THE WOMAN AT THE END OF THE PATH He stopped, noticing that the chairs were pushed back.

There was an unmistakeable air of boredom, though one or two of the men still smoked thoughtfully.

One of these, indeed--the high church rector--even came back with a question, to the undisguised apprehension of several brothers.
"You have formulated a certain fashion of belief, Mr.Linford, one I dare say appealing to minds that have not yet learned that even reason must submit to authority; but you must admit that this revelation of God in the human heart carries no authoritative assurance of immortality." Bernal had been sitting in some embarrassment, dismayed at his own vehemence, but this challenge stirred him.
"True," he answered, "but let us thank God for uncertainty, if it take the place of Christian belief in a sparsely peopled heaven and a crowded hell." "Really, you know--" "I know nothing of a future life; but I prefer ignorance to a belief that the most heinous baby that ever died in sin is to languish in a state of damnation--even 'in a wide sense' as our good friend puts it." "But, surely, that is the first great question of all people in all ages--'If a man die shall he live again ?' "Because there has never been any dignified conception of a Supreme Being.

I have tried to tell you what my own faith is--faith in a God wiser and more loving than I am, who, being so, has devised no mean little scheme of revenge such as you preach.

A God more loving than my own human father, a God whose plan is perfect whether it involve my living or dying.