impossible that his own great laws should change. It
is impossible that they should remain, and yet not remain. Your
body--that which we all call our body--that which Flora Buttercup
believes to be her body (for in this matter she does believe) will
turn itself, through the prolific chemistry of nature, into various
productive gases by which other bodies will be formed. With which
body will you see Christ? with that which you now carry, or that you
will carry when you die? For, of course, every atom of your body
changes."

"It little matters which. It is sufficient for me to believe as the
Scriptures teach me."

"Yes; if one could believe. A Jew, when he drags his dying limbs to
the valley of Jehoshaphat, he can believe. He, in his darkness, knows
nothing of these laws of nature. But we will go to people who are not
in darkness. If I ask your mother what she means when she says--'Not
by confusion of substance; but by unity of person,' what will she
answer me?"

"It is a subject which it will take her some time to explain."

"Yes, I think so; and me some time longer to understand."

Wilkinson was determined not to be led into argument, and so he
remained silent. Bertram was also silent for awhile, and they
walked on, each content with his own thoughts. But yet not content.
Wilkinson would have been contented to be let alone; to have his
mind, and faith, and hopes left in the repose which nature and
education had prepared for them. But it was not so with Bertram. He
was angry with himself for not believing, and angry with others that
they did believe. They went on in this way for some ten minutes, and
then Bertram began again.

"Ah, that I could believe! If it were a thing to come at, as a man
wishes, who would doubt? But you, you, the priest, the teacher of
the people, you, who should make it all so easy, you will make it so
difficult, so impossible. Belief, at any rate, should be easy, though
practice may be hard."

"You should look to the Bible, not to us."

"Yes; it is there that is our stumbling-block. A book is given
to us, not over well translated from various languages, part of
which is history hyperbolically told--for all Eastern language is
hyperbolical; part of which is prophecy, the very meaning of which
is lost to us by the loss of those things which are intended to be
imaged out; and part of which is thanksgiving uttered in the language
of men who knew nothing, and could understand nothing of thos