The reason for his present choice he makes sufficiently clear. That form of creed shall be his which takes into account the complexity of human nature. The emotions (so he holds) alone received satisfaction at Rome; intellectual development being checked. At Göttingen the intellect was cultivated at the expense of the spiritual faculties. Now in the poverty and ignorance of Zion Chapel he believes himself to discern provision, however poor in quality, for all man's requirements and aspirations. Immeasurably inferior to Rome in beauty of architectural form, in the impressiveness of its ritual; incomparably below Göttingen in intellectual attainment, it is yet in some sort superior to both alike. Superior to Rome in that it allows scope for the development of the intellectual capacity, coarse and poor as is the quality of the mental pabulum offered by its minister. Superior to Göttingen in that the preacher would fain afford some satisfaction to the emotional as well as to the intellectual cravings of his congregation. To these poor "ruins of humanity," a personal Saviour is a necessity: Something more substantial Than a fable, myth, or personification. _Some one, not something_, who in the critical hour of life shall do for him What no mere man shall, And stand confessed as the God of salvation. (ll. 1322-1325.) Clearly to the speaker, in spite of the objectionable character of the surroundings, they secure a "comfort"-- Which an empire gained, were a loss without. (ll. 1308-1309.) Thus the choice is made in face of defects seemingly at first hopelessly repellant. And in leaving the soliloquist of _Christmas Eve_ amidst the Zion Chapel congregation, our conviction touching the future is based upon grounds amply justifiable; that he may in spiritual development outgrow the limits he has for the present assigned himself. Since, despite the influences of prejudice and of bigotry yet remaining, he has already proved capable of seeking a position whence, in his own words, direct reference is made to Him "Who head and heart alike discerns." From such a position, progress, expansion, as the law of life becomes, not only possible, but inevitable, since the soul's outlook is at once freed from limitations by the transference of contemplation From the gift ... to the giver, And from the cistern to the river, And from the finite to infinity, And from man's dust to God's divinity. (ll. 1012-1015.) Such deductions as to the intention of _this_ poem are at least fully in accordance with those suggestions of theories which we have so far gathered from a consideration of other of Browning's works. LECTURE V CHRISTMAS EVE AND EASTER DAY (ii) LECTURE V CHRISTMAS EVE AND EASTER DAY (ii) How very hard it is to be A Christian!