"But how far do you come with me?"

"I'm with you."



"But," he said, "you are still a churchwoman?"

"I don't know," she said. "I don't mind."



He stared at her.

"But I thought always that was what hurt you most, my breach



with the church."

"Things are so different now," she said.



Her heart dissolved within her into tender possessiveness.

There came flooding into her mind the old phrases of an ancient



story: "Whither thou goest I will go... thy people shall be my

people and thy God my God.... The Lord do so to me and more also



if aught but death part thee and me."

Just those words would Lady Ella have said to her husband now,



but she was capable of no such rhetoric.

"Whither thou goest," she whispered almost inaudibly, and she



could get no further. "My dear," she said.

(18)



At two o'clock the next morning Scrope was still up. He was

sitting over the snoring gas fire in his study. He did not want



to go to bed. His mind was too excited, he knew, for any hope of

sleep. In the last twelve hours, since he had gone out across the



park to his momentous talk with Lady Sunderbund, it seemed to him

that his life had passed through its cardinalcrisis and come to



its crown and decision. The spiritualvoyage that had begun five

years ago amidst a stormy succession of theological nightmares



had reached harbour at last. He was established now in the sure

conviction of God's reality, and of his advent to unify the lives



of men and to save mankind. Some unobserved process in his mind

had perfected that conviction, behind the cloudy veil of his



vacillations and moods. Surely that work was finished now, and

the day's experience had drawn the veil and discovered God



established for ever.

He contrasted this simple and overruling knowledge of God as



the supreme fact in a practical world with that vague and

ineffective subject for sentiment who had been the "God" of his



Anglican days. Some theologian once spoke of God as "the friend

behind phenomena"; that Anglican deity had been rather a vague



flummery behind court and society, wealth, "respectability," and

the comfortable life. And even while he had lived in lipservice



to that complaisant compromise, this true God had been here, this

God he now certainly professed, waiting for his allegiance,



waiting to take up the kingship of this distraught and

bloodstained earth. The finding of God is but the stripping of



bandages from the eyes. Seek and ye shall find....

He whispered four words very softly: "The Kingdom of God!"



He was quite sure he had that now, quite sure.

The Kingdom of God!



That now was the form into which all his life must fall. He

recalled his vision of the silver sphere and of ten thousand



diverse minds about the world all making their ways to the same

one conclusion. Here at last was a king and emperor for mankind



for whom one need have neither contempt nor resentment; here was

an aim for which man might forge the steel and wield the scalpel,



write and paint and till and teach. Upon this conception he must

model all his life. Upon this basis he must found friendships and



co-operations. All the great religions, Christianity, Islam, in

the days of their power and honesty, had proclaimed the advent of



this kingdom of God. It had been their common inspiration. A

religion surrenders when it abandons the promise of its



Millennium. He had recovered that ancient and immortal hope. All

men must achieve it, and with their achievement the rule of God



begins. He muttered his faith. It made it more definite to put it

into words and utter it. "It comes. It surely comes. To-morrow I



begin. I will do no work that goes not Godward. Always now it

shall be the truth as near as I can put it. Always now it shall



be the service of the commonweal as well as I can do it. I will

live for the ending of all false kingship and priestcraft, for



the eternal growth of the spirit of man...."

He was, he knew clearly, only one common soldier in a great



army that was finding its way to enlistment round and about the

earth. He was not alone. While the kings of this world fought for



dominion these others gathered and found themselves and one

another, these others of the faith that grows plain, these men



who have resolved to end the bloodstained chronicles of the

Dynasts and the miseries of a world that trades in life, for

• import [im´pɔ:t, ´impɔ:t] vt.&n.进口；输入 (初中英语单词)


• definitely [´definitli] ad.明确地；绝对 (初中英语单词)


• extraordinary [ik´strɔ:dinəri] a.非常的；额外的 (初中英语单词)


• character [´kæriktə] n.特性；性质；人物；字 (初中英语单词)


• emotional [i´məuʃənəl] a.易动感情的；情感的 (初中英语单词)


• personality [,pə:sə´næliti] n.人；个性；人品；人物 (初中英语单词)


• sharply [´ʃɑ:pli] ad.锋利地；剧烈地 (初中英语单词)


• chapel [´tʃæpəl] n.小教堂 (初中英语单词)


• enterprise [´entəpraiz] n.企业；雄心；胆识 (初中英语单词)


• tendency [´tendənsi] n.趋势；倾向 (初中英语单词)


• equally [´i:kwəli] ad.相等地；平等地 (初中英语单词)


• conviction [kən´vikʃən] n.定罪；确信，信服 (初中英语单词)


• professional [prə´feʃənəl] a.职业的 n.自由职业 (初中英语单词)


• doctrine [´dɔktrin] n.教义；主义；学说 (初中英语单词)


• reading [´ri:diŋ] n.(阅)读；朗读；读物 (初中英语单词)


• spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)


• plainly [´pleinli] ad.平坦地；简单地 (初中英语单词)


• domestic [də´mestik] a.家庭的；本国的 (初中英语单词)


• absurd [əb´sə:d] a.荒谬的，可笑的 (初中英语单词)


• speaker [´spi:kə] n.演讲人；代言人 (初中英语单词)


• dreadful [´dredful] a.可怕的；讨厌的 (初中英语单词)


• running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)


• stupid [´stju:pid] a.愚蠢的；糊涂的 (初中英语单词)


• wretched [´retʃid] a.可怜的；倒霉的 (初中英语单词)


• poverty [´pɔvəti] n.贫穷(乏，瘠)；不足 (初中英语单词)


• capable [´keipəbəl] a.有能力；能干的 (初中英语单词)


• spiritual [´spiritʃuəl] a.精神(上)的；神圣的 (初中英语单词)


• voyage [´vɔi-idʒ] n.&vi.航海；航程；旅行 (初中英语单词)


• succession [sək´seʃən] n.继任；继承(权) (初中英语单词)


• reality [ri´æliti] n.现实(性)；真实；逼真 (初中英语单词)


• supreme [su:´pri:m, sju:-] a.最高的，无上的 (初中英语单词)


• sentiment [´sentimənt] n.情绪；多愁善感 (初中英语单词)


• wealth [welθ] n.财富，财产 (初中英语单词)


• waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)


• softly [´sɔftli] ad.软化地；柔和地 (初中英语单词)


• vision [´viʒən] n.视觉；想象力；幻影 (初中英语单词)


• conclusion [kən´klu:ʒən] n.结束；结论；推论 (初中英语单词)


• emperor [´empərə] n.皇帝 (初中英语单词)


• immortal [i´mɔ:təl] a.不死的n.不朽的人物 (初中英语单词)


• achieve [ə´tʃi:v] vt.完成；达到；获得 (初中英语单词)


• achievement [ə´tʃi:vmənt] n.完成；成就，成绩 (初中英语单词)


• definite [´definit] a.确定的，明确的 (初中英语单词)


• eternal [i´tə:nəl] a.永远的；永恒的 (初中英语单词)


• christianity [,kristi´æniti] n.基督教；基督精神 (高中英语单词)


• stiffly [´stifli] ad.硬；顽固地 (高中英语单词)


• inspiration [,inspi´reiʃən] n.鼓舞；灵感；启发 (高中英语单词)


• passionate [´pæʃənit] a.易动情的；易怒的 (高中英语单词)


• hardship [´hɑ:dʃip] n.受苦，吃苦；苦难 (高中英语单词)


• separation [,sepə´reiʃən] n.分离；分开；分居 (高中英语单词)


• cardinal [´kɑ:dinəl] a.主要的 n.深红色 (高中英语单词)


• crisis [´kraisis] n.转折点；危机 (高中英语单词)


• compromise [´kɔmprəmaiz] n.妥协，和解 (高中英语单词)


• finding [´faindiŋ] n.发现物；判断；结果 (高中英语单词)


• sphere [sfiə] n.圆体；天体；范围 (高中英语单词)


• contempt [kən´tempt] n.轻蔑；受辱；不顾 (高中英语单词)


• resentment [ri´zentmənt] n.不满；怨恨；忿恨 (高中英语单词)


• conception [kən´sepʃən] n.构思；概念；怀孕 (高中英语单词)


• honesty [´ɔnisti] n.诚实，老实 (高中英语单词)


• ending [´endiŋ] n.结尾，结局 (高中英语单词)


• rehearsal [ri´hə:səl] v.(使)排练；背诵 (英语四级单词)


• deliverance [di´livərəns] n.援救；获释 (英语四级单词)


• eloquence [´eləkwəns] n.雄辩；口才 (英语四级单词)


• amidst [ə´midst] prep.=amid (英语四级单词)


• theological [θiə´lɔdʒikəl] a.神学(上)的 (英语四级单词)


• advent [´ædvent] n.来临；降临 (英语四级单词)


• resolved [ri´zɔlvd] a.决心的；坚定的 (英语四级单词)


• daphne [´dæfni] n.瑞香 (英语六级单词)


• unobserved [´ʌnəb´sə:vd] a.没有观察到 (英语六级单词)