He looked at me steadily, and was silent. I would have ridden on at this; but thinking he might be able to tell me things I desired to know, I determined to alight and walk by his side. "We are not far from Bedford, I take it?" I said. "But a mile." "Know you of a good hostelry there?" "I know all that may be found there." "Then, by your leave, I will walk back with you, for I judge you are travelling thither." "Ay," he replied, "my home is at Bedford, and my wife and dear ones live there." There was a quiet dignity in the way he spoke, and although I detected none of the evidences of the schoolman in his speech, I could not help feeling that he was a man of some authority. "Do you love God, young master?" he said, the moment I had dismounted, and walked by his side. "How may a man do that?" I asked, for the question took me aback. "By loving His Son, whom He hath sent in the flesh to proclaim his love, by dying for a sinful world." "And what may be the signs which show forth that one loves the Son of God?" I continued, concluding that I had happened across one of the Puritans of the district. "The sign of love is obedience," he replied. "For what are His Words? 'He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me.'" "That also may need explanation," I replied, for I determined not to endanger myself in any way by hasty speech. "The explanation is simple," he replied quietly. "The teaching of Christ is that we do good, not only in lip but in life. That we love one another, and that we also love the truth of God. It is also that we obey God at all costs, even as the Apostles did of olden time. We have a safe guide to the will of God in the Holy Scriptures, and especially is it made clear to us in the New Testament Scriptures. The proofs of love to God are trust in and obedience to Him, as is set forth therein. For what said Martin Luther, when he stood before his judges, who called upon him to recant. 'Confute me with scripture; if you cannot do that, neither can I recant, for it is neither safe nor wise for a man to disobey his conscience.' So then he loves God who is true to Him, and this he does by instructing his conscience by Holy Writ and much prayer, and then obeying his conscience whatever may befall him." "But may a man not need instruction in Holy Writ?" I asked. "A man's prayer obtains the best instruction," he made answer. "If we read the Scriptures in prayer and reverence, God will guide us. Thus it is that a wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err in the ways of truth." "But suppose that one be led in reading the Scriptures to hold views different from those of those set in authority over us?" I asked. He lifted his large eyes to mine, and scanned my face intently. "Yet should he hold fast by his integrity," he replied. "Even if the teachers of the Church command otherwise?" I asked.