"For the outside world I grant it may be difficult,--but for the
ministers of religion, however difficult it may be, it should be
done," replied the Cardinal firmly. "I said this before, and I
deliberately maintain it. The Church IS a system,--but whether it is
as much founded on the teaching of our Lord, who was divine, as on
the teaching of St. Paul, who was NOT divine, is a question to me of
much perplexity."

"St. Paul was directly inspired by our Lord," said the Archbishop--
"I am amazed that you should even hint a doubt of his apostleship!"

"I do not decry St. Paul," answered Bonpre quietly--"He was a gifted
and clever man, but he was a Man--he was not God-in-Man. Christ's
doctrine leaves no place for differing sects; St. Paul's method of
applying that doctrine serves as authority for the establishment of
any and every quarrelsome sect ever known!"

"I cannot agree with you," said the Archbishop coldly.

"I do not expect to be agreed with"--and Bonpre smiled a little--"An
opinion which excites no opposition at all is not worth having! I am
quite honest in my scruples, such as they are;--I do not think we
fit, as you say, the Church system to the needs of modern
civilization. On the contrary, we must fail in many ways to do this,
else there would not be such a crying out for help and comfort as
there is at present among all Christian peoples. We no longer speak
with a grand certainty as we ought to do. We only offer vague hopes
and dubious promises to those who thirst for the living waters of
salvation and immortality,--it is as if we did not feel sure enough
of God ourselves to make others sure. All this is wrong--wrong! It