rs, with whom I am more inclined to agree, think
that it conveys only the promise and assurance that in heaven there will
be found room for us all. You must remember that we in the present day
have the Bible through the medium of translation; and all translations
are liable to error. Why, if you read the Book of Job, for instance, in
the original Hebrew, without the arbitrary division into verses which
the translators of the authorised version inserted, you would find it a
perfect poem!"

"For my part," said Mr Mawley, "I do not think we ought to speak about
religious matters in this sort of way, and make them subjects for
general conversation."

"I don't agree with you, Mawley," said the vicar, "the truth is not so
brittle that we should be afraid of handling it; if religion were more
openly discussed and brought into our daily life, I believe we should be
all the better for it."

"Ah, you are Broad Church!" said the curate.

"Very well, be it so," said the vicar good-humouredly; "I'm not ashamed
of it, so long as you allow that I'm at least a Christian."

"What _is_ Broad Church, Mr Mawley?" asked Bessie Dasher, who was
suspected of having tender feelings towards the curate, for she
generally deferred to his views and opinions.

"Broad Church," said Mr Mawley, "holds that every man is at liberty to
judge for himself; and that any Sectarian or Unitarian, or heathen, has
as much chance of heaven as you or I."

"Positively shocking!" said Miss Spight, in virtuous indignation at any
nonconformist being esteemed as worthy of future salvation as herself.

"Oliver Wendell Holmes," I said, "gives a truer exposition. He says
that `the narrow church may be seen in the ship's boats of humanity, in
the long boat, in the jolly boat, in the captain's gig, lying off the
poor old vessel, thanking God that _they_ are safe, and reckoning how
soon the hulk containing the mass of their fellow-creatures will go
down. The Broad Church is on board, working hard at the pumps, and very
slow to believe that the ship will be swallowed up with so many poor
people in it, fastened down under the hatches ever since it floated!'"

"Ah, that is better," said the vicar. "It is there put very aptly. If
we could only be less bigoted, and assimilate our various sects
together, what a happy church would ours be! We all have the same sure
fundamental ground of belief, and only differ in details."

"But, my dear sir," said the curate, in p