“Yes,” said the king angrily; “they have sown dragons’ teeth, from which bloodthirsty warriors have sprung, who wander up and down, and in mad ambition tear all mankind, and themselves included, to pieces.  Listen, Jordan, we have fallen upon a subject which, as you know, has interested and occupied me much of late, and it is precisely upon these points that I have sought your counsel to-day.  Be seated, then, and hear what I have to say to you.  You know that the pietists and priests charge me with being a heretic, because I do not think as they think, and believe as they believe.  Which of them, think you, Jordan, has the true faith?  What is truth, and what is wisdom?  Each sect believes itself—­and itself alone—­the possessor of both.  That is reason enough, it appears to me, for doubting them all.”

“In the same land?”

“Yes, in various places in the same city, we are taught entirely different and opposing doctrines in the name of religion.  On one hand, we are threatened with everlasting fire in the company of the devil and his angels, if we believe that the Almighty is bodily present in the elements offered at the sacrament of the Lord’s supper.  On the other hand, we are taught, with equal assurance, that the same terrible punishment will be awarded us unless we believe that God is literally, and not symbolically, present in the bread and wine.  The simple statement of the doctrines of the different churches in the world would fill an endless number of folios.  Each religion condemns all others, as leading to perdition; they cannot therefore all be true, for truth does not contradict itself.  If any one of these were the true faith, would not God have made it clear, and without question, to our eyes?  God, who is truth, cannot be dark or doubtful!  If these differences in religion related only to outward forms and ceremonies, we would let them pass as agreeable and innocent changes, even as we adopt contentedly the changes in style and fashion of our clothing.  The doctrines of faith, as taught in England, cannot be made to harmonize with those fulminated at Rome.  He to whom it would be given to reconcile all opposing doctrines, and to unite all hearts in one pure and simple faith would indeed give peace to the world, and be a Messiah and a Saviour.”

“Yes, he would accomplish what God himself, as it appears, has not thought proper to do; his first great act must be to institute and carry out a terrible massacre, in which every priest of every existing religion must be pursued to the death.”

“And that is precisely my mission,” said the king.  “I will institute a massacre, not bodily and bloodily, but soul-piercing and purifying.  I say to you, Jordan, God dwells not in the churches of these imperious priests, who choose to call themselves the servants of God.  God was with Moses on Mount Sinai, and with Zoroaster in the wilderness; he was by Dante’s side as he wrote his ’Divina Commedia,’ and he piloted the ships of Columbus as he went out bravely to seek a new world!  God is everywhere, and that mankind should reverence and believe in and worship him, is proved by their bearing his image and their high calling.”