Big Game - A Story for Girls

"I should not boast too much about the unity of a Church in which civil

war is permanently in progress; and what about charity and humility of

mind? Suppose now, suppose for a moment that a family of strangers come

to live in the house next your own in town, and you discover among other

things that they are Dissenters. How does it influence your attitude

towards them?" He thrust his ruddy face nearer, staring fixedly into

hers. "Answer me that! Feel just the same? Exactly the same? No

cooling off in the intention to call? Quite sure you never used the

expression, `only Dissenters!' and passed by on the other side?"

Margot's cheeks blazed. Her lids dropped, and the corners of her mouth

drooped in self-conscious shame. There was a moment's silence, then a

low murmur sounded on her ear, and, looking up quickly, she saw the

Editor's dark face turned upon his brother, with reproach written large

in frowning brow and flashing eye. He was taking up the cudgels in her

defence; reproaching his own brother for forcing her into an awkward

position.

Margot's heart gave a leap of joy at the discovery; in the flash of an

eye her mood, her outlook on life, the very scene itself, seemed

transfused with new radiance and joy. The sun seemed to peep out

through the grey clouds, the underlying anxiety and worry of the past

days took to itself wings, and disappeared. Her brown eyes thanked him

with a glance more eloquent than she was aware; she laughed softly, and

her laugh was sweet as a chime of bells.

"Yes, I have! I confess it. I've been narrow-minded and uncharitable,

and a snob into the bargain. I've no right to throw stones... What

Church do you belong to, Mr Elgood?"

The little man stood still in the middle of the road, throwing out his

arms on either side, with a gesture wonderfully eloquent. His round,

chubby face shone with earnestness and exaltation.

"To the Church of Christ! The Church of loyalty, and obedience, and

love towards the brethren! To the Church of Christ, wherever I find it!

When will Christians learn to remember the points on which they agree,

rather than those on which they differ? The questions of form and

ceremony; of Church government and ritual; how small they are, how

unutterably trivial, compared to the great facts of the Fatherhood of

God, and the sacrifice of Christ! Did the Power who made every one of

us with different faces and different forms, expect us all to think

mathematically alike? I cannot believe it! It is our duty to trust in

God and love our brethren; to live together in peace, seeing the best in

each other, acknowledging the best, thinking no evil! To see men who

make a profession of religion quarrelling and persecuting each other for

trivial differences, is a ghastly spectacle--a ghastly spectacle!" He

walked on, swinging his short arms to and fro, then suddenly looked up

with a keen glance into Ron's eager face.