and joyfully take my portion
in that hell in which the noble Socrates and just Aristides are
burning.'

The parson started back with a shudder. Dorn checked himself and
continued in a subdued tone; 'Be not alarmed, reverend sir, at my
audacious words. My belief is not so bad as you fear. Would to God all
christians had it, and then much less of tears and blood would be made
to flow. Now repeat to me, quickly and peacefully to end our strife,
that which Christ pronounced to be the chief commandment of God.'

'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor
as thyself,' said the parson.

'Even thine enemy!' added Dorn. 'How much more then those who only
differ from us in opinion! Here you have my profession of faith, and I
trust in God that I shall be able to stand before him at the last day
with it.'

'You confound ideas,' cried the vexed parson. 'You speak of christian
ethics, and I am reasoning only of the articles of faith.'

'Devised by men!' said Dorn. 'I hold the chief point to be the
observance of the system of morals taught by Christ. Do not you also?'

'No!' emphatically exclaimed the parson after a short pause.

'No?' asked Dorn with some surprise. 'The divine doctrine that we must
live devoutly to die happily, not the substance of our religion! Ah, my
dear sir, it was your cloth, and not your head or heart, which dictated
that negative. You are too good and too intelligent not to be of my
opinion.'

'Ah, do not press me with such _argumenta ad hominem_,' said the parson
with excited but not unfriendly feelings. 'In point of fact there can
be no disputing about matters of faith. It must come from within, and
cannot be derived from without. Nevertheless I do not for that reason
give you up. A time will come when you will be no longer satisfied with
cold syllogisms, and you will then seek a refuge in the open maternal
arms of the true faith, in which only you can find peace. Until when,
only let your conduct be as fair as your speech, and I shall at all
events hope that the maiden will not have made a bad choice. One thing,
however, you must promise me with hand and word. Urge not upon your
future wife your unbelief, or half belief, or whatever else you may
choose to call it. Cause her not to waver in her own, which she
has imbibed with her mother's milk. Yet more than the strong and
self-relying man does weak, delicate and suffering woman need a
steadfast faith. You would rob her