proof?  The very acceptance of a material proof, it seems to me, is a denial of faith, since faith ceases to have any worth whatever the moment the demand for such proof is gratified.  Knowledge puts faith out of the question, for faith to me means a trusting on spiritual grounds.  And surely the acceptance of scriptural statements like that of the miraculous birth without investigation is not faith—­it is mere credulity.  If Jesus had been born in a miraculous way, the disciples must have known it.  Joseph must have known it when he heard the answer ‘I must be about my father’s business,’ and their doubts are unexplained.”

“I see you have been investigating,” said the rector.

“Yes,” replied Eleanor, with an unconscious shade of defiance, “people want to know, Mr. Dodder,—­they want to know the truth.  And if you consider the preponderance of the evidence of the Gospels themselves—­my brother-in-law says—­you will find that the miraculous birth has very little to stand on.  Take out the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke, and the rest of the four Gospels practically contradict it.  The genealogies differ, and they both trace through Joseph.”

“I think people suffer in these days from giving too much weight to the critics of Christianity,” said the rector, “from not pondering more deeply on its underlying truths.  Do not think that I am accusing you of superficiality, Mrs. Goodrich; I am sure you wish to go to the bottom, or else you would be satisfied with what you have already read and heard.”

“I do,” she murmured.

“And the more one reflects on the life of our Lord, the more one is convinced that the doctrine of the virgin birth is a vital essential; without it Christianity falls to pieces.  Let us go at the matter the other way round.  If we attribute to our Lord a natural birth, we come at once to the dilemma of having to admit that he was merely an individual human person,—­in an unsurpassed relationship with God, it is true, but still a human person.  That doctrine makes Christ historical, some one to go back to, instead of the ever-present, preexistent Son of God and mankind.  I will go as far as to assert that if the virgin birth had never been mentioned in the Gospels, it would nevertheless inevitably have become a fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith.  Such a truth is too vast, too far-reaching to have been neglected, and it has a much higher significance than the mere record of a fact.  In spite of the contradictions of science, it explains as nothing else can the mystery of the divinity as well as the humanity of the Saviour.”

Eleanor was unconvinced.  She felt, as she listened, the pressure of his sincerity and force, and had to strive to prevent her thoughts from becoming confused.