"Yes," said the king angrily; "they have sown dragons' teeth, from
which bloodthirsty warriors have sprung, who wander up and down, and
in mad ambition tear all mankind, and themselves included, to
pieces. Listen, Jordan, we have fallen upon a subject which, as you
know, has interested and occupied me much of late, and it is
precisely upon these points that I have sought your counsel to-day.
Be seated, then, and hear what I have to say to you. You know that
the pietists and priests charge me with being a heretic, because I
do not think as they think, and believe as they believe. Which of
them, think you, Jordan, has the true faith? What is truth, and what
is wisdom? Each sect believes itself--and itself alone--the
possessor of both. That is reason enough, it appears to me, for
doubting them all."

"In the same land?"

"Yes, in various places in the same city, we are taught entirely
different and opposing doctrines in the name of religion. On one
hand, we are threatened with everlasting fire in the company of the
devil and his angels, if we believe that the Almighty is bodily
present in the elements offered at the sacrament of the Lord's
supper. On the other hand, we are taught, with equal assurance, that
the same terrible punishment will be awarded us unless we believe
that God is literally, and not symbolically, present in the bread
and wine. The simple statement of the doctrines of the different
churches in the world would fill an endless number of folios. Each
religion condemns all others, as leading to perdition; they cannot
therefore all be true, for truth does not contradict itself. If any
one of these were the true faith, would not God have made it clear,