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‘Why harass yourself with these doubts?’ Mr. Fletcher asked. ‘Put your faith in God, and He will make the path easy for you.’

‘But—but—forgive me if I pain you—if there be one falsehood in the Bible, then the whole of it must be open to suspicion. If God had desired to reveal Himself to man, he could have made certain of achieving His object by appealing to his reason.’

‘It is not for us to question the ways the Almighty in His wisdom has seen fit to adopt,’ replied the clergyman severely. ‘Nor must you forget that what we regard now as incontrovertible truths would have been rejected with ridicule on all hands at the time the Word of God was given to mankind.’

‘That is no doubt true. But with what veneration would every one of us regard the Bible if we found that every fresh discovery in science only made its truth more apparent?’

‘And are we certain that it will not be so? Science has reached no finality in its discoveries. The truth of yesterday is the doubt of to-day and the lie of to-morrow. In the pursuit of knowledge do we get any nearer the solution of that vital question, the fate of the human soul? And,’ he continued, starting to his feet with something of his outdoor fervour upon him, ‘the day of science is wellnigh spent. Everywhere its votaries are returning with the same story of the impenetrable barriers God has set against the expansion of human knowledge. Turn then, my sister, to the blessed figure of the Saviour, in whose strength lies your salvation and that of the world. What has science to offer us in comparison with that divine light?