He was his own languid, paradoxical self.
'Well, after all,' he said at last, very slowly, 'the difficulty lies in preaching anything.

One may as well preach a respectable mythology as anything else.' 'What do you mean by a mythology ?' cried Robert, hotly.
'Simply ideas, or experiences, personified,' said Langham, puffing away.
'I take it they are the subject-matter of all theologies.' 'I don't understand you,' said Robert, flushing.

'To the Christian, facts have been the medium by which ideas the world could not otherwise have come at have been communicated to man.

Christian theology is a system of ideas indeed, but of ideas realized, made manifest in facts.' Langham looked at him for a moment, undecided; then that suppressed irritation we have already spoken of broke through.

'How do you know they are facts ?' he said, dryly.
The younger man took up the challenge with all his natural eagerness, and the conversation resolved itself into a discussion of Christian evidences.