Sir Thomas More.—­His opinion requires no other confirmation than what he finds for it in observation and Scripture, and in his own calm judgment.  I should differ little from that friend of yours concerning the past; but his hopes for the future appear to me like early buds which are in danger of March winds.  He believes the world to be in a rapid state of sure improvement; and in the ferment which exists everywhere he beholds only a purifying process; not considering that there is an acetous as well as a vinous fermentation; and that in the one case the liquor may be spilt, in the other it must be spoilt.

Montesinos.—­Surely you would not rob us of our hopes for the human race!  If I apprehended that your discourse tended to this end I should suspect you, notwithstanding your appearance, and be ready to exclaim, “Avaunt, tempter!” For there is no opinion from which I should so hardly be driven, and so reluctantly part, as the belief that the world will continue to improve, even as it has hitherto continually been improving; and that the progress of knowledge and the diffusion of Christianity will bring about at last, when men become Christians in reality as well as in name, something like that Utopian state of which philosophers have loved to dream—­like that millennium in which saints as well as enthusiasts have trusted.

Sir Thomas More.—­Do you hold that this consummation must of necessity come to pass; or that it depends in any degree upon the course of events—­that is to say, upon human actions?  The former of these propositions you would be as unwilling to admit as your friend Wesley, or the old Welshman Pelagius himself.  The latter leaves you little other foundation for your opinion than a desire, which, from its very benevolence, is the more likely to be delusive.  You are in a dilemma.

Montesinos.—­Not so, Sir Thomas.  Impossible as it may be for us to reconcile the free will of man with the foreknowledge of God, I nevertheless believe in both with the most full conviction.  When the human mind plunges into time and space in its speculations, it adventures beyond its sphere; no wonder, therefore, that its powers fail, and it is lost.  But that my will is free, I know feelingly:  it is proved to me by my conscience.  And that God provideth all things I know by His own Word, and by that instinct which He hath implanted in me to assure me of His being.  My answer to your question, then, is this:  I believe that the happy consummation which I desire is appointed, and must come to pass; but that when it is to come depends upon the obedience of man to the will of God, that is, upon human actions.

Sir Thomas More.—­You hold then that the human race will one day attain the utmost degree of general virtue, and thereby general happiness, of which humanity is capable.  Upon what do you found this belief?