The effectiveness of the dramatic sense is beyond question. One can
see a supreme instance of it in the case of the Christian Science
movement, in which a woman of strong personality, by lighting upon
an idea latent in a large number of minds, an idea moreover of real
and practical vitality, and by putting it in a form which has all
the definiteness required by brains of a hazy and emotional order,
has contrived to effect an immense amount of good, besides amassing
a colossal fortune, and assuming almost Divine pretensions, without
being widely discredited. The human race is, speaking generally, so
anxious for any leading that it can get, that if a man or woman can
persuade themselves that they have a mission to humanity, and
maintain a pontifical air, they will generally be able to attract a
band of devoted adherents, whose faith, rising superior to both
intelligence and common-sense, will endorse almost any claim that
the prophet or prophetess likes to advance.
But the danger for the prophet himself is great. Arrogance,
complacency, self-confidence, all the Pharisaical vices flourish
briskly in such a soil.
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