"Well," she said simply, "then we have reached our starting-point. I wished that you were a follower of Christ; in order to follow him, of course, you will have to know him intimately."
"Who follows him?"
The question was asked almost fiercely. Oh, if Louise could only have reminded him of his mother, could have brought her forth as an unanswerable argument against this foolish attempt at scepticism! She knew mothers who could have been so brought forward, but, alas for him! John Morgan's mother was not one of them. The minister? She thought of him quickly, and as quickly laid his name aside. He was a "good fellow," a genial man; John already half fancied him; but it would not do to bring him forward as a model of one who was following Christ. Alas, again, for John that his pastor could not have been a satisfactory pattern! She thought of her husband, and with a throb of wifely pain realized that she must not produce his name. Not, indeed, because he was not a follower, but because this unreasonable boy could so readily detect flaws, and was fiercely claiming a perfect pattern. She must answer something.
"O John!" she said, and her voice was full of feeling, "very many are, in weakness and with stumblings; but what has that to do with the subject? Suppose there is not a single honest follower on earth, does that destroy you and Christ? To point out my follies to Jesus Christ will not excuse you, for he does not ask you to follow me. John, don't let us argue these questions that are as plain as sunlight. You believe in Jesus Christ; will you study him, and take him for your model?"
"Not until I see somebody accomplish something in the world who pretends to have done so."
He said it with his accustomed sneer; he knew it was weak and foolish—was in a sense unanswerable because of its utter puerility; yet, all the same, he repeated it in varied forms during that walk, harping continually on the old key—the inconsistencies of others. In part he believed his own statements; in fact he was at work at what he had accused Christians of doing—"making believe" to himself that the fault lay all outside of himself.
Louise said very little more; she had not the least desire to argue. She believed that John, like many other young men in his position, knew altogether too little about the matter to be capable of honest argument. She believed he was, like many another, very far from being sincerely anxious to reach the truth, else he would not have had to make that humiliating admission that he was unacquainted with the character of Jesus Christ.
He talked a good deal during the rest of the way; waxed fierce over the real or fancied sins of his neighbours; instanced numerous examples, and seemed surprised and provoked that she made not the slightest attempt to controvert his statements.
"Upon my word!" he said at last, "you are easily vanquished. You have never lived in such an interesting community of Christians as this, I fancy. So you haven't a word to say for them?"
"I didn't know we were talking about them," she answered quietly; "I thought we were talking about Jesus Christ. I am not acquainted with them, and in one sense they are really of no consequence; but I do know Jesus, and can say a word for him, if you will present anything against him. Still, as you seem very anxious to talk of these others, I want to ask one question—Do you believe these traits of character which you have mentioned were developed by religion?"