“Religion doesn’t rest on proof.  It rests on Faith.  And faith is something every human being possesses.  If you plant a seed, you have faith that it will produce a plant.  No power of yours can bring the plant.  But you have faith—­in what?—­that the plant will appear.  Every night that you go to bed you believe that a new day will come.  You cannot bring that day but you have absolute faith that to-morrow will be brought by—­what?  The stars come nightly to the sky, the moon and the earth whirl in their appointed places.  You have absolute confidence that they will continue to float in the heavens.  On what do you place that confidence?

“Friends, I cannot prove to you that there is a God.  But if you will be patient with me, I will give you a faith that asks no proof.”  He opened his Bible and began to read.

“And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth in me shall never thirst....

“If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.  He that believeth in me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water....

“He that believeth in me, believeth not in me but in Him that sent me.  And he that seeth me, seeth Him that sent me.  I come a light unto the world, that whosoever believeth in me should not abide in darkness.

“I am the resurrection and the life:  he that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live:  and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”

Mr. Fowler paused and closed the book.

“Words!” said Charleton.  “Just poetry!”

“You are speaking of the living words of the Almighty!” shouted the preacher.  “You—­” But he was interrupted.  There was a sudden unearthly uproar of dogs without.  The door burst open and old Sister, howling at the top of her lungs, bolted straight up the aisle to Peter.  A can was tied to her tail.  Prince, similarly adorned, and ably seconding his old friend’s outcry, followed her.  Several cats, all dragging tin cans, were flung spitting and yowling through a window.

Chaos reigned.  Douglas seized Prince.  Peter grabbed Sister.  A dozen people took after the cats.  They were not as easy to capture as the dogs; and during the progress of the chase, a sudden noxious odor filled the room.  Douglas saw a thick black vapor rising from a bubbling mess on the top of the stove.  The congregation bolted, leaving the field to one lone cat who climbed the wall to the window and disappeared with a final yowl.

There was no attempt to bring the audience back, and shortly the trail was dotted with riders.  But that evening as he sat alone with Douglas, the preacher was not at all sad.

“You were right,” he said to the young man, “in having Peter open the meeting.  The older people were interested.  No doubt they were interested; and in spite of the mischief that broke us up, I feel as if a start had been made.  It’s a rarely intelligent group of people.  I admit that.”