"If we cannot leave all to follow Him," remarked Deacon Bates, who had once felt himself called to mission work, but successfully resisted the call, "it would certainly be unseemly to do so for the sake of mere worldly righteousness."
"'Twould revolutionize society," said Lawyer Scott, "and no man should attempt such a thing without the most careful preparation."
"Doesn't Herbert Spencer say something about morality being at the top of everything?" asked Mr. Buffle of Broker Whilcher.
"Ye—es," said the broker; "but he considers that it's wrong to sacrifice one's business, as I'd have to do to live according to the plan suggested."
"If Christ had intended that morality should have been so much," said President Lottson, "he would have talked more about it, and less about other things. He knew what the world needed, what it could stand, and what it couldn't."
"As if he wasn't all the while insisting upon morality," exclaimed Mr. Alleman. "Captain Maile, you're certainly with us! You've always talked as if you were."
The captain made a wry face.
"I've talked against hypocrisy—that's what I've done," said he. "I've got no special religious belief myself, but I hate to see holes in those of other people."
"I," said Dr. Fahrenglotz, "would yield adherence to such a system, were it not that men disagree as to what morality is, and I do not wish to subject myself to any arbitrary rule or agreement. The soul of man should be free."