"I am not an enthusiast," responded Battell, "but I am frank to admit that I am carried away by the transcendent character of the sentiments you express, in regard to our duties toward each other. But it seems to me, that your grand ideal as to what human character ought to be, is so far above our fallen human nature, that it can never be realized in this life. Such a character was Jesus, the Savior of mankind as painted by our religious teachers. But this character is so very much above the human plane of development, that it would be regarded as sacrilegious for anyone to attempt to be as pure, as noble and as holy as he is said to have been." "The great mass of our people," said Iola, "would not understand your allusion to fallen human nature, and the Savior of mankind, but I have read a number of your religious books, and from comparisons with our own ancient history, have concluded that the Fall of Man and his Redemption through the Cross are allegories which were intended to teach a wonderful truth. But, be this as it may, the character of Jesus, I regard as the only truly human character that I have met with in the few outer world books that we have. The wonder is, that this magnificent character has not been incorporated into all of his professed followers. After two thousand years of preaching and discipline, it is strange that you have not developed many of these characters; even surpassing his exalted standard, especially as he told his disciples that they might do greater things than he did." "But," said Battell, "we are told that he was more than man. He was the Son of God, sent upon earth from his Father's home in heaven, to save fallen man." "I am willing," was Iola's reply, "to admit all this, as I understand it. We had similar characters in the olden time, who tried to save their fellow beings from the low estate in which they lived. But a time came when the effect of their teachings was to produce a multitude of such characters, and then the entire people made one great bound upward, and now we are all saviors whenever and wherever we find a demand for our services in that capacity." Battell looked his astonishment as he asked: "Is this heaven? Am I to be brought into the presence of not one, but a world full of these God-like characters?" Iola smiled as she said in response: "Yes, this is heaven provided you have heaven in you, the only place where you will ever find it. And this God-like character whom you call a Savior, is also in you, as it is in every other human being, just as soon as you permit it to be developed. This spark of Divinity--this Son of God--is latent in the human soul, and its efforts to make itself felt, is the source of every noble, pure and holy impulse to elevate our common humanity. Give the God that is in you a chance to develop, and you will become like unto Jesus, a 'God manifest in the flesh.'" "But how am I to develop this God-like character?" asked Battell.