I take back my censure. In that case my office
imposes upon me another sacred duty. The maiden is how under my
spiritual care, and I must be answerable to heaven for her religious
principles, which might be perverted by an unbelieving husband. I have
become doubtful of you, from your own conversations, and therefore, as
a called and ordained servant of the word, I ask you, are you an
orthodox Lutheran christian?'

'You would find it very difficult to justify that question before the
great author of your reformation,' answered Dorn, moodily. 'Know you
not how peremptorily he forbade the professors of his doctrines to
designate themselves by his name?'

'You wish to evade my question!' cried the parson, feeling the sting,
but endeavoring to conceal the smart.

'That is not my custom,' said Dorn. 'I will never deny that I adhere to
the doctrines which were first promulgated in Switzerland, and have
thence spread throughout the German empire.'

'As I feared!' cried the parson. 'A Calvinist, or perhaps even a
Zuinglian! and you wish to take a wife of the Augsburg faith?'

'Why not?' asked Dorn. 'That God who has disposed my heart toward the
maiden, will not be angry that I choose her as my companion for life.'

'I much doubt whether you can have and keep a true heart for one who is
of a different faith,' said the parson, shaking his head.

'God, who is eternal love, pardon you for the doubt, reverend sir,'
said Dorn with emotion. 'It is a sad consideration, that contentions
about unimportant dogmas and forms so frequently divide christians who
should stand united against the common enemy. It would be dreadful if
the feeble chains by which you are yet fettered, after throwing off
those of popery, should bar the way between two innocent individuals,
whose souls have become united by the bonds of holy love.'

'Unimportant dogmas and forms?' repeated the parson.

'I consider them so,' answered Dorn. 'Adhering to the words of Christ,
we celebrate, in the Lord's supper, only a holy remembrance of the
Savior; while you, by virtue of the same words, find therein a
mysterious presence of his body and his blood. You ornament your
churches with pictures, of which practice we disapprove. Are such
differences really sufficient grounds for the quarrels and contentions
which the followers of both confessions continue to wage against each
other with such reprehensible bitterness?'

'You wilfully overlook a principal point,' said