"And what I have said--is it not in accordance with the Word of God?"
With a cry of dismay on his lips, Carlos turned and looked at him--"God help us! Are we then Lutherans?"
"It may be Christ is asking another question--Are we amongst those who follow him whithersoever he goeth?"
"Oh, not there--not to that!" cried Carlos, rising in his agitation and beginning to pace the room. "I abhor heresy--I eschew the thought. From my cradle I have done so. Anywhere but that!"
Pausing at last in his walk before the place where De Seso sat, he asked, "And you, señor, have you considered whither this would lead?"
"I have. I do not ask thee to follow. But this I say: if Christ bids any man leave the ship and come to him upon these dark and stormy waters, he will stretch out his own right hand to uphold and sustain him."
"To leave the ship--his Church? That would be leaving him. And leaving him, I am lost, soul and body--lost--lost!"
"Fear not. At his feet, clinging to him, soul of man was never lost yet."
"I will cleave to him, and to the Church too."
"Still, if one must be forsaken, let not that one be Christ."