the parson; 'the almost
insurmountable partition wall which your Calvin has raised between you
and us. I mean your monstrous doctrine of election. _Aliis vita aeterna,
aliis damnatio aeterna praeordinatur!_ How can you reconcile this
declaration with infinite love and eternal justice?'

'I willingly give up these doctrines to your disposal,' answered Dorn;
'for they have never formed a part of my creed. Even Calvin himself
stated, that he had some scruples whether predestination could be
reconciled with God's wisdom, the rock upon which this doctrine has
always foundered.'

'I take this concession for all it is worth,' said the parson; 'but I
cannot pass over your assertion, that our difference upon the subject
of the Lord's supper is a contest _de lana caprina_. Because your
presumptuous reason cannot comprehend the declaration of our Savior,
'this is my body,' you wish to strike it out of the bible; but this we
cannot permit; because we cannot give up one tittle of God's word, and
because the communion solemnity falls to the ground when the mystery
becomes robbed of the wings which bear it up to heaven. If, however,
you take away from the holy scriptures all that is not clear to you,
nothing will remain but a good sensible book, but with no high
revelation which can only be received by pious faith. If you can see
nothing in the sacrament of the Lord's supper but a remembrance of its
founder, you need not partake of the bread and wine. Without this
_medium_ it would be impossible for us to forget our Lord and Master.'

'Sensual man,' answered Dorn, 'needs sensible signs as symbols of
spiritual things. To be reminded of the author of our religion is to be
reminded of his doctrines; and as he established this solemnity and
consecrated it to the remembrance of himself on the evening before the
death with which he sealed his doctrines, so must it, according to
_our_ creed, be deemed sacred--must soften and purify our hearts, and
inspire us with devout and holy resolutions, which is the important
point in question for you as well as us. We consider the _mystery_
unnecessary, and we have the voices of the earliest churches with us,
as the transubstantiation doctrine of Paschasius Radbertus, from which
yours but very little differs, was first heard of in the ninth
century.'

'For a book-keeper and ci-devant military officer you are deeply
learned,' remarked the somewhat excited preacher.

'My early religious education,'