That all paths to the Father lead
Where Self the feet have spurned.
Where
Moravian hymn and Roman chant
In one devotion blend;
and all
Discords find harmonious close,
In God’s atoning ear.[65]
Of what nobler conception, it may be asked, is the human imagination capable? Nevertheless, to certain natures (so holds the soliloquist, clearly recognizing his own as of this calibre) there is danger lest this generous comprehensiveness should prove inseparable from the “mild indifferentism” fatal to action. Hence in Section XX, whilst engaged in watching his
Foolish heart expand
In the lazy glow of benevolence, (ll. 1154-1155.)
he is not surprised to perceive, in the token of the receding vesture, indications of the divine disapproval of his position. And he is led to the conclusion that not only for the individual worshipper must there be some special form of creed best adapted to the individual needs of temperament, but (as ll. 1158-1159 would appear to suggest) some absolute form of creed may possibly be discoverable. And to this “single track”:
God, by God’s own ways occult,
May—doth, I will believe—bring back
All wanderers. (ll. 1170-1172.)
Thus unity is attained, but with a suggestion of methods of attainment other than those indicated at the close of Section XIX. The main difference of intention between the two Sections would appear to be that whilst here (XX) also ultimate unity is to be achieved through the divine providence, yet something more is required of the individual believer than a passive reliance on the assurance of this future fusion of creeds. And further, the manifest and immediate duty being the discovery of the, for him, “best way of worship,” this once reached, he must rest satisfied with no merely personal acceptance: the benefits resultant from his own spiritual experiences are designed for a wider use, a more extended service of human fellowship; he, too, may seek to “bring back wanderers to the single track.” Here again is perceptible one of Browning’s prevailing ideas. Never (I believe) is he to be found advocating any vast corporate revolution for the amelioration of mankind: the advance of the race is to be secured through the advance of individual members.