“Nay, now thou aft like old Lawyer Pearson?” quoth Father. “‘I wis not, Master,’ saith the witness. ‘Ay, but will you swear?’ saith he. ‘Why,’ quoth the witness, ‘how can I swear when I wis not?’ ‘Nay, but you must swear one way or an other,’ saith he. Under thy leave, Joyce, I do decline to swear either way, seeing I wis not.”
Aunt Joyce gives a little stamp of her foot. “What on earth is the good of men, when they wit no more than women?” quoth she: whereat all laughed.
“Ah, some women have great wits,” saith Father.
“Give o’er thy mocking, Aubrey!” answers she. “Tell us plain, what notion thou hast, and be not so strict tied to chapter and verse.”
“Of what worth shall then be my notions? Well,” saith Father, “I have given them on the one matter. As for the origin of evil, I find the origin of mine evil in mine own heart, and no further can I get except to Satan.”
“Ay, but I would fain reach over Satan,” saith she.
“That shall we not do without Satan overreaching us,” quoth Father. “Well, then—as to free-will and grace, I find both. ‘Whosoever will, take of the water of life,’—and ‘Yet will ye not come unto Me that ye might have life.’ But also I find, ‘No man can come to Me, except the Father draw him;’ and that faith cometh ‘Not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.’”
“Come, tarry not there!” saith Aunt Joyce. “How dost thou reconcile them?”
“Why, I don’t reconcile them,” quoth he.
“Ay, but do!” she makes answer.