am as sincere as you are. As to the goodness of my mind, I did not
derive it from myself and am not to blame. I have only made an
earnest and an honest use of what mind was given me. But I have not
relied upon it alone. There are great men, some of the greatest
minds of the world, who have been my teachers and determined my
belief."

"All your life you had the word of God as your teacher and you
believed it. Now these men tell you not to believe it and you
believe them. And then you complain that I do not think more highly
of you."

"Father," cried David, "there is one man whose name is very dear to
us both. The blood of that man is in me as it is in you. Sir, it is
your grandfather. Do you remember what the church of his day did
with him? Do you forget that, standing across the fields yonder, is
the church he himself built to freedom of opinion in religious
matters? I grew up, not under the shadow of that church, for it
casts none, but in the light of it. I have seen many churches
worship there. I have had before me, from the time I could
remember, my great-grandfather's words: they seemed to me the voice
of God by whom all men were created, and the spirit of Christ by
whom, as you believe, men are to be saved."

The younger man stopped and waited in vain for the older one to
reply. But his father also waited, and David went on:--

"I do not expect you to stand against the church in what it has
done with me: that HAD to be done. If you had been an elder of that
church, I know you, too, would have voted to expel me. What I do