"No, sir; our Church does not permit us to do so. But if you wish to know my own views, I must say I feel sure that we are prevented from reading the Bible only because it is exactly the reverse of what our priests tell us. They say that the Bible is obscure, and not easy to be understood, and that, if they comprehend it, it is different with the common people. But I do not believe this, especially after something that happened to one of my friends, which I will tell you. "You know, perhaps, that Belgium is full of Jesuits, and the people dislike them. A certain abbé, who was only a Jesuit in disguise, was confessor to a friend of mine, who, like many others, had been guilty of some imprudence, and he confessed it to this same priest, who imposed rather a heavy penance on him, particularly requiring him to make a rich offering to Our Lady [the Virgin Mary]. Well, on his way home, my friend met one of the colporteurs, who sell Bibles and other religious books. He bought one, and began to read it, and the result was, that he discovered, as he told me, that he must seek the forgiveness of his sins from God, through the Saviour, and that to make an offering to the Virgin for his faults was at once to lose his pains, his money, and his soul. "Three months had passed, when the priest met my friend, and asked if he had done all he was directed, and especially, if he had made the offering. My friend answered, 'I have got a Book which has shown me that God alone forgives sin, and that to give money for a fault is to mock the Holy Spirit.' 'That is the Bible,' exclaimed the Jesuit. 'Wretched man, from whom did you get it? Unless you give it up to me this very day, woe be unto you!' My friend refused, and there is no sort of annoyance or vexation which the priest has not made him suffer. However, he was firm. But hitherto, I confess, I cared very little about the matter." "Then," said I, "you remain in ignorance as to whether God loves you or not?" "I am not worse than others," he replied; "and since God is good, I do not suppose He hates me." I explained, with all simplicity and freedom, the glorious doctrine of the salvation of God in Christ, and I saw that no thirsty traveller hastens to springs in the wilderness more eagerly than this young man seemed to turn and hearken to the record of divine love. At length, with much earnestness, he cried out, "Sir, how wonderful is the love of God to man! We did not deserve that He should give His Son to die for us. This was surpassing love. The thought of it overpowers me." "Will you not, then," I said, "read the Bible, which tells us this glorious news?" "Be assured that I will read it," he answered. "In less than a week I will have one like that which belongs to my friend. It is twice as thick as that lady's work-box, but this one Book contains all that God has said to man; and the print is so clear." "But if some Jesuit should see your Book, he may take it from you."