At the
outset, therefore, each one of us must ruin many souls which could
be saved by knowledge of a few elementary principles."
Ernest was very much impressed.
"As for men curing themselves," continued Pryer, "they can no more
cure their own souls than they can cure their own bodies, or manage
their own law affairs. In these two last cases they see the folly of
meddling with their own cases clearly enough, and go to a professional
adviser as a matter of course; surely a man's soul is at once a more
difficult and intricate matter to treat, and at the same time it is
more important to him that it should be treated rightly than that
either his body or his money should be so. What are we to think of the
practice of a Church which encourages people to rely on unprofessional
advice in matters affecting their eternal welfare, when they would not
think of jeopardising their worldly affairs by such insane conduct?"
Ernest could see no weak place in this. These ideas had crossed
his own mind vaguely before now, but he had never laid hold of them or
set them in an orderly manner before himself. Nor was he quick at
detecting false analogies and the misuse of metaphors; in fact he
was a mere child in the hands of his fellow curate.
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