"How can you think such a thing ?" she asked.

"It seems to me a libel upon the goodness of God." "But justice, Miss Jeffrey," he said anxiously; "surely we must acknowledge the righteousness and justice of God's judgments." "If you mean that God would send a soul to hell forever, if you call that his judgment, it seems to me unrighteous and unjust.

Truly, I can think of no greater heresy, Mr.Ward, than to deny the love of God; and is not that what you do when you say he is more cruel than even men could be ?" "But the Bible says"-- he began, when she interrupted him.
"It does not seem worth while to say, 'the Bible says,'" she said, smiling a little as she looked into his troubled face.

"The Bible was the history, and poetry, and politics of the Jews, as well as their code of ethics and their liturgy; so that, unless we are prepared to believe in its verbal inspiration, I don't see how we can say, as an argument, 'the Bible says.'" "And you do not believe in its verbal inspiration ?" he said slowly.
"No," Helen answered, "I could not." It was not for John Ward to ask how she had been taught, or to criticise another minister's influence, but as he walked home, with anxious, downcast eyes, he wondered what Dr.Howe's belief could be, and how it had been possible for her soul to have been so neglected.

This woman, whose gracious, beautiful nature stirred him with profound admiration, was in the darkness of unbelief; she had never been taught the truth.
As he said this to himself, John Ward knew, with sudden, passionate tenderness, that he loved her.