Katherine's Sheaves Part 7

"Indeed I will; it will be a pleasure to me, for I love children,"

Katherine replied, cordially, and much gratified to have yesterday's invitation repeated, while there was a feeling of deep tenderness in her heart for the long-suffering woman as she pa.s.sed on to her room.

After dinner she looked over the Bible lesson for the afternoon.

She was dreading this ordeal somewhat, for she well knew how widely different is the old theological exposition of the first chapter of Genesis from its spiritual interpretation, as she had been taught it according to Christian Science, But she tried to feel that, if she was called upon to express an opinion, she would be led to speak wisely and yet be obedient to Prof. Seabrook's command not to "flaunt her views before the school."

She hoped that he would ignore her altogether, and thus avoid an awkward situation for them both.

When the cla.s.s convened she was surprised to find Dorothy seated in her chair beside her father, and learned afterward that the girl was often present during the lessons, always giving the closest attention to what was said, even asking questions occasionally that puzzled wiser heads than hers.

As was his custom, Prof. Seabrook opened the exercises with prayer, followed by a familiar hymn. Then he gave a short talk upon the first chapter of Genesis, as a whole, preliminary to a more general discussion of it.

He showed himself to have been a critical student of the Bible, and his remarks were extremely interesting along the line of his own views. His rhetoric was flawless, his figures apt and beautiful, his points well made, and he held the undivided attention of everyone to the end.

"I have given you this talk upon creation as a whole," he remarked, in conclusion, "because the subject is too intricate and vast to be discussed in detail--that would require much study and many sittings--and we will spend the remainder of the hour upon two questions: What is G.o.d? What is man and his relation to G.o.d?

Miss Walton, will you tell us what G.o.d is, from your point of view?"

Miss Walton instantly became confused. She had no clear ideas about G.o.d, and after nervously turning the leaves of her Bible for a moment and blus.h.i.+ng furiously, finally said so. The princ.i.p.al called upon several others, with a similar result. Everyone loved to listen to him, for his graceful diction was like music in their ears, but when called upon to express their own opinions they were all, with a few exceptions, literally tongue-tied. Two or three of the more thoughtful ones made an attempt to define Deity, but their definitions, for the most part, were the hackneyed ones of old theology.

The professor began to look rather weary, especially as he detected, here and there, a yawn behind an uplifted book. All at once a peculiar gleam leaped into his eyes.

"Miss Minturn, what is your conception of G.o.d?" he inquired, turning abruptly to her.

The question came almost as an electric shock to Katherine and brought the quick color to her cheeks.

But she quelled this sense of disquiet instantly.

"G.o.d is Spirit," she quietly replied.

"You mean that G.o.d is a spirit," quickly corrected the professor.

"That definition has already been given several times; but I am trying to ascertain your own conception of Deity. Why did you omit the article?"

Katherine lifted her earnest brown eyes to him, and in them he read an expression of mingled surprise and appeal, and he knew, as well as if she had voiced her thought, that she remembered he had forbidden her to express her peculiar views and wished to obey him to the letter.

But having put the question, he intended to have an answer of some kind, while he also experienced some curiosity as to whether she could give a comprehensive explanation of the term she had used.

"If you purposely omitted the article," he resumed, as she was not quick to reply, "you must have had a reason for so doing; and,"-- with a more courteous inflection--"as there is supposed to be perfect freedom in the cla.s.s, both in asking questions and expressing opinions, we would like you to explain your position."

"The term 'a spirit' implies one of a kind, or, one of many, does it not? But I understand G.o.d to be Infinite Spirit," Katherine replied, with quiet self-possession.

"Well, what do you mean by 'infinite spirit?' Define 'spirit,' if you please."

Katherine was amazed that he should thus pursue the subject. She wondered if he could be utterly ignorant of the scientific definition of G.o.d. She had supposed that he must have read something on the subject of Christian Science, or he would not have been so bitterly opposed to it, or, was he only trying to drive her into a corner?

However, she saw there was no escape but to follow his lead. He had now given her license to speak, and she felt that she had no right to neglect her opportunity.

"Spirit is Mind, Intelligence, Life," she said, using some of the terms she had employed in talking with Miss Reynolds the previous day, and which she thought would be readily understood by the cla.s.s.

"Why, Prof. Seabrook," here interposed one of the seniors, her face aglow, her eyes alight, "I like that definition of G.o.d. I never heard it before, but it appeals to me."

The gentleman flushed slightly and acknowledged the observation with a grave bow, then inquired of Katherine: "And are you satisfied with that concept of G.o.d, Miss Minturn?"

"Yes, sir."

"Don't you think it rather a vague, visionary idea of the Almighty?" queried the gentleman, with a scornful dilation of his thin nostrils. "Do you a.s.sociate no thought of individuality or personality with Him?"

"Do you mean as human beings are personal and individual?"

Katherine respectfully inquired.

"Well, I must at least have something more tangible than an unknown quant.i.ty for my G.o.d," he replied, evasively, as he hurriedly began to turn the leaves of his Bible in search of a text. "He is spoken of as a king, ruler, judge, and so forth, and those terms certainly convey the idea of personality."

"But can you limit or outline Deity, sir? Would not that destroy the omnipresence of G.o.d?"

Again the man changed color a trifle, while, as he continued to search the pages of his Bible, he became conscious of a sudden inward shock.

The question had started a new train of thought. Certainly, infinity, omnipresence, could neither be limited nor outlined; those were self-evident facts.

There was no yawning in the cla.s.s now. The attention of everyone was riveted upon the speakers, while Dorothy leaned forward in her chair, her earnest eyes glancing from one face to the other, her eager ears drinking in their every word.

"But what do you say to this pa.s.sage from Hebrews, Miss Minturn, where Paul, speaking of Christ, calls Him the express image of His--G.o.d's--person?" [Footnote: Hebrews, 1-3.] demanded the professor--having found the text he was looking for--with a note of triumph in his tone which indicated that he had now propounded an unanswerable argument.

"I have been told that the Greek word, which has been translated 'person' in the text you have read, really means character, and it is so rendered in my Bible, which is the revised version,"

Katherine replied, as she opened her book and found the pa.s.sage.

Now Prof. Seabrook, although he prided himself upon being strictly up to date in everything pertaining to his profession, had neglected to provide himself with the revised version of the New Testament. However, now that his attention was called to the fact, he remembered having heard this text and its change discussed among brother professors, but it had for the moment escaped his memory.

Yet he was equal to the occasion, and no one would have suspected from his manner that he was deeply chagrined to find this young girl so well versed in the Scriptures and able to so logically sustain her position upon every point.

"Ah!" he observed, after a moment of thought, and in his blandest tone, "I have a Greek Testament in my study and will look up the word later. I find we cannot take up the other question to-day, as our time has expired, and"--closing his books--"we will leave it for another lesson. The cla.s.s is dismissed."

He arose as he concluded, and the young ladies filed quietly out of the room; but, once beyond hearing, they gathered in groups to talk over the interesting discussion that had been so suddenly cut short.

Katherine paused beside Dorothy's chair on her way out, and made some pleasant reference to their meeting of the previous day, and then would have pa.s.sed on, but the girl threw out her hand and caught hers, thus detaining her.

"You must have studied the Bible a great deal, Miss Minturn, to get such lovely thoughts about G.o.d," she said, in an eager tone.

Katherine flushed, for she knew Prof. Seabrook was listening, and felt that she had already said enough regarding her views.

"Yes, I am very fond of studying the Bible," she simply returned.

"Papa," continued Dorothy, turning to him, "how could you say that Miss Minturn's idea of G.o.d is vague and visionary?"

"It certainly seems so to me, dear," her father briefly returned.

"Well, it doesn't to me," was the positive rejoinder; "not half so--so queer as to think of Him as a man, or three men all mixed up together in one, and able to be everywhere at once," and there was a look of thoughtfulness in the girl's large, blue eyes which betrayed a mind on the alert.

"I think we will not talk any more about that now," said her father. "You must be tired from sitting here so long, and ought to rest."

"You know I never get tired in the Sunday cla.s.s, papa," cried Dorothy, and still clinging to Katherine, who had tried to release her hand, for she was anxious to escape further argument. "And,"

she added, "I want to ask Miss Minturn another question."