"I don't see why any one should have such an idea," said Mr. Alleman. "It doesn't make the slightest difference which side they take, if they really believe as they claim to do." "Goodness!" exclaimed the Squire. "Why, are _you_ going over to the defense of faith against works? You, who have always been preaching up good works as the whole end of life? I'm afraid _I've_ been in too much of a hurry, for I've been drifting over to your side very, very fast during the past two or three weeks." "I've not changed my principles in the least," replied Mr. Alleman. "Either belief includes the other, if a man is really sincere in the belief itself." "Well," said the Squire, with humility, "you scholarly fellows can do sums in your heads at a rate that no common man's ciphering can equal. I thought I'd heard a great deal on this subject, both before I experienced a change and after, but I never could see that there could be any agreement between the two. One set of men say that faith is everything; another say that works are the thing; both sets make faces when they pass each other on Sunday on their way to their separate churches, and, if I read the religious papers correctly, it's the subject of the greatest religious fighting in the world." "The fighting is between the men, not the ideas," said Mr. Alleman. "Having withdrawn from the class," remarked Dr. Humbletop, who also was present, "or, I might say, having never belonged to it, I don't know that I have any right to take part in your conversation, but as this is not a stated session of the class----" "Even if it was, Doctor, you'd be free to say whatever you liked," interrupted the Squire. "Free speech is the rule of the class on Sundays, and we certainly aren't going to be any narrower out of school than in it. Besides, you've been to a theological seminary, and know the ins and outs of this question. Now, I want to know if I'm not right and Alleman wrong?" "You certainly are correct in your assumptions," replied the reverend doctor. "The Church, or, more properly speaking, the world and the Church, have always been at war upon this important issue. It has been the cause of battles in which precious human blood was shed, as well as of struggles in which words, fiercer than spears and darts, have been the weapons used, and souls instead of bodies were to be counted among the killed and wounded." "And the Church," remarked young Mr. Waggett, as he tore the wrapper from a religious newspaper, which the postmaster had just handed him, "our Church has decided in favor of justification by faith, as the only sure way of salvation. Other churches----"