ng was only momentary. The wonted look of
troubled wistfulness again settled over his face, and his shoulders
bent to their accustomed stoop, as if his frail body were slowly
crushing beneath a tremendous burden.

"My Father," he continued sadly, "do not the Gospels show that Jesus
proved the truth of all he taught by doing the works which we call
miracles? But does the Church to-day by any great works prove a single
one of her teachings? You say that Christianity no longer needs the
healing of the sick in order to prove its claims. I answer that, if
so, it likewise no longer needs the preaching of the gospel, for I
cannot find that Jesus made any distinction between the two. Always he
coupled one with the other. His command was ever, 'Preach the gospel,
heal the sick!' His works of healing were simply signs which showed
that he understood what he taught. They were his proofs, and they
followed naturally his great understanding of God. But what proofs do
you offer when you ask mankind to accept your preaching? Jesus said,
'He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.' If
you do not do the works which he did, it shows plainly that you do not
believe on him--that is, that you do not understand him. When I am an
ordained priest, and undertake to preach the gospel to the world, must
I confess to my people that I cannot prove what I am teaching? Must I
confess that there is no proof within the Church? Is it not so, that
true believers in Jesus Christ believe exactly in the proportion in
which they obey him and do his works?"

The boy paused for breath. The Archbishop and his secretary sat
spellbound before him. Then he resumed--

"How the consecrated wafer through the words of a priest becomes the
real body of Christ, I am as yet unable to learn. I do not believe it
does. How priests can grant absolution for sins when, to me, sins are
forgiven only when they are forsaken, I have not been taught. I do not
believe they can. The Church assumes to teach these things, but it
cannot prove them. From the great works of Jesus and his apostles it
has descended to the blessing of _milagros_ and candles, to the
worship of the Virgin and man-made Saints, to long processions, to
show and glitter--while without her doors the poor, the sick and the
dying stretch out their thin, white hands and beseech her to save
them, not from hell or purgatory in a supposed life to come, but from
misery, want and ignorance right here