"'Tis but a happy friend that comes in the hour of need. Should we not
give heed to his kindly voice? If the studying of that Bible gives you
pain, adding to the weight that already wearies your heart, why not
close the book and, continuing on this way of ease, look more carefully
on outward things again?"

"Think you, Mr. World, that I would lay down my Bible? This is the
book that mother loved. It has always been my Book of books. It contains
the code of laws that controls the whole spiritual world, and it is
the only lamp that leads to light and to the gates of Heaven. You need
it as much as I. Why ask me to lay it down?"

"_Nay, nay,_" spoke the angel of light, "_urge her not to discard her
Bible, but rather to get a true understanding of it._ Perhaps," he
continued, turning again to Miss Church-Member, "thou hast met with
other mysterious verses in this chapter. If so, I will gladly serve
thee, for I love to give light to an honest heart."

"I see nothing more now that gives me trouble. These glasses, which
I got through the kindness of Mr. World, have helped me to understand
your interpretation so that the rest of the chapter is quite clear to
me."

"And how does the whole Bible appear since thy sight is so improved
by those fortunate lenses?"

"It certainly appears vastly different," she confessed. "It is so much
more liberal in its teachings than I ever before imagined."

"_Hast thou become so far advanced that thou canst, with thy more