e rules
by which we are to be governed."

"You are talking of the Old Testament?"

"It is given to us as one whole. Then we have the story of a mystery
which is above, or, at least, beyond the utmost stretch of man's
comprehension; and the very purport of which is opposed to all our
ideas of justice. In the jurisprudence of heaven can that be just
which here, on earth, is manifestly unjust?"

"Is your faith in God so weak then, and your reliance on yourself so
firm, that you can believe nothing beyond your own comprehension?"

"I believe much that I do not understand. I believe the distance of
the earth from the sun. I believe that the seed of a man is carried
in a woman, and then brought forth to light, a living being. I do not
understand the principle of this wondrous growth. But yet I believe
it, and know that it is from God. But I cannot believe that evil is
good. I cannot believe that man placed here by God shall receive or
not receive future happiness as he may chance to agree or not to
agree with certain doctors who, somewhere about the fourth century,
or perhaps later, had themselves so much difficulty in coming to any
agreement on the disputed subject."

"I think, Bertram, that you are going into matters which you know are
not vital to faith in the Christian religion."

"What is vital, and what is not? If I could only learn that! But you
always argue in a circle. I am to have faith because of the Bible;
but I am to take the Bible through faith. Whence is the first spring
of my faith to come? where shall I find the fountain-head?"

"In prayer to God."

"But can I pray without faith? Did any man ever kneel before a log,
and ask the log that he might believe in the log? Had he no faith in
the log, could it be possible that he should be seen there kneeling
before it?"

"Has the Bible then for you no intrinsic evidence of its truth?"

"Yes, most irrefragable evidence; evidence that no thinking man can
possibly reject. Christ's teaching, the words that I have there as
coming from his mouth are irresistible evidence of his fitness to
teach. But you will permit me to use no such evidence. I must take
it all, from the beginning of my career, before I can look into its
intrinsic truth. And it must be all true to me: the sun standing
still upon Gibeon no less than the divine wisdom which showed that
Caesar's tribute should be paid to Caesar."

"If every man and every child is to select, how shall we ever hav