better results than this,--namely that there were only "A FEW NAMES
IN SARDIS"? If so, were not the churches criminally to blame? Yea,
even holy Mother-Church, whose foundation rested on the memory of
the Lying Apostle? Rapidly, and as if suggested by some tormenting
devil, these thoughts possessed the Cardinal's brain, burning into
it and teasing and agonising the tender fibres of his conscience and
his soul. Could God, the great loving Creator of countless
universes, be so cruel as to wantonly destroy millions of helpless
creatures in one small planet, because through ignorance or want of
proper teaching they had failed to find Christ?--was it possible
that he could only extend his mercy and forgiveness to the "few
names in Sardis"?

"Yet our world is but a pin's point in the eternal immensities,"
argued the Cardinal almost wistfully--"Only a few can expect to be
saved."

Nevertheless, this reasoning did not satisfy him. Again, what of
these millions? Were they to be forever lost? Then why so much waste
of life? Waste of life! There is no such thing as waste of life--
this much modern science the venerable Felix knew. Nothing can be
wasted,--not a breath, not a scene, not a sound. All is treasured up
in Nature's store-house and can be eternally reproduced at Nature's
will. Then what was to become of the myriads of human beings and
immortal souls whom the Church had failed to rescue? THE CHURCH HAD
FAILED! Why had it failed? Whose the fault?--whose the weakness?--
for fault and weakness were existent somewhere.

"WHEN THE SON OF MAN COMETH, THINK YE HE SHALL FIND FAITH ON EARTH?"