She looked up vividly. “You have all eternity, Carl!”
He made no reply.
“Let me quote a favorite of yours,” she said:
“‘That low man goes on adding one to one,
His hundred’s soon hit.
This high man, aiming at a million,
Misses a unit.
That, has the world here—should he need the next,
Let the world mind him!
This, throws himself on God, and unperplexed,
Seeking, shall find him.’”
“I understand you,” he said, with a slight shrug. “But, do I look an apostle?”
“You might be,” she answered. “You could influence a class which the preachers cannot reach. Religion has been too much confined to ascetics, or to those who underestimate the power of the beautiful. What we want most now are Christians who can outshine sinners in grace, fascination, and learning. In these reckless days, people will not receive a check from those whom they know would gladly impose an utter prohibition; but one of their own might put a limit. We want scholars who will acknowledge that
there is a point beyond which speculation should not go and reason cannot. We want accomplished leaders in society who are not ashamed to prostrate themselves before God; and we want gentlemen to encourage modesty in women. You see there is a large field.”
“I am glad,” Carl exclaimed, “to hear a Catholic own that a rich and cultivated person can do some good in the church besides giving money. From all the sermons I have heard with you, the impression I have received is that clean linen and a knowledge of the alphabet are obstacles to grace. Never once have I heard talent or culture spoken of except with reprobation.”
“Oh! you exaggerate!” she said. “It is true, the poor need constant comfort, and the rich constant warning; and it is equally true that the greatest ignorance, combined with charity, must be more pleasing to God than the finest intellect and learning without charity.”
“There is precisely the point,” Carl said eagerly. “And my experience and belief are that the finer the mind and the culture, the greater the charity, and vicè versa. ‘Tout comprendre c’est tout aimer.’ I like Sir Thomas Browne’s thought: ‘Those highly magnify him whose judicious inquiry into his works returns him the homage of a learned admiration.’”