of
        language, wherein our fallible nature requires the strictest safeguards
        against laxity and misapplication, for I do not apprehend that in
        writing the words I have above quoted, you were open to the reproach of
        using phrases which, while seeming to carry a specific meaning, were
        really no more than what is called a polite form. I believe, sir, that
        you used these words advisedly, sincerely, and with an honourable
        intention of acting on them as a pledge, should such action be demanded.
        No other supposition on my part would correspond to the character you
        bear as a young man who aspires (albeit mistakenly) to engraft the
        finest fruits of public virtue on a creed and institutions, whereof the
        sap is composed rather of human self-seeking than of everlasting truth.
            Wherefore I act on this my belief in the integrity of your written
        word; and I beg you to procure for me (as it is doubtless in your power)
        that I may be allowed a public discussion with your near relative, the
        rector of this parish, the Reverend Augustus Debarry, to be held in the
        large room of the Free School, or in the Assembly Room of the Marquis of
        Granby, these being the largest covered spaces at our command. For I
        presume he would neither allow me to speak within his church, nor would
        consent himself to speak within my chapel; and the probable inclemency
        of the approaching season forbids an assured expectation that we could
        discourse in the open air. The subjects I desire to discuss are, -
        first, the constitution of the true church; and, secondly, the bearing
        thereupon of the English Reformation. Confidently expecting that you
        will comply with this request, which is the sequence of your expressed
        desire, I remain, sir, yours, with the respect offered to a sincere
        withstander,
                                                                     RUFUS LYON.
        Malthouse Yard.
 
After writing this letter, the good Rufus felt that serenity and elevation of
mind which is infallibly brought by a preoccupation with the wider relations of
things. Already he was beginning to sketch the course his argument might most
judiciously take in the coming debate; his thoughts were running into sentences,
and marking off careful exceptions in parentheses; and he had come down and
seated himself at the breakfast-table quite automatically, without expectation
of toast or coffee, when Esther's voice and touch recalled him to an inward
debate of another kind, in which he felt himself much weaker. Again there arose
before him the image of that cool, hard-eyed, worldly man, who might be this
dear child's father, and one against whose rights he had himself