“Yes,” said Mrs. Graves, “but the force is there all the time; the old hard words, like regeneration and atonement, do not mean definite things—­that is the mischief; they are the receipts made up by stupid, hard-headed people who do not understand; but they stand for large and wonderful experiences and are like the language of children telling their dreams.  The moral genius who sees through it all and gives the first impulse is trying to deal with life directly and frankly; and the difficulty arises from people who see the attendant circumstances and mistake them for the causes.  But I do not see it from that side, of course!  I understand what you are aiming at.  You are trying to disentangle all the phenomena, are you not, and referring them to their real causes, instead of lumping them all together as the phenomena of religion?”

“Yes,” said Howard, “that is what I am doing.  I suppose I am naturally sceptical; but I want to put aside all that stands on insecure evidence, and all the sham terminology that comes from a muddled delight in the supernatural.  I want to give up and clear away all that is not certain—­material things must be brought to the test of material laws—­and to see what is left.”

“Well,” said Mrs. Graves, “now I will tell you my own very simple experience.  I began, I think, with a very formal religion, and I tried in my youth to attach what was really instinctive to religious motives.  It got me into a sad mess, because I did not dare to go direct to life.  I used to fret because your uncle seemed so indifferent to these things.  He was a wise and good man, and lived by a sort of inner beauty of character that made all mean cruel spiteful petty things impossible to him.  Then when he died, I had a terrible time to go through.  I felt utterly adrift.  My old system did not give me the smallest help.  I was trying to find an intellectual solution.  It was then that I met Miss Gordon, the great evangelist.  She saw I was unhappy, and she said to me one day:  ’You have no business to be unhappy like this.  What you want is strength, and it is there all the time waiting for you!  You are arguing your case with God, complaining of the injustice you have received, trying to excuse yourself, trying to find cause to blame Him.  Your life has been broken to pieces, and you are trying to shelter yourself among the fragments.  You must cast them all away, and thank God for having pierced through the fortress in which you were imprisoned.  You must just go straight to Him, and open your heart, as if you were opening a window to the sun and air.’  She did not explain, or try to give me formulas or phrases, she simply showed me the light breaking round me.