'I rise, my Lord Bishop, though with many misgivings, on account of the time and place for such occasion, to put a very serious question for your judgment. Nothing where you preside can be said, I trust, in an unbecoming spirit, and nothing, certainly, should be spoken without charity. I humbly, pray, then, for the full protection of your presence upon this occasion, that if we speak with respect, we may not be insulted with ribaldry. 'We maintain that the Scriptures are given by God, to be a chastening warning and correction to the sinner's soul, a comfort to the righteous, and God's great boon to all the world. That without these Scriptures, commonly called the Bible, salvation cannot be properly known and understood. That they alone contain the truth which we ought to preach and teach, and the observances which we ought to hold. That the pious should receive such truth, and the learned preach it. That no man can know anything of God's will or his decrees but from the Sacred Scriptures. That all our learning of languages is but to keep these Scriptures pure, and to teach the unlearned and ignorant therefrom the sure and certain meaning of the Word ones spoken to man. 'We advocate the cause of the Scriptures being placed in the hands of the people, and maintain that, so far from this derogating from our authority, such a step would tend to increase the respect paid us, since all men can then see that the doctrines we preach and teach are the solid truth. That if the Scriptures be withheld, no man's judgment can be sound upon what we teach; for without them, it is impossible they should acknowledge the truth of our preaching. 'I request your voice and judgment hereupon, to say whether we hold or not, in these matters, anything contrary to true discipline and the right directions of mankind. I know your mind to be replete with learning, and that you do not despise others, nor would destroy research, in the bosom of the church. I, therefore, the more confidently commit what I say to your consideration, and await your answer.' There was a pause among the auditors before the Bishop; though the priest of St. Peter looked as if he would tear his crimson vest in pieces. The priest also of St. Saviour's was so much stirred that he felt as if the sin of schism was in the very palace. He rose up from his seat like a rampant and roaring lion, and for very rage could scarcely keep his hands off the humble man who had resumed his seat. He did not, as it was, fail to give him a curse in no very gentle terms. 'Heretic!' he exclaimed, 'thou art doomed to the fiercest and deadliest death. Down to the darkest doom beneath, where the devil and death prevail.