"I do not know, sir, but I heard Mr. Hume say that the book of Nature is his Bible, and that we do not need any other, and that, whether the Bible be true or not, we know that the teachings of Nature must be true." "But we should find," said Mr. Wilton, "that the teachings of Nature and the Bible would perfectly agree. Did Mr. Hume say that what he calls 'The book of Nature' contradicts the sacred Scriptures?" Now that Ansel could give the thoughts which filled his mind, not as his own, but as Mr. Hume's, he showed no farther hesitation in speaking. "Yes, sir," he answered; "he said that Nature teaches us that there is no God, because there is no need of any. He said that we cannot prove that God created the universe, but that matter has existed from eternity uncreated, and that all the changes in nature go on by certain laws of development, and that a certain Mr. Darwin had written a book and proved this." The reader will notice that in the report of Mr. Hume's language the scholar went somewhat farther than his master had done. Mr. Wilton was well acquainted with the present shape of scientific infidelity, and saw that Ansel's statements were somewhat exaggerated, but he understood in a moment the drift of Ansel's thoughts, though he could not tell as yet how deep and fixed an impression had been made upon his mind. But he did not care to probe Ansel's conscience just then and there, in order to learn the exact state of the case. "If I understand you, then," he said, "you would like a course of lessons in the teachings of Nature?" "Of course, I did not suppose that you would allow us to have a course of lessons in the works of Nature instead of the Bible." "But if I were willing to give you a course of lessons showing the footprints of the Creator, so to speak, in the physical world, how would it please you?" "I should like it very much." "How would such a plan please the other members of the class?" The idea was entirely new; no one of them had ever dreamed of studying in a Bible class anything except the Bible; but young people are not averse to novelties, and they readily gave their assent. Yet I should do the class injustice by leaving the impression that they were influenced simply by the love of something new. They were of just that age when one hardly knows whether to call them lads or young men; they had been well instructed, and were just beginning to think independently. They were rapidly becoming conscious of their own mental power, and were eager to try their strength upon every line of thought. Their own weakness they had hardly begun to learn. Perhaps they were all the more ready to undertake such a course of study because they knew nothing of the difficulties attending it. The tinkling of the superintendent's bell warned them to close their conversation.