not interested solely in
man's religious or moral nature, or in man even. I have not the
most definite designs on the future. Absolutely speaking, Do
unto others as you would that they should do unto you, is by no
means a golden rule, but the best of current silver. An honest
man would have but little occasion for it. It is golden not to
have any rule at all in such a case. The book has never been
written which is to be accepted without any allowance. Christ
was a sublime actor on the stage of the world. He knew what he
was thinking of when he said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall not pass away." I draw near to him at such a
time. Yet he taught mankind but imperfectly how to live; his
thoughts were all directed toward another world. There is
another kind of success than his. Even here we have a sort of
living to get, and must buffet it somewhat longer. There are
various tough problems yet to solve, and we must make shift to
live, betwixt spirit and matter, such a human life as we can.

A healthy man, with steady employment, as wood-chopping at fifty
cents a cord, and a camp in the woods, will not be a good subject
for Christianity. The New Testament may be a choice book to him
on some, but not on all or most of his days. He will rather go