"You believe the Bible, Mrs. Evelyn?" he said, smiling slightly.
"Certainly, Sir; but, Mr. Carleton, the Bible, I am sure, holds out the same views, of the goodness and glory of the Creator you cannot open it but you find them on every page. If I could take such views of things as some people have," said Mrs. Evelyn, getting up to punch the fire in her extremity "I don't know what I should do! Mr. Carleton, I think I would rather never have been born, Sir!"
"Every one runs to the Bible!" said Mr. Stackpole. "It is the general armoury, and all parties draw from it to fight each other."
"True," said Mr. Carleton, "but only while they draw partially. No man can fight the battle of truth but in the whole panoply, and no man so armed can fight any other."
"What do you mean, Sir?"
"I mean that the Bible is not a riddle, neither inconsistent with itself; but if you take off one leg of a pair of compasses, the measuring power is gone."
"But, Mr. Carleton, Sir," said Mrs. Evelyn "do you think that reading the Bible is calculated to give one gloomy ideas of the future?"
"By no means," he said, with one of those meaning-fraught smiles; "but is it safe, Mrs. Evelyn, in such a matter, to venture a single grasp of hope without the direct warrant of God's Word?"
"Well, Sir?"
"Well, Ma'am, that says, 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die.' "