“Yes, I made an error there,” answered Mr. Tremodart, pushing his hands through his hair; “but she was the best hen in my yard. I had set my heart on having a brood of her chickens to bring up, and she was so wild and shy that I feared we’d never find her, and that the foxes would get at the eggs of the chicks before ever we could make sure of them. I had a bad cold too, and was in bed when the old sexton came hurrying in to tell me of the find. I knew once we rudely and hastily disturbed her she would never sit again, and I had no other broody hen to take her place; so I just said we’d have no service that day, thinking David would go and say it was my cold that kept me to home. But instead, he told the story of the hen, and shamed me before my flock. And yet I cannot complain--it was my own sinfulness. But mark my word, my young friend: however sinful the minister may be, the church is the house of God, and a blessing rests on those who come thither to worship Him, talk as you hot-headed young reformers may of your newer and more rational religions which are to take the place of that ordained by God.” With Mr. St. Aubyn Eustace would have argued, but this man had not the learning to enable him to support his beliefs, and Eustace declined controversy by saying, with a smile-- “I am, at least, quite ready to admit that if we have souls in your sense of the word, they may easily be saved through regular attendance at St. Bride’s or any other church.” The Cornishman threw back his head with a gesture that was at once emphatic and picturesque. “Young man, do not mock,” he said in his deep-toned, resonant voice. “The soul of man is a mystery which your philosophy will never fathom; and mark me again--when I speak of saving souls and attendance at church in one breath, I mean something far different than what yu imply in your light phrase. What I should say is this--let the preacher be never so ignorant and unworthy, in our churches we have forms of prayer which embrace the whole circle of Christian doctrine. On our knees we confess our sins to God; on our knees we hold up before Him the one Atonement of the Cross as our only hope of salvation, and pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to rule and direct our hearts. We read the word of God in our midst. We offer psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. And I say again that Christ has taught us that penitent confession, coupled with faith in Him, is sufficient for salvation--that every erring sinner coming to Him is never cast out, and that He has given His Spirit to be our guide and comforter through life. Wherefore I say and maintain that all those who truly follow the services offered in our churches week by week may find in them salvation, whether he who offers them be as weak and unworthy as the man before you now.” Eustace rose and held out his hand.