"I am very glad you thought so, Guy. And few things are more delightful than the praises of our God, sung from the heart, by voices cultivated with scientific taste. Only, let us sing to the glory of God, and not to the glory of ourselves or the mere gratification of the sensitive ear."
"It seems a natural thing that when rich people become Christians, they should like to spend money upon things connected with religion, though, mother."
"Very natural indeed, dear Guy; but at the same time, unless the desire is rightly directed, it may produce much harm."
"What would you consider being 'rightly directed,' mother?"
"I think a rich Christian should be content with much simplicity and plainness in the externals of worship, not only because his own heart in its loving communion with God in Christ soars far above all visible things, but also lest he should be the means of misleading others, and helping on their self-deception. He may take care that 'the place where prayer is wont to be made,' and fellow Christians assemble to worship God, is substantial, respectable, and, if you like, even handsome in its proportions and provision for its purpose. But there his responsibility ends in that behalf, and his sympathies are commanded in another direction, namely, 'to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,'—to seek out the lost and miserable, the hungry, the naked, the sick, the oppressed, and in Christ's name, and for His sake, minister to them of the substance committed to his stewardship. This is the service which our Lord recognises as done unto Him. And it is no sign of health in any professing communion when the decoration of a visible temple takes the place of spiritual truth in the preparation of the 'living stones' of the spiritual temple, 'the habitation of God through the Spirit.'"
"Well now, mother, what about the Puritans? I am glad to feel that I have real sympathy with their cause, and glory in their noble stand against tyranny and priestcraft, when the religion and liberties of England were threatened either by the weak or the wicked; but did they not push non-essential matters to an extreme?"
"Unhappily it is the tendency of the human mind to rush to extremes, and many a noble cause has been damaged by the violent reaction which results from success. The Puritans (why, Guy, the very name is an honourable witness) restored the supremacy of God's Word, with its holy precepts of self-denial and godliness. Their men were majestic men, firm of purpose, bold in action, wise in counsel, because they gave due place to the souls within them, and lived, not as half men, but whole men, not for time only, but for eternity; their women took their anointed place, 'adorned with good works,' as 'daughters of the Lord Almighty;' and experience testified of Puritanic principles, that they were sound and safe, and never more so than in domestic life."
"But were they not too rigid and severe? Were they not hard and stern about things that were innocent and natural, and so made their religion distasteful and disagreeable, instead of lovable and winning?"
"I think it is true that they were often hard and strict in their anxiety to exterminate the real licentiousness and abominations of the time—they sometimes swept away lawful preferences and simple pleasures; but when men have had to fight their way to freedom and virtue for law and life, they may stand excused for trying to guard every avenue through which the recurrence of past sin and degradation might threaten their recovered rights. And it is a fact that no political bias or religious partisanship can gainsay, that the less of luxury in the life, and the simpler the form of worship among the people, the higher rose our national character, and the stronger our moral influence among the rulers of Europe. Let us take care that the beam of real disloyalty to God and His holy truth is not in our own eyes, while condemning the mote that may have interfered with the perfect light of our Puritan forefathers'."
"It is just this, then, mother, to my mind in real desire to know the truth. People were already made to anything that turned up in either religion or politics that human schemes could devise, but to make a true Puritan required the grace of God. I would have preferred to be a Puritan if I had lived in those days, even if they would not have allowed me to paint."