the place of Christian belief in a sparsely peopled heaven and a crowded
hell."

"Really, you know--"

"I know nothing of a future life; but I prefer ignorance to a belief
that the most heinous baby that ever died in sin is to languish in a
state of damnation--even 'in a wide sense' as our good friend puts it."

"But, surely, that is the first great question of all people in all
ages--'If a man die shall he live again?'

"Because there has never been any dignified conception of a Supreme
Being. I have tried to tell you what my own faith is--faith in a God
wiser and more loving than I am, who, being so, has devised no mean
little scheme of revenge such as you preach. A God more loving than my
own human father, a God whose plan is perfect whether it involve my
living or dying. Whether I shall die to life or to death is not within
my knowledge; but since I know of a truth that the God I believe in must
have a scheme of worth and dignity, I am unconcerned. Whether his plan
demand extinction or immortality, I worship him for it, not holding him
to any trivial fancy of mine. God himself can be no surer of his plan's
perfection than I am. I call this faith--faith the more perfect that it
is without condition, asking neither sign nor miracle."

"And life is so good that I've no time to whine. If this _ego_ of mine
is presently to become unnecessary in the great Plan, my faith is still
triumphant. It would be interesting to know the end, but it's not so
important as to know that I am no better--only a little wiser in certain
ways--than yesterday's murderer. Living under the perfect plan of a