“Do you keep any account of failures?”
“None whatever.”
“Then you notice what suits you and ignore the rest. Is that truth in science?”
“Failures do not depend upon phenomena or cases.”
“Then upon what?” inquired Adele, intensely interested.
“Failures depend upon the Divine Word.”
A pause—Adele as one astounded at what she considered the fearful abuse of both thoughts and words in Mrs. Geyser’s statements.
No doubt Mrs. G.imagined she was protecting her faith and religion by this placing of blame for failure upon the Spirit of Truth in the Divine Word, as if Truth itself could ever be a delusion, a fallacy, a failure; but, unfortunately, or fortunately perhaps, Adele Cultus grasped the fuller import of such assertions—so abusive of facts in nature scientific and philosophical, so diametrically in opposition, or else ignoring Christ’s especial teaching by word and work. Such was Adele’s point of view.
To Adele this was utterly illogical, antagonistic to truth as she saw it. Such an atrocious conception from one who had just been talking about love, the greatest thing on earth, struck through Adele like an electric shock, and, as usual with her, the spiritual dominant. She was also outwardly calm, but mentally that violent tension which comes with strenuous effort to find the truest utterance. The horrible words again sounded in her ears: “Failures—depend—upon——”
“Mrs. Geyser, to the Divine Word let us appeal. The record states that our Saviour did depend upon the phenomena to sustain his claims, ‘Believe me for the very works’ sake,’ and He never failed. When science, some day, progresses to the standpoint of our Saviour’s knowledge and practice we too may understand the application of natural laws as He did. What is the so-called supernatural? Merely that which science has not yet explained: miracles to-day are not miracles to-morrow.”