"
Maurice smiled, looking up impulsively.
"I can't see why you lay so much stress on Puritanism," he said. "What
has Puritanism resulted in? Its whole struggle has come to an end in
doubt and agnosticism and flippancy. Intellectual curiosity has taken
the place of spiritual stress; ethical casuistry or theological
amusements seem to me to stand instead of religious conviction."
Mrs. Herman regarded him with an inquiring smile.
"You make me feel old," she interposed; "it is so long since I went
through that stage. Will you pardon me for saying that you are not
quite a disinterested observer?"
"It is the eyes newly open that see most clearly," he responded,
throwing back his head with a little laugh. "The Puritan came into the
wilderness to establish a city of God. Time has shown that he dreamed
an impossible dream. The result of that effort has been the
establishment of a religious liberty"--
"One might almost say a religious license, I own," she interpolated.
"A religious liberty or license as you like, but at any rate something
that would have seemed to them appallingly wicked,--a thousand times
worse than anything they fled from into the desert.
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