Laws and examples are absolute, and
should be forgotten, just as we look lightly upon the things of our
childhood. The world has arrived at its present exalted state through a
severe ordeal, but the grandeur of its position is sufficient to make it
forget its trials. "The spirit or conscience [which are terms for
reason] comes to full strength and assumes the throne intended for him
in the soul. As an accredited judge, invested with full powers, he sits
in the tribunal of our inner kingdom, decides upon the past, and
legislates upon the future, without appeal except to himself. He decides
not by what is beautiful or noble, or soul-inspiring, but by what is
right. Gradually he frames his code of laws, revising, adding,
abrogating, as a wiser and deeper experience gives him clearer light. He
is the third great teacher and the last."[174]
In some aspects this essay is the least objectionable in the volume. Yet
it contains radical errors which many a reader would accept without
suspicion. The agency of the Holy Spirit in revelation is ignored, and
the development through which the world has passed is confounded with
civilization.
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