MEDITATIONS AND CRITICISMS 201 



indeed a new land. Those upon whom the old 

 associations have set the deepest mark will experi- 

 ence the keenest homesickness. The timid, the 

 half-hearted, the irresolute, will not go. But much 

 of the hest blood will go, is going. The majority of 

 the most virile minds of the century have long since 

 taken up their abode there. 



And like the other emigration, the men go first ; 

 the women and children stay behind. Woman, more 

 tender and emotional, cannot give up the old faiths ; 

 she shrinks back from the new land ; it seems cold 

 and naked to her spirit ; she cleaves unto the past, 

 and to the shelter of the old traditions. Probably 

 the bravest among us do not abandon them without 

 a pang. The old church has a friendly and shelter- 

 ing look after all, and the white monuments in the 

 rear of it where our kindred sleep — how eloquent 

 is the silent appeal which they make. 



But what can be done ? Thou shalt leave this 

 land, the land of thy fathers, is a fiat which has gone 

 forth as from the Eternal. We cannot keep the old 

 beliefs, the old creeds, if we would. They helonged 

 to a condition of mind which is fast being outgrown. 



XII 



The old theology asks us to believe that the rela- 

 tions between God and man were radically different 

 at some former period of history than now, that they 

 were more intimate and personal. Is it probable 

 that man's relation to the air, the water, the earth, 

 has ever been any more intimate and vital than now ; 



