"Well, Thomas," replied the other, "I can only say this--I had no idea how little I knew of the Bible till I began to study it in earnest. I see it does indeed need to be approached in a teachable spirit. But I have my difficulties and perplexities about it still. Only there's this difference now,--I've seen in my own home, and I see daily more and more in my own heart, abundance to convince me that the Bible is God's truth. So now, when I meet with a difficulty, I see that the obscurity is not in the Bible but in myself; in fact, I want more light." "Yes; and you'll get it now, William; for the Bible itself says, `The entrance of thy word giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.'" "I heartily believe it, Thomas; still there is much that is very deep to me--out of my depth, in fact. But there is one thing just now which is a special trouble to me. They don't chaff me so often at the mill now, but this evening Ben Thompson came up to me, and said, `Do you think it's any good _your_ turning Christian?'--`Yes, Ben, I hope so,' I said.--`Well,' he went on, `just you look in the Bible, and you'll find that there's what they call the unpardonable sin--there's no forgiveness for those who've been guilty of it; and if there's truth in that Bible, there's no forgiveness for you, for you've been the biggest blasphemer against the Bible in Crossbourne.' Thomas, I hadn't a word to answer him with; his words cut me to the heart, and he saw it, and went off with a grin full of malice. And now, since I came home, Kate and I have been looking through the Gospels, and we've come to this passage, in our Saviour's own words,--`Verily, I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.' Now, I'm afraid I've committed that sin many times; and what then? Is it true that there is no forgiveness for me?" He gazed earnestly into Bradly's face, as one would look on a man on whose decision hung life or death. But the other's reply brought relief at once to both Foster and his wife.