'm sure aboot onything. I hae seen mony a
ane dee that cud hae no faith i' the Saviour; but I never saw that fear
that some gude fowk wud hae ye believe maun come at the last. I wadna
like to tak to ony papistry; but I never cud mak oot frae the Bible--and
I read mair at it i' the jungle than maybe ye wad think--that it's a'
ower wi' a body at their deith. I never heard them bring foret ony text
but ane--the maist ridiculous hash 'at ever ye heard--to justifee 't.'

'I ken the text ye mean--"As the tree falleth so it shall lie," or
something like that--'at they say King Solomon wrote, though better
scholars say his tree had fa'en mony a lang year afore that text saw the
licht. I dinna believe sic a thocht was i' the man's heid when he wrote
it. It is as ye say--ower contemptible to ca' an argument. I'll read it
to ye ance mair.'

Robert got his Bible, and read the following portion from that wonderful
book, so little understood, because it is so full of wisdom--the Book of
Ecclesiastes:--

'Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

'Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what
evil shall be upon the earth.

'If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth:
and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place
where the tree falleth, there it shall be.

'He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the
clouds shall not reap.

'As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do
grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the
works of God who maketh all.

'In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine
hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that,
or whether they both shall be alike good.'

'Ay, ay; that's it,' said Dr. Anderson. 'Weel, I maun say again that
they're ill aff for an argument that taks that for ane upo' sic a
momentous subjec'. I prefer to say, wi' the same auld man, that I know
not the works of God who maketh all. But I wish I could say I believed
onything for certain sure. But whan I think aboot it--wad ye believe 't?
the faith o' my father's mair to me nor ony faith o' my ain. That soonds
strange. But it's this: I'm positeeve that that godly great auld man
kent mair aboot a' thae things--I cud see 't i' the face o' 'm--nor ony
ither man 'at ever I kent. An' it's no by comparison only. I'm sure h