Zed; and at length came to their own immediate affairs.
That fall Dorian was to enter the University. The farm at Greenstreet
would have to be let to others, but he thought he could manage the
dry-farm, as most of the work came in vacation season. Mrs. Trent did
not want to leave her home in the country; but she would likely become
lonesome living all by herself; so there would always be a room for her
with Dorian and Carlia in the little house they would rent near the
school. Then, after the University, there would be some Eastern College
for a period of years, and after that, other work. The task Dorian had
set before him was a big one, but it was a very important one, and no
one seemed to be doing it as yet. He might fail in accomplishing what
he and Uncle Zed and perhaps the Lord had in mind regarding him, but he
would do his very best, anyway.
"You'll not fail," the girl at his side assured him.
"I hope not. But I know some men who have gone in for all the learning
they could obtain, and in the process of getting the learning, they have
lost their faith. With me, the very object of getting knowledge is to
strengthen my faith. What would it profit if one gains the whole world
of learning and loses his soul in the process. Knowledge is power, both
for good and for ill. I have been thinking lately of the nature of
faith, the forerunner of knowledge. I can realize somewhat the meaning
of the scripture which says that the worlds were framed and all things
in them made by the power of faith. As Uncle Zed used to say--"
"You always put it that way. Don't you know anything of your own?"
"No; no one does. There is no such thing as knowledge of one's own
making. Knowledge has always existed from the time when there has been a
mind to conceive it. The sum of truth is eternal. We can only discover
truth, or be told it by someone who has already found it. God has done
that. He comprehends all truth, and therefore all power and all glory is
found in Him. It is the most natural thing in the world, then, that we
should seek the truth from the fountain head or source to us, and that
is God."
Although it was after the usual time of the Sunday sermon, Dorian felt
free to go on.
"'When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?' I hope
to help a little to make the answer, Yes. I know of nothing which the
world needs more than faith. Not many are specializing in that field.
Edison is bringing forth some of
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